Khenra Scrapper

-By Jesper Ejsing

pencil sketch with values and a bit of color to explain the light. 

This illustration is a for Magic the Gathering of the set called Hour of Devastation. It is a Jackal warrior wielding small knives in an aggressive pose. A simple art description.

Therefore I decided to make a simple portrait solution. The sketch I submitted asked only for one small change namely the collar that would look too much like a feature from another character in the same set. But I really liked the ribbons that was attached to the collar so I kept those just hanging from somewhere on his back.  I like the ribbons because they add life and movement to an else static pose. When I transferred it to the board for painting i felt it looked empty, so I decided to add even more movement in this case - yet again - by adding a flock of birds. Those egrets are also a very clear reference to Egypt, the main inspiration for this magic set, so it would help the scene I thought. Also I like how they are taking off as if they are fleeing from something: The Hour of Devastation.

 

greytones on watercolor board

 When I look at the sketch now I am annoyed that I did not keep the lower leg in silhouette as in the sketch. For some reason ,that I cannot explain now, I added cloth there and covered up that little negative space. It is not helping at all. In the sketch the leg looks like he is stepping up on a rock and that the other legs disappears down and is stretched out under him. In the final, most of that is lost and the weight and movement is not as good. I am pretty sure my idea was that the battle mist and smoke and fog would hide it all and that I wanted to focus in on his torso and face, but it did not all turn out that way.

Color comp

Anyways; after I get an approval I take the sketch to a watercolor board and ink it all in waterproof ink and then adds grey tone value in black acrylic. This way my first washes are only acting as tonal to the drawing underneath and I can work more loose and random. I use lots of water to block in the local colors and to create happy mistakes and texture that I can use further in the painting process.  I take a photocopy and do a color rough. This was kind of an easy choice. I knew I had a black skinned figure so I might as well put him against he light to have a clear silhouette. He was going to be a black silhouette anyway. It meant that my background would be lighter than the figure. It is all a very warm picture; lots of yellow and red. If everything is too warm you have nothing pulling the other direction, so I added some grey for a neutral color and a bluish to the top of his head as a reflection of sky color high above him.

Drawing Feet

-By Ron Lemen

I simplified this dialog to the drawings.  This started off as a rant against the HUGE problem with every one of my anatomy students these days, the problem with drawing feet.



Somewhere out there is some misinformation, or alternative truths that seem to be popular to the newbie art student, but need to go missing forever please.  I have created some pages of useful information that need to be put out there into the system.  But first, let's start off with some wonderful drawings from the Russian Academy.  Who can resist the amazing studies from that school.  So much character, so much charm.

Anyway, my diagrams are nothing in comparison to these beautiful drawings.  But diagrams are not meant to be beautiful drawings.  They are meant to help you learn and clarity is important.  So I do apologize if the drawings are not totally clear.  And if they are not, please help me by mentioning that in the comments.



These are more excerpts from my soon to be figure drawing book, but since that is taking as long as it is to complete I am putting these notes out there now.  I also realize I have a lot of them so I am only going to post so many.  If there is something that feels like it is lacking, the book will have taken care of that.

Here is what I am seeing quite a bit of lately, both the drawings and the bone structure.  I have no idea where this is coming from, but the land of drunk socks and bigfoot must be steered clear of during your training.  Go back to it if you must stylize your feet, but, these are not good quality representations of real feet.

There is also a trend of missing heels.  Someone has gone around and removed the heel from the foot design and replaced it with a "Weeble Wobble" style foot design.  I guess the world isn't already dangerous enough as it is, let alone giving us unstable feet.

There is also this interesting trend of giving everyone bow legged qualities.  Shin bones are straight with curved accents.  They are not curved.  Sorry.

A descent starting point for the foot is the door wedge.  It helps check the perspective of the leg and assures that the feet are grounded to whatever surface they might be attached to.  This wedge is the ideal shape for the 3 points of the foot, ankles, toes, and heel.

The foot is a shock absorber for the body, it makes sense that the ankles, and the leg are positioned over the arch of the foot to take that impact, from walking to running and jumping.  Thank the feet for that arch, that we need to put the leg over and not behind.

The ankle bones are the tibia and the fibula together, and combined they form a wrench like structure that holds the foot bones in place as the pivot point for the foot rotation.  The bones are side by side medially and laterally, not in front and behind.  And each leg mirrors each other, they are not the same orientation to each other.

Here in profile view the door wedge is broken down into two shapes to help support the design of the foot when the toes are bent.  The toe wedge is removed from the front of the bigger foot wedge and is rotated to its new orientation.  This now becomes the new position for the toe details.

Here are the simple door wedges converted to planar structures to help design in the change of surface from one bone set to the next, over muscles and the orientation of the toes and their segments.

And while talking toes, here are the planar stair steps both in primitive form as well as fleshed out a bit more with the big toe and the second toe.  In addition, because our toes are smooshed together in shoes a lot, and because our feet our well designed, the toes fit together nicely, but are over exploited into ugly distortions of the design because our shoes mold our feet to the constraints of their size and build.  But, our toes are all uniquely shaped to fit together and the diagram on the left shows how they fit together.

And here are the folds in the bottom of the foot common with all of us but not the same length and exact orientation between any of us.  Note that the big toe actually has 3 fat pads in it within its wedge like shape.

Add character to the body of the foot.  There is a lot going on in that space, but the foot won't often times show it, especially in photo reference.  I used hatch lines here to explain direction of some of the sub planes (anatomically rooted).  These would be represented in half tones being that these feet were directly lit.

These last few pages are for those of you who do not know anything about perspective and are surprised when you find out that the body is loaded with it...because all forms are in perspective.  I do not understand how students think that they can avoid perspective by just figure drawing.  LOL...I mean that with kindness.

I know they are not pretty, but I hope they help.  Now, please share these with all beginning students you know and hope to make careers with their art skills and to those who think they understand feet but we have had a hard time explaining to them that maybe they should practice them more often.  Or do what I do and hide everyone in mist so you can avoid feet, lower legs, upper legs, pelvises, and more thanks to that wonderful fog stuff.  Any time you have a hard time with something and you to meet that deadline, just fog it up a little.  Gonna duck into that fog now and get back to the work load. Comments, please leave em, until next time, creative success to you and happy arting.  

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Brian Sanders

-By Greg Ruth

"It's like Bernie Fuchs and Bill Sienkiewicz had a a baby!" is the first thing I thought when I first discovered the massive ppol of art over the last sixty odd years of Brian Sanders' long career. There's a defined fluidity here I will always chase and never catch and his ability to craft the real without ever undermining the abstract is unparalleled. Like Fuchs, Sanders has an incredible gift for maximizing the narrative of the images he draws with his composition ninja skills- We could all of us working in this field learn a lot from his ability to design a page. If you are new to Sanders as I still am, here's a few favorite pics below to see what I mean. Aside from doing a stint of illos for Kubrick and 2001 A Space Odyssey and more recently, work for Mad Men, much of his stuff can be found sprinkled throughout women's grocery store magazines throughout the sixties and seventies. But barring a time machine to a Nixon-era Kroger, the interwebs are fairly resplendent with some of his work. Happily there is a show going up at the Lever Gallery May 12-July 31in London. If you are in the motherland, please stop by and take a look- I'd kill to see these in person myself. (Well, maim without permanent effect, maybe. I mean let's be civilized about it).

You can see more at his website right HERE

Making Your Own Wet Painting Carrier

-By Dan dos Santos

Over the years, I've had to carry a LOT of wet paintings around.



Lots of times I do demos at workshops, and I have to get the painting back home. Or a book cover job is due, and I have to deliver a wet painting to a client. Either way, I need a way of transporting that wet image safely.



In my experience, you're usually better off with a painting holder tailor-made for the specific painting you want to carry.



I feel the wet painting holders that hold ANY size painting, usually aren't worth bothering with. They are heavy, expensive, and not always stable. You also can't leave them behind at an Art Directors office without worrying about it's return.



For me, a transport box has to be 4 things, (in order of importance):

1. Strong

2. Lightweight

3. Inexpensive

4. Good Looking



If I am shipping a really nice original to a collector, I usually don't use this method. This is more for the commercial work, and in-progress stuff. Stuff that is being carried around. This box will NOT survive actual MAILING.



So, here is what I think is the FASTEST, CHEAPEST way to make a carrier...



Buy several lengths of square hardwood dowels at the Home Depot. For this box, I used several feet of  the 1" square dowels. These cost $1 a foot.



Using a table saw, lower the blade until it's just a 1/4 inch or so above the table's surface. Set the cut guide to 1/2 inch or so, and carefully run the length of wood through. Repeat this for all lengths.

The result is narrow groove on one side of the dowel.



This groove happens to be the perfect width for the illustration board I paint on. If you paint on a thick surface (Like wood panels or canvas), just nudge the saw guide a bit, and run the wood through multiple times for a slightly wider groove each time.

You can also run two separate grooves if you want to hold multiple pieces!



Now, running wood through a table saw literally takes just a few minutes if you know what you're doing. But mitering and screwing together accurate corners takes a deceptive amount of time and skill. So for something like this... I don't bother!

Cut 3 pieces of your dowel to the desired lengths (This will take some math). Then cut a sheet of foamcore to the size you want the box. Layout your 'rails' out on a table, and place the sheet of foam core on top.

With a good staple gun, just staple the foamcore down. There is no need to screw the wood together, the foamcore will hold it snug. Flip it over and do the same thing.

For a lid, you can just tape a strip of foamcore across the top. Or, you can get all sorts of fancy with it like me ('Fancy' means 2 strips of foamcore and black tape).

