Jake Martin Art

Cover pencils

2011-10-13T15:01:00.000-05:00

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!?!

2011-08-18T16:07:00.004-05:00

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...

2011-07-09T20:52:00.005-05:00

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

2011-05-25T17:44:00.006-05:00

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

2011-05-21T19:50:00.003-05:00

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

2011-05-18T17:30:00.004-05:00

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

2011-05-14T19:01:00.003-05:00

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

2011-05-09T18:18:00.004-05:00

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!

2011-05-02T13:52:00.003-05:00

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!

2011-04-24T18:08:00.004-05:00

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

2011-04-11T21:33:00.003-05:00

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

2011-04-03T18:11:00.004-05:00

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

2011-04-03T16:25:00.006-05:00

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

2011-03-27T17:29:00.004-05:00

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

Gouache on board. More progress will be posted soon!

Hello again.

2011-03-15T21:44:00.004-05:00

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

2011-02-08T20:27:00.006-06:00

...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

2011-01-30T16:34:00.002-06:00

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

2011-01-17T20:05:00.003-06:00

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.

WIPS from a vignette of a comic

2010-12-17T22:12:00.004-06:00

Here are some WIPS from a sort of vignette-y type comic thing I'm doing for a project, there are 4 pages total, still in rough stages, I'm hoping to clean them up later on.

Works in Progress

2010-12-11T17:10:00.005-06:00

Here are a few WIPS of projects. I'll go more in depth with descriptions when I finish them and post up the final art.

Last 2 Projects

2010-10-22T20:42:00.004-05:00

Last 2 projects. The first is based on the short story "The Outsider" by H.P. Lovecraft. I would suggest reading it, very interesting story.

The second is an illustration meant for a science magazine, double page spread. It would specifically accompany an article about planetary ecosynthesis, or terraforming.

Some sketches

2010-10-10T22:02:00.004-05:00

Who is that man? ...and WHAT IS HE DOING?

Working on two projects - one is based in science, the other on a short story. These are in the 'block in' phase, hence they are VERY rough. I'll post more details and pictures later. You can see how terrible my hand writing is.

Pancakes?

2010-10-06T21:56:00.003-05:00

Here is the current state of some pancakes I'm painting. Originally I was going to really render these, but I started to like the more roughly painted look and am leaning more towards leaving it like that. I like that it has a softer look to it, similar to some vintage illustrations. I didn't see too much point in really getting super detailed. Also, guessing that it would be shrunk down a bit, small details would just be lost and look complicated.

Detail of Current Painting

2010-10-02T20:44:00.003-05:00

Here is the same piece, a detail of something I was working on today. Hopefully I can get this printed full size, otherwise half of what I'm doing will be lost in reduction. Getting to "utilize" my imagination a lot with this piece, but it's really fun, and time consuming. About 32 hours until this has to be printed :-\

2 projects in Progress

2010-10-01T12:00:00.006-05:00

My last post was gobbled up by some sort of hungry blog post monster, so here it is again.

Two current projects:

This is one color study/mock up for a food illustration. I chose to pursue a vintage sort of magazine advertisement. I'm working on custom type for the brand, as well as a logo for the company.

This is an editorial piece based on a cliche...when more is revealed can you guess which one?

Spaz Posting

2010-09-25T03:01:00.003-05:00

I'm making myself stop painting to keep some sort of school-appropriate sleep schedule, here's where I'm leaving off for tonight:

I think I might have made the hairs too sharp and clear, not sure yet. The hat is insanely intricate, after that, it should be relatively smooth sailing, I hope.

Project 1 Complete, More Portrait Updating

2010-09-24T15:15:00.005-05:00

Here's Project 1 completed (From Editorial Illustration). The piece is based on the dilemma in Chile, where miners are trapped very deep underground. They must send everything down a shaft to them; food, letters, etc. The miners are expected to remain there until the end of the year while a method of extraction is put into action.

A little more progress made today with the 2nd portrait for Digital Illustration. Painting opaquely is coming a little bit more naturally. It's a little strange to be able to just cover up anything that isn't working. Yet this is also very liberating as I can experiment with lots of colors and glazing/etc.

I will post up some sketches and color studies for the next Editorial piece soon.

Portrait #2

2010-09-24T00:49:00.004-05:00

Here it is, very early on, just started today. Will be using both Photoshop and Corel Painter 11. I'm approaching this like a traditional oil painting. I'll post the steps later on. Having a great time painting this one.

