Fairytale illustrations in Peter G. Thomson exhibit at Main Library

“Little Red Riding Hood” from the Peter G. Thomson Collection. Photos courtesy of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

“The Night Before Christmas” from the Peter G. Thomson Collection.

This looks cool!

From the PR sheet:

"There’s something about the holidays that brings out the little kid in all us, and what better what to revisit our childhoods than by viewing the classic illustrations of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, The Night Before Christmas and other favorite books at the Main Library.
The illustrations are from the Peter G. Thomson Collection and make up the exhibit “Wonderland of Fairytales” in the Joseph S. Stern, Jr. Cincinnati Room in the Main Library. The exhibit is on display Nov. 16 through Feb. 17, 2013, and includes alphabet books, Mother Goose nursery rhymes, Shakespeare and a host of other children’s books from the 1880s.
Peter G. Thomson, 1851-1931, in the span of about a decade (1880s) published over 100 children’s books in his Race Street shop. The main production of color printing was children’s books and comical valentines. His publications grew in popularity, rivaling McLaughlin Brothers of New York who bought him out in 1892. With proceeds from the sale, he established the Champion Coated Paper Company."

EXHIBIT HOURS: The Joseph S. Stern, Jr. Cincinnati Room is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The Main Library is located at 800 Vine Street.
The Cincinnati Room also houses the Charles Fontayne and William S. Porter’ “Cincinnati Panorama of 1848,” the oldest wide view photograph of an American city. The award-winning masterpiece is revered worldwide as one of the finest examples of daguerreian photography.
For more information about the exhibit, contact the Genealogy & Local History Department at 513-369-6905.

Middle Sea Blog

Hey, guys. I've been out of circulation for a bit. My internet's down. I'm going to post more, starting with a project I'm doing when I have some down time. I'll post my new map, soon, too. TAG's got me working on another project for their Hellfrost setting.

Here's the link to my blog: www.middleseachronicles.blogspot.com (I can't remember how to hot link things, so unless Christina fixes this, please copy and past the link)

The purpose of this blog is to explore lots of ideas and materials and just have fun. It's a place for me to feel no pressure about art and let loose when I need to.

Enjoy, guys! See you at lunch, soon!

J.

And one image from the blog, just so there's some art up in this post :P)

Fairy Tale Vector Illustrations

Posted for Justin since we have been talking vector for toy products, here are 4 images from a series I did for one of my toy clients 7ish years ago. All vector each for a different collection of fairy tales which explains the mash up of characters. It is in layers of line drawings that were streamlines. 

I actually cannot believe I found this on one of my old hard drives. I am a bit of a digital pack rat...  See if you can guess the stories in each image...

Vectour Dragon

Here's my vectour dragon illustration :P I updated the dragon, dropping the opacity on the scales, wing bones, and knee swirl. I also reduced the stroke size on the smoke and dropped its opacity. This also did wonders! Thanks, Chuck! :)

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.

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!

Concept Sketch-Not So Nice Queen Marries Dubious King

Here is a concept sketch for a fairy tale personal project I am working on... More soon as it develops. I am a little obsessed with 18th century costume at the moment...

Sky Buckets as Inspiration

This is an image I did thinking it may be an interesting t-shirt design. The method is a digitally colored ink drawing.

Does anyone remember the sky buckets at amusement parks? This was my inspiration. I am still playing with the funky scales seen in fairy illustration.

I wonder why they don't have many of these rides anymore...

Final Painting

The painting is finished! All digital on the Cintiq.

I did not use much of the Painter program as promised. I need to force myself-this is mostly Photoshop.

As I said, there is a Thumbelina feel about this that I realized in the sketch but it is not really a bad thing. Yes, there is supposed to be a sinister vibe from the chipmunk.

Sketch for Digital Painting

This is basically a companion piece to this earlier image that I posted.

It has almost a Thumbelina quality but I am playing a bit with scale in the fairy painting tradition. The chipmunk may get bigger.

I will try to utilize Painter a lot more but we will see...

Holiday Wishes

Here is an image I did this year for my Christmas card mailing.

It was a quickie done digitally. The Snow Queen was a favorite fairy tale for me growing up-especially the illustrations in the old edition of Anderson's Fairy Tales my mom had.

This is a bit of a more upbeat stylized take but that just may be inherent to my nature...