Category: Art: Painting

Making of a Monster – Part 2

Welcome back to the second post of my step-by-step in creating the Illustration West 59 call for entries poster for the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles.

Yesterday we ended with the creation of the color comp in Photoshop. Today we dive into beginning the traditional art on paper.

To start with, the line drawing needs to be printed out on the computer so it can be traced down on the final paper. I print such things out in a light color onto 11×14″ layout bond paper. It’s thin, and it takes my inkjet ink nicely. The art needs to be blown up to the final size, which means it gets printed onto two pieces of layout bond and then taped together.

Unfortunately, there are no photos of this next step – using graphite paper I made by rubbing a woodless pencil on a piece of tracing paper, I put that graphite side down onto Arches watercolor block paper, then I tape down the printed layout bond paper on top of it. Then just using a pencil, I trace over my printed drawing to transfer it in graphite to the painting surface. It is printed in a light color so that it’s obvious as to what I have traced with the pencil. Once I pull all that away, there are extra graphite smudges all over the place, which normally I’d carefully erase, but not this time…

This time I decided to trace my pencil lines with ink, then I vigorously erased all the extraneous pencil marks. Why? Because the media this time was going to involve heavy use of gouache paint, which is an opaque watercolor, which means it’s going to cover the lines. If I left it as pencil lines, I wouldn’t be able to see through the paint to bring out the details. Ink lines will show through better, but ultimately will get covered in paint and colored pencils by the time this piece is finished.

 

It’s all about the little people.

 

The next step comes from experience in using the various media that will be employed on this painting. Watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil will all be coming into the mix, and I usually start with things furthest away moving to the foreground. So, next is the application of liquid frisket.

 

 

Liquid frisket is a white milky liquid that is really a liquid rubber. It smells bad, but you apply it to areas that you want to mask off from getting painted. In this case, deep oranges and yellows will be applied to the background, but since I’m working with water soluble paints, I don’t want those to bleed through later when painting the characters. So, liquid frisket is applied right over those elements.

 

 

You need to let the frisket dry, which can take awhile, sometimes up to an hour. Once it does, it dries slightly yellow, and will have a little rubbery tack to it. Don’t worry, once you paint all the exposed layers, the frisket will peel up leaving those areas untouched.

 

Kind of a dramatic angle. “RUN! Run from the giant liquid frisketed monster!!”

Tomorrow we begin to paint the background!

Illustration West 59 wants your submissions! The deadline is October 31st! CLICK HERE!

Categories
Art: Drawings Art: Painting Art: Watercolor Illustrations Monsters Step-By-Step

Making of a Monster – Part 1

Today begins my step-by-step tutorial about the making of my poster for The Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles’ Illustration West 59 call for entries poster. Illustration West 59 is SILA’s 59th annual art competition for professional illustrators and students, for which I am serving as Show Chair. The deadline to enter is only a few short weeks away on October 31. (CLICK HERE for entry details.)

As Show Chair, along with choosing my jury and other various administrative tasks, I was asked to create the poster image this year. While the contest is open to entrants from around the globe, SILA is based in Los Angeles, the hub for movie making. With my penchant for drawing monsters, what better way to promote an LA contest than with a monster movie poster!

 

Painting a happy little monster Bob Ross style!

 

I love old vintage movie posters, and immediately my mind went to the monster movie posters of the 1950s. In looking on the internet at what had come before, it became evident that the ones I most gravitated to were images of huge monsters with people running in abject terror, usually with a couple in the foreground really showing the emotional distress of such citywide intrusions into their lives.

 

 

In picking out my favorites, it dawned on me that most of these great posters were illustrated by the legendary Reynold Brown. Not surprising, I later learned that Reynold had been a professor at Pasadena’s Art Center college where he had been an instructor of one of my judges, famed movie poster artist Drew Struzan! Ah yes, I had chosen to be inspired by the best.

So, to begin with, I sketched a number of thumbnail sketches (little super sketchy drawings just to get some ideas down in a visual way), soon settling on a furry, alien-like octopus breaking through the Los Angeles skyline. Unfortunately, I don’t have my rough rejected ideas to show you, but I CAN show you the drawing I settled on.

 

 

After showing it around, I had gotten some feedback that maybe it should be modernized a little to steer away from it looking too fifties. The only trouble is, there are a LOT of people currently in LA who dress in vintage clothes from the ’40s and ’50s as it is, so I was reluctant. As a way to modernize, I did this sketch changing the man’s clothes, and putting tattoos on the figures. Ultimately, I didn’t care for this approach, preferring to keep it more vintage.

 

 

By the way, I do my planning sketches in Photoshop on the computer. Working on a Cintiq monitor for drawing, I draw in layers which allows for easy changes to the composition while working through it. This is how I start all my traditional paintings – working it out on the computer first.

The next step is to paint a color comprehensive sketch on the computer. This is a great place to work out issues of color, make changes as necessary, and make sure it is all working before going to the trouble of breaking out actual paint and paper. I will print this out, and keep it on my drafting table as a guide while I work on the final traditional art.

 

 

So, come back tomorrow as I show you the first steps of creating this illustration on actual bonafide PAPER! Shocking, isn’t it? Ha!

Categories
Art: Drawings Art: Painting Art: Preliminary Sketches Art: Watercolor Development Art Illustrations Monsters Step-By-Step

Illustration West Deadline OCT 31st!!

