Finding a path forward

So I know these are a lot of images. The reason I have posted all of them is because they are all from one day. 8 full sketch pages of Anatomy and concept. To be honest this isn;t even that remarkable. Any one of us gets on a tear and the pages start flying. However, this is about the level I feel I should be producing every day.

Going into IMC, I knew one of my biggest weaknesses was my original drawing ability. Having great ideas and being able to convey them quickly and accurately is a tool that we all need in our repertoire. The painting itself will be more sound and will be much better thought out. Laboriously copying your reference material just to get an idea of where you are going makes you a slave to the process. I understand that many of you don;t have that problem, but I have and do.

My solution is just to draw the hell out of the figure and form. You guys should know by now that I find....


AAAAAAHHHHHH as I was typing my daughters were taking a purple magic marker to my finished IMC Painting. A quick dab of water and vigorous scrubbing and my heart is back to normal.

Anyway.... I find that studies should be useful, informative and discard able. Before I was doing my figure studies by rendering the hell out of one section of the form each day of the week. For the next few weeks, I am instead devoting a week to a section. Last week was the head/face, this week is the torso, next week will be arms/hands and so on. In a few weeks I will then come back in and start doing whole figures. The idea is to spend 2-4 minutes on each sketch trying to pull out the information and familiarity you need rather than get bogged down in "drawing that model". Who gives a crap if I can draw a chick on a cloth leaning to the right. What I NEED is to know how the form bends and pulls underneath her "garb" so my drawings and paintings are more natural. This knowledge is what will allow you to modify and deviate from your reference with confidence. Again, I realize many of you know this via your own path, but I still think it useful to share mine.

More robots to come!

I, Steampunk

So I have got the fever. It's true. I never realized how bad I had it until I started researching my IMC piece. Steampunk kicks ace. Its true. Not just any and all, but GOOD steampunk. I'm talking Miyazaki and Otomo good. People slapping gears and valves on crap and calling it punk is lame, but well researched and fantastically viable Victorian style low-tech steam punk is the bomb. With that said, I am developing a series of book covers focused around the exploits of two steam engineers. I will be building maquettes for all of the vehicles and steam-jacks depicted. The finale will be a 20x30 battle scene depicting the heroic engineers and the standard Germanic empire baddies. Think Valkyria Chronicles meets Porco Rosso fighting across the Iron Kingdoms. If all 3 of these references don't strike a glorious chord, you don't know steampunk. I will make it my mission to educate your properly. It is my goal to have these pics done by Gencon.

The pics above are concept sketches for "Earl" the clockwork golem (steam-jack) as well as production and completion pics. I will be painting him up over the next few days to bring out his inner glory. He has taken about 10 hours to scratch build, and all of his limbs, torso and head are fully moveable and poseable. The fingers even come out if I need to change the grip. A big shout out to Jim Gurney for getting me to take this to the next level. His support and enthusiasm are the most blessed of contagions. I hope you guys like it.

The Summoning

So here is the final piece for The Summoning. I started this before IMC, and then came back and knocked the rest out in an evening. The piece is 20x24 in Oils and took about 8-9 hours to do. It was fun and I hope you dig it too. BTW, you really need to see the original on this one. The vibrancy and inner life are half the point. Ah well...

"First Flight" - IMC

Hey guys! Here is a better pic of my finished piece for IMC. This is the thumbnail I submitted for ImagineFX. This was the Jetcycle assignment and is titled "First Flight". Later this week I will put together a montage of the process so you can see the effect IMC had on my composition.

IMC Day 6

It is still Day 6 technically and I have painting straight for about 12 hours now. I even turned down a round of frisbee throwing. That means I am serious! The painting is at about a 10 right now, and I am going to put in a few hours and take it to 11. Almost through this long haul and missing the family. Can't wait to change things up and amp up my summer cons!

See you guys tomorrow with my latest piece "First Flight".

IMC Day 5

Whew. The roller coaster ride has begun its descent. Paint. Paint. Paint. Lunch with the Gurneys. A great lecture by Rebecca Guay and a stirring presentation from Donato. Donato is a "genius" and an inspiring artist. I am thankful he is out here working.

Made some good progress on the bike and stayed up until 6am painting, drinking and later on, WHOOPING BUTT IN STREET FIGHTER IV!!!

IMC Day 4

Day 4

Uggghhh. I know I am supposed to remain confident at all times, but this day was a punch in the jeans. I got up a little late and headed back to the trenches. I will preface the rest of this post with "Thank you Dan." He has given me a plan and a method to attack my future paintings and this is what I needed.

Steering a course through turbulent wind in a new ship.

That is what this feels like. I know the craft will get me to my destination but it is a bear sailing my way to the end. I painted all day until 3 am and got a few background elements done. Slow, steady and with a heavy heart.

In between bouts of Alligator wrestling (figurative), caught a great lecture on Color and Light from James Gurney. Later on, Scott and Dan gave us a peak into their process. Very cool stuff and mostly just a routine of painting. More to come!