40 Kibbutz Volunteers

I spent this past winter residing at beautiful Kibbutz Bar'am on the Lebanese border of Israel, where I worked, lived, and partied alongside an ever-changing roster of volunteers from all over the world!  There were only 25-40 volunteers at any given time, but the total number of volunteers that passed through during my 5 months was probably somewhere around a hundred, maybe more.  Upon leaving the kibbutz, I challenged myself to draw 50 volunteers, released in sets of ten.    

Below are my favorite four sets.  I left out my first set from this post, because in it I can tell that my style was the least developed, and the four successive pages were much more, well, successful.

Brothers

Last commission before I peace out to Israel for a little while!

Book illustrations!

Here are a few pages from a children's book project I am working on for a peer.  It's basically about a toddler who goes around the world helping children in need.   The biggest challenge here was attempting to make each page look consistent in style, an issue I've never really faced before (since this is my first legitimate series project.)  I'm sure one of these days I'll achieve a bit of darn consistency.

This first one is the cover with the text removed.

 On this page I threw in a cameo of my favorite harmonica-playing rats from the alleyway....

Classmates

Some quick little portraits of some of my fellow graduates from the FIT Illustration program!

Party Down

16"x16" oil on board

My piece for the premium cable-inspired art show at the Bottleneck Gallery in Brooklyn, opening September 7th.  I chose to illustrate more of an underdog show, Party Down.  It's starring Adam Scott and Lizzy Caplan, and it was pretty darn funny.  Check it out on netflix and whatnot.

Rock Bottom

oil on board, 11.5"x16"
I painted this like halfway through my last semester at FIT, and I figure even though it isn't quite finished, I ought to post it before it becomes long forgotten in the art pile next to my desk.  Sorry for the disgustingly low res photo.

So apparently I do watercolors now

        As long as I keep the colors subtle, it's not half as bad as I made it out to be, not to mention it's a hell of a lot more convenient to work with.  Plus it also makes it easier to retain the glory of my original sketches; a problem I often face when using thicker media.    

      Anyway, this was a little commission for a coworker who just had her second little bundle of joy. Her kids are pretty darn cute.

Here's the preliminary sketch too if anyone gives a hoot: