Not Just a Donut....

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Oil Paint on Masonite

It's not just a donut....it's a Dunkin' Donut. Toasted Coconut to be exact. This was a small alla prima demo I did. Illustrators usually have a mess of preliminary work to do from thumbnails to sketches to revisions to color comps to finals to reproduction and sometimes to design layout.

It isn't very often that we get a chance to work alla prima. It's fun to play with paint for an hour or two while studying light and form on objects. It's especially fun when you can eat it later. My favorite part of working this way is the free nature of the product. If the painting doesn't work out....who cares? It didn't take that long. Move on....

Egg Month! Ow....My eyes.

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Oil on Illustration Board

What's in that paintbox? Every once in a while I will acquire a new color that I rarely use. In this case I found a tube of Cadmium Orange and decided to take out for a demo.

The magic of compliments. Adding blue to orange turned the shadows green. Using a bright saturated color keeps one in practice of the age old theory that opposites really do attract.

This will be the last of the egg paintings. Not to worry. More fun little studies to come.

Egg Month! Complimentary colors within white

Oil on Illustration Board

In honor of my snow day (Philadelphia's snowiest winter in history....75 inches and more to come) today I am going to spend some time talking about white. It's clean and simple...well it's simple until you try to paint it. It does make sense after doing it a few times, like everything, it just takes practice.

It's rather easy if you don't think too much about it. White takes on the color of it's surroundings. A white egg on a purple background will have a lot of purple and a warm compliment of purple. A sunset landscape will take on the color of the sun and it's compliment. I have a few links that shows some artist's use of white. Take a gander and really look to see how they work with it. Michael Whelan Greg Manchess Andrew Wyeth

Egg Month! You Failed!

Both are acrylic on gessoed water color paper

Some days are better than others. Some paintings are stronger than others. Some days I wish I would have went to veterinary school. Some call it writers block others call it a creative stint. I call it bored and antsy. At this point I painted my fair share of eggs and wanted to try a fun color. The green was working but I got bored and wanted to peek around at the students work which was coming out better than mine.

Lesson to be learned. Don't fall in love with your paintings and never expect a masterpiece from a study. Underpainting was cool. Overpainting....not so much. Failed.

Egg Month! Warning: This is not an egg

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Oil on Masonite

This was a quick demo on reflective surfaces and glazing. After drying I coated it with galkyd. Alot of times when painting in oils the paint dries dull. Varnishing will bring life back into the colors.

Egg Month! Light Source and Illumination

Oil on Masonite

Using a light source is detrimental to a painting. Having a specific light evident can create volume to the human eye. If you aim a light onto your subject you will see the highlight, mid-tones and shadows more clearly. If the subject is white or light against a dark background it is possible to achieve a glowing illumination. This illumination will also expose the temperature which stimulates the eye and tricks it into seeing a two dimensional object as a three dimensional object.

Some examples of this technique outside the egg are as follows.... Michael Deas's - Paramount Mark Ryden's - Ghost Girl Kinuko Craft's - Scent of Magic Donato Giancola's - Lady of Shalott

Egg Month! Underpainting and Overpainting

Acrylic Underpainting (Bottom)

Oil Overpainting (Top) on Illustration Board

Question: Why do an underpainting if I'm going to cover it with color anyway?

Underpainting is beneficial to do for several reasons:

1. All value and drawing problems can be figured out in this monochromatic stage.

2. When overpainting you concentrate on the color and temperature not the value. To match the overpainting color squint at your underpainting and chosen color and you will see the value relationship. This I learned from the esteemed Professor McGovern at Uarts.

3. Underpainting can be done in acrylic to assist in fast deadlines.

4. Underpainting can show through to assist in color and temperature.

Under-paintings can be any color. If your key color is going to be red try a green underpainting. That green can show through in the shadows to create a complimentary temperature change. If your unsure burnt umber is always a good bet. It can take on a cool or warm tone depending on the overpainting color.

February is Egg month!!

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Acrylic and Oil on Illustration board

They're incredible. They're edible. They're really great to teach smooth tone transitions and painting techniques with.

