Jeremy Wilson's Studio

Heresy!

2012-01-25T12:51:00.000-08:00

Here is an image of my latest painting, "Heresy!". I wanted to not only get it up here but to give a shout-out to Marcus J. Ranum. Follow the link in his name to his Deviant art page where I found his portfolio. He does stock photography but does a much better job than the standard figure rotation. He has knights riding on horses and ninjas jumping through the air, yeah no joke, check him out. If you intend on using an image just take a look at his rules, you pretty much have free reign to use them for artistic purposes but take a look anyway.

From May 18th-20th I will be in Kansas City, MO at Spectrum Live! If your attending or in the area come check out my booth. Will have new work to check out! Link here or on the .gif on the top right of this page.

From the Easel: "Mr. Bait and Tackle"

2011-11-19T10:54:00.001-08:00

Working hard after IlluxCon 4! Did this quick painting to have a little fun and for the avatars and headers for my site, etc. Keeping it fresh...
"Mr. Bait and Tackle" 12" X 16", Oil on linen on panel, 2011

From the Easel: Old Crow's hat of crows

2011-10-21T12:07:00.001-07:00

Here is a digital painting I did in preparation for Halloween!

In the process of getting prints designed for IlluxCon 4! Excited?
"Old Crow's hat of crows", digital, 2011

From the Easel: Pig Man

2011-10-12T14:51:00.000-07:00

Something fast and dirty. Started it as a sketch on my laptop on a bumpy plane ride...with the trackpad! That's pretty hard, needless to say I didn't get very far.

Just having fun here, learning more and more about how to achieve what I want in Painter 11.

Pig Man, 2011, Digital

From the Easel: Eowny and Witch King/Teeth

2011-09-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

I am working fervently (currently around 12+ hours in) on a digital scan of my latest painting. The man who scanned it for me does a great job putting it together as it was in 6 different scans! However the "light" from the scanner and the texture of the panel came through as lots and lots...and lots of little light blemishes. I took a quick photo of the painting as well, trying to avoid the large amount of time it would take and the possibility that the scanned image wont be salvageable. However the detail from the scan is just too great to pass up, the photo didn't even come close. I will do before and after pictures once I am done.

This image was done for the Eowyn v.s the WitchKing challenge over on ArtOrder, by Jon Schindehette. I had the idea to make the arms of the WK tangible unlike many of the classic images of him. I also wanted to show a more brutal, realistic moment, figuring most participants would do the posing right before battle with shield raised, etc. I wanted to show that Eowyn was downed and the WK however inhuman retained the qualities of a human (being that he once was), and after a "mere woman" defeats his "steed" and dismounts him, he opts for a bare-handed strangling kill. Eowyn's salvation is the half-buried sword she is straining for. My initial inspiration and first thought of composition was to make the capes and drapery take over and create the movement for the composition.

So, in retrospect I still think my concept was good, if I had the chance to do it all over I would stick with this idea. I would definitely change my composition though!

Here is a quick and dirty oil sketch I did in preparation, although this is slightly cropped in
In the end, I made the composition vertical and changed quite a few things after painting them.Eowyn and the Witch King, 24" X 30" Oil on Linen, 2011

And here as extra is a digital sketch done in Painter that I have been using as my avatar on all my online galleries!
Teeth, 8.5" X 11", Digital, 2011

From the Easel: Destruction

2011-09-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the gap in posts, the power outage threw me off with my scheduling and the blog kind of fell to the way side.
Just a quick post here with an image I did for an art test for a company. I didn't have solid reference for most things in this but still thought it hit the mark. Did look heavily at Cloverfield though!
"Destruction" 12"X24", Oil on Linen, 2011

Outside the Studio: Charity Landscape Donation

2011-08-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

So this actually goes back a few weeks, but a friend of mine's 3 year old daughter, Allyson Love Faithful, was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma Cancer. You can find more information on Allies for Ally. The main event to raise money for her was a golf tournament held in Williamsburg, VA at the Kisciack Golf Club. They raised a lot of money from the event and even held a raffle and a silent auction. I wanted to donate something so I went to Yorktown Beach, dug my toes and my french easel into the sand and did a landscape painting. So after the first day I left with a good compositional start and a pretty good sun burn (yeah I painted shirtless)! I went back to get a picture of my composition since the tournament was coming up soon and I couldn't make it back before the deadline.
A shot of one of the piers running out from the Yorktown beach.

I got my photo and finished the rest in the studio!
Copyright Jeremy Wilson Art 2011
One of the many pages of gestures.

I will go ahead and add this image from the figure drawing class at The Art Department this week.

Horror movie recommendation: Bloody Reunion or the weird alternate title of "To Sir with Love".

From the Easel: "Corruption"

2011-08-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

What started as a sketch, became one of the largest painting I have ever done. The idea was to personify the term or concept of "Corruption", in the sense of decay.

To start I knew I wanted smog/smoke emitting from the head so for my reference photos I covered my hair. I took many shots to get this right and as you can see I lassoed and pieced together from a few photos to get the overall reference. I even digitally painted in a few of the main items of decoration (yes that Iron man-esque power core on my chest is digitally painted on). The painting I did right before this one; "Angel" sure taught me a lesson on reference photos (see post on "Angel").

Went into a wash stage with turps then went ahead into the paint. The painting has some odd fractional sizing to it so I have just listed it as 30" X 40"
"Corruption" Oil on Linen 30" X 40" 2011

Outside the Studio: Welcome to RVA!

2011-08-19T11:17:00.000-07:00

So if you and I are official friends on Facebook (Profile), you may know that I recently moved with Emily to Richmond, VA. I am still commuting to Williamsburg for work, but at 3 days a week, I am putting myself into the mindset that being further from work on my days off is a good thing:)

So a new change, better organization (A.K.A keep up with blog posts and the like...). Richmond is a more "cultured" city than WB, and we actually live about 4 blocks north of Broad St. which holds Richmond's "Arts District". A view from the window

The new studio, don't mind the mess, I opted to start painting this week instead of cleaning up! Around the top of the wall, my new collection of Jon Foster and Phil Hale framed comic books!

I had also known that there was a The Art Department branch in Richmond, but upon finding the RVA branch director, Sterling Hundley, on Facebook I not only know where it actually is, but I will be attending their life drawing open studio every other week! Here are some examples. Probably the easiest to look at and the least embarrassing to put up.
Did I upload a page of scribbles? Why yes, yes I did. A page of 30 second gestures/scribbles.

It has been a while since I drew from life this way, but it was good to loosen up and do gestures. In school gestures were not my strong suit, I used them only as a means to loosen up for the long pose. Now I am looking to get as much information possible to describe whats there as an end to itself, and to help loosen me up when sketching at home. There will be more to come in future about RVA!

