Schoolism: Caricature Class Blog

P!nk No!se

2011-03-22T02:30:00.000-07:00

Submission for the cover of a local art magazine called Pink Noise.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker

2011-03-10T15:33:00.000-08:00

This is the mayor of my home town Christchurch. It's in a pretty bad state after a series of earthquakes over the past few months, the worst of which struck a couple of weeks ago. I painted this as my contribution to the earthquake relief fund. His orange jacket has become something of a trademark to him and the red and black background are Canterbury colours.

What my students are doing at Schoolism!

2011-01-16T14:23:00.001-08:00

This is an example of what my students are currently working on for my class at Schoolism. This work was done by Duane, who I believe is my oldest student yet, he's 70 years old and works harder than most people I know. I think he's kicking serious butt!!!

My next class at Schoolism starts on February 18th, click here for additional information on how to sign up, or feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Also, I am planning on putting together a apprenticeship type class on drawing and painting caricatures. This class will be more advanced for those who want to really push themselves. I haven't gotten everything figured out yet on what exactly I will cover, but I do know that it will be hardcore. I will put a lot into it to make it worth your while. Any suggestions of what you would like to learn from me, I'm all ears!

2011-01-11T18:41:00.001-08:00

Amanda

2011-01-03T23:32:00.000-08:00

Not quite a caricature but a beautiful study. I am working on a pinup piece and wanted to share some of my progress.

The People VS. George Lucas - Chicago Wizard World

2010-08-23T08:51:00.001-07:00

Robert Muratore, Me, and Alexandre Philippe.

I finally saw the People vs George Lucas last Friday at Wizard World, the Chicago Comic Convention. I also finally met "in person" the director, Alexandre Philippe who I worked with while creating the poster. That was nice because in my line of work, I rarely get to meet people in person. I also met Robert Muratore, who is the producer and director of Photography for the film.

The People VS. George Lucas is a great documentary, very fun and has a balanced view of the fans love/hate of Star Wars and George himself. Go see it if you can.

My friend Josh Helle who was my model for the angry fan, me, and Alexandre Philippe.

I was told by Alexandre and Robert that they just premiered the film at Pixar and that my poster was hanging all over at Pixar . . . man, I wish I was my poster . . . sounds like a fun road trip that they've been on? They also played the film for the folks at Dreamworks and are off soon to Paris and a few other places in Europe! The film will eventually play in select cities and then will be available on DVD, and when that happens, I'll be sure to let everyone know.

Cheers!

President Obama

2010-07-30T05:36:00.001-07:00

some recent stuff

2010-07-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

havent posted here in quite some time so i'm just sharing some of the stuff ive finished recently. so here's my take on the lovely Eva Mendes and my man Freddy Kruger.

Self Caricature

2010-07-04T16:51:00.000-07:00

Here is a self caricature I just finished.

monty snake

2010-05-28T03:38:00.000-07:00

Mike & Mandela

2010-05-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

New Painting: 3324 North California

2010-04-01T12:46:00.001-07:00

Well, I finally finished with this painting. It took a while, considering I worked on it off and on in between other paintings that I had to do. While painting, I spent the majority of my time squinting my eyes, my objective was to capture the light and "character" of the "diner".

Detail. I enjoy seeing brushwork, especially when rendering realistically. Had fun with my palette as well, as you can see, I used lots of greens . . . I thing green and dirty yellows are some of my favorite colors to paint into flesh tones?

My next class on Caricature at www.schoolism.com starts on April 16th. Seats are filling up! Any questions you may have can be emailed to me or the staff at Schoolism. Thank you.

Andy aka Tapout

2010-03-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

whats up everybody. just wanted to share the latest caricature i finished up. got asked to do this by the father of a good friend of mine. Andy is a really big fan of MMA and watches UFC whenever he can. His son and I even decided to give him the nickname "tapout" because of his love for the submission game. Anyway when he asked me to do a caricature of him, i immediately knew how i was going to paint it, and here is the end result.

Featuring the work of Schoolism student Didier Loubat!

2010-03-19T09:26:00.001-07:00

WARNING: TO THOSE OF YOU WHO MAY HAVE READ MY PREVIOUS POST ABOUT MY COURSE AT SCHOOLISM . . . THE MESSAGE IS THE SAME, SCHOOLISM IS AWESOME, YOU SHOULD CHECK IT OUT! BUT TODAY I WANT TO FEATURE GREAT WORK FROM A DIFFERENT STUDENT, DIDIER LOUBAT! PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT THE WONDERFUL WORK HE HAS CREATED, ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT SCHOOLISM PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO CONTACT ME. THANK YOU.

