Nathan Fowkes Art

Color Workshop February 11!

2012-01-26T21:57:00.000-08:00

The use of color is critically important for the working artist, well designed color can make your work powerfully compelling and will reach your audience at an emotional level that moves them. That will be our topic of study for this year's Color Workshop on Saturday, February 11, 12-8pm. So whether you're a landscape painter, figurative or entertainment artist, if you're in the LA area I'd love to see you there.

To enroll contact the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art at 877 695 2232. Online at www.laafa.org.

Here's what we'll cover:

The fundamentals of color theory for painters (traditional and digital).
The emotional impact of color and lighting to create mood and environment.
Principles for organizing the complexities of color into pleasing harmonies.
Strategies for solving color problems quickly and effectively.
Color exploration exercises.
Painting from a costumed model in a theatrical, colored light environment.

2012-01-19T02:03:00.000-08:00

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Charcoal and nupastel on Canson heavyweight charcoal paper.
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2012-01-12T01:19:00.000-08:00

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This is a painting I did for Puss in Boots to find the look of the hotel atrium location.
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2012-01-06T15:07:00.000-08:00

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These are lighting roughs I did as a quick demo for my painting class. Gouache and prismacolor.
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Portrait Painting in Watercolor and Gouache 10 Week Course

2011-12-30T00:19:00.000-08:00

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If you live in the LA area and your New Years resolution is to get more painting in and have a good time doing it then come on down to my portrait painting class. It will begin Monday January 9, 7-10pm. We'll be focusing on watercolor but acrylics and other water based mediums are ok too.

To enroll contact LAAFA.org, phone (877) MY-LAAFA
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Happy Holidays!

2011-12-23T02:14:00.001-08:00

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This is a color key painting from the DreamWorks Christmas special "Shrek the Halls".

Merry Christmas everyone!
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2011-12-15T17:12:00.000-08:00

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City at night concept for Puss in Boots. Layout by Christian Schellewald and painted by me.
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2011-12-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

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Background painting from "Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas" by Wade Huntsman and Myself. Acrylic and photoshop.
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2011-11-28T19:57:00.000-08:00

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Puss in Boots, photoshop.
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Class demo sketch

2011-11-17T14:52:00.000-08:00

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.Here's a demo sketch I did for my head drawing class, I thought I'd pass along a few pointers to those of you interested.

First, simple but accurate construction drawing then massing the light and shadow, this should be as simple as asking yourself what's in direct light and whats in shadow. Then addressing the turning forms within the light and shadow and designing hard and soft edges.

This overlay shows how a simple construction drawing lays the foundation. Though it may seem a bit abstract, it helps place the larger masses of anatomy within the whole, it maintains the symmetry of the head and helps convey the simple three dimensional nature of the head (like longitude and latitude on a sphere).

Always look for the simple statement as shown in this photoshop paint-over. If you put anything (and I mean anything) in your drawing that varies from it's simplest shapes and values you'd better have a darn good reason. Variations in shape and value that don't convey form to the viewer (even if you believe you're really seeing them) are the first and fastest step to drawings that don't hold together. Remember that your eyes want to find as much information as possible and tend to notice variations and contrasts more than they notice the overall value and shape relationships. squinting your eyes down to cut out all the surface details to see the simple massing of shape and value isn't just a good idea, it's a necessity.
Let me repeat it because this "simple statement" paint-over describes the most important thing I know about drawing. So few people ever master drawing because they don't know or are not willing to find the simple masses and relationships underneath all the complexity they can see. Everyone notices how the parts contrast from the whole, but you have to forcibly train yourself to do the opposite, to notice how the parts most simply relate the the whole as described in this final image.

Good luck!

2011-11-09T00:30:00.000-08:00

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After a modest opening competing with Halloween and unseasonal NE storms, Puss in Boots has kept an unprecedented hold on movie goers during it's second week. Word of mouth is great and it looks like the show will hold strong over the next few weeks. We can stop biting our nails now.

