Mike Sass Art Blog

Card dump and upcoming events

2012-02-07T10:43:00.000-07:00

Just released today is the new set of the Warcraft card game "Crown of Heavens" which I made some art for: a goblin, vial and a half sheep/frog.

Initially when I saw the vial in the assignment I was worried that maybe I was going to start getting cards of lesser importance. Fear is always present as a freelancer, as you often don't communicate much with your clients and are always worried how your work is received. My advice is to just to do your best on whatever assignment you are given, and don't worry about being typecast or labelled by your art director. A great piece of art whatever the subject just instills confidence and puts you on good terms with your art director. Subsequently after doing this job, my fears have been completely alleviated, as I actually have been getting better assignments with more important and complex art descriptions.

To understand how to render the liquid, I'm looking at orange juice...

I'm sure I will sell a boatload of print of this guy... ;)

Also recently released are 2 cards for Magic the Gathering's new set "Dark Ascension".

These are the second cards I've done, and it seems like they are fairly important and getting alot of exposure. This is a "red eye" female shaman who turns into a wolf on a double-sided card.

I'm really pumped to do more and I hope the AD keeps calling! (there's that fear again)

Lastly, there are a few upcoming events I'll be at. I will be teaching another fantasy character drawing workshop in Edmonton Sat-Sun Feb.25-26th. Details are here.

Also, I'll be in Calgary at the Calgary Comic Expo in April in the artist alley selling my stuff. Come on down to cowtown and visit me along with Stan Lee, Buck Rogers and the entire cast of Star Trek the Next Generation!

New Pathfinder art and tricks of the trade

2012-01-14T15:56:00.002-07:00

I can now show some art I made in the summer for the just released Pathfinder game module "Ruby Phoenix Tournament" This book has the adventurers take part in a martial-arts style tournament in an Asian-type fantasy setting.

Making these half-pagers is usually a balance between providing exciting art for the client and planning where to put your efforts to maximize the results in a short time frame. Often an art order can be 5 images requested on a relatively short deadline, so you need to have certain tools and tricks to get the job done fast. I happen to have a very literal, rendered style at the moment, so I'm constantly employing 3-d models and other bits of reference to get the perspectives and realism needed for a consistent level of detail.

Below we see a quick 3-d modeled "set" that gives me the correct perspective and lighting for this multi-tiered fighting platform. This may take an hour or so to build in the computer, but its way faster and more accurate than trying to draft the structure out in pencil.

The structure is then worked into the drawing of the 2 characters fighting.

Similarly below, I've got a character running at us drawn without reference just using comic book construction techniques. Since he's mostly clothed, I just need some information to flesh the head structure out at this angle...

Which is obtained by holding up a foam planar head model and snapping a quick photo. It just worked out the character was bald and fairly generic anyways, so my foam head does the trick nicely.

If you've got a more graphic, cartoony or otherwise efficient style, I salute you. If you're like me and have to "get it right", then employ whatever tricks you need to get the job done as a professional in your allotted timeframe.

New productivity tools

2011-12-21T14:20:00.003-07:00

Like many people, I'm somewhat addicted to surfing the internet. I have a handful of sites, including Facebook that I peek at many times per day, usually interrupting my workflow and concentration. Its just so darn tempting to have your friends a mouse-click away or to be able to catch up on sports or news.

With 2 young boys at home, its becoming increasingly more important to stay on task and use my time efficiently. For this reason I recently installed a browser plug-in for Google Chrome that sets limits to my surfing habits and cuts me off once I've wasted my allotted time limit. Called StayFocused, you can quickly install this into your browser and tell the program how long you should be allowed to view a set of sites.

As seen below you can set the time frame and days of the week when you want this utility to be active. This way you can have it free before and after work.

Once your time limit has been reached, a simple screen pops up instead of the website you were looking at. You can click the icon on the top right to see a counter of your remaining time, and the program warns you at 5 minutes and at 60 seconds before you are shut off.

There are other options for more thorough blockage as seen below. I've liked having this tool installed for the past week, and its come in handy a few times, keeping me on task and productive.

If you don't use Chrome, I'm sure there are other similar utilities out there for other browsers. If you are on a Mac, you can try Antisocial as a utility that blocks social networking sites.

Another tool that I recently employed is the Spyder 3 monitor calibration tool. I haven't been confident in my monitor colors lately due to some card art that printed quite a bit lighter than intended. I work with 2 monitors; my primary Cintiq, which I paint on, and a secondary Dell monitor for my reference. My Cintiq is quite a bit warmer (more magenta) than the Dell, which is much more green and higher-contrast. The annyoing thing is that I think the Dell is more accurate, but its not the computer I'm actually looking at while doing my work, and I don't trust its high contrast look. I've tried a few times to adjust the Cintiq to look the same as the Dell, but its always somewhat different and it just feels wrong.

As seen above the Spyder is a mouse-sized device that plugs into you USB port. Below we see how you hang it from the top of your monitor (there is a counter-weight) during the calibration process. The device measures the ambient light hitting your screen then goes through a process of measuring various colored squares displayed on your screen. Once finished, it tells your computer to use a custom color profile and changes how your display looks. I was quite happy to see that just running this tool made my Cintiq look much more like my Dell, which I thought was more accurate, based on my prints.

We also recently released a new podcast on our experiences at the recent Illuxcon Symposium. For anyone interested in attending, have a listen!

http://drawntodaypodcast.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Drawn-Today-Podcast/194395403926048

OK, time for some art! In recognition of the holidays, here are some Christmas cards (I guess you have to just say "happy holidays" if you're corporate) I made when I was at BioWare. Yeah, they're old, but shooting Santa in the face is always timeless.

New-ish WOW card

2011-11-26T11:18:00.001-07:00

So I just realized this morning some Warcraft cards I made a few months ago had been released without me realizing it. It's tough to keep up on when stuff hits the street.

One of the diffucilties in making Warcraft art is that the provided reference is in-game models, which are often times confusing to decipher from a screenshot. Below I show trying to figure out what the texture is telling me the costume is supposed to be. Usually the in-game assets are pretty good, and I have a great appreciation for the modelers and texturers at Blizzard making tiny game models make sense while being creative under technical constraints.

And below is the final card art... With a bit of experience you get good at assuming what the game artists intended, but it's sometimes difficult to know when to be literal and when to extrapolate.

Illuxcon 2011

2011-11-09T11:27:00.003-07:00

Well, I'm finally home and mostly rested from this year's installment of Illuxcon. Billed as a symposium of fantastic illustration, this event brings artists, collectors, students and fans together for an orgy of art awesomeness. Since this was the third year in a row for me attending, I was prepared to get less from the experience and to just enjoy the art and socialization. I'm happy to say there was actually no "dip" in the quality or amount of return I received from attending. While the first couple years I was just breaking into this field, this year I benefited from an equal mix of inspiration, technical advice, new friendships and professional contacts. I made sure to talk to the people whom I had questions for or wanted to connect with, and was active in searching out answers to a new set of career questions.

Below we see photos of the main hall; as you can see there are a few paintings being shown...

The presentation I was most looking forward to was a demonstration by Petar Meseldžija on oil painting with emotional content. I learned a few valuable tips that I'm itching to try out in my next oils.

Petar's table at Illuxcon... the painting in the top left was my favorite of the entire show. The way he carves out form and balances the loose and tight is nothing short of masterful.

A few feet away Donato Giancola has his table. How cool is that?!

I met a new friend and fellow Shadowcore member, Chris Rahn, who is tearing up the card art scene. This photo shows me interviewing him for an upcoming Drawn Today podcast. Stay tuned!

Finally, we have Chris Rahn, myself, Chris Burdett, Anna Cristenson and Tyler Jacobson showing our Shadowcore flyer. I hadn't met a couple of these folks, but the rapport and friendship was instant. Thus is the magic of Illuxcon.

The last day of Illuxcon saw a big and exciting presentation from Pat and Jeannie Wiltshire, the organizers of Illuxcon. Starting in 2013, Illuxcon will be moving to the larger city of Allentown Pennsylvania, which is close to Philadelphia and only 1.5 hours to NYC. In addition, Illuxcon will be now hosted by the Allentown Art Museum, an exciting change of venue which will allow for a wider public audience and acceptance. Other initiatives aimed at supporting the show and genre are a new panel of judges that include both a museum curator and president, the editor of International Artist magazine and modern master Michael John Angel, founder of the Angel Academy in Florence (the system that I have personally received training in).

The convergence and acceptance of fantasy illustration into the wider fine art market in inevitable with today's new and younger art buyers being more savvy and otherwise weaned on the products, franchises and visuals we are crafting. Illuxcon is at the forefront of this transition and I'm looking forward to attending and helping in future events.

Now I gotta paint!

Panicked pre-Illuxcon preparations

2011-10-27T08:40:00.001-06:00

Sorry for not blogging lately, but I'm up to my eyeballs in work. Since I will be going to Illuxcon in less than a week, I'm finishing up 3 images and 3 logos a week early. On top of this, I have to get my show materials together, do yardwork, get a haircut...etc.

The past 2 years I have gone to this convention I was just breaking into freelancing, so the convention was an intense few days of research into how other successful artists make this career work. This year, I have steady clients, a large network of illustrator friends and less stress to break ground. It'll be more of a good time vacation (much needed!) and a chance to plan my next steps.

I just ordered some banners online (they were cheaper than doing locally), so I would have them for Illuxcon and future local events. They just arrived at my friend's house in the US looking awesome! Another year and I'll be ready for the big time. :)

Anyhow, the blogging silence will soon be broken by pictures, podcasts, interviews and thoughts on the Illuxcon experience. Just wait. :)

New Drawn Today podcast

2011-10-18T09:50:00.001-06:00

Just recently released is our new Drawn Today podcast. In this episode we hear audio of a panel of experts from the recent Dragon Con convention discussing the issues of copyright. Todd Lockwood, Don Maitz, Larry Elmore and William Stout are featured in this highly informative panel.

Give it a listen here! and "friend" us on facebook here to get notified of future podcasts as they happen.

Shadowcore!

2011-10-12T16:26:00.000-06:00

I'm proud to announce that I'm a member of a new collective of fantastic gaming illustrators on the web. The Shadowcore collective is the home of some very talented artists working in the RPG gaming art field. Our new group site will showcase art, instruction and illustration blogging from 12 artists in one place!

I'll continue to post on my personal blog right here as well as on the group site, but for anyone interested in great content from other great artists, check out Shadowcore!

New Warcraft Art: Throne of Tides

2011-10-11T13:25:00.001-06:00

Just Released today is the new set for the World of Warcraft trading card game. Here is one of my pieces, a Tauren (Warcraft cow race dude) Shaman casting a spell with a spark and some bits of rock.

It can be fairly difficult to deal with the armor designs provided when visualizing and posing a character. A common aspect of 3-d video game models is that the parts will actually "sort through", or collide with each other when a limb is turned or the figure moves. The game models and armor design often cannot accommodate a full range of motion. Its really important to thoroughly understand the under structure of the character so you can draw the armor on in the correct perspective.

The above sketch shows how I needed to construct the figure first because it gets pretty confusing when the armor is added in the second sketch. Even though the final line drawing gets quite complex with the details added, you just have to have some faith that once lit and rendered it will make sense and look 3-dimensional.

Back at it and the genius of Tiepolo

2011-09-19T22:05:00.000-06:00

Well, I am guilty without excuse for not updating this blog. The last few months I've taken a bit of a rest from art; just doing what's required for my commissions, and not much more. We all need a rest once in awhile; and I've been both taking it easy for the summer, but also using my energies for other important things on the domestic front.

I'm now rusty, my confidence is down, and my routine is off, but with Illuxcon just over a month away, I've got to get back in gear. The best way to do this is to get excited and challenged by a new project that I'm motivated to do well. I'm just starting to think about compositions for a new multi-figured battle scene for a client. Tonight I scribbled out some ideas, and I'll use this to also get back into gear with blogging, since there is no issue with disclosing work in progress. Stay tuned for my progress on this illustration!

This new project is perfect for me to work the rust out because my favorite thing to illustrate is complex fight scenes. A big influence on my thinking comes from the Venetian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. I love Tiepolo for his dynamic, non eye-level scenes of decorative intertwined figures. His preparatory drawings are an education in good design.

2 things Tiepolo instructs us on is how to use the body as shape, and how to organize values. The figure is treated dynamically and better shape-use is gained from not being locked to an eye-level perspective. On top of this structure, Tiepolo designs the light/dark patterns with a broad wash, liberally linking areas for tonal simplicity, but with enough logic that the design can be replicated using figure reference in the final painting. His drawings are particularly instructive for fantasy art, because the scenes we create demand this energy, and require these design strategies to coordinate complexity into simplicity...

One broad wash and a few touches of deep shadow are enough to indicate the light and determine if the scene is balanced and simple enough to proceed to paint.

The above image has its values designed in strong, unbroken diagonals for maximum movement.

The scythe blade (below), although logically in the light is treated as a dark shape for balance in the empty upper left space.

Notice (below) how the tonal planning makes it to the final painting. By a more liberal use of value grouping, Tiepolo creates scenes that are more dynamic and decorative than the randomness of observed phenomena. Diagonals, S curves and linear tangents are more important than rendered detail, but we don't get the sense the images lack realism even though the parts are more designed and less observed.

Interview with Fantasy Art Magazine (China)

2011-08-06T11:34:00.003-06:00

In July, I was lucky to get interviewed for the second time for an issue of the prestigious Fantasy Art magazine from China. Its always embarrassing to be featured like this, as I feel I'm not worthy of such attention. I'm still just getting started in the fantasy art field, but I suppose all artists likely feel inadequate and this feeling drives us to fulfill the potential others see in our work.

For the sake of my non Chinese-speaking friends, I've posted the interview in English below:

2 years have passed, and our last interview with you was 4 years ago. I guess you didn't know you would leave the company where you had worked for 10 years when we had the last interview. So today, do you want to talk about your life when you worked for Bioware? How did you get in? Why did you leave?

I actually worked at BioWare for 12 years. After art school, where I obtained a bachelor of design in illustration and graphic design, I worked briefly for a book publisher until some friends introduced me to some guys in Calgary who were making a video game. They needed an artist, and my skills seemed like a good fit. At this time in the games industry, around 1995, artists were not trained specifically for games work as the industry was too small and too new. 3-d graphics were in their infancy, and I learned on the job. We were making Shattered Steel, a mech/robot game, and as the lone 2-d artist, I created the textures, backgrounds, concepts, storyboards and generally helped things look good. This game was being funded by 3 doctors in Edmonton, who were starting their own company, BioWare at the same time; working on a demo which would become Baldur's Gate. In order to finish Shattered Steel, a few of us moved to Edmonton to complete development, and we became part of BioWare as it was just starting up. Once Shattered Steel was finished, I stayed and worked on all the projects for the next 12 years, in some way or another.

In the early days, my tasks were mainly texturing models, concepting and art direction. As time passed, I did more 3-d art for the movie sequences. My graphic design, 2-d and 3-d art skills were valuable as a combination, so I was also making most of the ads, magazine covers and promotional materials. I could model characters and scenes and digitally paint on them to create imagery without the need for a team effort. Once BioWare grew to a stage where people were more specialized and focused on one job, I became the marketing artist, and concentrated solely on this, allowing me to develop my illustration skills. At this time we were making many fantasy games (Baldurs Gate 2, Neverwinter Nights), so I was digital painting more and using 3-d tools less.

Late in my career at BioWare, the company had grown very large, and been bought by Electronic Arts. EA had their own marketing department and processes and it was normal for them to subcontract out the art to specialized and expensive agencies. In addition, more sophisticated technology and higher fidelity 3-d models allowed the in-game content to be suitable for the promotional art, with less 2-d painting and retouching required. The last couple years at BioWare saw me using the game engine to create visuals and being more of a 3-d technician again. This was not something I desired, so after a long career working at one company, I took my leave and turned my attention back to illustration and painting, which are my passions.

As a professional artist working in the video game industry, you have lot of experience in this field, it would be easy to get a good job in this field . Why you choose to be a freelance artist? Is that you desire?

