free submit 1: September 2012

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Painting the Fantastic Four

Mythos: Fantastic Four Cover. 2007.

Acryla Gouache on masonite, 16 × 24″.

After 10 years of drawing no dragons, I actually had to draw several last week, including Lockheed from the X-Men and the "fell beasts" from The Lord of the Rings. Go figure. But now that dragon week(s) is over, I thought I'd get back to the mini-retrospective of my Marvel career.

By 2007, I was pretty set in my ways. Fantastic Four was the penultimate issue of Mythos and I was pretty anxious to finish the gargantuan project. I also started dating my now-fiancee at the time, so I finally had a reason to get out of the house. I still don't get out much, but at that time I was basically the Mole Man.

Mythos: Fantastic Four Title Page. 2007.

Gouache and acrylic on bristol board, 11 × 5″.

Starting with Mythos: Hulk, I made cutesy title pages featuring all the major characters in the issue. These weren't in the budget (i.e. Marvel didn't ask for it and I didn't get paid for them) but I felt like they were a nice intro and I could usually sell the original art. When my Mom saw these for the first time, she said it looked like Mitt and Ann Romney. I only listened to NPR, so I had no idea what they looked like back then. I know better now. (You can see my reference for Mr. Fantastic here.)

Mythos: Fantastic Four, Page 17. 2007.

Gouache and acrylic on bristol board, 11 × 17″.

Despite the super-heroic subject matter, much of the imagery in this issue was relatively mundane. As a result, I lavished detail into the few pages that featured fantastic imagery. I always have a grand ol' time painting fire, so the Human Torch was a delight. (He's totally naked in this pic, by the way. I've always wanted to repaint it for a Marvel Max special edition.) This scene depicts the first time Johnny Storm "flames on" and the nurse behind him is just about to extinguish him. In the foreground, I painted a shocked Reed Richards, whose jaw has literally dropped to the ground. I talk more about making things "glow" in a previous post.

Digital Color Study

The secret to painting fire is making everything else darker, so color studies are especially helpful for planning your palette. I had an intern that summer, Orpheus Collar, who still flats my colored pages to this day. He would take my layouts, add a layer of color in Photoshop, and I'd take it from there. It also helps to have great flame reference, which I posted here.

Mythos: Fantastic Four, Page 1. 2007.

Gouache and acrylic on bristol board, 11 × 17″.

The narrative was structured around a senate hearing where the Fantastic Four recounted the extraordinary events that gave them their powers. This meant finding a lot of reference for the Dirksen building where they hold inquiries of all sorts. (I only know things like that because I'm a comic book artist.)

Mythos: Fantastic Four, Page 18. 2007.

Gouache and acrylic on bristol board, 11 × 17″.

At the time, part of me dreaded the congressional scenes because it was page after page of people sitting in a court room. I think I could have a lot more fun with it now. One thing worked out: it went with the blue and orange color scheme that I mapped out for the book. I also had to design a rocket that could transform into a rotating space station once in orbit. That was hard.

Mythos: Fantastic Four, Page 12, Panels 1-2. 2007.

Gouache and acrylic on bristol board, 11 × 17″.

The rocket had to have an escape pod that looked a lot like the Space Shuttle. After getting bombarded by cosmic rays, it lands safely on autopilot, and I got to draw lots of people in colored suits. That's one reason it's so fun for me to paint superheroes — it's one big excuse to use the brightest of pigments.

Mythos: Fantastic Four, Page 19. 2007.

Gouache and acrylic on bristol board, 11 × 17″.

Every good comics deserves a montage, and this one encompassed all the FF history I could fit (and was familiar with). It's sort of a confusing image, but the writer, Paul Jenkins, asked a lot of me: the team looking through glass doors at the horde of reporters outside, while their epic future is reflected about them. My favorite part is the 2-parallel-lines-mean-glass turning into the speed lines for the Silver Surfer.

Mythos: Fantastic Four, The Baxter Building. 2007.

Gouache and acrylic on bristol board, 11 × 17″.

My one request from Jenkins was that he leave me an extra page in the script where I could paint my version of the Baxter Building, the FF headquarters. It took a hell of a lot of time, but I loved every painstaking minute of it. I also got some pro-bono typographic help from my wife-to-be. You can see the step-by-step process here.

And finally, I'll leave you with the Super Sculpey Firm maquettes that I sculpted for reference (more pics here). These were a great help in lighting and likeness. The Thing was the most fun, but when I imported the pics into iPhoto, his was the only mug that wasn't recognized by the software as being a face. Poor, poor Benjamin Grimm.

