illustration friday: WRINKLES

so. i missed last week, because the topic changed on friday [the day i was going to post it], but all the well, 'cause i wasn't really "feeling" the piece anyway.

anyway- after a few attempts at a wrinkly face, i was getting bored, so shot off into bulldog/ pug territory for inspiration [my boston mixes don't have enough wrinkles], ever careful not to get too generic. after a few hours, a couple glasses of wine, and plenty of scans [to cover my ass] later, here's what i got...

the process: drawing + tracing onto bristol board [to expand the canvas], scan, print out, gouache, scan [for a backup just in case the next step didn't work], then i laid some colored pencil on [it's been a while since i've used that medium, but boy do i dig it- _so_ much control], then scanned it back in, a bit of photoshop work [including saturation bumps, level shifting, a teensy bit of artistic filters + laid the outline back over the colored version with both multiply and color burn], and... that's about it.

might do some more tinkering with it, but this is it for now! enjoy!

... patenaude

isn't it great, when things are easy...

so i'm working on an animated gif for my banner on pikaland. having not made one in ~13 years [jeez!], i need a little refresher course.

within a few seconds after typing the search into google, i had this video up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z93Z1v5dypE, and found that adobe image ready [which i happen to have] is the way to go. and a few minutes after, watching. done!

i still need to work on the title screen, and might work a bit more variety of images in there [although i don't want to get too busy], but here's how it's looking...

i scaled it here x2 to will the space, but the final will be @ 160pixels squared. now... back to more art!!

... patenaude

!!WOW!! look what i found in the vault!

hey there, firends!,

so! i _finally_ got around to going through some old art work from _WAY_ back when, that i'd burned and forgot about. some of them are on my portfolio site, but need a bit of polish and love to get them ready for my etsy shop.

yes- i'm obsessed with "printmaking" now, but you know... it's because it seems they' finally being "brought to life" after sitting on old hard drives, CD back-ups, and the darkest corners of the internet. when they're actually PRINTED, they exist PHYSICALLY, and that, my friends, is a great feeling!

here are a few, that i dug up the full-resolution versions of [no- these images are _not_ full rez] from the box collection, that i created _WAY_ back in 2001!!

i hope you enjoy, and be on the look out for more "golden oldies";)

... patenaude

wednesday UPDATE: TALES of BERTHA!

so as you may know, if you've been following the site, bertha is my new HP photosmart pro B9180.

after a few runs on the hahnemuhle smooth fine art paper, that i ordered with the printer, i was looking for something thicker and more substantial.

i ordered a batch of hahnemuhle 308gsm from atlex.com [along with a sampler pack that was on back order and _still_ hasn't arrived] and ~10 [ugh] days later, it finally arrived. unfortunately it was not the paper i had in mind [which turned out is crane's fine art 100% cotton rag fine art paper- gorgeous stuff], but i decided to give it a go regardless, because i was chomping at the bit for something new.

jeez. i'm even boring myself, so i'll cut to the chase: HP photosmart pro B9180 + HP tech. support= _frustration!_

during countless attempts, much cursing was involved while i tried in vain to coax her into earning her keep. following each attempt, i felt as i was being mocked by it's clicking & shaking that can be most closely compared to a celebratory touchdown dance]. there was more that one occasion where i contemplated her death- fantasizing about finding the perfect sledge hammer to teach her who's boss.

poring over the manual for the 10th time, i _FINALLY_ figured out the reason the printer was being inconsistently finicky about whether it wanted the sacrifices/ paper that i had to offer it- after a few days of cursing and second guessing whether i should have bought the printer, i _finally_ opened the top hatch, and noticed that after the paper was entering bertha's mouth, it was slanting up and over the rollers, and getting caught [the manual only mentioned this problem occurring with canvas paper, but i suppose it's a universal issue with all thick papers].

so. after a gentle nudge down and under the rollers, she's finally giving me what i want- beautiful, crisp, color-filled prints [personally, i think they're looking great!], that fill me with anticipation every time i send her a job.

... hallelujah!!

ps. yes- posts with no images suck- i promise to snap a few shots of the printer and prints, as soon as i get a chance!

... patenaude

illustration friday topic: fail

after hearing about www.illustrationfriday.com the other night, i decided to give it a try [anything to get more of my art "out there":)]. because of learning about it so late in the week though, i decided to dig up an existing concept that i think nails the topic quite nicely: fail.

really looking forward to creating a brand-new piece for next week's topic already!!


... patenaude

ETSY SHOWCASE!

to celebrate tax day [ugh]?, i set up a showcase on ETSY today [for those of you that might have actually gotten a little spendable income back this year;)]. if you visit the art section in the showcase [click ART in the tab on the top right, one of my pieces is featured (see if you can tell which one it is;))].

and to inject a little art into the update, here's the latest in the beastly floating portraits series: AUGUST...

... there should end up being 12 in all, if none of them get cut.

