Painting Practice

Before tackling this year's Holiday card I've warmed up with a few color studies. The lighting in this image a challenge. It's dark down at the bottom of the ocean with very little local color showing through (local color being the actual color of an object–grass is green, stop sign red). The colors are muted except where the bulb is casting its red light. I work out complicated scenes like this in Photoshop (see previous post). Recreating the digital sketch in acrylic can be a challenge.

Acrylic comes in different consistencies, from thick like butter to thin like ink. I use a product called flow-enhancer to thin the paint further. I can then use acrylic like watercolor (creating washes and glazes). The benefit being that acrylic, once dried, won't lift and leave a hole if an area is overworked later in the painting process. I tend to overwork things.

The Wiz: First attempt at digital painting

This was my first project with a Wacom drawing tablet. Digital painting feels like cheating, it's too much fun! The power of Control Z is hard to resist (that's "undo" for you PC users).

Excerise

I haven't done much artwork in the last 4 months due to the chaos (and joy) that is getting married. I've done even less painting. Before launching into a big project I decided I needed to stretch my painting muscles. I pulled this character out of my sketchbook (originally drawn from life at my brother's graduation). This was done quickly (1.5 hours) and that spontaneity shows. It's not perfect but the paint and lines have an engaging energy that can be lost in more calculated illustrations. This was done in acrylic.

When is a drawing done?

When I finished the preliminary sketch of my holiday card (see previous post) I thought it looked pretty good. But that drawing came quickly. I didn't trust it. It was too easy! I must suffer for my art.

Was the first sketch good? Or just good enough?

These characters are stylized but are based on real animals. The more inspiration I draw from the actual critters the better. I Googled shrimp. After studying several photos I realized my "shrimp" looked more like a lobster. I narrowed the body and legs. I gave him a pointy head. I rearranged the antanae. I also used this opportunty to exaggerate the gesture and expression.

I moved on to the angler fish. I looked at a dozen angler photos. One photo in particualr caught my eye. It was a freaky looking fish. I would be a fool not to let that image inspire me.

Is the drawing done? I think so. I could spend the rest of my life perfecting these characters but I have other fish to fry.

Holiday Card Sketch

I was channel surfing and stumbled across "Blue Planet" on the Discovery Channel. This particular episode was all about the scary fish that live way down deep. I've always been intrigued by angler fish and this program featured several rarely seen specimens.

The next day I was strolling down the street (cup of coffee in hand), brainstorming for my holiday card. A chameleon on a red Christmas tree bulb?

Done that.

I thought about a glowing Christmas tree bulb. I remembered the phosphorescent lure of the deep sea angler fish. Where do ideas come from? Channel surfing and coffee.

Posted is a sketch colorized in Photoshop.

Something Ancient

When I was a kid, the local Recreation Department held a Halloween window painting contest and every year I would enter. I recently found this old negative and scanned it at 2400 dpi. The resulting image is choke full of lost details and memories. Decades later I can read what I wrote on the coffin–"Dracula's Pad". That's my brother David stealing my limelight.

An Award Winning Illustration!

The New Hampshire Creative Club's 19th Annual Exhibition and Award ceremony was last night (For an explanation of the NHCC see previous post). The festivities were held in the Manchester photography studios of Althea Haropulos. The studio is housed in a beautiful riverside mill building–lots of brick, hard wood and tall windows. An enviable space–sure beats my cluttered studio.

The Exhibition honors design professionals in New Hampshire. Award categories include best design, web, photography, copy writing , student work and of course illustration. The Portsmouth Ballroom logo was entered by Harbour Light Strategic Marketing (they commissioned me to create the logo).

The competition was strong and I didn't think a logo would win. Compared to more detailed and colorful illustrations my logo looked woefully simple. I am happy to win but still fear the judges made a mistake!

The ballroom logo started as brush and ink drawing that was then scanned and manipulated in Adobe Illustrator.