Voila! Just slide your wet painting in, and nothing will harm it's surface! It's cheap, it's strong, and can stand up to fairly rigorous handling, including the TSA!

If you already have the materials and equipment, you can put this together in 20 minutes. Because I tend to work on either 15x20, or 20x30 boards all the time, I can actually reuse the same box quite a bit.



If you need something stronger, just substitute the foamcore and staples for plywood and screws.



Or, if you don't have a table saw, you can actual make the entire box out of strips of foamcore and spray glue.

John Howe - Drawings

- by Donato Giancola

The concept artist and illustrator John Howe recently opened an exhibition of his latest, personal works in Paris at the Arludik Gallery, May 11 - July 8, 2017

www.arludik.com/



These new show includes dozens of pencil drawings and a handful of watercolors executed in Howe's luminous technique.  His drawings seem carved from mists and ethereal wisps, so delicate is his touch and control of value to describe form and mood.  Pasted below are a few selections from the show, while the rest may been seen on the Arludik website.



For some of you who may not be familiar with Howe's work, check out his extensive website portfolio and intense writings in his blog/news on the nature of art and creativity.  You will not be disappointed!



http://www.john-howe.com/blog/



Enjoy!

Llora�s Quest III    John Howe   65x40cm

The Isle     John Howe   65x40cm

John Howe

Wanderer     John Howe   65x40cm

IMC- Day 1

- by Scott Fischer

Some behind the scenes action from day one of IMC 2017. www.artimc.org



IMC is quite possibly the most intense and awesome week of the year for many involved. I've had the privilege of being a core faculty member of the IMC for the past 10 years along with Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell, Donato Giancola, Dan Dos Santos, Greg Manchess, Irene Gallo and our founder. Our beating heart. Our true north, Rebecca Leveille Guay.



Special artist instructors this year are the kick-ass Andrew Hem, that art-wizard named John Jude Palencar, and the fabulous Cynthia Sheppard, who brings a full-circle moment for all of us. For once upon a time, before she was the Spectrum Gold medalist. Before she became an Art Director for Magic the Gathering- she was an attendee here at IMC. (Though honestly she was well on her way before she walked through our doors.)



It is an honor return to the beautiful campus of Amherst college annually, to help guide such a talented and driven group of artists. (I only wish there had been something like this when I was a student!)



The question is, how much info can you cram in your brain before it starts leaking out of your ears?



Day one starts off with a bang, a slide-show avalanche of art, showcasing every faculty member.  I am constantly inspired by my peers- but before we could catch our breath, we rolled right into a lecture on composition by the multi-figure master, Donato Giancola. A composition means nothing without emotional intent, which Rebecca covers by elegantly discussing the difference between "Predictable and Unpredictable Choices". This year Dan Dos Santos brought it home with a fabulous lecture on using value to tie your composition and emotional intent together. (Other years you may have heard Greg Manchess talk about composition and setting the stage, or myself talking about finding flow in your paintings.)

Next up is lunch at the Amherst College cafeteria. (My college never served Talapia and Chicken Masala!) If you are here, I don't know if your belly or your brain is digesting more, but there is no time to think about it, because it is time for action.



Day one feels like the longest day at IMC. It is sketch crit day. What follows is a sampling of what goes down.



Cynthia Sheppard, dos Santos and myself are one sketch crit-group. But you will find a similar frenzy of ideas and suggestions in any of the 5 groups.  First we look at some samples of your finished work to see where you are coming from, like this wonderful sampling by Mariah Tekulve.

If you brought traditional sketches they go up on the chalkboard and we start drawing on top of them and on the chalkboard itself. Here on Alice Herring's work. Sometimes the three of us drawing at the same time. Correcting composition, intent and value structure. (Sounds familiar.)

If you are pure digital, your work goes in photoshop on my Cintiq and is projected on the wall for everyone to see. There is almost a tug-of-war that happens with that poor stylus as Cynthia, dos Santos, and I are all itching to get the thoughts out of our head and into yours. "Who is the star of your painting?" "What is this pose telling us about the character?" "Every element should be considered and should be aiding your intent." "Look for the hidden rivers of energy in your piece." Cynthia suggested a great head flip in this zombie piece by Joel Hustak. And one of the most important, and hardest to answer, "What is it you want to do with your art."

The hope is, when we are finished critiquing your sketch, you are seeing your piece in a new light, and are ready for MORE drawing, drawing, drawing.



Here is a great before and after crit by dos Santos on Shonn Everette.

And after 5 hours of crits, it is time to fill your belly again, caffeinate, and come back for MORE lectures on shooting photo ref by dos Santos (to help inform your new sketches).

...and then how to mix and paint flesh by Donato Giancola. (Hint it is more involved than a tube of this!)

Finally everyone returns to their own easels and desks and they continue to, you know, DRAW, DRAW, DRAW!

And just think, 6 days to go!!!