What about a little color?

Hey there sports fans, Al here with the latest:
What about a little color to the work?
Interesting question.  How as an artist do I add this to the work that I already do that is in black and white.
How do I go about it.
And more over, should I do it?

 A few examples from over the years adding color to the comic book work firstly and then adding some color to the commission poster pieces and my illustrative character designs with scratchboard.

Firstly was my attempt with color on the Ghost Assassin/ Johnny Vega crossover, Circa 2010. Full color Digital Illustration.  This short cross over with Adam Watson of Darkslinger Comics was the last time I would apply full digital color to my works. It was just to damn time consuming for the little amount of time I had to give these comics the work they deserved. Though the finished product was awesome in it's mini comic book form.
The next example is from Page 4 of Johnny Vega, Man of the Future. It was this issue that was bringing me back to the reason why I had wanted to make comics in the first place. The use of pen and ink illustration with color! This wouldn't be the last foray into the pen and ink with color as there would be there be one more printed up book of Corrax the Seeker one shot that would be produced but there were serious challenges that kept coming up on how to keep making money to support the work?

There wasn't.

So I began to focus on the scratchboard work and strictly the black and white illustration. But at the same time I had also started playing around with the use of white markers on black bristol paper to make quick and dirty b&w comics and adding a digital color underlay to the covers to entice reader to pick up the books.
This really come in when designing the Corpse Cop books for the next couple of years.

 Now I have in the past played with color with my artwork specifically my comic illustration but never really adapting it to my scratchboard work. It just seemed to be such a hard ideal to think of.
With black and white (and all the variations of grey) woiuld color really help out or would it really detract from what I was trying to show? Color! Whoa, hold on now! That's a whole different kind of weirdness for this kid.
But now after a failed commission for a scratchboard piece I decide to see it I could apply my art store know how and my artsitic skills as a air brush guy to the test by making a scratchboard with color that could etched out with my xacto without having to add digital color to the work and present a finished color piece of work that would be striking.

 "Green Depth" is what I was able to come up with. Of course Richard Parker is involved in this little exploit but this also appeals to the Lovecraftian sorts out there because of the color and tentacles!
Now onto other projects that require my attention.

BUT TO THE QUESTION IS SHOULD I ADD COLOR TO THE WORK?

I think that I really do need to add this to my medium. Not all at once but sporadically over time. Scratchboard has done very well for me over the years and I have known that quick changes to one's artwork always seems to throw people when looking at it so I will add a little more color to the work as I go. Adding that extra to the work, I hope, will bring more viewers to look at what the medium has to offer.
And as always there are places for you to check out as well.
Etsy

Big Cartel 

Storenvy

And of course I still have my comics that I have worked on here at Indyplanet.

And mind you there is website
and the facebook page 

The Website also has some new stuff added for the comic books featuring Corpse Cop.

 And with that this kid is outta of here I got work to do. 

 

 And that's it for the kid for now and I am outta of here.

posted from Bloggeroid

When it rains, it pours- a lot

Hey there sports fans, Al here with the latest;
Well the DIVE IN! Art Show has been officially underway for the last week and has boosted the ego of said creator (moi) greatly because you never know what the turn out is going to be like. Well as I have already mentioned in last week's blog it was awesome!
So many people showed up it was great. I feel kinda of bad because I couldn't spend as much quality time with every one like I would like to but that what happens when you have your own opening.

But now it also comes with a all different kind of price tag - commissions!

It was so funny that two weeks ago I had (with some help) hung the DIVE IN! show and had taken off for a small vacation/business trip for an art opening up in Port Townsend WA

Port Townsend Washington.

for Beth Kerschen.
That was a great trip and she sold her one piece as well as getting a juror's choice for it.
But along the way I received an email about doing a Lovecraft themed image.
I am still re-reading that story and getting inspiration for the drawings that are to come.
Now just as my show was going on I'm being hit up friends of mine for two separate paying gigs for illustration and I still have two other commissions to work on as well.
Damn! The boy be busy!

