CHRISTMAS CARD

Happy Happy Holidays everyone!!! I have lots of things on the horizon for after the holidays so please do stay tuned! Til then, have a happy and safe holiday!

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: ENTANGLED

Just whipped up this render of a sketch that I had posted previously... I think it suits the topic.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: MUSIC

This is a style of illustration that I love to do--simple pen and ink (well, digitally simulated pen and ink anyway). Some of my favorite illustrators of all time have been masters of this media and, strangely, many of them were most prolific during the late 19th and early 20th century. Heirich Kley, A.B. Frost, Charles Dana Gibson, Thomas Nast, Arthur Rackham, John Tenniel... These are all masters of the line and their influence has crept into the very fabric of our popular culture.

This illustration was done to test some of my brush settings in Corel Painter. I am trying to get the look of a hard crowquill nib--one that doesn't give a lot of variation in the line but is still fluid and loose. I yanked this sketch out of the sketchbook and went to work... Anyway, please let me know what you think!

KRISMISS CARD SKETCHES

These are some sketches for this year's Christmas card... I have been struggling with ideas this go-round but still managed the get some pretty good sketches from the sketchbook. I think I am leaning towards the dog and kitty.

I have started working with wet media again. It's been a little bit tough, but I really do like the look of wet media--watercolor and guache being my media of choice for renderings. As I knock this together, I'll be posting some images soon.

SKETCHBOOK DROPPING OF THE WEEK

Just wanted to share the latest bit of insanity from my sketchbook... I am going through an "octopus" phanse right now. They're kinda fun to draw. Anyway, this just struck me as hilarious--of course I am probably the only one who will think so. Still, if I can't amuse myself, what's the use of being an artist?

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: FAST

From the sketchbook... Thought it was perfect. Working on something for Halloween.

BOOYAH...

Back on the blogosphere people after a wee break. I have been getting out the old sketchbook and have been doing a wee bit of drawering here lately. Lot's of pencil work and keeping the chops nice and frosty. I have a few nice gigs coming up--a piece in Highlights magazine and a series of illustrations for ETV for a summer production. Yes, that's right Wavy Davey and I will be back at it--bringing everyone some more historical-themed "visualizations" for everyone. This production deals with SC colonial figure Charles Pinckney. Pinckney was a signatory to the Constitution and a former Governor of South Carolina. It should be a hoot since the colonial period is my favorite period in US history. Anyway, I'll holler when she's set to pop. In the meantime, I apologize for my absence and hope folks will stick around to see what I am up to! Cheers...

FOR LEO: THE KING IN SPACE

A while back Leo and I were playing in his room in a small tent which was serving both as a castle AND as a spaceship. I kept asking why it was a spaceship AND a castle. Without missing a step Leo said, "Because the king is in space Daddy..." Too right. The king IS in space. Never underestimate the imagination of a three-and-a-half year old!

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: TANGO

Just jumping out early on IF this week. Lots going on...

ALIEN ORCHESTRA

Here is another piece for my "Alien Orchestra" series. I love creating characters more than anything. I always have. I just pulled these guys out of the sketchbook and painted them up in Corel Painter.

These are part of a larger portfolio of wok I am hoping to show to children's book publishers. Creating the work is easy... Self promotion. That's the hard part. Stay tuned.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: HOLLOW

Well, the drum is hollow right? This is a taste of a larger portfolio I am working on. Getting ready to make a big push to get my portfolio/website/marketing materials together. I hope to have everything up off the ground by September-ish (my birthday). Anyway, I will post more updates on this effort soon...

This particular piece is part a series I'm calling, "Alien Steam Punk Orchestra" along with a few other alien, steam punk-inspired pieces. These are fun to draw and paint and I can do them all day long (who wants to stop when you're having fun, right?). He started as a pencil sketch which was then imported into Corel Painter where he was finally rendered. I'm going to post more of these lovelies as I get them done. Thanks for looking!

