"Perilous Position"

This unfortunate scene -- well, unfortunate for the diminutive human in the image -- was created during C2E2, at the Nerd City booth. It was my first painting of the weekend, just meant to warm up the ol' painting arm. But when I got home, I realized it was the perfect scene for what I wanted to do with The Letter P.

"Perilous Position" / 9 x 12" / watercolors, gouache & ink on bristol

Who knows? The little guy might find a way out of this... somehow.


"What's growin' like grass with the mass appeal?"
- King Gum Crosland

"Necromancy"

"Necromancy" / 9x12" / acrylics & gouache on paper

I thought I'd wrap up this week's illustration run on a creepy note. Nothing says, "TGIF," quite like the gaping maw of an ungodly resurrection.


I hope you've all been getting as big a kick out of the new Alphabet Attack! as I have. Stay tuned, as there are about to be some developments with the series, beyond the digital constraints of The Interweb.


And, por supuesto, you can count on having your eyeballs rocked by a whole new run of pieces, next week.


"I'm cranky like nobody understands me. White tee, dagger in the back, nothing fancy."
- King Gum Crosland

"Mephistopheles"

"Mephistopheles" / 12x15" / gouache & ink on paper

I don't think there's a corner of mankind that doesn't recognize some form of The Devil... a creature of pure evil, who's aim is to pull the whole of humanity into the bowels of Perdition.


"So grab your eight-plus-one! Start flippin' and trippin'!
Niggas is jettin'! I'm lickin' off, son!"
- King Gum 

"Lunar Levitation"

"Lunar Levitation" / 12x18" / acrylics & collage on canvas board

Growing up in a PBS-positive household has given me a keen appreciation for shows on history, politics, global affairs and Muppets. But what's really been turning my nerd screw, lately, are programs about space! Hence, today's intergalactic-themed illustration.


"We're all gonna burn in hell! Because we do what we gotta do real well, and we've got the fever to tell!"
- King Gum

"Killer King"

"Killer King" / 9x12" / acrylics on paper

Continuing with the Shakespearean theme of "Iago," the above illustration for The Letter K refers to Macbeth. He's a rather brutal character, who becomes a king by extremely murderous means. Macbeth was one of the very first plays of Shakespeare's that I read, while in high school and remains a favorite story of mine, to this day.

"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes."

- David C.

"Juke"

"Juke" / 9x12" / watercolors & ink on paper

Hello and happy Monday, art fiends! It appears my football illustrations are back, just in time for The Letter J. I think this is the kickoff to a fine week of drawing and paint smudging. Pun intended!

"You can holler, you can wail, you can blow what's left of my right mind."

- King Gum

"Iago"

"Iago" / 12x15" / watercolors & ink on paper

The Letter I is for "Iago," the serpent-tongued villain in Shakespeare's Othello. And with that, comes the end of yet another fantastic five days of Alphabet Attack! Have a great weekend, and tune in on Monday for more illustrative mayhem!

"Talons fly as a last disguise. But no return... the time has come."
- David C.

"Harbinger"

From watching The Terminator as a child, to seeing Akira as a teen, all the way up to my current obsession with Sons of Anarchy, I've developed a keen vehicle crush on motorcycles. While I may never actually ride one, they remain one of my favorite monstrous means of transportation to depict in drawings. All that speed and growling fury, all that power... it sinks it claws right into my imagination! How could I not get a kick out of loading these iconic iron horses with terrifying riders & letting them run loose on the page?!

"Harbinger" / 12x15" / watercolors & ink on paper

"You grabbed my hand and we fell into it, like a daydream or a fever."
- King Gum

"Gargantuan"

"Below the streets that steam and hiss, The Devil's in his hole."
- King Gum 

"Feral"

This one's been locked up in my imagination for quite some time. Nearly two years now, in fact. I kept imagining this brutal queen, stroking the pelt of some wild beast she'd conquered. Luckily, The Letter F ended up providing the perfect opportunity to put her vicious puss on paper.

"Feral" / 9x12" / watercolors & acrylics on paper

"We are the revenants, and we will rise up from the dead."

- David C.

"Elysium"

Hello and happy Daylight Savings! Even with the loss of an hour, I was able to churn out this exciting new piece for The Letter E. This image just about exploded from my imagination, as soon as the word "Elysium" came to mind. Originally, it wasn't going to be so spooky. But once the brushes started moving, I simply couldn't help myself.


"Tore open a package, it was an empty box. No meaning to me, just an empty box. Sender was a woman..."
- King Gum

"Doggone"

This marks the end of my first week back on the daily illustration wagon. I hope you've enjoyed Letters A through D. Have a swell weekend, and be sure to check back on Monday for more Alphabet Attack!


"Clan in the front, let'cha feet stomp."
- David

"Cabeza Con Carne"

And the beats keep rolling with this new run of Alphabet Attack! I'm having a blast with these, so far. And I have a feeling they're only going to get weirder. Er, I mean, better.


