Nicole Baylor, Reworked

The plan today was to try and retackle the Nicole Baylor piece I had previously penciled and try to get her all done in one day. I loved the feeling I had last week when I got the Ryan Burke piece I used for the blog header penciled, inked, and colored all in one waking day and I wanted that feeling again. I thought doing this Nicole piece might be just what I was looking for.

So I got the board laid out, blue line penciled the whole piece, and started in with the pencil details.

And that's when it hit me.

I had woken up with a touch of a headache this morning but after I got to the board and started working the headache developed into a full blown migraine. My head was aching, the room felt like it was spinning, and I got very nauseous. I tried to fight through it and keep working but it was just too much. I staggered into my bedroom and tried to lay down but that just made it worse. So, I retreated to the living room, laid on the couch, and watched old science fiction TV shows until I passed out on the couch.

I woke up late in the evening, had some dinner, and felt a bit better.

Around nine o'clock tonight I hit the board again and finished penciling the Nicole piece.

It was by no means a perfect day and I didn't get anything close to what I wanted done but I am much happier with the way Nicole looks in this piece than she did in the previous piece. The way she is sitting on the music road case looks much more natural and correct than what I had done before.

And, if nothing else, I survived an afternoon where I really felt like I was dying. And, that's always a good thing.

Have a good one. I hope to be back in fighting shape tomorrow!

New Addition

I added a new guitar pedal to the OilCan Drive family last week and, so far, it's fitting right into the mix. It's a Tech 21 NYC Boost Chorus pedal and it gives guitars, basses, and even voices that kind of watery shimmering sound. The best example I can think of is during the intro of Nirvana's "Come As You Are."

I plan on using this effect on a few of the lead lines in a couple of the OilCan Drive songs I am working on. Right now I just need to do those leads, record a few more bass parts, and do some quick mixes and I'll be almost done. Then it's just a matter of singing.

And, for some reason, singing again has gotten me worried.

I've been singing lately again just to make sure my voice it still OK but nothing has felt right. Not singing in the car, singing along with Monika, or even singing in the shower. For a while there I figured what little singing ability I had was gone and it might be time to wrap this thing up before I embarrass myself.

But, then I pulled my microphone out and set it in the middle of the room. I didn't plug it in or anything, I just set it up. And, when I walked up to it and sang into it, there it was. Every note and rasp of my voice that I liked was there. I guess it takes standing in front of a microphone to make the Ryan Burke of OilCan Drive voice come out of me. I know that's a weird quirk to have but it's nice to know that the voice is still there.

Once I start singing I promise to take a few photos and show just how goofy I look when I do stuff like this. It should be fun.

OK, have a great day! Talk to you tomorrow!

I Can See Clearly Now

Here is the finished logo that I completed this week after showing off the original art for it yesterday.

I told you yesterday that I had illustrated this same character about ten years ago for the same client and, after seeing what he looked like back then, I decided it was time for a little upgrade. The client requested if I could put a paint brush in this guy's back pocket so that gave me the perfect opportunity to redo him. I figured if I needed to add something to the original figure why not just do him all over again and make him look better.

I also added a rag in his other back pocket as well. You can see how it had to be modified and shortened from the original illustration to fit into the logo design. But, I think it worked out well.

And here is the original figure I did along with a basic layout of what the client was thinking of for the new logo. I really like the idea of the guy washing off a bit of grime right in the logo and it really sells what his business is in a nice and clear way. So, I just tried to mimic what he wanted in the logo and give it a little more flash.

It was really a great idea on his part and it made my job that much easier when getting the finished piece done. And, because we were on the same page, I got this done really quick and out the door.

And now it's on to the next project!

Have a great day!

From The Desk

Here's a little something from my art desk that I was working on this week. And, no, it wasn't the girl (although I like the way she came out as well.)

A friend of a friend back in Maine had started his own window cleaning and painting company years ago and I did some art for him for his logo. Well, he came back asking me if I could take the figure I had drawn back then and put him into a new design. After seeing the art I did about ten years ago I decided to just redo the figure and create a whole new logo for him from scratch.