The Jersey Devil by Jason McKittrick

Now there are other illustrations to do and one of them really caught my attention. When doing research for a new series of work occasionally you will come across something that is not what you expected to find at all. Case in point I was looking up illustrations on the Jersey Devil for apart of a series of Cryptids. And found this -

,

  This is just an awesome piece of strange weirdness - like I like. It set up a whole of different ideas for a series of multi headed bird humaniods for different types of fiction suits.
If you haven't heard me mention it before there is probably a good reason for it. Being a fan of most of Grant Morrison's work with the Doom Patrol and the Invisibles and Seven Soldiers. I equally read his work on Flex Mentallo which his idea of a "suit" could be mentally/spiritually constructed to represent different ideal versions of yourself OR project versions of yourself.  This is all part of Morrison's use of Chaos Magic. Really, it's how and what you want to project yourself to other people around you. 
This image that I came across of the Jersey Devil just rung the ol' bell and said you should do something with that. It took me some time to track this image down again but I think I finally found it!
So the pencil is setting to paper and soon to transfers and the like for later in the year work.

IN THE MEETING ....
(Of a friend who was going to be leaving town here in the next month for the east coast and getting married) I was introduced to a woman who was asking the question "So are you an artist?"  
And of course I imedately jumped in and said "Yes, I am. I'm a comicbook illustrator."
Off to my right was another friend artist named Tara who gave me a slight rumpled brow. Wondering what she meant I gave her a questioning look and said "What?"
She responded "You should just say "Illustrator."
I turned back to the woman asking the question "Pardon me, Illustrator." and then we laughed.
But I thought about it a lot after that night it's the perception of the artist of themselves which is as important as much as the presentation of the artwork being shown.
Again it's like your interviewing for a job. You want and need to make the best impression possible. Nothing wrong with being a comic illustrator but again you are dealing with peoples personal impression of you, the artist.
Tara was just telling me something that my girlfriend had already been doing on my behalf and I hadn't realized it until that night. To be taken seriously showing art in a gallery forum it's perception of the artist representing themselves clearly defined for anyone to see.
So next time it's just straight illustrator.

And for anything else that pertains to the box check out these sites as well.
Etsy

Big Cartel 

Storenvy

And of course I still have my comics that I have worked on here at Indyplanet.

And mind you there is website
and the facebook page 

The Website also has some new stuff added for the comic books featuring Corpse Cop.

 And with that this kid is outta of here I got work to do. 

 

 And that's it for the kid for now and I am outta of here.

posted from Bloggeroid

This is it! The DIVE IN! Art Show

Hey there sports fans, Al here with the latest:
Well of this posting the DIVE IN! Art Show is OFFICIALLY under way. It has like the art work that it is showcasing has under gone several changes. It is very exciting time for yours truly and occasionally nerve racking because you don't know how things are going to go sales or reaction to the subject matter.
Now mostly I know people like what they have seen but nothing else yet. So I am still waiting on that.

 Richard Parker marches on specially on the bottom of the sea. The show was a FANTASTIC! The turn out for the show was great. I had invited 94 people and 33 of them turned out! I felt this was a good support not only from the people whom I had long standing relationships with from the comic book shows and other associated art related events as well as work.
The very first thing was that I had no idea was that a piece had already sold by the time that I got to the show. I wasn't even aware as I was setting up the associated works likes like the t-shirts postcards, and original 8"x8" pieces from both the 88 STRONG show and the BIG 500.
I was really happy to see that some of my older pieces took off from the show that made me happy.

And I could be happier that some of my favorite pieces took off like Corpse Cop "Fill in the Blanks" .
This one totally surprised me as was never really exspecting Corpsie was never gonna leave the nest after two years but maybe I was thinking outside of the box thinking that the whole zombie thing was more of less over with in popular media but "The Walking Dead" and the spin off "Fear the Walking Dead" have proved me wrong. 

So Corpse Cop is now out of hands.

And of course the other prints that I had there got picked up by one big fan of my work. That is really cool.

One of the major pieces that wasn't Richard Parker themed that I knew was a strong piece was "The Last Monster on EARTH!" is gone! It found a good home with a man who it really spoke and connected with. I was had nice conversation with him and the origin of the character and he had wished that Robot Monster had been sporting big laser guns in the movie.

 I had explained that the  guns were based upon an older Outer Limits episode "Soldier". Of course this made the buyer smile because he had just been rewatching the DVD sets of the series.  He loved it!

It's those kind of moments that make a great impression that make selling a good piece better.

