Several years ago when two of my friends got married, Ron and Emily, I draw and painted for them a wedding portrait for their gift. I drew the whole thing in pencil and then decided that I would paint it in water color and accent it with color pencils for some of the details. But before I put brush to paper, I did a small little Color Concept Sketch to work out the color, just in case I didn’t like the colors that I had chosen in my mind. He is the comparison of one of my Color Concept Sketches that I did and the Final painted piece.
So there you go, I stick pretty closely to what I had established in the Color Sketch. It was definitely my guide when executing the Final Portrait. I was invaluable when it came to doing this piece because I was going for controlled chaos, and being the perfectionist that I tend to be, I wanted to keep unhappy accidents down to a minimum.
By the way, just a reminder, I am a Freelance Illustrator/Graphic Designer…which means that if anyone out there that would like me to illustrate a portrait for them, I can be commissioned to do so. First, head over to my Gallery and check out my other portraits I’ve done, then contact me to discuss me taking on the project. Just thought I’d mention it.
Here’s another illustration that I pulled from the vault for all to see.
This is a Pointillism Rapidograph Ink drawing on Illustration Board that I did when I was in college. The assignment was to cross two items, one a living creature and the other an inanimate object, and then find a word that links the two images perfectly. So I choose a Toilet and a Pelican…and what better word than “Fowl.” I don’t remember how exactly it came about that I decided to choose those two specific items, but what I do recollect is sitting on the floor of my parent’s bathroom sketching their toilet. Now that’s dedication for you. I rather enjoyed illustrating this piece, despite the countless number of dots and time that it took to complete it.
Until next time.
So recently I was going through a stack of old drawings, searching for something specific when I came across one of my old sketch books from college. Like most artist, you tend to have numerous incomplete sketch books. I know that I would often buy a new one before the last one was completely filled to the brim. There’s something about cracking open a fresh blank sketch book…especially if it’s one of those book bound type, that’s special. I just start thinking about all of the possible drawings and doodles I’m gonna do. However before I’d get to them, I’d move on to another new and shiny book. This particular book I carried on me most of my senior year in college. I would sketch in it from time to time in between classes or simply when I was bored. I thought I’d share with you a few of those drawings just for fun.
This was a quick Self Portrait that I did…being that this was a little over ten years ago, I don’t exactly look 100% like this anymore…Damn you Fathertime…you wicked, wicked man!
This was just some random sketch I did of a picture of a model that was in a magazine I was looking at.
This is a pencil sketch of the subject of a painting that I did later that year for my Intro to Painting class. Below is that final painting to see a comparison.
Stay tuned, if you like these, I think that I’ll Post more of these type of College drawings from time to time. I’ll dive into my vault and sort through them and see what I got that’s worth displaying here for you to see.
“Last night, Darth Vader came down from planet Vulcan and told me that if I didn’t take Lorraine out that he’d melt my brain.”
So as I wind down this series of “Back To The Future” inspired “Artzee Fartzee” Post It Posts, I thought that I’d give a nod to my other favorite Time Traveling partners in crime other than that of Marty and Doc…but rather the duo of Sam and Al. As I mentioned once before in a Previous Post, “Quantum Leap” was definitely amongst one of my favorite television shows I watched in my adolescence. And like with everything that I like, I tend to want more of it…but in it’s original form. It saddens me that Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd will never be saddling up in their trusty DeLorean and crack the Space Time Continuum to peer at Hill Valley at various moments along the time line…but will Dr. Beckett…that possibility could still exist. There have been past attempts or talks at bringing “Quantum Leap” back as either a series of movies or even a spin-off series following the adventures of Sam’s daughter Sammy Jo Leaping through time tring to find and rescue her dad. Alas it seems like both options have stalled in their progress, and as of yet, no new Leaps. Unlike “Back To The Future” that suffers from a few hurdles if it were to continue it’s stories with Marty and Doc (ie Michael J. Fox’s illness, the fact that the actors have aged beyond their ability to play their characters even in their older incarnations, and let alone that the characters came full circle and it felt complete), “Quantum Leap” doesn’t suffer from this issue. Both Scott Backula and Dean Stockwell could play their characters at their current age without affecting the storyline or any type of continuity issues and as fans we were treated to a cliffhanger of sorts with the series finale. Dr. Beckett is still out there do what Dr. Beckett does best…leaping. Please, oh please can the powers that be, please give us at least one more adventure with our faithful duo!
So as “Artzee Fartzee” Troy attempts to rectify his Faux Flux Capacitor debacle with his hopes of traveling through time via Quantum Leaping…I hope you’ve enjoyed this series. Please come back and visit for more “Artzee Fartzee” Post It Posts and if you feel compelled to do so…tell a friend about my artwork and these Posts…ah hell…tell two, I don’t mind. Hope to see you back…to the Future…um Present…I mean, right back here at my site, next time that is!
