tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6470616265653626812024-03-12T22:11:42.255-07:00Surge ProtectorDavid Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.comBlogger295125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-38526416374141181782022-12-15T13:04:00.003-08:002022-12-15T13:21:01.281-08:00AI Art: My thoughts and opinions.Alright, it’s time I threw my voice out there in all this mess. <br /><br />AI art. Should we fear it? Ban it? Embrace it? I’ve gone back and forth from curiosity to fear, anger and hope, and everywhere in between. I’m still not fully concluded on what I think about AI art, but I do have thoughts. Do feel free to add your own, if you’re so inclined.<br /><br />First and foremost, apps like Lensa are scraping artist’s personal work without their knowledge or intent. That’s just blatantly wrong. Probably legally so. Garbled signatures appear in so-called “original” AI conceptions, on what is essentially a Photoshop filter app that just rips styles wholesale out of an unsuspecting artist’s social presence. I’m not blaming you for doing a thing that’s fun if you jumped on the bandwagon, but moving forward, I’d exercise caution, first for the sake of the artists in question, and second for the data that you’re giving these companies. That, I think, sets up the structure of this conversation.<br /><br />Let’s look at this sticky wicket on two fronts: First, commercial art. What effect does AI have on this market, and why should I care? Second, the implications for images, both illustrative and photographic moving forward. <br /><br />Devil’s advocate says: AI is just a program doin what humans do, learning from their styles and replicating them, you learned by imitation too. This is a Bad Take. Let’s say I learn to be the cheap version of, I don’t know, James Jean. He’s a big, super busy, super talented artist. He no longer takes some commissions because they simply can’t afford him, especially since he can afford to do whatever interests him. Let’s say I’m a successful imitation, and I take, I don’t know, thirty to forty projects a year. I do not take two thousand projects. I do not produce millions of prompts. I do not replace thousands of artists at fifteen dollars a month.<br /><br />Devil’s advocate says: AI helps even the playing field! It democratizes art! This is an Okay take. But herein lies the problem: the creative field is not one where we’re all drinking champagne and pooping gold. The ability to make art for oneself versus license art at scale reduces an already undervalued creative commodity to almost zero.<br /><br />The Devil responds: Well you’re just John Henry breaking his heart pounding railroad nails! Why fight for back breaking labor? Rendering is dead, now we can push ourselves to new creative heights by making AI do all the busy work! This is a Very Bad Take. I, and most of the creatives who stay in the field, fall in love with so many aspects of the work; the craft; the moment to moment decisions of line, brushwork, and color. This is a job I love, and it can be hard work, but it’s fulfilling work. It’s meaningful. Reducing the hard stuff to a prompt, removing those moments of euphoric flow in service to an end product is missing what makes art, art. I’d rather do something else if being a so-called artist meant milking an AI for images to stitch together. <br /><br />Devil’s Advocate says: Cat’s out of the bag. AI is here to stay and you either get out or adapt. This is the Worst Take. It’s also probably the most realistic. But I’m fucking tired of spending decades worshipping big tech pretending it hasn’t brought us closer and closer to social and financial ruin. <br /><br />I remember having conversations in the early 2000’s about the blue-sky possibilities of social media, ‘back when Facebook was hip.’ There was so much positivity about how truth could blossom, lies and manipulations would wilt in the light of constant information. It sounds so stupid now, doesn’t it? You want to know why social media leads to conflict? <br /><br />The incentives are all about profit. There’s no commitment to bettering society, or being a common good. It’s either a product, or you are. Is it free? Then you’re being used. And the way they use you is to push outrage, foster division, and amplify conflict. Because ads need eyeballs, and the only numbers they can run are engagement, and humans engage most when they’re excited. Excited by fear, anger, and resentment. If social media were a public good, the experience would be entirely different. But it isn’t. And neither is AI. AI is poised to destroy livelihoods, and for what? Progress? <br /><br />Some fucking capitalist with no respect or understanding of creativity scrapes the pixels of thousands of artists and uses the language of inclusivity and positivity to sell us our own roasted fingers? I’m sorry, but I’ve heard this song before. <br /><br />“Cat’s out of the bag!” WE built the cat. WE sewed the bag. We’re allowed to put it back. The only reason we won’t is because corporations have spent years pushing us under and saying, “what can we do?” <br /><br />Oh, privacy doesn’t exist anymore. Sure, but what could we do? It’s not like our own inability to protect your data, or in some cases our craven selling of your data, or in some cases the blatant psychological testing of your data is our fault. Bullshit. They’re not inevitable, and I’m tired of pretending they are.<br /><br />“Gosh, sure wish the companies that gave us all nice new boats to ride out the rising sea level didn’t also put bombs in them, but hey, can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.” I’m so tired of this apathetic, nihilistic, bullshit response to a complete abdication by our government from protecting our rights. <br /><br />Having said all that, it’s very possible that this AI runs into the same problems as self-driving cars: computers aren’t good for actual split second decision-making or inspiration. Artists were never going to make money off of people getting custom Facebook profile pics. No one really wants to make that children’s book their friend’s aunt has been thinking about for ages. No, I don’t want to design your tattoo. And any CEO who thinks they can just get really good at prompts and no longer has to hire a middle man to create work for them might quickly realize how much effort image curation still takes, even when the computer does 90% of the work. <br /><br />I think there will be a stratification of who comes to AI and why, and there will always be some percentage of need for high-quality, specific art. But the value of that art may continue to drop, to the point where you’d have to use AI to make any kind of profit. And maybe this makes me an old man, but the value of my art comes not from how fast I can make it, but the honing of my craft and my ideas. I take pride in being an illustration professional, which is already an endangered profession. I wasn’t interested in fine art because I like to solve problems with my images, to tell other’s stories and to be a part of enriching the experience of people who would happen upon my work in any of its venues. If that version of illustration dies, my career as an illustrator may die with it, not because I’m unwilling to adapt, but because the market became inhospitable to human expression, timescales, and values.<br /><br />Finally, on the implications of these programs for the future of our privacy and the already fractured shared reality of our society: I’m not going to put on a tin foil hat here, but these programs are very good at making things look real as well as illustrated. Photographic manipulation of images, when prompted by sick minds, can get very troubling very quickly. This thing isn’t a tool. It’s a gun. And I know Americans have a tough time wishing for gun regulation, but I think we recognize that a gun is as dangerous as its user. I hope you understand, without me having to say, what someone could do with photos of you or people you know at ANY AGE with this kind of software. Consider those implications. I don’t think I’m off base for calling for an early, aggressive legal and regulatory approach to guiding this technology.David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-79869726002510805732021-10-20T07:47:00.001-07:002021-10-20T07:47:24.031-07:00Happy Hallow's Eve!<p> I wanted to make a little spooky pin-up for halloween, so here it is! I've had a lot of fun and exciting projects lately that I can't talk about yet, but until then, enjoy some spookiness!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp-CUfnthGheytUsoYTg-ropAuG6QEm-TcNBcVxqBBuNy1njjJORgQowX78MeLffHu_Gx0XWjBDQ_sO0MoR1vwOh6LJZ8chynb9hORf0YWOX-TFsUYskJDvDk92cwcubDIPSmY-9WExYwt/s2048/Happy_Hallows_Eve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1325" data-original-width="2048" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp-CUfnthGheytUsoYTg-ropAuG6QEm-TcNBcVxqBBuNy1njjJORgQowX78MeLffHu_Gx0XWjBDQ_sO0MoR1vwOh6LJZ8chynb9hORf0YWOX-TFsUYskJDvDk92cwcubDIPSmY-9WExYwt/s320/Happy_Hallows_Eve.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-5501316485961765262021-06-08T14:12:00.000-07:002021-06-08T14:12:03.237-07:00The Election of 2016 and 2020<p>What seems like forever ago, in the innocent way way back times of 2016, I made a poster about the presidential election. It was in the style of Drew Struzan, who popularized the movie poster design of putting a bunch of faces and scenes into a montage. Think of the poster for Big Trouble in Little China, or The Goonies, or Indiana Jones, or if you haven't seen any of those, Stranger Things on Netflix.</p><p>If you are young, live under a rock, or have had your memory wiped by years of stress and fatigue, you might not remember what a shit-show the election of 2016 was. It was, by all accounts, pure and utter chaos. It was so entertaining that it truly felt like a movie, with plot threads and sudden reveals, twists and combatting larger than life personalities. They showed the presidential debates in movie theaters. </p><p>Bernie had a bird land on his podium. Russia was ever looming. A man jumped the fence at a Trump rally and rushed the stage. It was like nothing we'd ever seen before, even with how crazy American elections usually are. So I decided to make a movie poster for it. It'd be a good exercise in painting likenesses, and hopefully Hillary would win and I could sell some prints. It was not to be.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQMTA-ce0Cpt-VJzjzAWPOuyNPUbgIbgp-GOX4P6fSeIkdaw-jRK9okTl0WeM1S7oNQWpg77c5ummyHbCN2lzxGDxEODtOj2rEgoVUGY9H4fvmmxXTW0usV0RMBDsBArt4y2pdxHkBkTGJ/s800/trumpweb_2_orig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="533" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQMTA-ce0Cpt-VJzjzAWPOuyNPUbgIbgp-GOX4P6fSeIkdaw-jRK9okTl0WeM1S7oNQWpg77c5ummyHbCN2lzxGDxEODtOj2rEgoVUGY9H4fvmmxXTW0usV0RMBDsBArt4y2pdxHkBkTGJ/s320/trumpweb_2_orig.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I wanted the title to play off of the phrase hell or high water, which is also a movie. And I wanted to be a little tongue-in-cheek. Yeah, Hillary wrapped herself in the flag, because of course she'd embrace this weird faux patriotism. And Bill holding her leg like a damsel in distress is a nice subversion of the trope. Before all the Republicans started licking Trump's boots, they were calling him a liar and a coward. Ted Cruz fought the primary all the way into the summer. Oh, how far the mighty have fallen.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9tH3Or0_HwtUVf4-8BK89H_sPhAuKYlsPRTsgVLCds6Fr6cbrbGI0NbJHDW43eZnPyGRwxZjQOQds7I57fFjpwUt5Una9UFp_uRUs0KbaCoDUgf8DtywQxhI1DTm6eVYOhj5l8s7MLUSK/s1000/Hill_or_High_Water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="967" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9tH3Or0_HwtUVf4-8BK89H_sPhAuKYlsPRTsgVLCds6Fr6cbrbGI0NbJHDW43eZnPyGRwxZjQOQds7I57fFjpwUt5Una9UFp_uRUs0KbaCoDUgf8DtywQxhI1DTm6eVYOhj5l8s7MLUSK/s320/Hill_or_High_Water.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>You already know what happened. Like any great dystopian film, the twist is that the bad guy wins. Ted Cruz started towing the line, Paul Ryan retired, Hillary got a book deal, Obama went on vacation for like three years and Bernie kept fighting the good fight. And Trump became president. So I put this painting away.<div><br /></div><div>Fast forward three years, and the news never stopped coming. Every week was an exhausting cascade of crisis both real and manufactured. Then the pandemic hit, the economy took a nose-dive, we were forced to work from home (if at all), and thousands died. </div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, also there was an election coming. Unlike last time I designed the poster, where I had a tough time figuring out who and what to put into it, this time it was simple: Trump was at the center of it all. Even things he didn't cause and had no control over, he'd fight to be a part of the story. We handed a narcissist the keys to the country and gave him a megaphone and watched in fascinated horror (or awe, for his fans) as he spun like a devastating top from problem to problem. Just one of his controversies would have sunk any other politician, but he was so full of controversy it actually lifted him out of his own flood. </div><div><br /></div><div>One week we were reading emails that showed Trump Jr. had welcomed Russian information against the opposition, the next week we were outraged about kids in cages, the next week we were reading about his lawyers paying strippers hush money to not spill the beans about his extramarital affairs. It was a happy little accident that my first "movie's" title was 'Hill or High Water,' because it was clear that we had picked high water, and we were drowning. All of us, that is, except Trump.