Portraits in Progress

2010-09-21T20:29:00.003-05:00

3 portraits are in the works. Pencils are done for all 3; 2 were done traditionally in pencil and the last was drawn in Photoshop. All will be painted in Photoshop using different methods/brushes/palettes. Here is a little preview of one...

First Digital Piece

2010-09-20T21:53:00.003-05:00

Here is a concept for a character for a project I'll be working on; probably for the whole year. It's a very rough visualization to try to touch on some character attributes. Drawn and colored in photoshop. I approached this more like a quick marker comp than any kind of comprehensive study. More in depth drawings will come.

There will probably be 2 or 3 more for this character, in alternate clothes, hairstyle, gesture, etc. Along with that will be other characters, palette studies, environments, bars, police stations, etc. Pretty excited to work on this.

It's been a long time my dear

2010-09-13T20:53:00.005-05:00

Yes, it's been quite a while since my last update. Here are a few things:

This is a current piece for Editorial Illustration - Pencils and a color study (the scanner at school was not functioning so I had to rely some bad lighting for pictures).

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This is a logo design for my digital illustration class. It's my first real attempt at doing anything in Illustrator, so bare with me.

I like otters, so here you go!

Not too much to talk about here, started with a pencil sketch, then pen tool overlay, then live paint.

Current Project Glimpse

2010-04-17T15:37:00.003-05:00

This is a lightpost poster design for C2E2 for an Art Direction class. It will be paired with a piece from another student. We both render/finish our own pieces and also our partners. It should be a good piece

These are my final pencils as well as my color study.

My painting will be placed on the right hand side and my partner's on the left. Mine consists of the "real" superheroes, and alongside them will be the regular joes who dress up as them for conventions. I'm attempting to do more superhero work in the hopes of getting a booth at comic conventions this/next year.

AAART Planner Cover Competition

2010-04-02T17:32:00.004-05:00

So here's an update with a cover I painted for the American Academy of Art's Planner for the 2010-2011 school year. The focus of the competition is to represent the school (and Chicago if desirable) in pretty much any way you want. Based on the traditional approach of the school and it's legacy, I thought a more realistic approach would be suitable. *Realism is all relative though because a little painted man has popped out of his painting and complained about his role. This is a painting of a man painting a painting, of a man painting a painting.

I enjoyed the story of this piece and I believe the fact that it kind of breaks the 4th wall for the viewer is an interesting aspect. One of my goals for this painting was to continue to use my own photo reference, but only to use them as a guide, not a bible. Things like opacity, variation of color in skin and achieving some correct looking darks were some of my guiding principles for this piece.

There is a variant of the school logo, I thought both worked pretty well, portraying different characteristics of the school and the medium.

I've continued to touch up this piece since it was scanned, and hope to enter it into the Illustration department show at school.

Gouache/Watercolor on Illustration Board (10.5" x 15.5")

it's been a long time

2010-03-25T00:05:00.004-05:00

Well it has been quite a while, but here is a small update. This is a painting for the Higher Learning Commission. The idea was to show the value of continued education, specifically at a collegiate level. I've been wanting to do a superhero poster for some time now and saw my chance to sneak it in. The artwork that is chosen will be used by the commission however they see fit: promo, posters, etc. There are some compositional aspects that I attempted to utilize and really want to continue to explore. I learned a few things working on this piece so even if only for that it was nice to work on.

Self Portrait WIPs

2009-11-11T19:57:00.004-06:00

Here are 3 of the 4 self portrait pieces. I'm becoming a little more confident throwing color down and achieving better color intensity, and overall I'm pleased with these paintings so far. I feel like I've been learning a lot with this project.

Small Update

2009-11-08T04:55:00.004-06:00

This is 1 of 4 expressions portraits for a school assignment. I am portraying myself as 4 different Marvel characters. It's probably about 90% done. Gouache on Arches 90lb watercolor paper.

another update before the finish

2009-08-30T22:43:00.004-05:00

There is a while left in this painting. I need to detail all the hair that is directly lit and add some details of layers in the hair overall. Mostly, contrast needs to be improved. I'm thinking of doing a portrait of Elliott Smith next, who I play frequently when I'm painting.

a little update for bill

2009-08-28T20:01:00.002-05:00

I've put a few more hours in to this head study, but it needs a lot more work. His hair needs many more layers and details and some sections need contrast work, and the background will be last

Bill

2009-08-27T02:53:00.003-05:00

(I apologize for the picture, it's VERY grainy and the painting does not look like this, however more updates will be added soon...)
Bill from True Blood WIP. I love doing faces and seriously cannot wait to do the eyes, it's one of my top 200 favorite things to do on a face. It's also somewhat challenging to resist laying in some real blacks, but I want to avoid grain from the gouache, and make all the texture my own with stipling like brush strokes. As it is now, there are about 12 layers of paint built up, not to make it overly smooth, but to avoid the natural grain of the black.

