Quail Quartet

This piece marks another leap in craftsmanship that I did not posses just a few months ago. As before I now have a new benchmark when it comes to my illustrations. When I wrote the words Quail Quartet in my alphabet list I knew it had potential. I know it is not as realized as it could be but I am very pleased to have reached this level. The phrase “bridging the gap” comes to mind. I have not bridged the gap and made it to the other side but I am further along the path and can never go back to the artist I was before this piece. It’s really funny how the gap is both smaller and larger than before. It’s smaller because I know I improved in multiple areas of skill. It’s larger because I have a better understanding of the focused work I need to put in to create what I just did.

I will not self critique this one because sometimes you have to savor your moments of growth.

As usual comments and critiques are more than welcome.

Watercolor on 22x30 arches cold press

Z is for Zipper part 2

Here is the reworked zipper piece.

It is simple and to the point. It works fine as a black and white piece and and gives me something worth adding color too. The back ground is left empty since I was thinking of a coloring book as its destination. It definitely lacks excitement but there are many avenues for low activity art. Once I finish the color version and photograph it I will have to get really nutty with the background and risk its destruction in the pursuit of art.

HA HA HA! 

Re-Zipped

So in an attempt to ease myself back into my illustration stride I thought I would do another letter piece. For whatever reason I thought that Z is for Zipper was that way to go. I also wanted the black and white version to be usable for my pen and ink portfolio.

I fell in love with one of my ideas and moved to the next stage of actually drawing it. I thought the composition was solid minus a few tangents but I (Silly me) moved forward anyway. At the color rough stage my initial problems with the piece magnified themselves and I realized that I had to go back to the drawing board. I really, really, like the idea of the zippers having the archway effect but it should have not been enough for me to blindly go forward so I could do that. I also wanted to have a zipper going through the word zipper which turned out to be a terrible choice on many levels. One it makes it so the word is hard to read and two I would either have to figure out how to draw a tiny zipper well or make the whole piece huge. Both of those options are hard task with markers. The final straw is the format. Although I don’t actually plan to make a book out of my letter art I do feel like they should share a common format. I was willing to look past this also because I like my ideas too much.

In the end this piece failed at most of its purposes. Zippers are not easy to draw but that does not really matter. The pen and ink version looks too busy and unreadable with awful tangents. The format makes it close to unusable in a portfolio. It did succeed in getting me back into the thick of things. I have realized that I need to get to the tight rough stage of my illustrations to see some of the flaws of my art. In essence making what I called a tight rough yesterday into a rough.

Ah the pains of growth. Stay tuned for the next version.

Bad Logo

So I just finished another fun logo for a clan named BAD

I do these so i can try new techniques and programs. This one was my first attempt at a graffiti style text treatment. I did it all freehand (except for the straight lines and curves) in Sketch Book Pro with no filters or effects.

I had originally planned to have it on a brick wall with a figure leaning on the wall. Father time cracked his whip and i had to stop here. That damn old man.

Logos

This is just a collection of logos. Some were created for real clients and others for gaming friends.

As usuall comments and crits are welcome

What happens when your better half visits your studio?

So this piece was left half completed for almost a year. One day Tasha came out to look at something I was working on and saw this unfinished in the corner. Totally ignoring the piece I wanted her comments on she told me to finish this one. So after tracking down my reference for the piece I completed it. The best thing about this is I believed that once I stopped work on a piece for an extended period of time I could not go back to it. Now I know better and have a few old projects waiting for a lull in new ideas to be completed

22x30 Arches 300lb cold press paper

Heliconias

The Heliconia has an interesting story. We went to Hawaii for vacation and I fell in love with this flower. I am not usually a flower guy but I just love the way it grows and all the different colors combinations it grows in. So I filled our camera with reference shots and could not wait to get to painting one. I loved it so much I had to create two different versions.

The composition of the piece is a slight departure from my standard way of creating art. I generally focus solely on the foreground in my art as you can probably tell. I have always had a problem with backgrounds (more like I never plan or think much about them until I notice I need one.) So I decided I would create the back ground first. Fresh from Hawaii and inspired to revisit my graphic style of art I came up with the background pattern you see. I cannot remember if I ever spent that much time composing a background before. I also don't think I ever created a background that could possibly be a piece all on its own. After I had a background Idea I was happy with I incorporated the flower. In the sketch the background was mathematical. Once I put both the flower and the background together on the paper there was a lot of adjusting of lines and shapes to make both elements work. Flowers are really great for eliminating ugly tangents.

The painting of these pieces was also a departure from my norm. I recently came across a show called art to art http://art2art.us/ on public television. The show has changed my artistic life by releasing me from the "proper way to paint watercolors". I have been chained to the watercolor canon that you must work in layers and washes and build up to you darks. It just so happens that I don't think that way very well. I would inevitability just put down some darks so I could see where I was heading. Once I got to that point in my art I was now fighting the "rules" and my nature which made me tense and led to many errors and incomplete pieces. One of the hosts Joyce Faulknor (one of my new heroes) works from Dark to light and the other host Guy Magallanes works from light to dark. One episode was all it took for me to break free from my shackles and love to paint once again.

Liberated, I decided I would use some other techniques I have always wanted to use but never had a reason to do so. Not wanted to cram too many new things in one piece I chose to create two at the same time. I also dislike the practice of test swatches. I never know if something will work until I try it in a real piece anyway so why bother. Now if this was a paid commission and I was under time constraints I would never use a technique I was not confident in.

I guess I should mention that they are 22x30 on arches 300lb cold press paper.

All in all I am happy they turned out pretty much just how I wanted them to but the white stripes are a little indulgent and probably not needed. Oh well live and learn.

Oh yeah I forgot, I finally got to you my ruling pen. I love that tool

I really need a tripod for my camera and probably a beeter set up for photos.

I hope when i complete my black and white portfolio this is the weakest one. It was created 100% in the computer using 3 different programs believe it or not. I am not too happy with the line quality but i love the image itself. As usual comments and critiques are welcome.

Flamingo

Two things led to this piece being created. First and most important. I found out that some art reps will consider unpublished artist. One of those such reps likes to see not only color work but also your pencil art and pen and ink images.
The other influence is the "5 Pencil Method", I still don't remember how I came across it, but it suggest that you use 4h, 2h, hb, 2b, and 4b pencils and certain paper ect. In the past I would use mostly just an hb pencil because I planned to paint on top of it. The funny thing is I have not actually gone through the lessons and this piece of art does not reflect the 5 Pencil system at all. I did however broaden my pencil use and cut my drwing time down in the process.

I believe that I lost my bright whites, but without my electric eraser I am kind of stuck with what you see. I also used watercolor paper even though i do not play to paint it. I know that I could push the darks a little more which I might eventually do once I get that electric eraser.

As usual feel free to leave comments.

Cane River Gumbo Company Logos

Hey everyone. So here are the logos that I created for Cane River Gumbo Company.