I've got another class starting soon, so I wanted to make sure to let everyone know, and to remind you of what to expect from my class. From time to time I would like to feature a few students here on my blog, to show you what kind of work is done during the course but also to feature the artists themselves as I am very proud of their hard work. It is so exciting to watch a student grow and become better in a span of 9 lessons.

All of the work on this post was drawn and painted by Didier. These sketches and painting will give you an idea of what the students are learning in my course.

My next course at www.schoolism.com will start on the 16th of April. I will be taking on students for an 11 week online course. What can you expect to learn from taking my course at www.schoolism.com?
The way Schoolism works is students will watch a lesson which is usually two hours long. You can pause, go back, take notes, sketch and so on. After watching the lesson of the week, the student is then given ten to 14 days to complete the assignment. This deadline changes from week to week depending on what is expected that week for homework. Once the assignment is finished, the student uploads their home work to the Schoolism site, leaving questions and comments for me to go over with them. I then download their work and record a 25 to 30 minute critique on their work and then upload that critique to their file at www.schoolism.com I work one on one with each student, and as I said above, every student is at a different place artistically, so each critique I do is very different. And one of the cool things about this is that the students at Schoolism have access to the rest of their classes critiques as well as past critiques from previous semesters. So there are literally hours and hours of demos and critiques to soak up while taking the course.

My critiques are honest and to the point. I look for each students strengths and then push them further in that direction, helping to develop their style. We work together to improve on areas that need work, and as long as the student puts in the time and effort, they always come out on top!

Caricature is not only about how much you can exaggerate a person, there's so much more to it than that. My course covers everything from sketching, and the importance of thumbnails . . . developing character, likeness as well as the essence of a person. How to exaggerate and push the features while keeping a strong likeness. Exploring shape and form as well as the unique relationships between the features on the face, finding the weight and so on. The course also covers painting in values as well as color temperature, and palettes. I go over skulls and understanding the anatomy of the face as well as teaching my techniques for painting hair.
Finally, the last three lessons of the course are dedicated to creating a final piece of art that the student can use in their portfolio. These lessons cover techniques that I use for my editorial and illustration work. Putting all the previous lessons together to create one final painting.

Any questions please email me or the staff at Schoolism My next course starts on the 16th of April and seats are filling up fast!

Featuring the work of Schoolism student Yasin Sycra!

2010-03-15T08:28:00.001-07:00

As many of you know, I am one of the instructors at www.schoolism.com I've got another class starting soon, so I wanted to make sure to let everyone know, and to remind you of what to expect from my class. From time to time I would like to feature a few students here on my blog, to show you what kind of work is done during the course but also to feature the artists themselves as I am very proud of their hard work. It is so exciting to watch a student grow and become better in a span of 9 lessons.
This week I would like to feature Yasin Sycra!

All of the work on this post was drawn and painted by Yasin. These are only two of the assignments, lessons 4 and 6.

My next course at www.schoolism.com will start on the 16th of April. I will be taking on students for an 11 week online course. What can you expect to learn from taking my course at www.schoolism.com?
The way Schoolism works is students will watch a lesson which is usually two hours long. You can pause, go back, take notes, sketch and so on. After watching the lesson of the week, the student is then given ten to 14 days to complete the assignment. This deadline changes from week to week depending on what is expected that week for homework. Once the assignment is finished, the student uploads their home work to the Schoolism site, leaving questions and comments for me to go over with them. I then download their work and record a 25 to 30 minute critique on their work and then upload that critique to their file at www.schoolism.com I work one on one with each student, and as I said above, every student is at a different place artistically, so each critique I do is very different. And one of the cool things about this is that the students at Schoolism have access to the rest of their classes critiques as well as past critiques from previous semesters. So there are literally hours and hours of demos and critiques to soak up while taking the course.

My critiques are honest and to the point. I look for each students strengths and then push them further in that direction, helping to develop their style. We work together to improve on areas that need work, and as long as the student puts in the time and effort, they always come out on top!

Caricature is not only about how much you can exaggerate a person, there's so much more to it than that. My course covers everything from sketching, and the importance of thumbnails . . . developing character, likeness as well as the essence of a person. How to exaggerate and push the features while keeping a strong likeness. Exploring shape and form as well as the unique relationships between the features on the face, finding the weight and so on. The course also covers painting in values as well as color temperature, and palettes. I go over skulls and understanding the anatomy of the face as well as teaching my techniques for painting hair.
Finally, the last three lessons of the course are dedicated to creating a final piece of art that the student can use in their portfolio. These lessons cover techniques that I use for my editorial and illustration work. Putting all the previous lessons together to create one final painting.

Any questions please email me or the staff at Schoolism My next course starts on the 16th of April and seats are filling up fast!

