Piecing together what is and not there: Mexico, Part 2

Here are some more sketches from Mexico. The first being another plane trip creation. Sometimes when I start drawing, I actually start piecing together what I see in my head. This cheery character started out as just an arm. I didn't think of having a smaller creature be his pelvis, but when I ran out of room for his legs, I told myself, "What the hell, he's a monstrous mutation of some sort." It could be a visualization of the soldier returning from home, unable to cope with civilian life and still clinging to the killer inside. He does look disoriented.

The second is a quick sketch to a back alley in the courtyard of the production company where we met the director and the crew. It was a beautiful building and it felt very compartmental, like shoe boxes stacked upon one another. I did what I could in the 10 min before we had to leave, but I think I'm gonna go back and hit it with some watercolors. Any suggestions?

Vibrations From 10,000 Feet In The Air: Moleskin Mexico

Where I would normally comment on the state of the economy, and how they struck out on the bailout plan (Yeah!) finally causing the DOW to drop a whopping 777 points in a single day (Double Yeah!) I'm going to talk a little about Mexico.

I went there at the end of August on production for the agency I work for, Alma DDB, and did some sketching while I was traveling or waiting around for stuff to happen in my moleskin. Little did I know, moleskin sketching is a popular past time in the blogging community.
This was from the plane on the way there. It's only a three hour flight, which was my limit until I went to L.A. That's gonna be another post. I was even rustier than usual, but I had my trusty ball point pen and some good tunes. I think I was listening to Portishead, now I don't know how useful it actually is with calming people down, but it worked wonders for me.
Some of the characters you see there are from my little alphabet that I created back in 2001. I use them all the time when I don't want others to know what I'm writing.

I'll do some more about my drawings from Mexico tomorrow. And maybe I'll talk about the economy.

The presidential debate: Miss Congeniality VS The Surgeon, Part 1

Here's the new version of the head, and it came after much talk about nothing.
I was watching the first Presidential Debate last night and I was almost instantly bored with what these two were politicking about. So I took some notes and I'll expand on it now.

Wall Street VS Main Street: Both were talking about the effects of the economy on regular people and how these people were hurting before the bubble burst. However, both agree that action is needed. If there is federal oversight, who's going to get the money, and will it be part of the change we need / we deserve are details they disagree on. The message is clear, they chose Wall Street. By not questioning the idea of a corporate bailout, both candidates are ignoring the possibility of the US Dollar plummeting due to hyperinflation or the fact that the taxpayers are going to end up with the debt. Something I don't think will ever be paid off.

Big change when they both talk about little change.
Do people really trust the free market at this time?
McCain proposes pending freezes except for defense and VA Affairs. Defense is the biggest spender.
Obama doesn't want to use the hatchet, he needs a scalpel.

This one is for Obama. How are you going to talk about using a scalpel when you have said that the tools that Washington have used before just don't work anymore. He's practically turned himself into the classic political figure. It reminds me of the HBO series The Wire. Tommy Carcetti who appears in Season 3 is the idealistic city council member who has big dreams of cleaning up the city of Baltimore. Once elected he becomes the typical political player and is really no different than his predecesor.
Lesson in this is that Obama is the change. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Elephant Mask: The American Economy

This is an illustrator drawing that I did of a sort of Tiki head. I was watching some more news on the economy, so it might be the looming weight of the debt we owe the Chinese rearing its ugly head. Someone referred to it as the "elephant in the White House", as Americans wonder how much longer can we finance two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan.

I missed yesterday's post, so I hope I can get another one in later on today.

Just let it flow

Here's a sketch that started as a life drawing of a dog. Then it just become an exercise in stream of conscious drawing.

After some strokes I just couldn't stop myself from putting in some values, its been a minute since I worked in pencil so I was curious on how it would come out. So here it is.

This first week of drawing is really loosening me up. It's just really hard right now, and I'm very frustrated at the whole thing.

I feel a little rusty...

This is the first self-portrait I've done in maybe two or three years. It's also the first self-portrait that I took into Photoshop and added some values to. It's quick, but it's good to start getting my touch back. To be honest, I should've stopped it about 13 steps ago, but that's how you learn I guess. I remember someone very important to me telling me that I'm not using my talent to the full extent. I just hope that this is a step in the right direction.

Another thing I've been thinking about is leaving the country. I'm thinking that I'm close to being done with the states so if anyone is out there is interested in throwing their two cents in, please feel free to chime in. Some possibilities are Colombia, Ecuador, and Brazil. Plus I speak English, Spanish, and a little Portuguese, so I have some options. That's it for now.

Screaming Head

I'm almost convinced that all talking heads now on TV are almost so full of their own shit that they're starting to stink up my television set. I was on HBO watching Real Time: with Bill Maher. I'm not e regular viewer but I don't have anything against Bill and Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism was on commenting on the recent economic crisis. 

I gotta say, Bill Maher has something against religion, in any form that it may manifest. The conversation went down that pleasant road and I just found him throwing some sweeping generalizations, something I wouldn't expect, considering I don't watch the show and he seems to have "Obama Fever", so he should be more mature about his opinions. Well I was proven wrong about that. If you want to see what I'm talking about, check out the episode on YouTube or even OnDemand if you have HBO.

So naturally, I was sketching because I gotta draw more. Period. This is what came out. I think it could be Bill Maher, but it's just a screaming head.

Financial Meltdown: The Real Tragedy

First and foremost, I'm an artist, not an economist. But something isn't right when after years of ideology preaching government non-intervention, American taxpayers are now responsible for the greed of Wall Street. 

There is a deception involved when the media starts saying "the government" is taking over AIG and pumping over $50 billion into the economy. First of all, its not even the government, its the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is not the government nor does it answer to the government. Remember, the Federal Reserve prints our currency with interest. Without getting into it, the financial sectors that are collapsing are being bought and manipulated buy the central bank, not being "nationalized" as others have started saying.

I honestly don't know what is going on in the bigger picture, but these events just don't seem right. Good news though, it makes me do work. Here's a sketch of who I think are the stupid, greedy, criminals that taxpayer money is paying to bail out. Too big to fail my ass.