Clouds.

True story.

We wound up in the basement with candles. Listen to your moms, guys.

I've been really enjoying these little comics. I hope you guys dig them- It's a great exercise in storytelling. Just go. With ballpoint pen and watercolor you can't plan too much in advance and you can't change much after you've drawn it. It's kind of awesome to practice telling stories that way- I highly recommend it!

Much love,

-n

Canal Stories.

They go.

The hills were always perfect at night- 

dark and silent and full of secrets.

Hello everyone

I've been working steadily over the last few weeks- and I figure it was time for an update around here, since there's new work to show and new stories to tell!
I mentioned last post that I've been taking bike-trips down the cape-cod canal- well, I've tried to keep those up as part of a resolution to draw something, no matter what, every day. I don't like resolutions, but I need a little discipline in my life.
I've been watercoloring from life a lot- I've been finding it extremely relaxing, because the watercolor can be unpredictable and keeps me loose. It also helps to be making art in-the-moment.

I've been reflecting on that- how often I am SO distracted, and my attention is pulled in so many ways that I really lose sight of where I am. Especially right now- trying to look for work, worrying about the future, my career- there's a lot to distract. 

I was working on a character design the other night and I realized how I was using the experience of making art to escape from the rest of my life. 

It was kind of an unpleasant realization.

That's not always a bad thing, but in general that's something I'm wary of. 

Taking my bike out and going to watercolor outside is forcing me to make art in a context. Not just hunched over my computer in the bedroom. I'm starting to think that striking a balance is really important- and I'm realizing how unbalanced I've been.
And in all seriousness- it feels more worshipful, to seek out a moment, be in it, and draw from it. Stop looking in every other direction, let tomorrow worry about itself, and just...draw.
I feel more prayerful when I'm out sketching, so I've been trying to integrate my work-life and my prayer-life so that they aren't so compartmentalized. It's nice :)

I've started noticing things around me, getting a little sun, and even having fun interactions with passers-by! I don't know why I haven't been doing more of this :p

Above is are two pieces I worked on today;

Wanting to make art like music, I've started thinking in terms of songs. I know that's kiiind of dumb- but it makes sense to me and helps me figure out what I'm working towards and why I do what I do. So that firs is a little love song. And the second is like it- a meditation on night and a girl.
I've always loved those windmills- ever since I was a kid...they had a windfarm full of them in Holland, and they have them along the canal here, too. Windmills and bridges...

I'm not sure if these have ever been posted here, but it got me thinking about some of the other little paintings I've done over the last year. Just giving myself permission to work simply:

So now to the sketchbook- here's a smattering of the last week's sketches from wandering around.
I'm making friends with the bridge, and trying to confront my unwillingness to paint architecture and scenery by sneaking up on it :)

I went to Bristol on a sketching trip with my friend Maret- and we picked a great day to go! They had a carnival set up in the center of town, and a concert on the green by the water. It was a beautiful day- glad I got to sketch it!

I didn't get to paint it- in fact I'm not sure I could ever do it justice. But I took a quick ride down the canal earlier in the week, and was intending to turn back when I heard this sound coming from far off. Low and rhythmic- I assumed it was the sound of engines, but as it neared I could tell it was music. Then all of a sudden, this three-masted tall ship comes into view, motoring down the canal. And up in all the rigging are about three-dozen uniformed navy-men doing choreographed dance as a marching band on the main deck plays to nobody in particular. It was covered in flags, and just sailed slowly by and out towards the bay. It was amazing- the best moment. 

In other news, I've been working through some more commissioned work, and enjoying it! Below is a piece for Bre Galloway based on an excerpt from CS Lewis' Perelandra:

"And as he stood and looked it seemed to him that four of the great earth-beetles, dwarfed by distance to the size of gnats, and crawling two by two, came slowly into sight. And they were drawing behind them a flat car, and on the car, upright, unshaken, stood a mantled form, huge and still and slender. And driving its strange team it passed on with insufferable majesty and went out of sight. Assuredly the inside of this world was not for man. But it was for something."

