Turn Olympus to Atlantis

'Round Midnight.

2011-10-03T00:04:00.000-07:00

Today marks the 13th anniversary of the passing of my father, Mark Shield. A typically solemn but reflective day, I've more pride than sorrow and today/tonight I pay homage to the cheeky wine and spirits journalist who departed way too soon for me to truly appreciate his irreverance, wit and accept-no-pompous-bullshit outlook.

"Wines are like buses: there's another good one along any minute, so why drink the same wine twice?"

The typist who drank (a nickname established by my brother Al), would've turned 65 this year and should he have taken better care of his health. He would've also become a grandfather. But like the t-shirt he was laid to rest in said, Shit Happens.

"If guts were printer's ink, you wouldn't have enough to make a full-stop. I Quit".

I'm fortunate for the term I did have with him and I'm perpetually reminded by my own short-fuse, fascination for the printed word and amongst many other things, propensity for a drink, that his legacy lives on within myself and the world around me. If I could have anything close to the impact he had in his time, I'd die proudly. But for now I'm going to have a quiet drink, listen to Miles Davis and treasure life's shortness and fragility.

I'm just remembering

2011-07-25T04:11:00.000-07:00

Like her, hate her or simply don't care for her, it can't be denied that it was an tragic and stupid waste of an extremely gifted life. R.I.P. Amy Winehouse. This one was for Music Australia Guide, August 2011

I still feel like nothing next to you

2011-05-15T02:27:00.001-07:00

Autumn Breakdown

Autumn (or Fall, for your people on the further northern reaches of the planet) is an unquestionably beautiful time of the year. The summer heat has subsided and the leaves turn their umber to crimson hues, cascade everywhere and childhood nostalgia is cheekily relived as they get crunched underfoot.

Polar to this notion, autumn also represents a descent into cooler weather, with darker evenings falling earlier and with that (for me at least) an impending sense of struggle as the tougher (colder) months of the year are steadily approaching. This year where I live, Autumn practically ceased one day and a cold snap awoke me to remind me what it was like to not feel my fingers again, and shiver with a brush in my hand.

Seasons are a gentle if not stern affirmation that time stops for no-one and, as we watch our lives evolve and unfold its all too easy at the let-go of summer's hug to start questioning just what has to change to avoid the next winter feeling like the previously dark and cold one. Familiarity and retrospection breeds complacency, that's a no brainer, and after a recent late-night conversation with a close friend, it started to dawn on me that we're living within an era plagued by complacency, where perhaps the unprescribed pressure to have it 'all figured out' in what can be an extremely fickle and unstable environment, isn't necessarily doing anyone a world of good. Our obsession with success (and quite often affluence) bestowed up us by ourselves, the media, our families and contemporaries is only feeding a greater sense of status anxiety (thanks Alain DeBotton) and while I believe it's important to have a sense of something to strive for, it's all to easy to feel a tad daunted and directionless by our own lack of patience when things still feel the same.

While change can breed new levels of achievement and ambition, the weighing up of change can bring with it all sorts of anxieties. Autumn Breakdown is dedicated to anyone that's found themselves in their own space, unnerved at a sense of self-derailment. The only advice I can offer is to not overthink it and take the time to enjoy the smaller picture more often. If you spend your whole life thinking about what's next, you're never going to enjoy now. Of all people I'm no expert in this strategy, but I do know that trying to second-guess everything is an utter waste of time.

Pencils

Inks

Colour

All my precious time...

2011-04-13T19:27:00.000-07:00

After 2 years with the best of intentions, I'm happy to announce that guyshield.com is now up and running! I've loaded it up with a whole bunch of new and old work (with the intention of adding more really soon!) so drop by, take a look and enjoy!

It was his birthday tomorrow and he couldn't resist

2011-04-05T05:19:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks, I've spent the hours between work and play to personally explore the notion of identity; what makes us who we are to ourselves, and more curiously, to others.

I've always questioned if my work is an extension of me, or just a by-product of my own ambition, and what it says about who I am. Re-reading David Mack's beautiful Kabuki, I was reminded of the mask as a piece of symbology – a skewed projection of ourselves, possibly the shell of our own comfort/confidence or possibly the branding cast upon us by the presumptions of others. There are so many ways to read it.

These pieces were never intended to be anything beyond a way to keep my hand and brain active; trialling out unreferenced drawing and a few different digital/hand-drawn techniques. They're relatively raw and unfinished, and I felt it important to leave them like that; experiments.

01. Seek 'n' Hide

02. Cast

03. Bind

04. Regress

05. Bolero

Thanks Simone

2011-02-06T02:39:00.000-08:00

"My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off will long remain one of those remarkably quotable films that brings out the inner child in any fan. When director John Hughes passed away in 2009, I spent the following weekend quietly paying tribute – reliving my adolescence by watching a few of my favourite films of his and exchanging favourite quotes with a friend. This piece is a homage to my favourite scene that never existed. It's also an excuse to have the longest title for a piece ever.

I remember you and I remember me

2011-01-06T23:12:00.000-08:00

Back in November, I decided that after several years and botched attempts, it was time to quit smoking for good. The fact I'd been hiding that I was a smoker from most people I knew was surely the biggest sign that I wasn't particularly proud of the habit. Married with the general health thing, well, it made no sense to keep going and it was time to lose the lighter from the jeans pocket once and for all.
History had proven it's point that my willpower for ditching certain vices isn't really my strongest point. The longest I'd gone without coffee was about a week and my record for going without a cigarette stood at a month. So I did the right, thing, I consulted my doctor and simultaneously swore off the idea of patches and inhalers as I'd done with the whole cold turkey thing.

It doesn't take a big man to admit that they made a stupid decision, so when I agreed on medicating my impulses with the nicely notorious Champix, sans any research (or warning from my doctor, I might add), to aid the quitting process, I'd bitten of more than I could chew.
After about a month with no real side effects (vivid dreams, mostly), two weeks of which were smoke-free, life began to turn a paler shade of shit. Anxiety levels went through the roof, my heart went for random sprints, sleeping patterns were thrown askew, concentration was shot and appetite all over the place. I'd wake up at 4am every morning with the feeling that I'd been dumped. I didn't want to be alone but I didn't want to speak to anyone. My self-esteem was an all time low (which is unusual, because normally I'm pretty awesome…) and as the days passed by at the pace of a cloud, I began loathing the idea of going to bed, knowing how much of that would be spent wired, staring at the clock.

Most of all, I'd put a strain on my relationship with my fiancee and several close friends, taking for granted their support without any real consideration of effect I was having on their day-to-day lives. I'd turned into a monster and something needed to break. At the advice of a friend one night, when I was at my wick's end and highly strung, I jumped on my bike.
I'd purchased my first real freedom machine, fondly known as the "street sweeper" back in July, as a means for getting to and from the office as well as something to enjoy from time to time, and it was love at first ride. Granted, I'm not a bike nut, you won't catch me dead in lycra, but there's a chance if you saw me on my bike, I'd either be grinning or running into a pedestrian. Lets go with the former.

It was mid-December; my heart was beating out of my chest and I was at breaking point. Summer was starting to establish it's presence and at 8.40pm, I was on Street Sweeper and I had no real direction except, well, suburbia. The sun was setting and the wind was as warm as air from a tyre. The tape-hiss from the trees swarmed around me as I wove my way through the quiet leafy streets, passing the houses that played dream-homes for generation after generation, riding over crests and through shards of light streaming through the trees. With no-one else on the road, for the first time in weeks, I'd been consumed by a moment of absolute peace. I rode until it was dark, came home and poured myself a G&T. That night I slept how I imagine dead people feel.

I hadn't cured my anxieties, but I'd kept them at bay. I'd never quite achieved that exact feeling since, but any attempt is still better than nothing and my love affair with hunting down my own personal zen on wheels, during a drug-induced dark-patch, is pretty damn magical. And it's to that feeling that I dedicate this piece the charm of 8.40pm to.

To those whose friendships I've strained, and the company I've kept amidst being a downer, I'm truly sorry. And to all those people I lied to about being a smoker, I owe you a drink. To Champix, it's manufacturers and doctors that prescribe medication with little warning, thanks for helping me improve my lungs, but screw you for what you've put me through...

While the rain turns the ditches to mirrors

2010-12-30T22:34:00.000-08:00

As the year draws to an eventful end, and if you're the thinker, there's probably no better time than now to reflect on what's been and what will be, and take what you can from both. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and 2011 has plenty in store for you.

Here's one I did back in an evening back in July, based on a sketch I about 3 years prior that I didn't know quite what to do with. Sometimes my favourite pieces are the ones I don't spend too much time looking at.

