Hi Steemians!

My name is Eli Makani Smith, and I am an artist from San Diego, California, in the U.S.

Me, on the right, with my wonderful girlfriend

Steem.what?

While I was traveling around Southeast Asia last year with a couple friends (@codymaui and @jillwirt), we were talking about cryptocurrency, and blockchain tech in general, and they suggested I check out this awesome new thing called Steemit! (Thanks guys!) While I am not an extremely technical person, I have done my research and am very excited about blockchain as a whole, and since I am an artist who is looking to share my craft and connect with people online, this seemed like a great thing for me to check out. So, several months ago, I opened an account. I've been pretty shy about posting until now, so sorry about that! It's probably more my loss than it is yours, but any way, here I am!

And I'm excited to be here! I am looking forward to learning more about all of you lovely Steemians, and also to sharing my creative endeavors with you.

My Background

Before I share some of my artwork, let me tell you a little bit about myself.

I am originally from Hawaii, but moved to the west coast of the United States a decade ago. I attended college in Washington (state), then moved to Sacramento, California in 2013. Eventually, I decided to chase some warmer weather, and moved to San Diego in December 2014.

I have a degree in mathematics, and eventually found a job with an engineering firm, but office work drove me to the edge of insanity, so I finally said "screw it!" and quit my good-paying job to pursue a life doing the one thing that I have always enjoyed: drawing. (I know...it's a complete change in direction...so much for that expensive math degree!)

Art!

And that brings me to the stuff that I'm really excited to share with you...my artwork!

I experiment with different media often, but I mostly stick to drawing. I have done lots of work with graphite pencils. Lately I have been loving ballpoint pens, and other ink. Most recently (like, over the past week or two) I have been playing with alcohol-based markers, which are fun so far!

I will try not to go into too much detail in this post, but here is a general overview of my artistic growth:

Portraits (graphite, pastel, etc.)

About 10 years ago, I began teaching myself how to draw people. At first it was a bit challenging...

But eventually I got a little better...

Over the years I have also dabbled with pastels, and even some collage work...

Side note: This Bob Marley collage portrait is, to this day, one of my personal favorite creations.

Eventually I gravitated towards graphite pencil and ink, and I am generally quite pleased with my progress as a portrait artist...

...but, honestly, I got a little bored.

Ink Doodles

Like I said earlier, I studied math in school. In the classroom, it was always just the thing that made most sense to me...it's how my brain seemed to work. I think that really shows in my earlier artwork. I essentially learned how to copy a photograph onto a piece of paper using a pencil (and some other tools). My friends and family would say, "you're so creative!" and my only thought would be, "I really don't think I am."

And that's why I got bored. The process felt too mechanical, too systematic...I thought it lacked imagination.

So I took a step back and decided to let myself doodle freely for a while...

I must say, it was very liberating! It felt good to just create without worrying about how much my drawings looked like a picture.

Then, about a year or two ago, I discovered some amazing surreal artists on Instagram. Tai Taeoalii (http://www.instagram.com/artbytai) and Shawn Byous (http://www.instagram.com/byousart) are two that come to mind while I write this. Seeing such amazing creativity combined with great technical skills motivated me to reach a little higher with my own work.

Surreal Weirdness

Which led me to discovering a whole new "me".

Inspired by Tai's work, I picked up a ballpoint pen, and began to explore more surreal subject matter, while also applying some of the rendering skill I had acquired after years of drawing people. And OH MY GOD IT'S SO FUN!

I drew some giant bugs...

...and made some "mashups" of living things...

...and then I started aiming to be a little more surreal with it...

Anyway Steemians, I feel like this post is going on too long...

But that's where I am now! I like to illustrate surreal figures, often combining human figures with other animals, or including body parts, like ears or noses, where they shouldn't be. In my point of view, my work seeks a balance between two sides of my mind. My "math brain" likes things to be orderly, and to make sense, while my "creative brain" just wants to have fun, be free, and get weird! So I draw things that satisfy both of them...things that are at the intersection of imagination and sense.

I also love to share my work with others. Whether it makes you smile (I hope it does!) or makes you say "what the fuck is wrong with this guy?!" (or both!)... it brings me so much joy to see/hear/read how people react.

So please, say hi below! If you feel like it, leave a comment to let me know what you like, or don't like, about my work. And if you do like it, I would appreciate some encouraging upvotes or resteems! But I'll love you all the same if you don't do any of that ;)

I can't wait to meet all of you wonderful people! Sorry this dragged on so long...I promise I'll try to keep it more concise and focused in the future.

Until next time... Aloha! 🤙

P.S. You may have noticed that some of my older work was signed as "Smith", while most of the new stuff is signed as "Makani". I promise it's all mine! I just decided that "Smith" is far too ordinary, so for the past 4 years or so I've been signing everything with my middle name.

Links:

I try to be active on these other networks:

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/makanicreative
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/makanicreative
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/makanicreative
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/makanicreative

If you're on any of them, feel free to say hi there too!