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Alice was infamous for her excess of eyelashes. She could blow a house down with a few flutters!
3 hour painting, gouache on bristol paper.
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Nora receives a mermaid’s scale that shall serve as her magical guitar pick. Now she needs to find the golden rainbow and gather the threads of light to braid into guitar strings. Her quest is nearly complete.
15 minute sketch, 10 minute ink.
It’s me! And you can download me and have me for your very own! Cuddle it, pose it in embarrassing positions, stick pins in it… it’s all yours!
I took a blank template, modified it, and added ears-and-glasses. You can create your own from the template at custom paper toys.
Oh, I am so behind in my illustrations… I’ve been so sick for over a month! But I’m feeling good now so it’s back to work! First off – 5 things.
My friend Zari has tagged me for the “5 things” about myself. Okay, I’m happy to oblige.
1. Possibly the oddest job I’ve had was as a shopping mall Santa. I worked at a high-class mall in Newport Beach, in warm California weather, with 3 pillows for a belly for an entire month. I posed for pictures with women on my lap, dogs on my lap, huge special-ed kids on my lap (who were all very polite and afraid they might crush me), and hundreds of kids with dozens of questions. It was awesome.
2. I have been to the Tian Tan Buddha.
3. On a road trip, I visited Bryce Canyon, Zion, and the Grand Canyon. All 3 were breath-takingly beautiful but my favorite was Zion for its amazing variety. I hope everyone gets to see these wondrous places in their lifetime.
4. I was at the 1983 Us Festival for “New Wave Day“.
5. I was a Renaissance Faire geek for 15 years. I worked at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Glen Helen (the same place that hosted the Us Festival) as a hawker, a vendor, and finally as a tapster at a bar. Full costume (including, yes, a cod piece). I met my wife there.
I’m tagging crystal driedger, livia coloji, jannie ho, and… well, I’m supposed to tag 5 but everyone’s been tagged already. Any volunteers?
The rules: 1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog. 2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. 3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as wellas links to their blogs. 4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
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Trick or treat! Behold! The spirit of halloween! Click it for more detail. Something I did for a ‘kids in costume’ theme a couple of days ago on Illustration Mafia. and it just so happens to fit perfectly with the Illustration Friday theme. I was going to put these kids around a jack-o-lantern but this little imp popped to mind and I had to have him. Cute, ain’t he?
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There are some things worth growing for…
10 minute ink drawing, 30 minute color in PhotoShop.
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These are a couple of artist trading cards I’ve done. I’m showing them here because… well, because I really like them! These are done in gouache and I quite like the effect. I get the colors and textures by layering and by using wet and dry brushes. Suzy Sushi was sent to chickengirl and quacky duck was done for a themed exchange. Also in gouache I’ve done mr pink eraser, happy coffee, jolly acorn, and ducks in a row. I love gouache!
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An extreme marriage! Boom-Boom is 5′9″ and the Captain is 3′1″ but their love is a mile high! In this continuing story of our heroine Minnie “Boom-Boom” Mahoony [previous post], we find her married to Captain Constantin Costache, Romanian little-person circus acrobat, wrestler, and doctor of science and medicine. Captain Costache faded into darkest Africa shortly after the disappearance of Boom-Boom.
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Pandora opens the box… I redid this image with gouache paints on 8×10 bristol paper so I could show it at the first ever Illustration Friday show! The theme was “open” and it’s to be shown with 25 other artists at the Open Bookstore in Long Beach, CA, where I just happen to live. And it looks like it paid off… I’m in! Yay! I had my doubts. There’s so many incredible artists at Illustration Friday. But I have all of you to thank! Thank you, thank you, for voting for my work! I couldn’t have done it without you!
In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman. Zeus ordered her creation as a punishment for mankind, in retaliation for Prometheus’ having stolen fire and then giving it to humans for their use. She is most famous for having brought with her a box containing all the world’s evils. She releases these evils, but closes the lid before Hope can escape. Man, those ancient Greeks were nuts!
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This is the original digital image I did for Illustration Friday’s “Open” theme. 20 minute ink drawing, 3 hours color in PhotoShop.
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Little lady plays the blues…
For Illustration Friday’s “the blues” theme. 1 hour, watercolor.
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Minnie “Boom-Boom” Mahoony was the world’s greatest juggling, sword – swallowing, tight – rope – walking, daredevil of the 1890s. She was also known to wrestle gators and climb skyscrapers. Rumor had it that she studied under Houdini, learned martial arts in Peking, and worked as a spy for the U.S. government. While flying biplanes in WWI, she disappeared somewhere over the Bermuda Triangle.
30 minute ink drawing, 5 hours color in PhotoShop.
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Oh, a happy little mouse wedding! The size of rice to a mouse would be like humans pelting newlyweds with bars of soap, but this little couple seems too happy to care. You can see all the nineteen-fifties Little Golden Books influences here, especially from Mary Blair. And that’s the way I like it. Click it for a better look. 6 hours coloring in PhotoShop.
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I took the plunge and jumped on into gouache paint. Gouache (gwash) is an opaque watercolor that’s been used by artists for centuries but in the 20th century it’s more associated with animation and children’s artists like Mary Blair. The colors fade a bit when dry, light colors are darker, dark colors are lighter, and you can achive interesting textures with brushes and sponges. The result is a more “retro” color palette, great for that 1950s kind of feel. This is my first painting in gouache. Not a big deal but I can see really getting into this. It’s easy to use and since this took about an hour and PhotoShop takes at least twice as long (with my present skill level), I think I’ll try to use it more.
I did this painting for the Drawn Mona Lisa meme which there is now a flickr group for. Enjoy! XOXO
My wonderful friend Zari has tagged me with the “My Favourite 25 Movies” meme. Ack! I have to pick 25? That’s hard since I have so many favorites and they keep changing. But I’ll give it a shot…
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01: Sunset Boulevard 02: North by Northwest 03: The Usual Suspects 04: Wizard of Oz 05: Blue Velvet 06: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back 07: Casablanca 08: Breakfast At Tiffany’s 09: Singing in the Rain 10: Spirited Away 11: Ghost in the Shell 12: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead 13: Fight Club |
14: Blade Runner 15: The Quiet Man 16: Treasure of the Sierra Madre 17: Amelie 18: Charade 19: Apocalypse Now 20: The Matrix 21: Raiders of the Lost Ark 22: 2001: A Space Odyssey 23: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly 24: Pan’s Labyrinth 25: Seven Samurai Bonus: Kill Bill 1 & 2 |
Whew! I know as soon as I post this list I’ll want to change it. Sunset Blvd. and North by Northwest are always my favorites but everything else moves around on the list. I like all of Quentin Tarantino’s movies, Akira Kurasawa, Hayao Miyazaki, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, John Ford, Billy Wilder… man, I could go on and on. I love musicals, action movies, kung fu movies, sci-fi, westerns, anime, etc. The Searchers, Forbidden Planet, King Kong, Wings of Desire, Akira, Ratatouille, LOTR, the Bourne movies… Too many!
So now I need to pass this on… My good buddy and one of my favorite illustrators, David Sones, is my first choice. Because he’s a good target for this meme, Josh Pincus is next. And lastly I’ll get Chickengirl, Jannie Ho, because she’s AWESOME! Woo-hoo! …All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.