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyMOVdXApWc6PDzd5YNzWhI0s5co6mIDEzWeoLsiK0y4vWOxo-8y1p6ZvCFgJ1gupo1peEFMPViCmgoCs6VKC7rtzD8OfYw8YF4VvlXkN7kl5JkFI9CX2BjT1r0ZTPGa-DD4RXLf_nmDVW/s2025/High+Water_final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2025" data-original-width="1350" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyMOVdXApWc6PDzd5YNzWhI0s5co6mIDEzWeoLsiK0y4vWOxo-8y1p6ZvCFgJ1gupo1peEFMPViCmgoCs6VKC7rtzD8OfYw8YF4VvlXkN7kl5JkFI9CX2BjT1r0ZTPGa-DD4RXLf_nmDVW/s320/High+Water_final.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The only thing that I would change if I did it again is paint the Capitol Building on fire instead of the White House. Could have been a real prophet with that! I wanted to make sure I got his centaur-like stance right, and I used a few texture heavy brushes this time to really play up the traditional media look, especially in his pants and suit coat.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIq-V7Qp7DTswYYtY8LhvT5JpGO0v1UZ0x4IoJm0SAk5pw6cpw7BhJsa0eHWYkvzFMFcGfDAaBaEu-M8iAtzninkQoUkP-kiXqAlXeVeE5Aj4FeVMH4mifdwC5tQjkdkmQPlVWBQx227GW/s2048/Trump+crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1278" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIq-V7Qp7DTswYYtY8LhvT5JpGO0v1UZ0x4IoJm0SAk5pw6cpw7BhJsa0eHWYkvzFMFcGfDAaBaEu-M8iAtzninkQoUkP-kiXqAlXeVeE5Aj4FeVMH4mifdwC5tQjkdkmQPlVWBQx227GW/s320/Trump+crop.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><p>I put hands under his feet as if he was being held aloft by his aides. The microphones and a fully submerged reporter still trying to ask a question represented how the media ecosystem simultaneously suffered and was completely beholden to Trump. They needed Trump as much as he needed them. Every tweet was opportunity for a think piece, every interview provided days of analytical content. Every rally was broadcast with morbid fascination. And Biden was no where to be seen. When the election happened, I remember my father-in-law asked me how Biden won when there was so much clear energy for Trump at his rallies. My answer was that a lot of people didn't vote for Biden. They voted AGAINST Trump. And that's why Trump is the only person on a poster that encapsulates one of the most chaotic and unprecedented elections in modern history: because he made it so that the choice was fully black and white: vote for Trump, or vote against him.</p><p>And we did.</p><p>One more piece for good measure, because I'm not sure I ever showed it anywhere:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBd7LxyW4KJYUz0DICWLs1KZ8aVa-IgE0w1yUUJMi2bGiuMb0IwIGw6jFmCpYy-xfyRUMKNCohpt5FrT47cXu1P54YQYWHd8Zjl7BlFdHdS_F9X2c_Ap_qDUNDo1sXZ191FP6j1jcT8t9K/s2048/Twump1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1368" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBd7LxyW4KJYUz0DICWLs1KZ8aVa-IgE0w1yUUJMi2bGiuMb0IwIGw6jFmCpYy-xfyRUMKNCohpt5FrT47cXu1P54YQYWHd8Zjl7BlFdHdS_F9X2c_Ap_qDUNDo1sXZ191FP6j1jcT8t9K/s320/Twump1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Not sure I like the colors, but it was an interesting experiment.</p></div>David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-31180579692968800672021-06-04T14:27:00.005-07:002021-06-04T14:44:21.080-07:00Morning Buzz<p> Let's talk about the most detailed, complex piece I've ever done. It's not the piece with like eight figures in a courtroom. It's not the piece with a cyborg woman crashing through a window fighting cyborg panthers. It's the picture of a grassy meadow and a salamander with a coffee and some bees.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhjZJkWdyGewC5gURWb6C6x2NktD03nxV-clmA0R6_aJBmAPek0uACbQrr4M4wRUUlwCmaF38_gCnz7ZBKB2EZy1hoSzP-_-QV17rvnfRyDHd7tKK12zRvt2hnkQsuDOW9YPVnYOSuBVjq/s1800/Clear+Creek_final.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1100" data-original-width="1800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhjZJkWdyGewC5gURWb6C6x2NktD03nxV-clmA0R6_aJBmAPek0uACbQrr4M4wRUUlwCmaF38_gCnz7ZBKB2EZy1hoSzP-_-QV17rvnfRyDHd7tKK12zRvt2hnkQsuDOW9YPVnYOSuBVjq/s320/Clear+Creek_final.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Part of the complexity, I mean all of the complexity, comes from wanting to get the greenery right. Yeah, I could imply grass and leaves, and I did in the background, but I wanted the viewer to feel like they were in this grass. I love the look of sunlight shining through leaves, giving them this bright green/yellow glow. If I wanted to properly show those spots of sunlight, I was going to need to really pay attention to individual leaves. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFoILe6KFff513_UTELG_OzRqh9JchWZf3YpBs1vmbFQKa1cq94aUlraEDRShKNYvRQsJ6G50FJWWng9ie8G3RLoRuGUXYQPv0Mwf_VfJULPa4qsnbkhzOqEGJZJ2Y7hH65tUe_UficVPh/s1600/PXL_20210425_171724309.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFoILe6KFff513_UTELG_OzRqh9JchWZf3YpBs1vmbFQKa1cq94aUlraEDRShKNYvRQsJ6G50FJWWng9ie8G3RLoRuGUXYQPv0Mwf_VfJULPa4qsnbkhzOqEGJZJ2Y7hH65tUe_UficVPh/s320/PXL_20210425_171724309.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>I found this really beautiful, twisted, moss-covered tree on one of our hikes through Clear Creek Metro Park. It has so much life in its shape and all the things growing out of it, and I thought, you know, this would make a really lovely image. So I did a color sketch.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPeVeKw-KfQnZnsw8AGKE3wCsXJTehaBi3gmUX8tMiJYhMilHfd-E74eSYAT8Y6GETN-N5uk5203M-Q3NdvvHDNkZwLmnmfMh9kx9-8OKAWI6Urt768QWvtB45Y_cij-9wnJ1c4johBbhs/s1080/183277976_980472583862_1092793374639093564_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="659" data-original-width="1080" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPeVeKw-KfQnZnsw8AGKE3wCsXJTehaBi3gmUX8tMiJYhMilHfd-E74eSYAT8Y6GETN-N5uk5203M-Q3NdvvHDNkZwLmnmfMh9kx9-8OKAWI6Urt768QWvtB45Y_cij-9wnJ1c4johBbhs/s320/183277976_980472583862_1092793374639093564_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>You can see I had a slightly different creative direction for this one early. But I felt that, as much as I love dinosaurs, we needed a better sense of mystery and discovery. Would I like to discover dinosaurs in a metro park? 100% yes. BUT how much cuter would it be to have a little salamander soaking in a warm summer morning? So I made another color sketch.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQhCx5sqB-iDIEzq1JHWl9nyHEWfinwkQUxBOxblj1OzFKevrOnk59h_7V62muvA_PXA39mizUqVI5Cy1FaSmIoIrk-Y4Kz2S3Ags2d8pG46WGTk5ftcqDtu2eQSdltGHZv3UZS-AOGuaQ/s2048/Clear+Creek.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1252" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQhCx5sqB-iDIEzq1JHWl9nyHEWfinwkQUxBOxblj1OzFKevrOnk59h_7V62muvA_PXA39mizUqVI5Cy1FaSmIoIrk-Y4Kz2S3Ags2d8pG46WGTk5ftcqDtu2eQSdltGHZv3UZS-AOGuaQ/s320/Clear+Creek.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>This composition would be mostly flowers and leaves in a meadow. There is this nice big tree to anchor the piece, but we need a better defined foreground, middle ground, and background. I can establish a few things by putting some giant leaves and bees in the foreground: we get a good size comparison for the tree, a bold object to help draw us into the image, and overlap to keep the perspective from flattening out. </p><p><br /></p><p>The real challenge came not from determining the composition but filling in the leaves. These are essentially negative spaces: it's a meadow, so it is about the collection of thousands of leaves instead of individuals. But as the leaves get closer to the viewer, detailing them individually becomes more important to sell the environment. I didn't actually change the far background that much from this initial sketch. But how the hell am I going to paint leaves into the foreground without it looking like busy chaos? I'm not sure, honestly, but this is what I did.</p><p><br /></p><p>First, I went back to the tree and shot some reference on a sunny day.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCe3-YeOTlRgvG9inO6iK8NJcGEDHc3Ckbob4YOfxELm4QVxV7XtJHyLEyEJkl6bNcsiDDbZhhwXXgQoVXa8ZDxpL3IPbenTtnTEXebfcr1-uFqGzc9tNn_3q4Tn5Rh459b8C6Sh_03Lke/s2048/PXL_20210502_151357755.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCe3-YeOTlRgvG9inO6iK8NJcGEDHc3Ckbob4YOfxELm4QVxV7XtJHyLEyEJkl6bNcsiDDbZhhwXXgQoVXa8ZDxpL3IPbenTtnTEXebfcr1-uFqGzc9tNn_3q4Tn5Rh459b8C6Sh_03Lke/s320/PXL_20210502_151357755.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Then I outlined the spaces I needed to fill in my painting and took that shape outline over to the photo and moved it around until I liked the leaves inside of it. Then I traced the leaves in that outline and dragged the tracing back into my painting. This did two things for me: I was able to control what part of the reference I was looking at while painting, and I could control the value structure of the leaves I was painting. There were two value/color structures in the meadow, one for the shade and one for the sun. So I'd draw a shape over the sketch that represented the sun area, then take that shape and find leaves in the sun. Can you spot where I grabbed my reference?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpBYRgY5EUDwe7_m34MfNnP7sKXOBYwds50ZFu3ZzfZjIuhDajBfvNYDB6crE6UjS9jR04-ojgU6XnPq0exRyS1LrlEnVEJbieOeivJJrQLIUC68rYv-bfeHRBTkcEpO-MnFEFPEaVUwLR/s2048/Clear+Creek1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1252" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpBYRgY5EUDwe7_m34MfNnP7sKXOBYwds50ZFu3ZzfZjIuhDajBfvNYDB6crE6UjS9jR04-ojgU6XnPq0exRyS1LrlEnVEJbieOeivJJrQLIUC68rYv-bfeHRBTkcEpO-MnFEFPEaVUwLR/s320/Clear+Creek1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Could I have found a better, more painterly way of filling in the meadow? Maybe. But while I started off painting willy-nilly, I was overwhelmed by the busy-ness of the lush greenery almost immediately. I needed to find structure, especially because I was already making sure to keep my eye on the bigger picture. The leaves in the shadow areas had to be detailed but couldn't stand out beyond the shadow. Similarly, each leaf, sunlight or no, needed to blend into the final image. They needed to be detailed enough to be believable, but not so detailed that the finer elements of my painting got lost. Forest for the trees, and all that. Did I succeed?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2GCBMtEp0asw_hJTHUeOMCvP99Zk6DC7xFjtmevXcIwJo-_vZ1hlVxo-TW5vCDC0vNJO5ydRmCjwHQJWLM1foozGAVFJHps9PWGiYNNHCNKfV8u_X7zgazsJCbAFymAjwqwbttpBZyJiy/s2048/Clear+Creek2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1252" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2GCBMtEp0asw_hJTHUeOMCvP99Zk6DC7xFjtmevXcIwJo-_vZ1hlVxo-TW5vCDC0vNJO5ydRmCjwHQJWLM1foozGAVFJHps9PWGiYNNHCNKfV8u_X7zgazsJCbAFymAjwqwbttpBZyJiy/s320/Clear+Creek2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>The bees, and especially the salamander, actually took the least amount of time. I redesigned the bees to look cuter and less sinister (something about those black pointy legs creeped me out), but the salamander actually stayed exactly the same as the sketch. I was happy with this simple contented smile and his little grippy hands, things that just worked from the sketch and I didn't want to mess up that energy by overpainting him. I spent the most time holding the overall design in mind as I tackled each piece, hyper-diligent to keep colors and highlights in their place depending on whether they were in the shade or the sunlight, background, foreground, or middle ground. This determined everything from value range to detail. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNd2yA4HYHDInABNrprvlK7vVJbkxDiycNbaRCSMv5eKfUs15IEijq2Gu-Lz3wMTQN0NE9wpodiF05JDXfeCaBaTTthmpjUGd61IhnViSkE4HdxmZQaRun5Q3aMbZrnQ6h60YtrxBKdGz4/s1010/bees.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="1010" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNd2yA4HYHDInABNrprvlK7vVJbkxDiycNbaRCSMv5eKfUs15IEijq2Gu-Lz3wMTQN0NE9wpodiF05JDXfeCaBaTTthmpjUGd61IhnViSkE4HdxmZQaRun5Q3aMbZrnQ6h60YtrxBKdGz4/s320/bees.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Here's the starkest example, with foreground sunlight overlapping middle ground shade and background sunlight. The trees in the background needed just the right amount of detail to sell what they were, but primarily to accent the bees.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmvDWXNMJfoqfwFsQ1s0bquLsaKj3J-ghqR2-BfGiaelSN_KFyFOuOjhyO1Q6ndJRriRsXdFLeeX5_Qgetodqm6Rn3Tov1TORy_fCCuYU0CnPnWuBTULmejIbRNfClm7hIkOpOX7XsFZJ-/s695/leaves.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="484" data-original-width="695" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmvDWXNMJfoqfwFsQ1s0bquLsaKj3J-ghqR2-BfGiaelSN_KFyFOuOjhyO1Q6ndJRriRsXdFLeeX5_Qgetodqm6Rn3Tov1TORy_fCCuYU0CnPnWuBTULmejIbRNfClm7hIkOpOX7XsFZJ-/s320/leaves.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>This is the part of the painting that almost drove me crazy. But once I started grabbing pieces of the reference that I liked and sort of puzzle-piecing them together, the process became much easier. If leaves were in the shade they had three values and two hues: some leaves had a warmer hue from echoing sunlight from surrounding leaves, others were cooler, getting their light by reflecting the blue sky. If the leaves were in the sunlight they had four values and two hues: if we were seeing the leaf from below, they would have a bright warm yellow hue because of the sunlight glowing through them. If we saw the top of the leaf, it had a cooler, whiter hue, since we were seeing the sun bouncing directly off of the leaf. It took a lot of meticulous, detail minded execution to get through this little section of meadow. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC2mPQlv9G0YNJSi08qsGlOfkPDAnWwZ-gZbf4oQkp3BWE30qIHY4Py1UON3TDcLvHv8Rk3s5xIJ9miHbi5_VSi5ODIODT_cHGSsAZhEyDv2HPcoQIrPw2n30_-yDQT2hijuw4xZkDw8wb/s695/treeandleaves.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="484" data-original-width="695" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC2mPQlv9G0YNJSi08qsGlOfkPDAnWwZ-gZbf4oQkp3BWE30qIHY4Py1UON3TDcLvHv8Rk3s5xIJ9miHbi5_VSi5ODIODT_cHGSsAZhEyDv2HPcoQIrPw2n30_-yDQT2hijuw4xZkDw8wb/s320/treeandleaves.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>This was one of the only places where the leaves were sparse enough that it was easy to show the difference between abstract soft background and sharper, brighter middle ground. This was probably one of the more fun parts of the painting to execute, oddly enough.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC8ZPmRA6IHSYSAlTsstml2OtZjw-W9BrXjViFpjRYz5Sa8yz3RUibpIL1Pu4GkIDGnK44SrzxR8-NPmeHaW72d6NFxKhSsQBdpZCOjNN4W9NxZuXEgKnCsroe6_AD7OmrOMjNszwJYoJL/s695/salamander.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="484" data-original-width="695" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC8ZPmRA6IHSYSAlTsstml2OtZjw-W9BrXjViFpjRYz5Sa8yz3RUibpIL1Pu4GkIDGnK44SrzxR8-NPmeHaW72d6NFxKhSsQBdpZCOjNN4W9NxZuXEgKnCsroe6_AD7OmrOMjNszwJYoJL/s320/salamander.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>I painted the salamander last, which turned out to be a good idea. He didn't really need much to finish him, just a few sharp highlights so he looked a little slimy and a little rainbow on his cup. <div><br /></div><div>I tried to really push the brush texture and build around the color study itself to try and maintain some of the energy of the initial sketch. I painted this at 22x36, which means that any image I show online will be robbed of much of the texture the full size image has. So, sorry about that. You could always buy a print to see the texture better!<div><br /></div><div>Anyways, hope you liked it, and my explanation of the process. I'll have more work to show soon!<br /><p><br /></p></div></div>David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-11625134982647477572021-02-04T12:25:00.002-08:002021-02-04T12:25:17.947-08:00Tom Sawyer Batch #4<p>I hit my limit. There was simply no way to do the work I needed to get done by the deadline. So I reached out to my fellow illustrator at McGraw Hill, Max Yeager, who stepped in and finished three out of five of the illustrations in this batch. I thought he did a great job taking the reference, sketches, and some of my previous illustrations to hit the same style so the illustrations would be seamless. I still lament not being able to get to these, I ended up giving him some of my favorite compositions, but I am deeply grateful to Max for helping me hit what turned out to be an impossible deadline.</p><p>If you want further proof of how hard this was to do, let's take a look at the first image I created for this batch. It was a lot of fun, but six portraits just plain take time.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi01lsQqNMs_V3C2z-eNI6Wqrz0IwgwmMkaxgqGsvLLG-KX2G0GaDTCVB_xFMi9jqT46BhbTljOjIdE9I_0pGXC0i6awLDonOb98LtNeoV4Fo_EUSYcNCwzL6Zy26molE9ab58DxtRHyBE-/s2048/G5_RE_L126_001A_905543_R4+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1509" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi01lsQqNMs_V3C2z-eNI6Wqrz0IwgwmMkaxgqGsvLLG-KX2G0GaDTCVB_xFMi9jqT46BhbTljOjIdE9I_0pGXC0i6awLDonOb98LtNeoV4Fo_EUSYcNCwzL6Zy26molE9ab58DxtRHyBE-/s320/G5_RE_L126_001A_905543_R4+copy.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p>The next piece is one of my favorites of the whole project, and a great example of what I was able to do with just the few extra hours Max bought me by jumping onto the project to help.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYZNaq0vwR_sN9RqGAgGFzFHyHAFZLAY8Nc0mVukQeh53LHN_Yr_SADvOHFdDjVz_HZ6OqC5L98hjQfH8PDcf0gCK5xC8z1gjnGwkM7SPhR2bsRsm1RnapNkDXs03IaXwTXNkc7fGlwylL/s2048/G5_RE_L127_001A_905543_R4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYZNaq0vwR_sN9RqGAgGFzFHyHAFZLAY8Nc0mVukQeh53LHN_Yr_SADvOHFdDjVz_HZ6OqC5L98hjQfH8PDcf0gCK5xC8z1gjnGwkM7SPhR2bsRsm1RnapNkDXs03IaXwTXNkc7fGlwylL/s320/G5_RE_L127_001A_905543_R4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Max worked with me to understand what my vision was for these next pieces, and I'd say he did a bang-up job of bringing these scenes to life!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYjV7mJhplfAPXQI8988Y2W_nXpq4JW56T0wNdnvOfXeYB7ULnEgJ0Mh0UeVWfXgqEcfyrZyRnsTFdmNzZhXKqeynJD6zdNxcXXQO9UoHyG9hpKzGZyieHz4mfh5uGQuHio4F-Lmbbmut0/s2048/G5_RE_L128_001A_905543_R4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYjV7mJhplfAPXQI8988Y2W_nXpq4JW56T0wNdnvOfXeYB7ULnEgJ0Mh0UeVWfXgqEcfyrZyRnsTFdmNzZhXKqeynJD6zdNxcXXQO9UoHyG9hpKzGZyieHz4mfh5uGQuHio4F-Lmbbmut0/s320/G5_RE_L128_001A_905543_R4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>The second scene Max produced was difficult, not only because of the perspective, but the lighting, too. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr1Q35gWkA_HVnctCZo9zSaFVsg5j-bN90YakDZSCQnI83gmHgVsE2ZlGinISJjWG3IQr6QmXwTnMM8vBsdiMQY9w-14cj0NZSPtFSnMAJEW4GFQPKenmTryXThMfL1-hU37SBY0RDXa7N/s2048/G5_RE_L129_001A_905543_R4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1509" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr1Q35gWkA_HVnctCZo9zSaFVsg5j-bN90YakDZSCQnI83gmHgVsE2ZlGinISJjWG3IQr6QmXwTnMM8vBsdiMQY9w-14cj0NZSPtFSnMAJEW4GFQPKenmTryXThMfL1-hU37SBY0RDXa7N/s320/G5_RE_L129_001A_905543_R4.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Finally, Max's third piece got out in the sunlight and he was allowed to put some color in! One of the things that made his inclusion so vital was that I was able to use the time he spent creating these images for all the other batches: reference, compositions, final touches, and of course that monster image with six portraits. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhILCy7Q-bpp_07zd2pZTwk8EH7rzzo_tK8U6b2llgw0vNw2O4gvfmx7574Q7bT9BKclrvWdfXcoapu2Jk33Y-iWi6-ysmxwS9RyVgqGa89FrO639y3rpSmDK_1yUO2fBwxUhr52Da7OzrS/s2048/G5_RE_L130_001A_905543_R3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhILCy7Q-bpp_07zd2pZTwk8EH7rzzo_tK8U6b2llgw0vNw2O4gvfmx7574Q7bT9BKclrvWdfXcoapu2Jk33Y-iWi6-ysmxwS9RyVgqGa89FrO639y3rpSmDK_1yUO2fBwxUhr52Da7OzrS/s320/G5_RE_L130_001A_905543_R3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>You'll be seeing his work again throughout, he ended up producing six pieces overall, but I'd like to emphasize that with these three images, Max put his other work down and helped to save me from a project that was on the verge of blowing deadlines.</p>David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-23673823835622192272021-02-04T12:05:00.002-08:002021-02-04T12:05:38.088-08:00Tom Sawyer Batch #3<p>This batch was both where I hit my stride and where the work overwhelmed me. I had juggled each batch by putting in extra work in the color phase, because the rendering phase was simply too little time. But when each batch of illustrations started to overlap, that cushion disappeared. Now, I'm trying to finish last revisions on batch #2, render batch #3, and begin sketches and planning batch #4. Not to mention how complex some of these illustrations became! Overall, I think this batch is the most inconsistent. The speed I needed to work at actually pushed me to get some nice painterly effects. I'm especially proud of Outlaw Joe's hand here.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3y_BO05-_w0-4Plc9cdbIQtetxBLtGLEQHZIc4is-iuIdG6nXP5U9FuaZRKWhq5atSu5up46J8jv2vb5cp9JIj1e5ejB1YGUZKWgQawnZV9XF9aGdjvQLc6195SZ5N6WoNnivToRdkDbh/s2048/G5_RE_L121_001A_905543_R4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1307" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3y_BO05-_w0-4Plc9cdbIQtetxBLtGLEQHZIc4is-iuIdG6nXP5U9FuaZRKWhq5atSu5up46J8jv2vb5cp9JIj1e5ejB1YGUZKWgQawnZV9XF9aGdjvQLc6195SZ5N6WoNnivToRdkDbh/s320/G5_RE_L121_001A_905543_R4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>And Tom's expression and his curled hands here.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcgf4Nl4mz3JGs9DRf7HNJ8l0zAwnZ3XbROzx-kLruaSHCf3U1dHzgpYRhQG5MXGleMAixhI5SeCrOE-Di3KZdQ8MPzc1r2b8hCgEzjYvFhhPEbeoQE5e1OBXEZS63ErVvBl8Uzw2NC-HV/s1400/G5_RE_L122_001A_905543_R3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1400" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcgf4Nl4mz3JGs9DRf7HNJ8l0zAwnZ3XbROzx-kLruaSHCf3U1dHzgpYRhQG5MXGleMAixhI5SeCrOE-Di3KZdQ8MPzc1r2b8hCgEzjYvFhhPEbeoQE5e1OBXEZS63ErVvBl8Uzw2NC-HV/s320/G5_RE_L122_001A_905543_R3.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p>But some of that panic actually, counterintuitively, made me hyper-focus on trouble pieces, and they end up losing energetic brush strokes. These next two turned out to be some of my least favorite images. I wish I had many more hours on them, or maybe even a do-over. But, they got finished, and that's the most important part!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO66k9XINVwS6UIsWK566WBLn23QIORCS1Svh7xMa-MBR5qzSSN2ZeOwBWu8X5Ljcpy2kUo4K9GjMH1aBTQE4IpTDeahn2J2NRWQmPAEMqcnSslc_OVTQC3UwXwnytR2KgMhFoS994eduX/s2048/G5_RE_L123_001A_905543_R6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1307" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO66k9XINVwS6UIsWK566WBLn23QIORCS1Svh7xMa-MBR5qzSSN2ZeOwBWu8X5Ljcpy2kUo4K9GjMH1aBTQE4IpTDeahn2J2NRWQmPAEMqcnSslc_OVTQC3UwXwnytR2KgMhFoS994eduX/s320/G5_RE_L123_001A_905543_R6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>You can also see that the needs of the composition and the lack of time to plan it out made for some static design. Even though the clothing and maybe even the teacher's face look nice in this image, it lacks flow and focus.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_emRi_3m6cY6aRYUlP6-sZQy6iAQir6YvCZIoUC7AwGGmQmZGZ_ReP8CaThjlYMf0V8KXfIdQRTjC4sSZE4xAyCSU1FKnzZLx63LpaJRFKoygxYXlCmptz7Cb4qSsEAriWIHIMASfaHUl/s2048/G5_RE_L124_001A_905543_R4+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1605" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_emRi_3m6cY6aRYUlP6-sZQy6iAQir6YvCZIoUC7AwGGmQmZGZ_ReP8CaThjlYMf0V8KXfIdQRTjC4sSZE4xAyCSU1FKnzZLx63LpaJRFKoygxYXlCmptz7Cb4qSsEAriWIHIMASfaHUl/s320/G5_RE_L124_001A_905543_R4+copy.jpg" /></a></div><p>That being said, I definitely felt like my process got hammered down, and it opened up future illustrations to really shine.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBF3bJmHxyroMOSMAk-DSuQtpAFQgWWwxKSHlKkLD9XTlgqbKTszlUs-9BftNI978ZtNQFzAQCYdrjdii4aL95-emQu2iYZ0uy3Nk7ddJT1a8HU-4GaPK3SthAEOOhdBBhHHmKKEaPmyCs/s1425/G5_RE_L125_001A_905543_R3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1425" data-original-width="1050" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBF3bJmHxyroMOSMAk-DSuQtpAFQgWWwxKSHlKkLD9XTlgqbKTszlUs-9BftNI978ZtNQFzAQCYdrjdii4aL95-emQu2iYZ0uy3Nk7ddJT1a8HU-4GaPK3SthAEOOhdBBhHHmKKEaPmyCs/s320/G5_RE_L125_001A_905543_R3.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-57396286209412386642020-10-24T10:24:00.003-07:002020-10-24T10:36:14.413-07:00Tom Sawyer Batch 2<p> Last post I talked about the help I got from my team and the trust that needed to be established with the writers and art directors. I mentioned that over the course of the next six batches, I found ways to fit my detailed, realistic style into scope, but didn't really show examples. That's because batch #2 was when I started to do a much better job of managing complex vs. simple, and implied vs. described. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZsaYdAGkhOcdi8D8QKB-qSVRqaCMrtShsfUrckOrrHy-b7vujZm5Dbd24Oi0pXYXZtPPPkLZgcYUc1L5CfYOgfYcuIvSNGh18lspV5j1UQvJ8o1bVOe2MoowrMeWOJr-8cF8-wcF17J0_/s3071/G5_RE_L116_001A_905543.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3071" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZsaYdAGkhOcdi8D8QKB-qSVRqaCMrtShsfUrckOrrHy-b7vujZm5Dbd24Oi0pXYXZtPPPkLZgcYUc1L5CfYOgfYcuIvSNGh18lspV5j1UQvJ8o1bVOe2MoowrMeWOJr-8cF8-wcF17J0_/s320/G5_RE_L116_001A_905543.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>Here's a perfect example of simplifying and compromise. This is an image illustrating the first time Tom and Huck meet to make a trade, Tom trading his tooth for Huck's 'first of the season' tick. He also has a dead rat. I wanted to just have Huck in the scene, considering how thin the composition was, and completely forego a background. But the authors wanted Tom in the picture, and if Tom was there, it needed a background.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV_gg44UkBiFihzIMtVElq40TOUffIZeRtmVLT_b1z6m5DJe26I5uFny3JJdVK3uxe_7Sz_T_fKvsk6icXJSjXzIv71V021sCKGyTlqNEIfimumI_Pvw-jNZfzm1ljm9_7N4weOSWiuq_O/s3071/G5_RE_L116_001A_905543_color.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3071" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV_gg44UkBiFihzIMtVElq40TOUffIZeRtmVLT_b1z6m5DJe26I5uFny3JJdVK3uxe_7Sz_T_fKvsk6icXJSjXzIv71V021sCKGyTlqNEIfimumI_Pvw-jNZfzm1ljm9_7N4weOSWiuq_O/s320/G5_RE_L116_001A_905543_color.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p>In the color phase, I added Tom into the image, and the direction was two-fold: give Tom a hat, and silo the image. In other words, fade the edges of the illustration out so there were no hard corners.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifkXnt-7IPmU6oz3BUm198ebZRM2TMD02XEWZlz47MsV1EdvYUHRJPBf8Y7jcLCaFENHIqxLbhcsclGXvi_JmLOs-kO0IztSyPIXJNzTTu8qDveCEnNzAnBQSVC3rm92eK4RHv7YfUimOq/s2850/G5_RE_L116_001A_905543_R3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2850" data-original-width="950" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifkXnt-7IPmU6oz3BUm198ebZRM2TMD02XEWZlz47MsV1EdvYUHRJPBf8Y7jcLCaFENHIqxLbhcsclGXvi_JmLOs-kO0IztSyPIXJNzTTu8qDveCEnNzAnBQSVC3rm92eK4RHv7YfUimOq/s320/G5_RE_L116_001A_905543_R3.