Finished 'The Gig'

Well, here is the other illustration finished (from the initial sketch below) called 'The Gig' As you can see It has been modified quite a lot from the original drawing, until a final conclusion was reached. The work took a little longer to produce, Life got in the way basically. In the end the illustration took 3-4 days to complete, if it wasnt a self -initiated piece, I probably wouldnt of had the same amount of time to complete it.

A Living

Being an illustrator can be very difficult when trying to make a living. We all go through 'Lean' times throughout our careers. I rely on painting people, family and pet portraits, and Ive painted peoples houses too. There is another way to help a little when the finances are tight. I belong to a stock illustration organisation. Its good in a few ways. It enables an artist to present their work to an international audience, you can upload as many images as you want. You become an administrator when you sign up, and can manage your work ,utilising tags, changing the order etc. Its a good way to Copyright your work also, with a watermark and in a contract that they send you to sign, before they can sell your work for you. The artwork remains the property of the artist. So in effect when someone likes your work (its the same system all illustrators should have) they can use the actual image (which they purchase)or they commision your style, if they want both they have to pay for both! so in effect you can sell the image hundreds of times. I believe the percentage you pay to the agency when you sell is justified, if only for all the exposure you gain. Here is the address: http://%20stockillustrations.com/

Illustration Friday

Jeff hoped that his new trainers were good enough to 'detach ' him from the field, and the fast approaching Bull!

portfolio pieces

Its a little quiet on the work front at the moment. When its quiet its a good idea/opportunity to create self-initiated portfolio pieces. Most artists, beeing creative minds tend to have a lot of ongoing ideas, so subject matter is usually to hand. I Personally, like to work on 2 or 3 pieces simultainiously. So I have 2 drawings that I want to work up into illustrations, both of will be produced digitally. The first is an idea thats been around for along time in my sketch book, The subject is alcohol, and the levels of dangerous intake, how some people become very dependant on it to dangerous levels for their health. Ive used the idea of the more dependant they become, or otherwise, they become trapped inside the bottle, others are able to break the habit(breaking out of the oppression of drink). Its quite a basic composition. I work up my drawings/ ideas on a large piece of paper perhaps A3 size I like the fluidity while realising an idea. If the piece was for a client I would add another stage, after the initial rough, where I would reduce the size considerably and produce a much more refined copy to send to them. So,when thesketch is done I scan it into photoshop.
The second piece will be an illustration of a band at a gig, its far less conceptual than the other. Its a subject ive wanted to include in my portfolio, for a few reasons, it gives clients another view of my style and how it would work with this kind of subject. Its one step closer to finishing than the other piece as ive already layed in the first layer after scanning in the drawing.

So there you have it, keep in touch to see how they progress to the final artwork I
will include in my portfolio.
Well here is the first one done(Alcohol dependancy)As you can see I modified it a little as I went, this usually happens, its part of the process, you can always see things better with 'fresh eyes',still, its seems to have turned out ok, well I hope you like it, please leave me a comment, good or bad. When I have 5 pieces I put them into my portfolio. Off now to finish the other illustration.

The Difference.

Ive been asked before what the difference is between traditional methods and digital methods of art production. Well, you could write a book! literally, and there are libraries across the land full of how to, and this is how they, did it, literature. So I will say a little bit about the differences and

use my own methods to illustrate them.

To begin, This is a traditionally produced painting of mine (above). Its a book cover illustration, painted in acrylic and oils on Canvas board. The methods used to produce it, are passed down from artists from the past. They basically go like this; oil paint is a beautiful medium, gorgeous to work with, it has many qualities and is vastly versatile. (again, millions of books available!) It can be used thickly or thinly(diluted with other mediums). by using LAYERS (a key word!) the artwork can be built up, layer upon layer. The knowledge you need to know, to ascertain what colours mix with others, to make another colour, and the LEVEL of opacity to produce the desired effect are both learned, ( through training, art school etc) and natural ability. Too detailed to mention here, but lets consider then the process of LAYERS and LEVELS within a computer program.

The fantastic people who re invented the wheel by transferring the principles of the traditional methods of producing artwork on to a computer program (eg. Adobe) Have made it possible for artists/illustrators to transfer their own working practices, into digitally rendered artwork.

In my own illustrations, I produce artwork utilising this technology (which by the way, is growing in its potential almost daily)Below is a description of how LAYERS and LEVELS are built up digitally in The Wine Waiter.

The Wow factor

Visit todaysinspiration.blogspot. com Featured illustrators from past times; James R bingham, Austin Biggs, paul Nonnast. Wow!

Illustration Friday

Subject: Poof!

The wine waiter stumbled, One old gent gasped poof ! sarcastically, as he fell ..