America's Civil War Magazine Illustration

This is a recent illustration I created for America's Civil War Magazine
Art Director: Marty Jones

This is the original acrylic ink wash illustration:



And after some digital manipulation thanks to some good feedback from the Visual Literacy Program:



And some of the process work...

Book Cover Illustration

I created this book cover illustration for St. Martin's Press a little earlier this year, and just noticed that the book is now available on Amazon for pre-orders.

Below is some of the process work...

Santorini Poster

Just having some fun with this one-- and finishing up the travel poster assignment from this summer's Illustration Academy. I got busy with a client project at the time and had to put this one on hold for a few months...

Ink Wash Illustrations

Some more recent work-- these are going to be used in a book as chapter dividers.

Trading Card Characters

I haven't had time to do a blog post in quite awhile so I thought I would put these up. They are from a job earlier this spring for a fantasy card game. They are a little different then most of my work, but were a really fun change of pace.

Character Sketches

(click on image for larger view)

A quick job here between other deadlines (I had a half-day while waiting on some feedback early this week)-- some character sketches for a film pitch meeting. Experimenting with my usual marker sketches and some digital color and clean-up...

Outdoor Life Magazine Illustrations

I created these 3 illustrations for the current issue of Outdoor Life Magazine. The art director was James Walsh.
(click on images for a larger view)

Full page...


2 page spread...


Quarter page spot...



They were created as vector illustrations, below you can see some of my process.

Here are 2 of the pencils...



And some of the thumbnails ideas...




And some of the embarrassing reference shots-- I seem to always find a way to use a hockey stick and a cowboy hat in whatever illustration I do lately.

Illustration Academy 2009

The illustration Academy 2009 is almost finished and once again it went by much too quickly. This is my second year in attendance and I can honestly say that this program, the instructors, and the students have changed my life. I believe this is the best program of its kind on the planet.


I worked on a freelance project for most of this year's academy, so I wasn't always able to do the assignments but just being in the presence of so many great artists has once again reshaped my thinking and pushed me to work harder than I ever thought I could.


Both years that I have been in attendance, I have been amazed at the quality of students and their dedication to their art. And rather than being an environment of competition, the mood here has always been that of cooperation and mutual respect.








Sometimes everyone pushes themselves a bit too hard and this is what the place looks like after we stay up all night to finish a project in time for the weekly critique...


The faculty is equally as dedicated. The full-time and visiting faculty are some of the most talented, generous, kind, inspirational and intelligent people I have ever had the good fortune to be around.




A great example of the kind of people who run this program comes to my mind from earlier this year. I was working on a project and talking about it with George Pratt. It was at about 11 pm and we were all pretty tired out from the day. He had a book he wanted me to see that might help me with my project, but he didn't have with him. So about an hour later, at midnight--on a day that began for all of us at 9 am or earlier-- he shows up with the book. He had driven home, found it and came back at that late hour without giving it a second thought. He could have easily waited until the next day or later that week, or later on the program, but he didn't-- he wanted to help me out and was excited to share with me what he had. And I can guarantee that every student here has a similar story about George or one of the faculty from the last seven weeks.


This also makes me think about something that happened last summer. It was the last day of the program and we were all preparing to go into the final critique. Everyone was pretty burned out and ready for some sleep-- I know I was. I walked into the faculty office to ask a question and some of the faculty members were sitting around talking. I expected that they would be talking about where to get lunch, or what they were doing later that night, but instead they were discussing one of the student's projects and how they could help her improve it. Minutes before the final critique, after 7 tireless weeks of helping us on days that lasted from 9 am to midnight almost 7 days a week, there they were still trying to help one of us just a little more. It chokes me up to think about it.


Below are a few links to learn more about the program. It goes without saying that I highly recommend this program for anyone who loves image making. This program has made a gigantic positive impact on my life and career.

www.illustrationacademy.com

www.visualliteracyprogram.com

Academy Update

Chris Payne and Robert Meganck's assignment-- more to come soon....

Illustration Academy Part 1

I've been having a blast at the Illustration Academy this summer. This is my second year in attendance and it has been just as exciting and inspirational as last year. Here is Anita Kunz' conceptual portrait assignment-- I went with Stanley Kubrick.



And a few of the figure drawings from our Tuesday and Thursday night classes. More to come soon...

National Geographic Magazine Illustrations

I created these illustrations for the current issue of National Geographic Magazine. Rather than traditionally created botanical illustrations they wanted realistic, very clean, vector graphics to go along with the overall look of the 2 page spread. I was very excited at the opportunity to do this work, as National Geographic is definitely on my list of dream clients.

Sketchbook 5/21/09

Some more excerpts from my sketchbook. Just trying to have some fun and not be so concerned with the results. It keeps me sane to balance the work I labor over with some that is just done to explore.

I noticed something about using the copic gray markers that has been in the back of my mind for awhile. I was always wearing out the # 4, 5, 6, and 7 before any others, so I thought I'd test my suspicion with a full grayscale (below). It turns out that the markers at both ends of the scale are really close in value-- in some I can't see any difference at all. I kind of felt this subconsciously, but it helps me to bring that type of "beneath-the-surface" feeling into concrete understanding (mainly so I don't forget it).

Not to take anything way from the copic markers -- I think they are great -- but you may not need to buy the full scale to do solid value studies.