the Shades

So every time I look out the window, there he is, just staring at me through the cracks of his blinds as if I’m the one that’s been doing something wrong by watching him all day. Like I don’t have the right, or even the responsibility, to want to keep an eye on my neighbours – to know what they’re doing all day, in their houses, with their shades drawn closed.

the Helping Hand

I’ve done two interpretations of the theme ‘Capable’ this week. The first was that we are capable of anything if we think positively. The second truism, and the concept behind this illustration is that although we are capable of anything, sometimes we need a helping hand. This version isn’t as overtly optimistic as the other one, but I think it still contains a positive message about support, and an optimistic look to the future.
On a side note to the painting, that’s two pieces started and completed this week and it’s only Tuesday. They both have pretty different style approaches, feel free to leave an opinion in the comments of either post as too which of the two you prefer. (you can see the other illustration here)

Positively Capable

The theme word of the week is ‘Capable’. In an personally uncharacteristic turn towards the optimistic, my interpretation of the topic, and the concept behind this painting, is that the secret behind being capable of anything is to think positively. On the technical side of this positively positive illustration, I’ve tried a new way of laying down paint and I’m pretty happy with the results. Though the composition of this illustration is very designed and graphic, I’m trying out the same technique right now on another piece which has a much more elaborate composition and background to see if it will work there too. That painting isn’t far enough along yet to know how it will turn out, but I will have the finished work up later this week and you’ll be ale to decide for yourselves.

**Update** Here’s the other illustration I’ve done for this topic, same color pallet, but aside from that, a pretty different approach. Feel free to leave in comments as to which version you prefer and why. Thanks.

The Move

With the January 2012 launch of my new all-in-one website (where you’re currently reading this) I killed off a couple of my old site locations – my old blog site, and my even older blog site. Even though I’ve removed all content from those sites, google keeps sending people to a 403 lack of permission error page at those locations from their search results. To clear up some confusion for the viewers I decided to create a nicer, code 404 page, for people who get directed there. While I was at it, I also decided to combo that task up into creating another digital gouache painting for my new tra-digital illustration portfolio.

Above, is web version which greets visitors to any of the old links pointing to megahappyfunland.com or blog.jeffszuc.com, and bellow is the full painted version of the piece. There is actually two versions, as you can see, I would love some feedback on which people prefer. The negative space, stripped down minimal version was actually created second, through removing all the work I had done. They create very different atmospheric effects, and though I think the empty space version is a little more sophisticated, I hate to think I painted in all those houses for nothing.

HOW Mag Piece

Here’s an illustration I have in this month’s issue of HOW Magazine. I’m a huge fan of HOW Magazine so I was thrilled when they called. I grew up reading it and their sister publication PRINT. The back issues of  which, as well as my Juxtapoze  and Applied Arts Magazines were amongst the many items I had too, with heavy heart, leave behind when I moved to the United States. I wonder if I could have negotiated a subscription on top of my illustration fee.. Is that kind of thing ever done?

Here is  a detail pic from the piece, the full illustration is in my portfolio here.

Hibernate

Here is another piece done exclusively for participation in the Illustration Fridays call for entries, this week themed ‘Hibernate’. I’ve used the opportunity for a little stylistic experimentation. This piece is a pretty big shift in direction from my usual style – far more ‘realistic’ and far more in the ‘fantasy’ genre than how I usually work. The original sketches and concepts didn’t necessarily put it in that direction, I think I planned for it to be far more ‘graphic’, it really came down to the final rendering as being the extreme diversion from my usual work. I got really into the textures, it was fun, I created my own custom ‘shale’ brush and ‘tree’ brush.

Details:

Conceptually, It’s drawing upon the same Inuit sculpture influence from the Art Gallery of Ontario exhibit as last weeks illustration did. The composition draws from works on paper by Robert Motherwell on display at the AGO as well as paintings by Michael Davidson which were on display at General Hardware in Toronto. The heavy weight of the black in the central mass and the way the both use the negative space to frame it and penetrate it creates an exciting tension in what is otherwise a very static, and grounded composition. The final reference included in this weeks illustration is the shale formation from my weekend’s hiking  excursion to Buttermilk Falls.


Above: Work by Michael Davidson, photo from Buttermilk Falls, photo of shale, work by Robert Motherwell, anonymous Inuit Sculpture.

Music. the sinking of Ys

This is a progress shot of a piece I’m working on for illustration Friday.  As I’ve said before, I like to use Illustration as a push to try something outside of my comfort zone. This piece is in a completely different style than anything I’ve done before.  It’s not quite finished yet though but it’s almost Friday so I thought I’d post what I’ve got so far and finish it up at leisure over the weekend.
So what’s it all about. This is a portrait/mock cover of Joanna Newsom’s album Ys. Joanna Newsom, for those that don’t know is an indie folk harp player. Her songs are crest from beautifully innocent to mournfully sad and back again. ‘Ys’, the title of her most recent album, is the name of a mythical city, said have been inbetween England and France before it one day sank into the sea.
Anyhow, as I said there’s still many more layers of paint to go, this is really just under-painting right now, but I did it for Illustration Friday and so I though I should post it before Friday passes.

Unbalanced = chemical fire

 

I spent a little more playing around on the computer time this week – motivated by the Illustration Friday site.  For this week’s topic, ‘unbalanced’, I decided to continue along both the stylistic and conceptual themes which came out of last week’s IF piece. This illustration approaches ‘unbalanced’ from the ‘emotionally unbalanced’ angle. I wanted to illustrate the internal and external contradiction of those chemically imbalanced individuals who, though may say kind words, rage within. Thanks to Ann Marie who encouraged me to continue this line of exploration last week, I think it’s moving forward. It’s now time though to put the computer away, break out the paints, and get back to work.

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