Jan's Corpses

The books are finally in the warehouse, and nearly ready for your orders! The publishers are giving the artists at the NCN convention (in Raleigh, NC, starting next week) a first chance to get this great book. If you order from Art Squared Publishing, the first 50 orders will have a signed insert with an original sketch from Jan Op de Beeck, himself.

I should also take this opportunity to remind everyone that by buying directly from Art2Books.com, you support Jan Op de Beeck and the publishers more directly, helping them make it possible to bring you further volumes of Famous Corpses and other great art books from amazing artists. If you find the book elsewhere on the internet, take the time to visit the publisher website directly and support them the best you can. If you are going to order it online, you may as well do your part to keep these books coming.

That's my little service announcement... hehe. I'm now finalizing my seminar for the NCN convention and getting packed and ready. I hope to see lots of you there and have a great time.

Famous Corpses

From the talented Jan Op De Beeck comes a true 'celebrity epitaph roast'. This book is like nothing else you've seen and will have you instantly smiling and laughing. Cartoon illustrations by Emi Sato and written by Danielle Griffith, this book is the ultimate "What did they just say?!" read, skewering recently deceased famous people from around the world.

(animation by Brian Haimes, production by Joe Bluhm)

This book will be available in mid-November from the folks over at Art Squared Publishing, with a pre-sale special only at the National Caricaturist Network convention (NCN) in Raleigh, NC from November 3rd through the 7th. Anyone is welcome to attend the NCN convention, but if you can't make it, simply log your email at Art2Books.com to receive notice when the site is live and when the books are on sale.

Art Squared Publishing will also be carrying Blubber Lubber by Dan Hay and REJECTS (by yours truly), among other titles. These will also be available at the NCN convention, so drop by!

Another warmup sketch

Here's another drawing I did just to play around before continuing a larger canvas painting. I'll hopefully keep warming up and sketching like this... I really have fun doing it.

PS- Lots of special stuff to pop up here soon; check back.

Jerry & Larry, another warmup sketch

To get warmed up for a new piece, I decided to do a sketch of two guys whose comedy I adore, as well as whom I've been meaning to draw for a while now. This is about 45 minutes on the Wacom Cintiq. My intention was to plan a simple line drawing cartoon, but then realized I wanted to see more light/shadow. This would be fun to turn into a more complete painting (a species that I hope to share more of soon).

Paul Newman warmup sketch

A 20 minute digital sketch done on the Wacom Cintiq to stretch out before working on an illustration.

Caricature Convention

I mentioned something in the previous post that I feel I need to thoroughly cover: if you haven't heard about this, or aren't sure what it's all about, I invite you to check out the National Caricaturist Network (NCN), as well as the annual convention. This year it's held in Raleigh, NC at the Brownstone Inn from November 2nd (opening reception in the evening) through November 7th (awards banquet held in evening). This will be my 6th consecutive convention, and I can't believe that it's been so long. I can't imagine missing one, and if you go you'll see why.

A quick rundown of what happens, what it's about, and what you will get out of it: First, it is a convention full of rookies, veterans, novices, experts, live entertainers, studio illustrators, fine artists, caricaturists, portrait artists, cartoonists, sculptors, and wacky people from all spectrums of the art world, as well as all corners of the planet Earth.

The 5 days are kicked off with an icebreaker reception, at which old and new attendees can mingle and get comfortable over some drinks and snacks. In the morning, you'll experience a seminar. In the afternoon another. These seminars run all week. Some are workshops and some are speeches. Some are presentations to watch and ask questions, and some are hands-on small classes where someone like Jan Op De Beeck or Court Jones (specifically, this year) will offer one-on-one help and instruction in their field of expertise. These seminars run all week, at least two per day, and are optional for each attendee.

On top of this, there are good-spirited competitions. The culmination of the week is the awards banquet, where dozens of awards are presented at the final banquet. Throughout the week there is optional fun competitions. Some are as simple as a direct likeness competition or speed draw-off, and others are as open as you'd like, where each artist has the chance to hang their masterpieces and sketches on their designated wall space, to create a larger-than-life gallery filling the giant ballroom with unique caricatures, portraits, sketches, sculptures and stuff you just can't describe. It's amazing to see the room fill up throughout the week.

On top of portfolio, studio piece, and entertainment competitions, there are awards based on the work you do that week. The element of live and studio work collide, when each artist diligently or casually (up to you!) take up your pens/brushes/etc to create likenesses of those in the room. There is plenty of time for fun and creating all week long, and the inspiration is like nothing else you will find.

For what you get, this is one of the cheapest retreats you can find, and you will not be lonely in your passion for caricature, portraits, sketching, sculpting, painting or any sort of art that you desire. You will also make life-long friends and be able to find some amazing books and souvenirs to take home. The convenience of an art store on-site and some great legal advice, as well as benefits in the industry make this trip even that much more valuable. Pick the brains of those that you admire, as they are there as your equal, creating, teaching and having fun as well.