Now, enough talking . . . please enjoy these great sketches and paintings by Yasin Sycra!

2010-03-14T18:09:00.001-07:00

This piece is a caricature I did of my girlfriends daughter for easter. Abby has some very cute and unique features that I thought would be fun to capture.

FDR Obama for The Weekly Standard

2010-02-28T08:35:00.000-08:00

This past week I did another one - day - turnaround Obama for The Weekly Standard. What can I say? The Weekly Standard is by far my best client, they are great to work with, I've done over 35 paintings for them . . . that's nothing compared to the piles and piles of paintings my friend Tom Fluharty has done for them, but I still get excited and look forward to every time I get to work with them. I always try to give my all no matter what the time crunch is.

Almost every time I work with the Standard, the deadline is super quick. It doesn't matter if it's a cover or a spot illustration. I don't know if I've ever had more than two, maybe three days to turn something around for them. I learn a great deal about myself while working on these jobs, and I learn a great deal about what not to do the next time around. Still, it's important to me that the art is good and that it does it's job. It must tell the story that the art director and editor are after, and it must also meet my standards.

This job was no different. The final art that is posted above was all in a days work. I'll explain more below.

This is how the final art will appear in the magazine. The open space above is for the title and text for the article. I liked the painterly look on the edges of the background . . . turned out like this mainly because I was in such a rush.

This was the first sketch I did after getting off the phone with the art director on Wednesday night. About a five minute sketch. It was already time for me to go home for the day, so I would start fresh in the morning. I would have all day Thursday and Friday to complete the illustration.

I wasn't 100% sure what the a.d. wanted, if it was a parody of Obama in the exact pose as FDR or if I should take it to another place. The article hadn't yet been handed in. So until I heard back on what exactly I was going to be drawing, I did this sketch and sent it to the a.d. to get a reaction on whether this was in fact the direction he wanted to go? This sketch was done in about 20 minutes or so.

At this point I had already begun to block in Obama's face, trying to give my self a head start. The a.d. and I talked about different ways to tell the story, and in the end, this sketch just wasn't doing it for either of us, so . . . .

. . . it was time to start again. The a.d. thought it would be funny to show Obama swimming in FDR's clothing . . . everything is too big for him, so I did this new sketch and sent it off as quick as I could to get the OK to move on and take it to the finish. This was near the end of the day, as I do not work nights unless I have to. The sketch was approved.

I then spent my last bit of the day painting his face. I wanted to get it to a point where I would feel settled enough to go home for the day, knowing that I had to finish everything the following day.

Late Thursday night after my kids were in bed, I decided to go back into the studio for a couple hours. Something about the face was really bothering me, it wasn't capturing the likeness or humor that I wanted or that the piece needed. So I found some new references and began sketching . . . and this was the version I settled with. It was now to a point where I could go to sleep and feel good about the work I had done that day.

I was in my studio again around 5:00 a.m. Now that the sketch was how I wanted it, I had until 5:00 p.m. to complete the entire painting. It was a long and brutal day, and for the next 12 hours, I painted non-stop. I took about a 20 minute lunch break somewhere in the midst of my painting frenzy!

All in all, I'm happy with the way the painting turned out, learned a lot and even though it was tough, I had a blast . . . I love my job!

Shawn

2010-02-27T11:53:00.001-08:00

I havent posted anything on this blog for a couple weeks so i decided to put up the caricature of my friend shawn. hope you like it

The People VS George Lucas World Premiere @ SXSW!!

2010-02-04T09:14:00.001-08:00

www.peoplevsgeorge.com
It's been a while since I've had any time to post any new work, most of what I've been doing lately cannot be shared on line for quite some time. I can finally share my most recent project, the official movie poster for "The People VS George Lucas". A lot of work went into this piece. I don't want to go on too much right now, but I do want to thank my pal Otto for shooting great reference pics for me and of course my models, Nathan Cameron, Josh Helle and my father-in-law Vic Williams, who sort of looks like George Lucas. And last but not least my wife and kids for putting up with all the late nights and long hours! I should also say that my friend Thor did the layout and design of the poster, and I think he did an excellent job!

THE PEOPLE vs. GEORGE LUCAS will finally world premiere, fresh off the editing press, at the prestigious South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, Texas (March 12th to March 21st 2010)! They included the film in their prestigious Spotlight Premiere section, alongside the latest releases from Steven Soderbergh, Michel Gondry, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Shane
Meadows!

Click here to watch the 2nd Teaser Trailer.