Living in Edmonton, Canada I have no choice but to freelance unless I decide to move to another city. There are no other significant game companies based here. Since I worked for one company for 12 years, I prefer now to have a career of my choosing, where I don't have company changes, politics and inefficiencies holding me back. There are advantages to both career paths but at this time I am trying something new. I would also say as a freelancer, your career is a bit more “pure” than working in a company, as far as being totally focused on the art. In a big company, there are many people around you: managers, executives, technicians, etc that are not artists, and working in an environment where art is just a component of the whole, sometimes it is hard to be focused and have the time to give to demanding work. On top of this, there are meetings, bureaucracy, and aspects not under your control which can water down the experience of creating artwork. Many people I worked with at BioWare had no idea how I did my work and this can lead to perception and communication problems. At BioWare, I did many different things. Each project was different. Being a freelance artist now allows me to focus on the areas that I like the most. I actually feel like I am just starting out as an illustrator because for a long time I was unable to focus on a singular skill.

We know at BioWare, you did many marketing paintings, concept artwork, and much other art work, but there's only a little on your website. Why do you not show them more? Is there some reason that you can't display them?

A lot of work that goes into game development gets thrown away. During development, characters change and get canceled and its often only the final year of a development where technology and creative content is locked down and comes together. For the marketing art and promotional materials, these constant changes make it impossible to do much work during the development period, and therefore most of the promotional art is done at the end, once the marketing executives and stakeholders have decided on a plan and angle on how to sell the game to the public. For Example, during Dragon Age, which took at least 6 years to make, there was development of races, characters and creatures that were not used. At the end of its development, there was indecision on how to market and promote the game; whether it should be sold as an “old-stlye, Baldur's Gate type experience” for the hardcore fan, or whether it should be sold to a younger, console-familiar audience. Once these questions are answered, often taking months of back-and-forth between the developer and publisher, it is too late to spend significant time crafting illustrations, especially in-house. I would also say that many marketing executives cannot see subtle qualitative differences or don't care about the art.

I chose not to show more work because an artist should only show a selection of their best work on their site. Unfinished work, sketches and old art may be interesting to some people, but it also can clutter up your site and confuse new clients.

We know it's hard when you want to get a new start in the career, especially when you go into a different field. Could you tell me in the beginning, what kind difficulties you must to face? How do you overcome them?

The difficulty in moving to the freelance field is mostly in establishing a new set of clients and also meeting other friends and artists in the field who are doing the same work. At BioWare, I was very insular, and I didn't know anyone outside of the company, and I didn't need to. I did not know anything about the freelance field and I didn't put any effort into marketing myself or having an online presence. The best way to overcome this was to meet people in person and make new friends. I went to a few conventions (Illuxcon, the Illustration Master Class) and now have many friends in the freelance illustration field. Through meeting these people, I have kept in close contact and talk daily with them on Facebook, Skype, through e-mail and on private online forums. We support each other through critique and sharing of information. The freelance fantasy illustration community is very small and therefore very friendly. Everyone is trying hard, so we have a kinship based on mutual respect and understanding.

A freelancer will control their time freely, but also they need more time to do some things in addition to creating the art. Could you tell me how you distribute your time in a normal day?

Time management is the most difficult thing in being a freelance artist. There is a lot of inconsistency in your schedule, and it takes great discipline to be successful. I am guilty of not working too hard sometimes and using my freedom to spend time doing things around the house or be with my family. On the other hand, when I have illustrations due on a deadline, I will usually work until bedtime and not have much life balance. I need to be better in averaging my time and sticking to consistent hours.

My studio is in a separate building from my house, so this is a big advantage, allowing me to have a quiet, undisturbed space to concentrate. Where I live in Canada also has an effect on my schedule. Since the summers are nice but the winters are very cold and snowy, I am a little less disciplined during nice weather to stay indoors in front of the computer. When its very cold out, I have no choice but to remain inside, so I balance it out by working more in the evening and making sure I get out in the sunshine when I can.

First, congratulations on having a son. I think he must give you many memories. And now he will "murder" you many times. Do you want to talk about him? Will you paint something for him? Do you want him to become an artist just like you?

I think there is a bit of a translation problem with this question... I'm not sure what you mean by “murder” (!)

My wife is actually pregnant right now with our second son! Soon we will have 2 boys and a lot of fun and excitement in our lives. I have thought about this a lot recently, and I honestly think I would not recommend my kids to be artists. I would tell them to have a more secure career doing something that is necessary and pays better. One can always do art as a hobby, and being an artist is a risk. Having said this, I will probably teach them the skills and support them if they find it interesting for the sake of having the appreciation of art and developing work ethic and patience.

Please talk about your family, I think you will have a lot of stories of them, especially when you at a low ebb of creating. And then a new start.

I am finding that family takes time, but it is also good to have much in your life other than art. I like to spend time with my son, and give my wife time for herself. Since we have another son on the way, I think I will have to be very disciplined to work regular hours so I have time to play with them and live a balanced lifestyle. My wife is very good at caring for our son, and I generally have the time to work as much as necessary. Since I work from home, it is easy to see the family and work many hours at the same time.

How do you feel about the freelance artist life? Is it the same as what you thought before? Will you continue to work in this field, or do you still want to have a full-time job?

This is a very interesting question. I have been pondering this for awhile recently. It seems the fantasy art field is largely an unrealistic profession for most people: the pay is low, the standards are high and it can be very inconsistent. It takes effort and intelligence to balance many things to be successful: creating, promoting, organizing, learning, resting. There is no handbook, and one must ask many questions and figure this lifestyle out for themselves. To succeed as a freelance artist, you might also have to do some teaching or have other sources of income. To be successful you will have to be smart and frugal with money.

To do anything of significance you have to stick with it and be consistent for a period of time. For the next few years at least, I will just do what I am doing now. I am still getting established as a freelance artist. In the future, I am open to all possibilities.

Could you tell me what clients you have? Do you like to work for them?

My main client currently is Blizzard, and I make a lot of World of Warcraft card art for them. I like working for them very much, and its a natural fit for my experience in the games industry. My style is quite clean and colorful, and this works well for Blizzard. I have also worked frequently for Paizo (Pathfinder RPG) and started work on Magic the Gathering more recently. Since I live in Canada, it takes me a bit longer to meet clients since I have to travel far to go to conventions, so I attend those less frequently. Clients are often met at conventions.

Could you tell us, which tools you use when you create art?

My normal process is to draw either on paper or in Photoshop, and then use Painter 9 to paint the image in the computer. I have started using 3-d software again more of late, and my samples shown in this magazine illustrates some of this process.

I saw you got some card art, book illustrations and some character art. Most artist who do card art for Magic Cards say the WOW Card style is strange. The bigger weapons and armor are so different with what they did before, and Blizzard asks that the characters be the same as the online game. All is different. But as we know, in the video game industry, those are usual expectations. So how do you feel when you make the card art for Blizzard? And is it any different than the work that you had done at BioWare, except the size?

I actually enjoy the Blizzard style very much. The costumes and weapons, while being “over the top” and a bit abstract are also good to work with in other ways. The Blizzard style is often well color coordinated, where the armors have good contrast and interesting, unique schemes. Its easier to work on a franchise that you don't have to make everything up, and the content they provide gives each piece interest and uniqueness that you would not think of adding if you have to make it up by yourself. I'm used to working with tight constraints and I have no issue with the Warcraft content. It would be a bit more difficult if I were oil painting or using other non-digital methods. It can be difficult at times because I do not play Warcraft, so sometimes I need help understanding aspects of the game or getting information on locations, characters and items. I have a few friends who are quite knowledgeable about Warcraft, and they sometimes get me screen-shots and answer questions about the game world.

We know you make art through the traditional way before. But now, I saw you use digital tools to help you create the art. Could you tell us what you think about digital tools? Is that just a tool or can they make a different future for art?

Digital tools have already changed art. Most illustrators, even those who paint traditionally use the computer in some form for planning. There are good and bad sides to this. For illustration, it is allowing artists to do more complicated things faster. The computer tool can give you many “free” solutions to drawing and painting. The bad side is that there is less individuality to the work and artists themselves are becoming less craft-oriented. With deadlines and the demands to be faster, I have started to use 3-d software more. I have a lot of experience with this from working on BioWare's movie sequences in the past, and it helps a lot, especially for complicated objects in perspective. Sometimes I make 3-d models of a weapon or even a whole scene, which can give me correct perspective. The problem is that the more I use these tools, the less I rely on drawing and artistic problem solving to get me by, and my images can be too literal or lack the power of simplicity and artistic decision making. I try to make sure all the questions are answered in the drawing as much as possible, and I generally do not like to paint directly in the computer without a drawing and color study. This is the mistake many younger digital artists make: they paint directly on the computer without a solid drawing to guide the process.

How long do you need to make a new image? Is it shorter than before?

The work I do now is generally much faster than before. The freelance deadlines make is so that you need to get the work done on a certain date, and you have to keep in mind being efficient so that if a client calls you for a new job that you have time to do more work. The card art I make is generally smaller in size and scope, and this makes them faster to produce as well. If I eventually get into book covers, then the larger size and complexity may allow me to spend more time like I used to, but for now I am doing smaller assignments.

Did you want to create something or some world that belongs to you? Just like J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth or the Toril in the D&D?

I don't currently have a passion to do this. I prefer making single paintings. I'm more of a painter than someone who draws a lot, so this suits me better.

What do you think of fantasy compared to science fiction? I mean, when you are painting those subjects, is just a different images, maybe need different skill to make it well. But we know, they are so different in the feel, one is in the old time, mystery, and one is in the future, surprising. And I saw you did fantasy more than science fiction. Does that mean you like fantasy more?

Yes, I prefer fantasy. Fantasy tends to be more organic and suited to a traditional process and tastes. Although I paint digitally, I take inspiration from oil painting, and fantasy subjects are generally more like traditional painting compared to sci-fi, which has more vehicles, ships, etc.

Except art, what hobby you have? Do you think your hobby will affect your art?

I don't really have another hobby. I enjoy watching mixed martial arts on TV, and I like being outside. I like to travel, go to museums and if possible I like to hike in the mountains and go camping like Canadians do. When you have children, a house, and a demanding career, sometimes other hobbies have to be dropped and you find interest and balance in routine, family things. A few times I have painted outdoor landscapes. This is a good education on how light and color works in reality, and its good to observe nature outdoors in balance with work indoors and on the computer. I paint portraits from life somewhat regularly too, for the experience and to create some “physical”, traditional art.

Why you like painting? I mean except you love it, and feel good when you create some new images, and make new friends. You also have many chances to do something else. Why don't you?

Good question. I think I enjoy mostly the making of unique things and having my work result in something that is either tangible or viewable. I get satisfaction from building a legacy or collection of work that I can look back on. The individual credit and notoriety you can have as an artist is nice as well. Being an artist with 15 years of professional experience, I'm in the unique position of being a local expert in my field. Once you reach this point, you have a lot you can produce and teach others, so it makes sense to continue and maximize this potential.

If one day, you got a chance to make a painting that you always wanted to made. What would it be?

My dream would be to make some large oil paintings that maybe would hang in a public place. I sometimes view my illustration career as a stepping stone to this goal. Illustration can be rewarding, but the end products can sometimes be disappointing. A printed piece of card art is only 2” wide, and often the colors are printed incorrectly. An original painting can be more impressive and make a bigger statement in some ways. People generally respect traditional painting more, so it would be nice to make some work that is more widely appreciated.

At the end, do you have some advice for young artists?

Draw and paint from life and imagination. Be honest with yourself. Surround yourself with knowledgeable and accomplished friends and acquaintances. Be consistent and keep at it through difficult times.

Could you talk about your plans for the future? Will you publish your art book? Or you will return to video game industry?

I think eventually I will make a book. These days, with digital and self-publishing its not that big of a deal as it used to be. In order for this to happen, I need to be worthy of the content of a book. I need to produce more, learn more and think more. To me, a book is a big deal: it would take a significant amount of time to create, but it also may help a lot of people and be a good legacy project. I would need to build up to this project more.

Other than that, I do not know what the future holds. I've been thinking a lot recently about what path to pursue. For the time being, I need to just do better art in the field I currently am in, while trying to overlap the process with other types of work that I enjoy (oil painting), making progress in both directions simultaneously.

Thanks for your answers.

New Warcraft Art: Twilight of the Dragons

2011-07-26T11:53:00.011-06:00

Just released the past weekend for the San Diego Comic Con is the new set for the World of Warcraft trading card game. I was fortunate to be able to do a couple cards for this project early in the year, which I can now show...

"Mr Goldmine's Wild Ride" shows a Worgen and Goblin racing down the tracks in a minecart.

Also, last night we recorded a new Drawn Today podcast (to be posted soon on the site and through our facebook page) on the topic of using 3-d reference. We discussed the merits, drawbacks and differences of using real-world and digital 3-D models as reference for illustration. As described in the podcast, I often use 3-D software for magical effects, which I will illustrate with my second card:

"Power Word: Barrier" depicts a female gnome shielding her companions from a fiery blast with a magic bubble.

This card needed to show a transparent effect surrounding a group of characters. I decided to create the effect in 3-D software to give me correct perspective and the ability to visualize distant buildings if needed.

The first step in creating the illustration is to generate many thumbnail sketches to explore different layouts and communicative possibilities. Its important not to get caught up in drawing the scene, but the let the task of generating ideas and variety unfold quickly and without being precious of the aesthetic results.

Once I have a pile of these scribbles, I select the best one to pursue. For this image, I was unsure what idea was the strongest, so I refined 3 of the thumbs to send to the art director to let him decide.

We settled on the idea showing a blast coming at the characters. This seemed the best route and was graphically simple and readable at a small size. The next step was to draw the characters out in detail. Since they have such fantastical proportions and are covered in armor, I only used photo reference for the hands.

I begin the illustration by painting the scene in local, realistic color. The plan is to use the layered transparent bubble to blend properly into the scene to give me the final effect.

The next step is to create the bubble in a 3-D program. I set a virtual camera up in 3-D space to match the perspective of my drawing.

I make the bubble have a transparency that increases towards the center, and "wrap" the curved lines and sparkles around the bubble as a texture.

Below is the final composite of the bubble effect over the scene with the blast painted in on top. At the end of the day, the use of 3-D in this illustration was fairly minimal and maybe unnecessary. That being said, the computer bubble effect with the correct transparency fall-off does its job by affecting the scene in realistic ways that painting freehand could not give. (Notice the Worgens raised hand and how the bubble shifts the color in that area.) I was unsure at the start if I wanted buildings in the background, so creating the effect as a 3-D scene gave me the proper perspective to the arcs and transparency fall-off as well as the ability to visualize buildings if needed.

Italian mastercopy

2011-06-14T21:49:00.012-06:00

In 2005, my wife and I spent 3 weeks in Italy, staying mostly in the beautiful Tuscan town of Cortona. My wife was doing an archaeological dig, and I was intent on studying old-master oil painting techniques. At this time I was getting heavily into Classical realist painting and pursued knowledge from the source.

Cortona, Italy is a lovely place. The movie "life is Beautiful" was shot here, as the town retains all its past charm and is a great setting to experience authentic Tuscany. In fact they were shooting a WW2 movie when I was there, complete with Nazi side-car motorcycles whipping through the town square. Buildings, residences and storefronts have little new signage and cars are forbidden in the center of the town, all in keeping with the timeless charm that visitors yearn for.

Cortona is a center for Etruscan archaeology, and in the town is a museum with many local finds. There are also a smattering of paintings, one of which I chose for an extended study.

An Annunciation by Pietro Da Cortona was my muse. The choice was more dictated by logistics of where I could realistically stand, not blocking an isle, and far enough away to take the painting in. This wasn't the Louvre, so my choice for what to copy was limited. You can see below my canvas set up and away from the massive picture. Here I am plotting in the proportions and composition.

Below is a close up of the first stage. I have run a vertical plumb line down the center of the canvas and made marks dividing the vertical proportion in thirds. As I drafted the scene, it was amazing how much of the composition fit into these divisions. A careful examination shows the hand of god, the angel's left wing and the bed post all lining up exactly with the center of the canvas. There were less obvious but still handy elements falling on the thirds markers.