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p>I focused on Huck, especially on his hands and face, and Tom's hand. Everything else was extremely expressionistic. This helped highlight the important parts of the image and, more importantly, bought me precious time for the other four images in this batch. </p><p>That precious time was eaten up when other images went through multiple revisions. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSTMYTU4MpHnsSh11hyphenhyphenaeyT7_ZBKICmWhWb6Y2ixx3yQuDBunoVYNwu1JlR1a8xqb_oTRMuOrUfboiwoVQehSl4WtztndeEMQKoF_yXTmRrJ2W3J84BwSNmJOrPlvrkYAVY3S-AhwChL6V/s2048/G5_RE_L117_002A_905543.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSTMYTU4MpHnsSh11hyphenhyphenaeyT7_ZBKICmWhWb6Y2ixx3yQuDBunoVYNwu1JlR1a8xqb_oTRMuOrUfboiwoVQehSl4WtztndeEMQKoF_yXTmRrJ2W3J84BwSNmJOrPlvrkYAVY3S-AhwChL6V/s320/G5_RE_L117_002A_905543.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Tom and Becky flirting was a strangely difficult piece to get right. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jyO4wcXQGmo1nBPqx-JzxfLCXjDSvG_iFsLLi73FyaGUvW8cOHUFPqLTw525HlHwJZMBfrOhVvBErsKpjpYgbwzxHDC-gI7w99m_lEYXKgUFQJJgef8TdwzCDE88XAvswupsbyDwj4JF/s2048/G5_RE_L117_002A_905543_color.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jyO4wcXQGmo1nBPqx-JzxfLCXjDSvG_iFsLLi73FyaGUvW8cOHUFPqLTw525HlHwJZMBfrOhVvBErsKpjpYgbwzxHDC-gI7w99m_lEYXKgUFQJJgef8TdwzCDE88XAvswupsbyDwj4JF/s320/G5_RE_L117_002A_905543_color.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>From sketch to color study to final revisions, it took a while to nail down everything this scene needed to show: the text on the slate, their flirting interactions, and the school house setting. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicdALqkytJDqxCBq7TI1jUVxi81MyLCXVH2lkq-ZZMtbCI44kr-ijfrNh3YIsbcMM_kRMhomInbVYe5BBPiC-zl1p_zyt8pUzt0gA8gltuf33GerA1Tzo4bygkCp2D0Aq8lPHXFX7ZU061/s2048/G5_RE_L117_002A_905543_R3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicdALqkytJDqxCBq7TI1jUVxi81MyLCXVH2lkq-ZZMtbCI44kr-ijfrNh3YIsbcMM_kRMhomInbVYe5BBPiC-zl1p_zyt8pUzt0gA8gltuf33GerA1Tzo4bygkCp2D0Aq8lPHXFX7ZU061/s320/G5_RE_L117_002A_905543_R3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Between the time I had and the needs of the book, something had to give. I simply couldn't add a whole classroom and children at the same fidelity as Tom and Becky within the deadline. And so, again, we found a design-forward compromise.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6jjoDH4rgyKYKYIKdulqN0ynlsxMrioRTytO9KrC9v8Fb2mxCvcfARAwvb082wIwnXnLMZnN9n5ZEazJ3I-eG16B3jPqpXN87vBEcHvP3qtWq-h9-Kj_r_le24l2Uf0q82qnTS1nuJwE3/s2048/G5_RE_L117_002A_905543_R4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6jjoDH4rgyKYKYIKdulqN0ynlsxMrioRTytO9KrC9v8Fb2mxCvcfARAwvb082wIwnXnLMZnN9n5ZEazJ3I-eG16B3jPqpXN87vBEcHvP3qtWq-h9-Kj_r_le24l2Uf0q82qnTS1nuJwE3/s320/G5_RE_L117_002A_905543_R4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>I think it's time to talk about the compositions of my work for this project. If you know my work, you know I kind of love a dutch angle. At the very least, I like to add perspective. For most of the paintings in this project, especially early on, there were two considerations I had to keep in mind: the first was expectations of the authors, the second was, of course, timeline. </p><p>Fair or not, I came into the project with my own biases, and kept my early submissions extremely straightforward. Literally. The main characters where always center composition, horizon line was almost always in the middle of the page, and any architectural elements where always straight-on. This makes for more stagnate images, but it's also a lot faster to design and complete. I wasn't sure if the authors would be interested in more challenging designs, and it took a few batches of them seeing my work, and the consistency of my finals, for both of us to feel comfortable with more daring compositions.</p><p>There were early exceptions, however.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ieNzq5QrwT1Ak8AEHSms3OQA_juBhfr4KQ13zLyu2KzpRZKUqZoFbcdkDt81JVMQGVyscnxtjQIEp6mOzasWqEu24vlL2HW3gvhiorTdNhfVHIMv4N1qnnsycdfROZbMEP68GWNdaaAp/s2048/G5_RE_L118_001A_905543_R3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ieNzq5QrwT1Ak8AEHSms3OQA_juBhfr4KQ13zLyu2KzpRZKUqZoFbcdkDt81JVMQGVyscnxtjQIEp6mOzasWqEu24vlL2HW3gvhiorTdNhfVHIMv4N1qnnsycdfROZbMEP68GWNdaaAp/s320/G5_RE_L118_001A_905543_R3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Even this example has the house in the background straight up and down. I was still hesitant to angle the roof too much in the foreground to enhance the perspective. Also, it's kind of amazing the conversations you get into about facial expressions. How do you show excitement but not outright happiness? Anticipation? </p><p>Anger, surprise and fear are much easier, however!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjoGmyIhsusnxVA5Qmc8gkHc0uiEbFNJBqaiSHo0eVRF82IOBMMOaRPi90ddVPCHYjNIiQzldgBM77PCKRgD1gqsWDDKUh6uUaI6208FZoFr-aZVvDRGWPKT7s3DTYwHx7e_bqCiHOmCFB/s2048/G5_RE_L120_001A_905543_R3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjoGmyIhsusnxVA5Qmc8gkHc0uiEbFNJBqaiSHo0eVRF82IOBMMOaRPi90ddVPCHYjNIiQzldgBM77PCKRgD1gqsWDDKUh6uUaI6208FZoFr-aZVvDRGWPKT7s3DTYwHx7e_bqCiHOmCFB/s320/G5_RE_L120_001A_905543_R3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>This was the first piece where I really tried to mix up the formula. How do you fit five figures into a half-page and make all of their facial expressions readable? The expressionistic background for Huck, the woodgrain silo for Tom and Becky, the flat house-front for Tom's escape, all of those little time savers were made specifically to give me space for this piece. In most batches I had one or two stand-out images that I would spend more time on to really convey the importance of the moment in the story. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLhOcXyj2actYxpSGOEk0t65zpmcG5UIY5Uu7GuMY97pGH6yoszBVLEXwnfWdfJ4GTVsEjR1x6GjgEfc6tL7Zt6mjWITppO_qPZzYpHLFMoOqaPmI-zQWveZAffzweT3vtIBImm3gpktRH/s2048/G5_RE_L119_001A_905543_R4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLhOcXyj2actYxpSGOEk0t65zpmcG5UIY5Uu7GuMY97pGH6yoszBVLEXwnfWdfJ4GTVsEjR1x6GjgEfc6tL7Zt6mjWITppO_qPZzYpHLFMoOqaPmI-zQWveZAffzweT3vtIBImm3gpktRH/s320/G5_RE_L119_001A_905543_R4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Tom and Huckleberry do a lot of night time adventures and running away! I'll talk more about this one in the context of a later illustration. But in many ways I feel like this was the first draft of a later, better painting. </p><p>At this point in the schedule, I'm working on three batches at once! There was no room to breathe, especially when the deadlines would overlap one another. It's in batch #3 when we'll see that pressure start to creep up on the deadlines as I look for extra production days anywhere I can find them.</p>David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-20077923937321157372020-10-23T12:52:00.001-07:002020-10-23T13:07:19.620-07:00Tom Sawyer Batch 1<p> Let's start back at the beginning. </p><p>This post is for those new to illustration or just curious about how the process works. I'll be sharing how I tackled a job of this size: the things I did to work within scope (ie: finding the right balance between 'Sistine Chapel' and 'children's crayon drawing'), and the steps from start to finish on individual illustrations. </p><p>The first part of any project is building trust with your partners. In my case, I had two parties involved: MD (media designers, basically art directors) and AD (academic designers, content writers). I worked directly with the MD, who would route art requests (called specs) to me. When I had art to submit, they would send it to the ADs to critique and approve, then back to me, so on and so forth. </p><p>Early on, AD had no idea what to expect from me when it came to final images. That trust had to be built, and especially with such a big project, the early stages were hard going. I know when parts of my sketches are just placeholders, but they don't. So sometimes during the sketch phase in the early parts of Tom Sawyer I would get asked to change major parts of the image because they weren't sure where I was going with it. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQezN6YJRqKIEHcE2ccAZJ2DV68ozw_MXE7Zr1EGk-yq9_JHjTTAoEW-Pn2MJLwZ-RuwG9P91So-Mv3xtM6xcRM8AvcX_ooeKICOorbj8tyqgO-bq6XnIQ0sL5SiBhdW26aqcBj19urXF/s2048/G5_RE_L111_001A_905543.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1509" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQezN6YJRqKIEHcE2ccAZJ2DV68ozw_MXE7Zr1EGk-yq9_JHjTTAoEW-Pn2MJLwZ-RuwG9P91So-Mv3xtM6xcRM8AvcX_ooeKICOorbj8tyqgO-bq6XnIQ0sL5SiBhdW26aqcBj19urXF/s320/G5_RE_L111_001A_905543.jpg" /></a></div><p>For instance, when I sent them the first batch of illustrations, they didn't understand the halftones, thinking I had sent them final illustrations. "No, we wanted full color illustrations, these look too serious!"</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiehl0aci4Z1edUQegc75eoILjnf3YG0RG7NiSHKwCeDpAvL6Idfu49V9Tmww-uvoObyBjUyxpk1gqm_CT7lzijSU3LCiZRo8cGOVbZ_kxZK_yubHTMelwPiGWDC1B88YtqODJog_9T5wdw/s2048/G5_RE_L112_002A_905543.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1509" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiehl0aci4Z1edUQegc75eoILjnf3YG0RG7NiSHKwCeDpAvL6Idfu49V9Tmww-uvoObyBjUyxpk1gqm_CT7lzijSU3LCiZRo8cGOVbZ_kxZK_yubHTMelwPiGWDC1B88YtqODJog_9T5wdw/s320/G5_RE_L112_002A_905543.jpg" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>Similarly, it took me time to learn exactly what they wanted. You'll see my work become looser and more comfortable as the project continued and we started to trust each other's visions.</p><p>This project was massive, 30 images overall, and the timeline was very small. Any freelancer knows that deadlines shift wildly depending on the project. I've known artists to have 24 hours to complete a piece, and I've personally gotten a cushy two months for one image before, but this timeline was four months for 30 images. That's sketches, color studies, photo shoots, and final rendering in 92 business days, or about 3 days per piece. Not ideal. </p><p>But, <span style="font-family: times;">prospective</span> illustrators, you get hired to be visual problem solvers. Sometimes that problem is 'make my book character attractive and energetic.' Sometimes that problem is 'figure out how to make 30 illustrations in sixteen weeks.' </p><p>Part of the challenge of creating so many images, especially fully rendered painterly images, is getting the right amount of detail without getting bogged down, or worse, making an image look inconsistent. With five images in every batch, time spent on one image would take from another, so it was constant triage. I learned a lot in a very short period of time about where I needed to concentrate my efforts.</p><p>I had a hidden weapon when it came to tackling this colossal task: I work in-house at McGraw Hill. That means that the book budget was my budget (as long as I didn't ask for too much!), so I was able to hire models and use a dedicated studio space for reference. I also rented costumes. :)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: times;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMvw3GIzEnZm3y7Rvaj1-HPvsJqAv0YU32IOrX_6LNSOBczoy7U2Dklbynx3Clzg1NRZHj9f_j39f42I7vXNSiUY0uJxmD-RKdab63I5nxcQ8j0hMe34IdE9Jg2LkY7qsqFvX7SbYRXrZM/s2048/MicrosoftTeams-image+%25283%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMvw3GIzEnZm3y7Rvaj1-HPvsJqAv0YU32IOrX_6LNSOBczoy7U2Dklbynx3Clzg1NRZHj9f_j39f42I7vXNSiUY0uJxmD-RKdab63I5nxcQ8j0hMe34IdE9Jg2LkY7qsqFvX7SbYRXrZM/s320/MicrosoftTeams-image+%25283%2529.png" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #262626; font-family: times;"><br /></span><p></p><p>The MDs I worked with were in the same building so they were able to schedule shoot times and align them with project deadlines. That means on Monday I get specs, make quick composition sketches, Wednesday I shoot reference, and by Friday I have finalized sketches ready for color. This does put me at risk, and there were a few times I had to reshoot reference because they didn't like my initial composition, but overall this tactic worked nicely.</p><p><span style="color: #262626; font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: times;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin7z1aIMmKWqfR7gpKMP6FiA4QLqqUWpBpc4ztOybrSVetvukbvsgMaZYdQnd4Y2AfgO1PXOz7MBa0F81oVcZkjYP1-YAaYG3W32aSt-xvQ_pHqlmqKUCbhM5cSuSwRyKyrDyNObM-s2_-/s2048/tom+sneaks+out.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1509" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin7z1aIMmKWqfR7gpKMP6FiA4QLqqUWpBpc4ztOybrSVetvukbvsgMaZYdQnd4Y2AfgO1PXOz7MBa0F81oVcZkjYP1-YAaYG3W32aSt-xvQ_pHqlmqKUCbhM5cSuSwRyKyrDyNObM-s2_-/s320/tom+sneaks+out.jpg" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #262626; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBzPMnCcVakyO87i4sLAelvylydWYbA2m9G1f3lvg0W2eUe_7ph6eTJzO8oILpyKhMGIW6kaXaxg27OgZBGHQbx6QcrzSPU4O-UwEoRsZRgALR3UAY123g3cqqZ3tIa1pQKBXZk8_GLOZa/s2048/G5_RE_L111_001A_905543.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1509" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBzPMnCcVakyO87i4sLAelvylydWYbA2m9G1f3lvg0W2eUe_7ph6eTJzO8oILpyKhMGIW6kaXaxg27OgZBGHQbx6QcrzSPU4O-UwEoRsZRgALR3UAY123g3cqqZ3tIa1pQKBXZk8_GLOZa/s320/G5_RE_L111_001A_905543.jpg" /></a></span></div><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626;"></span></p><p></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">It was a big deal to have the help of a team while I picked away at this project. I also work with other illustrators so I could always lean over and ask for advice if I ever got stuck on a visual problem.