“Doc, we better back up. We don’t have enough road to get up to 88.”
“Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads.”
It seems like every Sci-Fi flick set in either the near, not too distant, or 100 years plus future all have one thing in common…flying cars. Ever since the silent 1927 Fritz Lang directed Science Fiction classic “Metropolis,” airborne vechiles have been a staple of the genre. We’ve been promised these glorious gems, and we’ve been waiting with baited breath, but alas…no one is zipping along the sky ways and byways, soaring amongst the clouds and dodging birds and telephone wires. But wait a minute, aren’t we living in the future right now, aren’t we at the moment part of the new millennium. We’re living past the year 2000…sounds like the future to me. As a result…I want my flying cars! Hell, the future events that take place “Back To The Future 2″ are set in the year 2015…that’s only 6 years away…6 years!!! I doubt if anyone will be getting hover conversions any time soon, let alone by 2015. Come on Hollywood, either stop getting our hopes up by teasing us with flying cars or put pressure on the automotive industry to deliver on the long promised cinematic staple.
“Wait a minute, Doc. Ah… Are you telling me that you built a time machine… out of a DeLorean?”
“The way I see it, if you’re gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?”
For as classic of a movie as “Back To The Future” is and as iconic as the Time Machine DeLorean has become…you know that one day they are going to remake the first movie and everything’s going to change. They remake everything these days, and “Back To The Future” is not safe from such perils as well. My hope is that never happens, ’cause the next thing you know the Time Machine will be made from a Toyota Corolla or some green Hybrid car or something like that. A Corolla does not a Time Machine make…the DeLorean has been, is, and will always be the make and model of the time traveling vechile of the future. ‘Nuff Said!
“Whoa, this is heavy.” “There’s that word again; ‘heavy’. Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the earth’s gravitational pull?”
I’ve always said that if I won a large sum in the lottery, if by some chance all my numbers came up in the Powerball…my one main luxury that I’d splurge on would be finally obtaining my dream car. Second to that would be a life-sized Han Solo in Carbonite, but that’s another story. If I could get my hands on an actual prop vechile from the movie that would be the best but if not, then at least a faithful replica would suffice. The only other added thing would be that I would have to have a Hoverboard replica as well laying in the seat next to me at all times. However, since I have not been fortunate enough to gamble my way to extreme riches or have yet to make them on my own…my dream is completely out of my reach…at the moment. I’ll have to be satisfied by merely being within a foot of it. Look…but do not touch!
I’ve been to Universal Studios several times, both in California and Florida, and whenever there I made sure to visit my holy ground…the site of the “Back To The Future” DeLorean. The photos below were taken during one such occasion back in Summer of 1990.
Boy you can not fathom the restraint it took not to break that barrier, crack open a gulf wing, and zip off into the future for a little joyride. I am so proud of my will power that I demonstrated there that day and on any other day I’ve been there.
Well…I guess this is the closest I’ll ever get, but at least I got this close…right!
“Yeah, well, I saw it on …rerun.” “What’s a rerun?”
I absolutely miss all those 80’s sitcoms and TV shows. It’s one thing to pop in a DVD and watch them that way but that still doesn’t disguise the fact that they’re reruns. Why oh why couldn’t they discover hidden away in the corner of some dark and dank basement boxes upon boxes of lost episodes from my favorite 80’s TV show. How great would that be…brand spanking new shows of shows that are no more…brilliant! How come they don’t find “Lost Episodes” like they use too. There was a time when they were making these discoveries it seemed like on a daily basis. Were people in the 80’s just more responsible that they didn’t lose episodes of the shows they had worked so hard to produce…is that it? But oh how a boy can dream that one day again he’d hear, “Stay tuned for a very special episode of ‘Diff’rent Strokes’.” Oh well, that day may never come but at least there are DVD season sets. If I want to travel back in time to the 1980’s, all I have to do is press play on the DVD player and zip on back to experience the nostolgia…1.21 gigawatts not required.
“Then tell me, ‘Future Boy,’ who’s President in the United States in 1985?”
I know that some fans are more faithful to the original, but I’ve been a fan of every incarnation of “Back To The Future.” Whether it be all 3 movies, the animated TV series, the comic books, the Universal Studios Ride, or merely the Direct TV commercial with Doc Brown…I’m a fan! However, not everything “Back To The Future” related is a gem. If you’re a super fan and simply miss seeing Christopher Lloyd decked out in his Doc Brown garb and you’re tired of just watching the movies, as if that would ever happen, then the following just might be for you. Back in 2007, Christopher Lloyd shot a short film for Mircosofts’ Key Note Address as Doc Brown and spoofed the movies. Even though it was nice to see Emmett once again, it was pretty sad and only made me miss the movies more. Thankfully I could pop in my DVD’s and erase the bitter taste of the Microsoft film from my memory. If you’re brave enough and have several minutes of your life to waste, then click on the link below to view the short film.
