C is for Cortez

I'm in love with Cortez!
This is a recently finished commission for Kevin as a gift to his sweetheart Kate.  Cortez is their kitty who likes to hunt earthworms and has a hook tail.  Thank you so much for finding my work guys!  I hope you enjoy little Cortez. :)


360 view of Cortez
This was another experiment at combining different colors.  I really love how the stripes came out.  Adding color like this is tricky, you can't directly melt the wax onto the crayon.  The wax that is on top will just pop off after it's cooled.  To get this coloring done I have to carve a deep channel where I want the new color to be, then pour in the melted wax.  Think if it as inlay work.  So each of Cortez's dark grey stripes are made of deep cuts in the light grey crayon with melted dark grey wax poured into them.  The excess wax is carved off, then the body is shaped.  It's a much longer process, but the effects are well worth it.
His white snout is also made from carving a deep oval shaped hole, then white wax is poured in.  After the white snout is cooled the nose and mouth features are carved into the white wax and the dark grey wax poured in.  I hope that makes sense?  :P



Kate viewing the crayons. Photo courtesy of Kevin Turco.
Thank you guys!  This was such a fun project!

Thank You Veterans!

Today is Veteran's Day in the US.  I'd like to give a big thank you to all the veterans out there as well as the men and women who are serving our country.  I'm very grateful to be an American citizen.  I'm grateful for all the opportunities that I have and I'm grateful to the nation that took my family in and embraced us as one of her own. 


This was a commission I did last year, I feel terrible it took this long to post about it.  This "Sky High" crayon set has to be one of my favorite pieces to date.  It came at the request of Carmen as a "Welcome Home" gift to Manny, a retired Army helicopter pilot.  In her words, "Having him come home meant the world to me as he was medivac-ed out of Afghanistan, alive".  Manny has served for +18 years in the US Army, with the last 8 years in combat.  Thank you for picking me to make such a special gift Carmen!  I wish the two of you many happy years together!


This is my interpretation of Manny's Kiowa helicopter. There was a lot of creative challenges on how to represent such a large object with so many details on such a small surface. I ended up wrapping the helicopter's image around the crayon. You would have to spin the crayon around to see the full image. You can click on the image to see a larger resolution.

Ox & Bull for Jenny

A set of crayons I did for Jenny Hart back in December.  We did a trade and I got a wonderful embroidery of Guy, see previous post.  It's a carving of an ox and bull.


Detail of "Ox" with a flower wreath around her neck.


Detail of "Bull" with a yoke and bell around his neck.

New Works & Crayon Commissions

I have some new works available on my website.  Please go check it out.


I've also received a lot of emails inquiring about the carved crayons.  I do take commissions on crayon carvings, they start at $350USD for single colored crayons and up to $600USD for multicolored crayons with highly complex designs.  The turn around is about one week for 1-3 single colored crayons, this is not including shipping time.  It may take longer depending on what is requested.  I usually work from the Crayola 64 pack and the bright "fruity" colors work best.  I like to have a good face pic and an overall body shot of my subjects for proportion and clothing reference.  I love special or unusual requests, I see them as a good challenge.  Feel free to contact me if you have any inquiries.

Raffle Winner Bellen!

This is Bellen Drake's family portrait, she was one of 2 winners from my Japan charity raffle.  I had a lot of fun doing this.  I would like to thank everyone who participated and helped promote the raffle.  I was amazed we raised so much money!  I hope you like your family portrait Bellen :)

I got quite a few emails about how I did the raffle.  I actually got in some trouble with Paypal for doing it.  I would not recommend doing what I did... It's sad there's really no alternative.  If you're raising funds through Paypal, they require you to be a certified non-profit or you formally represent the organization you're raising funds for.  I was neither, I just wanted to do something and I couldn't think of any other way.  They also strictly prohibit raffles and lotteries... but hey I'm a monkey wrench.  I thought they would let me slide for charity sake, but I was wrong.

Paypal contacted me 2 days after the raffle was over and suspended my account.  They asked me to prove that I was either a non-profit (401C) or a representative of the non-profit.  The alternative was to refund all the money!  I had already wired the money to the Japan Red Cross so a refund is out of the question.  All I could do was email them my wire transfer paperwork and hope they'll accept it.  In the end they restored my account, but gave me a stern warning against doing something like this. 
*warning heard guys!*

A few other artists and friends were not so lucky.  Paypal suspended their account right in the middle of their charity fundraisers.  It was a big nightmare for them!  I'm so sorry I sent them down that path.  If only there was a way to donate directly to a charity via Paypal and have Paypal notify me that someone has donated on my behalf.  Am I making sense???  There's no way to do that now.  I think a lot of good can be done that way... it's almost like a micro-loan situation.  We're more likely to make donations through a friend's request than marathon drives and TV commercials.  Being able to raise funds as an individual gives it a personal touch, it's grassroots and I feel it can really pull a community together.  With that being said I'm not a professional fundraiser and I don't do this a lot. 

