kim's birthday invite!?

so i think it's about done...

i started out without much information: come up with an image for my wife's sister-in-law's birthday [does that make her my sister-in-law too?] & not much else, other than that i was sure there'd be drinking;) it was hot that day at the time so i assumed it'd be hot in another few weeks [don't quite have a gauge on seattle summers yet], so i started drawing folks @ the beach [probably because it's where i wished i was;)]... heh.

so without much luck fishing for a theme, jen and i thought that "mojitos" would work, so...

i added a cuban hat [simple, eh;)?] to the center guy, drew up a flaming cake that i threw that in front of him [he wasn't wearing pants in the original image;)],a nd then composited him, with a buncha beach-goers to widen the aspect ratio to something that would work as an invite header.
i decided to tone down the flame and enlarge the cake before dropping some gouache on it this is also the point at which i realized that i'd been painting on the wrong side of the canvas paper, which btw. makes it hard as hell to get ink and paint on there;)

and the final-ish... cleaned up the border + added a layer of outline burn on in photoshop. now hopefully all i have left is the info + possibly a bit more color adjustment + clean up the wording on the cake, etc.

enjoy!


... patenaude

while i'm off topic...

i know, i know- this is supposed to be an art blog, but... i just can't help but share. check out [this place] ,jen and i will be celebrating our 2-year anniversary @. it's called the tides hotel, way down in Zihuatanejo, mexico [the place morgan freeman met up with tim robbins @ in "shawshank redemption]- CAN't WAIT!

will post some phortos, just in case ya don't feel like clicking the link;)


... patenaude

A Very Special Uncle Muscles Christmas: funny? yes. disturbing? definitely...

you probably don't think [uncle muscles] is funny, but... i do. and after searching for it countless time for my cheap laughs, i've finally buckled down and posted it in a most convenient place... here.

this might become a habit.

... patenaude

illustration friday:WIDE

this week's topic for illustration Friday is WIDE. i immediately thought of a "wide-bodied" perso- flawed folk are always more fun to draw than the pretty ones;)... and of course flawed beasts are even more fun!

after the initial sketch, it was looking rather empty, so i gathered up a few old sketches from here and there [i think the bats are from ~2000], scanned them, and arranged 'em in photoshop. the printed it out, traced it up onto some fredrix 100% cotton watercolor canvas [first time using it- quite a joy- much more "fabric-like" than most of the canvas paper i've used]. i then laid the gouache on + colored pencil, and ink from both uniball vision elites + sharpie [was rough going getting the ink to cut through/ lay on the paint and pencil wax]. then scanned it back in and added a bit more photoshop. anyway- enough rambling- here it is...

i might do a bit more tinkering with it, after staring at it for a while, but i wanted to post it before the illustration friday cut off tomorrow.

btw. for those of you not familiar with "illustration friday", here's the write-up...

"Illustration Friday is a weekly creative outlet/participatory art exhibit for illustrators and artists of all skill levels. It was designed to challenge participants creatively. We believe that every person has a little creative bone in their body. Illustration Friday just gives a no-pressure, fun excuse to use it. No clients looking for a particular thing. No one judging the outcome of the work. It's a chance to experiment and explore and play with visual art. So welcome, novices and pros alike." -penelope dullaghan and brianna privett

i hope ya dig it!


... patenaude

illustration friday: WIDE, progress...

i might spend a few days on this, so i figured i'd post a preview of the layout. after a sketch of the main character, decided to fill it up a bit with a few old sketches- i love having these on hand, to add a bit more substance to my compositions.

i just traced it onto some canvas, and will hopefully have it painted all up by wednesday or thursday night!

