BB King

The "King" of the blues is the subject of the October NCN Let's Draw thread. I started with a study of his head and plan to add other elements...this should be a fun piece!!



*Updated piece by adding his body & Lucille...also started blocking in some color to see where I'm going with it.
*Updated by changing background color and reworking "Lucille"

*One more update on the piece...I posted it on the CG Society Forum and was honored by having it placed on the top tier above the threads...just way too cool and that made this semi-old man very happy :)

What's Going On

Almost forty years have passed since this masterpiece was released and unbelievable as well as sad it still rings hauntingly true today!!!

Amazon: What's Going On

Paul Newman

One more guy that personified cool leaves us...he definitely did not have a "failure to comunicate"!!!

*Updated post with a pencil sketch that's a bit more of a stretch and a more refined version of the "portrait"!
*Updated 10/08/08 with final version "Young Newman"...although I could probably finesse it's time to walk away.

Audrey Hepburn

This one was done for the monthly "Lets Draw" thread over at the NCN forum...many terrific entries...another great reason to join!

Fear [S] of the Dark

FEAR[S] OF THE DARK

Animated Charles Burns...very cool!!!!
*video courtesy of Yahoo

Tekkonkinkreet

I originally came across this post about the background art in the anime film "Tekkonkinkreet" on the Lines & Colors blog. The links it provided had the most amazing stuff I had seen...the attention to detail was incredible!!! The book (books as I later found out) were not available in the U.S. so I went to Amazon Japan and was able to order them. Although the books are small in size the artwork on their pages make them well worth owning!!!
The book with the White cover has the finished color renderings and the Black cover contains the original pencil sketches that the later artwork was based on. I guess they could've combined both books but in any case they're both terrific. I'm not a big fan of anime but I will definitely rent this one just for the beauty of it's production art.














Tekkonkinkreet: Black & White

"i seldom do" Live Journal / Tekkonkinkreet

SOFTIMAGE|XSI User Profile: Studio 4°C TEKKONKINKREET

Studio4c

NCN Caricatures and...

A couple of recent caricatures of NCN Members, the briliantly talented Pete Emslie and renaissance man Rock Cowles. I've also added two character studies for an updated version of a classic.

Inspiration: William Dobell

I've been studying the work of portrait painters recently to see what elements I could bring to my own work. I happened to come across the work of Sir William Dobell, a celebrated Australian artist who I was totally unfamiliar with. What really caught my attention was the portrait he had done of fellow artist Joshua Smith which he entitled "Portrait of an Artist" and won him the Archibald Prize (regarded the most important portraiture prize in OZ).
Like Otto Dix and George Grosz, Dobell would exaggerate his subjects to the point where it became caricature and it seems that's what caused him a big problem with the Archibald.
Dobell’s Archibald win was contested by two unsuccessful artists who filed a lawsuit against him and the Gallery’s board of Trustees in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The main witness, J.S MacDonald argued that Dobell’s painting of Joshua Smith did not comply with the Archibald guidelines as it was not a balanced likeness of an actual person, but a caricature (which it clearly was). Although the award was upheld the ordeal left Dobell physically and emotionally scarred.
So once again caricature was considered a lower art form when obviously many of the "Masters" morphed their subjects attempting to capture their essence.

Michael Phelps Final Sketch

Once again I'm much happier with the likeness on this one. I was still working with a pretty bad lo-res reference photo...ahh, but now he's on the cover of the new S.I. and I'm sure good ones will now be abundant (estimated to make 100 million in endorsements!!!!). Good for him...some times hard work does pay off!!

The Amazing Michael Phelps

*Updated the sketch and I'm much happier with the likeness on this one...now I'll tighten it up





This is Michael Phelps' moment and he has definitely risen to the occassion so far! I'm sure there will be many caricatures of him after Bejing...and although I'm not too happy with this one it's an incentive to attempt him again.
I also added a few other rough sketches should anyone care to add a little C&C.

David Levine at the Met

What a wonderful gift I was given today running into David Levine, one of the all time great caricaturists at the Met. We were both there to see the J.M. Turner show and while walking through the Roman sculpture hallway I happened to glance over and there the Master stood. We had a brief conversation about caricature and he told me he and the New York Review of Books had parted ways (definitely the end of an era), but he looked great and said he's still working although now mainly in pencil foregoing his trademark Pen & Ink.

You know it's funny, people have always commented about my crosshatching and I owe my understanding of that technique partly to the "Master" since it was mainly his work I studied to learn how to do it. Again, what a great honor it was to meet this man and life is certainly strange when you think about how many people were in that museum today and this chance encounter happened...amazing!!

The New York Review of Books
David Levine Caricatures
D. Levine Ink