Some Truth For Today

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed. 

- Albert Einstein 

Pitch Perfect Musical Swap Process

While the piece I did yesterday isn't really in line with the rest of my work, I proved to myself a few things that I thought I'd share with you.

I'd never seen Pitch Perfect before I got the sketch, actually hadn't even heard of it.  I didn't know who Fat Amy was, was completely clueless as to what horizontal running was referencing.  So I do what I usually do when I have no idea what something is: I call my younger sister.  And then I Googled it.  And once I figured out what I had been handed was more than a little intimidated.

I downloaded as many photos of Rebel Wilson as I could find and wondered all day what I was going to do.  That night I watched the movie with my friend Cathy and found some kind of affection for pieces of the story and the characters, and with that tenuous interest developed I stumbled on an idea and ran with it.

The biggest problem was that I didn't have any photos of Rebel Wilson in the pose that I needed - and even if I did, I'm not sure what would and would not be considered plagiarism in using a photo of someone as inspiration for a final painting.  I've also never done any kind of caricature (not that this was going to be one) or even tried to create a drawing of someone without good reference for what I was doing.  But I ended up finding two photos with the same-ish lighting that were kind of what I was looking for and I did a sketch or two to see if I could combine them into what I was looking for.

A week is not a long time to throw something together, so there was no time for second guessing.  It was close enough.  Combined with a photo I took of myself in the pose I wanted, I think I managed pretty well.  

I ended up doing the whole thing in watercolor and colored pencil - no acrylic under-layer   I missed that piece of it, I think, and I will keep doing the under-layer in acrylic.  I'm not quite sure what the difference was, just that I didn't feel that the watercolor was going down the same way.

So then I scanned it in and did some editing and created the background in Photoshop.  You can see the final piece here, along with the sketch I did for Sound of Music.

Ten Paces and Draw Swap: Musicals

Hi all!  This is the "big reveal" of the collaboration I told you about a couple of weeks ago.  Ten Paces and Draw is an online collaborative project for a community of illustrators and designers.  Every week they do a swap where sketches based on a common theme are swapped and finished by another artist (in a week).  I got a sketch from Irena Freitas from the movie Perfect Pitch which you can see above on the right next to my final image.  Oddly enough she ended up getting my sketch for Sound of Music and did a really beautiful final piece based off it which you can see below:

And, yeah.  That's it.  Told you it wasn't a huge deal.  You can see the rest of this week's swap here.

An Artist You Should Know About

Dan Dos Santos is a Cincinnati-based illustrator working mainly in oils.  He heads up the Muddy Colors blog and we love him for that - for other things, too (see above), but Muddy Colors is a big deal.  You can find more of his work here.

Some Truth For Today

One of my favorites.

“Anybody can look at a pretty girl and see a pretty girl. An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl that she used to be. But a great artist—a master—and that is what Auguste Rodin was—can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is…and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be…and more than that, he can make anyone with sensitivity see that this lovely young girl is still alive.”

― Robert A. Heinlein

Drive-by Post

Sorry, guys.  Not much more than a drive-by post today.  I am under strict instructions that I cannot show you what I am working on until it is revealed on the 18th.  So you're just gonna have to wait.

Still plugging along on . . . everything.

Remember to check back next week on the 18th to see what all the fuss is about (or don't, it's not that kind of a big deal).

An Artist You Should Know About

Sam Weber is a New York based illustrator working in watercolor and acrylic.  I love his work.  I know I say that a lot, but it's really true.  You can find more of his work here on his website.