Cover pencils

As the painting itself is now finished, I wanted to post up some of the steps.  Here are the final pencils and a little look at the painting as it was coming along (it's really more of a look at my workstation.)  After I have it scanned and shipped off, I'll post up the final piece.

Thanks for stopping by!

Superman, the gangster!?!

Here's a current project. Below are some thumbnails I sent to the client and then the pencil rough that followed.

More to come!

A Few Screen Caps...

Here are a few sneaky previews of a painting I'm working on. I'm pursuing a more "traditional" look for this piece even though it is digital. I'll go more into detail later with the finished piece, but my goals for this project remain centered around texture, edges and light.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Little Bit of Process

I found some pictures I had taken to show process for a few projects and thought it might not be a bad idea to post them up here.

Here are a few shots of the spider-man/venom painting I did a while back. This was me just starting the final pencils on the illustration board. I stick very closely to my pencil rough, seen on the left, for this portion in order to maintain the composition I planned in the thumbnail. Afterwards I will fix up my drawing by looking at any photo reference I might use. (For example: to get subtle anatomical details.) Please excuse the disgusting photoshopping on the final pencils on the right, the drawing wasn't very visible in the original photo...

Here you can see the drawing as it's coming to a finish. I'll be posting up the final art soon.

This next project required a bit of touch-up with the background and smoke, as I really hated the look of it as it was. This consisted of color matching and painting the area that was originally smoke, obscuring his face, which was then followed with airbrushing the background and smoke as well as a few effects. I had done some digital airbrushing after the color matching portion of the painting was done, but I really wanted this to be a completely traditional piece.

At this stage I had only done the color matching on his face and then placed a sheet of paper frisket over the entire painting, making sure to cover the entire live area.

After the frisket is down on the board, I took a VERY sharp blade and started to cut around the shape of the figure. This can be very time consuming depending on the shape you are cutting around. You also have to make sure not to cut into the board or damage the paint in any way.

I laid down a flat layer of gouache to serve as the lighter area of the background. A nice thing about using the airbrush is being able to get perfectly flat tones while also keeping the surface texture of the paper or board you like. I always enjoy seeing the texture in paintings.

I then laid in some sepia mixed with black in a gradient. I wasn't going for a perfect transition, because generally I feel like that is too mechanical and stiff for my work. Notice you can see the reflection off of the transparent paper frisket.

After the background was laid in, I worked on my favourite thing with airbrushes. Highlights, gleams and effects. They are so fun to do, especially with a painting that is utilizing dramatic and harsh lighting. Obviously, the paper frisket is gone by this point, so you have to be really sure of what you're doing. This is the finished piece.

Mowgli Sketch

Here is a quick sketch I did prepping for an illustration featuring Mowgli. I'm a big fan of FABLES, and the Jungle Book in general, and have felt compelled to explore some of the more nostalgic inspirations from my childhood. I'm considering this future illustration as a sort of FABLES tie-in, featuring Mowgli and Shere Khan. I'm going to do more facial, clothing, and weapon studies for Mowgli, so stay tuned!

Another small update

Here are a few Iron Fist head studies. I find it really fun to work in a more "marker" style approach. Working very quickly, using more vibrant and saturated colors and only a few different values while letting line work do a lot of the talking. I also did a few hand studies to think about different ways to represent the "Iron Fist" power that Danny has.

Iron Fist Marker Sketch

Iron Fist will be the feature of my next illustration. I really like the character and feel that for how cool he is, he's fairly underused. Although, admittedly, sometimes in comics, it's better left that way. 'Immortal Iron Fist' was one of the last super-hero books I kept reading after I got really burnt out on the others. If you haven't ever checked it out, it's kind of like a Kung Fu movie, but with superpowers! I think it's also just an interesting angle on the whole superhero thing.

This was a quick sketch I did to practice drawing the mask and general face shape. Drawn in my sketchbook, "marker" was done in Sketchbook Pro (which is a great drawing program!) More sketches, concepts and paintings to come soon for Iron Fist!

Black Cat Sketch

Here is a colored thumbnail for my next project. I did it fairly quickly in Photoshop over my little thumbnail drawing in my sketchbook. I'm real excited about working on this one. I'm really keen on expanding my color range as far as exploring temperature, color relationships, and indulging in the use of light.

