I've been wanting to draw Captain Marvel for some time now and felt this would be a good a time as any!  I wish I would have started recording from the pencil stage, but it was an impromptu drawing and I didn't hit record until I was well into the pencils.  In any event, you can watch  me do the ink and paint on one of the most iconic female superheroes we have today.

In September, I'm going to be tinkering with this Patreon to make it more exclusive. I'm brainstorming some ideas and I hope to implement them soon.

Thanks for being a Patron!  And thank you as always for your continued support.

Len

My first painting of the month and second in the series on bioluminescence is complete!

This painting is called, Thinking About Bioluminescent Research and is 3 feet by 4 feet. It is acrylic on canvas. 

It is dedicated to Dr Siouxsie Wiles. Thank you Siouxsie for the work you do and for being my advisor and muse for this project. You are wonderful.

This painting is a bit more surreal than my last painting on bioluminescence so I will do my best to explain the symbolism. My opinion however is that people should feel free to find their own meaning in art so do take what information you like and add your own interpretations.

First of all, the text on the side reads:

Bioluminescence is being

used in research in

the search for new

antibiotics and cures

for illness. A

virus is a living

organism and 

can be made to 

glow. If the virus dies, it

stops glowing.

If it spreads

it creates more 

of a glow. This

allows researchers

to judge and track 

the effectiveness

of new treatments

and drugs in the

lab. It hopefully

allows for more

humane treatment

of lab mice, as a 

virus can be detected

and treated even 

before symptoms

reveal themselves.

The glow 

will show

first, giving

scientists

a head

start on

turning

off the

lights of

what threatens

us all.

I painted this as a beach scene because bioluminescence was first discovered and understood by studying ocean creatures like in my previous painting subject, The Crystal Jellyfish. When I polled people on my Facebook about what are people's favorite examples of bioluminescence, a large majority mentioned the phenomenon of glowing ocean waves. This is often caused when dinoflagellates are exited and their bioluminescence is displayed. I was happy to include this as a backdrop since I grew up on the beach and it is an image that plays an important role, not only in scientific research but as symbolism for my place in the world.

I spent a long time trying to decide if the beach should be empty or should have  anything on it. I settled on an open empty, untouched beach as a symbol of the unknowns in this research and that of possibility, stretched far out into the future. It can also serve as testimony to the idea that if we do not find new antibiotics, there may indeed be less human life on this earth, therefor less footprints on the beach.  

I chose the white mouse in the foreground to witness the scene because so much depends on mice in laboratories. They are indeed witness to what happens. Personally, I have ethical issues with the idea of animals being used to test things on, but at least this work presents a more humane approach to dealing with our little furry friends and for that I am grateful. The mouse looks upon the flowers that represent a life cycle. The life cycle of the flower parallels the temporary nature of our human existence and that of the mouse and of the bioluminescent research. Everything is temporary. This further emphasizes the rush to find cures to protect that fragility that is life on this planet.

I often paint black birds in the distance as symbols of hope, wisdom, courage and the passage of time. 

The sun is setting in this image. Another emphasis on time running out.

When the lights go off, the waves near the beach glow, as does the flower when it is alive, and the mouse.

My next painting will be about fiery hot peppers and the chemical that makes them burn. A more straightforward and less dreamy piece than this.

Thank you for being my patron and for supporting the arts. I hope you enjoyed this project.

EDIT 3:46 pm: A note for accuracy. Dr Wiles corrected one mistake in my text, she works on bacteria not viruses. The technique using bioluminescence works for viruses too so that's still correct but antibiotics only kill bacteria not viruses. Her research is specifically to find antibiotics to kill bacteria. Thank you Dr Wiles for that correction. I'm always learning. <3

One of my favorite comic strips has returned in full force this past summer!  Opus, Bill the Cat, Steve Dallas, Binkley, Milo and the whole Bloom County crew has returned for daily strips.  I couldn't be more happier! To commemorate this occasion, I did a piece of fan art of the strip.  I owe a lot to Berke Breathed and Bloomy County. The strip was my informal cartooning instructor as I used to redraw panels and full cartoons growing up. My style has been heavily influenced by Mr. Breathed's style and I felt I had to do it.

Enjoy this week's speed drawing and thank you for your continued support!

Len 

Hello Patrons! Here's an original song for you off the new album, Besides. ALSO we are opening for Ben Folds on September 16th in SF so if you wanna come see that you can get tickets here! http://www.axs.com/events/280499/ben-folds-ymusic-tickets

Thank you for making all this craziness possible.

Happy Monday!  This week's speed drawing video is a fun one of a D&D Character - a Dwarf to be more specific. The gentle men sent me his photo and info on his character and I created this piece of art for him.  Are you interested in having me draw your D&D character?  Well then click this link and I'll take care of it for you lickety split.  

Thanks for all your support for August and thanks for your continued support as this Patreon turns ONE YEAR OLD next month!

