Doug Land.

Lego T Shirt

2012-01-07T15:32:00.000-08:00

Ever wanted a quirky shirt? Me neither, but I had the perfect idea for one. In part inspired by my eternal love for Lego products, I had this idea and I ran with it over to zazzle.

You can get the White one here:

White T-Shirt

Or you can purchase the Black on here

Black T-Shirt

We'll see how it does. I only make $1.20 per shirt sold, so I'm just looking to spread the Lego Love.

Lego Frank Lloyd Wright House: Usonian

2011-12-31T18:07:00.000-08:00

Lego has a very cool cad program where you can build and design your very own creation, and when you are done, you can buy the kit! This kit would cost $213.31, that's not going to happen in this recession. but I can enjoy an unlimited amount of Lego with out all the mess.

While nursing a day long hangover, I built a model of a Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian inspired house.

I got the architectural reference plans from this site.

The home is an approx 350 square foot house, with all the amenities of a plastic house. No heat or a/c and nor a washer hook up. But only plastic people can live here, so I don't think they will mind.

Here are some shots from Lego's simulated realistic environments:

Here are the screen shot details so you can see what the inside looks like.

Opps I left the pizza on the counter.

Here you can see the tiny breakfast nook

I think I found a fun new medium.

Separated: Illustration Friday

2011-12-15T12:53:00.000-08:00

My interpretation of I.F's topic of "separated" was this painting of Mu Guai the Happiness Warrior, carring this young lady back home.

If anyone else has ever been lost, or separated from their loved ones, the feeling you get when you are finally rescued is of such great relief.

Wanna buy it? Get it on Etsy for $20!

Free Book

2011-12-15T12:46:00.000-08:00

I wanted to pass the work around that my first eBook is available for download--FREE!!!

Titled "Sketch-ed, a look inside my head"

"Doug Land is a seemingly unknown illustrator with a wonderful sense of personal narration. This short, twenty page book features art from the sketchbooks of Doug Land as he traveled from teenage angst into the toga cloth of college life, and steadily into a nine to five job that ended with a battle from Unemployment. In the book he describes the backdrop for many of the sketches, as they serve as a visual biography for his rich personal history. The book ends as all good books do: with a monkey holding a sword. The book is a free to download and available for sharing, in an attempt to spread his name far and wide."

Now most of you don't have eReaders, worry not--I don't either, but I found that Adobe has a solution

Adobe Digital Editions

Its an easy download for the reader and and even easier download for the book.

My Book

Lulu.com (the publisher) tells me that if the book passes inspection that the book will be available for the Barnes & Noble eStore and the Amazon Kindle.

Let me know what you think!

Sketch Books

2011-12-11T11:16:00.001-08:00

To Whom it may concern:

These are my sketchbooks. Before any of my projects can take concrete shape, they start here, in one of these books

I have always kept a sketch book on me since I was 15. Many of my friends, teachers, co-workers and family members have seen me marking up the paper in some attempt to get the idea out of my head and on to paper.

Once an image makes it to paper I then play and twist and reorder the idea to maximize its greatness. But sometimes a good idea is so awesome that it need no tweaking. In a few days I will be releasing a small paperback Compilation book featuring my favorite sketches. I will post a link once I get the eBook kinks worked out of it.

For now, enjoy the menu tab at the top of the blog marked

"Sketch Book Pages"

Vinyl Vampire

2011-12-06T10:08:00.001-08:00

I think this character could make it into a great stop motion film.

The Vinyl Vampire.

He was once a Pokemon that I bought at a Toys-R-Us for $3 in the clearence bin. I guess he wasn't as Awesome as Bandai would have hoped, but with a little nail polish remover, and some acrylic paint, BAAAM! Vinyl Vampire.

His eyes can undulate!

He has a pocket watch so he's not late for dinner. CHOMP!

And yes he had two carnaries living inthe back or his head. the one canary has brought the other flowers. Aweee.

