Dago and the Wizard

Here's an image I made for a friend of mine. We're working on a project together that we'll be pushing for publication within the next couple of years. This is one of the concept drawings for it.

Favorite Illustration Blogs and Websites

Which are your favorite illustration blogs and websites? I am going to start a list of good illustration resources on the sidebar.

Craig Cleveland: Looking for Speakers to Talk to His High School Students

From Craig Cleveland: I will be heading the new GRAPHIC DESIGN CLASSES at Covington Catholic High School. It is a brand new program, and I am crating the curriculum. So if anyone out there would be interested in speaking this Fall, we are needing a few speakers to present their work. It would be a GREAT thing to pass on to the kids (sophomores thru Seniors). I'd love to host a few Illustrators & designers. If they are interested, please contact Craig Cleveland at cleveland@insightbb.com

Chalk Martian

After a long hiatus, I've finally added another drawing to my Chalk Art Blog.

Hopefully, I'll have some commercial illustration to post real soon.

Sketch Fest!

Met some new artist friends for a brew & a few hours of sketch! Good times, much needed break. Slainte!

Conversation in a Tide Pool

A warm-up sketch before I started working this morning. Man, I'm writing A LOT lately and this still helped me loosen up! It was amazing. I'd started it as a very rough idea a few days ago and got the urge to finish it more last night. I'd like to paint this, too. Maybe add more designy things to the rocks and stuff. Might be a faerie-tale or story in the making as well. Not sure.

Here's another sketch, a variant I was working on over the last day or so when I had the time.

Chuck, talk about variations in Mermaids. Look at this "Mummified Mermaid." Very inspiring, kinda gross :P but interesting.

Matt Haber Opening at The BLDG Friday

This show looks really good: http://thebuildingwalls.wordpress.com/2010/06/23/matt-haber-opening-this-friday/

From the site:

The BLDG Gallery is pleased to announce the opening exhibition of Brooklyn artist, Matt Haber, June 25th, 8 pm to 11 pm at 30 West Pike Street Covington, Kentucky. This exhibit encompasses new work by the artist, as well as the unveiling of Haber’s first life-size sculpture.

Here is the artist's website: http://www.mrhaber.net/

I still need to make it out to this gallery. I definitely plan to see this show.

ImagineFX Call For Entries-Young Illustrators Showcase

If you are under 25 years old, Imagine FX is doing a young talent issue. Details here to enter: http://community.imaginefx.com/forums/thread/304473.aspx

Check it out-especially new grads.

Imagine FX has shown a lot of work by Cincinnati artists (me, Woody, Oliver, the 12-Way With Cheese comic, etc.). It is a great magazine with a lot of juicy illustration content. If you do not already get it, check it out!

Outer Bank Birds

This is a painting I did several years ago for a flag. I know it was produced but did not get a sample. I guess I should get on that...

The brown pelican is my favorite part. I love drawing and painting them (almost as much as herons). Below is a sticker for a program I did for Scholastic.

Voodoo pic

Still looking for work. Might have to just switch to completely learning zbrush. Thought I'd do a rare piece with a woman in it and see if it results in better print sales come GenCon. Probably not.

Kitty Cat Extravaganza Show

This Friday, June 25 from 6-9 there will be a Cat Art Show at the Thunder-Sky gallery in Northside (4573 Hamilton Ave.).  For more information about the show visit the blog.  Five percent of the sales that evening go to the Society to Prevent Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and forty-five percent goes to the non-profit Thunder-Sky, Inc.  I think there will also be food!

Wizards of the Coast Monster Manual 3

Wizards of the Coast just released the latest edition of the Monster Manual 3.
that I have a few pieces in. Here's my Cave Fisher image.
The rest of the images and more information can be found on my blog.

RIP Trader Joe's Blog.......

Hey fellow Cincy artists!

Just so you know, I've been asked to take down my Trader Joe's blog per company policy. (They like to be as private as possible about store photos.)

So, take a peek if you hadn't already: a Sign Artist by Day
I'm switching it to private sometime this weekend.

I'll still be making tons of cool stuff at work, & taking photos of it, but I need to keep it to myself!
This makes me sad, but I do understand the why's behind it.... and I still ♥ my job very much :~)

Donate Art for Hospitals

Some hospitals are looking for donated child-friendly art to decorate.

I don't currently have much applicable, but Chuck and a few others do knockout work in this genre that I'm sure would be loved by lots of little kiddies. Thought everyone might like the opportunity to share some scrapped artwork and make some children smile...for free of course : )

http://characterdesign.blogspot.com/2010/06/great-opertunity-for-all-artists.html

Monsters of Slatt's

Man, my juices got going, which was cool, because I've gotta get into Monster Mode here shortly for some articles for TAG.