On another note, for horror movie fans, I recommend Sheitan. Vincent Cassel stars as an intensely weird Sheppard.

From the Easel: "Angel"

2011-08-14T12:01:00.000-07:00

This painting was really the first successful painting I did after attending IlluxCon 3. It took me a pretty long time to complete, I was really focusing on taking into account all the advice I was given at IlluxCon. Most parts of the painting were totally repainted many times.

Another large time sucker was my reference photos. The main reference photo. Yes, it was meant to be crooked...
At the time I thought I had good reference to work from, oh how I was wrong! At one time I think I had 5-6 different shots of different parts of the body and angles to piece together! Not that having that many different views to work from is a bad method, the knowledge of how the anatomy and forms work at different angles is knowledge to help the work. However, trying to find the pose in between the two and put it all together really sucked up time and confused my drawing (most time both with paint and initially was spent correcting drawing).

"Angel" Oil on Panel, 24" X 36" 2011
The final painting above. Very, VERY difficult to photograph and very time consuming to edit, but absolutely worth it!

Insidious

2011-04-06T14:17:00.000-07:00

To take a break from painting and to post something "inspirational", on a movie seen only on a whim. Insidious. Only knowing the movie poster and the promoted "hands" that were involved (Saw, Paranormal Activity), this movie directed by James Wan was pretty good!
Insidious Alternative poster
Sure there were cheesy parts and cliche parts, but overall the movie was interesting and had alot of great film shots (Also had probably my favorite opening credits). So many shots in fact that I am going to buy the DVD, if only to get those snapshots!
A few of the only shots I could find online. Love the last one! what a face! All images are copyright Film District 2011

I won't give away the premise, instead I will direct you to a few sites. These sites are affiliated with the film and are viral marketing, which I found after seeing the movie. Truth be told, I found Valerie's blog to be extremely creepy towards the end of it and while not lending wholly to the plot in the movie, it does contain alot of the same themes.

Valerie's blog, Voice from the Further. The blog follows her investigations and personal haunting experiences, which all contain the same "characters" and themes as the film. Sure, alot of it is cheesy, but I thought the tweets, emails and phone calls, that "don't exsist" were a good touch in our modern times, and honestly gave me a chill, ESPECIALLY the last 4 or so posts!

Spectral Sightings. This blog was set up as the "official" site of the Spectral Sightings company, and their "portfolio".

Insidious. This is the official movie site, from here you can find the blog of Spectral Sightings and, Voice from the Further.

Is this all very Hollywood? Yes. Is this all exploiting the modern technology our generation uses in an effort to make money? Hell yes. Is it enjoyable? I think so, it is definitely fun to immerse myself into this horror world that they have created!

One final note to those who have seen Saw, or either/both the Paranormal Activities. Be on the lookout for props used in those movies. Eg;
First scene with husband in classroom at the school. Bottom left of the chalkboard behind him, there's a little chalk cartoon of...
Enjoy!

IlluxCon, Day III

2011-03-08T16:21:00.000-08:00

At the early time of noon, on Saturday, I arrived in the auditorium next to where the main show was to see a lecture on "The Business of Freelance" with Donato Giancola as the moderator. Although Donato did start topics, the lecture was more like being a fly on the wall as 5 artists talked with one another on said topics. It was great, the amount of personal experiences and anecdotes was high and the "lecture" itself was incredibly entertaining!
The panel included;
Donato Giancola (moderator), Greg Hildebrandt, Jean Scrocco (Long-time agent, wife of Greg Hildebrandt), Michael Whelan, and John Jude Palencar.
The topics ranged from current business, to the personal paths each artist had taken (abreviated for briefness). The best part about being able to listen to them discuss each topic, was that they were not afraid to disagree, and it created a great, humerous banter when the topics turned into discussions.

After the lecture, I went around the main show again, this time making stops to purchase small things from a few artists (more on what I bouhgt in the last IlluxCon posting). I stopped by David Palumbo's table and got a great critique, as well as watching the progression of a painting at his table. While getting a critique from David, another guy stopped by chiming in now and again. After thanking David I started talking to this man, who turned out to be Mike Vaillancourt of Cthulhu Tech!Photo of only one portion of the main showing room! Taken from IlluxCon (Facebook).

Around 6pm I went across the street to have a portfolio review with Jon Schindehette(of Dungeons and Dragons),who gave me a great review and alot of direction for the future within his critique.Jon Schindehette reviewing a portfolio. This is not my review and this was the only photo of a review I could find on IlluxCon (Facebook).

Later that night there was to be a live artist jam across the street with Mark Zug's band, and an awards ceremony. Unfortunately I was so tired that I opted out of that and went back to the hotel to eat and drink in the hotel bar. I was second-guessing myself while eating a steak when a couple that I had seen a few times that weekend sat down at the bar for a drink. We began talking and I exchanged portfolios to look at with the husband; Jeff Himmelman. After talking for a bit it turned out that his wife Caroline (whom, even though not an artist, sure knows a hell of a lot about it!), was the daughter of a woman I went to college with!
Another couple then came and sat at the bar and they all began talking about doing the "podcast" and where to record it. The other couple was Anna Mohrbacher and Peter Mohrbacher, and the four of them were the creators of the W.I.P Podcast that some of you may know!
I asked if I could sit in, thinking I was going to listen in the corner, but to my surprise, they included me in the podcast itself! This experience was probably one of the craziest (in a good way) things that happened that weekend. Including myself and the original podcast members, the show included at different times; Christopher Burdett of ChristopherBurdett.blogspot.com. Aaron Miller, Marc Scheff, Drew Baker, and Dan Dos Santos. The interview with Dan Dos Santos was split off to the next episode.

The podcast about IlluxCon can be found here: Wip Podcast episode 20, IlluxCon (play button bottom left of image).
The podcast with Dan Dos Santos' interview can be found here: Wip Podcast episode 21

After the podcast everyone just milled around the bar/club. Got a great impromptu portfolio with Jeremy Jarvis (Magic the Gathering) after interrupting him from his beer. Thanks to Mark Scheff for the encouragement and to Jeremy for the review!

Next IlluxCon to follow is the last day of IlluxCon 3!

