Johnny Rotten

This is an old one I painted in school about a year and a half ago. I have to say I was quite nervous because I had heard how trying watercolor could be. In the end it was a lot of fun and I was quite satisfied.

Layout for my Caricature Brochure

This was a fun and useful little project. I needed a nice brochure to pass out to potential clients in regards to my caricature work. If you're new to my blog, I do caricatures for parties and events in my spare time for some extra loot. It was done in Adobe InDesign and only took a short while to complete. The brochure is click-able and may be printed or you can email me and I can send you a high resolution PDF version (images are at actual 8.5 x 11 size). I also have a new brochure completed for my Illustration and Graphic Design work which I will post up very soon. Click images to enlarge.

Baboon Yawning

Its been a while since I've left a blog post so I thought I'd dig up an old painting that I'd never posted before. This one was done about a year ago but I'm still very proud of it. I managed to dig up the photo from which I referenced it. It was from an old National Geographic. This piece was a mix of guache, acrylic, and some airbrush tossed in for the background. Enjoy and please leave me feedback for this one. Click images to enlarge.

Last Full Measure of Devotion

Here is a new book cover that I've finished this week titled "Last Full Measure of Devotion". I'm finding that I can now crank out a digital painting in about a day which will come in handy if I can ever get any freelance work of this type. Enjoy! Click image to enlarge

Artist In Residence at Holy Angels

The fine folks at Art With a Heart in Indianapolis have set me up with an artist in residence program that involves several inner city summer programs. This weeks was for Great Spirits summer program at Holy Angels Catholic School where we talked about careers in art.

The kids were great and seemed very interested in how the books were created. There were lots of questions and I was asked for my first autograph (which lead to everyone wanting an autograph) and that was the coolest part of the day.

I always get more out of working with the kids than I think they get out of it. I hope a few might think about art as a possible career someday!

Caricatures at The French Lick Springs Hotel

I was called early saturday afternoon by a friend, who also does caricatures, to fill in for her that evening because she was double booked. I agreed and started to make my way down towards Orange County. I hadn't been to French Lick/West Baden in a few years but I remember it being a beautiful place right out of the turn of last century. It is said that French Lick was a popular weekend getaway for Chicago mobster, Al Capone back in the 1930's. They have recently renovated it and added a new casino. If you get a chance to visit there I would recommend it.

The Caricatures went well and I was in and out of there in two hours. The the place was so nice I kind of wanted to stay longer. Everyone had a great time and I made some nice quick cash (always good for an artist) on a saturday night where I had nothing planned but drawing in front of the TV.

The Dahlia Coven

This was a book cover that I had done last fall for an AH book titled The Dahlia Coven. It was for one of Authorhouse's British authors and even though I was satisfied with it, it was quite an education in frustration. I did learn a lot from this particular assignment though, and the next digital painting I attempted was much easier and more enjoyable because of the trial and error of this one. I started with my photo reference of Petra Nemcova and Maria Sharipova and sketched out my composition. From that, I began painting over the sketch in Photoshop. The original cover has the same fiery background but in red instead of green. The Author chose red for the book cover but I display it here as it was meant to be shown,,, in all its ethereal greenness! Click Images To Enlarge