This is a quick sketch of a dragon inspired by a pic from a regular Facebook posting from the Zoo. Monitours are so cool. The blue one was the coolest. This is just a baby :P Still has its egg horn and everything. Judging from the bone, probably about 3 1/2' long.

Al Williamson: Legendary Comic Book Artist Dead at 79

Al Williamson was an amazing artist who illustrated comics like Star Wars, Flash Gordon, and many others.

A couple of good tributes and images of his work:

http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/

http://www.comicsbeat.com/2010/06/14/al-williamson-1931-2010/

http://io9.com/5562788/rip-al-williamson-legendary-galactic-artist/gallery/

More Poe Progress...

Well well well! Someone's got a brand new head!
Thanks for all your advice, bloggers! I'm much happier with this. This is why I'm practicing :~)

ROLLERGIRLS COMMERCIAL PROCESS

I posted the most recent Cincinnati Rollergirls commercial, but I thought it'd be fun to show some of our process.

The general story for the spot was written by myself and my writing/directing partner, Brian Price. Once we came up with the story idea and the direction, I wrote a treatment.


Brian and I were originally going to direct the commercial, but due to our schedules – we had to be in New Orleans for Brian's brother's wedding – we decided it'd be the perfect time to turn a project over to another director at Plum St., Mike Potter.

Mike and I, along with our producer, Chenney, spent a few hours pouring over the story and the pacing. As director, Mike had some great ideas as to where he wanted the spot to go, and really put his stamp on the story. I created some simple storyboards along with Mike, which served as a shot list for the piece.


I don't like doing storyboards, but for the sake of time (i.e. not explaining to someone else what I knew Mike was looking for), I took my rough boards and did some quick, tighter storyboards.


(BTW, ask Brian Hagen about his excellent work on some of Plum St. Productions commercial and film projects.)

From there, my involvement with the process ended. Our editor, Joe Peak, took the boards, and cut them together into an animatic. That helped Mike, Chenney, Joe and the actors on set know what the pacing of the spot would be like.



And the result is a fantastic commercial. But then again, I'm biased.

Scultpure Links

Here are several faerie/doll sculptours of various styles:

Fairy Woodland
www.fairywoodland.com

Fantasiation
www.fantasiation.com

Angela Giovanna Loroux (her stuff was really cool)
www.lorouxgallery.com

Faerie Glen
www.faerieglennj.com

Inner Fae Creations
www.innerfaecreations.com

Renae Taylor
www.renaetaylor.biz

Hope you guys find some inspiration here. Some of it is very whimsical. These were some great conversations. The Fantasiation lady was very interesting. Very animated, she was great.

Napkin Dragon

I met this little dragon at Arthur's today while eating lunch. He tried to sneak my burger from my plate! I can only imagine he's a local dragon, probably living in some dark little den in the kitchen. I was able to get a quick sketch of him before he darted off. Shy, willful dragonette. All I saw was his bearded head poking up over the table edge, craning his neck slowly, his many-toothed maw open to steal what he could before being seen. As soon as I spied him he vanished, quick as lightning. His colour, as close as I could guess, was a lighter greenish hue, like to the undersides of some leaves that don't see much of the sun. His beard was as the colour of autumn wheat, and fine, like down. I hardly had time to blink before he was gone. If I could guess his size, having only seen his neck, I would say he must be no larger than a small dinner plate. No one else saw him. I'm sure if I dared mention my experience I would have been deemed mad.

Poe Progress....

Making progress!


He's turning out a bit creepy :~)


This is 5 solid hours of work. Whew! I need to work on the legs/shoes next.
Any ideas on how I can make him appear more Poe and less Hitler? :~/

Edgar Allan Poe sketches.

A personal piece in the making! (inspired by my most recent trip to SC.)

...two pages of brainstorming in my sketchbook. I want to show Poe writing 'the Gold-Bug' on Sullivan's Island.





Here's a more finalized sketch. Still a few things to tweak here & there, but I think I'm ready to begin with clay....

I think I should turn that skull around, and I still need a good place for a raven. Anything stand out that I should change now?

Need advice about cover design

Hey illustrators,

This is a collage of pieces of various photos (all are my own photos except for several parts of the bull's body). I propose to use this photo collage as the sketch and photo reference for the cover painting that I'm about to paint for the second book in the Shaker kids series.

I can see that the bright yellow dress on the girl standing on the fence is not working, because the bright yellow type is pulling the figure into the foreground. I plan to make the dress and scarf that she's waving a duller orange-yellow. I plan to make shadows of the bull and the boy in the grass. (Light is coming from behind and to left)

But I'd like to make the grass area less green, if such a thing is possible. It's March or April in the scene, so in reality the grass would be green. And we have to stick with as authentic a re-creation of that scene as possible, d/t the need to keep the scenes historically accurate with respect to Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill.