This is some location design work, layout by Christian Schellewald and painted by myself.

2011-11-02T01:29:00.001-07:00

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The legend of Puss in Boots! Photoshop painting.
I think the movie is fantastic but of course I'm biased. Go see for yourself!
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Happy Halloween!

2011-10-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

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I've had a blast working on Dreamworks Halloween specials, these are from Shrek's Thriller Night on the Scared Shrekless DVD. Other projects that were a hoot are "The Pig Who Cried Werewolf" and "Night of the Living Carrots"! They premiered on Nintendo 3DS and will likely have a wide release in the future so I'll have plenty to post for upcoming Halloweens.

The Legend of Puss in Boots!

2011-10-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

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We're headed down to the premier of Puss in Boots this week to see the final cut of the movie. We're very proud of the show, I think you'll especially enjoy the color, light and atmosphere worked into each location. I worked on it for 2 years so it's a big investment for me, I hope you check it out! Coming to theaters October 28th.
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2011-10-12T22:34:00.000-07:00

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Study in ink.
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2011-10-05T14:42:00.000-07:00

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I'm not sure but I thought that someone somewhere might find this interesting. Background department naming conventions using one of my paintings from Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron.
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Charcoal demo

2011-09-28T12:52:00.000-07:00

My head drawing class starts next week and for those of you further out I have a video demo coming soon. Otherwise here's a step by step charcoal drawing for you to have a look at:

I've darkened the line drawing significantly here so you can see it, the original is very light. There's a little bit of red prismacolor lay in then a Ritmo B charcoal pencil.

Lay in with a compressed charcoal stick.

Half tones blended in. This is all done with my fingers guys, it's not a pretty process but it's the way I like it.

Finishing with compressed charcoal, a Pitt Charcoal pencil for details and a kneaded eraser for highlights.
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2011-09-21T14:10:00.000-07:00

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A background painting for "The Road to El Dorado", 1998. Acrylic on Crescent illustration board, 16"x 18".
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2011-09-15T14:08:00.000-07:00

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Painted for "Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron". Acrylic and digital.
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Portrait drawing 10 week course begins Oct 4

2011-09-08T16:45:00.000-07:00

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My 10 week head drawing course is coming up beginning Tuesday night, October 4. Come on down and join us if you can, we'll learn how to construct and compose a portrait from start to finish and have a good time doing it. To enroll contact LAAFA.org, phone (877) MY-LAAFA
The piece shown here is 16"x 22", compressed charcoal and white nupastel on Crescent T-V bristol paper.

2011-09-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

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Something I did for one of the Madagascar shows.
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World Con

2011-08-26T01:35:00.000-07:00

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I'm fresh back from World Con (The World Science Fiction Convention) so I thought I'd go through the archives and pull out something appropriately "spacey" to post.

Some highlights of the Con were:

Lunch with Irene Gallo (Art director, Tor Books), Gregory Manchess and Jon Schindehette (Art director, Wizards of the Coast).
A panel discussion by the Killer B's, Greg Bear, Gregory Benford and David Brin. All three delightfully opinionated and 3 of the best living SF authors.
Meeting Michael Flynn, author of the stunning "Eifelheim"
The Hugo Awards Ceremony where Alastair Reynolds didn't win but should have.
Catching a glimpse of Larry Niven handsomely attired in an electric pink shirt.

And on a related note, I've contributed a few pieces to "Project Icarus", A serious study of technologies and designs to get us to a nearby star in the next century or 2. They are currently looking for a volunteer graphic designer interested in contributing a few logo ideas to the project. They're at http://www.icarusinterstellar.org
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Watercolor demo

2011-08-16T13:49:00.000-07:00

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I'm posting early this week because I'm heading off to the World Science Fiction Convention! Hope you enjoy this demo.

