9-30-09 Skeenan

I have this odd idea in my mind of a fashionista with an alien dog thingy. You know, instead of the toy poodle...ha ha get it? anyways.. So I'll be going out of town for a week and won't be posting during that time. Also, finally I'm proud to announce that my website, www.shaunkeenan.com is live! Take a look , if your so inclined. Also, Lee White, if your out there, please put up the link on the side panel with all you other uber leet artist :).. not that I'm uber or anything, I'm just glad to be here.

9-29-09 Skeenan

Hmm lets see if this works..testing

9.29.09 DHohn

Okay, this is pretty cool. I logged in to the Odosketch site and recorded this quick little drawing. Kinda' fun to see it rebuild itself like that.

9.29.09 DHohn

More fun with the Odopod website.

9.28.09 LMoyer

A patch for Starstruck drawn whilst watching football and finished up at home.

9.28.09 DHohn

I was perusing Drawn.ca the other day and came across this post for an online sketching app called Odopod. Decided to give it a go. Pretty cool. You all should check it out.

9.29.09 HGolson

I've been totally truant. No sketches in a while. Here's what i've been doing though.

9-27-09 SKeenan

Final painting of my wolfman comp. Thanks Lee for the cropping advice. I pulled it back and it works way better. Also, Lee, you mentioned something about "finding a use" when you commented on the value study. What exactly did you mean by that? Do you mean what the ultimate intent of the illustration is going to be? This piece (as well as the pirate and some others) are part of a card game project that will hopefully be published. Either way its a good chance for me to expand my portfolio. So in terms of working to a spec, I'm sorta doing that with these. The dimentions are fixed and the print size will be small. Also Lee, I saw on your site you've done work for wizards of the coast (awesome by the way), so in your opinion are my images working well for that format and genre? Sorry for the wall of text :)

9.27.09 LMoyer

So I've opted to try finishing this one first.
I'm pleased with the changes, but wonder if I've missed any opportunities.

9.26.09 LMoyer

A birthday diptych for a wonderful pal who realized in the middle of serious therapy that Dick Van Dyke was her higher power. Here he's also her lower power.

9.25.09 RBlake

9-25-09 SKeenan

So this value/comp study is based on a photo I took of myself ( for lighting, and no I will not post said photo of me playing wolfman ) and a lose drawing I liked. I want the rage and intensity typically found in wolfmen to come across here. I'm liking the direction its going so far...also this is the first time I've 'sketched' in photoshop building up tone without a scanned drawing to guide me. I kinda like it, it has a free feeling to it.

9.24.09 DHohn

Working on a series of illustrations featuring a lion. These are just some quick studies that will (hopefully) inform those images.

9.25.09 LMoyer

Alrighty, I'm working on a more painterly style. I've got almost a month until World Fantasy Con (where a lot of publishing biz goes on in the bars and restaurants). And I think I can finish one (if not both) of these pieces in time to pop it into a new portfolio. Therefore, it's important to find out:

1. Which to put more emphasis on (in case I only have time to finish one).
2. Issues or comments. Do any of the basics not make sense? Thoughts?

Thanks for your input.

9-24-09 SKeenan

My next piece for my side project is the wolfman. I'm still pondering on what to do with the pro wrestler character, so I'm letting that stew while I move forward with this guy. These are studies for the wolfman (more human), and werewolf (more animalistic)..there is a difference lol. I'm gona do the wolfman style, and I'm already liking where the bottom pose is going, it's how I pictured this comp in my head.

9.24.09 LMoyer

Portraits are usually pretty and well-constructed. I thought I'd try one that failed in every normal way. Funny that Gilliam was a male model when he was a teenager (though he retains more hair than I do)....

9.23.09 DHohn

Starting to get the hang of gouache. I don't quite know why I like sketching with a brush so much -- maybe just something different after years of pencil sketching.

9.23.09 LMoyer

Wow, the JPG really dulls this out.
Still early days on this one...

9.22.09 DHohn

These started out as random scribbles and slowly morphed into character studies.
I still need to get more proficient with gouache -- but practice, practice, practice.

9.22.09 LMoyer

Fashion and the fashionable have never been my forte.

9-22-09 SKeenan

Ok, so here's the revised painting. I pulled the camera back to the original comp to sell the narrative I wanted to depict better. I took away the warmer colors and added in greenish hues to add to the "being at sea" feeling(thanks Flying dutchman painting!) plus it sells the idea of peril more ( didnt want optimistic feelings, like David mentioned). I also desaturated the painting overall, since its cloudy and stormy, the color wouldnt be very vibrant. Lastly I tried to add in the subtelies of my original drawing into the pirates face (harder angles).

9-21-09 SKeenan

Here's what I've been working on for the past few days. I figured I would just post my progress stuff (and final) since I have not posted much in the last few days. The drawing above is a cleaner version of a rough sketch I did earlier in which Im positioning things and working the comp out.

This is a value study of the comp. I repositioned the sword and reworked a few other little things.


Here's my final paint thus far. I cropped in more to focus on the pirates face and added all the fun stormy elements, and dutched the camera a tad. I kept him fairly iconic looking and that was kinda the point of this project ( iconic characters of lore), anyway ,overall I'm pretty happy with it. Any of you pro illustrators feel free to critique and tear it up :)

9.21.09 DHohn

9-21-09 SKeenan

Further examining my pirate comps. I like the bottom one, so I've begun a redraw loosely based on it and working on value studies. I'll post that when I'm done.

9.21.09 RBlake

fortune cookie assignment "you will inherit a large sum of money"

this is done with acrylic ink

9.20.09 DHohn

There's a certain "just deal with it" quality to sketches that start off in pen.

9.19.09 DHohn

9.21.09 LMoyer

Annaliese's Tattoo Design.
Not yet real, despite what the PSD comp might suggest.

9-20-09 SKeenan

Love drawing animals..and yeah this is more of a cleaned up sketch than a quick sketch.

9.20.09 LMoyer

Drawn at this month's Drink & Draw at Madison's in SE.

Fun.

9.19.09 LMoyer

I used to run a Scrabble tourney here once a week. Now someone else is running it once a month. And that let me draw the wild interior at last. As with several of the previous sketches, I may add to this as time allows.

9.18.09 LMoyer

It was great watching Tony DiTerlizzi draw creatures. I was especially delighted with the underslung Dragon jaw. But where the Spiderwick books are very much based on "real" folklore, I thought I'd make something a little less straightforward...

9.16.09 DHohn

9.17.09 LMoyer

That bestselling team from Amherst, Mass. seen in captivity at Barnes and Noble at Clackamas Town Center.

Tony later drew his Rat King in my sketchbook.

9-16-09 SKeenan

These are quick comp studies for a side project I'm working on. Its for a playing card type game. Anyways, the two characters I'm working on now are..the pirate (yeah I know) and a pro wrestler maniac. The challenge for me is to avoid total cliche' yet having it be iconic and recognizable..ugh.

9.16.09 LMoyer

9.15.09 DHohn

The mind wanders.

9.15.09 LMoyer

Designed by Michael Kaluta for Starstruck, EV is a character I'm about to start painting in sequence. So I thought I'd sketch her to see if I really understood the peculiarities....

9-14-09 SKeenan

9.11.09 l.white

Here's a rough of my hitchcock that I'm going to paint traditionally...

9.14.09 LMoyer

Here's the first of what I hope will be many sketches.

9.14.09 DHohn

Not exactly sketches, but these did take up the better part of my weekend. Plus they're the final project for my landscape painting class that I decided to audit this term. I really like the oil paint! Now it's time to turn this medium toward more narrative work!