Sweetman Illustrations

Busy holidays

2011-12-28T13:29:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not having the time to post artwork here, but I haven't had time to create artwork to post! I did submit the leprechaun illustration to TeeFury today, so I will use this post to document how long it takes to get a response (if I get one at all). I do like many of the shirts available on TeeFury, especially the recent Doctor Whoville image, so I would like to join their ranks. Keeping the fingers crossed.

CMYK

2011-11-25T20:59:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'll continue discussing the leprechaun illustration a little more. As I've mentioned, I want to start getting shirts printed by some of the online one-a-day t-shirt shops, like RIPT, Woot, or Threadless. While some of them are capable of elaborate direct-to-garment printing, others employ traditional screens, limiting the number of colors that can be used. Of course, if one understands how to utilize CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black), a fairly wide range of colors can be produced. It looks like the classic comic book color. All I did was separate the art into four separate channels and then transform each channel into a half-tone bitmap. Once they were realigned, I brought back the original ink art because the image looked too vague. A couple of tweaks later and voila! A new shirt design. One thing to note: if this is printed, it needs to be on a white shirt or have a white base to print over as any color will greatly affect the look of the image. Some companies can manage 5 screens, others cannot.

I do hope you enjoy the design and I will surely let everyone know if and when the shirt is made available.

A little early

2011-11-17T12:05:00.000-08:00

It's the middle of November, but all the stores and theme parks have been celebrating Christmas for over two weeks now. Think of how Thanksgiving must feel. I decided to give Christmas a taste of its own medicine by jumping ahead to St. Patrick's Day. Actually, I drew this thing about ten years ago, but after painting the Frankenstein image, I wanted to try painting this one. It's all Photoshop.

Here is the original line drawing, for comparison.

RIPT submissions!

2011-11-09T15:48:00.001-08:00

Hello. Those of you who can scroll down an inch or two may recognize these two images and wonder why I'm posting them again. It's because I made a couple of adjustments to incorporate halftone dots in order to make the screen printing process a little easier and wanted to show them to you. The Devil Girl was pretty simple; just convert image into a bit map and choose the halftone option. I did have to bring back my black lines, which made it more complicated, but manageable. With the Dinosaur, I had to apply the halftone, then select the dots themselves and paint them in. If there is an easier way to do that, I'd be happy to hear it, but this worked well enough. I submitted both images to RIPTapparel.com today. I'll let you know if they are accepted and when you can make a purchase.

Just a tad more refined...

2011-10-25T16:29:00.000-07:00

Hiya. I really liked my sketch of Frankenstein's monster and his bride so I thought I'd take it further and see what I could do. I lost some of the energy of the original pencils, but I think I got some nice painterly effects. I also like the bride's hair.

Thanks for visiting. Have a great Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-19T09:38:00.001-07:00

Here's a simple tribute to the classic Horror monsters of yesteryear. If I submit this as another t-shirt, would you prefer it to be a pencil sketch on a white shirt, pencils on an orange shirt, white, black, and green on an orange shirt, or white pencils on a black shirt? So many options.

A couple more designs

2011-10-05T12:35:00.001-07:00

Okay, here are a couple more illustrations I've come up with that I want to put on T-shirts. My brother came up with the Fate's Dancing Monkey quote (credit where due) and I drew both of these traditionally and colored with as few colors as possible. Obviously, the monkey's tutu is one of only three colors in the piece (the background tone could be any shirt color, really) but the dino has only four colors: black, white, red, and green, to be printed on a yellow shirt. I've noticed that some of the t-shirt shops only print with as few screens as possible, so I'm keeping them as simple as I can.

New shirt design

2011-09-22T10:10:00.001-07:00

Hiya. After another long absence, I'm back with a new illustration to share. Quick explanation of image: I watched an art demo video by the "Good Girl" artist, Adam Hughes. He used warm and cool grey Copic markers, pen and ink, white paint, and colored pencils to render a "convention sketch" version of an Art Nouveau Mermaid. Inspired, I decided to try the same technique. I used Prismacolor cool greys, but couldn't find a set of warm greys at Michael's. Afterwards, I made some adjustments in Photoshop, erased the background, and tried several different color fields. I'll put this out to you, my audience. Which color would you like to see on a t-shirt?

Why does the TARDIS smell like bacon?

2011-08-20T12:58:00.000-07:00

Hi ho! As promised, here is another mash up of Muppets and Doctor Who. Obviously, I went with Kermit, but I did change him into the brown suit. With so much blue and purple in the image, I wanted to keep him in warmer hues. Also, Scooter looked ... okay as Eccleston, but not quite there. Maybe with a couple more tries he'll look right. Anyway, I need to be faster with these, but I'm having a good time. If there's enough interest out there, I think I can arrange for a limited number of prints of this or any other piece of mine that you like. It's never too early to think of the holidays.

Pigs in (Time and) Space!

2011-07-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

I had to continue the Muppet/Doctor Who project. This is just a sketchbook watercolor study I needed to do in order to figure out what Miss Piggy looks like. Her eyes are closer together than I thought and her snout is more rectangular. Obviously (to me), she's outfitted like Rose Tyler from the Eccleston season. I'm just about ready to start drawing on the watercolor block, but I'm wondering if I should include a Doctor. Having already painted Kermit as Tennant, I'm thinking along the lines of Scooter as Eccleston. Any opinions?

Threadless update

2011-07-14T15:44:00.000-07:00

Well, as far as I can tell, there is no way I won the Muppet T-shirt contest. I appreciate all who voted for me, but the overwhelming number of people who scored me low effectively put me out of the running. I don't know which shirt is the winner, but congratulations anyway. Time for me to start painting new stuff.

