Mister Frog Went A-Courtin'

Post-Apocalyptic American Gothic series continued!

I went with a slightly different color scheme on this one, because I was starting to feel a bit stagnated using the same colors from the last two pieces. I think it works a lot better with all of those slimy greens. :D

If you know your folk music, you'll probably get the reference.

FULL VIEW PLEASE!

Rain Dogs

I am working on other things, but this was a pretty quick piece that I am fairly happy with.

Inspired by general Tom Waits-ish-ness characters. I have tended to sometimes shy away from full on character design because I am so intimidated by the amazing character design work I see on a regular basis, but it is something I really like to do, and I think I would like to do more in the future.

For this I used an actual brush (as opposed to a brush pen) on much of it, and while I still have a lot to learn about wielding the ink brush, I really, really enjoyed it and will probably use it more exclusively from now on. The line quality you can get is pretty hard to match, even with the best brush pens.

FULL VIEW IS FOR WINNERS!

Spiky Together

New haircut, time for a quickie new self portrait. Here with my baby, Rawley.

These colors and the MD crest are also part of the 'new look' I have established for my website and newly printed business cards.

"One Shot" - final

Finished "One Shot" piece.

Overall, happy with how this turned out. I wasn't sure if the sketch was going to translate well, but after some experimenting I found something that worked pretty effectively.

This was fun to do, and a labor of love. But I am glad to have it out of my system now. :)

As always, FULL VIEW PLEASE!

BELLA!

This is a design I just finished for a possible blank greeting card to be sold at my mom's store (Garofalo's) down in Campbell, CA.

"Bella" is the store bird (parakeet), and has become something of a mascot over the years. I thought depicting her in a little design would make for a cool card. These are the three colors that I have decided to go with.

Click on image for the essential FULL VIEW!

Sanguine City: Amon and Velvet

I'm not even going to try and explain this, because it's just not possible. I'll just say that a friend and I have started an amazingly awesome Vampire: The Masquerade story (and it 'is' a story, not a game). This is a fun little illustration based off a scene that both of us found quite amusing. But really, it's one of those 'you had to be there' sort of things. ;)

And PLEASE for the love of God, full view!

Look Away, Look Away, Look Away Calvary!

This is the second (out of hopefully 18-20) pieces in my "Post-Apocalyptic American Gothic" series ("Southern Fever" is the first), that I hope to self publish in a little book once completed.

I want to keep the same general color theme throughout the series, so obviously we have the same high key seizure inducing palette as in the first piece.

I would prefer to leave the explanation to the viewer, but the title is a play off of a line in the famous Southern anthem, "Dixie".
























Well, 2 down....16-20 to go!

Readymade Breakup "Alive On The Vine" - album cover

I recently did the album art for a great New Jersey based band called Readymade Breakup. It was an awesome experience, and working with Paul (RB's vocalist. guitarist) was an absolute pleasure.

I highly recommend checking out Readymade's MySpace page. They are fantastic, and I wish them the best of luck with what I am sure will be a very successful career. I believe they will be touring this summer, so if you get a chance, check them out!

"Alive On The Vine" will be available for purchase in July.






















(Mike Joyce is the designer for this album. You can check out his jaw dropping work here.)

Illustration Friday: Wrinkles

I hadn't done an IF for awhile, so decided to this quicksie-ish sketch for this week's theme, "Wrinkles".

Social commentary = self explanatory.

Finished Renaldo Illustration

If you look back in my blog, you will see that the sketch for this piece has been waiting to be taken to final for nearly eight months. And it probably would have remained that way, if I hadn't felt so strongly that it really would make a dynamic final piece.

All in all, I think it turned out pretty much how I had hoped it would. Because of the super 'sketchy' nature of the drawing, I had to take a bit more of a rough approach to this...which I do think works well for this subject matter.

Renaldo, for the non-Dylan nerds, was a gypsy, mime-like 'character' that Bob Dylan assumed during the Rolling Thunder Review Tour in 1975. This, in my opinion, may be the most enthralling period of Dylan's career. He was full of a crazy sort of machismo and energy that would never be seen again. His presence perfectly matched the music.

I really wanted to capture that intensity in this piece, along with the whole circus, caravan, 70's vibe that really uniquely personified the Rolling Thunder Tour.

Oh to have been able to see those shows live....

(EDIT: PLEASE view full size!)
























But now you can...sort of. All hail YouTube!

'Isis"

'One More Cup Of Coffee (The Valley Below)"

"Sara"

"Never Let Me Go" (With Joan Baez)

"Romance In Durango"

Enjoy!

"One Shot" - sketch

It's no big secret that Christopher Walken is one of my favorite actors, but once upon a time there was an era before "Cowbell". And one of Walken's best dramatic roles has to be as Nick in the "Deer Hunter". After watching this movie again last month, I can now firmly say that it has to be one of my favorite movies of all time. And not only is Walken great, but the entire cast, from the minor supporting characters up to De Nero are fantastic.