Len

A big thanks to Harry's for choosing to sponsor science content and allowing me to make a donation to Tasmanian Devil DFTD vaccine research. Consider picking up an awesome Razor. Several of my friends have asked me if it was worth it, and I said yes. Every single one came back to me and agreed after the fact. http://www.harrys.com/  Promo code: SMARTER

Consider donating to research that could save the Tasmanian Devil.

https://www.utasalumni.org.au/devil-appeal

Comment threads on Reddit:

My Instagram account: http://instagram.com/smartereveryday

Patreon Support Link: http://www.patreon.com/smartereveryday

Twitter: https://twitter.com/smartereveryday

www.facebook.com/SmarterEveryDay

Snapchat: "ilikerockets"

A special thank you to:

Greg Woods PhD, ARCPA, FFSc(RCPA)

Professor | Immunology | School of Medicine | University of Tasmania http://www.utas.edu.au/medicine

Principal Research Fellow

Menzies Research Institute Tasmania | University of Tasmania | www.menzies.utas.edu.au

Cesar D. Tovar Lopez | Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Menzies Research Institute Tasmania

Alexandre Kreiss - UTAS

Jocelyn Darby - UTAS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GET SMARTER SECTION:

http://www.tassiedevil.com.au/tasdevil.nsf

It was Labor Day this past Monday in America. A time to be patriotic sort of. In any event, this by request speed drawing of Iron Patriot seemed apropos of the holiday weekend. Enjoy!

BTW, I just returned from Dragoncon this past weekend and had a splendid time! You may want to check out my online store for some original art I did at the Reel Crimes panel featuring Bill Corbett, Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff.

Thank you for your continued support!

Len

Goal: A simple, elegant tour of the Space Station that makes sense to Earth Bound Humans.

Scott reads tweets on the ISS! Tweet him and see if he replies! http://bit.ly/TwtStnTour

Check out his Instagram: http://bit.ly/InstaSPAC ⇊⇊⇊⇊ More info Below ⇊⇊⇊⇊⇊

Please consider following Scott on both Instagram and Twitter. This will probably be NASA's measure of how successful working with Smarter Every Day is.

https://twitter.com/StationCDRKelly

Instagram: http://bit.ly/InstaSPACE

Follow ISS Research while he's on orbit:

https://twitter.com/iss_research

A special thanks to Scott Kelly

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Kelly_%28astronaut%29

Comment thread on Reddit:

Tweet ideas to me @SmarterEveryDay

Awesome video game style Radar animations by:

http://eisenfeuer.com/

See the official NASA Space Station Tour:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/suni_iss_tour.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tweet ideas to me @SmarterEveryDay

Instead of saving for my kids' college, I make videos using the money I would have saved.

The thought is it will help educate the world as a whole, and one day generate enough revenue to pay for their education. Until then if you appreciate what you've learned in this video and the effort that went in to it, please SHARE THE VIDEO!

If you REALLY liked it, feel free to pitch a few dollars towards their college fund by clicking here:

http://bit.ly/KidsCollege

Warm Regards,

Destin

Happy Monday everyone!  I've got a pretty awesome speed drawing from top to bottom for you today.  It's one of my favorite characters - Hellboy!  I've always loved the look of Mike Mignola's character and I've been wanting to draw my own version for quite some time.  I think this turned out pretty great.  If you think so too, let me know in the comments. 

Once again, thank you for your continued support. You guys are awesome!  Please spread the word about this Patreon and help me meet my first milestone goal!

Thanks again!

Len

I am SUPER excited to share this project because I have been silently working on it behind the scenes for some time now and I HATE keeping fun art related secrets! 

As many of you know, there is a big trend in the meditation and self-help communities of adult coloring for relaxation, stress and anxiety reduction. As an artist, I have always looked at my work as a way of helping me focus and escape from the stress of the daily grind but could that same feeling be transferred to the non artist? And why do so many people give up coloring as an adult but self-identified artists carry on? Is coloring just for kids? Why? So when this adult coloring trend started showing itself in my social media feeds and on the shelves at book stores, I got intrigued and I got very much inspired!

The first thing I did was start drawing. 

The trend of adult coloring is an offshoot of the popularity of mindful meditation and often uses mandalas with their round radiating, meditative designs as the basis for relaxing meditative coloring. So I took that theme and gave it a bit of my own twist. 

I drew designs based on science and nature, as I do, and then laid them out in radiating designs that are complex and somewhat circular- though different from mandalas. I also have noted that most people are doing coloring books so I thought it would be fun to add the extra benefit to your relaxing coloring sessions, of actually having a piece of art that you can display after! So my designs are all on poster board that can be framed when you are finished coloring. As of the writing of this post, I have completed five of these adult coloring posters but I have many more in the works and I hope to have them all done in time for the holidays. They really are enjoyable for me to make and I hope that feeling transfers to you as you color. Each of my posters, when purchased from my Etsy shop come with a set of 20 markers so they are seriously a fantastic gift too. I will make a separate Patron Only post that has the 5 current designs that my patrons can download and print on regular paper at home for free (cuz I love you guys) and I will give you guys a coupon code you can use in my Etsy shop if you want to purchase the actual 11"x17" poster art with the markers to color for yourself or or for gifts.

