Saturday I was in Fort Wayne, IN all day for the first annual Summit City Comic Con!
It was my first time in an Artists Alley promoting the League of Analogues comic.
I was lucky to have my friend and colleague Scott Story of Johnny Saturn fame along with me to show me how it’s done. Scott has been doing shows like this for years!
I sold some comics, did a few sketches,
This one I did in someone’s sketchbook,
and even a couple of caricatures, this young lady who, with her husband, drove up from middle Tennessee just for the show,
and Scott, costumed in his character’s Johnny Saturn suit.
All things being equal I’ll go back for next years con!
Friday I was booked for six hours at the AT&T Block Party concert featuring the Stone Temple Pilots held at the White River State Park in downtown Indianapolis. I was on the second floor of a two-story temporary structure built for this weekend of events. This is the view I had to my right, out the west wall of the structure which was entirely glass panels.
This is the German architect who designed the structure.
Last week I dropped off 10 copies of League of Analogues #1 at D’wntwn
Comics South, 8925 South Meridian Street, Indianapolis - (317) 885-6395.
Go buy one!
Actually, it’s mine and Dave Williams comic and there’s nothing “comic” about it, but those are the conventions when referring to a publication of sequential storytelling and Dave calls it “his” comic so I can as well!
I will see if any of the local comic shops want to have a few copies on their counter touting a local creator but failing any interest there any interested party can contact me and I’ll sell them one as long as my copies last. Eventually it will probably be available on IndyPlanet.com
I just learned through my blog reading that Robert T. McCall, the premiere Space artist of the Space Age (what I consider from the Mercury 7 to the end of the Shuttle missions, has died at the age of 90. A good run, or, in his case, a good flight. Some may remember his iconic image from the Kubrick film 2001.
But he produced so much more.
And no, we weren’t related (as far as I know) even though my Dad’s name is the same. My Dad was the premiere railroad executive, still is father and friend.
Today I went electric at the open model session at the IAC. That is to say that I hauled in my laptop and a newly acquired used fairly old, but still serviceable (after I paid to have WACOM fix it) Cintiq to try some digital drawing/painting during the 3 hour session.
The five 2 minute warm-up poses.
A 15 minute pose, these are all done using Painter X (I tried Painter 11 with the software patch but it crashed before the poses ever started so I went back to the workhorse version 10).
25 minute pose. Using the oil paint brush and the blender brush.
Another 25 minute pose, same brushes.
A 20 minute pose, this time using the conte crayon brush and blender (I like the blender, it’s like finger painting without the mess!).
I had one more but I fell prey to the old overwriting plague. Lost my train of thought and just hit SAVE when I should have used SAVE AS and renamed it.
And of course me being me, for the last attempt I did a quick caricature of one of the artists across the room.
For the past few years I’ve been creating a calendar to send to some of my clients, family and friends. The clients get the version pictured below which is shamelessly self-promoting, including banner ads at the bottom of each month showing examples of the various work I do. (The family version has no ad banners but lists all the family birthdays, anniversaries, etc.) Knowing what I like in a calendar I designed this for maximum note taking space in each day block. It is printed on 12″ x 18″ sheets of 80 lb. white stock, printed, hole-punched, coil-bound and fitted with an aluminum bar hanger, personally bent to shape by yours truly. Very much hand-made from start to finish.
While I’m on the subject of calendars here are photos of a project I did this year, creating fun caricatures of fork-lift trucks for NMC, Nebraska Machinery Corporation.
Fifty years ago tonight the Twilight Zone debuted on CBS television.
One of the good things about Facebook is that it can be used to reconnect with people from your past. Ivan Woods was my best friend in high school. After high school we shared a trailer for awhile while we both attended Auburn University. After that staying in touch was sporadic. But thanks to Facebook we re-established communication. Today is his birthday. Happy 55th Ivan! I hope you are aging better than me!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtrnRYaAzXQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oVL9qiHj9w
Yesterday, the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing, Tor. com ran a competition with 24 prizes and all you had to do to enter was log a comment on the individual posting for each item. I entered about 5 of them and I was the winner of a gift certificate from Dick Blick Art Supplies! Which is pretty coincidental if you think that it was a totally blind drawing of names or entry numbers as free art supplies is a much better prize for me than the Star Trek Scene-It, a gift certificate from Bud Plant Books, the Watchmen DVD or the Star Trek USB Microphone Communicator. Thanks to Torie Atkinson and all the folks at Tor.com!
Another day at the Indianapolis Art Center, Sunday afternoon open model studio. Today was somewhat unusual in that for the first time in memory I completely ignored the model and didn’t even draw the other artists in the room. I knew who today’s model was and I knew I wasn’t all that interested in drawing him. Nothing at all against the model, he’s an excellent model, you’ve seen him on this blog many times. Many, many times. And while I acknowledge and understand the benefits gained by drawing from life, no matter how many times one has drawn the same person, there is always something new to see. And training the eye to accurately reproduce the distance between parts of the body, etc. to accomplish a pleasing result and a representational drawing or painting of the figure is invaluable.
Still, I ditched it today. But I didn’t ditch the class. I thought about it, but I didn’t. I took some photo reference of a British actor I’ve intended for a long time to caricature.
