Somewhere, beyond Route 23...

Somewhere, in my memory...
My girl, she stands on concrete land,
and watches the sun set on the Schuylkill.

Before my current set up, I used to live with another pretty blonde lady... Miss Andrea. As usual, my rendition fails to do her justice. She's so much better looking in real life, but I still think the illustration is worthwhile.

(Here's the under-drawing:)
Andrea and I lived together for two years, in two crummy situations. (Literally, there were crumbs everywhere.) In either location, we'd always hide in her locked room like little kids, shushing each other and struggling to hold back giggles when we'd hear the front door slam. I remember we'd often escape for walks through the upscale family neighborhoods of Philadelphia, which have the best tree-lined streets with the most exquisite architecture. We'd make our way to the Schuylkill River trail, where we'd watch the sun cast explosions of color as it set over the pollution riddled horizon.
Andrea is one of the most passionate individuals I know when it comes to her career goals and her trade. She slaves endlessly on projects, creating draft after draft until every last detail is perfected. For her dedication and hard earned skills, I admire and look up to her. I love this girl.
<3

–KLK

The Captain and the Queen

I recently did two portraits... one of of my roommate, and one of myself. I used colored pencil for the majority of the work and added additional coloring and adjustments in Photoshop.

I decided to work in colored pencil for these because I really miss the more tactile elements of image making. (I get all stuffy working solely on the computer.) I think I may utilize this method in future work.
I'm the Captain because I'm crazed, married to my ship, and engaged on an endless quest for vengeance against an animal that acted on instinct in one specific instance. She's the Queen because she's beautiful, has fancy jewels, and is endowed with the ability to effortless attain the adoration of subjects who thenceforth strive to worship, serve, and protect her, simply because.


–KLK

Smile for me daddy

This is Shawn.

Shawn works in a cheese processing plant.

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Shawn is a conscientious employee who takes great pride in getting the job done while upholding health standards better than his childhood nemesis Phillip, who works at a rival cheese processing plant down the road. He enjoys taking care of his truck and talking to pretty women. His favorite pastime is foosball and his favorite musical artist since the 1999 sixth grade Winter Formal has been Nelly.

–KLK

Happy Halloween from Mutant-Kate and Ashley Olsen

Be careful if you find yourself walking through a park on Halloween at midnight! You might run into the fabled Mutant Olsens. Deformed by a freak microwave accident that resulted in the fusing of two sisters as toddlers, (and their subsequent replacement on the show Full House by robots courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Olsen), the creature roams the earth on Halloween looking for Bob Saget. You may not be Bob Saget, but that doesn't mean you're safe! The Mutant Olsens use their freaky vacant four-eyed stare to psychically paralyze anyone who crosses their path... then the beast feasts with both mouths on their victims' brains! Bwah ha ha ha ha!


–KLK

Oh sugah pie, I'd just die for more men in my life!

And by "life" I clearly mean the bottomless pile of unsorted papers and unfinished drawings. In recent months, I've fallen into the tendency to go with what I know and focus almost exclusively on illustrating the female figure. It's usually easier to draw your own gender. But accomplishing a challenge only requires consistent practice.

So the other day, when I had a little bit of time, I went on out and drew some interesting looking men creatures.
...without their permission. Shhh.

–KLK

Shelly belly!

Sheldon Cooper, B.S., M.S., B.A., Ph.D., Sc.D.

I am a huge fan of the show Big Bang Theory on CBS. Theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons, is my absolute favorite. I adore him for his social awkwardness and the rigid structure he needs to uphold in order to successfully perform his daily routine. His personality flaws are endearing and relatable... to me at least.

After my recent (potential) completion of a commission that has taken me way too long, I decided to do a quick little fun piece for myself. In trying to figure out what the heck to draw, I thought "Well, what are things you like?" and Sheldon Cooper is what came to mind.

–KLK

The Vanessa and Lewis Show

The other night I stayed up late and drew a cartoon of my roommate and her fuzzy little boy...

Just like every superhero needs a sidekick, every 6 foot fashionista needs a little dog. They simply go together, and have since the modern revival of a trend that goes back to Victorian and Elizabethan times, when the most posh upper class ladies were always accompanied by their small dogs. I'd say my roommate is pretty posh. Though I'm not sure I'd consider us upper class, we rent in a fancy shmancy neighborhood, and I do believe my lady looks better than a large percentage of the wealthy wives on our block.

–KLK

Little Girl vs. Giant Leak

HOW WAS WORK TODAY?

One of my jobs is at the front desk of a local business, which is located in a high-rise building that is otherwise closed on Sundays. Our business is the only one there that day. One Sunday, when I was all by myself at work, a leak started in our lobby. Over the course of an hour, another leak sprang up, then another, and another, until there was water pouring from every imaginable crevice. Huge pimples of water began growing beneath the thick layer of latex paint on the walls... right next to my desk, and right above the power strips for the stereo, telephone, credit card machine, computer, and printer. It turned out a pipe three floors up had burst. Some Eastern European guys came in to fix it. I suspect they acquired very excellent plumber skills on Russian spy submarine. Needless to say, it was somewhat of a challenge to tend to the tasks I needed to tackle that day, but I did, and managed to crank a little cartoon out as well.

–KLK

Life with Lewis

THIS IS LEWIS.

Lewis is a mysterious creature disguised as a four pound miniature Pomeranian. This four year old fluff is my roommate Vanessa's side-kick, and the source of that little scritch-scratch-scritch-scratch you might hear rushing across my apartment floor. But when you hear him, I challenge you to try and find him. He's nowhere to be seen. Maybe he's off in one of his hiding places, or perhaps on some The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe-esque adventure.

In the past few months my relationship with this little fur ball has grown deeper, and the more I realize about him, the more I realize there's a whole secret world of thought behind that deceivingly cute, innocent face. Mr. Lewis is more like one of the goblins from Labyrinth than he is like Lassie. Just by being his weird self, Lewis is always inspiring me to draw little cartoons.
Here's a few:

There will be endless more to come, I'm sure.

–KLK

A is for Another self project

I came up with the idea for this letter at work the other day when, after completing everything on my task list, I was left with a 45 minute time block to myself. I took the time to doodle in my sketchbook while perusing the company blog.
Here's the original drawing:



–KLK