Illustration Friday: Broken

I spent the past weekend in Moab Utah driving around on jeep trails. I took my sketchbook and some watercolors thinking I might draw something while I was there, but it was a very bumpy road. Very bumpy! I don't think you would have liked the results. I drew this little sketch when I got back.

We had a few minor breakdowns during the trip. The first day, one Jeep broke a long-arm strut. We strapped it back on and hobbled back to town, found some guy with a welder, fixed it and were ready to go again the next day. At the beginning of the next day, one guy blew a power steering hose. While we waited for him, we noticed a broken shock on the same Jeep that broke the day before. (the photo of us looking under the Jeep) Both of them were fixed pretty quickly on the trail and we were back on our way. About halfway through the trail, we were going up an obstacle when the power-steering hose guy broke one of his torsion bars. These vehicles have so much power it just twisted it right off. No problem, we would just take it off, throw it in the back of the truck and drive carefully the rest of the way. Not five minutes later, my brother was going up the same obstacle when his driveline blew. This was bad. We were in the middle of nowhere, miles from any paved road. It meant that he would have to get back to town in two-wheel drive--a nearly impossible task for the terrain we were in. It would require the the help of the other jeeps to tow and the use of winches. Luckily, one guy happened to bring an extra u-joint and another guy had some spare brackets and we were able to rebuild the driveline in the middle of the desert on the side of a mountian. Good thing we had tools. A great time for lunch. On Saturday we drove for about 7 hours and covered only 16 miles of trail. We had a blast even with the breakdowns. I can't wait to go do it again sometime. With all the breakdowns, it seemed appropriate to draw something about this trip. It somehow fit the topic.
I spent the past weekend in Moab Utah driving around on jeep trails. I took my sketchbook and some watercolors thinking I might draw something while I was there, but it was a very bumpy road. Very bumpy! (video) I don't think you would have liked the results. I drew this little sketch when I got back.

We had a few minor breakdowns during the trip. The first day, one Jeep broke a long-arm strut. We strapped it back on and hobbled back to town, found some guy with a welder, fixed it and were ready to go again the next day. At the beginning of the next day, one guy blew a power steering hose. While we waited for him, we noticed a broken shock on the same Jeep that broke the day before. (the photo of us looking under the Jeep) Both of them were fixed pretty quickly on the trail and we were back on our way. About halfway through the trail, we were going up an obstacle when the power-steering hose guy broke one of his torsion bars. These vehicles have so much power it just twisted it right off. No problem, we would just take it off, throw it in the back of the truck and drive carefully the rest of the way. Not five minutes later, my brother was going up the same obstacle when his driveline blew. This was bad. We were in the middle of nowhere, miles from any paved road. It meant that he would have to get back to town in two-wheel drive--a nearly impossible task for the terrain we were in. It would require the the help of the other jeeps to tow and the use of winches. Luckily, one guy happened to bring an extra u-joint and another guy had some spare brackets and we were able to rebuild the driveline in the middle of the desert on the side of a mountian. Good thing we had tools. A great time for lunch. On Saturday we drove for about 7 hours and covered only 16 miles of trail. We had a blast even with the breakdowns. I can't wait to go do it again sometime. With all the breakdowns, it seemed appropriate to draw something about this trip. It somehow fit the topic.

Halloween Costumes

Halloween is over. One of the best holidays of the year. I thought I would show you the family costumes. My wife, Lorien, really makes some great costumes. None of those bought-from-Walmart kind of costumes for her.

So, here goes. To start off I'll show you what I did. I didn't get a lot done as far as work goes but that doesn't mean I didn't draw anything. While I was trying to get motivated for work I drew some tattoos. I think I was bored. My wife did the one on my shoulder (it's a heart with her name on it) and I did the other two. I'm left handed so I had to draw the mermaid with my right hand. Not great, but it was something to do. I doesn't have anything to do with the costume I was planning on wearing. I'll get to that later.

Every year my mom has a "Skeleton Soup" party for all of her grandkids. (she has 35) It is always fun and there is good spooky food too. I mentioned to my brothers what I thought would be funny to do for a costume and, before I knew it , I was getting a new haircut.


With some elmers glue and a few strands of hair from my mullett wig (it went nicely with the tattoos) I now had a new killer comb-over. I'm sure I was the envy of the neighborhood. I look like some kind of middle aged biker accountant. Still not my real costume but, it was funny.

The pictures of the costume didn't turn out too great. It was dark and so was I. So, to set this up, I need to show you last year's costume. My wife and I made this Dark Rider costume. I turned out pretty cool. The best part was that I wore stilts underneath the robes. I was over seven feet tall. I just roamed around walking up to unsuspecting trick-or-treaters. It kinda freaked out the neighborhood kids. Made one mom scream in terror. (that's my wife the ghost)


So, this year we took it a step further. My brother went and got this BIG black horse and we rode it around with the costume on. He is almost as big as the horse (He is the one with the beard). An intimidating pair. I took my turn after him. It was great fun. It made for another great halloween.