Threadless.com Muppet shirt contest.

2011-06-09T13:55:00.000-07:00

Here is the finished scan of the painting. I added a lens flare (I know, cheap photoshop filter) and a couple of color adjustments. I'm trying to enter it in a t-shirt contest on Threadless.com so come on over and vote!

I'll edit this post as soon as I get the design uploaded to their site so you can vote. The internet reception in the green room isn't wonderful today.

Here's the edit: I just managed to upload the file to Threadless.com. They should let me know if it is acceptable pretty soon. After that, please vote! I'll post the link as soon as I can.

Edit 2: It is up on Threadless and waiting for your vote. 5 is good, 1 is bad. Just saying.

http://disney.threadless.com/themuppets/submission/1201/

Done!

2011-06-02T12:55:00.001-07:00

Here it is, in all its geekery glory. This project went so much faster than I expected. Thanks to Google searches for helping me with the costumes and thanks to really small liner brushes for Gonzo's shirt. The original art is 9" X 12", but I never used a brush bigger than my #6 round, which is pretty small for this kind of thing.

I will be making a few prints for portfolio purposes (nice alliteration), but if anyone is interested, I could get a few extra. Let me know.

Moving Right Along...

2011-06-02T12:48:00.000-07:00

Just a little bit more. I went with the blue suit for Kermit to contrast with all the warm colors of the TARDIS.

Anyone catch the double meaning of the post title?

Process work

2011-06-02T10:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, I really don't recommend the way I work to anyone else. Most artists I know suggest working across the entire picture in general at first before focusing on detail. That's a GREAT idea...just not my natural way of doing things. *sigh* Anyway, after I started painting the background to look like the TARDIS, my brother suggested I add another Doctor to the mix. Since I had Gonzo as Matt Smith and Kermit as David Tennant, the two most recent Doctors, and only Fozzie as an older Doctor, Colin Baker, Ian wanted the 4th Doctor, Tom Baker, included. Tom is the most familiar Doctor from the entire series, after all, but who could fit in the space available? Rizzo the Rat, of course.

Pencil work

2011-06-01T10:38:00.001-07:00

I was doing my regular, non-art, job yesterday and had a strange idea for a mash up illustration. With Star Wars Weekends dominating Disney's Hollywood Studios lately, I felt the need to pump a little alternative sci-fi into my life. Also, I found the amazing work of Greg McCullough recently. He does these rich and colorful oil paintings of Disney characters, including a very cute Minnie Mouse as Princess Leia in Jabba's palace. Out of all the character prints that are available, McCullough's work are among the best...and Muppet stuff is among the worst. Sad face. Anyway, my hope is to elevate the quality of Muppet imagery and tap into the possibilities.

Since my blog is theoretically about the process, here's step one: Pencils. I started sketching without any real thought aside from including Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo. Because of Gonzo's penchant for bowties and silly hats, he became my choice for the 11th Doctor, portrayed by Matt Smith. Kermit is a good fit for David Tennant's 10th Doctor; slim, looks good in a suit, and Fozzie ended up as Doctor #6, a la Colin Baker, because the cravat is a perfect match!

More will follow as I render the characters in watercolor. Keep checking in. It won't take so long this time!

Yet Even More Face Painting!

2011-05-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

This will be the last group of face painting pictures. Like I said before, the theme was Toy Story, which explains the Woody and Jessie faces. It does not explain the bat, however. For some reason, the birthday boy wanted Batman, posted earlier, and this kid wanted a bat. I made it up on the spot and he seemed to really like it.

Even More Face Painting

2011-05-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

Even adults enjoy a little facial creativity!

More Face Painting

2011-05-11T10:24:00.000-07:00

As promised, here's a little more face painting. One of the most popular, full-face paintings that I do is the tiger. It gives boys a chance to express their inner predators. Some girls like this one as well, but you won't see many boys going for the butterfly face.

Face Painting

2011-05-10T14:49:00.000-07:00

It's a mother lode of posts from me...two. I figured everyone has been so nice waiting for me to resurrect my blog, why not show off some of the face painting I've been doing. If you're interested, I can be hired for all kinds of events. The rates vary depending on type of event and distance from my home. If you live in Central Florida, it'll be much cheaper than if you're in Northern California. Anyway, here are the pictures.

This is Xadhiel, the birthday boy. The theme of the party was "Toy Story," so Xadhiel wanted...Batman. Hey, who am I to argue with a kid whose name I can't pronounce?

I'll show more faces over the next few days. See you then.

Where the HECK have I been?!?

2011-05-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

First things first, the upcoming series of podcasts from the My Favorite Movie group will be all about Star Wars, so this modification of our logo is appropriate. Popcorn Troopers with buttery goodness.

Okay, the only explanation I have is that I haven't drawn very much lately. I've doodled here and there, but the only artwork I've finished over the last few months has been some face painting and a mural for my nephew's room. I guess I can post those images, too, but I'm hoping to have more illustrations soon. Thanks for your patience.

Logo variations

2010-11-22T12:40:00.001-08:00

I'm still doing the podcast thing. We've got over six months of shows on iTunes and we're doing certain themed months. Back in October, we did horror films, including A Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween. As we get closer to December, I decided to update our logo to reflect the holiday season. Give us a listen. Our first Christmas episode is "The Muppet Christmas Carol."

Art. Not much, but something to look at.

2010-10-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

Here's a business card mock-up I did for a Brooklyn-based company, ACE. Unfortunately, they didn't go for it. *sigh*

Let's take another look...