The broad angular shapes above get subdivided and drawn into more recognizable forms. Things are taking shape. I am using sharpened vine charcoal and drawing directly on the canvas.

Below we can see the charcoal drawing strengthened with an umber paint layer. Lights and darks are separated and simply stated. The drawing becomes more exact and with these darker values, the image starts to emerge.

Starting the color painting, I am really getting into the mind of the creator here. Without trying to sound mystical, the act of copying can nevertheless impart upon the student the thinking and even philosophy of the master being studied. By seeing the real scale of the object, studying the paint application and using the same pigment choices, I may understand aspects of the production intimately. In this case, I get the feeling this commission is a real "nuts and bolts" affair. All the detail is loaded at the bottom of the canvas so when hung high in a massive church building, the important stuff is clear and beautiful and the rest is effort saved. Big contrasts of broad shapes are composed to read well in a dimly lit setting, and targeted use of expensive blue pigment kept to the focal point. The use of warm yellows and warm neutrals allow black to be used as an inexpensive substitute for a cool pigment in the upper portions. (gods robe and sky outside the window) The paint is broadly scrubbed in; this is a huge painting done for money, and the artist expertly and efficiently fulfills his obligation to the client.

It was likely a bit unrealistic to expect to do a copy of a 14 foot tall painting on my trip. I did what I could, and established the main color notes accurately. I took photos before I left and attempted to finish the painting at home using the computer monitor to display my photos and written notes for reference. Unfortunately, I didn't have a good camera or tripod, and my photos are presently of an inferior quality to finish the painting. I still intend to contact the museum to see if they can send me a better reference photo so that I may finish.

Below is where this painting currently stands; probably 70% done.

The lower portion of the painting was more clear in my photos, so the lower figures are a bit more resolved from the reference I took home with me.

Things I learned:

Supplies can readily be obtained in vacation settings, so don't go through pains in bringing too much equipment and supplies. I spent a long time before we left preparing painting panels and I lugged all my supplies around Italy, not needing most of it. I found better quality supplies right in Cortona and threw all my panels away to save weight for souvenirs.
Detailed studies such as I undertook take so much time (indoors!) that you waste the opportunity to do more sketching and enjoying the location. Do it once for the experience, but be warned: the museum may be deadly quiet or full of school children
Get a good photo before you leave! Also, make color notes. Are there differences between your copy and the real thing? How are the photo colors different?

Another good resource for copies is the poster shop in museums. You can often obtain quality posters sufficient to make copies from, and compare the poster to the actual painting at the museum, noting color differences. I did this for the Raphael copy seen on my website.

New Illo: Gargoyle.

2011-06-07T17:29:00.004-06:00

I've been busy the past couple months doing more card art, and now taking a break the past few days to do some things around the house.

Anyhow, I think this product just got released, so here is a small spot illustration from a recent Pathfinder game module...

Next up for me will be to get some personal drawing and painting in; I've been spending way too much time on the computer without much variety and artistic growth. Boohoo.

On top of this I have been starting to think about branching out to the gallery scene and am doing research into what that is all about. Tonight we record a podcast delving into this, so make sure you "like" the Drawn Today Podcast page on Facebook to get notified when the episode is released.

Some good advice to aspiring artists:

2011-05-17T23:32:00.001-06:00

http://philintheblanks.com/blog/?p=546

This weekend's workshop...

2011-05-08T20:31:00.015-06:00

This past weekend I taught a local workshop on fantasy character illustration. It was a 2-day session with a wide age-range aiming to teach the techniques of creating unique designs and bring them to life. The students ranged from a teacher to a psychology grad to high school and junior high students. Everyone seemed to share a passion for art, gaming and fantasy.

The first day, I introduced the students to a bunch of original finished illustration from my personal collection. I think it's important for artists to see the original product to understand the quality, detail and craft that the top artists have going on in their work. I also showed some quality drawings and stressed that these detailed paintings are made possible by strong drawing skills and a mastery of the pencil.

I brought along many books for the students to look at for inspiration and instruction. My pile included everything from Loomis' "Creative Illustration" to "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way". I also talked about the various tools I prefer and why certain tools are better for certain jobs. For instance, I believe early thumbnails should be done in a more tonal medium, such as a soft pencil, marker or watercolor, whereas a sharp mechanical pencil should be employed to attack the drawing's construction and detail and to build hand dexterity.

Each student received a package of printed information that I prepared showing examples of the various stages of character design, from thumbnails to figure construction and using reference.

To prove a point about generic design and the need for reference, I had the students draw various objects from their head: a buckle, leather pouch, boots, etc. Once completed I showed them a sheet of object reference to illustrate how we really don't know what stuff looks like without researching it and building our internal visual library over a long period of time. I then gave them the task of doing some reference gathering for the character they were creating on the first day.

After a long day focusing on the steps and technical aspects of character concepting, I went home exhausted and needing an idea how to make the next day more interesting to keep everyone's enthusiasm up. I thought of a few games to play last night and made some preparations for today's class.

The first activity we did was to revisit unique abstract shapes, as was stressed in the discussion on thumbnails. I noticed the first day that people had difficulty breaking from their habitual design thinking. I needed to show and reiterate that the abstract design can become anything and is the foundation for successful concepts. I prepared and handed out a sheet of 3 light grey Rorschach splotches on a page and instructed the students to make characters from these designs. Here are a few great examples from the class:

Another game we played today was a random generator of character attributes, where I prepared a list of 31 physical characteristics (big ears, horns, 2 mouths, armoured, furry, etc) and had the students pick random numbers and create a creature from the resulting description. This task was another attempt to force the students to draw something outside of their own choosing and hopefully create an interesting and unified result.

Lastly we broke off into 2 groups for a team challenge. It just happened that the boys and girls were sitting on opposite sides of the room, so knowing this I split the class in 2 and made each side design a character. I broke the character down into a number of drawing tasks, like their armor, weapon, sidekick, etc. Each team needed to co-ordinate themselves and decide on a central theme so the various aspects of the character had design unity.

The girls, being a co-operative bunch went beyond just a unified theme. In a couple hours, they were able to concept the elements individually and use photocopies and tracing paper to plan the aspects coming together into a single scene!

I especially love the frozen viking ship in the background and the little skeleton minion with a fuzzy bear head...

The workshop was a success and everyone learned alot. I got great feedback, and my initial fear of the class being too technical was put to rest when I read the instructor evaluation forms at the end. Most students stated it they wished the class was longer!

My one student who teaches art and other subjects at a school recommended that I take my methods to the teacher's conventions and teach other teachers in the school system some new ideas for stimulating their respective classes. I was glad to hear such feedback, as this particular teacher had done his master's thesis on visual teaching methods.

Anyhow, I'm not used to so much talking and interpersonal interaction. Its tiring!

Back to the quiet time of just me and the computer making pictures...

Interesting video on caricature...

2011-04-30T11:46:00.004-06:00

A friend of mine just sent me this video, and I thought I'd post the link because its quite well done. It shows the amazing depth that a master caricaturist delves into to study his subject... a real art!

http://devour.com/video/funny-bones/

Good links

2011-04-21T20:03:00.006-06:00

Still no art to show here... Just finished some more card art and have 4 more do do in the next month. Busy! Plus it looks like one of my workshops has filled up quite well, so that should be an interesting weekend of teaching.

In place of some cool fantasy art we have for you today a picture of a sarcastic owl..

Anyhow, I came across a few good links and thought I would post them...

Some tips for those in creative industries:

http://www.jamiewieck.com/visual-essays/the-50-things-every-graphic-design-student-should-know/

Big list of artists:

http://turtleart.net/artists.php

cool tool:

http://www.solidsmack.com/3d-cad-technology/future-interfaces-3d-multi-stroke-sketching-system/

Color tools:

http://colorschemedesigner.com/

http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/color-blend/

http://kuler.adobe.com/#

Color perception test:

http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77&Lang=en

And just for fun:

http://fyeahartstudentowl.tumblr.com/

New podcast and workshop reminders

2011-04-15T12:09:00.004-06:00

Just finished recording and editing a new podcast... in this episode we discuss other illustration fields, what your portfolio needs and how to survive the winter blahs. Give it a listen and tell me what you think!

Drawn Today podcast episode 26

Additionally, I need to pimp the courses I will be teaching soon in May:

Professional Fantasy art Workshop (County of Strathcona Parks and Rec.)

Fantasy Character Illustration (Paint Spot Edmonton)

I you have questions about these classes, drop me a line mike@sassart.com

Hope to see you at one of these, and I'll try to get some actual art posted on this blog soon!

New podcast.

2011-04-03T20:38:00.002-06:00

Last week we recorded a new "Drawn Today" podcast. This is a group of friends of mine from the illustration community... enjoy!

http://www.drawntoday.com/podcasts/DT_podcast_ep025.mp3

MTG: Frost Titan

2011-03-30T11:19:00.005-06:00

I recently had the opportunity to do my first "Magic: The Gathering" card. (actually I did a few over a decade ago, but I don't really count them) This was a fun assignment, as you actually make the characters up, rather than just visualizing something that is provided. Also, its pretty much the top franchise out there for fantasy art opportunities and insane fan-following...

Hopefully I will get to do more!

Cornbread stuffing and old stuff(ing)...

2011-03-22T19:58:00.010-06:00

I just got home from a much needed week-long vacation in Las Vegas. Its been an unbelievably long and cold winter in Edmonton, so it was a welcome change to go somewhere and stretch my legs. Since I'm not a gambler, one of my interests there was to get some "American food"... below is a picture of some fried chicken and cornbread stuffing, which satisfied my mission.

Before I left I started thinking about making a self-published book. I have 15 years worth of artwork of all types (mostly from my video game industry) and it would be nice to see this stuff compiled in one volume in a physical format rather than sitting in folders on my computer. I have no delusions of creating a best-seller, but nevertheless I would like to organize all this material, even if just for myself and my family. Thinking about what type of content would be of interest to a reader, I'm feeling some process and instructional material interspersed with an art book would be the way to go. Maybe I can get some essays or content from other artists as well. At the very least anyone interested in BioWare games would likely find this intimate and descriptive volume of interest. At the very least it will be an organizational exercise and something to sell at conventions.

I started sorting through the folders of my career before the Vegas trip and realized that I would easily have a small book's worth of material. As a preview to this eventual product, I'll start rolling out some old art from the dusty corners of my hard drive from time to time...

First we have an unfinished battle scene I was trying to cobble together for Dragon Age a number of years back in 2006. illustration is a tricky business in games development. Much of the content comes together at the end of development making it hard to create visuals early in the production that remain relevant at product ship. In modern RPGs, its also common that the characters are put together near the end of the dev cycle from a "parts library" of modeled bits that don't exist until late in the game. This is the reason why you see so many games utilize the "iconic character", which is a marketing creation of a possible character you could create in the game or the lead villain, and is unique looking and independent of the "parts library".

This battle scene was never finished as the characters were all either changed or cancelled. We can see the generic monsters are nailed down but the party of good guys are in various states of finish. The blond elf with a knife is a placeholder in anticipation that this design may not proceed, which was what happened...

Since such detailed, laborious scenes take time, I wanted to make one image that could be cut up into pieces to be handy for various marketing purposes. I intended each main character to be clearly shown so the image could be cropped for a portrait or descriptive vignette. Similarly, the bad guys are grouped according to race so the image can function in smaller chunks. I limited the enemies to a few races in anticipation that the more unique monsters would have a greater chance of being cut from the game due to technical limitations... which was what happened.

Here is a cropped vignette of some bad guys. My plan would have worked out fine, as you can see by the header image on this blog: you can always use a dark mass of evil dudes for some decoration.

An unfinished portrait of Oghren the dwarf...

Some Smaller baddies and a blue ogre...

Anyhow, it was tough to put all this work into an image only to abandon it to the waste-bin of pixel irrelevance. Even though I never finished it, It actually was cut up and used to promote Dragon Age on the website at some point as intended.

Projects like this call out how marketing illustration in games usually has to happen at the end of development, which means "quickly"so it can be put to use. These factors are why freelancers are employed, usually on behalf of 3rd party marketing companies for illustrations in the games industry. It's also why I'm quite happy now being on the other side of the development, making art where the questions have been answered before the work starts.

My self-published book will likely comment on things like this and show some more behind-the -scenes process of fantasy and video game art. Please feel free to comment with topics and suggestions that you would like to see, and I'll try to tailor my tome to where the interest is.

More Warcraft art

2011-03-13T18:03:00.005-06:00

Here are a couple other World of Warcraft cards I made last year. These were the first 2 I made for Blizzard and it was a learning curve to where I'm currently at.

At this point I probably didn't quite grasp the level of detail and sophistication alot of their card art can have. I still wasn't clear that these card images should be viewed as fully-fledged and "awesome" paintings, even though the final product is a couple inches across.

Did I mention I hate painting transparent glowy things? Anyhow, this gnome was my first card and a lesson in familiarizing me with the franchise with things like gnomes having 4 fingers...

I think I grasped the color schemes and compositional factors easily, and since then its just been minor tweaking and striving for the high quality bar set by the other artists.

Warcraft art

2011-02-25T14:54:00.005-07:00

I've been lucky enough to find work over the past year making art for the World of Warcraft (WOW) trading card game. It's been fun to work on this franchise, as I really enjoy the designs, colors and action of this world. It was a natural fit for me going from the video game industry to the illustration field where the subject is based on a video game. My natural inclination towards cleanliness and color has finally paid off in getting me work from the world's #1 game franchise.

The trading card game (TCG) field is a huge area for fantasy art. Many of the top illustrators find regular work making art for TCGs. There are tournaments all over the world, and its a great way for companies to expand their creative properties.

Below are a few of the cards I did last year. It's been a learning process for me. Initially I thought I was to make "small art", or basically just a card asset that was less than a full-fledged illustration. What I've come to realize is that the printing is superb quality, the artists top-notch and the expectations lofty. Even though the final product is a couple inches across, you still need to make a great piece of art for possible other promotional purposes. This is great, because you end up with finished work that can be made into prints to sell at conventions. As I have been doing these over the past year I have gradually added more detail, and my latest ones in production are getting close to where I need to be. I look forward to working on WOW for a long time!

Drawing (almost) everyday

2011-02-24T13:28:00.005-07:00

As mentioned in an earlier post, I am attempting to be more consistent in my drawing. The goal is to draw everyday. I've been relatively good with this the past few weeks. In my work, I've been doing digital painting as I'm finishing some card art, so its nice to start my day by warming up with some pencil work. I think the trick is to do it first thing before starting the day's main work, because if you leave it until after there is the chance you might be tired or not get around to it.

I've never been the best draftsman. I've been quite inconsistent with my drawing: sometimes wielding great skills and other times drawing terribly. Its not a skill you can just assume proficiency with if you have done some good drawings in the past. I think this has been my main undoing: not keeping it up because I assume I can do it. Drawing is a mental and physical skill; there is brain visualization and hand dexterity working together with brain connections and experience. If you stop, you'll get rusty and you wont draw how you used to... let alone improve!

Anyhow, I'm about a year and a half into being a full-time fantasy illustrator, and I know I need to keep building my drawing skills to both keep my place and move up the ladder in this field. My past career as an all-purpose video game artist was usually frustrating in that these essential skills were needed but not able to be exercised. I did alot of technical work which took the place of the drawing stage like utilizing 3-d models.

In my mind I need to keep working on these 4 things to build necessary drawing skills:

Practice dynamic poses and angles. Draw solidly-felt characters interestingly.
Practice creative conceptual design. Create novel and believable new designs.
Draw from life and from reference. Build the visual vocabulary.
Draw compositions and multi-figured scenes. Develop skills dealing with complexity and simplicity.

As I'm getting warmed up into this routine during the past few weeks, I'm getting comfortable with the mechanical pencil. I'm of the current belief this is the best tool for the things stated above: The fine line forces precision and control. I've also ditched using sketchbooks, and now draw on a pad of paper. The pressure of "messing up" a nice new sketch book and filling every page with something good was debilitating. Now I just tear it off and trash what isn't working.

