Apprenticeship

I began my first day as an intern/apprentice with artist James Langley (website) today. He is in the planning stages for a commissioned project on the stations of the cross. I'll probably be doing a lot of go-getting and cutting and preparing panels, but hopefully a lot of learning as well. I'm excited and very honored to be working with such a gifted artist—and especially one who shares a love and appreciation for spiritual artwork.

New Book Project

These are the beginnings of a book entitled "The Stick and the Stone." It's about a conversation between an Israelite boy and Moses in the desert. The author uses the miracles performed through Moses' staff and the miracle of water from the rock at  Meribah to explain Christian doctrine. The illustrations are done in watercolor on cold press.

Gilgamesh final renders

Gilgamesh

This fall, I took a Sequential class at SCAD called "Conceptual Illustration." Throughout the quarter, we were writing a story, designing and developing the main character, environments, props, side characters, etc. We were required to build a maquette of the character, a model of an environment/structure, and a prop, vehicle, or animal sidekick. Each part had to be supported by developmental sketches, turnaround views, orthographic projections, color keys, etc. It was a ton of work, but it was one of the most rewarding classes in my graduate school experience. (Ironically, it was an undergraduate level class.)

Earlier this year, I had stumbled upon Gilgamesh when researching the Biblical character, Nimrod. I was immediately intrigued, and began researching this Sumerian warrior-king, whom extra-biblical sources sometimes equated with Nimrod. I read some translations of the Gilgamesh Epic (probably the oldest surviving literary work), studied Sumerian archaeology and culture, and began trying to harmonize the biblical account with the surviving Babylonian account. Much of this was surprisingly easy. For instance, the Sumerian record of kings has Gilgamesh ruling Uruk for 120 years. Secular history does not allow for such long lifespans—biblical history does. The Epic also contains a strikingly similar telling of the great flood to the account in Genesis.

Anyway, I could bore you with all the loads of fascinating stuff I learned, or I could just show you the work I did. For the purposes of the class, our story had to be a "retelling" if we were basing it on an existing story line. So this isn't meant to be historical or factual, even though I attempted to give it that flavor.