The Fox Merchant

The Fox Merchant

Hi there folks! If you're reading this, you're probably aware that this is the first post I've done since October of last year! I miss my old blog, and I've neglected it. I hope to post some more things on here in the future. I'm in the process of making new art, negotiating future projects and staying busy. But that's no excuse to do some drawings here and there and share them with you! 

This little guy was suggested by a follower of mine on twitter, and I enjoyed drawing him. It's just a doodle I did in my Moleskine sketchbook. I then scanned it into Photoshop and laid in some values in greyscale with a gouache brush by Kyle T. Webster (I would highly recommend his brushes, they're excellent!) 

I'm wanting to add more kid lit characters to my portfolio and my coming website (stay tuned for that), and I can envision this being used for an interior for a magazine or chapter book? Anyway, it's a start! So until next time, thanks for reading!

-Will

Recent Drawings!

 

 

Well, it's been a while since my last post! Here's a quick photo dump of some drawings I've done in the past couple of months. To be honest, I've had a difficult time keeping myself drawing. But I'm trying to get into more personal work. From the top: Davy Crockett, Girl with an Umbrella, and Smudge the Rabbit from a recent Story Warren post.

Enjoy, and look for more posts very soon. Because INKTOBER is upon us!

Best,
-Will

Sketch Dailies: Sherlock

Hi everyone! It's been too long since my last blog post, so I apologize. Here is a quick thirty minute sketch I did today for "Sketch Dailies", a sketch challenge over on Twitter. Sherlock Holmes has long been a favorite of mine. I love A. Conan Doyle's stories, and I have several different volumes of Holmes' adventures. I will occasionally break them out and dive into the London Fog along with the sleuth and the ever faithful Dr. Watson (preferably on rainy, windy nights like tonight!) Anyway, this was just a super fast drawing in my sketchbook with some Photoshop icing on top. Also, you'd be surprised how much contrast and mood you can get using only 3 colors...

In other news, I've been working on projects that I haven't had time to post about (more soon maybe?). I just completed a variant comic book cover for an indie comic artist, which was a lot of fun. I'm in negotiations to begin illustrating a collection of short stories for a local author. I'll be doing some interior illustrations along with a full-color cover. It's going to be a bit time-consuming, and the deadline is in April, so I'm eager to get started soon. 

And finally, I submitted to Spectrum for the first time! It's doubtful that I'll be accepted into the annual book, but the act of submitting was a big deal for me. I submitted two pieces that I did last year. I'll keep you posted on any news about that.

Okay! Well, glad you stopped by! Hope to have more art up soon. Now, back to painting! 

Cheers,

-Will

A New Year, and a New Outlook

This week has been filled with introspection and self-evaluation. I imagine you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who's week hasn't been filled with introspection and self-evaluation, but I guess that's beside the point. What I'm really getting at is that although last year was a huge year for me in artistic growth and progress, I feel like I have a huge amount to learn before I can even begin to do illustration for a living.

In 2013 I completed my first-ever printed sketchbook. It was a big accomplishment for me. As a project, it was primarily a study in conceiving and executing a project from start to finish. I was thrilled to have a printed collection of my drawings in hand. It made me realize that seeing my work in print is one of the things that really makes me happy. Just the fact that my pictures are getting out into the hands of people and making them happy was a huge accomplishment to me.

That being said, there were many things about the project that felt hurried. While the drawings represented my personal voice as an artist, there were still elements about the drawings that felt forced. Areas of skill that still feel shaky. Foundation work needed where there was none. Now I'm not saying this to completely shoot down my Sketchbook. But I want to make it clear that although it was a great accomplishment for me personally, I think it was a wee bit... premature.

In recent years, I've been forcing myself to create finished pieces. Planning full-scale works has been beneficial, but all too often I've found myself working through a piece and figuring out the basics as I go, simply hoping to come through at the end with a good piece.

What I find lacking in my work is mainly due to the absence of regular practice. Meaning, every time I do a finished painting, I realize that there are things that I am inexperienced at that are contributing to the difficulty of the piece. A finished painting is not the place to learn anatomy or color theory. Yes, I will come out of that piece knowing more about it, but I will actually be doing myself a disservice by putting pressure on myself to perform without rehearsing.

