Playing around

Messing with more brushes and techniques. I'm counting this as If's Fluid because I am trying to achieve a more fluid, watercolorey look.

And a more vintage look:

No sleep

This is what I draw at around midnight, when I'm tired but can't sleep. Masterful, I'd say.

Paperboy

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Sometimes I draw people too.

New Work

Started painting this tonight, going to sleep on it, and hope to finish tomorrow. It is based on an old illustration I made back in 2008- when it's finished, I'll do a side by side comparison.

Pretty

Graduate school

My Graduate School has a brand new shiny website!
http://www.hartfordillustrationmfa.org/index.php

If you've ever considered an MFA in Illustration, I can not recommend this program enough. The low residency nature of the program allows you to continue to work and live at home, while still getting instruction and attending lectures from some of the finest illustrators working today, including C.F. Payne, Gary Kelley, Bunny Carter, Bill Thompson, Zina Saunders, and of course the director Murray Tinkelman. Through this program I have been able to tour Lucas Films at the Presidio, the Norman Rockwell Museum, the New Britain Museum, and so many others. I've attended inspirational lectures by leaders like my own hero Peter de Seve, Noah Klocek, and Paul Rogers.

Hartford's program gave me the focus and education needed to be able to compete in the illustration field. I am a bit embarrassed to admit it, but despite the fact that I held a BA in Art Studio and a minor in Art History, I really knew almost nothing about the history of illustration or even the names of many contemporary illustrators. The MFA filled this gap for me. While I will forever be getting more skillful and playing with new styles, thanks to Hartford I now really know how to THINK about illustration, how to approach a drawing, how to compose an idea- intellectual concepts that won't change whether I'm drawing with a piece or charcoal or on a cintiq tablet.

So if you are a professional illustrator with a couple of years under your belt and you're interested in taking the next step, please check the program out!

de Seve quote

"I always reach a point with a piece where I want to throw it out the window. I think it's a total disaster and I want to kill myself. And then it's a matter of trying to rescue it. That's where the struggle is." - Peter de Seve

Portland Pug

The Pug is the official hipster pet of Portlanders. This fellows' riding a fixey double decker, got his messenger bag with his <3 Oregon sticker, and of course, a PBR. All he's missing is a mustache.

Brushes

I've been playing around with custom brushes to try to cultivate a look that does not look digital at all. Right now it's a little hit and miss, but here's an example of just a real quick study.

Study life to create invented forms

A friend of mine was mocking up a beautiful illustration of a saber toothed tiger and a wooly mammoth, but the animals looked a little unrealistic. So begs the question is- how does one create an invented or extinct animal form that is accurate and convincing?

The answer is to study living animals that are similar to what you are trying to draw, and also their bones and skulls if they are available. A wooly mammoth is more than just a furry elephant- the tusks are shaped differently, there seems to be a lump on the top of its head, it has longer legs, and a hunch on it's back, among other features. But, you can use an elephant to inform how something of that mass would carry it's weight, how the brow line seems to line up with the upper jaw, how the legs bend, etc. For a saber toothed tiger- I first started drawing out an actual tiger and just put larger fangs on him (pictured), but after looking at the bones I realized that the skull was much shorter and looked more like a mountain lion's skull, so instead I recommended he study mountain lion headshapes over tiger headshapes to make the form more accurate.

I often hear novices and students proudly proclaim that they don't use reference to draw. I cannot stress how much of a mistake this is. Only by extensive research and study will you begin to really understand an animals anatomy and be able to bend and break rules to make convincing invented characters. All the pros use reference- my instructor C.F. Payne is famous for his amazing charicatures, and he was always harping on me to have some reference available even when I'm drawing something I "know" how to draw, because you might catch something you've never noticed before. And with drawing, a simple nuance like the way a claw bends in a certain direction or the way a jaw comes together has the power to take your drawing from 'good' to 'great'.