I want to try to make the color scheme more of a purple and violet versus yellow and orange kind of a color scheme. What could I do about that big section of green grass?

What would be a good type face or font to use? This is Trajan Pro with chisel hard bevel and emboss, and I kind of like it. But it's not very thick and readable. Any suggestions?

Also, if there is something glaringly bad, awkward, distorted or just plain not working in this photo collage, please let me know. Thanks! See you guys at lunch next week.

-Pam

America's Next Great Cartoonist Contest

Submissions ended on June 4th. I just found out about it today: the Washington Post's America's Next Great Cartoonist Contest. Prize: a month of your comic strip, daily, in the Post.

Why the heck didn't we know about this? As Charlie Brown would say: sigh.

Overconfidence

New illo for the portfolio.Still looking for work. If you check out my livestream there are recordings of nearly the entire process on this one. livestream.com/Slucher

CINCINNATI ROLLERGIRLS COMMERCIAL 3: THE THEATER

The Librarian (left) and Amber Potter star in the third CRG commercial.

Hey gang! Check out the third commercial for the Cincinnati Rollergirls, produced by Plum St. Productions.

Twelve-Way with Cheese Debuts!

The first episode of Tess+Tedman is now available in the Twelve-Way with Cheese comic anthology!

Twelve-Way features the work of Cincinnati artists: Brennan Bradford, Bruce Chrislip, Daryll Collins, Jerry Dowling, Tim Fuller, Brian Hagen, David Hartz, Woodrow J. Hinton III, Bob Kahnman, Darcy Vorhees, Christina Wald and Viki Woodworth, with a foreword by Justin Green.

108 pages, full color, paperback. Go to http://www.comixpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=1673 to order your copy today.

And check in often at http://www.tessandtedman.com or the Tess+Tedman Facebook page for more episodes!

Dr. Sketchy June Spy

Just piggy-backing on Justin's post. :)
I have to agree that Dr. Sketchy is just a great environment and a lot of fun. I hope more people will come out to them. Here are few pictures I took and some of sketches from the Dr. Sketchy June session I did.

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.

Nancy Wiley

Hey, Paula, here are some links to Nancy Wiley's work:

http://www.nancywiley.com/

You can access her blog from there. Also, the book is NOT Cinderella but "Alice in Wonderland." It is featured on the front page of the main site. I hope this helps. It looks really interesting. I think Terry Windling and Wendy Froud made a book together that had a similar approach.

http://www.worldoffroud.com/index.html

You'll have seen both Wendy and Brian's work in Labyrinth and Dark Crystal. They're an amazing team. Labyrinth actually features their baby, Toby. Wendy has some amazing doll making videos out there.

It was good meeting you at Dr. Sketchy's. Take care.

Note: This is for anyone else interested in some great artwork. Brian's approach is very interesting. He starts in one spot and spirals out from it until he has an image. Any videos you can find on youtube are worth watching. they're fascinating.

Arts Business course being considered at Miami

All,
Here is an invitation to join a group discussion about starting an Arts Business course, to be offered at the Miami University VOA site in Mason. Passed along to me from David Macejko...these are the same folks that put together the show this past winter for Chris Payne, Bill Cigliano and myself. I couldn't figure out how to attach the pdf to this so see below for a cut & pasted version of the invitation details if you're interested in participating.

John



INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE June 8, 2010

You are invited for a glass of wine and to participate in a focus group discussion at the
Fine Arts Fund Community Room on Tuesday, June 29 starting at 5:15 p.m. and ending
at 6:30 p.m.

The Miami University School of Fine Arts with the advice of the Fine Arts Fund is looking
to implement an arts management certificate program. The purpose of the June 29
meeting is to gain a better understanding of the business and professional development
needs of visual artists and small arts organizations.
We hope to learn from you the challenges facing you as artists and business managers,
the skills that would be most helpful in helping you run and sustain your arts business,
and the logistics of a program – time commitment, costs, location – that would fit your
schedules and budgets.

Your input is vital to the development of a program that meets the needs of the visual
arts community. We hope you will attend and look forward to talking with you as we
begin the process of developing this program.
Please RSVP by Friday, June 25 to Susan Thomas at thomass1@muohio.edu or 513-529-
1490; or contact us if you have any questions. Your comments are appreciated even if you
are unable to participate in the focus group.
The Fine Arts Fund offices are located in downtown Cincinnati at 20 East Central Parkway,
Suite 200. We look forward to seeing you on the 29th.

