From sketch to finish....

Ideas, concepts, and preliminary sketches fill the hours of any artist in their studio. The process of taking those ideas/sketches and making them usable or presentable is where the artists skills are tested.

This is an image that I recently needed of a warrior throwing a spear. The thought was to show motion in both the character and the spear to give the image life. I decided to put the warrior in buckskins and also holding a tomahawk in his other hand to add to the drama of the image. This sketch was done in a single sitting based on those thoughts using an iPad Pro and an apple pencil. The drawing turned out ok and I decided to use it in the project I am working on.

As you can see, the finished version that was completed in Photoshop and Illustrator shows the finished image with clean lines and crisp colors. Many details were added and the overall look of the concept was refined to a quality level. Check back to see the project I am planning to use this image in....

Community creativity...

We are part of a valley community here in Sayre, recently we got all 4 schools together for a holiday basketball tournament. The cover of the program was the challenge. Incorporating, a redskin, a wildcat, a wolverine and a black knight playing basketball at the North Pole seemed like a noteworthy challenge. This is what I came up with...

Port Allegany 2016

I have to hand it to Port Allegany High School. They have been getting a Senior Poster for several years now. I feel as if their school has figured out that high school is a great place. Their students seem very proud of their school, they all seem very positive about what they have participated in and accomplished in their school. I hope that they enjoy this year's project as much as in past years!

Blue Bomber

Another challenging request came to me the other day where I was asked to create a "Blue Bomber". It is the mascot of a school in Southeast Pa. They wanted an illustration showing the mascot flying and dropping a message to promote an activity in their school. Seems simple enough, until you try to decide type of plane? look of the bomber? what is he actually dropping? what angle to show the image? etc... This was my start: The next step was to come up with the messages. I decided to get a little creative with the messages, so rather than just dropping sheets of paper...

I went with dropping what I would drop if I were the "Blue Bomber"...

Once the decisions were made, color was added and this was the result...

They loved the look and are using the version in a variety of ways in their school. Sometimes the more strange the request is, the more fun it is to complete.

My process

I think everyone has their own process of creating their "own look" in their artwork. To get there, a systematic, consistent process allows for the work to be recognizable to the viewer. Developing this process sometimes takes years but in the end, it is worth the time if the result is successful. In my work, I do drawings of students graduating from high school that want to be shown in the drawing the way they want to be remembered by their friends. Usually, the classes range from about 90-150 students. To achieve this, each student must be drawn individually, but look consistent with all of the other student drawings. Elements of line, color, and proportion are considered during the process as well as lettering, school colors, and the "look" of the students being shown relevant to the activity they want to be shown doing. My process is as shown above. First a line drawing of the students face is completed. Next, the body is added to show the student interests. Coloring the face brings the student to life and the addition of color to the body and the addition of activities, accomplishments and quotes completes the overall image of the student. It is a long process, but when grouped with the other 100 or so of their classmates, it makes a great piece of art that will make their class be remembered for a long time.