IlluxCon, Day II

2011-02-26T10:41:00.000-08:00

A bright, sunny and slightly windy Friday in Altoona, Pa was the scene for the second day of IlluxCon 3. The convention staff reserved certain auditorium rooms in one of the Penn buildings (Penn has a branch in Altoona?) for lectures from some of the artists attending the show. Talking with people afterwards all of the lectures got great "reviews", but unfortunately I could not attend all of them. I went to Todd Lockwood's lecture, The art of Composition first. Of course it was a great talk, Lockwood and all the artists were entertaining as well as informative. Lockwood took us through his illustrations over the years, and through his many illustrations of Drizzit, analyzing the intentions of each piece and how it's composition lended itself to, for example, a book cover. Staying in the same seat, Donatao Giancola took the podium for, Abstraction in Realism. Very interesting talk, where Donato showed through many of his works over the years, how abstract art influenced base compositions "unconsciously". The way he started working out compositions with abstract shapes, circles, triangles, etc, is a very fun way for me to start compositional sketches! I had planned on going to another lecture next but opted for trying to meet more artists in the main show, so after Donato's talk I went around the tables again with my portfolio. After waiting in a line to talk to Donato, I awkwardly praised his lecture and made small talk, eventually giving him my portfolio to crit. About that time Dan Dos Santos walked by and so I ended up with a great crit from two great artists! Aside from great advice on the technical aspects and compositional aspects of the paintings, my portfolio which were prints in mylar sheet protectors were the main part of discussion. The sheet protectors put a haze over the images. With the Mylar sheet-protectors over the prints. Notice the strip at the top, that's the difference of values.

It was suggested that I mount the images to mat board, punch holes in the mat board and put them in the binder that way. After talking with them, I decided I had enough time to go to Michael's and try their suggestion. I went to Dan Dos Santos table to follow up with him and ask exactly what he suggested, to which he even offered to help!! This is how approachable and kind everyone was!!
Well I went to Michael's. I explained what I wanted done (and for the sake of being brief, I wont tell you all the accidents), and while the cuts were being made I ran down to Staples, and bought a 3 hole punch. Thanks to the ladies at the framing desk at Michael's for letting me use the space to punch holes in the mate and for making all the cuts! Unfortunately, but understandably I was not allowed to use the spray adhesive in the store, so I found myself outside in the parking lot using the pavement next to my car as a work space, after I moved all the cigarette butts of course!Doesn't it look better?

It was great! Going back to the convention and having a nice looking portfolio to show. Later on that day it grew very cold out and across the street was Vincent Villafranca's live bronze pour. (At his table, among the great sculpture, he had a very cool custom made bronze chess set!) Vincent Villafranca in the live bronze pour. Photo taken from IlluxCon Facebook© page
The prep work for the pour took a long time, understandably so I went back to the hotel just in time for the Showcase. The showcase was a great collection of artists whom were able to purchase a table to exhibit their work. There was a range of talent, styles and experience in the showcase, from artists like Noah Bradley (thanks for the free print!) to Petar Meseldzija, whom is a great oil painter.

After the showcase and hanging around the bar area, where EVERYONE else was, I went on to bed in preparation for the next day.

Fun Stuff

2011-02-17T14:14:00.000-08:00

Sorry I have not gotten to the rest of my IlluxCon trip, but unfortunately I probably wont until next week as I had to pick up some extra shifts at the bar during these lean months. I cannot wait for springtime.
Today is a "quick" posting to put up a digital sketch I did at the request of my brother, and for fun, of Assassin's Creed."The eagle dives" 2011, painter 11. Assassin's Creed is copyright Ubisoft©...so don't do anything illegal!

As with "The Mask Collector", it only took about 2 hours. The compositional concepts taking the longest time, the actual technical work, even though a sketch is fairly quick.
Just really having fun after seeing all the great concept work for the franchise, the compositional freedom with the flowing garments was really a blast to come up with, even though they dont appear to be moving much! Again, just really a great time playing around with simple light, dark and red shapes.

Also wanted to recommend a movie for my readers, who like horror movies. Horror movies that build upon a sense of dread and "artistic" direction. Ambiguity and obscuring views are the best friends of this movie. The monsters, though seen are all but one time seen only vaguely. Composition-ally (blogger says that's the correct sp?) their white skin is amazing against the dark wilderness.
Ok so, enough artistic analyzing. The movie is called Seventh Moon, and stars Amy Smart (Crank, Crank 2 High Voltage). Photo taken from Dread Central

Smart is the wife in a newlywed couple who are mysteriously abandoned by their tour guide in the middle of nowhere of the Chinese farmland...on the night of the Seventh Moon. At the risk of a spoiler, that's all you get until you watch it.Screenshot from "Seventh Moon" taken from About.com

It was directed(?) by one of the director of the Blair Witch Project, and though not in the first-person, exemplifies shaky camera work. That point is the main criticism from the wonderfully smart people who comment on Netflix movies, but if you appreciate style of directors, and a theme adding to a movie, then this movie is for you!

Mask Collector sketch

2011-02-15T18:53:00.000-08:00

A recent call for artists has come up for a project, that I will post on once it is complete. I don't think there are "restrictions" as far as posting the work I am going to submit, but to keep it coherent, organized, and just to be safe I will just wait for the end before posting the work!

While waiting for that and before getting into day 2 of IlluxCon, here is a drawing done in Painter 11, just sketching around in about 1 1/2-2 hours. Designed to mimic linoleum cuts.Sketch for "The Mask Collector" 2011, 8.5"X11"Digital
I am really excited about this one, especially since the ideas fell together pretty easily, and will be refining it soon to do a painting of it!

More catching up!

2011-02-13T15:25:00.001-08:00

After my last post,
I realized that I have posted a few sketches and never posted the final paintings, mainly this painting.
"Impending" Oil on Panel 24"X36", 2010

This is my interim post of catching up, before moving onto day 2 of IlluxCon. Want to drop a name in this post for those artists who read this and love ambient, instrumental music while working.
Nine Inch Nails
Ghosts I-IV
(You can get the first 9 tracks free by going to NIN Albums)
Great, amazing album. Recently shared it with fellow Lyme Academy Grad and former roommate; Adam Matano, who may just think it's the "best sculpting music" and the "bee's knees!" (the last quote cannot be attributed to him) check out the hyperlink for his great sculpture!

There are 36 tracks of sounds looped into a range of dirty industrial that NIN is famous for, making it a solid instrumental "journey".
Check it out!

IlluxCon, Day I

2011-02-09T23:50:00.000-08:00

Do not worry I am still alive!
It has been a crazy few last months. I had a few paintings to complete and a couple of plans to cement before IlluxCon 3.

I blame my absence from this blog on going to IlluxCon, it blew my mind so much that I have been focusing solely on work since then, and have not been posting.

And now the Hiatus...is over!!