"The Deer Hunter" is not a war movie, but a movie about what war, namely Vietnam, did to those who experienced it, their loved ones, and the towns they came from. I can't imagine how many normal, blue collar guys like Michael, Nick and Steven actually went off to that war and came back broken men...if they came back at all.

Anyways. I was inspired to do a portrait, perhaps even a series of portraits of all 3 main characters from the movie.

Here is the sketch for Nick. Now, I've never considered myself somebody who does 'pretty' pencil sketches....it just doesn't appeal to me. But every now and then I do an initial sketch that I actually really like, and this is one; of course 'pretty' still doesn't apply.

I really wanted to capture that sad, almost childlike expression that Nick has on his face during the famous Russian Roulette scene near the end of the movie. And as much as I love this movie, having to watch this scene over and over again to do this sketch wasn't exactly fun.

I'm planning on adding a few other elements to this once I take it to the coloring stage.

Sketchbook - The Thin Man

I've had this idea for a "Thin Man" character for sometime. I was sketching around some ideas tonight and came up with this guy. He's not the Thin Man that I'm looking for, and despite having a completely funky anatomy, I still kinda like how the sketch turned out.

Apparently this guy didn't get the memo about not mixing your paisleys and pinstripes.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

I found out about Sister Rosetta Tharpe from listening to Bob Dylan's "Theme Time Radio Hour", the 'Friends and Neighbors' episode. Sister Rosetta was a gospel singer who primarily performed and recorded in the 1930's and 40's. But she was one heck of a cool gospel singer, way ahead of her time. She was known for playing rock style on an electric guitar, dressed in her Sunday best, often backed by a full gospel choir. She was one of the first performers to cross the divide between sacred and secular music. Naturally, she ruffled some feathers during the time, but never left her gospel roots.

Of course, I couldn't resist doing an illustration of her. Originally I had intended for this piece to be much more high contrast, but in the end I liked the higher key tone. Probably one the 'lighter' pieces I have done in quite sometime.
























And thanks to the wonder of YouTube, you can even see and hear some of Sister Rosetta's performances.

"Down By The Riverside"

"Up Above My Head"

Enjoy!

A big thanks to Nick for choosing this piece as this week's Editor's Pick over at Amateur Illustrator.

Amateur Illustrator MemberZoom Interview

Awhile back I did a little interview for Amateur Illustrator. Thought it might be nice to post a link to it here.

http://www.amateurillustrator.com/articles/?p=1094

Amateur Illustrator is a great community based site, with a really nice variety of work at all levels of professional development. Worth checking out!

Southern Fever

So, I crawled out of my cave to bring joy and hope with a new illustration. Ok, so not really joy and hope, but I hope at least a slight cause of nausea brought on by the over use of an acidic palette.

Where and how I got the idea for this is just a little too strange to try and explain. But it pretty much turned out how I had envisioned, with a mood that says 'malaria on acid'. Yum!

Btw, this is so much more nauseating at full view, so yeah I'd recommend that.

Much more positive vibes coming with the next piece.
























EDIT: After doing this piece I have decided to embark on an entire series of these. My goal is to do 18-20 of these and compile them into a self published book. This book will be entitled "Post Apocalyptic American Gothic", and will likely be done through Lulu. I would like to have it done by the end of the summer. Stay tuned!

Sketchbook - Gabriel

Well, I haven't posted anything this week, so thought I at least post 'something'. Here's a little sketch of the always amazing Christopher Walken as Gabriel from "The Prophecy". I was watching it last week (Why is it that I never get tired of watching what is actually not a very good movie? Walken of course!) and sketched it up. And no, I really don't make a habit of drawing upside down crosses, but it seemed fitting.

Seriously, Walken is the man. If I were man, I'd want to be Christopher Walken. End of story.
























New finished piece coming soon!

Finished Jude Quinn illustration

Whew! Finished this up tonight. For whatever reason this was a rather daunting piece. It also didn't help that every time I saved it, it took 20 minutes to do so. Someday I'll have a nice fast Mac....someday.....:/

Anyways, here's the fantastic Cate Blanchett as Jude Quinn (aka 65'-67' era Bob Dylan) from the movie "I'm Not There". This piece is more 'conceptual' than the first two in my movie character series, but it felt like the best route to go. It was interesting, because while I definitely wanted to capture the edginess and intensity of Dylan during this era, I also wanted to make sure that I focused on Cate's specific portrayal of the character, not a straight up Dylan portrait. It was also interesting in that here's a woman portraying a man...which brings in a different quality I think. So, I hope that I captured that.

Themes of forced celebrity, artistic frustration, pre-punk rock rebellion, targeted anger and outrageous ego were what I also tried to keep in mind while doing this.

