Bring to the fore a thought corridor, a purple pumas guarding the gate

Here's one that's come together in a matter of days. This month's icon in MAG is Pink. I've always enjoyed Pink, more her personality/presence than her music. There's a great sense of sarcasm and brashness about her, melded with a pop-punk beauty. I've always rated her over Gwen Stefani, to be honest. Regardless, this one came together pretty easily when I wanted to draw upon the the concepts of her as a performer.

Initial Sketch: This took about 30 mintues all up once I had a sense of what I wanted to achieve. Due to time constraints I jumped straight onto digitally inking it.


Digital Inks: I've always appreciated artists who get a sense of forms from solid blacks that conform to a shape. I tried to keep the forming across her body as simple and distraction free as possible.


Fire!: I drew the flames separately, with the idea of an inferno tearing apart of a star-spangled flag of sorts.


Pre-highlights:I always look to get an idea of how colours are working as a whole before I start building up other areas with highlights and shading


Roses: Cheating a little, I drew one and duplicated them to get a consistent texture/pattern happening in the background. Flowers and botany in general is an art-form to recreate, and not always an easy one.


Final:

Strike me square into the arms of the air

Okay, I'm back for now. Only because I've got something I've been wanting to share from its initial inception.

I've been a big fan of all things Stephen Malkmus for a long time. From Pavement to the Silver Jews to his latest incarnation (for the last 8-9 years) in The Jicks. So naturally, when he's in town, I attend.
And in a tradition of sorts, when there's a show of a band I really really really like, I create artwork in the hopes of giving them something rad to take back with them, and hopefully get a copy signed in the process. So pretty soon after buying some tix to the show, I got cracking.

Here's where it started. One Sunday morning after a bowl of cereal out the back of our unit, I started doodling. I don't normally break out the inks on a draft, but I figured I was onto something, so I tried to keep it as loose but formed as possible



See below for the final effort, after a semi-long-winded story about my failed attempt to get it signed.

It's always an initially nervous and awkward experience for me, walking up to a band who are usually busy or just preparing themselves before their gig. I feel like I'm stepping on toes so I tend to not hang around a great deal when I do. I've had exceptions though. Black Kids were excellent, Built to Spill were the nicest guys I've ever met. Sleater-Kinney were Super cool too. And while I'd met personal hero Stephen Malkmus before, I was still kinda anxious about getting the opportunity to get this piece signed. No matter how many times I'll tell myself that most people in bands that I like are just ordinary people, I still feel like an arsehole going for that fan-art autograph. So when an 'easier' option came up, that involved sending 5 prints of the piece to a friend who worked at the venue, I took it. From there she'd organise with one of the managers or sound-techs to get it signed. That ended up being more nerve-wracking then approaching the band directly. Seriously, the challenge was out of my hands and could've gone completely wrong.

On the night of their show I fronted up to my friend who worked at the Venue. "Oh, I've got good news!" she told me "The band liked your print, they said they were a little creeped out, but I think they meant that in regards to how much effort you'd gone to. The piece is in the office, I'll get it to you another day". With my ego both baffled and pleased I headed upstairs to watch the show. Prior to their set, I saw Mike, the guitarist, and with the knowledge that he'd seen the piece already, I took the opportunity to introduce myself. He said some nice things about the piece, and we shot the shit for a little bit until I decided that I'd annoyed him enough for one encounter and let him get back to watching the support act.

Naturally, the show was excellent. Malkmus and the Jicks brought it in their lucid but musically brilliant way.

Two days later, with no signed print in my hands yet, I got in contact with my friend, who informed me that the band had only received 3 of the 5 prints I sent (Where the fuck did the other two go?) and they decided seeing there were 4 of them, they'd keep them all. It's hard not to feel kinda bummed out about it, but if there's a positive to be taken from the situation, it's that they must've liked it enough to want what they could get...which is the ultimate complement!

So I guess this one didn't go so well for me, but I'm still proud as punch of the piece itself. All up, I roughly spent every other night for around a month from the rough sketch below to the nervously/carefully inked piece.
The colours only took a couple of sessions, building up some more stoic style shading layers and developing a palette that worked with the detail in the piece. I realise looking back at the Blue and Orange version now that the background kinda jumps out with the key figures recede.

And needless to say, I'll be trying my luck with the the pending Pavement reunion too. C'MON 2010!

Initial Sketch/Draft

Pencils

Ink (Windsor Newton India Ink), Series 7 No. 1 Brush, White Out, Masking Fluid.

