Dusting Off Dorothy

With more than a little help from my cattle prod wielding friends, I am happy to have brought Dorothy back to the edge of OZ. There have been many reworks of this piece since it was last posted on the blog, but well worth it. There's been some great learning experiences so far. You can visit where last we left Ms. Dorothy here, and after viewing that should handily be able to distinguish the two images. "Why, Brian," you may well ask, "why all the changes?"

Well, dear reader, to begin with my original intent with Dorothy was to have her floating between the two words, the gray and bleak of Kansas, and the emeraldy goodness of OZ, so the first change was the direction. A simple reflection upon the vertical axis, and already she's less planted on the floor boards and more sliding into the cyclone cellar. Then came the feet, I don't mind say, I've swept her off her feet. {oh hardy har har~}

Also I've simplified the image somewhat, and tried to focus more on her face and her reaction to all this whirling dervishness, and that's been done by creating a richer value structure. This is of course, the cornerstone to any narrative image, VALUE, VALUE, VALUE! I've had some real help with taking my sheepish values to a more dramatic place by one Zelda Devon, big props go out to her. There were a number of people who were very generous with their time and there informed perspectives. In the end I hope the piece lives up to all that was put into it. And that's the next step, painting. Look for the next post in two weeks.

PS: to see the next post about this image go to Post #3: Dorothy, as she is
to see the previous post about this image go to Post #1: Steampunk Wizard of Oz

Art Auction!

Hey everybody,

I am so excited to announce that Shinteki is holding an art auction of the posters that I did for a recent game puzzle of theirs. Evidently there was a positive response at the games, and Shinteki have generously decided to hold an auction for the game pieces! The auction goes through to the 27th of July.

I am really happy and really touched that they'd put in this extra effort. We already knew they were great people, this just goes to further the point! So check it out, make a bid, and you might be the lucky one!

http://www.shinteki.com/artauction.html

You can also see the original post about these works here and here.

A quick fling

One can never tell where things are going to go next! A friend of mine has a mother whose something of an entrepreneur. We were introduced to each other last year and she hired me to do some simple story boards for a PSA for her company No Kiddin' Condoms.

This year, she was on her way to an event where women inventors compete. As it turns out the designer she thought was going to prepare her 'pitch poster,' basically flaked out on her, and in a panic she called me up. My solution was quick and dirty, I figure it took me about 7 hours from beginning to end.

I don't suppose this will turn the world of illustration and design on its ear, but I am happy to have been able to pull it off, get paid, and have it look not half bad.

*PS* January 2010: additional post "Rush Job" for this same client.

Steam-punk Wizard of Oz

One of the projects for the Illustration Master Class in Amherst MA was to create a cover image for a steam-punk retelling of the classic "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."

Conceptually this combination of two worlds is ripe with possibilities. It is an area that I hope to mine for a few more pieces. The first piece is the cover image, and these are my preliminary works for that.

The scene I've chosen for the cover is from the beginning of the book, when Dorothy and Toto are in the cyclone over Oz. In the book, there's a moment when Toto falls into the hole where the cyclone cellar was, Dorothy rushes over to save him. Only to find that he's buoyed by the air pressure of the cyclone. I chose this scene because it allowed me to show that she was falling into another reality. Around her will be the gray and drab world of home and below will be the radiant colorful land of Oz. I hope to heighten the effect with color as well, choosing desaturated grays and muted tones for the house, and vibrant golden greens for Oz.

Here is the compositional drawing. I am working on developing angles, trying to set the stage so that there is the possibility that Dorothy might fall into the hole. She should be right on the edge. There may be further refinements in this drawing later, simple things like lifting her heel up on her left foot, maybe pointing that right foot. Or, maybe I'll try switching the feet around so that the right foot is forward and the left is back. Clearly she'll need a top too. Those changes will be made after getting a model to pose for me and taking some photo reference. This will also help to add to the overall steam-punk style too.

Here we have the initial value pattern. Again, to heighten that contrast between the drab world that she's leaving and the luminous world of Oz, I've tried to keep the house in 50% gray, and kept Oz and Dorothy in 20% gray. A simple triangle or zig-zag pattern really. (I guess staring at those Hokusai prints flows out here and there.)

Now, we come around to the more finished value study. While I will make adjustments to bits and pieces of the drawing, this will be the template for the final piece. The area's that will receive some immediate attention will be Dorothy's pose, the whirling cyclone clouds (they just aren't whipping around enough for me yet,) and defining the Emerald city down there on the ground (right now it's some geometric shapes.) The Yellow Brick Road should also be a bit more clear after the color, right now it's the white line that leads to the Emerald City.

Stay tuned for more developments. I may be releasing some of my sketchbook sketches going forward too, just for fun. Please feel free to leave comments, I like to hear what other's think!

PS: to see the next post about this image go to Post #2: Dusting off Dorothy

Comic Book Finals

Ok, fun only begins to describe this project. Originally I was contacted by a really great company, Shinteki, who do games and puzzles for corporations as well as private events. Defiantly check out their website, it's amazing! So their latest challenge involved creating several faux comic book covers, that's where I come in.

The puzzle will be running until June 6th, and I will post the answer after it's all over and done with. I just couldn't resist posting the images though, because I enjoyed making them so much!

Process wise, I decided that for the sake of efficiency and authenticity I decided to delve into Photoshop to make these. They each had a very similar genesis, starting with sketches/ thumbnails, up to final drawing in some cases, then on to inking, scanning, and photoshop. Very similar to how I assume many comics are made these days.

I wanted these to have a somewhat classic comic look to them, with a dash of pulp, spiced with a little digital pizzaz. To those ends, I worked out some of the stressed features on the images; dog-eared corners, worn spine creases, and faded and stressed edges.

An interesting side effect of streamlining the creative process was I found some unusual color choices, that I wouldn't have made had I done these traditionally. I guess there can be a certain fearless quality to laying down color in the computer, simply because it is so impermanent.

Even though I was using photoshop, I did make an effort to to use too many filters, and to use the effects in photoshop judiciously. Although I may have gotten carried away here and there, c'est la vie.

So, go ahead, these are the clues. I don't know if there was a prompting question on the actual puzzle, but all the information is in the images (or else it wouldn't have worked!) Give it a shot, and send me your solutions, for each correct solution I will give you a free drawing! Deadline's June 6th.