LTMS MURALS

More on this later including my artist statement, but for now read this great article by Tammy Lane!

Tribute to smaug the Dragon

I always loved the 1977 animated "The Hobbit" from Topcraft. I can't find many specific details on the creature design but the crew included Toru Hara, Tsuguyuki Kubo, Hidetoshi Kaneko and Kazuko Ito whose work you might recognize in Thudercats among others.

Speaking of cats, I really loved how many Tolkien creatures appear feline in nature in Arthur Rackham Jr's version of the Hobbit. Smaug especially resembles a cat, but still withholds certain reptilian features of a serpent or crocodilian head shape.

Custom Sketchbook

And this has been far too late in coming, the amizing Melissa Oesch of Reimagined by Luna created this swell custom sketchbook case for Studiospectre. I love it. Check out her website here. http://www.reimaginedonline.com/current/2011/7/14/custom-sketchbook-case.html

Pteranodon.

I drew a Pteranodon, ona cliff, in chalk pastels. I asked Charlie Campbell what color to make the Pterosaur, and he said purple. That's about it!

My Favorite.

I do believe that this is the rowdiest aviation themed picture I have ever taken!

MURAL IS COMPLETE!

There are going to be quite a few new postings coming up this week, but first and foremost, the Mural is complete!!!


This is a panoramic image of the mural I just completed for the Living Arts and Science Center, a wonderful organization that among other things, has a yearly exhibit in their discovery room. This years exhibit is entitled "Amazing Animal Adaptations", and I was honored to be asked to paint background images for the different biotopes in this exhibit.


Please try to visit the exhibit in person, their is a beautiful Iguana who I had the pleasure of adding some home decor for! Also take a moment to read the artists statement and acknowledgments as well as looking at the pictures.



Artist's Statement.

"""Since childhood I’ve been drawn to the point where fine art meets scientific illustration. As a youngster I loved looking at detailed illustrations of prehistoric creatures much more than the typical photographs of living animals. This fascination did not diminish in adolescence and the original nature artwork always seemed to hold my interest, whether it was from a publication or on the wall of a museum. Art has always held a power of information for me, as a viewer and creator. When creating the backdrop murals for this current exhibit, I was delighted to be able to put this passion to use.

I am very honored to be able to participate in the creation of the Animal Adaptations exhibit at the Living Arts and Science Center. Without the assistance of all the Staff at the LASC this would not have been possible. I would like to also commend the creative talents of the exhibit designers Katherine and Tisha, who gave excellent art direction on incorporating the painting into the exhibit. I can now say that I have had the pleasure of painting an Iguana’s cage in the colors of his rainforest home!"""

Stevie Moore

I would also like to thank Heather Lyons and the Board and executives of the Living Arts and Science center for commissioning the mural for this exhibit. Of course I would like to thank Katherine Bullock and Tisha Weaver for creating such an awesome exhibit. Finally I would like to also thank LeAnn Jenkins for lending me her ladder and Elaine Quave and Steven Littrell for volunteering to open and close the facility when I needed to work late. Without all of their help I could not have completed what I think is one of the most interesting applications of painting and display of my artistic career.

RASTERIZER

Rasterizer is the title and name of my entry for the D-mag comic book themed mascot contest.
I created Rasterizer based on my love of photoshop and digital painting and the rasterizor represnets that love of artistry and it's strange juxtaposition aside digital technology. Can a robot create, can it think? Or does the machine just speed up our own human creative potential?

I began with a rough sketch I did in pencil and paper then moved into a digital painting in an 8"X8" template I use in RGB. I borrowed some techniques from some of my favorite 'robot and mecha' artists Feng Zhu and Doug Chiang for rasterizor and also had a great time using the awesome brushsets from concept on a Mac which was recommended to me by Patrick Rodes, a very talented former pupil of mine.

Here are some details about Rasterizer, I hope you enjoy.

Name: Rasterizer

Sex: N/A

Race: Silicon

Alignment: Productive/Good

Age: 1 year/ N/A

Powers: Super Speed, Strength, Advanced Sensors, Advanced computer

Prime Directive: Pixelate anything you want to Pixilate.

Tool used to create: Photoshop

The New Studio

Today I'm going to update the blog with some images and information about my new studio space at LEXVC, the Lexington Visual Collective. I've got to say that I think our crib has come together very nicely, better than I even expected. Everyone will have to come check us out on Gallery hop Sept 16th!

P-47 Razorback

A little further along, I have changed the livery, started a background, and focused on a single aircraft.





I'm starting this post off with the first step of my P-47 painting with this first image being the beginning of the coloring and inking of the original pencil drawing I was given by my friend.

Spinosaurus

My interpretation of the terror of prehistoric North Africa!  The most complete skeleton was destroyed during WWII in Berlin but the sketches and measurements remain.  I have developed the animal around a lowland, valley, river/wetland lifestyle.  It is commonly believed among many academics that Spinosaurus was likely a scavenger and fish/aquatic critter eater and was not likely to have been a swift chase-down predator.  I made the tongue of the animal blue to reflect a possible lure for fish and other aquatic creatures to within snapping distance of the creatures mouth.  I also made the sail a colorful display as well as an air conditioning device that is also a possibility commonly discussed among the scientific community. 

