We Are All One (Process)

Here is a process gif of my newest illustration/design.

Step 1. You can see I started with a pencil drawing. I did some preliminary sketches of the layout and individual character studies before making this drawing. I tried to not use too many references because I wanted this to flow and be from my imagination. The drawing phase is the most crucial in my opinion because without a good foundation, or composition, the whole piece will fall apart. Once the drawing was finished I scanned it into my computer.

Step 2. I edited the drawing a little, changed the arm and leg length on one character, and then added a Layer Filter to give the drawing a pink tone while I inked the drawing.

Step 3 & 4. I inked the circle of characters and the text with black lines.

Step 5. Solid blue was added behind the circle of characters.

Step 6 & 7. The addition of low-lights (shadows) was handled next. Since the pencil drawing included shading I made the solid blue layer invisible while working on the shadows. The highlights where not part of the drawing and I made the blue layer visible while working on them. As opposed to what the gif (above) shows, I toggled back and forth between working on the low-lights and highlights. It is kind of a push and pull process, that reminds me of the process of addition and subtraction in sculpture, and it reveals itself as you jump from character to character.

Step 8, 9 & 10. The background color is added, the text color is changed to the highlight color, and some shade is added to the text.

Step 11. Not pictured. From the beginning each color was made in black, was created on a separate layer in PhotoShop, and had a layer color overlay as a color placeholder. After the art was finished I experimented with the highlight, mid-tone, and low-light until I was satisfied with the hue and vibrance in relation to the background. This phase is important and kind of a reflective period. From experience I know it should not be rushed; in the past I think I have ruined pieces in this phase by selecting bad colors.


There is a Psychedelic contest going on at Threadless right now and I decided to do something even though I have been a bit burned out lately. This time I drew something that was fun to draw and illustrated it in a screen-print friendly, or graphic, style. The style is influenced by skateboard deck designs I grew up with in the late 80s and 90s. Conceptually it based around the five senses and how they come together to form our consciousness. At the same time it is also about life, the afterlife, time and space. I am not sure if anyone will get any of that and it does not really matter to me. The conceptual side of art is what keeps me excited and motivated to keep making and finishing art. This all said, I want the meaning of this art to be fairly loose and up to interpretation. What I hope, in the end, is that people will think it looks cool enough to want to wear it but if they do not I am still satisfied because the process of making the art was fulfilling in and of itself.

Edited the text a bit. Here is the newest version:

I will post the link when to the design on Threadless when it is available.

"T" Time

So there was this idea I had a long time ago. I originally planned for it to be a t-shirt design but I wanted to do the art in my preferred working style, which is not screen-print friendly. The concept of the design revolved around a tee, within a tee, within a tee but with a twist. I wanted to have some characters characters having tea time (drinking), while golfing (tee time), on a tee shirt. Then I thought about how this would be rather boring with people and brought animals into the process. Call it inspired, or WTF, but I thought about how it would be awesome to have whales playing golf. How could they do this? With mechanized exo-suits of course. What would they use for a club? Why not a giraffe. Since we are now in Africa, a pangolin would also make a nice ball. Plus the animal club and ball would be a bonus reference to Alice in Wonderland.

 Here is the original sketch.

Once I had an idea and sketch put together I researched some whale, giraffe, and pangolin images, then drew the whole thing into a composition. Okay, fact-check reality is the drawing was so huge that the two whales on the left were on one sheet of paper and the whale on the right was on another sheet, and the composition came together in Photoshop.

 Original composite drawing.

 Detail of whales on the left.

 Detail of Whale on the right.

After the drawing phase was complete, I set about finding textures that would work for all the different elements. For the whales, giraffes, and cephalopods, I referenced actual photos of the animals but altered the color and manipulated the shapes to fit within the drawing. I found other textures to fill in the nonorganic areas which were also color and shape manipulated. I then added shadows and highlights to all of the elements. Finally, I found and manipulated background elements to work in the composition.

 The art at this point.

I removed the pencil lines here so you can see what

the texture/color looks like without the pencil work.

Color/texture Progress from pencil to completion.

At this point I was really happy with the results. The problem was that this would not print well on a t-shirt. The idea was scrapped, as far as shirts go, and the image was added to my portfolio. 

On a whim, and mostly to see how it would score on Threadless, I submitted another design called "Speed is Relative" (see previous post) in this same non-print friendly style. It was my highest scoring design and it ended up printing months after it was submitted. They managed to print it beautifully. 

