TOUCHING BASES

Just got back from our beach vacation--still wishing I were ON vacation. But, life does go on, no matter how much I'd rather be fishing...

Anyway, my rep got her website updated last week. I think it looks great and I am very happy to be in with such a talented and diverse group of professional artists! Next up is my PictureBook ad which will be an ad in a major childrens' illustrators directory. Hopefully, this will translate into some steady freelance work coming in.

This coming week, I have to play a little catch up. Still working on the childrens book and I also am starting a new sculpture project. Lot's to do! I'll post some progress pics soon!

NEW ILLUSTRATIONS

Here is a work in progress for a new book project I am working on for my mom and dad's publishing company. It's basically about a father and son at the zoo and all of their misadventures... Anyway, this illustration was started in pencil using good ol' pencil and paper. I spent a lot of time trying to get the look of the people right and I am still sort of toying around with some other different looks. I wanted the characters' faces to have a very VERY dynamic look. It's probably a little broad but I can always pull back if I need to.
The process is basically to take a pencil drawing and scan it. Then I bring the image in photoshop and make some adjustments to the contrast. The sketch is just a guide really, I'll keep little of the original sketch. I then bring the sized and adjested sketch into Corel Painter and basically "paint" over it with the painting layer set to MULTIPLY. That way, I can still see the pencil drawing underneath. I can toggle back and forth so that I can actually see the painting without the line work. It looks a little strange at this point becuse I am painting back to front and some elements are sort of just hanging in space waiting to be filled in. Still, I think it's off to a good start.
I want this book to have a very solid, painterly look to it. I am trying very hard to allow myself to work loose and fast while using large brushes. It's easy to zoom WAAAAAY in and work on every minute detail. I think this way, the characters look more alive. Well, anyway... We'll se. I am pleased so far.

HANNIBAL RISING?

More like, HANNIBAL SUCKING.

I just finished watching HANNIBAL RISING and man was I disappointed. I mean, I had read the reviews and I sort of expected that the movie would be weak but GEEZ! This was just sort of pointless.

The great and cool thing about the character of Hannibal Lecter (as portrayed by Anthony Hopkins), what made him the greatest screen villain since George Sanders voiced Shere Khan in THE JUNGLE BOOK was his steely charisma. Not to mention his biting--and somewhat surprising sense of play. Hopkins's scenes in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS are, with due respect to Jodie Foster, why I watch that movie over and over again.

This HANNIBAL RISING however turns Lecter into some Euro-trash sleaze with an indistinct accent and a persistent smirk. I couldn't understand what he was saying half the time either. The supporting characters are equally pointless. It's almost as iff they wandered in from other WWII era movies. This ponderous movie doesn't really provide any new insights into this beloved bad guy. Instead, it feels sort of thrown together. It's just sort of a bleak revenge story.

I always sort of pictured Hannibal Lecter as a priveleged young man in Baltimore. He probably went to private school where he became famously well liked for cooking exotic gourmet meals for the gang at the residence hall.

I don't know... I guess I just had high hopes for this movie.

FUN WITH DADDY

I am currently working on a project for my mom and dad's small publishing company Warbranch Press. It's basically about a father and son's day at the zoo. The really cool part is that we live VERY close to ZOO ATLANTA (sometimes we can actually hear the lions roaring from our house!) and Leo and I have been taking trips to go and do some research. It's been amazing... I'll post some sketches soon. Nothing is really gelling yet but I have some time. I am really wanting this book to look different--to show some growth in my drawing and composition. So far, I am still crutching on old habits--over-drawing and not pushing the design elements very far. Everything is still too "SAFE." This is a great opportunity for me to try some different things.

I'll be able to explain more as I begin to post some drawings but really, what I want is for this whole book to be dynamic--more reflective of the kind of work that inspires me as opposed to what I think people WANT to see. I don't know how successful this attempt will be but I hope to post some preliminary studies soon. As always, stay tuned!

A NEW LEAF

I have decided that I am going to make a firm commitment to post on this blog AT LEAST once a week--hopefully TWICE a week. I have a been slack assed shit these past months and have not really had the energy to write. Well, that's actually not really true. The truth is I haven't felt much like sharing these last few months. We've had sort of a lot of thrown at us and I truthfully have been all too happy to focus on work...

Creatively things are full of promise--well mostly. I just finished a pretty cool sculpting assignment for a toy company out west. It was sort of an audition and I hope I made a good first impression. I got the gig after someone saw some of my work on this blog actually... Hopefully, I'll get some more work from them. Toy design is a lot of fun. I also have the possibility of some more illustration work once my ad goes into the Picture Book Annual for Children's Illustrators. We'll see what happens.

As I hear more and as more things come rolling in, look for more news on this blog...

Cheers y'all!