</p><p>In my last post, I showed the steps that were scheduled for each spec, and the deadlines for them. 5 days for sketches, 8 for color, 4 for rendering, and 2 for revisions. This schedule was set up for artists who don't render nearly as much as I do, so I would usually take some of those 8 days for color and render instead. </p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx2V4jqIszCfSRXLrtZn0s09d-GTJIX87M9PseEeJVXNe57DfvnxsbwGGWBj0TLeElinkGgwL9rNemTVftNx6ZbtfeFOuiQZ0Brv47ZhwjtYozIpZXFMRXX75l0ThuO6D2YdejMOiRAbYR/s2048/G5_RE_L111_001A_905543_R3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1509" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx2V4jqIszCfSRXLrtZn0s09d-GTJIX87M9PseEeJVXNe57DfvnxsbwGGWBj0TLeElinkGgwL9rNemTVftNx6ZbtfeFOuiQZ0Brv47ZhwjtYozIpZXFMRXX75l0ThuO6D2YdejMOiRAbYR/s320/G5_RE_L111_001A_905543_R3.jpg" /></a></div>This piece, for instance, took eight hours to render (minus revisions). Getting simpler images out of the way quickly helped pave the way for multiple full figure illustrations later down the road! After all, for batch #1, I actually had 5 more illustrations due after this one!<div><br /></div><div>Here comes the boring part: I had to stay super organized. in the end, I had over 500 reference photos and every _revision, _revision_02, _revision_03_recovered file to keep track of across files across batches. It pays to set up an easy to navigate file system, regardless of how big your project may be. That desktop will become a black hole and suck every half-finished project you've ever made into the ether.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF1VchHDGSZ_gMOmVx5xuYelWGt9jpi1XDOXDdiu8MN8D4dHXb-gluV8U7Lrke5wKLwVVvawQepeqYv3kH6pLB4WdcKuXeZ4_fc4oiW9sqgYfFAX7yY8CLRRqVC_7QaGTdizdzqduMeAXs/s619/Screen+Shot+2020-10-23+at+3.34.24+PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="109" data-original-width="619" height="70" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF1VchHDGSZ_gMOmVx5xuYelWGt9jpi1XDOXDdiu8MN8D4dHXb-gluV8U7Lrke5wKLwVVvawQepeqYv3kH6pLB4WdcKuXeZ4_fc4oiW9sqgYfFAX7yY8CLRRqVC_7QaGTdizdzqduMeAXs/w400-h70/Screen+Shot+2020-10-23+at+3.34.24+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Boring part done, let's look at the rest of the illustrations!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKcqfv-u_K5oQhKPf_0ul1hAmmBDe8eLzwyn_B2TsaSxWT_1dq4fO-IRzW19RKcrfVo1MbX7e0ep7X0G4JxmydNcsE8AYGLTXIbCpKdYmsV1YtumIEJ-3zYDZdL3fDqoK1gHkqutQgd57Q/s2048/G5_RE_L112_002A_905543_R3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1509" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKcqfv-u_K5oQhKPf_0ul1hAmmBDe8eLzwyn_B2TsaSxWT_1dq4fO-IRzW19RKcrfVo1MbX7e0ep7X0G4JxmydNcsE8AYGLTXIbCpKdYmsV1YtumIEJ-3zYDZdL3fDqoK1gHkqutQgd57Q/s320/G5_RE_L112_002A_905543_R3.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3aPf5g6NRVeu5iusvtw0uksT4Xb7RSljQbdTh-I0VLwLyHffdhQsOmxf9y1_Ll6Rk0p9oYvg5d9qcQcC33bXcb6sHevcx262Obkecb7HwlOMzpO4ESzm_sVVqJ3TWAbnqKeH8hSoIdIr/s2100/G5_RE_L114_001A_905543_R4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="883" data-original-width="2100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3aPf5g6NRVeu5iusvtw0uksT4Xb7RSljQbdTh-I0VLwLyHffdhQsOmxf9y1_Ll6Rk0p9oYvg5d9qcQcC33bXcb6sHevcx262Obkecb7HwlOMzpO4ESzm_sVVqJ3TWAbnqKeH8hSoIdIr/s320/G5_RE_L114_001A_905543_R4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd2b3hPsk0mPK43aWMYZY3YhYLSwLK00Kts02b_-DI_dT5zjQ-TviPR3qGS8dJC3nBACt_BDspHP5uYO1JR68CONbc7vjiiCu2EuGlZStDbk4vrn4rHeS7LMojM0HCfUzhKJzx8guchJUE/s2048/G5_RE_L115_001A_905543_R3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd2b3hPsk0mPK43aWMYZY3YhYLSwLK00Kts02b_-DI_dT5zjQ-TviPR3qGS8dJC3nBACt_BDspHP5uYO1JR68CONbc7vjiiCu2EuGlZStDbk4vrn4rHeS7LMojM0HCfUzhKJzx8guchJUE/s320/G5_RE_L115_001A_905543_R3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzFdVVY-RuprSvRVzE_-OY2RCg8vW4S6luTDtZEylJkbHty-yoL18deISC5CISBoPVGSpUY5wYmgzfNEwarFnUgLloLgJ8u99DA5k8Gm5NjT5JxvxJu69D6iWXS1DptYNNWfEuR1jv1fIt/s2048/G5_RE_L111_002A_905543_R4_2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1364" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzFdVVY-RuprSvRVzE_-OY2RCg8vW4S6luTDtZEylJkbHty-yoL18deISC5CISBoPVGSpUY5wYmgzfNEwarFnUgLloLgJ8u99DA5k8Gm5NjT5JxvxJu69D6iWXS1DptYNNWfEuR1jv1fIt/s320/G5_RE_L111_002A_905543_R4_2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhF4IGqYfoFNrxYv9KnJqhi_KKunLB8JX9VgLso_SzeHJ-va9b4H8IpJv4EVxao8VsyN8iDjU6PA5I1VCHGMaSvQ25Nzjro_ymzqUk_GWfYyq0KxiI-fogfzeT6I5pDfXvZUHW6I-xM-Ls/s2048/G5_RE_L113_001A_905543_final.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhF4IGqYfoFNrxYv9KnJqhi_KKunLB8JX9VgLso_SzeHJ-va9b4H8IpJv4EVxao8VsyN8iDjU6PA5I1VCHGMaSvQ25Nzjro_ymzqUk_GWfYyq0KxiI-fogfzeT6I5pDfXvZUHW6I-xM-Ls/s320/G5_RE_L113_001A_905543_final.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In the end, after all the help and the trust and the scheduling, the only thing that kept my work sharp and on target was reference. Good, solid reference. If it were up to me, I would have traveled to Mark Twain's boyhood home in Missouri and taken all the pictures I could, but alas, 'what if we used our vacation to shoot reference for my work' wasn't a great sales pitch. The fact that I was able to find excellent kid models and schedule a shoot for every batch was a life saver. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Looking back on this first batch, I can see the places where I was still unsure, still building confidence in myself and a truncated production schedule, and still building confidence with my partners. As time went on, and the asks got bigger, I found a rhythm to the work and a better instinct for what details could go and which were needed to sell the image.</div><p><br /></p></div>David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-36587018950182071072020-10-22T08:15:00.002-07:002020-10-22T08:27:17.971-07:00Illustrating Tom Sawyer<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv7zsdMw4dRfrXKkoMEWRWR-rUeVKSY4Hkucc7D2yLGEXacN1emeu5yxqyj3D6VVxC-b13qwd8CJqO3VnTlehVC0cHUNXHDIAlhqtjY1ValW95GgDSxznYKkMagurGHTIxFITJ5F7IeDvh/s1500/Tom+Sawyer_digital-01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="844" data-original-width="1500" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv7zsdMw4dRfrXKkoMEWRWR-rUeVKSY4Hkucc7D2yLGEXacN1emeu5yxqyj3D6VVxC-b13qwd8CJqO3VnTlehVC0cHUNXHDIAlhqtjY1ValW95GgDSxznYKkMagurGHTIxFITJ5F7IeDvh/w400-h225/Tom+Sawyer_digital-01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>Some very exciting news I've been sitting on for a while: I got to illustrate Tom Sawyer for McGraw Hill Education! It's included in their 2021 Reading Mastery Transformations K-5 program, which is a reading intervention program. You know what's crazy about that? I was in a reading intervention program for a short time in fifth grade, where I read a part of Tom Sawyer and illustrated it for an assignment! I still remember drawing the wood grain on the pulpit in a church scene.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaguIz4TCPaJD0SxgvwcrM31oPIwZcUVrTgzFY719nQSKgdY86QxJO0b8qiECWZh1delyDXPUO3ci8_8GrjEqN9DNcC0v1Ff5qgIZHkvgYjE_3HCF_Oqjm6Y3E_0mSHQ8zlDoUELEYYu-s/s2048/Tom+Sawyer_process-02.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaguIz4TCPaJD0SxgvwcrM31oPIwZcUVrTgzFY719nQSKgdY86QxJO0b8qiECWZh1delyDXPUO3ci8_8GrjEqN9DNcC0v1Ff5qgIZHkvgYjE_3HCF_Oqjm6Y3E_0mSHQ8zlDoUELEYYu-s/w400-h225/Tom+Sawyer_process-02.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>30 illustrations, 92 business days, over 500 reference photos, and close to 1000 hours of painting and drawing. Every photo and sketch and final psd stacked together weighs 13.8 gigabytes. This was the most challenging (and fun) project I've ever worked on. <p></p><p><br /></p><p>Each batch of illustrations would release every two weeks, and there were reviews scheduled after every step. Once I finished sketches, for instance, I would have to wait for the review. The feedback on those images would come in the middle of the sketch phase for batch two, but instead of pushing deadlines out, they would layer over each other. Some weeks had me working on three batches at once! There were three things that got me across the finish line: reference, a very regimented schedule, and my team at McGraw Hill. Among other things, my manager bought precious days late in the project, and Max Yeager, a fellow illustrator, jumped on to complete six illustrations in the home stretch when everything really stacked up. <br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYai73-LODasrQK1ZJrnCfAiv_TW7cxviXSbEC4iS5B53cwDWfYidoN82x5gMA9mQtPXfKqqc-K8fHNPkEwB_bvPvLN12rWhyphenhyphenxVxAI0xlX7AaTTYLHrBEc9BYl9DWAHK6P5wuFgqdop3wl/s1915/Screen+Shot+2020-10-22+at+10.46.26+AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1078" data-original-width="1915" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYai73-LODasrQK1ZJrnCfAiv_TW7cxviXSbEC4iS5B53cwDWfYidoN82x5gMA9mQtPXfKqqc-K8fHNPkEwB_bvPvLN12rWhyphenhyphenxVxAI0xlX7AaTTYLHrBEc9BYl9DWAHK6P5wuFgqdop3wl/w400-h225/Screen+Shot+2020-10-22+at+10.46.26+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>Tom, Huck, and Becky were professional child models. They were great! The rest of the players you see here were coworkers (remember when I said I couldn't do it without them?). Man, I miss being in the office with my friends.</p><p><br /></p><p>So let's show some actual work, yeah? </p><br /><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWW3IS2UPYwLtHgv8Py8PEgHz0mT-2bsBfgenUEYlU_hbWn2ySslJc9NFk1__ZW31AWiaPti1xS0XxnTT47cMrE1-jyY8SZ93ep6uJhI1QvrW2UnQIXxd5oUtO60Yi2VO1DbMN_xKVCMMo/s773/Asset+1-100.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="773" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWW3IS2UPYwLtHgv8Py8PEgHz0mT-2bsBfgenUEYlU_hbWn2ySslJc9NFk1__ZW31AWiaPti1xS0XxnTT47cMrE1-jyY8SZ93ep6uJhI1QvrW2UnQIXxd5oUtO60Yi2VO1DbMN_xKVCMMo/w400-h266/Asset+1-100.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p>Sketch to block in composition so I can shoot reference.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD8vc8keQJfGfpiHQSQmKvf5hcESRj7NA0NP1foQ6g3NPBIDoF282bsBKhyphenhyphenm0nBcetT6W8NBwbY4ZUa2_r4xlFZkA3mtVJ1peqfFiX7UhFYXjhl08n3iXHJyzaCLHCUPkXkv6gWEDXwOxn/s1050/Screen+Shot+2019-11-06+at+8.47.56+AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="1050" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD8vc8keQJfGfpiHQSQmKvf5hcESRj7NA0NP1foQ6g3NPBIDoF282bsBKhyphenhyphenm0nBcetT6W8NBwbY4ZUa2_r4xlFZkA3mtVJ1peqfFiX7UhFYXjhl08n3iXHJyzaCLHCUPkXkv6gWEDXwOxn/w400-h266/Screen+Shot+2019-11-06+at+8.47.56+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>Final sketch for review.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBQpgixs0XSfXBFZfSo9qy1Cgr6ljtsL6vHYOcQmiGTgwB8CWXNV08Bk6xoFPjOcttHZMpMNE807SrAEEC_0V4Vw2qUmgADhoaQIDq6iA-KWOux-TGrbJ8h9uFH0MC-eHrXKEqgPWxQ-Dz/s2048/G5_RE_L120_001A_905543_color_01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBQpgixs0XSfXBFZfSo9qy1Cgr6ljtsL6vHYOcQmiGTgwB8CWXNV08Bk6xoFPjOcttHZMpMNE807SrAEEC_0V4Vw2qUmgADhoaQIDq6iA-KWOux-TGrbJ8h9uFH0MC-eHrXKEqgPWxQ-Dz/w400-h266/G5_RE_L120_001A_905543_color_01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>Color blocking.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcrUNk9TUzVNvoi5d0cEohTHqYhiDNZ7OG5dcSteed8vaSRPpKRV8IiZYGJU4692wgyPpMOxDNxp-7KI3Ltz2mx8QtdI6LOTX5lvaVPIqhwTsSE1We9HqSxCOjKtFGQX4yWfjB6FVSVDON/s2048/G5_RE_L120_001A_905543_R3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcrUNk9TUzVNvoi5d0cEohTHqYhiDNZ7OG5dcSteed8vaSRPpKRV8IiZYGJU4692wgyPpMOxDNxp-7KI3Ltz2mx8QtdI6LOTX5lvaVPIqhwTsSE1We9HqSxCOjKtFGQX4yWfjB6FVSVDON/w400-h266/G5_RE_L120_001A_905543_R3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>Final.</p><p>I'll be sharing finals and some process shots over the next few days, I hope you enjoy the work!</p><p><br /></p><p>Two more just because I like them so much:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT8TYShj3FHKHejh-DiyBPEj1J0i9MUv7oQPTvKS6USt51WEiDWavRmF7522iKDe9u2RtjgV19BrX8zOKK-HkWhRz4R10kualOkW22a3vS7k7IBASmf1qclMErHKLbFcyN2r9-Xf-eYHWp/s2048/G5_RE_L135_001A_905543_R4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT8TYShj3FHKHejh-DiyBPEj1J0i9MUv7oQPTvKS6USt51WEiDWavRmF7522iKDe9u2RtjgV19BrX8zOKK-HkWhRz4R10kualOkW22a3vS7k7IBASmf1qclMErHKLbFcyN2r9-Xf-eYHWp/s320/G5_RE_L135_001A_905543_R4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDOiN0_tX4hc-bQ0ptWzKejB6XYHQP33nWdBIUpi1vitkE5gT6sULwsnS9wSvV18V_lQibAhtVCffRh9sq3t-kNO8Nj1Y8V0cmHvtrP3HSpf_wafIrNGGexysDSfxSHrygDJZ5Spr2wc1U/s2048/G5_RE_L131_001A_905543_R4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDOiN0_tX4hc-bQ0ptWzKejB6XYHQP33nWdBIUpi1vitkE5gT6sULwsnS9wSvV18V_lQibAhtVCffRh9sq3t-kNO8Nj1Y8V0cmHvtrP3HSpf_wafIrNGGexysDSfxSHrygDJZ5Spr2wc1U/s320/G5_RE_L131_001A_905543_R4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-59470435302179056892020-09-16T05:44:00.000-07:002020-09-16T05:44:05.497-07:00Some sketches<p> I'm getting back into traditional work, doing some painting here, some dry media there. What better way to soothe my anxieties, of which there are many in these trying times. Also I modified one in Photoshop. Is it better? I don't know, but it's different.</p><p><br /></p><p>I'll post more once I get the photos off of my phone.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicUgDsShgyz0E_naLL2UNLsVVe5GVcspSaD5V6VfrARxcM-MdQ1qUEf5t5FJgTneON0W2JPPnTJx7lIQ7sAXDSL9ZYazC8VrkwJXFJNRFmBTYwHW70zxPlkmasTXxK8T07LJ8jrJyBRV7F/s813/Screen+Shot+2020-09-16+at+8.38.40+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="813" data-original-width="619" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicUgDsShgyz0E_naLL2UNLsVVe5GVcspSaD5V6VfrARxcM-MdQ1qUEf5t5FJgTneON0W2JPPnTJx7lIQ7sAXDSL9ZYazC8VrkwJXFJNRFmBTYwHW70zxPlkmasTXxK8T07LJ8jrJyBRV7F/s320/Screen+Shot+2020-09-16+at+8.38.40+AM.png" /></a></div><br /><p></p>David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-7928693549303277382020-06-19T09:46:00.000-07:002020-06-19T09:46:03.140-07:00Red Dead Glitches<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Segoe UI", system-ui, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