Just a little friendly reminder that the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles’ annual Illustration West art competition deadline is coming up quickly! The last day to get your entries in is OCTOBER 31st!

 

 

Why am I reminding you of this? Because this year’s contest is being run by yours truly. As Show Chair of Illustration West 59, I put together an incredible line-up of professionals who are each graciously donating their time to look at your submitted artwork. Illustrators such as Drew Struzan, Mike Mignola, Claire Keane, Kadir Nelson, C.F. Payne, Justin Gerard, Jason Seiler, Abrams Books Editor Charles Kochman, and MAD Magazine Art Director Suzy Hutchinson! The contest has categories strictly for professionals, but also includes some categories in which students may enter.

I’ve also been interviewing my judges. Right now, interviews with Mike Mignola, C.F. Payne, Jason Seiler, and Justin Gerard are up on SILA’s website! Check them out HERE!

All the details about entering can be found by

CLICKING HERE!!!

 

 

NEXT WEEK I’ll be posting each day about the step-by-step creation of the Illustration West 59 poster art! It is a mixture of watercolor, gouache, colored pencil, and just a touch of digital.

 

Categories
Art: Colored Pencil Art: Painting Art: Photoshop Art: Typography Art: Watercolor Illustrations Monsters

Pirate Dog

You know what today is, don’t you? That’s right, it’s everyone’s favorite quasi-holiday “Talk Like a Pirate Day!” Arrrr.

So, of course the ol’ blog must feature a pirate today. And a dog. A pirate dog. A pirate dog munching on a bone. A pirate dog munching on the forearm bone of a human.  Gross.

 

Even the dog talks like a pirate, “Baaaaaark.”
Categories
Animals Art: Drawings Art: Inking Art: Painting Character Designs Random Doodles Sketchbook

Extra! Extra!

A new article came out about me a couple of weeks ago. The folks at Shoutout LA asked me a few questions about my work, my mentors, and life in Los Angeles. So, I obliged them with some answers.

So, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy a little light reading about an illustrator in Los Angeles by…

CLICKING HERE!

 

A selection of images you’ll see in the article. Click on it to see it larger.
Categories
Animals Art: Colored Pencil Art: Drawings Art: Painting Art: Photography Art: Watercolor Chad About Town Illustrations Monsters

Stephen Silver

For no other reason than to wish my buddy Stephen Silver a happy birthday today, I’m posting this over exaggerated, um, flattering portrait I created of him.

Back in April of this year, I heard that illustrator Jason Seiler was going to be interviewing animation character designer Stephen Silver (Kim Possible, Scooby Doo and Guess Who?) for Jason’s podcast Face the Truth, and he was encouraging people to send in caricatures of Silver that would be revealed to him during the interview. Silver and I have worked together several times over the years, so I thought it would be fun to surprise my pal with this slightly extreme portrayal.

 

Wait, didn’t I see this on a wall at the Post Office?!

 

I’m including a photo of Silver with movie poster illustrator Drew Struzan that I took a couple of years ago. This was one photo I used in working out my pencil and watercolor deviation.

 

Stephen Silver with Drew Struzan with a few of Drew’s posters in the background.

 

Oh, and if you seek out the podcast (which you can by CLICKING HERE), this shows up around the one hour-eight minute mark. They were kinder to the drawing than the drawing deserved, mostly by laughing at it, which was its intended purpose.

Categories
Art: Colored Pencil Art: Drawings Art: Painting Art: Watercolor Caricature Character Designs Illustrations

Harry T. Burn – August 18, 1920

On this date in history, the 19th Amendment of the United States Constitution was signed into law 100 years ago in 1920. This was the amendment that granted women the right to vote.

I was recently asked to illustrate an article in Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse Magazine that commemorates this story, which will appear in September’s issue (and who graciously allowed me to post this today on the 100th anniversary of the event). It’s a fascinating tale of a young 23 year-old Harry T. Burn, a Republican member of the Tennessee General Assembly.

 

Harry T. Burn on the steps of the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville in 1920 complete with mama’s letter in his pocket before going in to cast his historic vote. (Click on image to enlarge.)

 

For an amendment to be passed, 36 of the then 48 states had to ratify it. Thirty-five states had done so, but one more was needed. In Tennessee, it was a hot-button issue with passions raging on both sides. It came down to a 48-48 deadlock in the vote, and the young Harry had yet to make his decision.

 

 

Harry had received a letter from his mother urging him to vote in favor of the issue, a letter he kept in his suit coat pocket as he sat there in chambers while all the heated debates raged on. Ultimately he voted to ratify, which was the final approval needed for the amendment to be the law of the land, all thanks to a letter from mama.

The art is a bit of a mixed media endeavor. It is partially traditional with warm gray colored pencil outlines, black ink wash, and then color tinting was added within Photoshop to help give it an old-timey feel.

Categories
Art: Colored Pencil Art: Painting Art: Photoshop Art: Watercolor Caricature Character Designs Illustrations

Lazy Days of Summer

Now that it’s August, we’ve officially reached those hazy, lazy days of summer. It’s the kind of time that is best spent in the shade by a stream with your best buddy. There’s a slight breeze, the sound of bees buzzing nearby, and without a care in the world.

 

 

This original 11×15″ watercolor and colored pencil illustration is for sale. $800, shipping included if in the United States. 

Categories
Animals Art: Animation Art: Colored Pencil Art: Painting Art: Watercolor Disney For Sale Illustrations