The Best Movie Dragon

Last week we had a poll, asking you which movie you thought had the best dragon. The results are in, and the winner is...

'How to Train Your Dragon'.

In honor of your selection, here is a small sampling of some concept art from the movie. If you like what you see, be sure to check out the 'Art of' book. You can purchase it HERE.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Exhibits Galore!

-By Dan dos Santos

Personally, I think there is no better way to celebrate Autumn than to hop in the car, enjoy the New England foliage, and visit some of my favorite museums. To make it even better, there are a lot of fantastic exhibits to see right now.

For New Englanders, The Lyman Allyn Museum in Connecticut is currently hosting Dinotopia: Art, Science, and Imagination.

I'm sure if you're a regular reader of this blog, you already know who James Gurney, the creator of Dinotopia, is. But this new display of work should be of particular interest to artists as it not only showcases James' final works, but also his sketches, color studies, and maquettes.

It is an intensive retrospective which delves into the entire creation of the book, which is currently enjoying it's 20th Anniversary.

The exhibition runs from September 22nd - February 2, 1013.

Also in Connecticut, just a 20 minute ride from Manhattan, is Flash Gordon and the Heroes of the Universe, hosted by the Stamford Museum & Nature Center.

This exhibit showcases artwork by two of the finest Flash Gordon illustrators, Alex Raymond and Al Williamson, as well as numerous other science fiction cartoonists. The artwork and memorabilia on display, representing space adventure creations from Buck Rogers to Star Wars, provides evidence of the significant impact that these heroes of the universe have had on American culture.

If any of you have seen the Al Williamson Archives that have recently been released by Flesk Publications, you already know what a phenomenal draftsman the man was. I, for one, can not wait to see some of these drawings in person.

The exhibit runs from September 22nd- November 4th.

Just a little further north, the Norman Rockwell Museum is hosting Howard Pyle: American Master Rediscovered.

Hopefully, Howard Pyle doesn't need an introduction. But for those of you who are not familiar with his work, let's just say his informal title as 'The Grandfather of American Illustration' is very well deserved, and quite possibly a little bit inadequate.

This exhibit has been up for a little while now, and comes down in less than a month. I encourage all of you that can, to take advantage of this opportunity to see it.

(On a related note, The Norman Rockwell Museum will also be host to an upcoming retrospective of Alex Ross' comic book art, so keep your eyes peeled for that in November!)

For you West Coasters, tonight is the opening reception for Borrowed Memories at Thinkspace Gallery.

This two woman show spotlights the work of Tran Nguyen (above) and Stella Im Hultberg.

I'm a big fan of Tran's work, and was fortunate enough to see a sneak peek of the show. As usual, Tran doesn't disappoint. Her works are imaginative, feminine, and from a technical standpoint, stellar.

If you're in the area, this is definitely the place to be tonight.

New Study Sheds True Light on Limited Effects of CrowdFunding

A new study says crowdfunding benefits only certain kinds of movies. This is a very informative and honest article written by Evgeny Morozov for SLATE MAGAZINE. Check it out after the jump:

To see how the highly decentralized world of social media could disrupt the hegemony of established taste-makers in music, design, or fashion, look no further than Kickstarter. Just like Wikipedia redefined the process of creating an encyclopedia, this poster child of the crowdfunding revolution could redefine how dreamers raise funds for their next gadget or film—and perhaps even beget a cultural renaissance.

All of this sounds beautiful in theory. Have a great idea for a new project? Simply sign up for Kickstarter and post a description (don't forget to make a glitzy video in support), set your fundraising target and the deadline, create a panoply of rewards tied to various contributions (for instance, $5 might get you the new CD, but $5,000 would also get you a dinner with the musician), and spread the word about the campaign. If you meet the fundraising target, Kickstarter takes a 5 percent cut and the project goes ahead—if you don’t, no money changes hands. The platform is enjoying tremendous success: Earlier this year, one of its founders proclaimed—to some controversy—that in 2012 Kickstarter might distribute more money ($150 million) than the National Endowment for the Arts (its budget for the year is $146 million).

Such phenomenal success has attracted its fair share of criticisms. Some, like NPR, have bashed Kickstarter for being rather opaque about how it deals with projects that, once funded, provide few (or questionable) updates on their progress, face significant delays, or never deliver at all. Those aren't few: A recent study from the University of Pennsylvania looked at 47,000 Kickstarter projects and found that more than 75 percent deliver with delays. It's hard to say how many projects never deliver, as for Kickstarter “never” is a rather flexible term: Instead of acknowledging failure, many doomed projects simply drag on indefinitely, providing no updates and constantly postponing the launch date.