The second thing I did was reach out to an authority on the topic of mental health to find out if there is actually any real benefit to adult coloring. Is it all just hype? 

Lucky for me, I know Dr Megan Press, a brilliant psychiatrist who was willing to help me dig through any existing research and find out the facts behind the hype of coloring for stress relief.

Megan Press is a psychiatrist with the Minneapolis VA medical center where she is the mental health medical director for both their community based outpatient clinics and the primary care - mental health integration team. She is an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota, teaching both medical students and residents. Her professional interests include psychosomatics, ADHD, PTSD, and integrating mental health care into general medical settings.

Here is what Dr Press has to say:

Adult coloring books currently occupy 4 of the top 20 slots on Amazon's 2015 best-seller list. The gift shop down the street from my house has an entire display dedicated to adult coloring books and supplies. I think this is great, a way to encourage "time-outs" for grownups. Taking time out of a busy day to do something fun or relaxing can be difficult. For many of us, we feel pangs of guilt when we are not doing something productive. Setting aside work and responsibilities for a little enjoyment can be an important component in managing stress, and I like the idea that this concept could become trendy.

But many of these books aren't marketing themselves as one of many different ways you can chill out and have a little down time. They are marketing themselves as a kind of therapy or as a treatment for medical conditions. Some claim that coloring induces mindfulness and has the same benefits as meditation. (For the record, mindfulness is a practice that is applied to an activity. It is not "induced" by the activity itself.) Others make no claims, but include testimonials from people who have colored their way to improved health. A quick internet search brings up page after page of articles claiming that coloring helps manage anxiety and improves mental focus. Quite a few of these pages include quotes from doctors which can create an illusion that these claims are backed by medical evidence.

There are very few studies examining the relationship between art and mental health. Even art therapy, a generally accepted practice, has very few randomized controlled trials assessing its benefit, and those are small studies with very few subjects. I was able to find only one study that specifically examined the potential benefits of coloring. There were 3 groups in the trial, and all of the participants were given 20 minutes to color after an "anxiety-inducing event." One group was given a mandala to color; the second group was given a plaid design (of similar complexity to the mandala); and the third was instructed to color on a blank sheet. The first two groups experienced a drop in anxiety after the 20 minutes, but the free-from coloring group did not. Not a bad first study, but certainly not the final word in coloring for mental health. The authors readily admitted that the study had quite a few shortcomings. All of the participants were college students (roughly the same age and educational status), and the majority were Caucasian. Even a large study with this design would not necessarily apply to people with mental health diagnoses. What one person finds soothing could be overwhelming, overstimulating and anxiety-inducing to someone else.

But don't let me rain on your coloring parade! Coloring doesn't have to be a therapy to be worth your time. If you find coloring enjoyable or soothing, it could be a fun part of your overall self-care.

So there you have it! The science just isn't there, but that doesn't mean that you won't enjoy yourself while coloring as you carve out a little bit of peaceful you-time in the  chaos that is life. Coloring can be a potentially joyful, quiet-focus-time that many dedicated artists have enjoyed for years. 

I have attached the PDF of the Mandala study that Dr Press references and I will do another separate Patron only post with all of the five completed coloring pages for you to download. Patrons and non-patrons alike can find the actual posters with the free marker sets in my Etsy shop!

I'll post more adult coloring posters as I complete them and stay tuned for my chemistry of the scent of rose painting also coming soon!

Extra special thanks to Dr Megan Press! There is no way I could have done this or understood all of the research without you. You rule!

Mathematically impossible, in fact!

This week's Speed Drawing is a little bit different.  I was asked by a client to draw a cartoon based on a three word prompt. Apparently, he has asked other artists to draw the same three word prompt and was collecting the art. The three word prompt was Rocket, Baby and Jesus.  This is my take on those three words which reminds me somewhat of a vintage album cover.  Anyway enjoy the process and please share this Patreon with your friends if you are enjoying my work.

Thanks for all your support. You guys are wonderful!

Len

Happy last September Monday everyone!  I've got a special speed drawing to share with you this week.  Recently I was asked by the clothing company The Curated Tee to draw their October design.  For those of you who don't know, The Curated Tee does limited run children's clothing with designs done by various artists.  They asked me a few months ago and I documented the process of drawing it up.  You can watch me create the design and then on October 1, you can actually PURCHASE the design!  Woo-hoo!  Be sure to check it out and if you have little young ones running around, this makes a great Halloween type garment.

Thanks again for your support this month and enjoy this week's Speed Drawing!