Art-trade with Shinya Okayama: The Lost Midnight Garden

"The Lost Midnight Garden"

2015 Watercolor, colored pencil, and digital.

By Mike Blake

Late last year I was browsing Shinya Okayama's Facebook page (link at bottom of post) and commented offhandedly to him how it would be fun to do an art-trade. Shinya is one of my favorite artists, so we have had a few conversations in the past, but this one caught me by surprise. Not only did he like the idea of an art-trade, but he immediately started making plans!

As expected, we were both pretty busy, so hammering out the details took a couple months. In the end we decided to paint something blindly for each other.  Basically we gave vague recommendations, based on some of our favorite paintings/drawings from our each others art, and began to work. I had no clue what he was painting and he had no clue what I was painting... until we received it in the mail.

Several months pass by....

Shinya was the first to finish and ship his painting (from Japan). When I opened it I was very anxious and had my wife, kids and mother in law standing around. He surprised me with a bunch of extras, but I didn't let that distract me. When I came to the painting, I carefully opened the folder it was in. Seeing the painting, I was in shock. It was magical, deep, and beautiful ...not only that it was well crafted and intricately detailed. 

"Cloudy Forest" 雲の森
2015 Watercolor
By Shinya Okayama 

Seeing it for the first time left a lasting impression on me that I will never forget. He created something that surpassed my expectations and his painting will be something I always treasure. (In fact I hung it next to my studio desk so that i could use it for inspiration...I mean enjoyment!) Here is a close-up shot of the ridiculous amount of details:

Well, for various reasons I finished my painting much, much later (thank heavens he was understanding) and after building the package to ship it in,I finally took it to the post office.  As I did, I was filled with a LOT of trepidation...You see...I have never shipped something...so valuable...so FAR (Japan)! Thanfkully after a few tense weeks, Shinya received the painting... undamaged and to show how much he appreciated it, he practically hung it up the same day!  

Photo of my painting watercolor,colored pencil artwork.

Anyway....much, much later... I finished editing it digitally and here is my finished piece (make sure right click and open in new window. It's meant to view large):

"The Lost Midnight Garden"

2015 Watercolor, colored pencil, and digital.

By Mike Blake

Honestly I think I got the better end of the deal, because man he is so detail oriented and does such a great job creating mood, space and narrative. Either way it was an honor to work with Shinya and to actually own one of his paintings (mostly so I can look at the small watercolor brushstrokes and smell the paint...yes it has a small and no I am not weird.) Also to have something my family will enjoy for years to come. Shinya if you are reading this (ahem) THANK YOU! YOU ARE AMAZING!

Btw the painting I did for Shinya, was a follow-up from what I did for Lisa Ferguson, "The Lost Garden".

Anyway go ahead and check out Shinya's other work. I promise it will be worth your time!

Webpage: http://okayamashinya.com/

Deviantart: http://perodog.deviantart.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/shinya.okayama.33

OH and make sure to come back soon. I have a major update coming for my webpage, Facebook, and blog in the works!!!

2014 Christmas Poster

2014 Christmas
Digital, graphite, charcoal.

It's about time for another post, and what better way to do it, then by showing off a new illustration!

This is my annual Christmas poster for my church's holiday party. This year the theme was "Caroling." Caroling made me think of a family shoveling walkways for widows and singing Christmas songs to cheer them up.  Initially I was going to depict an inner city scene (with tall buildings, and cool lighting), but it didn't feel intimate enough...so I drew them in front of  a house. Sketching up my idea, it was approved and I moved forward.

For the Graphic design aspect...I don't usually like showing it, but I was very excited how this year's turned out...so check it out below! Tell me what you think!

Anyway, with the holiday season hitting hard (still not even sure what I am going to get my wife!  Shhhhh don't tell her I said that...), another exciting project starting next week (I'll tell you more about it  later), my wife about to have a baby(Due date was yesterday), and countless other things demanding my time...it might be next year before I post again.   (Or maybe I will surprise myself. We shall see!)  So in the meantime, just in case I don't get around to it...have a good thanksgiving, Christmas, and New years!!!

Bubbling Brew - COMPLETE

In case you were tired of digging through my blog to find all the pages of my Illustrated poem, "Bubbling Brew" I included them TOGETHER!  I hope you enjoyed this project as much as I did.