For this reason, I started considering submitting "T time" for scoring. I had to make the design blend into the tee better so I used a nice Photoshop brush to round and fade the bottom on the composition a little. It also made the composition more vertical, and less square, and brought more emphasis to the characters.

Design to be submitted?

I have not submitted the design. I was thinking it might work well in a drawing contest. I think I will get some feedback before I decide.

Thanks for looking and let me know what you think.

A Reprint at Threadless

 I never said it here but I was printed again at Threadless. In fact, it did so well that it was just reprinted.

Here is the screenshot.

Here is an image of the art from the submission called "Speed is Relative." It was originally on Olive green but it was actually printed on a natural colored tee. I bought a coupe and the print looks really amazing for a t-shirt print.

Click on either picture for details.

For good measure, I thought I would post the original drawing of the design. I drew it in pencil first, scanned it into the computer, and added digital color/texture (wizardry) to it.

As always, thanks for looking.

Cat Memes

If you have done any posting in blogs and / or Internet forums in last couple years you will have noticed the abundance of Cat Memes. Here is an image I created to embody some the most common cats I have seen and add some extra character to them. Since they are always used in the context of adding human attitudes or emotions I drew their bodies as humanoid. I am considering editing the text or nixing it completely.

 15 x 11 inches Pencil and Digital Color / Texture.

Detail.

You can buy a print of this at Society6: Society6 Link

I also made this into a Greeting Card and added inside text that reads:
I gotz you some cats for your Birfday.

If you want to see this as a card or shirt please vote for it on Threadless: Threadless Link

GAP "Clever" Contest Designs

I usually don't enter many design contests even though I should. Bucking up a bit, I decided to enter a Threadless challenge sponsored by GAP. I past they tended to print simple one or two color designs. So I did these two designs based on what has printed previously and the prompt "clever." If you have the time, view the links below and vote. Let me know what you think.

Link here too

  

Link here too

Another Knit Design

Thought I would do one more since I had a little time. Now I need to get back to the exoskeleton whale art and actual work. Thanks for looking.

A Companion to Carry Around

Threadless is having competition were you can design knit products. I liked the idea of designing a scarf and thought about objects that wrap-around things. I came up with the idea of a snake which I felt was a little ironic considering snakes would not survive in the cold weather a scarf requires. Maybe the snake needs the scarf wearer to keep warm more than vice-versa. Carry your companion in cold weather.

College Designs (Threadless)

I am posting some designs I did for a Threadless Challenge to redesign 12 college mascots. I only got around to 2 but I like how they turned out.

I have always been bothered by the commonly seen Georgia Bulldog mascot I see around town in Athens, GA. I wanted to make a cool and aggressive bulldog to contrast the poorly drawn goblin-looking mascot. I used actual bulldog images, the idea of a full-bodied mascot (which many other colleges embrace), a ready to pounce football player, and the Rancor creature (from Star Wars) as inspiration for my design.

Georgia Design Link


For Auburn I strove to use the concept of their established logo/mascot and take it to the next level. Their logo is circular and I used angles to create more aggression. I also used more of the tigers face to further intensify that aggression. For this design I used actual Tiger images, super hero emblems, an almost symmetrical triangle (and the space it creates), and the current Auburn logo/mascot for my inspiration.

Auburn Design Link

Tea/Tee Serpents (Process)

I recently completed some art for a challenge on Threadless called the Thermos Loves Design Challenge. I have always been intrigued by designs that wrap around cylinders, so I decided to take a stab it with the Tea/Tee Serpents design. I decided to make a design with no end. It does this fusing at a seem and wrapping around the cylinder.

I was inspired by pottery designs of ancient civilizations. The scale motifs were inspired by North-African art and the water swirls where inspired by Ancient Greek art. The idea of using a snake was influenced by the importance of snakes in the Ancient Mayan culture. I wanted to use the circle, of the Thermos, to represent infinity. As you may have guessed, each character represents the four-senses: Visual, Auditory, Smell, and Taste. The sense of touch is activated by touching the Thermos.

The design process is demonstrated below:

The red box shows the first sketch of the concept. The little faces represented possible faces for the serpents.

This a sketch demonstrated how the Thermos would look. This also shows the idea of using swirls for the liquid in the art.

