The Calendar

For the last 3 or 4 months I've been doing quite a lot of art...and as Christmas approached, I decided to collect everything I've done and make a calendar out of it. Mostly to show off...but also to take a step in a direction I've always wanted to go, but never had enough art I was confident enough with to give out to everyone I knew.

I designed the entire thing from scratch (the art, the page layout, and the days of the week). It was quite a tedious process (especially making all the days of every month of the year), but once they were printed, I was very happy with the result. Here are some examples of this:

Detail: of the Yin Yang Penguins

These are just bigger versions of the previous post...I also seperated them so they could be viewd seperately and not as one whole drawing.

Yin Yang Chinstrap Penguin

Yin Yang King Penguin

Graphic Design: My take on yin yang

I did these as I was trying to do a penguin version of the yin yang symbol. These were the first attempt at it - trying to keep most of the penguin head, while still having them flow into each other. It ends up being more of the universal sign for infinity. I was using the king penguin and the chinstrap penguin markings.

Yin Yang Penguins: King penguins and Chinstrap penguins

drawn in Illustrator

Graphic Design: Chinstrap Penguin Pyramid

I did this at the same time I did the king penguin pyramid. Since the Chinstrap penguin doesn't have any color, it was easier to commit to a strict black and white design.

Chinstrap Penguin Pyramid:

drawn in Illustrator

Graphic Design: King Penguin Pyramid

I did so many to try to see which combination I liked...

King Penguin Pyramid

drawn in Illustrator

Yin Yang Penguin

I had an idea for more graphic penguin drawings. I did some a while back with sillouette in a pyramid design...but I keep coming back to the Yin Yang symble and decided to draw a bunch of them. I think the chinstrap penguin is the least successful. The adelie and king penguin seem to have stronger characteristics to their faces.

Yin Yang Penguins

drawn in Illustrator

closer look at the smaller box...

I decided to post this one a bit bigger than it is in the other picture...I really like how it turned out...the background could use a bit of work, but I just wanted to drop down some green and a basic blue sky to finish the piece.

Detail: Adelia falls from the tree

Painted in Photoshop

Pinguino: Adelia doesn't fall far from the tree...

I painted this last night in Photoshop. I used one of the brushes the program provides to try to add a bit of texture to the painting so that it didn't look so computer generated. Things seem to be coming along quite nicely...I have several more ideas that just have to be drawn before I can come in and paint them. I think I might end up seperating the two boxes as my original idea doesn't seem as good (of having a large box with big action in it, and a smaller box for reaction or consequence or so I have a chance to say something that I think is funny, but is probably just lame). This really came about by this second piece in the Pinguino series having two drawings that I really like...it seems a shame to shrink one of them...

Adelia climbs a tree

Painted in Photoshop

Pinguino: Adelia the Penguin in a tree

This is the second in my series on Adelia the Penguin. This is only the beginning stages of this piece (the first drawing I did was too stiff, so I tried to put some action into this one.). I did a rough which I scanned into my computer and I did a quick cleanup of it in Illustrator. This isn't the same type of cleanup I'd do professionally...I just quickly cleanup the linework so I have something very solid to work with when I transfer it over to watercolor paper. I'll probably paint this in photoshop before I try it for real...so expect that in the next week or so!

Adelia in tree

Illustrator Cleanup

Adelia painted in photoshop

I'm not really into the watercolor version of this piece - which is why I did this one...
I'm also trying to develop it into something...which is why it's set down a bit different. I thought adding the cleanup underneath, as well as the english version of what the piece says as something that makes it more of a complete piece...but I still feel like it's missing something...

Adelia the Adelie

painted in photoshop

Adelia the Adelie

I was thumbnailing a bit and came up with this character. I liked it enough to try and do a series of paintings with this as it's subject matter. The text on the drawing will eventually be done in illustrator or even photoshop...I just wanted to see how it would look...and the way I work, it looks messy...I didn't want to just say penguin...the word (Pinguino) is penguin in Italian.
Adelia the Adelie Penguin (the name Adelia came by accident as I was saving my first illustrator cleanup version of the file...and it seemed that Adelia would make a good name for a penguin...). I painted this very quickly...just trying to get a feel for it - I'm not sure of the color of the penguin yet...I don't want it to be too dark...and not terribly light either...

Adelia the Adelie Penguin

Pencil and Watercolor

This actually isn't a penguin...

I was going through some old art pieces and this was always one of my favorites from college. I did this in 1999 during a background painting for animation class. It was done in acrylics and then scanned into photoshop where I added some sky elements and brightened the colors a bit...

tropical background (1999)

Acrylics (and Photoshop)

My Penguin Virgin

So - this is my final painting for the Virgin Show (www.myspace.com/thevirginshow). It was cleaned up in pencil and then watercolored using Dr Martin Watercolor dyes (which is all I ever use for my watercolors...). The colors came out quite a bit more vibrant than I expected...I tried to do a lot of detail for the penguin character to make up for the lack of color in the snow. I did the minimum of color in the snow to try to make it look as much like a blanket of freshly fallen snow as possible. I put it up in the gallery for $250. I also changed the title which follows under the picture.

