Dark Shadows contest

So in the course of trying to find more of an audience for my art, I finally looked into the deviantArt website. I'm still feeling out that whole process and have only been a part of it for a month or so, so I can't even truly give a complete critique of the experience yet. More to come on that later...

However one of the things they do have is a slew of contests. Differing themes and such and it seems to be a fun way to get people to do art. I'm always for that. But this one came up a few days ago that intrigued me. The upcoming film version of the old television show Dark Shadows seems to be sponsoring a contest to do a portrait of Barnabas Collins, the soap opera vampire. An old friend (the Cap'n from previous posts, to be exact) had introduced me to the character years ago. As I recall, it was a very odd, campy thing but it also didn't seem like that was the mood they were shooting for. It just kind of happened. Sets falling over during a shot and the director apparently saying "ah, to heck with it. THAT'S A WRAP!" and just leaving in the footage of the falling sets. However there seems to be a lot of folks who are not happy at all with the intentional comedic twist director Tim Burton seems to have given this current incarnation. Ah well, to each his own. I myself, think it looks kind of funny but I also don't have childhood remembrances tied up in it.

 So I came up with an idea for a Barnabas portrait and here it is...

The niftiest thing is that the finalists are to be judged by Tim Burton himself. (Okay, so the NIFTIEST part is the Hollywood prize monies offered, but still...Tim Burton looking at your stuff would be pretty cool, too.)

Mid Week Update

I promised more boxing pen and ink goodness and here it is...





These were also taken from sketches and photographs from the tournament I attended with friends last year.

Enjoy!

Victory!

Last year, a friend and his son took me to an amateur boxing tournament. I had never been and I'm always up for something new. It was fun and I had posted some sketches I made at the tournament.

Well, my friend's son won his first boxing match last week and in honor of that feat I pulled out some sketches and cobbled together a little pen and ink. I kind of like it, but I may do some more. This was fun.



I forget how much I like black and white sometimes.

No Separation

Some of the greatest art in the world has been created out of moral outrage. Picasso's "Guernica" and Goya's "The 5th of May" spring readily to mind. I try to keep my moral outrage in check on here. I try to keep to the "art" side of things but occasionally something slips through and hits that part of my brain where everything goes red and something needs to be done.

The other day my friend Mel posted a link to an article that you can read here. It's about...you know what? Just go read it. I'll wait.

SEE? So I did this...



Nice to know that we can't afford our public officials.

A Happy St. Paddy's from the Paintmonkey

Faith an' begorrah! Erin go bragh! Bangers and mash! Whatever other Gaelic or reasonable facsimile thereof you wish to insert. A happy and safe St. Patrick's day to all of you from the Paintmonkey.



Mostly, don't be dumb tonight. Designate a driver or get a cab. It just makes good sense.

Weird Dinosaurs...

Sometimes dinosaurs are not the terrifying monsters of nightmare or the gentle giants of herbivoredom (pretty sure that's a word, right?). No, sometimes dinosaurs are strange looking creatures who can not be taken seriously.

The latest submission for Prehistoric Times magazine calls for the corythosaurus. A plant eating theropod beast, it's most notable feature is a large crest on it's head. While doodling the creature one day, the only drawing I came up with was the one that ended up being the one in the drawing I submitted...



He's just so GOOFY looking...

Art Is...Tests and Playing

So I've been a little preoccupied with personal stuff the last couple of weeks but I want to try and keep working as much as possible. So my postings may be a little erratic but we will press on...

The back story: a couple of decades ago a group of young, exuberant and devilishly good looking students entered their first color theory class. Our teacher was...sadistic. Is that the word I'm looking for? Is there a HARSHER word for it? Anyways, the color theory class was the usual with the making of color charts (white to black, blue to red, etc.). That was not what was horrible. The horrible-ness came when we discovered what we would be doing it in...gouache.

Gouache is basically opaque watercolor. In my research I have also learned that gouache is used in illustration and graphic design a lot. What we all learned 20 years ago is that gouache does NOT dry the same color as the color you mixed. As I recall it would sometimes dry darker, sometimes lighter. But always such that you had to COMPLETELY re-do the color chart you were working on. Therefore leading us to hate this expensive little paint (and me not touching the stuff for a VERY long time).

But in my present day form I have been giving things a chance again. I picked up regular watercolors again and they seem to work okay. Heck, I'm going to try sushi again on Tuesday after many many years and one horrible incident in Washington D.C. So I thought I would give gouache another shot. But I needed a test subject...

Here is a submission for Prehistoric Times I did last year.



And here is the same work after I've "enhanced" it with gouache...



So basically that has been my week. Playing and testing out a new way of painting. We will see.