Friday, April 30, 2010
Random sketchbook drawings
While waiting to get my haircut the other day I cranked out a couple of doodles. I find I get more creative when I restrict myself in some way. Part of the exercise is that I get a strange shape, trace it, and fill it in not going outside the shape. I also get more creative when I get out of the house and away from my computer, books, and other possible resources that could influence me in some way.
Labels:
random sketches
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
In Progress
Update 05/01/10: It's getting there but this thing is fighting me every step of the way.
Update 04/30/10: Got Jekyll drawn out, now I have to work it over in Photoshop & Indesign. Should be done tonight.
Finally have a good start on my list of portfolio "TO DO" items. Jekyll/Hyde is the first victim in horror classics.
By the way Adam Ant is making a comeback. A favorite of my childhood, I loved his rocker/solider/punk/pirate look. I think I'll add him to the list.
Labels:
random sketches
Procrastinating, bad artist!
While procrastinating in getting my first illustration done for week 4 of the 12 week challenge I drew out my own Golden Girl warrior woman, Viper. Having no idea how to design weapons I just winged it.
Okay, okay, I'll get to my portfolio list now.
Labels:
random sketches
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Fan Death
Finally done the Fan Death illustration. Sorry about the bad quality, I have to figure out how to properly scan an 11" x 28" sketch with an 11" x 14" scanning bed. Now for some music.
Labels:
random sketches
Monday, April 26, 2010
In Progress
We're finally getting down to some serious illustrating this week in the challenge. Even though we're suppose to be working from a list we've made I started this image last night I'll be finishing it today before I start on my list.
I'm doing an illustration of Vancouver based electronicia group
"Fan Death". I used to work with the singer Dandi (right) at an art supply store, she's incredibly talented and seeing her live is an experience.
Labels:
12 Week Challenge,
random sketches
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Golden Girls, no the other ones
Clockwise from top left: Jade, Vultra, Moth Lady & Sapphire.
Sometimes I just get nostalgic for my old toys. My Golden Girl dolls were some of my favorites; put out during the height of the whole HeMan/SheRa craze they were Galoob's way of trying to cash in on cartoon action figures. Even though Golden Girl never had her own TV show, she did have a series of books detailing her adventures.
The dolls were more detailed in their costumes and had more aggressive weapons than their SheRa counterparts (the shields were made out of metal and each was different unlike the repeated plastic one sported by the SheRa clan). I'm not putting down SheRa, I had those toys too, but when SheRa and her gang went up against the Golden Girls you know who always won.
When I drew up some of my favorite Girls I tried to improve on the original designs just a touch, to make them more dangerous looking. Even though it was great to see a toy manufacturer making strong women warriors, they still made them a bit too girly for my taste.
Labels:
random sketches
Monday, April 19, 2010
Designers "Inspired"
Bob Caruthers assembled a collection of pieces to compare side by side, the original and the modern version. Sometimes it's on purpose, sometimes not. Shepard Fairey's work is featured in this set, as well as a number of concert posters for very popular acts.
Seeing original work put next to 'new design' this way makes me wonder how designers think they can get away with stuff like this? How come they are getting paid large sums of money to produce this kind of work? Do the clients know about this? If it is a direct reference does the original artist (if still alive) or copyright holder get royalties? Some cases yes, some no.
Appropriating artwork is in itself a delicate form of art with very few masters; Andy Warhol, Barbara Kruger, Yasumasa Morimura. To do it properly the artist needs to take the original piece and reuse it in a way that the image reminds the viewer of it's primary intent while putting into the modern context desired by the artist.
This is a very tough subject for me. As I artist/designer I don't think I could produce a piece like this for a client and feel good about it, even if it was in homage. I have been inspired by pieces from the past, but I don't look to copy or reproduce in such a way as to blur the line between inspiration and theft. If I were to do something like this it would probably be an accident, possibly referring to an image I saw once an vaguely remembered.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
They need their own comic
Crazy Jane, a woman suffering from multiple personality disorder, was part of Grant Morrison and Richard Case's Doom Patrol. A highly complex character, each her 64 personalities had its own superpower. I would have loved to have seen a series come out of her appearance in Doom Patrol, only a handful of the personalities were talked about in the original but a series could have gone into deeper details of each one.
