Back from Toronto!

Well, just got back from the Fan Expo in Toronto Canada, and I'm just about to take off for another small trip . . . I'm looking forward to just getting back into the studio. The Fan Expo was fun, but the best part in my opinion was hanging out with friends. It was also my first time to Canada, so that was fun, I was schooled in the ways of the "Lunies and the Toonies" . . . and I don't mean the classics from WB Studios.

One morning I was able to get out early before the convention started with Canadian Marco Bucci We walked around Toronto looking for something interesting to paint . . . and came across this old building. It was a fun time painting. Marco gets out a lot more than me to plein air paint, so it was fun painting with him and checking out his approach. More than that, we only had one set up, so we shared the same easel, putting up two separate panels, painting shoulder to shoulder . . . so there we were, side by side, mixing our paint on the same palette. We had a real great time talking and painting together, but it must have looked funny for people walking by?

The above oil sketch is my take on the building, check out Marco's blog to see his.

Off to Fan Expo in Toronto!

Hello everyone! My wife and I are flying to Toronto tomorrow for the great Fan Expo eh! Will be back in the studio on Tuesday . . . so before I fly off I thought I'd leave everyone with a quick sketch of Mr. Stiller eh! The bottom is a thumbnail that I did in about a minute or so eh.

Scott Knies!

I did a couple quick sketches today of my friend Scott Knies . . . an AMAZING guitar player, one of the best I know . . . and believe me, I know a lot. The sketch below the top sketch was my first take . . . it was too portrait-like, so I had another go, only this time having a little more fun while sketching . . . the exaggeration could be taken even further of course. I like to do these really quick and loose sketches, there's no pressure, just draw, experiment and have fun!

Elton Sketch

A warm up sketch for fun.

Isabeau

I'm currently working on many different projects. Some official, and some that I just want to do for myself . . . unfortunately I cannot share most of what I am working on. This post is a tease, only a small portion of a painting that I'm doing for a recent project. It'll be a while before I can share the whole thing, but I felt like sharing something from a painting for a change. My model for this piece is my oldest daughter Isabeau. I can't believe she'll be five this fall.

Gouache Study and Borders Sketches!

I've been wanting to mess around with gouache for a while now. I really love watercolor and I really love oil. I've seen some illustrators use gouache in a way that looks very much like oil painting, and others that feel more like water color . . . so this morning I did a little practice just to get the feel for it. So far I like it, I want to do something more intricate with it and see how that goes. I also stopped into a Borders bookstore for a bit today and did a couple more really quick sketches. The man in the long hair caught on that I was sketching him, he looked frustrated, packed up his stuff and left.

Live sketching at Starbucks . . .

Been really busy lately with all sorts of projects, none of which I can share at this time. I've been meaning to get out of the studio a little more and do some painting and drawing from life, but it's been hard to find the time. Today I decided to just leave for a few minutes to get my sketch on. So I went to a local Starbucks and did these three sketches. I gave myself about five minutes for each sketch. I'm feeling a bit rusty, what I would like to do is simplify even more and just nail basic shape and form. The work of Stephen Silver and Dice Tsutsumi are huge inspirations of late . . . at least their work is what I've been really into looking at lately. If you haven't heard of Dice Tsutsumi, you're missing out, check out his site at Simplestroke.com