F/A-18 F

I had the distinct pleasure yesterday of enjoying a walkaround of 2 of the United states Navies Finest Aircraft, the F/A-18 Hornet, or "Rhino". This is the new Top Gun, this is the new ultimate machine of Naval Aviation. What is even better is meeting the persons that make this entire system function for a celebration of 100 years of Naval Aviation.

Fonda Petting

She said she was sort of.....

This was really just a quick sketch as part of my daily routine, I'm really liking these big war horses. I was concentrating on proportions, just the whole horse form really. Sort of like the assignment to draw 100 hands and 100 feet, I'm going to sketch 17 plus hand horses.

LEXVC video from Debra's Social Stimulus

Many Thanks to Debra's Social Stimulus for creating this awesome video for LexVC.

Screech Owl Sketch FINISHED!

yeah, I know what your thinking.

Concept was not mine, it was a glamor shot taken by a friend a while back, I just added the hood and robe. I needed to do an illustration of a figure, particularly the face just for practice. I tried to limit my time to just a few hours (<3). I'll admit it, I did a little tracing OK, so what! Just kidding, I am trying more and more to move away from tracing and using the reference material in the proper way. I didn't focused my main attention on the face and this is actually my first study using the Grayscale first, then color overlay. Hope you enjoy it.

Spinosaurus Preview!

It's the moment you've all been waiting for!

This is a small preview of what started out as a simple sketch and has now grown into yet another intricate and time consuming painting. There isn't a decent background yet and I have some more scales to draw, but this is something to tide you over for now. Enjoy.

Indianapolis Air Show was AWESOME!

Drove to Mount Comfort Indiana on Saturday to check out the 15th Indianapolis air show for the first time. The blue angels were the headliners this year and the weather cooperated very nicely. I'll be uploading more images and eventually a video of the Show so stay tuned.

Thunder Over Louisville

This year was a rainy one in Louisville Ky, when thunder was about to roll through the Ohio river valley. It was cold and windy, and wonderfully sparsely populated. The show started off normally with some most aircraft making a single pass, but I still felt confident that it would just be a low light, overcast show. The weather began to get 'squirrely' as our humble narrator put it, and this presented a problem for incoming aircraft. The cloud layer (and thus viability) was falling below 4,000 feet, too far into the performance box for some of the aircraft to fly in. We did see some big guys, plenty of helicopters, and the Coast Gaurd's new C-144 Ocean Sentry so I was feeling confident. When the weak were breaking from Ohio river windburn, I still had hopes that the finale would come through. Although the squirrelliness of the weather prevented several flights from making the show, The end of the video shows the F-22, for which I was seeing for the first time. I'm Hooked like a drug. Enjoy.

BALD EAGLE

This fine specimen lives at the Salato Wildlife Center about 30 minutes from my hometown. I watched it (I have yet to inquire if it is male or female) fohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifr several minutes and took numerous photographs while it made interesting chirps.

I wanted to select a particularly stoic and regal pose. I used lots of custom brushes which were similar to those taught by David Nash at his workshop 'Pushing Pixels' in Cincinnati. This was also my first go at using some of the new realistic paintbrushes in PS CS5. I intentionally made the background vague as this is a portrait piece. Feedback is welcome.

Salato Bird Oil Paintings.

Cardinal sketch, oil 2011.

Tufted Titmouse Sketch, Oil 2011

These are three small 12X14 one day oil paintings of some local wildlife at the Salato Center.
I recently had a discussion with extraordinary wildlife artist Charles Alexander in which he gave me some great advice on many things but one I spurned into immediate application was to only use my own reference photo's. This at first seemed like some hard advice to follow, It's not always easy to get photo's (especially good photo's) of critters you really want to photograph. This can result from expense of equipment, to time involvement, to access to locations, all of which are challenging for me. So to make up for what I currently lack in free time and extra cash for a safari with a Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM with extender, I had to improvise and compromise.

As it turns out, I am quite fortunate to live in a state of the union with a bountiful abundance of natural beauty and a great Fish and wildlife service system. Salato center serves as a Visitors Center for the States Department of Fish and Wildlife and is located only 30 minutes from my home in our grand old capital Frankfort.

The photo's I ended up using for these paintings came from just walking around hand held in the parks excellent trails and also from their exquisite indoor bird feeder viewing area. I attended the Backyard Bird Count event there and I think we listed over 20 species, although I didn't get excellent photo's of all the birds.

What I am beginning to accept is that to be a real wildlife artist, you must also be (or have access to) a real wildlife photographer. Working with any budget, I am putting to the test this theorem of using my own reference photo's, the Idea of which I like because it requires you to actively seek out your subject. you are forced to get to know them, study and document them, and this can only serve to improve your work after gaining a familiarity with them.