GROUNDBREAKING FEATURE DOCUMENTARY “THE PEOPLE vs. GEORGE LUCAS” IN SESSION AT SXSW FILM FESTIVAL

DENVER, CO-February 4, 2010-THE PEOPLE vs. GEORGE LUCAS has been selected for the prestigious Spotlight Premiere section at the South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, Texas, which runs from March 12th to 21st 2010.

“The team is ecstatic to be screening at SXSW for the film’s world premiere,” says Director Alexandre O. Philippe, “it’s the ideal platform for our launch, as the festival brings together indie films, music and interactive in a unique way that very much reflects the participatory nature of our doc.”

THE PEOPLE vs. GEORGE LUCAS explores the titanic struggle between a Godlike filmmaker and his legions of fans over the most popular franchise in movie history. “At its core, PvsG is the examination of a high-profile, dysfunctional love story”, says Philippe. “George created this humongous and intricate sandbox for us to play in; but is he the sole owner of it, or does it now belong to the ages? And what happens to your role as a creator when your audience claims it owns your art? We basically looked at the conflicted dynamic between George and his fans from a cultural perspective, and asked ourselves those questions.”

The documentary features key testimonies from the likes of Gary Kurtz (Producer of AMERICAN GRAFITTI, STAR WARS and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK), Neil Gaiman (THE SANDMAN, AMERICAN GODS), Dave Prowse (aka Darth Vader), Anthony Waye (Executive Producer of the BOND franchise), and Dale Pollock (George Lucas’s Biographer, Author of SKYWALKING).

THE PEOPLE vs. GEORGE LUCAS inventively combines these exclusive interviews with fan footage from around the globe, and impassioned testimonies from George’s staunchest fans and foes. “Making this film was a huge investigative challenge, considering how many people were afraid to talk to us. George is a very powerful man. But we stuck to our guns and dug deep to deliver a completely uncensored, no-holds-barred factual account, and, ultimately, what we hope will be recognized as a loving tribute,” says DoP Robert Muratore.

“The obstacles we faced made us really think about the rapidly changing filmmaking landscape, and so we used digital technology to facilitate an open call for contributions - allowing us to make a fully participatory documentary”, says Producer Anna Higgs, known for cross-platform work in the UK and Europe. “In many ways, it’s a tribute to the YouTube generation, which Lucas’s advances in technology helped create,” points out Producer Kerry Roy; “fundamentally, it’s about how new media interacts with old media, as well as ownership and copyright in the digital age; and it was our intent from day one to give the fans a prevailing voice in the doc.”

The crew worked relentlessly for two and a half years to produce the most accurate, thorough, and impartial deconstruction of an entire generation’s love-hate for the man (admittedly) responsible for their childhood’s mythos; and they acknowledge that this project wouldn’t have been possible without the extraordinary support and encouragement from the fans and contributing filmmakers. “63,686 frequent flier miles, 634 hours of footage, 14TB of drive space, 126 interviews, 719 fan submissions, thousands of fan emails, and only three death threats. The positives outweigh the negatives, I suppose,” jests Producer Vanessa Philippe.

“We were driven by our own admiration for George, profound love of his films, obsession for their significance in popular culture, and opinions about their legacy as cultural milestones,” says Alexandre Philippe.
www.peoplevsgeorge.com

Superbowl here I come!

2010-01-24T15:30:00.000-08:00

I've been added to a roster of 10 artists who will be drawing caricatures at the Superbowl on February 7th. I'll try and post some pictures after the event depending on whether or not they will allow photographs by us.

Dr Cornel West

2010-01-24T13:28:00.001-08:00

Scarface

2010-01-15T14:16:00.001-08:00

WW1 Pilot

2010-01-10T13:52:00.000-08:00

I was asked to do a few illustrations for a cafe that has this sort of WW1 Air force theme going. All they said was that they wanted something different.

2009-12-30T13:10:00.000-08:00

This piece was done for my buddy Kyle. It is of his 2 kids and was given to his wife as a Christmas gift. The final was printed on watercolor paper 21x27

couple things

2009-12-22T15:58:00.001-08:00

My Seiler from the chiustream challenge earlier this month and another attempt at Michael Jackson.

Wedding Caricature

2009-12-13T19:32:00.000-08:00

My best friend just got married recently. Here's a wedding caricature I did of her and her husband:

I have documented my creation process in here: http://www.squidoo.com/wedding-caricature-step-by-step

Jason Seiler for Chiu Stream Contest

2009-12-02T02:15:00.000-08:00

You can go here and vote on your favorite!

https://www.schoolism.com/chiutv.php

Hone Harawira

2009-12-01T01:29:00.001-08:00

This is Hone Harawira. A maori activist turned politician. Recently it came to light that while in Europe as a New Zealand political representative, he and his wife took a day off and had a little trip to Paris. When it all came into the open one of his constituents emailed him to ask who was footing the bill and Hone replied with an email which contained the text you see on the left. Lovely. Race, gender, creed, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, video club membership it makes no matter. I loathe politicians.

