I’m not a big app user. There are so many little applications you can have on your portable hand-held computers (I use the iPod Touch variety) that are mostly distractions from living the life that surrounds you. That being said, I was intrigued by a relatively new app and decided to give it a try the other day. The app in question is Character Design Shuffle created by my pal Stephen Silver.
The idea behind the app is to give you the inspiration to create a random character design. The app has several parameters to suggest what type of physical character it is, gender, outfit, action, age, body type, height, etc. Each category rolls by and stops on some crazy combination that you can then go draw. Some of the suggestions are waaaay out there, so it can be a challenge AND be a lot of fun. Mostly it helps get your brain to think in a way that is different from what it is used to.
So, I gave the parameters a spin and it spit out panda, male, athlete, playing foosball, muscular, and intimidating. This is the result…
I might consider subscribing to ESPN if they had interspecies competitive foosball.
Another fun aspect of Silver’s app is that they have a Facebook group (CLICK HERE to see it) where no matter what your skill level, you are encouraged to share your efforts with other users. Pros and amateurs alike have been displaying their inspired creations. Some designs that have been posted will knock your socks off! It is fun to see how this little tool is inspiring some fun drawings.
So, no matter who you are, if you need a little inspiration, check it out and give it a try. Always keep drawing to improve or even develop your skills!
Ten years ago my good friend and composer Nicholas Lawrenceasked me to design a CD for him that was to feature his original compositions inspired by his love for sea life. Titled Aquarium, the concept lent itself to fun graphic possibilities, so I accepted!
I first met Nick when he was just a student in the film music program at the University of Southern California (USC) where some of his professors were Elmer Bernstein, Leonard Rosenman, David Raksin, Jerry Goldsmith and Christopher Young. He and I both attended the same church, and with his interest in composition and my love for film music, we had an instant common ground. Friendship had to ensue.
While I am an illustrator first, it seemed that Nick’s new concept album should be given a stripped-down minimal graphic treatment to the art. He performed his music for the album on electronic instruments in what could be considered a New Age instrumental style. So, using my illustration abilities, the cover art was created completely as a gouache painting just hinting at the variety of sea life the music evoked.
This is the front cover of Nick’s CD called “Aquarium” (in case you couldn’t tell).
For the rest of the album design, I dusted off my old college graphic design training and played around with hand drawn art and digital type composited with Photoshop. Here is a sampling of what the CD itself looked like.
This is the design of Nicholas Lawrence’s actual CD.
If you’d like to see the rest of the album art, and would like to hear Nick’s music, CD Baby is offering the CD for the low price of $4.99 right now. CLICK HERE to listen to free samples and to order your very own copy. This is the only CD art I’ve done for a commercially available item – unique in my artography!
Yesterday I shared with you three concept sketches for an illustration about parasites for the 2013 Jan-Mar issue of Answers Magazine, the quarterly publication of Answers In Genesis. If you guessed that the sketch of the sports fanatic was chosen you would have been correct.
Murphy’s Law dictated that the red sketch had to be chosen because it was the one that had the most detail in it. I love detail because it is fun to look at, but at the same time, I loathe it because it is pretty time consuming to pull off. The art director also loved the detail, but wanted some of that detail changed. Below you can see the first version of the scene again (it is the same as in yesterday’s post), and then the altered version so you can see what changes were made. I drew these in Photoshop on the computer, so breaking parts off and changing them is a little easier to do than if it had been drawn on paper.
This was the first version of the sketch. Notice the food on the table are cookies and chips and soda. Some of the bagged junk food has now changed to more elaborate junk food like pizza, hot dogs, and fried chicken. Apparently parasites don’t care about cholesterol.
Now, the above is still just a concept drawing. While most of the detail is present, this is in no way ready for final art. The next step is to do a final “pencil” drawing to tie down everything as it will look in the final. The art director needs to see the final tight drawing before he can give the approval for the illustrator to move forward into final color. The drawing below is the final drawing, again created on the computer for ease in making any edits to the design. This time they liked it as is.
This is the final drawing created for the magazine’s approval before moving into the color stage.
You can see how the final drawing really hasn’t changed much, but all the details are made clearer – some are even new additions. Once approved, then the toughest part begins – creating the final painting. Many of my illustration colleagues create their final art completely on the computer these days. I have done that now and then, but for the most part I prefer to make a real watercolor painting with colored pencil accents. There is something about the real painting that computers cannot completely replicate – kind of a handmade feel to them. I almost always can tell when a “painting” was done on the computer as opposed to paper or canvas.