Who knows there maybe some more down the road.

There was another sale but Richard Parker is going to be diving into someone's home. He is really gonna find a place to call his own.

Now on totally different note.

 The DIVE IN! Art Show playlist 2015

 

ON TOP OF THAT.. I have also made a play list for the show. Not a long one only two hours but that should be long enough to get the point across that this is a sea and water event.

All in all it was and IS a great show!

COMMISSIONS.
As of last week when my girlfriend and I headed up to the far end of Washington State at Port Townsend I received an email for a H.P. Lovecraft themed images based upon "the Shadow of Innsmouth". 

An example of the Shadow over Innsmouth

I'm curious to see how I will handle this considering the way it is to be illustrated. INSTEAD of the customary black and white of scratchboard I'll be switching to clayboard with a air-brushed dark green blanket to etch into.  This is something new for me as I have yet to really do something like this. And of course there is the price which has yet to be settled on but I am confident that I will be able to make this happen.

And that is it for this kid and I am outta here.

posted from Bloggeroid

And now the show begins

Hey there sports fans, Al here with the latest;

Well so it begins this weekend for the DIVE IN! art show @ NWIPA.
Just hanging the show but everything should be in place for the show. I think the only thing I'm debating about is the putting up prints. But I'm thinking that they should go up as well just to get things moving forward with sales and the like.
But everything has been recorded on SQUARE so anything else is just collecting the money.
I would love to see many things fly out of the show. That would be fantastic in my opinion.
At times I wish I had more to bring to the show (all Richard Parker themed. And trust me there is a great bunch of stuff that I have planned out to show later on) but right now just got to focus on the show itself.

RESENT DEVELOPMENT....

As I was getting my rack for prints ready for this weekend and pulling the large framed pieces out to be transported to NWIPA I found a piece that is directly related to Richard Parker and really kinda the reason why Parker exists in the first place.
The Mermaid.
Now this was strictly something that I threw together because I wanted to prove a woman that I could make a mermaid quickly for a potential commission but she never came back around for a look to look. HER major loss in my opinion but because of her was initial inspiration for the ALL of the deep sea diver material.

Of course the image I have here doesn't really show off the actual piece that I am looking to put up for the DIVE IN! art show. This is because I don't have a giant industrial scanner that can scan in 16"X20" scratchboards.

Maybe one day I will soon I hope and that will make things so much better for me. But image of the mermaid made Richard Parker possible. They are two side of a coin. Right now as things begin to line up for the set up at NWIPA, I've been working on the way to tell how Parker is brought back from the dead (yes spoiler alert but he does die guys but he comes back).
I think I have figured out how to do it to. And because of the sea legends of old especially the legend of the Flying Dutchman. The Spectre of the Sea.
 I am excited about this prospect and have been working an angle dealing with Greek myth to help bring Parker from the edge of death to avenging angel of the Seven Seas. Who wouldn't want to pick up a comic based upon that scenario?
I think that my friend Lynn Perterson said it best on Facebook:

Wood engraving by Lynd Ward 1930

 "Ghost ships and monstrous sea creatures, sailing off the edge of the world! RP needs to appear in graphic novel form with your art. I want to talk to you about artist Lynn Ward who wrote stories, book format using only his wood cuts 1930s-40s...Your work is on the way to doing that now..."

Wood engraving by Lynd Ward 1930

I have been looking at Mr. Ward's work over the last year and his woodcuts are amazing to me but him making a graphic novel using strictly images blew me away. I have been working towards that goal with the "Dreams of Elysium" for a while. I know that now it can be done because it has happened before and I keep telling people that scratchboard (if they are not familiar with it) is just a poor man's woodcut.

I will be looking into this with great furbur. 

And that gives me hope that I can do it and also have great artistic WORLD WIDE APPEAL!

And for anything else that pertains to the box check out these sites as well.
Etsy

Big Cartel 

Storenvy

And of course I still have my comics that I have worked on here at Indyplanet.

And mind you there is website
and the facebook page 

The Website also has some new stuff added for the comic books featuring Corpse Cop.

 And with that this kid is outta of here I got work to do. 

 

 And that's it for the kid for now and I am outta of here.

posted from Bloggeroid

Closer, come close...

