This was for a book cover that is part of a series; the author is an ex-priest and the novels are mysteries that involve a "sleuth" priest who uncovers all manner of foul play within the Catholic church. For these covers I try to use religious icons as appropriate imagery and render them as stained glass. I grew up in the Catholic church and always loved the stained glass work in the cathedrals and churches I have been in. The original cover art lacked the spilling blood, but I think it looks better and feels more "sacrificial" with it.Photoshop
I like to ask my students to identify the product that's being advertised in this piece I did several years ago.
Give up? Windshield wiper blades! Duh! Everybody knows that Noah and the gang never would have made it if they hadn't tricked out the Ark with the very best wiper blades.
Here's the happy ending...
Acrylics on Illustration board
No time for an original for IF, so here's my cake, marking a not-so-joyful occasion. It was done as a book cover for "Happy Birthday Murder" by Lee Harris, for Random House/Ballantine publishers.
Photoshop
I feel uncomfortable with this post and this topic. I wish I had time to do a witty, funny take on this theme, but here's what I've got... a 20 minute sketch from a life drawing session of a very nice woman who could afford to lose a few pounds. Not funny, not witty. Just real.
Cover art for "The Woman Who Walked Into the Sea"
by Philip R. Craigacrylics on illustration board
I scanned a page from my sketchbook and used that as the foundation for this robot figure. I am a big fan of Hajime Sorayama, who made an international name for himself doing a huge body of work with the female as robot theme, some of which are quite pornographic in nature, but all are meticulously rendered and sparkle with machinelike precision. His robots have highly polished metallic bodies, and many have flesh-and-blood faces, which gives them a softer, humanlike quality. I am attempting (clumsily, by comparison) to paint a female robot without the human face, but with a sense of humanity and warmth. I am using darker, less chrome-like metals, and textures that mimic weathered bronze, which to me feels oddly organic.
Anyway, tune in for further iterations in what may turn out to be an epic (several days) Illustration Friday entry.
This is the sketch I started with.
Spotted: Megamoviestaurs
These were done for the Fernbank Science Museum in Atlanta; they were playing on the popularity of Jurassic Park and wanted to portray their dinosaur displays as stars in their own right. I tried to give the T-Rex a Jack Nicholson vibe; the others were just generic glamosaurs.
Acrylics on Illustration board and Photoshop
To see a larger version, go here.
Slow and steady may win the race, but a jetpack is WAY more fun!Photoshop
Photoshop
Meet Gwyneth. Meet Gwyneth's feet. She thinks they are amazing. So do I.
Prismacolor on Canson charcoal paper.
I've done lots of insect illustrations, but this is one of my favorites because of the statement it makes. It was the cover art for a book titled "Denial"; it's one of those rare instances when the title and the image work perfectly together to bring forth the essence of the story.
Another, slightly more menacing, insect.
I offer the Amphibious Suite in C (croak) minor, by the Franklin Pond Chamber Music Quartet, performing nightly (in the warmer months), to the delight of many in north Atlanta, USA.
(The frogs and environment were done from scratch in Photoshop. The instruments are digital photos. To see a larger version of this art, go here.)
A simple drawing of a simpleton (all too common these days) simply baffled by the simple act of making change.
Once again, deadlines won't allow me to create something new this week, so I offer this "chair" that I did some time ago. It was for a story about how insane it is to sacrifice old-growth, exotic species of trees for the sake of high-end lawn furniture.
I've done lots of cat illustrations, but this is one of my favorites. It was for a poster for a jazz festival that has a running theme "We're the Cats that Make it Happen". I did a different poster for the same event a couple of years later and posted it here for the theme "Small" a few weeks ago. I hope to do a new cat piece specifically for IF if I have time this week.
Eccentric Escher Effort
I'm a big M.C. Escher fan, so when I got the opportunity to do something that involves the idea of multiple points of view, I jumped at the chance to play with strange spacial relationships and impossible forms. It was great fun, and incorporates many different traditional media as well as some tweeks in Photoshop.
The sea: water. It's the nectar of all life. There will never be any more nor any less than there is at this moment. The water that we are drinking today was in the sea just a short time ago, and it will be again. Let's take care of it, and everything that lives in it. It's a matter of life and death.
Done from scratch in Photoshop for Illustration Friday.
or
Flav-ugh
Blech!...
talk about leaving a bad taste in your mouth! I'm not a fan of those "reality" shows, but I accidently happened upon this most distasteful spectacle one day and almost lost my lunch. Of course that's FlavaFlav and Bridgette Neilsen swapping spit.
Happy Holidays to everyone at Illustration Friday!
This was done a few weeks ago for a friend. She is a symphony violinist who also runs a summer strings program for serious middle and high school kids. The frog by himself is the standard logo I did for her a few years ago, so when she asked me to do a HOLIDAY card for her, putting the frog in a snowglobe was the perfect solution. The whole thing was done entirely in Photoshop.