Every spring I teach a pictorial fundamental course which introduces oil paints to sophomore illustration majors. The main focuses are composition, lighting, mood, color, value and handling a paint brush. The egg offers a perfect matt finish that absorbs and bounces light while reflecting and collecting environmental colors.

This guy was sitting on a blue paper. I under-painted it in acrylic burnt umber and overpainted it in oils using scumbling and glazing.

In these small exercises I teach different gessoing techniques as well as acrylic and oil under and over painting. So this week will be dedicated to some of the egg studies and little tidbits on working with eggs.

Someday I'll do a Faberge egg. I just know it!!

U is for Underdog

Graphite on Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper

As a child one of my favorite cartoon characters was Underdog. He is a canine caped superhero who has a girlfriend named Polly Purebred. This is a drawing of my trusty sidekick Roscoe...attitude and all.

Q is for Q-bert

Graphite on Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper

He's tentacley. He's cute. He has duck feet. What else could you possibly want from a baby monster?

This was inspired by tor.com's month of Lovecraft which celebrated sci-fi/fantasy author H.P. Lovecraft's novels. Irene Gallo, art director from Tor, hosted a blog challenge for artists' renditions featuring some of Lovecrafts characters.

I wanted to name him Henry....but H was already used in my alphabet. So I named him Q-bert after one of my favorite Atari games. Ah, Atari. How I miss the simple one orange button.

The next alphabet entry will feature the infamous Roscoe P Coltrain as a model. Stay tuned.

Sketch #6 - P is for Parasite

Graphite on Hot Pressed Water Color Paper

This was created for an online group I participate in. One of the members recommended "parasite" for the theme. I researched online and found a close up of a hookworm that was pretty creepy. Teeth and indents as eyes. Jordu Schell mentioned that nothing looks more alien than insects and if your creatively stuck with ideas just look through at some scary insects. Although a parasite is not an insect it most definitely looked alien.

As I was drawing this it evolved into a story in my head. I pictured him as a poor guy who can't get dates. I kept thinking of what he would put in a personal ad if he posted one. Funny where the mind goes when drawing!

Sketch #5 - Dingbats

Graphite on Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper

Dingbats are decorative characters used as a typesetter's ornament. Above is a small drawing I created for a job that will be used as a divider between the text and title. In the past I have created all the dingbats in illustrator to maintain a crisp clear line. I'm trying a different approach by going back to traditional medium. It may not work when shrunk down but I can easily redraw it in Adobe Illustrator without a problem. The publication size is about 1/2" tall .... very tiny!

I am Such a Liar

Corel Painter Class Demo

So I said it would be 7 straight days of posts. But I've missed the last two days. There is an explanation....I promise!! Long story short....deadline & New York Society of Illustrators trip. But by the 7th day I will have 7 posts. Even if I have to double up posts on one day....which I plan to do now.

First I'm starting with a small Painter study I did for my Saturday class in December. It's a bit out of season and I met to get this posted before the holiday but didn't get a chance to. It was a quick demo on reflected surfaces. It's not as shiny as many glass ornaments due to the burnished finish. I also have some big beautiful Christmas lights that I want to paint to practice illumination and colored light. Baby steps.

Sketch #4

Pencil in Sketchbook

Reference and Studies. That is the basis of everything illustrative. This is a little fun study I drew of an Art Nouveau pattern I found. Jotting little thumbnails of decorative studies is something I should do more often. It opens my mind to new ways of linear involvement and compositions in vignette forms. You'll notice the noise in the background of the sketch...this was done on the back sheet of one of my sketchbook pages. Because it's a study I'm not really concerned about the presentation. I have sketched on lined paper, bills and sometimes even napkins. Sometimes a simple doodle can turn into a great idea. Just make sure to redraw it onto something more presentable before proposing it to a client or instructor!

Sketch #3

Graphite on Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper

This is an illustration for another poem. It's a four liner describing the people who make us happy as gardeners of our lives. I wanted to add humanistic elements into the flowers to give the feeling of external emotion. In addition I have added dancing shadows intermingled with the strands of her hair. The final will be finished in black and white for the publisher.