Old School Debate

So here's a question for all of you blogging artists that take the time to visit my blog: What is your take on "updating" older artwork? Last night I snapped a few digital photos of some of my older artwork, simply to have it in a digital format. As I was looking at a watercolor painting I did way back in 1983- (as an aspiring Sophomore in high school) I realized that looking at old artwork can be inspiring as well as laughable, and as I was looking at this painting I kept cringing at what a poor job I had done. Lots of very washed out colors, lack of definition and it was obvious that I was still trying to develop a style of my own. A lot of the monsters I painted were likely taken from Dungeons and Dragons manuals or some other source, but I guess that is more forgivable as the painting was basically a tribute to all things horror. So I decided to take one small section or character of the painting and attempt to improve it using Photoshop. Here are the results- hopefully you can tell which one I painted in 1983 and which one I painted digitally last night. If not, the one on the right is from last night! So back to the original question- what do you think about the idea of updating old artwork? My opinion? Something like this where I can update the old artwork digitally and not actually alter the original is alright, but I don't think I would want to change the old stuff and never be able to see it as I intended it at that time. I contemplated taking a shot at re-painting the entire piece digitally, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt that I would rather create an entirely new modern painting than spending time re-doing something I created in 1983. Regardless, I had fun giving a "digital face-lift" to this witch like character, and I hope you all have fun checking it out as well!

EVILoution

One of my favorite things about blogging is finding those artists that will take you through their creative processes. This isn't very in-depth, but I figured it was semi interesting nonetheless. This is the evolution of a character- I created this goofy lookin' creature probably about 2 years ago- I was sketching with a ball point pen during a meeting at work, and this guy popped out. The original sketch was probably about 2" x 3", I liked him enough that I kept the sketch laying around in my vast piles of old artwork. Sometime last month I was flipping through some of my old work and re-discovered this guy. I scanned him in, and the resulting scan is what you see on the far left of this group. After a little adjusting in Photoshop, I thought it would be fun to use this sketch as practice for my new Wacom tablet. The center piece with all the crazy colors is the result. Not bad, was done pretty quickly and could use a lot more work but it served its purpose as a good exerecise. As a result, I decided to take a shot at re-designing this guy with a number 2 pencil. I sat down and started to re-draw him, and the unfinished product is what you see at the far right of this group. I quite like the added depth and the new drippy face- enlarged the eyeballs a little too. Once I finish the pencil sketch, I am planning on taking it back into Photoshop for a new experiment in colorizing again. Always interesting to see where a simple little 5 minute sketch can end up taking the creative mind!

The Blob!

This is a composite of several blob drawing sessions. Blob drawing is a simple little exercise that can really get the creativity flowing- basically you scribble out a blob with a marker, then turn it into something afterwards. I find it endlessly amusing to do these little sketches because the results can be so off the wall. I also enjoy doing these because it reminds me that you can create a face out of almost any thing. I see faces in almost everything around me- if I look at the textures on the wall, I can start to see faces. Patterns on the carpet- same thing. I guess it's a lot like looking at the clouds and seeing things there. The creative mind is a crazy thing for sure.
In other news, I finally booked a hotel and got tickets to the San Diego Comic Con. I am beyond excited to be going- I have always wanted to check this out, and early this year I decided to make plans to go. My wife and my son and my father-in-law are going to come along, and I am sure it will be a great trip. Are any of you talented blogging artists gonna be there? I would love to have the opportunity to meet some of you in person, so if anyone else is gonna be there, let me know so we can hook up and say hello!
Thanks to everyone that takes time to stop in here and look at my artwork... This blogging thing is very inspiring and helps keep my enthusiasm for artwork going!

Drive By Truckers Zombie and Mr Hyde

Couple of characters from a sketch session last week. Drawn with a black Tombo brush pen- Sorry again for the lack of color, but I have been pretty busy with other projects lately, so you get the quick and easy photoshop style backgrounds on these guys. The Mr Hyde character was inspired by a photo in an old issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland, and the DBT Zombie was just another one of those crazy creatures that lives in my head. By the way, have you heard The Drive By Truckers? If not, you are missing out on some of the best rock and roll ever heard! They just released an amazing new CD called "A Blessing and A Curse"... Check them out at www.drivebytruckers.com. Best rock band on the planet.

A Solemn Zombie

Not really sure what this one is all about. I wanted to spend some more time practicing with the Wacom tablet last night, and this was the result. Seems to be some sort of a pensive zombie. Line art was drawn with a Micron pen, colors in Photoshop.

Illustration Friday - FAT

Fat, and Ugly, and..... Needing some color? This lovely creature has been around for a long time. I need to use him somewhere- maybe a character in a comic book? I dunno. This was losely inspired by Stephen King's book "IT"- at least the X-Acto Blade teeth were. I always wanted to draw a character with razor blades for teeth. (I imagine that must be pretty bad for causing cankers!) Couldn't ever bring myself to draw a clown with razor teeth tho- I hate clowns. I imagine this character would be someone you would want to avoid using the phrase "Bite Me!" with. Drawn with a micron marker, strange circular pattern added with Photoshop.

Dreams Do Come True

1996- Has it really been 10 years since I did this project?? So it is no secret that I am a big fan of KISS. Not so much lately, but for many many years I was a die-hard. I got into them back when I was 9. So when I was asked to draw the artwork for their official silver commemorative coins back in 1996, it was really a dream come true for me. At the time, I was freelancing for a coin company in Provo, Utah called Liberty Mint. It was my first steady freelance job, and I had become pretty good friends with the art director, another very talented artist/designer by the name of Darren Albertson.
When Liberty Mint landed a deal with Sony Signatures, Darren knew I was a KISS fan, so he asked if I would be interested in doing the artwork for the project- needless to say I was thrilled, and the pencil drawings you see here are what I came up with. The art has to be drawn in a specific way so that the coin sculptor can produce the relief sculpt for the die- (was always interesting to do artwork for coins). These were all just a number 2 pencil on paper. Sorry about the odd shadows and such on these, I took photos of them with my digital camera, and I am obviously no pro. If you would like to see the actual coin set, you can visit http://www.kissasylum.com/photos/KISSSET.JPG. There are several different photos if you back up a page or two, none of them are very sharp or clear, but I have not had time to photograph the coins I own.
I am hoping to get a chance to do more artwork for some of the bands I love, it is always fun to do- so if anyone can hook me up with The Drive By Truckers, let me know... Although their artist Wes Freed does a FANTASTIC job as it is. Check out Wes' work at http://www.wesfreed.com/. I love his style!

Blowin' Things Out Of Distortion

This is an unfinished sketch created in Photoshop with my Wacom. I am always trying to come up with crazy distortions on my characters, and I was quite happy with the whacked out lips on this guy. Haven't gotten around to finishing him up, but I needed to post something fresh here as I get bored looking at the same old stuff day in and day out. It's one of those days where I am wishing I was able to spend my whole day painting or drawing rather than chained to my desk testing software, so once I get home it's gonna be time to break the creative dam and let the artistic flood waters destroy everything in their path!!