Top 5 albums of 2010
5. No Age Everything In Between
4. Sleigh Bells Treats
3. Best Coast Crazy For You
2. Surfer Blood Astrocoast
1. Les Savy Fav Root for Ruin

Greek gods are communing, beneath the doric arch...

2010-12-18T18:54:00.000-08:00

Back in February, I took part if my very first group show as an established illustrator, with a piece in the Jacky Winter Group's Risographica show, exploiting Chase and Galley's Stuart Gedde's new Risography printing, a process that can probably be best described as an laser-printer meets silk screen.
With that process in mind, I came up with the following, a combination of old and new, a tribute to an old favourite Australian painting, McCubbin's 'The pioneer;' with a few modern references thrown in for good measure.

Colour Version

Determined to be a man...

2010-12-18T13:37:00.000-08:00

Back in September, The Jacky Winter Group collaborated with fine Australian paper merchants K.W. Doggetts to put together a pretty awesome calendar. An annual tradition, each year the calendar utilises local graduate and emerging talent from the design/photography/illustration industry to adorn each month with dog related piece of imagery. This year the theme was dog-related phrases, of which there are a'plenty.

I was incredibly chuffed to be invited to contribute to this 6-colour hexachrome printed beast of a calendar (I'm still finding a reinforced wall to hang it on, it's truly a gargantuan creation).

Admittedly, it's a daunting task coming up with something that will be looked at for a whole month, so when I was allocated the phrase "In the dog-house" half the task was conceptualising something that will continually warrant further inspection or at least consistently trigger a similar (and hopefully positive) reaction upon each glance.

Half the joy (and grief, in the occasional case) of creating something is the idea in itself. Sometimes it doesn't matter how well crafted something is, if the idea is flat or non-existent, it can feel like a pretty soulless interaction. If you can't stir up an emotional connection, then at least go for a "ah, I see what you did there..." I have no regimented formula or process for coming up with ideas other than trying not to go too literal and trying not to go with the first one that comes into my head.

A lot of the initial ideas that came from the phrase were based strongly around the idea that the dog-house isn't necessarily a place you're relegated to when you've done something wrong, it's more of a mental burden that you try to work your way out of. In case it's not obvious from the roughs below, I had a lot of fun with this one. And yes, the protagonist in some of the early ideas is designed to look like Don Draper.

After running the ideas past some close friends and refinining the 'gems' a little further, I sent them off for review. Of the 5 ideas submitted, the card shop idea was favoured pretty heavily, and excitement about sinking my teeth into the idea ensued…

The one thing this idea leant itself to really nicely was tying itself to a specific yet generic event, so I put forward a preference to have it presented on the month of February, allowing some tasty references to valentines day… or perhaps the day after. It was really important to me to weave some sort of narrative throughout the whole thing, but keep it subtle to warrant further inspection. Little clues eluding to why he' wearing the kennel can be found throughout the piece – the date in the background at the counter, the flurry of Valentines day card banners, and of course the sad puppy "Sorry, I forgot" card held in the hands of an ashamed man. I also threw in some minor other details such as the cracked frame of the newsagency doorway on the left, just to keep the viewer's eye that little bit more engaged.

Wanting to get the execution as strong and as tight as I could, the finished piece took just over a week of some late weeknights outside of work to ink up and establish a colour palette, and it was literally approved and supplied to the client 4 hours before I jumped on a flight to Germany. Yup, tight one.

Send me way off on one...

2010-12-09T18:44:00.000-08:00

This year in Australian politics, the federal election resulted in a hung parliament.
This occurs when no political party has more than half the MP's in the House of representatives, thus no party can pass laws without the support of the independent members within the House. in order for a party to gain a majority of votes (and subsequently gain leadership), support is usually sorted through extended negations with the independent members.

I was briefed by Music Australia guide to create an editorial piece that reflected this event. After much deliberating (and headache) about how I could sum it up without a lamely literal interpretation, I had a flash of inspiration and this came out within several hours. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the easiest, even if I may not have nailed Liberal leader Tony Abbott's incredible smugness…

The long lazy afternoons...

2010-11-30T18:20:00.000-08:00

WAY WAY WAY back in August, I was commissioned to create some pretty stylistic covers for Bernard Beckett's teen-fiction novels Genesis and August. Both briefs were pretty specific, but the joy came from working with the AD, Chong, who was both very encouraging but open to my style and my interpretation of the brief.

The most interesting direction of the two was August (the two protagonists in the car), as the cover is designed to sit upside-down on bookshelves, creating an up-close sense of intrigue about the face that their hair is 'floating' and colour is rushing to their heads. The reality is the car is upside down in mid-air.

Meanwhile, the sense of desolation and loneliness was difficult to achieve in the Genesis cover, with the character designed to look barely alive, but ambiguous nonetheless. Several options were original attempted with her body draped over the edge of the boat, and her hand running along the surface of the water.

This is the first time I've worked on an actual series of book covers and it's been a really great experience. Can't begin to describe how excited I am about these titles. Both books will be on shelves in February 2011.

Roughs:

Pencils:

Inks:

Colours:

Trojan curfews prevail

2010-11-05T19:01:00.000-07:00

Thanks for waiting… this year has passed by all too quickly and a lapse in posts has been a stern reminder that it's time to find focus again and share the love a little. Here's a super-quick personal piece I did back June before I was truly hybernating for winter.

Electricity and lust, won't break my door.

2010-03-20T19:39:00.000-07:00

Hi! How ARE you?! Long time readers of this blog (if you do exist), will know that I'm a bit of a music nut. Long hours drawing usually mean I spend a lot of time plugged into all sorts of sounds, and the two work so nicely together.
When 1990's indie-rock band Pavement announced a reunion tour late last year, fireworks may have gone off in my brain and in tradition of bands that I follow, I decided to manically throw together some artwork, for my favourite band, to add to my occasionally-expanding collection of signed-artwork.

Carrying on from my Stephen Malkmus, sport-themed piece in September 2009, I decided to throw the band into a golfing montage of sorts, just for kicks. Unlike last time, I decided I'd try and take things into my own hands.

The show was always going to be a treat for me, so I'll refrain from over-stating the event too much, as it was the experience of meeting Stephen Malkmus after the show that really made the night awesome. After the final encore, I steadily sped around the block of the venue and based on a hunch after spotting a familiar canvas shoe poking out from around the corner, I had the great pleasure of meeting Malkmus having a quiet post-show cigarette. After a nervous introduction, I showed him the piece, explaining that I was responsible for that baseball piece. Malkmus laughed and after sincerely expressing his gratitude for the new artwork (I gave him a copy with 4 for the rest of the band) and revealed that he still had his copy of the baseball piece back at his home in Portland, Oregon. Naturally my ego may have exploded. He managed to wrangle up 4/5ths of the band to sign the piece for me and at 2 in the morning, in the cold of the night, it couldn't get much better than that. Massive dork-out.

The completist in me couldn't resist an attempt to get autograph no. 5 of 5, so after the second show, on March 14, I returned to where we had met. With no familiar canvas shoe in sight, my heart may have sunk a little, but upon closer approach to the rear exit of the venue, a familiar silhouette did some sort of a ninja-jump out at me from around the corner. I took a step back. "you again!" echoed Malkmus' voice down the laneway. I nervously looked for words to apologise for stalking, only to have the interrupted by a friendlier "How you doin?!". Tonight he was in an even more relaxed mood and we ended up having a pretty awesome (albeit fan-based) conversation about Melbourne, his forthcoming album and random stuff he's into. I politely asked if drummer Steve West was around to finish my collection of autographs. "Sure thing!" he said, before disappearing backstage to bring out Steve for a quick chat and a signature. Tired and delusional with flu, my band-drawing and stalking days may have peaked at that moment and all other attempts may pale in comparison…

He'll take her to the border of New Mexico...

2010-01-23T23:44:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! The year is off to a pretty awesome start and I hope all of you had a wonderful break and had some much deserved time to reflect on the year that's been and the year to come. It's been a busy couple of months and the frankly the thought of following up a post that resulted in 25,000 readers, a barrage of tweets and a whole lot of other sites linking (thank you Drawn, Joanna Goddard and Adobe's own John Nack, and everyone else) has been somewhat intimidating to say the least. So I thought the natural step would be the share with you all the invitation to our engagement party.
As most of those who know me, I'm not typically one to settle for template. There was only one place I could've gone to do the invitations, and it was back to the drawing board. And it's not really work if you're having fun.
One of the handy things about being a designer is the ability to take on a lot of stuff that's commonly outsourced on yourself, and be your own worst client while you're at it. As I learnt a while, 30 minutes here and there thinking about a idea before you jump straight in, can make a world of difference to the end result. And when you have a 2 hour flight back home from Brisbane after spending the festive season with your future in-laws, there's no better time to draft out a project to spend the rest of your holiday on.
So I started thinking about letters again. How they interact, and how I could take a simple message and turn it on it's head a little bit with it's delivery.