Democracy Interrupted

2009-11-30T00:40:00.000-08:00

Haven't posted for a while so I thought I'd chip in with a piece I finished recently. This was commissioned by someone working in Afghanistan, he wanted to immortalise his time over there. His request coincided perfectly with the shambles that was the elections and the announcement of Karzai's eventual and somewhat unconstitutional victory and reelection to President. Hurrah for democracy!

Einstein

2009-11-22T14:57:00.000-08:00

Smiling at the Universe

The Godfather

2009-11-22T12:19:00.001-08:00

Curits "50 Cent" Jackson

2009-11-18T02:19:00.001-08:00

Mad Jack update

2009-11-16T22:09:00.000-08:00

Thanks...i think im done...

Jack Nicholson

2009-11-16T00:36:00.001-08:00

I have a little more to go here, detailing forehead and touching up the hair, but I thought this would be a great place to get some input as far as any criticism you guys might have before I call this one done.

Thanks all.

jon

Ali Larter

2009-11-10T21:54:00.000-08:00

Painting of Actress Ali Larter from Heroes. also did a color version of this painting that you can view here

Beyonce

2009-10-20T21:32:00.000-07:00

Psych Caricature

2009-10-05T16:40:00.001-07:00

This is a caricature I did of the 2 main actors in Psych - James Roday and Dule Hill.

Acrylic Sketch of Ron Turner for his Birthday

2009-10-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

Ron Turner, owner of Last Gasp Books. He is a Bay Area Legend, put out some of R.Crumbs early work, and his book wharehouse is a museum in itself for underground comix. A Friend of mine who turned 99 yrs old today (Or so he says)

Jay-Z

2009-09-30T02:09:00.001-07:00

Sketchbook app for the iPhone

2009-09-29T12:27:00.000-07:00

I bought it and it was only $5.99. I have a stylus for my iPhone (thanks http://www.thinkgeek.com/) and will post some sketches once I get one I'm happy with. I'm going to try out the techniques from Jason's class on it before I put stylus to Wacom.

Funny Face

2009-09-21T00:47:00.000-07:00

This is a 22yr old singer from Taiwan. He has a funny face!

The World has Lost a great Artist, but I have lost a good friend!

2009-09-16T05:42:00.001-07:00

Last night I received the worst news, that my dear friend of 9 years, Ismael Roldan passed away at the young age of 45. This is very difficult for me to accept, I'll try to keep this brief, but I just want to share a little bit about Ismael and what he meant to me.

Years ago, when I was first getting started as a professional artist, I was really struggling to figure out how to get work, how to develop my art professionally in a way that would grab the attention of art directors. I wasn't getting the kind of work that I wanted and I was getting tired of seeing the same artists being published over and over again and not understanding how they got where they were? I had a handful of artists at that time that were my inspiration. I would collect they're work out of magazines and hang them on the wall in my studio. I thought that if I surrounded myself with excellence, I would eventually pick up some of this excellence.

One of my most favorite artists at the time was Ismael Roldan. His work was inspiring to look at. Great exaggeration and likeness, great structure, humor, draftsmanship, perspective, you name it, he was what I wanted to be like.

So one day I gathered up the courage to write him an email, I basically told him that I was a big fan of his work and that I would love to work for publications as well, I thanked him for the inspiration and I attached a piece I had just finished that I was really proud of (to show him what I could do).

Well, I wasn't sure if he would ever write back, but to my astonishment, he wrote back that very same day. I remember being so excited and nervous to read the email. The email was straight up IN YOUR FACE truth about how horrible my work was! A very harsh and blunt critique. He told me my hands sucked, that I lacked knowledge in structure and form, and he actually went on and on. Even though the critique was harsh, he was able to somehow be very kind, he said one good thing, he said I could render like non other, but that won't help any if I can't fix the rest of my problems.

I was crushed, but at the same time, I was motivated to prove myself to Ismael. I didn't want this artist that I looked up to so much to think I was horrible. So I began to work on the things that he pointed out flawed in my work. I drew hand after hand after hand. I worked on skulls, and bone structure, I studied cross hatching and form. I sent him email after email, everything I did, I would send to him. And every time, he'd slam me harder than the time before.

I kept coming back for more, time and time again. Eventually, we became close friends, and slowly, we also became "peers" and we began to exchange work with each other seeking perspective and ideas from one another. I still remember the first time he sent me one of his paintings and wanted me to be honest and tell him what I thought about it. As time went on, we began more and more to talk about our kids and how important they were and how blessed we felt to have kids. Occasionally we'd talk about art, but mostly about life and what we were up to that week.

