Light Fighters – 14×11″ Graphite on Bristol

Prints available here.

Light is a relative term in the world of ‘Light Infantry’.  They live and die by what they carry.  Every ounce is considered.  Every meal, change of socks, and baby wipe a measured dance between comfort, longevity, and necessity.  Mission dictates, but sometimes the mission can change.  The troops on the ground having to make due with what they have, or what can be dropped in for them.

I’m really excited to have this piece finished at last.  It’s been on the back burner for a long time and it was just great to have a little time to continue to explore this series further.

Martinez

Martinez – 10″x8″ Graphite on Bristol

A good friend of mine from the Army has been extremely supportive of my work the past year, picking up prints and generally letting me know how much he appreciates what I’m doing.  Recently he commissioned me to do a few drawings for him from his time overseas, this piece is the first of two that he wants done.

The drawing came together well and gave me an excuse to try laying out scene a full scene within the bounding box instead of floating across the page like in my other military work.  The main reason being I didn’t want the figure to simply fade off into nothing.  I’ve used it effectively in the past but I didn’t want this pose to lose any of its strength by distracting the viewer from the action involved.  Unfortunately the background was washed out almost entirely in this scan, but there is in fact a light hillside in the far background.  If you tilt your monitor up you can just make it out enough to get what I’m talking about!  It would likely show in a print, but those sort of extra light details don’t quite show when on the monitor.

The Route

The Route – Gouache and felt pen on illustration board

I used this map as a sort of personal therapy to let some things out that had been swimming around in my mind for a while. Some things that came out were events and situations I haven’t thought about in years. Some I hadn’t thought about since they happened. I’m sure there is more in there, but I feel less burdened having put this together.