Here are my kiddos. They look great too. Now we have to wait for next year. Hmmm... what should we do? We'd better get started.

Batman Tutorial

Because of the great response I got from the last tutorial I thought I would post another one. There are many people out there who "think" they can draw batman, but if you want to do it right this is the best how-to available. I admit it wasn't done by me. My son, a true Batman fan, drew this for me when he was 5 years old. I'm sure you will find it helpful.

Oil Study

Busted out the oils and did a quick test. This one is small. (2.5x2.5) I really like the feel of the oils. Nice and creamy. My biggest problem with them is the drying time. Most of my deadlines make it hard to go with oils. Oh well. This painting has skeleton earrings so, I thought it would go with the season. What do you think?

Illustration Friday: Remote +demo

Okay, I've had some people ask how I do these little paintings and so I thought I would include a little demo with this week's IF entry to show the process.

To start off, this isn't the only or normal way I do paintings. This demo shows how I've been doing these little sketch/study/goofing off kind of things that I do mostly for fun. I have a lot of left over scraps of Arches watercolor paper sitting around and so, when I'm bored or tired of working on "real" jobs I pull one out and doodle. They are usually quick and I don't put much planning into it.

This is the first rough sketch. A bunch of scribbles just to get me started. My first thought was that I wanted to do another Halloween themed thing. Maybe a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde thing. I threw down some shapes and rough gesture. As it developed I got the idea of him looking over his shoulder holding a creepy key, opening his office door. Whatever.

As I started to flesh out the rough sketch I found out that the topic for this week's Illustration Friday was "remote" so I made a few changes as I went. This is what I ended up with. I'm using a brown col-erase pencil.

I almost threw this thing out at this point because I thought it was stupid, but then I pulled it back out and started adding some paint. I start out using thinned acrylic paint straight onto the paper. It acts a lot like watercolors. (If this was a real job, I would have scanned and printed the sketch onto the Arches instead of painting on the actual sketch and I would have stretched the paper to eliminate the wrinkles.) I am just dropping in local colors, seeing what works as I go along.

Finally I do the finishing touches. On this one I darkened the blacks, brightened some of the colors, added highlights and little details, darkened the line where it was lost or not defined enough. I kind of move around the painting bringing it up to a level that I think might pass as a "finished" painting. Then I look at the clock and figure I better get back to work.

That's it. I hope this has been educational and fun, or at least not lame.

Marty

This is just a random little painting done on a scrap piece of paper. I just started drawing and this is what came out. Used some acrylics to add some color.

Illustration Friday: Cold

It was a toss-up for me this week. I had two sketches I liked. I think Satan won out. I started adding some color to it in Photoshop. Maybe if I have more time I'll finish it up in paint. Unless you think I should go with the robot?

Illustration Friday: Lost

Baron Von Dead

I have been thinking that I need a big classic portrait of some old chap to hang in my Gallery O Terror. One of those creepy paintings with the eyeballs that follow you around. Well I don't know about you but, when an idea like that creeps into my mushy brain it will just fester there until I do something about it. This is a small sketch of the idea. I think I'll paint it real quick to see if it has any promise. Maybe someday it will turn into a giant oil painting with a thick, gawdy frame and some kind of device that makes the eyes move and creeps out my mom whenever she visits...Hmmmmm. I'll keep you posted.

Illustration Friday: Float

Floaties.

One Night in a Grave

I got permission to post this poem so I thought I'd repost the drawings to go with it. Thanks Ted.





One Night in a Grave

I had a job that kept me late
And the way back home was scary.
It skirted to the edge of town
Then through the cemetery.

It wasn’t bad, I told myself.
The path was quite well traveled.
I sang a whistled little tunes
To keep my senses raveled.

One moonless night as I rushed along
Humming a nervous tune,
I fell into a hole they’d dug
For a grave that afternoon!

I panicked at the very thought
And scrambled to get out!
But the fresh, damp earth just crumbled in;
I commenced to scream and shout!

Then reason ruled and I settled down
Resigned to bear my fate.
They’d soon be back to fill the hole.
I’d not have long to wait.

As I sat back and went to doze
And in the silence waited,
Another fellow tumbled in
And he was inebriated!

I smiled as he fussed and clawed and failed
The same as I had done.
He didn’t see me in the dark.
He thought he was all alone.

I touched his arm and softly said
“You’ll never make it buddy.”
“There’s no way out so just relax.”
“You’ll just get spent and muddy.”

But I was wrong! He gasped a breath
And shouted “Lord forbid!”
His frame uncoiled a mighty leap
And make it he truly did!

© Ted C. Hindmarsh
November, 1978

Illustration Friday: Fresh

Not a lot of time for much more than a quick sketch slapped with color. Mooo!

Black n White

Just playing around with some b&w styles. Which one do you prefer?

Original sketch

Original painting

Converted to b&w

inked line with value added in Photoshop

Lost artwork found!

