Springsteen for The Weekly Standard

This is what I did this last week, a spot illustration of the "new" Bruce Springsteen, for The Weekly Standard. At first it was going to have a background and print a little larger. Then half way through painting it that way, it was moved to a different section of the magazine, and a background was no longer needed. No big deal, part of the job, it's a weekly magazine, things are bound to change last minute. I really love working with these guys and I hope to continue on with them, I enjoy illustrating current issues, it's more interesting and fun for me then painting random celebs! All in all, two days worth on my part, about 14 to 16 hours of work.

Cover for the Weekly Standard

Well, I'm proud to say that I just did my first cover for The Weekly Standard! This is a magazine that I have wanted to work with for a long time now, many of the artists that I have inspired me in the past as well as in the present have done and still do covers for the Standard, so it's a great honor for me. Also, I LOVE drawing and painting political figures, there's so much going on in they're faces, I love the themes as well.

This piece was originally commissioned as a full page illustration, not as a cover. But because of unfortunate events in Pakistan, my illustration was now just right for this week's cover. The illustration was actually for next week's issue, so I was given a portrait to work on for this week's issue. When the decision was made that my illustration would be the cover this week instead of an illustration for next week, my portrait was yanked. I had already sketched out the portrait as well as began a quick block in with color, so I sent it to the staff and even though it was only a study or sketch, they decided to run with it. I didn't mind because it has a cool feel to it, partly painted with the sketch showing through, looks like art to me!

So all and all I did the cover as well as inside portrait in two and a half days worth of work. By looking at the sketches you can see how fast I had to work, the Al Qaeda character for example was sketched in about 3 to 5 minutes, half way through the painting they wanted an angry Al Qaeda in the background so I took a couple pictures of my friend James and roughed it out!

Is this Face for real?

Been keeping myself pretty busy, all kinds of stuff going on all the time . . . not much time lately to just sketch. So today I took a some much needed time to get my sketch on. I love this guy's face, I can't believe it's real? A face like this belongs in politics!

Cover for Guitar Player Magazine

I can finally post the work I did for Guitar Player magazine. This was a killer to do because I only had a week and two days to do a two page spread as well as a cover. They needed the inside Zappa spread first, and it took much longer to do than I had thought it would, leaving me only four days to complete the cover. It was nuts, had to pull an all nighter, drank many Monster energy drinks, and the rest is history! I'm really happy with how Zappa's guitar turned out, even though it was a lot of work. Zappa has a distinct SG, very unique and personalized, so when painting his guitar I knew I wasn't going to get away with just painting any old SG, it had to be his . . . with all the nicks and scratches, the whole SHA-BANG!

This issue is currently on the stands and prints are available. If anyone is interested in buying a print, let me know through my email!

Final Gary Buchannon Painting!

I just got back from vacation, had a great time with my wife and two baby girls, watched a lot of Dora the Explorer as well as Wonder Pets. I was able to get some work done as well as some sketching and managed one plein air painting. I also finished Gary, a study and painting in Values, a lesson that I'm working on for Schoolism. I've posted it large enough I think, had fun with the texture of his face, I wish every face was this much fun to explore!