It's really past due for me to thank everyone that is always willing to give me feedback, as well as help out with posing, props and everything else. Thank You!

More progress from this project to come. Please stay tuned!

New Stuff!

While I'm waiting to get my painting back so I can post it up, I'll just talk a bit about my next one. Actually, I'll just give a few key words:

Felicia Hardy, Spider, Jewels...

I'm real excited about this one and can't wait to start on the final. More info and images to come!

And while you are so patiently waiting, I'll post this color rough from my last project.

Thanks for stopping by!

PARKER!

Here is a pencil rough for an illustration featuring Spider-Man and Venom. Some revisions have been made but I figured I would post this up before anything else. Color studies and the final art coming soon!

First Freelance Project

A little while back a good friend and valued teacher gave me a great opportunity: my first freelance illustration job. I was really excited about the project and to experience some of the industry.

I'll post some more in depth details along with the final art in a bit, but I'd like to post the final pencils and a WIP here first.

Bigby WIP....kind of

The painting part of this is done, now on to the effects! This can be super fun to do but it's also a little labor intensive (cutting frisket masks can take a while.)

So a while back I realized my airbrush compressor was putting out about 1 PSI, not even enough to get airflow, therefore I have been without one for a while. With that said, and while waiting for my new one to arrive, I've done the airbrushing on this piece in Photoshop.

Originally I was thinking of having a more suggestive smoke pattern, which I may still implement into the art when my compressor arrives, however, this is an ok placeholder until then.

Gouache on Watercolor Board (with photoshop)
10.125 x 15.325

As soon as I can, I'll get the real airbrushing done and scan and upload this painting.

Color, and other things

Finishing up some paintings, starting new ones, and I'm getting pretty excited about a direction I'm pursuing.

Also, I'm feeling more and more of a draw towards expanding my knowledge and application of color. This may sound ridiculously obvious, "who wouldn't, as an artist, want to continually be doing that?" you might be asking. I guess it's more than I was looking at a few artist, 1 in particular, and some switches went off and a few things just started making more sense. As my great and ever helpful life drawing teacher Lou Ann Burkhardt has said...you have an "a-HA" moment. They are always very inspiring and fill me with motivation.

I have a couple monster projects I'm going to complete over the summer and I hope to be able to post the progress and finish of each of them here.

Also, my website is finally up and running. This is one of the major projects I want to finish this summer, I have a big vision for it and I hope it turns out, but for now: www.jakemartinart.com is there for your viewing! I also have a link up on the sidebar.

Until next time...

PS: Also check out my good friends' websites on my sidebar!

Mr. Wolf

Here's the underpainting (so far) for a painting I'm working on.

Gouache on board. More progress will be posted soon!

Hello again.

I'm finally back with another post. This is an editorial illustration meant to accompany an article dealing with U.S involvement/aid.

In other news, I'm working on a website, that should be up and running soon. More to come on that, and more artwork coming soon!

It's been a little while

...since my last update. Here is a painting meant to accompany an article about the Anaheim Ducks. It was fun to work on, and also a challenge. As a big hockey fan, this was a lot of fun. Also, painting ducks is pretty fun, I'd like to continue using them, strange as that may sound. I think the wrinkles and fabric came out ok, I'm trying to push myself to be able to recall things like clothing, lighting, and poses. It's hard, but it's also pretty fun to try to figure out. I still have things I would like to work on, but I think it's presentable at this stage.

I have a couple projects I'm pretty excited to start working on, and I hope to keep a more consistent update schedule, showing thumbnails, sketches, color studies as well as the final art.

Color Study for Project

Here's a color study for a current project. This is the overall look that will guide the final painting.

2nd Attempt with a Baby

This is my second attempt to emulate the Leyendecker-y New Years Baby illustration. The first one returned to the chasm from whence it came (and, in my opinion, where it belongs). This one is turning out better in my opinion. The illustration accompanies an article centered around the food industry (more specifically in the States).

This is a color study for the illustration, some things still need to be resolved, but the basic idea is there.