Pelican Sketch

I'll be out of town for a few days without internet connection so I figured I'd leave you all with a quick little sketch I did this afternoon.

Thank you so much for all the questions I've received already for my DVD. If anyone else has questions regarding sketching, please email them to jseiler@jpusa.org with "DVD Question" in the subject. If your question is picked, I'll be sure to mention your name and question on the DVD. Thank you again and I'll see you all in a few days!







First block in of colors.




This is what I started with, quick, simple, and to the point.

The 'Ol Man!

Here's a sketch I did today of my Dad for a DVD project that I am currently working on. The DVD is on drawing and sketching, mostly on sketching.

I NEED YOUR HELP! I'm in need of your questions, questions about drawing and sketching, or things you'd like to see or know more about. If your question is picked, I will mention your name and personally answer your question on the DVD and in some cases draw or sketch something to answer your question.

If interested please email your questions to jseiler@jpusa.org and put "DVD Questions" in the subject.

Thank you!

Obama 4-24-09

Here's the final Obama painted this week for The Weekly Standard. I was given the assignment Thursday afternoon, started sketches around 1:00 p.m. did a bit of the block in late that day. Woke up early Friday morning, and spent the day painting until the finish.

I thought painting piles and stacks of paper would be a simple task . . . turns out to be a bit more complicated . . . BUT, for the time given and time spent I'm pleased with the final result.

As for Obama, I choose to yet again explore his face a bit rather than do the same old Obama. I figure since I will no doubt paint him again and again, why not push further and expand the "idea" each time.

BTW, I painted him last week too, the painting hasn't been published yet, when it is I'll share it here!



For the sake of time as well as aesthetics, I kept the painting loose and brushy. Here's the detail.

Guess Who?

A work in progress, started it today around 1:00 p.m. final due tomorrow.

Osama paint - sketch

A little more than a sketch, but I still consider it a sketch or study . . . . a practice painting if you will.





Detail of brush work. I've also added a detail below of my Blago sketch.

Blagojevich sketch

Detail.





Thought it would be fun to see how I started this sketch . . . 1st, really quick and simple lines and shape, and then a little refining here and there and then I finish the sketch by blocking in color. Almost like sculpting, pulling the image out of the red background.

Teddy Kennedy

Sorry, been a while since I've been able to post anything . . . I've been busy with sketching and drawing, most of which I can't share just yet. The above image is cropped from a larger image with three other people . . . . it was another two day turn around . . . . felt very rushed while working on this one. Anyways, I thought Ted Kennedy looked funny. I'll share the whole piece and in color when I have the OK.

I wanted to also let everyone know that my website has been updated with new work and a nice new section of my sketches . . . . will be finishing the site soon so check back, there will be a few more changes made before it's finished.

Also in the mix . . . . I'm currently working on a drawing and sketching DVD which will be out this summer. I'm also in the middle of painting a 42" x 60" oil painting and I hope to share some of the progress here soon.
Thanks for stopping by!

Marcelo Oil

Finished oil painted for a private commission. Marcelo has quite an interesting and unique face. At first I was a bit overwhelmed and not sure what to do,he has a lot going on, there are many options to play with. Because I felt his face was so unique and different, I decided to hold back a bit on the exaggeration and focus more on what I was interested in, which was the unique shape of his mouth and chin as well as the interesting color within his face. I also wanted a more painterly feel with this piece so rather than painting every single hair, I just suggested it. It felt appropriate for this particular piece.

11x14 oil on panel.




Brush work and texture details . . .

Phil Mickelson for GOLF Magazine

I can finally share the art that I did for GOLF Magazine! It's out on stands now, page 87. This was a fun piece to work on. Since the article I was illustrating for was mostly about the crazy golf course "Whisper Rock", I chose to make the background just as important a character as Phil Mickelson.

The fun that I have while creating these pieces is in creating something that didn't exist before. I used references of Phil Mickelson, but created the expression by shooting photo references of myself as well as spending a good amount of time making faces in a mirror. The background is fictional as well. For the background, I read up a bit on the course and found out what makes it unique and different from other courses. I then gathered up some visual references of the course and then created my own version . . . a "caricature" of the course.

*Fun Fact* The golfer in the very back is my little brother Jeremy.




Detail of face.






Detail of hands. I feel that hands are just as important as the face . . . if you screw up the hands, the whole piece suffers. I spent about a day working on these hands.





I had so much fun working on the landscape of this piece. The A.D. said they wanted the green to be ridiculous and impossible for any golfer to play. So I thought it would be funny to make the green really small with difficult planes and on top of that, make it a cliff of sorts. It was also a lot of fun working on the rocks and plants. I spent a good day or so just painting the rocks and brush in the foreground. It was probably the most challenging part of the painting for me to work on.




This is my color sketch or mock, and the first thing I sent to the A.D. This is the part where I twiddle my thumbs for a bit and wait for an email or for my phone to ring . . . will the A.D. OK this or have me start over? Thankfully there wasn't any big changes needed.





This is a stage shortly after approval. You can see here that I did a lot of work on Phil's face.





Here's how the art looks in the layout of the magazine.




This was a thumbnail sketch that the A.D. sent to me before I started the job . . .

Elvis Costello

With this painting my goal was to paint loose, blocking in with shape and color. To some viewers of this blog "hyper-realism" is impressive, but to me it can be lifeless and boring, and it's not as challenging to me as brushy painting seems to be. To quote my friend Jan Op De Beeck . . . "You can train a monkey to render".

I'm more interested in creating art and I prefer paintings that hold life within the brushwork. I love that through the mess of brush strokes and overlapping color, an image can appear . . . that's why I paint, to understand and experience more.

On another note, I'm happy to announce that my painting of George Lucas was accepted in Comminication Arts Annual 2009!