Delays are particularly common among projects that go viral and raise far more money than originally planned. Kickstarter has few incentives to safeguard such projects from their own viral success: The organization takes a cut from all money raised. And while Kickstarter expects that projects that don't deliver will eventually compensate their backers, it has no way to enforce such a policy.

As the projects advertised on Kickstarter move beyond entertainment and start tackling problems like urbanism and designing more livable cities, it's no longer enough to evaluate them solely in aesthetic and functional terms. For example, architecture and design critic Alexandra Lange has taken issue with the narrow, gadget-driven approach to solving complex urban problems that Kickstarer encourages. “You wouldn’t Kickstart a replacement bus line for Brooklyn, but you might Kickstart an app to tell you when the bus on another, less convenient line might come. You can’t Kickstart affordable housing, but the really cool tent for the discussion thereof,” wrote Lange in Design Observer. A community that is channeling its energy into crowdfunding a new urban park might be less prone to participate in the boring but consequential urban planning meetings at the local town hall.

All of these are substantial, potent criticisms, and the company has addressed at least some of them. But one of the assumptions that has mostly gone untested is that Kickstarter, with its great emancipatory potential to free creative artists from the shackles of the entertainment industry, would revitalize our culture, make it more diverse and less dependent on the conservative or greedy gatekeepers.

A new article in the latest issue of Media, Culture, and Society by the Danish academic Inge Ejbye Sørensen challenges this assumption and tells a more complex story about the impact of sites like Kickstarter on the culture industry. Sørensen studied how crowdfunding has affected documentary filmmaking in the United Kingdom. Britain stands out from other countries in that most of its documentaries are produced and fully funded by one of its four main broadcasters (BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5) that dictate the terms to the filmmaker. In this context, crowfunding seems liberating, even revolutionary.

But, as Sørensen points out, this revolution has a few mitigating circumstances. First, Kickstarter might produce many new documentaries, but the odds are that those documentaries will be of a very particular kind (this critique also applies to other sites in this field like indiegogo.com, sponsume.com, crowdfunder.co.uk, pledgie.com). They are likely to be campaign and issue-driven films in the tradition of Super Size Me or An Inconvenient Truth. Their directors seek social change and tap into an online public that shares the documentary's activist agenda. A documentary exploring the causes of World War I probably stands to receive less—if any—online funding than a documentary exploring the causes of climate change.

Read the rest of this interesting piece here.

- Lena

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Vanessa Lake and Tentacle - Walkthrough

-By Serge Birault

Here's a caricature of the californian model, Vanessa Lake. I did this picture last year, after several tests. I just wanted to do a picture full of pink.

Vanessa is a great model, she's got a very interesting face. I used several photo references for her face. Here's a list of links:

http://www.modelmayhem.com/1135277

http://ispyvanessalake.com/

http://vanessalake.deviantart.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vanessa-Lake/156046511100024

Well, yes, I know, all this lines mean nothing. In fact, I added the composition over the sketch ... :D

Seriously, if you work with a computer, don't think too much about "lines" (curves are far more important if you paint pin ups). You can easily change your composition, change scales and ratio, erase and retry... Composition is more about training than rules.

The final picture is an A3 format, 300 dpi.

First, as usual, I choosed my background color. This pink color was my background tone and my ambiant light. For the skin, I started with a swath of classical flesh color. For all the gradients, I used the airbrush ( the soft round brush) with very low opacity.

Once again, the more difficult part was to find the good contrast. Once again, the skin looks very plastic (as all the parts of this picture). Once again, I had to cheat a little bit with the volumes...

The hair were an interestig part to paint. Indeed, I'm still trying to find a way to do "cartoon" hair. My good friend David "Loopydave" Dunstan provided me good inspirations.

I added a little bit of pink retro light on the edges. I think it works well and the hair look more plastic that way.

I did the tattoo on the shoulder with a lot of different layers. It would be too long to explain here but I did a small tutorial in order to paint tattoos on my FB page HERE

It's the real tatto of Vanessa, she provided me references. White latex is not easy to do, it's very difficult to fnd the good contrast. I finally changed my mind for her left hand. Yes, you have have the right to change your mind whenever you want with softwares :p

The pink tentacle has to be a little bit transparent and very reflective (like the lollipop). Here's the method above.

I did very few adjustments on this picture : a little bit of contrast, a little bit of yellow and a very soft gradient on the background. I can't remember how much time I spent of this one, but less than 20 hours.

