Summer Luvin’

“Been so long
Been so long
Well its been so long
Been so long” – David Bowie

Why yes David, you’re right. It has been so long, hasn’t it?

Well ok then, let’s get right back to it.

Optimus & T-Rex (ready for action!)

This first new piece is a bit different. I wanted to paint whatever my nephew wanted for his 5th birthday, and as it turned out he wanted a Transformer and a dinosaur! From there we narrowed it down to Optimus Prime and a Tyrannosaurus rex. After sketching out a few ideas I realized that a painting just wasn’t going to cut it… I wanted it to look clean and polished (like it could be promo art for a new cartoon). So I decided to go digital on this one. I sketched out the duo in a classic buddies-about-to-take-on-the-bad-guys pose, scanned it, colored it in Photoshop, and then added this cool laser blast effect in the background. After having an 8”x10” printed by Walmart and framing it, my nephew was a happy camper. Optimus and T-Rex in full effect!!

Teacher Owl

Next up is a traditional painting I did for our boy’s pre-K teacher. She’s had them for 2 years and she’s been a great help, so we wanted to really thank her. Amy had the great idea of a teacher owl and I went with it. The kids do sit on a multi-colored rug in her class, so that was a nice detail to include. This one was fun to do. I liked making the ‘toony owl and tall chalkboard. Acrylic on canvas, 12” x 12”.

Unicorn in Fairy Land

And most recently is a painting I did for my niece. She’s quite a little artist herself and I thought it was high time to paint something for her. So I asked her what she wanted… A unicorn, castle, rainbow, and faeries!! Luckily all those things are related! (It would have been hard to incorporate, say, a unicorn, Hannah Montana, and a Bakugan.) Well, being a guy and not so well versed in unicorns and faeries (as opposed to skulls), I had to do a bit of research and a good amount of sketching. Horses/unicorns are not the easiest things to draw! After some downright hideous and deformed early sketches, I finally had the unicorn ready. But the faeries were hard too, and I’m not sure they turned out as successfully in the end. Well, regardless, she was really happy with it and that’s all that matters. (And hopefully this will inspire her to keep up her own artwork – I’d love to see her graduate from CalArts someday!) Acrylic on canvas, 12” x 12”.

On an end note, my biggest pet-peeve about my own paintings is the lack of spontaneity or flow in them. I get so caught up in trying to keep the paint in the lines and on target to the color test, that I seem to almost freeze up on them. I think the answer is speed painting. I need to do a few timed paintings at an hour each, and see if I can break out of it. We’ll see…

Thanks for reading!
Matt

Finally! A new painting and my creative process too!!

So, uhmmm… It’s been so long I almost forgot we had a blog! Seriously though, the holidays can really throw a nice, big, holiday-sized wrench into your creative motivation. (I’m going to blame it on all that turkey and rum-fortified egg nog.) Anyhow, let’s have at it…

The latest kid’s painting I did was for our friend’s son Paul’s b-day celebration. I was pretty happy with the results and I thought this would be a good opportunity to discuss my working process. He likes tigers and pirates so we figured a combo of the two would go over nicely.

First off I do some quick research for visual reference and ideas. While I have a nice art book library at home I usually rely on a Google image search and/or browse through some of the stock image sites (the web has made this ridiculously quick and easy). If I don’t have a clear design or character in mind before hand, this can really get the creative brain juices flowing.

From there I start sketching out rough ideas. I’ve found that staying loose and not focusing on details is the key to keeping this process going. The kiss of death to creativity is being consumed by a small detail that you just can’t seem to get to look the way you want it. (I’ve had projects in the past that have lasted for months and months because I can’t quite get the look I have in mind. I’ll pick them up and rework them, then get frustrated and put them down again for awhile until I finally settle on them and call it good. In fact, just thinking about them now, years later, makes me want to redo them. I think the cause is a stilted creative process; something in the flow that was thrown off and can’t be forced back into place, and which subsequently haunts the mind of the creator… forever. Yikes! That was pretty angst ridden for a blog about kid’s art, wasn’t it?)

