June 2018: Limited Edition Giclee Prints

May 01, 2018 in Illustration, Kickstarter

I went to the printers yesterday! Well worth the drive too. I wanted to pick out some paper choices and make sure that the print is as accurate to the original as possible. I'm going with a square format. Between 8"x8" and 12"x12". Still deciding which is the best choice. These will be limited edition signed and numbered giclee archival prints. Fancy prints. I'll start building my Kickstarter campaign today. Do sign up for the Newsletter if you want a print. Or you can keep track with the Facebook Event Page.

Quick Summary:
I will be having 2 Kickstarters. The 1st will be a limited edition signed and numbered giclee print on run of a select illustration from the book. The Kickstarter will run from June 1st-30th, 2018. I'll have more annoucements about this as the date gets closer. I'm hoping this Kickstarter will help grow anticipation for Part 2: Little Mermaid Illustrated Book, give me experience running a Kickstarter, and help me purchase props and pay models for the references photos I'll need to take to complete the illustrations for Part 2: Little Mermaid Illustrated Book. Keep up to date with this project by checking out the Kickstarter Home Page and/ or signup for the quarterly Newsletter.

Gallery 1988: Beetlejuice FanArt

April 06, 2018 in Illustration, Portrait, Process Work

See the process and design notes behind illustrator Ashly Lovett's "Call Betelgeuse" chalk pastel drawing.

Gallery 1988: Pan's Labyrinth Process Work

November 17, 2017 in Illustration, Patreon, Process Work, Time Lapse Demos

Opening Nov 18th, 7pm at Gallery 1988 in LA.
7308 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

Don't miss my chalk pastel pieces of Pan's Labyrinth ( El Laberinto del Fauno) on display with Gallery 1988's Crazy 4 Cult 11 Show opening tonight at 7pm. Chalk pastel on BFK Rives paper. Both artwork pieces measure 13x20". Matted and framed with UV museum glass. Total size 21x29". Also, 10 8x10 limited edition signed prints available too.

Time-lapse Videos. Chalk Pastel on Paper.

Why Pan's Labyrinth?
I first did The Pale Man as a live demo for my patrons and Patreon. I love the film so much that I wanted to make it a series for a show I was participating in with Gallery 1988 in LA. To get involved in my next fan art piece, joining my Patreon at Patreon.com/AshlyLovett.

Movie Plot Summary
In 1944, in the post-Civil War in Spain, rebels still fight in the mountains against the falangist troops. The young and imaginative Ofelia travels with her pregnant and sick mother Carmen Vidal to the country to meet and live with her stepfather, the sadistic and cruel Captain Vidal, in an old mill. During the night, Ofelia meets a fairy and together they go to a pit in the center of a maze where they meet a faun that tells that she is a princess from a kingdom in the underground. He also tells that her father is waiting for her, but she needs to accomplish three gruesome, tough and dangerous assignments first. Meanwhile, she becomes a friend of the servant Mercedes, who is the sister of one of the rebels and actually is giving support to the group. In a dark, harsh and violent world, Ofelia lives her magical world trying to survive her tasks and sees her father and king again. - Written by Caudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. IMDB.com

Process Work: Research Stage
With the beginning of each fan art piece, I start with my research behind my character and the story. I started with the color palette.

" I used the angular, cold world of fascist-era Spain to represent reality, and a very rounded and uterine world to represent the fantasy that the child escapes into. I guess you could say that I am obsessed with images of stillborn things, and seduced by the idea that the womb is the most comfortable place to be." - The Guardian (article link here)

I also found this fascinating article about the lighting objectives and how they worked with the film's low budget and struggled with their environment:

"'The initial color differentiation between the film’s two worlds was simple: Ofelia’s fantasy world would feature mainly warm colors, primarily “deep crimsons and golden ambers, almost like amniotic fluids,' notes Del Toro....In the Pale Man’s intensely warm environment, which is dominated by red tones and a blazing fire..." -American Society of Cinematography (article link here)

The Pale Man represents all institutional evil feeding on the helpless. In fact, this character is inspired by Saturn Devouring His Son by Francisco Goya. In an interview with Screen Anarchy Del Toro says, " The Pale Man represents the Church for me, y'know? [He] represents fascism and the Church eating the children when they have a perversely abundant banquet in front of them. There is almost a hunger to eat innocence."

