Experimenting

Here's a sheet of Bristol paper that has survived a few experiments and tests, and turned out pretty interesting in the end.

St. James Court Art Show Poster

Every fall, there is a huge, beautiful art festival in Old Louisville called the Saint James Court Art Show. Every spring, there is a competition for the poster for the event, and every year, I think, "I should enter." But I never do - not living in Louisville, I tend to forget about things like that. Earlier this week, while finishing an illustration for Louisville Magazine (coming soon to a newstand near you!), the poster contest popped in my head and I hopped over to google to check it out.

The due date was 3 days away. I took it as a sign.

I have been diligently plugging away at it ever since I sent off the final illo to LouMag. I ran into some technical difficulties though: How could I scan or photograph original artwork for a 24"x30" poster (I always work bigger than the final printed piece)? And if I were so lucky as to win, how would I get such a large piece to Louisville?

So I decided to tackle this project in Illustrator. I've been digging Jessica Hische's work lately, so my piece was very heavily influence by her, as well as various Victorian/Art Nouveau artwork I found online.

Doing the handwritten text was the best part. First I sketched it out with pencil:

Then I filled it in with ink:

Then I scanned it and used the AutoTrace feature in Illustrator to make it a vector shape. I hate doing that part because it never looks quite right to me. It lost a lot of character when it was forced into vectors.

Overall, I really like the way the poster turned out. I included the famous statue that is in the heart of Saint James Court and some of the beautiful Victorian homes that line the court, and embellished the design with the ever popular Fleur-de-lis.

This piece was a challenge for me stylistically, and it is a risky entry.. most of the past winners have been pretty paintings of the statue with some super kerned out text. Let's hope the gang at St. James Court likes my approach!

self portrait

I started a self portrait in my oil painting class last night. I hate self portraits - I always look like I am surprised, pissed off, and/or really REALLY tired. I guess that's what I always look like when I concentrate.

This is about one and a half hours of painting. Now that I have it hanging out in my living room, all I can think of is the things that need some serious fixing. Improvements will be made in the next class. The good news is that I am finally learning how to oil paint the "right way." This is 16"x20."

Working on 2 more beer paintings right now - Stella and "Spotted Cow" - a Sconnie* brew. Plus I have another illustration for Louisville Magazine I should be able to post soon, and potentially the other special project that I have been alluding to for months now... Just keeping you on your toes.

*Sconnie = Wisconscin, so I hear

In Progress:

Here is a preliminary sketch/study for the project I'm working on. Is it obvious I had a Botticelli book open on my desk while I did this?

I'll be re-drawing and adding a lot to this drawing before it's finished and ready to transfer to board. Stay tuned.

dwight

A sketch for my Dwight illustration. I'm pretty excited about this piece, because who doesn't like Dwight? I think the color is going to be really important to this piece... I picture a lot of beiges and neutrals. Should have a finish by the end of this week!