I've come to the realization that my current impulse is to draw some generic figure on some rocks. These daily drawings aren't meant to take a long time, and there is no planning or experimentation stage, so this is natural. What I have learned is that I need to practice #2 the most, as I've gotten rusty from not doing much concept art in a long time. It probably takes drawing alot and taking an overview of your production like this to accurately gauge where you're at.

New Pathfinder half-pager

2011-02-16T14:39:00.004-07:00

Paizo publishing recently released their new pathfinder module "Cult of the Ebon Destroyers", which I have 2 half-page illustrations in.

It was part of an art order where I did 4 half-pagers last fall. Thinking I had the time, I packed many figures into each illustration and had quite complex scenes. In retrospect, I didn't quite finish them up to my standards, as there were just too many elements for my rendered style. I learned alot about doing half-pagers from this job; namely that I had better focus the scope of them if I want to get portfolio pieces. On the other hand, I'll need to adopt a looser style if I want to have so many figures. The experience I gained from this job was to just take a minute and realistically visualize how my idea/sketch will translate into a finished piece, factoring in the making of a bunch of images simultaneously on deadline. Working smarter, and not just harder by picking a good camera angle, editing and concise storytelling will be in mind for the next ones.

This one turned out ok... probably because it had the least figures. Its a character blasting a zombie with her holy symbol as a female ghost comes out of the zombie. I had a bit of an issue making a glowing, transparent ghost... transparent glowy things are really common in fantasy art asssignments, and a pet peeve of mine!

stu-stu-studio! (apologies to Phil)

2011-02-08T10:41:00.007-07:00

I've always found it interesting to see photos of artist's studios. Whether its an old black and white shot of an antiques-laded 19th century atelier with 2-story windows or a shot of Frank Frazetta sitting at a modest table in a small room, I'm fascinated by the artists' workspace.

I hear many fellow illustrators have quite modest studios; often an extra room in an apartment or a corner of the living room. Some great artists make do with quite meager surroundings, and its a testament to how much of the creative process is just the artist, their hand and mind. Having said that, I have personally managed to forge a nice studio space over my garage, and it didn't cost me much to furnish the space. Having acquired my equipment over many years, I've managed to find things almost free, whether at used office equipment stores or sales of surplus from libraries and garage sales.

The below image is an overview of the room. I have my computer desk on the left and my drawing area on the right:

Tunes: cds and stereo. I also listen to music and podcasts through the computer
Portable 240volt high-powered heater. I use this to heat the space up quickly in the morning
Standar 120volt heater. Maintains heat once room is comfortable. (did I mention where I live??)
pile of painting clothes.
Mirror to check poses and artwork in reverse.
Rack of partially-finished ideas and sketches to revisit later
Bookcase of reference and art books
Notes and inspiration images.

The drawing area on the right has the following:

Dual color-balanced art lamps.
upright drafting table with drawing clip-board to hold pads of paper.
Supplies caddy: pencils, erasers, tape, etc.
Table to place materials such as paints and palette.
2 garbage cans: one for garbage, the other for paper to recycle
Storage cabinet for mattes, canvases, etc
Original fantasy paintings by others for inspiration
Prints and clipped art for inspiration
Table for supplies, solvents, etc. Also anatomical cast for reference

Finally to the right is the "finishing" area: the computer area:

Cintiq tablet monitor
Epson Stylus 1400 13x19 printer
Cheapo black and white laser printer
Mustek 11x17 large format scanner
pile of cards for inspiration and reference for what I am currently doing on the computer.
Thermometer
light table/ cutting area for tracing and cutting paper
Curtains to close off light to minimize monitor glare

As you can see I keep alot of inspiration art around me and I have tacked some notes up as reminders to avoid certain personal bad habits:

I realize I have a pretty sweet space compared to most illustrators. Up until a couple years ago I did all my work in a cubicle-office environment, and the work was pretty much the same. While I'm happy I have these resources I still believe 98% of your artistic horsepower originates from the space between your ears.

Locus game cover

2011-01-31T22:38:00.003-07:00

Here is a cover I did late last year for a small start-up roleplaying game company.

Since there was no other existing art for this game, I first designed the characters and then made the cover after. I thought this might be a good way to have a cast of characters that looked unique and thus from a specific game world. I was afraid of designing the characters at the same time as making the cover art might result in generic looking fantasy tropes.

I'm Not sure this was the best idea, as the characters I made in concept form didn't necessarily translate clearly in non-straightforward poses. The next time I would probably just design the characters and art together, allowing for more flexibility and clarity. A good lesson in "less work is more"...

Where have I been???!

2011-01-28T17:43:00.006-07:00

The short answer to where I've been is: buried under snow, miserable, lazy, busy, away, sulking and generally either not doing much art or doing stuff that can't be shown. In December I was away 4 times and January I honestly spent more time shoveling snow than doing art. But now the weather is getting a bit better, I'm working again and overall feeling more positive and more blog-post-willing.

Here is a recent shot of my studio, which is in a separate garage from my house... we had 2 weeks straight recently of -25 brutally cold weather.

Getting into a funk can be a downward spiral: something causes you to stop working regularly (in this case the month of December was the culprit) and getting back into it can be a chore. I've found that I only really enjoy drawing when I can draw well and not struggle. The catch 22 is that I can only draw well when I am drawing regularly and enjoying it. I also have certain dexterity issues that hinder my abilities when I get rusty, making it even more awkward and frustrating to work off the rust. In college many years ago is severed the tendon in the little finger on my right hand, and to this day I can't bend it at the first joint. My finger doesn't tuck in and curl around properly, making it awkward to draw. Excuses.. a small one, but really its just an annoyance and makes getting back into the swing of drawing a tiny bit more challenging.

Since I'm prone to bad cases of drawing "rusty-ness" I've tried a few things over the years to make the task routine and the act constant. I used to put a dash on the calendar every day that I draw for at least an hour, making it plain how often I am keeping up with it. That didn't quite do the trick, so this week I put a little box under my table labeled "2011 daily drawings and warm-ups". Maybe just having a pile of drawings at my feet will give me incentive through the satisfaction of watching the pile grow. We'll see...

Today's drawing was inspired by a Dr Seuss book we read my son. Its an alphabet book with such phrases as "donut and a duck-dog-D-D-D..." and "Auntie Annie's Alligator_ A-A-A..."

I think the trick to drawing everyday is to have fun with it. Besides having fun because there is less struggle, thinking of a random fun topic will be key to keeping this necessary habit going.

If anyone gives me a suggestion via a comment to this post, I will draw whatever you tell me to... it'll save me having to come up with something every day... so suggest! And you may find your topic posted on http://drawntoday.blogspot.com/ where I sometimes participate with my friends.

2 upcoming workshops in Edmonton

2010-12-23T15:44:00.006-07:00

I've recently arranged with the Paint Spot in Edmonton to teach 2 workshops this spring; one on fantasy art and the other for portraiture and oils. Cutting and pasting from the Paint Spot's workshop section of their website, here are the details... book now, learn and have fun!!

Oil painting demonstration: the live portrait study

with Mike Sass

Saturday, March 12

Noon – 4 PM

Fee $50.00

Join us for a unique and enlightening afternoon and learn the fundamentals of classical realist painting techniques as applied to a portrait study. Coffee and cookies provided for an enjoyable, interactive demonstration. Through the opportunity to ask questions and take notes, artists can learn many oil painting tips as well as the portraiture process.

Working from a live model, Mike will demonstrate his process for accurate and realistic rendering of the head. Learn the materials and setup necessary for capturing a realistic likeness from life. Discussion will include:

Use of limited flesh palette
Choice of brushes, paints and mediums
Lighting, easels and equipment
Portrait study process: umber sketch, lay-in, modeling and details

This unique opportunity is suitable for anyone interested in realistic painting, oils, portraiture or traditional art practices. Bring a notebook or even a camera if you like!

Fantasy Character Illustration

with Mike Sass

Saturday & Sunday

May 7 & 8

10:30 AM – 5:30 PM

$199 +GST

Learn the process used by professional fantasy artists to conceive and render your fantasy character! Target audience Youth between ages 14– 99 (youth at heart) with a passion for drawing fantasy.

Sat.Idea Gathering & Sketching. Learn the process of formulating unique ideas and gathering reference. Students will be shown the technique of experimental thumbnails, constructive drawing and discussion on the use of reference to develop unique and believable characters.

Sun. Line and tonal work for completed rendering. (Black and white only.) Learn how to put your ideas and research together to complete your drawing for presentation.

Materials List: pencil, eraser, paper

Podcasting!

2010-12-20T10:22:00.001-07:00

I've been very unproductive of late; travel, the holidays and visiting with family are taking up most of my time until the end of the year. I'm hoping 2011 will bring me time to get into a routine and be more consistent with making art and blogging it.

The past couple days I spent recording and editing the new "Drawn Today podcast". This was my first crack at this sort of thing, and my first try at using the editing software. While I don't quite have the "cool, laid-back audio personality" nailed down yet, the episode went fine, so have a listen!

http://drawntoday.blogspot.com/2010/12/episode-18-style-and-solitude.html

The Secret and hats...

2010-12-05T17:51:00.002-07:00

The secret to becoming a good artist can be boiled down to this: struggle with it until you don't have to anymore.

Basically, just accept the struggle and don't let self-confidence issues hamper the efforts.

On hats:

At Illuxcon, one phrase that stuck with me was in a Patrick Jones critique lecture where he stated: "you have 2 hats: your genius hat and your humble hat" You put on the humble hat when you are seeking critique and looking at your work for ways to improve. When working, however, you must don the "genius hat" and feel like you're "the man". This switching of mindset allows you to accept that your work needs improvement, while allowing you to also work quickly and with confidence.

New cover progress...

2010-11-29T21:11:00.002-07:00

I'm starting to finish a cover for a startup RPG company that I've had on the back-burner for awhile. Over the past few months, I designed their main characters in preparation for making them a cover. Since this young company has no existing art, I chose to do this first so that when it came time to doing the cover, we would have very specific looking characters which would allude to the content in the product and avoid looking generic. RPG characters and covers are usually quite detailed to the delight of the fans.

The concept for this game revolves around a fantasy world where people from the "real" world are captured and brought into this other universe. The emotions of these captured ones become a power source in the fantasy world. My sketches for the cover revolved around the bad guy drawing power from a boy and confronting the heroes. The usual problem arises of depicting everyone clearly, even though some are facing away. Its just as important to show the party of heroes as the main area of action, so we can see the eventual player choices that you may have once you play the game.

The thumbnail I chose is the 2 inch tall quick sketch above. I've decided on a set of stairs to separate the characters out, and tilted the scene for that all important "excitement". I want to have a teleportation portal/door in the background that acts as a light source, and I have indicated some basic actions for the figures.

After a photo shoot, I begin constructing the figures as rounded "dummies" or mannequins. Since I shot my reference in my friend's small apartment, there is camera lens distortion on the figures, with parts closer enlarged unnaturally. Drawing the bodies of the figures out this way is helpful in translating the photo information to something that works in your made-up 3-d space. The discipline of this also allows for the armor and details to be drawn on top more easily.

Above is the final drawing, after some changes to poses and positions. At this point the figures are about half referenced, as my changes had to be drawn without new photos at hand. This isn't much of an issue once the bodies are covered up with their gear. The main bad guy is drawn without reference, and I just took a quick shot of my own hand in the mirror to add the realism you need for a hand. Currently, the boy is pretty weak, and I'll try to refine him to the point that you don't question him being done without a reference photo.

A quick indication of some tones and this is off to the client and ready for a color study...

some vehicle concepts

2010-11-27T11:31:00.002-07:00

Here are a couple vehicle concepts I did before Illuxcon. I haven't done a vehicle in about 10 years, so this isn't my specialty, obviously. I get a certain satisfaction from rendering and thinking up the forms, but I'd have to be really jazzed on mechanical stuff to do this sort of thing all the time, which isn't going to happen.

today's drawing...

2010-11-26T16:10:00.002-07:00

A gladiator who is a monster....

Illuxcon 2010, the big "RESET"

2010-11-16T17:22:00.017-07:00

I'm now officially now back from Illuxcon 2010, which just took place in Pennsylvania this past weekend. Personally, this convention is a giant "RESET" button; the event serves to refocus, re-energize and reward my efforts at my goal in becoming a successful fantasy illustrator. If I was getting sidetracked or lazy, this event puts a stop to bad habits and introduces me to new techniques, friends and opportunities.

Illuxcon 2010 was even more fulfilling than the 2009 version. The highlights of my experience fall into 3 categories: socialization, appreciation and motivation. I met with old friends and made new ones. I am motivated by seeing the great artwork, and realization that the attainment of similar results is within reach. I appreciate others, their processes, and was appreciated myself in turn.

Not too many tradeshow photos made it onto my camera this year. It was basically the same set-up as last year so I didn't record the room much.

The first artist I made my way to at the show was Ralph Horsley. Listening to him for the past few months on the Ninja mountain Podcast talking intelligently with his British accent I was expecting Richard Attenborough with a paintbrush. I have immense appreciation for his effortlessly crafted and minutely-detailed scenes of mayhem. At the start of the show I figured him an elder statesman of the genre, but by the end of Illuxcon, he was buying me drinks at the hotel bar as we enjoyed deep discussion on our art and a burgeoning friendship.

I was infatuated by the Hildebrandt's work years ago, and it was a real thrill to meet Greg and his partner, Jean. I started my convention with an hour's chat with Greg which was quite interesting. at 71 years old, he still gets up early everyday and paints 7 days a week. His personal energy is truly amazing and points to a roadmap of longetivity and success. Here is Greg working on a dragon painting...

Travelling to the USA, you just have to embrace the food. American cuisine can be truly wonderful if you are a connoisseur of various meat products. I watch alot of "Diners Drive-ins and Dives" on food network, and its a mission to find that sort of stuff when I go. This breakfast consisted of:

A Bacon, of course

B Token healthy stuff

C Fried applesauce

D Reconstituted sausage product

E Breakfast onions
F Breakfast cake
G Corned beef hash

H Finale of biscuit and sausage gravy

One of the great things about Illuxcon is discovering artists I've never heard of who I end up adoring. Patrick Jones' works immediately struck a chord with me with their old-master's craft. He is a rare illustrator who intentionally mutes the contrast in his work and pursues a soft, unified and painterly quality for the purpose of the longevity of the aesthetic object.

On the last day I reaquainted myself with Todd Lockwood. He went through my portfolio thoroughly and we discussed the topic of thumbnails. To repay him for the generosity of his time I helped him pack his wares up. I didn't know what I was getting into at the time, and the way we reinforced his packing box, it should last a few hundred more conventions.

Most artists understand the purpose of the thumbnail, but Todd's demonstration and his thinking behind it gave me a new outlook on the process. Perhaps a later blog post will go into more depth on what I learned...

The socialization at Illuxcon is one of the best things about it. Its basically the size of a big wedding, and the artists are your family. You are always an arm's length away from someone you want to talk to and someone who can enrich your passion for art.

A hotel bar in the middle of nowhere needs the action brought to it in the form of a $30 fooseball table and some tape. It was fun until the stink-bomb incident.

I booked a table at the Friday night showcase event, basically a mini-show within the show for up and comers. At the last minute I made some prints to sell and give away, and gathered some art that would fit in my luggage. This was a great experience, being on the artist side of the table and talking to fans, buyers and friends. It was a real thrill to have the tables turned for a brief moment with Donato, Greg Hildebrandt and others appreciating my work.

My friends Laura and Chris chatting with Donato: the man.

I finished off my trip with a "Chicago style" hot dog at the airport. I was really hoping for sausage gravy on it, but no luck...

Illuxcon is over and I'm back at my lonely house in the woods. I have new motivation based on new knowledge and confidence.

Time to paint.

cool sketchbooks

2010-11-08T20:20:00.003-07:00

I was just looking online for a gift of a leather journal when I discovered some cool custom sketchbooks. I think these may inspire you to draw in a way a blank page couldn't.