Watercolor and gouache on Arches paper. 15"x 20"

This is transparent watercolor except for 3 or 4 opaque gouache strokes needed in the highlights. Keep in mind that transparent does not mean it has to be applied that way, I do like luminous pastel feeling watercolors but I don't want to always be limited to that. I've laid the darks on pretty thick so that they are in fact no longer transparent. I only buy watercolor in tubes because the hard cakes just don't release enough pigment to paint in a full value range. My favorite brands are Winsor and Newton and Holbein.

2011-08-11T22:01:00.000-07:00

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These are color roughs from "The Return" sequence of "The Prince of Egypt" 1998. The cool temperatures were an important color statement for this part of the story. Acrylic on illustration board.
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2011-08-05T21:43:00.000-07:00

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Photoshop sketch.
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Comicon demo

2011-07-26T12:36:00.001-07:00

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Here's the demo I did at Comicon. Thanks to everyone at LAAFA and to all of you who stopped by.
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COMICON!!

2011-07-14T19:51:00.000-07:00

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I'll be doing a charcoal portrait demo at Comicon. It will be Saturday, 2:30 at the LAAFA booth #5567, come on by!
Here are a few examples from previous years:

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Portrait Drawing Workshop Saturday Aug 6!

2011-07-09T14:41:00.000-07:00

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My annual portrait drawing workshop will be Saturday Aug 6, 12pm to 8pm. It's designed to be an instructive overview of the materials, techniques, and concepts for successful portrait drawing. To enroll contact LAAFA.org, phone (877) MY-LAAFA

Here's what you'll get for your hard earned money and time:

12 to 2pm Slideshow and lecture with numerous step by step examples. We'll discuss:
• The fundamentals of constructing the head with the values of light and shadow.
• Principles for creating the illusion of space and volume on a 2 dimensional drawing surface.
• Ideas for portrait composition and creating a likeness.
• Techniques and tips on materials and the drawing process.
2-5pm: Full length Instructor demonstration from a live model.
5-6pm: Dinner break.
6-8pm: Student drawing time from a live model with instructor feedback.

Hope to see you there!
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2011-07-01T13:31:00.000-07:00

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Coast town.
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2011-06-25T20:18:00.000-07:00

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Acrylic sketch.
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2011-06-17T15:20:00.000-07:00

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Charcoal on Rives paper.
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2011-06-10T19:05:00.000-07:00

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Rooster, watercolor on Arches paper, 15"x20".
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Sketching from Life 10 week course!

2011-06-03T22:45:00.000-07:00

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If you're in the LA area and want to have some fun refining your drawing and painting skills, come join me for my 10 week sketching from life course. It will be held Tuesday nights from 7 to 10 pm starting on July 12th. For this class we'll study the head, figure, drapery, colorful costume, animals and nature as well as a bonus weekend field trip to study landscape painting. I'll demonstrate techniques in charcoal, watercolor and gouache; students will be welcome to use the medium of their choice.

To enroll contact LAAFA.org, phone (877) MY-LAAFA

Hope to see you soon.

2011-05-27T18:27:00.000-07:00

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Mountain scape, photoshop.
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2011-05-20T18:27:00.000-07:00

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Renaissance Faire Folk.
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2011-05-13T12:52:00.000-07:00

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A painting from my "Painting in Gouache" class.
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Composition Workshop! Saturday May 14

2011-05-06T00:58:00.000-07:00

The skills of drawing and color are critically important and yet they don't find their full expression until they're teamed with a strong composition. If you're going to make a great picture you have to have a great composition.
That will be our topic of study for this years composition workshop on Saturday, May 14, 12-8pm. So whether you're a landscape painter, figurative or entertainment artist, if you're in the LA area I'd love to see you there. To enroll contact the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art at 877-695-2232. Their site is www.laafa.org. Read on for an overview:

Composition: design for dynamic picture making:

Slideshow presentation and lecture, 12-3pm: Lectures on the fundamentals of effective picture making. Discussions on the creation of mood and environment. Principles for organizing complex scenes into pleasing arrangements. Strategies for solving compositional problems quickly and effectively. Studies of Composition in history and the modern day

Painting demonstration, 3:30-5
Compositional exercises, 6-7pm
Student painting time with instructor feedback, 7-8pm

To enroll contact the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art at 877-695-2232. Their site is www.laafa.org.

