Lustful and Carefree

Lust

Carefree

Psalm 126

When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion,
we were like men who dreamed.

Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."

The LORD has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.

Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like streams of the Negev.

Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy.

He who goes out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with him.

What a passage, huh? That's pretty much my favorite verse right now...it's been a real encouragement. And there's the second week of Character Creation! This week we had to design two characters...one embodying our best trait and one embodying our worst. So, here they are!
I felt it was an opportunity to be a little uncomfortably honest and open up the discussion. I'm convinced that (with the Lust piece), though the theme may be gross and most people would prefer to avoid it altogether, it should be openly addressed and so put more thoroughly to death!
So, I think the Psalm puts the two pieces in context. Only through Christ is there victory, and how!
I certainly didn't set out to make something gratuitously "dirty" or inappropriate...and I hope nobody's offended by this sort of thing. I just wanted to be honest, and it's really important to me not to make light of evil. To call sin "sin" is really vital! And to put that in context with Joy and freedom! (That's a whole 'nother conversation...but I feel like even in stories geared towards 'kids', evil should be honestly portrayed. The Bible doesn't skimp on it's accounts of sex, death, war and cruelty and neither should we!) Anyways, I hope you can enjoy and appreciate these as such. I can ramble on, but I'd hope these two stand on their own in tension. Hopefully it provokes some good thought and conversation.

Carefree just sort of came together this week for the assignment, but the Lust design I've been wanting to do since last year's seniors completed this same assignment! The actual design has changed drastically since it's original incarnation, and you'll remember the crotch-arm from a previous piece, perhaps?

Anyways, here are some of the recent sketches in progression to that final piece:

Also, I forgot to post one last little color study I did at the end of the summer...it's a palette I want very badly to revisit...I'll leave you with it:

Enjoy!
-Nick

Back to School

Hey all!

Sorry for the long silence...but I've been busy prepping to come back to school and now I am here and the Academic year has kicked off! I've just handed in my first assignment for the year and I thought I'd share it with everyone.
This year has started off pretty excitingly...there's a lot of neat work to do and a lot of cool things going on on campus, not only art related. I'm heading off this weekend for the RISD Christian Body retreat, so I'll be out of communication for a bit, but it should be fun...so even if you can't reach me you can be confident that I am having a good time despite it all ;)

Anyways, so far this year has begun very well. It's busy: I'm an RA, full-time senior, and President of the RISD Christian Body, but all those things are really exciting and I really wouldn't have it any other way! On September 7th I turned 21 years old and had my first legal stateside drink...I wanted to make sure that my experience was a memorable one, so rather than get smashed, I got some friends together and we all went to the local Renaissance Faire and I got Mead and poofy pants!
*yay!*
Also: I got to go see Sontata Arctica open for NIGHTWISH in mass two weeks ago. It was AMAZING. I'm still reconstructing my face. Man...SO cool...

So...the ART!
I'm in Character Creation this semester, which is awesome since it's with one of my absolute favorite professor's ever: Shanth Enjeti. So I've just handed in the first week's assignment. Which was, essentially, to "impress him". Yeesh.
So I took the opportunity to debut another character I've been itching to do from the Alfonse and Domingoverse. Well, three actually! Introducing: Pito, Zee'doh and Jin!

Without giving too much away: Pito's a member of a troupe of traveling performers. He lifts heavy things, lights the stage-lights, and reaches for things on the shelf that are too high up for others to grasp. He is gregarious, mute, enormous, and loyal to a fault...he is especially beloved by the troupe's pair of acrobatic twins: Zee'doh and Jin, who are often seen riding around on Pito's shoulders.

And that's all I'm sayin!
So, since this is the blog, you get some of the prep sketches! I've been tossing around the idea of Pito for a while...but these are just the recent versions. It took me FOREVER to find a face I was happy with for him!

So that's just some of the stuff I'm currently working on...Hopefully I'll get some time to show y'all the other stuff that's going on. And next week there will be two more characters to show by Friday! :) Right now, I'm off to catch a car to New Jersey!
Enjoy!

-Nick