Wrapping up 2012

-By Dan dos Santos

'Christmas Rush' by Norman Rockwell

Well, 2012 is just about gone, and it's been a rather good year for Muddy Colors.



I'm proud to say that over the course of this year's 366 days, we will have posted 376 times!

This, of course, wouldn't be possible without the efforts of our wonderful, tireless, and surprisingly handsome, group of contributors...  not to mention a lot of guest contributors as well.



In the few short years this blog has been around, I feel like we've shared a lot.  So, in case you joined us late, or maybe you just forgot...  Here's a look at a few notable posts from 2012!



Greg Manchess' '10 Things' lists:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/10/10-thingsapplying-paint.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/10/10-thingsabout-talent.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/10/10-thingsabout-generating-paintings.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/08/10-thingsabout-planning-pictures.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/07/10-things-i-rememberabout-tracing.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/06/10-things-i-rememberabout-portfolios.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/05/10-things-i-rememberabout.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/04/10-thingsi-remember-about-planning.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/03/10-things-to-remember-about-training.html



Some useful information on Studio Safety:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/02/studio-safety-pt-1-ventilation.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/02/studio-safety-pt-2-facts-about.html



A few Composition Basics:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/08/composition-basics-implied-line.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/08/composition-basics-value-structure.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/08/composition-basics-temperature-structure.html



How to Build a Free Website in 10 minutes:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-to-make-free-website-in-less-than.html



How to Promote Yourself on the Internet:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/05/promoting-yourself-on-internet.html



A look back at the work of Moebius:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/03/i-moebius.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/08/moebius-drawing.html



Appreciating Norman Rockwell:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/01/appreciating-rockwell.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/01/appreciating-rockwell-pt-2.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/01/appreciating-rockwell-pt-3.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/01/appreciating-rockwell-pt-4.html



Donato breaks down Color Relativity:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/01/mud-of-frodo.html



Paolo Rivera joins the blog with a bang:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/07/painting-x-men.html



Serge Birault explains how he creates such convincing skin:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/08/digital-skin.html



Terryl Whitlatch shares her creature creation process:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/06/teemto-pagalies-and-other-denizens-of.html



Justin Gerard takes us through his entire process:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2011/12/forest-troll-part-i-thumbnails.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2011/12/forest-troll-part-ii-dwarf-studies.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/01/forest-troll-part-iii-troll-studies.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/01/forest-troll-part-iv-color-comp-and.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/01/forest-troll-part-v-bungling-it.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/01/forest-troll-part-vi-tight-pencil.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/01/forest-troll-part-vii-watercolor.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/01/forest-troll-digital-trickery.html



A History of Dragons by William O'Connor:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/07/history-of-dragons-in-art.html



A whole fortnight of Dragon-Themed posts starts here:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/09/enter-dragon.html



Not one, but two, amazing exhibitions of SFF art:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/06/sfal.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/05/at-edge-art-of-fantastic-exhibition.html



Some brilliant concept art from Justin Sweet:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/06/snow-white-and-huntsman.html



A fantastic interview with Maurice Sendak shortly before his death:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/01/stephen-colbert-interviews-maurice.html



Stan Prokopenko's first of many helpful instruction videos:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-to-draw-head-from-any-angle.html



And last but not least... A slew of amazing Guest Bloggers:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/07/interview-with-ian-mcque.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/07/guest-blogger-vanja-todoric.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/06/guest-blogger-bill-carman.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/06/guest-blogger-dragan-bibin.html

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/09/raoul-vitales-safe.html

Masters of Contemporary Illustration: Vladyslav Yerko

                                                                 By Petar Meseldzija

Vladyslav Yerko was born in 1962 in Kiev, Ukraine. He lived at his
grandmother’s house in the village of Pirniv until he was seven years old and
considers this to be the best time of his life. He spent his first year
sleeping in a large suitcase, which rested on a chair under a lilac tree, and,
likening his childhood to that of Mowgli, from Kipling’s Jungle Book, Yerko
says he was raised, not by wolfs, but by “chickens, turkeys and the village
cats”! His surroundings – the forest and river, insects and fish – all left a deep
and lasting impression on the young boy and to this day, flora, fauna and the
diversity of nature’s beauty serve as the wellspring of his inspiration.



Yerko
graduated from the Kiev Polygraphic Academy before embarking on his highly
successful career as an illustrator.

                              

 

 

Click here for more
work from Yerko.

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Artist of the Month - Bellows

-By William O'Connor

At the beginning of the 20th century the art world had transformed from  the Victorian academic salons to embracing the new Modernism.  Artists like Matisse, Picasso and Duchamp were filling the galleries of Europe and the 1913 New York Armory Show would set the style for the new century.  Amid this cultural turmoil existed a small school of artists living in New York that for most of the next century would go mostly ignored, overshadowed by their Modern contemporaries.  Painting in a realistic manner the subjects of the urban setting around them, depicting the squalor and dirt of the city, they became known as the Ashcan School.

 

One of the leaders of this artistic movement was George Bellows (1882-1925).  Studying at the New York School of Art with other American artists such as Rockwell Kent and becoming the contemporary of other Ashcan painters like John Sloan, Bellows' paintings illustrated the stark and raw streets of New York City, reminiscent of the French Realist,  Daumier.

A new retrospective of Bellows is now on exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York through Feb. 18, 2013.  I had the opportunity to view the retrospective a couple of weeks ago.  I was very surprised to see the Met doing this retrospective since Bellows is not usually a well known artist and I had never had the opportunity to see more than one or two in any museum.  The reason for this was evident.  The placards on the paintings immediately illustrated how un-collectable Bellows had been during the 20th century.  The provenance of the paintings were wide ranging from Arizona, Philadelphia, Brooklyn and Chicago.  It was apparent that no major museum or private collector had collected his work, and that his paintings had been scattered.  This is a wonderful opportunity to see an American artist's retrospective that has not been seen since his sudden death in 1925, and hopefully preludes a renaissance of early 20th century American Realists.



Enjoy.



WOC

Merry (Day After) Christmas!

-by Justin Gerard

Hope you survived the Holidays.

Every other year I try to make a Christmas card. Some years it gets away from me though, and I just can't seem to get to it. This was one of those years.  



So, since I failed miserably, (and since I have never posted this online before,) I am posting this card I made for Christmas 2005. It depicts a heart-warming situation where everyone got just what they wanted for Christmas. Well, most everyone anyway.



Enjoy, and hope you had a wonderful holiday wherever you were!

Merry Christmas, Muddies!

Film Noir from Life

By Paolo Rivera

Merry Christmas Eve, folks! I'm taking a break from my treatise on reference because I'm on vacation. Instead, I'd like to share some sketches from a life drawing session at the Society of Illustrators. It was led brilliantly by Bil Donovan, who decided upon a Film Noir/Pulp Fiction theme. From fedoras to femme fatales to flasks, the props and models were perfect. Hope you enjoy. (The drawings are done either with a brush pen or black and white watercolor).