It was a really fun, open-ended prompt to work with. The other piece is a Ghoul from Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book (which I've been listening to as an audiobook as I drive). I am really enjoying the book so far! For whatever reason, the Ghoul's really captured my imagination and I had to draw one! They all have fun names like 'The Honorable Archibald Fitzhugh' and 'The Famous Writer Victor Hugo'. Anyways, Enjoy!

That's all from me for now- I hope you guys like the new work! I've been experimenting with a lineless style, and been really enjoying it. I don't think I'll ever fully abandon line- but it's really great to learn more about form and color this way...sometimes I'm too reliant on my linework to make the piece function. 

It's nice to stretch a little, artistically and start to move away from the video-game concept art look. I'd really love to move in new directions!

Anyways, I'm off to eat some fourth-of-July barbecue with my family- I hope this finds you well and in good company.

God bless, and much love!

-n 

On Leaving.

It was moving day.

I wanted to write a song, but I don't write songs- I make comics.
So I did that instead

-n

Moving Day, Bridges, An Owl-Tree And Sci-Gee

Hi again!

I've been moving slowly and steadily through my commissioned work, and I thought it would be a good time to show you guys the progress I've made! Above is a commission for Katie Shanahan, for her little sister of her OC Sci-Gee. Sci-Gee is a pale, fledgling pirate queen with vampiric tendencies and a mad 'tude.

I had a ton of fun working on this one. I took a bike ride to the beach this morning and came back with the color palette. Then basically churned this out over the course of the day while repeat-1ing this and this interchangeably. I thought it would be fun to include some process sketches, too- for good measure :)

I've felt pretty burned out these last few weeks, and it's really life-saving to have some time to myself to reconnect with God, art and my family...and some fun commissions to chew on. Thanks, internet supporters!

Anybody else out there want to pay me to do more of this stuff? It's fun!

It's also a good opportunity to sneak up on my age-old art weaknesses: ladies and architecture. Perspective? pfff. Anatomy? Ha! I'm a cowboy! I do what I want!
I've spent some time the last week biking the Cape Cod Canal, down towards the Bourne Bridge and sketching. Below are just a few little watercolors from my trips.

Then again below is another commission for Hannah Krieger based on her piece Owl Tree

Which is basically a very autumn piece. It's basically how Peter Gabriel makes me feel. I love him.
Playing around with combining watercolor and digital- never did find a way of doing that where I was totally pleased with the results- but this piece cried out for texture. It was a fight the whole way- but it made me curious about trying more in the future.

If you like what you see, and would like to hire me to do commissioned work for you, then please please let me know! Email me at nkole@g.risd.edu

In other my-life news, this week has been both elating and tough. I finally made the move back to my parents' place- and moving all my stuff this weekend was both a logistical headache and a heartache. Leaving always is. We also said goodbye to Mocha, our dog of 16 years. So the gloominess continues. But it is not without blessings, and God is not without mercies. Lamentations 3: 19-33 grabbed me by the gut yesterday. A good reminder that no matter how many the tragedies or how deep the grief, there is always hope.

Thank you all for your support and comments :) You guys are the best readers ever.
I'll keep arting if you keep reading, deal?

Much love,

-n

Five Places and ICON7

I just got back home from the ICON7 conference.

It was an amazing time- I left feeling humbled, inspired, and reinvigorated about art in general. 

It's easy as an artist and a professional to forget why we're doing this in the first place- to get lost in the woods. Being at ICON helped me realize a lot of what I'd been neglecting or forgetting. Working as a professional artist on a big project can be fun and can be immensely satisfying- it's wonderful to solve visual problems and collaborate with other talented colleagues- but it can also be draining.
The one thing that matters, to me, the most about making art is the one thing that is least valued at a large studio- personal meaning.
Why make art if it's not meaningful? Human? Honest? True?
Somehow it's easy to lose sight of that very important thing- "make art that means something to you".