Oh, the stories I have about Red Dead Redemption.</div>
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White hot sun baked the sweat and dust on my face into clay. The air was oppressive. But I was with my people. Dutch, the closest thing to a father I've ever known, and Hosea, a source of constant wisdom. We were riding to a fishing hole. It was our first moment of leisure in many months of suffering and death and fear. I was relieved but wary.</div>
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We noticed a train stopped on the tracks ahead, and in front of that, a wagon. It was an iron cage on wheels filled with dirty, angry men. They could have been us. Maybe it would be us, one day. I peered through the bars, squinting at the sun, when I recognized keen, dark eyes and an impeccably twirled mustache. Trelawny, the old charlatan. Apparently less clever than he imagined, but no less dapper. </div>
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We hadn't seen Trelawny for months, but he was our brother, and we could not leave him to swing. Dutch introduced himself to the Deputies at the front of the wagon to make the case for Trelawny's freedom.</div>
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The train, once stopped, screamed to life, belching steam and smoke. Three of the men in the iron wagon, having picked its lock, tumbled out and sprinted for the train. The Deputies panicked and turned to us, pleading. Those three men are wanted for murder, arson and theft. They're needed alive. The deputies need our help.</div>
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For a moment, I saw a malevolent glint in Dutch's eyes, and I pressed a hand to the revolver at my side. A hail of bullets, and Trelawny too would be free. The moment passed, and Dutch pointed to the train. Catch them, and take the deputy with you!</div>
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The deputy took my hand and slid into the saddle behind me. I dug my heels in deep and my horse shot after the fugitive train. The pounding of hooves, or maybe it was my heart, thundered in my ears. The train slowed, this was our chance! I wrestled my horse over the tracks as a nearby branch caught my shirt and popped me out of the saddle, sending me screaming fifty feet into the air. I hit the ground like a sack of wet flour and died.</div>
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Here's a painting of Dave Chappelle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmBHBrIPQpiesjEsmWr88AdNE-eyq7ml0qgxB33PcquBXJ4GumeaQfK0SKBv8xBttijh46fmnTAPav2n2uhuVP78TzfKwGCwAZNB-BEmohYERPdpbtRamMy0vc3yJ4ZE03vKChjoO2ii5r/s1600/Chappelle_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1320" data-original-width="728" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmBHBrIPQpiesjEsmWr88AdNE-eyq7ml0qgxB33PcquBXJ4GumeaQfK0SKBv8xBttijh46fmnTAPav2n2uhuVP78TzfKwGCwAZNB-BEmohYERPdpbtRamMy0vc3yJ4ZE03vKChjoO2ii5r/s320/Chappelle_1.jpg" width="176" /></a></div>
</div>
David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-15190707230782624072020-03-22T10:56:00.000-07:002020-03-22T11:07:15.288-07:00It's been a while.<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Hello. It’s been a while. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">During college, and even for a few years after college, this was my place to talk </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">with the internet. </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">I talked about my anxieties, about who I wanted to be, and </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">shared my art. </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">At the time, I imagined a whole community wrapping around my </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">content. </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">In reality, it became little more than a journal of my progress, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">artistically and mentally. </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">That’s not such a bad thing.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I can look back and pinpoint two pieces of technology that changed my life forever. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The first is an Intuous5. Almost the literal moment I shifted to doing digital art I </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">started to see </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">success like I’d never seen before. Even though it took me almost </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">a decade to get any good </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">at it on my own, producing digital art is the reason I’m able </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">to support myself with art today. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The second is my smartphone. And I gotta say, it made me a fucking boring person. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I have read so many hot takes I could set your face on fire. I used to think and dream, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">and now I instagram. It’s a drain, and a full on problem, and a complete necessity.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">This is the person I am today and this is my relationship to reality: I am 32, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I am married, </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">I have two cats, I have a full time illustration job, and I make </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">illustrations freelance on the side. </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">I no longer write. I no longer give back. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">I watch Youtube and scroll Instagram and Facebook </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">and Reddit even when </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">I’ve rung every bit of data out of them. Then I play video games. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I am a child and an adult in a fight for my body and time.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Let’s change that.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Last week something crazy happened. It was like a flash flood in the Midwest, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">where the sky goes </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">a boring shade of gray and begins spitting water, slowly, at first. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">It never turns into a full-on torrent </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">and if you were to stand in it you’d simply </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">be uncomfortable. But it also doesn’t stop, and soon the </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">ground becomes saturated </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">and the water starts pooling in ditches and fields. Then you hear the </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">sump pump down </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">in the basement, </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">wiirrr-chunk!</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> as it tries to suck out the water suddenly filling </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">your house from the ground up. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">For months, there was talk of the coronavirus. Same as SARs, same as Ebola, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">so on and so forth. </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">It was boring.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">And then it was here. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The sump pump kicked in, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">wiirr-chunk!</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> And the NBA cancelled their season. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Here in Ohio, </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">they closed restaurants and tattoo parlours and music venues, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the list goes on. My office building </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">was closed, though I still work from home. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">Colleges and schools cancelled in-person classes and </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">most will finish their </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">years online, if at all. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Wiirr-chunk!</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> The sump pump works to keep the basement </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">from flooding, but the rain continues.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">It’s Sunday, March 22nd, after the first full week of staying at home practicing </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">‘social distancing,’ </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">and on the eve of what will no doubt be remembered </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">as the fastest onset of a recession </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">in modern history. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Hello again, it’s been a while.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Now let’s do some art.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiokRcuW25bAqc52D3qmYoyjApfp6x-hH4uJmqxrjRjls_AZVwLQIKv9x2KzOE2-dwwnhie45yYkhOduAuY7pDtMwOF5a2MlkaCvr1Z022W1VpLSuVG40Rp_CzN0pMqUbEWJ-8JyNS6_Un6/s1600/Hill_or_High_Water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="967" data-original-width="1000" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiokRcuW25bAqc52D3qmYoyjApfp6x-hH4uJmqxrjRjls_AZVwLQIKv9x2KzOE2-dwwnhie45yYkhOduAuY7pDtMwOF5a2MlkaCvr1Z022W1VpLSuVG40Rp_CzN0pMqUbEWJ-8JyNS6_Un6/s400/Hill_or_High_Water.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinvQ482y3iJfjlJJqK2Dd9g8OqNpgaKXlL8HfxJ3mdlr0JnTOyDMAjFeWza_GY8bI4562BT2AHs08vZTShzJ-0ju72ah8fdFKOnIKUIm_0wL6KEjN3IzhQVZYTsZw0uXuU8sgCqP2zsDZz/s1600/Benny.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1334" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinvQ482y3iJfjlJJqK2Dd9g8OqNpgaKXlL8HfxJ3mdlr0JnTOyDMAjFeWza_GY8bI4562BT2AHs08vZTShzJ-0ju72ah8fdFKOnIKUIm_0wL6KEjN3IzhQVZYTsZw0uXuU8sgCqP2zsDZz/s400/Benny.jpg" width="332" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu2948khohE75UipItWmnwjNW0XAyN3x6jA5f37zLmWHkBU2oqOupnxKy1b3aEC758lKfOx6M8CDjgpwcIT1DN0FrzdqaU6Cho3Bwu-aK7pY-NfKWELdSKuAHf1SFTSm63lAo98xyNV9Ct/s1600/Neil+Armstrongweb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu2948khohE75UipItWmnwjNW0XAyN3x6jA5f37zLmWHkBU2oqOupnxKy1b3aEC758lKfOx6M8CDjgpwcIT1DN0FrzdqaU6Cho3Bwu-aK7pY-NfKWELdSKuAHf1SFTSm63lAo98xyNV9Ct/s400/Neil+Armstrongweb.jpg" width="300" /> </a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikjLGBPiuoncVKwkVeY33cpiXEIhtt7C6cY_tndRCi31Nh_uVmO8FiXwGadCytppgE6dzh-TtaiFInA7p1pg4aaWAlYbjaIJNy2CGZRH-qzpSkLL_wY8CUaCDcAkeG64LoMpv5fwSXsUC1/s1600/The+Haircut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikjLGBPiuoncVKwkVeY33cpiXEIhtt7C6cY_tndRCi31Nh_uVmO8FiXwGadCytppgE6dzh-TtaiFInA7p1pg4aaWAlYbjaIJNy2CGZRH-qzpSkLL_wY8CUaCDcAkeG64LoMpv5fwSXsUC1/s400/The+Haircut.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-26907686125941289062016-08-04T10:15:00.000-07:002016-08-04T10:15:23.305-07:00Illustration Friday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisIbqr35zg82UJo5ziBjWiPCRu5TsXrUDdDJWUtR0t11hWK0PWkNTw6Ez-hBW9HUxLLwt7h_y8LIbQ8Nx5u46HKQ9HG8ZKKFJoYbRO7JHBHctS3bXLQ8Czcs8AyPiWWT-YoCeCCMQckRn3/s1600/Viking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisIbqr35zg82UJo5ziBjWiPCRu5TsXrUDdDJWUtR0t11hWK0PWkNTw6Ez-hBW9HUxLLwt7h_y8LIbQ8Nx5u46HKQ9HG8ZKKFJoYbRO7JHBHctS3bXLQ8Czcs8AyPiWWT-YoCeCCMQckRn3/s320/Viking.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I decided to make a quick little illustration for Illustration Friday, a weekly Facebook group contest. I call him, "The Fisherman." Maybe I'll go back to those little three hour sprints I was doing years ago...David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-54427939679075279572015-05-22T11:24:00.000-07:002015-05-22T11:24:12.817-07:00Letterman-ColbertI made this. It's perhaps more unsettling than I expected, but the idea is, with Colbert replacing Letterman, how will he differentiate himself from the late night bastion? I don't think Colbert will have a problem with that, but the image stuck in my head, so I made it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN4r5Sxv4iN87MncnlVJs9vizpNdhS8JheHmne_46aoiMj_sUOo5HAMjBCgAK8vxlTJf9A3m3Ye0Qsjyj3XZykPu8q6gDv7sceTNEuquaao-s65MoobxmJbFxXMGuV2ksoXc98v5CQdsBd/s1600/letterman.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN4r5Sxv4iN87MncnlVJs9vizpNdhS8JheHmne_46aoiMj_sUOo5HAMjBCgAK8vxlTJf9A3m3Ye0Qsjyj3XZykPu8q6gDv7sceTNEuquaao-s65MoobxmJbFxXMGuV2ksoXc98v5CQdsBd/s320/letterman.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnIDaUIqf9PsMxDnvbS_VKDqLMPErEjo559lebVMQRMMxO4ZN075ITug7PUmJCeFOdmH1ovZNHQTRJiBtGpmWXSFt-MLI3RuARrNZLWYkucoL51iMg_A9CNVvbNJp4NqFpRsVVw7UTysQa/s1600/letterman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnIDaUIqf9PsMxDnvbS_VKDqLMPErEjo559lebVMQRMMxO4ZN075ITug7PUmJCeFOdmH1ovZNHQTRJiBtGpmWXSFt-MLI3RuARrNZLWYkucoL51iMg_A9CNVvbNJp4NqFpRsVVw7UTysQa/s320/letterman.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-48660053910372019132014-09-02T19:15:00.002-07:002014-09-02T19:48:29.066-07:00C130patraHullo! I have a new personal piece! Time to get my cover on... It coincidentally works for my 'old is new' challenge I do from time to time. Here's the robot girl treatment I did two years ago:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZaZ-irYL5uDmjTzJR6onQBCWMWzHeTvf9RSiqUyX0X_x437RgkpPs4cCmdI42CR07Wh1H65EDSZWWrBu72cHae06XztkKIvgW3m2UVk7eqXcSkHQdQW6URsMbJoMN97-QfUcBkKLRH5nu/s1600/The+Veil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZaZ-irYL5uDmjTzJR6onQBCWMWzHeTvf9RSiqUyX0X_x437RgkpPs4cCmdI42CR07Wh1H65EDSZWWrBu72cHae06XztkKIvgW3m2UVk7eqXcSkHQdQW6URsMbJoMN97-QfUcBkKLRH5nu/s1600/The+Veil.jpg" height="320" width="267" /></a></div>