2011-04-29T16:21:00.000-07:00

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Coastal City, photoshop.
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2011-04-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

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Watercolor Sunflowers 15"x 20" and ink rough 3"x5".
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2011-04-14T21:25:00.000-07:00

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Roughs for How to Train Your Dragon.
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2011-04-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

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Compressed charcoal and nupastel on strathmore charcoal paper, 15"x20".
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2011-04-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

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Compressed charcoal on paper.
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2011-03-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

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Photoshop sketch.
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2011-03-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

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A scene painted for "Sinbad, Legend of the Seas", photoshop, 2002.
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2011-03-13T23:36:00.000-07:00

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Watercolor on Arches paper, 15"x 20".
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2011-03-07T00:31:00.000-08:00

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An oil study from way back when (1999 I think).
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2011-02-28T21:31:00.000-08:00

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Photoshop sketch.
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2011-02-21T14:13:00.000-08:00

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Watercolor study.
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2011-02-14T00:36:00.000-08:00

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We've been doing color roughs in my class.
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2011-02-07T01:22:00.000-08:00

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His chin really was that big.
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Color Workshop February 12

2011-01-28T01:11:00.000-08:00

The use of color is critically important for the working artist; well designed color can make your work powerfully compelling and will reach your audience at an emotional level that moves them. That will be our topic of study for this year's Color Workshop on Saturday, February 12, 12-8pm. So whether you're a landscape painter, figurative or entertainment artist, if you're in the LA area I'd love to see you there.

Here's what we'll cover:

The fundamentals of color theory for painters (traditional and digital).
The emotional impact of color and lighting to create mood and environment.
Principles for organizing the complexities of color into pleasing harmonies.
Strategies for solving color problems quickly and effectively.
Color exploration exercises.
Painting from a costumed model in a theatrical, colored light environment.

To enroll contact the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art at 877-695-2232. Their site is www.laafa.org.

2011-01-23T01:06:00.000-08:00

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Quicksketch class demo in watercolor and gouache.
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2011-01-13T16:23:00.000-08:00

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Charcoal and pastel on Strathmore charcoal paper.
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One resolution I have always kept...

2011-01-03T15:01:00.000-08:00

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A few a day, every day no matter what.

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Happy Holidays!

2010-12-22T16:43:00.001-08:00

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These are paintings I did for the DreamWorks Christmas special "Shrek the Halls". If you're new to my blog you can see more from this show by clicking here and scrolling down.

Upcoming January Classes

2010-12-16T17:09:00.000-08:00

I'm offering two fun filled classes starting in January (see the sidebar for dates and times, To enroll contact LAAFA.org, phone (877) MY-LAAFA ). Here are the course descriptions:

Colorful Life Painting in Watercolor and Gouache
Sketching from life is one of the great pleasures for the working artist. This course will provide students with the experience and understanding to work from the costume model quickly with pleasing results. Each session will include a slideshow lecture or demonstration that will guide students step by step through the drawing and painting process. Student painting sessions will be short and long poses from live models emphasizing theatrical color and lighting. Also included will be a study of the head, figure, drapery, and costume. Gouache or watercolor with white gouache is recommended though students are welcome to use acrylics or other water media.

Head and Portrait Drawing in Charcoal

This course will provide each student with the necessary understanding and experience to draw the human head with authority. Each session will consist of a lecture or demonstration that will guide students step by step through the process of drawing from a live model. The traditional elements of life drawing will be emphasized including the structure of the head, the values of light and shadow, edges, portrait composition and drawing techniques. The course will also include exercises and assignments aimed to help students greatly hone their portrait drawing skills.

