to kenya i go...

that's a picture of my older brother, benny boy, and a cool group of kids he gets to hang with. he's doing honest mission type work in kenya now...and soon enough i get to join him for the holidays. yup. on the 21st i'll be leaving to dubai for a looong layover, then nairobi, kenya's capital. from there it's a two hour drive to nakuru...where i'll be living for the next two weeks. am i excited? very much, yes. never really been out of the states before, so a large step out of my usual pattern is sort of a necessary blessing at the moment. it's not just the idea of seeing a new environment and culture, or enjoying the company of my wicked awesome brother, but that i get to engage with some brilliant africans and try to put new bits of ideas and knowledge in my small head. there's a variety of life over there i want to get to know whether it's the large families with hard working children or the kids who struggle day to day huffing glue, getting by on whatever means. i want to be around a new pace of people, see a brighter and less commercial driven landscape, and inhale as much fresher air as i can to replenish my lungs from los angeles' toxic damaged existence. i'd like it if i wasn't the only one getting something out of my time there, that maybe i can give a little something back. i guess i'll have to follow my brothers moves and see how he respectfully leaves his fingerprints. he's a natural generous person.

when i get back i'll have some fun book drawings and photos to show and stories to hopefully tell without butchering it too much. maybe there will be enough stuff between me and my brother to make a fun little book out of. one can hope. actually, ben keeps a great blog of his stories and interesting happenings with posts every week.  check it at benvose.blogspot.com.  leave a comment too.  anyways, i really wish you all a joyful holiday and new year. happy birthday to the man, sir jesus, born in bethlehem 2010 years ago, BABY!

a friday session

calarts figure drawing session on friday run by talented johnny gomez. as you can see it's been a while. but nevertheless it was a blast to just sit there and create...like old times. the "energy"(like we used to call it) of the room wasn't overwhelmingly uplifting (mostly a lack of not knowing the group) but it's a great feeling to kinda shut out the surroundings and hone in on the figure, the paper, and piece of chalk in your hand. you try not to question each line you make or section you smear, but rather go with the flow of composition and shapes within it. i'll take a minute to see what's in front of me, get chills from the pose and lighting, then just thoughtfully, without too much mental pressure, draw it out. what a struggle though haha...started with 20 sec., then 1 min., 5's and 10's.

evil passions

building

Bugaboo "Ripples"

this was a spot i worked on with jahmad rollins (illworkz) and other friends. the high end stroller company, Bugaboo, is donating 1% of their income to stop the spread of AIDS in Africa. HURRAY! with such a limited amount of time, a single month, we were able to complete the designs, boards, and animation/color. twas a rough time, but i went away knowing a little more.

$

i like $$$ about as much as i like this slimy pig.

sipping

when i was a kid my mom use to airbrush x-men characters onto t-shirts for us. she'd steal comic cards out of our collection binders and recreate the characters onto something we could wear. i knew what she was up to when i heard the air compressor running in the garage. i'd sneak in at nights to see the process. it made me happy. thanks mom.

bar again

same bar, different day. maybe the big guy and the dull girl in the middle of her friends have something in common...they don't like where they are, thus the bleh-like face expressions.

return of the prodigal son

it's no rembrandt, but i was thinking about his version at least when drawing it. it's kinda an interesting study looking at a painting for a few minutes, then hours later redrawing something that's really influenced by it. next time maybe i should study it more precisely. see what happens. hmm

art runs in the fam.

this is just a little taste of what my siblings, ben and kirstin vose, can accomplish when they put their art skills to the test. both very different and wonderful. the best part about these is they were gifts...my brother crafted this beautiful dresser for my sister. and my sister created this beautiful drawing along with a lovely note for me. i'm a lucky brother!

bar doodle and warriors...no relation

this is from one of my more enjoyable bars, GoodLuck.


this is just me needing to draw something...bleh.

shnoop-d-bopp experience

i don't really want to get into myself and what's happened over the last bunch of months. stuff has happened and other things. life is good.

had some down time working with my friend jahmad at his studio ILLWORKZ!, so i just straight aheaded a little animation, then colored it, and put some music to it. hope your head hurts when you're done watching it.



also, i started a VIMEO account, so you could check out all the films i've done thus far if you want. i think they've got way better quality.

http://vimeo.com/user2314739

Mr. Mike Mitchell

first things first...i know i haven't been here in a while so it's only deserving that the first thing i talk about is the sad passing of my teacher Mike. Where CalArts will be after this great loss i haven't a clue. all i can say is how far it had come with Mike in the picture. and speaking for myself, he was a real blessing to my growth as an artist and thinker.