Paypal is a wonderful way to do business online.  The only other option is Google Checkout, but they're still relatively new.  I know their policy is just to protect the consumer against scammers and frauds. I think the market is big enough we need a few more alternatives to Paypal.  

If I ever do this again I'll probably sell E-cards (along with the chance to win a set of crayons :P).  It'll have to be a "sales" type exchange instead of "gift".  That just means Paypal takes 3%, but in the scheme of things 3% isn't bad.



Now back to Bellen's crayons!  This is Bellen, she's a photographer in Seattle.  She requested that I carve her with a camera.  I modeled her camera after the Canon 1D & 5D series. 


Charles the father.  I tried to capture his wonderful mustache/goatee thing.  I also really like his shirt.


Eben the son.  He's a soccer player!  I think I've had a lot of practice with soccer players by now :P


Delphi the daughter.  She has a cat that she loves.  This was my first time putting an animal into the mix.  It was a good challenge, I'll do doing more combos like this.

GESCHA's Crayon Politics

I'm so excited about how this project turned out!  I was approached by Matt Senga on behalf of Gescha to create the cover art for his new album "Crayon Politics".  This is Gescha's first solo album and I'm so honored they chose my work.
For more info about Gescha go here:
http://gescha.bandcamp.com/


We wanted to make something simple that would be eye-catching as well.  We went with his name spelled out sitting on chess pieces.  I'm a big fan of the rainbow!
G - sits on the king
E - sits on the pawn
S - sits on the rook
C - sits on the bishop
H - sits on the queen
A - sits on the knight


CD album cover


Vinyl album cover


Back/insert & interior
The black & white image is artist, Christian Faur's work.  He stacks crayons to make an image, each crayon acts like a pixel.


I just wanted to give a great big THANKS to Matt and Geordie!  I hope you guys are as thrilled as I am about this.  Good luck with the new release!  We'll have to grab some beers if I'm ever in Saskatoon Saskatchewan ;)


Check out his lead single "Love Pirate"!

John & Jessica

A recent commission for John & Jessica who got married on May 27th!  Congrats guys, wishing you many happy years!


Another shot from the side.  I really like how the flower in her hair turned out.  The white and grey combo was chosen by John.


The groom's crayon.  He had wonderful long curly hair, but decided to cut it for the wedding.  I was looking forward to making a long haired groom.


The bride's crayon.  This was a wedding gift for Jessica.  John had a hard time sneaking a shot of her in the  dress.  I hope she likes them!  The color turned out very well.  I had to ad lib on what the back of the dress looks like.  We decided to keep her glasses on, it gave her that lovely geek factor. ;)

Bestest Buddy Tom

This was commissioned by Femke as gift to her friend who recently lost her dog Tom.


Click on the picture above to see a larger image.


Tom is missed. Sweet boy.
If you can read Dutch here's Joyce's blog about the crayon and Tome:
http://www.joycevannispen.blogspot.com/

The Ramos Family

So we recently bought a fixer home.  The remodel seemed like a dauntless task but with a good recommendation from a friend we found the BEST contractor ever!  If you're in Seattle and you have a home project, I HIGHLY recommend Ramos Construction. I'll link to his website once it's up. 
I was talking with Jeff last week and he said he went to my website/blog and loved my work.  He wanted a set of family portrait crayons.  I was so excited and honored he liked my work that much.  This is a set of Jeff, his wife (and future baby ^_^) and Thomas the dog.


The Wife:
I wanted to make a bigger belly... it was hard given the limitations of the crayon.  I really like how her curly hair turned out.


Thomas the Dog:
He's a black lab.  I chose grey because the details show better on grey then black.  I also added a collar and tag detail after taking this pic. 


Jeff the Builder:
I like to think this is what Santa Claus would have looked like when he was younger.  Jeff rocks the beard.  I added pupils to his eyes after taking this pic. 

Making Money

I was recently commissioned to carve 10 crayons with 10 different world currency symbols on them. This was my first time working with text.  I was nervous about my lines and angles being off.  I mostly work with very organic shapes.