2010-12-09T19:33:00.000-08:00

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Photoshop sketch.
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2010-12-03T11:58:00.000-08:00

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Watercolor on Arches paper, 15"x 20".
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James Gurney's New Book

2010-11-29T14:15:00.000-08:00

As long as I'm pitching books I'd like to make a recommendation for you:

James Gurney's new book is out: "Color and Light, A guide for the Realist Painter". James gave me the opportunity review a first draft of the book and generously invited comments and criticism, but my comments are all positive. I'm taking time out from my regular posts to pitch the book to you because for years students have asked me if there's a good book on color and light out there and my answer has always been no. There are some great chapters here and great articles there but not a single comprehensive volume that I was comfortable recommending. But now James has taken his impressive knowledge and experience and given us exactly the book we've been looking for. I can't recommend it enough.

Moonshine!

2010-11-17T11:44:00.001-08:00

Moonshine is a newly published book featuring the personal work of DreamWorks visual development artists. It's on sale now at Amazon, get yourself a copy! All the profits go toward the creation of volume II which we hope to release next year.

2010-11-11T14:41:00.000-08:00

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Coastal city, photoshop and art rage.
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2010-11-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

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Coastal City, Photoshop.
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2010-10-28T16:44:00.000-07:00

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Charcoal and Nu-pastel on Strathmore paper.
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Color Design for Entertainment, Nov 13

2010-10-24T21:21:00.000-07:00

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Only a few spots left! To enroll email: contact@conceptdesignacad.com or call: 818-669-4657

Hope to see you there!

2010-10-14T16:19:00.000-07:00

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2010-10-07T14:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a scene from The Prince of Egypt. The painted background is somewhat abstract and was meant to serve as backdrop for several character moments.

.Still frame from the film.

Painted background

2010-09-30T21:12:00.000-07:00

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Compressed charcoal sketch.
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2010-09-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

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Oil study of Clark Allen.
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2010-09-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

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Sarah, oil on canvas, from a life painting session in 2000.
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2010-09-10T18:32:00.000-07:00

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Location design for How to Train Your Dragon. This is the shoreline of Dragon Island. I did it in photoshop, it's inspired by a look created by our Art Director extraordinaire, Pierre Olivier Vincent.

From Student to Professional, September 14th

2010-09-01T15:59:00.000-07:00

.I'm giving a presentation we're calling "From Student to Professional and Beyond" on Tuesday, September 14, 7-10:00 pm. It's for any student or professional artist seeking improvement and will focus on where and how to focus your efforts as you work toward developing a more professional level of artistic ability. We'll cover the skills, tools, workspace, attitudes and habits of of the successful working artist (digital and traditional). I've been working hard at fine tuning this presentation so I'm going out on a limb and guaranteeing that it will be worth your time and effort. Contact the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art at (877) MY-LAAFA or register online. Hope to see you there.

2010-08-27T16:47:00.000-07:00

A Watercolor demo this week.

I began with a light blue wash over the paper before beginning the drawing, then added darks so as to not loose the drawing, then built up the washes from there. The drawing is in orange prismacolor which began extremely light but then I dug in with final lines so the drawing wouldn't wash away.

Winsor and Newton watercolors on Arches Cold press paper.

2010-08-21T14:19:00.000-07:00

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This is a scene painted for Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron with close-ups and a color rough. Acrylic on illustration board.

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2010-08-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

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A location sketch for How to Train Your Dragon, photoshop.
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2010-08-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

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A scene painted for The Prince of Egypt, 1998.
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Comicon Portrait Demo

2010-07-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

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Here's my charcoal portrait demo from Comicon, it was great to see all of you who stopped by.

And much thanks to the Laafa folks for hosting.

2010-07-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

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These are digital landscapes painted in photoshop. They're meant to serve a very different purpose than the plein air gouache paintings over on Landsketch. These are exercises to improve my digital chops for my day job in entertainment art.

