Friday 27 January 2012
Twirl
Alright, so this is an image for Illustration Friday. The them was "twirl". I found this picture enjoyable to make but the end result is a little off the mark to me. I really enjoy the colours and texture. But with hindsight I think the way I rendered the clouds doesn't quite fit. The tonal pattern works but I think the motion blur I tried to get with the figure distracts a bit.
Monday 23 January 2012
My Mom
My mom passed away on the 16th June last year of a heart attack in her sleep. It was totally unexpected. I've been reluctant to post it on the blog, it seems a bit impersonal and fake. But I don't think anyone looks at this blog, so I'll write this anyway.
I've had a crazy time with it the last seven months. I've been super busy with personal issues, work issues and building my illustration portfolio. There's not been a lot of time to dwell on this event, which is probably a good thing. Life carries on with or without you. Thankfully my girlfriend, family and friends have been great.
But there is no denying I've got a lot of pent up energy as a result of it. A lot of the illustration stuff helps get it out in some way but it would be nice to devote time to more personal pieces dealing with this tragedy more directly. I've got words I'd like to write and paintings I'd like to paint. And I'll get round to those soon.
Recently I got in touch with an illustration agency and it looks like they want to sign me in Feb when my portfolio is big enough. Really cool and some good encouragement at the right time. I remeber my mom told me a week before she passed away that all she wanted for me was to have the confidence that I could do what I wanted to and be successful at it. It's been tough but it looks like things are coming together. As always she knew what she was talking about...
Rest in peace Mom.
I've had a crazy time with it the last seven months. I've been super busy with personal issues, work issues and building my illustration portfolio. There's not been a lot of time to dwell on this event, which is probably a good thing. Life carries on with or without you. Thankfully my girlfriend, family and friends have been great.
But there is no denying I've got a lot of pent up energy as a result of it. A lot of the illustration stuff helps get it out in some way but it would be nice to devote time to more personal pieces dealing with this tragedy more directly. I've got words I'd like to write and paintings I'd like to paint. And I'll get round to those soon.
Recently I got in touch with an illustration agency and it looks like they want to sign me in Feb when my portfolio is big enough. Really cool and some good encouragement at the right time. I remeber my mom told me a week before she passed away that all she wanted for me was to have the confidence that I could do what I wanted to and be successful at it. It's been tough but it looks like things are coming together. As always she knew what she was talking about...
Rest in peace Mom.
Some "recent" stuff
So my post rate has been lame. But I have been turning out a number of pics, thanks in main to commiting myself to doing an illustration for Illustration Friday each week. I've been pretty good with that one.
It's been a really interesting experience, turning out work and not stressing over details too much. Not trying to be perfect definitely lends itself to improving. Some drawings I'll sweat over composition, others colour and others line. Lately texture is beginning to play a bigger part in my work. And it kind of bounces around a lot from there going back and forward the whole time.
I definitely feel I have a lot to work on. Having said that, I do feel the hard work is starting to pay off. Some pieces feel real easy and natural which is rad. And the difficult ones always feel worth it, because I learn a helluva lot from them. I'm not getting cocky though. I'm miles away from where I want to be, but I feel like I'm starting to find some direction.
Anyway, here are a few pieces that I have completed over the last month and a half.
This one is an illustration that has been floating in my head for a while. Basically two business execs looking at some figures. Quite a boring subject, but I feel it could be used as an editorial illustration. I mean, I could just draw shrooms and adventures related to them but that's not necessarily a huge market (the illustrations, not the shrooms).
This Clint Eastwood pic was inspired by a photo I saw on the cover of a magazine. I really love the way you can get a small area focus in photos. The contrast between sharp areas and blurry areas always seems to work well and adds interest to compositions. I'm not sure I nailed it with this pic but if you overdo a blur it can look terrible. Colour wise I'm not sold on the piece but the likeness is good and I think it nails his character.
This was an illustration for Illustration Friday. The theme was "Grounded". I immediately thought of a hen.
Illustration Friday piece, the theme was "Prepare. Average concept, but I was stumped. Colour wise I really like it and the texture helps the piece a bit as well.
That's all folks. If you'd like to see more of my work hit my Deviant Art page.
It's been a really interesting experience, turning out work and not stressing over details too much. Not trying to be perfect definitely lends itself to improving. Some drawings I'll sweat over composition, others colour and others line. Lately texture is beginning to play a bigger part in my work. And it kind of bounces around a lot from there going back and forward the whole time.
I definitely feel I have a lot to work on. Having said that, I do feel the hard work is starting to pay off. Some pieces feel real easy and natural which is rad. And the difficult ones always feel worth it, because I learn a helluva lot from them. I'm not getting cocky though. I'm miles away from where I want to be, but I feel like I'm starting to find some direction.
Anyway, here are a few pieces that I have completed over the last month and a half.
This one is an illustration that has been floating in my head for a while. Basically two business execs looking at some figures. Quite a boring subject, but I feel it could be used as an editorial illustration. I mean, I could just draw shrooms and adventures related to them but that's not necessarily a huge market (the illustrations, not the shrooms).
This Clint Eastwood pic was inspired by a photo I saw on the cover of a magazine. I really love the way you can get a small area focus in photos. The contrast between sharp areas and blurry areas always seems to work well and adds interest to compositions. I'm not sure I nailed it with this pic but if you overdo a blur it can look terrible. Colour wise I'm not sold on the piece but the likeness is good and I think it nails his character.
This was an illustration for Illustration Friday. The theme was "Grounded". I immediately thought of a hen.
Illustration Friday piece, the theme was "Prepare. Average concept, but I was stumped. Colour wise I really like it and the texture helps the piece a bit as well.
That's all folks. If you'd like to see more of my work hit my Deviant Art page.
Saturday 21 January 2012
It's been a while
It has been a while indeed. But it's because I have been really busy, honest. Anyway, I will be posting a whole bunch of images up this week. Stay tuned...
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