It seemed only fitting after a few initial doodles on my travel sketchbook, that the invitation pick up where the proposal left off. It was another brilliant excuse to practice drawing letters by hand again and of course it was a whole heap of fun, even if my fiancee was in on the secret this time.

Over the course of 3 toasty summer days in early January, I pencilled (and inked) up enough letters to fit a nice DL design, jumped back into Photoshop to run a similar colour pallette through them all and then InDesign to get a simple design together. I'm a bit of a nutter for things that line-up, so in my own dorky way I was having fun working out the numbers behind the letters and vice-versa. We splashed out a bit and had them professionally printed, scored and folded on some lovely 250GSM Ice-gold stock, which while out of my hands, really helped nail the final message.

I'd also like to take an opportunity to say thanks again to everyone who has read, passed on or felt inspired by my proposal, I'm still trying not to let it get to my head! For those looking to contact me, please feel free to email this address.

Thank You!

2009-12-02T13:28:00.000-08:00

I'm a little lost for words right now. It started with drawn.ca, and now it appears to be popping up everywhere!

Thank you to everyone that's taken interest in my story and for the incredible feedback and well-wishings, I don't think I'm going to forget the last few days for the rest of my life. It's been unbelievable.

love,
Guy

That's when Joe Henfiled will propose...

2009-11-27T19:52:00.000-08:00

Epiphanies, for the most part, are pretty wonderful things. It was just over a year ago, eating a bowl of Moules Et Frites (Mussels with Fries), on holiday in Paris with my girlfriend Liz, that I realised I could quite easily spend the rest of my life with her. Whether it was the haze of the beer buzz, or simply the wind-down from exploring one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been in, one thing was for certain – I was feeling pretty set. I just needed the right way of asking the question, and a bit of time to work it all out. One definite intention was proposing through illustration. I'd like to think of it as two of my favourite things in life in coming together for the one goal.
The worst part of lending so much of my life to my own imagination is the constant loss of sleep, thinking. There's a clinical term (that I can't seem to remember) for the big ideas you get before you fall asleep at the end of the day, and this particular night was a classic example of it. Whenever this occurs, I get restless and end up trying to convince myself that if the idea is good enough, I'll remember it in the morning. If I don't remember it, it probably wasn't worth it. So naturally the first opportunity to have pen and paper in front of me, lead to this 'bridge'.

The plan was to create a series of images that I could work on at home, without giving away too much about the end (folded) result. The images would act both individually and as a series of captured moments of the irrelevant and mundane, utilising street-signs, strange signage and various forms of odd-ball graffiti to spell out the proposal. And naturally, when she'd ask me what I was working on, I could easily say "oh, I'm practising my hand created type because it needs A LOT of practice" and I'd be out of trouble. The hardest trick was working out how I could form the word 'MARRY' because just putting it into an individual image would blow my unique cover.

The idea originally started as over 50 panels in a linear comic book style of story. I realised this was going to be biting off more than I could chew. The blue panels are the ones that would fold together, with the red ones that hide behind, creating the foundations for the 'bridge'.

I convinced myself to stick to a much more plausible 7 panels, and with two weeks until we flew out to Bali for Liz's birthday (the day I was set on popping the question), I got to work. During the evening commutes home, I'd crank out the sketchbook and draw whatever came to my mind that day. These would start as thumbnails and eventually take a larger and slightly less rough form, taking samples from buildings I'd seen or people doing random things, and with my usual drawing bank of inspiration in the back of my mind.

Once I'd get home, I'd pick out the sketches I liked the most and light-box them onto firmer paper. From here I'd work up a few finals before I'd break out the brush and and pens, carefully inking them and making them look as simple but as natural as possible. I probably could've saved the time by doing this digitally, but frankly I needed the practice and I think my brush work brings across a bit more of my personality than a wacom ever could.

With about 3 days left, I managed to use the after-hours and some late nights running a consistent colour palette across the board, and carefully laid it all together in InDesign, so it would print and fold perfectly.

The final print (with cover and back cover) came to just over 2 and a half metres (approx 8ft), and had to be scored accurately on both sides so it could fold up, fold outwards, and fold into shape quickly and easily. My intention was to lay it out on the hotel bed while she was out of the room, and get her to fold it together into the 'bridge', with the message becoming more and more obvious as it came together.

The hardest part was keeping my excitement at a low simmer and maintaining the secret for the first half of the holiday. I'd picked up the ring 2 weeks before we flew out, and kept it hidden out of sight (and mind, almost) until we packed. When the day came around, I was a nervous wreck. At around 2pm in our hotel room, after necking a beer at a nearby bar, I'd laid the extended piece, unfolded across the hotel bed. I hid the ring underneath the envelope behind me and I asked Liz to fold it together to match the structure in the diagram on the cover.
Naturally, with my luck, this didn't quite work and she quizzically held one end in hand and said she didn't get it, so I awkwardly fumbled around with the piece, slowly assembling it together, like my grandfather with an IKEA bookshelf. As I pulled the two ends together to keep it stable, she read the final message and put her hands across her face in shock, which I didn't quite know how to read. It looked like it could've been either "of course" or "dude, what the fuck?!"
From behind me, I smoothly took the ring from underneath it's hiding spot and got down on one knee and told her I want to spend the rest of my life with her.
The following 5 seconds felt like an hour of free-falling, fumbling for the parachute chord, my heart was in my throat as I waited for a response. Then, and only after telling me off for being so cheesy and proposing to her in Bali of all places, she said "of course".
While it has to be said that just asking the question and putting some bling on show can be enough to get the 'yes' answer, it was never the way I wanted to remember doing it, and the loss of sleep and midnight epiphanies were well worth doing it in a way to that had my name all over it. Now I have the tricky job of wedding invitations. Should've realised getting engaged also means getting married. Ha!
I'd like to thank everyone who has made this possible, in particularly those of my friends who did know (and more importantly kept it a secret!) and the always amazing Jeremy Wortsman and Matthew Shannon at the Jacky Winter Group who made it possible for me to afford such a beautiful engagement ring doing something I love – drawing. Most of all, I'd like to thank my beautiful Fiancèe Lizzy, for saying 'of course'.

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

2009-10-13T17:02:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-24T20:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-25T04:19:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-04-08T20:46:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-03-11T17:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

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

2009-02-06T00:28:00.000-08:00

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:

I saw him downtown, placing bets on the hounds, he was as big as a house, we shouldn't be messing around

2009-01-30T02:44:00.000-08:00

It's Friday night in a sultry Melbourne and right now it's the 3rd day in a row to hit over 40 degrees (that's approximately 1,250 degrees farenheit to my friends on the other side of this world).

It's my official music month and I can't get enough. As Jay Reatard's Blood Visions blares out of my tinny lofi speakers, I came to the realisation, as I prepare to see him live with the uber-great No Age, how much music plays an important part of my life AND that it's too hot and sticky to draw. So I should probably take this chance to post some recent work and briefly talk about the week that's been from my air-conditioned tomb, in a state heat-exhausted come-down afterglow euphoria. Enough adjectives in there? I like detail.

So, as a continuation from my previous post on my annual Big Day Out Entries, I thought I'd post the most successful of my entries (this one adorned the InPress Cover, Won me 4 Big Day Out tickets, 31 CDs and more), which was entered under the creative alias of the real name of Apostropher. I'll take this opportunity to thank Apostropher again for the use of his name in my tragic and desperate scam to get my art out there (and score at least one pair of Big Day Out tickets for next to nada). This piece for those of you who missed your weekly copy due to time/location constraints, was my super-happy-rocket-filled Black Kids cover.

The Black Kids are a 5 piece out of Jacksonville Florida. Their EP of catchy melodies overshadowed by almost angsty lyrics catapulted them into the stratosphere of singalong songs and downright funtime playlists world wide.

I was fortunate enough to see them play their Corner Hotel Sideshow last Saturday night and while the sound was a little disappointing, they still brought it and played a pretty damn good show. I also took the opportunity continue my tradition of trying to show my artwork to bands that inspire in the hopes of some sort of expression of gratitude, so as soon as their set was over, I whipped around the corner (of the Corner) and nervously confronted Dawn, their awesome keyboardist who was kind enough to make the deal that she'll get the band to sign my cover illustration in exchange for another few copies of the cover and my autograph on one of them. Needless to say, I obliged and in the depth of midnight cover, managed to run past security and back into the bar to get what looked like their final copy of InPress. I quickly returned to Dawn, nervously signed it to 'Don' (I'm sorry, it was her accent!), and said goodnight.

