Small

I'm short on time this week, so here's a small jazz fan that I did a few years ago.

Free...variations on a theme

The good

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The bad

Free, but why?

The ugly

Free (for the moment)

Strength

They say that gram-for-gram, ants are among the strongest creatures around. This is for those of us who are small in stature but with the inner strength that it takes to accomplish mighty things. I like that idea... the rhino doesn't.
For a step-by-step of this piece, go here.

Strength step-by-step

Step 1:

The ant was done several years ago for a company that makes pesticides. It was done in acrylics with airbrush and traditional brushes. I played with the scale and position of the ant until I found a relationship that looked like it would work...I know the ant is much too big in relationship to the rhino, but the ant is the hero, and it needs to be large enough to see, so I took some artistic license with scale. The rhino was drawn using photo reference found online. Of course, there were no photos that were from the correct angle, so this guy is a conglomeration of many. I did this drawing in Photoshop using a Wacom Intuos II 9X12 tablet. The sketch layer was moved to the top of the stack and the blending mode was set to "Multiply" so that it's visible from every layer under it (Multiply makes the dark marks visible, but the white areas [the background] become transparent).

For reference I also used these sketches from a trip to the zoo; they came closer to the angle I was after than any of the photos I could find.

Step 2:

The sandy ground was done on a new layer at the bottom of the stack. I filled the area with a sandy beige color, then I used the linear gradient tool and did a gradient of dark khaki to transparent from bottom left to upper right; the gradient blending mode was set to multiply.
I wanted the texture to be obvious in the foreground but fade as it recedes into the distance, so I pressed "Q" to enter Quick Mask mode, dragged a gradient from upper right to lower left to mask off the upper right area, pressed "Q" again to create a selection of the un-masked area, and ran the texturizer filter using sandstone as the texture.
The sky was done by drawing the shape with the pen tool, changing the path to a selection, filling the selection with a sky blue, then using the radial gradient with a very light blue to give the impression of a sunny day.

Step 3:

The rhino was done in several stages: the head was one layer; I made a tracing of the sketch with the pen tool, changed the resulting path to a selection, filled the selection with a neutral gray, and then used the brush tool and a variety of brush configurations to paint in the textures and details. The foreleg and foot were on another layer, and the surface textures were on yet another layer; I'm a big believer in layers because they offer so much flexibility.

Step 4:

Next come the horns, which were done exactly like the head, but on a new layer.

Step 5:

The ear is next; rhino ears are very strange, and kind of cute; they remind me of a waffle cone that's been rolled up, before the ice cream goes in. I then added a shadow for the ear on a layer below.

Step 6:

The rope comes next. I thought about drawing the chain going all the way around the horns, but the grays and blues of the chain were too close in color to the rhino's horn and might have gotten lost, so I chose to attach the chain to a rope, instead. The rope was traced with the pen tool, converted to a selection, then filled with a yellowish, "ropey" color. The braids were done with the brush tool and the same yellowish color set to multiply mode.
I also wanted to give the appearance that the feet were being dragged through the sand, so I created a new layer and added "dust" coming up from his feet, and in front of his chin and leg.

Step 7:

The chain comes next. I created a new file and drew two links that were the largest size I would need. After I was happy with the color and the metallic nature of the links, I dragged them to the rhino art. There, I went to Edit>Transform>Distort, and shaped the links to fit the angle and the perspective correctly. Then I hit Command-J to copy the transformed links to a new layer. I then hit Command-T to go into transform mode on the new links and adjusted them to the proper size and position so that they lined up in the correct position, scale and perspective relative to the previous links, and repeating this process until the chain was complete. The ant was copied onto a new layer and was transformed (squished) to a shape that would serve as a shadow for the ant; the shape was moved to it's proper position, then I command-clicked the layer icon to make a selection of the shape, and filled it with a cool gray. I used the blur tool to soften the shadow in appropriate areas.
The ant needed some "footprints" at this point, so I added those as well.

Step 8:

The final step was to copy the completed chain onto a new layer and turn it into a proper shadow for the chain to cast onto the ground; I used the same procedure as I used for the ant shadow above. The ant shadow and the chain shadow were placed on the same layer, and the blending mode was changed to multiply and the opacity was reduced a bit to allow the texture of the ground to show through. And that's that.

Night

Some of you may have seen this before. It was done recently for a book cover that is yet to be published. It's all Photoshop, save for the initial sketch which was good 'ol pencil and paper. The big blank spot on the moon is for the title.

Broken

bro·ken
Pronunciation: 'brO-k&n
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English brocen, from past participle of brecan: to break.

There are dozens of definitions of the word broken, each offering a different opportunity for illustration. Most have a negative connotation, but I chose to look at broken from a more hopeful angle, as in having broken free from some restraint, or perhaps from a bad situation. I will leave it up to you to interpret this image as you wish.

