in progress end of the line
Posted: January 20, 2010 Filed under: art, willful creatures | Tags: collage, cut paper, embroidery, end of the line, in progress, ink, paint, willful creatures Leave a comment »For this week, I continued on what I have been previously working on- last week it was the mountains. Over the weekend, it was the waves. Now, it’s the giant man from the story End of the Line. His character is rather dense and somewhat of a bully.
The story’s tone is rather sad, so I’ve been using a neutral base (such as the brown paper) and applying some color to each element to mute everything.
He will have a background behind him that I am currently working on. I hope to finish the entire piece by this weekend. We’ll see! I think it can be done.
(Click the image to see it larger!)
golden thursdays: alice and martin provensen
Posted: January 14, 2010 Filed under: Artists, golden books | Tags: alice and martin provensen, dry brush, golden books, golden thursdays, illustration, paint, the animal fair, vintage 1 Comment »
So with the introduction of the nifty new title, it’s the day of the week where I introduce you to a Golden Book of my choosing. To those unfamiliar with Golden Books, they were children’s books originally published by Simon and Schuster in the 1940′s. Their inexpensive price point promoted literacy amongst children. The older books are now considered collector’s items.
Today’s book is called The Animal Fair (published in 1952) by Alice and Martin Provensen, a husband/wife illustration and writing team. Both originally started as cartoonist/animators for Disney and the Walter Lanz Studio (who produced the Woody Woodpecker cartoon). Eventually they both left their respective positions and worked on numerous childrens books together, eventually winning the prestegious Caldacott Award.
This particular story is about a journey to visit different animals in a farmyard, zoo, and forest. You seeanimals getting haircuts, having birthday parties and woodworking, among other things. It looks like a lot of fun.
I am a sucker for the style of the 1940′s/50′s/60′s illustration, especially when it comes to animals. The shape design coupled with the dry-brushing really gives it some interesting textures. The spare use of inking to provide intimate details also adds a lot to the illustrations. In addtion, the pages are lush with full illustrations. I really enjoy childrens’ books that have a lot going on in a page. It invites the reader to study the book and to become involved in what’s happening.
All images are via Golden Gems. You can still buy the book on Amazon.
modern fairy tale
Posted: January 5, 2010 Filed under: art, Artists | Tags: fairy tales, fairy-tale, gouache, illustration, paint, pen and ink, tumblr 2 Comments »I came upon this tumblr site today called Fairy-tale. It’s number of contributing artist that illustrate different parts of fairy tales. I enjoy reading fairy tales and think the illustrations that these artists have done are really superb.
They vary depending on the artist and technique, but they all have a certain senstivity and surrealism to them that is prominent in the sort of writing that they are illustrating.
all images via Fairy -tale
Andrea Wan – andreawan.com
Sarah McNeil – sarahmcneil.blogspot.com
Jack Hudson - jackhudsonillustration.blogspot.com
luke best
Posted: November 17, 2009 Filed under: Artists | Tags: art, artist, collage, cut paper, graphic, illustrator, london, luke best, paint Leave a comment »Luke Best is an illustrator I’ve been looking at for awhile. I love his application of media and shape design. I find it so very interesting. His blog also showcase his sketches, which show insight to his creative process.
Luke is also represented by the Heart Agency (London-based) which is also worth checking out.
house, not a home
Posted: October 21, 2009 Filed under: art | Tags: acrylic, art, assembly, cloud, collage, cutout, house, illustration, paint, paper 2 Comments »Drew this today… a blue print if you will. 
Since my senior year of college, I have been preparing surfaces to paint on. I then use what I’ve painted on to cut out shapes and to use them in my work. I like this for a couple of reasons. I can control the colors used in my work yet can still do collage. I also like to paint, but am not a strong drawer. Painting on large pieces of paper satisfies my desire, but has a practical application. It also leaves me room to experiment with different papers, mark-making, etc..
I have recently been interested in using old sketchbooks and drawings pads. I found a few that were from Life Drawing and had tons of charcoal smeared on the pages. I thought this could work as a good ground, so I used a matte medium to prepare it for acrylics. I like that you can still see a ghost of the drawing underneath.
Both of these are to go along with what I’m currently working on:
The composition will definitely change and I’m going to go in digital to add some line work with it. That’s the beauty of digital assemblage I guess.
a few things
Posted: September 21, 2009 Filed under: art | Tags: acrylic, art, collage, cut out, exacto, illustration, paint 1 Comment »
Here are some things that I have been working on recently. All just parts of things. Not sure what the lime green fellow is going to be, but it was fun to cut out. The other two pieces have very specific uses. Hopefully I can finish them up sometime in the near future.
this weekend
Posted: July 26, 2009 Filed under: art | Tags: art, bird, blue, cloud, collage, cut out, paint, pattern Leave a comment »
more sketch
Posted: July 22, 2009 Filed under: art | Tags: art, collage, cut paper, illustration, illustration mundo, matte medium, nate williams, paint, sketch, sketchbook Leave a comment »Last night I ran out of matte medium long after the art store had closed, so I couldn’t work on what I had planned on last night. So, I took some old scraps lying around and filled a page of my sketchbook. Nothing elaborate, but it was fun to play around:
In addition: Nate Williams is an illustrator that also educates others in the field about his methods and experiences for having a successful and long career. He has his own website but also helps run Illustration Mundo, which is purely an illustrator website (I’m on there under his favorites!). He has recently posted his method for generating ideas for editorial illustrations. I thought it was interesting and really helpful.
