Warm up figure sketch . . .

Mother can you spare a room?

My latest illustration for the Wall Street Journal accompanies an article about 30 year olds who have to live with their parents because of the current state of the economy.

Jim James warm up sketch . . . value study.

Prints Available!

Prints available! If interested please contact me. Look through my portfolio to choose any drawing or painting that you like! It's that easy!

King of Fearmongers!

This was a one day turnaround. I was asked to make this guy look creepy and so I did, and had a fun time doing it too. Because I only had one day to paint it I decided to keep things really loose and painterly which is how I prefer it anyways. You can see from the image below that I started off with a green base and built my colors from there.

Wagner for Der Spiegel!

My latest cover painted for Der Spiegel! This cover was a dream job come true for me. I've been wanting to paint a cover for Der Spiegel for years now, and finally I've done it! Feels good! I was also pleased that they didn't want caricature for this cover, it obviously wouldn't have been appropriate for the article or the man. I've never painted a dragon before and I loved it! They had a very specific dragon in mind and for a while I took it in a very different direction. I soon found out they didn't want a "wicked" looking dragon, or at least, not as wicked as I was making it. Hahah! Wagner was a challenge too but mostly because all the references of him are so old and are of course in black and white. It took me a little longer to figure out my color palette. This was a welcomed challenge and it was a great experience working with Suze who I think is a great art director! That goes a long way. I hope to work with her again real soon? First thing I did was try to get a solid likeness . . . After the likeness was established, I then began to compose the image. Once approved it was time to paint!

Why So Serious?

I tell myself, that I wish painting for me was effortless but the truth is, I want to struggle when I paint. In fact I believe I thrive off of that struggle, and if it weren't for the fight, I'd be bored out of my mind. The struggle and challenge is a pressure which enables me to create artwork which hopefully continues to grow as well as being of quality that I can live with.

Pope Francis for Der Spiegel

Last Thursday I was asked to do my second cover for Der Spiegel which is already out. The first cover I painted for them won't be out until the last week of March. I was asked to do a drawing of the new Pope and had one day to do it . . . this is the result. I think the editor wasn't quite sure if I could actually finish in the short amount of time that I had so they developed another cover to fall back on in case I couldn't finish. I of course finished on time but unfortunately the staff got used to seeing different layouts with a pop-arty-look on a photograph and decided to go with that instead of my drawing. I don't take it personally and I am grateful to work with them and know I will work with them more. They were very happy with this drawing but like I said, they were used to seeing the other version and decided to go in that direction. My cover debut for Der Spiegel will be in a couple weeks and I will be sure to share my final painting here!

Britney Shakes!

Today's warm up sketch . . . Britney Howard, Alabama Shakes.

Levon Helm Sketch

25 minute sketch of Levon Helm!

Bio for United States Post Office!

Jason Seiler grew up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where a simple teenage prank launched his artistic career. After getting caught drawing parodies of his high school history teacher, Seiler’s principal gave him a job creating caricatures of other faculty members, and he never looked back. In 1996, Seiler moved to Chicago and spent several years touring with bands as a guitarist and singer, torn between a life as an artist or as a musician. He ultimately chose art and went on to study fine art illustration at the American Academy of Art before becoming a full-time artist. Though he does not consider himself strictly a caricaturist, his paintings and illustrations often include elements of caricature, used to exaggerate and create humor and depth in his subjects. His work, both humorous and serious, has been featured in numerous publications, including Rolling Stone, TIME, Der Spiegel, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, MAD magazine, and The New Yorker. Seiler’s client list has also included Disney, Universal Pictures, Penguin Group, Sony Image, and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, for which he worked as a character designer. In 2010, Seiler won a silver award from the Society of Illustrators West for his portrait of Elvis Costello. For several years, Seiler has taught painting and drawing for the online art school Schoolism. Aside from drawing, he loves to skydive and dreams of one day cage diving with great white sharks. Until that day comes, he will spend his time not devoted to art with his two daughters, Isabeau and Ava. Seiler lives in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago. Celebrity Chefs (2014) is his first project for the U.S. Postal Service. I'm excited to say that it is official that I will be doing a series of paintings for the United States Postal Service! My official bio and pic have been approved! Let the painting begin!!!!

Work in Progress . . .

A piece that I am working on . . . for fun!

Gallery Error Plain show . . . Pilsen, Chicago.

My work at the Error Plain's show downtown Chicago.

I was just awarded a 3DTotal Excellence Award for my Susan Boyle! Thank you 3DTota, I really appreciate it!!!

Communication Arts 2013!

Excited to have this piece selected to be in Illustration Annual 54, the May/June 2013 issue of Communication Arts. I know this image has been posted several times now on my blog . . . I'm grateful it's been selected for a few of my favorite books and shows.

Body sketch 1.

Paint sketch idea that I have for a few oil paintings that I would like to do.

Latest Weekly Standard Cover

W.I.P. 3-7-2013

Here is a work in progress of a piece I am calling "The Captain". It's just for fun, something to play around with in between my work. I'm also using this time to practice with my new tablet . . . it's a different feeling, but painting and drawing with it is a lot of fun!

Little sketch I did tonight . . .

Society of Illustrators West!

Super excited to have these two paintings accepted into this years Society of Illustrators West show!

Cover for The New York Observer . . .

Wow, it's been a crazy month or so . . . from the 1st of November through the 10th, I was in the U.K. for Schoolism Live workshops and had the greatest time!!!! What an awesome experience! Then I spent a week in Vegas for a live Autodesk, Sketchbook Pro workshop/demonstration! That was also a great experience! About a week after I received a call from the reality T.V. show "Best Ink" and was asked if I wanted to be a judge on one of the episodes? So last Friday I was flown to L.A. and spent all day Saturday filming on set and then late that night I flew back to Chicago, getting home at 5:00 a.m. (BTW, the episode that I am on will air sometime in May, I believe?) So, not quite recovered from my trip to L.A. I was blessed with another cover for The NY Observer . . . I am not saying this sarcastically, I am truly grateful for all the work that I get. All in all, I had a little over one day to complete this cover so I had to keep things simple and loose. I really enjoyed drawing Michelle, she's got a great face. Beautiful and funny all in one!

My piece as I completed it . . . very loose more of a paint/sketch . . . one thing that is nice about the NY Observer is that it is printed on newsprint so loose work printed on newsprint will pull together more and look tighter.

For this cover the face is the first thing the viewer will see and most likely the last place they look, so I decided to spend more time detailing her face but as you can see it is still quite loose and brushy.

My first sketch and idea . . . as you can see we changed it.