I rang Liz to find out where she and my other friends were.
"We're backstage with the band". I quickly returned to the backdoor to see them on the other side opening beers with the band. The band were kind enough to chat to use while we drank their beers (and taught them the most important part of opening a Coopers Pale – Roll it on it's side). The fun didn't end there. Dawn graciously invited us to party with them at the Ding Dong, a small club in the city and after a quick discussion of the plan's pros and cons (1-Nill), we decided we'd head in there.

After some of us not being allowed in, we managed to find Dawn and some of the sound-crew in the club and convince them to come hang outside, where the drinks and music weren't. After 2 hours of standing around like a bunch of star-struck dorks, we somehow invited Dawn and whoever else was interested in attending our Annual backyard Australia Day barbecue.

Waking up the next morning somewhat frazzled and relatively sleep-deprived, I shook off the head-in-a-vice feeling and rang my friend Serena to confirm what in fact I was starting to disbelieve. Were some of the band I'd actually spent time illustrating actually coming to our BBQ? Was this for real? Sure enough, my good buddy Serena had arranged to pick Dawn and Ryan (their rad drum-tech) from their hotel and bring them over. So, as our usual flock of guests arrived to get their lazy drink and lazy food on, in our hot and parched backyard, they were joined by none other than the aforementioned guests.

I still hope to this day that they had a good time and soaked in some lazy culture. I also remain thankful to Ryan who taught us how to make a proper margarita, and all my friends for coping with the heat as we cooked up a usual frenzy of meat and drank until the midnight hours.

The rest of the story is a bit of a blur, but essentially we ended up hanging out with Dawn for a couple more days including a post-set drink and dance to Neil Young at Monday's Melbourne Big Day Out and (accompanied by the awesome Ali) at Cookie on the following Wednesday night before they flew out. In a word, an amazing and privelidged experience to meet some great musicians that still haven't let all that attention get to their head and tell a good yarn or two to boot. Thanks for making my year, so early on in the equation!

Here are some photos from our Barbecue and the Big Day Out. While this blog remains more a document of my artwork, I can't help but want to share something that I'm probably going to tell my kids about when I'm 80.

Thanks again to Liz, Red, Serena, Rudee, Michelle and co. for helping me use up my cheese-wheel of tickets and having a great day with me.

I look in their eyes, try to see what it was inside, I wish they were still alive

2009-01-21T00:50:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!
Following on from the theme of tradition brought up in my last two posts, there's no clearer indication of an impending new year than the Australian summer music festivals. For me, this is a time of hope, creativity and stringent budgeting (my wallet typically hemorrhages during december, so of course January is the time of thrift). So what better way to ring in the new music year with my annual onslaught of InPress and Herald Sun big day out entries.

Following on from last year's efforts, I decided to hit up both comps with a slog of fresh entries in a variety of styles. I thought I'd start this post off with the most direct extension of my style, a portrait of my partner's favourite, indie-hip-hop savant Lupe Fiasco. To prelude the presentation of this piece, it's worth noting that neither competition went for this one, but in the coming posts, I'll reveal both the winners and the losers of this season of perspiration and inspiration.

Inkwork

Colour

Finished piece with customised type

Adding Bodies to the stack

2008-12-22T00:44:00.000-08:00

As another year takes that busy winding path to the recess of our memories, a tradition I started last year has been upheld for it's annual resurrection. I'm referring, of course, to my Christmas card drive. This year I designed four cards. I like to think of each one as tailored to the likes of my friends, family and random people who rummage through my garbage every Tuesday afternoon. For the latter; it's a card to the year of christmas' they've celebrated 50 times this year already. For the rest I'd like to think it's reassuring blip on the life-scan that physical cards and local post aren't dead. After all, there's nothing quite like receiving that hand-crafted, hand-written, glue-scented token of love during the year's busiest season. This year we sent out 63 cards, a personal record. The love didn't stop there. For certain lucky, local acquaintances, Sunday saw a rare postal delivery; from our hands to their letterboxes, as we swerved our way through narrow streets, busy cross-roads and jacaranda-littered driveways to personally deliver a select few cards. Feel the warmth, even if it is a particularly random Summer down here. Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you get your pony and if you don't celebrate Christmas, then I hope the New Year see's the best times yet.
And for those wondering my top 5 albums of this year? Wait no more, because here they are:

5. Silver Jews – Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
4. Holy Fuck – Holy Fuck
3. No Age – Nouns
2. Pavement – Brighten the Corners (Nicene Creeder Edition)
1. Dodos – Visiter

Card 1 – Gin and the Christmas Tree

Card 2 – House

Card 3 – Voodoo Doll

Card 4 – Batkid

Delivery!

Bomb, Bomb, Have a nice dream

2008-12-18T02:11:00.000-08:00

Well, time has gotten the better of me again. This compass got guided around the world and things didn't change in that 'oh my god, I'm having THAT revelation' kind of way, but they did change a little. L.A reminded me of how an amazing culture can breed out of the hot furnace of a sun, and seedy germs, Seattle reminded me how amazingly green and beautiful the Northwest is, and how not all of is America is well...America ala television. New York was its beautiful imperfect over-sized self. London was New york unbridled from the grid of New York; the cab-horns subsequently replaced by the noisy diesel engines of those double-decker buses, slowly pacing miserably down Oxford street. I saw the Queen leaving the google headquarters on Buckhingham Palace Road. The Queen. If my Michael J Fox of a self, travelled back in time, pre October 12, and said "You're going to see the queen, across the road". I probably wouldn't have flinched. But then something dropped. This is the lady that's on our currency, decoratively adorned in turquoise.
Paris...blew my mind. It was awesome in the way old folk meant it. K2. God. Landing on the moon. Whatever. The culture charred streets of cigarettes, excess baguettes, side-saddle cafe seating and art galore was probably the biggest surprise of the holiday. I could crap on about it for a lunar chart of moons, but to be honest, it'd bore you. It's like when someone shows you a photo of a summit they climbed. in 6" by 4", something gets lost. And I guess that's where my blog post begins.
Lisa is a great friend of mine in Seattle, that I've known for just over 10 years now. Those 10 years disappeared over a million written words and support; a discourse through good times and bad. So when it came to my attention about 2 years ago, that soon, she would be turning 30, I figured something epic was in order. The first plan was being in Seattle on her 30. Check. The second plan was creating something that couldn't be replicated. An effort so grandiose it verged on ridiculous, but stayed within the realms of a friendly gift. It was also a case of tradition, I've been creating birthday art for a few years now, and in some ways, it needed to be topped, and I needed a new high to reach. So I set my sights on this; 'the most epic piece I've ever done'.
I had a pretty clear idea in my mind what I wanted to draw; a subject in their locale, but the basic premise of this is pretty much a basic summary of literal art since palette met canvas. From here it was a case of assessing as many elements of my plan and taking it to 11. Seattle ala VanHella. Sure, it's not some downtown brick-wall ladened with paint, because frankly I kept logistics in mind, but here it is; 1.3 metres (4 feet) of detail. All up it took me about 60 hours. I could spend another parthenon of words explaining what I was thinking, but even that passes me at this stage, and frankly, it's not required. The main thing is, I made sure she had a rad birthday and expressed a value in a friendship I can't really put words to. Let's just settle at a 6" x 4" moment, and I you can perhaps decypher for yourself what this summit meant to me. Happy Birthday Lisa.

Full piece (click for the larger version)

Detail #1

Detail #2

Detail #3

Sometimes, It all falls through

2008-09-16T15:13:00.000-07:00

Hi folks. Sorry for the lack of updates, everythings a bit all over the shop as I write, but in the good way. In 5 more sleeps I'll be heading around the world. I'd love to say it was a world tour of my art, but that would be a lie. Instead, I plan to take in as much art by others as possible, in any way shape and form. I'm starting in LA for a couple of days, then up to Seattle to celebrate the birthday of one of the raddest people I know, and then across to NY for a week, London for another week, Paris for another week and then Singapore and Malaysia for a couple of days. I trek off on Monday and frankly I'm not sure if I can get much more excited then I actually am right now. But if you'll excuse the braggy digression, back to what I set this thing up for; my artwork.

I've had a couple of personal pieces as of late, including the biggest piece I've ever worked on. Sure it's not a 60 foot wall mural, but it's the detail that counts in this piece, and after 2 weeks of nearly every night post-work, I'm happy to say it's just about done. It comes back from the kind folk at Image Science today, and I'm a littler nervous/psyched to have it back. So more on that when I get a chance.

