CREATION, DESTRUCTION, RESURRECTION

Remember the STS9 poster I did a little while back that never saw the light of day? Well fortunately they're back on tour, and I was able to elaborate on that illustration by making it into a triptych for the good people at Conscious Alliance. Locals can get them for FREE by donating food at the shows, and I believe they will be available on the CA website afterward for cash moneys.

The concept behind these pieces was to create a sequential series involving imaginary astrological mythology. I had a lot of fun figuring out which parts of my made-up myth to tell visually, and I'm pleased with the results.

Creation (1/3)

Destruction (2/3)

Resurrection (3/3)

I'M NOT DEAD, I PROMISE!!!

Guys, I'm terribly sorry for the lack of posts as of late. I just married my art school sweetheart Shannon Bonatakis a few weeks back, and things have been hellaciously busy. BUT I have a bunch of posts piled up now, so expect a post every day this week, and some more cool stuff I'll be able to talk about very soon! Eyes peeled!

2010 SKETCHBOOK

I finally got around to scanning and putting together the 2010 Sketchbook section of my website this week! Almost forgot to do it, I've been so slammed between working and planning my wedding. Only four months until I never think of napkin patterns again people!!! You have no idea what that means to me.

Maybe I'm not posting enough sketches on this "sketch blog," because most of this stuff never ended up here until now. I'm posting little snippets and thumbnails like these more frequently on my twitter account if you'd like to keep up with that.

Enjoy all 18 pages of my 2010 Sketchbook at josholland.com

STS9 POSTER / TECHNIQUE PROCESS POST

I was asked to create another Conscious Alliance poster for STS9's upcoming winter tour, but unfortunately one of the band's members became ill and the tour was cancelled. This poster will be completed and sold at a later date, but I wanted to document my technique in the meantime for those who have been asking.

STS9 poster (without tour info)

pencil/digital

1. The rough sketch for this piece was done digitally to save time. I begin by pushing and pulling shapes until I've achieved an idea that's polished enough to move forward with. Normally I do a color study at this stage as well. This omission of my process came back to bite me in the ass, as you'll soon see.

2. This is what my final pencils looked like scanned, cleaned up, and isolated on their own layer in photoshop. The drawing is not 100% complete, but will suffice as the base layer of the piece. Time to make with the color.

3. My original idea was to make the space eel radiating rainbow colors, and keep a neutral color palette for the rest of the piece. I begin by isolating sections into shapes below the drawing layer, and painting onto those shape layers. This is tedious work with the pen tool, but necessary for easy changes later.

4. The piece begins to take shape as color is applied to the line layer and additional background shapes. I begin to second guess my rainbow palette at this stage, when the colors aren't allowing bright enough values. I then bang my head into my desk repeatedly, as additional punishment for not doing my color study upfront.

5. Being a winter themed tour, I decided to change the rainbow colors to minty greens and an all cool palette. The omission of rainbow colors is allowing the eel to pop and glow against dark space in the way I originally intended. I plop the STS9 logo into place indiscriminately. That needs to change already...

6. I find a better place for the logo, add lighting effects, and sketch in what will be the final drawing elements digitally. Time to go back into drawing mode.

7. This is the final drawing layer with the included stars, lightning, fire, and transparent figure details. These were not done in the original drawing stage because they overlap the underdrawing, and I wanted them to be transparent.

8. The final image takes shape with subtle halftones and color applied to the remaining elements. My desired level of polish is achieved, and the client calls to say nevermind. Just another day in the life of a professional illustrator.

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

When I was asked to participate in "The American Dream" group show at D-Structure (opening tonight), I was happy to take on this challenging theme. Most people see the American dream as the promise of potential economic prosperity; a rags-to-riches success story in the making. But as my vocation might suggest, I'm not particularly interested in wealth. So what about "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?" I think this iconic declaration comes much closer to capturing the true American dream, the simple freedom to pursue our own personal beliefs, kinks, indulgences, and obsessions. This important freedom to fly in the face of conventional wisdom, religious opinion, and social restraint is what I think America is all about, so that's how I chose to depict it.

