Nutcracker black & white

This is a simple illustration of a nutcracker done with pencil, brush, and ink on paper. This was done as a visual aid for a project I'm doing with some of my classes.

British Bulldog

Bassett Hound

Cocker Spaniel

Here's a black & white cocker spaniel I made as part of a teacher exemplar for a portrait painting lesson that I'm doing with one of my elementary classes. More dogs to come!

Cardboard Train

One of the teachers at my school came to me with a request for a visual aid of a train she needed for a presentation. I didn't get much more of a description than that. I had a couple of free periods that day so I got an old stock image illustration of a train for reference and hacked this out quick. It's black tempera paint on about 3'x5' cardboard. It took me about 30 minutes and I have to say it felt good. Almost like relieving yourself.

Where the Wild Things Are Toilet Paper Rolls

These are exemplars I made for a lesson I will do with one of my classes in the future. The idea for this came from one of the great craft blogs that I follow. Check it out.Max is a cardboard tube from a toilet paper roll while the monster is a cardboard tube from a roll of wrapping paper. Both are painted with acrylics. Think about that next time you use toilet paper!

Royal Pain 2

Here are a couple of tighter head shots. I like a more sallow pallor. He shouldn't look too healthy. I think that I'm going to go into a slightly different direction with the coat. I inadvertently found out through my research that the coat I'm trying to make for Royal Pain is actually considered a "pimp coat."

Royal Pain I

The following is one of a few characters I've been obsessing over and fleshing out. These characters are a comic book villains that are inspired by actual friends of mine, who shall remain nameless.

You may notice the atrocious digital coloring. I've recently borrowed a small WACOM tablet from my friend Andy. I've always wanted to try one of these things. As you can see I'm just trying to get the hang of it.

So without further adieu I give you the Royal Pain.

River Otter Final

Put a fork in this one 'cause it's done, man. Notice the expression change on the otter in the 2nd panel. He need to look more optimistic and hopeful.

UFO Sighting 7

OMG! We've finally come to a concensus and I'm actually happy with it. Here is the final version.

UFO Sighting 5&6

The author preferred to see all the individual trees. Luckily, my experimentation with the cloning tool saved me a lot of time with that major change. I still am not happy with the decision to not have the mountainside in stark silhouette. So I proposed meeting the author half way. I kept the spotlight on the action but halved the opacity of the black mountainside. Now you can see the trees and you still get the sense of nighttime.

Non-shaded mountainside.
Shaded mountainside.

UFO Sighting 4

I've redesigned the "cigar shaped" U.F.O. I kind of like this version better. Also, I really like the stark black quality of the mountainside. Oh! Check out the happy accident I had experimenting with Photoshop brushes trying to create a light reflection on the water.

Adirondack U.F.O. Sighting 3

Apparently, the '73 Olds was exited the area from a different direction according to the author. It did not cross the bridge. In actuality it's a pedestrian bridge. Note the tiny Photoshopped car in lower right of the image.

Adirondack U.F.O. Sighting 2

The blank mountain side will be filled in black with Photoshop. I think it'll look more stark and striking rather than overload the details of drawing each individual tree. The author's description doesn't specify where the '73 Olds sedan is supposed to be. I only know that the driver was trying to flee the area. I think it looks kind of nice coming towards the viewer. Plus, it's a nice view of the car.

Bear Scare 7: You Choose

Which one is better?

Version 1.Version 2.

Adirondack U.F.O. Sighting 1

Here are some sketches of a "cigar shaped" UFO. I did these at another staff meeting at work. Love those staff meetings.

Bear Scare 6 Final

I fooled around with Photoshop to get the tonal pattern sky and I had to redraw the 1st hunter's head because his dialogue would not work with him looking directly at the bear (see ealier Bear Scare posts to understand what I'm talking about).

Thanks, Easter Bunny!

Here are three Easter Bunnies that I made as an exemplar for an art lesson I'm doing with one of my classes. These are made from Sculpey and painted with acrylics. They started out as Easter eggs with individualized bunny faces. I tried going for the extreme. Happy Easter!

Interlude

I think that it's officially Spring. This image captured at my girlfriend's house.

Bear Scare 5

Black bear.

Bear Scare 4

Sketch inverted in Photoshop.Inked.

Bear Scare 3

Bear Scare 2

Bear Scare 1

To the left is the concept sketch I was given by the author of the book I'm doing these illustrations for. I thought that it'd be interesting to see that and compare it to the final image.



Here's the pencil version of the uprooted tree. I stuck to my original concept but ironed out a few things with a some Google Image searching.

Uprooted Tree

Here's a sketch I did on the back of a handout I received at our teacher inservice day today. The meeting was boring but I was kind of amazed I could do the sketch below from imagination.

The Spa 2

Here's some more hackery.

The Spa 1

Here's a sketch for a spa, circa 1880s. I did this with a brush and India ink. May you rest in peace.

River Otter 4: The Final Image

Here is the final River Otter illustration.

River Otter 3

Here is are updated sketches of a different facial expressions and a different design for the trap.

River Otter 2

Here is the stump of a conifer and three birch stumps. Check out those textures! Our friendly river otter is supposed to be caught in a soft catch or padded trap. The chain to the right will be attatched to the trap later using Photoshop. I'll be experimenting with adding each element in the illustration with Photoshop. This ought to be interesting.

River Otter 1

Welcome back. That was quite a hiatus. I know. I know. I'm sorry. There have been a few things that have happened this past year, all of which are great, that set me back as far as updating new images. So here are some sketches for an illustration for a friend's book about the Adirondacks.

Sign for Friendship

This is the sign for friendship. It is part of a design I was asked to do for Student Appreciation Day at school. Staff at school volunteer as waiters and serve the students lunch. This design will appear on the top of the cake that will be served for desert. I'm not sure how they do that, though.

Hail to the King, Baby!

Tonight, I dine in HELL!

Evil Rabbit

Can you figure out what's happening here?

Kurt Russell

Here's the inked version and colored version of Kurt Russell. I'd also like to say that I really enjoyed Grindhouse. It's been a while since I've witnessed an audience applauding scenes in a movie. Very fun!

Death Proof

I'm going to see Grindhouse at the movies today. I've been anticipating it for a while. Last night I saw a really cool image of Kurt Russell from the Death Proof portion of the film and had to sketch. It doesn't get much cooler than Kurt. If you're looking for a good movie recommendation I'll steer you towards his involvement with director John Carpenter. The Thing is an excellent, ground-breaking horror flick and Big Trouble In Little China has always been one of my favorites.

Pondering

Here's my exemplar for the Self-Portrait unit I'm doing with my middle school classes. Self-Portrait, Tempera on paper. 10"x 16."

Montage

All of the previous images relate and were put together in a montage composition. What's your interpretation?

Coffee, Tea, or Me?

I have to admit that I'm kind of proud about this one. I like how this image is composed and I really like everyone's gesture. Since I don't sketch on a regular basis I forget how to do certain things. It took me a while of sketching out the body structures using simple line and then geometric shapes to figure out the proportions and perspectives. I'm really satisfied with the sitting man with crossed legs because I didn't have a model to look at.

Young Lovers

What's with all the romance? I don't know. I was trying to go for a bit of anonymity with the female character by keeping her in heavy shadows. However, I think that it looks more creepy than anything. I think the old man should be leaning towards the viewer to indicate more forced perspective. That would make the fact that he has no shadow on his face more logical.