Jet Girl is the sometimes unappreciated sidekick of Tank Girl. Much less aggressive than Tank Girl's other friends she is thought of as boring and criticized for her taste in music. Yet out of all this she has a serendipitous lifestyle in which she is never in need of money and her wants are simple, resulting in a very relaxed outlook on life despite being pursued by the law.
*The character of Jet Girl portrayed in the 1995 film Tank Girl bears no resemblance to the original comic character and should not be used for the argument of a Jet Girl comic*
Labels:
design,
random sketches
12 Angry Men book cover
I based this cover on the 1957 movie. The film was simple, 12 great actors with a great script in a room. So the cover I designed was based on that, simplicity.
Labels:
design,
portfolio work
Illustrations from my website
Since my portfolio website is going through a big redesign I'll be posting some pieces here until the site is up and running again.
Labels:
portfolio work,
random sketches
Monday, April 12, 2010
The 12 Week Challenge: Week 2
So if you haven't been there by now, I'm participating in the 12 Week Challenge over at Zero 2 Illo. The first week you had to really think about what you wanted to focus on as an illustrator. It's week two and we are focusing on a business plan, the one page business plan, oh yeah.
So in the illustrating spirit instead of just typing up this part on the computer I wrote it out by hand, it helped me think about each step of the process.
Labels:
12 Week Challenge,
random sketches
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Holidays and Customs
Now that Easter is over I've flipped through Holidays and Customs, Vol. 9, to see what they had to say about all the customs that go along with this time of year waaaaaay back in 1979.
I was surprised to see all the entries related to the days leading up to Lent. I don't know if all these customs are still carried out now, but a lot of cultures have unique ways of letting off steam before Lent starts.
Labels:
childcraft,
holidays and customs
Friday, April 9, 2010
Happy Mistake
This is an excellent example of one of my 'happy mistakes' in the darkroom, a test strip for a color image that came out in an aesthetically pleasing way, but I probably couldn't recreate this no matter how hard I tried.
Labels:
happy mistakes,
photography
Darkroom Manipulation
Summer Van
This is an example of some of the work I do in the darkroom when I experiment with color negatives. This image was taken with expired Fujichrome Provia 220, ISO1oo, then I had it cross processed into a negative.
After doing test strips on color and exposure this is as close to the real colors I can get with the quality of the negative.
After going through the test strips and testing with some of the results that I really like I came up with the final version that's more yellow and magenta. I chose to go this way because it reminded me of old photos and movies from the 70's. I guess it was the quality of the chemicals during that decade but a lot of work done on film came out looking slightly yellow, and it developed into a recognizable style. I was trying to recreate that vibe with this image.
This is an example of some of the work I do in the darkroom when I experiment with color negatives. This image was taken with expired Fujichrome Provia 220, ISO1oo, then I had it cross processed into a negative.
After doing test strips on color and exposure this is as close to the real colors I can get with the quality of the negative.
After going through the test strips and testing with some of the results that I really like I came up with the final version that's more yellow and magenta. I chose to go this way because it reminded me of old photos and movies from the 70's. I guess it was the quality of the chemicals during that decade but a lot of work done on film came out looking slightly yellow, and it developed into a recognizable style. I was trying to recreate that vibe with this image.
Labels:
darkroom,
photography
Make and Do
I Thought this week I would take a look at some of the crafts offered up in Make and Do. These are great simple projects that little kids can do on a rainy afternoon, even older kids. I may make a mask and wander around the neighborhood like the kids in the picture, but someone might call the cops on me.
Trina Schart Hyman (again I hope this is the right artist link) did the cute illustrations of the painting gnomes, the masked kids, invading papercraft martians and instruction illustrations.
Labels:
childcraft,
make and do
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