2 More Sketches

Are you can see, there was a change of direction. The vignette idea was shelved in favor of going full bleed with the image. The action in this book takes place in a plantation house, the open french doors became the new theme and let's not forget the basset hound of course.

Sketch 4

Sketch 4 with a more menacing feel. I'm starting to like the way this is moving.

Sketch 3

I was asked to provide something a little more menacing, this is version "A". I really enjoy this stage of the process.

Sketch 2

These first two sketches were done as a pitch for a simple book cover which had a smaller budget than usual, all jobs are worth doing is you can work these things out. I was working with avery good art director hear who understands the process of creating artwork, that's not always a given.

Book cover Sketch 1

This was a fun one, the project started out as a simple vignette cover idea, The basset was a key to the cover.

Video Nasty

Here is a bit of fun, I must have painted this about 28 years ago, back when the VCR was all the rage and horrible film were being repackaged for rent in video stores.  Most of the scenes on the cover were from a different film, what can I say, I was only obeying orders.

Sketch 6

This was the one I wanted to paint, I thought this could look really good, it didn't happen but this is an idea I might try to recycle.

Sketch 5

Getting a bit weird here but worth a shot.

Sketch 4

I thought this was a fun one, I was showing just how close the Manhattan NJCU is, campus without boarders is one of their selling points.

Sketch 3

Working my way through the obvious idea, still thinking about how I might paint.

Sketch 2

As I was working on these sketches i was chiefly thinking about images that I would enjoy painting. I thought this would have been a fun one.

New Jersey City University Sketch1

I did a series of these sketches for a potential illustration for the NJCU, we wound up not going further as I wasn't able to quite nail down an image that could be agreed upon, that's Ok, I love doing these sketches.

Final Version

So here we are again, the art director didn't like so much sepia color on the cover because it looked a little dull, this is certainly a brighter and more eye catching cover, this one went to  print.

Picture Them Dead

This is the version of sketch 2 that I sent in to the art director, I really enjoy this type of tight rendering job so I very much hope this series may continue. The art director had some changes and revisions so I'll post the final version tomorrow.

Sketch 4

This was my final sketch, the Knoydart collection so to speak. tomorrow I'll post the finished painting. See you tomorrow then, also, any thoughts on which one the art director chose? They are all very similar, its a very subjective thing.

Sketch 3

Whilst the nature of these sketches is very similar, I wanted to give a choice and introduce different elements with a different emphasis on certain object. I enjoy spending time on these and I can take them out and about and do them anywhere.

Sketch 2

Sketch 2, what i liked about this job was that the previous artist was doing photo montage in illustrator, the art director decided she wanted a painted cover, music to my ears, hopefully the tide is turning.

Book Cover Sketch 1

Here is sketch 1 of 4 that I did for a book cover assignment. I have very happy memories of these because I did them all in Knoydart, Scotland in part at the Old Forge, a drawing of which i posted earlier, scroll down and have a look.

Finished Illustration

I had a great deal of fun with this one, I could get well in to doing a series like this.

Fun job

This is a sketch for a fun job from a client in England, I was asked to come up with a drawing about complicated furnace systems in the style of Heath Robinson, there should be some more in this series coming this year, I'll post the finished illustration tomorrow.

Stripped For Murder

Happy Sunday good people, here is the finished painting for the color comp I posted earlier, I very much enjoyed this one, a throw back to the pulp fiction covers of yesteryear. i have another one in this series to work on and i hope for many more to come.

Shaquile Sketches

I think i posted the top sketch before but the bottom sketch is new and the one I started to paint up, this one turned into a bit of a sager.

Bonnie St John Revised Finish

Here is the revised finish with a far more flattering portrait as the main focus. All's well that ends well.

Bonnie St John Finnish

This was my finished painting subject to approval, that approval didn't come so tomorrow I'll post the final version which is a good deal stronger I have to say.

Bonnie Sketch 5

This is the last sketch before going to finish, tomorrow I'll post the first version of the finished illustration, there were changes to come there too.

Bonnie Sketch 4

With input for the art director, these sketches start to become more evolved.

Bonnie Sketch 3

This is the 3rd of my initial sketches for this project, there were more sketches to come as the client felt there needed to be more information about the subject matter. I enjoy this part of the process, always happy to do knew sketches.

Bonnie Sketch 2

look at me, falling behind early and often, I'm just going to make an extra post when I miss a day, got to be accountable for my actions here.

Bonnie St John Portrait Sketch 1

Quick study for a portrait commission, Had a good run of these last year.

Color Comp

Here is a color sketch for a book cover I'm working on right now, very much enjoying this one, a through back to the pulp fiction covers of old.

The Old Forge

Happy New Year everybody, I going to post a drawing a day all year long and so far I've only missed 1 day, not bad if i say so myself. See you tomorrow.
By the way, this is the most remote pub on mainland Britain, what have you got to say about that.