IF- Twirl & my life defining moment!

"Twirl my bubbling, boiling brew!"

2012 Graphite, watercolor and digital paint.

I have hit one of those defining moments in my life. After I graduated last year, I contacted some art representatives and several of my favorite artists to get feedback on my portfolio. They had a lot of good things to say, but also pointed out specific concerns that afterward greatly bothered me. From that point on, I set out to resolve their concerns, and my own.

Which leads us to my new illustration in this post! The last few weeks I've given you a glimpse of my recent experiments, and I feel at this point I now have a process that is quick, easy, fun, organic, and professional (and I feel I resolved everyone's concerns, including my own). I completed this illustration in under a week (3-5 days) so I anticipate starting a new portfolio from scratch with this illustration as my cornerstone.

Just as a matter of business I will be very busy in February. First of all my brother requested that I make a cake topper for his wedding in February...and second of all I am a participant of the 2012 Picture Book Marthon (link). The last time I created a cake topper it took me a month straight, working ONLY on it. The picture book marathon requires that I create a new book idea every day in February, or at least so that I end up with 26. The majority of the entrants are writers, but since I'm an illustrator I just need to create a rough draft of what the cover might look like (introducing the characters, settings, etc), but balancing that, starting a new portfolio, and completing the cake topper...should be interesting.

Private Commission Project!

"Gad B2 commission." 2012.

Graphite drawing and Digital colors.

I'm up against the wire tonight, so I wont say a whole lot about this piece. Basically my client wanted a picture of him and his 3 classmates, watching a nuclear explosion with a B2 flying away. In the seat directly behind them are their new squadron mascots (if anyone was confused.) I really spent alot of time nurturing and finessing the under-sketch as I fully planned to leave it visible (and not paint it out, like I have in past illustrations.) Hope you enjoy it as much as they did.

As a matter of business, you might have noticed with my last few posts, the illustrations have been different. I've been spending a bit of time exploring and trying to pull upon ALL my strengths, instead of ignoring some of them. I think it is safe to say that I have found a solution. The past few posts (minus the private comission) have been quick/ simple illustration tests. I am currently working on a finished portfolio piece, that goes beyond any of them, utilizing ALL my strengths. Make sure to stop by early next week, which is when I hope to have it done. It will be worth your time!

My GREAT day: the horned bunny of DOOM!

The Horned Bunny of DOOM! January 2012

(graphite & vine charcoal underdrawing, digital painting.)

I had such a great day that I wanted to share this fun and silly illustration!

After completing Sherlock Holmes (in my previous post) I immediately wanted to create a Children's illustration using the same underdrawing method. I have also been wanting to try using Vine Charcoal, as opposed to my typical graphite, for the underdrawing! So I created a children's illustration using graphite, vine charcoal and digital paint! It was so easy (which might be helpful if I get the job, I interviewed for today), and it was SO much FUN!

The pencil is great for technical things with defined edges and shading, however the charcoal is so versatile and dynamic it's great for letting things evolve (foliage, brick wall, fur...etc) until it looks RIGHT! The girl was completely preplanned, but the background and the narrative for her surprised look appeared as I started playing with the vine charcoal...this method of slow evolution was especially helpful for the tree trunk, the rabbit's fur, and the stone wall.

The other thing I did for this piece was fall back into my watercolor mindset, of a cool and warm underpainting...of which ended up being my foundation for the rest of the colors. Since I am not one of those artists that can decisively throw down a bold color that magically relates to the others in the composition, almost ALL of my colors are a result of me adding layer after layer of light washes of color.

In the next day or so I will post an illustration I completed as a commission (and was paid quite well for it too.)

IF- Prepared

"Prepared." 2012 Graphite and Digital.

Here is this weeks fun illustration! I barely squeezed it in-between a paid project/commission I am working on. I'm sure I could spend several more days on this illustration, but I need to move on, so I can finish my paid one. I chose to illustrate this weeks topic, "Prepare." As to the subject, I've noticed a huge resurgence of Sherlock Holmes (movies, TV shows, etc), and thought I would take a fun, yet conservative stab. I tried to leave alot of things in this illustration unresolved, yet conclusive (Which are probably the most memorable, and powerful illustrations) and I also filled it with a bunch of fun details, which Holmes world and personality immediately populated the picture with. (As to where his HAT might be...well it is by the the front door of course!)

This past few weeks, this thought crossed my mind: There are countless things that make an illustration mediocre... for me, I'm starting to realize that most my illustrations are SOMETHING out of NOTHING. In other-words create an entire illustration mostly on a funny/profound idea or concept from my head. Though the idea is great, the characters and what surround them are often flat, and lifeless. As a new movement (at least for these fun weekly illustrations) I am going to branch out into the world of either well known characters, or well known stereotypes (people and personalities that come naturally to me, and easy to imbue the drawing with their personality.)

In the past I've been building my illustrations off of a detailed pencil sketch, for this one I tried to not only leave as much of the pencil intact, but to let it do most of the work...IE have the color support it. To be quite honest I'm very pleased with the results.

IF- Grounded

My take on the topic for illustration friday. Completed it in about 5 hours (from start to finish.)

I have alot of projects going on right now and even more coming up in the next few months, but expect at least one illustration a week like this one.