IMC Day 3

Here I am at the end of day three. I finished the under-painting early afternoon-ish, and started to lay in color after dinner. The upper, darker portion of the painting is way too cool so I made a note to myself to glaze in some sap green tomorrow morning. I refrained from doing so tonight because I didn't want to just keep working and end up doing something really stupid. I can go back to it with fresh eyes tomorrow.

Pretty excited, gotta say! starting to come together, and the parts I'm a little hesitant with--the color of the tree trunks, mostly--I know what to do with.I didn't expect to get quite this far today, so I can't wait to see how it will be at the end of tomorrow. I'm exhausted.

IMC Day 2

Today seemed like such a slow progress day, but I got quite a bit done, now that I'm looking at what I have. Bright and early this morning I mounted my drawing at 8:30 or so. Off and on waiting for it to dry, sanding, putting another layer of matte medium on it. Lather, rinse, repeat.

While I waited in between drying and lectures I worked on a color study, and then felt satisfied enough to start the under-painting. I hadn't originally intended to begin with a brown under-painting for the background--for in the color study I jumped in directly with the blues/greens--however I would love to add some brown undertones and blah blah blah... But, I feel I'm at a safe point to stop for the night and come back in the morning with fresh eyes. Until then...

IMC Day 1

So here's the result from day 1: I had critique at 11 this morning with Scott Fischer, Doug Gregory, Boris Vallejo, and Irene Gallo. They stated this was a solid composition, and the only revisions were to change the angle of the large branch behind her and make it thicker, put the littlest bit of tension on the bow string, and to have the bird (that I added in last night and taped to the piece) oriented so it faced Katniss. Scott put it so aptly that I needed to "flip the bird", and you bet I did! I also fiddled with the halo idea for the hell of it before I decided to return to the dorm.

Spent a healthy 2 hours napping after lunch to make up for the lack of sleep from these past 2 nights. This is an early night as well, putting off mounting the piece for tomorrow. It's going to be a busy week, so I might as well get in a decent night's rest while I still can. More to come tomorrow!

IMC Prologue

So here's what I have for the critique session for this year's Illustration Master Class. I'm not too savvy with digital, so I did what I could with my laptop's trackpad to give an idea of the color scheme. Better than nothing! I have the colors matched with physical paint, so it's all good, planned out, et cetera. I just want to throw out that the model is my student, Emma, who is a big The Hunger Games fan and convinced me to read the series. I like to think this is a good way to thank her and show her how awesome she is! (But all my students are equally awesome, of course.)

Heading out tomorrow morning around 9 a.m. with John. It's going to be a long, but fast week! I will take progress shots of the piece as the week goes by on a daily basis--more or less, depending on how much I get done and how tired/busy I am. Stay tuned!

We Drew a Band

Tamieka: "I'm not sure what to do... I think I'm going to draw a band."
Me: "Wait... draw a band? Not, make--hm, okay, yeah, I'm in on this."

(guitarist drawn by me, drummer drawn by Tamieka, singer drawn by Stephan)

Red Riding Hood

She's done, been done, but I only had a chance to photograph it today.

Lately I've been doing preliminary work for the incoming Illustration Master Class. It's so close! I'll post the drawing, sketches, everything here soon. Once the week begins this coming Saturday it will be fun to see how the painting progresses!

Closing in...

The finish line is fast approaching. Added in a branch to add some depth as a third element to balance things out a bit. Think I'll need to add a little more branch below the current one. Not sure yet... Critique welcome!

She Lives!

These wolves are taking some time, but, they're coming along. Going to be adding in a branch or two or three or however many towards the top. Still much to do, but very much along!

Also, have an exquisite corpse done at the diner tonight :B

IMC First-Fiddlings

So here's the concept I'm running with for this year's IMC assignment. I've chosen to paint Katniss from The Hunger Games, in a tree scouting out the arena. Mulling about the idea of a fiery halo around her head and on the tip of her arrow, but that'll be discussed during the critique session.

Time to collect all the reference I need and start with the better sketch!

By Jove, I think it's done!