This is me with Ismael last year at the ISCA's 17Th Annual caricature convention where I won the Gold Nosey as well as many other awards, including a Guest of Honor Awarded by Ismael. That award meant more to me than any of them, and receiving that award from Ismael felt like coming full circle as an artist. I remember seeing him in the crowd as I received my awards, he looked like a proud older brother. Ismael told me that the first email he sent to me was so harsh, because he wanted me to know the truth so I would improve, but mostly he didn't think I'd ever bother him again. It was to his astonishment that I wrote back again and again. He tried to get rid of me, but instead fused a friendship that I hold very dear.

I will never forget the kindness and time Ismael shared with me. He took me under his wing and I wouldn't be where I am today as an artist if it wasn't for his talent and kindness. I feel as if I have lost a friend, a mentor, an inspiration, but mostly, a brother.

Throughout the years, Ismael and I exchanged caricatures of each other. This is the most recent one that he did of me, and the most recent one that I did of him. We also exchanged originals, I own several originals of his. He also sent me books throughout the years of artists that he thought would inspire me. The man was generous.

Ismael, you will truly be missed!

Blue Shark Sketch

2009-09-14T13:33:00.000-07:00

Hey artists out there, have you sketched today? Why not? Sketch each day, even if only for a little bit!

Kevin James

2009-09-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

Odosketch #3

2009-09-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

This is a fun little site to mess around with . . . it doesn't have every color or brush available that you would need, so it forces you to be creative with what they have and just have fun!

Fun Sketch Site!

2009-09-11T10:58:00.001-07:00

This is a cool site where you sketch RIGHT in the browser and it records it....thanks Joe Bluhm for sharing this on your blog . . . this is fun. This was my first try, just messing with the brushes, seeing how this site works . . . Give it a try at Odosketch.

Here's another quick doodle . . . the brushes are a bit weird, I can't figure out how to change the brush sizes, not sure if you can? Anyways, it's fun to mess around with if you're looking for something to do.

Juice

2009-09-10T17:27:00.000-07:00

Good Movie from the early 90's staring the late Tupac Shakur, if you havent seen it check it out

Geisha

2009-09-10T15:24:00.000-07:00

This is a vector piece that was drawn for a tattoo sign. I kind of liked it and wanted to post it.

True Blood: Eric

2009-09-05T20:55:00.000-07:00

Johnny Blues

2009-08-21T19:42:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I posted anything here. So here. Tada!
Check out my gallery at: http://bardsville.deviantart.com/
~Cheers~

Ghostface Killah

2009-08-20T22:19:00.000-07:00

Evey Hammond

2009-08-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

Still working on it. I have a hard time finishing stuff.

I've seen better days . . .

2009-08-12T09:33:00.001-07:00

This is a piece I started about a year ago . . . I decided to take it to the next level and beyond . . . I'm in the middle of about 10 paintings right now, so there will be plenty to share here soon. I'm going to keep this painterly, get tight where it needs it, but to my eye and taste, I like things to be a bit brushy . . .

Update on Prints for Sale!
It was brought to my attention that I forgot to mention that the prints I have for sale on Etsy are Limited Edition of 200 Prints. Each print will be signed and numbered, once sold out, that's it!

I'm at Wizard World Comic Convention for the rest of the weekend!

2009-08-07T06:13:00.001-07:00

Here's a pic of me and Imaginism Studio's Peter Chan at our booth at Wizard World Chicago. Today I'll be busting out some acrylics and painting a little, so if your there or in the area, stop by booth 3504 and say hi. I'll of course be selling my books and DVD as well as some new Giclee prints.

I'll post some newish art tomorrow!

Robert Di Nero

2009-08-05T21:07:00.000-07:00

Pencil Sketch of Larry King for Sale!

2009-08-03T14:48:00.001-07:00

From time to time I'll be selling original drawings, sketches and paintings on Etsy. I just finished this Larry King drawing, click here to buy and see what else is currently for sale.

Prints will be available soon as well. If interested in prints, any work of mine is available as a giclee print.

SOLD - Acrylic wash of Darwin, painted for my newest book.

Henry Miller 7-28-09

2009-07-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

Tony Soprano

2009-07-29T13:24:00.001-07:00

Mick Jagger

2009-07-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

Turiana Turia

2009-07-22T13:53:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd put this one up here. This is a kiwi politician of no particular importance. Fun to draw though.

RIP Michael Jackson

2009-07-09T12:45:00.001-07:00

i could write for hours about how much i love Michael Jackson and his music, so all i will say is RIP and thank you.