Hey there sport fans, Al here with the latest!

New Flash! If you haven't been following any of the invites on Facebook or the separate Black Box Visual Arts Facebook page there has been some interesting new and confusion as well.

All of this pertains to the DIVE IN! art show this September. Only in two weeks.
Originally set for the 19th for an opening due to a scheduling conflict with the previous artist The fine folkes at NWIPA have asked if I would be able to show 2 weeks early.
I said yes.
Then due another scheduled conflict at NWIPA the event will officially open September 12th.
Did ya get all of that? Show opens the 1st, Grand Event opening The 12th. The show runs through till October 16th!
It's all pretty crazy.
Now on top of that the artists bio and series statement have been typed up and are being proof read by a large amount of artist friends (some of which are reading this blog right now) to help me refine and condense the show's intent.
these next couple of images are what I have to date for the show.

Here is the latest for the poster that I have in mind for the show. Hopefully it will get the point across when the show is and what to expect for the the style of the show.

There has been some confusion as to when because there has been a couple different start times due scheduling conflicts and the like.

What's new?

Well as the show gets closer there is definitely things changing and this show is no different.

I still have a playlist for music to put together that suits the deep sea diver motif when the Event opens on the 12th of September. To add to that there is merchandise that I have to plan for while I am not at NWIPA while I toil at my 9-5 job. Prints and original pieces of artwork have already been assigned to my SQUARE app and it seems that this (my store) can be linked to NWIPA's iPad and charge sales to there. This will make things so much easier to track sales for me and them since there is about 4 different guys working there during the course of the week.

So I do have a listing of different nautical tunes in mind so that I hope will be the last thing I do.

Being stressed bugs me a lot and this show is much more than anything I have planned on for. In the last couple of years I could have never thought that I would have such a turn out or anything but this year will be different. The work is strong and constantly getting stronger all the time. I love that.

After looking on line for several sample of both this is what I was able to come up with for the "DIVE IN!" art show. Writing in the third person is not something that I do well. Never have so I have post both of these for people to look at and tell me what are glaring issues with either one of them. I really think that this show will take off for me because there is so many loose ends that I have accounted for and I really want Parker to take off so that I can begin to make more work with him in it and pull away from the 9 to 5 job.

SO WHAT'S NEXT?

That is and interesting idea. There are in fact two different things on my plate firstly is a new series of 9" x12" scratchboard for small groups to be sold in sets. Mad Scientists, Robots, Rocketmen. Noir Detectives, Popart 60's Etc. All of these have that old nostalgic feel to them and make it easier for me focus on a few different options and still keep my work fresh.

ON TOP OF THAT...
I have also been working towards setting up new art shows for moi and others when they are ready and put them in touch with the people to know. Haven't started charging a finder's fee yet but you never know.
Looking at setting up a scratchboard show at NWIPA along with some of my fellow scratchboarders and setting up another solo show at the Slingshot Lounge as well.

Well that's it for the kid I am outta of here.

posted from Bloggeroid

Now for the tough job....

Hey there sports fans, Al here with the latest:
The kid now has ALL of the work ready and varnished but now comes the framing part of the job.
Now mind you I'm a pretty detailed kinda guy so when it comes to framing I know very little about it but try my damnedest to learn what I can do.
With 14 9" x12" 's and a couple of 11" x14'"s and one 18" x24"

			The Framing of Richard Parker all 9"x12" in 12"x16" frames

I think I'm gonna have my hands full framing these pieces then there is the ever pesky thing about writing about yourself both in the first person for the artist statement and third person for your personal bio. That's the one that everyone falls into the idea of parody OR so esoteric and snobby that nobody would want to look at the work.
You just have to use the hook like you would for selling Indy Comix at a show.
Biggest difference is your showing for a month not a couple of days.
At least that's the way this comes through to me.
The whole art gallery and dealing places and the show curators have been hard to pin down what the best way is to approach and make your pitch for a potential show.



There is also what stuff do you bring from the last show to the newest one? Which pieces make the cut and which don't. And sometimes just sometimes a piece that you are really attached to is like that and nobody see what you see in it.
I've got a piece like that.

A small 5"x7" with the Manwolf image I did.
I really don't want this one to go because it also represents for me a cool story idea for dealing with Captain America's shield in a story called "The SHEILD".

