Out From the Chasm available on the Kindle store

The young adult fantasy novel I wrote in 2013 is live on the Amazon Kindle store for $6.99!  It's an unconventional fantasy story inspired in part by the Nolite te Bastardes Carborundorum series posted earlier.

Check it out, and help me spread the word!

Untitled (Bug brain)

8"x6"

Etsy Shop

I've been slow with art lately, but I did finally put up an Etsy shop.  Check it out if you're interested!
Only one little thing there so far but there will be more.
I'm planning to get prints made, and also sell some originals.  If there are any pieces anybody is interested in getting prints of let me know, and I'll put them at the top of the list!

Decorated ZX Spectrum computer

Unofficially titled "Zilung"

9 1/8" x 5 1/4" x  1 1/4"

Computer, spray paint, color pencil, sharpie, gold ink pen.

Working on a series of drawings done on three-dimensional objects, especially electronics that still retain their functionality.  This one is a European 1982 computer that may or may not work that I got for about a dollar.  I like the way it came out but I don't consider it portfolio material, as the pencil didn't take as well as I would have liked it, and my poor handwriting hurts the professionalism.  Nonetheless, I like it and fully intend to restore it if it isn't working.
More pictures below.

Home page

I've been neglecting this blog, largely because I've been in graduate school and haven't had a lot of time to draw.
Also, because I finally made an actual home page a little bit ago.  You can find it at http://k-cross-artist.com.  Stop on by!

Customized desk lamp

Dog not included this time either.

"Visconti" Study

8"x10"

Study for a prospective drawing based on the crest of the medieval Visconti family.

Thermals

36"x36"

Apologies again for the poor photo; as I've mentioned, every surface in the collage reflects light differently, and as a non-photographer myself I haven't figured out yet how to account for that.

This piece hung over my head for a long time, probably three months because of grad school and the  ill-conceived clouds.  But I do think it is relatively successful, if not ideal.

Teeth Study

10"x8"

Another quick study, of an image that came to mind recently, to be revisited later.  Again not satisfied with it, but it's a start.

Scylla Portrait Study

 10"x8"

Portrait study of my praying mantis, Scylla.

Not entirely satisfied with it, mainly because it was very hard to get a good reference photo.  I plan on doing another one when I can get a good, clear, head-on photo, which is very hard to do with a two-inch-long insect.

(I'm taking a break from "Thermals" right now)

Clouds study

Study of clouds for the background of "Thermals."  Not very satisfied with it, but not entirely disappointed.

Thermals process

36"x36"

(Dog not included)

 Because the picture I have in mind relies on some precision, I measured, outlined, and cut out the shapes so I can transfer them well onto the board when it's ready.

 Here they are laid out as they will be in the drawing.

And the interlocking primary feathers, compared to the study.

 After a few hours of work (working between grad school homework and sleep)
(Dog still not included)

 After probably several dozen hours of work, multiple breaks, and a great deal of graduate school homework.  I an certainly not as prepared as I had thought I was to do the cloudscape, but the general flow I had hoped to achieve is present.  There will be significant fine-tuning from this point - the entire cloudscape will need to be darkened, the vultures will need to be unified, and so on.
It didn't photograph very well - it isn't actually nearly so murky, though it isn't up to my standards yet.

Study for "Cycle" (title changed to "Thermals")

New piece study WIP

Study of part of the next drawing I'm going to work on.

Not complete yet, needs to be fine-tuned.

Untitled

Whoops, I forgot to post the final product.

I don't have a title for it yet, I'll have to think of it.

Bob portrait

Portrait of the family bulldog, drawn as a Christmas present for my father.

Roughly 3.5"x3.5"

New work in progress

 

This piece began with an exercise in which you scribble at random and form an image based on the lines and shapes that form.  What came out was more or less a followup to Reptilian Brain, with some clear influence from Gastropoda.

This is about seven hours into the drawing phase, due to the scales.

About twelve hours in.  I'm not sure if I've ever seen a real lizard with that much diversity in size and shape of scales but it still has the desired effect.

Maybe eighteen hours in now.

I really like the way this leg looks now, and I wanted to document it before I change how it looks.

 Really lost count of the time, but I would estimate about twenty-three hours at this point.  Got everything picked up, now it's just a matter of making everything mesh and look like it's all part of the same mass!

Gastropoda

22.5"x32.5"

25 hours to draw

Completed at 11pm December 31st, 2011

Gastropoda process

Just a note - I'm taking these pictures with whatever is available at the time, be it camera, cell phone, webcam, et cetera, so the colors and quality will be distorted most of the time.  I'll have a nice, higher-quality picture for the final version.

The sketch I'll be working from.  There were a couple more pages to this tune but I didn't include them.

(obviously a very early WIP shot)

Finally beginning a new piece, now that the semester has finished!

 Simple collage this time, made entirely of pages torn out from a copy of The Enemy by Lee Child, which was falling apart after changing hands many times and which I fished out of the recycling bin. The ripples from the glue aren't quite as pronounced as they look in this admittedly bad photo.

 Misted with three different colors of spraypaint for that classic K Cross look.
Also distorted because I am not a photographer.

 Progress at 4 hours

 Progress at 12 hours

 Progress at 21 hours

Octopus

12"x12"

study