Yikes it's been way too long!!!

2009-08-19T12:26:00.012-05:00

This one was hidden away for a while but I wanted to work on it again so I'm trying to finish it up
The drowning mountain man! Haven't worked on this one in a while but it might get finished
Chrome reflections piece from Watercolor class last semester
Cupcakes! I could still work on this more but it's not currently in my posession
A pretty quick drawing I did a long time ago of le joker

A little update

2009-03-22T13:22:00.002-05:00

Here's a drawing of a piece I just started painting. I'm attempting to do more figure work out of my head instead of relying completely on reference. I started painting this one last night, so another update should be up soon. A few more pieces are on the way!

A few more

2009-02-15T13:36:00.004-06:00

This piece was done after some art direction from the instructor. We were given a basic idea with an art director's sketch and then illustrated it. No reference used, but I was inspired by Thor's hammer, Mjolnir...

Gouache on Arches Watercolor Paper,
8 1/2 x 11 in.

A small update...

2009-02-15T13:17:00.008-06:00

This was a cover idea for the direct mail catalog "Magic Cabin" and was more of an experiment for not using any reference for the entire piece. (Gouache on watercolor paper.)

This was a cover for the direct mail catalog "Mindware"...(Gouache on Crescent Watercolor Board)

both pieces need some more work

It's been a long time...

2009-02-07T21:39:00.002-06:00

...since my last update, I'll try to do a better job of keeping up with the paintings.

Here is a piece from illustration class last semester, we were supposed to do a face, but I ended up doing more of a movie poster type montage painting. Gouache on Strathmore Illustration Board, 11x17 live area.

Watercolor Still Life

2008-10-24T23:37:00.006-05:00

So for this painting, I really liked the objects themselves, and definitely wanted one of the plastic baby dolls in my painting. I chose this set up for it's variety of shapes, reflective quality, and contrast.

Obviously I used my imagination a little bit when it came to the doll. I wanted to practice using aura's and light sources, but only from memory, and adapting these effects into an already well lit scenario. I also wanted to experiment with opaque white gouache as a light effect, as if the doll's eyes were pulsing with light. I used my paintbrush as a straight line to estimate how those light tracers would bend on the round and reflective objects, and tried to establish those imagined reflections in a believable way.

Gouache on Arches paper. Approximate 12x20 live area.

Hands and Face Illustration Process

2008-10-23T22:19:00.007-05:00

This is my latest illustration: a hands and face piece. I pretty much knew right away what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. I do most of my artwork in Gouache, so that would be the medium. I had seen a photo months before that I really liked, so I decided to use that. The photo is of Jake Snider, singer and guitar player in Minus the Bear.

Since this was assigned as a monochromatic piece, I felt that Prussian Blue would suit the mood of the band and the figure quite well, and would also be able to capture the stark changes in value.

We were also told to add an outside element, something not in our reference material, to enhance the piece. Being that I was using a musician, I figured it made sense to use lyrics from a song as a background, splatter like element. The type would be done with water soluble pencil.

Originally, the picture was completely black with only the figure illuminated, I changed this of course, but left all the light patters more or less intact. I think the sense of light direction and the several sources are still believable.

-I started with some thumbnails to drum out my composition, and moved on to a rough color study (seen below.)

-then I moved on to final pencils on Strathmore Illustration Board, 8x10 live area

-from there, I could start to lay in my base tones and get a sense of how the darks and lights would compliment and contrast.

-after some painting, the piece starts to come together (sorry for the weird color temperature, my apartment is not a suitable studio.)

-and then the finish

In total, about 5 hours was spent on the final painting. Thanks to the awesome instruction of my illustration teacher, Rich Kryczka, I feel this painting was pretty successful.

(I'm using Windsor Newton & Holbein Gouache and a Windsor Newton Series 7 #4 round brush)