From my Great American Writer series
Tom Wolfe, Journalist and novelist
Pencil on paper
"The basic project of art is always to make the world whole and comprehensible, to restore it to us in all its glory and its occasional nastiness, not through argument but through feeling, and then to close the gap between you and everything that is not you, and in this way pass from feeling to meaning. It's not something that committees can do. It's not a task achieved by groups or by movements." Robert Hughes
Batman Villain, "King Tut"
An experiment in comic art combining old-timey brush with india ink and water color paint with photoshop.
The Candidates- "Billary"
Hillary (and Bill) Clinton, first in the series.
Water color and gouache on Strathmore Bristol paper.
Illustration for a Children's Book
A backdrop for my upcoming book "Hattie Bell and the Christmas Skates." This is the left section of a panoramic illustration that will span two pages and include people, street traffic etc.
Executed the old-style way using watercolors and India ink. The sky was added in photoshop and will be replaced with a painted version.
A Shakespeare Feast
A color sketch- about 80% complete of William Shakespeare. The piece is one of several ideas I'm working on for the cover of a book of recipes taken from meals in the works of the Bard. This is based on the well known woodcut that was executed years after his death.
The two color portraits are believed to have been painted while Shakespeare was still alive. The authenticity of the portrait on the left, known as the Cobbe Portrait is disputed by scholars. The center painting bares a much stronger resemblance to the woodcut (right.)
Book Illustration 1
A drawing done the old-school way. This started out as a quick pencil sketch a few days ago. I used to use india ink, water colors, pens (the kind you dip into a bottle of ink) and brushes every day of my working life but it's been quite a while since I worked in that fashion. To me- few methods match the beauty of a picture composed with lines of varying weight and density used to create depth and texture. The master of this technique was the late Ronald Searle.
It's a dying art form that's rapidly being replaced by simulators (styluses and tablets.) I see some gorgeous work being done digitally but it's hard to tell one artist from the next. The same can also be said for the overuse of felt tip pens and spray paint. Ideas-creativity, whether in writing, music or art, start with a simple pencil and a piece of paper.
The drawing was too large for my scanner so I had to piece it together from two separate scans in Photoshop. There are several (too-dark) lines that were enhanced in p/s.
Here's an experiment with superimposing one drawing- the little girls, over a separate background. It's the common practice for animated cartoons that would be useful, at times, for book illustration. Both layers are executed with watercolor on paper.
Hawaiian War Chant
Greatest version of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra classic- dig those tom toms! From the 1970's Time-Life series release of the Swing Era- Billy May orchestra version.
The State and Gargantua
"The State" from my "Fresh Kills" series. This piece was inspired by "Gargantua," (below)
drawn by the great French cartoonist Honore' Daumier in 1831.
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