It was also intended to be an old wrinkly man. However, during the sculpting stage, Del Toro wanted it more humanoid and suggested shapes similar to a manta ray. The creepiness factor went way up and they went with it. Read about it here.

Process Work: Sketch Phase
After getting a feel for the look and reason behind the character, I started sketching from the movie to get to know Mr. Pale Man better. I knew I had to include his eye hands in some way. It is a key feature of his character. Now how to do it best?

I didn't want to just take a screenshot straight from the movie. That's too easy and has been done time and time again. I wanted to showcase his wrinkles, the translucent skin, the blue veins, and I knew I wanted a long verticle to compliment his skinny form. I was lucky enough to come across David Marti's Instagram. He is the Co-owner of DDTSFX with Montse, the production company responsible for the prosthetics used for Pan's Labyrinth. There I pulled tons of reference from photos and videos. They were very helpful in understanding The Pale Man's body. I eventually found this gem of a photo on Google images searching "the pale man makeup team." (Side Note: Muddycolors.com put together an excellent post about googling references photos. Click here to read)
I did some Photoshopping-Frankeisteining and came up with a fabulous reference photo for my final illustration. From there I tapped 16x21 piece of BFK Rives paper onto my drawing board and went to town.

Process Work: Final Drawing
I work with chalk pastels on BFK Rives printmaking paper. The biggest challenge for this piece was controlling my values. I had to make a decision to either apply my details in the areas cast in light or shadow. Doing both would only make the piece overworked. Both sides would fight for interest. I chose the lighted areas. The second biggest challenge was designing the forms. This character doesn't have normal features (duh.) Normally I love working with the hair and the plains of the face to create depth, form, interest, and flow. I didn't have that option here, so I had to take great care with carefully placed shadows and highlights to show form.

The most fun was adding the highlights on his hands. It really helped it pop! I also enjoyed adding green throughout the piece to help bring out the reds since they are complimentary colors. Finding places to add subtle blues and purples was a fun challenge too. I didn't want it to be just reds, blacks, and yellows. I needed warm browns and other colors to liven up the overall palette. I used cold medium grey for the veins on his skull, arms, and chest.

Below are process images, close-ups, and 2 time-lapse videos of the making of this piece. I originally offered the time-lapse videos to my patrons, but I really wanted to share it for this blog post. So enjoy!

The final illustration measures 13"x21". Click the images to zoom.
I'm a big fan of Del Toro's work. My first fan art piece was of Crimson Peak (right.) Later this year I plan to do a Hellboy and another Pan's Labyrinth piece featuring the faun. I just need to put aside the time for this kind of personal work since I really enjoy it.

Click here to see process work and a time-lapse video for this piece.

Gallery 1988: BoJack Horseman

September 08, 2017 in Illustration

Buy the original or limited edition prints at Gallery 1988

Pan's Labyrinth Fan Art: The Pale Man

May 09, 2017 in Illustration, Patreon, Process Work, Time Lapse Demos

Why Pan's Labyrinth?
I've been wanting to do a fan art piece for a while now, so I left it up to my patrons on Patreon to vote on what I should do next! To get involved in my next fan art piece, joining my Patreon at Patreon.com/AshlyLovett.

Process Work: Research Stage
With the beginning of each fan art piece, I start with my research behind my character and the story. I started with the color palette.

I also found this fascinating article about the lighting objectives and how they worked with the film's low budget and struggled with their environment:

Rick and Morty Process Work and Demo Video

January 13, 2017 in Illustration, News, Process Work, Time Lapse Demos

Very happy to announce that I'll be participating in 4 group shows this year with Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles, CA. They are well known for curating pop culture shows and I'm honored to work with them!