Until new work postings let me post an image you have seen the start to already for Halloween!
"Wanna see what I have?!" 2010, Oil on Panel
IlluxCon 3
–––––––
I did not make nearly as long a trip as some did for this years IlluxCon, a small convention for fantasy and Science Fiction illustration held in Altoona, PA. So after 5 hrs of driving I was tired and excited (anxious), and definitely confused on how to proceed. Why? This was not only my first time at IlluxCon, but my first time at a convention, EVER.
Now, of course I can only speak as an aspiring illustrator to my point of view being at this convention, but that weekend was the most exhausting weekend that I have had in a long time! So much happened that I can only do my best to break it down and organize it so as not to be confusing.
I would first off like to thank any and all people that I talked with at the convention (just on the off chance that one of them is actually reading this), the advice given has had a tremendous effect and I can't wait for next year!
Day I
–––
Upon arriving at the convention center for the opening of the main show, I was blown away immediately by the wall of artists in front of me while I got my pass, etc. Just in my initial line of sight was, Volkan Baga, E.M Gist, Lucas Gracino and Michael C. Hayes. And this was just as far as my line of sight could go. Later on in the weekend I would meet and talk, or rather, listen to; Dan Dos Santos, Donato Giancola, Jordu Schell, Ryan Pancoast, and David Palumbo just to name a few!
The first artist I talked to was Erik Gist, whose work I had just discovered months before. Despite my awkwardness and very original icebreaker, "Your work is great!" He was very willing to share tips, tricks and crits on my portfolio, even told me specifically some companies to look at based on my work. E.M Gist giving some great advice on my portfolio

At this point I will say even though there were a variety of sizes for paintings, I was amazed at how small alot of them were!
After Gist, I went down the line, stopping to ask alot of the aforementioned artists to take a peek at my portfolio. I quickly learned that I had to stop after each booth and write down everything they said! Many of these artists I would have conversations with later on.

Around 7:30 I went to my scheduled portfolio review with Jordu Schell. Oh, did I not mention that by buying a pass you were able to sign up for reviews with a hand full of artists/art directors?
Jordu was great, very nice, immensely helpful and an all around pleasure (to be fair, not a single person I met that weekend was not a pleasure to be around)! In fact a special thanks to him for being so kind even after the review. After running into him outside the show at a restaurant he introduced me to other artists and did not let the advice stop at the door to the review!

After about 2 1/2 hours I was so mentally exhausted that I had to get back to the hotel. Upon going down to the lobby I ran into Drew Baker for the first time that weekend and after talking for a few minutes, a man sat down to chat, a man that turned out to be Jeremy Cranford a seasoned art director! (My apologies for being so starstruck by you all)!

That run in was a great example of what happens at IlluxCon, one minute your looking at stunning art, the next you find yourself talking to your heros and influences!

Next time; Day II and aftermath of IlluxCon work!

Halloween weekend!

2010-10-28T17:58:00.000-07:00

Happy halloween everyone!
In the spirit of the holiday, I decided to create a "final" image of a Work in progress painting. The painting was not intended for this holiday, but ended up being "born" at a good time! Wanna see what I have behind my back?! 2010 WIP

An artist named Ben Olson, who has done concept work for a few video horror video games, inspired me to create some more overtly creepy creatures. His site:
Ben Olson

Also in the spirit of scaring, the seasoned illustrator, E.M Gist, has a great blog updated VERY often. He is a professor at the Watts Atelier, and has alot of great information on painting and drawing forms.
He is also counting down his top ten best horror movies of all time day by day, and doing character portraits along with them! Click his name for the blog--E.MGist/Dead of the day blog!
His website--Erik Gist

Happy Halloween! Happy birthday to some!

New work

2010-10-19T20:04:00.001-07:00

I will keep it short for tonight--A new painting sketch, that I will elaborate on at another time. I have work to do on the oil painting based on this sketch!

Deadlines, I leave you in my dust!

2010-09-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

This race is over for now, I finished all 3 paintings, varnished them (poorly, it was my first use of spray varnish), photographed them, edited them, and submitted them to their respective places. I was in a race to finish my deadlines and I beat them! Enough gloating...
What lies beneath, oil on panel
What Lies Beneath, was a piece based on the general topic of breast cancer. It is for the TATA GALA. The idea was to show a metaphorical affliction of the most visually prominent breast, black veins. I wanted the face of the woman to be generic as many women have breast cancer, and an actual portrait of someone would have individualized the piece, taking away from the metaphor. She is holding her face, not showing gore underneath but showing us what lies beneath is a "ray" of hope, a hope that is also creeping its way down towards the heart. The pink fissures are cracking through the dark landscape, as is the pink light shining through the clouds.
They extended the deadline to Oct. 16th so anyone who works fast and is interested after reading this, get to work! I will let you know if the piece gets into the show.
Masquerade #9, oil on panel
This piece you have seen multiple progress images. Here is the final image, submitted to The Art Order, Mentoring. Read the post, 47 aspiring illustrators submitted for a chance learn from Jon Schindehette (Art director of Dungeons and Dragons, Wizards of the coast.)
The Plague Bearer, oil on panel
Also submitted to The Art Order.

Deadlines, Deadlines...

2010-09-20T22:40:00.000-07:00

I found out today that I have been faithfully checking for a sign-up (for 15 minute time slots with the art director of your choice) for the upcoming Illux Con, a sign-up that I have not realized was already up for, oh, 20 days.
Luckily I wasn't too delinquent or others are more so than I was. There was still plenty of slots available. Whew.
So now that, that's out of the way, I still have the TATA GALA deadline (which will be part of this post), The Plague Bearer (Also part of the post, but only needs good photographing now!), and to finish the third painting in progress in order to submit it along with all the others to a mentor ship application! (An application which I still have yet to write...)

On to the images!
The Plague Bearer has officially graduated from the easel to the floor...where it now awaits varnish and it's photo shoot!

...And the progress on the TATA GALA painting (Oct. 1st deadline). I am rolling through this painting, yes, there are a few things to fix that I have painted already, but I am ahead of schedule (knock on wood). Need to re-shoot the head to get the neck forms, the last photos had hair in the way (always something I forget...), so don't worry, when I am done she wont look beheaded...(New idea for painting???)

Plague Bearer Progress

2010-09-10T15:17:00.001-07:00

As we move closer and closer to the Illux Con, I have found another painting project to add to the "Queue". A painting for the Tata Gala, a gallery show to benefit breast cancer research. Information on this show can be found at: http://tatagala.org/.So here is the progress with the "Plague Bearer" painting. However after establishing the background, I needed to add the spewing blood from the mouth. I had already put down the face and I didn't want to go over it again--Here was my solution--
A clear sheet protector from any office store traced around the head and then cut out. I was worried that paper would not hold up against the turps and oil and it would seep through. I needed hard plastic, but wasn't sure if I had anything large enough--This sheet protector allowed me to see through and cover over the face.
Here is what it looks like after the splatter, with the plastic still taped over the face.
Close-up.
Without the plastic but with out a "connection" of blood trail from the mouth.
And, with a little manipulation. Still a little to be done, covering up some of the spatters to play up the sharp turning of the head and the circular spraying of the blood. There is also one large, long brush stroke going to the top right of the painting that needs to be eliminated. I gauged how far away the brush was and put down a stroke instead of a splatter!

