... and SKETCHBOOK

Sunday, March 9, 2008

SPIDEY

SPIDER-MAN pencils-- found these and thought I'd post 'em up. There are other, earlier sketches somewhere, which I'll dig out and add to this post.

Friday, March 7, 2008

BANG BANG was a character used in Penthouse Comix. These pages were the first few that I was working on for the story, 'The Su-Zi-Manchu Affair'. And then the magazine was cancelled. Oh dear. But the pages remain and I like the gun-play and martial arts.

Friday, February 29, 2008

TANGSHAN TIGERS

These sketches are my initial ideas for a series of books with a martial arts theme. Many of the ideas here bear no resemblance to the final covers, although I've included some of the transitional designs, which appear in colour. I think the figure work conveys much more action and is just way cooler!

Hi... and welcome to the sketchbook section of my blog.

The work you'll find here is in no particular order-- just behind the scenes sketches and ideas that often have a freedom and spontaneity that can be lost once the art becomes a group effort. Let me explain;

With every project I've worked on there are usually tens, if not hundreds of drawings produced-- sketches, alterations, rejections, complete about-turns and general dicking about, until a halt is called -- either through lack of remaining time on the deadline or lack of any more patience on my part.

All these minor pieces of work go to shape the final art and often contain creative ideas that are lost along the way.
Commercial illustration is, for the most part, a process of trying to please dozens of people at once, all of whom apparently have a clear idea of what they want but can't show you until they've seen it.

Not so many years ago, before the rise of the Apple Mac, commissioning art directors and designers would sketch out what they required an artist to produce for them. This gave the artist a clear goal to work towards but sadly this is a rare treat for artists now.

So... how do we know what to illustrate? Well, if an artist is very lucky, he or she will be working primarily with someone who can produce a proper written brief, including a manuscript if it is a book jacket to be illustrated. Ideally, there should also be enough time within the deadline to read the manuscript-- but nearly always, everything is needed yesterday.
Reference is always good, should the work include specific needs i.e; technically or historically accurate costumes, buildings, weapons, locations etc.

Now we get down to it. If luck is still on your side, you'll be working with someone who can visualize from a pencil rough. Unfortunately luck is now somewhere far behind you in the distance, because most of the other people that have to pass comment on the work can't visualize anything unless they're looking at finished art.
This has come about because, using the computer, it's relatively easy to plonk a photograph into a cover grid, giving the impression that it only takes an hour or so to do a cover. So, what is that artist doing taking so long?!
Now the artist has to more or less have their artwork looking finished, even at the rough stage.

Let's say you've been lucky enough to get your 'rough' accepted. This is what's known as a small miracle. Bask in the dull light shining upon you, as the miracle is about to get smaller, because by the time sales and marketing (and presumably the bloke on car park security who once drew a nice frog when he was 8 years old) have all chipped in their opinions, you'll have probably redrawn your artwork at least twice more. My record is six artwork changes, before coming back to the original idea, which everyone agreed was definitely the one to use.

This isn't to say art direction is a bad thing-- but it needs skill and training behind it, rather than just any old opinion. Consider that before someone opens their mouth in a cover meeting, to disagree for the sake of appearing to be involved, they should check if they can back their 'off the cuff' opinion up with facts. After all, it would be madness to have a house, bridge or car built using people who've had no training for the job, wouldn't it? Put another way, would you let someone from marketing perform an operation on you, because although they've never had any training as a surgeon, they have watched E.R. on TV..?

Artists need guidance and help, just like in any other field of work-- but it's best coming from people who have trained artistic skills too. Now, before all the designers and art directors throw their toys out of their cots, I'll say that one of the real high points of commercial work is finding and working with good art directors and designers (you know who you are!-- and if you don't think you're in that group, well, you've only yourself to blame!). A good A.D. makes the poor pay and ridiculous deadlines bearable and gives some meaning to the work, putting pride back into the heart of even the most jaded of artists.
My Wife, Tracey, is a fantastic A.D. and designer-- so good in fact, that I married her.
I've also had the good fortune to work with Neill Furmston, who constantly amazes me with the quality and care that he brings to his work, whether it's art directing, designing or taking stunning photographs.
And I have to mention Chris Waind, who is now working for CommArts in NZ. He is an exceptionally talented artist and a brilliant A.D. to boot. I own the copyright to his life story, which may come in handy. Or it may not.

Can I recommend being an artist?.. After witnessing nearly three decades of change in the profession I would have to say that it is much harder to earn a living now than it was when I started out. You'll need to be tough, mentally and physically, because there's going to be blood, there's going to be sweat and there's definitely going to be tears! Good luck and Giddyup!

... and SKETCHBOOK

Sunday, March 9, 2008

SPIDEY

Friday, March 7, 2008

BANG BANG

Friday, February 29, 2008

TANGSHAN TIGERS

PORTFOLIO

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