Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! As a child, Halloween night is always an exciting time.  All of the preparation, from choosing a costume and setting up the festive decorations to carving a face on your pumpkin, leads up to that one night.  And when it comes, we can't wait for the school bell to ring and for classes to end so we may finally dress up and embark on our quest to trick or treat throughout the neighborhood! As an artist, I was always tried to think of new, creative faces to carve on my next Halloween pumpkin.  Once my designs were ready, my father and I would lay out the newspaper, gather the carving tools, and begin the facelift.  Looking back, whether it's carving out the pumpkin or trick or treating, Halloween can be quite the bonding experience between parents and children.  Hopefully the snow won't dampen the festivities too much up here in the northeast.  So, for all those kids young and old alike, be safe, have a fun time, and make those costumes good!    

An Art Show and Character Studies (What This Illustrator Does in His Free Time!)

The opening reception for the Hartford Art School Alumni Juried Exhibition went very well! There was a nice turnout.  The show contains a wide variety of styles and media.  For anyone interested, there is a exhibition catalog available for purchase at the following link:
2011 Hartford Art School Alumni Juried Exhibition Catalog

I'm placing a few more character studies / model sheets that I used as part of the Graduation series.  Seeing that one of the illustrations in the series, Graduation Celebration, is up in the alumni show, I thought it fitting to include a few more sketches that contributed to the development of both the characters and the story.

The rabbit was a fun character to design.  He is one of three teachers (the owl and the turtle are the other two), that the child dreams up.  While both scholarly and wise, he also has a good sense of humor and enjoys having a little fun.

When working on character studies, the challenge is to successfully create a personality that can be associated with your creations.  Poise, emotions, proportions, clothing, and so on all play an important role in creating a unique individual whom one can see living and interacting in his or her respective environment.

The Beginning of a Journey: The Art of the Character Model Sheet

The website is online, my Facebook fan page is running, and I'm now an official blogger! Thank you for stopping by and checking things out.  In the coming weeks, I'll be posting the latest news along with random sketches and doodles.  From time to time, I may also babble dotingly about great artists and the history of illustration. Being a history guy, I tend to subconsciously do that! 
Today, I have chosen to post a character model sheet of the owl teacher, who appears in my story of a small girl and her daydreams of a graduation ceremony. When working on character models, you learn just how beautiful this world really is. Birds are impressive creatures! From the stunning beauty of their feathers to the effective structure of their talons, I quickly appreciated the complexity of drawing such a subject. 
Anytime I work on a story, I try to construct these sketches to provide me with a three dimensional image of the character. It is an essential tool for all storytellers.  Some of the best model sheets, though, come from the animation studios. Looking at the stunning pre production work of the classic Walt Disney films and Looney Tunes shorts, just to name a few, serve as both an inspiration and a guide! Paper Dreams by John Canemaker and the Illusion of Life by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas are excellent examples of this.  
Well, it looks like I went off on another history tangent again. I better stop before I find myself writing The History of Illustration vol. 1!