 

So, I feel like the last week has given me an opportunity to reflect and identify needs in my whole approach to art-making. While I still feel like I need to be creating new pieces, and building my portfolio, I definitely need to spend much more time improving my skills along the way.

Since I am primarily self-taught, it is up to me to find the best ways to practice skills like proper use of color, anatomy, image composition, and new materials and techniques. My question is: how can I consistently maintain a habit of practice in these areas? What are specific ways I can bring my work up to a standard that I'm pleased with?

I intend to start answering some of these questions myself, but I think I'll be also reaching out to other illustrators, art directors and you for answers! What are some ways you commit to daily practice? What skills do you find essential in your own work? Feel free to voice your opinions in the comments or on Twitter or Facebook. I'm interested in hearing your ideas for goals and ideas for making 2014 the most productive year for illustration that we can!

As always, Onward and Upward, and I wish you all the best in your New Year!

-Will

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And finally: I offer these brief articles that I read today relating to this topic of New Year's goal-setting, improvement, and resolutions that I greatly enjoyed and benefited from. I hope you will too.

http://skinnyartist.com/some-is-better-than-none/ - A great article on using your time wisely to accomplish your artistic goals.

https://medium.com/p/1fc47dd4141 - "Do and Do Not" A pragmatic method for self-improvement by Lamp Post Guild co-founder Mark Johnson

http://eca-la.com/blog/23/12/2013/whats-in-store-for-2014 - Mike Yamada & Victoria Ying - I recently discovered their art and their informative blog. They are committing to teaching and mentoring through podcasts, blog articles, and Q&A's this year, and their theme is helping artists maintain their New Year's Resolutions.

Carolers Process: Finish! (And a Merry Christmas to All of You!)

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

Here we are - the final! 

When we left off last post, I had just begun adding color to the painted elements that I had composed in the image. Now, many layers later, I've arrived at my finished piece. The basic process is just a lot of tweaking, color choices, adjustment layers (Overlay for the light areas) and texture brushes.

I hope it looks okay here on the web - I had some issues making sure that the color translated well to the web version (I painted it in CMYK, so I ended up exporting it as a PNG to make sure all the color information was intact.) I really enjoyed exploring this new method of working, and to be honest, I've learned a lot with this painting, and you'll be seeing much more of this process from now on!

 I'm really excited about this piece, and I look forward to exploring new territory in the New Year.

  So, I wish you all the Merriest of Christmases. I'm thankful for all of you and for this great gift of Illustration that we can share with each other!

 

PS: Today I opened my mailbox to find a lovely gift from illustrator Joe Sutphin! Inside were these beautiful signed prints and a kind note. Joe is a fantastic illustrator, and if you aren't familiar with his work, be sure and check it out here: http://joesutphin.blogspot.com/

Drawing the Sword: A Collection of Drawings by Will Kelly

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to present to you my 2013 Sketchbook!

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After many long months of planning, work and preparation, I'm pleased to announce that my newest personal project Drawing the Sword: A Collection of Drawings is now available on Etsy!

I am so thrilled to be able to offer you this small glimpse into my creative world, and my imagination. It has been a fantastic project, and I'm so excited that I have achieved this creative milestone. And I'm equally thrilled to see where my work will go from here!

A brief description from Etsy:

"Drawing the Sword" is the first-ever printed collection of work by illustrator Will Kelly. Part I is a series of 4 brand-new drawings created specifically for this book. Part II is filled with drawings from 2012 and 2013. This 32-page sketchbook is filled with things Will loves to draw - animals, knights, castles, forests. He hopes you enjoy this peek into his imagination!

Drawing the Sword: A Collection of Drawings by Will Kelly

32 pages, perfect-bound soft cover.

NOTE: The first 10 books sold will include a numbered, hand-signed sketch in the front!

All books are hand signed by Will. 

Get your copy here, along with other original drawings, paintings, and other cool stuff!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/willkellyart

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

Photoshop Character Study: Professor

Decided to go in a bit of a different direction with this one.

