Ray Charles So Far

Hey! Here is the final painting for Ray Charles.

I left some room at the top to add text and I may throw that in there soon. I have to sit on it for a day or two. Sometimes those short breaks really help out giving me back fresh eyes.



Here is an earlier step. I adjusted his mouth and jaw line a bit in the final paint layers.

RISD Holiday Sale 2009 Promo

I thought a joke was being played on me when my RISD holiday sale promos came in the mail today. My picture of Audrey Hepburn made it onto the promo for this year's Alumni sale!! I can not believe it! Never in a million years did I expect something like this. With so many talented artists showing it is very humbling to have this happen to me. All I can say is thanks for taking a chance with my stuff and I hope the show goes great for everything attending!

More info on the sale here.

ALUMNI HOLIDAY ART SALE 2009: December 12
10am-5pm, Rhode Island Convention Center
One Sabin Street, Providence
admission: $7; children under 14 + current RISD students (with ID): free

James Brown with a Couple of in Progress Oils

I added some yellow ochre and a light green and am now done on the James Brown piece.


I've been working on a new series of landscapes that will be on sale at the RISD Alumni December Sale. I'll be sure to share them once the series is complete.

Here are a couple of old oil paintings I went back into. I had some extra paint that was left over after working on the landscapes and thought why not use it on some old stuff! They have a few more layers to go but I thought the process was fun to share.

Pete Townshend of The Who "Young Man Blues:

Live at the Isle of Wight and Live at Leeds are pretty much my favorite live performances of any group. The energy, attitude, and creativity that oozed out of them during this era was unmatched by any band I've heard. I've been wanting to paint a definitive image of Pete windmilling for a long time. I've done sketches and thumbnails over and over but nothing ever worked. I decided that if I was going to paint this I did not want to settle on just anything to get another image done. One night as I was just about to fall asleep an image flashed inside my head. I love when this happens. FYI, these barely legible scribbles are crap without notes! After searching Flickr, Photobucket, and Google Images I amasses enough reference to make the final. Here it is after a couple days worth of work. Hope you dig it!

Me and Bobby McGee

This is the final for the Janis Joplin image.

It's way too tough to find good photos of musicians before the 70's.

Jerry Garcia

I made this as a gift for a friend.

James Brown

Just about finished with this one. It's still a little too monotone for me. But the lighter color was a step in the right direction. Just a little more color in the face and a new background color and this one is done.

Photoshop and Traditional Sketches

Almost done painting in Mr. Johnson's face traditionally (which I'll post soon!). I did have some fun with the colors in Photoshop in between paint sessions though.



Same thing here. When I sent my post cards to the printers I converted the images to CMYK of course. This is what happened when I turned off some of the color channels. Pretty cool way to see an image a completely new way.


Some sketches to round out the post.

postcards

Here are a couple of variations on my mailers. I am pretty lost on how to color the type area so any suggestions are really appreciated!

New Sketches and More Joplin

I've been having too much fun with this Janis Joplin image. Here are some of the better recent ones.




Here are some of the final pages in the newest sketchbook.






Thats it for now!
Cheers!
Rich

Janis Joplin

Here is an early look at a new illustration of Janis Joplin. I have a painted version ready to be scanned too.

Chuck Berry and John Lee Hooker Finished!

Chuck Berry is finished!

While playing with some filters in Photoshop this image popped up in an image preview box. I thought it was a cool result and went with it. I love when "happy accidents" like this happen during the creative process. I have to restrain myself from going to far and noodling with minor adjustments (It can be harder than it sounds).

John Lee Hooker is almost done. Just have to do some clean up, clever clone stamping and remove the sketchbook binding.


And these are going to be my new post cards. I have the feeling that the Hendrix image doesn't really match with this group. I'm thinking a Janis Joplin image would be fun to paint next.

Life Drawing at the Cafe

more sketches at cafes.