I'm starting off the year with the first official Rick and Morty art show, which opens tonight at 7pm-9pm at Gallery 1988 West. Rick and Morty is a cartoon featured on Adult Swim. If you can't attend, the show is online (click here.)

There you can purchase the originals (Update: Rick sold) or 1 of 10 limited edition prints (Update: First edition sold out. New 11x14 variant prints now available. Click here to purchase). Below is my chalk pastel piece titled "Rick" which will be in the show.

Process Work

Sketchbook phase first. I needed to understand what made these characters look like "them". Learn the subtleties. I found that I needed to be careful with my line work and placement of the nose and eyes. Otherwise, they'll start looking like a muppet. After a few episodes, I eventually I got the swing of things. It's interesting that they make their pupils squiggly.

If you are unfamiliar with the show, it airs on Adult Swim and is moving along to a Season 3. This promo videos does better justice in explaining the show I think. Enjoy! It's hiliarious.

From the sketch phase. I collected reference photos from the show to get to know the color palette and wacky characters. My initial idea was to do a more illustrative piece, but even after a lot of process work, I decided against it. I love portrait work and that is what I sent the gallery when they accepted my portfolio. If I want to explore more illustrative work then it needs to be with another project. Always a good lesson to know it's ok to throw out hours of process work if the idea from the beginning is just not a right fit.

Time-lapse of my chalk pastel drawing of "Rick"

I wanted to make sure I didn't make Rick a nice guy. He is a selfish sarcastic old man who gets drunk all the time. I also really wanted to make sure he had a long face and hair that mimicked the same silhouette. And that uni-bro. I had to give it justice!

What about Morty?

After finishing my Rick portrait, I thought, "Why not do a complimentary Morty piece?" The deadline for the artwork was no later that Jan 6th and the gallery gave me the OK. I finished and shipped my Rick portrait framed and ready on the 22nd. I started a Morty portrait but realized I didn't want to rush it. Morty was a more difficult subject matter due to the fact that his character is made to be less interesting that Rick. I mean...it's not hard to make an eccentric drunk scientist with crazy hair into an interesting portrait. Also, Rick was an old man, which gave me many opportunities to play with lots of line work and interesting marks because of wrinkles. Morty is 14.

You have Morty who isn't very smart and below average in just about everything. His character is designed to look average. So it was a battle working out Morty's face while still trying to make his portrait stand alone. How to put in interesting mark making while still trying to keep him looking young and still in the same world as my Rick portrait? In the end, I decided it was better to just send in "Rick" for the gallery show and finish Morty as a fan art piece for myself. I'm happy with it and glad I took my time. And here he is.

To purchase the original Morty or get a Rick or Morty limited edition print Purchase Them Here at Gallery 1988's online store.

(323) 937-7088
gallery1988west@gmail.com

Rick and Morty is TM©Cartoon Network

Month of Fear Week 3: Door

October 21, 2016 in Coraline, Month of Fear, Process Work, Illustration

Month of Fear Week 3: Door
Of course, I couldn't help but think of the book Coraline.

"Coraline’s mouth dropped open in horror and she stepped out of the way as the thing clicked and scuttled past her and out of the house, running crablike on its too-many tapping, clicking, scurrying feet. She knew what it was, and she knew what it was after. She had seen it too many times in the last few days, reaching and clutching and snatching and popping blackbeetles obediently into the other mother’s mouth. Five-footed, crimson-nailed, the color of bone.

It was the other mother’s right hand.

It wanted the black key."

Below is my reference gallery of artwork (Dave Mckean and Sam Wolfe Connelly) and photos, my own reference photography (use of grey construction paper and packing tape), my rough sketch, and uncleaned up version.

This is not my first go with illustrations from the book Caroline by Neil Gaiman. If you'd like to see the process work involved in making the illustrations below, click this tag and scroll down to see everything: Category: Coraline

Month of Fear: Week 1 Secrets

October 08, 2016 in Month of Fear, Process Work, Illustration

Month of Fear is back! And here is my latest piece. This first week's word is "Secrets."