But this is just and idea that Cap's Shield would be the main focal point of the story between different heroes in the Marvel Universe and a couple parallels. Of course I might have to use a villain that I love in it as well which is Kang the Conqueror. A mini series if you will and Deathlok, Major Victory and Killraven as well as the ManWolf would be involved in this story to preserve all of mankind's accomplishments as well including technology transcribed by Reed Richards and Tony Stark.
I also might throw in the Winter Soldier in there as well.

Of course this is a fan boys idea of using these older characters that I was reading about when I was younger.

BUT I got off topic there. 

there is a few pieces left to frame but the majority of them are done and that part I am happy with. I have been told that the show now has moved up for show time which means for me that I got bust my balls getting work done. And then there is talking to the curator of NWIPA (which they didn't used to but having a place becomes more well known after their third year they needed one.) time to hang work, gallery cuts artist's statements and bio's. 

It all gets very confusing. But work is progressing .

There is a new learning curve that is being thrown around at the Condo of Concepts and that is instead of constantly limiting myself with my art and the originality of the work which is never to be seen again make larger pieces that can be used for prints and crop the image to fit a 8" x8" format for the BIG  500.
Now the biggest reason I have sooo fixated on this is because the show has proven to me to be the one place that seems to be the one place I know I could sell work on a regular basis. Knowing that I could sell at least 7 out of ten pieces of work pretty consistently.
A number of friends had badgering me (though genitally) to think bigger. I always agreed with this but how?
I know I'm not always the brightest Bulb in the box but give me a little more to work with. Conceptual design is great but how could take what I already have going (which is fantastic looking to begin with to toot my own horn) and adapt it. I'm not talking about how to make more buttons and t-shirts or coffee mugs but make prints work for the original and still sell that at a gallery.

Oh well that's it for the kid here as I start moving to a birthday and other stuff.

Richard Parker the Great and Powerful

Hey there sport fans, Al here with the latest:

Well good ol' Richard Parker begins to move into a new phase as the the "DIVE IN!" art show (at N.W.I.P.A.) gets closer and closer to show time.
I am extremely excited about this show because there is something different about the look and feel of this visual narrative.
It is unlikely most of the illustrations that I had developed for Corrax the Seeker

and Johnny Vega.
Those were my spring boards into Richard Parker and the story around him.
And IT, the story around Richard Parker, also sets up the visual graphic novel of "Dreams of Elysium" down the road.
Truth is my illustrations have always been much better received and far out weigh my writing and story telling ability like a thousand to one.
I've always known this and most of my friends who have seen the work have known this as well so I decided to try something new. And this really goes back to something I read about Will Eisner talking about illustration and sequential story telling. The art has to really carry the reader through the words are secondary. I think that a lot of writers might not agree with that but the visual of comic books is what draws the reader into the books.  Egos not withstanding.

Funny thing is now as the show begins to move towards hanging comes the preparation of other things and in my case artist statements and artists bios.
   I used to think that they were one and the same but they are not as I have found out recently.
An Artist's Bio is exactly that: it covers an artist's education, training, style and medium.
The Artist's Statement (or in my case Series Statement for Richard Parker) what inspired the work and the visual narrative being presented.
Also keeping it straight and to the point. In a way it's kinda like a comic book story pitch at a show when someone comes and asks you what your book and character is about.
Like "What's Corrax the Seeker? What's he seeking?"
"He's seeking vengance for the genoside of his race."
OR
"What's Johnny Vega about?"
"He's a combination of John Sheraden of B5 and Flash Gordon."
Of course this reference to comics but the same general principal can be applied to an art show statement.
Short and sweet and gets the point across to others what the art show is about  

So this weekend I should be picking up backing boards and mats for my pieces of artwork for the show and have that ready to go as well.

ON TOP OF THAT.....
not only do I have to come up with a series statement but I also have tie down a few loose ends with Bonanza for selling work and look into both distributors for carrying the prints or postcards as well as looking at teespring.com for selling t-shirts of Richard Parker and Last Monster on EARTH!.

SOUNDS like a lot of stuff and it is but to get this ball rolling I have to master a bunch of things that surround the idea of making money at my craft and be happy about it. 

posted from Bloggeroid