Illux Con 3!

2010-08-31T23:03:00.000-07:00

I haven't really been in the loop as far as conventions go, so I only recently found out about Illux Con, the 3rd event occurring this November.
I bought my ticket a few weeks ago and among many things, really excited to meet all those professionals that inspire me. Rather than explain all the exciting things planned by the convention staff I will just post the link to the site:http://www.illuxcon.com/frontpage.

So I am getting ready for the convention! Getting cards ready, finishing paintings and planning the trip. So here are two paintings I am just about to complete, both are done from sketches posted on the blog here.

New sketch

2010-08-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

Hand eye coordination-2010
Here's a new sketch I did in Painter. I forget what inspired it, but I like the composition and the idea, who knows, it may end up in oils!

New painting sketches

2010-07-22T11:08:00.000-07:00

Some new painter sketches. The first of them is on the Studio Visions page and blog (www.studiovisions.blogspot.com).
This composition began with the idea of the mask, or helmet covering the head. It ended up turning into the idea of plague or infection and the rabid spewing of blood.
The Horned Plague 2010
The other began with the masquerade mask, and turned into this commposition. I just quickly made an alternate, I took away from the top and added to the bottom. Masquerade's rapid descent 2010

Drawings

2010-07-20T11:32:00.000-07:00

After the move into Emily's and mine new apartment I had to find a new place for my drawing portfolio.
Well I looked through it and realized that I had not photographed almost half of what was in there!

These are all from senior year at the Lyme Academy.Above is probably the best likeness I have ever captured. Mr. Rick Lacey! RickRolled as I call it.

End of one painting, beginning of another...

2010-07-14T16:24:00.000-07:00

First of all let me take care of a major change to a sketch in the last post. The below image is on it's way for what I was looking for. I was having such a hard time figuring out what "looming" shapes would be at the lower half of the image. Not only that but also continuing the fuchsia color at the bottom to enhance the composition. Well, I guess, when in doubt add some colorful elemental power! Here we have some pink lightning!
Alright, as promised, here is the final image of Viridian Lure. The painting was very hard to photograph, but after spending hours on the computer listening to Vincent Price in Old time radio dramas and editing the Jpeg in Corel, it ended up here! (Using Airbrush tools, Oily Blender from Blenders, and the Oil palette Knife from Artist's Oils. The latter gives my paintings a great effect because it has a flat profile and I use Flat Bristles.)
The final painting, varnished and in it's frame!

Painting Sketches

2010-07-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

Painting sketches. A great way to (sometimes) quicken the thought process once the actual painting starts to take place. The more I "mature" as an artist, I realize the importance of color studies before I begin the painting. Sometimes the want to being the painting super-cedes the self-control to organize and plan.
Well, moving on from the pontification of why studies and the like are important, here is the work.
(All work created in: Corel Painter 11)
A Composition sketch. Also experimenting with canvas texture.

A quick Sketch of a character I have developed in a basic sense.

A composition that is giving me some serious confusion as to what color scheme to use and how to approach the composition when continuing.

A sketch which is currently the painting on the easel! The colors were a little to complimentary, and conicidentley were the colors of the Catholic elementary school my girlfriend and I went to. Well, when Emily pointed it out, I couldn't leave it!

A sketch I made in Corel, as all the others. The final oil painting has a drying coat of retouch varnish on it right now! The final Jpeg will be posted soon, one also of it in it's frame!

Currently what I am working on. Trying to figure out what dark shapes are looming over the squatting figures. Despite my past work and tendencies towards color, I am loving that bright Purplish pink.
An older sketch of another character.

Till next time!

"Intermission" post

2010-06-21T15:51:00.000-07:00

Well! It has been a while since my last posting. The majority thankfully was spent painting and working on new pieces. However since I am on a break in the studio now, I must be brief.
-First order of business is to give the conclusion to the LOTR competition that some have been clamoring for. I took the grand prize! However small the competition was, and however "small" it was, the main "prize" that I took from it was the practice at moving from idea to sketch to painting in around 10 days, all in the effort of entering it by the deadline. The moral being that anything done related to art is never a waste of time.
-Secondly, my next post will be on a painting that I am finishing up. I worked for a sleepless week staying up one night until 10am the next day. This was after deciding to take part in the Alumni Show at my attended college. I brought the piece up from the idea to the "final" work and submitted the image on time...only to have my CD-Rom broken in transit, and arrive for judging in pieces. Thank you USPS.
Now that I have been given the opportunity to work on the painting longer, I have taken it and continued to refine it.

-Lastly so that you are not left dissatisfied and with blinding rage from lack of any visual stimulation, the real show...
A painting that started as a late night experiment that I took and tried to make into more.
Notice the thick paint and paint "running" at the bottom? In an effort to not waste paint (you see, Raw Umber, the paint on the panel there, dries within several hours and is thrown away at the end of a working day.) When I was done working for the night I scraped it all up and slung it all over the panel with my palette knife. I then cut the design out of the thick paint using paint thinner on a brush.
On a later date I added a strange head and went from there.

This second image is a further experiment with the painting in Corel Painter 11. I was unsure where to go next with the painting, and was toying with a few ideas, so bing, bang, boom...I uploaded it onto my computer and messed around with it in Painter.
I have set it aside at the moment but may pick it up again some day. One thing I learned from the experiment in painter is that the greenish hue at the bottom of the painting will carry up, like shown in the digital process, to mimic fire.

Sentinel

2010-04-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

A new painting this week! Once I made small thumbnail drawings planning my composition, I made the below color sketch in Corel Painter 11. There are problems with drawing and anatomy, but it helped me concrete my idea on color.
The next step was laying out the tone on the board so that it would be dry while I was taking reference photos. There was a color tone that was missing from this initial sketch, I didn't know what color it was but when I mixed my undertone (Cobalt blue-Yellow Ochre) it became greenish gray. At first I thought I may need to move back toward blue, but the slight green added a needed aspect to the blues that would follow.
It was a slight compromise at first but it is a good base color for what is to follow.

I added some texture with the turpenoid and strokes that I will pick up when adding impasto. I threw and brushed some pure turpenoid onto the paint to get the drips running down the rocks.

Drawing compiled from all the different reference photos to determine best light and shadow forms. Drawn in Corel Painter 11.
One of the many reference photos I took. This was a tough position to get into, while using the self-timer, which gives me around 10 seconds to get all limbs into position and balance myself on the chair!