So I thought I'd use this post to share some of the other smaller projects I've been working on. Keep y'all in the mix and show where I've been taking things. So here are 3 pieces I've been woring on

Piece 1: Louis Theroux
For those of you not in the no, Louis Theroux has steadily become one of my heroes. If you haven't had the chance to catch one of his specials or Weird Weekends episodes, I thoroughly recommend them. He's a British born Journalist with an American Passport who spends his time documenting American Subcultures, from Swingers Parties to Las Vegas. He has this amazing way of getting the most from his subjects by appearing to be completely uneducated or innocent. The reality is, he's as sharp as a tack. So I did this quick piece (it's still in progress) because I want a drawing of him on my wall. I'm hoping to make the background an illustrative (and lavish) wallpaper of some descript.

Piece 2: Bike Fitness Illustation for Outer Edge Magazine.
Enough said.

Piece 3: "Around 6:30 I lay in front of my door smoking a cigarette and feeling the early morning sun on my tired face"
A piece I did for/about my aforementioned rad friend, based on an email she wrote to me in early July. I really liked the picture she set with her words, so I decided to give it a stab (even though I've no idea how the front of her apartment looks, regardless of her attempts to describe it to me). It was a bit of a tricky one and the colours probably turned out a little less vibrant then I wanted them. Started out aiming for a cool/warm contrasting colour palette, but that changed a little. The posture was the hardest part to perfect, and looking back at it now (I finished it about 8 weeks ago) I'm still not sure if I really nailed it.

Inkwork

Colour

If there's fear in here, lets take it out for a beating

2008-06-17T05:26:00.000-07:00

Well, another piece in the sun-bleached series of random individuals, and by no means the last, in fact I'm finding the more I listen to the earlier works of the Halo Benders, the more inspiration I draw. Having said that, this image came to me moments before my head hit the pillow, about a month ago. This is a regular occurrence for me. Maybe it's telling me to spend less time at the computer, and more time aiming to get some sleep. This time in particular the image was so simple it was easier to picture - a lady cropped off below the eyes, leaning against a wall, but the only indication that it's a wall is the shadow she casts. I wanted to make it long and narrow, vertically, but decided against limiting myself to my traditional sheet of A2, and decided to settle on taping two pieces together and working from there.
As usual, I started a series of roughs on tracing paper. There's something about the way the pencil goes down on that, I guess its the same consistency as a Wacom, but more real. It's a great sensation for me and it doesn't have that sense of permanence that comes with drawing on paper – yes, pencil is erasable, but I'm a sucker for clean, crisp, unsmudged linework.
I did the pencils in one night, for the top half, and the following night I rushed home to lay down the second half, and start inking, which was done that night, and cleaned up the following night. The jeans were the tricky part, getting enough dry-brush to make the form look consistent and convicing. Pretty quick effort, but I was pretty stoked with the fluidity in some parts, and the form; elements such as the belt held well, wrapping around the hip. The t-shirt had the right amount of creasing and some of the warping of the cardigan seemed convincing enough. the slogan was a bit of a last ditch effort, thought it might be a tad tacky, but it brought ti together nicely, and no effort was made to emphasise legibility, I wanted it to be as convincing as possible.
Colouring it was probably the biggest effort; not only was the file massive and slow to work with, but finding the right range of hues ended up being many hours of fiddling with adjustment layers after I'd come up with a basically harmonious palette. The final touches were the power-line shadows, after I decided she needed a slight bit more relationship with the space.
But I'll cease my infernal droning and leave it to you. Thanks,
Guy

Inkwork:

Base Colours:

Toning:

Adjustments:

Saw it off, fit it tight, measure all the angles, play your drums all night

2008-06-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

Other than my previous post-script, It's been a while between blogs unfortunately. This seems to be a popular opening line at the moment, but it's not without it's excuses. I turned 26 last week; that was pretty rad. I also got a Wii; also pretty rad. And in May I lost a dear friend and ex-housemate to a car accident; that part wasn't so rad. I lost a part of myself that week, and had to let go of a beautiful part of my life, but not the memories that surround it.

I'm putting this up to keep my end of the bargain and deliver some goods for people to hopefully enjoy. This one started off as a doodle on-screen after work one night. I was happy with how it was coming along, so I decided to take it home and lightbox said doodle onto a bigger sheet of paper. Am I just writing doodle several times because I like that word? Probably.

This one is a combination of ideas and inspiration. Firstly, a work collegaue gave me an incredible A1 print of Chris Ware's beautiful poster for The Savages, complete with hand-drawn type. I really liked the sense of isolation and space from this, as well as the colour palette, which I, admittedly, shamelessly knocked off.
The second source of inspiration was Adrian Tomine's effortless ability to draw more subtle emotions through body-language as much as facial expression.
So this piece unfolded a bit more randomly than most - there was no preparation or drafting, just a lot of 'draw this here', 'erase', 'draw it again!'. I also wanted to keep linework and detail fairly limited, and let colour control the form a little more, which is a bit of a step up for me - things such as the trees being completed by the sky around them, and the white of the colour being left unfilled. All pretty subtle, but a fun means of experimenting. I also tried a bit of dry-brushing on the trees.

I guess when I think of the meaning behind this piece, I wanted to capture a sense of isolation and frustration, without over-dramatising things; the things we want in this world and our desire for space around us in order to think about obtaining them. The spilled drink was a later touch, but it helped balance things out a little and contribute subtly to that meaning. It's a little whimsical, but necessary.
I'm pretty happy with the final result; it was a simple piece and came together relatively quickly.

Stay tuned for more, real soon.

Inkwork

Finished Colour

That just means there's less of a mess left, distracting you

2008-06-14T16:30:00.000-07:00

Well, over the last few weeks my mind has been progressively blown, and my patience tested (but not without the pay-off), as I found out that one of my favourite bands, Built to Spill, have been trying to track me down after they lost the poster and my email address that I gave them last December. Turns out Doug Martsch liked it enough to ask their Australian Promoter and his girlfriend to try and find the artist responsible. Word was put out here , at mess and noise, and luckily an old friend from Uni came across it and sent it on to me. So as the mystery "caped crusader" announced himself (me), it was a long week of waiting (until the day before my birthday) before an email popped in my inbox from none other than Doug Martsch, telling me what had happened to the posters and if I could send on some more his way. I think at this stage, I think my brain imploded, but my reply was nothing short of an obliging and super-stoked 'sure thing!'. He also mentioned some prospective work I hope to be involving myself in, if things go right. More on that if and when it takes off, until then I feel a resounding sense of pride and accomplishment, as well as a great deal of excitement about a prospective collaboration with such a rawking band!

Read the book, give a kick, check all the figures, make amends

2008-04-22T18:41:00.000-07:00

Well after a restless night of thinking of just how awkward it must have been to have someone approach you at the train station telling them you have a drawing of them, I decided to try and clear my mind a little of this awkwardness and post something new. And just in time. Today is my friend Kali's birthday, so as a gift, I have created this, a portrait of sorts.
The whole thing was done after work over a series of weeknights, for about a week. The colouring was done in a day, and I think it makes the piece. Continuing my obsession with tasteful/tasteless wallpaper, I decided to deck the setting out as a kinda boudoir flavour, with a single light source illuminating it. There's not much to be read in the mirror within this; I didn't know quite what to put in there, so it's an extension of the room. The tattoo sympolises the flourishing of life and a healthy undergrowth of cynicism and reality (the flick-knife). The flowers are flat-out tributes to James Jean's endlessly beautiful ability to draw fauna/flora, but I feel like I've given this enough of my own flavour to isolate it a little into my own realm. I'm pretty happy with this piece, and hopefully so is Kali. Maybe I can sleep tonight. Ha.

Original inkwork:

Colour Final:

Postcript to previous post: The most Awkard/Creepy 5 minutes of my life.

2008-04-22T01:55:00.000-07:00

As if my previous post didn't sound creepy/stalky enough, you have to believe me when I say this; it was with the best of intentions and I was honestly inspired and this person came across as really cool. Now that we have that on the table, I guess I'll issue a public apology for my act of creepiness this evening when I saw the girl I drew on the train home from work.

With the idea in mind that I'd regret not saying hello, I approached her as we left the station and preluding it with "this is going to sound really weird/creepy", told her that I have a drawing of her. Not making it entirely clear where or how I got this drawing, it was an awkward back and forth interaction where I finally made it clear that seeing her around inspired me to do a piece on her. Didn't really come out like this, and if you're reading this, I apologise for coming across as a weirdo, because I'm not.

Anyway, I gave her this blog address because I think if you're going to draw someone random and post pictures of them on the net, then it's probably best to be up front and honest about the whole thing, just don't make the same mistake I did and sound like a fool. The reality is, she was pretty nice about it and her name is Ronnie. Thanks Ronnie. If I see you around, I'll try not to run away out of embarrassment.