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY:CRAVING

For all the smokers and FORMER smokers out there...

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: ADAPT

BRACE FOR IMPACT! ALL HANDS! This image is a tribute to all the incredibly STUPID things I did as a youngster. I had an old beater of a bike that I took off of any manner of ramps and jumps--most of which went horribly wrong resulting usually in very sore bits "down there." I never tried the wings admittedly, but I thought about it. This piece obviously depicts a much older dude, possibly a shell-shocked former fighter pilot who is feeling an urge to take to the skies once again but is lacking the necessary "vehicle."

DEALING WITH BLOCKAGE

Creative blockage is a real nasty hang. It can eat at you and before you know it, you find yourself completely paralyzed and afraid to put pencil to paper. Well, for those of you who suffer from occasional blockage, here is a great blog entry by Dani Jones from the blog Danidraws.com. There are a list of projects that an illustrator can do to hone his/her chops and create some nice pieces for the portfolio...

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY:CONTAGIOUS

This is too obvious I know... But, what the hell... It's been a busy week.

MORE MOVIE SCREEN PAINTS

Two quick movie scene sketches. A scene from Time Bandits and one from Brazil--two of my favorite Terry Gilliam movies in terms of aesthetics. I love the lighting, the colors, the use of skewed camera angles. Terry Gilliam is a master.

Anyway, I do this from time to time to help me work out some kinks in my rendering abilities. I am pretty confident in my drawing--given that I have had the most practice in that area. Working with color and rendering, however, require me to use a whole different part of my brain. So, every once in a while, I will do this quick color sketches of screen grabs from some of my favorite movies. I try to pick scenes that I like or that present some particular challenge for me. These two were just two very different types of scenes--very different in terms of set-up and color... It's a great learning tool actually.

SUP FOOL

I just though this was funny.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: THEATER

I had this sketch of Cyrano for a while so I thought I would just do a quick color-up for IF.

THE LION AND THE MOUSE

Just finished this last night... It's from Aesop's fable, the Lion and the Mouse. Still working some of the kins out of my style... I am trying some new things and am hoping that something will click! Let me know what you think!

JUST FOR FUN

This was a quickie image I did to show to a prospective client. I wanted to demonstrate that I could handle doing dynamic images of vehicles. It's a little different from what I normally do but it was a fun exercise.

RUMPLESTILTZKIN

This was an image I just completed as part of a series on Grimm's fairy tales... I guess I am going to a little bit of a dark place these days--still working out some issues and trying to find a style that more reflects my personality. Really, the best thing for me is just to keep sketching--keep the pencil on the paper. Some good stuff happens, but not always. It's about patience and persistence. Funny thing though... I almost prefer the illo on the right--the less polished one. It looks more lively and has more character than the one I spent hours on. Fancy that...

GPCP AUCTION PIECE: TRY AGAIN JAMES

Okay, so the first painting idea I had (the take off on the Obama "Hope" image) was a stupid idea so I jettisoned that idea in favor of this one--which I kind of love. This was a sketch that I just sort of blew up on the canvas and then pretty much just loosely roughed out with acrylics. Once I had all the colors blocked in, I went back in with pastels and then added accents. Total working time, about 4-ish hours (including the time for making coffee, talking on the phone and pulling Daily Show and Colbert up on Hulu).

GPCP AUCTION PIECE: DOG

This is going to be a large-ish canvas that I am planning for the GPCP auction benefit. Of course, it's a play on the whole Obama/Shepard Fairey image that was so ubiquitous during the campaign. Iam thinking a bigger canvas--nothing too huge. I basically found a stock image of a dog and did my own little paint-over in Photoshop. It doesn't make me Duchamp or anything but I thought it made for some pretty nice satire.

Anyway, what I plan on doing is to basically create a pasted collage background and then paint over that on canvas... We'll see. Not really sure how it will come out. You never know with these things, you know? They kind of take on a life of their own. Stay tuned!!