With the help of some fine folks at Drawn Today, friends, my brother, and John, I made a few tweaks and can call it done! I lightened the skull, fixed the sausage-fingers, glazed green into the mist and splattered some white into it. Letting it dry, then going to put some retouch varnish on it, and frame it. After taking a final hi-res photo of it, of course.

Relic, Pre-Critique

"Done", as in ready for critique. If anyone has any comments concerning subtle fixes for the piece, I want to hear them!

Totoro

This is what happens when all my students are occupied with their own projects and I'm left with a crayola watercolor set and a pencil. For not having seen the movie in a few years, I don't think I did too bad...?

Almost...

Almost done... Changed the faceted stone to a cabochon beause whoo-boy... Need to glaze in some yellow/red into the bracelets, lighten up the darker half of the skull a smidge, and really work into the stone and make it pop.

Diner Sketch

Sat and drew with John at the diner after a Mother's Day dinner with extended family. Coffee, conversation, scribbles.

Steady as She Goes

Big Bear, Doin' Thangs. Plain finger nails were too bleh. Probably going with green or summat. YEP.

Relic Progress

Good day for painting! Rainy, mellow, watching Firefly... Spent a few hours with this, want to keep painting but 7 hours will suffice. Need to rest the eyes and let the paint dry. Back to it tomorrow!

Reliquary!

Hello! A progress shot of a new small piece I started the other day. Red Riding Hood has not been abandoned, I was out of commission for a month plus after I had surgery back in March. It did a number on my concentration and energy levels... Pain is still present, but it comes and goes, which I'm thankful for!

To get back into the groove of things, I wanted to just do a small piece. This was a board I had laying around that I had used for a collage piece 2 years ago. I gessoed over it and re-purposed the back for this baby. There's something oddly satisfying about recycling old boards for new, more self-relevant pieces rather than have old artwork that will never ever see the light of day stacked away somewhere wasting space. Enjoy!

Red WIP Part Deux

Some more stuff being done, as it should. The reds always take their sweet time drying... That's why it's living in the oven right now! Safely, of course.

New Additions!

Two new zoo foods from today. I'll let you guess what they are ;)

Red Riding Hood WIP

New painting time! Spent about 7 hours today working the underpainting up from the drawing. This subject is actually a rehash of a painting I never completed in 2010, and suffice to say I'm digging this composition much better than how I approached it in college! The same basic elements are there, but the composition has changed drastically.

And yes, another oval piece! This was going to be a vertical rectangular piece, but I decided that the flow would work really nicely on another shape, thus, the oval! I sized it at 16" x 20" to fit a wonderful ornate oval frame I bought a few months ago that's been sitting, staring at me to be used ever since. Can't wait to finish this baby.

Zoo Food!

Alright, to preface this incredibly long post, I currently work as an art teacher in Bridgeport, CT. About a month ago, on of my students, Katherine, burst into my room, arms akimbo, and simply shouted: "APPLE TURTLE!" I asked what possessed her to come up with such a combination, to which she had no idea, but, I knew at that moment it sounded fun and I just had to draw it! That day, I brought that apple turtle to life, and thus began a project I had no idea would become so popular and engaging to my students.



These are the original five: Apple Turtle, Banana Bunny, Pumpkin Lemur, Orange Dog, and Pomegranate Cat. These first five I laminated, because I didn't want them to get damaged (however, the Pomegranate Cat got stuck in the laminating machine and got all wrinkly, go figure).

In these past few weeks, on a daily basis a group of girls have designated themselves the Secretaries of the Zoo Foods and keep a roster of fruits and vegetables and animals to pair them with, while I carry the responsibility of creating them. Every day kids rush over to the little wall above the sink counter to see the new additions, and the wall is filling up so fast, I need to move them to a larger area! See how many there are now!



Some of my students also wanted a hand in the fun, and this is what they created:



So far this is an amazing project, and I want to see this go even further. Expect to see a book dummy featuring these guys sometime soon!

Medusa, Finished!

After a hectic 2 months, Medusa is complete! Enjoy!