Saturday, January 28, 2017

Should You Need Me...




The last of the Labyrinth sketch illustrations.  I must admit, this got way out of hand, but I am glad to have made it through, and followed through on all of my goals for this.  It started at the end of October, and is finally done.  Probably spent about 3 hours at night, each night for the last 3 months.  Learned a lot, grew a lot and now, it's all said and done.  I would make reference pages as I went.  In the end, there were about 77 total pages of collages with images and reference that were gathered from the internet.  After the 30 sketch card illustrations were completed, it was very tempting to call it done, but the thought occurred, "Do you really want to visit this again...would you be able to?"  So, I muscled through it.  Very, very tired now...looking for the next art avenue, not really sure where it is.  Very glad to be able to honor this movie, and all the art that has inspired so many artists...Brian Froud is the man!

In other news, got a new Instagram account about a month ago.  There will be a public announcement at some point, but,for now, just filling it with old illustrations.  So, not much new for friends to see...and out of respect, I am holding off a bit before officially announcing it (so they are not seeing old art).  However, it should be alright announcing it here, because not too many people visit blogs these days.  It's unfortunate...I actually like this format the most.  It seems more meaningful, insightful, and personal than most social media these days.  Not that there is a lot this old lump of coal can bring to the table in terms of insight, but it is nice to have the option, and not feel like you are shoving it in peoples' faces.  And, quite honestly, how many different venues does someone really need?  So, add another place to the list where I pump out free advertisement and entertainment for people.  It just seems so impersonal these days.  Being a loner, I never thought I would have cared enough to say that, but it just feels that way...does anyone else feel that?  One thing to be said in the positive, Instagram is better than Facebook, in my opinion.  But "Blogger" is the best venue, because it is the least obtrusive.  Personally speaking, posting on Facebook seems very embarrassing at times.  Not sure why it feels like that, because I like seeing other peoples' art posts.  It just makes me wonder if people really want to see these posts, or if they are just being polite.  It's always appreciated...just curious.  That is another reason I have held off from adding close acquaintances (for now).  Just want to see what people really think of these art posts, if they do at all.

Anyway, if you see this post, you can try and find me out there, it shouldn't be too difficult.  Or, I will find you, or you will eventually see a post on Facebook...and then we can all like each other's art all over again, forever...or not, that's cool too.  Fuckin' A.

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Christmas Gift



This one of a few Christmas gifts I did this year.  It was a last minute idea for my mom.  This is probably a sentiment shared by many, especially here in the cold, dark, bleak winters of the Midwest where the sun is down by 5 o'clock and it is 20 below zero outside...kinda hard to be motivated.

Pretty satisfied with the overall result.  The only things I would change are the size of the hands, and the perspective of that bench seat, as I was basically eyeballing it (lazy).  The other thing I noticed was, the silhouette of the bottle was disappearing into the background/bench.  I was able to adjust it a bit in the digital version, but the print ended up darker than expected, so...probably gonna need to go back and fix that at some point...should be simple enough to do.

Anyway...just thought I would share, as these are the projects I enjoy doing the most, and could actually see doing something like this as a collaboration with a company of sorts (basically packaging design or illustration).

So, another gift and another piece in the old portfolio!  Happy New Year, considering all that has happened, this next year (and possibly four) should be very interesting to say the least...excited to see what happens...and a bit scared, too.

Buckle up!