Those attending this year and giving presentations include: Jan Op De Beeck, Tom Richmond, Jason Seiler, Court Jones, Stephen Silver, and myself. The honorary Keynote speaker in attendance this year is Ismael Roldan, and he will generously share his career with a slideshow presentation and interactive talk, as well as mingling and being a part of the events and community. This is an amazing opportunity to learn, practice, have fun and be inspired, and I sincerely recommend anyone interested at all to try it out! You have so much to gain and nothing to lose.

Feel free to contact me for any help getting registered or any questions you may have at all. The NCN offers a glossy magazine style quarterly newsletter (amazing quality and articles, I might add!), and an online forum, as well as web-based directory listings for all members. The community is great and networking has paid for my membership and convention dues 10x over, and it will be the same for you, if you have the passion.

I'll be mentioning this more in the coming weeks, but the deadline to save money with reservations and the discounted convention fee is coming up soon. Check it out, and I hope to see you there!

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Back from Deutschland, Back in Action!

Okay, so a lot has gone on since my last update here (sorry to all the loyal readers), and I'll be updating on a lot of things in the coming days/weeks/months.

(photo of me by Ismael Roldan, looking down the hill from the hosting hotel)

First thing: I just returned back from the Sebastian Krüger portrait painting workshop in Hanover, Germany. This is Krüger's fourth annual workshop, and there were 20 artists in attendance.

(Sebastian and Jeff Redford: a little too buddy-buddy?)

(Hanover Museum)

During this trip we took a tour around Hanover, learned (perhaps too much) about paint brush manufacturing details, saw Sebastian paint an entire finished (very large) piece, and had the chance to work on our own pieces, with plenty of tips and feedback from the master.

(Stefan, otherwise known as "German Joe Bluhm")

In attendance were artists from Brazil, Korea, Holland, Germany, United States, and Canada! These great new friends are from all over the spectrum - some in their '60s and some in their '20s, some professionals working in movies, some not artists at all (one dentist!), but each were more kind, talented and wonderful than you could ask.

("JerT" - Jeremy Townsend being all "Euro-cool")

This workshop is very reminiscent, in a couple ways, of the annual convention held by the National Caricaturist Network (NCN). Not that we were focusing on caricature, but there was plenty of inspiration, artwork, partying and building friendships. I highly recommend both this workshop (see Sebastian's blog for 2009 workshop announcements) and the NCN convention, held this year from November 2-7 in Raleigh, NC.

(click for larger version)

Here is one of the two finished paintings I worked on in the 3 days we had to paint (sorry for the bad photo- it's in the mail, on its way home). I feel quite invigorated and prepared to continue painting very regularly. Keep an eye out here for traditional paintings on canvas, from time to time (as well as some gallery shows next year).

As for my current work, I'll be finishing an illustration, publishing two art books and working on a third through Art Squared Publishing, traveling to the NCN convention, starting some new paintings, and possibly traveling down south in late October to do a few days drawing theme park caricatures (more to come on that topic).

By the way, Germany is FULL of windmills! Rockin' place.

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Mel B and Virgin Media

Here's the second of a very cool series of advertisements from Virgin media, that I was fortunate enough to be a part of. The amazing team of creatives and hard-workers at So! Animation are responsible for this one, just like the Mick Hucknall "KWACCS" advertisement aired last month in England (as well as more to come...). They did a great job and are a great team to work for.

I got to design and help create the characters, from start to finish. Here you can see some sketches and versions of the design for the to-be animated Melanie Brown (aka Mel B, aka Scary Spice). I offered a few versions of each character and some revisions, based on the team of creators and writers at the Y&R agency, responsible for this campaign. This will air in theaters (HD!) later this month. It really was a fun process, and you can see the result is just as fun:

PS- It was great to work with Ed Steckley on this one: can you see other influences (for those that know me or Ed) or art that Ed and I collaborated on? Maybe on the walls? hehe.

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Comic Con

I'm back from Comic Con International (San Diego) and it was crazy. The show gets busier every year, and this was no exception. A sold out crowd was present, sweaty, and crazy-excited. I sold lots of books and did plenty of commissions. Even though it's a lot of work and quite tiring, I get to see so many good friends and meet so many great artists, fans and colleagues. I can't wait for next year.

I was quite inspired by a lot of the comic-book-art-nerdry, as well as all the great artwork at the show, so I recorded a new digital painting. This next one is more of a sketch and fun process, but I've been listening to the feedback and requests and will try to deliver. So quite soon I'll finish editing and post the new Digital Painting Podcast.

Check back soon!
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New Book for Comic Con!

If you or a friend are attending the SOLD OUT Comic-Con in San Diego this week or weekend, you will love the new stuff I've got at my booth, table B-2.

Here is the first look at Blubber Lubber, a new book featuring the observant and unique people-sketching of Dan Hay. Dan is an artist in Florida whose drawings of interesting strangers are dynamic and hilarious. This book is just over 6" tall, thick and sturdy, and will be priced at a special rate for Comic-Con visitors. It will be available, with other books, this fall at ArtSquaredBooks.com.

I'll be doing commissions and will have other books and new artwork at the show, so stop by!
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