Interview: Chris Sickels/Red Nose Studio on Illustration Mundo

 Great interview with Chris Sickels on Illustration Mundo's blog.

Check it out!

http://illustrationmundoblog.tumblr.com/post/16844952463/chris-sickels

Retro Spring

A drawing for "retro spring", which I branded with my graphic design business, Fill Creative. The flowers are our brand colors. And hand-drew our logo. We have a space in our studio that we would like to hang posters that we change out every so often. So, I could see this being a quarterly/seasonal poster for that purpose, or used for mailers/email blasts.

Recent junk

After seeing the terrific art being produced by Justin, I feel a little sheepish about posting this stuff. I thought I'd wait until these recent ones were finished and put them all up at once. Here they are.

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.

Cover Design-a-palooza: Time to Vote on Wordsworth!

I am working on a joint venture with author Scotti Cohn on her cool YA novel, Wordsworth and the Dragon. I have done 6 cover sketches and we have a poll set up. Vote on your favorite at the link below.

Vote here: http://wordsworthdragon.blogspot.com/p/cover-art.html

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?

More Year of the Dragon

As I mentioned on Chuck's post, I finished this sketch for my blog just as his amazing sketch popped up on our site. You cannot beat dragons... (Well you can, but they would toast you...)

Was anyone else similarly inspired? Anyone born in the Year of the Dragon?

Happy New Year!

Had a little time for doodling this afternoon. I've always wanted to sketch my own version of a Chinese Dragon. Now I just want to create more.

Tonight ends the year of the rabbit and begins the year of the dragon —the luckiest symbol of the zodiac. In Chinese tradition, dragons are charismatic, aggressive and succeed at everything they do.

almost everything.

---------

Update Jan 23, 15:26

Typically, when I post, I put art up and then move on, but in the spirit of fun, I've decided to make this an ongoing project and continue posting dragon sketches until Chinese New Year ends on Feb 6. —or until I get tired.

Jan. 26

Christina's dragons are sweet and cuddly, Justin's are strong and awesome. Mine are cynical curmudgeons. Hmmmm.

Animated Video

Nice to see so many at today's lunch.

I completed this video a few weeks ago for the company I work for. It's my first foray into animation, and it made me realize two things:

a) Animation is fun; and

b) I still sound like I'm in 7th grade.

Enjoy!

What CoupSmart Can Do For Your Business from CoupSmart on Vimeo.

Illustrator News: Troy Brown

Troy Brown appeared on fox morning show for a drawing demo, below is the link. The segment was to promote workshops he is doing in collaboration with the Cincinnati Public Library.

http://www.fox19.com/category/195974/video-landing-page?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6624071

Cartoon Succotash!

Hi everybody.

I've started a blog which I probably should have done years ago.

I have a few opinions as most of you already know!

Anyway it'll be about a lot of different things, depending on my mood/anger level.

Feel free to stop by and leave a comment if you're so inclined.

I miss everyone, and hope to return to you sometime sooner rather than later.

http://www.cartoonsuccotash.com/