... patenaude

GIVEAWAY: full batch o' BEASTIE minis!

i was just dying for a reason to print out the entire set of beastie minis, make use of my new "custom" packaging, and spread a little color throughout the world;).

and what better excuse is there, that to hand them out as prizes to the deserving young whippersnappers. lucky for me, my mother-in-law, jani just happens to have a room full of them in her class up @ Custer Elementary School, where she hands out prizes from the treasure box to kids "getting caught being good".

i'm quite happy with how they turned out- those 5X5" little bags add quite a nice touch!

if ya want one of your own, head over to my [etsy shop] ,where i've just discounted them to a minuscule 7$- collect them all!

... patenaude

illustration friday: electricity

so this week's topic for [illustration friday] is "electricity". i have a few very specific [subject wise] pieces in progress right now, so i took this as an opportunity to turn my brain down to low[er;)], and throw something down in my sketch pad.

after growing the piece into a few different compositions, i settled on this one, laid down some color with gouache, and colored pencil, then took it into photoshop, and... this is what i got!

i'm calling him "electric bill" [yeah- real original;)]. might do a bit more tinkering with the piece later, before throwing him up on my [etsy shop].

... patenaude

SMURFS COLOR REMIX... DONE!?

here's the story...

after completing the smurf pieces for the saturday morning cartoon show back in march, there were chocked full of elements that i really wasn't liking [the more pieces there are in a composition= the more potential for there to be at least one, thatchoo don't like (that's why Hieronymus Bosch is so impressive- it's all fantastic!)].

still wanting to make use of the elements i did like in the smurf pieces, i decided to divide the smurf [remixes;)] into their own smaller pieces- easier to narrow focus on smaller pieces, although my art will be getting busier again in the not-too-distant future.

so. here's a sampling of my favorite three...

and the process: seperate drawings of the smurfs/ foreground and background [actually had to ctop a lot of the background out]- composited in photoshop, printed out on canvas paper, inks, gouached & sealed wtih workable fixative. after that, came the ink- windsor newton applied with a nib for the characters, and , and a uniball vision elite for the bg [to help set it back a bit further]. i then scanned it all in, pumped the saturation a bit, to where it should be, then layed the outline back over with multiply and burn layers... and done!

you can check out the rest in my [SHOP!] where you can actually buy one of your very own!

... patenaude!

illustration friday: seed

so this week's topic for [illustration friday] is "seed". after a little brainstorming, i figured what better example of seed is there, that the ones most fun to spit at your friends- WATERMELLON!

as always, i started off with a quick sketch in my 5.5" X 8.5" skech pad [i love this size- perfect for carrying around anywhere- i have at least 50 of these filled from as far back as high school],
i laid on a bit of ink to "formalize" the lines.

then, as is becoming habit lately, i traced it onto bristol board [to extend my canvas, and get it on a more durable surface] with my ever-useful light table.... laid some gouache on + colored pencil for some of the tighter areas [his shirt text, pants tie, etc.].

then scanned it, bumped the saturation, and brought out the outlines again in photoshop, and that's whatcha get!

... patenaude

fecal face fridayz topic: FIVE!!

in an attempt to get my art & name out there a bit more [not just on all MY web sites;)], i'll be posting on more sites with weekly topics, etc. this piece is for a site called "fecal face.com". no- it's not THAT kind of site- it's an art site with weekly art topics [it's nice to have forced direction sometimes:)], interviews, giveaways, gallery schedules, etc.

unfortunately, i think i mighta screwed up on this one- i "think" the topic "might" be "fives", but got a bit confused when i checked out this [link] which lists this week's theme as "first love", but also that last week's winner was "first love"... anyway- here's my submission [hopefully it'll make it onto the site:)]...

and the process: quick sketch in the pad + inked, traced onto bristol board again [to have a more durable surface + expand the canvas area], inked, laid on some gouache, re-inked [to bring the outlines back up that were covered with the gouache], added a bit of prisma color for a tiny bit of highlights/ shadows, then a few inky finishing touches, and signed it. shizam!

planning on jumping back onto my smurf color remix pieces this weekend. will hopefully knock all those out, then onto whatever else!

... patenaude