To learn more about this monthly challenge click here. To see my work last year, use the link on the right.

This piece went really quickly because I had a lot of things going on this month. I started with this thumbnail and let the idea tumble around in my head.

Art work inspiration from James Jean,Rovina Cai, and others.

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Every Day Original: Pan

May 07, 2016 in Every Day Original, Illustration, Portrait, Time Lapse Demos, Patreon

4x6 chalk pastel on BFK RIves paper. Available on May 10th at EveryDayOriginal.com. Check out my Newsletter for the price and frame dimension details.

This was a good challenge for me. I normally like doing portraits with dark hair, because the face is framed nicely with all that dark contrast. With this one I really had to control the values of the skin. I also wanted to have Peter Pan dirty since he was such a wild child, which adds more to the challenge for the skin tone. The old black and white 1954 film Lord of the Flies was very helpful reference for that dirty mud child look. You may also notice that Peter's eye seems to be brighter than the rest of the illustration. With my greyscale pastels, I usually prefer to use cold grey colors. However, with the pupil I used a warm light grey to give it some extra life.

"To die would be an awfully big adventure."

My Reference Gallery:

Mad Max: Furiosa

April 06, 2016 in Illustration, Every Day Original, Time Lapse Demos

Every Day Original was at Society of Illustrator's MoCCA Art Festival in NY this past weekend with my "Furiosa" piece for sale. 4x6 original chalk pastel in a metal frame.

See a quick 15 sec process video here.

Month of Love Surprise! Seasons: "Peony"

February 29, 2016 in Month of Love, Portrait, Process Work, Illustration, Time Lapse Demos

The roster artists did a secret one last Month of Love day for the leap year! The theme was seasons and I highly suggest you check out some of the amazing work displayed today. I personally been wanting to do a series of flower faces. For this piece it needed to be bright and colorful! It is spring, which is full of life and energy. I do a lot of horror themed work and this is a good change in pace.

I notice people really like these time-lapse video, so I'm going to try and post longer ones. After seeing the color quality of this video, I'll be researching cameras. The color is SO far off, but at least you can still see the values clearly. In all my videos I do lot of trial and error till I'm happy with the color and drawing. I think this history of color is what gives my illustrations more life. I also want to say that it is truly useful to not be precious with your work. Sometimes you need to be willing to destroy your illustration, so you can build something better. It may help to think "If I did it once, I can do it again." An excellent artist to follow for this is Vanessa Lemen. She did 2 post on Muddy Color: Painting Process and A Spontaneous and Responsive Process.

In my last post I spoke about implied lines in my composition. As you can see below (middle image) I use a lot of implied lines to help your eye travel around the flower petals in a spiral. I then had to use the background to keep your eye within the center. Because I used such a blunt and centered composition, I wanted to continue this theme of symmetry by making the subject looking directly forward. Everywhere outside the face has a lot of energetic, organic lines and the smooth face makes a great contrast and gives the eye a place to rest. And with all these swirling organic shapes everywhere, I knew I needed to anchor the piece was horizontal implied lines (far right image.) My line work is naturally organic and an instructor pointed this out to me one day. Since then I try to incorporate geometric (strong horizontal and vertical) line work to help contrast and strengthen my organic way of working.

I turned to a lot of my favorite artists for this project. James Jean and Loish were big influences I think. I also really wanted the character's face to have very open bright eyes. I thought instantly to the Forest Spirit in Princess Mononoke. I always loved how "knowing" those bright eyes seemed.

This is the last week to participate in Month of Love! The last week's word is Fantasy.

