Portrait of Grandpa Shoell

This is a pencil drawing I was working on for Jackie's Grandpa. He asked me about a month ago to draw his portrait in pencil. He passed away two days before I finished it. He was a great man, and we will miss him very much.

A few more.

Can you here me now?

Don't tempt death.

School assignment. We had to pose the women in the "little house on the prarie" dress and put her in a painting.

"Bullfrogs & Dragonflies"

A much needed update

I think a wooden beaver would have plenty of trials in it's life.

An assignment for school. The assignment was "If these walls could talk"

Another school assignment, I was supposed to paint something from this decade that would be recognized if found 100 years later. I went with guitar hero.

I've been playing with washes lately, this painting was done in water color.

location, location, location. A little comment on the real estate market, sometimes you get what you pay for.

Black & Whites

I finally have some time to upload some new stuff. I've been playing with ink a lot lately, so here are a few b&w spot illustrations.

BFA Project

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I just got done hanging my senior show at the Harris Fine Arts Center (HFAC) at BYU. I haven't got any of them scanned, so I can't post them yet, but if your in the Provo area feel free to stop in and take a look. I've also got three pieces hanging in the student show in the same building. Hopefully now that I have a little more free time, I can scan my other paintings and keep things a little more updated.

p.s. I recently had the opportunity to go with a group of students down to Zions National Park. The trip was payed for by a grant from Avalanche; they are a video game company owned by Disney. We were down painting and sketching to get reference which we will use later to do a background painting that could be used in a video game. You can track our progress as we get ready for a show that we'll be having in the end of May at http://ziondesigntrip.blogspot.com/

Illustration Friday: Rambunctious

Epic battle between nutcracker and squirrel. . . this is definitely the most "rambunctious" painting I have. I just finished this piece for one of my last assignments this semester. I was playing with some new styles and techniques. I had a lot of fun doing this one. I'd love any comments.

Illustration Friday: Pretend

Who know's how to pretend better than kids. This is a painting from a children's book I'm working on. Anyway let me know what you think.

Illustration Friday: Adapt

I figure you can either complain about what life hands you, or you can adapt and make the best of a bad situation.

I was experimenting with a modified color palette, and night scenes. I'd love any comments.

Grasshopper & The Ant's

This was my latest assignment for school. I did an interpretation of the Aesop's fable of the Ant's and the Grasshoppers. Nothing personal against people who skateboard and use an ipod and text at the same time (unless your a grasshopper . . . dang grasshoppers)

Illustration Friday: Strings

Just a real quick ink drawing for Illustration Friday. Hopefully the concept is self explanatory.

Plein Air Painting Class

This was my out of class project where we use the landscape as subject, and use the style that we would like to go into. I tried to gear this one towards children illustration. It's done in guoche


This was my first in class project. Our class painted in the country between Springville and Provo. This was my first time painting outdoors, I thought it was a lot of fun. Oil on masonite board.

Sketches from the Sketchbook

Here's a few sketches out of my sketchbook. I did a few studies of some trees both realistic and stylized for a project I'm working on. Also a few character designs for the same project. I have some more sketches I need to upload, it's just hard to find the time.

Illustration Friday: Packed

sometimes a comfort zone is a luxury. I welcome any comments. Ink and digital.

"You are what you eat"

My first assignment for school. We were working with the phrase you are what you _______? I decided to stick with the obvious you are what you eat. I was wondering where a cannibal would do his shopping, probablly walmart, they have everything there.

Illustration Friday: Memories

This will probably be my last picture for a while. School starts today so unless the stars align and I have an assignment that works for the topic of the week, I'll just have to check out other people's great work. Ink and digital, I'd love any comments.