And I sure hope Cate wins that Best Supporting Actress Oscar for this role, she definitely deserves it.
























I'm shooting to have two more pieces finished within the next week or so. Cheers!

Sketchbook - Helena Bonham Carter

Sketch of Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett from "Sweeney Todd". Maybe scan some more sketchbook stuff soon.

Sketchbook - Dr. Hazard

I watched a show on TV a couple of days ago called "Deadly Women". It was all about female murderers throughout history. I have to admit it was pretty fascinating, and among these women were some very interesting in not downright frightening characters.

One them was a turn of the century doctor named Linda Hazard (great name) who would slowly starve her victims to death with her "miracle" cure of feeding them nothing but broth. Nobody was sure if she was delusional or actually really homicidal, but a number of them were quite wealthy. She was apparently so enigmatic that she would persuade them to name her as their benefactor before they starved to death under her care.

She eventually was caught and sent to prison for a while, but a couple years later started up her practice again. Sometime later she attempted to "cure" herself and starved to death. Ironic.

Anyways, just a little sketchbook drawing of her that I colored up. Playing around mostly, but I forgot how much I loved this color pallet. I'll definitely have to use it again soon.

Rawley's 6 month Birthday

Ok, so I'm going to flood my art blog with a very non-art related post until I move this to somewhere else more appropriate.

Thursday was my baby (yes my child is a Bearded Dragon) Rawley's 6 month Birthday. I cannot believe how much he has grown in the 3 1/2 months I've had him. It's amazing really. Here's what he looked like right before I got him.
.



















And here's when I first got him in mid October. He was about 7 1/2 inches long:














And these are from this last Thursday. He's now 17 1/4 inches long:
































































































































And that's just a mere fraction of the pictures i have of him, I know it's kinda pathetic but he's my sweet baby and I have to capture every magical lizard moment. ;)

Next post will be art related, I swear!

Jude Quinn sketch

Here is the (nearly) completed final figure sketch for the third piece in my movie character series. This is the amazing Cate Blanchett as Jude Quinn (aka '67 era Bob Dylan) from "I'm Not There". Did I love this movie? Absolutely!

Originally, I had intended for this to be much more of a portrait, but the initial drawings were just turning out so boring. I had had this machine gun idea in the back of my head for sometime, and in the end went with it. Those who have not seen the movie may not get it, even those who have seen the movie may not get it, but I like this concept and I'm going with it.

I'd like to tweak a few things before inking and coloring it, but it's very close. Should be a very fun one to do.
























Cheers!

Night Of The Hunter

This is not part of the movie character series I'm working on right now, but a drawing out of my sketchbook that I decided to take to color final for a quickie one evening piece.

This is the late great Robert Mitchum as the creepily psychopathic Preacher Harry Powell from the 1955 film "Night Of The Hunter". Perhaps not everybody's cup of tea, but a great old movie if you like noir.

I definitely tried to tweak the anatomy a bit, particularly with those big-ish hands.

I'm really enjoying doing these quick couple hour pieces. They keep my sane, away from the insanity of obsessing over details for far too long.
























This looks far better if full view.

Cheers!

Finished Sweeney Todd illustration

Here is my second movie character piece finished, Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd, from of course the movie "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street".

My intuition tells me that this piece isn't quite as successful as my "No Country" one, still overall I am fairly pleased with how it turned out. It was fun doing a bit of Burton-esque style with the hair. I really wanted to try and capture the feeling and the atmosphere of the film; intense brutality mixed with a sort of gothic beauty....with a touch of film noir perhaps. I think in that I succeeded fairly well.

Being a long time fan of the musical and general Sweeney lore, it was inevitable that I had to do this piece at some point.

Now, onto my third piece....

Cheers!

Sweeney Todd sketch

I have decided to continue on with this movie (villain?) theme. I will be creating 4 more illustrations to go along with the Anton piece I did last week. This series of 5 will be printed as promotional postcards to be sent out to publishers (hopefully) sometime in January where (hopefully) I might get some freelance work. I of course still have my back up career plans firmly in place: creepy van side painter, Goodwill buyer to eBay seller, lifetime roadie, professional Imperial Stormtrooper, or movie theater projectionist. Joking, of course. Being an illustrator is what I want to do, more than anything.

Anyways, here is my sketch for the second illustration. Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd. Being a long time fan of the musical, I was at first skeptical about a movie rendition. But I have since been won over (Tim Burton you are just too irresistible) and I cannot wait for this to come out next week. This should be another fun one to do.

Cheers!

Finished Anton Chigurh illustration

Finished illustration of Anton Chigurh from the movie adaptation of "No Country For Old Men".

This piece, like most that I feel good about, came together rather quickly. I have to say I'm very pleased with the outcome; pretty much exactly how I wanted it to look from the get go.
























Cheers!