2007 Microsoft Key Note Address Short Film
Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
“No, wait! Doc. Doc. The-the-the bruise - the bruise on your head. I know how that happened! You told me the whole story. You were standing on your toilet, and you were hanging a clock, and you fell, and you hit your head on the sink. And that’s when you came up with the idea for the Flux Capacitor…which… is what makes time travel possible. “
As I most likely mentioned here countless times and as every single one of my friends and family will confirm…I’m a hugh fan of a little 80’s flick titled “Back To The Future.” When I was a kid, I wanted to be Marty McFly…at certain times…I still do. I wanna zip around in my DeLorean time machine, evade Biff’s descendants on Mattel Hoverboards, and play “Johnny B. Goode” at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance. I’ve always be pretty hard pressed to pick a favorite movie. When people ask, I tend to rattle off a list as long as my arm and then add an Et cetera at the end to show that the list continues on for infinity. However, when push comes to shove, the Adventures of Marty and his faithful companion Dr. Emmett Brown…would definitely be at the top of that list.
With that said…
I want a DeLorean Time Machine…it is my dream car…not just a DeLorean but the actual one from the end of the first movie with the Flux Capacitor, Time Circuits, and of course absolutely…a Mr. Fusion…’cause who wants to get trapped in the past with out the ability to travel back home to your own time. Getting one’s hands on 1.21 Gigawatts is pretty damn difficult…watch the movie…you’ll see. So, if I can’t somehow own the original prop vechile, or reconstruct a replica like so many out there do, then at least I could own the device that makes time travel possible…the Flux Capacitor. I spotted on the Internet that Diamond Select Toys has produced an extremely detailed prop replica of the Flux Capacitor for you to power your own Time Machine. I guess Time Travel is finally possible for everyone who can afford it. So today’s Post It Post drawings were inspired by exactly that, my desire that one day my sweet Fluxie…you will be mine!
That’s right folks…read it and rejoice…just as it states above…Post It Posts are back! Now even though I’ve been posting lately, the Post It Note drawings have been MIA. Below are the first of many to come so prepare for the onslaught.
So one of my New Year’s Resolutions this year was to draw and create more personal artwork for myself. I want to up my production and be the Stephen King of the art world when it comes to prolificness that is. So far I’ve been pretty successful, but there’s still more that I could be doing. This past Christmas and as well as my Birthday, I received a number of pre-made blank canvases as presents. People were trying to tell me something…don’t you think. However, approaching a painting can be daunting to say the least. The glaring white void of a blank canvas screams to have pigment smeared and lathered on it’s surface…that I have yet to accomplish this year. I will definitely have completed a painting, at least one, by the time 2010 comes screaming into existence…FO SHO! Painting is time consuming for me, but it’s worth it when I’ve finish covering my massive canvas and stand back to take admire my handy work. It’s at that point that I realize that I’ve just created something, no matter how good it is, that will out live me long after I am simply dust in the wind.
So my “Artzee Fartzee” Post It Note drawings today are about just that, putting my nose to the grindstone, buckling down, (insert your own cliched phrase here), and just get at it while the getting’s good! So until next time, I’m back off to my art table to bang out another drawing.
In my continuing campaign to post more examples of my illustrations from concept thru creation to final birth…I wanted to share with you artwork below.
Like any guy from my generation, especially one that has both feet in the deep end of the pool of Geekdom, George Lucas’ “Star Wars” Universe…precisely that from the original trilogy, has always been a strong influence on me. For my own personal joy, I choose to illustrate four characters from those movies. The stylized Gouache paintings I illustrated were done on Watercolor Paper and measure 5.5″ x 7.5″.
Each one of the paintings started off as pretty detailed and tight pencil drawings on Tracing Paper. Working on tracing paper in this manner was a hold over from my college years where I was taught to do all thumbnails on Tracing Paper for some reason…I still not quite sure why. From there I made Photocopies of each of these drawings and did Color Comps in Prismacolor Color Pencils. A majority of the time I nail the colors I’m gonna use on the first try. Occasionally I may tweak the colors a bit either in another Color Comp or during the painting process itself. From there I work rather closely at trying to match those colors in the Final Gouache Painting. I think I was successful.
“Darth Vader” Pencil Sketch, Concept Color Comp, & Final Painting
“Boba Fett” Pencil Sketch, Concept Color Comp, & Final Painting
“Stormtrooper” Pencil Sketch, Concept Color Comp, & Final Painting
“Jabba The Hutt” Pencil Sketch, Concept Color Comp, & Final Painting
Click on the Pencil Drawings and the Concept Color Comps to view them larger.
I plan on doing more paintings in this style either in Gouache or in a digital format because the style really lends itself to the vector Illustrator format. I’ll keep you updated here. May the Force be with you!