Sincerely,
Susan Thomas
Director of Arts Management
Dr. James Lentini
Dean
Miami University School of Fine Arts
104 Center for Performing Arts - Oxford, OH 45056
(513) 529.6010
http://arts.muohio.edu

Jerry Dowling: New Web Site

Jerry Dowling's new website is up! Check it out!

http://www.jerrydowling.com/

The Business of Art/Illustration/Design

Viki brought up the site Escape from Illustration Island a couple weeks ago and today they have a particularly cogent article about the business of art. http://escapefromillustrationisland.com/2010/06/09/open-letter-to-art-schools-everywhere/

It also nicely ties into Darcy's new blog Smartists, Inc.: http://smartistsinc.blogspot.com/

This is the time of year for many graduations. As many new designers and illustrators enter the job/freelance market they ask, what do I do now? How on EARTH do I make a living?

All Work and No Play Makes Brian a Dull Boy

With two professional projects on my agenda, I spent this afternoon in complete "Artist's Block." Paralyzed by the clean, sensible, commercial work that clotted my creative arteries.

So instead, I created the art you see here. A non-commercial, non-agenda, non-premeditated graphic slice of my childhood. From my memory of one of the few days when I caught a fish, and the day my father showed me that some laws were as flexible as fish.

From the picture, it's clear I wasn't born to be a fisher, hunter, or soldier. Instead, I create art.

This was a redeemed afternoon.

Penelope Dullaghan Adds Visual Value To Brands!

Scott Hull Associates' Penelope Dullaghan assisted in enhancing two big brands visually! With that came Addy Awards, just what creative team love!!!!

http://www.scotthull.com/artists/blog/may2010-6/

Digital Scanning in Cincy?

Does anyone know the best place to have paintings digitally scanned? I have a 30 x 40 canvas I need to have done soon. I had a really good place in Indianapolis, but I'm hoping to get it done locally since I've moved back.

Thanks!

Roger

How Far Destiny?

This is a picture from a personal project. It's about a year old. There is a companion piece I have all drawn out but not started yet. This piece is called "Elivagar and Haraldain." It's pastel on Canson paper, 18"x24".

Twelve Way With Cheese article and review

Rick Bird did a piece and review on Twelve Way with Cheese in CityBeat yesterday... see the previous post for ordering details yippee!!!



CityBeat Article:Maker's Dozen

Your Twelve Way Is Served!

The comic book anthology many of us have been working on for the past year has finally hit the streets!

A tip of the cap to Rick Bird for the fine article about our project in this week's CityBeat.

You can read the story here...

http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-20832-makers-dozen.html

And if you'd like to get your hands on a copy hot off the press for a mere $20...

http://www.comixpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=1673

To all involved... you should be really proud of your contributions. It's a great looking book!

A double tip of the cap and a respectful bow to Tim Fuller who put this project together along with his outstanding art direction, cartoon stories and ad parodies!

Watch this site as we will be posting events to promote the book, signings and the fantabulous Twelve Way kissing booth coming to a church festival near you this summer!

Pueblo

Hey, would anyone mind giving me a ride to the restaurant today? I JUST missed my bus and the next one leaves at 10:47. I'd appreciate it. My # is 513-304-5656.

Thanks,

Justin

Children's Book

Thought I'd let people know about this. Just in case you don't know the story behind this. My mother was diagnosed with cancer and wanted me to illustrate a children's book she wrote for my son to remember her by. She passed away when he was three months old in November and it's taken me a bit but I finally completed all of the illustrations for it. Since I had a completed book I decided I might as well make it available through a POD company.

This book is nothing like my work so don't expect my typical artwork.

Half of all profits will be donated to cancer research.
Anyways, here are some of the interiors. Struggled a bit with this kind of subject matter.

The book is expensive and I don't have any control over what they charge but if you're interested in buying a copy you can visit xlibris and buy Henley here.

Surf & Turf

I meant to post this this weekend, but then it was sunny.

I created this for my girlfriend for our two-year "university" (as my English-as-a-second language-grandmother would say). It's water color, colored pencil, and microns on smooth 9 x 14 Bristol.

I really had fun with the lettering on this one (especially the "surfing" bubbles). Had I more time, I would have tweaked some of the composition so that the "Between" was a bit higher and the "With You!" was a bit lower to flow better, but I'm pretty happy with it overall.

This is the fourth or so drawing project I created for Katie, so that ace up my sleeve has been used. I had better come up with a novel way to give her gifts; unfortunately, she doesn't take kindly to gas station gift cards. :)

Enjoy!

Encounter with Shadow

Here is a pastel piece I did as a concept image for a story/world I'm working on for Triple Ace Games.