Why go to the class to do drawings I could have just as easily stayed home and done? For company. Social interaction. (On a limited scale, but that’s just me - I’m not that outgoing a person - never have been.) Many call it Fellowship. That’s a term that gets tossed out at church regularly. But I go to the IAC for my jolt of fellowship. In the general sense I get it from the 20+ other artists that sign up every session because we all share the love of drawing from life and the desire and need to hone our varying level of skills. More specifically I get it from another artist of similar desires and goals as mine. Scott Story is a comic book artist who publishes his Johnny Saturn comic on the web and as printed comics and graphic novels. When I’m sitting near Scott and I feel the need to lean over and whisper “I feel like I’m channeling Carmine Infantino today!” I don’t have to say anything else - he knows exactly what I’m talking about. He’s a little younger than me (but then these days I’m finding more people like that than the obverse!) but we share a common knowledge base of comics, films, TV and popular culture in general. We also share the knowledge of the pitfalls of being an artist. Today he asked me if I ever had days where I felt I just didn’t know how to draw. I responded with, “Not quite to that degree but I sometimes think of my ability to draw as a super power and there are days when I’m closer to the kryptonite!” Scott, and his lovely wife Benita, go to the Art Center on Sundays, and as long as he does and I can, I will.
Enough sentiment - this is Christopher Eccleston, the ninth Dr. Who.
I was contacted by Troyer Foods to do some WANTED poster caricatures of a grop within the company. Here are the results;
Our furnace went kablooey last night (actually the igniter module
finally died). We spent the night at a nearby hotel. I’m now waiting
for a repairman. This is what the well-dressed work-at-home artist
wears while trying to stave off frostbite!
The space heater is about 3 feet behind me. I feel like I’m on the terminator of the Mercury - hot on one side, frozen on the reverse. Can’t get a space heater under the desk, too many cords and cables.
Be it Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza, Festivus, Winter Solstice,
Clean Out
the Closets-mas
or whatever, here’s hoping it’s a great day!
Two weeks ago Barbara and I were in Raliegh, NC for a week for the annual convention of the National Caricaturist Network, which is actually an international group of caricature artists. I’ve been trying to attend one of these gatherings for the last several years but something always got in the way. This year I planned a little better and managed to make it.
Imagine, if you will, 180+ artists from all over the world. Japan, Singapore, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA all gathered in a Holiday Inn for a week that basically consists of drawing. Drawing each other, watching one another for style, technique and tool tips. All generously shared. There were likeness, speed, portfolio and wall competitions. Here are some of the many photos I took.
The first few folks I drew.
Shots of various other artists around the room.
Drawing and being drawn simultaneously!
My result. This was one of the Japanese artists.
After a few drawings I realized I was doing the same thing I do at bookings and this was a time for experimentation!
So I tentatively started to add in some bodies.
This was a French-Canadian artist who was very interested in my coloring technique so I drew him and stopped and showed him each step as I progressed.
This is the final configuration of my competition wall.
The drawing room, or my end of it, was either very cold or hot so layers were the best clothing choice!
On Friday night there’s a banquet where the awards are given out and afterward everyone goes around collecting all the drawings done of them by their colleagues. This is Emily Anthony, me and my drawing of her. Emily is a great artist from Lancaster, PA who was drawing with markers, digitally, airbrushing and sculpting this year!
My lovely wife came with me and hopefully had a nice weeks vacation amongst all these artists.
One of many things I’ve learned in a 30+ year career in commercial art is that you should always try to learn new things and regularly brush-up on things you’ve learned long ago. (Or kidded yourself into thinking you learned!) At this point in time I’m both learning and brushing upon watercolor painting, as demonstrated by the seemingly unending posts of what I’ve been doing at the Art Center Open Studio session. Another aspect I’m about to embark upon is a “brush-up” on human anatomy. To that end I ordered and just today received something I’ve always wanted in the studio… 
Not just any cardboard box - look closer.
Creepy, no? Yes! And that’s how the box was delivered in today’s post, with a strategic rip!
This is the box within the box…
You can get this model from two on-line vendors, Biovere, from whom I ordered this one and
Who apparently makes them and then sells them to Biovere who sells it for less.
Now, in case you didn’t click the Freedom of Teach link which is the above photo, FoT offers this model in two other versions…
The one on the left is the one I ordered because it was cheaper. I figure that if later I decide it would benefit by being the neutral gray color I can just use one of my 25 airbrushes and repaint it myself. The detachable head wasn’t worth the price increase nor was the turntable. I can rig up a lazy-susan for mine if I wish. (And, even though not pictured, the basic model has the detachable arms and wing-wang, all done with magnets!.)
This what I got when out of the packing and assembled.
Now I have to use it.
This is an element from a studio commission caricature I’m working at the moment. The rest will be in color.
I’m taking a class at the Indianapolis Art Center in an effort to expand my range painting styles. The instructor is Mary Kathryn Massey. She teaches a style of oil painting that emphasizes mass rather than line, paint quality as in the texture, shape and gesture of the brush stokes. Very much the opposite of the thin, canvas staining style of oil painting I’ve been using since I moved from the airbrush to the bristle brush.
Moving beyond what is comfortable and works is always a painful process but I hope to take things from the teachings of Ms. Massey and add them to what I already use effectively and make my paintings better. This is my first effort from the class.
Certainly not great but it’s not as bad as it could have been. I got distracted by the drapery behind the set up thinking that I had to capture every fold and nuance of the cloth when in actuality it was only there to provide a middle tone background to set off the tonal changes of the objects. I have a lot to unlearn.
Mary is an excellent teacher. Patient with the students yet requiring us to focus while we are in the classroom environment. Unfortunately the Art Center makes that a bit difficult in the way the studio rooms are arranged. The room we are in has a common entrance with the studio next door and no way to close off the noise and distractions from that direction. Not all the instructors are as concerned with providing quiet surroundings for their students. I’m hoping to find the time between classes to do practice still life paintings but as yet I have not been able to do that. I’m trying to build my caricature business and that takes time.