Stay tuned for The Letter D, tomorrow!


"I looked at every fiesta, for you I wanted to greet. Maybe I'd sell you a chicken, with poison interlaced with the meat."
- David C. 

Back In Business!

Like Ghostbusters 2 and Electric Boogaloo, ALPHABET ATTACK! is back in business!

While I won't be picking up where Series 3 left off (just yet), this week will mark the launch of a whole new set of ideograph-inspired illustrations. I'll be bringing a new level of raw power to these pieces, brought from the depths of an extremely "work immersive" winter. Don't say you weren't warned.

It all starts tomorrow with The Letter A.

"Tell 'em it's their love that got me this far, and it's my dreams I see their faces in."

- David Crosland

"Bigot Brutality"

At last, here's the finished painting for "Bigot Brutality." I had to scramble to get this done in between other work (and I do mean scramble!). But it was a fun exercise in acrylic glazes, for me.



Much like "Almost Anonymous," the approach on this was relatively traditional. I laid down light washes, slowly building up my under-painting. And as things got more developed, the more opaquely I started to paint. There's actually a ton of transparency in this piece.


The odd thing about fine art illustration is that it's much more subjective to mood and artsy musings than say, a random freelance job. I can't tell you how many times I found myself gazing thoughtfully out the studio window, glass of bourbon in hand, pondering the volatile nature of race relations and acrylic paint....

Tune in tomorrow for the start of my illustration for The Letter C - "Coral Carnivore!"

"No rapper can rap quite like I can! I'll take a musclebound man and put his face in the sand!"
- Dave

"Bigot Brutality" Step 3

Wowzers! My schedule today was way too loaded for me to complete "Bigot Brutality" without the help of my trusty clone. Still, in his absence, I was able to put time into the early painting stages. I started off by applying a color wash, bringing the various elements in the composition together by giving them an overall tone. I chose a transparent blue, since I'm imagining this as a cold painting with some key explosions of warmth.


Along with the blue, I roughly painted in areas where I plan on unleashing said warmth.



From there, I started building up my darkest areas. The police dog, parts of the officers' uniforms, random shadows -- I knew right off the bat that these areas were going to be (more or less) black. So knocking 'em out early frees up my brain to focus on more challenging elements of the piece, that are yet to come.



Whew! It's been a topsy-turvy week for Series 3. But the creative fires are stoked! I'll be putting some time into "Bigot Brutality" over the weekend, in between jobs. I hope to have the finished piece ready to post on Monday. Next week will also be the start of the illustration for The Letter C. Aw yeah....

In the meantime, have a fun & sweaty weekend!

"Reflections, arrows, glory!"
- King Gum

"Bigot Brutality" Step Two

Going from sketch to final for "Bigot Brutality" was a straightforward affair. Rather than using the collage method I employed with "Almost Anonymous," I drew directly onto the canvas. This time around, I chose to work on a gessoed piece of matte board (14 x 22").


Working very quickly with a combination of dark pencils, I tore into the drawing. Large shapes were knocked out with the quickness. Then, I start filling in the details.



Again, these are very fast hits in pencil. The steps above came together in a short bundle of minutes. There's an energy and simple (yet powerful) geometry in gestures that I long to preserve, all the way through a piece. It helps that I listen to loud and obnoxious music while I work, to keep me pumped. I'll bop and dance while drawing and take steps back from the piece for a broader view. The more physical I can make my work experience, the better!


You may also notice that this first pass on the drawing features a mean ol' police dog gnawing at our victim's arm. While I dug the dog, I didn't appreciate what it did to the composition. In the end, I traded the toothy brute for a nice plot of negative space.


The mid-level details were laid in with general ease and speed. Again, the music was a big help in smoothing out the typical kinks one can encounter, working on a finalized drawing.


The background police dog became the stand-alone canine. So I enhanced him a bit, making him larger and giving him an even bigger maw of jagged teeth.



The central policeman came together with particular ferocity. The smoldering from his eyes was drawn from some of my illustration works from 2009 and 2010, and signifies some inhuman evil that's bubbling out of him.


Next, I focused on bringing together the man being brutalized. His face & torso were tightened up. I scribbled in the details of his limbs, and got a cool idea for the painting stage, involving the tattered sleeve of his left arm.




You can see that the big foreground dog has been erased. He's still visible, but at least he's out of the way for bolder lines.


The final stage of the drawing came to a raucous conclusion. I think I was somewhere between Saul Williams and The Doors for these last steps and finer details, which meant lots of writhing and stomping while I drew.


The policeman & dog in the background were tight as could be, with their darks filled in and everything. And I used paint to white-out the remnants of the larger dog drawing. It's almost like he was never there!



The fine lines and darks were filled in on both the cop and the victim. And like that, I was done!

Tune in tomorrow afternoon for the completion of "Bigot Brutality!"

"Stole my sneakers but your feet just never fit in. Serves you right for trying to walk a mile outside your limits."
- King Gum Crosland