Wilderness Lessons

I was asked to create an illustration of a wilderness scene. After kicking around some ideas that were mostly Photoshop image composites, I was asked to do something with natural media.

I painted the background with gouache and a smidge of a  new long-drying acrylic sample I had on hand from a local art store. I painted directly onto some computer paper which I had taped onto a portable lap desk. I kept working the image over adding color before moving on to texture.

I ended up incorporating some paper towel into the painting (the mountain range, lower left corner, and area behind the tree). I sponged the painting with paper towel and flicked paint to add more texture. I wanted a really physically tactile painting.

When I was happy, I moved on to the tree which I painted in a similar fashion on a different piece of paper. On the version shown here I actually created a negative out of the drawing of the tree. I liked the contrast and openness; the Joshua tree is almost a doorway into something beyond the desert landscape.

I created some texture to scan using bubble wrap and cellophane, scanned every thing and brought it into Photoshop for compositing. When I scanned the background, I placed piece of cellophane directly on the glass, creating some interesting reflection lines which I liked.

I played around with layers and blending modes and added some texture with a custom brush and incorporated a gradient overlay.

I sent the client 4 variations but like this one the best overall.

Homespun Logo

I engineered the type here from hand drawn type from a Jim Flora record sleeve. The logo was going to be used on the website of a charity organization . The band played at an event the charity sponsored, but somehow the logo never made it up. Oh, well. It was fun to play around with type forms.

Happy All Hallows’ Eve

I began just playing around and an hour (and 20 layers )  later, I had a jack o’lantern. I’m working very loose so I’m not sure How things would go if I was to tighten it up. There are scads of lighting issues, but I was all funned out.

I like the implication that the pumpkin is witnessing something magical just out of view.

 

Digital Abstract 1

Inspired by Jon Burgerman, I started this visual excursion as a linear composition in Illustrator, added some color, some texture, then brought it into Photoshop where the mayhem really began. I stacked about 30 layers of various opacities and blending modes, painted with some handmade and standard brushes (occasionally with layer effects) and generally stumbled around until I had something I liked.

Working organically is time consuming but fun. It’s also a good way to develop an eye for creating focus since one decision or set of decisions can send the composition careening in a direction that lacks punch and emphasis. Rather than doing too much subtracting of layers that were counter-productive, I opted instead to adjust the opacity or blend mode, or just add another layer to compensate and correct.

Outdoor fun

Ink with Photoshop coloring and textures. IF the composition looks lopsided, it’s because I had to lop off a bunch of the scanned image since it was blurry. C’est la vie.

The Sarge

Tooling around with a story idea, I sketched a few versions of Sarge. I like this one soI thought I’d walk through some digital inking, coloring, and texturing. For those of you with military knowledge, the uniform is a total fantasy based on poorly remembered war movies and cartoons (mind you own beeswax.) Real research to follow.

T-Shirt sketches

I volunteered to design a tshirt for my family’s summer reunion. My initial idea was to to set up a campground look with each tent representing the various sub-family groups. I set up an isometric perspective grid. The idea just wasn’t working. So I changed gears.

Concept 2 depicts iconography from the various states-of-origin for the participants. They’re assembled in a whimsical collection of floating islands joining together, a visual definition of a reunion.

As is often the case, I like my sketches  more than the final which I composited in Photoshop then redrew and tweaked in Illustrator. Since I have the illustrator files, I may do a colored version for fun at some future date. The tshirts will be a single-color silk screen so I had to work out how the lines and closed negative space would interact with the shirt color.

Green Ghost in the Shell

I was doodling around and thought it would be funny to see Green Ghost in Iron-manish armor.

Bean Variations

Playing around with a basic shape is a great way to play with style, character, and simplification. Maybe I’ll start a new category.

Going Green

I was commissioned by my sister to draw a large Leprechaun for a St. Patrick’s Day party she was throwing. I sketched a few versions out and then drew the final 3 ft tall leprechaun. Afterwards I liked the look of my final so I did this vector head. I opted to use the pencil tool in AI to do the shadows and details. It’s my way of being more spontaneous.