Photoshop allows me to really play around with shapes - I can endlessly create shapes on separate layers, then pose and adjust them until I get a finished product I'm pleased with. 

I'm always really nervous when the topic of "style" comes up, but I really have a huge interest in doing kid's books, so this particular "style" is something I'm toying around with. I'll do a super fast sketch in my sketchbook to get the basic feel of the character, then start immediately composing on the computer. It's a fast and fun process...

Also, I'm interested in playing with color more lately, and Photoshop offers great tools for that. You may be seeing a lot more of this type of work in the future. Stay tuned!

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P. S. : ALSO! Sketchbooks have been ordered! Watch this space for more information on getting yours in the next week or so!

INKtober Day 31: The Final Horn Sounds (INKtober Showcase

Well my friends, another INKtober is in the books!

This isn't the most spectacular finish to a whole month of daily drawings (and if anything, 

it emphasizes the amount of practice I need in drawing both equestrian and human anatomy), but I

wanted to say thank you so very much for all the support and appreciation I've received this month. 

All of your comments and "likes" and feedback mean so much to me.

I'd like to offer this short showcase of all the drawings I created over the past month as my way

of showing my appreciation for you. November is going to hold some exciting new 

things for me to share with you, so I'm looking forward to jumping into more projects

and new and exciting things!

Enjoy:

Some News! And Scottish Stereotypes!

Just taking a short break to post this silly little sketch that I did a while back in my sketchbook. I am very obsessed with all things Scotland these days, since it is only 9 months until I get to travel there IN PERSON to spend 10 wonderful days there exploring the country of my forefathers. I am sure the above picture is a crude stereotype of Elderly Scottish Gentlemen, but honestly crude stereotypes make for some really good sketches.

Also, some quick news. I am hard at work completing 5 new drawings that will hopefully be a part of my first ever PRINTED SKETCHBOOK! This will be a very small booklet that will contain 5 brand-new never seen drawings as well as various drawings and sketches from the past year or so. I don't have a hard release date set yet, but I will most certainly post it here so you all will be informed. I am aiming for having them ready to go to print at the end of this month, and hope to have them available for purchase around the first of October!

I have lots more interesting things planned for the coming months, so stay tuned for more information!

-Will

TLC Workshop Recap: Monsters & Maidens

  

This past weekend I had the privilege of attending the TLC Workshop with Justin Gerard and Cory Godbey. It was a terrific weekend full of good friends, great artwork, and lots and lots of knowledge passed around! These are just a few photos from a very full weekend.

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(Above) Justin Gerard demonstrated some methods of picture-making that he uses frequently, including techniques blending ink and watercolor that were used by Arthur Rackham (if you're interested in this method, a detailed description of it can be found here.)

Iain McCaig, who has worked as a concept artist for Star Wars and many other feature films, stopped by on Saturday to give us an energetic and inspiring talk on telling stories with our art and character design.

The "digital room" where I worked. The Arts Umbrella where the workshop was held was a terrific space. Small, but just right for a workshop this size.

This was the state of my Beauty & the Beast piece on Saturday night. Lots of reference lying around, and I had Just got the drawing transferred to watercolor paper and refining it. I had a pretty rough time deciding on a composition that worked for me,  so by this time I was ready to commit to a drawing just so I could try out some new watercolor methods.

Justin worked on a Beauty & the Beast illustration that was absolute dynamite. It was really nice to be able to see him work in watercolor over the course of the weekend, and I learned a great deal about the actual application of it, which has been something I've been pushing to learn recently. Justin was eager to share all kinds of knowledge about illustration and his working methods.

And here's a sneak peek photo of my drawing. It has lots of issues, but I pressed on. I told myself I couldn't go home until I had gotten watercolor on the page, which I did! I still need to finish that aspect of it, and I'll post the final when it's done.

And lastly, here's Mr. Cory demoing his digital workflow in Photoshop which he uses mainly for client work. Cory is a fine fellow, and it was great to hang out with him for the weekend. His drawings are mind-blowing works of art and I enjoy his approach to character and composition.