If you are out of the loop this was my Halloween gift to everyone for 2013, but I kept getting delayed.  It is a relief to finally be done, but in the future I hope to do more stories like this (I even started work on a sequel, but haven't had time to get that far...maybe if enough of you petition, I will make it a priority? haha).  Please have your children read this and leave feedback!

Bubbling Brew - Page 10 (of 10).

Bubbling Brew. Page 10 (of 10).

Bubbling Brew is all done. Phew. I think that this page is my favorite of the whole poem...which is yours?  

You know, in some regard, I am relieved the story is complete, but truthfully I am going to miss drawing the girl and her house. Geez, I love that house!  I will mention in passing that I wrote a sequel to Bubbling Brew, but other projects are taking the center stage for now (such as my webcomic "A Day in the Life"  and a short novel I wrote and need to finish the 2nd draft.) Maybe if enough of you demand, I will start work on the sequel of Bubbling Brew? ^_^

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my illustrated poem. I love short projects like these, and plan to publish more in the future (including rebooting and finishing "Make it Rain").  So keep posted!

Bubbling Brew - Page 9 (of 10).

Bubbling Brew. Page 9 (of 10). 

One more page to go!

Bubbling Brew - Page 8 (of 10).

Bubbling Brew. Page 8 (of 10). 

I think out of all the pictures of the girl, this is my favorite, or at least the one that shows the most personality..and what about that psychedelic explosion? Man I love those colors!

Bubbling Brew - Page 7 (of 10).

Bubbling Brew. Page 7 (of 10). 

I had to re-draw the last 4 pages of the poem 3 times.This page pretty much stayed the same, while  8 and 9 changed drastically. X_x Basically  the original ending artwork I had in mind was too direct and not as satisfying.  So I revamped the ending and the flow of the panels was still jarring the 2nd time.  Finally I took another stab and everything fit together perfectly. I'm glad I took the extra time to get things right! (I can be such a perfectionist sometimes.)

Happy Halloween! ~ Bubbling Brew - Page 6 (of 10).

Bubbling Brew. Page 6 (of 10). 
To read parts 1-5 go here: (http://monisawa.blogspot.com/2013/11/bubbling-brew-page-5-of-10-plus-bonus.html)

Phew. I can't believe that it is already that time of year again. I love Halloween and always get excited when it comes around...but what I am REALLY excited for is finally publishing the rest of my illustrated poem, "Bubbling Brew" YAY!!!

I am sorry that it has taken this long, but the wait is over. Because Halloween is this week, starting from today I will publish a new frame everyday until the poem is COMPLETE!  Then sometime later,  I will post the whole poem put together.

Anyway, so go out and enjoy trick or treating this week! (Trick on you and a TREAT from me!) ^_^

2013 Christmas Poster

Sorry for the lack of updates. For those of you reading and waiting for the rest of "Bubbling Brew", I'M SO SORRY!  I've finished all the graphite drawings,  but haven't had the time to paint them yet. One thing after another came up (Grandfathers funeral, Christmas poster, etc) until I ran out of time (thus is the life of personal projects). And with more Christmas projects, I probably wont be able to finish "Bubbling Brew" until early next year. (NOOOO!) Though, I am excited about the idea of having Halloween in January. Woot! ^_^ I'll keep you guys posted!

Regarding this years Christmas poster, I decided to go with something nostalgic...my family has a tradition to read from the Bible and act out the nativity scene. In fact, we still do it today!  Sometimes we get a bit out of hand, but it helps us remember the reason for Christmas. Hope you enjoy!

Bubbling Brew - Page 5 (of 10). Plus BONUS!

Sorry for the delays...I've had alot of distractions/setbacks this week. I am not finished with the pages yet...I still have 5 more to go, but I thought I would give you a glimpse of the BIG picture (Everything I've completed so far put together.)

Bubbling Brew - Page 4 (of 10)

Whew, moving right along. Almost halfway done!

About this project: This is my Halloween GIFT to everyone. Come back often!  I will continue to publish a part of this story up until October 31st (now November 2nd) !!!

Bubbling Brew - Page 3 (of 10)

Well sorry for the delay on this page. I think the extra time I spent on it was worth it, but ultimately my deadline has been shifted from Halloween to a week from today (Saturday). Keep coming back for updates!!!

About this project: This is my Halloween GIFT to everyone. Come back often!  I will continue to publish a part of this story up until October 31st (now November 2nd) !!!

Bubbling Brew - Page 2 (of 10)

Page2 (of 10)

One of the most complex pages is coming tomorrow...page 3. I spent a bit of yesterday and a little of today working on it...in preparation. Hopefully I will be able to finish it by tomorrow! Wish me luck.

About this project: This is my Halloween GIFT to everyone. Come back often!  I will continue to publish a part of this story up until October 31st!!!

Bubbling Brew - Page 1 (of 10)

Page1 (of 10)

I was working on trying to get a children's novel self-published by Halloween, but when I realized that this wasn't going to happen, I decided to do something else.  This is my Halloween GIFT to everyone!

Come back often!  I will continue to publish a part of this story up until October 31st!!!

MY LITTLE BIG HELPER!

Community Service
2013 Graphite and Digital

Little did his Grandmother and Auntie know how their gifts of a wheelbarrow and an new umbrella would be used the next day! My oldest son (3 Years old) and I went to help at a community center today and our job was to move mulch in order to fill in the areas that needed it...and of course it rained....and RAINED! But he trucked through it and was a BIG help!  I have some great kids.

So...my big focus on this illustration was to push DEPTH. Not just with value, but in structural build-up of the composition.  Tell me what you think.

Oh and I'm sorry for the lack of posts...my absence is because I've actually been working on writing a chapter book. I finished the first draft this week and look forward to editing and gearing up to do the illustrations.  Yay!

IF - ROBOT

"Illustration Friday - ROBOT"
2013. Graphite and Digital.

Well you might have wondered why I haven't posted for awhile. Just as I was about to give 100% to the class I signed up for I got offered a large freelance job with a short turn-a-round time.   At this point I am in the eye of the storm; in the next few days I will receive my sketches back from the publisher and I will plunge back into chaos!

I can't say much about the project, since I am bound by contract, but the book has pushed me beyond my limits and into new horizons!  I am grateful for the opportunity afforded me.

Since I CAN'T show you anything regarding the project, and I DON'T want to show my half-baked experiments I thought I would throw something nice together.  I wish I could've spent MORE time on it (things still need tightened up), but I have other priorities…FE: getting ready to finish 11 illustrations in 3 weeks or less! So I hope you like my contribution to Illustration Friday's topic, "ROBOT." 

SVS Online Class: Assignment - 0

“It was a bright sunny morning as Koki left for school but today he thought he would take a different path...what he didn’t realize...”

So I'm starting a 5-week online illustration class next week (details on the class here: School of Visual Storytelling).  The above picture is a pre assignment for the FULL class, which the LITE class is welcome to participate, (It's just they wont have teacher interaction or the online classroom experience. FYI: I am taking the lite). They gave everyone a short phrase (The caption under the pic above) and some instructions (see bottom of this post) and we were told to illustrate it...

Tell me what you think based on the details of the assignment!

Anyway, I will try to keep you up to date on the projects and  progress I make in this class, but if I have to make a choice between spending time on an assignment or making a blog post...I will always pick DOING ART! ^_^


ASSIGNMENT- 0 DETAILS:
Please illustrate the following line of text:
“It was a bright sunny morning as Koki left for school but today he thought he would take a different path...what he didn’t realize...”

Instructions:
Interpretation: This is your chance to develop a character, environment, and supporting details.
Medium: pencil/digital - indicate value with pencil shading
size: 8.5” x 11” wide or tall (your choice)
Include: 25 identifiable objects in your illustration
Emphasis: main character and idea
Creativity: have fun with it - don’t be afraid of crazy ideas

For the fishes, and a new PROCESS post!

"For the Fishes"
2013 Digital and Graphite.

So alot has happened since I last posted. Sorry bout the lack of posts. I can say confidently that it is not due to lack of content. As you can see above I've made alot of breakthroughs, not to mention I got a promotion at work, attended Spectrum Live 2, and watched "Up on Poppy Hill" directed by Hayao Miyaki's son (Goro Miyazaki)....so Yah. I've just been extra busy and slowly adjusting to my new illustration time starting at 3am.

So out of everything I could talk about, it is going to be on the NEW process I developed for the illustration above.

New Illustration Process:

To start off I want to mention briefly that Spectrum Live 2 was just as spectacular as last year. In fact I actually enjoyed it more because I knew what to expect and found myself talking "Shop" with everyone about everything. From inking, to type of paints, to helpful tidbits for Sculpey...I could go on.