Anyhow, once I find a character and/or design I like I clean it up and refine it further. Once I’m satisfied with the end result I do a rough color test with color pencils. This saves time later when I’m painting because I don’t have to experiment with color palettes. (Well, at least not overall. I still experiment with color mixes and tone variations when I’m mixing the paint.) For this layout I didn’t have much experimenting to do because it’s based in reality and we know that the sky is blue in pirate locales, the ocean a deep blue/green, sandy islands a light tan, etc. Other layouts might require half a dozen or more color tests; it all depends on the subject.

From there I dig out my shoebox full of acrylic paints and start painting on the canvas. I was fairly happy with the way this one turned out because I got it done in one morning and hadn’t painted in a few months. But there are always internal reminders/to-do lists for the next one… For one, I thought the black outline ended up too thick and prominent.

Well, that’s that. Hopefully this has been a fun peek into my creative process. Thanks for reading!

The Unproductive Blues…

What is it about this time of year that always sucks the energy right of us? After Halloween candy for way too many nights in a row, school craziness, and birthdays and holidays, these past couple of months seem like a blur.
This happens every year. The “new year” of school and promises begins with pre-made dinners, clean laundry, an exercise routine, and the vow of going to bed early each night. And for those first few weeks, life is good. I am motivated and so on the ball.
Now, at the end of November most meals are frozen for the kids or out of sad vending machines for me. I haven’t exercised in weeks and I am happy to get a shower in, let alone clean house or laundry.
And as for Matt’s art, there has been none. He had such momentum in the beginning, and needs to get it back. He was painting nightly for a while, and the improvement was amazing, even over such a short period.

Now it is time to start again. To get off the couch and remember what are dreams are. It’s hard to fight back against all of the obligations of life and win time for yourself and your goals. I guess the biggest way to influence your actions is to keep reminding yourself of where your priorities lie.

Happy Halloween!

Sorry for the delay in content everyone! It’s been a busy but not very artistically productive month!
Here’s a pic of the latest fun side project I did… For our son’s Halloween-themed birthday party we thought a “Pin-the-tail-on-the-Werewolf” game would make a great addition to the festivities. Here he is, along with 6 different colored tails for the kiddos to play with. Final size is 18”x24”; black art marker along with pastels on a large drawing pad.  We ended up having everything laminated at Kinkos (actually very cheap!) and used masking tape to stick the tails on with. The kids had a blast!
I had a lot of fun working on him and hadn’t drawn at this size in a while (too used to keeping it around 8”x10” I suppose). It reminded me of the large-scale drawings I did in college on those huge rolls of butcher paper (again with pastels).
I am looking forward to producing a lot more this month and have a lot of great ideas!  Stay tuned…

Pin the Tail on the... Werewolf!

Illustration On Paper…Taking A Break From Canvas

Greetings and salutations kind readers, Matt here! This is my first official blog post (so prepare yourselves)…

I’ve been trying to expand my artistic horizons lately by dusting off the colored pencils and watercolors. I figured these would be quick and fun diversions from the acrylics for now.

First up is a modern-style birds, bees and heart-flower design I drew up a while ago. The original (top) was drawn out in ink first and then some glazes of acrylic color were added. I liked the design enough to revisit it in another medium. And while the colored pencil and watercolor version (bottom) is much softer and delicate, I think the strong sketch lines in the original suit the design more.

Birds n Bees

Next up is another singing bird design, this time done with ink and colored pencils. I tried to add some depth to the coloring and was fairly happy with the result. I could have worked the piece up a bit more with the colored pencils, but I wanted to keep it somewhat simple and innocent.

Birthday Love Bird

And last up is a cartoon of chess pieces that I had a lot of fun with. Being a chess fan myself, I’ve always been fascinated by sculpted “novelty” game pieces and also by the computer animated “battle chess” video games, so I wanted to create my own ‘toon versions. The interestingly illustrative part of it was creating characters that matched their corresponding gameplay (i.e. the knight is jumping up off the board to attack, the king is royally bloated and can move only sluggishly, etc.). The colored pencil on these was really more of just an afterthought to bring some color to the ink drawing.

