Tippett Studio Secret Santa Gift Exchange

Every year Tippett Studio has a tradition that is one of the coolest I've ever been a part of. It is called "The Tippett Studio Secret Santa Gift Exchange". I know most of you are saying "We have one of those at our company too." And I'm sure you do... but maybe not like this. Rumor has it the original Tippett Studio Secret Santa Gift Exchange happened decades ago when none of the artists had money but were good at creating art (Not much different today, but you get the point). The idea was spawned that an artist would draw another artist's name out of a hat in the month of October. Then they would CREATE a special gift to be given at the Tippett Studio Holiday Party with out that person finding out who made the gift. Hence being their Secret Santa. This still holds up today. Every year people volunteer to be a part of the exchange in October, draw names and begin probably the most stressful art project of their career. I've been a part of the exchange twice. The bar for the gifts is set so high that I can't possibly do it every year. When someone receives a Starship Troopers maquette that looks like them with bullet casings and dead warrior bugs to boot you suddenly start to wonder if your silly attempt at a goofy pun holds water. The answer is probably no, but it's damn fun to try. And this year I'm doing it. The Holiday Party will be held on December 17th and the count down has begun. I'm not 100% sold on what I'm doing just yet, but I have my person selected (Can't tell you who it is or they might figure out it was me) and my goal is to keep you updated on a weekly basis. This blog has driven me to accomplish a lot of things and I'm hoping it will push me to finish the project I'm planning. Wish me luck and next week I'll, hopefully, have some images to show!

Hiatus

After a nice hiatus from this blog I'm going to be posting again. How regularly is yet to be seen but I do have some things lined up for the rest of the year. To warm things up here are a few sketches I did on my iPad using "Art Studio" while lounging in Mexico with mi familia. Rough life right? These sketches really show how rusty I am and how badly I need to be drawing again. However I tossed aside the fake iPad stylus pen for the good old fashioned finger. It's amazing how sketching that way has a visceral appeal. I just might be doing more sketches this way. Thanks for checking in.