Check them out:

http://www.jennibick.com/one-sketch-a-day-a-visual-journal.html

http://www.jennibick.com/moleskine-large-storyboard-notebook.html

http://www.jennibick.com/642-things-to-draw-guided-sketchbook.html

Illuxcon prep

2010-10-29T18:59:00.007-06:00

Getting my ass in gear for Illuxcon now... man the time snuck up on me. I ran out of time to make any new originals, but I spent the past couple days ordering a set of 2-sided bookmarks for giving out/selling and promotion. Since I'm fairly new as a freelancer, it will take some time to research and collect promotional and sellable items using my art. I plan on eventually making t-shirts and prints, but in the short term hopefully this makes my showcase table at the convention not too bare. Since I have to take 4 planes to get to Altoona, Pennsylvannia, I'll likely just take a carry on and avoid luggage disconnect. This limits what I can bring, but with 7 2-sided bookmarks I will have 14 images floating and promoting me, which should be effective.

I like using online printing services. They are cheap and offer simple solutions and good variety of options. Since I live in the backyard of the oil industry, anyone with a grade 7 education makes 100k a year here, so I don't even bother looking into expensive local services.

Check out the newest Ninja mountain podcast for some chat on Illuxcon: http://ninjamountain.blogspot.com/2010/10/episode-84-illuxcon-is-nearly-here.html

And another one that mentions me for 1 millisecond...

http://jeffreyhimmelman.com/wip/?cat=3

It's gonna rock!!

And finally, heres a warm-up pic to finish off the post...

Tuesday night headstudy

2010-10-27T11:49:00.003-06:00

Lat night my portrait group got together again in my garage for another alla prima session. It's been about a month since we've done this, but it's good to get going again.

Last night, Laura was kind enough to sit for us. I put the lead white away and used titanium for this in anticipation that the opacity would lend itself more appropriately to clean, smooth female skin tones in one layer of paint. Laura is such a happy person, but you would never know it from this picture. I'll have to remember to request a slight smile when appropriate; the pain of holding one is probably worth it for posterity to remember you as a happy person rather than a tired one.

(I'm having trouble with the battery in my photo lights, so this is just a low-quality photo not using the proper equipment I detailed in an earlier post. The result is the canvas grain adds some grit to the image)

smoke and mirrors and podcasts.

2010-09-28T12:32:00.003-06:00

I'm still in my first year as a freelancer, so one of the things I'm experiencing is the "NDA backlog" of work I cant show because the products haven't been released. I'm sitting on 11 illustrations that wont be shown for months, so things may seem a bit quiet here, but they ain't. As I get further into the career, this should dissipate, as I can roll stuff out more regularly even if the work is old as the NDA timeframes pass.

Today's "smoke and mirrors" distracting you from the lack of work being shown is a little comment on art podcasts:

Working from home is great for concentration and getting things done, but the social aspect definitely lacks. I discovered a bunch of art podcasts (radio interviews) awhile back and they have been great for providing not just information, but the needed background chatter and simulated social interaction you need when working alone. I highly recommend artists put these on to break the silence. Having been to a couple conventions in the past year and meeting many other artists in my field, I am finding the podcasts very interesting because I know the work and personalities of many of the participants. Having your friends converse in the background while you work approximates an office environment where the water-cooler talk is always interesting and on topic. I have found many times the podcast conversation touches on exactly what I was thinking recently or broaches a topic that is perfectly timely to my current work.

Give these a listen:

http://ninjamountain.blogspot.com/

http://sidebar.typepad.com/my_weblog/barchives.html

http://escapefromillustrationisland.com/podcast/

http://drawntoday.blogspot.com/

http://illustrationambush.blogspot.com/

http://theprocessdiary.blogspot.com/

http://www.illustrationmundo.com/wp/category/efii-podcast

I also just posted a poll to the right asking artists what pencil they use. I'm going to switch up to using a mechanical pencil again after using the col-erase for a few months. I think the choice of your tool is very important and tied intimately to your drawing style. I'm just curious as to what others use...

Last night's headstudy

2010-09-22T18:12:00.004-06:00

Did another headstudy last night with my weekly group. We had "lazy-eye" John come out again to sit, which he was more than happy to do to get out of the house.

I switched things up this time and used flake (lead) white and a top quality oil primed portrait-grade linen rather than titanium white and crappy Michaels' bargain canvas. I'm usually painting on a pre-toned surface, but this time went just with the raw white background.

The use of these different materials resulted in a very different end-look. The stark white linen accentuates the thin, sketchy alla prima look but also allows for a more pure and fresh look to the colors. The flake white, also being less opaque added to this aesthetic, and its density shows a more obvious stroke. The paint surface overall is much rougher but more painterly and telling of the direct technique.

My usual approach is to paint an academic method in a sped-up manner, but I'm finding I run out of time trying to get a smooth finish while having enough information in the features. I am now leaving the backgrounds thin and the clothing simple as those things can be worked on later if desired. The goal is to find a formula where the materials and end result are in harmony with the task being attempted. This rougher look might be a more logical approach for males, while younger and female portraits may be better done with titanium white for a softer finish.

Tuesday night's headstudy

2010-09-17T22:06:00.004-06:00

Tuesday night we painted a girl with very red hair. Having just finished putting a coat of green paint on the wall behind, it turned out to be a lucky coincidence that the color went with the model. Her eyes were the same color as the wall.

My pal Scott, always the experimental one primed his canvas beforehand with the roller just used to paint the wall, giving him an instant and exact background to start with.

New characters...

2010-09-12T22:10:00.004-06:00

I've been away visiting the parents for a few days, but before I left I finished a new character...

Wrend The Vile "is a man seemingly wholly committed to the acquisition of power. Even having gone so far in his youth to sacrifice an eye to the worship of Xarx, believing the physical loss would reward him with greater magical prowess."

For these single characters with straightforward lighting, I don't use any reference, instead I construct the figure comic-book style and build the costuming on top. As I'm finishing I will often take a quick photo for parts that would be hard to invent, such as hands or complex fabric folds...

Today, I did the drawing for the next character... a "Trollblood Druid." This is my usual col-erase pencil on stonehenge "fawn" paper with watercolor and white highlights. For this particular one, I started using a black General's layout pencil to go over the linework for a deeper mark. I was finding the col-erase pencils are too light to get bold line-weight and hatching that stands out. I'm happy with this new pencil and will likely be using it now in addition for more line variety and control...

todays drawing

2010-09-03T14:30:00.002-06:00

Today's warm-up drawing is a Frazetta-ish scene... I think I need to practice the female figure.

Last nights headstudy

2010-09-01T19:20:00.006-06:00

I did another alla prima portrait last night with my weekly group. This week we had Scott's neighbour, John kind enough to sit for the price of a case of beer. Being retired, he was more than happy to add "art model" to his list of life experiences. He was still as a statue.

This photo is taken with my new lights but without the polarizing gels and filter. You can see the small specular highlights. One easy trick to minimize those is to use Photoshop's "despeckle" filter. It will slightly blur your image and isn't perfect, but it is a help nonetheless.

I picked up some flake (lead) white today. The added density of this white will help in the more sculptural brushstrokes used in single-layer work. Its one of the differences that you may notice in the surface quality of older paintings versus today's art which uses primarily titanium white. (which is brighter but less stiff)

Oh yeah, anyone in the Edmonton area interested in sitting, just contact me. We can pay $ or give beer.

Log monster

2010-08-28T12:18:00.001-06:00

something just for fun... a log monster to get my drawing warmed up again.

More equipment, finally.

2010-08-25T15:35:00.008-06:00

I fully admit to being a little cheap when it comes to buying supplies and equipment which I could otherwise borrow or do without. As mentioned in my last post about lighting, I'm now finally getting around to purchasing some necessary things for my studio. One can only use poor reference and deal with the morons at Staples for so long.

My lighting set arrived a few days ago, and so far I think what I got should do the trick. I bought the bottom end set, which is a bit smaller and less powerful than my friend's, but the basic function it serves is the same. I got the H30088 kit mentioned in the other post, and its a nice, simple package that comes with all you need to get started. If you already have an SLR camera, this kit will make the big difference between average and great reference photos.

A quick test shot below shows how you can have 2 independent lights. One is a wide, soft output using the included softbox or umbrella and the other a bright rim-light. The color filters also allow for colored light, so you can get lots of effect going if needed.

In the below photo is a life-sized wooden posing dummy I've had for years. This prop helps when you are arranging fabric that needs to go on a human frame and stay in position for a long time. I've also used "Woody" to lay upside down in awkward and painful poses that would be next to impossible for a model.

This past Sunday we did another portrait painting session at my studio. My usual nemesis in portraiture is making the head too wide, and having problems getting initial proportion. I experimented this time with another tool I've had lying around: a gridded window card.

http://www.dickblick.com/products/quickomp-artists-drawing-tool/

I duct taped this to one of my light stands, and had an instant measuring tool for flattening the space and getting the proportions down. It worked great.

Lastly, I broke down and finally got a 13X19 large format color photo printer. A common tool for fantasy illustrators, these printers allow you to make large, sellable-quality prints to leverage your artistic efforts. Another main use is the ability to print your rough drawings off at a fairly large size to mount on Masonite, seal, and paint on top of. (another common process thanks to Donato Giancola)

Below are some links to various large format printers. I went with the Epson 1400, as it was at the bottom end of the price spectrum with Epson's recent rebate. I've heard the B8550 is better, though.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2362754,00.asp

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/ProductCategory.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=-8170&x=24&y=0

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRINT/B8550/B8550.HTM

The reason I went with the cheaper model is that I've heard that larger run prints are better off being done by a printing service, due to the time and cost of ink if you do it yourself. Some online printers are below:

http://ezprints.com/store.aspx

http://www.print100.com/global/cgi/main.aspx

Now to make some art and make it all worthwhile!

Photographing artwork

2010-08-17T20:52:00.006-06:00

I had a chance a couple weeks ago to take proper photos of my newest paintings, and I thought I would show the great setup we use. My pal, Scott has researched and become a proficient photographer in the last couple years, and he has a great method for photographing artwork that gives you no glare.

"Polarizer gels are used on flashes in conjunction with a polarizer (linear or circular) on your lens to decrease specular highlights. This is primarily used when you want to photograph flat artwork. The most common setup involves 2 flashes positioned 45 degrees (relative to artwork surface) on equal distances from either side of the piece. Each flash (light) has a polarizer gel on it aligned in the same direction. The polarizer on the lens of the camera is aligned so it's axis of polarization is perpendicular to the polarizer axis on the flashes. This will eliminate unwanted specular highlights in the artwork."

In the below photo we are using 4 lights, but the more common (and affordable) setup would have 2.

Another tool that can be used is to photograph a printed color matching card with the painting to use to color correct in photoshop. Looking at some pure color boxes, just tweak the photo to match the sheet rather then trying to judge shifts in your more complex artwork.

Below are photos take seconds apart in the exact same lighting conditions as shown above. One quarter turn of your camera's polarizing lens filter makes the difference below.

Further info can be found at:

http://www.photocrati.com/photographing-artwork-paintings-drawings-etc/

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1025&message=34573662&changemode=1

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/light/u12l1e.cfm

Similar lights I'm about to buy for reference photography and photographing artwork:

http://www.opusprophoto.com/products/lighting_kits/h_series_kits.html

Polarizing film available at:

http://www.edmundoptics.com/onlinecatalog/displayproduct.cfm?productid=1912

High school confidential

2010-08-07T12:01:00.009-06:00

I'm teaching a fantasy art workshop for teens next week and thinking about what to present. I think the best thing I can do for the students is to give them some perspective and hope to motivate them for long-term self-learning.

Being a good artist is a lifelong journey of continual improvement. There is a misconception among non-artists that "talent" and ability are innate and an artist is just a person with inborn abilities. We all know that's "total crap" (see previous posts), so I'm going to show my students my own work when I was their age to demonstrate that my current skills have been a slow climb from the same place that they are in.

When I was in school, I always had the expectation that every year I would get better. The yearly routine of going through successive grades provided me with obvious signposts to my development. I expected to be better in grade 11 compared to grade 10, etc. I kept all my work from grade 7 through college, and its fun to pull it out once in awhile to see exactly how "bad" I was at a certain point and the slow progression that took place. I was no prodigy, but I was quite a consistent worker and was experimental with different media and techniques. (probably because I didn't really know any sound procedures) Even early on, my love was in the finishing, shading, and coloring and not so much with the drawing. That is consistent with my current skills.

Digging into my big box of old art, I've taken out a few pieces from high school to show my students. They can compare this to their own work and see that they are fundamentally the same as me, with the same potential. In hindsight, I can point out things I wish I knew then and show them how the work could have been better. Time permitting, I'm going to do some sketches this week to show how I currently would have tackled my high school art for comparrison. Here is the first I just did...

Grade 9 Spiderman

Suggested drawing method: 2010

Students today have many more resources for learning then I did in the 80s. All the books, DVDs and websites out there are making todays young artists learn much faster than was possible back in the day. Hopefully this perspective and comparison of student to professional in my work will breed some confidence and hope.

New Character: Steampunk Dwarf

2010-08-01T18:36:00.003-06:00

Here's a new character I just finished for some clients. There is a party of 3 adventurers and a bad guy to do. I will do the others next month after some more pressing work.

For this guy, I looked at tractors as inspiration for his armor. He's got some "Ghostbusters" type equipment including his green-goo-gun and his remote control baddie-sucking device. I made his warhammer like a blacksmith's hammer, as that seemed to make sense.

Alla prima portraits

2010-07-28T17:45:00.009-06:00

Recently I have organized with a few other local artists to paint portraits from life in my studio. We have started a regular routine of painting "alla prima" portraits of paid models, family and friends. "Alla prima is a style of painting where, instead of building colors up with layers or glazing over an underpainting , the painting is completed while the paint is still wet. Strictly defined, an alla prima painting would be started and finished in one painting session"

We're having lots of fun and want to do it regularly every week. We pay 60$ per session, which lasts a few hours with breaks. Last night we painted my brother-in-law, Ryan:

I find direct, one-session portraits to be a real challenge. I'm quite sensitive to color nuances so I have a hard time balancing my tendancy to describe every small color shift accurately while leaving time to actually render the likeness and details. To help this, I have been using a limited palette which has been great for removing some of this distracting choice from my color range.

My current palette is:

Ivory black
Burnt umber
yellow ochre pale
Alizarin crimson
White
(optional) Blue or green as needed for clothing and background

Hopefully in a year I'll have a big pile of portraits and be good at it.

Weekend artwalk

2010-07-17T20:49:00.022-06:00

It was a great experience this past weekend to participate in the local Edmonton Art Walk. Celebrating its 15th year, the Artwalk is a showcase for 300 local artists on the city's busiest avenue at the busiest time of year.

This was my first "retail" experience, where I'm selling physical work and being an "artrepreneur". As a new freelancer, I'm learning some some things about what and how to sell. The Artwalk is geared towards the general public, and as such is telling of what the majority of everyday people are interested in spending money on.

The physical display aspect of my presence went really well. Originally, I had planned to make a display with 2x4s and peg board. Thinking this was going to be an ordeal and likely result in something cumbersome, I decided to check out a store supplies retailer. This was a godsend, as I found everything I'll ever need for display and tradeshow purposes for reasonable prices. I purchased the standing racks as shown below for my still lifes, and had an attached basket which held some fantasy drawings. My initial thought was that the drawings were just an addition to the more marketable works, so they weren't displayed with any fanfare.

I brought along one portrait to show and also had some signage advertising workshops. Thinking that my prices were going to seem high to the average buyer, I made the sign below to help explain how value is derived:

I was definitely off the mark here, as I didn't look at what other vendors were selling their stuff for, and eventually realized that I was under-priced; especially in regards to my drawings.

The photo above shows how I was positioned, and it worked out great. With my back to the crowd, there was no intimidation or sales-pressure for people looking at the work. Customers could watch me draw which gave people insight into the time-consuming creative process and appreciation for the craft and effort in the work. Sitting directly next to the work allowed for an obvious link to who made the art and how it was done. Conversation with people caused others to stop and listen in, and if a sale was being made, it created a sort of "feeding frenzy". When other customers saw the conversation and sales happening they are more likely to buy themselves. As compared to the second day (below photo) the first set up was optimal.

