Mural Ready for Monday

Well in addition to making touch ups on the spot illustrations for the Salvation Army project, I also went into school for one last round of touch ups on the mural before classes start up on Monday. Its taken about three weeks and approximately fifty hours worth of work. Most of that work was in layering. It took at least three or four coats of paint before it finally started to cover the foam background.

Here are some shots to give you an idea of the progress.

And here, at long last, is the final project installed in the classroom corner reading area.

And heres some pictures of me standing next to it for scale.

All and all, I'm satisfied with the results.

Heres a look back at how the whole thing started.

Angel Tree

Christmas came early for me when I was asked to provide spot illustrations for the Salvation Army's new  Angel Tree Project website. The images will coincide with instructional text telling people what to do to get involved with the program. I'll be sure and add the link when the site does go live.

It was a bit of a challenge for me, working into something that was already some and was then going to be reduced in size. So for inspiration I ended up looking at artists known for their line economy such as Hank Ketchum, Al Hirschfield and Earl Oliver Hurst.

Mural Progress

After catching up on the sleep I lost finishing Kayla's dance card, I was able to commit most of my Saturday to painting the American History Mural that I mentioned previously.

My dad was also around to take some pictures of my progress and give a sense of scale to this project.

Dance Card

This is a card I drew for my friend Kayla, for her going away party. She is leaving Michigan to attend college in Washington, quite a distance. Kayla is a graceful and highly coordinated dancer, so playing on the idea of Dance seemed like a good direction to pursue.

I had heard mention the day prior to the party that someone was going to go out and buy a card, so I opened my big mouth and said I could draw one. So, much like my Father's Day card, I had to work feverishly to get it completed in a matter of hours to at least be presentable.

Also like my Father's Day card, I haven't gotten over this streaming stars pattern. Maybe its a sign I have a potential career working with Paramount Pictures.

Given how I frequently post illustrations related to a weekly theme, I thought I'd take some time, to share some of the images that helped inspire this particular illustration of my own.

Edwin Blashfield

Franklin Booth

Cesar Phillip Allegoria

Frank Frazetta

Alphonse Mucha

I'll have a colored version up sometime when I haven't been up all night.

Cutting Room Comic

I LOVE comics like no other art form, so I was pleased as punch when I was offered the opportunity to do a guest strip for the web comic "The Cutting Room". This could be a step in the right direction to starting my own web comic material, we'll just have to wait and see.

Also, special thanks to Alejandro Acevedo for these colors, which actually make my work look halfway decent. hahaha.

Enjoy these jokes about netspeak.

Manifest Destiny

Heres a glimpse at my latest project, which could take a substantial amount of time. Midland Christian School was pleased with the painting I did for their Santa Parade Float that I was asked to paint a mural for their sixth grade classroom depicting great moments in American history.

Depicting so many famous moments, people and conflicts proved to be incredibly complicated and would be just shy of impossible to finish by the time school was ready to start in the fall, so I simplified the idea, focusing on transportation and expansion. Starting with the arrival of settlers, traveling westward by wagon, blasting through mountain to forge the railroads, before we slip into the twentieth century with the building of skyscrapers and a copper Lady Liberty waits to welcome a new generation of settlers while we find new means of expansion in the automobile, airplane and finally the space shuttle.

The plan is for the mural to go in a corner, hence the dividing line between mountains and city, with the  stars and stripes of the American flag connecting the two halves.

The final project will be an estimated 8 x 16 feet in size.

Be sure and check out my previous murals here.

The Caffeinated Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. High

My latest project for sleepcare.com. This comic depicts a man drinking a caffeinated nightcap and unable to sleep (my editor wanted me to be sure I depicted the sleeper suffering severely) But while he is tossing and turning, he gradually transforms into the beastly "Mr. High", only to wake up groggy and disheveled, wondering if it was all just a dream.