Illustration Friday: "Trick or Treat"

Beowulf fights Grendel by Justin Gerard

I'm posting this "Trick or Treat" on behalf of the studio where I work. The above work was created by Justin Gerard, Portland Studios.

Beowulf, book one: Grendel the Ghastly is our studio's first foray into the publishing world.

Presenting Justin's vision of the world of Beowulf.

And the fantastic, fantastic site our in-house geniuses over the wall next to me made from scratch.

Pre-order the book if you love it-- release date is November 15!

Visit below to explore the book and see more artwork:

UPDATE:

We're having an contest!
I'm told that if you enter my initials ( CG ) in the Portland Studios store and buy the Beowulf book you get 5% off the cost (and I get a point)

We're having a little in-house contest of sales. I've also heard there's going to be a prize for the most non-employee sales/contacts... I'll pass on info as I learn it.

work environment

Anyone want to see photography of the interior of Portland Studios? Who wouldn't.
Inside.

monster, notes

More notes (music notes?) from the regularly scheduled Tuesday meeting.

Demeter

It has fallen to me to create the first of (hopefully, if this is successful) many seasonal t-shirts for Portland Studios.

The next available holiday being Thanksgiving (not enough time for Halloween, unfortunately. The possibilities for cool shirts for that holiday are simply staggering...)

I love Thanksgiving. I hope you do too.

Behold,

The Spirit of Thanksgiving.

She resembles something of Demeter. You may read more about her here.

Behold!

My thanks to you all who voted. I have recieved an email from I.F.

Below is a real, live portion of an email:

"Congratulations! Your entry is in the top 25 of voted entries, and we can't wait to show off your work!"

What is this for? Glad you asked. Here.

stringed instrumnet

Above, notes during a recent meeting.

And for anyone who ever believed my hair has never been long here is proof to the contrary. This was many months ago.

Arch

Michael

More Painter X

Still trying to make sense of this mess called Painter. It's like it doesn't want to obey until I've struggled for about 20 minutes. Then it kicks in.

Sandbox animation test

Messing with simple animations. The possibilites for a patient person as staggering.

Click on the sandbox below to see it move.



This is an old drawing I did to entertain myself during class in school. I always liked the idea.

Illustration Friday: "Extremes"

Extremes? Maybe. Painter and Photoshop may not be at the extreme either end of the spectrum, but they are different. And I get very different results. The results themselves being extreme. There, how's that.

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Painter is a completely different animal than Photoshop I have found. The brush effects are really cool. I used Painter a few times, a couple years ago. Here's to wishing I had stuck with it.

At the time I had a vague idea that I would need to know Painter. Alas. Lazy youth it would seem.



The above reworked in Photoshop.

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For all you I.F.-ers, you can still vote for me (if you are so inclined) for the Illustration Friday gallery show, because,

Hurrah! I was mistaken, You may vote until the 19th of October!

Oh boy! How fun. My entry with links to the voting:

http://lightnightrains.blogspot.com/2007/10/illustration-friday-open.html


Thank you.

"That thing's operational!"

Behold! The BEOWULF, book one: GRENDEL THE GHASTLY website!
Our studio's first foray into the publishing world. Justin Gerard's vision of the world of Beowulf. Beats the pants off that Zemeckis.

Visit!

PIG!

But I want to be a paperback writer...

Everyone's favorite Landon is headed to new paperback editions with revamped cover designs.

The illustrations are the same but the ornate-ness of the cover has been pulled back. Apparently to let the illustrations shine. Or so I would like to think :)

See them all here.

Rule Britannia!

I've been looking to get a little time to make a large piece to go in one of my windows here at work. Our office is located on the second floor of a building (there's a nice restaurant below us) at a busy intersection.

Theoretically, if I put a big drawing/painting in the window I could make one of two things happen. Maybe both. There's a disticnt possibility they might even be related. Or at very least correlated. Which is to say that they may be mutually or reciprocally related. Enough. Here's my thoughts:

1) Make people look at the window.

2) Cause traffic collisions.

For the one who would protest, saying, "But those are not reasons enough to do anything."

I would reply, "If those are not reasons good enough for you then perhaps you are not doing anything worth doing anyway."

I'd like to make this a rotating, one piece show. Below you'll find the beginnings of my first entry as well as the thought behind it:

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When Britain first, at Heaven's command

Arose from out the azure main;

This was the charter of the land,

And guardian angels sung this strain:

"Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:

"Britons never will be slaves."

The Ballad of Matthew's Begats

A book? Yes it is! In fact it is the first book idea that Portland Studios pitched to a publisher and a publisher bought it.

I believe it was Brannon thought the idea up and I developed it and concepted it. I boarded it out and kind of made it up. Then I drew pictures for it. The art for The Ballad developed over several months, almost a year. Growing from a book of headshots of funny looking old people to a more complete, fuller presentation-- with ancient Polaroids (which you'll be able to see for yourself very soon)

It's true, you've heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Well folks, grip the arms of whatever chair you happen to be sitting in (or, if you're not sitting in a chair you may hold onto your face if you need to)

Behold, the Dead Sea Polaroids

Anyway, the reviews are starting. This one, is very kind and positive.

It's that time of year it would seem.

society of illustrators annual 50

Update : For the record, I was accepted in two categories, Book and Sequential. Yeah!

Sent off my entries to The Society of Illustrators Annual today. For anyone who may not know, it is the most prestigious and recognized publication of illustration in the world. As such I haven't been accepted before. This year however, I believe I've got some solid entries.

I've entered three pieces, one in Uncommissoned, one in Book, and one in Sequential.

***Uncommisoned***Dandelion Embers

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***Book***Grimble Crossing the Alps
from Jack & Inar, pub. date early 2008

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***Sequential***


DVD cover

I haven't ever entered Sequential before, mostly because (as one might imagine) I haven't had anything to show. I also hadn't ever noticed that they accept animation entries. So, edited down to 2 minutes, The Ruin of the Beast has been submitted for cosideration.

included inside the jewel case with the DVD:

I'll make information concering these entries available as I find out-- which won't be for a while anyway.

Thankfully, S.I. let's you know if you've been accepted or not accepted so you're not wondering until you see the book.

Cheers.

more notes from today's meeting.

view of the water tank

Illustration Friday: "Juggle"

Juggling home and work life has never been easy for this pig.
Between acting like a sullen cry-baby and working at Starbucks, life is tough.

RV CAMP!

A whole lot of tshirts going on! Proofs back from the printer and enjoy! sunny PORTLAND STUDIOS RV CAMP looks perfect.

Now you to can enjoy! a visit to the sunny, relaxing, and refreshing PORTLAND STUDIOS RV CAMP every time you wear this shirt! Where you never met a stranger and a slice of apple pie is as close as the nearest window sill.

When you pull on this 100% Fine Jersey cotton, American Apparel tshirt, you'll know that our horse ranch is second only to Kentucky and you and your whole family will enjoy! tubing down the sunny PORTLAND STUDIOS RV CAMP river.

No sasquatchs come near our well defended borders.

Don't delay, reserve yours today!

Portland Studios Store!

subculture pig

Here's a bad quality photo of the beginning of a new piece.
He's all set; a piggy subcultured buffoon.

speak

You know what day it is, so talk like one already!

regularly scheduled tuesday meeting.

magic pouches

Who wouldn't like some magic pouches?

interview

A little while ago I was interviewed for a magazine that's a division of the Greenville News, the local paper.

For any interested one, here's the link to the online version of the article.