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: INSTINCT

I love to eat them birdies. Birdies what I love to eat. Bite they little heads off. Nibble on they tiny feet.

SKETCHBOOK DROPPINGS: NEW STYLE

I have been adapting a style lately that more accurately reflects my personality and how I work. In the past, I have tried so hard to polish my style--to create works that are "gleaming" in their finished appearance. The ironic thing is that those pieces generate nowhere near the positive reaction that my looser, less polished pieces generate. I have shown my portfolio to people, watched them flip past all of the pieces that I was so proud of because of their polished finish only to have them stop at gaze at some sketch. I don't know what that says about me but I think I am going to explore this for awhile.
Here is another piece from my sketchbook...

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: CELEBRATE

Pretty much all I have had time to blog about these days are Illustration Friday topics... I have been busy with work and taking on other projects... It's been hard to stray too far from the work stuff. But I was able to knock together a fun sketch for this topic...

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: TIME

This is another loose color sketch for the Illustration Friday peeps. I don't know what I'm really trying to say here. Maybe nothing. Honestly, some of my sketches lately have seemed a little out there. They're not really anchored in anything except nonsense--which, oddly, I kind of love. I love the organic nature of sketching for fun... I think I need to embrace the nonsense more.

MORE SKETCHES

Some more deposits from the sketchbook. I thought this was a funny sketch. Not really sure why. I just think it's funny...

The other one is a sketch depicting a scene from Rumplestitzken for a series I was planning a year ago on Grimm's Fairy Tales. I never finished it because I don't really think I am saying anything "new" with this image. It's sort of too familiar. I kind of abandoned the whole project due to my inability to stretch... Time permitting, I like the composition though. I might noodle around with it some later...

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: FLAWED

This is my latest entry in Illustration Friday. I noodled this out last night. It's a "flawed" snapping turtle/dog. Of course, the inspiration is definitely Michael Gagne's Insanely Twisted Rabbits.. His character designs are truly twisted and beautiful and look like nothing I've ever seen. Check out his site for more examples of his wonderfully insane art and designs.

I truly need to spend more time sketching. It's so hard when I am staring down the barrel at daily deadlines and other projects, but it's so important to keep those muscles honed and fit. I can really tell when I have been too long away from the sketchbook... My draftsmanship gets very flabby.

TALES FROM THE SKETCHBOOK

Lately, I have been taking a break from work and other stuff to look at old sketches and came across some from a while back when I was thinking about The Jungle Book. I was wanting to create a Shere Kahn design that is less Disney and more "Terry Gilliam." Anyway, I like these tigers a lot. Big cats are a lot of fun.

I posted this on conceptart.org in their critique center and got some amazing feedback... One of the major points was that folks felt that there needed to be more variation in the colors overall--that is, adding more warmer colors, browns, golds, oranges. Others felt like it needed some more atmospheric touches to the background--maybe add some more cooler greens. I even desaturated some areas in the background to provide more of ma feeling of depth. One artist did me the honor of doing a brief "paint-over" on the image to better demonstrate his suggestions. I loved it so much that I tried to recreate the wonderful touches he added--though, of course, I added my own spin.

I attempted to do a "do-over" of this image--basically to flip the axe with the blade down (one critique was that the axe looked a little unnatural posed upright). I also did some revisions to the figure as well. I ultimately felt, however, that this piece was, overall, much stronger. Anyway, I had some printed today and they look amazing. I am pretty pleased with this--although, I see a lot of changes I want to make already. I am most likely going to be doing more pieces on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as time permits. Stay tuned!

Just finished this illustration that I've been picking at since before the holidays. I really do love fantastic art and have long wanted to try to tackle some more challenging subjects... The above image is my depiction of the Green Knight from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I read it many years ago in Medieval Lit class in college and always thought it would make an interesting illustrated text.

Overall, I am pretty happy with the illustration--although I would like to try and re-work the character a little bit. We'll see. Time permitting...