There were so many highlights- Lynda Barry (a singularly amazing lady) talked about how making art and taking it in is as much a need as any other human urge. That we work out our own lives by watching other people work theirs out through art. "Don't be too cool, you're all gonna die".
Starlee Kine talked about breakups and Phil Collins, and how important it is to tell the story you're living. John Cuneo, Marcellus Hall, and Jillian Tamaki walked through their sketchbooks and talked about sketching to make mistakes and find release (I haven't stopped sketching since!), and Esther Pearl Watson talked about her grandfather and living in the in-between.

I kept hearing this piece of advice from other artists at the conference that I've even given out myself-

"Make the art you want to make. Make the art you NEED to make. Fill your portfolio with up with it. Then you'll find that people will pay you to do what you love."

And other iterations- "Loosen up, stop pressuring yourself trying to guess what it is that people want to see. Make the art you love to make"

It takes a leap of faith, doing that. Trying that. And leaps of faith are the scariest, and they'd never be worth it except for the "joy set before [us]". If this all sounds a little like I'm rehashing a sermon as much as portfolio advice, then maybe something is going terrifically right.

I made some new friends and saw some amazing art. I feel like I'm still spinning with all of it. Thank you, ICON.

---

All in all, this has been a truly bittersweet time.
Sometimes you can't wait to get up and start drawing- sometimes it's difficult to even get out of bed and face the day.
I just got back from Michigan last weekend, visiting with my family after the passing of my grandpa. I really have yet to process fully through all that it means. That (among other things) has been chasing me around my own heart and I think it's time I let it catch up. Drawing helps.

He was the artist two generations before me, who kept on painting despite his disability. I think he would want me to do the same- keep working, despite the what life throws your way. Make good art.
Starlee Kine spoke about that- telling the stories that are in your heart to tell, however painful. Especially when they're painful. I hope you'll all bear with me. There's lots to tell.

To that end. Neil Gaiman had some really encouraging words to say at the end of this. 

 Despite it all- loss of job, love, and family- the big questions and the looming doubts, insecurities, longings and sundry- summer is here.
And there's something about that feeling- something in the sun and the wind and the speed and the freedom of it all that can't be suppressed. We are still blessed- richly and lovingly. Hallelujah anyways.

'Graceland' was on the radio.

love,

-n

Commissions! Round 1

Hey guys!

I've been plugging away on commissioned work this week- trying to finish as much of the work that Deviantart so generously bestowed upon me as I can! I am so blessed to have such a supportive community of internet-fans...I'm really having fun doing these commissions, and they're really helping me pay the bills. So thanks, guys!

This one's for Kayla, and she gave me a nice open-ended prompt. All she had to be was blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and be able to manipulate shadows. So I ran with it! I'm trying to take every prompt and complete it in such a way that it fills the request as well as my desire to be doing more work in this style and tone for my portfolio. Win win!

Stylistically (no lines! textured edges!) this is all new to me, but it pulls from a lot of what I was learning at 38 towards the end. It's a LOT of fun to do. I hope you guys like it, because I'm going to be messing with it a little more as I go forward.

Below is a process shot- with this piece, I had a very different lady designed yesterday and woke up today with the sense that it just wasn't working/the sort of thing I wanted to draw. So I did the rightmost doodle and immediately liked it better. Go figure.

These two headshots were for Immi and Jamie, respectively. They were done in exchange for buying me a Deviantart subscription. Thanks, guys!

Lots to write, draw, and process. I'll be back soon. That's all for now!

-n

This Actually Just Happened

I made a little slice-of-life comic! I liked making it!
grrr, blogger won't let me post these at a legible size...

full-size image pages are here:

Page 1

Page 2

It's a business, let's all treat it like one!

Names and emails have been altered slightly for brevity and effect.
But you'd be surprised how much is verbatim.

-n