It seems Vanessa liked it a lot ... Job done :)

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

The Object of My Desire - Captain America

By Donato

This past Tuesday I shared some high resolution jpgs of detailed areas of historical paintings to a class I am teaching. It reminded me how much I love to get up close and personal with works of art. These intimate inspections not only allow us to better understand how they were created, but in closing in on the art, we are placing ourselves in the physical space once occupied by the artwork's originator. This is all the more true when visiting works in a museum, gallery or exhibition. The visceral experience and 'high' I receive from these interactions with unique, physical objects are the main reason I will likely never become a digital artist - I have conditioned myself to fall in love with physical objects of desire.

This is not an assessment of digital art, but rather speaks to the approach I have taken towards painting during the development of my career as an illustrator and painter. The treatment of my paintings and conversion of them into commercial designs during the first year of my professional career drove home the fact that these illustrations were nothing more than part of a tool in marketing - to be manipulated and distorted to the needs of my client in selling their product. This use of my art reconditioned my expectations regarding illustration commissions from that of seeking pleasure in seeing my art on a book cover or magazine distributed worldwide, to that of seeking pleasure in the sheer process of making the original painting in oils. Rather than falling in love with the image, I fell in love with the object. Nothing more simple as that has driven my entire career.

Thus while this conditioning has worked for me, the same 'object love' may not work for millions who are in the midst of the digital age creating art on the computer. Your challenge is to fall in love with your art in a different manner. For when you are passionate about your art, it is easy to spend an entire day in the physical proximity of that which you so dearly desire...

Captain America : Duty 48" x 36" Oil on Panel 2012

A Young Girl Defending Herself Against Eros, William Bouguereau detail 1880

Howard Lyon: Color Theory

Our good friend, and really talented artist, Howard Lyon just posted a wonderful article on color theory on his blog.

Titled 'Building Harmonious Color', Howard breaks down for his readers how to achieve a a cohesive color 'scheme' for a painting in very simple, easy-to-understand terms.

If you have trouble using a limited palette, or difficulty achieving 'mood' in your pieces, this is a really good read. You can check it out: HERE

Monkey Business

By Jesper Ejsing

Demogorgon

I just found this graffiti on the internet. I am sorry I cannot credit the guy who painted it, since I guess it was made illegally and posted under an alias. But, he did credit my original painting as being an inspiration. This homage really warms my heart.

I painted graffitti when I was young. I was very young and did not really dare to paint on walls or tunnels or trains. My buddy and I decorated shops or youth clubs . We painted graffiti pieces on canvas that were stitched to the back of our denim jackets. Every Monday we wore a new one that we had spent the weekend working on. I was doing the figures and my buddy Michael was making the letters. I remember one summer where I earned most of my vacation money from doing these kind of "Back Paintings" for a group of local Bikers called "Big Balls". The figure was an angry bull wielding a dagger, holding forth some hairy, cut off balls. As you see, I acquired a good taste in arts from a very early age.

I am sorry I cannot post any of my old graffiti. It has all been painted over or worn out.

In my heart I feel very "Oldschool" ( my Wife laughs at me when ever I try to insinuate that I am a hip hopper, or when I suggest that I am cool and used to be a rapper ).

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

How Actors Unknowingly Hurt Their Careers

Here is a great piece from Backstage, written by the "Secret Agent Man." Learn from it, enjoy it, after the jump:

"I met Lucifer in a bar the other night, and he confessed that he likes to put bad ideas in the heads of smart actors. Curious, I asked why he did this. The author of all sin smiled. “Creative people annoy me. Just look at the so-called great works of art that claim to capture my image. You would be upset too.”

Lucifer had a point. The man in front of me wasn’t a horned monster with a red tail. He actually looked a little like Jeremy Irons.

We ordered another round. My new friend went on to explain that actors are especially open to suggestion because they’re such desperate beings. “Convincing them to get in their own way requires little more than a whisper in their ears.”

I was stunned. Actors are always cutting their own throats for no apparent reason. Could the devil himself be the root of all that self-destructive behavior?

Just last week, a client shocked me by ruining an opportunity I created at her request. Clara, an established actor in her 40s, had been begging me to get her in the room for one of her favorite TV shows. So when the right part crossed my desk, I convinced the casting director to give her a shot.

The show’s office was on the Universal lot, up in the Valley. Since it was hard to find, casting sent me a detailed map with parking directions. I told Clara to leave early, just to be safe.

After the audition, she was in a state of shock. Everything went wrong, and it was all her fault.