At the end of the class on Sunday, Justin & Cory did a Q&A with us on the business of art, how they got their start in illustration, and things that we as new artists can do to gain exposure and attention for our own artwork. It was a great session, and it really answered a lot of questions that I've had in the recent months about "where do I go from here?"

After it was over, we all took a look at each other's pieces. There was some terrific art being made over the course of the weekend. That evening we attended a farewell dinner at Vivendo's Italian Restaurant in the Country Village and it was so nice to just spend time with good friends who love art. We're all in this together! 

If you ever get the chance to attend one of Tara Larsen Chang's TLC Workshops, I would highly recommend it, especially if the guest illustrator is someone who has influenced you in your art pursuits. For me, Justin and Cory's work was a huge factor in my decision to become an illustrator, so it was a great opportunity to meet with them and learn from their work and experience. I hope that you will be able to do the same if you attend.

And with that, it's back to work for me! I have a painting to finish!

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

Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 2: Post Trip Recap

Hi everyone! I bet you thought I had forgotten about this blog didn't you? Well, I haven't! In fact, I've been wanting to post for a long time, and things have really gotten in the way. But, for now I'll spare you the details and dump a few photos from my trip this past weekend to Kansas City for Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 2!

 

The amazingly talented Jean-Baptiste Monge. He and Paul Bonner shared a booth.

They were super friendly!

 Cory Godbey and Justin Gerard. 

It was so awesome to finally meet them! They are terrific fellows and they had an incredible 

booth with incredible drawings, paintings and prints.

The insanely talented brush-wielder, Jeremy Bastian, creator of Archaia's "Cursed Pirate Girl".

His ink work is mind-boggling. Definitely worth checking out.

 Jon Foster did a great demo on his method of working with oils, then later 

gave a brief overview of his digital post-production process on the same piece.

 The finished oil painting.

 Oil painter Annie Stegg and her splendid booth. Her artwork is absolutely gorgeous, and she sold nearly all of her original oils, which you can see in the background. She also gave me a free print in addition to the one I purchased, which was really too kind of her. Thanks so much Annie!

 The one and only Manchess doing a demo. He was painting a Spock portrait. Live long and prosper, Greg!

 Terryl Whitlatch doing a Q & A panel about her work on Star Wars: Episode 1. She designed

one of my least favorite characters of the whole series, Jar Jar Binks, but she's so nice and her other artwork is so great, I was able to forgive her. (Just kidding).

She drew me a beautiful horse picture in my sketchbook. Not... Jar Jar.

 I was able to meet David Petersen, the creator of the comic Mouse Guard and his wife Julia. I really enjoyed talking with them and to David about his inking, page layout process and just the comics world in general. His original inked pages from the Mouse Guard series were simply amazing. I picked up the first title in the series which I'm super excited about starting.

 Justin Sweet, a concept artist for many films, including Narnia. He was very engrossed in his painting he was working on.

 Some work from the Muddy Colors booth, including some Jesper Ejsing prints.

 On Saturday night the Spectrum Awards Ceremony was held, and it was a fantastic show. You just can't help but feel happy for all the hard working artists who were honored. 

 The Midland Theater in downtown KC was gorgeous. The photos do not do it justice.

 The highlight of the evening for me came when Cory Godbey won a Gold Award for his piece "The Fishmaster" in the Unpublished category. I was so happy for him, and so glad to see his work getting the recognition it deserves. It was a great to be able to spend the evening with such terrific folks.

A very happy Award winner,  with wife Erin Godbey,  

and friends Zach Franzen and Justin Gerard.

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So, to recap, I would say that SFAL was an incredible experience. It was not so much about learning art techniques or practices, but it was more about networking, and community. I think it made me think differently about what the illustration community really means to me, and it made me realize that we all are trying to do what we love, and we love sharing what we are creating. 

I was able to meet old friends and make many new ones. But I think most of all, it was a motivator. My creative batteries have been recharged, and I feel ready to take on new projects with increased enthusiasm. Because as Zach Franzen mused about some of the art at the show, there is so much art that "displays gratefulness". Gratefulness for beauty, storytelling, and the ability to share them both. That is something to be passionate about!

Please be sure and check out the artists' websites that I linked to above and spread the love!