Final Monster Painting!

Here's my final for the cover of the Cleveland Scene! It's strange, because even though it's a bit disturbing to look at, knowing what the man did and all, I really enjoyed painting it and watching it all come together. Also, I feel that I'm coming into my own with digital painting, being able to hold on to a more traditionally painted feel, while keeping an original "Seiler" look. This was a fun piece to work on, keep checking in, more work to post soon!

Painting a monster!

Currently, I am working on a cover for the Cleveland Scene. I will share the final sometime next week after it has been published, for now here's the sketch. The man is on trial for killing children, so I'm painting him as a monster of a man, crooked, and bent. I hope to bring out the ugliness and the horror of a person who gets his kicks from killing children. Sad times we're in . . .

My brother's painting . . .

Well, I finally have a litte time to work on my brother's wedding gift, I've only had time between jobs to work on it, so I'm hoping I can have it finished before the end of the week? Here's a cropped sneak peek!! Also, here is a link to the Imaginarium if anyone is interested in seeing my "Zombie Elvis" on line, in due time you may be able to order a T-shirt of the painting from this link as well? http://www.cornerstonefestival.com/imaginarium/2007


Some cool news! I just received a letter yesterday from the Society of illustrators, this is what it said:

"Dear Exhibitor in the 49th Annual,

Each year since 1981 the Society has offered a traveling exhibition of works from the Annual to college-level-art galleries nationwide. The response has been enthusiastic and it serves to take the Annual to campuses where students, faculty and the public can see the quality of your craft.

Forty works have been chosen to tour from August, 2007 through May, 2008. Yours was among those curated. This letter asks your permission to include this work in the show."

Ahh, let me think about it? OK yeah, I'll do it!

A face for Politics!

Well, I don't usually get to exaggerate much anymore, most of the work I do now is for publication and exaggeration is an animal that must be tamed. There are times when I can get away with it more, but mostly I end up doing portraits that are pushed a bit, it really just depends on what the magazine and art director or editor prefer.

Rudy Giuliani, what more can you say? What a face!! I did this sketch for myself, think of it as therapy, and yes I feel much better now!

Final Zombie with Text!

Well, here it is along with my sketch and comp. I did all the text in photoshop, the "Imaginarium" logo was created by my pal Thor who also maintains my website . . . notice the small baby Frankenstien in the top left corner, that's my baby girl Ava.

Zombie Elvis

This painting will be used for postcards, posters, and as a t-shirt for the Imaginarium, which is a small film and art festival within Cornerstone Festival, one of the largest Christian music festivals in the U.S. I'm currently putting the whole thing together. The idea is that the final image will look like a cover from the "Famous Monsters of Filmland magazines.

I knew that I really wanted to have a Basil Gogos feeling since he is by far the most famous of artists to paint Famous Monster covers, and in my opinion the best! It was also important that it was a Seiler painting too, so after my color comps and sketches, I shut my Basil Gogos books and went solo the rest of the way.

This was painted with oils on illustration board.

Lady New York

This is a quick sketch I did this morning using a ball point pen on toned paper. I added white and some other values with photoshop. The subject is a lady that I saw walking the streets of New York, she was very interesting to say the least, I had to take a couple pictures.

A couple Watercolors

I've got some new work that I would love to share with everyone, however I can't do that until they are published, so until then I figured I would post a couple watercolors that I did a year ago. I love watercolor so much, would love to do more of it, and plan to do some fine are pieces that I can hopefully get in some galleries here in Chicago.

The first is a self portrait that I did, me sitting next to my pal Lupe . . . and yes, he is for real, he's a huge guy, but a true softy at heart, a great guy! As you may know, I am a huge Norman Rockwell fan, so this piece is sort of a tribute to Norman's work.

The second piece is . . . A Rockwell study! I tried to see how close I could get to the original, a huge challenge with watercolors. I'm proud of what I was able to do here with watercolors, it was fun to do, I felt a connection of sorts to Rockwell when painting it. When painting from a master's work, you learn quite a bit about their work, technique, and use of color and brush strokes.

On the drawing board today . . . I'm finishing my "Basil Gogos" approach to a Zombie Elvis for "The Imaginarium", I'll post it soon. Also working on a few others, so check back soon!

Today, I'm greatful.

Last night was an awakening of sorts for me and the other artists who share this office space with me. I had just finished two portraits for Bloomberg magazine, and was shutting down my computer for the day when outside our building we heard 3 gun shots, then 4 more. The shots were loud, they almost felt as if they were in the studio shooting. There wasn't time to get down, it happened very fast. One of the bullets found it's way into my studio, it went through the styrofoam that we have stuffed in a window, in the summer we put an air conditioner in that space. Anyways, there's piping along the ceiling that the bullet hit, from there it hit the floor. We found the bullet. It was only three feet away from me, the event could of been tragic.

I'm grateful to be alive, to be able to hold my daughters and wife, but to be honest, being grateful that I was alive wasn't what was going through my mind. I was very frustrated at the situation, all I could think about was the "what if's", or "it could of's".

We brought the bullet to the police, I heard later that the police went into our studio and took photos of everything for evidence. Today I am grateful. God had his angels around us yesterday, fo shizzel.

Anyways, my posts today are of a quick watercolor sketch I did of Putin, and then an hour and half study from the sketch with oils. Both for fun, just getting the paints out and pushing them around, a little theorpy as I like to call it. I've been honored with the task of judging an illustration contest along with Wouter Tulp and Court Jones for the NCN (National Caricaturists Network). I was asked if I could dontate a piece of art or a print or something for the winner, so I will be donating this oil sketch of Putin. It should be interesting, I'm looking forward to seeing what they'll come up with.

A few more from the show!

Society of Illustrators show!

I finally have a little time to post a couple pictures from the Society of Illustrators show. It was like a dream, for me anyways. There are a handful of living artists who have seriously inspired me and pushed me, some actually took me under their wing a bit, so to have a piece hanging in the American Society of Illustrators Museum alongside these artists was a true honor for me, and a bit unreal. Also, upstairs in the Society, there are original Maxwell Parish's, Norman Rockwell's and many others!

When I first walked into the museum I looked to my left and behold, an original Philip Burke, a huge painting, at least 6 feet in height. It was a fantastic painting, a photo just doesn't do it any justice. Of course my pal Tom Fluharty had an amazing painting of Hillary Clinton, the detail in this painting is truly absurd, he's a talented guy, no doubt about it. Hanging to the right of my paintng was a ginormous painting by Daniel Adel, done in acrylics. I only mention that he painted with acrylics, because he seems to handle every medium in the same way, they all have that Adel look to them, he's a powerful painter. James Bennett, had a couple paintings in the show, a smaller painting of a frog, and this really fun oil painting of a pig. Roberto Parada and C.F. Payne had great work at the show as well. Roberto's painting was different that what I have seen from him in the past, I really enjoy his new look, there's something true and honest about his approach, it's bold, I kept going back to his painting and noticing new things.

Anyways, I've got to get back to work, just wanted to share a few pictures, I hope to be a part of the show again next year, it was a really great time!