Color study

Here is the color study for my next painting...I thought I would be ambitious and work on my color, figures, and landscapes all in one.

Sketchbook Drawings

So while at work I have had lot of time recently to do some drawing in my sketchbook. Since coming back from Illuxcon I have been focused on not only improving my art, but also having a renewed focus on my drawing skills. I noticed at the show great some of the drawings were, and I decided then and there to spend more time drawing in my sketchbook. I noticed that I often work on a sketch for a couple of minutes and then move on to a new sketch/abandon it. I have not been trying to spend more time on my individual drawings, focusing on generating better ideas and better rendering skills. So now after I finish my lunch I spend the rest of my lunch break (I get an hour) to just draw in my sketchbook. In the few months that I have been doing this I have noticed a huge improvement in my rendering skills, also I have been coming up with a bunch of new ideas for future paintings. I thought that I would share some of the better ones and hopefully I will be posting new ones consistently.

Inspiration Art Order Challenge

So here is my submitted painting for the Art Order Inspiration challenge.  My inspiration is one of my favorite artists of all time, Alphonse Mucha.  The only artist I have made a specific pilgrimage to go see, I went to see all of his major works in the Czech Republic including my favorite series of his work, the Slavic Epic.  I have always loved Mucha and Art Nouveau, and have wanted to do my own Art Nouveau piece for a long time, this challenge was the perfect impetus to recharge my artistic mind and take a break from my illustration portfolio work and just do a painting for the sheer enjoyment of myself.

Court of the Dragon

Everything is beginning to settle in after an amazing weekend at Illuxcon in Allentown PA.  I had an incredible time, I met and hung out with some amazing artists, got some great feedback on my work from not only other artists, but art directors too.  In the lead up to the show I was going back and editing old pieces to make them the best I could possibly make them.  I originally wasn't planning on editing this piece, I thought it would be to much work to fix, in too little time before the show with everything else that I still had to do.  With two weeks before Illuxcon I decided I had to do it anyway, there was a lot of stress and long days that ensued but in the end it was totally worth it; it turned into my best piece and helped elevate my portfolio to another level.  I cant wait to go back next year, and I cant wait to see what my work looks like when I do.

All Hail Smaug

So my Smaug painting is finally finished, looking forward to showing it off at Illuxcon next week

Colors

Stage 2 complete

Homage

This is a new piece that I have been working on and off (unfortunately mostly off) for most of the summer.  Alphonse Mucha has always been one of my favorite artists, I love Art Nouveau, and have always wanted to do some nouveau themed pieces.  So in may I decided to take a break from landscapes, monsters, and knights in shiny armor and do my version of a Mucha art nouveau piece.  Hopefully this will be colored and painted by Illuxcon in September, but there are no promises.