drug-induced self portraits

Brian Lewis Saunders is an artist who did what some call the most creative artistic experiment ever. 

He took a number of different drugs and once the effects of these drugs kicked in, he drew a self portrait. Some of these are fascinating, while others are somewhat horrifying. 

To be clear, I do not recommend or advise anyone to do the same, but it is really interesting seeing how different substances can alter how someone sees themself.

Below are a few examples of the portraits.

To see a full gallery of the portraits and the substances used, please follow this link.

Hydrocodone/Oxycodone/Xanax

Brian Saunders

Absinthe

Brian Saunders

Adderall

Brian Saunders

the travel journal

Chris Buchholz is an artist that has created something that I would love to do some day - the illustrated travel journal. Rather than snapping photos, he sketches the scenery of the places he visits, creating beautiful and colorful journals from his travels.

I absolutely love this idea and I hope that someday I'll be able to create something similar. It puts a more personal touch on the images you create, unlike simply taking a picture with your phone.

Below are a few examples from his travel journals. I encourage you to visit his website at http://sketchbuch.blogspot.com/.

Chris Buchholz 

 Chris Buchholz

Chris Buchholz

personal project

For a long time I've wanted to go through some old sketches and create a newer, modified version of it. I've never really felt like I had the time, but now that summer break is here, other than a few classes, I'll be able to finally focus on this little personal project.

My freshman year of college I was working the lights and sound for a stage show about Elizabeth Bathory and while I was in the booth in between working the equipment, I was sketching the first picture you see. It's definitely not my best work, but this was a little over 6 years ago and you can't see very well in a dimly lit sound booth. I stumbled onto it a couple days ago and decided this would be the first sketch I would redo.

It's nice seeing my improvement over the years and that was my motivation and inspiration to start this project. I plan on posting more in the future!

Mindy Barks

Mindy Barks

a little more from me

I have a folder in my apartment that contains somewhere around 150+ sketches, some as old as 2004, but I don't think anyone would want to sit through a slideshow that long and I absolutely do not want to make a slideshow that long :) 

So here is a small handful of sketches from me, dated from 2007-2015

I definitely feel like I've improved over the years, and there are several drawings that I would like to revisit and redo. I hope to do that in the future sometime soon.

Enjoy!


All images are original artwork and photos by Mindy Barks

the ink evangelist

Johanna Basford

Johanna Basford

Johanna Basford is a Scottish illustrator who uses pens and pencils to create stunning black and white artwork. She has also created a best-selling adult coloring book, "Secret Garden" that is filled page to page with beautiful art.

More about the coloring book can be found here.

Johanna Basford

Johanna Basford

Johanna Basford

I encourage you to visit her website and check out more of her stunning work!

astonishing art with a ballpoint pen

Milton Lozada is an artist that I recently discovered. He works as a tattoo artist out of Florida and creates astonishingly beautiful artwork with a ballpoint pen.

This is a link to his instagram and I highly encourage you to check out some of his work:
https://instagram.com/miltonlzd/

Milton Lozada

Milton Lozada

Milton Lozada

spring break

Spring Break is almost here, which means I'll have 10 days of free time for sketching, and I am beyond excited! This has been an insanely busy semester for me, so having some time to do what I love will be fantastic.

These are a couple pieces I've completed recently:

Mindy Barks

Mindy Barks

I've been playing around with different hair styles lately, and it's been pretty fun! I plan to do more sketches that focus on hair styles in the future.

in the beginning.

I started sketching when I was 3-years-old. My dad, when he would get home from work, would sit in his recliner at the end of the day, pull out his sketchbook and start drawing. As a child I would always try to recreate what he drew (which wasn't always the best idea. I found a picture of a nude woman that he had sketched and I recreated that drawing on my grandmother's chalkboard when I was a little kid. That was a phone call my parents were not expecting).

In grade school, I sketched in class so much that it started to become a distraction and my teachers asked my mom to make sure I didn't bring my sketchbook to school. Every morning after that, my mom had to do a backpack check, and I was not too happy about it.

Luckily for me, there was nothing they could do if I wanted to draw on my homework :)

I practiced sketching a lot growing up. I had days where I could sit and draw for hours on end, then there were times when I could go months without opening my sketchbook. I'm the same way today. Even still, I can see my skills improving all the time.

I'm nowhere near what I would consider a "professional" artist to be, but that doesn't matter. It's something that relaxes me and something I enjoy, and it saddens me that so many people decide not to draw, or paint, or even sculpt, because they don't think they're good at it. Practice makes perfect, but even if your aspirations don't include becoming a professional artist, I urge everyone to pick up a pencil and give it a go :)

Photo from The Fresh Hues Blog