More Rush Limbaugh

My three words for this project were Surreal, Contest, and powdered charcoal. I didn't want to use the word surreal in such a predictable way, so I decided to think about real things in this world that I perceive as surreal. Case in point, the popularity of Rush Limbaugh. I've posted about him before, and done plenty of drawings of him. It's hard to find a more misleading person at his level of talk radio. I used to listen to his show somewhat regularly, and his arguments are filled with fallacy. Anyway, without saying any more about the man, I decided to draw him as the fictional character Casey from "Casey at the Bat". It's titled "Champion of America".

As far as the drawing goes, I wanted to keep it loose, yet controlled. Rather than using a dip pen like I usually do, I used a brush to ink the entire thing. It gave me some very interesting lines which I enjoy. It was a bit more difficult to get a likeness since I had a little less control with the brush, but It turned out okay. To add the value, I shaved a little pile of charcoal off a stick, watered it down and used it just like watercolors. It worked out pretty well. I was hoping that it would be easy to erase in the event of a mistake, but that didn't work out as planned. All in all, I think it was a success. At the very least I was able to experiment with a new process.

Digital life drawing!

This is an in progress look at the figure drawing from the other day. I'm not 100% on where I want to go with it from here, but I'll think of something. Painting digitally continues to be a struggle for me, but I think there are a few good things about this one. The flesh tones seemed to turn out well, and the overall head structure was a success (minus the nose, that needs some touching up.)

INTJ

After taking the personality type test in class the other day, I found out that I am an INTJ type personality. I-introverted, N-intuitive, T-thinking, J-judging. INTJ's are problem solvers. They have a natural curiosity for "why things are" or how things work. We tend to be perfectionists, in the sense that we have a capacity for improving on anything that takes our interest. Another trait which I found interesting is that INTJ's know what and how much they know, but also know what they don't know.

For the most part, I found the articles' descriptions of INTJ's to be pretty close to me. The afore mentioned characteristics fit me very well. I've found myself being interested in the process of things. I feel a need to know the "hows" and "whys". I do tend to be introverted, and I've known that for a long time. One trait that I hold in common with INTJ's is that when prompted, we will unload a plethora of information for you, but otherwise we'll be rather reserved. This has been a weakness for me during critiques. I'm able to analyze a piece to a degree that I feel comfortable with, but then rarely will share unless called on. With regard to my art, I feel a need to have something representational in the piece. For the most part, all my work is very representational. I think where my personality type fits in is trying to figure out a system or set of rules which would apply to my various cartoons/illustrations/caricatures. By that I mean to find out what makes an illustration successful, or more or less successful than other options. Which medium best portrays the message? What point do I want to exaggerate, etc. Everything can be broken down into a series of steps that, with any luck, turns into a finished drawing/painting. I've noticed that I tend to break down painting, for instance, into several mechanical steps of paint mixing, rules to find local colors, application and mark making, and so on.

I couldn't say with any certainty that being an INTJ influences much of my subject matter. Only in that I find humor to be a challenging genre to work in. Being able to take a somewhat abstract thought and portray it with pop culture icons, politicians, and others, is just one more puzzle to be solved.