2010-10-10T16:45:00.000-07:00

Way back in 2008, I posted an image of a knight hunting a dragon. It was a loose, digitally colored image I used to show my teacher my intent for the piece. Having recently stumbled across the finished acrylic painting, I thought I would scan it in and share it with you. The painting is bigger than my scanner can hold, so I ran it through four times. The knight's gloves were always in the area where the painting lifted from the scanner's glass plate, so they're a little blurry.

In other news, I've been very busy dealing with life and working hard on things unrelated to art. I'll try to post more recent work soon.

SomeTHING new to post

2010-06-21T08:37:00.000-07:00

Hello once again from a lengthy absence. No excuses, just life getting in the way of more enjoyable pursuits. Good things, bad things, things of change, and things that remain the same.

I chose to draw the Thing because of the chance to play with his textures and the strong complementary color scheme.

My Favorite Movie...

2010-03-10T08:26:00.000-08:00

My brother and I were invited by a friend of ours to create a podcast about favorite movies. Any genre, any year, just as long as it was a favorite of ours and we can chat about it for 45 minutes or so. We've recorded one about "The Karate Kid" and another on "Men In Black," but haven't posted them yet. Next up will be "The Blues Brothers" and "The Big Lebowski."

I think I'll try drawing something inspired by each of the films and post them here. It'll get me back in the habit of drawing regularly and may even turn out some cool art. In the meantime, here is the logo I cranked out for our little show. I really like the iPod/popcorn bag mash up.

Look for us on iTunes. MFMPodcast.

Posting again.

2010-02-10T18:01:00.000-08:00

After much delay, here is one of my variations of the t-shirt design I made for Amphibious Medics. My client wasn't exactly sure what he wanted when we started out, but he was satisfied in the end.

Aside from that, I haven't accomplished much to post about. If anyone has any work they'd like to toss my way, I'd be appreciative.

Missed Halloween...missed Thanksgiving...Happy Channuka.

2009-12-13T09:27:00.000-08:00

I know I have been away from the blog for far too long. I wish I could blame it on having too many illustration commissions, but they have been few and far between. I am posting the logo design I did for "Amphibious Medics," a California based company that provides medical services for filmings on land and sea. I also created a t-shirt design based on the logo, which I'll post later.

Thanks for your patience. I'll try not to wait so many months again.

Same picture? No, wait...

2009-08-16T18:20:00.000-07:00

About a week ago, I watched a video demo from an artist named Bao Pham. The demo was on a dvd-rom that came with a British magazine, ImagineFX, which I bought a couple of years ago but never got around to looking at the disc. My mistake, because Bao is an amazing digital painter. I spent nearly eight hours watching his computer monitor. If I looked quickly, I could see which brush he used and what lighting effect, but there was no sound in the files, no explanation for why he made the choices he made nor what he was doing with different colors. Still, I learned a great deal from the experience and wanted to show the latest look of my Jack and the Beanstalk to all of you. Despite appearances, I did not use the Dodge or Burn tool for any of this image, a statement that will not be understood by many visitors, but fellow Ringling students and alumni may remember teachers frowning on such Photoshop tools. Anyway, I hope it meets everyone's approval.

More Photoshop fun.

2009-08-07T19:16:00.001-07:00

Once again, I'm going back over some of my old illustrations and seeing what I can do with a little more practice under my belt. In the original black and white version of Jack and the Giant, I was trying to convey atmospheric perspective through a limited value range on the giant. This time, I'm using that idea along with fading the giant towards blue and partially erasing the line work. Also, since I just learned how to turn a photograph of a cloud into a brush, of course I over used it. No matter. It still feels good to put some work up here again. New stuff will be coming soon.

Where's the ART?

2009-08-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

Sorry, but there's no art ready for posting today. Shortly after my last post, the motherboard in my HP died. The Geek Squad said it would cost over $777 to fix it, which is more than I spent for the computer just under two years ago. Instead of going that route, I invested in a new Gateway. I just finished installing my Adobe software, but it'll be some time before I can pick up Corel Painter 11. As much as I learned to love Painter since graduation, it was a student version and I don't have permission to download it again. *sigh*

Oh well. I hope to get some more things finished for everyone to enjoy very soon.

Middle of July? Wait, what happened to June?

2009-07-11T09:35:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't updated in a while. That may be normal for many bloggers, but I had hoped to break free from that crowd and be more consistent. *sigh*

Anyway, I just got home from a wonderful vacation in Arizona with my family. It was a rare gathering of Sweetmans, considering that only Mom lives in Arizona. The rest of us are spread across the Eastern Seaboard, but the lure of seeing each other and all exhibiting in the Art in the Orchard show in Pinetop, Az, encouraged us to unite.

Instead of doing caricatures like I did last year, I opted for

face painting. It's easy,

fast, and fun to do, plus the low costs make it ideal for a quick purchase from parents. The weather in the White Mountains was in my favor as well, since

kids weren't sweating off the colors while I was painting as they are prone to in Orlando.

Along with the faces, I offered greeting cards featuring the colored versions of

the illustrations from the Pinocchio's book. I had Pinocchio, Cinderella, and Hansel & Gretel available, and I worked on this image of Oz while there. For the future, I would like to have more prints and greeting cards ready so parents could buy more stuff while I paint their children. Overall, I did comfortably well, even after taxes, and was able to start on several repairs for my car (battery, brakes, tires...). I need to work more art fairs.

So...um, where were we?

2009-05-19T17:36:00.001-07:00

Back on May 2nd, I went to my favorite comic book store here in Orlando, Comic Connection, for the industry event "Free Comic Book Day." To those not immersed in geek culture the idea of giving away the very things you're trying to make money on seems insane, but the marketing strategy often plays out. A free book will get even the most narrow minded fan to give it a look, and if the quality meets the fan's standard, the publisher has a new steady reader. Also, offering kid-oriented books for free encourages parents to let their children read comics. The important part is that the kids read, but if they get caught up in the art and the fun of comic books, it's a win for everybody.