Researchers have uncovered two very old, very valuable pieces of artwork. As far as I can tell these are some of my earliest works. They were both included in letters to my oldest brother, Lee, written some 30 years ago. I was 5 or 6 years old. They were carefully preserved—probably in some kind of airtight vault.

In this first illustration, I'm sure you can appreciate the strong compositions, the well-developed characters, the limited pallet, and the incorporation of text. Amazing. My brother is an avid hunter, hence the theme. I placed myself, the guy with the gun, into the illustration, surrounded by cute forest animals in a cozy woodland scene. Bambi's got nothing on me. A tiger, a spotted leopard, a curious bunny and what I'm sure is a majestic eagle all living together under a spider like sun while I stand there shooting fiery blasts from my rifle into the air like some kind of crazed rebel, and yet still finding time to send a cheerful "Hi Lee" to my Bro. This drawing has so many levels that it is hard to find the deep meaning hiding therein, but I'm sure it exists and I'm sure it is a strong statement that I was making. Maybe I was protecting the animals from an unseen alien invasion? You don't know.

The second piece clearly shows my ability to spread peace and joy throughout the world. Children are snuggled in their warm beds dreaming of the piles of presents Santa is sure to bring them, while overhead ole St. Nick is rocketing through the star-filled sky, led by his faithful reindeer. Thin wisps of smoke trail from the chimbleys (that's what my dad calls them) of the humble little homes under the moonlit landscape. Can you feel the peace and joy yet? I used red and white to emphasize the Christmas theme with just a touch of brown to bring it all together. It's like a friggin Hallmark card.

So you can see I was destined to become an artist. I'm sure my parents kick themselves for not saving the "good stuff" from my even earlier years. Lucky for the world, these two rare pieces were saved to document the small beginnings of this artist’s life.

Illustration Friday: Escape

Hate it when that happens.
Quick sketch colored in photoshop.

G.O.T.-Gary

This is another sketch for my gallery of terror. I think maybe his name is Gary. He's a retired beach resort boat rental guy who took up pumpkin carving as a hobby and now travels with county fairs doing consultation work. I kind of like the way he is turning out, so I might paint him. I'll post it when it's done.

Update: Here is the painting. I started with sepia ink washes then added a little color with acrylics. Really quick but I kinda like the way it turned out.

Weeks sketches

A few doodles from the past couple weeks.

Illustration Friday: Depth

I think I'm still in the Gallery O' Terror mood (last post) because I'm still thinking about spooky stuff. This is what I thought of when I read the topic this week. I scribbled it during church. It is based on a poem that a neighbor of mine wrote. It is great. I'll see if he will let me post it. This picture also reminded of a lawyer joke...because deep down they're good people.

Gallery O' Terror

I'm teaching a little class as a guest illustrator at Brigham Young University. It is a class of senior illustrators and the deal is that a different guest illustrator comes and teaches the class once a week for three weeks. The first week I do the song and dance routine. Show my work, talk about the business and give them the assignment. The second week I have the students come to my house and visit my studio. We review sketches and I do a demo. Then we finish up with a final critique the third week. (This year it might even involve food. They wanted to have some kind of pot-luck dinner. I'm game. I'm bringing brownies) Anyway, the assignment I gave them this year is this: Gallery O' Terror!!! (spoken in a creepy Vincent Price kind of voice) It needs to be a children's book illustration. Either a double page spread or a single page illustration and a spot for the other page. Each page is 9x10 horizontal or vertical layout. The only rule tis year is that they must include a pumpkin somewhere in the illustration

The idea started years ago when I worked with a bunch of artists animating educational software for kids. It was really cute stuff. I mean sometimes it was waay too cute. So we found the only way to balance the cute was to periodically delve into the dark. Every fall we would do the Gallery O’ Terror. We would make a topic and everyone would do their own version and then we would hang them on our cubicle-wall gallery. Loads of spooky fun. This is where the idea came from. The reason I give the assignment in September is so that if a artist wanted could make a promotional postcard to send to art directors or to Grandma in time for Halloween.

My wife started taking a bunch of my past gallery submissions, framing them and hanging them in our living room at Halloween time. Those crappy little paintings started looking okay with a nice frame around them. So, now I try to do something each year to keep the gallery growing and to keep the too cute stuff at bay.

This is the sketch for this years painting. It is also the painting I was doing as a demo for the class. I’ll post the final when I finish it.

And here it is.

I include this assignment here for any reader who might want to participate or might want to begin their own Gallery O’ Terror for themselves (even if your not an artist). Of course you don’t have to follow my rules. Do whatever you want. You could email me a jpg or a link and I could post it. Now get to work. Your grade depends on it.

My daughter and her cousin joined in. Aren't they awesome.

Illustration Friday: Roots

So, I was thinking I wasn't going to do a IF this week. Too busy, didn't want to think of an idea.. blah blah blah. Then this morning I thought it would be funny to do a girl with dark roots in her hair. It evolved in to this. Enjoy.