Lord of the Rings competition-Golum

2010-04-15T09:28:00.000-07:00

A little break from the "Cobalt" painting which at the moment has me stumped. There was a competition for the Wind Symphony at William and Mary, whom are performing a Lord of the Rings concert at the end of April. The deadline when I found out about the competition was in Ten days. I decided to enter and at the very least I could test my compositional skill and technical skill.I began with a small 20 minute study, so when starting I would know exactly what colors and shapes to make, this saved me an enormous amount of time.
Just for your interest I added in the main, and only really, reference photo that I used for the painting. I made it much more monochromatic, yet slightly blueish-green in Iphoto just so that when looking at it I could interpret my own colors.
The final piece. I downplayed the light on the rocks to bring all the focus into the face. However, this may have worked against me in that it leaves a large dead space of dark color.
I also tried to imagine what the skin would look like on a human like creature if it lived in a cave for years, and although I wanted to add some accessories, worn clothing, tarnished jewelry, I refrained from doing so to add to the effect of the isolation and animal like qualities.
The final piece and the study to show the scale of the study comparatively.
I will post the results of the competition!

Engineer Part III-Cobalt

2010-04-07T17:37:00.000-07:00

The sequel to last weeks painting! I laid in the front "grill" of the train and the side parts of the train (including the sky). Unless there is any major changes that need to be made in service of the overall composition these will be finished after the first pass.
Full image of painting thusfarThe painting of the spray painted logo was slightly more difficult due to the constant attempt to keep the blue, true to the cobalt blue while painting wet into wet. As I am sure most of you know when trying to paint blue into yellow ochre, the green became very apparent. It took alot of "muscling" of the paint to keep it blue and very clear confident strokes of thick yellow ochre in the negative spaces to keep them seperated.
So as this painting evolves with time, I create more and more of a background story for not only this character but other characters in this era and the era itself. The painted graffiti skull is thusfar designed to tell of the "guild" in which the woman is employed. It is similar to the soviet symbol with the sickle and hammer, with a wrench and hammer. I image it to be a guild of engineers. The characters name is COBALT, which is why all the blue in the painting is kept to using Cobalt blue. Now this may be very subtle and only picked up on by those knowing the names of colors, but it is in progress still.

The lanterns on the side of the train, not lit by electricity but with cobalt blue flame.
The key to quickly painting the brass of the train, was laying in a warm mid-tone, even warmer than I wanted for the end result.

After doing that put it the dark tone of the side furthest from the light. I then laid in a few mid-tone greenish blue tones to give it a rusted oxidation feel.

Before moving onto the last step I cleaned up the loose edges of the brass object by re-outlining it with the purple back ground tone. Now I always move onto the cleaning up step so in the beginning, while laying in the warm tone and the general shape of the lantern it wasn't imperative to make the exact shape.

The next step was to set rough looking shapes and strokes with a lighter tone than the first. The strokes had to seem sporadic and "natural" to keep it looking like actual wear and oxidation.

The last step was to load up the brush with the lightest tone that would be in this area of the painting, and "whip" it around laying in with one stroke the highlights of the lantern.

So until next time fans. I will return with the Third installment, the "Return of the Jedi" if you will of this painting.

The Engineer Part II

2010-03-19T16:27:00.000-07:00

Here is the continuation of the painting in last weeks post. In the first pass on the painting I laid in the figure and simple undertones for the train behind her. On the second pass I worked on the front of the train using warm golden, brass tones.
I also added the appearance of a worn texture by keeping the brushstrokes loose, confident and jagged in a way. I achieved this by laying in the strokes and then cutting around them with the mid tone, giving the illusion that the light reflections are moving over worn, and dented forms. There is also some greenish blue oxidization formed around the bolts and seams of the metal.
I also found a great opportunity to "silhouette" the hands and the head with the light reflections on the brass of the train.
When most students or the general population view a piece of arts formal composition often times the assumption is made that every thing was planned from the beginning, which adds an aura of awe, planning and perfection.
Through painting I have found that often times not every compositional choice is made from the beginning, and the true test as an artist is to make the "on the fly" decisions that make the composition. In the instance with the hands it was an initial decision to frame the hands, but I wasn't sure what light would be behind them.
See you next time with the next episode to this painting!

The Engineer

2010-03-11T11:40:00.000-08:00

So while in the need for some "cutting loose" with some "quick" oil painting, I thought it would be nice to work from model photos and create a single image. Using my girlfriend as the model, I went ahead and did the shoot. The idea was "steampunk" in a way but trying to keep it original.
This is the original sketch done in Corel Painter 11. The idea was to have her in front of a train with some really golden lighting. I really wanted to get into the texture of the metal behind her in the painting.

The Full version of the beginning of the painting thusfar.
Detail of the "Engineer".

We love the 80's

2010-03-06T13:07:00.000-08:00

Another poster idea (First initial layout and sketch) for Green Leafe Inc. This is for an 80's theme party which is still in the works. The theme given was 80's sunglassses.

2010-02-17T19:25:00.000-08:00

2010-02-15T18:25:00.000-08:00

Second image, refined image of St. Patrick's poster for the Green Leafe Cafe.

Original sketch for poster for Green Leafe Cafe.

2010-02-15T17:55:00.000-08:00

Continuing on with digital painting...These last few weeks I have been working on some images, mainly this first one. I made a first initial sketch just based on a compositional idea that was really taken from a daydream of sorts.
The idea being that the frontal figure is speeding towards the viewer and something "horrid" is hot on his tail. The concept grew as I began to imagine the world and environment in which they were in. I thought of them in a futuristic, yet old west world. Adding the mechanical to the horse was to underline this environment. Rider-2010

Since then I have begun to loosely create and refine this initial concept of the world. Today while driving down a main road in town on a very rainy gray day, I stopped at a red light right before an underpass. The composition of the dark underpass, the metal girders and the large bolts against the lighter gray sky behind, reminded me of this world I had started.
The general idea of the second image fits in with the futuristic yet old and worn world, the future more set with modern technology and the old inspired by the old west and civil war periods. The world is now heading towards the latter, a torn world, almost post- apocalyptic, second civil war, with the costumes "set" in the civil war period but the environment worn-modern.
No U-Turn-2010

2010-01-27T08:29:00.000-08:00

First sketch for St. Patrick's day poster for the Green Leafe Cafe.

Corel Painter 11--Burden

2010-01-26T15:23:00.000-08:00

I picked up Jeremy Sutton's, Painter 11 Creativity book because I was having such a rough time navigating through the brushes. One glance through the book at the brush chapter and I was able to create an image with ease and only worry about the formal elements. Although the image is still rough and being worked out, the rough idea is down.

Burden-2010

A close cropped image sized down possibly for a promotion card. The face was created using the oily bristle in the artist oils category, and the oil palette knife as a blender. The forehead and sockets are completed if not close to being completed, but the beard, crown and hair could use work.

First Digital painting works!

