Standup Quotes

So let me start off by apologizing for the incredibly long break between my last post and this one. It's been a very long semester, and finding free time has been a bit hard. But hopefully I'll be updating fairly frequently now. I've got quite a bit of work to show off, so I think I'll start off with a poster series I started recently.

These poster's were a lot of fun to create. The series consists of quotes from famous standup comedians. To start off the series, I chose my two favorites: Jim Gaffigan and Ellen Degeneres! The Gaffigan quote is from Beyond the Pale and the Degeneres quote is from Here and Now. Both are amazing specials that are definitely worth picking up.

The posters themselves aren't designed for any specific purpose. They're really just for those that love the comedians. If I get enough requests, I may put them up for sale. I think the Jim Gaffigan one would especially be great for around Independence Day!

It probably won't be until late May that I take the next step in the series, but I'm thinking Mitch Hedberg for the third. I'm definitely open to suggestions though, so lemme hear back from ya!

Food & Wine Poster

Well here's day three of the week o' finals. This was my entry for the 2010 Grand Tasting for the Columbus Food & Wine Affair. I wanted to do a simple illustration that was part hand drawn, part digital. The entire drawing was done in hatching, and then I digitized both the white background and the hatching to make the hatch marks less obvious. See ya all tomorrow with my ad and graph final!

Figure Drawing Wrap Up

So here's day two's post (although I may be a few hours late). It's pretty much the last stuff I did for figure drawing. It's strange to think that I'll never have another figure drawing class at CCAD. They were always my favorite classes to take. But anyway...

The first image was the final drawing I did for the class. I used my dad as a model and illustrated what typically happens when you text and drive; a crash. I originally was going to do a limited color palette drawing, but after putting down the first coat - call it laziness, call it a happy accident - I was happy with it. Looking at it now, I think I might go back into it and add a light, a dark, and one or two colored tones. I dunno... opinions? Mr. Kortlander said keep it the way it is, but it's my portfolio, and I think I could use another drawing that has a decent finish to it.

The rest of these images were just outta my sketchbook in class (or just for fun at home). I think you can tell the difference.

I should have another post up by the end of the day. Until then, goodnight!

And I'm Spent!

Year four, semester one is finally at an end, and I could not need a break more. These last two weeks have been the busiest of my life, so I apologize for the wait since the last post. I think what I'll do for my finals is upload one every day this week, so (since it is technically Monday as I'm typing this) today we'll start off the rotation with a bit of humor.

During our final week of senior advertising and graphic design, our professor decided to throw in one more project that would be due two days before our final. To summarize, we were all a little ticked, so what I decided to do was a project I knew I wouldn't use in my portfolio, but would just have a lot of fun playing around with random ideas. The assignment was to do some kind of an automotive ad.

I ended up choosing to take Chevy's Silverado and their tag line "An American Revolution" and make each add marketed toward "that guy". I changed the tag line to "A True American Revolution" and made the headlines into cinderblocks in the trunk pointing out a key feature that "guys" notice. After I was finished with it, I was surprised that I actually liked it since it was supposed to basically be a quick, blow off, last minute project. Anyway, I'm off to Buckeye Donuts with a few friends. I'll see you all again tomorrow!

The Website is Finished!

After months of editing and tweaking, my "brand" is finally finished. My website is up and running with fully functional galleries, my résumé, a bio, and more. I've still got a few things I want to upload into the galleries, but other than that its done! It's also the first place you'll be able to see my interactive work. The image I attached with this is my branding info, résumé, website screen shots, and business card (front and back). Let me know what ya think!

Also, I know it's been pretty dry on my blog for a little while, but that's about to change very soon. I have quite a few projects that have either just finished or are about to be finished. Over then next few days I should have many more updates for all!

Fortunate Son

Another day, another project. This latest illustration was a pretty fun one. We had to take a 60's song and illustrate it in some way, using influence from another artist or illustrator. Well, CCR is probably one of the biggest bands of the 60's, and I love Fortunate Son, so this was my first choice. I decided to take the song lyrics literally and do an illustration of a boy who's drumming with "silver spoon in hand." He's supposed to be one of the fortunate ones that's in a well brought up family, and playing the drum simply for fun rather than leading the troops (a bit of a throw back to the 19th century). I decided to use Edward Manet, one of my favorite painters, as my reference for the idea. I wanted to make it obvious that I was inspired by the Fifer for both subject matter and composition. When I was in Paris about three and a half years ago, I had the pleasure of visiting the Orsay and seeing this painting. It's really breathtaking to see in person (image of it after the jump).

For the actual painting, I decided to go with oils since it's been a few months since I've used them. I unfortunately had to rush it a bit more than I would have liked, but overall I'm pretty satisfied with it. I did want it to be a bit more impressionist, but it'll do.

Reference: Edward Manet's The Fifer

IlluXCon 2009! - Part Two

Well, back again to bring you the rest of IlluXCon 2009 through my eyes. This demo was done by Dan Dos Santos. He seemed like a pretty down to earth kinda guy. He did this oil painting over a pencil value sketch, and I think the technique ended up looking amazing! I've gotta try it sometime. I snapped the image below when it was about 90% finished. He went back in afterward to add some highlights on the shoulder and in the hair to tie everything together, but I unfortunately didn't get a shot of it completed.

And finally, I can't even begin to explain how detailed these bigger-than-life figures by Tom Kuebler were. They were actually scary to get within a foot or so of, especially the transvestite figure below. I felt as though she was gonna spring to life and cut me.. no joke! These were, of course, finished pieces and not demo's done in two hours like the other images I uploaded.

Overall, the show was great! I ate some amazing food, got relatively lost with my friends in the hilly city of Altoona, and learned a helluva lot about painting. Some other great illustrators I didn't get any shots of that I met were Ian Miller, Justin Sweet, L.A. Williams, Volkan Baga, Dave Leri, and many more, including CCAD's own Joe Kovach and Eric Fortune. Check them all out, it'll be worth it! Now back to reality, where my in-progress works all look like crap compared to these pros!

*None of the work published in this post is my own. I merely took the pictures.