Supes!

How's it going everyone? Here is another painting that I recently finished. This one was for my Dad's birthday. He, like me, has been a life long Superman fan. He grew up watching the George Reeves TV series and I grew up with the super friends and of course the Richard Donner/ Christopher Reeve Superman movie. Most of my family, both immediate and extended, could tell you all kinds of stories about me running around with my super cape that my mom sewed for me. Great memories! Anyways when thinking about a possible birthday gifts I thought this would be a fun one. Happy birthday Dad!

The Dark Knight

 I really  had a lot of fun painting The Joker so I thought that I needed to do a Batman caricature to go along with it.

I have a teacher/ friend by the name of Will Terry. His art work is really vibrant and amazing. I've taken several classes from Will at UVU over the past couple of years.  In Media Techniques 1 and 2 (both taught by Will) we explored traditional mediums such as oil,watercolor, acrylic and gouache. Often we would be painting from photo references. One of the many things  that I have learned from Will is to pick good quality reference. I've found that when I'm creating caricatures the reference photos that I choose make all the difference in the world.

Such is the case with Batman and the Joker. For The Joker I wanted to be a little more painterly so super sharp HD photos weren't much of a priority. When I painted Batman I wanted to have more detail so I searched for higher resolution images. Overall I'm happy with how they came out but you can tell how much more tight and detailed Batman is over The Joker.

I also have included an updated version of The Joker. I was showing the first Joker painting to another teacher/ friend Don Seegmiller. He had some great suggestions to improve and simplify my painting.  One thing that Don point out were some bad tangents in the back ground. He suggested to stray from the reference and recreate the prison cell. After talking with Don this is what I came up with. I tightened up the eyes and simplified the hair. Also I though it would be fun to have the shadow of the bars fall on character to create some depth. Personally I like the mood of this one better it's a litter more creepy.

Why So Serious!

I can remember as a kid going to see the first Tim Burton Batman Movie in the theater. I loved everything about it. Batman (Keaton) and the Joker (Nicholson) were so rad! When the Chris Nolan Batman movie was announced I was super excited to see the Caped Crusader on the Big screen again. Batman Begins was awesome! Christian Bale rocked and I was eagerly waiting for the sequel to come out. I was so nervous that it would suck, but when The Joker showed us his magic trick I new that I was in for one heck of a ride! Heath Ledger was so good as The Joker that he, in my opinion, stole the show from Bats. The Dark Knight joins the elite list of sequels that were as good if not better than their first film. Films such as The Godfather Part II, The Empire Strikes Back and Terminator 2! Why so serious! (Photoshop and Painter)

Grandpa Bailey

What's up my fellow bloggers!? Finished this painting a couple of days ago. This one is a little more on the personal side for me because the subject is my Grandfather. He is 90 years young and is the most amazing pianist. He's been playing the piano since he was 2 years old so He's had a few years of practice. He has traveled the world playing for sold out crowds all over.

On the Fourth of July my Grandmother, also 90, passed away. A couple weeks after the funeral Grandpa and I were hanging out at his house and he asked if I'd be interested in doing some art work for him. I replied with an enthusiastic YES! He gave me a reference photo and left the rest up to me.

My Grandpa has a terrific sense of humor. I can remember as a little kid coming over to his house and watching Laurel and Hearty. He and I would read the funnies (comics) in the new paper together. He always has a good joke to tell. So with that in mind I decided to have more fun with my reference and paint a caricature of him. Hope you all like.

Man's Best Friend

 Lately I've been doing a lot of value paintings. Over the years I've been taught by several mentors to focus on value in my work. They would teach that if I got the values correct the colors would work almost no matter what. When I paint I tend to think in black and white. I do this mostly because before I started painting I would draw with pencil and ink. When working with graphite or ink the real trick is to control your whites. "Don't let your darkest dark be lighter than your whitest white" is phrase that I hear often in school. I love this saying because it is the real key to balancing your image. As with everyone I'm still am learning with every drawing and painting and look forward to learning more and more.

Holmes

I was out to lunch the other day with my friend Phil. On the wall of the sandwich shop we were eating at was an old vintage tin sign with Sherlock Holmes on it. I thought it would be a great idea for my next painting. When I got home I quickly sketched out my version of Sherlock. Later that night I was supposed to do a digital painting demo and figured that this would be a great time to start the painting! It was a fairly quick painting and I finished it just in time for the art show last friday. (pencil, Photoshop and Painter)

The Art Haus

Sup everyone, here is a special invite to all of you. Come and join us at the Art Haus Show this Friday night. The featured artists are Phil Cannon, Salvador Medrano and Myself. There will be Original Art and prints for sale! So stop by and and check out some great art work.