The early days of aviation...

This week I am working on a series of three pictures depicting the excitement and possibilities people felt when aviation was in its early stages. Here is one of the sketches so far.

Book Proposal- My Little Brother Richie

Time to cook something...

I am about to begin a new project, which will take most of the next month. Before I get started on that, I thought I would share one more Wonderful Good promotional idea. These are some of the recipe cards I created to promote the story. The recipes were tested in the Freed test kitchens and are great.
I have a bunch of new projects to begin and a few strings to tie up on an older one. Hopefully there will also be time to get outside with the real paints- it is another gorgeous fall day here in Ohio and I am inside :-(

Wonderful Good

Here is a link to my first video on my new studiofreed youtube channel. LOL, I have to think about what I am going to post here in the future. This could be a lot of fun.
So here goes, first try and all :-)

Still having fun with acrylics...

I am still working on acrylic portraits this week. It is so different than what I am used to. I haven't gotten tired of it yet.
This is a portrait in progress of Ralph. I don't like the dog too much. I am not sure if I should redo her completely or keep struggling along.
Painting a mature person represents whole new challenges. I have been going back and forth with the lines in his face, darkening them and lightening them. A balance must be struck or it won't look like him. Of course you don't want him to look like one of those dried apple head dolls either... with raisin eyes.
Yuck. Glad that fad is over.
I think I am going to start a new project and give this one a break for a couple of days.

Still Painting traditionally...

Still painting traditionally this week, applying some of Payne's techniques to my portraits. I like this one, but I had to go over the wash stage with several layers of paint before I reached what I was looking for. I want to get to that point in one or two layers, not take all day. I am betting that's how the old timey illustrators got things done, by getting it right the first or second time. I suppose that comes with practice.
This picture is painted with a mix of oils, acrylics, colored pencil, and even a teeny layer of watercolor. It truly is mixed media.

Painting traditionally for a change...

At Hartford Art School last week, I had the privilege of studying with Chris Payne. On the first day of class, he got assigned a Time Magazine cover, due two days later on Wednesday. We all got to watch Chris put together an amazing illustration that is featured on this week's Time Magazine cover.
Here is my attempt to paint like Payne. It is the first traditional painting I've done in months. It is mixed media with glazes of oil paint and colored pencil. I really enjoyed painting this picture. I want to apply some of this approach to my traditional work.
BTW, the subject in the painting is my great grandfather, Whoa Bill Phillips. He pitched professionally for sixteen years around the turn of the last century. I would like to learn more about him. I inherited NONE of his athletic ability.

back home again.

I am back home from Hartford. I am trying to figure out the best way to post all of my thesis work. Here is a test run.
BTW, I am changing the settings on the comment section because the blog has been taken over by Chinese porn. Sorry about that. I will leave their links up if anyone is Chi-curious.

Still working on thesis...

I got the idea for my thesis, Wonderful Good, last summer. I really thought I'd have it sewn up by now and be working on the marketing phase. The thesis is supposed to be a learning experience and I am learning that. Initially I thought I would base my reference on the sketches. I drew very detailed ideas then set out to photograph the scene I imagined. Some of the animation studios call that "As my Amish characters would say "shaffa macht em gut feela" (translation:being busy makes one feel good).
There is so much going on around here that I should be feeling great!
BTW, the barn we used for reference is the one on the property we just bought. If this book sells, I wonder if we could write it off?

Thinking about lighting.

At our critique in Texas last week there was some discussion about lighting and the mood it can create. There was one picture in particular- a woman standing outdoors at night. She was lit from the front, but also from behind- with a cooler light. This was called rim lighting- it is a device used over the years to beef up the drama in illustrations. Rim lighting was totally overused in movie posters in the 70's and 80's.
It got me thinking while I worked on this picture this week. It is an early morning scene but I am wondering if I could play up the back lighting a bit. I may have to make Ralph put on all of the Amish clothes and reshoot this pose.
I have been working on this picture for the last two days and am currently too close to it. I am going to take a break from it and work on another. I will open it again later in the week.

Illustration or Design?