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And here's my newest piece!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTYeN7OpNFlDbZx2-tUndARVtobKti2y5U4xjQT6bexs1wj4zvRUdvVfv1VFdgXSi4wFKqdmIfIyPNBsTDW135-Ogn8a2ZrevFm3V-lquAUgPr_hkAkl7Zw9ZftE1V95ATChrubLzfp0SJ/s1600/C130patra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTYeN7OpNFlDbZx2-tUndARVtobKti2y5U4xjQT6bexs1wj4zvRUdvVfv1VFdgXSi4wFKqdmIfIyPNBsTDW135-Ogn8a2ZrevFm3V-lquAUgPr_hkAkl7Zw9ZftE1V95ATChrubLzfp0SJ/s1600/C130patra.jpg" height="400" width="257" /></a></div>
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I have decided to start really pursuing book cover work, so C130patra is the first of two pieces that will be the bulk of my promotion. Hope you like her!</div>
David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-30945249132201393342014-06-03T07:29:00.001-07:002014-06-03T07:35:09.981-07:00Viking Command!Hi all, the mobile app I and my company have been tirelessly slaving away on is finished and releasing today!! Here are some images I produced to promote it!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNN3jhBrFeOlegfhUpFN8P0Zi9QbwZ8qFKp_swtTiFu60lLUgx1wOiMpK_jELwbCW9iJ5nxwkQhL1Eod0LLE17qOjjSByZwEkcBhfPkWXyLtgx6_hMP-dw63DA4rG-9MuFiDs7ZV-1V5Rt/s1600/ad+screen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNN3jhBrFeOlegfhUpFN8P0Zi9QbwZ8qFKp_swtTiFu60lLUgx1wOiMpK_jELwbCW9iJ5nxwkQhL1Eod0LLE17qOjjSByZwEkcBhfPkWXyLtgx6_hMP-dw63DA4rG-9MuFiDs7ZV-1V5Rt/s1600/ad+screen.png" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
It's a free app, so go, my pretties! Download away!<br />
iOS: <span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"> </span><span style="color: #e44448; font-family: Menlo; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/id855098432">http://itunes.apple.com/app/id855098432</a></span><br />
Google Play: <span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sidebolt.vikingcommand" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sidebolt.vikingcommand</a><br />
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Check out the trailer, too!<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovd88xMAawk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovd88xMAawk</a><br />
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<br />David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-73858963285617853142014-05-16T19:35:00.002-07:002014-05-16T19:35:35.545-07:00Last minute changesLast minute changes are bad. First, simply by definition, they give no time for further revision, and second, if those changes are drastic, you give the impression that you are unpredictable, especially when you're working from a thumbnail.<br />
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I have to give a shout out to Brent Evans once again. He's been great working with me, giving me the patience and freedom I need to produce some images I'm proud of that work for him. Long story short, I did what teachers tell you not to do in college (and for good reason). I abandoned the thumbnail. Let's look at our Aborigine surfer first, shall we?<br />
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This guy will be featured in the upcoming Shadowrun: Crossfire card game, but promotional shots have already spoiled him for me. It started with this thumbnail:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8FUILLtMSyH_Xros_8SRf-d_IUSOWbK6Pbg90aqRWe75vf5uOef4MidKaqqoli5sMMvmmIPoqoZDEq5Ek-WH_yG8UJnT3fmoFJSVpw-_KWLq3BCc_LTEAcybiUW1eEwzN9z2vOMlw5Msp/s1600/Human+Male.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8FUILLtMSyH_Xros_8SRf-d_IUSOWbK6Pbg90aqRWe75vf5uOef4MidKaqqoli5sMMvmmIPoqoZDEq5Ek-WH_yG8UJnT3fmoFJSVpw-_KWLq3BCc_LTEAcybiUW1eEwzN9z2vOMlw5Msp/s1600/Human+Male.jpg" height="320" width="130" /></a></div>
Brent was happy enough with it. He wanted the guy to be wearing Bermuda shorts and a watch, looking at the viewer, and having the surf board tilted so it didn't run parallel with the frame. So I made the changes, and started to color it. I got in close to it, painting away, and when I pulled out, this is what I saw:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmJHafqqpitc2sFdnFiH5QTPbxSvB3GM2j7vD-38JVETGIUngH9G49pOEV17zMe4B_-pc567JOMNW1oRYIswX2zC1Eb4793GZ7DxfPjzNL8G3p4qLR0ZKxGcraXNORXCdUjk_Tuirj9832/s1600/Human+Maleg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmJHafqqpitc2sFdnFiH5QTPbxSvB3GM2j7vD-38JVETGIUngH9G49pOEV17zMe4B_-pc567JOMNW1oRYIswX2zC1Eb4793GZ7DxfPjzNL8G3p4qLR0ZKxGcraXNORXCdUjk_Tuirj9832/s1600/Human+Maleg.jpg" height="320" width="130" /></a></div>
Now, I'll admit, he's not done, but this was NOT what I had in mind. Suddenly the conntrappsosto gave this image a very different undertone. It was (this is a theme for me) 10 at night the night before it was due, and I was 50% done with a painting that was 100% wrong. So I started over.<br />
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If you've done this before as an artist, then you know: only make this move when you are confident that your changes will blow your AD out of the water. If they are getting something that they didn't expect, it better be way better than what they were waiting for.<br />
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Anyhow, I ran downstairs, shot reference, ran back up to my computer, and worked well past dawn :<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnhIVK4OAa5RfIbJmBfn01P27QU8nHsiuh4ta3YhMwA74moct_aHbq2g2EcCXPSjZCS2GQNBmua-aujyjO_BPsksNeLL-L-d6uTDNtvFAqmw6T1VqQNEycfIKjyTmWL2ofWZ77xRQl77d6/s1600/Human+Malefinish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnhIVK4OAa5RfIbJmBfn01P27QU8nHsiuh4ta3YhMwA74moct_aHbq2g2EcCXPSjZCS2GQNBmua-aujyjO_BPsksNeLL-L-d6uTDNtvFAqmw6T1VqQNEycfIKjyTmWL2ofWZ77xRQl77d6/s1600/Human+Malefinish.jpg" height="320" width="130" /></a></div>
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I waylaid some of the guilt of changing every aspect of the thumbnail by accepting that the final was obviously superior and promised not to do something like that again. A promise I immediately broke.</div>
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Here's a thumbnail for Shadowrun's recently released <a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/129826/Shadowrun-Stolen-Souls">Shadowrun: Stolen Souls</a>:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3GQ28nZNw88k5r8zyq_VARlEcUZYoz8IckQ-mC52gA-NYe5ieA9hgH4rcYNMz_91VdXeQN9QDCNT-53z3pvKykx0InNNaiUrrq0712byoQ-ZCw7Aq2_q0cOu1GYsxUgoi5ww7styM23wh/s1600/Possession+hangover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3GQ28nZNw88k5r8zyq_VARlEcUZYoz8IckQ-mC52gA-NYe5ieA9hgH4rcYNMz_91VdXeQN9QDCNT-53z3pvKykx0InNNaiUrrq0712byoQ-ZCw7Aq2_q0cOu1GYsxUgoi5ww7styM23wh/s1600/Possession+hangover.jpg" height="103" width="320" /></a></div>
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This guy is supposed to be in a coffee shop nursing a 'possession hangover' while the floating computer screens laugh at him. Late into development, I was having trouble with the angle, because the perspective was all off. When I shot reference, the images of the place I went to were so much better than the thumbnail that I again made the tough decision: I had to scrap the image, because I knew I could do so much better that my AD would forgive me. Here's that final:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdrbeomiXa1lfhNdjVDjY0s30uabvfe6fSuKIjTr7pnZnjaHo6IZhyphenhyphen2-YHD9MOmlsK-9awKmwx8gUixri4a59IlFfJH2W4aocXknkYpSzNyXH-dnynGbV5qpgnJWVD1oBkLEpM25BKBFwT/s1600/Possessionhangover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdrbeomiXa1lfhNdjVDjY0s30uabvfe6fSuKIjTr7pnZnjaHo6IZhyphenhyphen2-YHD9MOmlsK-9awKmwx8gUixri4a59IlFfJH2W4aocXknkYpSzNyXH-dnynGbV5qpgnJWVD1oBkLEpM25BKBFwT/s1600/Possessionhangover.jpg" height="103" width="320" /></a></div>
If you haven't worked freelance before, or you are still in school, remember: this is a big no-no. Unless the job parameters allow you the freedom, AND the image you produce will blow the original out of the water, this is an amateur way to produce, and something I always try to avoid. Obviously, sometimes that's impossible to do, but if the final image works, so be it. Here's one more piece for your viewing pleasure!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguLoCaMHwROhwV7xXU8nCTYd3Ly0dV7caoek3Z1xMB5Fc-Q9TTwiId1Q3EphWkTF3iY8bgKMxZxyBrftMjUqZvq8tu1x9ST3c2aJd3k9lD4OaeR7LoPAYVJUxr6utx69nKZ-Y2JWxvIrrk/s1600/Barghest+guardsfinal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguLoCaMHwROhwV7xXU8nCTYd3Ly0dV7caoek3Z1xMB5Fc-Q9TTwiId1Q3EphWkTF3iY8bgKMxZxyBrftMjUqZvq8tu1x9ST3c2aJd3k9lD4OaeR7LoPAYVJUxr6utx69nKZ-Y2JWxvIrrk/s1600/Barghest+guardsfinal.jpg" height="207" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-82983868227276599142014-05-06T13:15:00.000-07:002014-05-06T13:17:36.266-07:00The life of an indie game artistI've been working full time at Sidebolt Studios for just over five months, now. We're almost done working on our most recent app called Viking Command. This has been a very interesting project!<br />
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It began as something simple: Just a little unit management game where you draw paths for specific sprites to follow to specific destinations. We settled on vikings (the original concept, I kid you not, was a joke about an entire game where vikings would fart their conversations instead of speaking). So I started painting backgrounds. Will, my coworker, designed and animated the characters.</div>
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We didn't really know what the tone of the game would be, so I started from Will's sketch:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizTUezmetY1UuXcVtzHUjt9iF4rKWcX93CgSey2aHZ4txttpiQfKpFwU1WtKGMiirkTzho6wG_eENNlq31wzEOfQ1vFwPN2m8KQt5-OG2EjzHg6HWcLeGuelvbomCvDHe74-9cbOAxvUXo/s1600/sizing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizTUezmetY1UuXcVtzHUjt9iF4rKWcX93CgSey2aHZ4txttpiQfKpFwU1WtKGMiirkTzho6wG_eENNlq31wzEOfQ1vFwPN2m8KQt5-OG2EjzHg6HWcLeGuelvbomCvDHe74-9cbOAxvUXo/s1600/sizing.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a></div>
Then we decided to have all the units from the top-down perspective:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3fZlULMUdBzgUd_qHy6NxGvCWgkll_sLR7ICKk2c8C_mOHZ4oGAfgUJLohCoKIr6IiloOXUmdfL_XCdsBWtddZrqO_n9kBeDSu2hA2o1GGf0bwu-90MXiqQIzN3ZHrfxRZ1HJLk6WNNuE/s1600/Screen-Shot-2014-04-25-at-3.13.43-PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3fZlULMUdBzgUd_qHy6NxGvCWgkll_sLR7ICKk2c8C_mOHZ4oGAfgUJLohCoKIr6IiloOXUmdfL_XCdsBWtddZrqO_n9kBeDSu2hA2o1GGf0bwu-90MXiqQIzN3ZHrfxRZ1HJLk6WNNuE/s1600/Screen-Shot-2014-04-25-at-3.13.43-PM.png" height="200" width="320" /></a></div>
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Then, one fateful meeting (that looked a lot like this),</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpJbZr0kkhghhlNr2XkKEOK16tKfyf-qbCtiDRny9usqKvm-GDIgo8zKtkV3aN64Jlfe2upmo8CU79mZnTYY0ZJEJavUlpbHreH-hkO3vUwQKb7z8nKwJ4wqgwisGetaJZaf9UGwVEoM1c/s1600/IMG_0427.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpJbZr0kkhghhlNr2XkKEOK16tKfyf-qbCtiDRny9usqKvm-GDIgo8zKtkV3aN64Jlfe2upmo8CU79mZnTYY0ZJEJavUlpbHreH-hkO3vUwQKb7z8nKwJ4wqgwisGetaJZaf9UGwVEoM1c/s1600/IMG_0427.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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We decided that, instead of each viking going to the barracks and disappearing, we should have each unit restock and head back out to war. Now we had to design an open port so the player could see each unit when it was finished restocking.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXiFQ2deoqcPx0sb_TQFkGkogZgz0ibYERHg6khta47FLyb135Ggb74KVkJ7NUGhbr_VuByDXv2qTq3Ya_ySxERUJKMAFTu6M1xOyzND2Un-zjI0fow0JEP8MKc22xF0oKBvK2HEFZwVD7/s1600/Screen-Shot-2014-04-25-at-3.07.35-PM-300x187.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXiFQ2deoqcPx0sb_TQFkGkogZgz0ibYERHg6khta47FLyb135Ggb74KVkJ7NUGhbr_VuByDXv2qTq3Ya_ySxERUJKMAFTu6M1xOyzND2Un-zjI0fow0JEP8MKc22xF0oKBvK2HEFZwVD7/s1600/Screen-Shot-2014-04-25-at-3.07.35-PM-300x187.png" /></a></div>
I was also trying to go with a more simple design, something clean and brightly colored. But after showing this piece off, my direction was clear: make it war torn, make it dimensional.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG9MvsLga24pQYIqNEZbatbmYkYP8vkMzS9NlrC04ZCi7Yzc2-955uSN5Dvi3hFx0rGmz_C3tHfjAvI6xz17c261aCVaR67hiT8-Il_-ZRDmeGWlsylYbLLinTaqDFG2BeXnM7EKIBfAeQ/s1600/viking_background.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG9MvsLga24pQYIqNEZbatbmYkYP8vkMzS9NlrC04ZCi7Yzc2-955uSN5Dvi3hFx0rGmz_C3tHfjAvI6xz17c261aCVaR67hiT8-Il_-ZRDmeGWlsylYbLLinTaqDFG2BeXnM7EKIBfAeQ/s1600/viking_background.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a></div>