"dreaming"

Illustration Friday: Vanity

2011-11-21T07:08:00.001-08:00

Some of you might recognize this oldie from the "Elephant in the room" show.

However

This week's I.F. quote for the topic was:

"Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people." ~ Garrison Keillor

I narrowed in on the vain, elephant and fire. A fire from the end of a paper finger.

Enjoy!

2011-11-15T22:12:00.001-08:00

Did you know I have a shop on Etsy? Where you can buy your favorite images VERY CHEAP?!

Recently Listed

"Mu Guai Rescues a Slave and Wanders Across the Plains"

Illustration Friday Topic: Silent

2011-11-11T14:29:00.001-08:00

So I just stumbled upon this blog, Illustration Friday. What Caught my eye, was the number of well established illustrators that were playing on this blog to escape the monotony of their normal work. I guess getting paid to draw pictures for strangers can get mundane. *insert eye roll*

In any case, I wanted to participate in this week's theme, but as usual I have my hands in too many honey pots. And now I'm all sticky. Before the bears eat me let me just say, I had this sketch lying around and I thought it fit well with Illustration Friday's theme: Silent

Enjoy, or not. But remember to tip you waiter, because they are probably a fellow artist or single mom with too many kids.

College: Collected Scraps in the Form of a Goddess

2011-10-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

"work, work, work all you do is work, don't you have any hobbies?"

"yeah, working!"

12"x12" made from the misprints of my collages that I sell in my shop.

Now to just wrap it up and give it to a friend for a belated birthday gift

Mu Guai Happiness Monkey: sketches

2011-10-20T07:38:00.000-07:00

Post production sketches for a new series

Mu Guai: Monkey Warrior of Happiness

2011-10-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

I've been playing with more flat collage style of painting lately and incorporates much spray paint and more vibrant colors than my usual pallet. In lu of this experiment I thought I've revisit a house favorite "Mu Guai".

Mu Guai is a baboon from the Mu family. The Mu are in charge of spreading happiness across the kingdom via the Imperial decree. Now Guai is unique in his family in that he had his eye stolen by a one eyed tiger. In a later story Mu Guai stole the tiger's eye in vengeance. As Mu Guai says "an eye for an eye makes the tiger go blind"

That should give you enough back story to explain the painting.

12" x 18" acrylic and spray paint on Yupo paper.

Enjoy the progress photos

so I woke up early to finish this and I was so determined that I forgot to take progress photos.

Thus explaining the jump in steps. But you get the idea.

Ta-Dah!

Scenes from Cape Cod: Marker Sketches

2011-09-07T18:42:00.000-07:00

Making the best use of my laundry day.

Playing with Cartoons and Paint

2011-09-05T14:31:00.000-07:00

After stalking Natasha Allegri's tumbler page, my old cartoon watching habits were awaken and I began painting very simplistic characters on some of my failed scrap boards.

This one did not come out so well.

Now back to more episodes of Adventure Time

Prototype Prometheus: Munny Skin Suit

2011-08-23T20:41:00.000-07:00

I am by no mean a seamstress, but I do dabble in the sewn art every so often. So when I set out to create a modular Munny pattern that I could turn to to create fast Munny shelf sculptures for the purpose of selling on Etsy with my other works. However I think it was a catastrophic mess, but I tried my best to make something using this overly complicated pattern.

Laid out on the table the pattern pieces looked more like a Joan Miro painting than a Munny

Now how in the world was I supposed to push that through a sewing machine?

Well here is the finished product, in all its badly mashed together parts.

Song of the Cicada

2011-08-18T15:36:00.000-07:00

". . .not too much my dear, we never know if it is poison that we drink" A.W.

Andreas Englund | Portfolio

2011-08-18T08:20:00.000-07:00

I found something very inspiring in his work. You should check him out.

Andreas Englund | Portfolio: Online gallery with the oil paintings of Andreas Englund.

