So I thought I’d begin posting the work I do in class as I go throughout the semester. I don’t think I’ll do huge write-ups on these or anything, but simply post them to share my progress, what I’m learning, and how I’m improving.

>>This first post isn’t very exciting. It’s a still life of white shapes done in graphite.

>>This is a value scale. Man, do I hate value scales– especially in pencil.

One of my classes is really taking me back to basics. Everyone hates values scales– they’re the bane of any artist’s existence. Unfortunately, it’s necessary to go back to the basics and reinforce your knowledge. As we can see in the two photos above, it’s quite clear that even though it was like poking myself in the eye repeatedly with a spoon, it was necessary to practice the basics. I’m obviously rusty. Thank goodness I’m PAYING someone to force me to do this– I’d certainly never want to do it of my own accord.

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve updated, but I’ve been super busy with my day job as of late. I am back from California though, and I really enjoyed Comic Con! It was a shame that I had to leave Saturday night in order to catch my flight home, but there’s always next year.

These crests are personal crests that I designed during my trip. I had just finished reading George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, and was inspired by the idea of every family having their own sigil/themed animal and thought I’d try it out for myself. The first crest is my own, and the others belong to two of my best friends from California.

They’re just done in pencil, but they were fun and fast to hammer out. I do intend to do larger, painted versions of them as well. I’ve got a few more that I’m doing for other friends as well, and have had lots of fun ideas! I wonder if anyone would be interested in commissioning me to do one for them? Hopefully I’ll have a painted version up soon so you all can see what they’d look like.

Vinny news later this week!

I am still alive, amazingly. I’m not sure if it’s the constantly changing weather, allergies, or the fact that I work in an office, but I just keep staying sick. It’s awful. I’m getting lots of art done though, and generally keeping it together to make my Vinny deadlines. I just completed another page earlier this evening. Unfortunately, I have not yet scanned and/or photographed any of the new stuff I’m working on, so my blog post for tonight is going to be a week-and-a-half late Artist Spotlight.

Tale of a Butterfly – Markers and colored pencils. © Natalia Pierandrei.

Natalia Pierandrei, more commonly known as “Nati” has been an illustrator that I’ve admired for quite some time. I discovered her originally several years ago on DeviantArt while surfing and collecting artists that I liked to add to my Watch List. I was immediately attracted to her artwork because, like me, she does marker work. And believe me, after an entire semester of intense self-study in markers, I know that there aren’t very many marker artists out there. I’m not surprised either, with the sheer lack of instruction in and use for marker art. Everything is computerized these days! There’s not as much respect for us traditional artists anymore, I say!

Garden of Delights – Markers, watercolors and colored pencils on Fabriano Murillo paper. © Natalia Pierandrei.

I digress. Nati’s work is fabulously limited in its color palette– and boy does it work for her. Simple, graceful lines, dimmed colors suddenly superheated with one or two bright ones, and an interesting anime-influenced fusion style really gives her work a punch. There are so many of her pieces that I like that it’s difficult to choose just a few to showcase here!

Winter Commission – Markers, watercolors and colored pencils. © Natalia Pierandrei.

Her work is intricate and detailed. She says herself on her website that she takes some inspiration from art nouveau-styled artworks and artists. And the best part? She lives in Italia. Easily one of my favorite countries, and the one I’ve spent the most time in besides my own.

She just released an artbook named Precious Things which is, unfortunately, sold out at this time. But you should totally get interested and check out her website “A Forgotten Night Tale”, and her blog, “Precipitevolissimevolmente”. Her stuff is great– I hope you get hooked on it as I have.

This week’s artist spotlight post is about another big influence of mine– although this artist is from a long time ago. Alphonse Mucha the Czech illustrator, alive and active mostly during the 19th Century, is very influential and inspirational to me. I wrote a long research paper in college examining the ideas behind his work (and how it fit into the Art Nouveau movement)… one on which I made an “A,” I might add.

Zodiac – © Alphonse Mucha

I think that art history is a very important piece of education that every successful artist should have. Even if you did not go to college for art, in my opinion it is endlessly important to study and learn about what art is, where it was been, and who has been doing it. Everything in art influences everything else, and studying how it was evolved is not only critical, but fascinating. Because I took extra history classes in college, I had the pleasure of learning about Alphonse Mucha, the Art Nouveau movement, and how it has influenced artists and illustrators alike since.

Champagne Label – © Alphonse Mucha*

Mucha’s work ranged from simple decorative panels to posters (most notably being those for Sarah Bernhardt’s plays), from beautiful fine art paintings and drawings to the breath-taking Slav Epic. He also did sculptures and a variety of jewelry designs, all of which are inspirational, beautiful, and delicious to look at.

Apotheosis from the Slav Epic – © Alphonse Mucha

I’ve many an art book about him, and have studied about him at length– which is why you can easily see elements of his style pop up in my work from time to time. I am very into decorative art, and it shows. Go take a look at my Gallery and see if you can determine how each of my pieces was influenced by Alphonse Mucha. If you can’t, you should totally do some reading about Art Nouveau, and check out the official Mucha Foundation website to learn more about this fantastic artist. I would write more in depth here, but after writing a fifteen page paper about him, I feel like I’ve written all I can write. Perhaps I should post it here sometime for others to peruse. Interested? Comment and tell me!

*… for those of you very attentive readers who were inspired to visit James Jean’s blog last week may have noticed that Jean has just done some alcoholic beverage bottle designs of his own. I love seeing parallels like this!

For this week’s inspirational post, I thought I’d post about one of the single biggest professional inspirations I’ve had thus far: James Jean. He is a famous illustrator, and he’s done the covers for Fables (and other comics) for years now as well as created lots of freelance work for all sorts of clients the world over. He has shown up in magazines, CD covers, on television, and even in Prada stores. He has now gone one step further, and started focusing on his art for himself, with his first big gallery show “Kindling” at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York.

Wolves – Fables Trade Paperback #8 – Acrylics on paper with Photoshop. © 2006 James Jean.

I was inspired by Mr. Jean quite some years ago when my friend John Fuller handed me the first Trade Paperback of Fables. I’m pretty sure I had been complaining that I hadn’t read any comics recently (but I always complain about that), and he let me borrow it to read. Obviously I was instantly hooked on the comic itself, but I also found the cover artist to be extremely intriguing. I remember examining each piece with great intensity, frankly amazed at what I saw.

Sigur Ros for Future Music Magazine – Graphite and white chalk on Rives with Photoshop. © 2006 James Jean.

It was some time later before I found his website, and really got a good idea about what he did. Up until that point, my artist goals had been… well, rather mutable in nature. I had never even known about the concept of a freelance illustrator that could do everything from magazine illustrations to comic covers until I surveyed his work, and realized that THAT was what I wanted to do with my art. My goal was set, and so began my own journey to find that career.

Swan – Acrylic, oil, and pastel on linen. © 2008 James Jean.

His work itself is delicious. Flowing, graceful lines, fascinating and unexpected color palettes, ethereal and sometimes downright creepy subject matters and presentation make for one awesome package to swallow. A lot of his images tend to hit the eye with a quick– SPLASH!, and then once you’ve taken a moment, it really begins to steep and soak into your brain. The movement and compositions of each piece are phenomenal, and really make sure the eye travels around the entire visual plane. Watching an artist grow, change, and really push his work into new territories over the years is a fascinating and wonderful experience. I personally hope he continues to inspire not only me, but other artists and illustrators, for quite some time.

Please make sure to check out his website, JamesJean.com, and his blog, Process Recess to see his artwork. He has also published a number of art books that you should check out, my personal favorite being Fables: Covers (of course!).