Poe project

For the past week I've been doing a (nearly) daily illustration of an Edgar Allen Poe short story, going in order in which they appear in an old Poe anthology I have. This is just a personal project, to get me drawing something other than editorial cartoons and commissions. The goal is to do each illustration in about 2 hours or less, so I'm not taking up too much of my time. I'm flying by the seat of my pants on each one, doing maybe one or two quick thumbnails, but usually I'm just diving in with my Wacom, pushing pixels around until I find an interesting shape, and then running with it. I probably should have started this earlier in October, but oh well. Here are the six I've drawn so far.

The Tale-Tell Heart

The Masque of the Red Death

The Cask of Amontillado

Metzengerstein

The Pit and the Pendulum

The Fall of the House of Usher

C is for Camello

Are there really 26 letters in the alphabet? This could take forever. (The image came through darker than it is.)

Golden Book Illustrations at the Main Cincinnati Library Downtown

The Cincinnati Main Library is hosting the “Golden Legacy” exhibit, the most extensive public showing ever of original illustration art from American publishing’s best-loved and most consequential picture-book series, Little Golden Books.

The exhibit runs through Feb. 21, 2013, in the Main Library’s Atrium, 800 Vine Street. Hours are: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Wednesday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday through Saturday; and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

From the PR sheet:

"Launched in 1942 — the first full year of America’s involvement in World War II — Little Golden Books made high-quality illustrated books available at affordable prices for the first time to millions of young children and their parents. Among the artists who contributed to the ambitious series were greats of the European émigré community (including Garth Williams, Feodor Rojankovsky, and Tibor Gergely) who had gathered in New York as the European situation worsened; alumni of the Walt Disney Studios (including Gustaf Tenggren, Martin Provensen, J.P. Miller, and Mary Blair), who came East for the artistic freedom and control associated with picture-book making; and American originals such as Eloise Wilkin, Elizabeth Orton Jones, Richard Scarry, and Hilary Knight.

Sixty original masterpieces of illustrated art by these and other artists, chosen from the vast Random House archive, will be featured in the exhibition, including examples from such picture-book classics as “The Poky Little Puppy,” “Tootle,” “Home for a Bunny,” “The Kitten Who Thought He Was a Mouse,” “The Color Kittens,” “I Can Fly,” and more.

This exhibit was organized by the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature in Abilene, Texas. For more information, call 513-369-6900 or visit www.CincinnatiLibrary.org."

 
Here is a link to the full press release.

 http://www.cincinnatilibrary.org/press/

The downtown library always has such good shows. Our next downtown lunch is 1/16. We should stop by the exhibit after! Although, this will be hard to resist until then.

'Dragon Eye'

Here's where I stopped on this new painting yesterday. I also have more work done on 'The Last Unicorn'. I think that one is going to take a while before I'm satisfied with it... Some are like that, I guess. Plus, I have to create the type. I want to do some cool thing with the 'u' in unicorn where it is a Celtic- or illuminated looking red bull. And something needs to happen with the sky. Something to break up the monotony of the clouds.

Finished Smaug Drawing and a Recent Front Cover Update

Just finished the back cover drawing of Smaug for 'The Hobbit'. I am working on tightening and making any big changes to the front cover. Here is a recent version with the dwarves all finished. All the characters are famous illustratours that have influenced me in a big way. If any of you have Facebook, you can see who I've tagged there. Otherwise, I'm just going to make a list here.

The Brothers Hildebrandt are Fili and Kili, Pyle is Dwalin, Whelan is Balin, D.K. Sweet is Bombur (he was a big dude), Waterhouse is Thorin, Durer is Nori, Parrish is Dori, Michaelangelo is Ori, Alan Lee Oin, Howe Gloin, Pogany Bofur, and Elmore Bifur. You'll all have to wait to see who Gandalf and Bilbo are :) More to come, very soon. Will probably post the finished cover drawing later today.

After a Slight Delay...

Well, I had finished a monster project and started my cover portfolio, only to be dragged back into the former commission. Now I am done and back on track. Here's the final back cover sketch prior to reference, as well as the final rough layout of the front and back covers.