Anna Jude: Elfin Portrait and her kin

2011-08-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

I wanted to paint something that would fit this eerie frame that I found at the Good Will shop up the street.
The frame was a personalized engraved frame of some child named "Anna-Jude who was born in 1981. But there was no photo. The lack of photo got me instantly thinking of what I could put in the frame. And then I found a scrap of board that fit in the frame and VOILA!

My Anna Jude is actually about the birds in the woman's hands. The robins are named "Anna" and "Jude". The woman is their mother and she is complex: beautiful but dark, young but old. Much like a nice port. Perhaps I will name her "Portisha and Kin: Anna and Jude"

Portisha and Kin: Anna and Jude

4x6 Acrylic

Trinkets

2011-08-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

I was playing with a new watercolor technique. I think the sepia one was the most successful, despite making the center flower lip too dark.

Portfolio Complete!

2011-07-28T08:34:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show mostly bright and happy characters with a smattering of my usual dark and semi-realistic action hero's. I need more setting and landscapes for the characters that I have, but all in due time.

Enjoy what I have for now!

Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves

2011-07-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

I was cleaning up my studio and I came across these small watercolor sketches. Most of them are about a size of a post card but the smaller ones are the size of a business card. Enjoy the debauchery.

"Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves"

Portfolio Time

2011-07-18T08:05:00.000-07:00

Tis the season again, where I apply for as many jobs as my AutoFill can sign me up for. I'm looking for something in-house, working on character and set design. I haven't finished all my portfolio boards, but here is a nice sampling of the work that I will be submitting to some of the companies.

Wish me Luck!

Teddy Red: Custom Vinyl Munny

2011-06-05T09:19:00.000-07:00

ROAR! This Project has been a long time comming to completetion. Originally I wante to see If I could create a Munny using only found items. Short of some materials I already owned, Teddy Rex is sucessfully made of found and recycled items.

When I started this project it was a therapeutic time killer as I survived my second winter on the Cape. Aka this was a project to combat cabin fever.

This was pretty much my nightly ritual with Teddy Rex

Now to the Progress Photos

Thanks to Drunken Zebra for the Munny Design Board

I had to cut his tail off to make his butt sit right in the fur costume

How many times do you spot coffee cups in the background?

Josh K. Making out with the early stages of Teddy Rex

Teddy got REAL drunk that night, clearly!

This was my original face design for Teddy Rex. I was misinformed by my internal muse

Then Teddy Sat unfinished on a shelf in my studio for about three months until I was watching Adventure Time on Saturday Morning and I was inspired by a soul sucking demon.

ROAR!

Unexpected boo!

Like it? Feel free to visit Teddy and all his other friends at Etsy.com

Neptune in Fur

2011-05-26T16:53:00.000-07:00

Why is the god of water wearing a fur coat? Because I just wanted to paint a fur coat.

It was the fur coat or the carcass of a dead whale; and whale carcass smell.

Logic achieved!

Oranges: Panel No.3

2011-05-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

This post has been long overdue. Lets just say this last panel was one of the most frustrating paintings that I have had to finish as of recently. Let me give you a breakdown of the amplifying magnitue of frustration on this project.

First, I wanted to make my life hell by painting all the little shavings I saved from cutting the mustache

It was building up pretty fast and reminding me of a J.S. Sargent Painting, and then I began to have my brain infested by snowpeas and baby corn. . .

And after about three weeks of fighting this painting, I scrapped it.

(S)crapped!

After a few days of pouting, I re attacked the picture and the subject, this time making it simpler.

Right about here is where I hit another pot hole. I couldn't get the style of light to match with the previous panels

Eventually I got tired of fighting this piece and started smearing van dyke brown all over the place. And wouldnt you know, IT WORKED!

This panel is still too orange as compared to the previous pieces, but considering it took me 3 days to paint the first and second panel and three weeks to paint the last one, its understandable to say the least, that I lost my original enthusiastic optimism for the series.

Either way, here is the final image of panel No. 3, "The Mustache".

Look forward to my next series of posts: "Wonton Watercolor Waistlines"