Happy Halloween!

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This was painted to celebrate my favorite holiday of the year.

Boo,

Jack

STILL LIFE?

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As you can see with the image above, I have finally painted a still life. I have not attempted to draw or paint one of these since my days in college. I found a nice simple shot on the internet and did this simple attempt. I have always been an illustrator/cartoonist at heart and I seemed to feel that the idea of a making a still life was not as interesting as creating a portrait, or a caricature, or illustrating the storytelling devices on the comic book page. To me, creating a still life was a good exercise in value and composition. That was it. This was the type of exercise that was thrown at the eager college student when he really wanted to draw or paint something that was exciting, sexy or scary.... I was never taught or had in the back of my mind that a still life could be taken to level to be a wonderful work of art. In art history, I saw so many slides of bowls of fruit, drapery and glasses of wine, that I think I was "over exposed" to the beauty and art that can be achieved when creating a still life. This is a good example where focus and education, influence you where you end up taking your art.

In college, I had illustrator/cartoonist so stuck in my brain, that I never deviated away from that path. Fortunately, I have made a really good career with those skills...... Now, because I am in such a deadline oriented profession, I have not taken the time to concentrate on the other avenues outside of what I do. I am proud to say that I have finally recognized this and am now working to change it.

I have been really inspired as of late, since I discovered that one of my old High School friends, Christopher Thornock has been keeping a blog about his art. Chris and I used to draw a lot together and I have been really amazed by what I have been seeing and reading. I do remember Chis as an excellent drawer, but the subject matter he drew was very different when compared to what he is creating now. Please go to his blog and see what he has been painting. I am sure you will walk away as amazed and inspired as I have been.

Enjoy,

Jack

P.S. I kept this painting in the Halloween theme by throwing something a little extra in the composition.

ME........

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I finally decided to attempt another self-portrait...... This image is based on a photo that I took last night with a flashlight as my only source of light. This was completely rendered in neutrals and then colored in Photoshop. I have always thought that a self-portrait can be very self-indulgent, but since the intent of a self-portrait is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the artist, they can be fun and interesting to do. I do like the moodiness of this image and I feel that it is very appropriate for this time of year with Halloween being only three days away.
Maybe, I will try a more light-hearted version when it is time for Christmas.

Boo!

Jack

When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.

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I started another illustration this morning and I thought that I would show a detail of where I am with it so far........ This part of the image might change once I get around to solving the illustration as a whole. I am really happy so far with the expressiveness of the marks and tone of the image. It is interesting to illustrate these images in a neutral tone and then doing the color work in Photoshop as a separate layer. This allows me to have greater control of the image and adjust where necessary. This technique is very similar to layering with glazes when doing a traditional painting. I will try and update this image as I go along (if I don't get bored with it first.......).

Here is the updated image.



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I was really surprised where this illustration ended up. I knew I was going to create a zombie, but I wasn't really sure what kind. I guess it is alright that I ended up with a female zombie still in her bathrobe. I am guessing she became one of the walking dead sometime after breakfast, before the kids almost made it to school.

Happy Halloween,

Jack

KAWS x PUSHEAD x GRAY

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Here is another illustration to keep with the Halloween theme. This morning I decided to break in my brand new Wacom tablet and paint the head of the lovely Kaws x Pushead companion. I have visited this same toy before, but this is the first time I have done a painting of it. I am pretty happy with how it turned out, but it amazes me how much more I have to learn and practice when it comes to all of the possibilities that a Wacom tablet has to offer.

Enjoy,

Jack

Skullwing

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Keeping in the spirit of Halloween, here is an illustration of a skull. This skull is not your everyday skull, it is actually the head of a "Skullwing", a Japanese vinyl fight figure toy. This illustration really started out as a quick exercise in laying down values, but it ended up becoming more realized than I originally planned.

Enjoy,

Jack

London After Midnight (1927)

Mr. Smiley
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Here is a companion illustration to the "Frankenstein Monster" I painted last week. This is the vampire character played by Lon Chaney Sr. from the lost silent film "London After Midnight".
I thought that it would be fun to keep a Halloween theme with my illustrations until the end of the month.

Enjoy,

Jack

Happy Birthday Dauber!!!!

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Sorry, that it has been a while since I last posted. Things have been busy for me....... Work, finding a new truck, work and life in general have really taken me over....

Today is my Boston Terrier Dauber's 8th birthday. When I finally decided to find a dog to join my family, I was going back and forth between a Bulldog, Boston Terrier and a Pug. I am very fascinated by the "flat" face characteristic that all of these breeds have. I did a lot of research into which dog would be the best for me. I finally settled on the Boston Terrier breed since the breeding of these dogs has the least amount of hereditary problems and that they are too damn cute.

I then decided to name my little guy "Dauber".

dauber: n.
1. The act or a stroke of daubing.
2. A soft adhesive coating material such as plaster, grease, or mud.
3. Matter daubed on.
4. A crude, amateurish painting or picture.

Dauber really has been a very big part of my life for the past 7 years. Although I don't get to see him during the week as much as I would like, the weekends are always fun and full of games of fetch and tag. Dayber has a birthday coming up this month and there will definitely be a party for him of some sort. It will include a brand new frisbee for him to chew on.

Recently, I have been messing around with the program Corel Painter X. This morning I decided to "daub" out a pic of my little guy. You can see the results above. This image probably took about 30-45 minutes to do. So far this painting program has been pretty cool, but I do have a long way to go before I know it as well as I know Photoshop. I will forever be a Photoshop guy, but I am sure that this program will crossover well into that platform.

Enjoy,

Jack

Frankenstein (1931)

The Monster
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This was done to celebrate my favorite holiday of the year, Halloween.

15 days and counting.........

Enjoy,

Jack