Month of Love: Weapon. Crimson Peak

February 25, 2016 in Crimson Peak, Month of Love, Illustration, Portrait

This piece was intended for Week 3 of Month of Love with the theme word weapon. I felt Crimson Peak was an excellent fit considering that love being used as a weapon is a repeated theme throughout the film. Crimson Peak is a gothic romantic and simply beautiful. Here is the trailer. Even though I missed the deadline for Week 3, I'm happy I got this illustration where I wanted it. This piece took me a lot longer to complete and I even started over 3 times. Perseverance and stubbornness prevailed. The color pallet was a lot of fun to play with. I used a lot of blues and purples and warm greys for the hair. I love my Sennelier Burnt Madder red pastel for the blood/red clay and how it popped with this subdued pallet.

I've been a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak since I first saw it at the movies. I illustrated another tribute piece Thomas. To see Thomas and a 4 min time lapse video of its making, click here.

This background was a great tool to put in some implied lines and keep your eye moving around the composition. MuddyColors did a good post about this. I highly suggest it if you are looking for ways to strengthen your illustrations.

Below is my reference/inspiration. Including my self-reference. Self-sticks are very useful for this. Especially if you're out of town, in a hotel, and don't have your usual models! Luckily, the hotel had an excellent knife to work with.

I know they used Pre-Raphaelite reference for her character sheet, so I tried to keep that in mind when designing this illustration. I wanted soft tones and that flowing hair.

Lastly, I encourage you to Follow my Instagram if you like seeing process work. IG is the first place I go to to share whatever I'm working on in the studio.

Month of Love: Lost in Translation. "Leeloo"

February 08, 2016 in Month of Love, Time Lapse Demos, Process Work, Illustration, Portrait

Each week of the month of February, I'll be doing an illustration based of the given word or phrase. Learn more about Month of Love here. You can also check out my pieces from the last challenge Month of Fear.
This weeks phrase: Lost in translation. The Language of Love has many dialects. Sometimes we’re fluent and other times… it’s all Greek.

LeeLoo from the awesome film The Fifth Element. Original chalk pastel on BFK Rives Paper. This piece illustrates the first moment she sees the futuristic city of New York.  See my time-lapse video below, which shows my initial process when putt… — *LeeLoo* from the awesome film *The Fifth Element*. Original chalk pastel on BFK Rives Paper. This piece illustrates the first moment she sees the futuristic city of New York. See my time-lapse video below, which shows my initial process when putting down a free form drawing.

Challenges for this illustration:
* Trying to depict Milla Jovovich's character, while still retaining my style. This was very tricky. I ended up re-watching the movie and taking a lot of screenshots. I couldn't get a straight up great reference photo. This was a good personal challenge for me. I also researched all of Milla's photo-shoots during 1995. She is so purdy. I felt the key would be to nail her mouth since it is her most distinct feature. Also, Leeloo often had an opened mouth expression.

Few of my quick thumbnails. The project went fast since it took me a few days to decided on a concept for this week's challenge.

• This scene illustrates her first moment seeing futuristic New York and the cops have her in a spotlight. The face is practically fully lit, which can flatten everything. I really had to control my values, control my line work, and use what shadows I had to balance everything. Usually, my pastel strokes are smooth and organic and I'll love to render out areas like the hair. But considering the chaos and anxiety of the scene and the high key values, I wanted more energy to compensate that. So, I used hard strokes within the face and kept the hair mostly gestural.

• I originally wanted to have her hands up covered in soot, like in the movie. However, I nixed it because I felt the piece was too busy with more information. I also tilted the composition to make it more dynamic.

Project Description: It took me a few days thinking on this week's phrase. It was very hard not to just think of the literal movie, Lost in Translation. Luckily one morning Leeloo popped into my head! I find my best inspiration when I'm initially waking up in the morning and cruising through artwork on IG. Leeloo is a supreme being that is awoken 5,000 years later to a future with flying cars and space travel. She was created as a weapon to save the human race from a “great evil” that is literally a dark planet hurtling towards Earth to destroy everything. I felt Leeloo’s journey was a good fit for this week’s challenge. From the beginning of her waking, she dealt with controversy. And when she looked up the word “war,” she became even warier of humans and their overwhelming will to destroy each other. It took good ol’ Bruce Willis (playing Corbin Dallas) to explain that there are many things worth saving, like love. He then kisses her and she’s a happy weapon again and destroys the “great evil” seconds away from its impact with Earth. Fin.