Thanks,

J.D.R.

P.S. I'm pretty psyched. The back cover image employs the 'Windmill Principle' James Gurney spoke of in his investigation of tonal relationships in 'Imaginative Realism'.

1st Cover - 'The Hobbit'

Hey, guys, here is the in-prog work for my first portfolio cover piece. I am doing 11 covers to various books. I have supplied the first sketch, sans reference (I still need to shoot pics for this whole thing), along with a colour study featuring where I would like the text to be placed. Any feedback would be much appreciated. The cover will be in oils, but I am doing most of my process work in the computer. Thanks, folks!

J.D.R.

P.S. As I worked with this image, I was very unsure of how to proceed. There are some images I don't mind filling the whole cover. Others just don't seem to fit the bill. I also kept thinking, 'Even if I liked this painting, I would not pick this book up off the shelf. I started thinking of all the books I like and what is aesthetically pleasing to me. This final cover layout will change, somewhat, but this is pretty much it. I'll likely do my own text, probably based off of the writing on the map inside the book. Or I may just do something based off of this type-face. I really enjoy it. As for the back cover, I knew I wanted something designy, but related to the front cover in some way. Smaug likely won't break the frame in the final, but this is what I was thinking, in a nut shell. Smaug curled around his pile of gold, his smoke and tail (or maybe just the smoke) curling around the border. Either way, the back image will be bound by the same border as the front. Also, not too keen on the black I used for the text and border around the front cover image. I'll probably choose something more subtle.

Interesting Article: Where have all the book illustrators gone?

 "Charles Dickens enjoyed close collaborative relationships with the illustrators of his novels, but now it's rare to find a picture outside the world of children's books. Is drawing a lost art, or could we be on the brink of a new golden age?"

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/where-have-all-the-book-illustrators-gone-6291792.html

What do you all think? I know some people who order the British editions of certain novels because they have better cover art where the US edition had a typographic solution or a cover they did not like as well. But wouldn't it be cool if more adult books had illustration including interiors?

Dude, where have I been?

I finally got some internets, so I'm going to be around more :P Just thought I'd come over, throw something up, and see what happens :P This is the cover for my brother's Christmas present. I made him a role-playing game. This is sans text, pencil drawing with digital overlay, and eventually printed.

Hope you're all doing well :)

J.

Sketchy Sketches

'ello again.

It was nice seeing everyone at last night's Christmas party. Lots of new faces. New to me, anyway. Then again, maybe I'm the new face.

Anyhoo, I thought I'd follow Chuck's advice and post some pics for your peepers.

These are preliminary sketches I did the night before last for a friend who's writing a book about not being a slacker during your post-graduate years. Ironic she chose me, huh?

Hope you enjoy them. Have an awesome Christmas, Flag Day, or whatever you celebrate.

Here's to 2012; may the Mayans be wrong!

Prodigal Son

Hey, guys,

It was brought to my attention that I was absent for a long time, and people noticed it :P Very kind of you. I've just been super busy. I have a couple big commissions, on top of a busy next couple of weeks preparing some new pieces for a portfolio to pitch to a Connecticut-based company called, Melissa and Doug.

I AM working on my own stuff, too. I have several pieces for you guys, actually. Some old school, some new for me.

The character sheets are from the book my friend and I are making. We actually have a publisher, now, who can market us broaden our customer base. This is going to be one kick ass product, guys. No joke. I can't wait to finish it! These characters are hand-drawn and inked, then plunked into the character sheet format (that was also hand-drawn and inked) using Photoshop. I wanted these to feel like old school character sheets, with a bit of a twist. Going for nostalgia, here :)

The map is from an AD&D campaign world I am preparing adventures for. It's a combination of hand-drawn inking, and colour and parchment effect in Photoshop.

The Woman is the same technique used for the map and will be a portfolio piece for my M&D interview.