Simon

2009-07-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

This is Simon from Narok, Kenya. I had been in Africa for three days but when I met Simon I had only been in Narok one night and a morning. I was still nervous about the whole Africa thing but this guy really put me at ease - at least while I was at his place. I mean how can this face be anything but comforting? He ran an outdoor bar that was surrounded by tropical plants and stuff so it looked kind of nice in probably the poorest city I've ever been in. Narok has a good amount of people in it to not have any paved roads (besides the one leading to it). When Luke and I arrived here he had us out two beers and a little appetizer. This would be the last beer I had for about two weeks. Man it was good. It was like a little oasis. Luke gave him a New Testament Bible the previous year and he had become a minister in the year since we were there. I thought that was pretty cool - a minister/bartender. I think he felt like there wasn't any better place to preach than the bar.

This is us sitting at the little oasis.

Lil Wayne

2009-06-28T22:15:00.001-07:00

Rihanna

2009-06-21T09:05:00.000-07:00

not much to say about this one, wanted to try some different stuff and REALLY wanted to paint that hair

Jerry Sandusky

2009-06-17T15:07:00.001-07:00

Jerry is a former coach for the Penn State Nittany Lion football team. A while back I met a woman who works with the Second Mile program. She ask me if i would be interested in doing a caricature of him for a benefit auction. So here is what i came up with. I hope someone buys it. The auction is part of the Charity Golf outing and happens a week and a day from this post. If it is bought, i will be sure to post the information.

2 more finished...

2009-06-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

The first is a painting of actor Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles from the movie "Ray". The second is of one of my favorite rappers of all time, Eminem.

All About Soul - Billy Joel

2009-06-14T10:02:00.001-07:00

Been wanting to do this for one a long time. Had so much fun working on this piece.

2009-06-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

Benecio...

I'd not visited this blog for a while - so it's been really cool to see all the new work here!

Spock & Cee-Lo

2009-06-02T16:38:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to share two of the caricatures ive been working on lately. the first is Zach Quinto as Spock from the new Star Trek movie. The second is Cee-lo who is the vocal half of the dynamic duo Gnarls Barkley

Tina Fey

2009-05-25T06:39:00.000-07:00

Been wanting to do this one for awhile. Got some good critique on it on the ISCA site, and while I thought of changing it a little to reflect the advice, I'm just going to move on to the next one, rather than obsess about this one, because as we all know, there will ALWAYS be room for improvement.

Megan Fox

2009-05-22T13:01:00.001-07:00

Hadn't posted anything on this blog for awhile so I thought I'd share something. Let me know what you think :)

Frank Caliendo

2009-05-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

I spent an afternoon on this. I would like to smooth it some but stil like the painted rough look.

Bruce Lee

2009-05-18T12:43:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to share the painting i finished last night. shout out to dan, the bruce lee painting he posted a couple weeks back inspired me to paint this.

Tenacious D

2009-05-16T16:34:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to stop by and share what ive been working on for the past couple of weeks. its the greatest band of all time, Tenacious D.

Tm Russert

2009-05-06T23:04:00.000-07:00

I did this as part of the daily birthday caricatures listed on the NCN forum.

Napoleon

2009-05-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

This is how I think Napoleon Bonaparte probably looked right after the battle of Waterloo.

His grand army had been crushed and his political career was in tatters, a bad day by anybodys standards.

I reckon he would have sneaked off for a quiet cigar and a drop of the strong stuff; he is about to utter the immortal words 'Not tonight Josephine!'

more stuff

2009-05-04T08:20:00.000-07:00

here is some more of the work ive finished in the past couple of weeks but never got around to posting it on the schoolism blog to get some feedback. ive posted this stuff on my personal blog so sorry to anybody who has seen this stuff before. with that said here goes Paul Rudd, Bill Cosby, and Heath Ledger. on a side note im not to happy with Cosby, i dont feel like i pushed the features enough and for some reason i feel like it needs jell-o in there somewhere. anyway let me know what you think, especially about adding the jell-o.

I haven't been sharing......

2009-04-24T08:37:00.000-07:00

hey all, I noticed that though i have shared a few things, there are still some pieces that i never posted here to get some feedback on. with that said this is the first of a few things im going to throw up soon. For those who dont know its Michael Weston from the show "Burn Notice". I started watching it recently and pretty much got obsessed so i decided to draw the main character. oh yeah thanks for all feedback on other things ive posted and feel free to check out my personal blog at www.torrenthomasart.blogspot.com

2009-04-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

Here is my final submission for Jason's class. What a great class.