From left to right:
US Cent in Copper.  I chose this color for the ubiquitous penny.  The cent symbol sits atop a pillar of coins.
Mexican Peso in Scarlet.  Mexico's national colors are red, white and green.  The $Peso symbol also sits on one of The Pillars of Hercules.  It's theorized that the "$" came from the Spanish coat of arms where a ribbon wraps around the pillars.
Indian Rupee in Yellow-Orange.  This is the color of marigolds and saffron dyes.  Whenever I think of India I think of rich, vibrant colors.
Chinese Yuan in Dandelion.  Yellow was China's imperial color and is still associated with wealth and status today.  I used the Chinese word for Yuan instead of the Yuan symbol.  Since both Yen and Yuan uses the same symbol I wanted to differentiate them
Brazilian Real (Reais) in Green-Yellow.  Brazil's national colors are green and which symbolizes the country's lush forests and the country's wealth in gold.  This was the perfect combo of both colors!
US Dollar in Fern.  I chose this for the namesake of our beloved Greenback.
British Pound Sterling in Sky Blue.  Blue is one of 3 national colors in the UK.  I also think of the monarchy when I think of the UK.  Hence royals and blue bloods.  Royal Blue was too dark so I used Sky Blue.
The Euro in Orchid.  This was the hardest color to choose because the EU represents so many countries.  Tyrian purple was the color of wealth and royalty in early Western Civilization.  Modern day Europe comes from those ancient empires so I chose purple.
Japanese Yen in Carnation Pink.  Japan has many symbols, but perhaps one of the most popular one is the Sakura flower.  I chose pink to reflect the many hues of the cherry blossom.
Russian Ruble in White.  Russian Winters are well known around the world!  I think of the snow and blinding whiteouts.  Such harsh weather makes tough people.  The Russian Ruble doesn't have an official symbol yet, so I just used the most popular one.
Although I had a rainbow color scheme planned I also wanted each nation's (EU) color to reflect it's identity. 


A closer look at the Yuan vs. Yen


Peso vs. Dollar
There's a bit of a controversy on who had the $ symbol first.   Here are some of the many theories.  I'm going with the Pillars of Hercules theory and that we adopted it afterward.


One last look :)
Thank you Davis and Louise!  I hope you enjoy the new addition to your collection.

For Ryono

A recent commission for the Ryono family.  It's a surprise gift for Colin Ryono, who recently finished his first graphic novel.  I hope he's not reading this... if so SURPRISE! 



Amy in the Spring of 1990
The figure is based on his main character from the book.  Good luck with everything Colin & Mark!

For Caren

A recently finished crayon for Caren, it's her son playing his guitar. I had a hard time with the guitar and had to make it wrap around his body.  I hope he like it & thanks for the commission Caren :)

The Orr's

My latest commission for the Orr's.  This was my first time working with Razzle Dazzle Rose.  It's a very fluorescent color, almost impossible to photograph well.  I had to do some major color manipulation in Photoshop to tone it down.  The wax was also very soft and got gummy/sticky when heated by my hands.  It's been VERY HOT in Seattle.  Every couple of minutes I had to quench my hands in ice cold water to keep the temp down when I'm carving.  I usually work late nights when it's this hot.


This is my new crayon base.  I like the proportions much better than my old bases.  Before shipping my crayons to their new homes I will usually do a fitting first.  You can see wax residue in the holes.


The bottom is lined with felt, an extra little touch. :)


This is how the crayons are packed for shipping.  They are fitted into "foam coffins" and bubble wrapped then bubble-wrapped coffin is suspended in packing peanuts.  This method has been greatly successful, I've shipped worldwide and none have broken!  *knock on virtual wood*

World Cup 2010!

I was commissioned by Wieden + Kennedy to carve 66 crayons for Nike's promotion of World Cup 2010!  Eleven special recipients received these boxes... I have no idea who got them, but I'm so jealous!  W+K is amazing to work with and the project was a welcomed challenge!  I had 18 days to make around 70 crayons, there was a week I slept 3 hours a night.  Enthusiasm and great communication from the team at W+K really helped my progress.  BIG THANKS TO:
Kelly Wright
Matt Blum (& Wendy)
Krystle Mortimore
Brad Simon
and the WHOLE TEAM!
Also a big thanks to John Jay for having my work in your office!




The clam-shell presentation box.



The contents: the wooden carrier also serves as the crayon's base.


The crayons in their base.


All of the pieces:
The design team at Wieden Kennedy made the box, base and contents.  I made the crayons.  They also chose the colors, it was a metallic/stone theme.  I've never worked with metallics or white before.  I'm a BIG fan of the silver and white crayons now. 
Photos courtesy of Wieden + Kennedy


The 6 figures that are in each box.  In the final version Robinho (far left in Silver) sticks his tongue out slightly and Rooney (Grey) has his arm folded instead of raised above his head.  I wish I could have captured Rooney's signature pose, but it was impossible considering the form of a crayon.


Fabio Cannavaro in Antique Brass from Crayola.  This color was introduced in 1998 in the 120 box set.


Didier Drogba in Copper from Crayola. This color was introduced in 1957 and is Charles Schulz's favorite color from Crayola.


Franck Ribery in Gold from Crayola.  The color was introduced in 1949 in the 48 box set.


Robinho in Silver from Crayola.  This color was introduced with Gold in 1949 in the 48 box set.


Cristiano Ronaldo in White from Crayola. Introduced in the Studio & School 12 box in 1903


Wanye Rooney in Timberwolf from Crayola.  Introduced in 1993 in the Big Box of 96.

Here is Nike's Write the Future World Cup spot.  I love the part where they start printing "Wayne" name bracelets!

http://www.youtube.com/user/nikefootball