Head & Heart

So! The show opening has come and gone. What a night! I had my first appearance in a San Francisco Gallery show and sold my piece on the opening night to boot. It was great to see such a wonderful turnout too, Mission Comics & Art was packed probably beyond capacity. I offer a sincere thank you to everyone who made it out to see the show. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to meet the individual who purchased my work. I was on my way back from a quick bite, but alas, I was too late. I would have loved to have thanked you and just spoken to you a little bit. But nevertheless, whoever you are, thank you for supporting my art! I hope you love this piece. To those of you who couldn't make it out, here's Head & Heart. Ironically, this piece was artistically, very difficult to make. It's been a particularly long time since I have done anything featuring a figure, let alone one a nude. It has also been ages since I have worked with Photoshop. At times working on this piece was exciting, uncertain and fun, while at other times, it tested me more than any of my illustrations in recent memory. But nonetheless, a great deal of care went into this one. I re-worked the lines of the body alone perhaps 4 times before I achieved a quality I liked. I even mapped out much of the cardiovascular system leading from the heart to the head with researched anatomical accuracy before later discarding most of it for clarity. But guess the work paid off because everyone out there seems to love it. Thank you to all my friends out there who were so encouraging to me when I was absolutely sure that I was making rubbish.

So the idea behind this piece is to represent (perhaps a bit too literally): The frustration that arises in us all when we suffer the inner conflict between our passionate and analytical selves. When we want something for the possibilities it contains but know that it could hurt us. It was, of course, originally inspired by love experienced by the weary. Yet, as I continued to work on the illustration, contemplation led me to add that such an angst could be produced by so much more in the human condition. The pursuit of art itself was, for me, a particularly salient example of such. I love to create things that stir me deeply, finding something within myself and thrusting it into the open, into some form everyone can see. And I simultaneously dread the potential for failure. Failure to succinctly, or even fully capture that which I want to convey, and failure to evoke the same sentiments in others. Exposing intimate sides of my mind to the world is difficult, things that may be profound to me can be trite or vapid to others. even if I portray it perfectly, which never happens. That constant friction between love and fear within me is aptly echoed in the subject matter of this piece. I guess that's all I have to say about this one for now. Thank you again to everyone who helped me make it to the versus show, and thank you again to the wonderful people who bought it on opening night! You've made me incredibly happy.