Tom Waits

2009-04-19T17:08:00.000-07:00

Bye John

2009-04-17T07:09:00.001-07:00

f0r those that dont know, one of the best announcers ever has decided to call it quits this week. thats right no more john madden. Its kind of strange becasue i actually decided to do this painting before he decided to retire. I really did it because his birthday was last week, oh well guess it serves two purposes now. anyway i just wanted to share with everybody

JD from Scrubs (Zach Braff)

2009-04-14T14:26:00.001-07:00

Bruce Lee Acrylic

2009-04-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

ABBA

2009-04-07T13:25:00.000-07:00

This is of the Swedish pop group ABBA, who were big in the 1970's and 80's.

I did some colour studies in pastel before going digital, which helped a lot.

Big Killah

2009-04-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

hey everybody, i have been wanting to post more finished work here instead of just sketches all the time so i decided to share the painting i did of my cousin Garrett "Big Killah" Lyles. I did a sketch of him way back in December when i was in Jason's class and just now got around to painting him, anway hope you all enjoy.

Bette Davis

2009-04-05T21:17:00.001-07:00

This was one of the birthday suggestions on the NCN message board.

Its been a while...

2009-04-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hey all, I noticed that its been some time since ive posted anything on this blog so i decided to share the quick sketch i did to celebrate the birthday of former white house secertary of state, colon powell. let me know what you think.PEACE

joel coen

2009-04-03T15:55:00.001-07:00

Thom Yorke and a baby

2009-04-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

Not together, that would be weird! It's been a while since I posted. It's cool to see all the 'fresh blood' on here doing the same exercises I did during Jason's class, some awesome work being developed here. Here are my latest paintings, Thom Yorke, and my niece, Abigail (not a caricature, but a great value study!)

Happy Birthday Marlin

2009-04-02T11:19:00.000-07:00

April 3rd is the birthday of Marlin Brando. Here is a drawing i did to post on the NCN web site. I am going to do more work on it, but liked it for a morning drawing.

Legends of Wrestling series 1

2009-03-26T07:01:00.000-07:00

"The Rock" Dwayne Johnson
"The Nature Boy" Ric Flair
"Hulkster" Hulk Hogan
"Macho Man" Randy Savage
Bret "The Hitman" Hart

Ladies and gentlemen, here's one set of Legends of Wrestling series 1 sketch. Enjoy. Cheers

David lynch 3-25-09

2009-03-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

Right now I am painting away every day for my first Gallery show, doing work that has little to no relation to caricature. While I'm painting I listen to a lot of Audio books, Youtube Videos, etc...

I have been exceptionally stimulated by the ideas of Malcolm Gladwell, and a book he recently wrote called Outliers. In it, among lots of stories and ideas, he outright disclaims talent, and puts forth the idea of this concept of a 10,000 hrs rule. This rule says that it takes 10,000 hours to become really good at any one thing. The Beatles, Bill Gates, and I am going to go ahead and put Jason Seiler in this category, are not talented but have an exceptional love for the thing they do, the kind of love that allows someone to spend 10,000 hours studying one thing.

So here is my attempt to begin 10,000 hours doing one of the things I love, caricature. I guess I'm about 500 or so hours in.

Clint

2009-03-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

Here's the weekends effort:

“You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk?”

triptych

2009-03-19T21:57:00.000-07:00

I'd like to do a triptych of the Darjeeling bros. I've already sketched Schwartzman so it's kind of neat to see how Brody's been done as well. We'll see.

it's been a while...

2009-03-18T05:46:00.000-07:00

heya... it's been a while since I did a caricature I was happy with. It's just a citizen caricature, not a celeb, but fun none the less. hope you like.

the ref:

Assignment #5

2009-03-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

Hi all. Sorry I haven't posted here yet. Here's the painting I did for the color assignment.

Birthday Present

2009-03-12T11:16:00.001-07:00

This guy was getting a surfboard for his B-day, and I was asked to design the card. It turned out to be a hit, so we printed it up and framed it for him.

Mr. Sellapan Ramanathan - President of Singapore

2009-03-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Houston's painting of Mr. Ma Ying-jeou, President of Taiwan, I decided to do one for Mr. Sellapan Ramanathan, President of Singapore.

The sketches...

Painting...

Final...

Mr. S. R. Nathan - President of Singapore (See details and ref pic here)

Lesson 5? I think

2009-03-09T13:12:00.000-07:00

This was the limited palette project.I am not sure how i feel about it. I think i need a lot of practice with color.

Putin

2009-03-08T21:46:00.000-07:00

This was my outcome for this week's assignment...
Vladamir Putin. Funny what you can come up with using 3 different colors. I learned a lot on this one.
Looking forward to seeing everyone elses assignments.