Sora Life study.

Life drawing study from this last weekend . . . Yes, I did exaggerate! She was too interesting not to exaggerate. :) There would be quite a bit more to do in order to bring this to a finish, but I'll leave it as is . . . . I like this technique but it is a slow process of building one thin layer of watercolor at a time.

A few studies that I did of Clint Eastwood for Aardman Animation a couple years ago.

Monster study!

This is a monster study that I did a couple years ago . . . just messing around and having fun . . .

Shmuley Boteach for the New York Observer.

Here's my latest cover for the NY Observer. Had a lot of fun with this one but as usual, it had it's challenges. One being that I don't draw cars all that often and I found it harder than I thought it was going to be. It was an enjoyable challenge though. The other challenge is of course that I had to finish in two days . . . and over Easter weekend . . . not what I wanted to do but life happened and that's how it worked out.



Of course painting M.J. in there was a lot of fun as well . . . hahaha!



Here are a few of the steps that I saved along the way . . . originally I thought they had said that they wanted both his hands up waving but after I did that I really didn't like it so eventually I got rid of his right arm. During these tight turn arounds the work tends to develop and evolve as I go as I don't have the luxury of time to spend on development . . . just go for it!

Three paintings for GOLF Digest!

Sorry for the lack of posts, I'm currently in the middle of many jobs that I can't share publicly yet. All work that I am very excited about and hope to be able to share soon. For now, here are three paintings I did recently for GOLF Digest. This first illustration is a full page and was done as the opener for the article. I decided to paint all three with a vintage-like quality as I felt it would be most appropriate for the subjects as well as the writing.

With the exception of using "noise", all the aging, specs, dust, scratches and so on was painted by hand (digitally using my cintiq) no computer tricks or filters.



Spot illustration to go along with the article.




Spot illustration to go along with the article.

Lemmy Sketches and thumbnail sketches . . .

New Schoolism LIVE workshop! TORONTO!

New Schoolism LIVE workshop: Bringing Life and Realism to your Characters. Toronto, Canada May 26-27, 2012


Click HERE. to read more about the workshop in TORONTO.

Cover for New York Observer

Cover I painted this week for the New York Observer. I spent a day and a half on this one, started Monday morning and finished mid-day Tuesday. I decided to keep it more painterly which I like but had to do because of my time frame . . . and for the background I chose to simplify and suggest.

This one was fun!





Here's a pic my friend Fred Harper took of the paper, somewhere in New York. Thanks Fred!

The Black Keys - Communication Arts!

Just found out that my painting of The Black Keys was selected to be in the Illustration Annual 53, the May/June 2012 issue of Communication Arts.

Cory Chisel and Drawing Dreams Foundation

I've been invited to take part in a fundraising event for Drawing Dreams Foundation which will be held on Thursday, March 1, 2012 from 6 to 8pm, at the home of the New York School of Interior Design at 170 East 70th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues.

For the event I did this oil painting of my friend Cory Chisel for the Auction. "Cabin Ghost" oil on panel.

Guests will enjoy cocktails, hors d' oeuvres, an intimate performance by singer songwriter Cory Chisel, and be able to bid on more than 60 works of art and fine prints that will be auctioned on charitybuzz.com.

Proceeds from the auction will help Drawing Dreams purchase and deliver art supplies to hospitalized children through children's hospitals' Child Life and Artist in-Residence programs throughout America.

Matt Damon study

Matt Damon study (final). This was done as a demonstration for my upcoming workshop in Vancouver Canada.
Click HERE. to read more about the workshop.

Damon and Donald . . . step 1, (blocking in)

Blocking in the painting. Use larger brushes, don't worry about the details until the end.

My next course for Schoolism starts February 6th 2012, to sign up or to get more info, click HERE.

Portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi
Freedom fighter, voice of her people, humanitarian, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, leader.
My artist representative, Richard Solomon chose her for "our" Person of the Year. Along with 20 or so artists, also represented by Richard Solomon, I was asked to paint a portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Check out Richard Solomon's Blog. to see the Blast!

What if he loses?

Cover I painted recently for Washinton Monthly.