More art really soon, I have a few pieces that have just left the board and are drying (in my mind), so as soon as I'm ready to post, prepare to be inundated.

Until you've warn it down, to the size of a pea

2008-03-01T15:39:00.000-08:00

Sorry, it's been a while and for no other reason other than lack of inspiration and generally being too busy to browse.
This one partially falls under the sun-bleached series I've been developing over the last 12 months. I say partially because the person in this actually exists and up to a couple of months ago, I used to see her everywhere.
I guess its hard not to miss someone with severe bowl haircut, feautiring a bleached underside. I first saw her on the train and I eavesdropped in on her conversation with another school girl about ditching school. That night I was at my local take-away joint at about 10pm and she walked passed again, this time with a kinda cool/bad-ass expression on her face, a B&H dangling from her lip. I tried working out how old she was, guessing 16-17, but as it turns out, 18. A week later, there she was again, riding her bike like a character out of a halo bender's filmclip , which always seems to be a source of direction for the series of sun-bleached rebel pieces I do. This time she was wearing an oversized white t-shirt, supertight black jeans and a worn out pair of cons (I think). Super cool. There was something addictive about this character I kept on seeing everywhere. So I followed her into the supermarket to get another glance at what could be an evolving 'rebel' of sorts. In the supermarket, while her friend waited outside with the bikes, she bought a pack of Drum, those intensely flavoured rollies and rode off. She showed I.D, which I thought might be fake, but turns out it wasn't. Whatever. All I knew is her bowl hair-cut was pretty cool and she was fit the prototype of the characters I enjoy drawing. I hadn't seen her since december, until a couple of days ago where I awkwardly approached her to tell about the piece. This goes down in history as one of the most awkward moments in my life, but nothing I can claim to regret, it could've been worse! Turns out it wasn't as accurate as I liked (see post-script, above), but she was flattered, which was a relief. In retrospect, I don't know how I'd feel if a total stanger approached me and said they had a drawing of me, which probably proves my point, there's no easy way to do it. I gues it's different if they happened to appear in a random photo you took. But it was pretty funny in hindsight and as a friend told me, awkward is the new black.

Here's the process below.

Original sketch

Initial Pencils

Colour draft with temporary wallpaper

Ink (brush, india ink)

Basic Colour

Wallpaper (brush, india ink)

Finished Colour

This metal sphere Ten times the size of Jupiter

2008-01-22T02:16:00.000-08:00

Well, it wouldn't be a proper January without my annual bout of entries into the various 'art-based' big day out competitions. This year I thought I'd give both the InPress and Herald Sun, both local street rags/gutter press publications. The prize, by tradition is a double-pass to the Big Day Out, a big national music festival, this year featuring the talents of Bjork, Spoon, Silverchair, Rage Against the Machine, Arcade fire and a tonne more. By tradition, the art needs to be of one of the acts on the bill, so in addition to palming off my Silverchair Illustration as an entry, I decided to give Bjork a crack, in illustation form. Hardly an uncommon attempt; she has to be one of the most frequently visually portrayed musicians around.
So I did some roughs and came up with a visual concept pretty quickly. Listening to the sound Bjork creates summons up pretty organic imagery, and I imagine in a festival environment, a surreal mesh of performer and crowd, as if they become her costume.
So that was my concept. I started thinly laying down the basic linework, finessing as I went along. The hands took a bit of tweaking her and there, but I love drawing hands, so it was a continual challenge. I used an old compositional method for the linework, the closer the thicker, the further the thinner. Pretty simple but effective idea.
From there I generously applied a layer of highlights, giving the overall piece a slick semi-gloss feel. After those layers were done, I started working out a colour palette, which took a fair amount of time, starting mainly in pinks and working in some blues, while trying to maintain a sense of depth by adjusting the highlights.
Once I had it all pieced together pretty tightly, I ran a halftone filter over the highlights layer, and gradated the background with some basic alternating lighting effects. The hardest element was her face, which I redrew several times, in particular the toning around the cheak and neck. I wanted to have her both illuminated environmentally, as well as from below, to try and create a stronger colour link between her and the crowd.
The swan was a last minute reference to her infamous dress, which probably pissed InPress of as they requested no swans. Needless to say, I don't think I won that competition.
The whole thing has a bit of a James Jean feel, I hope it doesn't feel like a mediocre rip off, I wanted to make sure that a strong sense of my own style came through in this.
I forgot to mention that I entered this piece under Liz's name. While I take a massive amount of pride in my own creation, when it comes to winning multiple sets of tickets, I figured my chances are better if I enter several different illustrations (in this case, the Silverchair piece and the Bjork). So after losing a bit of hope in the results, Liz received a call from the Herald Sun, to let her know that her (my) drawing of Bjork had one. Thank god this one has a feminine direction to it, makes it more convincing to think it came from my girlfriend.
So we won tickets and we're going next monday. Happy ending ahoy.
So if you live in Melbourne, Keep an eye out for this Thursday's (24/01/08) Herald Sun, I believe they'll be publishing it then. Tip top.
Thanks for reading. Enjoy; process below.

Base linework

Solids and Highlights

Gradiants and further toning

Colour adjustments and colour adjustment

Further adjustment/Finished piece

You climb on your roof, and take a swipe at it.

2008-01-02T13:57:00.000-08:00

Happy new year everyone. I hope 2008 holds great things for all of you. It's been a busy start to the year.

Following my triumph with getting some autographs on my piece of built to spill, I decided that with last night's pending Pipettes show, that I'd endaevour to follow up that success with some more shameless self-promotion/karmic exchange with britains 60's infused girl-pop band. So here it is.

Given that it's been just over 2 years since my Big Day Art, Sleater-Kinney attempt, I figured that with another trio of girls to illustrate, I'd try to better my first effort with something similar. And I couldn't be happier with my personal progress, both craft wise and vision wine.
I started this on Sunday night, after spending the afternoon waking up and framing my built to spill piece with some Acid-free standard white art-mount. The pencils came down pretty well, starting with the faces and then working backwards to fill out the rest of the composition now that the essentials had been run in. On Monday (new years eve), it was 42 degrees, so I spent half the day in my air conditioned tomb finishing off the excessive amount of detail in the rest of it, and decided to redraw Rosay's head (top right), as it looked kinda retarded in the original.
Inking took about 8 hours, all done by brush. Bit strenuous but really great practice with a new brush that Liz's mum got me for Christmas. This is (for now) my favourite brush, it lay the ink down consistently in all the weights I needed. So I was pretty stoked, and seeing it come together like a jigsaw was a really positive bit of encouragement.
Colour, as you can see, I wanted to keep pretty simple, so I did some basic fills and shading and decided to leave it at that. I lightened up the colour of the linework a fraction, as it was a bit jarring, but in all honesty, I can't stop looking at the original inked piece - it's definitely one of my favourite outcomes, and a good way to keep myself aiming for a higher level. Still early days though.

So here it is. The show was pretty fun. I didn't get to meet the band but after a polite conversation with their manager, I was able to get a couple of copies signed, with one hopefully ending up with the band. Karmic exchange fulfilled. As for the really tall guy at the front of the show, I hope he got hit by a car for his selfishness, and for throwing a towel at one of the band members before demanding a setlist. Asshole!

Original ink work

Basic colour treatment

Basic fills

Finished piece

Autographed!

Hit it once every thousand years

2007-12-29T21:39:00.000-08:00

Well the year is almost up and fortunately (for me at least) I have a stack of stuff to post and write about, but I'll start with the most recent.
So last night at the Corner Hotel Built to Spill, one of my favourite bands was playing. I decided a couple of days earlier that I'd create a piece on them, and possibly get it done in time to hopefully score some autographs and get my art seen by some indie-rock legends.
After a fair amount of deliberation, I decided that I wanted to have them doing something kinda retro, seeing they've been in the scene for so many years now, and are such a strong group (although Doug Marstch, the lead singer has been the only consistent member to record on each album).
I started initially on paper with pencil. after lightboxing and refining the pencil work some more, I rushed into inking it, worried about time. Big mistakes. the inks laid down to thick and inconsistent, and while most eyes wouldn't pick it up, I was pretty annoyed by it, so I decided to go digital and put it all together via wacom. It ended up taking me a quarter of the time the pencil work.
I decided to go with a retro bowling pattern as the background as time wasn't providing the opportunities to create anything elaborately detailed, unfortunately.
The colours were pretty simple and when I was happy with it, I ran a halftone pattern over the whole thing and masked the piece in some worn paper.
The day of the show, I went and found a cheap place in the city and got some copies made at A2, which came up well, despite one of the names slipping off the shirt pocket.
On my way home I stopped off at the Corner hotel, mid-afternoon to have a drink with a friend. While waiting, I noticed their tourvan arriving, so decided that now was my chance. I nervously approached the band and introduced myself and showed them the piece, asking for an autograph. They were stoked and Doug asked for my email address so he could possibly line up some more band work for me. Awesome. After the band were done unpacking and signing my posters, I gave them a copy and they were kind enough to pose with me in a photo, another one for my wall of indie-heroes.
So my night was made before the show even started. The show itself was 2 hours of sprawling guitar noise, and it couldn't have been any radder.
But before the breakdown of the final piece, here are my five top albums of 2007, for anyone who's interested

5. Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends
4. The National - Boxer
3. Carribou - Andorra
3. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
1. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam

So here's the piece in its stages and some additional photos. Enjoy.