The Pursuit of Happiness

acrylic and coffee on wood panel

ART THAT FEEDS

Just finished this poster design for Conscious Alliance, a non-profit organization that collaborates with musicians and artists to help impoverished communities through food donations. I was very happy to be able to do a few charity pieces this year, and would like to encourage everyone else out there to donate a bit of your time, money, or expertise this holiday season. Our current recession has left charitable donations largely down, and many more people in need than ever before. Think about it.

As for the art, I'm super happy with the results. I've been meaning to incorporate more type into my artwork, and I think concert posters is a good avenue for me to explore in the future. But for now, back to the grindstone!

VIVA LA ART! KAIJUS + COMMISSION INFO

Been keeping super busy since flying solo. It feels so freaking great to not wake up and have to commute anymore. I'm getting more sleep than I've had in a decade, and the bills are getting paid too. So far, so good! One thing I'm trying to do in my free time is figure out a way to make promotional projects that can benefit non profit organizations and charities for the giving season.

I created these 2 new Kaiju paintings for Viva LA Art, as part of my ongoing Kaiju Project. The pieces will be auctioned at their Art Drinks & Music event, Saturday November 20th. All proceeds and donations will benefit CoachArt, a non-profit organization giving personal art lessons to children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses.

I'll be kicking out a few more of these for an IndyInk show in December, and have a few more commissions in the works too. I have slots open to do just a few more custom Kaijus guaranteed in time for Christmas, so if you're looking for an affordable framed piece of custom artwork order yours soon. ALSO, I'll be doing a big sale on Black Friday if there's anything you've had your eye on. At 50% off, I imagine some things will sell out. I'll keep you posted!

Everything I Touch, I Destroy

acrylic on wood panel

A Turning Point

acrylic on wood panel

REQUEST & WIN FREE ART

Rats! I knew this was a bad week to start sketch-a-day up again. My place looks like a bomb went off from moving, and I'm neck deep in a huge project working with Live Nation that is taking up all of my energy. I'd like to take this opportunity to take requests for sketch-a-day weekly themes for when I get back to it. I'll send someone a sketch of their choosing for the best suggestion. Place suggestions in the comments section of this post. Thanks!

SKETCH-A-DAY: ARTHUR MITCHELL

Another Dexter sketch. If you haven't seen the show, you should. You'll never look at John Lithgow the same after seeing his role as the "Trinity Killer."

SKETCH-A-DAY: DEXTER MORGAN

I may be crazy for trying to do sketch-a-day this week, but here goes. I'm limiting my time on these, so we might see a frantic scribble post by Friday. This first installment is an homage to someone I'm extremely happy to have back in my life.

NEW LIFE, NEW WEBSITE

Big news! For the first time since the day I turned 15, I don't have a job! I've decided the time is finally right to go full time freelance illustration, and I'm chomping at the bit to make the best work of my career. My fiancee Shannon and I will also be packing up and moving to Denver for a little change of pace. And you can look forward to some sketch-a-day action and lots of new art coming right up.

Coinciding with my newfound employment status, I just relaunched my entire online presence including my shiny new WEBSITE, a facelift for my BLOG and STORE, new ways to FOLLOW, and tons of never before seen content. Go! Look! Wish me luck!

DENVER DOES DENVER

I was invited to participate in the second Denver Does Denver show opening this Saturday night. I chose local art ally John Fellows as my subject, and created this Vegito-esque merging of our two styles in the cooperative spirit of the show. It was a lot of fun dissecting John's linoleum cuts, and experimenting with his palette. Overall I'm happy with the result, and from what I've seen the show should be a lot of fun. See you there.

"We're Connected, You And I"

ink, paint, transfer on wood panel

MONSTER ENGINE COLLAB

Just finished up a piece for Indyink's Monter Engine show. If you're not familiar with The Monster Engine, here’s the big idea. David Devrie takes children’s drawings and works them into fully rendered paintings, maintaining the wildly imaginative and ininhibited essence of the original drawings. David will have some work in the show, as well as Denver’s finest and their equally brilliant pint-sized partners.