I am required to write a reaction paper about one of the artist lecturers we met in Texas last week. I have it narrowed down to two very talented artists, Linda Helton (b. 1959) or Bart Forbes (b. 1939). The images above are by Helton, created in traditional media. Though their work is very different from each other, both artists appear to be succeeding in today's tough market.
During her presentation, the work Helton showed us varied in style, technique, and media. It is colorful, upbeat, and appealing to a wide range of markets. It was fantastic. I was impressed by her work ethic and attitude toward being a freelance artist. In researching her online, I've found she's done a wide range of stock artwork. Each image is simple, beautifully designed, and could be used in many different ways. In the last five years I have watched the commercial art market change rapidly. I find that I have to reinvent myself and approach to the industry. I wonder how this stock artwork approach is working out for artists.
I also find myself asking what makes an image an illustration or when does it become a design? Does it depend on how much of a narrative theme a picture contains? On how simple or complex the image is? I hear some of my friends describe themselves as designers rather than illustrators even though they draw pictures of living things, sometimes in the context of a story. When do these images stop being designs and become illustrations?
At this point I am seriously putting off work. I will have to ponder these issues after my paper and thesis are done and I am posing at Starbucks with my artist peeps.

Back From Fort Worth.

AFTER THE CRIT (I think it is better.)


BEFORE THE CRIT


I am starting to recover from the week of fun and sun in Fort Worth, Texas. I presented my homework there, a picture depicting the character of our November contact period, Pasadena, California.
Southern California is such a diverse place. I had a bunch of ideas and it took a while to decide on just one. In the end I decided to recreate a retro-style citrus crate label. I had an ulterior motive- I want to hang it on the wall of my kitchen after we finish the remodel (that we haven't started yet!).
The picture was well received at the critique. The main criticism it got was that the shade of purple in the sky background didn't go. The instructors felt an orange hue of darker value would work better.
This is difficult for me. I tend to throw as many colors in my work as I can. I need to learn to limit my color palette and stop making work only crows would like. I am going to keep this in mind as I finish my thesis in the upcoming weeks.
The instructors felt the value of the sky behind the figure was too bright. I didn't intend this to be the case. It was the way the picture was printed. Doug gave me some suggestions for calibrating my screen, but I think I've already done them. I am going to redo the settings in case, and ask for a proof at the printers next time. Aggh. I bet even the early cave painters had technical difficulties from time to time. Keeping up with this stuff is a full time job in itself.
The next homework assignment is another illo, this one portraying Texas. I LOVE painting cowboys and horses and bulls, but I think I have to do a companion crate label to go with the Pasadena picture. I am hoping to have a big kitchen after all.
I am thinking it will be "Lone Star Apples" with the Fort Worth Stockyards rodeo queen on it along with the Texas flag. That's a lot to get into one little graphic. The horse has got to be piebald like the real one at the rodeo.
We got to go back to the Stockyards rodeo. What a lot of fun. I don't know what it is about rodeos, but they always bring out the secret cowgirl in me. I have to get a couple of horses when Ralph gets out of the Air Force and we stop moving around. We have the space now.
It was a riot- the rodeo queen's horse did a great job until they started up the smoke machine during the national anthem. He wanted no parts of the rolling cloud of smoke coming at him, but the rodeo queen did a great job of keeping him from panicking. LOL, that scene would be a great illo as well, along with the mutton scramble, seven-year-old barrel racer, and calf ropers. Then of course, the bulls and cowboys. Sigh. What a lot of fun. We have bull riding in Ohio, but it just ain't the same.

Painting citrus on a snowy day.

Well it's not just another snowy day- I think the weather today qualifies as a blizzard. I am working on another piece of the Pasadena project for school. I am thinking of warmer climates and sunshine.

progress on Wonderful Good.

Here is the latest illo for Wonderful Good. It is designed to have type in the upper right corner. Not sure how to proceed with raindrops. I need to look at real ones. It'll be a while before I see rain around here.

still trying to figure out Painter...

Today's progress. Ugggh.

Figuring out Painter

I decided to illustrate Wonderful Good in Photoshop and Painter. I like the way you can add dimensional brushstrokes with the Painter software. It is going to take me weeks to figure out how to go about this. There are so many brushes, settings and textures to choose from. I want to get it all "just right" before I proceed.
Above is today's attempt.

Pasadena Project

One of the assignments for school requires us to create a picture that represents Pasadena, the location of our contact period. I am going to do a retro image with some type and graphics on it. This picture is one of the components of the piece. I am trying to work in Corel Painter. The learning curve is steep but i like the results. The first picture is the image in photoshop, the second is the cloning process in Painter. I have a very long way to go.