Enjoy, folks! And sorry for being away so long. There's been a lot of work from you all, lately :) It all looks so nice. I'll comment when I grab another second. I'm working on a cartoon dragon and princess, today, in Illustratour CS2. When I take a break, I'll look around and write some replies :)

Rough Interiour Layout for 'Epic Tales'

here is the rough interiour layout for the 'Epic Tales' series. I have to ink the banner/border and place it all into Indesign. Just to give you all an idea. Images are not the images from the actual adventure. Those will not be revealed till the release date. Text is all greeked, so no spoilers :P

'Epic Tales' Cover Page Design

Hello, all :) I'm pleased to present to you the final design for the 'Epic Tales' adventure series for Labyrinth Lord. A friend and I are co-conspiratours in a project to be released through my company, Epic Werkes Studio. These adventures will be the forerunner to my own, personal, project. Each cover will feature the same layout, but the colour background will change depending on the image. The images for each adventure will be free to break the bottom and sides of the framed space. The circular region before the book will feature the number of each adventure in the series. My friend is the writer, I am the designer, illustratour, and layout person. So, I am in charge of figuring out the consistent format each adventure will follow. The logo (with the book, but not the banner) will be able to be used, separately, to advertise the product. In some cases, the banner will be present in ads. Currently, the adventure is already written and in the editing process. I have cleaned up the text and made a few changes to the serifs and kerned some of the lettering. I have also transferred the banner and logo and begun painting them. Then, I will set up the layout for the book in Indesign. These are intended to be pdfs, and will be able to be downloaded from RPGNow. I am designing a full front and back cover so that they may be printed in their entirety. This way I can take physical copies to conventions and hand out as promos to gaming stores... Plus, I am not a fan of pdfs. I hate reading things online :P The tentative release date is the end of the Summer. There is lots of work to be done :) I've also included a file of the cover mock-up. It's rough, but it should give you guys an idea of the final design, with the painted logo in place. The logo is in watercolour. The image is an old pic I pulled from some work I did a while ago. It serves only to fill the space and give an glimpse of the final layout with a 'real' image in place.

"Sister of the Sword"

4.5"x6.5"
Pastel on toned Canson paper

A present for my step-sister.

My Mom's House

This is a picture I did for my mom, for her birthday that was...um, back in ...ahemOctober. I finished it just in time but then had it printed on gallery wrapped canvas by Harlan Graphics (excellent printer in town that I have experience with) and that took a bit of time. However, now it is finished! I just have to deliver it when we see my folks after Christmas.

After printing, the colors are a little more muted, which was what I was hoping for. It's a bit of an experiment for me, this new style that I seem to be digging. This is the first architectural-ish of drawing I've attempted. I honestly think it just looks kind of weird. I think I would have added some other things into the picture if I could do it again. At the end of the day, my mom likes it and that's all that matters. It is from a recent picture of the house that she was literally born in and then lived in until she was about 5 or 6. The fire hydrant in the foreground is significant because that is nearly the only memory she has from the house: playing around it. I wanted it to feel like a portrait, but also include that hydrant as an important item.

Hope everyone is having a good holiday season. Looks like the Christmas party was a lot of fun!

"The White Hart"

8"x10"
Pastel on toned Canson paper
Unpublished
This piece is dedicated to Gary at the Celtic Myth Podshow. Please check them out at: http://celticmythpodshow.com/


9 months in the making! And not because it took that long :P I was on the verge of giving it up after a huge mistake. But, after some cropping and a little time (an hour :P), I finished it :P Enjoy!

"Bramble Jack's Repose"

Here it is, folks! I hope you all have a Merry Holiday! And thank you, Paula, for suggesting the snow flakes. I didn't look at any reference for them except to pull the impressions of them from my mind after seeing them the other day. I felt like they should be floating memories than tightly rendered objects.

Final Sketch

Here is the final sketch before reference, transfer to Bristol, and inking it. My model is available tomorrow. So, this will be finished here, shortly. I positioned the darker areas next to areas of mostly white or white areas where they could contrast nicely. I also placed these in the background so they would recede and push the woman forward. There are alternating places of busy and simple, open shapes. I'm confident this will be one of my better pieces.

Finished Work

Hey, guys, here's the finished piece. Any comments before I send it off would be much appreciated. Crow quill on cold press bristol board.

Also, here is the final drawing for the second black and white image.