This was another rough illustration concept for a White House Ornament. It was done with a combination of traditional and digital illustration. Certain liberties were taken for the sake of creating an image that would work within a specific form. Decor was based upon a lot  of historic research. The fake mat framing was purely for presentation purposes. These type of roughs are enjoyable to work on. Even more so if and when they go to final. Even in digital illustration, the process can take quite a time. The ability to go tweak, move and adjust perpetually is one of the biggest advantages of working in the computer. 

Digital "Pencil" Portraits

I noticed today that this would be my 100th post for this blog. I have posted here and there since 2006. The first post I made was regarding a computer pencil technique I was working on. 4 years later, I ending up figuring out a method I liked that married the technique that I was doing along with another tutorial I had stumbled across. The first time I enacted this technique was for an anniversary present for my wife. They were of the top 3 portraits of our boys. The images were done and framed as a grouping. Those portraits drew interest from her co-workers and friends and eventually I ended up doing several more. 

Kevin Grijak Richmond Braves Trading Card Illustration

Kevin Grijack Trading Card Illustration. The actual size of this one was about 5 x 6.5. It was a quicky. I noticed that looking back through my artwork of this time I had a fascination with the color Teal. Unfortunately that color is one of the harder ones to reproduce in printing. Loved doing these baseball trading cards. Maybe the Flying Squirrels are open to doing some?

Richmond Braves Mike Birbeck Trading Card Art

Another Richmond Braves Piece. Mike Birkbeck. I did this one in about 4 hours I think. Maybe less. All the cards were due that morning and Pep and I had been up all night finishing players. As soon as you finished one, you grabbed the next available player. As time went on the pieces got smaller and faster. This piece was about 5 x 7. Acrylic and colored pencil. Airbrushed in the fade at the top of the sky at the end.

Darren Reed - 1995 Richmond Braves Trading Card

Another 1995 Richmond Braves Trading Card. Darren Reed - Catcher. The actual card from the set is seen below the image. This image was pretty much straight airbrush and colored pencil. Some brush work for detailing.

Barry Sanders Detriot Tigers Illustration

Posting some older work. This was one of my last really super detailed paintings. Barry Sanders. Did this one right before he retired. Exciting to watch his skillful running. Sometimes I look back at it and wonder why I spent so much time in details. Updated this post 1/14/12 to post a closer up shot of the detail and texture of the board.

Miles Davis - Class Instruction

Figured I would put up and image that I am pulling into the computer to finish. Started out traditional with oils, colored pencil, paint markers and whatever I could get my hands on. Not too happy with background as of yet. Going to experiment in the computer. Will post again sometime later.

Chris Glaze Computerized Pencil Portrait Colorized

This is the color version of the black and white one posted previously. Not sure what I will do next to this one, but I may take out the computer and do some traditional painting.

Chris Glaze Computerized Pencil Portrait

Been a lazy Sunday. Decided to work on a picture for a guy I used to shoot pool against in league. I did a black and white and then a color version. Not sure how I feel about them yet. I may take the color one and push it further.

Grant Sketch For Bust Sculpture

Per Dave's Comment. . . Here is a drawing of Grant that I did recently for a sculpt that we were producing. Finding good reference for this guy was tough. I finally got a pretty good likeness. A photo of the final sculpt is below the drawing. For more information getting a bust you can visit our website Design Masters.

Colorized Computer Pencil Test

This is the color version of the image talked about in the previous post. I wanted to see if I could make it look like a color "pencilesque" version of the b&w one.

Computer Pencil Test 2

This one is of my wife and my stepson. Another b&w version. I will post more artwork as I can. I joined this due to my friend Dave Evans, whom I have known since high school. His site is http://www.devansart.blogspot.com/. Check it out and drop him some comments. Very cool guy.

Computer Pencil Test

This is just putting up an image for the sake of putting up an image. I have been working on trying to duplicate a process on the computer that can look like a pencil drawing. Due to my desire for projects to be completed quickly and lack of space to set up my traditional drawing equipment, I choose to work on the computer as much as possible. I still use traditional tools quite often, but in concert with the computer. Currently, I usually finish everything up on the computer. Earlier in my career I thought I would never say that. Regardless this is one of my first tests doing a pencil like drawing in the computer. It is a picture of me and my girlfriends son on vacation. Kind of like this one. I also did a color version which I will post next.