I downloaded the measurements for the Thermos and created a template to follow to make sure the serpents fused seamlessly.

I drew each serpent and the swirls on separate sheets of paper. I used the previously mentioned template to place the serpents and swirls in the composition. I was also extremely careful to cut and place the fuse making serpent, and swirls, in the perfect position. I printed a copy and taped the paper together at the fuse location to be sure the serpent and the swirls lined up correctly.

Then I experimented with color and came up with a cool palette. I also inserted a water droplet texture behind the serpents; I had to use the rubber-stamp tool in Photoshop to make the droplets repeat exactly along the seem.

I put the placed the design in a t-shirt and Thermos template for the world to see.

It is a three-color print on a light blue shirt or a three-color blueish gray brushed steel Thermos.

Here is a link to it on Threadless, pending approval of course:

Rodeo at the Dude Ranch & IF: Racing

Here is another design and illustration that I have created for Threadless. I am very excited about because I know so many people who would wear it. It is an homage to one of the greatest movies of all time, The Big Lebowski. Please enjoy responsibly.

Here is a link to Threadless where you can vote if you feel so inlined:



IF: He looks like he could be racing, but it is actually a bucking bronco.

Some Dudical music to listen to:

Another Threadless Submission

Jack Sparrow.

2 ink colors on a sand colored shirt. Please go vote if you get a chance:

Two Can Dance (or) Toucan Tango

Here is some art I made to submit to Threadless. If it does not print there, I intend to make over-sized prints of this image in the future. I know the phrase is Two to Tango but I could not resist making Toucans dancing; as opposed to having people dancing in Too-toos. Click on the image and make sure to check out nocturnal jungle animals in the background.

If you get a chance, please vote here:

Die Zombie, Die!

Above: Higher Resolution, just click on the image.
Below: Placement.

T-shirt would be printed with 4-color process or however the good folks at Threadless would like to separate it.

So here is a zombie submission for Threadless. It is for the "Comic Loves" competition. It was influenced by the cover of a graphic novel called "Hard Boiled." This a t-shirt version of the a fore mentioned cover done to a zombie theme; I could not find a good link or else I would have included it.

I chose a zombie theme because when I was on a family retreat, called The Lighthouse, I met a man named Larry who was an extra on "The Walking Dead." Larry is the father of an amazing boy named Jared who befriended my son at the retreat. A zombified Larry picture is featured on the walk-on add section on the official website. "The Walking Dead" is based on a long running comic that goes by the same name. This one is for Larry, Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, Frank Miller and Geof Darrow.

If you get a chance please check out and/or support The Lighthouse; see link above. It is an amazing organization that provides refuge and light for families of Cancer Survivors.

Link to vote on Threadless:

Row Bot

Here is a pun design that I have working on very slowly. I have had some other projects that have been consuming my extra time that I will detail later.

This Row Bot is idly enjoying a sunrise, or a sunset, on a lake. I have included some process images below.

Row Bot (8 x10) vector graphics.

The first vector version had a smaller sun with tighter line width, submerged boat and row elements, and a slightly different tree line. When I showed this art to some people they mentioned an adversity to the purple so I went with maroon in the final version.

Here is the original sketch and inked drawing. Initially, I had a swirly water affect which I really liked. When I imported it into the computer I decided I wanted to play with the lighting to add dimension. The light direction did not lend itself well to the swirls because the shadow cut across most of it. Instead I played with the random, yet mathematically repetitive, nature of water and shadow play; as seen in the previous two vector versions.

If you feel so inclined please visit and vote Threadless:

Slowest Train or IF: Ahead

Ahead of the snail was a sloth. Ahead of the sloth was a tortoise. Ahead of the tortoise was a sea horse steering the slowest train. With nowhere to go, without care in the world, they sang there song to the slow tempo of the clickity-clack.

The Slowest Train Coming. I put together the slowest animals in the world playing musical instruments in a nod to train inspired Blues songs. I have a Three-toed Sloth (the slowest mammal: .15 mph), a Giant Tortoise (the slowest reptile: .17), a Garden Snail (The slowest insect: .03 mph) and Sea Horse (the slowest fish: .001 mph). I did not include any birds because there is no bird slow enough for this list.

Five color screen-print design. The t-shirt print wraps around the shirt. Prints up to 25 inches across as a print.




If you get a chance, vote on all of my current designs at Threadless.
including: