A Proper Cup of Tea......in Color!

A Proper Cup of Tea......

Jessica Yeomans

This is the work of Jessica Yeomans, one of my most talented and promising students. She aspires to be a character artist and is well on her way. A dilligent student and a wonderful person who has a great future in store. Please check out her new blog by clicking on her name up above or in the menu to the right.

Elf 2

Just a quick watercolor of the same drawing. I did it on beautiful paper I got in Venice and it is so soft and wonderful, it is like painting on absorbant fabric. The paper does all the work.

Elf

Just playing with a different style.

Aleks Shineleva

Aleks Shineleva is one of my most prolific and dilligent students. She has started her own blogspot, so please check her work out!

Worried?

YOU GO GORE!!

Gore and Green seemed to be the BUZZ words at the Oscars last night.....so, I thought I would combine the two.

Callan Molinari

This is the work of one of the brightest young illustators in my class, Callan Molinari. She is destined for a long and wonderful career in illustration. I love her work and a sweeter person you will not find. Please check out her delightful and charming blog by clicking on her name above, it will link you directly!

Homage to Sargent

John Singer Sargent believed that work was a form of prayer, in fact on his tombstone it is written "laborare est orare" which simply tanslates from Latin as "to work is to pray". This man worked at his craft, day in and day out from the age of 14. One day I hope someone makes a film of his life because it is an amazing and inspiring story. The painting is "Lady with the Rose (Charlotte Louise Burckhardt)" in the Metropolitan.

This was drawn this past Summer.

Gravity

Or the effects thereof.....

Sal

This is a caricature I did of my teacher and friend Sal Catalano a few years back. Of course the people who know him will appreciate this the most because I feel it is very much like him, but I think as a drawing it worked really well too. I just came across it and thought I should post it.

Happy Chinese New Year!!

Depending on who you ask, this year is the year of the pig or the boar...so with that said I did not discriminate. According to Chinese astrology, people born in pig years are polite, honest, hardworking and loyal.

The Art of Disney: Magic

The USPS decided to release a fourth set of stamps with our beloved Disney characters, this time showing more of their magical side. These were done last summer and the images have been released to the public in anticipation of their formal release in August for purchasing.



I like the Mickey image the best and they are using him as part of their advertising for this years collectible stamps. This is also the first time Mickey has ever appeared on a stamp by himself, so I suppose it is kind of a big deal. When the release date is set (all I know is August right now and I have no idea which Disney park the ceremony will be at) I will post it.

Crash!....well, almost!

For Illustration Friday.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Done in a hurry, but done nonetheless!

This is the image I created for Jared's Valentine's Day card.

Recent cafe and train trips

A New Post.....Finally!

....and a weak one at that. I have been working, but not on stuff I can post just yet and I do have a bunch of sketchbook stuff I have to get on here as well.

This is from a book I was working on that got scrapped (not because of my illustrations, thank you very much!) and I thought it was kinda cute. The shame is I was finished with a lot of the book when they cancelled it. Needless to say I did not get the payoff I was expecting! Oh well, that is the business I suppose.

Thanks for continuing to check in and I promise I will be more regular (no fiber jokes please)!

Trailblazers & Trendsetters: Art of the Stamp

On Nov 16th I have the great honor of having my work appear in a year long exhibition at The National Postal Museum of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, entitled Trailblazers & Trendsetters: Art of the Stamp.

Originally the images that were to appear were the Mickey, Donald and Goofy image from the Art of Disney:Friendship pane and the Lady & the Tramp image from the Art of Disney:Romance pane. However, I was asked by the kind folks at the Postal Service if I would submit my preliminary sketches for the two images because they had decided that my work would be amongst a few select artists to have our work displayed in a case as opposed to having it hang in the gallery.

Needless to say I was thrilled and submitted all that I had (I keep everything!) and it turned out that they preferred to show all the work I sent them regarding the MD&G image (so L&T is out, sorry folks!)

In this post you will see some of the steps that were taken to create this image, starting from my initial character sketches and where I started to piece them together. You will also see how they evolved and that Mickey basically is the only character to have the same look from the start. Donald and Goofy were changed to have a more antique feeling and I think they fit the look we were going for perfectly. You will also see the color rough which is very similar to the final and then the actual stamp image as it appeared when printed.

If you are in DC please stop by and see the show, it is free admission and the website for further information is below.

http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/

"You can be a BARBER again!"

In the story "Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street" Sweeney has been wronged by the corrupt Judge Turpin who (fifteen years earlier) raped his wife, stole his child and finally sent him to jail in Australia. When this happened his neighbor Mrs. Lovett took Sweeney's razors and kept them thinking " Who knows? The poor silly blighter might be back again someday and need 'em!"

In this scene Mrs. Lovett informs Mr. T (as she calls him) that he doesn't have to resort to living in the sewer or the plague hospital upon his return but can in fact be a barber again. She has no idea what she has started!