Walking through freshly fallen snow (or - How I cured my raging atheletes foot)

Pencil and Watercolor

My first nonpenguin painting

I've been incredibly busy finishing up the piece I entered into the "Virgin Show" gallery. Right after that I wanted to start a series of penguin drawings - and in the middle of my research I ran across this bird - it's called a Northern Gannet...I liked it's coloring and shape so much I had to paint it. I sort of fudged the brown color of it a bit (they're mostly white with a light brownish patch on the back of their head), but I used a bit more brown to even it out and help add depth.

Northern Gannet

Pencil and Watercolor

A penguin in snow...

I'm developing this piece for "The Virgin Show" - originally titled, "Most Zombie Babies Don't Have Sex" I've gone a bit less controversial by doing a piece where a cute little penguin is walking through freshly fallen snow (virgin snow). My original piece (the one with the dead babies...) didn't seem to have as many people excited by it (but maybe I was just telling the wrong people...) so I started over and went back to what I do best - drawing penguins. I did several drawings followed by quick experiments on watercolor paper:

four thumbnails

I ended up liking the more cartoony one (where the penguin is kind of dancing in the foreground. I then did a couple of drawings and ended up liking one where the penguin is lifting his foot covered in snow. What follows is based on my illustrator cleanup, which I then printed out and (with graphite) transfered over to watercolor paper. This is about the size you see here, and it was to see what I could do with this - but once again, it's a thumbnail as I work out how I want my final piece to look:

Enjoying his last moments in the freshly fallen snow before being eaten by a rather large seal

Little Blue Penguin

This is based on the littlest of all the types of penguins - For some reason, maybe because I did such a closeup of it - it looks huge! But it's called the fairy penguin (or, a bit less feminine - the little blue penguin) because of how tiny and dainty it is. In any case - I painted it...I've got nothing technical to add, as I've already described everything I do - and now it's just up to me to do it!

The Little Blue Penguin

Pencil and Watercolor

Finished Adelie Penguin...

I finished this over the weekend - just added a gradient background...

Adelie Penguin

Pencil and Watercolor

Adelie Penguin...

So I've decided that it'd be cool to do a series of penguins in three brackets...I previously had done profiles of penguins...but they seemed to be missing something - I really like the way these look - so I'm going to continue doing them. I have the illustrator cleanup of a little blue penguin (it's also called the fairy penguin...but I prefer little blue penguin...) which is actually the smallest kind of penguin...but that's what's coming soon. As of right now I have the penguin painted and I'm going to finish the background when I'm done typing this blog. This is the Adelie penguin. I really liked how the gradient worked on this one - instead of using the small brush to wet the entire area, I used a large flat brush to lay water down faster (which meant that when I applied the watercolor, it spread more evenly).

Adelie Penguin

A couple of updates...

I'm working to finish the Frankenpenguin piece - only I've gone a bit further than my skill level - in that I'm trying to put a background to him...and I haven't done that with my watercolors yet. So I'm taking it a bit slower, and, in fact, tomorrow I'm going to check out some books to see what my options are and how I could go about not screwing up the painting. As it is - I've finished the character (for the most part)...I have small bits of detail and touchup to do, but he's pretty much done:

Frankenpenguin

Also - I reworked the gradient background on this next one...it's just a bit smoother...so I decided to repost it - because it looks more finished to me:

King Penguins in Yellow

Pencil and Watercolor

Emperor Penguin

This was one of my first thumbnails for a penguin.

It was going to be one of my first attempts at a watercolor using my Dr Martin concentrated water color. I thought the first attempt came out pretty good - the only thing was that, at the time, I couldn't decide what I wanted to do with the background. So...I left it white.

After I did some other pieces I decided that it'd look nice if I did one of those gradient backgrounds on it (and I might go back and do it again with a blue background...just because I think the blue backgrounds look the best).

Solo Emperor Penguin: in yellow

Another thing that happened when I started this second one is that I changed the size of the piece. The original version of it was about 8"x11" and the second one was on a smaller 6"x9" piece of watercolor paper. The only difference between the two is that the smaller version couldn't have a pencil border because the penguin took up too much of the paper...so I just painted to the borders with the intent to put it in a glass frame where it would 'hover' in the center...there wouldn't be a need for a matt, as the picture extended to the end of the paper.

Solo Emperor Penguin: in yellow (framed)

A series of 3

I got a frame that had 3 panels in it and wanted to do a piece that was actually three different pictures of penguins. I did thumbnails, cleaned up, and painted these three.

King Penguins in three panels

I did like how each one turned out - if I did this again (which I probably will...because I don't like how the backgrounds differ so much from piece to piece...I'd like that to be uniform...as much as possible...) I'd probably do the backgrounds all at the same time before I did the penguins.

The middle painting was the last one I did - and I did it on this brand new hot pressed watercolor paper that I just bought. There was just such a difference between the papers! That led to the paint laying down different (cold pressed watercolor paper has more of a tooth to it...which just means that it's a rougher paper - hot pressed paper is quite smooth...but this means that the hot pressed doesn't hold the water as long because there's less paper there to hold it...so it dries quicker)...and the color ended up being very different - even though I used the same colors in the same order on each painting. So - if nothing else, it was a learning experience that if you're going to do a series, don't switch paper types right in the middle.

