Tony's Secret Ingredient Spaghetti and Meatballs!

Back in the early 1920's Tony Andolini had one of the premier italian dining locations in New York City. His restaurant, Tony's, was subsequently shut down when a reporter/ food critique by the name of Rodney "Scoops" Peabody discovered the secret ingredient in his world famous spaghetti and meat balls! Scoops' discovery made national headlines! Ruined and humiliated Andolini never opened another restaurant. He denied the allegations of using "questionable products" to his deathbed in 1943. However, recently discovered was this old family photo of Tony out back in the alleyway cooking up an "old family recipe".

This was a really fun Illustration for me. I'd been sitting on this ruff sketch of a chef for a few months and really wanted to paint it. While trying to figure out a creative direction to take the image I the thought came to me "What is the secret ingredient in a secret ingredient recipe?" and this is what came from that idea.

I painted a full color version of this but it wasn't working for me so I decided to give it a sepia tone and a little ware and tear. This painting is 100% digital and was created in Photoshop CS6. I included a little gif so you can see the steps it took to create this image.

Massive Sketch Madness

Those who know me know that I love to draw! Besides my family, it's been the one great constant in my life. Ever since I can remember I have loved to draw! The first Sketch that I can recall really liking was one I did of He-Man when I was in kindergarten. I thought it was so cool that I could take a crayon put down some marks and be proud of what I was able to accomplish. Fast forward many years to the present and I still get the same satisfaction. I love to draw! It's a big part of who I am. Rarely will you find me without my drawing gear and something to draw on. I wish that I had some of those very first drawings from when I was a kid they would be great to see! I know that my mom still has a few I'll track them down for you to see. Anyways have a great day and keep on sketching!!!

Tom Waits Value Study

Hi 'yall! It feels like its been way to long since I last posted anything and for that I'm sorry. I painted this up yesterday. For those of you that don't know this is singer songwriter/ actor Tom Waits. I was first introduced to Tom through the move Mystery Men. He plays a character by the name of Dr. A. Heller. He creates nonlethal weapons for the heros in the movie. I loved this movie and thought it was hilarious. His music is fun but a little on the strange side. I don't think it's everyone's cup of tea.

Lately I've been into studying value and painting in black and white. I really like these value studies because you can work really fast and it helps you to focus on the structure of the person and not get lost in color. Value is what makes or breaks an image. you can have the coolest drawing and the best color pallet but if the values are off then the painting becomes weak. It's the glue that holds the painting together.

For example you can take anyone of Norman Rockwell's paintings and desaturate it and it will still work. Why, you ask yourself? Because the values are correct. You can see in the example below that the colors in this painting are warm and vivid. As soon as you take out the color the painting is still very strong. The lights and the darks are right where they need to be and the color is a secondary element.

I still have a long way to go in my artistic journey and am no where near Mr. Rockwell not even in the same universe. However with each painting good or bad I learn a ton and am excited to move on to the next challenge.