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Now we were at week four of six expected to finish the project, and I had finished my first background of three. Two more weeks, two more backgrounds. That would have been fine, but that was not all… Each character on these maps had a very cartoony style: flat colors and hard-lined shapes. Everyone liked the new more realistic direction of the background, but now they wanted the characters to fit into it. The characters are cut into pieces so that they can animate. Some characters could have up to fifteen individual parts, and I was the one who was going to paint them.</div>
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The game, originally simple levels, ballooned into six levels, each with ten different challenges.</div>
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Thankfully, the higher ups decided to pull a few artists off of a different project to help me and Will. Here's a good example of the changes made to the style of the game throughout development. This is just the main menu! Keep in mind that most of these changes where made in the last weeks of development time:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglclM7WQCynPu5uVZKjYwtR-JV4RYhASmc47VtNf38Md8PnjdPW93sJQyomuXm0RybcLhwPm6yN7unzMC9-B9TdmT4zE2MbHg2YD-2u_QP1cowLkei62OwVJ8EWptsDYnOe_kcaICQpm0M/s1600/sven_tutorial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglclM7WQCynPu5uVZKjYwtR-JV4RYhASmc47VtNf38Md8PnjdPW93sJQyomuXm0RybcLhwPm6yN7unzMC9-B9TdmT4zE2MbHg2YD-2u_QP1cowLkei62OwVJ8EWptsDYnOe_kcaICQpm0M/s1600/sven_tutorial.jpg" height="70" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8hX_FGICT8Zonhu2DVBkWoUJa6pUxPIzFzq5Y40gwI0mWyU34LojMYvxg0uaDjDPUa3_rLbqXKID2YIWn_KRNl-iOV9cGgxpYJKNgF35TrQhyZ78OgOjYy0vD2N4GBx4HJqfukNTqFdtD/s1600/menu_svenhead-300x187.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8hX_FGICT8Zonhu2DVBkWoUJa6pUxPIzFzq5Y40gwI0mWyU34LojMYvxg0uaDjDPUa3_rLbqXKID2YIWn_KRNl-iOV9cGgxpYJKNgF35TrQhyZ78OgOjYy0vD2N4GBx4HJqfukNTqFdtD/s1600/menu_svenhead-300x187.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSWG7phwjQus5Fh02YKoPJS5WkmfAwh4CGUd_nZ07RL6Ua52sAZ0EsuAERjVl47S6szSxdAbiIPQKHUiPRZJVYKrwoVPWKkeX1LuO50JBmxjtJ3vrnKo3-jvWUuS81v2ApIaLKwHFiZj0k/s1600/Screen-Shot-2014-04-17-at-1.30.46-PM-300x201.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSWG7phwjQus5Fh02YKoPJS5WkmfAwh4CGUd_nZ07RL6Ua52sAZ0EsuAERjVl47S6szSxdAbiIPQKHUiPRZJVYKrwoVPWKkeX1LuO50JBmxjtJ3vrnKo3-jvWUuS81v2ApIaLKwHFiZj0k/s1600/Screen-Shot-2014-04-17-at-1.30.46-PM-300x201.png" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO8QNL0lUf2Mu3m_m4P9jaEUMm9CQ7YRnTxlcAYduvW8cLM3jmMavLP6YwVw5e_Yu9kDaznsZrs23e1hbiJGQZ1B2zUf1u6_L8kFCXmJmuxj-ERAiOVa9y0Tq9CyBLIqOKbS8qPsEh8ADH/s1600/Screen-Shot-2014-04-21-at-1.12.12-PM-300x225.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO8QNL0lUf2Mu3m_m4P9jaEUMm9CQ7YRnTxlcAYduvW8cLM3jmMavLP6YwVw5e_Yu9kDaznsZrs23e1hbiJGQZ1B2zUf1u6_L8kFCXmJmuxj-ERAiOVa9y0Tq9CyBLIqOKbS8qPsEh8ADH/s1600/Screen-Shot-2014-04-21-at-1.12.12-PM-300x225.png" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVYXhzI13-KbFYHriyvQJMNlgdxr70E50Hd46rOSihOKG6J_-eSHPAkpA9Hkx9pVCyoQ0vPIhUoa-je0IWUwndf1kITD6OYoZWMvJB8-1dxeL6yOMjNQ_WcZAtFl9-EajuBMXosuGrTiqk/s1600/photo-1-300x225.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVYXhzI13-KbFYHriyvQJMNlgdxr70E50Hd46rOSihOKG6J_-eSHPAkpA9Hkx9pVCyoQ0vPIhUoa-je0IWUwndf1kITD6OYoZWMvJB8-1dxeL6yOMjNQ_WcZAtFl9-EajuBMXosuGrTiqk/s1600/photo-1-300x225.png" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYLeyEuN7opgm8ROi14SWQG5zEzMu8yZyt5G1jXVbQ8BGleY2dyVNVpkbYBZi1bieW6DLwcYviKDIguztQe0GMRz41lynau1u4SrYbgJIxz9rkangTZMGzx9MNadXyxxMajI7w3NMSV4hK/s1600/photo-2-300x225.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYLeyEuN7opgm8ROi14SWQG5zEzMu8yZyt5G1jXVbQ8BGleY2dyVNVpkbYBZi1bieW6DLwcYviKDIguztQe0GMRz41lynau1u4SrYbgJIxz9rkangTZMGzx9MNadXyxxMajI7w3NMSV4hK/s1600/photo-2-300x225.png" /></a></div>
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Finally, just for good measure, another level I painted for the game. Can you imagine this fitting in with the visual style I was trying to develop initially?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_WrB8xx-Jyp_9yYxryENt25A2hdTjDX6SDujU1jM4xCB5-VAC2Ei9k8FkMOMAjV5I-tli9ou_N-NC0eaCGmzK9TNLqd6DzxSdQCMihM8ccR9sLLXGv6MCLxV13V9lTQD0qQ2yfc9IbzL2/s1600/viking_level_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_WrB8xx-Jyp_9yYxryENt25A2hdTjDX6SDujU1jM4xCB5-VAC2Ei9k8FkMOMAjV5I-tli9ou_N-NC0eaCGmzK9TNLqd6DzxSdQCMihM8ccR9sLLXGv6MCLxV13V9lTQD0qQ2yfc9IbzL2/s1600/viking_level_5.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a></div>
We'll be releasing the game within the next week or so. Until then, here's a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cuz2Rn2qGcY">teaser trailer</a>.<br />
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Oh, and I'm still working for Shadowrun. Two of my favorite pieces are set to get published soon, I can't wait to show you. Until then, enjoy this lucky Ork from the recently published <a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/128355/Shadowrun-Run--Gun">Shadowrun: Run and Gun</a>.<br />
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David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-47790844604502354742014-04-06T17:18:00.001-07:002014-04-06T17:18:57.768-07:00New SketchIt's been a long time, I know. I've been very busy with a ton of great things, and this weekend was the first in a month that I've been free to do my own thing. So I took my new Cintiq on her first just for fun run, and had a real blast. Hope you like it!<br />
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<br />David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-43848350158870953452014-01-13T16:31:00.002-08:002014-01-13T16:31:57.252-08:00News!I have been up for 36 hours, I've finished two of the highest profile freelance jobs I've ever done, and I just accepted a full time position as a graphic designer at Sidebolt Studios. Here's a sample of what I've been doing for them:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUvwoITdkuHZW1k8mTNQ8CvmcgiSEcDUJ7Kg3xRep72BBxR_IHq1Q2Y0UOkt2yWYHHoieDJ7Xf3lqXD0F3utiCM7cumQJHHvQhA7CM6ZUZxPRgGiv4cqy84HGEeKHEyurFeWznMmRHF3Tu/s1600/Arctic_splash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUvwoITdkuHZW1k8mTNQ8CvmcgiSEcDUJ7Kg3xRep72BBxR_IHq1Q2Y0UOkt2yWYHHoieDJ7Xf3lqXD0F3utiCM7cumQJHHvQhA7CM6ZUZxPRgGiv4cqy84HGEeKHEyurFeWznMmRHF3Tu/s400/Arctic_splash.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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See you on the flip side. Time to sleep.</div>
David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-80227060669402826952013-11-09T20:56:00.000-08:002014-01-13T16:33:26.414-08:0014 IllustrationsSo I picked up three more illustrations. But hey, two of 14 are done, so. You know...<br />
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In a month, I'll read this status and laugh. I'll be laughing because of the insanity that I got. From working full time and producing fourteen illustrations. But no matter. I have better news:<br />
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I'm going to be interning for Sidebolt Studios! They are a cell phone gaming app company. For the first time in my life, I'll be doing art as a full time occupation. I couldn't be more excited! Every once in a while I break into song and dance. I can't wait to show them what I can do. In the mean time, I have to get back to it. See you soon!David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-82803432774516021782013-11-03T19:47:00.000-08:002013-11-03T19:49:28.542-08:00So farSince I've posted last, many things have changed. I live in Columbus, Ohio, now. I work full time at a custom frame shop, and I am hard at work on over ten illustrations for two different companies. Things are good so far, and they're getting better (as long as I hit these next few strenuous deadlines). Here's a piece of art to tide you over until my longer explanation and more paintings. This is work for Run and Gun that the publisher decided to tease, so, yay! Enjoy.<br />
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<br />David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-90347270940934132682013-08-31T13:59:00.004-07:002013-08-31T13:59:53.454-07:00Adventure!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My sister, Casey and I. She was kind enough to travel along with me to Indianapolis, Indiana to visit GenCon. As my artist star rises, so must my physical presence in the art and fantasy gaming world.<br />
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The convention was almost overwhelming. Thousands of people, booths, games, costumes and more filled the convention center, itself a hulking conglomeration of football field sized rooms. It was pretty awesome, regardless.<br />
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The main reason for my trip was to meet Brent Evans in the flesh. He's my art director at Catalyst for Shadowrun, and someone who's wisdom has already helped me grow levels beyond where I was. Up until now, I've only ever shared email exchanges with the man, our most emotive moments being colons and parentheses. It was a happy surprise to find Brent was just as gracious and well spoken in person.<br />
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Here is one of the most recent projects I got to work on. This is the demo box for Shadowrun: Crossfire, a card game. And is that... could it be?<br />
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My artwork on the back cover? Boom. Well, since this cat got let out of the bag, let's see him in full resolution, yes?<br />
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Since this painting was meant to be on a small card (see the size of my fingers in comparison?), my main challenge was stripping away needless detail and building an immediately discernible image.David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-84494971690264454892013-08-17T08:49:00.002-07:002013-08-17T08:55:33.311-07:00The Recycle ProjectI'll be visiting GenCon in Indianapolis tomorrow. So, that should be fun. In preparation for the event, I ran out and picked up a little portfolio book and printed my current portfolio. I still had my old portfolio prints, so it was great fun being able to physically compare the two. I realized there are themes I like to revisit.<br />
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Sometimes I revisit a subject because I don't feel like the first time through did it justice. Way back when, Jon Schindehette had an Art Order contest called D&D Pin-up. He wanted to see D&D characters (preferably tieflings) in a sort of classic pin-up pose. So I gave him this half-assed Gil Elvgren style piece.<br />
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At the time I didn't think it was half-assed, but I knew that if I could revisit the subject, I'd give it my whole ass. So I did:<br />
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Sometimes I revisit a subject from a different angle. In Fahrenheit 451, there's a moment in the books when a woman sets herself on fire in front of Montag. I thought that'd make a cool cover, so:<br />
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A few years later, I wanted to be more conceptual with the cover. The real catalyst for Montag was the girl Clarisse, so I tried playing around with the idea a bit. This piece is already on its way out of my portfolio, so maybe I'll give it another go soon...<br />
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Sometimes I like many aspects of a project even though I change everything else about it. Here, I've kept only the perspective.<br />
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Originally, I was going to just replace the guy with Link, and say hey, Water Temple. But I hate the Water Temple. Also, so much of my art fades to black that it gives a very claustrophobic feeling to my work, so I wanted to open it up and give the piece room to breath. This was one of my first digital projects, and I'm still happy with it.<br />
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Last but not least, sometimes I revisit a project because it's just fun to paint. One of the great joys of being an artist is producing work year after year and seeing how much you've grown and changed. This project is one of my most stark comparisons.<br />
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When I finish a painting I'm particularly proud of, it is inconceivable to me that I could do any better.<br />
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But what do I know?David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647061626565362681.post-57581126043607434632013-07-18T14:17:00.000-07:002013-07-23T13:05:56.526-07:00War Paint<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9mffDBLG1RTJCP5EvtY_GZ0a1g1krrBVw3Nr9DRUo47AjcPjEOV6yYZjUVG3bstfSnXKOqcA4SuHTvH6lXwYT35513pPriqZ07UsobJ8hfLr-x3Rt9YP1buZhZ2qpRU6zocilGXNr8AhX/s1600/warpaint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9mffDBLG1RTJCP5EvtY_GZ0a1g1krrBVw3Nr9DRUo47AjcPjEOV6yYZjUVG3bstfSnXKOqcA4SuHTvH6lXwYT35513pPriqZ07UsobJ8hfLr-x3Rt9YP1buZhZ2qpRU6zocilGXNr8AhX/s400/warpaint.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Color version what! T'sall I got right now.David Hoveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05967615934450100349noreply@blogger.com0