You'll have to wait!

I made a mistake and forgot to ask the good folks at Cracked if it would be alright for me to show sneak peaks of my progress on my Paula Abdul painting, so I have taken the images off my blog for the time being. I am currently in the middle of a couple other editorial jobs, I will post new work soon, and will post the final Paula Abdul when I get the ok to do so. Cracked's issue #4 with my Paula Abdul will be in stores in late January or early Febuary, make sure you pick up a copy!

Jack Black

Did this today as a study, I love this guy's face as well as his sense of humor.

"Saved" Final for Minnesota Monthly

Minnesota Monthly continued . . .

Not finished yet, but getting very close. I will be taking tomorrow off as it is Thanksgiving here in the States, but will continue to work on this throughout the weekend. Happy Thanksgiving!

Minnesota Monthly

My Harpo Marx is finished, sent it off to the art director today. I'm very pleased with the final result, when I have permission, I'll post the final as well as close ups and pictures I took of a friend of mine for reference.

This week I'm working on a still life of sorts for Minnesota Monthly, the story is a bit to explain here, in short, the bandanna symbolizes a folded American flag, you'll have to read the article to fully understand.

Anyways, this is the thumbnail that I did for the art director, I got the OK, and today I started on the final painting. So far I've only worked on the bandanna, I'll post more as I work. Enjoy, and God Bless!

Society of Illustrators

CONGRATULATIONS! It is my pleasure to inform you that your work has been accepted into the 49th Annual Exhibition. These words were a blessing for me to read today, what a nice email to get! I'm very excited to and very honored to have a piece of mine accepted in the Society of Illustrators show, thank you for being such an odd looking fella Mr. Thom Yorke!

Update on Harpo's head.

Getting closer to wrapping this one up, so until I can show you the completed image, here's a small taste of what's to come.

Harpo Hand

Still working on my Harpo piece . . . here's a sneak peak at one of his hands.

Uh Oh . . .

The idea and concept has been changed, so here's a rough of the first idea . . . moving on, and running out of time.

Hooverville!

Here's one sketch that I did for possible background ideas, will post more when I can.

Working on Harpo

Well, today I did a few sketches of the borrows and slums in the 1930's and started to render Harpo's face as well as a bit of the background. I haven't gotten a go on this piece yet . . . I think the art director is still trying to figure out what it is they want. So at this time I am waiting to hear back from them, and sometime tomorrow I should be able to start working 100% on the Harpo piece. For now, here's a tease of the face as is at this time.

Harpo Marx

I must admit that I am not familiar with the Marx Brothers, other than seeing their pictures, I really know nothing about them. My brother's painting as well as the Clint painting are on hold at the moment, as I am now in the middle of a few different editorial pieces. One for Minnesota Monthly, and another for Kenyon Alumni, which I am doing a piece on Harpo Marx. The two sketches shown here are my first two sketches of him, trying to get a feel for his face. I haven't found many great pictures to work off of, I'll most likely try to rent some Marx Brother's and draw from that. So as I work on this piece as well as the other, I will be posting my process, but only sneak peeks, or cropped sections. I will show the finals when I get the OK from the Art Directors to do so.

Clint and the Rubber Ducky

I am doing a few things here all at once, still working on my brother's painting, and I have recently begun my Clint Eastwood painting. I am painting it on a 16 X 20 linen board, I will try and post an image of the underpainting soon, as well as a progress of my brother's painting which is coming along nicely. I have to teach today, but will be back in my studio in the afternoon and will have a couple hours to work. When I finish for the day, I'll take a picture of my brother's painting and post it for you all to see.

As for how I start and transfer my sketch to the canvas . . . I have sized my sketch in photoshop to the actual size that I will paint it, I then print it out, and transfer my sketch to my canvas with carbon paper.

For now, I've posted my rough sketch for the Clint painting, as well as some pictures I took of a friend of mine for reference. Why the rubber ducky you ask? Is there perhaps some deep reasoning behind it, what is the artist trying to say? It's just funny . . . OK?

The Fritz

Well, there's another side of me that many people do not know about . . . but yes, I am a band guy as well as an artist. That's me playing guitar. I've been playing in bands since I was 16, been in many bands, have toured, played festivals, recorded a few albums, did it all. I took a break from it all for about 3 years or so, but got back into it last spring. My new band is called The Fritz, it's by far the best band I've ever been in, and the most fun I've ever had playing in a band, and the best part, it's just for fun, no pressure, as of yet anyways. If you like the Pixies, The Strokes, OK GO, or Divo, The Fritz is up your alley. We will be recording a full length album hopefully sometime in the next couple months, so if anyone is interested, I will direct you to the record labels site and you will be able to buy a CD through them, but don't expect anything for sometime.

Hey, I'm still here!

Hey bloggers, I'm here and will hopefully add some new sketches soon as well as progress on my Vegas painting. The painting is coming along fine, just taking me a lot longer than usual. I guess I'm trying extra hard on this one, I want it to be something they'll really love.

This weekend I will be taking photos of a friend of mine that I will be using as a model for my Clint Eastwood painting, so I will post those pictures as well as sketches and the beginnings of that painting very soon. Also, on December 9th I will be doing a painting demo as well as sharing my work and what I do with folks at a Dick Blick art store in Wheaton Illinois. I will be using the same model that I'm using for my Clint painting, and will basically be doing an under painting in Burnt Siena to explain my approach to painting a humorous portrait.

So please continue to drop on by, I'll get my act together soon.
God Bless,
Jason

Ismael Roldan

Here's a quick sketch of my friend Ismael Roldan, been friends with Ismael for years now, a really cool guy and a talented artist. Click on his name in my link section, he's got a lot of work to look through.

Still working on my brother's painting, I will try to post an updated picture soon.

More Facial Expressions sketches

Vegas, coming along!