Upon being invited to participate in the show, I realized that I no longer know any young kids. Scrambling to come up with something, I posted to my Twitter and Facebook accounts looking for an imaginative youngster to collab with. My buddy Markham "Shitty Kitten" Maes (One of my favorite local artists) came to my aid.

Meet my new drawing partner Lilly Maes, age 5. With a father like Shitty Kitten, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. She's got an amazing imagination, and made me a handful of awesome drawings to choose from. This was so much fun.

This one was my favorite out of the bunch. As Lilly describes the scene, the girl is happy because she wants to eat the ice cream monster. I'm sold. According to Markham, this was one of her first attempts at using Photoshop. I think we've got a future illustrator on our hands.

I toyed with David Devrie's technique of using the child's exact shaping to render a ralistic image, and decided that it wasn't working for me. With just a week to get the piece out, and a full schedule to work around, I decided to take Lilly's scene and reimagine it in my own style. This was the chosen thumbnail.

Fleshing out the thumbnail design, I added a few elements of my own to continue the vintage manga look I've been working with as of late (speedlines-a-go-go!). The Japanese writing dictated the title of the piece "Frozen Fruit Giant Man." This was an intentionally shoddy translation, as Japanese translated into English often makes me laugh. I like to wink back at the Japanese with my work sometimes, all out of love of course.

The final digital file was then transferred onto wood, and the corners roughed up to resemble a tattered manga book cover. I'm happy with the final result.

Lilly putting the finishing touch on "Frozen Fruit Giant Man." Thanks so much to the Maes family for all your help!

IT PAYS TO READ MY BLOG

Ask Chris Marciano who won the #1 Conan print and a drawing of his choice for guessing 100% correctly in the contest. He chose Mickey Mouse, and I chose to portray Ub Iwerks's noodle armed protagonist Steamboat Willie. Definitely my favorite incarnation of one of the world's most recognizable icons. Iwerks made Walt Disney.

Thanks to everyone who preordered Conan prints! They're shipping tomorrow. I've got about half of them left so snap one up while they last. The Conan contest was a lot of fun, I'll be sure to do some more contests in the future.

Look for a new post this week, and enjoy the UNCENSORED version of Steamboat Willie you may have never seen. Complete with animal cruelty! Yay!

COCO CONTEST WINNER

First off, thanks to everyone who entered the contest, the response was quite literally overwhelming! I was glad to not need the tie breaking descriptions on the characters, as the winner with the only perfect scorecard was Chris Marciano. He'll receive the #1 print of the finished illustration, and a custom drawing of his choosing. Congrats! Also receiving prints are Joe Donnelly, Chris Taber, and Andy Pickens who each got just one wrong.

I'll be doing more contests like this in the future, so subscribe to my blog, snag the RSS, or follow me on Twitter to keep up on such things. If you did not win, and would still like a print of this piece, you can buy them HERE for just $20 (edition of 50).

This was a lot of fun guys, thanks so much for participating! I'll need help spreading this image out there and sharing with even more fans. Shoot me a comment and let me know how you liked the contest or just share some Conan links or something. I don't think I've ever had so much fun looking for photo reference before. I highly recommend googling some of these characters' videos just for fun.

Scoring this was really tough, but I was looking for exact character names first and foremost. Here are the correct answers:

1- Carl "Oldy" Olson

2- Shoeverine (lame X-men characters skit)

3- Cloppy the Late Night horse

4- Abe Lincoln

5- Joel Goddard, Late Night Announcer

6- In the Year 2000

7- La Bamba, of the Max Weinberg 7

8- Wolfboy

9- Cody Devereaux

10- Clive Clemmons' Inappropriate Response Network (NBC satellite)

11- Frankenstein (Wastes a Minute of Our Time)