This was a challenge but I welcomed it and really enjoyed working on it. It was very important for this piece that Obama had a sad, or frustrated expression on his face. I was able to find a few references of Obama with expressions similar to this, but nothing at the exact angle that I needed. I used two different references of Obama's face to create this one image of him but I also used myself as a model. I used my own face to help create the expression that was needed. I also found it useful to watch YouTube videos of Obama and paused them in mid-speech to learn more about his expressions.

Trump sketch

Sketch.



Thumbnail sketch.

Matt Damon sketch

My next course for Schoolism starts February 6th 2012, to sign up or to get more info, click HERE.

Meryl and Amy . . . sketches.

Sketches/studies for something I'm working on . . .

Happy New Years - The Year 20-dozen!

Daniel Craig sketch. I spent my first two hours of 2012 sketching, happy 2012!

My next course for Schoolism starts February 6th 2012, to sign up or to get more info, click HERE.




Thumbnail sketch.

Student Testimonial by Dan Baldwin

As many of you know, I teach a course for Schoolism. The title of my course is "The Art of Caricature", but the course covers much more than caricature. I teach my drawing and painting techniques as well as anatomy and much more. My next course for Schoolism starts February 6th 2012, to sign up or to get more info, click HERE.

The piece above of Ron Paul was painted by one of my students Dan Baldwin, and as you can see, he's quite the talented artist himself. Dan worked very hard and continues to do so. Check out his blog and say hello! Dan's blog.

Dan wrote a testimonial about my course so I thought I would share it here. Please feel free to check out Dan's blog and write him as well!

Dan Baldwin Testimonial
Ever wonder what it might have been like to sit in the studio corner of J.C. Leyendecker, James Montgomery Flagg, Norman Rockwell, or any illustration giant of the past? Can you imagine peering over their shoulder to simply watch their approach to concept, technique, and business? What if they actually stopped their work, with deadlines looming, turned around and began a long, personal dialog about your path as an artist? What value would you place on that experience?

Sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn’t it?

Or does it?

As I was in the midst of my Art of Caricature course taught by Jason Seiler, I began to realize that this was happening – right now, and with me. Throughout the course, and in the midst of finishing illustrations for major publications like Rolling Stone, ADWEEK, and The NY Observer, Jason stopped and “turned around.”

During this time I was truly amazed with the sincerity and generosity of Jason. He took the time to answer specific questions, and discussed broader topics that related to art, business, and technology. He shared amazing personal experiences, and tied those stories into the development of my work. Jason offered focused feedback that only immense knowledge, years of experience, and mind-blowing talent could provide - and this only describes the critique portion of the overall course.

Although I was only one student in a full class, I felt very much as if this course was crafted just for me. I’m not sure whether to call this experience mentoring, apprenticeship, or simply a great curriculum delivered by an excellent teacher. What I do know is that years from now, I will be fortunate to say I spent time in the studio with an illustration giant...and you can’t place a value on that.

Schoolism LIVE Workshop Series presents: The Artist Master Class with Jason Seiler

Click HERE. to read more about the workshop.


"Jason Seiler is visiting Vancouver, Canada on February 25, 2012! His proven teaching methods on caricature will TRANSFORM your thinking and EVOLVE your level of art. With his mind expanding techniques and lectures you will leave looking at people in a whole new way!

If you missed the last Schoolism LIVE Vancouver workshop, definitely don't miss this one. Take the opportunity to see what everyone is talking about and purchase your tickets now!

Jason's illustrations have been featured as covers and interior pieces for Rolling Stone, TIME, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, MAD magazine, New Line Cinema, Universal Pictures, Aardman Animation, and Sony Imageworks, among others. Jason also worked as a character designer on Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland, helping to create such characters as the Red Queen, the Tweedles, the Bandersnatch and more."

So long Kim Jong.

I'm going to miss this guys face, and body, and hair . . . mmmm, the glasses too . . . he was one of my favorites to draw, good night and good luck!

The Black Keys for Rolling Stone

The Black Keys for Rolling Stone! I'd like to say thank you to Steven at RS for thinking of me for this one.




Ever since I was 15 I dreamed of painting for Rolling Stone. This is my fourth painting for them and I hope to do many more. Besides the personal high of painting for RS, I am a fan of The Black Keys and have been listening to their music for years, so painting them for RS was quite the honor.