Looks Great!

New Artwork: "Drivers"

I finally saw the Nicholas Winding Refn's film, Drive, the other night and had to draw something in response.

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen the movie yet, you might not want to read the rest of this.

The driver (played by Ryan Gosling) in the aptly named Drive reminded me a lot of Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro's character) in Martin Scorseses' film, Taxi Driver.  Both drivers are quiet, conflicted, and exhibit a sort of "Holden Caulfield" mentality about saving innocent children from a harsh underworld.  And of course, the climaxes of each movie come with a vigilante bloodbath.  The good guy turns out to be a bad guy, but is really acting for the good of others...you know, that whole thing.

For the illustration, I wanted to reflect the two characters.  I started with depicting the them facing each other, but that sort of looked like a stand-off where there was about to be a battle between a guy with a gun and a guy with a hammer.  Not the point I wanted to get across.

So I scratched the first draft and concentrated on the famous Taxi Driver scene where Travis talks to himself in the mirror, "You talking to me?  I don't see anyone else here...so you must be talkin' to me!"  I took a few liberties to make the picture work better; such as moving De Niro's distincitve mole to his left cheek.  In one draft I had the word "DRIVE" written on the wall in blood, but I decided that was too literal so I added one of Palantine's (the politician from Taxi Driver) political posters with "We Are The People."  I thought that motif fit both characters and evoked more thought.

Let me know what you think!

Here are some sketches and an early draft:

 

New St. Louis Illustrators Portfolio Website!

It is an honor to be showcased alongside many of the great artists/illustrators in the Midwest on the new www.stl-illustrator.com portfolio website!  

The website features over 20 of the top illustrators working today in the Greater St. Louis area.  View portfolios, read bios, book projects, and find links to all of these artists' great online work...including yours truly.  The website is produced by the Illustration Section of the St. Louis Artists’ Guild.  All artists represented are members of the Guild and offer their professional services for illustration, portraiture, graphic design, and/or mural commissions and assignments.

The Illustration Section of the St. Louis Artists' Guild is approaching its tenth anniversary in June of 2012. This web site is a cooperative project of our group.

The Illustration Section meets on the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at the Artists’ Guild. Our meetings feature guest speakers from the illustration field and related areas. We also plan group shows, community education projects, help with Guild fundraisers, and plan special group activities. Visit our blog to learn more about our meetings, speakers, and activities. Come on out, and see what we're up to!

Learn more about the Guild at www.stlouisartistsguild.org/. You'll find Artists' Guild membership information here, including an online membership form.

Site Design and Build: Jean Probert
Text: Jean Probert ©2004-2012

All artwork displayed is copyrighted by the individual artist who created it.

 

iRealize Now - The Loss of a Genius

I knew of Steve Jobs...but didn't really know a lot about him until I read about his career in the paper the morning after his death.  He truly was an innovative, creative genius who altered the world in more ways than we can fathom.  Much of what we take for granted in our fast-paced technological world is possible because of his great mind and intuition.

At first, I didn't get what the big hubbub was about Jobs' passing...why everyone felt the need to say something about him.  

I get it now.

UPCOMING STL ILLUSTRATORS MEETING

Just got this email about the upcoming Illustrator's Section meeting and figured I'd just post it exactly as I read it since Bob Shay has SUCH a way with words...

    Where does life take you, my illustrator friends? I hope it cuts a wide swath of adventure and new experiences for all of you everyday. Okay, I'm through being retrospective. As long as life is floating you down the stream of consciousness...sorry.....what I mean is...let life take you to the Illustrator's section meeting this Tuesday, February 7 at 7:00 p.m. That would be nice.

Our guest speaker this month is a fantastic painter, M.Shawn Cornell who if you ask will probably also tell you what an excellent designer he is as well.  But, that's another life and story. What we have here is a guy who left the corporate design world to follow a passion of expression that keeps getting better and hopefully more satisfying.

A fixture of local art shows and exhibits, Shawn Cornell is a plein air painter in the strictest terms: All his paintings are completed 100 percent outdoors.  There’s positively no indoor touch-up. His paintings are neither cutting edge nor deep in metaphorical meaning. They’re merely scenes and stories about brief moments he experiences and witnesses during his excursions. He’s a founding member of Missouri Plein Air Painters’ Association (MOPAPA), and serves as the group’s organizational manager. Every Sunday will find him out painting with his father, artist David Cornell. “We used to go fishing together, now we paint together,” says Shawn.

Shawn's paintings are the type of visual representation that worries less about detail than the emotional and pleasant tether it becomes to peace and calm. You study his work, sit back and say, life is good.  And, Shawn's work is just plein good. Sorry again!