Initial layer (digital ink).

Basic colour/background

Shading Layer

Finished Piece

Groupie shot - December 29, 2007

Autographed piece.

I must be cold on your lawn...

2007-12-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

That guy draws: Silverchair
Well, another year is almost over. The wrap-up parties are happening everywhere and I'm more than happy to get involved. It's the silly season of course...
With this time of the year comes the multitude of year-end lists for everyone and anyone, usually highlighting their favourite releases for the year. MAG, the publication I work for, are again putting out their list. It's become a tradition (as of last year, at least) to include a feature illustration of the #1 artist. So, now that MAG December is officially on shelves in JB, I can reveal that the numero uno is Silverchair, with Young Modern . I can't really confess to liking Silverchair a whole lot. It's not hatred, it's just not my thing. Sure, I like Indie kinda pop, but Daniel Johns, his voice and of course his band, don't really take the cake for me. My year end list is still evolving, so stay tuned for that one.
I decided to try something a little different, but the same with this one. After reading the incredible Process Recess 2 Portfolio by James Jean, I felt inspired to put down the brush for a piece and work with really tight pencil work, something he's mastered, and something I'm somewhat plain at. Regardless, I had the good fortune of stocking up on some 0.5 Blue and Red pacer leads, which worked a treat for the initial drawing, although they snap way too easily; and a lot goes to waste. So I'm looking for some 0.7s, but no one seems to stock them. At least not here.
Working in two colours means it's easier to tweak the tonal controls in photoshop. I'l spare you the detail, but it was pretty fun. From there I went about my usual method of building up several dozen colour layers and brushing over the linework to make the tones less contrasting. The result is below. Decide for yourself.
At the moment I'm heading back into the ink territory, working on the graphic novel after a listening to a refreshing interview with novel hero Adrian Tomine, who inspired new hope in finding a publisher when it's all done. But enough digression. Enjoy.
Thanks
Guy

Original pencil work: Blue and Red graphite on board

Finished colour work:

With headlights reflecting in my face

2007-11-27T00:41:00.000-08:00

Belated post, but on time delivery, and that's what matters I guess. This is a piece I created as a birthday card for my partner Liz, who celebrated her birthday last Thursday, thanksgiving if you're that way inclined.
This one, like so many others, came to me as a flash before I nodded off to sleep, the effect of which meant I didn't sleep for a few hours; I lay there mulling over how I could pull it together in a matter of days. The answer was sneakily. I shot our kitchen while she watered the garden. That night as she lay on the sofa doing Sodoku, I lay on the couch opposite, the photo in reference, and basically pencilled it all out in the one sitting. I took it into work with me and stayed back to ink it, and that night coloured it while I pretended to do freelance work as she continued her sodoku. It was like being a ninja, but with a pencil/brush/mouse for a sword. I was pretty happy with it all. I know she's not a fan of when I draw her face, either I don't do it enough justice, or she's so humble she doesn't take well to her in drawing form, so I settled for a scene that typically greets me when I come downstairs in the morning; this.
I divided the image amongst a series of smaller cards, each with a new direction around the house to her presents. So when she'd collected all the clues, she'd have the full picture. The main card was at the end of the trail. The response was good, so I was happy and she had a happy birthday (other presents helped, of course). Happy birthday Liz, love you. xxx

Original inking:

Colour base:

Shadows:

Finished product:

It splits right through the sky

2007-11-17T18:56:00.000-08:00

It's been a rad fortnight for creation. I mean that whole heartedly. I've been spending my evenings more productively and have been motivating myself to just create. Its easier then I often make it out to be; last saturday I was sitting in the back of the Dover Castle, a bar in Richmond, drinking beer and drawing with my newly acquired blue and red graphite. I looked up at the roof next door, a combination of cement renovation and old industrial brick, as well as a mean ventelation unit. So I took a photo, with the intention to reference it for a later piece. It was all pretty strong in my head, so it was only a matter of days before the photo was up on screen and I was drawing from it, and brining in some additional elements. I wanted the whole thing to take on the sun-bleached appearance of 'the rebels not in' (see older post), and I wanted to incorporate a human element, so I decided to add a couple kicking it on the rooftop, with some beers. I think it evokes a nice emotional quality, both through the concept and the colour. There's definitely a stillness to it that I wanted to amp up a bit, there are signs of life, but also signs of silence.
The whole thing was done in blue pencil, which I've enjoyed familiarising myself with. Its easier to clean up with when the ink is being laid down, and also when I'm cleaning up the linework in photoshop. The only problem so far is the delicate nature of it. I find myself going through countless new leads, each of which continually snap when I'm drawing, so I'm practicing restraint a little and lightening up my line-work, which truthfully is better, because it means it's easier to erase.
Inking was done over the space of two nights and three episodes of Northern Exposure. The brick work was the trickiest, trying make the texture natural, and not to thick and thin with the brush.
Colouring was done before and after work, over a few days, taking up around 80 colour layers in photoshop. I wanted everything to be pretty tight. After almost finalising this, I felt like it needed something more organic within, so I created some smoke ribbons to be coming from the roof. The final elements were the highlights and the colour adjustment as well as glow on the sun-facing sides of things.
I showed my good friend Dan and he had issues with the beer bottle. On second inspection, I had to agree, it wasn't too symmetrical, and the colouring made it look pretty flat and not the 'glass in the sun' kind of reflectiveness it should look like, so I redrew it and replaced the existing one. It was good to have that kick up the ass and get the attention to detail a little tighter. With the current arrangement I have of doing these kinds of things in my free time, its hard not to glaze over some elements. But the effort is rewarding when I get around to it, even if most people won't notice!
Enjoy.

Original inkwork:

Base colours:

Highlights

Final, with amended bottle:

So we smile when we're crying

2007-11-08T02:39:00.000-08:00

So I'm suddenly drawn to two-colour illustrations. I think this probably started at gawking, in awe at James Jean's incredible life drawings from a week ago. Not only did he nail every single pose (in a matter of minutes), but his colours were so beautifully combined that I couldn't help but feel inspired to put down the quill and load up a sketchbook with some two-colour pencil action. I'm using Aquarell watercolour pencils, but without the water. Their lead is a bit stickier than standard pencil and the colours are rich, but when used softly they create great textures and tone, and it's great to practice some gentler forms of rendering. Dorky, I know. Anyway, this was done on yesterday's train trip home, so 20 minutes. As soon as it pulled up at Camberwell station, I signed it, half-finished, but done. SO hopefully this is the start to a bit more traditional refinement, but some new stuff from me, I'm trying not to be so precious about the refinement/finished-state of my art, as DaVinci once wrote Art is never finished, it's abandoned. So there's some encouragement.
This one's called the Valedictorian, I don't know where that name came from, but it started, I fucked up the eyes and kept going, transforming it into a death-ribbon of sorts.
Thanks for reading/looking. Enjoy.

And snowflakes will blow us on our way

2007-10-30T01:14:00.000-07:00

Quick one. I've mastered the art of 'attempting to make time'. Last few months have been flat out and close to exhausting, but nonetheless a great opportunity to create some stuff from whatever presents itself. In this case, Animal Collective, on of my favourite bands made a mention in the latest edition of MAG, so I grabbed the bull by the horns, avoided the easier method of digging out an already overused press photo and started from scratch, and minimal visual reference and created a spot illo of the group. So here it is, comlete with original scrawl.
Due to time restraints, this was one was all done digitally with my good friend the wacom. While it's not my strongest passion moving away from the physical properties of brush and ink, its a technique I've been utilising when I need to get something across, Quicksmart!
The finished piece can be sorted in the October 2007 edition of MAG, which will be on shelves for the next two weeks, before the next edition, featuring an illustration of Thom Yorke, replaces it. Enjoy and don't be afraid to leave comments, they make my the chaos clearer.

cheers,
Guy

Happy birthday Lisa

2007-09-29T17:11:00.000-07:00

Well, internationally, September 26 mainly means one thing for me, my best friend Lisa's birthday, so to make up for my absence from celebrations in the rainy city of Seattle (well, it's fall over there now), I came up with some artwork to celebrate her 29th birthday as well as reflect my disdain for not being over there to party it up with her. Anyway, here they are, from the heart and from the quill. Cheers!

