getting my hands dirty

Because we just got our assignments for the upcoming Illustration Masters Class.  And while I'll bring my laptop and tablet, I'm going to be spending the week getting my hands dirty with actual pigment suspended in liquid-y mediums (both of the aqueous and oil variety).

HOWEVER.... it's just for kicks.  Because seriously.

(no, I won't be mixing my own egg temepra paints)

Here's some sketchbook dabbling with paint, just working through brustrokes and glazes and color chart type stuff,  because it has been a long time. Thank you Bill Carmen and Rebecca Yanovskaya for being my reference imagery and inspiration.

pthalo blue, mars black, and yellow oxide study using Bill Carmen art as reference

cobalt blue and burnt umber study using Rebecca Yanovskaya's art as reference

AFP tarot deck kickstarter

Guess What? The Amanda Palmer Tarot Deck I created art for four years ago (and then the project got shelved indefinitely)... It's BACK IN THE WORKS! A kickstarter to fund it launched last week and has already surpassed it's funding goal by double.


Keep in mind, the only way to obtain one of these decks is to make a pledge before the kickstarter ends on September 4th. 78 cards, each one created by a different artists, this deck is going to be amazing.  I am so thrilled to be a part of it.

A little background: I owe Amanda Palmer an enormous debt of gratitude for getting me back into art to begin with. It was 2009 and it had been years since I had painted anything when she shared a whole bunch of photos of herself nekkid for anyone to appropriate and interpret artistically as they pleased.  Crazy, right? But it happened to be the the jump start I needed. I picked up brush and paint and started working again.

When the idea for the Amanda Palmer tarot deck started floating around shortly afterwards I was all over it. I initially planned on doing the Three of Swords, but I had also just finished dying over her Who Killed Amanda Palmer Photographic Evidence collection and decided that the Ten of Swords, with it's over-the-top melodrama was just the thing for me. I went with a stabbed-in-the-back-AND-thrown-over-board-in-the-middle-of-the-ocean setting. Why?... Well, why not?

Valya wrote a beautiful post about just how perfect a tarot collaboration with Amanda Palmer is:

"For those unfamiliar with her work, Amanda’s songs, while fiercely intimate, are also iconic. She sings about abuse, addiction, abortion, heartache, love, abandon, regret, and hope; and her songs give voice to the dreams and fears of fans around the world. That would be enough to endear Amanda to her fans, but she takes it further to connect with them on a personal level at shows, ninja gigs, and online. Amanda opens herself up, and people often walk away saying that the experiences were intimate, inspirational, and transformative.
That is what the Amanda Palmer Tarot is about: Intimacy. Inspiration. Transformation." ~read more

And now, here's a few of my preliminary studies and work-in-progress shots for the AFP 10 of swords.

preliminary studies for the AFPtarot

studio shot of the painting in progress

another studio shot, painting in progress

final painting, 10 of Swords. AFP tarot.

(Makes me want to start painting again. Digital is awesome and perfect for what I do, but I miss getting my hands dirty.)

For more updates and info about the AFP tarot project check out their tumbler, twitter, and facebook page. 

mad photoshop painting skillz.

Seriously. Wow. (Thank you, Jacob Ruby, for showing me this )

I've been trying to Photoshop in a more painterly way. Pushing pixels around like how I used to push pigments. I have to admit, the ability to have every object on a separate layer for easily re-sizing, moving, flipping etc, is... well, is a lot easier than doing that with pigment on canvas. It's easy to feel "lazy" or that I'm "cheating" with photoshop. This especially on my mind as I look into attending the Illustration Masters Class, where there will be a lot of emphasis on traditional mediums.

Anyhooo... I try not to pay those feelings too much mind. Right now, I'm merely trying to take my photoshop skills to the next level.

Here's my latest:

splashy big paint

Finally got around to watching Pollock.
Loving the movie on many levels.
But the various painting scenes throughout are really stroking a need for big surfaces and splashy messy creating. (I've mentioned that need before)
It may be a while before I ever do anything big or messy again. But the thought of it is still thrilling.

surgery in my sketchbook

Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves. I keep mine in my sketchbook.
And sometimes, I perform surgery on it. Just because.
A spontaneous mixed media personal project this week. On a whim, I documented the work-in-progress. Tearing, making marks, gluing, cutting, destroying, putting back together,


I need to paint more often.

Murals, Comics, NaGraDraMo, etc.

Just a few things of note:

1) Yesterday, just for kicks, I pulled out some house paint and doodled on my studio wall. I have been doing so many small, controlled illustrations and thumbnails lately, I really just needed to do something large, messy, spontaneous, and unplanned. It was VERY therapeutic, and I liked how it turned out too:

2) I'm in the process of hammering out specifics on a graphic novel I'm working on with a friend... and realizing that it's high time I brush up on my Illustrator and InDesign know-how. Especially when it comes to adding word-bubbles etc. My patchy Photoshop skillz just aren't going to cut it for the current project. Here's a quick glimpse at a quick (VERY rough) page study w/ my very insufficient dialogue and word-bubble additions:

3) Which leads me to my next personal project... In solidarity with my writer friends who are participating in NaNoWriMo next month, I'm planning on doing a second attempt at NaGraDraMo. This is dependent on if I can wrap up the current projects I am committed to, but I am hopeful and excited to give this another go around. I only have a vague idea of a cast and story line; but my idea is to aim for 18 to 24 pages, B&W, low-tech, and probably pretty wordless. (I will be using Tyler Stafford and Noah Van Sciver as inspirations for low-budget-but-way-cool comic making.) /Fingers Crossed!

okay, that's all.

a painting a week (take 2)

Heheheh, I just realized it was almost a year ago that I decided to try making a painting a week. It didn't go so well (life gets busy) but I did do a few paintings . Anyhow, going to try it again. Starting now. This will sort of go hand in hand (hopefully) with the Drawing a Day I am doing. These will mostly be smallish paintings (11x14 inches or smaller), mixed media, revisiting ideas and images I am already working on.

We'll see how it goes this time around.

Feeling a bit ambitious this week, I have already done TWO paintings! and here they are:
and:

not a painting every week...

Meh... only my second week into my attempt to finish a painting every week, and already I've missed my first deadline.
I had a sense it might happen; it was a week packed with family obligations and I had a houseful of kids that fully occupied two days and one night. On top of that, my right hand has been acting up, the knuckles and wrist are inflamed and achy. I'm worried my art making is to blame. I am paranoid that it bodes ill for future art production, but am hoping it is something temporary and easily reversed. (Keeping my stiff sore fingers crossed.)
artistic highlights of the week: I did start doing some thumbnails for a hypothetical Tarot Deck dedicated to Amanda Palmer. And I did at least start the next painting (I will have it done by Sunday. I will I will). It's something to be glad about.

A painting a week.

Inspired by Calan Ree's weekly haiku derived paintings, and jump-started by Amanda Palmer's offering of her nekkid body for artistic purposes, I have my new goal: a painting a week. Working with the cast of characters in my mind and the floating flexible exoskeleton of a story-line, It's enough. I'm sure. And I'm excited.

It's been a while since I have painted. Over 3 years. Such a breath of fresh air to get into it again over Amanda's body. I am surrounded by muses.