I put some finishing touches on this tonight. Like with everything, it was a learning experience. I did most of it via the mouse, but used the tablet for some of it. Using the tablet in Illustrator is definitely something I need to work on. I decided to send this one to Tee Fury for the heck of it.
Early To Rise. 02.02.2011. Illustrator Digital Drawing
Back in high-school, I loved U2. Today I have an appreciation. However, my friend Michelle loves them in a fanatical way – to the point of meeting the band several times and playing a big role in the formation of the official fan club website.
But back in high-school, I would doodle out little Gerald Scarfe/Pink Floyd inspired drawings, watercolors and whatnots. In the process I would tag them with some words from the U2 song Bullet The Blue Sky – never quite finishing a phrase or two. This made the drawings into a series and Michelle sought to collect them all.
Next to my mother, she’s my biggest fan.
Michelle’s 40th birthday is coming up, so I blocked out an evening, and came up with this as a gift to her – to finally complete the series as started in high-school.
Bullet The Blue Sky. January 26th 2011. Acrylic, ink, wire and tape on canvas board. 20"x24".
I was working pretty fast and loose (something I rarely do) with a less than stellar reference photo. The proportions are out of whack, but I think it works for this piece. The song Bullet The Blue Sky is awash in distortion, so why not a distorted painting that is meant to convey some of that mood?
I started this piece in June of 2009. It started as a sketch I had done before bed one night, based on a photo from a talented photographer named Tom Klubens. Later, I had seen some amazing vector portraits of some of the roller derby gals. So I decided to try my hand at something similar.
Jane Ire. Vector Drawing. 8"x10". 2010.
I barely knew what I was doing here. My Adobe Illustrator skills are limited and often I was hindered by just not knowing how to best do something. Surely there is some level of live tracing that I could have done but instead I simply created areas of color and shapes with the pen tool. I worked at this off and on for a year and a half. Heh.
Some portions are more focused than others. I was working mostly from my sketch but referencing the photo for color variations and shadows. The result is not so much a faithful rendering but more of a stylized rendering. Here’s my original sketch for comparison.
Jane Ire. Pencil on Paper. 8.5"x11". 2009.
I’d really like to perfect this style. I’ve seen a lot of vector work that impresses the hell out of me.
The comic is coming along and I should be done in decent time. I admit, it got a little out of control. We needed 8 pages and I have 20. Ah well.
Page 1 of my comic for school, inked
Meanwhile I just got back from Horror Hound in Cincinnati. I’m always inspired by guys like Joel Robinson, Billy Tackett and Todd… Todd… oh I don’t recall his last name. But he’s a very very good illustrator. Joel is big into digital painting while I think Billy does all of his work traditionally. They’re all nice people too. It’s good to be inspired by people worth being inspired by.
The Bout 002
This is my second painting of the year, and unfortunately, it may be my last. I’m in the trenches working on my comic book for my class on sequential narrative. I’m having fun with it, sure, but it’s detracting from painting.