Don't miss this one folks!

Bob Shay / Guild Illustrators Chair

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

November 2010 SLAG Meeting - The Amazing Sculptures of Wally Hauck

Last night's meeting of the St. Louis Artists' Guild Illustrators Section featured another amazing presentation by one of those hidden geniuses.  A person whose work is seen all over the country...but no one really knows he did it.

Wally Hauck of Zymo Studios, is a sculpture artist who does pretty much whatever when it comes to 3 dimensional models, displays, prop pieces, etc.  My favorites were his tap handles (see image above for a sample).  As an avid bar patron, I am an avid admirer of tap handles...but I never really thought about the fact that someone has to make the tap handle from scratch.  Well that, among many many others fascinating feats, is what Hauck does.  When it comes to the taps, he makes the prototype and then once they are approved, they are mass produced elsewhere.

Same goes for some of his props.  Sometimes he will produce a large quantity of the model himself, but other times he will make just one, and then 5 years down the road, be in a bar and see something that he made.

He works with materials such as epoxy, aluminum, steel, wood, and other random materials that he finds in shops/stores and then masterfully paints them with automotive lacquer to appear like different materials such as leather, bronze, marble, fruit, vegetable, liquid, and even animal.

I can't say much more...his work speaks for itself...check it out at ZymoStudio.com

September St. Louis Illustrators MeetingFeaturing Tim Lane

Last night's speaker was a bit different than we have had in the past.  More than anything, his attitude towards his craft set him apart from any other illustrator I've met.  Most illustrators simply look to get clients, crank out some illo's, get paid, and move on to the next project.  Well Tim Lane differs from that progression in that he despises art directors almost as much as he does "spot art"...or rather, work that has no personal connection.

Tim has done work for such publications as Rolling Stone Magazine, the New York Times Op-Ed, and the Wall Street Journal.  However, he pretty much quit illustration because he didn't like the "vendors" of art in the industry.  He prefers to do his own thing and not have to answer to art directors who want several re-works of an idea.  He even stated that he works against his own career...constantly re-inventing what he does.  Another reason he quit illustration is that he does not wish to take away work from up-and-coming illustrators.  He feels that he did his part and now it is time to let others go forward.

I don't really know what else to say about Tim Lane.  He was a hard character to read.  Part of his attitude towards illustration can be viewed as cocky...part can be construed as disconnected.  I couldn't decide if he was just putting on a front, or truly had the spirit of Jack Kerouac and Bob Dylan as he stated.  Does he really not remember much of the work he has done in the past...or was he just saying that?  Is he really "unprofessional" as he claims? Does he really just not care?  I don't know the answers to these questions.  All I know is that his work was/is great and his career has been admirable.

Tim Lane currently teaches drawing at Washington University and does underground comics on the side as well as some illustrations for Riverfront Times. 

You can find out all about them at his blog: www.jackienoname.wordpress.com

Also check out his website: www.jackienoname.com

August 2010 SLAG Meeting - The Genius of Michael Swoboda

As a self-taught computer artist in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, I always knew that I wasn't doing things totally the "right way"...and I even prided myself on that.  Whenever I see an ad in a magazine or a design element on a website that is original in style and very visually interesting, I try to recreate something similar in Photoshop....that's how I figure out new techniques to use in my own work.

Well, last night's Illustrators meeting at the St. Louis Artists' Guild was a complete eye opener.  Legendary St. Louis computer arts professor, Michael Swoboda -- freelance graphic artist and professor at Meramec Community College -- gave us a lightning-speed crash course in Photoshop basics.  I use the term "basics" very loosely...there was nothing actually "basic" about it at all.  He goes very fast and is truly impossible to follow completely.  But, I was able to jot down enough shorthand scribble to remind me of certain things to try out.

I learned more shortcuts and new techniques in his brief two hour presentation than I've taught myself in the past year.  Simple things such as the Filter>Distort>Displace technique for texturizing layers have now made my techniques obsolete.  I learned Photoshop capabilities such as "Content Aware Scaling" that I never even knew existed!  He showed us how to combine techniques in order to achieve an "antique" effect or other techniques to achieve a "hand spun silkscreen" effect.  All I can say is wow!

While I don't just make graphic art, I feel that furthering my knowledge in the realm can only help.  Swoboda teaches how to make things look realistic.  As Bob Shay stated, Swoboda could put text across a mountain and you would look at it like it was actually there.  That is not the type of thing I look to do in my own work.  BUT, from knowing how to do things like that, I would be able to apply those techniques and skills to the work that I do wish to create.

