Creative Juice Podcast #32 Practice

I was on the Creative Juice podcast that was just aired this week on Practice and how long it takes to be good at something. We talk about drawing and obsessions and unused talents.


It was a lot of fun! Listen here: http://thejuicecast.com/practice-practice-practice-part-1/

While you are on the site, check out some of their other topics. The Juice Cast is a podcast for creative entrepreneurs.

Quickdraw Tonight!

Open Session 
QUICKDRAW
Two open hours of short poses, to develop speed and capture energy!

Thursday, December 4th, 7-9 pm (tonight!)

Join us for a high-energy evening of OPEN, uninstructed gesture and short-pose figure drawing. Practice capturing movement and hone your intuitive sense of anatomy in a session of life drawing focused on multiple poses and gesture drawing. The session will begin with poses ranging from 30 seconds to two minutes, and later move on to 5 to 15 minute poses. Participants must provide their own materials.

At:

Manifest's Drawing Center Studios in Madisonville
4905 Whetsel Avenue (second floor)

Go here for more information or to register online (can also register at the door)

Cost: $12 ($6 for college and high school students)
(participants still must register in advance or upon arriving at the Drawing Center) 

Classes This Fall: Maurice Mattei

Maurice Mattei is offering his Drawing Class again this fall at Baker Hunt Arts Center in Covington, KY.

This time, there are two separate 8 week sessions.

One will be on Tuesday mornings from 10:00 until noon and the other will be on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 - 8:30. Subjects covered: Perspective, Composition, Anatomy, and general drawing techniques.  

You can register by calling Baker Hunt at 859.431.0020 (ask for Teresa or Rosemary - they're very nice!) or on-line at www.bakerhunt.com

Some New Stuff

So, it's been awhile. I moved and don't live near enough to Pam to get to anywhere easily. I'll see about bringing my girlfriend to a lunch group soon. I'm also working on my license, which, when reestablished, will allow me more freedom to join you all. In the mean time, here's some new stuff. All of this is digital, save the obvious graphite piece.

Hope you're all doing well. I'll hopefully be adding more soon.

1st Cover - 'The Hobbit' Final Cover layout and Detailed Colour Study

Okay, so I just got back on here and checked my last post and saw that Chuck and Christina had gone to the trouble of commenting and I didn't respond! I hadn't visited the site in awhile due to business. However, it seems that your concerns were my own, for now I am come to you with the changes you specified, only I left in the shield.

So, here you go :P Sorry I didn't get back to you guys. I forgot about my post. I've been so worried about the front cover image I spent days changing things (removing mostly :P) but to now avail. Christina, you should have said something on Facebook. I would have checked here sooner :P

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.

'In the Spirit of the Year of the Dragon'

Here are some sketches for you guys. Christina had mentioned if anyone else had been so inspired by this year's patron beastie. I guess I have been because my sketchbooke has been quickly filling with writhing tails and gnashing teeth and gouts of searing flames (not to mention maidens in distress :P). Enjoy! Smaug, the King of dragons, is a disgarded cover concept for 'The Hobbit'. The other Smaug is an element included in the final cover layout I chose. The other image is just a sketch.

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.

Dr. Sketchy's Shenanigans

My first trip to Dr. Sketchy's was, to put it mildly, AWESOME! Here are some of my sketches. man, if some of you haven't been yet, you should. It is so great. More than anything, it was the people. What a friendly atmosphere conducive to art making.

Before the Queen of the Thrain

This is an old sketch I did (about a year ago) that I stumbled upon while cleaning today. I planned on doing something with it for a story, but I'm not sure where it fits in yet. I'll have to fix the perspective and get more reference, but I really enjoyed the feeling of this one. It was a lot of fun to do. I don't know what it is, but I love the idea of a quest that leads a character to a subterranean city ruled by a powerful dwarf-like matriarch. All of the people are women, no men. I really liked the Queen's garb. Enjoy!

Un Goth

Christina's recent appeal for postings of figure drawings inspired me to add this. Not very vampirific, but I kinda like this female figure for it's simplicity and abstract qualities. There are more drawings at my figure drawing blog, and I'm hoping to add more soon.

Life Drawing

I've never attended a Dr. Sketchy's session, but I thought I'd answer the call to post some figures. I did this male figure in pastel several weeks ago at Manifest Studios.

There's more to see at my figure drawing blog. Visitors are always welcome.

Chalk Dog

I still have a lot of studio work in non-disclosure limbo. Since I usually retain all the rights to my driveway art, I'll share this weekend's piece.

You can see a straight-on view at the chalk-o-holic blog.

A Bird in the Drive

I've got some commercial work brewing in the studio, but nothing I can show right now. In the meantime, I thought I'd post a pic from my "chalk-o-holic" blog here for you to enjoy.

Just having fun in the driveway with the kids.