I also decided I'd like to do the same series with a yellow gradient behind them instead of the blue. This next one is the first in that series (I'm still working the background, and I'll post that when I'm completely done).

King penguins in yellow

But because of this one I thought it might be better to do a series of with 3 panels - but one being a yellow painting, a flat graphic image, and then a blue painting...it'll probably end up looking something like this:

King Penguins

Anyway - that's all I have for now...I'm going to be working on the Frankenpenguin painting for the next couple of days...and I'll post that when I'm done...

Gentoo Penguin painting

I've done the composition of this one previously - I thought the idea was quite genius - having two objects (in this case penguins) self contained in their own border and crossing over with just their beaks. I did it as an acrylic and again as a watercolor (this was late spring when I was first coming back to painting and I didn't know if I wanted to continue struggling with watercolor or struggle with acrylics...)...both turned out decently enough...but were kind of on the suck side. I was impressed with them both at the time because I was still learning (still am) and was impressed with how well I could do.

This was in my sketchbook as a thumbnail where I worked out what I wanted

And this is the first watercolor and acrylic painting I did. Both are quite about twice the size of the one I just finished (turns out I like working in watercolor, just very very small...makes everything easier to manage and manipulate)...

Anyhow - The one I currently did was on hotpress watercolor paper...I'm still trying to figure out if I like that better (than coldpress)...if you don't know - the difference is that hotpress is very smooth and coldpress has a bit of texture (which varies depending on the brand of paper you buy). I also redrew the adult penguin because I didn't like the angle that he ended up being in the first - the profile was just too boring. So now his head is turned a bit and I actually looked at reference this time around - so he looks more like what a gentoo penguin is supposed to look like.

"Vomit sure does taste better coming from Mom"

Pencil and Watercolor

Igor the penguin

I was doing some thumbs of what I wanted the Frankenpenguin to look like and ended up going a different direction and creating an Igor penguin...so when I finish with my frankenpenguin I'm going to continue on and do an Igor penguin...who knows - if I enjoy this well enough, I might end up doing a whole series of monster penguins...

Frankenpenguin: an update...

I finished cleaning it up in illustrator. I took that into photoshop just so I could see if I could make a simple background around the character to give him some sort of context. Then I printed that out and transfered it to watercolor paper. I just finished cleaning that up with my 2b pencil and extensive use of an electric eraser...I'll try to paint it tomorrow and will probably have it finished by Friday. For now - this is the photoshop quickstudy...

Frankenpenguin

I'm currently working on this piece I call Frankenpenguin. I actually did this a couple of years ago while I was working at Nickelodeon...I was trying to get back into painting so I could have some finished pieces. And I've always hated watercolor but felt that I could work with it (and it's the easiest to use...but terribly unforgiving if you screw up. Anyway - this drawing I really liked - I was doing a series of characters that I designed as different classic horror movie characters. I did one as dracula, one as Ash (from Evil Dead 2) and this one...which was a slight take on Frankenstein:

I liked the color and everything - but didn't care that much for the pose - nor did I like that the character had no expression...but I couldn't do anything about it because it was already done...also - there was no background...so even though it was done, it still felt like it needed to be completed. This last Saturday I printed out the drawing that's been up on my myspace page since the beginning and dropped a piece of tracing paper on top to redo it...this is the rough - and today I'm going to spend cleaning it up (first in illustrator and then by hand onto my watercolor block) and paint it either this afternoon or tomorrow.

I think this one is a better drawing (a bit) in terms of character pose (he's no longer floating) and emotion (he doesn't just have a blank look on his face)...maybe years in the future when I'm an even better artist I'll come back to this and try again...but as for now...this is all I got!

Penguins: the beginning...

I'm currently on a haitus from work (which means I was laid off and I'm too lazy to look for other employment...and too proud for that matter - I figure if I wait long enough they'll come crawling to me!)

Anyway - on my time off I'm trying to devote a lot of time to painting and drawing. I've currently got a couple of ideas in my head - but this is what I've put down to paper so far...

And...I guess...as the time goes by I'll expand to include everything I've done - and not just penguins...as that's very one dimensional and even though that IS me, it's not the me I want to convey to all the strangers out there in Blog land...if nothing else, I want those jerks to think I'm cool...

This piece I've actually done several times - I wanted to paint me some penguins - but do the composition in a different, or at least interesting way - so this was one of my first experiments with that:

I did this quick study with black, white, and brown charcoal pencils...

From there I went on to paint it - I did it twice - once with a yellow background (http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/meshaq2000/chinstrapbarswater.jpg) and the second one (which I prefer...which is why I just link the other one, and don't actually include it here) with a bluish/purple background.

This was a watercolor (using Dr Martin's concentrated water color) done on coldpress watercolor paper

And that's all I got for now...if anyone thinks anything I do sucks - please leave your loser comments to yourself. But seriously - if you think I can improve...please tell me why so I can correct any shortcomings and end up a millionaire all because of your free advice! Thanks in advance!