I definitely see myself taking a Swoboda class in my near future.  I hear they fill up very quick...within a couple hours each semester registration period.  Some people even take the same course multiple, multiple times (15 times in one case) simply because there is so much to learn.

I wish I had a link that I could put here so you could learn more about him and his course, but he is truly hard to track down on Google.  So if you are interested just check out his course at http://www.stlcc.edu/mc/

March 2010 SLAG Illustrators Section Meeting

Last night's meeting of the St. Louis Artists' Guild Illustrators Section was pretty interesting.  It wasn't as "cool" as February's meeting where I was introduced to Dan Zettwoch's work, but it was informative no less.  Here are the important highlights of the meeting:

~The Guild's Collector's Choice IX event is coming soon. For this event, Guild members donate an original piece of artwork to the show valued at around $250. Then with the purchase of a ticket, two people can attend two parties at the Guild. Ticket stubs are raffled off to receive a piece of donated artwork (first selected gets first choice and so on). This really sounds like a neat event. I have basically ridden it off the past few years because I really didn't know what it was all about...but this is the Guild's main fund raiser each year. So, I think I should get involved...hopefully I can dig out ae work that I am willing to part with. Plus, it sounds like this event offers a great deal of exposure...which could lead to some commission work.

~Going along with the Collector's Choice is a silent auction in which people donate everything from baseball tickets to free business card designs to free portraits. I really want to think of something creative to donate. Something that is inexpensive and not too time consuming, but very unique that will intrigue someone to bid on. Again, referrals and commissions would be sure to come out of such a thing.

~Bob Shea and Bill Vann discussed www.STL-Illustrator.com and its capabilities.  I really think it would be a good investment for me to join this site...so look for me soon.

~The speaker for the evening was a representative from Liquitex, named Christine Ilewski. She had such an unbelievable array of product samples and demonstrations it made our heads spin.  She basically presented us with acrylic alternatives to standard mediums such as gouache and oil paint.  The acrylic paint technology they have is unreal...there is no effect, texture, quality out there that cannot be achieved.  The amount of products she presented was overwhelming.  But I was able to pick out a few that caught my attention more than the rest:

*Basics Matte - a less expensive alternative to gouache

*Clear Gesso - which allows you to paint on any surface

*Acrylic Ink - which I think might be good for painting on scratchboard

*Matte Gel Medium - for collaging elements 

As I said, the amount of products she presented was overwhelming...but I feel that I got what I needed out of the presentation.  I have a whole new respect for Liquitex.  PLUS, I came away with a free box of samples!

Overall, the meeting was very good.  I can't wait to see what they have in store for April's meeting!

 

 

SLAG - February 2010 Illustrators Section Meeting

Last night, I attended my first meeting of the St. Louis Artists' Guild Illustrators Section.  I didn't really know what to expect going into it since I have been distant from the Guild for a few years.  But, I immediately felt welcome after being greeted by section coordinator, Bill Vann.

After going over some upcoming Guild events/worshops/etc, the meeting turned to the guest speaker of the night, a local artist by the name of Dan Zettwoch.  Zettwoch got his start in illustration doing instructional illustrations, diagrams, maps, etc...basically the stuff you see in magazines where they have those computer generated instructional diagrams of different places/scenes.  While doing this, Zettwoch worked with groups to produce underground comics and screenprinted posters/t-shirts/etc.  His screenprinting work is where he started to boom.  He began getting work doing poster illustrations for everything from famous St. Louisans to a Festivus shopping poster to illustrations for the Riverfront Times (RFT) .  It's hard to go further with explaining what Zettwoch does...because he does everything.  He still does the occassional map or instructional diagram...but his true passion is his screenprint work and comics (which he still does occassionally for RFT.  Zettwoch's drive and explosive creativity is...what can I say...inspiring.  YOU JUST HAVE TO CHECK OUT HIS WEBSITE!

It was truely wonderful to be able to get a chance to candidly see a successful artist share his sketches, sketchbooks, finalized works, etc with us.  The entire meeting I just wanted to start drawing...AND I have to learn how to screenprint.  I have been going about printing my RockScratch  stuff the wrong way...screenprinting is definitely the way to go.

Other than discovering the greatness of Dan Zettwoch, the meeting was inspiring simply for the fact that I found out there are others like me.  Men and women who get their start working out of basements in Missouri.  The biggest thing I got from this first meeting is the feeling that I am truely not alone.  I am definitely not the first one who has done this...and there is a chance that I can be successful if I just keep going with it.

The next Illustrators Section meeting, March 9th, will feature a representative from Liquitex.  I look forward to some great product samples/demos as well as the best part of the meeting...being with like-minded artists!