Anyway, my part in this marketing event was to facepaint. Yes, all that expensive Ringling schooling going to good use. The thing is that I actually enjoy painting faces. It's easy, I'm very fast, I'm good at it, and little kids get such a kick out of seeing the end result. I'm posting a couple of photos taken by Chris Melvin. In them, Brian, a huge Green Lantern fan, is getting a mask painted. I surprised him by painting the ring afterwards. Okay, so big kids get a kick, too.

Monsterpiece Copy

2009-04-03T19:03:00.000-07:00

Hey there. Sorry I've taken so much time to update. I've been far too busy with things of little consequence that are necessary only to pay bills, but offer little more. Worse still, so much of my time is absorbed with the "day job" that I have less to create my own art. However, I have scrounged enough time to continue my new series of "Monster Copies."

As most art students know, a great way to learn how to apply paint is to look at other paintings and try to copy what the artists did. I've done studies of Waterhouse, Caravaggio, and Hopper before, but only tried to match colors or compositions. In my earlier post of "Yellow and Blue Boy," I adapted the Gainsborough painting, "Blue Boy," to feature my brother's puppet character. In the current post, I chose to place a very similar fuzzy puppet (still under construction by my brother) into Rembrandt's "Self-Portrait at Age 34," one of my favorite portraits.

This is only the first pass at the painting. I plan on doing some glazing once I get another day off, but I like it for just 3 hours of work. With luck, I can post a final image, as well as some process work, before the end of the month.

Jump!

2009-02-25T12:35:00.000-08:00

Here's a little something that makes me smile. All Adobe Illustrator. A little different in style than my usual, but maybe a book will come out of the idea.

Doodle time!

2009-02-06T18:58:00.000-08:00

After work today, I was feeling very sick. Bad headache, nausea, dizziness, the whole shebang. Fortunately, after taking a five hour nap, I'm feeling a little more human. Not perfect, but human. The problem with the nap is that I'm not ready to actually sleep quite yet. So I doodled.

Every single artist that I admire recommends drawing something everyday. I don't always succeed in doing that, but Jason Seiler suggests daily sketching and at least one finished piece per month (No, he didn't tell me this personally; I got the advice from his blog). Since I've wanted to draw our president for a while, here's the perfect opportunity. I used Corel Painter X's colored pencils and digital watercolor. I'll revisit this subject later, but I wanted to post something.

The book is at Amazon.com!

2009-01-25T17:53:00.000-08:00

I'm thrilled to announce that "Stories and Shows from Pinocchio's" has finally been listed at Amazon.com. I'll put up a link somewhere on this blog, but if you type my name into amazon's search window, it will turn up. I think that's kinda cool. If you'd like to order a copy from me, it may take longer for you to get it, but I could always draw a little something inside to make up for the time. Many thanks to David Eaton and Luman Coad for wanting to do this and for letting me be part of it.

2009...so far, so good!

2009-01-04T15:41:00.000-08:00

Welcome to a new year, new post, and slightly new direction for at least one painting. I've been doing an ever increasing amount of digital illustration lately. However, this image is more classical in style and technique. An obvious homage to Thomas Gainsborough's (1727 - 1788) Blue Boy, I used only oil paint and Liquin on canvas. The effort only took three and a half hours, which surprised even me. I'm interested in exploring the concept of "Monster Master Copies," but I may have to think up a story that would justify publication. Probably needs something more than "pictures I made for Christmas presents." Although, my brother really did enjoy it as his Christmas present.

As you can see, my palette was a bit brighter than the original, which fits with the furry blue monster approach. Several years ago, the Henson's produced a calendar featuring photographic parodies of famous art, including Kermit the Frog as "Green Boy." While that "Kermitage Collection" was inspiring to me, I wanted to see how using the same media as the original art affected the way the art was received. I believe the response would have been different if I painted with watercolors or rendered the image in pen & ink. Any thoughts?

Beating the holiday rush...another post!

2008-12-19T19:16:00.000-08:00

Alright, so I said that I would be too busy to post for a few days, but I spent some time coloring Pinocchio and couldn't resist getting it up for your viewing pleasure. Oh, the things I do for you.

Also included in this post is my depiction of Jack and his oversized friend. This one is significant in that I chose to render the giant in pencil only, no ink lines. I felt that it would increase the sense of atmospheric perspective. I also narrowed the range of values on him. If you notice, Jack has darker darks and lighter lights on him. Almost looks as if I knew what I was doing, doesn't it?

Hansel and Gretel, part trois

2008-12-17T21:39:00.000-08:00

Okay, I feel like I have done what I had hoped to do and I can walk away from this trio. I wanted to play with Corel Painter X and see what some of the brushes could do that would be different than Photoshop. I'm pretty happy with the results. I have an idea of how I can use this image, but I'll let you know more about that later.

On a completely separate note, it's going to be pretty busy for me as we get closer to Christmas. Since I may not be able to post for a while, allow me this moment to wish my followers, my lurkers, my friends, and my loved ones a wonderful holiday season. Your support means a lot to me and I appreciate the feedback. Thank you and Merry Christmas.

Eric

Hansel and Gretel...in COLOR!

2008-12-16T18:14:00.000-08:00

I decided to take this illustration a little further than it'll be seen in the book. Using Corel Painter X, I'm experimenting with some different "paints" and "brushes." The kids have been colored with a digital watercolor custom brush and lots of blending and I used an Artist's Oils bristle blender for the witch's face. Still working on the background. I'll post it again when I'm done.

