This week I decided to challenge myself, drawing inspiration from the cover redeisgn challenge that periodically happens at The Fox is Black. This is one of my favorite Roald Dahl books, I’m pleased with the results and considering recovering some other Dahl classics. What projects have challenged you this week?
~Greg
So I started with the idea of an active scene featuring pirates. I started watching Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, which I recently picked up at our local library’s book sale. Before I knew it I had created this adventurer. Regardless of the subject matter I wanted to create something with some dramatic lighting, I’d call it a success.
~Greg
Last year during the winter doldrums, as I anxiously awaited getting outside into the garden I did a lot of reading. I happened across a fantastic book called The Complete Gnomes, written by Wil Huygen and illustrated by Rien Poortvliet. I am always interested in mythological creatures, but this book captivated me. It was so thorough and matter of fact that I quickly found myself lost in the book and especially the beautiful illustrations. The entire book left me with the desire to put on a hat and head to the woods with the hopes of finding a gnome myself. After I finished with the book I decided to give myself a project, to try on the style of Rien Poortvliet (very loosely speaking) and see where I landed. This is what I came up with:
I was pleased with how the image turned out. A few months later I started paying with a slightly different technique which I enjoyed greatly. So, liking the subject matter I tried making the piece again, this time using my own technique. Here’s what I came up with:
In the end it was really a fun exercise to try on someone else’s style, I don’t think I can do things like Rien Poortvliet ultimately, but at the end of the day I have two pieces of art to show for it, Huzzah! If you are a creative creator, visual art, writer, or whatever your stripe, I bet this exercise could be adapted for you. What’s something that’s inspired you lately?
~Greg
In mid-January I had a desire to sit down and create a small piece. I figured I’d give myself some limitations. The limitations were that it’d be a watercolor and ink image (not a big limitation for me since it’s my medium of preference), something small (this is 5×7) and lastly that be am image featuring Basil Sterling and Lady Argyle. Before I knew it I found these characters adventuring up a mountain much like Mount Fuji. When we visited Japan we took a night hike up Mt. Fuji, beginning part way up at 8PM and hiking through the night to summit at sunrise. The experience was unlike any I’ve ever had. Even now it is difficult to put it into words. I returned from our trip with a desire to create a piece about the hike and just couldn’t find the right way to convey it. Now, almost 6 months after the fact I find the experience bleeding over into work where I least expect to see it. Perhaps I’m just going to have to settle for that, maybe in a bit more time I could even have a collection of pieces based on that climb.
For any readers out there, have you had an experience like that?
~Greg
So at some point this summer I tried out a variation on my normal technique of preference. Here’s the first intentional piece I made with the style. The inspiration came from looking at a blog of different artist’s travel sketchbooks. Unfortunately I can’t recall the website now but there are plenty out there!
~Greg
So this summer we took a trip to Japan. Much of our time was spent in both the city and the countryside. Some of my favorite parts of the travel (many, many hours on the trains!) involved just looking at the landscape as it passed us by. Everything appeared new and unique and I felt like my brain was just bursting with ideas for projects back home. One morning in Kobe I made this watercolor. We had been to a Japanese bathhouse the day before and this is one of the images that was still fresh in my mind the morning after. Amidst the dramatic mountains was a simple house with a small rack next to it for the bike to sit and bunches of onions to dry. As an avid gardener I also loved seeing the gardens that were all around in the country. When we were in Tokyo there were no gardens and I wondered, “what do people eat, where do they get their food here in Tokyo?” But as we took the train out to Yamanashi the houses grew smaller and almost all of them had an abundance of vegetables growing close at hand. As an avid gardener I really enjoyed the brief glimpse we got into the gardening culture in Japan. In the middle of winter I’m beginning to get garden fever again. So as I’m beginning to plan my garden for a new season I’m also thinking of the gardens I saw over the summer, dreaming of drinking cool cups of Hoijicha or eating some green tea-flavored ice cream.
~Greg
So I’ve been animating like it’s my job. It’s fun, but tough work. Motion is really a tricky thing to get right. Still, I’m pleased with the progress so far!
Now for a well earned break!
Hi all,
In one of my favorite games, Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask you have to hunt for missing fairy pieces in order to reassemble the great fairies that have been broken up. So that’s what I drew for illo friday, here link is wearing the Great Fairy Mask so lure the fairies into him!
~Greg