12- Fedex Pope

13- The Coked-up Werewolf

14- Preparation H Raymond

15- Santa Claus

16- Pimp Bot 5000

17- The Horny Manatee

18- Stacy, Andy's little sister

19- Andy Richter

20- Toshi, Joel Goddard's male escort

21- Max Weinberg

22- The Recliner of Rage

23- Pierre Bernard, Late Night Graphic Designer

24- The Interrupter

25- The Masturbating Bear

26- Vomiting Kermit

27- Desk Driving (Bessie Lou)

28- Triumph the insult comic dog

29- Jar Barf

30- The Walker Texas Ranger Lever

31- Guy Who is Protected From Three-Inch Bees

32- Wax Tom Cruise and Fonzie

CONAN CONTEST IS CLOSED

The I Heart Conan Contest is now closed to further entries, thanks a ton to everyone who participated and helped to promote the contest! Special thanks to friends on Facebook & Twitter, New York Magazine, The Daily What, and The Denver Egotist for helping get this thing out there.

I've yet to tally up all of the final scores, but I can tell you everyone did quite well. I was glad to find I'm not the only person who remembers Jar Barf as well (look it up). Please come back in the next couple of days to see the final illustration and find out if you've won a prize.

(final illustration in progress)

"I HEART CONAN" CONTEST IS LIVE

RULES:

EDIT: CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS FOR PLAYING!

-To win you must name as many of the Conan O'Brien sketch characters in the illustration as possible, and be among the first to do so. Keep in mind, some of the items can be named by a reference or sketch name, in addition to the character's name. The more specific you are the better chance you have of getting it 100% correct (or MORE correct than another person). For example, #15 is just a common character (Santa Claus), but #10 is a character with a part inside of a common sketch. Confused? Great.

-SIMPLIFY YOUR ANSWERS PLEASE, no running sentences.

-Email your 32 numbered answers to: josh@josholland.com

-SUBJECT LINE MUST READ "I HEART CONAN" or it will be disregarded

-ONE ENTRY per person. No changing answers later.

That's it! I don't know what to expect just yet, maybe a lot of people will get them all right, maybe nobody will. I'm playing it by ear, but the grand prize will a large print of the Conan piece, and a custom sketch of your choosing. The winner and some runner up prizes will be announced when the finished illustration goes up this weekend. Good luck!

I HEART CONAN CONTEST

Watching Conan's last night on The Tonight Show admittedly left me a bit misty eyed. It's funny how seeing something come to an end can teach you just how important it really is to you. I realized I've been watching Conan since I was 13-years-old; that's over half of my life! Feeling inspired by the massive outpouring of love for Conan, I set out to make an epic homage featuring all of my favorite Late Night characters. After countless sketches and a lot of wasted paper, I realized this is a job for a wacom tablet and the forgiveness of photoshop. So here it is, my super sloppy final sketch. Check back in a few days for the finished pencil drawing, and a contest to name as many characters as you can for a prize! Hold your guesses.

HIPSTER FABULOUS

Hey all, it's been a few. Well, life's been crazy on my end, mostly because I finally proposed to my girlfr- er fiance Shannon Bonatakis after 7 plus years. We've come a long way since that fateful day in illustrative drawing class, when I wooed her with my sardonic charm and underwear model good looks. So we're neck deep in wedding planning and it's eating up most of my free time at the moment. BUT I'm making a new year's resolution to blog more frequently so please hit subscribe, snag my RSS feed, bookmark me, follow me on Twitter, do whatever you do and expect some fresh graphite when you come back.

So this new piece is for a PBR show in Denver this Saturday at Illiterate and Indyink. I'm honestly not a huge fan of Pabst, but you can't deny the hipster loyalty PBR has earned over the last decade. I'm much more fond of a hoppy microbrew when I lust for ale, so I guess I'll have to kick out my homage to Stone Brewing Co. soon.

Final illustration

Some sketches and WIP drawing

Transferred on wood and varnished

TERRIBLE YELLOW EYES FEATURE

Got my WTWTA piece featured on Terrible Yellow Eyes on Friday. If you haven't seen this amazing collection of super pro fan art, I'm on my way to come slap you personally. Better head over now to avoid the humiliation.