They say today, what we're after isn't in the way

2007-09-25T02:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back for god knows how long, but the mad AFL Grand Final rush is over, along with the bumper 96-page edition of MAG, which went to print in the shallow hours of Monday evening this week. Thank god it's over for now.
The 15 days straight of work from the office and home took its toll, coming to a peak at 1am on Sunday morning, when the Record left for print. Good riddance and welcome back, it's looking rad! I left the office, missed my train and was fortunate enough to find a group of good friends to help me wind down my second-wind, over a few beverages. Thanks guys!

For those going to the game, or picking up the Record for souvenir sake, don't forget to check out pages 184-185, which are graced by the rushed, but handy work of yours-truly. I've illustrated two incarnations of Gary Ablett Sr, for Tony Wilson's (ex-race around the world contender) article on describing the AFL to other nations. I might post those soon anyway.

In the meantime, here's my latest of many coming offerings, a full pager for Musical Australia Guide, supporting an article entitled Rock, Roll & the Religion of Denim . This one was done in a day, and by day, I mean stretching the limits of daylight.
Aptly entitled 'Carpe Denim' (a play on the latin term Carpe Diem, meaning Seize the Day, this one suggets the idolisation of denim and the fashion protocol of both the public and the music industry. The article refers to such names as Elvis, Bruce Springsteen and the Ramones, which have all be subtlely referenced throughout.

I started with a rough outline of where everything was to be, and due to time pressures, tried to get the pencilling pretty much spot-on in the first round of refinements. Feel like I succeeded with this, although some elements I feel are still flawed, but that's definitely something to take with me in my never-ending quest to work quicker and at a higher standard.

Inking took the longest, the more details, the more brush-dipping. that's the simplest way I can put it. the stain-glass window as fairly straight forward. I didn't use any rulers or guides as I wanted to create something that seemed more organic and imperfect, as if it was created in the dawn of stain-glass technology...haha.

Technically, when I was inking I tried to find a balance between my ever-influencing idols, Tomer Hanuka, Chris Gardner, James Jean and Adrian Tomine, who's subtleties speak volumes. For those in the know of those names, hopefully that shines though.

Colouring was pretty straightforward, but not free of adjustment layers and the usual round of effects, I wanted to try and keep things pretty minimalist, but I find when I'm under the pressure of times, less takes more, so I baked it up a little bit. The only area where I kept it particularly simple was the group of onlookers, who ended up being 3-4 different colours, all shared. I like to call this democratic colouring...haha. In retrospect, it kinda reminds me of the old school Spawn Comics colouring.

But judge for yourself. Let me know any thoughts you have, and please don't feel too shy to leave a comment. Sorry for the lag in posts.

The full article, written by Julia Gaw, will be on shelves in JB Hifi, nationally next week, or available at musicaustraliaguide.com

Thanks for reading. Here's the breakdown.

Ink:

Finished colour:

The cut building blocks that we live in with no air

2007-08-09T18:14:00.000-07:00

Discrimination is still a major problem in Australia, in particular ethnic opportunities. So when the good folk at VicHealth magazine, a quarterly Victorian publication approached me about doing a cover on this theme, I jumped at the chance of making a statement.
The brief was pretty straightforward; portray the struggle of an 'ethnic outsider' against a predominantly anglo community, in pursuit of the common key goals faced by a majority.
The rough didn't take long to put together, I wanted to create something a little less linear then their initial suggestion, playing emphasis on the pinnacle that was 'heath'. The client loved the draft and after getting that approved, I set about producing this in a traditional manner that I've been crafting over the last 12 months, starting with a 'tightened' pencil draft (which allowed them to make changes pre-inking). Followed by the inking and then digital colouring in Photoshop. The hair was changed pretty early on, they wanted a tighter set of curls that set about giving the protagonist a more ethnic appearance, without being too suggestive of a particular background. His outfit was inspired by common middle eastern vest.
The inking was done arched over my office desk, swept aside of Coffee cups, print outs and cords, and was all done in brush, another discipline I'm keen to get my head around. I was initially a little disappointed at the contrast as well as the composition the heavy areas of black. One thing I have to respect Tomer Hanuka for is his beautiful ink work free of excess solids. Lesson Learnt.
The colouring process was enduring, layer upon layer of colours, adjustments and saturation tweaks, before I caught a sense of drama/struggle within the layout that I was happy about. The sky was all photoshopped because I'm still getting my knack of ink clouds perfected. Essentially with the colour, I wanted it to border the peak of the mountain, attracting the viewers eye to that point, and then working outwards to get the full story. Pretty basic concept, but sometimes the simplest of directions is the best, albeit a little primitive.

Below is the build-up process, from pencil, to ink, to colour.

Thoughts welcome, I'm hoping this issue and this cover will help promote more awareness of this re-occuring and unproductive issue in Australian society.

thanks.

Draft

Pencils

Pencils, changes

Ink

Colour

The Rebels Not in

2007-07-06T01:51:00.000-07:00

Another week gone by with very little update, so here's another recently completed piece, aptly entitled "The Rebels Not In". This one is inspired by the Halo Benders, the sonic combination of indie off-beat Calvin Johnson and Built to Spill legend Doug Marsch. Sure, the androgenous protagonist looks nothing like either, but we'll say the inspiration is of a different kind of notion.
I've become intrigued by indie rebels as of late. People with an opinion that fight for what they believe in, especially when it comes to the idea of indpendant creation and chaos. Regardless of law. I think they're awesome to put it in simpler terms. So this character spawned from that, out of a sketchbook image. The setting is inspired by the Halo Bender's film clip to "don't touch my bikini". It can be viewed here;
A kinda sun bleached back street terrain. Chipped paint on old wooden stairs, dusty shaded cars and empty label-less beer bottles. The bleaching effect ended up being quite manga. My original intention was to have it quite simple and flat, but I felt this added a visual justification to the extreme contrast in tones. This ones for the modern rebels. Right click on the image and select "view image" to view at full size.
finished piece (297x420):

Pre-colour 02/effect 01

pre-colour 01

Original (297x420, india ink on board).

Wait a year, for what I thought would take a million more...

2007-06-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

This one is something more of a practice piece. Not everything can be a masterpiece and between sketchbook and finished piece, something like this comes along and helps me find a direction for the next finish. This is also a follow up in the stlye of the hands piece. Hope to posting something soon a little different from this with some techniques I've been 'perfecting'.

Kinda based on this idea of a modern day Aphrodite. Some of you might know of her as Venus, from the famous Botecelli clamshell painting. Also known as the goddess of love.

I wanted to capture this suggestion of intimacy without situationally typical elements. The colouring is slightly cold, the hand connection awkward. The limbs fade left and right and if anything, it's all rather stoic for something representing passion. This isn't the antithesis of love, nor is it the ugly side, it just is. I don't like to think of this is erotica. photobucket doesn't think of it that way either, which is why it hasn't been banned yet (touch wood).

All up, it took me about 4 hours, which is pretty quick. started off as a sketchbook piece on the train and evolved from there. I blew the sketch up to A3 and lay down the pencils on a lightbox. The inks were done the morning before a good friend from the states arrived. Everything was done in brush, which I'm proud off despite a few wobblies. All pretty rapid. I didn't get around to colouring this until mid april, when I was back in front of a computer again. Really must learn how to colour in a more organic natural manner.

Well, I hope my influences can see this more from a homage/influence point of view rather than a rip off. I don't aspire to copy anyone really. Call me insanely jealous when I see their latest work though. Artists like the latter mentioned blow my mind and without them I would know what to thrive for.
Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoy this one.

original

base colouring:

highlights/shadows:

finished piece:

Show the world we'll play no one horse town.

2007-06-07T16:08:00.000-07:00

It's Friday morning. I finished this one in the early hours of last night, before retiring to watch some bad TV. I'll write a bit more on this later, essentially it evolved from a sketchbook piece I did I on the train. Been waiting until I bought some Radiographs to do the linework. The rest of it was done in brush.

Original:

Run the streets, lick your canvas...

2007-06-07T00:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome. Hopefully I'll remain enthused about not having to rely on Myspace as a blog and join the legion of illustrators using this system to get their name out. New art soon. Thanks for dropping by.