While there was much praise and interest in all my work, it was actually my fantasy illustration drawings that made up the bulk of my sales. The reason is likely the lower price compared to an original framed painting, but there was also definitely an affection to the content. I'm surprised how well the fantasy art was received outside of an illustration-specific venue or convention. Many more people than I expected responded favorably to the narrative work, especially the classically-inspired fantasy scenes that I enjoy, such as "Perseus and Andromeda". (I sold all of my narrative drawings, and only 2 paintings.) I assume it was the novelty and uniquness of the work, and I could sense an appreciation for this direction as opposed to strictly wall decoration. This response has inspired me to focus more on these things instead of watering my production down with items that I thought were more "accessable" and saleable. Instead of making 2 distinct bodies of work (wall art and commercial art), I can now feel comfortable in sticking to my "bread and butter" with confidence that the work will sell as originals outside of a fantasy-specific setting like a convention.

Its gratifying when people spend their money on your work, and makes you feel more confident that the things I personally like and create are appreciated by others. When someone buys a narrative or creative work, they are buying my art and personal vision, rather than a decoration or a technical piece or labor.

For my next convention or artwalk, I'll get prints made of the pieces that resonate the strongest, and maybe brand my sign and "booth" more strongly in the illustration direction. Having some finished illustrations and painted fantasy art would help in this regard as well. I'll display the drawing more prominently so people don't have to discover the basket and sort through them. An important aspect I realized was eye-level, or making sure the work was hung high and easily accessed at a glance. Patrons walking down a crowded sidewalk filled with art aren't going to read small signs or search for gems, and they need to be "hooked" by the art that is most interesting. I heard and saw that the common price-point for the Artwalk that facilitated sales was in the $75-$100 range. People often have a budget and are looking to "collect" a few unique items from various artists, and so don't want to spend all their money on one piece.

Next year I will keep in mind this price range and have more options and product choices for that budget for my narrative work.

Raccoon skull final...

2010-07-15T14:17:00.003-06:00

I was waiting until I had the chance to take a proper photo of this using the 4 light/ polarized filter method, but it looks like it may be awhile until I can use my friend's equipment to do so.

Anyhow, here is how the still life turned out from last week. Not the best photo, but you get the idea. I have an Ebay-bought antique gold frame for it that looks pretty sweet and should increase my chances for a sale.

More rendering...

2010-07-08T10:27:00.003-06:00

Rendered the skull, feather and candlestick, established the proper background tone, and nudged the lone flower to the left.

Ideally, I would paint for full days, and not just for a bit in the evening. If this was the case, I would have more adjacent wet areas to blend and soften into, rather than painting one object at a time as I'm doing now. The transition of the fabric to the dark background tone is a good example of this: It would be better to have painted these areas together, allowing the wet paint to be blended and softened for a subtle effect. Instead, I'm relying on trying to exactly match the values and hoping that this accuracy gives me a similar effect, without a patchwork look.

A key aspect of oil painting related to this is the "sinking in" of paint, where an area dries matte and looks lighter (and cooler) than when it was freshly painted.

Look at the image below:

Most apparent in dark areas, we can see how the fabric looks when wet (left) and dry (right). This sinking in of the tones makes it difficult to work on areas related to the dry part, and can be solved by spraying a "retouch varnish" over the surface to get the gloss and even depth back into the whole surface. I will be giving the picture a spray before I go too much further, so that I can properly see if my transitions look natural, or if the objects look too "cut out" from the process of painting them at different times. A remedy to this can be to add some fresh paint to both sides of a transition and make a new blend, but the surface must be uniformly glossy for me to discern what is needed.

Once I'm done, I will take a proper photo with 4 lights and a polarizing filter, and you'll see how even the surface actually is. These process photos invariably look poor due to specular highlights and uneven gloss/depth of tones. An example of this difference is shown here.

getting into the details

2010-07-06T11:22:00.002-06:00

Now that I'm into the second layer of paint, its looking more solid and the values are becoming convincing. I've blocked in the feather and leaves on the right and turned the flowers on the book so they are grouped with no space in between to lessen the random spotting of light shapes.

The foilage behind the skull has been added to a bit, but it's still looking somewhat random. I'll likely get rid of the leaf sticking out of the center of the skull at the very least.

Raccoon Skull: second sitting

2010-07-04T22:47:00.003-06:00

Using large brushes, my aim for this stage is to fill up all the white canvas with a close approximation of the major tones. Due to the properties of oil being not totally opaque, this lay-in stage sets me up for the details to come. I still need to address the right side with another element.

I am tilting the canvas slightly forward to reduce the glare for the photo.

Memento mori: Raccoon skull

2010-07-02T23:09:00.003-06:00

In a couple of weeks there is a local street sale, the "whyte Avenue Artwalk", which I will be (hopefully!) selling at. I thought I would whip up a few more still lifes to bolster my stock of sellable works.

Here is session one from last night: sketch in raw umber. I placed the scene a tad too much to the left, so I will likely add some rosary beads or something to fill the right hand empty space.

NYC and IMC pt.3

2010-06-27T20:52:00.021-06:00

I've been back from my trip for a week now, and the whole thing seems like a distant memory. Blogging long after the fact, I'll just do my best to recount the experience...

Arriving in Amherst, I had the impression this was a special place to host the class. The campus of Amherst college seems like an education-based themepark with manicured grounds and immaculate period buildings.

Dormitory building...

Checking into the dorm, I picked up my keys and nametag. Glancing at the other nametags waiting to be claimed I recognized many of the names of the other students, and immediately had the feeling that the talent level of the students was going to be quite high. I was expecting only a handful of other professionals, but there were perhaps 25% professional fantasy illustrators and 50% returning students out of 85 attendees. The IMC is now on the radar for serious aspiring illustrators, and rightly so.

Studio building...

Inside one of the studios...

The first day was art school deja vu. After settling into 2 different studios, we posted our sketches up for a day-long critique session. Preparations ranged from thumbnails to completed paintings. The instructors assigned to each studio went through their criticism and suggestions for each sketch. The next day or so was a battle to decide what improvements we had the capacity or inclination to address and to make necessary changes. Many students had full computer/printer setups in their dorm rooms which helped them to adjust their images and facilitate planning. Without a computer, and after spending 2 hours waiting for a photocopy at the print shop, I made the decision to not fight my lack of tools and to just have fun with my project.

Wall of sketches...

Rather than thinking of my illustration as a portfolio piece, I wanted to just use it as an opportunity to try some new things without the pressure of professional results. I made my first color study in oils on a small version of my drawing. Ideally, a few variations of mood/lighting and color should be explored on even smaller panels, but again, I wanted to experience the week without getting bogged down on any one task.

Reference and color study...

The next few days consisted of this routine:

Sleep in until around 10am
go to studio and see whats going on. Squeeze out paint. Start painting.
Eat lunch
Lecture
Paint a tiny bit
Eat supper
lecture
Paint until bedtime... usually around 3am.

We seemed to be eating all the time. Since the college was being operated for a number of summer groups in addition to the IMC, we were on a strict cafeteria schedule. It was a combination of not burning any calories sitting all day, and being fed bountiful, awesome all-you-can-eat food. I tried to have salad routinely, but I also had just as much pizza and ice cream. The food was like going to a quality buffet; not like the creamed corn and "tater tots" I was expecting.

The cafeteria...

The twice-a-day lectures were a good mix of practical and theoretical. One of the talks was on getting good reference photos by using professional lighting equipment. The stunning action shots that were taken as demonstration have convinced me to step up that aspect of my craft.

Other memorable lectures included discussions on business issues, color theory and "talent"... which BTW is "total crap"...

Faculty of the IMC: (from left) Donato Giancola, Scott Fischer, Julie Bell, Boris Vallejo, Jeremy Jarvis, Dan Dos Santos, James Gurney, Greg Manchess, Irene Gallo.

The artist faculty members also had paintings on the go; which is a good way for students to witness technique and discuss methods with the instructors. My respect and awe for the instructors grew enormously in the presence of their creations...

I had fun making my painting. I used my fingers to smudge alot, enjoyed the freedom to be loose, and basically just gained some experience as I work towards the goal of using oil paints for professional work.

By the end of the week, I hadn't learned to paint masterfully or had my world turned upside down by shocking new information. The experience of the IMC was more a rounded, cumulative absorption of information based on being in an epicenter of illustration excellence. The students and faculty are a caring and sharing community with a common goal, which I'm glad to be a part of.

Another account of the week can be found here:

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/06/illustration-master-class-2010

NYC and IMC Pt.2

2010-06-24T20:04:00.009-06:00

The New York leg of my trip was a busy mix of museums and sights. We were on a tight schedule that was organized in minute detail and designed to extract maximum value from our rented Manhattan flat. Since brother-in-law Ryan was tagging along and staying for free, he was obligated to pose when I needed to draw...

Another museum that has to be mentioned is the Guggenheim. While I don't mean to make this blog a rant against modern art, there are some particularly rant-worthy features of this museum...

A continuous ramp winding in an upward spiral, this museum at the surface offers a fresh and updated take on the museum experience. In reality, walking uphill past pre-sized little alcoves didn't cut it. If you walk up the ramp you get tired and if you walk down it you naturally walk faster past the pieces. Each artwork is set into a little space which serves to limit the scale and viewing experience of the art. Video installations had their projector oddly placed to work with this narrow and inflexible space and the viewer constantly walked in front of the projection. I won't even delve into the single-patron washroom issue. Clearly the building is the star of the show.

Ironically the Guggenheim doesn't allow photography of the exhibits. The Met does (sans flash), so I wonder who thinks a modern video installation is more fragile than a 13th century painting. Maybe the issue is more about copyright and appropriation. Ironically again, there happened to be an exhibit of modern "appropriators"...

So I guess if I took a photo of an appropriated work and made an appropriation of the appropriation, I would be a post-appropriator. This could get complicated.

As you reach the end of your Guggenheim experience you are likely to be inspired by the great works of appropriation and eager to express your appreciation of the art at the giftshop... the only logical choice is a lego museum (0nly $40.00) "this model promotes awareness of the fascinating worlds of architecture, engineering and construction, inspiring the builders of tomorrow."

Its not about the building... really..!

Anyhow, On the the IMC!

NYC and IMC Pt.1

2010-06-21T13:09:00.021-06:00

I'm finally back home after a 2 week trip to New York and the Illustration Master Class (IMC) in Amherst, Mass. This was my first time at both places, and I had a good experience and would attend both again.

New York was definitely a spectacle. It was massive but also friendlier and easier to visit than I anticipated. The cab drivers are nuts. I get the feeling that Manhattan property prices and 911 has served to blunt the city`s edginess... It wasn't the stereotypical New York from the movies. My perspective from rural Canada is that NYC is likely unsustainable as it currently functions; no one I asked knew where all the garbrage went to. Innovation and change will spring from cities like New York first... it simply has to.

Times square in the rain...

Our first major museum to visit was the Metropolitan. Compared to the other great museums I have visited in the world, it doesn't have many A++ attraction pieces like the Mona Lisa, but it had a bit of everything for a satisfying museum experience. Unlike Paris where the Louvre, Orsay and Pompidou divide the wealth of artworks into relatively clean divisions of classical and modern, you will go from rooms of classical sculpture directly into rooms of totem poles and then on to modern furniture design.

A nice Andromeda sculpture... proving again that monsters and babes have always been cool. There is alot of fantasy art in museums; just dont let the snobs know. :)

Visits to great museums are a rarity for my Western Canadian eyes. Optimally, I get the chance to thoroughly study the works, make some notes, and do some sketching. My observation about the paintings which I respect and prefer the most were noted in my sketchbook:

Common attributes of great paintings:

breadth of tonal areas- resting space
focus of rendering and detail- both tight and simple
low chroma and high chroma balance
soft edges
use of accurate and pure value or color to describe... not line.

* FOCUS IS KEY* Anything that disrupts focus is bad

I feel modern classical realist art suffers from this lack of focus. Much of the modern realist work that attempts to emulate masters from the past lacks this artistic balancing. The reasons are likely that the revival of this type of art is still a new trend... the practitioners haven`t strayed too much from the uniform surface finish of learning studies to discover the benefits of a varied approach. Below is a nice example of a painting that balances the demands of the model with the benefits of being selective to surface quality.

A close up...

A Leighton...

Also showing variety of rendering and finish...

The Met is an exhausting experience best served up in smaller portions. I cruised speedily through most of it to allow myself time to digest the paintings. It would probably take me about a week to get through the whole collection with a semblance of thoroughness. An interesting offshoot of the museum`s variety is that there is a distribution of visitors across the various collections which is telling of the depth, interest and merit of works...

Without examples (and the implied respectability) of pop-culture, name-brand artists like Warhol or Pollock, the galleries of modern art are largely a wasteland. The irony of this large-scale modern art is that when grouped together in a gallery, the scale of the pieces cancels each other out, and the art loses its ability to impress us with size or simple graphic qualities. Why would viewers want to waste valuable museum time and torture their aching feet to look at 20 modern paintings when other parts of the museum offer so much more depth and satisfaction in a smaller space? Their graphic simplicity allows me the option to glance at the work from across the room and decide that its not work trekking 100 feet to take a closer look.

Another empty room of modern work. I wonder how much great art and artifacts are in storage to make room for this simple spectacle?

Anyhow, the Met was great. The variety was perfect for visiting with non-artists who could go their own way. The entrance fee was by suggested donation, which might come in handy if you just wanted to slip in for free and do some drawing for an hour or two.

Off to IMC

2010-06-03T22:58:00.004-06:00

Well, I'm off to the IMC a week early, giving me less time than everyone else to prepare. Going to see NYC first, so thats a good trade-off.

I made 2 concepts based on my 2 character designs. The first one I tried to fit most of the tall character in to get the feeling of height. The issue became clear that in the given horizontal format I need to use that the character becomes too small in the scene to see clearly at trading card size. I think I will make a vertical composition from this pose and do a second painting just for the practice, because I've already done the prep work, so I might as well.

The second concept, I zoomed in closer to the character. His broad shoulder elements work better in filling the horizontal space. Since I designed such detailed characters, seeing them closer helps cut down on the clutter and makes the character more intimate. I'm calling this tonal rough good enough for now, and I will wait for feedback at the class. One change I will make is to reposition the axe so that it comes forward more in perspective , thus crossing and obscuring the body less. I will also aim to have a simple shape arrangement on the left to delineate the background in the distance by the axe. I hope to do a color study in oils before I really get down to business.

IMC podacst

2010-05-29T12:32:00.003-06:00

My pal, Aaron has just released the latest installment of his "drawn today" podcast. This is an in-depth interview with Rebecca Guay, the founder and organizer of the Illustration Master Class. After listening to this, I'm even more excited and convinced this is going to be a special experience!

Click to listen

Enjoy!

Illustration Mater Class planning

2010-05-26T22:03:00.009-06:00

I'm now starting my preparation for the IMC assignment. (read my other post if you don't know what that is)

I've chosen to do a "Magic The Gathering" trading card image, which was one of the assignments. I figure since I'm already doing Warcraft card art, this will be a logical step (not too big) to move towards using oil paints for my practice instead of the computer. If I chose a book cover assignment, then there would be a distinct danger of not finishing such a complex scene, and thus not getting the "finishing" experience I need. The final image will only be 11x15", so that's not too scary.

The topic of the card image is a "Frost Titan"; basically a cool and badass looking giant with an axe of ice, representing the cold elements. Below are 2 concepts for him... I think getting a good character design is half the battle for this image, as it'll essentially just be him looking cool, with minimal other scene elements, as card art is usually somewhat simple and reduced to the size of trading cards.

top 5 attributes to becoming good in the field of illustration

2010-05-23T15:00:00.002-06:00

A pal of mine just asked me what the top 5 attributes to becoming good in the field of illustration are. Here is my opinion and answer...

