Ron Perlman pencil drawing for SALE!

This drawing was done for my new book, the original drawing is now for sale here.

I'm off to Fan Expo in Toronto, to all you Canadians out there . . . . I'll see ya soon eh!

Moleskine sketches #1

I just got back from a week away with my wife and kids . . . a much needed rest! While on vacation I did manage to squeeze in some sketching. The above are a few sketches that I did for a project that's currently in the developmental stage.

Pencil, pen, and acrylic on moleskine sketch book paper.

NEWS
I leave this Thursday for the Toronto Fan Expo so if you're in the area stop on by and say hi. I will be painting and drawing as well as selling and signing my new book and DVD.

Gonna Getchya Sucka!

After shipping and running a bunch of errands today, I finally had a little time for some painting . . . coming along but still a ways to go.

I've seen better days . . .

This is a piece I started about a year ago . . . I decided to take it to the next level and beyond . . . I'm in the middle of about 10 paintings right now, so there will be plenty to share here soon. I'm going to keep this painterly, get tight where it needs it, but to my eye and taste, I like things to be a bit brushy . . .

Update on Prints for Sale!
It was brought to my attention that I forgot to mention that the prints I have for sale on Etsy are Limited Edition of 200 Prints. Each print will be signed and numbered, once sold out, that's it!

George Lucas and White Stripes Giclee Prints!

I now have Gicleè prints of my George Lucas and White Stripes paintings . . . I have two sizes, 11" x 14" and 8" x 10" Giclee prints are high quality custom reproductions of the original paintings on archival watercolor paper. Each print will be signed. Dimensions indicate final paper size (image plus a 1.5" white border). All prints are unframed.

Check them out at my Etsy Store.

Obama-No-Drama, and Kennedy Too!

This is a painting I did last April for The Weekly Standard. It was another one day turnaround, started my work day around 4:00 a.m. and finished around 7:00 p.m. that night. Unfortunately they decided not to run the story for that issue because other stories came in that were bigger. They let me know they were still going to use and five months later they did! I had a lot of fun with Ted Kennedy, and I did two versions of him, the first being much more extreme where he had what looked like a pumpkin for a head . . . . in the end I had to tame it down a bit. And as for Obama, every time I draw him I try to do something different . . . I enjoyed working on the expression with this Obama . . .






Because of the quick turnaround and that I had to paint three people and a cadaver, I decided to paint the entire thing in black and white so that I could focus my time on the values. Once I felt good about my values I quickly added color. The color phase on this particular job only took a half an hour to do.







Here's how the final art looks in print. You'll notice something is missing . . . turns out 'Ol Teddy's not doing so well health-wise so it was decided to give him a break . . .

I'm still at Wizard World, it's going great, selling books and DVD's drawing and painting and talking with tons of people about art . . . all in all a fun weekend! If you're in the area or coming to Wizard World stop on by the artist alley and say hi!

I'm at Wizard World Comic Convention for the rest of the weekend!

Here's a pic of me and Imaginism Studio's Peter Chan at our booth at Wizard World Chicago. Today I'll be busting out some acrylics and painting a little, so if your there or in the area, stop by booth 3504 and say hi. I'll of course be selling my books and DVD as well as some new Giclee prints.

I'll post some newish art tomorrow!

Progress with John Dillinger painting!

Today I worked a bit more on my John Dillinger acrylic. I'm filming it for part of my new course on painting at Schoolism.com. I'll share more as I continue to paint. I'm also working on four other paintings that I hope to share here soon.

WIZARD WORLD CHICAGO
This week, I'll be at Wizard World Chicago at table 3504 with Bobby Chiu, Kei Acedera, and Thierry Lafontaine from Imaginism Studios. Stop by and say hi!

Pencil Sketch of Larry King for Sale!

From time to time I'll be selling original drawings, sketches and paintings on Etsy. I just finished this Larry King drawing, click here to buy and see what else is currently for sale.

Prints will be available soon as well. If interested in prints, any work of mine is available as a giclee print.




SOLD - Acrylic wash of Darwin, painted for my newest book.

Eric Holder for The Weekly Standard!

This is a job that I did yesterday for The Weekly Standard. I'm never quite sure how I feel about these paintings? Working on these jobs is challenging on many levels, but in the end it's like giving birth to a new baby and the baby is taken from you right away, before you ever had the chance to really hold it.

I was called Thursday, did a rough sketch, it changed and developed until I had it to a point where I felt like it was OK to go to sleep. I awoke around 4:45 a.m. got to work at 5:00 a.m. and worked all day until I finished at 5:00 p.m. A long day to say the least.

It's important when working on a job like this that the sketch is strong, more and more I spend my time on the sketch and less time on the rendering. If the "story" is strong then the final will be much better even if not painted as tight as it could be.

Because there's so much to paint in so little time, I don't spend too much time in any one place. I move about as I paint. Painting a bit on his face, then to his jacket and so forth. I continue developing and building the piece as a "whole" until it's completed. With this peice, there are a few things I would have liked to work on a little more, but again for the time given, I have to make some sacrifices in my style and technique in order to make my deadline.

As I said above, I feel like these jobs are in a way, like giving away your new baby. I haven't spent anough time with the painting to evaluate it or make smart choices . . . it all happens really fast . . . once the sketch is approved, there isn't much time for anything but painting. So, I paint.

Not sure why I'm sharing this, I guess I wanted to share a bit of what it's like to do a job like this in a day? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy this work, but it is difficult sometimes to create something so fast and then send it off just as fast . . . "let me cut the cord at least"!

Typically when I have more time, I like to come back to a piece that I'm working on, step back from it and evaluate it's progress. On quicker one or two day deadlines, you just have to do what you can to produce something that illustrates what the a.d. and editor want for their magazine, and if possible something that "you" as the artist can also be proud of.

So in saying all of that . . . I'm happy with the end result of this piece, I would however have liked to refine it a bit more in certain areas.



Detail of paint work on face!