Public Salon TV Appearance

I haven't been able to post as much work lately as the past couple of weeks have been kinda busy.
However last week, I actually did a tv panel appearance to discuss the painting that I did for the LITM Dark Matter Bright Future Show. The taping took place at the Symposia bookstore (which is the last Used Bookstore in Hoboken).

When I got there there were two other folks there ahead of me, one guy was a poet, and another guy was a spiritual Buddhist. We were also joined by a "green" engineer/artist and the founder of Community Development International, who I have to say was probably the most impressive of the bunch (they do relief work and charity for Haiti).

The discussion took place in a semi-circle that mainly focused on social issues, poverty, hunger politics, etc. I contributed what I could, but kinda stayed away from the heavy political issues.
At the end of the show I plugged LITM, and the piece that is hanging up until the end of the month (see: previous entry Dark Matter Bright Future)

It was pretty fun, and the show ended a lot sooner than we all realized.
the show will be broadcast Thursday evenings (8 to 9 pm) on Public Access Cable’s channel 19 on Cablevision. I'm not sure if you can see it in my area, but there will be a You Tube clip soon, that I will post when it's up.

LITM Dark Matter-Bright Future Show

Hey all,

Just a few pictures from the LITM show "Dark Matter Bright Future" (see previous entry).

Overall the show was a success from a turnout stand point. The group show which doubled as a fund-raising benefit to protest the construction of an oil pipeline in JC featured many local artists, working in all types of media. Below are just a few of the shots from the evening. It was a lot of fun, although compared to the other pieces featured, my piece was really really small. So I will need to work a little bigger next time. 

Opening exhibition wall:

A couple of shots of my piece "Embankment Oil Refinery":

A couple of shots of the LITM crowd:

Group show flier:

As a quick follow up, I also got invited to be on a guest panel, for a local TV show called the "Public Voice Salon". Which is awesome! More news on that soon. Happy New Year All!!!

Dark Matter Bright Future Art Show and Other News

So it's been a busy couple of weeks with the holidays coming and going, I haven't had a lot of time to post work lately....but I will post some stuff as soon as I can.

For now here is the latest:

1) Dark Matter: Bright Future:
Tomorrow is the opening of the Dark Matter: Bright Future show at LITM in Jersey City.
The opening is a benefit to protest the construction of a gas pipeline in Jersey City/Hoboken (no fucking thank you)! You can learn more about the benefit and show on the LITM Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/LITMJC

You can learn more about the issue here:
http://nogaspipeline.org/


2) Mega Man Tribute Contest:
Still working on my piece for the Mega Man tribute contest..(deadline is in a few weeks....) I am in the middle of working out the tones, and will need to start on the color soon. It's taking a while, but hopefully if I keep at it I will turn out something awesome. If you want to enter it's not too late, you can enter the contest here.
http://www.megamantribute.com/ 
I can't post the piece for a long while, but once I hear, I will def. give a peek.


3) MOCCA FEST 2011:
Still working on this one...still taking a while, but I will post the progress for this one as I go.
LOOOTA work to do as of yet..
Here is the link to MoCCA Fest 2011:
http://www.moccany.org/content/mocca-festival

More work to do....oh..and Happy New Year all!!!!

L.I.T.M. Group Show Submission

This is my entry for the L.I.T.M. group show. It's called "Embankment Oil Refinery". The idea here is that the proposed gas pipeline that will run through the Jersey City area, is pretty much a threat to the area that should not be allowed to happen. My hope is that the imagery speaks to the theme of the show and the environmental risks that this pipeline would pose to the area.
Thanks so much for the opportunity to submit!

Blanka Vs. Part II

Last week I did a post about completing and getting the lines that you wanted in Sketchbook Pro (see previous post). So this week I decided to finish up that sketch and turn it into a finished piece. Just to see what it would look like.

 

1) Completed sketch in blue... 

2) Here is the completed sketch. I brought the image into Painter (which I am still trying to make my way around it.) Here I colorized the image to turn the blue lines to black. This keeps the tone of the original drawing (I love this feature)  

3) Here I added the values to the drawing. I used a different brush this time to give the values a more animation like feel. I like the way that it came out. I think I am gonna keep using it for now.

4) I am not the best colorist..in fact I don't know how to handle color at all...but I just tried to go with the basic rule of having things stand out from one another. I might actually take a color class to help with applying color techniques.

5) Here I am adding more layers to the picture and starting to paint over the lines. I wasn't sure if the picture looked better with painting over the lines, or if it was better to keep some of the under drawing exposed. I thought about doing a combination, but this is something that I will have to practice with in the future.

6) More painting on layers here....add some details and trying to give the muscles and the overall tone a smoother feel.

 

7) Adding some flame and lighting effects using some of the brushes available in Painter.

8) Here is the final! Woo hoo! Go Blanka!!!!!

How to get the lines you want in Sketchbook Pro

For some tine now I have been trying to decide which is better, going traditional or going digital. Is it better to draw the old fashioned way and then scan and go from there, or to start digitally and keep it consistant. Much like my last post the result is up to personal preference. However in trying to  

find a way to get the drawings to look their best I actually found something that worked well for me.

Draw what you want:

1) Start with a heavily detailed sketch. Put in your planning lines, lines for perspective set up your foreground and basic shapes. Basically draw what you want, and add as much detail as you like.

2: Duplicate the layer: (Below)

When you are done and have added as much as you wanted.

In the layer window panel select "duplicate layer". This creates a copy of the layer you were just working from.

3: Reduce the opacity:
Then go to the first layer and reduce the layer that you made the copy from to about 20%. This allows you to see the layer that you are working from and use that as a guide, but still be able to work on the new layer and refine your details.

4: Continue working and adding more details as you like. On the top layer erase any sketch lines and guidelines that you don't want in your final drawing.

5. When done hide the layer underneath, and voila!

Pencils vs. Pixels

With the technology available today we rely on computers more and more to get the point across.
For some time now I have been bouncing back and forth on wether to go the digital route or to stay traditional, or to go both ways. This week I did a test of an idea to see which outcome looks the best.

The remake of True Grit (an old John Wayne film) is due out in a few weeks, and I thought that I would use my version of the movie poster to try and test which looks best. In doing two versions I found that there are obviously some things that are easier doing it digitally. Making edits, comes a lot easier doing the work digitally..obviously as well as working off of layers and making changes on the fly.

The one benefit to working traditionally though is the actual quality of the line is better.
I find that in working digitally) off of a Wacom tablet, that I don't have as much control and the tactile feel of the tablet makes getting a feel for the drawing a lot tougher.

Obviously it's a personal choice, and one needs to pick the method that works the best.

(Below: First version done in pen and ink)

(Below: Second version done digitally) 

(Below: Original Movie Poster)

Of course the tool is only the means..but what you do with each technique is what will determine the final outcome.