Consistency and perseverance: build yourself over time. Don't be worried about instant results. Experience trumps skill. Art is a lifelong journey.
Hard working/ work intensity/ concentration: take tasks to completion and challenge yourself. Be professional and have high personal standards to work towards.
Mindfulness/ thoughtfulness: work smart, consider the essence of each part of the approach and be focused. Always be cognitive and refine your understanding of your methods. Think your approach and theories through as if you are teaching them to others; this will help you organize and edit your thoughts.
Experimentation and risk-taking: search out your best practices and dont keep doing the same things.
Balance: consistency, intensity, thoughtfulness and experimentation require balance and rest to work efficiently and be called upon. The brain is a muscle that needs rest and variety. Art-making is more physical than people realize, and good health feeds good performance. Exercise and be vigorous in all aspects of life.

Its funny because its true: part 2

2010-05-22T13:07:00.002-06:00

For your viewing pleasure today: another cartoon I've been saving...

The computer is a curious beast that has had a hold on much of my art-making. It is increasingly influencing the next generation of artists and illustrators for both benefit and harm.

Some benefits and drawbacks of the computer as an art tool:

Pro: Allows for the immediate creation of images unbound by the "ground up" necessities of traditional media. Artists can go straight to color and tone without preparation, both of the material and the subject. Con: The loss of a slower, more cerebral process including planning, drawing and using purposefully-chosen tools may lead to a less controlled, succinct and focused result.
Pro: Allows for unlimited malleability and change throughout the creation process. Undo and global changes whenever needed. Con: This forgiving nature of the tool can lead to indecision and a weakening of the need for planning in the creative process. Results may be unexpected (pro and con), or lose the essence or original focus of the idea.
Pro: Allows for detail and refinements not easily obtained through traditional tools. You can zoom into an area for increased detail, unbound by physical size. Con: you can lose sight of the "whole effect" and composition as a balanced, focused and unified statement.

All of the above essentially address the same dichotomy: complexity and flexibility versus simplicity and purposefulness. For this reason, there is a noticeable and understandable split in the use of digital or traditional media in concept art and illustration.

While not absolute, there is a definite preference for digital tools in concepting; where experimentation and uniqueness are aimed for. Concept artists can work fast and without preconception for the goal of finding new designs and unexpected approaches. Their work is expected to be re-made (into a model, set-piece or illustration) so this early visualization need not excessively worry about perspective, construction or animation.

Illustrators, on the other hand need to provide their client with an expected product, and need to create imagery that has specific needs (tell a story, show characters or elements in a descriptive and accurate way.) balanced and controlled for communication and attention. This work will be looked at by a broader audience for a longer period of time (as a cover, etc) so needs to hold up to scrutiny on its foundations.

The Illustration Master Class

2010-05-17T20:13:00.004-06:00

Next month I will be attending the Illustration Master Class in Amherst, Massachusetts. (facebook page)

Now in its third year, this major gathering of leading and aspiring fantasy illustrators is fast becoming a "must do" in the schedule of the young illustrator. Last year at Illuxcon, I heard the buzz about it and decided to book it for this year. The format of this week-long workshop is a split between lectures, demonstrations and working on a project. Students are given the choice of a number of themes one month beforehand, and arrive at the class with their design and reference prepared, and proceed to work throughout the week on their illustration under the guidance of the instructors. The instructors are a who's who of the worlds top fantasy artists, including Donato Giancola, Boris Vallejo and James Gurney. In addition, representitives of publishers will be on hand to offer input and lecture on business aspects as well as advise students on their portfolios.

One of my virtual studio mates, Aaron Miller, has gone for the past 2 years and he has just made a podcast with some other alumni that goes into some detail on what the experience entails.

Weekend meet and greet...

2010-05-11T17:10:00.010-06:00

This weekend I will be at The Paint Spot in Edmonton showing some work and talking to people about art instruction ideas. See you there!

What media, style or technique interests you the most?

"Art is now so much more than traditional art materials." The kinds of art made by recreational artists last year: 30% were multi-layered (mixed media collage, handmade books, cards, scrapbooks or 3D Art); 23% were drawings; 17% were paintings; 18% were digital art. From the Artists & Art Materials Study 2009. Which means almost half the art created last year was not just watercolour, acrylics or oils.

We're networking with art instructors, various clubs and organizations to embrace this new era of creative expression. To this end The Paint Spot is inviting over 25 instructors to promote themselves at our store on May 15. See below for more details, and look for a greater diversification in our art workshops classes and new products coming this fall!

your partner in art-making,

Kimberly Fjordbotten

Meet the Instructors

Saturday May 15

FREE, Noon - 5 PM

What if you could meet and choose between 20 professional artists willing to share their time and expertise to help others start art and expand their knowledge. Here is a confirmed list of attending art instructors that will be on-hand to offer workshops information and display their specialities.

Angel Baldinger

Maurade Baynton

Summer Bozohora

Jason Broatch

Nancy Corrigan

Juli Drew

Frank Haddock

Wendy Hodgson -Sadgrove

Susanne Lamoureux

Sara Norquay

Michael Sass

David Shkolny

Jean Pederson

Erik Visser

Laura Watmough

John Zacharias

(I have room for just 4 more instructors. If you are interested in participating, contact me ASAP info@paintspot.ca).

Art Instructor Appreciation & Networking Event

Saturday May 15

5 PM - 7PM

Are you responsible for workshops schedules for your art group, association or art centre? Are you thinking about teaching art? Join us for a glass of wine and discussion on new instructors, trends and opportunities. (RSVP will help me buy enough wine.)

Planes of the head model

2010-05-06T19:26:00.004-06:00

One tool I have used for years is a "planes of the head model". http://www.planesofthehead.com/

I bought mine a long time ago on Ebay from someone who had made copies of an old plaster model into foam. As the website says..."The Original Planes of the Head model is designed as a tool for learning in an effective and orderly progression how to draw and paint the human head. The model is applicable to both sexes and all races, with variations arising only in proportion. The left side shows the basic structure of the head's planes as seen in a rounded and or younger face. The right side shows a more complex structure characteristic of a thinner and or older face."

All heads have these planes; even if they are smoothed over by flesh and fatty tissue they are still there and visible to some degree. I use the model for informing flat/unclear reference photos and I often prop it up beside my monitor to look at the facial structure of a pose I am working on that may be in a difficult angle to draw from memory.

Because the model is white, you are easily able to see the directional changes in the surface, and thus the effects of light and reflective color on each part distinctly; to better grasp what is happening environmentally and affecting the head.

Looking at this picture of Arnie, we can see the planes pretty clearly. Notice in the middle shot how there is a slight blueness on the planes of the head facing the upper left. These subtle cues tell us about the things going on in the scene, like the sky color being reflected there, and thus it should be on all other surfaces of the scene. The redlines quickly show the divisions of the head as comparable from the white model, and we can more clearly observe distinct patches of value, color and form.

The new model for sale comes with a hole in the bottom so that it can be mounted on a tripod and held in place at any angle. The above picture shows an artist using the model to remind him of the distinct changes that should be happening over the surface of his portrait; telling him to make sure he has mixed unique and separate areas of value and color for the planes, however subtle they may appear.

its funny because its true...

2010-04-26T20:21:00.000-06:00

Different strokes

2010-04-19T18:27:00.025-06:00

It may sound simple and obvious, but your choice of drawing media has an enormous influence on your ability to do certain things. Your tools can either help or hinder your process and your overall development as an artist.

Our drawing tools are chosen through aptitude, personality, necessity and accident. Its a good bet your drawings and paintings will have a similar character, as you'll be more inclined towards line or value, precision or effect. Look at Rembrandt and Ingres:

Its very obvious the sensibility remains intact from drawing through painting. The artist's nature (skills and temperament) and nurture (schooling and societal standards) come together and are harmonious with the end result. While their approaches are quite different from each other, the goal still falls within the range of describing an observed subject.

As fantasy illustrators we have more tools, choices and unique problems than ever in the history of art. The simple (and powerful!) pencil can be replaced by a myriad of media choices as well as the computer. As with many things in art, you'll be better off choosing your materials wisely and informatively, allowing you to have the proper means of expression to move forward and create with.

I make no claims to being a great draftsman; in fact I feel I'm just starting to delve into drawing after many years working on the computer in the games industry. The majority of my drawing in preparation for digital painting was done in blue pencil, which helped in visualizing and constructing 3-D form, but hindered me in grasping the "whole" or tonal plan of an image due to the blue pencil's inherent lightness, and the computer's inherent forgivingness. Additionally, because this type of pencil can't go very dark in value, I was "let off the hook" for making finished drawings, and ultimately tackling nuanced characterizations and precise details. Blue pencil is a common choice for drawings that need to be "built up", "drawn through", and erased frequently. Comic artists use this medium as the pencil can be inked over and the blue linework fades away and does not photocopy. My personality is both a bit safe and thorough, and this blue pencil drawing allows me to remain in my comfort zone and do complicated things.

The opposite type of drawing which aims more for gesture, feel, and naturalism can be found in my friend Paul Rhoads' work:

Utilizing a soft pencil, Paul deftly indicates light and shade, capturing a feel of the final painting in the drawing itself. Note the broken contour linework of the nude's back, which suggests light interacting with the planes and form. His sensibility in these quick sketches can translate into drawings that stand alone as works of art, while my blue pencil constructions are clearly more suitable to a process and not a product.

While Paul's beautiful drawing style contains much to admire, I still find it necessary to come back to methods which allow for construction and complexity of forms and viewpoints.

Below are a blue pencil drawing and some converted to black and cleaned up on the computer, for comparison:

I'm pretty useless at drawing straight on the computer... even though I use a cintiq, I cant seem to use it for more than cleaning up and manipulating pencil work. Having said this, my friend Joe Wilson is superb at clean, constructed drawing done solely on the cintiq:

The computer easily allows for varied line weight and unlimited malleability and erase-ability. While not as varied or nuanced as Paul's pencils, Joe displays clean and descriptive forms that provide the framework for a digital painting.

Switching back to that "fine art look" again, we can see clearly with this example below the huge gulf that can exist between the beauty and naturalism of the soft-lead pencil versus the consistent, mechanical mark-making of the blue pencil and computer. When the model is in front of you, there is great truth and economy in using a tool which can be immediately employed for any effect.

As illustrators, we dont generally have our models (dragons, goblins) in front of us, nor are we generally producing drawings as a final product, so have to be comfortable with tools that allow for a building up and exploration. Notwithstanding, the end result is still "art", and our tools have to be optimal for the various processes and stages of art-making.

While each tool has its own advantages and drawbacks, there are some instances where there is a preference. Paul's quick composition sketch is proof that a darker, more immediate drawing tool is preferred for the early stages of ideation. A wash is also invaluable for establishing that essential value planning from the outset as shown here by one of my favorites, Tiepolo...

I also noticed at illuxcon that some of the tighter illustrators used a cheap mechanical pencil as their tool of choice. I also noted one who used that type of always-sharp pencil also had a soft pencil for his thumbnails for the exact reason of choosing appropriate tools for the creative stage.

The point here is just to call out the importance of choosing your tools as appropriate for the stage or intention of the drawing. While you may be comfortable with one medium, it may be what's holding you back from certain results, both aesthetically and developmentally. Eventually I would hope to develop methods that blend the best results of the illustrative/constructive approach and traditional/natural method. For now, I keep in mind and consiously change my tool for that stage or problem that is being addressed.

Finally, here is another Tiepolo that beautifully contains both precision and naturalism and hints at things to strive for...

10 tips for young (and old!) artists

2010-03-25T21:15:00.005-06:00

I may be teaching a fantasy illustration class for teens this summer in my area. Thinking about what my best advice would be I came up with this top-ten list. At this point in my career, its what has served me well.. however the order is arbitrary..

Draw -try for at least an hour or more a day. Be consi
stent.

Challenge yourself with what you draw. Your progress is dictated by your challenges. Always challenge yourself with tasks that are beyond your abilities… you will eventually gain those abilities if you do this, and always working within your comfort zone will limit your skills.
Study the masters. Always be looking at pre-20^th century art and study what those artists did. Probe these images for compositional thinking and choices made.
Experiment with as many techniques and processes as you can. Don’t be just an illustrator be a painter, photographer, lighting technician, sculptor, teacher…etc
Practice structure, precision, finish, technique.
Practice feeling, emotion, mood, creativity.
Read as many art books as you can. Read old art books. Read stuff on the internet. Reading is cheap and effective.
Draw and paint from life. Learn what reality looks like. It is too easy to be led astray by always consulting other art and photos instead of going to the source.
Seek out those that know. Take workshops, visit studios and talk to the people who are already doing the work you aspire to. These people know the answers, so they are your best resource for information.
Have Fun! Although an illustration career can be a lot of work, if you enjoy what you are doing it doesn’t seem like work at all. Your passion is the fuel for your product, and your love of your work will show in the results.

Dead mouse

2010-03-13T13:02:00.003-07:00

Yesterday a mouse died on my driveway... and was promptly painted.

A fantasy art take on the Leda and Swan theme

2010-03-10T17:05:00.001-07:00

Another Andromeda; just for fun.

2010-03-08T20:11:00.002-07:00

New daily painting and workshop.

2010-03-03T23:45:00.003-07:00

Attention burnt-out tech workers in Edmonton! Does your life's work in digital media fit on the head of a pin? Are you yearning to create artwork that can be given to your grandchildren and admired for the ages? Look no further, friend for opportunity is here!

On March 20-21st I will be holding my second "daily painting still-life" workshop at the Paint Spot in Edmonton. http://www.paintspot.ca/cgi-bin/workshops.pl?c=2

We need 2 more bodies to sign up for this to go ahead, so if interested, I strongly recommend to call the Store and book it. I guarantee fun and learnin'... more than perhaps you can take. Some pics from the last workshop can be found on this blog post:

http://sassart.blogspot.com/2009/10/busy-week-and-workshop.html

Anyhow, I haven't done any daily paintings in quite a few months. Here is one I just finished and took a bad photo of with my cheap point-and-shoot camera. I'm lying about the daily painting part for this one, as it took me 13 hours over a few evenings... but close enough!

sea monster tests and more notes on materials

2010-03-01T11:43:00.002-07:00

Did some sea monster studies to try and figure out where I want to take it. The traditional look is like a "sea-dog" with a snout face and fins from the jaw area. I don't think there is any sense in being naive with the design, so I will likely go with the longer, meaner face which helps the curve of the creature as well. This is the look Leighton chose for his 19th century version, which reflect a greater knowledge of animal forms and just looks cool.

I also picked up some brown ink on the weekend. http://www.sennelier.fr/en/inks/history.php

I got the sepia shade (the only color the store had) but I see they have bistre, which is the traditional tone. A couple quick tests with this and I'm clear now on what materials to use and when:

Basically, the ink provides a stronger, more even coverage that doesn't dry lighter as watercolor does, so it's the optimal choice for compositional studies where you want to lay in simple washes to denote shadow and light, without modulation or detail. For rendering or detailed studies, I still refer the watercolor for the subtlety. You want to combine ink washes with an ink line (pen or brush), but the more delicate watercolor can be laid over pencil.

black instead of red...

2010-02-24T21:40:00.001-07:00

Just tried just a black watercolor wash and pencil combo. I think this works better, as you can go darker and the cool/warm contrast with the paper gives you a sunny/shady feel...

figuring it out...

2010-02-24T14:54:00.006-07:00

I'm getting excited because I'm starting to figure out the ins and outs of old masters drawing techniques.

Looking closely at what I've just done and comparing with some books, I can see better now the reasons behind the choices of materials used for various instances. I started this journey trying out red pencils on toned paper, and have moved to adding red washes for compositional studies. Looking again at the masters and thinking about the limits to this technique, I think I'm getting close to having a handle on things.

In my latest experiments below (other post) I am trying for a more full tonal range with the watercolor wash. The problem I'm having is that once I reach a dark value range with the washes, they obscure the drawing below, and I lose the linework which has to then be re-established. Another thing I just realized is the color choice is wrong for compositional work. The reds work well for figurative work, giving life to the flesh, but the reds are too foreign a color to use broadly in a scene composition. Related to this, I have tried some black pencil over the red to strengthen some darks, but there is another discordance here in that the red and black become busy and the surface jumps out and is not unified.