Cinderella

2008-12-06T19:13:00.000-08:00

Well, the latest image I wish to share is from Pinocchio's version of Cinderella. While the story keeps the familiar premise of a nice girl being made servant to domineering stepfamily until a fairy godmother enables her to pursue her dream prince, some of the supporting characters seem more appropriate to Disney's Beauty and the Beast, specifically Colonel Mop and Miss Bucket. Also, rather than a grand ballroom, the action takes place on a frozen lake. Yep, it's all about ice skating.

In this illustration, I left the mop alone, finding plenty of humor in the puppet's original design, but I made minor modifications on the bucket and the mouse. Cindy, on the other hand, looks nothing like the marionette.

Welcome to December!

2008-12-02T16:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, the holiday season is upon us and there's Christmas in the air, even here in Florida. The current temperature is 49 F and dropping. Sure, Jack Frost would melt into a grumpy little puddle, but anything below 60 F makes the local population pull out long johns and electric blankets. Trust me.
The story behind the illustration to the left is one of show biz and holiday spirit, "Santa's Holly Follies." The featured character is Chris Holly, host of a popular seasonal variety show. The program features juggling wise men, songs of Chanuka and Kwanzaa, dancing snow women, and a ballet flamingo. Not only does the show go all over the map, seasonally speaking, it is the only show staged by Pinocchio's Marionette Theater that wasn't based on an existing story.

The Wizard of OZ

2008-11-26T14:34:00.000-08:00

There are very few stories that are as well-known and beloved as L. Frank Baum's Wizard of OZ. The biggest challenge was choosing which scene to illustrate. I've always liked the Tin Woodsman, so his introduction seemed to be the best choice. Besides, once the Cowardly Lion joins the group, there are just too many characters hanging around.

The character design was kept very close to the original Pinocchio's marionettes. Despite appearances, every character was drawn on a separate piece of paper and composed in Photoshop.

Pinocchio

2008-11-21T11:40:00.001-08:00

Pinocchio's Marionette Theater was named after, obviously, the little puppet that came to life and wished to be a real boy. My illustration focuses on a key moment in the story when Pinocchio is faced with temptation and encouraged towards a bad decision by the fox and cat. I had no reference photos for the puppets of the fox and cat, nor did I use the original appearance of Pinocchio in this image. Instead, I kept the look of the theater's mascot puppet and invented my own rogues. Cricket the dog is the only character that resembles what she looked like in the play.

Hansel and Gretel

2008-11-17T13:50:00.001-08:00

As most schoolkids know, Hansel and Gretel were two German siblings who got lost in the woods and stumbled upon a remote cottage built entirely from edible gingerbread. However, the cottage was owned by a particularly nasty witch who, in response to the children's consumption of her home, wished to eat the children. Good clean family fun.

At Pinocchio's, "Hansel and Gretel" was one of the first marionette shows presented. The character design was a little stiff and awkward, without the wonderfully caricatured proportions that developed over the years. Rather than using the original designs to illustrate the story, I adapted the Witch design from Pinocchio's version of the Wizard of OZ. Hansel was modified from the lead of Jack and the Beanstalk and Gretel was pulled from my imagination. I did try to keep the children's wardrobe as accurate from the original puppets as possible.

As a technical note, I drew the Witch on one page, the children on another, and the background on yet one more, scanned them in separately, then merged and rendered them in Photoshop.

Stories and Shows from Pinocchio's

2008-11-12T17:44:00.001-08:00

Hey all. Here is the cover of the book project on which I've been working. Inside, there are nine different scripts of shows, including Hansel and Gretel, Rumplestiltskin, and, of course, Pinocchio, all of which have been performed for live audiences at Pinocchio's Marionette Theater in Winter Park, Florida, with one exception. The poor economy closed the doors of this wonderful theater before Snow White was staged. With luck and support, Pinocchio's can re-open in its new location at the Altamonte Mall. For more information, contact Dave at davideaton@earthlink.net.

More illustrations will be posted as we get closer to the release date of the book. I'll let you know.

I'm not dead yet!

2008-11-11T13:30:00.000-08:00

Hey all.
I just wanted to assure everyone that despite all appearances to the contrary, I haven't given up art or blogging. I've been busy working my fingers to the bone with a book project. Only one more illustration to go and it should be out for a Christmas release. Once I get permission, I'll post the pages here. Promise.

Caricatures

2008-09-06T07:30:00.000-07:00

After a little bit of soul searching, I have to admit that I have not been the artist that I truly want to be. I haven't pushed myself in the manner of most of my old classmates. So many of them drew all the time, which closed the gap between us and allowed several of them to leapfrog past me in technique. Since I only have myself to blame, only I can turn it around. I'm going to make sure I put pencil to paper each day and try to bring at least one caricature to the tight pencil stage. As I improve my digital painting, you may see these images revisited and refined. Some of my subjects will be celebrities; others, family and friends. If all both of my readers have suggestions, let me hear them.

I chose to draw the Jonas Brothers for only two reasons: One, the boys were featured on the cover of Nickelodeon Magazine, which I saw at work. Two, they are pop culture favorites right now. I couldn't tell you a single song they perform, but I did watch "Camp Rock" when it debuted and it wasn't horrible. With the Target ads for back to school sales, these guys are everywhere. Have bandwagon, must jump.

Finally, I wanted to include two, more personal caricatures for your viewing pleasure (and their inevitable chagrin). The long-haired chap with the goatee is my twin brother, Ian. Beneath him is our old friend, Jason. I don't get to see either of these guys as much as I would like. Ian lives several states away and Jason, although in the same freaking town as me, works all the time and never answers his cell phone. Hmpf. Now you know.