2010-01-16T21:59:00.000-08:00

So I have missed alot of chances to post, but let me just move seamlessly into this posting. So I have a new tablet and have been doing more sketching in both Photoshop and Painter 11, which is also new to me.

So this first image is one that I sketched out in photoshop on a different laptop, which the hard drive then crashed on...it was lost and this is the second version which has been worked on many times since. The idea came both from looking at Justin Sweet's images of lone figures in a daunting landscape and from the amount of snowfall there was while I was in dreary, grey New York (Much more so than what we get in Virginia). I wanted it grey and desolate with a solitary figure pitted against a heavy wind with a snowfall, using the wind as composition. Having him as a "wizard" of sorts (creating the fire with his hands) I wanted as a personal and career interest. The idea of having him lighting a fire to keep warm is where it ended up. Having to burn the scrolls of "knowledge" is the only way for him to survive.

The second image came from a sketch in Photoshop as well, just starting solely with solid colors and broad strokes for the composition. It turned into much more, still needs alot of work, but is running along nicely so far and hopefully will only get better with what I think needs to be done.

2009-10-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

Whew! What a weekend. It was homecoming for William and Mary and the resturant was crazy. I worked literally all day long for almost 3 days both catering, bartending and serving. That is my excuse for not posting my competition images. But--Three characters in three days. I don't have Larry's images to post up here to show, but here are my three.
The first image of a Triton type character, a remorseful aged king. The idea started as a strong yet at-ease pose from school that reminded me of a soldier. Originally he was stepping through some fog or mist, but events fell into place (the constant changing of legs to support the idea, and the constant inspiration of Alex Ross's image of an aged Aquaman from Kingdom Come) to change the character. The soldier quality is still there as is the sense of remorse (from the down turn of the head and the down cast shadows cover a great deal of the face. This character was to be powerful, experienced but saddened by the experience that time has provided and the burden of his regal post and duties.
Notice here, despite the rotation of the image from my scanner, the lack of dynamism in the pose. Due to that, I re-drew the image, but did not move on to inking it when I was done. Burden of the Seas
The second draft of the image as you can see is much more dynamic, much of the dynamism can be attributed to the water effect supporting the diagonal composition. The pose is much more dynamic, the tail part of the body twisted much more to the diagonal than in the first one. The anatomy is stressed more, the force of the blast echoing through the tension of the arms (not to mention the anatomy is better realized). The rest of the changes I will leave for you to find:) Curiosity
Character number two started with a Frank Frazetta sketch from the Rough Work book. The upper body drafting on this small "viking like" figure among a huge alien landscape was amazing and perfect. It's small amount of line work to bring together a very complicated pose for arms was very inspiring. I wanted to work with it somehow. So I started with it. I really began with the face (the whole upper torso was roughed out, but the design of the rest of the body began with the face). The downcast light again, I love the look of deep shadows and that piece of light on the nose bringing together all the forms on the face. I wanted a deep crease under the lips which made me think of an orc like creature, which then lead to tribal, which lead to the facepaint. The rest went from there, I like the stark graphic quality of dreadlocks pulled back, so I went with that. The other elements drew from that, like the reed arm band and the tattoos.

His gaze almost looked like he was looking at something that would be near his hands and it made me think of puppets. Then I thought, what if he is making some object or magic light float or move, etc. Then came the "waving" casting hands. It all came really easily after that, the leaning on the skulls, thinking, pondering, constantly working and changing (just like I did to create the image). I am happy to say--After completing the image, the pose really doesn't look at all like the Frazetta:) Stalking prey
I think I reached a fatigue level on this one, Physically and mentally. It was the second one of the night, after Curiosity, and also around 4-5 Am. The pose was derived from an actual photo of Frank Frazetta on the inside cover of the same aforementioned book. It is him, creeping through the woods, probably for a prop photo. I liked the creeping aspect and copied the basic torso main shapes. I wanted a wild man, to play with the wild graphic shapes of the hair and beard. At first it was to be a simple minded old creepy creature that was being lured by some scent. But then the character did the complete opposite and turned into the hunter. The pose almost seemed like he was stalking some animal, or human. The light aspect didn't turn out as well as the others but man did I have alot of fun with that hand.

In closing, thanks to Larry for getting me to draw again. Next weekly competition is half human, half animal (only one this time).

2009-10-22T11:29:00.000-07:00

Today is the day! The competition is almost over, in a few hours we will compile and compare. But before I post the final images on both sides I wanted to update my blog with the painting I did for the Starlight Theater Stage Co. The play was called "Dark of the moon" a Romeo and Juliet type play set in a rural turn of the century mountain town. The twist is that our "Romeo" is a witch boy and becomes a human to be with his "Juliet", Barbara Allen.
So I wanted to show something that would not just be a scene from the play but encompass the theme of the play. So first element, the moon. It has to be in the image. Second element was John, the witch boy. The whole theme of the play interested me, especially the fantasy elements, so I wanted John to be the focus.
I thought of including Barbara Allen or any other elements of the play that would describe the story. But for this project I only had a little under two weeks so I wanted to keep it simple.
Then there was the ring. The ring is given to Barbara by John when he becomes a human and symbolized him being a witch but wanting to be human, hence him reaching toward the ring but not holding it. The ring also symbolized Barbara, so including the ring meant that I didn't have to include Barbara.
So without anything further, the final painting of Dark of the Moon.

2009-10-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

Finally! I get back to doing some sort of artwork. First of all, I photographed (two shoots, the second hopefully more successful) of a painting that I finished this summer. The idea started as a sketch in school, where I took the model's pose--well, I turned her into a witch. The eyes were my favorite part to work on, they were fun to paint and added the element I wanted for the painting.
Secondly, I am in a competition with my neighbor/SCAD graduate in the vein of fantasy character creation. Three characters by Thursday. He is a commercial caricature artist so we will have some interesting creations come Thursday. I will post the final images. Loser buys the beer!

2009-09-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

Don't worry I didn't forget about you avid viewer!
So after a few weeks of no posts, I have begun to work on a new composition. It's very tough to keep working, to find the time rather, when working two jobs that do not have a set schedule. So in the effort of not letting life get in the way, I took to my drawing table. For quite a while I was blank, copying some parts of Frank Frazetta drawings to loosen me up and inspire me. I gave up with that and realized I had the above drawing sitting in the wings from last year.
I originally drew it for a landscape drawing class taught by Jerry Wiess. I recall wanting to incorporate some sort of fantasy into the imaginary landscape and also include heavy design of light and dark (real surprising for me right?)