That being said, I will create my own personal color composite of the piece on the computer, especially for something as complicated as this. It helps to make those color choices where you can erase and redo. Watercolor on paper is not easily undone.
I don’t usually show the color comp to anyone because it is sloppy. It is just something to aid in my process, and won’t necessarily be precisely followed in the painting. So, here is the rare peek…
My personal color comp. This was where I decided to make the floor wooden. You can see crop lines in there to indicate the printed area of the illustration, but one must ALWAYS paint in a generous “bleed” area around the image in case the client needs to shift it or change the dimensions they originally planned for.
Tomorrow I’ll share with you the final painting along with a couple of “in progress” moments!
Christmas is upon us once again. Many thoughts and prayers have been with the families of Newtown, Connecticut following their unspeakable sorrow this season. When news of that tragedy crackled over the airwaves, I was putting the finishing touches on the painting for my annual Christmas card – a card with the theme of coming to Christ the Savior with a childlike faith.
I pray this Christmas that you will hug your kids a little harder, open a Bible to Luke chapter two, and read to them the reminder of how God the Father sent his only Son as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Whether or not you are religious, let your children hear the reason for why the name of Christ is a part of the name of this holiday we hold dear.
Who is ready for tonight’s final presidential debate? I’ve listened to all the debates thus far and came away with one major observation – both sides have spent much of that airtime attempting to tear down each other without saying much of anything solid about what they can do in the next four years. It has been downright monstrous!
So, in the spirit of the Halloween season, I drew Barak Obama and Mitt Romney as they will likely appear tonight – as raging zombies.
Must….have….American……braaaaaaaains!!!
And for those of you Monster Month fans of the past keeping track at home, this counts as the second monster drawing of the month! Hopefully next year I can return to the “one a day” principle.
For the past three Octobers, I posted a new monster drawing almost daily in what I called “Monster Month”. Here we are in the middle of October, and only one person has asked me where my creatures that go bump in the night are this year. One person.
Well, Mom, it has been an extremely busy year for me working on a new television show, the occasional illustration here and there, and trying to work on a new children’s book. What it boils down to is that there has been a whole lotta art goin’ on that I can’t share on the blog for now, and the monsters I love to draw in my spare time haven’t had room to roam and groan.
That being said, yesterday I got the itch and sketched out this beleaguered beast. It was just one of those things that came out of my stylus without a plan in my head. I began with the mouth, and the rest just fell into place. Background is courtesy of Canson paper, and the art was all done in Photoshop.
It’s a hard-knocked life for him.
So, perhaps I’ll get another monster or two up on the blog before October is over for the fan who asked. The rest of you can take a look at them as well if you’d like.
Last year I did a few character concepts for a potential television program set in New York City. I can’t divulge anything more than that about the project, but I can show you some of the drawings since the producers decided to go in a different direction.
I liked the way these sketches turned out. They were pencil on paper, with a splash of Photoshop color thrown in for good measure. While they all should look like they are living in the same universe with each other, hopefully they portray specific personalities with just their expressions, costumes and body language. That’s always the goal when working on good character design — unless the client wants a series of characters that are cookie cutter to each other. I’ve worked on those kinds of projects, too.
If you’ve already had your shots, enjoy the drawings!
A couple of months ago I discovered a page on Facebook called Humans of New York (also known as HONY). The page features multiple portraits of New Yorkers as seen through the keen eye of photographer Brandon Stanton. With over 300,000 followers, I was a little late to the party.
Brandon does what I like to do – he people watches. I tend to sit in public places and covertly try to capture someone in a sketch. He takes a much bolder approach by asking his subjects to quickly pose for a photo wherever he happens to see them. The result is a fascinating cross-section of humanity sharing the streets of the Big Apple.
One of Brandon’s shots a few weeks ago really snagged the attention of the character designer in me. He got this shot of an old weathered Greek man who, despite having been in this new country he now loves for fifty-two years, still looked as though he was from his homeland.
The whole Old Country immigrant in America thing really struck me when I saw the photo. Not only did this gentleman have a great look, but it triggered the personal remembrance that I am only a few generations away from immigrants in my own family. My great grandparents came here from Europe for a new life, and I have a relative that passed through Ellis Island. Like this gentleman, they held a soft spot for home, but were intensely proud to become Americans.