Chess Characters

Well, that’s it for now. I have one more non-acrylic side project I’m working on at the moment, and then I’m back to canvases!

Beeing Friends … A New Sheridan Story Art Painting

Beeing Friends

Matt’s latest painting, “Beeing Friends”, adds a cartoonier take on his other bee painting, “Bee Happy.” I think this is moving towards Matt’s true style, which has always been in the traditional ‘toon mold. I really liked the added personality in the flowers and the sun. Matt also listened to advice about adding more depth to the eyes, and made a happier tail pointed upwards (thanks Kerry!).
We both agree that this piece isn’t as modeled and painterly as his last, “Slippy the Snail” (v2.0!), however the personalities of the characters and composition of the scene are both much stronger than in his earlier work. He’s still struggling with spontaneity, as opposed to dwelling on detailed line work.
Let us know what you think. We love your feedback!

Painting = Productivity + Passion + Promise

I love the feeling of productivity; it stirs up so much excitement in me. And, as much as I love to produce, the feeling seems tripled when I produce on a larger scale with another person.

In this case, I am creating a business but Matt is creating the product. The largest part of my job is to enthuse and inspire Matt to paint and paint and paint. The secondary parts are marketing, research, and all else to start a business. I think many people don’t value the motivators of others in this world. I have an unbelievable amount of energy to put into others, and I see it as a real talent.

So, back to my equation for our business:

Painting = Productivity + Passion + Promise

By keeping an organized system together for producing artwork, and inspiring passion necessary to keep it up and keep improving Matt’s skill, I feel the promise of real success!

A Snail of a Different Sort.

After Matt’s first effort at a less structured and more spontaneous style to painting, he was not that happy with our new Slippy Snail. So, for take two he decided to add more depth to the painting, not only with additional mushrooms and a change in perspective, but also by starting with an underpainting. For this Matt used the pink from the snail body color and I see a big difference in the richness of the color and the look of the painting. We are both quite pleased with the new Slippy.  Take a look at the old Slippy from our last post and tell us what you think. Thank you!

Slippy Snail #2 (New)

A clean line-obsessed graphic designer trying to paint.

That’s the feeling Matt has for his first few children’s paintings, as if he was just trying to duplicate a vector line drawing onto canvas. The design is strong and clean, but he thinks they lack energy and life (some of the most important qualities of good art). To help fix this, he’s trying to approach his work in more of a painterly and spontaneous way.

In fact, my favorite children’s paintings of his is the recent quick life-study painting he made in a couple hours of our son’s beloved stuffed giraffe, Raffy. It feels so alive and true to Raffy, not like an over-analyzed design project.

The attached Snail painting is an effort in that direction. He sketched out the composition and painted it in one evening. While he doesn’t think it’s his best work, he said that the feeling of spontaneity and urgency was very positive and freeing.

He hopes that with more painting practice his skill and speed will increase, both of which should help move his work in the direction he wants.

New Paintings. Your Feedback Please!

So I have really motivated Matt now and he has painted two more paintings. We have also been brainstorming a ton of ideas. It’s amazing how excited we both are about this. Even though we have batted around the idea of producing children’s paintings before, we never took it seriously. I guess we just weren’t motivated enough in the past, or we would always think of some roadblock and just stop and forget it. Well not this time. This time feels entirely different, and we are looking forward to learning and figuring out things as we go.
Anyway, the point of this blog is to ask for some feedback. It’s really hard for me to be the only person who sees his paintings and to try and guide where we should go from here. There are only two newer one’s to look at right now, but please let us know what you think. What could we be doing differently? Are we missing anything? Do you like the colors? What about the style? How is the overall look of these paintings? If you have kids, how do you think your kids would like them?
We really welcome and appreciate any and all feedback you can give us. It will really help us to figure out the direction we are going to follow.

Thanks so much!!

The “Bee Happy” is a new painting where Matt was experimenting on the background style.  And the “Bird-Day Song” is another version of an older painting where he changed around the colors and added new detail.

Bee Happy

Bird-Day Song