2013 Sketchbook: News Update and WIP!

Because it is mere days until I hope to offer my new 2013 sketchbook (and due to the fact that I simply cannot wait!) I wanted to drop in a little sneak peek of a WIP painting I've been working on the last several days.

This piece entitled "Fisherman's Song" will be included in its black and white form in my forthcoming sketchbook. A color version (which you see above) will be included in a digital version of the sketchbook, which will include some bonus content, and will be available for download on Etsy. The plan is to offer the physical sketchbook, as well as a digital version which will include a few color paintings. The above painting will also serve as a promotional postcard, which I plan on sending to art directors, etc.

The above piece was created to be a part of a series of 4 new drawings that I created specifically for this personal project. I did them all over the course of The Lamp Post Guild's "Art of Personal Work" with Cory Godbey. I would strongly recommend you take this class if you're interested in building your portfolio, getting the attention of potential clients, or just interested in developing your voice as an artist in general. I cannot stress enough how beneficial this class was in my pursuit of illustration as a career, and I hope some of you will find it to be helpful as well!

Our Fall Class begins on Nov. 18th, 2013, and registration is open! You can sign up at http://lpg.pathwright.com/school/catalog/course/the-art-of-personal-work-cory-godbey/

and you can find an article by Cory on the importance of personal work (and a discount code!) here:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2013/11/personal-work-making-it-count.html

Thanks for reading, and I will be posting more soon!

-Will

Craft of Illustration: Character Studies

I haven't been posting much of my work from The Lamp Post Guild class I've been working through, "Craft of Illustration" taught by Justin Gerard, primarily because it's mostly been rough sketches and thumbnails up to now. But these are some character studies I just finished up to share with the class that I thought I would post here. The scene I'm illustrating is from C. S. Lewis' The Silver Chair in which Jill Pole leaves the castle of Cair Paravel sailing through the night sky on the back of an Owl. I'll be sure to post more as I start to finish up the illustration.

The Lamp Post Guild

 Just a quick post about some news: I'm thrilled to announce that I was recently asked to be a part of the Lamp Post Guild team! As a Community Manager, I'll be overseeing class forums, answering questions, and helping maintain various social media pages. It is a great honor and a privilege to work with such talented individuals, and I cannot wait to see where this amazing online art school will go next. I would encourage you to check out all of the classes that are available, and consider signing up. The Lamp Post Guild exists to provide an affordable online learning experience that teaches illustrators professional practices and how to be successful at doing what you love - and making a living doing that very thing!

Check out all The Lamp Post Guild has to offer here: http://lpg.pathwright.com/school/catalog/

Hope to see you in a class soon!

-Will

 

Morning Warmup: Crusader

Here's today's morning warmup sketch of a Crusader from the ol' Moleskine in all its sketchy, unedited glory! (Well, I did adjust the levels a bit. But that's only for the scan, mind you!). Sketching has really been good for me lately. It's just like exercise - when you do it every day, it strengthens your skills, and makes you feel invigorated and ready to tackle the day.

Also, I should note that the recent warmup sketches I've been doing are from photo reference. Just didn't want you to get the idea I'm coming up with this stuff out of my head!

A bit of other news: I'm still trying to finish up my Winter Dragon piece, and it's going good, but still needs a lot of work to pull it to the finish line. Also, today I am doing rough sketches on my Lamp Post Guild piece. I'm doing a scene from Narnia! Looking forward to sharing some preliminaries from that here soon.

And for future reference, I'm going to be shooting for a Mon/Wed/Fri blog post schedule. Not saying I won't miss a post, but that's just to keep me on track!

More art soon!
-Will

The Illustrator Grows Slowly as a Tree

Great Horned Owl

Prismacolor brown pencil on toned charcoal paper

Hello all. I am here to bring you an update from the frontier! The wild uncharted moors of Illustration Land! It is here that I, the intrepid illustrator, have fought many foes to create images that will inspire and uplift! However, in the recent weeks I have been in a slimy bog known as LIFE. Yes, my friends. It takes hold of you, and drags you away from your paper and pencils and paints and computers. It makes you work hard every day at a job that pays your bills but has nothing to do with making pretty pictures! It makes you sleep for a very long time. It makes you walk around in a groggy stupor saying: where am I? I am not an illustrator. I have never been one. 

And then, to your great astonishment, a large kneaded eraser hits you on the head, and something pops inside of you. You remember that you were made to make art, and you will stop at NOTHING to make more of it. The bog will not hold you! You reach! You Pull! You FIGHT! You shake off the mud, and start running across the moor - anywhere! You must find your work again! You must find some blue sky! You - run right into the phosphorescent Hound of the Baskervilles. GAME OVER.

Yes, friends this is me. The recent weeks have not been kind. Some of you have gone on to read more interesting art blogs. Some of you are ready to tie me to a stake and flail me for not finishing INKtober. Some of you do not care. That is fine. I will now continue to make art. And maybe even some great art. I want to make pictures for people to enjoy. And I will. So stay tuned. I HEREBY RESOLVE that I will make many more pictures, and put many more here. I want this week to be full of blog posts (hopfully not as dull as this). So prepare yourselves for what is to come!

NOW. Enough of this silliness, and on to some IMPORTANT things.

#1. The Lamp Post Guild

Please help fund The Lamp Post Guild! It's an exciting new learning platform that will teach professional art skills to ANYONE. That means you! And me! And it's a chance for someone who might not be able to afford art school to learn that they can make a living doing Illustration. And it's taught by my 3 favorite illustrators: Justin Gerard, Cory Godbey, and Chris Koelle! WIN.
The project is fully funded, but there are only 56 hours left in the Kickstarter as of this post, so you can still help out and fund some exciting stretch goals, like some new classes to be added to the list! I was the first one to back the project when it went live in October (pats self on back), so I've been taking it very seriously! Thanks in advance for helping out, and even if you can't back it, be sure and check out the courses. If you're even remotely interested in improving your illustration skills then these are most certainly the classes for you.

#2. Fox Demo by Cory Godbey!

     I wanted to quickly turn your attention to a video that I purchased this past weekend (and watched all last weekend). This is Fox, by Cory Godbey, a 1 hour video demo of Cory's digital coloring process that he recently made available on his new digital shop on his blog, lightnightrains. I am not being paid to say this, but let me say it's the best $30 I've spent in a long time. The video is extremely well done, and it's very easy to follow. I have seen Photoshop demos in the past that were insanely confusing (partly because they were so sped up, and partly because the commentary was terrible). NOT SO with Fox. Cory very kindly explains his process, things he finds useful, and encourages you to experiment with what works for you. I think that you will be highly rewarded, as I have for checking this video out. It just might change your approach to how you illustrate. 

And that's all for now. I'll be back very soon.

-Will