Beauty and the Beast

Hey guys! I finished this bad boy late last night. I am really pleased with how it turned out. Of course the pic captures none of the luminosity of the original, but I guess I have to live with that. I will be preparing a quick tutorial of this piece over the next few weeks. I learned so much about my own preparatory needs and how to overcome daunting obstacles in my path, and I think it should be valuable. I will start with prelim sketches, maquette creation, pertinent studies and all the way on from there.In the meantime, I'll be getting it scanned soon when I get the prints made for Gencon. Hope you guys like it!

Beauty and the Beast or How I get through the day

Lesson for the Day:

Keep Painting

I feel like I post this every month or so, but it is never any less applicable. For those that know me, I wear my emotions on my sleeve, and often let my mouth outpace, if not lap, my thoughts. Both can be a boon and a curse. I feel that these things also manifest themselves in my art career. I produce something neat, or get a positive critique and generate this foolish notion that everything has to be at that level instantly. Then I look for praise where there will likely be none and feel diminished when attention is not forthcoming. Stupid hobbit...

But wait, what does this have to do with painting.

No matter your skill level or position in the art community, you have to keep working. Stopping for a day turns into two which rolls into five and pretty soon you haven't produced something new in a month or more. Now I am not talking about a brief siesta or vacations. We all know when we wuss out or get in the dumps. When you find yourself there like I do ...um...weekly, then draw or do studies. Instead of taking a day off, take an easy day. Do something comfortable to replenish your confidence and get back to rolling that boulder uphill.

I get so bogged down with where I want to go, that I lose sight of where I was. I look back to the work Sam (Flegal) and I were doing a year ago, and the work we have done in the interim and feel like an idiot. As long as you put one dogged foot in front of the other, you can baby step your way to whatever comes next. That said, I have tossed up my current WIP that has been a testament to this process. I got so frustrated early on that I did a Foster Robot study, and then 3 other studies before laying the first Robot rendering. I am very pleased with where this is at, and am excited to dive into the figure. I'll be playing Dan Dos Santos's DVD on loop while working and looking at the figure study he gave me to punch through and level up my figure painting. I guess you guys will be the judges.

Anyways, if you can't keep your chin up, then put your head down and bull forward.

Liberty Con 23 Chattanooga, TN

I will preface this post for any new followers that Liberty Con was a blast. The reviews I post on my blog are focused at penetrating and accurate reviews for artists and don't always accurately convey the moode/feel/enjoyment of an event. In the case of Liberty Con, I would be tempted to just show up and hang out at this one with or without a professional agenda.

Libert Con 23

As this was not your normal genre show, I am going to skip the formal review. Liberty Con is a literary "relaxacon" in Chattanooga, TN. At the aptly named Comfort Inn, I spent the weekend with some close friends (Mike and Paul Bielaczyc) displaying in the Art Show and, well, relaxing, The staff was friendly and accommodating (shout out to Brandy, Derek and Shannon!)and the atmosphere was very cordial. With an Art Show and no Dealer's room we spent the weekend eating and drinking and chatting with the Artists GOH: Darrel K. Sweet. I even squeezed in an hour or 2 of painting on my most recent piece (to be revealed soon!). Mike, Paul and I participated in an Iron Artist session for charity and then each of us painted our rendition of an Iron Artist and donated it to the Art Auction. They all sold with multiple bids each and the Charity auction raised nearly 2k all said (yay!).

As far as sales go, I would really rather not talk about that. This group seemed really close knit, and like to buy from folks they are friends or familiar with. Diving Pac-man and Demonic summonings were not to their liking and my age and appearance (and shenanigans) could have been perceived as intimidating. Stranger Danger!!! As Brandy advised/admitted, you have to let these folks get to know you before they will buy a print or painting. Sooo from a professional standpoint, if you have an interest in sales, this is probably not a show I would recommend. Unless of course if you have either:

1.) Cats
2.) Dragons
3.) Dragon Cats
4.) Castles
5.) Princesses

in your work. In that case reap the whirlwind. Seriously. Some folks made bank, but this is not a show that will support the extravagant or erratic piece with money. This show demands a very tailored setup with only a few blips of non-conventional collectors.

That said, I would still recommend this one if you just want to hang your work and have a good time. The Art Show was very well run with several assistants, the peg was new and sturdy and the lighting was excellent. A fantastic Con Suite (Killians on tap!) and a 24 hour pool were serious bonuses. I was very discouraged by the lack of reaction to my efforts and progress, but at the same time I did win Best In Show: Kid's Choice. If you have a free weekend and can spare the dime, do this one with some buds. Will I be back? It would really depend on the pieces in my portfolio and whether I can get my Show Space comped. If that happens, and I have little to no hanging expenses to recoup, I will pretty much plan on 2011.

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.