After considering these issues and looking at some good books, the technique I need to try next is brown ink and brown wash. This is by far the most common drawing combination in my books, and after considering my recent experiments it makes perfect sense: The brown ink/wash combo is a subtly warm medium that gives the drawing color vibrancy without being too strong to look out of place for shadows. Black would be too dead and harsh, and red would have too much color to be used across a scene where the tones essentially describe shadow and should be played down. The brown allows for a line to sit back in space in the background of a scene, and doesn't jump forward like a black line would, allowing for the values to be controlled and built up. The ink pen allows for a tapered line weight, and is strong enough to be seen through the wash. Additionally, the brown wash alludes to the first stage of a painting where the tones are established in umbers, which unify the darks. Some examples of brown technique below...

brown ink and grey wash: moving towards describing warm/cool in addition to value...

The combination just described should work well for general light/dark compositional planning, but this is not to say that other combinations aren't better for specific uses. For instance consider drawings where cool/warm is indicated in a scene by the use of red and black washes and drawing media; the faces being red and fabric or backgrounds treated in greys and browns.

Here is an example where greys are used to simulate background cools and shadows that contrast against warmer light areas.

warms in the flesh, cools elsewhere:

Brown ink with warm and cool washes:

In addition, the red pencil by itself is still great for more detailed figure studies, where the linework needs to be clear and there is alot of detail and subtlety to describe. I guess what I've learned is that you need not just one tool or technique, but a few- and the flexibility to chose what is appropriate for the scene.

Well, back to the drawing board, as it were...

Perseus and Andromeda

2010-02-24T00:24:00.004-07:00

Did some sketches for this theme. Will likely do a painting or illustration of some sort once its figured out. I'm still having fun experimenting with these drawing techniques.

Horse

2010-02-09T21:09:00.001-07:00

Today's character is a horse. Plain and simple.

More red pencil experiments

2010-01-27T18:39:00.005-07:00

I am still searching to find a materials combination that gives me a nice old-master look and the ability to render detail for fantasy roughs. I recently happened to open a nice book I have on Rubens and his peers and noticed that almost all the papers that were being used were comparable to the Stonehenge "fawn" mentioned in an earlier post. My initial opinion on the fawn was that it was too light, but as I delve into this topic further I can now see it's a great paper for what I need.
Because craftsmen were limited in their choice of dyes, these old master papers were most often just a warmly toned off-white. I mistakenly thought I needed a darker paper to achieve a wider value range, but in fact I just needed to add a wash component to the mediums employed on that paper.

Below are some compositional studies from today, about 5" width done in a toned paper sketchbook. I'm using a very quick watercolor wash of red and black mixed to obtain a color that sits nicely with the Col-erase Tuscan red pencil. Also used are the white charcoal pencil, and some touches of the FW white ink. This combination is very similar to the old master techniques and allows either a drawn approach for faces, details and studies, or a tonal approach for a broad indication of compositional lighting. I like that I can use my small travel watercolor set to get any wash color I desire but in my quick experiments, it didn't layer all that well with the pencil. I may go see if there is an FW ink that will work instead (the old masters combo uses ink) and allow the pencil to go under and over the wash more freely. On another note, I found in the art store the other day a conte-like stick of Col-erase Tuscan red. I guess they also make their line in other forms, which is great because we get color consistency in different materials. I haven't experimented with this yet.

More red-pencil attempts

2010-01-04T14:54:00.007-07:00

I tried another red-pencil drawing just now on a darker paper with a bit more tooth. I'm liking this value of paper better as a mid-point for the red and white to both have enough contrast against. The white is a bit powerful on it, so I'll have to keep the marks delicate and minimal in the light areas. The paper is Canson mi-teints, a relatively crappy art/craft paper with a bit too much tooth, so I'll look for this tone of paper in a better quality line... hopefully stonehenge has an equivilent. Theres also a couple white highlights in white ink on the eyes, as this works great for a more opaque hit... but use sparingly!

And the old paper/pencil combo... better for details, but I need a darker paper. It might be neat to try a tinted watercolor wash over the surface first for the added darks I'm looking for.

red pencil drawings and new scanner

2009-12-18T17:33:00.003-07:00

I've always liked the look of "old master" drawings of red chalk on toned paper highlighted with white. I've never been satisfied with any of the combinations of materials I've tried up to this point to achieve this look... the pencils broke too easily, the paper was too fragile or bumpy, etc.

One tiny trend I spotted at Illuxcon was an increasing use of this look for preliminaries; giving development drawings a more fine-art aesthetic and thus chance for further sales.

In a conversation with one artist, he told me the materails he used so I went out and bought them and they are the closest thing yet to being practical for my use: the pencils sharpen and erase easily, and the white is opaque enough for the needed contrast. I would still like to look around more, as I think the paper could be darker and the red pencil darker as well.

"old master" drawing materials suitable for detailed fantasy art development work:

Col-erase Tuscan red pencil
Generals white charcoal pencil
kneaded eraser

Stonehenge "fawn" toned paper

I just scanned these recent test drawings of my parents in with my new el-cheapo scanner: http://www.amazon.com/Mustek-Express-A3-USB-Scanner/dp/B000WKSZ5A

After a bit of research I found this large-format 11x17" scanner can be had for as little as $150; the ususal price for this type of equipment is $600-$1000. It has some dubious reviews but I'm taking my chances.

New Dragon magazine illustration

2009-12-11T13:58:00.003-07:00

A crystal golem and 2 "fell taints" (my designs).
They are the "aberrants" or crazy monsters that are gonna get ya if you dont watch out!

The virtual studio

2009-12-08T09:44:00.005-07:00

One discussion/lecture that I missed at Illuxcon was on the topic of virtual studios. For some reason I misjudged what this was going to be about, and I'm very sorry I missed the information. From what I've gathered, a virtual studio is using digital tools to recreate the feel and communication of a physical, shared creative space where a number of artists are in close contact and able to bounce ideas off one another. Because illustration is often a lonely profession where one works from home, there is a real need to be in touch with other artists for feedback and critique. Forming a virtual studio with like-minded artists is also a great way to share information on professional issues and opportunities.

At Illuxcon I was lucky to meet a great group of young, brilliant and promising illustrators who are deeply plugged into the scene and the tools. In the past few days we have set up a virtual studio using a program called Google Wave. This is a collaboration/communication tool that is working brilliantly for us to share ideas and get instant feedback. The tool works like a cross between instant messaging and facebook, where you can have real-time conversations about images. All this is easily organized into topics and the discussion members can be conrolled by the topic starter. While I'e only used this for a few days, so far it is a wonderful way to get much needed feedback. I reccommend using Google Chrome as your browser if you intend to use Wave, as the program seems to work better with that application.

Self promotion: Donato style

2009-11-23T10:57:00.005-07:00

An artist friend of mine was interested in hearing more about aspects of Donato Giancola's self promotional strategies as presented at Illuxcon.

The main point I gathered from his talk was the discipline and foresight to separate himself from the pack by being generous and consistent in his self-promotion. If Donato spreads his work out broadly, getting it into people's hands and homes, his work and name is constantly on people's minds. He is very generous about giving away prints and selling portfolios of his work at cost. All these efforts will likely serve to elevate his status and prices and pay dividends in the future.

Below Donato shows a massive, futuristic carrying case for his portfolio, handmade out of metal industrial parts.

The green folder is a portfolio of prints by Donato. Note the cool foil stamp. The white booklet is his yearly catalogue of recent works. He produces one a year for the purpose of making an expected and anticipated collectable. The black booklet is by Volkan Baga; a German artist who studied under him and adheres to Donato's methods.

Interior of Volkan's book and Donato's portfolio, showing his contact info printed on the back of each print.

Another small tool I use is a rubber studio stamp, designed around the common 19th century format. Anyone can fake a signature, so this stamp is a tool that authenticates work.

Donato's attitude is just to get the work into as many hands as possible. He practically gives his older drawings away, and maximizes the stages of his production, from sketches to prints for the purpose of spreading his name. His belief that original art is immortal and is the ultimate manefestation of artistic production drives this discipline.

November Dungeons and Dragons illustrations

2009-11-22T18:14:00.004-07:00

Here are a couple images I did for this month's Dungeon Magazine. I'm satisfied with how it went, but I'll likely stick with darker tones for the next ones. I enjoy using the vignette approach common to D&D illustrations.

a couple character concepts from today

2009-11-18T20:28:00.003-07:00

Illuxcon 2009 post-mortem

2009-11-17T14:33:00.011-07:00

I’m back from Illuxcon 2009 in Altoona Pennsylvania. This is a very focused and intimate fantasy illustration convention geared towards the making, showing and selling of original fantasy art. This year there were a number of student attendees as well, and a schedule of roundtable discussions, demonstrations and lectures. I traveled to this convention to meet current clients, introduce myself to potential new ones, and to get inspired and informed about this small industry. The convention was the size of a wedding, and you’re constantly rubbing shoulders with top professionals and art directors in the field. I’ve come home with more accurate parameters, clearer expectations and corrected assumptions for this profession.

Convention poster by Matt Stewart. I love!

The convention floor showing artists' tables with paintings for sale

Even the buffet at the restaurant across the street was lined with fantasy art on the walls.

Michael Whelan and Chris Moeller demonstrate acrylic painting as they work and swap to make collaborative art.

Below I will detail in point form some thoughts as I wrote them down in my notebook. Hopefully this helps inform people interested in the same topics:

General observations:
All of the paintings are really tight! You can’t be too tight with some stuff…card art is not the format for fuzzy edges and old-master’s techniques. These need to be tight and bright. Lots of contrast and detail in art that gets shrunk to a couple inches for printing.

Much work that I thought was digital is actually acrylic painting. Acrylic is more common than oils for the card illustrations, due to speed, sharpness and cleanliness. These artists can paint in acrylics as well as or better than what a digital painting allows.

Most artists are fast. Many do a card art image (Fully painted 11x14” painting) in 3 days (after concept approval).

Lots of artists are using Donato’s methods. Everything from his self-promotional tools to the way he draws his roughs and prepares his surfaces are being copied (rightly so) by other artists.
Single character or limited scope paintings for gaming can take a day.

Original drawings sell for $30-$300 at conventions, depending on size and scope.

For Blizzard to give you card art work, they have to drop someone from their current crop of artists. This is highly competitive, so don’t screw up!

Donato Giancola displays a promotional portfolio folder of prints that he gives out and sells

On self promotion and furthering your career (roundtable discussion):

Don’t be afraid! Just jump in… don’t over think. Have a positive attitude and believe in yourself.

As a beginner, just start with whatever jobs you can get to get the ball rolling in your career. Take all jobs for experience, but also keep on target with your own goals and style development.

The competition now is much greater and the talent/quality much higher than in the 70’s (when Boris Vallejo broke in)

Be regular in your promotion. Always update your blog and site and constantly generate new prints, calendars and promotional materials so that you develop a regular following which expects new content.

Getting an agent may be useful in that they can get you into doors that would be difficult for you as a new artist/individual to open yourself

Make a new poster/postcard/self-published book per year or so. Expensive promotional items like books might cost you money up front, but a collector can take one away and may purchase an original later with the book as a reminder of the work.

Licensing one popular image can pay more than a whole book’s worth of illustrations in the long run. Keep image rights in contracts if possible. As you become more established in your field, work more to stand your ground in keeping your image rights. This is your future earning power.

Donato makes really high quality portfolios and catalogues for self-promotion, and is not necessarily looking to turn a profit on these items. In the long run these high-quality items won’t be thrown away like other samples, and the PR effect becomes more powerful.

Conventions are a key to “breaking in”. You have to be present in the location of the industry in some manner, whether you live where the companies are, or attend conventions and promote yourself in person.

Don’t be cheap in marketing yourself. Be wise. Be targeted.

Your best promotion is “busting you ass”. Do great work to impress your art director. Quality gets around.

Art director’s Roundtable discussion:

They want to see a new portfolio every year from someone looking to break in. You should always have new stuff.

You’re judged by your weakest image, because this is possibly what you may give them for quality.

Use YOUR name and not a moniker or nickname, like “Darken 666” when talking online, promoting yourself, etc. Your name is your calling card. Be mature.

Many referrals for new artists come through existing artists.

Art directors commonly want many loose thumbnail sketches, 3 roughs and one tight comprehensive drawing in the development process of your illustration. Some prefer more or less involvement, but are all open to communication and suggestion. Color roughs sometimes necessary.

And now that I've got a clearer snapshot into the industry it's back to work... with no excuses!

Close to done

2009-11-09T01:52:00.006-07:00

Got around to working on this image some more. I threw some text on it to emulate a quick desktop layout so it can be viewed in context. I'm pressed for time, so I'll have to leave it for now... busy with more D&D work and preparing for the convention this week. Stay tuned, as I may have alot of post-convention writing. I've got a big list of questions prepared for interviewing other artists working in the field as well as art directors who commission the work. It should be interesting to delve into this field deeply, and I'm sure I'll gain a great deal of insight from the casual interaction with industry people and top artists.

Undead dragon drawing

2009-11-04T20:38:00.003-07:00

I finally got around to doing a detailed drawing for the undead dragon. I know it looks confusing, but hopefully tone and color will make it come to life. That'll be the weekend's work if all goes according to plan.

As to the "lost" Dungeons and Dragons job from my last post... well, the next day after beating myself up for turning a big job down, I got the call for another illustration for them. "It turned out ok", as they say! Now instead of cramming to do 3 complex illustrations in a couple weeks, I can do one and not be in a rush.

Irony and the rookie freelancer

2009-10-29T17:53:00.006-06:00

So I'm busy with some freelance work and polishing off my portfolio to be ready in a couple weeks when I go to the fantasy art convention: http://www.illuxcon.com/index.html

I'm really looking forward to this convention, as it will hopefully be the springboard to making me feel like and actually be a full-time freelance fantasy artist. I'm sure to get energized meeting the other artists and getting inspired by the works of the best in the field.

One of the major aspects of these conventions is that new artists get to sit down and have portfolio reviews with the industry's top art directors, who are constantly looking for new talent to bring to their products. Suffice to say, this is often the 15 minutes in a new artist's year that he can make or break career momentum. You have to stand out, with both quality and professionalism, from the other 100+ artist who get their 15 minutes.

Now a funny thing happened today... as I'm sitting here roughing out an image for the portfolio I get an e-mail from the particular art director who I am most keen to meet and impress. I'm offered two images of the exact type of work that I'm putting all this effort towards! Now for the funny part (not)... At a quick glance, the assignment looks somewhat intensive, and the timeframe is pretty short to fit in to my schedule, considering I'll be travelling for a week to this conference right away. With an eye to ensuring quality and being careful that I manage the early stages of my relationship with this particular person, I request to take on one of the two images offered. I send the e-mail off in response, feeling great that I'm getting the exact work that I'm gearing for. A few minutes pass, and I get the Art director's response: he'd rather not split the job up and he'll get another artist to do it. Now I feel really stupid. I inadvertantly pass up my perfect job; being too careful and not mindful of the director's needs. The irony is that I'm working on my portfolio to get the work which I pass up because I'm busy working on my portfolio to get the work... Man, what a lesson.

So today I learned likely one of the key points in being a freelance artist (although I'm sure to learn more) DON'T SAY NO. The art director rightly needs an easy, passionate and reliable artist, and its your responsibility as an artist to make priority calls in developing your career. Until you've been around for awhile and are in high demand, do yourself a favour and take all the work... working harder and becoming successful through making smart descisions. I'm going to kick myself for awhile on this.

Anyhow, I started roughing this in today... an old Dragon Age drawing that needed finishing for my convention portfolio. Hey... maybe with a great portfolio, I'll get calls from top art directors... WAITAMINUTE!...

Busy week and workshop

2009-10-25T19:43:00.003-06:00

Its been a very busy week for me!

I just completed a couple images for Dungeons and Dragons on Friday, and then spent all weekend teaching a small oil painting workshop at the Paint Spot in Edmonton. While I won't be able to show the illustrations off until they are published, here are some shots from the weekend workshop.

It was a great success and everyone learned an immense amount of painting knowledge in 2 days. I found being in a small room with 4 other people over many hours proved to be a very intimate and effective way to transmit an incredible amount of information. In the end, all the students produced successful works, and were eager to continue their painting studies at home. Most of the students immediately bought the table top easels they used, and they all felt very satisfied with making a large leap forward with their artistic studies.