We Don't Only Come Out at Night

We Don't Only Come Out at Night, ballpoint pen & digital

We Don't Only Come Out at Night (black & white), ballpoint pen

Challenge 7 for the Square Carousel illustration collective was to illustrate one of our fears. For my fear I focused on my initional reaction of panic: cockroaches. Yes, I love animals; frogs, snakes, and rats don’t phase me but when I see a dark little silhouette scurry across a kitchen wall I flip out. It’s pretty emabarassing cursing like a sailor about a tiny thing. Looking up reference images just made my stomach turn . . . I found the title We Don’t Only Come Out at Night to be a fitting name for this piece. I wasn’t sure if I prefered the black and white version or the colored, so I posted both.

Disgusting little bastards (excuse my French) . . .

"Grandma Take Me Home . . ."

Grandma Take Me Home, ballpoint pen & digital collage

Listening to music is one of those things that I live on. Living in a podunk town, the radio plays the same terrible pop music from 10 years ago, rotating every 2 hours or so. Other than playing percussion in middle school, I know next to nothing about instruments or history in music. It probably was not until I started college that I started to really listen and explore the genres of music that I truly enjoy. The underground punk rock of the late 80's and the introduction of 90's grunge music particularly strike a common chord with me. Not only do I love the musical itself, but the intentions of the artists to deviate from the pop scene really drew me in.

Going through my portfoilio I see that pretty much have no portraits of any sort, and I thought I would pay tribute to the musicians that have had a huge influence on me and my work.

Nirvana especially intrigued me. I first listened to their more popular & over-played songs (which I still love anyway), but then to listened to less familiar ones, finding that I wanted to just hear more. I started to read more about Nirvana, the band, the lyrics, its influences, and Kurt Cobain's death. Yeah, he was easy on the eyes, but the emotional torment that seemed to progress through his young life just kinda broke my heart; it moved me to do a portrait of Kurt Cobain. The anniversary for the album Nevermind was September 24, when I (almost) finished this piece.

The title of this piece is from the song lyrics of Sliver.