Thursday, December 24, 2009

Safire

This is an illustration I did for Sandra Sommerville (Safire) a.k.a Fire Sandra on youtube.

My process includes starting out with a fairly refined graphite drawing before going to the painting stage.


The Final:

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Off to Christmas!

Friday, November 6, 2009

Post Sketching

After birthday, after halloween, after nuit blanche, after the following sketches.

Zombie-stripper-themed life-drawing at Dr. Sketchy's Toronto



-- and mixed drawings from The Keyhole Sessions in with random public cafe drawing.



Thursday, November 5, 2009

Lady Macbeth



This painting is to appear on the poster for Kitchener Waterloo Youth Theater’s Macbeth.
The director wanted the illustration to achieve a likeness of the actors he cast in the Shakespeare play. This is always a challenge, but very doable.
The director’s idea was to have Lady Macbeth straddling Macbeth (dagger in hand) to represent that very pivotal scene in the play.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Drink 'n Draw

Attended a good ol' fashioned art school drink 'n draw.



Sunday, September 27, 2009

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Art Out Loud

Twelve-hour-cross-border-overnight-bus-trip-to-New York City



Why am I about to board this bus for the 3rd time tonight?

ART OUT LOUD

Art Out Loud was an event run at the Society of Illustrators in New York.

Essentially a bunch of master illustrators set up in the upstairs of the Society, work on a final for a few hours using their typical process, and the rest of us get to wander around, watch, and badger the artists with questions.

The illustrators demoing this year were:
Sam Weber
Greg Manchess
Charles Vess
Donato Giancola
James Gurney

I had never been to New York before





The Spectrum show was running the same weekend at the Society of Illustrators




They brought us upstairs and the demos began! I took some photos once things got further along

Greg Manchess


James Gurney


Watching Sam Weber work:


He talked to me a bit about what his student work was like (completely different than his current stuff) and discovered we were both taught by Rick Sealock (awesome teacher!!)
The way he manipulates watercolors and acrylics into one cohesive image is really amazing to watch. I learned a lot.

While there I also got to meet Eric Fortune.

Time to head home on the return trip! All twelve hours of it...

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Package

I received a package yesterday of some excellent oversized Moleskine sketchbooks. The paper inside is extra smooth and great for graphite and ballpoint pen.

I cracked one open this afternoon and sketched while listening to some audio books.


-----
One more week and I’m off to Art Out Loud. I’ll be seeing New York for the first time, however my visit will be less than twenty-four hours. I had to cram it right in there last minute between a ton of other projects.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Peeling Rivers

Newest illustration for my newest project



Here's a progress shot I took at around the halfway stage of the painting:

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Keyhole

Some of my first drawings from a new life-drawing weekly event on Ossington called The Keyhole Sessions. (The spread on the far right is from Dr. Sketchy's)

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

IMC Wizard of Oz

Without proper ventilation and sizable studio I have yet to finish my oil paint IMC piece.

I have completed an alternate final in ink wash/mixed media on paper.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Post-Illustration Master Class

I'm back home and that means it's the end of the Illustration Master Class -- and with that I add the statement (for this year) as I have been hoping the whole car ride home that it will come back next year and I'll be able to go.

It was an amazing experience wrapped in a ridiculously intense week of lectures, demos, and painting.

Here are some sketches I was able to score from faculty/guests/other illustrators in attendance.

Dan Dos Santos


Jon Foster


Boris Vallejo


Donato's portfolio


David Palumbo


Signed copy of Fables


Rebecca Guay


There was also a beautiful Stardust print Charles Vess gave me which will definitely be going up on my wall as soon as I can find a frame for it.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Illustration Master Class 09

The Illustration Master Class is taught by:

Rebecca Guay
Greg Manchess
Dan Dos Santos
Charles Vess
Boris Vallejo
Donato Giancola
Scott Fischer
Julie Bell
Irene Gallo
Jon Foster
Michael Whelan

It's a week long workshop filled with advice, lectures, demos, stories, and critiques from the teachers -- and everywhere in between each student completes an assignment under the guidance of the the faculty. Most of the assignments were scifi/fantasy book cover oriented.


Illustration Master Class Day 1 update

We met the faculty and after a really beautiful presentation about each teachers’ work we were off in no time getting set up in the studios.

They gave us our sketchbooks:


This was followed by group critique with Irene Gallo (the art director of Tor books), Greg Manchess, and Donato.

I revised my sketch and took the art directed suggestions into a further-refined drawing.



Then came dinner and an awesome lecture on getting proper photo reference/working with models.

This week continues to be absolutely amazing.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

IMC eve

Currently I’m in Amherst Massachusetts on the day we check in to our dorms. Everything begins tomorrow morning!



I sketched in a café while waiting for check in.

I chose the Wizard of Oz assignment and drew up two roughs that will be looked at tomorrow morning.


Dorothy and the Tin Man and Dorothy and the scarecrow.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Spring Cafe Sketching

Random public sketching

-- If I'm drawing for a long time in one location it's a given someone will likely approach me and ask me to sketch them.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

May Sketch

Various Dr. Sketchy-ness and drawing while I commute.





Thursday, April 30, 2009

IMC in just over a month!

I just received my assignment for the illustration master class. I get to choose between several different stories… I’m having trouble narrowing it down between Arthurian legend and sci-fi Wizard of Oz.

In other news I recently moved apartments and have a ton of boxes to go through. I decided to sketch instead.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009