Telenovela Color Final

Here's the finished illustration in color including a header-I've been informed that they are going to play with the format of the illo and split it up throughout the article. The font is Bahaus 93-a new favorite of mine. I painted the illo with Hobein Acryla Gouche.

Telenovelas

I'm currently working on an assignment for StopOver magazine about the dominance of telenovelas in the lives of South Americans. Telenovelas are basically soap operas that have a finite number of episodes and are usually shown 5-6 days a week for about 6 months or so. "Ugly Betty" is a descendant of the Columbian telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea (I am Betty, the ugly one.) A good deal of the article deals with how the majority of the public that watches these telenovelas have nothing even remotely in common with the characters represented in these programs; white, well-off, and generally disconnected from the everyday problems of the average person living in the modern cities of South America. The high drama format of the telenovela provided me with lots of fun imagery to work with, so coming up with thumbs wasn't dificult at all-



One of things I wanted to play with in the thumbs is the recent actions by Hugo Chavez involving the shutdown of Radio Caracas TV, one of the founders of the telenovelas, for reasons that range from the distribution of "pornographic" material (the telenovela) to political malfeasance. It's been reported that 70% of the Venezuelan people opposed this act.

I went with two very different ideas for the rough sketches - With the first I was interested in presenting the idea in a comic panel format (According to my dad, telenovelas started out as photonovelas, which were staged photos presented in a comic-book format. I didn't find this out until after the sketch was done). The comic panel format allowed me to show a number of different vignettes that represented the general themes of the telenovela, primarily being two people shacking up, and people freaking out about those people shacking up-not too different from our soap opera crap.


The next sketch took a little less complex direction but I think it got the idea over in a conceptual and simple fashion. I liked it because I thought a reader would be able to see it and get a pretty direct impression of what the article would be about.



To my suprise the AD and editors decided to go with the first sketch - In a way this was my choice just because I wanted the chance to illustrate Hugo Chavez. Below is the finished drawing that is going to painted in acrylics. The header is just a comp to be done later in photoshop.

Getting down to business!

This week I'm working on sprucing up my promotional materials, starting with a business card. I wanted to create something that succeeds in getting my info out there without being overly "professional" and slick. Basically I was looking to make something that would be fun and hopefully catch someone's eye, almost like a mini postcard.
I couldn't tell you why I've been so obsessed with beehives lately, maybe it's there "Lynchian" creepiness...

THE HIVE!-with COLOR!

Process-final

THE HIVE!@#$@!

Process-stage 2

Final Inks.

Process-stage 1

Here's a pencil rough for a cover submission I'm working on. Done with pencil on vellum.

Been a while Mr. Smith...

I haven't posted in a while due to some projects I've been working on, one of them being a comic submission-Here are some panel roughs done on vellum. I transfer them onto bristol via lightbox.



Here's a quick sketch of Black Bolt. Geekdom ensues!

Painterpeople!

My talented wife has a new painting blog called "painterpeople." Check it out to see some fine oil painting mastery! If you like what you see, and your pockets are fat, feel free to bid for one of her scrumptious paintings for a chance to call it yours.

LRRH-finito!

Finally finished this piece intended for a possible postcard image. I'd say it took about 8 hrs on photoshop mostly due to the fact that I'm pretty green with the software. The digital process is definitely more forgiving, and it's certainly nice to be able to correct mistakes or change color schemes instantaneously. I can't say I'd use it exclusively, but it's nice to have another tool to use in the creative process.

FIST-A-CUFFS

If you haven't checked it out already you should mosey on down the internet speedway to Sam Hiti's "FIST-A-CUFFS." It's a tourney of epic porportions that pits artist's creations against each other and the outcome of the battle depends on your vote. Some great artwork, and funny "smack" talk, makes for good times. See it now! or forever know you have missed one of life's greatest pleasures!

In the works...

Something I've been working on lately-finished version coming soon.

Communication Arts!

An illustration I did was accepted into Communication Arts Illustration Annual! It was entered in the unpublished category-done with FW acrylic inks. Good ol' Neil Young...

King No More...

It's been a long time since my last post and I have no decent excuses, accept that I just lost interest in the whole blog thing for a bit. Originally monstercake was meant to be a daily practice but I am of a weak constitution and couldn't deal. So I bring you a new monstercake, but not necessarily improved-there will be no attempts on my part to blog daily, just snippets into what i'm working on lately and observations about illustration and all things art related. So here goes with some work that I've done in the last year-



I know, who hasn't done a portrait of Johnny Cash? Done w. crowquill pen and FW Acrylic Inks. I practically drink the stuff.




Must see her live...someday. I started out with a light pencil sketch and painted the piece with Holbein Acryla-Gouche, which makes nice matte colors.



Same materials as Regina.



Sucka Punk.