Finished Piece

Finished Piece (Alternate Colour)

Thanks for the Margerine

After yet another lapse in time, I can't help but question where it's gone... Days and nights fly by, the ink dries quickly and stays in ways I couldn't imagine. I'm 27 now and it's been non-stop. Having said that, I'm watching Louis and the Brothel again in the background. I like the way he makes cups of tea and wanders the corridors. Anyway, I digress. Life has been busy and with busy comes the good news and of course the good news. No, I didn't mis-type anything there, it's just all good.

Firstly, I am now officially a represented illustrator. By represented, I mean I'm now being carried by an agency and by agency, I'm referring to none other than the amazing folks at Jacky Winter Group's 'The Hatch'. The JW group is run by Jeremy Wortsman, an old university colleague and personal source of inspiration. His roster at the group is nothing short of amazing and diverse, so I strongly recommend you take a look at some of the other amazing artists in his collective. I feel honoured to say the least, and I'm hoping you'll be seeing the results of some of these jobs right here on this blog, and it goes without saying that I'm available for commissions, so contact the agency for further details.

Secondly, here's a new piece set to appear in the next issue of Music Australia Guide. It's another one in the icon series of artist. This month looks at American Folkster, Peter Seeger. Had a bit of fun with this one, even if it may not show. Goes to print tomorrow and should be on shelves in a week in early July.

colour

The Henfield's daughter will choke up and lose her cool.

Another quick piece for Music Australia Guide. This one is part of a series on iconic artists of our generation, in this month – 'sound botanist' Brian Eno. The concept came to me when I was listening to his Music for Airports and I imagined the way he gets some of his ambient sounds. Turns out when I was researching for this piece he appeared a lot different to how I'd always pictured him.

Linework


Base Colour


Finished Piece

Move to Arizona, start a family, eat at the bar and sleep in the family car...

Here's some really new stuff. fresh of the digital sketch pad, I'm obsessing over Travis Charest again. He was one of my biggest influences back when I was 16. 10 years on, his legacy still remains and his drawing ability still amazes me. I like the way he uses ultra-detail to define his forms, and then big black slabs elsewhere to leave the rest up to the imagination of the reader. So I warmed up yesterday and today with these two, each about 30 minutes each. I've left them rough and unrefined as there's no real intention to take them any further. If you took a look at my sketchbook right now, there's a lot of these style faces happening in it, I think there might be something in it, but I know I'm not quite hitting the mark yet... Ran some basic colour through them for interests sake.

Sketch 01


Sketch 01 (Detail)


Sketch 02


Sketch 02 (Detail)

That's when Joe Henfield gets his paycheck

No random ramblings today. Heres a really quick piece I recently finished for the current issue of Music Australia guide, for their Tech Mag Supplement. The feature article was on Google's new version of Google Earth (5.0). The updated application allows you explore the geography of the sea etc with impressive detail.

Finished piece:

Got his hand stuck in the kitchen sink, it was his birthday tomorrow and he couldn't resist

So it's Friday again. No meddling heat-waves this week, but like this time last week, I'm sitting back with a beer and putting some thought into this blog, and sending you some illustrated love.

Probably one of the most illustrated bands of 2008, including a Village Voice commission that seemed to cause an upset of sorts, TV on the Radio seemed to be just on everyone's lists come the year's closing critical breaths. In the magazine I design and illustration for, MAG, Dear Science got voted No.1 in their inaugural Top 50 albums of 2008. Regardless of whether or not I agree (truthfully and ashamedly, I didn't give it a chance), the Top 50 is the great opportunity to have some prominent illustration space. Last year it was Silverchair. Two years before was the Arctic Monkeys.

Similar to previous years, I chose to play on the title of the album and similar to last week's Black Kid's entry, feature a rather phallic looking rocket (seriously Freud, do your worst). My original idea revolved around Star Trek (TV (on the radio) Show), but the editor didn't buy it, so it was back to the drawing board. Unlike a majority of my pieces, I chose to jump from pencil to colour in this one, working in a bit more toning than I normally would, and settling on a fairly muted palette to give the whole thing a bit of a cold/serious tone. I was pretty happy with this in the end, but looking at it a few months on, I feel I could've done a lot more with it. Regardless, it was sent to the Record label and they seemed pretty happy, but for the more likely reason that one of their artists got into the magazine's no. 1 spot. Well Played.

Pencils:

Base Colour:

Finished Piece: