Seasons Greetings!

Here's my new Gocco card. It looks better in person because it's in silver and metallic blue ink (sparkly!) I'm also showing my process here. The first image is the thumbnail that I drew and colored to provide a road map for this project. The second image is the ink drawing, colored in with the appropriate ink colors, and the third image is the actual screen printed card. You can see how different the print is from the screen artwork because the way the ink bleeds and the offset from the two color process.

80 Dlist Boys: deadstar, sqcw, jackpollack

MAD MEN

I put the finishing touches on the Mad Men.

Contemporary Authors

Here's a promo piece I just finished. The styling is inspired by the 80 Dlist Boys project, but I wanted to be a little more expressive with brushwork.

80 Dlist Boys: Dorian Gray, JJS III, Blaa, Braulio

I'm so backlogged on this project - I finished these a few months ago and kind of forgot about them. Definitely not the best in the series, I think that they perfectly capture how cornered I was feeling with this series, where each new drawing fit a formula. I took a break somewhere in the middle of drawing Braulio and finished him last month. I'm trying to be looser and freer with the new additions.

Poor Peggy Olson

A thing like that!

Here's the mischievous Peter Campbell. This one was fun - first time using Photoshop CS4 & my new MacBookPro. I felt a greater sensitivity and response with the brush tool, which is very exciting.

Coldest mother on television?

I like this a lot, but I want to capture Betty Draper just a little younger looking.

Donald Draper

Here's Don. This was a second try, the original is below. I think part of the reason I had so much trouble with him is because he's known for being a very handsome man and it is hard to retain that handsomeness while exaggerating his more pronounced features. I also want to point out that Liz Lemon on 30 Rock says, "he looks like "a cartoon pilot." How do you tell if a large chin is "cartoon pilot" or "Jay Leno?"

Roger Sterling

I also did one of Don Draper, but it became to sculpted and real. I'm happy, however, with the simplicity of this one.

Midnight Snack

Here's Joan Holloway! I was at this point in the middle where it was so perfect and graphic and retro. I want to start minimizing.

Teela

Here's a little sketch I did of Teela from "Masters of the Universe."

The Tigers Have Spoken II

I decided to completely redraw the artwork on this one by hand (the original was done on a cintiq). I like the looseness and the gesture in the original, but it wasn't what I pictured for this project. I don't think I've ever redrawn something without making major changes to it, so this was a challenge. Knowing that I was more or less repeating a previous action. And, FYI, I never want to draw chains or railroad again.

You can see the process above (thumbnail drawing, rough sketch, Final A, Final B).

Basterd

Saw Inglourious Basterds last week - what a great flick. Highly recommended. Here's my rendition of Lt. Aldo Raine.

Middle Cyclone

I drew this yesterday during breaks from a lengthy & tedious graphic design project, and colored it today. I'm happy with the way it turned out--just as I imagined it when I drew the sketch a few months ago. This CD is all about nature and animals (plus lots of twisters). There is also a really lovely song called "Prison Girls" that inspired the girl.

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Here is the final artwork. The idea behind this drawing is based mostly off of the first song on the disc, "Margaret vs. Pauline" which is about how everything is so easy for Pauline, while poor Margaret keeps getting the short end of the stick. I blended this with little bits and pieces from all the other songs to create the whole narrative, with Margaret being the victim of the car crash in "Star Witness".

I decided last minute to change the red-haired girl's eyes. They looked too beautiful & vacant, and I really liked the sadness and depth that I captured in the original sketch. I'm still not sold on which I prefer.

Fox Confessor - Half Drawn

Here's an in-progress on the drawing for my Fox Confessor Bring the Flood album art. It's done in the style of the DList boys project - which is a divergence from the inky free style way that I did the Tigers Have Spoken. I'm not sure if this was the right choice - kind of wishing I went looser, but I'll finish and see how I like it then.

Saint Scholastica

I have finally finished, after more than a year sitting on the shelf, my painting of Saint Scholastica. It feels so good to have this little weight off my shoulders, I must say. It's also interesting to look at this and see a couple stylistic approaches that I was veering towards last year and have now moved away from.

Here is the original post.

Starlet

Here's a little something I whipped up. (I haven't painted in several weeks, so it seemed like a good thing to do)

Colbert

Twilight Guy

I've never seen the movie, but I hear this guy is pretty famous or something.

The First Lady

The Duchess

This was started as a demo for my class. I'm glad I finished it!

Neko Case Project: "Tigers" Final?

Here's my final colors for The Tigers Have Spoken. Now I need to finish the other five albums to complete the set! I'm putting the finishing "inks" (done completely with my Wacom) - I think it looks better in black and white.

Neko Case Project: "Tigers" Inks

I'm just about finished "inking" this. I wanted to finish the whole thing this evening, but I didn't get quite so far. I'm very happy with the way it's turning out. I especially like the blood splatter. If you are wondering what the gray part is, that's the sketch. It is set to a low opacity in Photoshop, with a result that is very similar to a light table.

Watercolor

I wanted to see if I could accurately mimic the appearance of watercolor in Photoshop, so I played around with this. I made a couple custom brushes that "bleed" and applied a watercolor paper-like texture to the washy layers I created. Simple pleasures: my favorite part is the white necklace that looks as though it was painted with thinned white-out.

Grayscale + Color

Here are two paintings I did as demos for a class I'm teaching at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. The first assignment was to learn how to paint in grayscale, using a full range of white to black with the tactile experience of traditional drawing/painting. The second assignment was to color that image.

80 Dlist Boys: Little Deer, Amourad, Stephenn

I did these a few weeks ago and never got around to scanning them in. I like how Littledeer & Amourad have the same head shape but evoke completely different character within their facial features. I was disappointed with Stephenn - his photo's were all very lovely and in my quest for exaggeration I drew him looking like ET's twin brother. Oh well! Anyway I'm actually drawn up through #22. (which means I'm more than 1/4 finished with the project). I'll post the rest in a couple days.

Skeletor!

As portrayed by Frank Langella.

Dolph Lundgren

As He-Man! Another from the Masters of the Universe Movie. I'll eventually get to all the characters.

Evil-Lyn

Here is Evil-Lyn from the Masters of the Universe Movie. It's a B-Movie definitely, but I love it. Evil-Lyn was portrayed by Meg Foster in the film and I had a lot of fun painting her crazy make up.

One-Hour Painting, Twin Peaks Edition

Laura Palmer, Dale Cooper, & Donna Hayward

Hot N Cold N Old