entering into his figure drawing class, held in the Palace, for the first time i was slightly nervous. the automatic vibes of the classroom went beyond just merely understanding the human figure. the lighting was very dim, kinda gloomy. empty black walls with piles of props and garbage and old drawings in the corners. and just a few drawing horses to sit on. i sat on the ground. drawings started at two minutes, then to fives after a while. i wasn't sure if i was getting the hang of it. looking around it seemed i wasn't alone on that one. when mike asked the model to start the new set with tens i panicked. he then asked a few guys to move that old old motor cycle onto the model stand. i swear the whole room was confused. what the hell kind of FIGURE drawing class was this? mike made it to the middle of the room next to that motorcycle leaning on it a bit for balance. he started talking about observing the model, then looking at the shapes of shadows and light and composing it on the page. after his short lecture of metaphors and jargon i eventually started...and failed! i'm pretty sure that whole day was a fail. in fact i remember failing many a times in his class after that. he came over to me and mentioned how i looked pissed at the world. i told him i was having a bad drawing day. he just stared at me with his one blinking eye, then at my drawing , then at the model and said to look at the shapes. he pointed out what the light was doing when it hit her hip and how the shadow swallowed her whole left arm. looking at me blankly again he said, "ok? don't be frustrated. you're doing great." for some reason that was enough for me.

after that, mike's class became 6 hours of artistic searching and finding. i was looking at the figure model in a new and unique way. and when he thought you captured it he'd say his classic line, "that's the stuff," then steal it from you with little hope of ever seeing that drawing again. but it would leave you smiling for the whole weekend. of course digging through the stacks and stacks of drawings on his desk a the end of a semester in search of yours was no real picnic.

so, thank you mike for the bit of confidence and knowledge. i will truly think of you when trying to achieve the quality of "that's the stuff."

"dare to strike out and find new ground." -robin williams, DEAD POET'S SOCIETY

gymnasty

this was a fun little test i did after my final review at Disney. the following week there was nothing really for us to work on, so i felt like doing an animation, something with cool gymnastics (which i new a little bit about having done it for ten years), which led to putting live action behind it, which then led to motion tracking, and so on...twas fun, and now i wanna do another one real badly, one with more story and acting. i started putting sound behind it, but maybe later i'll do that. my end date at work is the 27th of March, so i'll be patient till then before i attempt new experiments...enjoy. cheers!

my pops!

this one is for me pops...three years yesterday he left and moved on to happier days. one of the best men i knew. during his time he showed his kids the beautiful characteristics of love, compassion, strength, and courage...all of which i'm continuing to learn. thanks pops for everything...especially the green eyes and long eyelashes...the girls really go for them haha...

tall hall

watercolors are fun. i enjoy them when i don't have to try too hard, i can just throw down some color and go with the flow with whatever shapes i've got...this one is a boy sleeping in a warm lit hall. maybe, him and his cat got locked out of his apartment room and was too tired to care, so he just fell asleep dreaming in the tall hall...

bars

since i've been living in dirty L.A i've found it enjoyable to go drawing at bars once in a while, where it's even dirtier, but the people are pretty interesting. oh the stories that i overhear, the gossip, and drunken nonsensical statements about life and relationships. it's kinda understandable why folk go to bars to "relieve" themselves from the "problems" they've accumulated through the week. friday after work, you start your evening feeling super lousy, so you make your way towards the nearest and most "promising" joint. then you buy a few drinks for yourself and the hot chicks across from you, and you just get a talking and talking and talking. of course there is a giant bill you have to deal with afterwards, which then will probably add on to the headache you'll have in the morning when you search through your pants pocket and find the receipt with large numbers printed across. but, at least you had a good time, if you could remember it...p.s.this is not from self experience...remember, i'm the guy drawing in the corner all alone listening in to people's conversations, the weirdo. however, i sometimes can't keep the pretty ladies from coming up and talking to me.

my SISTER!

as little kids you don't exactly foresee, or really care for that matter, the journey your life goes on. for my sister kirstin, i don't think she knew exactly either. since we were young ones i knew that she had a heart so big she'd let it naturally pave the road of her journey. thus, she's in Kenya right now helping people and growing in many many ways. i can't believe this little girl i used to know is no longer that little, that in fact she's more mature and selfless than most. i feel she's doing more of Jesus' good work by actually DOING GOOD than those soapbox preachers who are all talk. every day she has to wake up and know she's in a place that has the appearance of being apart from God and his love...but the truth is that everyday people like my sister are there to express to those who feel abandoned that there is a true love and good, one without a soapbox, that involves aid to the sick and dying, communication to the broken hearted and motherless, and real hope. that's where her heart is and that's why she is so amazing...thanks kirst...

tortoise and hare...

the story trainees had an assignment to develop a story for the tortoise and the hare, where the hare was at a bar drowning his sorrows in booz (cause he's a loser), while the tortoise was humbly next to him sipping at his apple martini...that wasn't the exact scenario that was set up but along the same lines. so these are just a few characters. nothing crazy really...