Working on my thoughts and thinking about work

2008-08-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

It was bound to happen. I started a job about a week or so ago. No, it isn't exactly art related, but I am trying to push it in that direction. I got hired as a walk-around costumed performer at the Nickelodeon Family Suites in Orlando, Florida. I will be the first to say that it is neither my dream job nor the career for which I went to college, but graduation money only goes so far. Still, it is something that I'm extremely good at, so my employers like me and I like the idea of getting a paycheck right now. However, I am trying to do more.

One of my big ideas right now is to pursue the t-shirt idea a little further, but personally. The folks who comment on this blog seem to like my designs, even if Carter's and SS Designs didn't find me a good fit. What I'd like to do is set up another CafePress.com store and offer original shirts for limited times. The subject matter will vary greatly depending on my whim. I'd like to start out for a week or two and see how it goes. One of the first shirts will likely be a design I did for Comic Connection, my favorite local comic book store.

The character doesn't have a name quite yet, wavering between "CC" and "Connie" for Comic Connection. This isn't the final look for the shirt because I'll have to edit the store information, increase the size of the store logo, and probably reduce the size of the graphic just so it'll be printable. Since I'm interested in printing up an inventory to be sold at the brick and mortar store, I'm open to suggestions for quality manufacturers at a decent price. Thanks.

Art Fair Photos

2008-08-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, here are some of the pictures I promised. The event was called "Art in the Orchard," and we were, indeed, in an old apple orchard. The fine folks at Charley Clark's Steakhouse have turned it into a great outdoor bar and were gracious enough to allow the NorthEastern Arizona Fine Arts Association the run of the place for the holiday weekend. I met a lot of great people, got encouraged to do more art and really consider how to apply it towards the market trends of the region, and I got to hang out with my brother for a couple of weeks.

I also got to spend time with my mom's boyfriend, Louie, so I drew up a caricature of him. Later, I scanned it into Photoshop, colored it, and, since he really likes antique pocket watches, added the photographic background element.

Okay, I have to run. The weather is dumping rain and lightning all around and I don't want to fry my electronics.

Long time, no post

2008-07-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

First of all, my apologies to everyone who may have wanted to know what I've been up to for the last month and a half. I appreciate the concern from both of you. Ahem.
In late June, I went back to AZ for my high school reunion. It was very nice, reconnecting with folks who are a lot nicer nowadays than they were back then. The following weekend was the 4th of July, so I expected to see a parade and watch fireworks with the small town enthusiasm. Well, the fireworks were okay (I've seen too many Disney shows to get impressed), but I never got to the parade. Instead, I was drawing caricatures at my first Art Fair! A last second cancellation opened up a space for me, but I spent the day scrambling to gather supplies and figuring out how to actually pull it off. Believe it or not, I was able to make a small profit after all the costs were factored in.
I do have some photos of my set up, but I'll post them next week. Finally, I will have high speed internet at the house and I'll be a more consistent presence from now on.

More T-shirt designs, different company

2008-06-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

There is a local company, SS Designs, that handles both the art duties and the production of apparel for the central Florida theme parks as well as other retail outlets. As an artistic audition, they have commissioned me to create some work for the summer/spring women's junior market. I'm to use Roxy and Billabong as inspiration. The penguin proves that I have a really confused concept of summer. If they like this enough, I could have a staff job. More crossed fingers.

Didn't get the Carter's internship

2008-06-08T11:34:00.000-07:00

Well, there is a reason I subtitled my blog "all part of the learning process." Sometimes trying too hard to be clever and original works against you. Case in point, Carter's. They have spent many years doing the same thing...because it works for them. Safari animals, woodland critters, popular ocean denizens, puppies, and dinos. You get the idea. They stay with these themes because new grandmas always buy them and Carter's does them really well. I overstepped with characters like the griffin, which may show that I can use Illustrator and that I know how to draw, but didn't give them any evidence that I could embrace the specific Carter's look. Sadly, I veered into the wrong direction with my follow up submission, thinking that holiday icons would work. Um, no. They hated it. So, I'm still unemployed, getting a little worried about bills, and hoping I get some good financial news about grad school.

Even More Children's Designs

2008-06-06T10:28:00.000-07:00

It's official; not having high speed internet access is no fun. It takes so long to upload images, I haven't been overly inspired to do so for a while. However, knowing that this is an important tool to show my work to the online audience, I have to persevere. Towards that end, here's another page from my Carter's portfolio.

I had a very good interview with the VP of Art Direction at Carter's, but the two criticisms she had about my work is that, 1) I target an older audience than the newborns, and 2) there wasn't enough work to overwhelm her. That's an interesting concern for other artists to think about. Although it could change for each art director with whom you speak, Ms. Bartling wants a LOT of work shown to her, not just your ten favorite pieces. Put multiple images on each page and fill them like the samples she provides to interested applicants. The day after my interview, I designed twelve icons, one for a major holiday in each month. The next morning, I added four of the creatures shown here. Later, another frog and the elephants showed up. I want to impress upon Carter's that I'm interested in the position and able to apply the advice given. I'm supposed to find out later today if I was successful or not.

Flights of Fancy

2008-05-18T20:52:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on things that I think Carter's would like, but I'm branching off a bit. This, I believe, is too complicated for a Carter's baby shirt. However, I easily envision my nephew coming up with something like this in his dreams.

Carter's (part 2)

2008-05-12T13:39:00.001-07:00

Simple, clean images. Reusable elements to cater to different audiences. The dino would make a nice set of pajamas.