Luckily for this window cleaner and painter I had a bit of room on a previous illustration I did of this sexy girl. I didn't think he'd mind sharing the room.

And, if you look to the left of the cleaner, there is a little symbol I drew that I used on the bandana of the Ryan Burke illustration I did earlier this week.

Here at Plastic Spoon Studios, no room on any piece of paper is wasted!

Have a great day.

Finished Ryan Burke

Here is the finished hi-res version of Ryan Burke I did for this month's blog header.

While I liked the idea of portraying Ryan all geared up for war as some sort of rock and roll freedom fighter I wanted to push it just a little bit more. I've recently been reading Frank Herbert's sci-fi masterpiece DUNE for the first time and at every page turn I am reading about the coming jihad of Paul Muad'Dib Atreides. More than once he sees an awful future where his Fedaykin followers wage a terrible holy war under the green and black colors of the Atreides house.

I like the idea of fighting for a cause under a symbol and I thought it might be cool to have Ryan wage his own personal jihad across the wastelands of a futuristic America. So, I painted a symbol on his bandana and used the same symbol as a design in the background behind him.

The symbol, while similar to the one I used on the Ryan Burke t-shirt (taken from the band The Who's RAF style symbol) actually comes from a movie I recently watched on Netflix called "What We Do is Secret." It's a biographical drama set in the late 70's about Darby Crash and his band The Germs (featuring a young Pat Smear, later of Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, on guitar.) One of the things Darby used was symbolism to push his rock and roll message and one of the strongest symbols he believed in was the circle. It's an interesting movie and one I need to watch again sometime soon.

So, I thought a circle banner for Ryan to fight under felt fitting for the design for some reason. I'm sure people have led their own personal jihads under symbols that were just as trivial to others. But, I do like it as a design idea.

And, once I was done with the color I did a grayscale zip-a-tone styled version of the illustration as well. I always love the way these things look when I do this. It really reminds me of a lot of the manga books I read back when I was a teenager that really drew me into comics in the first place. I love the black and white dots making gray patterns across the figure and I really love that it's pure black and white with no gray in between. Something about that idea always spoke to me. It somehow feels very pure. There is no chance of interpretation of color or tone when it's pure black and white. And I love that.

Anyway, I am now figuring out what to do with my next piece. I have a few ideas in my mind and we'll just have to see what comes out in the next few days.

Have a great day!

Little Bit O' Inking

As promised yesterday here are a few photos of the Ryan Burke illustration I used for the blog header in progress.

I was really happy all around with how this piece came out, especially that I did it all in one day. The one thing that does bother me, now that I look back on it, is how rounded I made the body of the guitar on the left side. The body on that part of a Fender Stratocaster is much flatter and not so round. I looked back at the pencils and I had it right so I think I used too much of an arced french curve on it when I inked in that part. Ah well, maybe it's not so noticeable to someone who doesn't think about and stare at guitars most of their day. But, for me, it's still the first thing I see.

Here is a bit of a closer look at the line work. I took this photo after I had inked everything but hadn't erased any pencil lines or done any white-out touch up. You can still see a few faint lines I didn't ink as I was going to tackle those in the color stage.

From this point it was simply a matter of erasing the pencil sketch, filling in a few black spaces (that's what the little x's are for), doing some touch up with a bit of white out, and then scanning and coloring the piece in the computer.

Tomorrow I'll show off the finished hi-res color version of this piece as well as a special bonus version of this piece. But, for now, it's back to work on something new.

Have a great day!

Happy February!

So, despite even my own doubts that I could get it done, I finished up a full illustration yesterday to use for the new February blog header. This piece started as nothing but a blank piece of paper less than twenty four hours ago and I went to bed last night with it completely finished.

Over the next few days I'll post a few photos of the inks in progress as well as a higher resolution completed piece where I'll explain a bit more of my thinking behind the illustration.

But, for now, have a great February and a great day!