Good night! Did he die or somthin?

Well it has been a while since my last post. Much has happened. And though the worst of it is over, I still have to collect my thoughts. Ever since going totally digital, I've been reveling in the positives of this new medium. New to me that is, and I really haven't given much thought to the downsides. Having come perilously close to losing a years worth of work, the down side has loomed over me as big as an elephants backside. Have I made the right choice in mediums?

It is frightening to realize that all the work and time one has put into a project could so easily and preeminently vaporize. No. Not even that, because a vapor has substance. Total oblivion. Gone. Wooosh!

Think of all that exists on the web. Gone with the simple pulling of a plug.

At any rate we press on. Having chosen a course we must stick to it if we are to ever get anywhere. So, I would like to announce that the first issue of OUWANGALAYMAH! is done!

Submitted to Ka-blam.com for printing, I await the first hard copy. revisions I'm sure will come, but at least I am one step closer to pulling something more permanent out of the either.

EFII Response; Working outside your chosen medium

My name is Samuel Kirkman. I’m 47 years old, husband of one beautiful woman and father of two incredible boys. In collage, I studied fine art and was perusing a degree in Studio Art. Life happened and I dropped out, having become disillusioned with the fine art world. Since then I've worked in small market television stations as an audio operator, as a self employed Janitor, and for the last 13 years as a Nursery Sales Specialist for a home improvement center (LOWES). While paying the mortgage and doing the responsible thing, I've desperately tried to keep alive the creative being inside me. As a janitor I'd vacuum Patterns into the carpet, I saw intriguing shapes in the wet splotches on the floors as I mopped, and now I find myself surrounded by all sorts of materials that inspire my creativity.

Most recently I've been hammering away at an idea involving travertine tile, and my new found love for sequential art. Ever tried drawing with a Grinder? When it comes together I'll post the results, but for now, here are a few, "Out side" my usual medium examples.I hope you enjoy them!

This piece is Stained Glass entitled, "TRUST". It is a visual commentary on the abuse of children at the hands of the clergy.

Flotsam

Yes I've even worked in Seaweed. Dried of course.

And my most recent affliction, Digital media in the production of my Graphic Novels for all ages, "OUWANGALAYMAH! The Tail of The Name Of The Tree" and "GREW" both of which are presented on my web site while in production. I hope to have Ouwanaga #1 finished and printed for Wondercon in San Francisco this next april.

There are wonderful things happening on line. Not the least of which is the site

http://escapefromillustrationisland.com/welcome/

Thomas James, a working illustrator him self is really rocking the creative podcast world with his in-depth and very well produced podcast interviews with seasoned professionals.

His latest interview with graphic artist Stephan Bucher Is a great listen and spurred this post.

the community growing around Thomas's podcasts & Site is exciting and I encourage everyone to become a part of the EFII community.

Thank you Thomas for all the hard work you are doing to build such a stimulating, diverse, and talented group of people. Yea Escapees!

AAAAA!!!!!!

Kernel Panic!!!! I just learned, almost the hard way, what a Kernel Panic is. It's what you don't want to happen before you've backed up all your work! And folks, DO IT! DO IT NOW before you do anything else. The Mac has been acting up lately. Painter closing up on me right in the middle of a brush stroke, Trouble pulling up the internet, Things like that. Bought an external Hard drive Monday & backed evrything up that night. THANK GOODNESS! because tuesday morning it was KERNAL PANIC! Any way, Long story short, BACK UP YOUR INFO!

Thanks to Fellow Twitterer Ryan Anthony Davis @radillustrator on twitter he shared this link to an online back up service you might want to look into. Any way, anyhow just do it!

http://www.backblaze.com/

First illustration Friday post! Frzen

FROZEN with Fear, the elephant shivered & Shrieked!

Just wanted to do a loose, open sketch.

Nevr posted to IF yet so thought I would.

Thumb nails so far

Before I go any further with Ouwangalaymah, I'm putting everything that I've done so far, down in thumb nail form. I don't know why I have such a hard time doing thumbs, but after all the help I've received through the podcasts I listen to, (Big Illustration Party Time, Chris Oatley's Artcast, Ninja Mountain, Art & Story, Escape from Illustration Island, and the process Diary. all of which you can subscribe to for free through Itunes) I realize the importance of it.

Seeing it this way helps me see just how much work I've done so far. I can get a feel for the visual flow and rhythm as well. I hope this is good for a working stiff with a full time grunt job a Home Improvement Center. The more I get done, the more encouraged I become. I got started on this version of the story right after Comic Con. So what you see represents about two and a half months part time work.

It's meant getting up at 5:30 AM on my days off (That's sleeping in! I'm up by 4:30 usually to go to work at 6:00) and plugging away at it. I can get quite a bit of work done before the family gets up. And then getting as much done as I can when I get home from work. That is as long as I'm not totally wasted from the day job. I am so grateful to my family for being so understanding and supportive during this initial transition stage in what I do. One day, I hope to be with them all day as I continue to develop my intellectual properties at home, free from the shackles of the day job. I guess that's a testament to finding what one really loves to do and sticking with it no matter what. I am sharing all this in the hopes that it will encourage someone else like myself to stick with it! With what ever you do. With what ever it is that gets you out of bed in the morning. Keep plugging away at it and in doing so, trust that you will succeed.

Working in layers and the life of Trees

I wonder if anyone other than our fellow artists realize the time spent on bringing what we do to life. In an effort to save some of the time I need to devote to other things I've begun braving the pencilless sketch. Well not completely. My first Initial work up is with the pencil tool in painter with a medium grey tone that I then go over with the scratch board tool in black. Bypassing the pencil to paper, then scanning it in saves a lot of time.

My inking can take a few hours to a few days worth of noodling on it. I probably Spent a total of 12 hours inking this tree for OUWANGALAYMAH! My goal is to develop a few deeply detailed views of the tree to use in bits & pieces throughout the different scenes in which it is involved.

I then lift the layer to a watercolor layer and play with shadows using the oil pastel tool with a med grey. this is just to get an idea of what I want to do with form. Just a quick rough in really.

Then a quick test of color. Since the first scene in which the tree really makes an appearance is

at twilight, I've given my self quite a challenge, so again this is just to get an idea of what it will look like, not a finished piece by no means, but just a color test. I'm finding that the more I save each stage of development, I can make adjustments much more easily. But because of this, I sense an external hard drive in my very near future. Any way, More reasons to love digital media. It saves so much time over the struggles I have with physical media.

More Later! Thanks again for having a look!

found a new source of inspiration!

Just to show the benefit of Twittering, from a tweet by the great Bobby Chiu I found chris Oatley's site. what a great source of information and experience! I like to listen to something as I'm scribbling along, and so when I come across these podcasts by artists in the biz I like to glean what I can from what they've shared. So just passing along a like to Chris's site and hoping you find his podcasts as helpful as I am!

http://www.chrisoatley.com/CHRISOATLEY.COM/podcast/podcast.html

Be sure to check out all he's got available there on his site. great links as well to others with the same sharing outlook.