So I redrew the drawing, slightly bringing the figures closer, so that when I move to the painting I have bigger figures so I can easily get detail. Unfortunately I moved too far in, and had already fixed the drawing where it was, so I thought it would be a good time to start trying drawing in Photoshop.
This is the drawing so far. Alot of the time has been exploring how to quickly move from black to white and keep the appearance of quick confident strokes as I achieve with the pen. As you can see I have changed the face on the (soon to be dead) figure on the right. However I have not figured out what will happen with the adornments and armaments on the other man.
As far as background I thought a barren snowy mountain would work, very much saturated with grey blues and white to offset the darks under the implied over-hang of the rocky cliff which the figures stand on. Tune in soon for more on this, hope you enjoy the progression so far!

VA

2009-08-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to go slightly off topic since the work has slowed to a crawl. I just moved to VA about three weeks ago. I wanted to share how hard it can be to get work done right out of school and how lost one can feel. This goes hand in hand with yesterday's post on the topic of working once outside of school.

As I said before I just moved to VA and since I had no prospects for art related jobs (illustration preferably) so I had to suck in my pride and find another job. For the sake of other ex-students in my position right now I will tell you that I am working at Barnes and Noble and also hoping to balance a serving job at a local restaurant. Being as some of these shifts fall on the same day, I am worried how little time it will leave me to work.

However it is good to get the ball rolling, to realize that a career won't happen immediately, in the grand scheme I have only been out of school a couple of months, and that sometimes it takes a little push to get moving.

I have found some good ways to get "inspired" (that I am sure I will have to use again and again). Finding an interview or work of an artist in the field that you admire is a good tool. For me reading and seeing Gerald Brom's latest project was very inspiring (it also helps to read about their "first jobs").

Sometimes looking at a peers work makes yours seem so far away from their level and sometimes we forget the age or expierience of the artist in comparison. I CONSTANTLY compare myself to other artists that I admire but forget that the paintings I am seeing are the "best" and that they may have had 10 years of experience at that point. In short I am finding that the best thing to do it to be inspired but not intimidated, competative (maybe... hey that's me) and to worry only about my own self.

Start some small projects, sketches of something that you think would be cool, even if it doesn't lead to anything, you got the ball rolling and it will be easier to start the next one. Work on networking or promotion. I did the latter, I put some simple cards together in Photoshop that tell everything that I need them to. Some of these you have seen before, some you may have not. Some companies that I am "applying" to are;White Wolf Publishing, Wizards of the Coast, Tor Books, just to name a few, and I tried to pull images that would go with each companies "standards" (which I have seen in bookstores, online, or have heard from them myself).

It really helps to go into a place like Barnes & Noble and look, first of all, at the companies that are out there, and secondly what kind of cover work or art work they have on their books or product. The same goes for galleries, you have to check out the gallery and see what other artists they are in contract with. The more of a match you are for their company the better chance you have.

2009-08-26T16:18:00.000-07:00

As a prelude to this post, anyone who is fond of illustration may know the artist; Brom (not endorsed by Brom, or any affiliates). His latest book; The Child Thief, was released. I picked it up today. So far it looks great, he has done more drawing for this project, but they are genius compositions. Check it out!

Post college paintings can be very strenuous because of the fact that they are POST COLLEGE. You are out and you have your own time to work on them and be the manager of your own schedule, but when your time managing goes south on the actually working portion, guilt and doubt can soon follow. Also, believe it or not, there is tremendous pressure to do things as well as you did them in school, with every brush stroke you might feel that you did better in school. The constant pushing of ideas minimizes too (even though with an artist father I live art all day, every day), just because you are not in that school environment. Granted all these things are short-term, but it is because of this, I believe, that 95% of art school students do not become artists. It is this initial push through the "shock" of being out of school that stops most.
Of course some may not find this true in the least. Granted it is my interpretation of my own struggle in the past few months, but realizing this doesn't make it any easier.

Whew, so after all that, here are two paintings that I produced over the summer.

This was for the "Newborn" contest on Conceptart.org. The idea was; bring something into the world. I painted it as, an artist's creation coming to life from the canvas. Even though it probably didn't win (I cannot for the life of me figure out who did win) it was a good exercise as the first painting outside of school. The technique came fairly quickly, but my composition was flawed from the beginning. I did however trudge through finishing the painting, within the deadline time.
This painting was a great experience for me. It was for the Starlight Stage Co. In Williamstown, Ma. They were putting on a production of; "Dark of the Moon", which really is a dark play. Check it out for yourselves, but don't say I didn't warn you. I had to produce the painting in about a week and still be able to work in the same technique that I normally do. It was also fun to put together an image that described the whole play with one figure.

In the future I am going to pull up on my darks a bit, it seems to be a downfall sometimes more than an aid.

First work posting

2009-08-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

As promised, today is the first day of work postings. It will be work from my senior year at college, so that anyone who doesn't know me can see the work, and anyone who missed the work (and you had better have a good excuse) can view it. Please excuse the layout, I am still getting used to upload placement.

I will try to put them up chronologically (maybe there is a progression). Despite my better judgment I put up works that may have not made the cut, so to speak, I wont dare say which ones:) This should allow you to see the progression and the idea process a little easier.

I became very interested in pirates in the past few years, more specifically, the history and folklore attached to them. I began to play with a storyline for a project in the works now. The storyline dealt with presupposing that the folklore was true, which gave me the opportunity to work with a fantasy/horror element. Therefore many of the images deal with pirates in a fantastic other-worldly environment. Eventually, becoming more and more seduced by the freelance "culture" I began to work on other subjects, which all contained the same atmosphere and qualities.

Next time I will begin to post post-College paintings, and what I have done since moving to VA.

Welcome!

2009-08-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome and thank you for visiting. I set this blog up in an effort to bring my artwork into the light. To post my work, and "pontificate" on its technique and meaning. I am an aspiring freelance fantasy illustrator, I have just graduated from the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in Old Lyme, CT, with a B.F.A, concentration in painting. It has only been a few months, but I am finding out what life outside of school is like. I am almost clueless as to what to do; I have started writing and illustrating my own book, I have applied to Wizards of the Coast and a few other companies where I thought my work would fit in. Granted it has not been a long time that I have tried breaking into this business, but it feels like forever when nothing comes your way.

I work in oil paint, and often struggle with the question of moving to digital or sticking with oil. It is not a question of theory or "morals" (as if I was blaspheming against oil paint and sinning by liking digital work), but a question of what is quicker and more efficient. I am VERY new to digital painting which could put me at a huge disadvantage in the short term while trying to break into a world with heavy hitter digital painters. I have begun to get my "chops" (as I have heard technique referred to again and again by the 50+ crowd) down for the work that I have been doing, and have done deadline intensive work for private companies that no one knows, but even still I know I am nowhere near to understanding what is going to happen.

So welcome once again, now that I have introduced myself, lets get down to the real reason we are on this blog; the work...............which will be posted separately when I am not busy settling into my new place:)