Side Notes: At the end of the film, Leeloo really gives Corbin quite an ultimatum. Say you love me or Earth dies, lol. All kidding aside, this is a beautifully entertaining movie. One of my favs.

Month of Love: Hero. "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

February 01, 2016 in Month of Love, Process Work, Illustration

It is now Month of Love! This is very similar to Month of Fear. Each week of the month of February, I'll be doing an illustration based of the given word or phrase. This weeks word is "hero." Learn more about Month of Love here. See my entry here!

Lisbeth Salander from the novel Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. 11x16 chalk pastel on BFK Rives Paper. Digital manipulation with Photoshop. I chose black and white because I felt it wasn't what you'd typically see when glorifying someone. Just like Lis… — Lisbeth Salander from the novel *Girl With the Dragon Tattoo*. 11x16 chalk pastel on BFK Rives Paper. Digital manipulation with Photoshop. I chose black and white because I felt it wasn't what you'd typically see when glorifying someone. Just like Lisbeth's character wouldn't typically be the hero of any story.

(Spoiler alert for book readers) I wanted to do a hero that isn't the typical "hero" image. Set during winter in Stockholm, Switzerland, Lisbeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a 24-year-old 4' 11" petite woman weighing hardly 100Ibs who dresses like a goth with piercings and tattoos. She is often mistaken for a 14-year-old. At the time I read this novel, I related instantly to this character because I too was in my early 20s, 4' 11" (no joke), petite, and often (SO OFTEN) mistaken for a teen. Throughout the novel, there is this constant motif of inaccurate judgements due to one's appearance. Lisbeth Salander is laconic and withdrawn to the point that she is judged by others to be incompetent. But in reality, however, she is an extraordinarily intelligent hacker and very capable of taking care of herself. She dishes out justice to those who wrong her and even saves Mike Blomkvist life at the end of the novel. Lisbeth Salander is one of my favorite female protagonists. She is misjudged due to her personality, her past, and appearance. Ultimately, she uses the misjudgments of others to her benefit.

Throughout the text, Salander occupies the role of both victim and survivor. Assaulted repeatedly and brutally by her guardian, Salander seems aware that others perceive her as a victim, but she doesn’t view herself as one because she sees the oppression and brutalization of women as endemic to society. In other words, she is not being singled out for abuse, and so views the abuse as a general problem rather than one directed at her personally. Ultimately, her notable outbursts of violence against her guardian in the novel exemplify both Salander’s desire to secure her own survival in the face of overwhelming odds and to punish those who victimize the powerless. Additionally, almost all of Salander’s actions serve to secure her independence and give her the means to protect herself.

Crimson Peak: Thomas

November 19, 2015 in Crimson Peak, Process Work, Illustration, Portrait, Time Lapse Demos

After watching that movie I was bouncing in my seat from all that art eye candy or as Guillermo Del Toro put it "eye protein." Every frame was breathtaking. There is one scene at the beginning of the movie featuring a social event. And I swear frame by frame it looked like something out of a painting. And the house...I could go on and on about how beautiful that movie was. You could tell all the designers put their heart into that production.

With all that said, I really wanted to do an illustration in honor of that amazing film. Even though I was rambling to my husband as we left the movie theatre about how gorgeous my next illustration was going to be, I was actually overwhelmed by the time I got to my studio. I want to say SO much, but what to say and how to do it?

So while I try to dissect this more involved illustration for Crimson Peak, I had to do something to satisfy this desire. Thus this chalk pastel portrait Thomas

My time lapse video of the making of Thomas. This is my first time doing this, so I hope it is informative. I'll try to make this more of a habit for future work. And maybe add music next time :P

My tool of the trade: Nupastels. I'm trying out a method were you store the pastel sticks in rice to keep them cleaner.