Carter's (part 1)

2008-05-12T13:29:00.001-07:00

For those unaware, Atlanta-based Carter's is a major clothing designer with a monopoly on a very fussy market, infants. Almost every article of clothing for newborns bears their name, or, in the case of toddlers, the Osh Kosh B'Gosh label, which happens to be owned by Carter's. Anyway, it's only relevant to me because I'm trying to get a job with them. When they came to recruit at Ringling College, my portfolio skewed a little older than their target audience, but Jason Oransky felt I could offer a little more. He arranged to have some sample images sent to me so I could work out some of my own designs with characters, graphics, and repeating patterns. The griffin was my idea because I haven't seen too many mythological creatures in the baby market. I'll post the dinosaur and the gorilla images next.

Photo proof

2008-05-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a very quick post featuring a shot that the local newspaper had for my graduation. The bearded guy with the honors cords is me. I actually get along with the other grads in the picture, but we were in line alphabetically regardless.

Don't worry, I'll post some art in a second or two.

i Are cullege grad-yew-ated

2008-05-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

Yes, indeed, I have officially had the rights and responsibilities of a Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree in Illustration bestowed upon my little, tassel-wearing head. Many thanks to those friends who have supported me and shared this journey. I will post pictures of the event once I get some. The evening was made even more special by the attendance of my family and a great speech by honorary doctorate recipient, Jeffery Katzenberg. I, alone of all my peers, slipped "Dr." Katzenberg my card. As he phrased it, "you never know."

The Senior Illustration Show was a good success. Pictures of my display will be posted soon. I'll see you soon.

Almost finished

2008-04-20T15:47:00.001-07:00

That comment works for both the illustration as well as the semester. I'll come up with more commentary later.

Nouveau

2008-04-10T21:49:00.000-07:00

I've been working on another shirt design for my CafePress shop. I wanted to create an image that would appeal to a female audience and show off the graceful lines of Alphonse Mucha. It's mostly finished, but I want to add some sunlight effects on her shoulders before finalizing it and sending it off. I guess I'll do that tomorrow.

CafePress!

2008-04-08T07:27:00.000-07:00

After much thought and consideration, I finally decided to open a storefront with CafePress. I'm offering dark colored t-shirts featuring the lovely image to the left. If I hear enough interest, I may include white shirts later. The prices start at $21.99 for a nice, heavy cotton, men's t-shirt and go up for women's t-shirts (it's not my fault; CafePress set those prices).

I'm working on another design intended to be for light colored women's shirts, so look for that soon.

The link is: http://www.cafepress.com/blackbearsghost

See you there.

still working

2008-03-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been feeling the crunch of the looming deadlines for, well, everything at Ringling College. I have to get all my work done for the senior project, finish the final digital painting for Concept/Character/Environment, do whatever Brandes throws at us for Media, and paint two more models in figure painting. I'm posting the character bust I made out of Super Sculpey for Media class and my finished Surf Dragon.

the surf isn't up yet

2008-03-16T20:50:00.000-07:00

For my Concept/ Character/ Environment class, we're using one of the characters we invented in an earlier assignment, in this case, Surf Dragon. I drew this in Corel Painter X and colored it with the digital watercolor tool, but I struggled way too much with the program. So, in order to actually get something accomplished, I switched to Photoshop. The second image is the result. I've got a ways to go before I can say I'm finished, but I'm running out of time. This could be all we get.

Fantasy Color Study

2008-02-28T08:36:00.001-08:00

Well, for Brandes' Media class, the latest assignment is an acrylic painting with either a Sci-Fi or Fantasy theme. I've had a lot of fun with dragons and knights lately, so I'm continuing in that vein.
Normally, I would paint a color rough with the same media as the finished painting, but I found myself at the mercy of an empty ink cartridge in my printer last night, so I couldn't print out my line work and paint on it. Rather than showing up at class with nothing, I did it in Photoshop. It shows my intended color scheme of complementary red and green, but the actual tubes of paint I own may or may not match up with this. So, I'll be doing another color study later anyway.
On a side note, I think I'm really channeling some classic Disney animators with this piece. My knight reminds me of Sir Kay from the Sword in the Stone.

And now for something completely different...

2008-02-12T15:13:00.000-08:00

No, it isn't a "Gilliamation" or some other Monty Python reference. I wanted to show a piece I did for my Figure Painting class with Fiore Custode. The model's name is Sarah and the angry expression comes from the fact that holding the pose for four class sessions really did a number on her neck. She was a trooper and stayed as still as could be expected, but she was in a good amount of pain.

They've got...texture.

2008-01-30T20:15:00.000-08:00

I've got other classes besides Don Brandes' Advanced Illustration Media, despite how my posts look. Most of today, for example, was spent in my Concept/Character/Environment class, which is a computer animation class taught to illustrators. Our current project uses different exercises to free up the imagination, including looking at photographs of textures (tree bark, rocks, stucco, etc.) to find faces and figures buried within. The dragon on the surfboard was inspired by some discoloration in the parking lot.

Awwww!

2008-01-29T19:17:00.000-08:00

Okay, I did look at Puss in Boots for his "cute-and-harmless" face. This is the result, the final change for the illustration because I have to work on other classes and I don't have any more time.

More tweaks...

2008-01-28T09:50:00.001-08:00

After the last post, I realized that there was something lacking. I needed to frame in the image so the monkey could break the frame. The white sidewalk also posed a problem because its brightness would pull attention away from the monkey and cup.
I made those adjustments and went to class for critique, where another MAJOR issue was pointed out....the monkey's eyes are too dark and alien-looking.
I researched white-faced capuchin monkeys for this. They truly have these dark, huge, almond shaped eyes. I didn't see an image of one where the whites of the eyes were evident, but Brandes says that it is just too creepy, so I'll work it a little more. I was aiming for the Chuck Jones "so-cute-it'll-break-your-heart" look, the same one Shrek's Puss in Boots did so well. A little more research and I'll post another version tomorrow.