Here’s what happened. Clara barely glanced at the map before leaving her home. She just assumed it would all make sense when she got there. Well, it didn’t. Clara couldn’t find the right parking structure so she left her car in the wrong place, a spot which was half a mile away from the casting office. And this was on a summer afternoon when it gets past 100 degrees in the Valley.

So she arrived at the audition 20 minutes late, covered in sweat. There was no time to waste because the director had to leave, so casting rushed her into the office. Naturally, the audition didn’t go well, and now it’s going to be a hundred times harder for me to get her back in the room.

When I asked Clara why she had behaved in such an unprofessional manner, she wasn’t able to give me an honest answer.

I finished my drink and turned to Lucifer.

“Was that you?”

He grinned.

My mind started to race. I remembered the time I had to drop a young client because he was badmouthing me in public. The idiot had been at a workshop, waiting for his scene partner, when he decided to talk some trash. A passing casting assistant heard him and called me in the morning.

Then there was the time an actor followed me into a restaurant, interrupted my dinner, and begged me for a meeting.

And what about those clients who passed on auditions because they didn’t think they were right for the parts? Why wouldn’t they allow the casting director to make that decision?

Or worst of all, how about all the actors who write in to Backstage, begging for a meeting with Secret Agent Man when they don’t even know who I am or where I work?

Lucifer stood up. It was time to move on. He explained that Hollywood was keeping him busy.

I had to ask.

“Will I see you again?”

“Perhaps.”

As the Prince of Darkness strolled off into the night, I made a mental note to pick up some holy water and a few crosses on my way home." - Secret Agent Man, Backstage Magazine

- Lena

How to Draw the Eyes

Stan Prokopenko just keeps impressing me!

Seriously, if you guys haven't watched these videos yet, you need to. I've seen a marked improvement in my own work since I started watching (and re-watching) these.

Previous videos in the series can be found here:

Head Part 1 (Any Angle): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EPNYWeEf1U

Head Part 2 (Front View): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4ZLkyTuX_w

Head Part 3 (Side View): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS6R2l8t8wo

Head Part 4 (Extreme Angle): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgK90TpV5fA

Monday, September 24, 2012

Wrapping it up... with a bow!

-By Dan dos Santos

So 'Dragon Fortnight' has finally come to an end. Thank you to everyone who went out of their way to do special posts for us, especially our guest bloggers. It may only take a few minutes to read, but each of these posts takes hours to compile. I am deeply appreciative of the time all our contributors have taken to do this for our us.

For those of you who may have missed a post, or those who would like to re-read some of them in your spare time, we've got a treat for you.

I've compiled the last 2 weeks of dragon-themed posts, as well as every other dragon related post on Muddy Colors, into a single downloadable PDF for you! That's 30 articles in all.

To download the PDF, just click here: http://www65.zippyshare.com/v/70871130/file.html

(This is a free hosting service, so please beware of pop-ups.)

I decided to include all the comments as well, as there is often valuable information in the form of replies therein.

It's not pretty to look at, and there are definitely some formatting errors, but it gets the job done. Once I delve into this more, and work out some of the kinks, you can expect to see many more of our past posts compiled into easy-to-read ebooks for you.

Enjoy!

Kevin Adams' NO SOCA NO LIFE Premieres Today!

Our friend Kevin Adams' film premieres today at Movie Towne!

OLIVIA is a teenage girl from an impoverished community with a fabulous singing voice honed in the church choir. When she decides to use her voice to sing SOCA, however, Olivia must face many hurdles - not least of all stiff opposition from her mother.

Written & Directed by Kevin Adams Executive Produced by T&T Film Company Produced by Nigel Thompson

STARRING:

TERRI LYONS (SOCA ARTIST) DEBUT FILM PERFORMANCE

PENELOPE SPENCER, MICHAEL CHERRIE, JAMIE LEE PHILLIPS, CHRIS STARR

SCREENING INFO:

Sept 24 @ MOVIETOWNE POS @ 3:30PM (Q&A) PREMIERE
Sept 25 @ MAYARO @ 7:00pm
Sept 29 @ MOVIETOWNE TOBAGO @ 5:30pm
Oct 2 @ MOVIE TOWN POS @ 3:30PM
Oct 2 @ MOVIETOWNE TOBAGO @ 8:00PM

MovieTowne Venues Admission - TT$25
MAYARO - Free

Here is the trailer!

NO SOCA NO LIFE from kevin adams on Vimeo.

Facebook RSVP HERE!

- Lena

Dragon Wind-up

by Arnie Fenner

After two solid weeks of dragons, you're all probably ready to move on to other things. So let's wind the subject up with some influential movie wyrms through the years...