Samuel Flegal: Month of Fear

November 06, 2015 in News, Illustration, Month of Fear

Now that Month of Fear is complete I wanted to share all the blog reviews I was included in by Samuel Flegal. I was very excited to be paired with all the other awesome artists.

Month of Fear: Styx

October 31, 2015 in Illustration, Month of Fear

Happy Halloween! My last submission for Month of Fear: Dance ofMacabre: dance of death. Done with chalk pastel and Photoshop

The meaning emphasizes that in death we are all equal regardless of our social status and former life. This made me think immediately of the Underworld where all souls go in Greek’s mythology. It was said you must place coins on the deceased’s eyes, so they had money to pay the ferryman to cross the river of Styx and enter the Underworld. I really loved the imagery.

It has been a fun ride with this year’s Month of Fear. So many great pieces and new artists discovered. I want to thank Kristina Carroll for starting this great tradition. I really look forward to it next year. Until then, Month of Love is just around the corner!

Month of Fear: The Eyes

October 25, 2015 in Illustration, Portrait, Month of Fear

My third entry for the Month of Fear. Learn more about this monthly challenge at MonthofFearArt.com

What Lies Beneath
There were many ways to run with this. I was interested in deception and what lies beneath the trees. In folklore throughout the centuries, forests have represented a place of wonder and fear. Deogen “De Ogen” or The Eyes is a ghost often seen as a fog form haunting the Sonian Forest, in Belgium.

The challenge with this piece was controlling the values and keeping the viewers eyes moving around the piece.

Next week: The Dance of Death unites us all.

Month of Fear: Sabbath

October 16, 2015 in Portrait, Illustration, Month of Fear

My second entry for the Month of Fear. Learn more about this monthly challenge at MonthofFearArt.com

This weeks word: Sabbath
This topic was a bit overwhelming for me. You can go a million directions with witches and demons and witchcraft and spells and Harry Potter...

In my last piece I was exploring death and I decided to continue that motif with the Salem witch trials. In Reflection there is a victim and in Trial there is a fighter. I really enjoy the comparison of the two. Each piece has a different energy when dealing with the same subject of death and murder.

Anyway, luckily I had some rope from a previous reference shoot and I tied my first ever noose! I love how you can Google anything. I've never done an illustration where the subject is back lit. I felt this value structure would compliment my subject matter and be a good exercise for me.

Below is some of my process work and a close-up shot of this piece.

Above are some of my thumbs. I really liked the top row. I may explore that further for a future piece. I decided on the straight forward comp because I really wanted an intense look and the opportunity to play with bold shapes. Below is a small collection of the inspiration I used.

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Month of Fear: Mirrors

October 09, 2015 in Process Work, Portrait, Illustration, Month of Fear

I wanted to participate in this year's Month of Fear, which is " a weekly art challenge created by Kristina Carroll for the month of October. It was designed to inspire artists to get together, shake things up, push themselves and create a bunch of new personal work. We do another monthly challenge in February called Month of Love."

This week's word was Mirror: Reflection, deception, spirits and secrets.This is darker than most of my current work, but I wanted to step a little further out of my circle and challenge myself with a more serious piece. This one is titled "Reflection". Next week's challenge is: Sabbath Witches and devils.

These process images are crude and taken with an iphone, but in my defense these were intended for my own personal documentation and not a demo. So here it is: I sketched in my base drawing with nupastels. Next, I went over certain areas with a sponge brush soaked with water. It gives the pastel a "paint" quality and dries with interesting textures that I knew would work great for this concept. I want to stress that this was done on BFK Rives cotton rag paper, so it doesn't buckle. Once dried it was a process of refining my shapes and trying to give it that foggy mirror look, which was an interesting challenge. The solution of using a fogged mirror helped make this story less gruesome and more appealing to a broader audience. ;)

The Studio Blog

Welcome to The Studio Blog! This is where I’ll be sharing all my latest work and projects.

I welcome comments and questions.

Opening Nov 18th, 7pm at Gallery 1988 in LA.7308 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046