Main Source

I've been listening to some pretty smooth rhymes tonight and working on figuring out a more concrete color scheme for my thesis project.  During critique on Tuesday it came to my attention that I had not spent any time figuring out why I had selected particular colors.  I've always prided myself on picking and choosing good color schemes, but admittedly working in a slightly more minimal color scheme has alerted me to the fact that in the past I was likely to fudge things as I went.  When painting hundreds of constituent pieces, this is probably not the optimal manner in which to work.

So while at the beach today, enjoying a "day off", I attempted to figure out a color scheme.  While staring at the shoreline across the way, I was struck by the hazy light blue, to light red, to extremely light purple.  It occurred to me that this was an analogous color scheme and that I was really drawn to it while soaking up nature.  I made a quick note to myself in my sketchbook and determined to mix a good light purple to go with the light blue and light red blocks that I had been putting together.  Tonight I mixed the purple and I think it is really going to work.  I'm going to finish ten blocks total and then stack them against the other two colors and make sure it works.  I think also that I am going to change the color of the panels.  If I skip across the color wheel from the purple that is in the middle of my analogous scheme I reach it's complement yellow.  I think that I am going to do a straight up ocher for the panels, as well as a shade and a tint, so I can have the exterior parts in gray scale essentially.

Check out the blocks.

Not too shabby of a color I don't think and the ink work really pops which was the major goal.  Pretty stoked to have a plan.  I should start doing that at the beginning like everybody else one of these days.  Though it seems unlikely so I won't dwell on it.

I also put together a promotional ad for the Bollard today.  I am really pleased to actually have advertisement in one of the local papers.  I am not very certain that this will lead to more illustration work, but I do know that if I don't try I will definitely never get any illustration work.  So here goes nothing, I suppose.

Tell me the reference is easy to catch.  Best movie ever I think, at least of the eighties.  Badgers love Peter Gabriel though.  Little known fact.

Lastly, I was putting together some sketches the other day and then started to weave two pieces into one again.  I have been really into my sketchbooks lately.  That always leads to some work that I am pleased with.  This piece of my buddy, Ben, I think I am going to make into a completed painting.  It's time to start thinking about making some paintings again.  This grad school thing is almost done.

Keep up folks.
peace
Mike

Portland Buy Local Submission

Last week I put together a potential cover for the 2012 Portland Buy Local guide.  Portland Buy Local is a sweet organization and I hope that they think the same of me and choose my illustration.  It was definitely a fun one to put together and another opportunity to push the pen and ink with digital color.  It is slowly starting to read more like my drawings.  The problem has always been that when I scan in my color illustrations I lose so much subtlety in color.  It has become so frustrating that I've just started keeping my line and coloring with Photoshop.  As the line starts to read better and better, I become more and more pleased with the new media.

This is probably the first or maybe the second illustration of this sort that seems to have completely retained the line.  The color really doesn't seem to need to be very extravagant.  It's all learning experience though.  I'm glad to have the opportunity to submit to some real projects while trying to figure it out.

I will be getting the documentation of my billboard from the Billboard Art Project printed tomorrow to submit to a show at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  I am very pleased, though a bit surprised that they would want the documentation of a project that I had done in the past rather than a new piece.  I guess I'll figure out this art world eventually.  For those of you who have forgotten what that image looked like, here is a bit of a reminder.

I hope you are all doing well and that you are enjoying the very spring like weather that we seem to be having in March.  Best.

Peace
Mike

March TNT

Tonight I finished the poster for the March Thursday Night Throw Down and also was officially accepted to the Unstable Systems Exhibition at the University of Wisconsin.  I am very pleased with this months' TNT poster because it gave me the opportunity to look through a bunch of old wanted posters and replicate that sort of feel a little bit.  I also found some new sources for type which I think will come in handy when creating future posters.

The Unstable Systems show is cool because it will be my 12th state that I have exhibited in.  That makes me very excited.  I only have 38 to go now.  I want to get to 20 by the year 2013.  That may be a bit unreasonable, but you never know, do you?

Here is this months poster for the TNT.

Hope you dig it.  I also went to a dinner party tonight and realized during all of the cacophony of sound that I really don't deal well with parties.  There is always that moment where it seems that everyone is shouting at everyone else and you are trying to pay attention to four conversations at once.  I don't like it, so I whipped out the sketchbook and jotted this guy down.  I just thought I would share a quick example of what it is I do when nobody is paying attention.  :)

 I hope you all have an awesome day.  If you need a band-aid for your brain, I'll make you one.
Peace
-Mike