... patenaude

BEASTLY FLOATING PORTRAITS PREVIEW...

so... i think this is the direction i'm going with them [all... 11 of them (not sure what i'm going to cut)]- a bit simpler than some of the last paintings i've done- trying to reign it in a bit, and experiment a bit more with different formulas/ processes, before i expand back into larger compositions [although with my attention span- who knows].

this particular piece, "FLOATING BEASTLY PORTRAIT: june" [the month is primarily a way to keep track of which beast it is] is a product of the following process...

a nice spontaneous sketch (it's funny how something i strive so hard to keep "spontaneous, involves so much work;)) with very little line work, scanning, resizing to a specific image size [the final product will be a 7X7" print], printing it out (on the cheap printer;)), tracing it onto canvas paper with my favorite lead holder (graphite), then nailing the lines (not line width) with sharpie.

after that comes the gouache- nothing complicated- just washes with a bit of character, then onto the final [although this may be a step i vary for future pieces] outlines, with windsor newton ink + various uniball pens for smaller line weights.

then comes the scan [i'm thinking i might scan a separate outline (the original usually ends up differing enough from the painting so that i'm not able to lay THAT over the top for the outline) to composite over the top separately, like i've done int he past], which is taken into photoshop to pump back in, the saturation that the scanner drops out. after that, there's a bit of color balance, to pull it back to the original colors. i then select the color range (@ ~100 tolerance), and fill it with black for a layer of multiply, and a layer of color burn [both set to the specific piece].

and here's what i got...

ps. i applaud all of you that have the endurance to get all the way through any of these ADD-riddled posts of mine, and are able to make even a bit of sense out of any of it;)


... patenaude

FRIST PRINT SOLD!!

WOO HOO! at the request of a few people, i've finally added a few simpler/ cleaner works to my etsy shop, and WHADDA YA KNOW!? i _finally_ SOLD MY FIRST PRINT within minutes of posting it, to the extremely talented, supportive, and ever helpful, junkyard sam! here's an image of the piece, "little frenchy"...

THANKS!,

patenaude

[late] WEDNESDAY UPDATE...

major headway on the BEASTLY FLOATING PORTRAITS series last night- after tracing sized and printed sketches, onto canvas paper, i'm doing quick washes for the color, then will end up laying a couple of outline layers over in photoshop, and DONE! a main purpose for this series is to get some nice simple smaller pieces out, and gauge response as to whether extra time= extra better, or is a bit of a waste- we'll see...



... patenaude

BERTHA HATH ARRIVED!!

... and if you've been attention, you know what that means: my brand-new & BAD_ASS HP photosmart PRO B91850 arrived today. after fighting with the install disc for hours, i was finally able to run a couple test prints, and feel confident injecting a _BOAT_LOAD_ of new art [that up until now, been existing only in the darkest recesses of the Internet and my hard drive] into http://www.brianpatenaude.etsy.com/!!

the image below, "polly's picnic", A psychedelic tribute to one of my dogs, is one of my favorites from the RESUSCITATION series, which i've brought back from the dead exclusively for sale @ http://www.brianpatenaude.etsy.com/!!

the LEFT_OUT series has also _FINALLY_ wrapped up, and the entire collection can also be purchased on http://www.brianpatenaude.etsy.com/. here's one of my favorites of the series, LEFT OUT: OF THE BABY SITTING DUTIES"...

next up! a 7X7" series of 15 called, "BEASTLY FLOATING PORTRAITS" and "SMURFS: REMIX", a small series of just 3. NOT ENOUGH TIME IN THE DAY!!

... patenaude

art takes a back seat this weekend...

yes, my friends- every once in a while something comes up that and really puts everything into perspective. despite the fact that my life revolves around art, i realized this weekend that there are indeed things... or "people" that are more important...

after a test on his heart last Thursday, my dad was scheduled for an emergency triple bypass, early saturday morning. my wife, being the loving, caring person that she is, helped me realize that i needed to be down there for such a serious event, and a few minutes later i was booked on the red eye to dallas.

arriving @ 5:30AM, i was there in time to wish him luck, and send him off with a hug. as always, my dad pulled through with flying colors, and is recovering beautifully @ medical city in dallas, with the support of my wonderful family. and with a month or so, it sounds like he'll even be "new-and-improved"!

so. apologies for wandering so off-topic in this "art-centric" blog, but i couldn't help but share an event so heavy that shakes everything into perspective. hopefully it may inspire you to pause and reflect on your priorities as well:)


... patenaude

TUESDAY update...

aside from the new banner up there, there's been quite a bit going on lately. spent most of last night getting a few pieces on the main site [from last last year] into printable order for- wait... wait... BERTHA! [might change her name, if she doesn't look like a "bertha" when it arrives]! my brand-new [HP Photosmart Pro B9180 Photo Printer]!

as soon as that arrives, i'm planning on stuffing my etsy shop to the gills with all sorts of art! STAY TUNED!

... patenaude