Art Blog
Stories about making things out of nothing.
Here is my take on a modern version of the oh so cruel Cruella. I haven't participated in Sketch Dailies on Twitter in several months but I was seduced back by villain week. Evil is fun to draw.
Drawn on my iPad with the Procreate app and a Jot Touch stylus.
Gallerie Rouge is an upscale gallery in Denver that specializes in vintage poster art. I've sold some of my Colorado posters there over the years. I was commissioned to do this poster as a centerpiece of promotion for their annual show that focuses on outdoor themed travel posters.
I'll be signing these limited edition posters at the opening reception. Stop by to say hello and view the great vintage posters.
Friday, June 13, 2014
5:00-10:00 pm
Gallerie Rouge
2830 E 3rd Ave.
Denver, CO 80206
This art was illustrated on my iPad using the Procreate app and a Jot Touch stylus... y'know, to capture that authentic vintage style.
Having personally experienced the 2013 Colorado flood, this was a commission I could not pass up. The town of Lyons along the foothills of the Rockies suffered catastrophic damage from the flood. With damage in the millions of dollars, the community needs ongoing funds to rebuild. I created this poster as an image that the community can rally around in their restoration efforts.
Posters, t-shirts, and water bottles with the art are being sold as a fundraiser. The art has also been made into banners to line the streets of downtown Lyons. It warms my heart that my art can help a community in their time of need.
See all of my disaster relief posters here.
As an illustrator, I feel it's important to explore different paths of my creativity. It's how I grow as an artist and what keeps me inspired. While I enjoy working in a variety of aesthetics, I must balance that desire with clients that commission me for the style they know I do. Every so often, I take a chance.
Illustrated using the drawing app, Sketch.
The 2014 Bolder Boulder poster is a new visual style combining angular shapes inspired by Art Deco design with complex color gradients made possible by digital illustration tools.
The shapes of the runners were meticulously crafted with stark, straight lines, yet maintain the organic movement of their stride. Trees, of which I usually illustrate with silhouettes, are built with elaborate flowing shapes to give them depth and light. And the Flatirons, of which I've drawn over 40 times, take on a look I've not done before.
This is a style I'd been longing to explore for a while, and the Bolder Boulder poster was the perfect project for it. I used to utilize color gradients very sparingly but in this piece, nearly every shape has a noticeable gradient. Despite its freshness, the poster still falls comfortably into my body of work.
Last year, I tried something new by creating the 2013 race poster on my iPad. The tool of creation was different but the style was more typical of my portfolio.
I may not be running the race, but this year I broke a new record with the Bolder Boulder. I plan to create more artwork in this style and get better at it.
Purchase this poster here.
Once again, I'm using Sketch Dailies as a vehicle for experimenting with different styles of illustration. The topic: Dracula.
Illustrated on my iPad, I started with a rough sketch. Then I drew all the shapes in white over a black background. I finished it by applying color to only the white brushwork. The final result feels somewhat like scratchboard art.
Every new location in Hey Arnold! had to be designed before the final background layouts were drawn with clean pencil lines. These designs were based on the story in the script, how characters were to interact in the location, and the mood of the scenes. When designing new places, I typically drew in a faster, rougher style than the finished background layouts.
Newly added backgrounds to the Hey Arnold! gallery:
See more Hey Arnold! Backgrounds.
This drawing of Tarzan is far more cartoony than my usual cartoon work. It's fun to push the limits of the art form. I enjoyed mixing the bulbous body with limbs that have resemblance to human structure. I used that odd cartooning cheat where the arm is not seen behind the open mouth, but the drawing works like that.
Can you spot the mistake? The answer is below.
The mistake:
Tarzan has two right feet. I originally drew the extended leg as his right leg. When I redrew the connection to his left hip, I forgot to go back and fix the foot. Because this is just a drawing for fun, not publication, I'll leave it as is. Do you think he'll stumble upon landing?
Yesterday's daily topic on @Sketch_Dailies was "Monkey King", a warrior monkey from Chinese folklore. Warriors aren't my thing so I thought of another monkey king that I do like: King Louie from the Jungle Book. I sketched this based on two different original animation drawings by Frank Thomas, therefore it's not a pose directly out of the film.