2010-07-08T15:59:00.000-07:00

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In my class we've been studying painting with theatrical light sources. Here are a couple of my demo sketches. Watercolor and gouache on heavyweight craft paper.

How to Train Your Dragon: Location Design

2010-07-01T14:45:00.000-07:00

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I very much enjoyed doing rockwork for How to Train Your Dragon. My Dad is a geologist and he passed on a strong interest in it to me. This area is meant to be a granite mountaintop carved out by man and nature and it was important to describe a sense of the overall structure to the digital modelers.
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Composition Workshop! Saturday July 10

2010-06-25T14:13:00.000-07:00

The skills of drawing and color are critically important and yet they don't find their full expression until they're teamed with a strong composition. If you're going to make a great picture you have to have a great composition.
That will be our topic of study for this years composition workshop on Saturday, July 10, 12-8pm. So whether you're a landscape painter, figurative or entertainment artist, if you're in the LA area I'd love to see you there.

Composition: design for dynamic picture making:

Slideshow presentation and lecture, 12-3pm: Lectures on the fundamentals of effective picture making. Discussions on the creation of mood and environment. Principles for organizing complex scenes into pleasing arrangements. Strategies for solving compositional problems quickly and effectively. Studies of Composition in history and the modern day

Painting demonstration, 3:30-5
Compositional exercises, 6-7pm
Student painting time with instructor feedback, 7-8pm

To enroll contact the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art at 877-695-2232. Their site is www.laafa.org.

2010-06-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

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Compressed charcoal on Rives paper.
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2010-06-11T15:39:00.000-07:00

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Here's another idea piece for the ogre encampment from Shrek Forever After.
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Shrek Forever After: evolution of a sketch

2010-06-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

The ogre resistance encampment was an interesting challenge, here's one of many passes we took at it:

Moleskine sketch

Color rough

"Ogreifying" the location in photoshop

Establishing the scene as an ogre encampment and finishing in photoshop.

I prefer the previous image over this one, I'm a location guy more than a character painter but they asked me to populate the scene with characters. This is what I came up with.

Shrek Forever After: mood roughs

2010-05-27T14:47:00.000-07:00

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Black prismacolor in a moleskine.

At the very beginning of Shrek Forever After I had the opportunity to do lots of mood roughs for some spooky new locations. I was the only artist on the show and was experimenting so I had the leeway to do these in acrylic (the last acrylic painting I had done for animation was in 2000). Some of the roughs led to finished photoshop paintings (which I'll show in a later post) and you can see their influence in the ogre camp location in the finished cut of the show.

Shrek Forever After

2010-05-19T12:25:00.001-07:00

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Our final chapter in the Shrek series comes out this Friday. I did some early work on the show, tackling emotional color beats and sketches for new locations. I'll post some of those in upcoming weeks. This scene is a version of Shrek's house grown over and abandoned. We ended up going with something more barren but this swampy scene was a great subject to paint. (photoshop)

2010-05-12T18:16:00.000-07:00

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How to Train Your Dragon: location design for the Cove.
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2010-05-04T16:34:00.000-07:00

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How to Train Your Dragon: concept piece for the shoreline of Dragon Island.
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DreamWorlds at Art Center College of Design

2010-04-28T19:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't yet mentioned our show entitled "DreamWorlds" at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena Ca. It's a collection of concept and visual development artwork from all of DreamWorks Animation films and is displayed at Art Center's Williamson gallery until May 7 (open to the public). I'm pleased to have a handful of pieces in the show but it's all about the collaborative effort to figure out what these films should look like. I'm aware of no other place where you can see a collection of artwork like this and it's only up for another week. If you're local and interested in such things or are an animation student I encourage you to come out and have a look.

Photos by Brad Herman.

How to Train Your Dragon

2010-04-21T14:53:00.001-07:00

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How to Train Your Dragon is showing real staying power in theaters, here are a few location design pieces. This is the interior of Dragon Island. I did them in photoshop, they're based on a look created by our Art Director extraordinaire, Pierre Olivier Vincent.
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Charcoal Portrait Show at LAAFA!