Remote

While on what was to have been a routine reconnaisance mission, Major Blunder found himself hopelessly lost when the guidance system failed on his F-3487and3/4 Intergalactic Fighter. Nearly out of fuel, and needing to go to the bathroom REALLY badly, he made his way to the only solid ground within range. When he finally emerged from the cramped cockpit of his broken ship, he found himself on a strange, remote planet. The first thing on his mind was "I gotta take a leak". The second thing was "I wish I could paint happy trees like Bob".

Below is v3.0; same as above but without the RGB video projectors beaming across space. Don't know why I didn't think of that earlier on...oh well, better late than never, I suppose.



Below is v 2.0 (same as above but without the bazillion inch TV)


Below is the first version...

These were done digitally with a combination of photos (the remote controls), Bryce4 for the basic planets, mountains, sky, etc., and Photoshop (CS2) and a Wacom tablet for the details, type, etc. The intergalactic fighter plane, the Major Blunder figure, and the other drawn elements were invented.

Cold

A recent book cover piece that fits the theme nicely. The original art just showed a crack in the ice, but I wanted it to feel even colder, so I added a little something to give you a chill. This was painted from scratch in Photoshop.


This is another idea I had, and since I saw no others that addressed this angle on the "cold" theme, I decided to do a quick graphite drawing. Growing up in the South, where freezing weather is a bit of a novelty, it was easy to get kids to do the "lick the flagpole" trick, and then revel in their stupidity as they stood there with their tongues hopelessly frozen to the metal. Of course, it was the bullies who perpetrated such evil...I would NEVER do such a thing.

Lost

I've been battling a nasty bug all week, so I regret posting another non-original piece.
This was a book jacket done in acrylics on illustration board, but it needed a little more drama so I digitally added the reflection of the couple on the bridge looking down into the water.

Float(s)

I have a couple of images that work for this week's theme:


And now for something completely different...

(please forgive the use of previously done work...the time thing, you know)

Escape, part two

I was going through some old work and came across this piece that also seemed appropriate for this week's theme. It seems to have many layers of meaning, but I'll let you all decide what it means to you.

Escape

Sometimes what we escape to is infinitely worse than what we escaped from.

Depth

There is nothing deeper than a child's imagination...children have no concept of "impossible". The idea that you can't dig a hole to China never crosses their mind...give 'em a bucket and a shovel and off they go, ready and willing to dig and dig until they get there. Wouldn't it be great if we could keep that sense of destiny and can-do spirit throughout our lives?

Reflections

Too busy to do a new piece for this week's theme, so I submit a book cover I did a while back.
I've done several pieces that use reflections as a metaphor for other things, but that seems too easy. Here, I chose a piece whose lack of reflections tells the story...the main character has died and is reflecting upon his wasted life, but as you can see, there are no reflections in the water, just a bottomless abyss that represents the void that his death has left in the lives of his friends and family.
Acrylics on illustration board.

Wisdom

"Knowledge speaks, wisdom listens"- Jimi Hendrix

I never thought of Jimi Hendrix as being exceedingly wise, but as I was looking around for inspiration for this "wisdom" theme, I stumbled upon this quote from him, and it struck me as being one of the most sublime definitions of wisdom I'd ever heard. Who knew?...maybe all those psychedelic drugs did help him find enlightenment, after all.

Empty

This image came to me immediately when I learned the theme was "empty". I did a few quick sketches in my usual realistic style and it just didn't work. So, I tried this simplified vector style, and it seems to have the right feel for this image.

Aging

I drew this self portrait two years ago after I was diagnosed with skin cancer. It manifested itself as a bb sized freckle under my right eye. I didn't give it much thought until one day, as I was washing my face, it started bleeding. I got a biopsy and was (mildly) relieved when the doctor said it was basel cell...the "good" kind of skin cancer.
I underwent Mohs' surgery, which is supposed to be the most non-invasive form of skin cancer surgery. I was a bit surprised that such a little lesion would require so much cutting and stitching...I felt a little like Frankenstein as I changed the bandages a few days after the surgery. It's the price I am paying for a childhood spent outside in the sun every summer with no sunscreen at all...back then we didn't know what UV was, much less what it could do to you. We just tried to get the deepest, darkest tan possible, sunburn be damned!
The scar has heeled now, and I'm the only one who notices it, of course.
I posted this "before and after" sketch in hopes that it will help all of us to be more conscious of the time we spend in the sun, and to pay attention to even minute changes in our skin...it can mean the difference between life and death. Luckily for me, it was just minor surgery, and a subtle daily reminder every time I look in the mirror.

Tranquility

OOPS! To go to "Aging", click the "Drawrings" masthead at the top of this page.

I didn't have time to do a new piece this week, so I hope this will suffice. It's from a book cover I did a while back, and the image has always felt dreamlike and tranquil to me. If you'd like to see the original book cover version, it's right here.

Designer Babies

A look at what might happen if that "Designer Baby" doesn't turn out exactly as planned.

Metropolitan

Some of you (older folks) will get it, some of you won't.