Exodus

Or, out of Egypt.

'Pyramids Up Close'

This work is a modification of a previous work exploring the Pyramids of Egypt.  It is flatted and colored in a more professional, mainstream comic book type of way, and the results are good.  I am constantly striving to improve as an artist.

Egypt was the first high civilization, after Sumeria, before the Jews and the Greeks.  They birthed the concept of religion, which in one way or another thinly veils solar worship, or worship of the Sun as a God.

It is only the Jews and later the Christians who believe that the Creator is outside of nature, outside of Creation, outside of Heaven and Earth.  

But the Ancient Chinese knew, 'the universe is the body of a single being'.

Too Much Monkey Business

'Spider Monkey'

My Photoshop skills are improving quickly with diligent practice and study.  I'm relearning layers and selections and coloring.  So here I took an old design and made some corrections to it.

I really am growing as an artist, I'm finding my calling, and I'm exploring visuality through pinterest, which has a wealth of inspiration for those who love art and photography.  Nature lovers especially can find many great photos pinned to pinterest.

So here is a monkey, a spider monkey to be more exact, looking back at the viewer as if to wonder what his intentions are and if he is in any danger.  When humanity and nature collide, nature always loses.  

But someday the bottom will drop out.

NOTE:  I modified the color of the monkey.  I found his yellowish brown color to be too muddy so I made his color darker brown as shown now.

A Taste of China

'China Gate'

When me and my brothers were younger, and in the habit of receiving birthday gifts, my oldest brother received a book called, 'a little treasury of Chinese wisdom'.  He never read the book, but it turned out to be one of the most influential books I've ever read in my whole life.

It began me down a long path of seeking wisdom, and the Ancient Chinese had accrued tremendous wisdom and insight through empirical observation over hundreds of generations.  I later studied and mastered Chinese Medicine and Judo, both practices with origins in East Asia.

While I am not Chinese, wisdom is universal, and I find many of the observations of Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, and the many Zen masters (like Dogen for example) to be keen and insightful, yet funny, simple, and paradoxical.  That is the mystery and the charm of eastern philosophy.

So here is an artwork inspired by the East.  

Big City Blues

I discovered a new website where I can sell my music, both singles and albums, make a decent cut of the money, and use my designs as cover art to each song.  It is wonderful.  The site is called, www.bandcamp.com, and my page is as follows:

www.lioravni.bandcamp.com

You can see there how I've used my artworks from before as cover art, and you can preview each song three times before you have to purchase it for a dollar a song.  It's not  a bad way to reach music and art fans.

This design I colored in recently, but the actual drawing is from October of last year.  I drew it using the reference of a Manga cartoon background I saw in a book on how to draw Manga.  I colored it in in my own way, and I can say it's all my own.

I have songs on bandcamp such as 'big city blues' 'g blues jam' 'field blues' and one of my favorite instrumentals, 'dancing with mabellene' a slow chuck berry style blues instrumental.

I hope you click and go over to my bandcamp page and see what I've done so far.

In any case, I will keep creating, especially art and music.

Chloe's Window Revisited

I've been studying online, both YouTube and Udemy, and I learned a new way to color drawings in Photoshop.  I am always learning more. 

As a practice, I recolored 'Chloe's Window' and it came out more bright, and more lively.  And it's not just the color settings, I really learned a simpler, foolproof way to color line art.

'Chloe's Window Revisited'

While the colors are brighter and more cartoonish, I like both renditions of the original line art.  But this one pops.

A bit of my music to brighten up your day...

Besides being an artist and writer, I play and sing the blues. I've been playing many years and my guitar playing is advanced. I just want people to hear my sound, so if you like delta blues and folk blues, click on this link and listen to a few of my tracks on CDbaby. Don't worry, I'm still an artist and writer, and I have a comic book about animal conservation in the works... Lior

Nature's Call

'Elephant in Jungle'

Africa is a source of inspiration, a last bastion of natural beauty and integrity, and the last continent to become civilized.  Elephants should be more populous in Africa, but they are in grave danger.

The Elephant is the real king of the jungle, not the lion.  They are very manlike, live a 80 or so year lifespan, protect their offspring, live in herds, and possess a deep intelligence and benevolence.

The Elephant is the symbol of the Buddha.  A white elephant who signifies purity, uprightness, nobility, and wisdom.

A Brand New One

This design I just scanned and colored today, based on a pencil and paper sketch that was sitting on my refrigerator door for months.

The original inspiration for this poster was a vintage travel poster I saw on Pinterest advertising United Airlines, New York City, and featuring the U.N. building.

I think I captured a cartoonish impression of the poster, the subject, and the importance of the landmark.  Enjoy!

'Travel to NYC'

Cartoons are Back in Style

It's  happened.  Time has passed.  All the people who read Xmen and Spiderman in the 1980s are in their 40s and 50s now. 

People who grew up on Transformers, Thundercats, and the mythologically based Star Wars are young adults now.

Manga and Anime is more popular than ever outside of Japan let alone inside.

Adults these days like simple, cartoonish art.  Which makes my childish doodles more relevant than ever.

So this primitive, unsophisticated art is perhaps not so primitive and unsophisticated.  Remember what they said about the Beatles in the 1960s?

This is a good time to be an artist or a creative in general.  The internet means anyone can be found, as long as their work is good.  No more starving artists.

And Adobe is always doing good business.  So I'm not so depressed.  If I keep refining my art and being productive, i will find a place in art.

Wish me well.

An Old One from the Archives...

'Savate'

I never posted this one on my blog, social media, or anywhere else until I added it to 'my story' on Facebook a few days ago and it got some attention.

I try to avoid works about combat sports or fighting, but since martial arts training was a part of my life, I am going to share this one.

It's a nice color scheme to this work, it was done loosely based on a photo in a Google Images search, and I have experience training in kickboxing and judo.  

This one could have been called 'David and Goliath' based on the size discrepancy between the two fighters, but what I was trying to capture was not just the small man attacking the big man, but the theme of all eastern martial arts training.  And that would be the mental qualities of courage, belief in oneself, tenacity, and self-abandonment into the technique.

I think it's brilliant.

By the way, Savate is a western martial art of French origin.  It is the original style of kickboxing in a ring with gloves on, and a relative of western boxing that everyone is familiar with.  But the same ethos apply to any fighting sport or art or method.

'Chloe's Window'

This is the final work, inked and colored in Photoshop.  It didn't take long, as my skill, eye for detail, and attention to correcting errors is improving.

This pic was based on a lonely photo taken out a window of an empty schoolyard.  I hope you like it.

'Chloe's Window'

It's mood is sad and forlorn, but isn't everything about the public school system sad and forlorn?

Halfway Done

I recently created a line art of a landscape based on a photo a friend took and sent to me on facebook.

It is a lonely, rainy schoolyard photo taken out of a window.  I call the work, 'Chloe's Window'.

It is only black and white line art because I stopped using access to Illustrator and Photoshop, because I feel these programs are a waste of money to an illustrator and technology is not necessary to make fine art.  So the artwork is not colored.

This drawing is crude but shows an understanding of perspective, balance, contrast, harmony, and mood.

Enjoy.

'Chloe's Window'