WE'VE MOVED!

WAIT, NO. HIDE SOMEWHERE ELSE!

Starting February 2014 this blog will be out of action.

But DO NOT DESPAIR. We've just moved, and you can still find the same riveting and informative posts that you have come to expect on our new blog:

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Spectrum Live and Updates

Many things are happening... The first is Spectrum Live in 2 weeks. Will you be there? WILL YOU BE THERE?



 WE WILL.

Second, due to increasingly hostile demands, I am currently having my 2010, 2011 and 2012 sketchbooks reprinted. They are being printed as we speak, and will be available for order sometime next week.  Please, no violence! I can get you the goods!  



The 2011 and 2012 books are the same as the previous printings.  However, the 2010 is special.  This time I am printing it on much high quality paper, and am also including a number of extra spreads of many of the sketches and sepia paintings that have not been seen before.  (And that I had always wished I had been able to put in the first printing.)  




As soon as they come in I will announce it on my blog and put them up on my etsy store. I am going to do sketches in the first 10 orders of each book! BE PREPARED. 










And third, TLC Workshops are running an early-bird special in conjunction with Spectrum Fantastic Arts Live! If you register for the Justin Gerard/Cory Godbey workshop before the event is over on May 20 you will receive 10% off the regular tuition price. Contact Tara Chang at TLCWorkshops1@gmail.com if you have any questions. Check it out here.

The workshop is going to be a ton of fun. Why? Because I will be there and Cory Godbey will be there. That is twice the action, twice the intensity, twice the sensational juggling. To get a preview, or to judge wether or not Cory and I really exist in the real life, come visit us at booth #513 at Spectrum Live. 

Friday, April 19, 2013

Fox Princess Development Work


The following is some development work for a piece I am working on for Spectrum Live next month. 



Digital Color Comp


This color comp was a little break from other work I had been doing recently which mostly involved dwarves, wizards and other assorted hairy men. I wanted to do something different for a bit. 




Princess study on toned paper


I liked the direction it was heading, but then it just felt too empty. There was not enough narrative interest and my brain started to go numb from boredom. Beauty should be its own excuse to paint, but it is already beautiful outside right now; i needed to add something more.  

I realized it was missing the key element: 


Rat ninjas.



Early digital face gestures 


The ninjas made me feel a lot better about everything. Now there is a good tension along with (hopefully) something beautiful. They add a nice contrast to our princess and now I wanted to know more about her, where she is going, where she has been, and why they want to nab her. What will happen next?



Tight drawing on heavyweight bristol.  


If you are going to be at Spectrum Live in May stop by and say hello to see how the final color version turns out!

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Gandalf Oil




A little while back I did a quick sketch of Gandalf in anticipation of the opening of The Hobbit. At the request of a collector I did a finished oil version of it and wanted to share it.


 Oil on panel 
11" x 14"

A little side note for anyone who has followed along with my misadventures in oil these past few years: You have probably heard me complain many times before that I couldn't seem to work in oil without using solvents, but that if did use solvents, that I would always end up having this allergic reaction where I would grow fangs, claws, and an unruly beehive haircut. I would then of course go roaming about the neighborhood howling at the moon, ravening for meat-flavored things.  

This oil was done without the use of any solvents whatsoever. It was done using only walnut alkyd oil, and using only oil pigments that tend to dry faster. (siennas, umbers, pthalos, etc.) So far I haven't grown a single beehive haircut, which is pretty exciting.  



Early sketch on toned paper