  Now this actually leads to the new process. As you can imagine I talked to alot of illustrators at Spectrum, ironically the one tidbit that  I havn't been able to get off my mind is from last year. Master illustrator Scott Gustafson was there and I spent a considerable amount of time looking over his original drawings and paintings. While looking I asked many questions which one eventually led him to say, "I spent years and years fussing over value, and wasting time building it up, but recenlty I've learned to just punch it in" (Of course I'm paraphrasing).  

I've looked back on that conversation during MANY drawings and illustrations wishing I could counter his statement with, "Well that's because you've had years and years of experience. Illustrators like me can't just THROW the value in. I HAVE to do everything gradually...slowly bulidng up to my final line, or color, shape, value, etc. "  At this point, I can see experience helps, but it also ALOT about confidence. Just make the decision and boldly throw value in...

 Long story short, this realization resulted in the below process.

(Click on images to see large)

Conceptually sketch using the two colors above to slowly "clear the fog"

Utilizing shapes and lines, go back and forth building structure

Punch in the DARKS.

PUnch in the lights.

Add color to the highlights

Brighten and add color to the shadows (layer set on Soft LIght)

Birghten composition to get rid of all black.

Resutrate composition with local color.

Add highlights (layer set on overlay)

Do everything and anything to make the composition work and come together.

Illustration Friday founder says, "Farewell."

"Thank you and Good Luck Penelope!"
2013 Graphite and Digital.

Upon hearing the sad news that the Founder of Illustration Friday has decided to move on(see official announcement on IF's blog), I felt inspired to create a proper "Farewell" for Penelope Dullaghan.

You see Illustration Friday has been a stage which I've performed on for many years. The large audience, weekly topics, and strict deadlines were critical on many occasions, inspiring me to create when I wouldn't have otherwise. Aside from discovering countless amazing artists through I.F., the feedback I received from fellow illustrators gave a solid foundation for me to stand on when I first started out.  I can't thank the founder enough for creating and managing an amazing tool for as many years as she has.

I'm sure you would like to know that I.F. is not ending, Penelope is passing the torch onto another, I just hope that it keeps the same vitality, enthusiasm and support as it has for years before.

I wish I had time to color and finish the illustration above, but honestly I shouldn't have spent the time doing it in the first place! ^_^  ANyway, I have alot of great projects just over the horizon, so make sure to come back often!

Poster and IPOD paintings (massive post)

MTC Poster. 2013
Graphite and Digital.

Sorry its been so long, but I've busy working on my NEW house! (see before and after Videos here.)  

Despite spending all of my time at home remodeling, I crammed as much art as I could everywhere else using my pocket sketchbook, and playing with colors on my ipod touch (more on that in a minute.) I've learned a lot that way, and it has given me time to reflect and focus on what matters most with my art (FE: no more distractions). I've also spent a lot of time planning and preparing for a large project that will consume most of this year. Still have a lot to go before I publicly announce it, but I am very excited. I havn't quite finished remodeling, but the end is very near.

On a funny note, since it HAS been two months without my computer, and without photoshop, I had a mild mountain to re-climb trying to remember some of the finer points of my digital techniques. It was surprising the things I forgot…but fortunately I regained enough to beat a deadline (the poster above.)

Detail of MTC poster. 
(click on the picture...to enlarge.)

So as a bonus I wanted to include some of my IPOD paintings:

They are purely exploration, and fun. Sometimes from observation, sometimes contrived, & sometimes really random whims.

FYI: I use the program called SkethBook Mobile Version 2.7.1 (By AutoDesk).

As I mentioned earlier,  since I've been busy at home remodeling, I do art when I can.  The best time is when carpooling to and from work everyday. I was fortunate to have it where I never drive, and that means I get to paint whenever I want!  For example if traffic is really bad, instead of getting stressed about wasted time, I  paint! (Thanks Craig!)

Since I started these paintings I've noticed a huge improvement in my color theory. I've also found myself singling colors out in nature and falling in love with them and the relationship they have with colors around them.  This used to happen occasionally, but now it happens all of the time. Overall I am far more confident than I used to be, though I still feel like I know absolutely nothing. Sigh....

Now on to the PAINTINGS:   

FYI:They are in no particular order, and are only a selection from over 100 IPOD paintings I've made since Nov2012.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, what did you think?  I also hope you enjoyed my MASSIVE post today! haha ^_^