2010-04-14T15:51:00.000-07:00

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I currently have an 18 piece show up at LAAFA of my charcoal drawings, if you've ever been curious about what the originals look like, stop on by. It will be up through the end of May.
We're doing this show in conjunction with the portrait drawing workshop I have coming up on Saturday May 1st where I'll attempt to show and tell everything I know about charcoal drawing. More info in the sidebar to the upper right.

Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art
16926 Saticoy Street
Van Nuys, CA 91406

2010-04-05T12:12:00.000-07:00

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Color keys from How to Train Your Dragon.

The story evolved away from the events depicted in these early color keys but the Dragon Island Caves were a great location to work in regardless. These were done in photoshop and art rage.
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2010-04-02T11:07:00.000-07:00

We had originally planned to show a step by step demo of the front page painting in my Watercolor Magazine article (see last weeks post). It was decided to show a greater variety of artwork instead, so I thought I'd share it with you here.

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2010-03-25T16:48:00.000-07:00

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I have a 6 page spread in the current Spring issue of American Artist's Watercolor Magazine. It has just hit newsstands, I hope you have a chance to check it out.
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2010-03-18T11:04:00.000-07:00

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How to Train Your Dragon comes out next week, we're very proud of how it turned out so I hope you'll have a chance to see it.

This is a poster for marketing done by Emil Mitev and myself.
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2010-03-11T14:04:00.000-08:00

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Ink on paper.
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2010-03-05T12:30:00.000-08:00

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A scene painted for The Road to El Dorado back in '98. Acrylic on illustration board with a little photoshop work.
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2010-02-26T18:56:00.000-08:00

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Compressed charcoal on rives paper, 16"x 26".
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2010-02-19T15:04:00.000-08:00

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These are color key roughs for the animated movie Shark Tale. This approach was meant to be a fun and splashy way of quickly establishing the lighting and feel of a location in photoshop.
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2010-02-12T20:25:00.000-08:00

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Compressed charcoal on ivory Strathmore paper.
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FIRST CONTACT

2010-02-03T04:10:00.001-08:00

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Every once in a while we do a post on science fiction stories here. For me the genre is just endlessly interesting thanks to remarkable storytellers who break new ground with each advancement in technology, biology, evolutionary psychology, etc. If you add into the mix recent discoveries of planets potentially capable of harboring life in other solar systems, suddenly novels of "first contact" have intriguing new playgrounds. A recent novel I haven't been able to stop thinking about is Blindsight by Peter Watts. It in part explores the questions: If an extrasolar intelligence arrived, would it even be possible for us to parse a completely alien psychology? And how would we react if it seemed to refuse contact or took no notice of our attempts to do so? We have a poor track record in dealing with things we don't understand and that frighten us, and Blindsight is a frightening novel. It has a kind of Richard Dawkins fueled bleakness that makes the story compelling but not at all the more hopeful alien contact described in something like Carl Sagan's novel, Contact.
I would very much like to be on the optimistic side but this novel left me hoping that if they're out there, we never meet them. It makes me remember footage from a SETI conference where anthropologist Ashley Montagu said "I can think of no worse fate for the human race than to meet a more advanced alien intelligence" (paraphrased), much to the chagrin of the more optimistic Carl Sagan seated next to him.

A few other suggestions of hard SF tales of first contact:

Mote in God's Eye; Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
The Sparrow; Mary Doria Russel
Fiasco; Stanislaw Lem (the title being an ironic understating of the horrifying results when we attempt to force first contact on another solar system.)
Illegal Alien; Robert J. Sawyer
Revelation Space; Alastair Reynolds
Blind Lake; Robert Charles Wilson
Eater; Gregory Benford
Spin; Robert Charles Wilson
Eifelheim; Michael Flynn

How about your suggestions? Do you have a favorite story of first contact or other science fiction recommendation?