Man, pet, machine

2008-01-26T21:19:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know it's been a while since my last post, but I've been trying to keep abreast of my illustration assignments. The latest Media class project is another pen and ink illustration. The requirement was that everyone had to include a man (or woman), a pet, and a machine. Actually, it is a pretty flexible arrangement because a cybernetic wolf-man covers all the bases at once. I chose an organ grinder and his monkey because "you can't go wrong with a monkey." I had fun with textures and deliberately wonky perspective.

New semester, new class

2008-01-08T20:19:00.001-08:00

The first day of my final semester at Ringling College hit the ground running. I'm taking Don Brandes' Advanced Illustration Media class and he gave us 48 hours to do a pen and ink portrait. 75% of our grade depends on our classmates being able to recognize the subject. I had to think of someone famous, iconic, and fun to draw. Hopefully, you know who it is.

Final self-portrait image

2008-01-08T18:53:00.000-08:00

Hey. Welcome to 2008. Being away from Photoshop during Christmas break made updating my blog a little hard, but I'm back at school and happy to share my illustrations with the world at large.

I added a black line around the edge of the wings and removed some of them in the shading of the dragon's body. The color seems to do a really nice job defining the shadows anyway, so I don't have to overwork the image.

Self-Portrait: Step 5 "Color"

2007-12-04T11:54:00.001-08:00

Like I said before, the greyscale doesn't take too long. I wish the same could be said about color. Fortunately, in this case, I'm leaving the black lines to define the image, so I don't have to paint as tightly as I would if I used oils or acrylics. I've put in several hours of computer time and I still have a ways to go, particularly in getting the proper levels of ruddiness in my face. I pulled up the photo to compare images and I can see how beige I've been painting. If I make some dramatic leaps forward, I'll add more images; if not, I can turn this in for the poster and feel pretty good about it.

Self-Portrait: Step 4 "Value Study"

2007-12-04T11:31:00.000-08:00

I don't always do this, even though I should. A grayscale image of a piece can help define things that the ink lines would make too obvious. Also, for something like the background, I'd have to do a lot of texturing if I left it as an ink drawing. Here, I can just fill it with a gray and see if that pushes the background back and allows the important element to come forward. It doesn't take very long in Photoshop, so it's worth doing.

Self-Portrait: Step 3 "Inks"

2007-12-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

After a late night and a lot of cross-hatching, I'm at the (mostly) finished ink stage. I used my photo reference even more here than I did for the pencils. The pens are Pigma Microns, size 01 and 03. Usually, I'd add a thick outline around the contours with an 08, but I didn't this time. It makes it a little less of a cartoon.
There are a few things I will go back into before I start coloring. I need to add wings to the Dragon, add more shading on his jacket, and do a little more to my arms. Also, my brother wants me to have something drawn in front of me. Maybe that's where the bear character comes in.

Self-Portrait: Step 2 "Pencils"

2007-12-02T11:48:00.001-08:00

The next part is really gathering reference for the illustration and I'll add the photograph to this posting later. Right now, we're looking at the finished pencil stage. I use a cheapo mechanical pencil most of the time and I drew this on Crescent watercolor board. The size is 9" X 12". I still haven't decided whether to paint with watercolors or go digital, but I've got time to think about it. Notice how I've enlarged my head compared to the thumbnail. Because of that, I lost the room for more dragons and I didn't want to cover up more of my face with a bear, so it's now a two-shot.

Self-Portrait: Step 1 "Thumbnails"

2007-12-01T12:36:00.000-08:00

I'm actually re-doing this post. I thought that if I wanted to show what my process is for an entire project, I may as well start with the thumbnail drawing. The assignment is a self-portrait that would appear on the Ringling College Senior Illustration Show poster. My idea is that I would have mixed up versions of the characters I've been working on lately, dragons, knights, bears, and pirates.

The Scarlet(?) Speedster

2007-11-27T21:13:00.000-08:00

I did this one last year as a portrait assignment with Adobe Illustrator, but the colors weren't like this. I have to remember that I can't upload CMYK image on this thing. RGB only. Still, it looks pretty cool.
Of course, the actor portrayed is John Wesley Shipp from the late '80's TV series, "The Flash." It was one of my favorites.
I just noticed that I misspelled John's name on the piece. I'll have to take care of that before sending it out in my portfolio. Darn.
Update: Here's the correct color and name spelling. The Flash is copyright DC Comics.

Toasty!

2007-11-27T07:31:00.000-08:00

I wouldn't say that this is a finished illustration, but I thought the toasty dragon was too cute not to share.

Look! Up in the sky!

2007-11-13T19:33:00.000-08:00

This strange little guy is Snorkey. I was hired to create this image for the rear stabilizer of a private, home-made plane. My client provided a jpeg of the manic jester he liked and I made my client into the jester's scepter. The piece is entirely Adobe Illustrator.

First image to share!

2007-11-10T09:01:00.000-08:00

Finally, after these last couple of weeks, I have something to post. I've been working on a children's book for a class project and I thought I would share both the final image of one page as well as the uncolored inks. Notice the change in the Dragon character. My brother pointed out that the original expression would be when the dragon notices the cow eating his house, but the cow has already started running away. So, I redrew the dragon to be smug and self-satisfied and replaced him with Photoshop. A little color later, you'd never know the change.

Friendly greetings

2007-10-29T22:08:00.000-07:00

As I set out on this pioneering foray into the blog, I wish to assure any visitor that I will get the hang of this eventually. Before long, I intend to entertain you with my character designs and children's book pages. Until then, please be patient. I'll talk to you soon.