Inking heroes to life - Jim Lee

My artist presentation was on Jim Lee, comic book illustrator extraordinaire! He stopped his education in the medical field to become a comic book artist, and boy, did it ever pay off. He has been special ordered for graphic novels with top notch writers ever since, his latest and famous being the Batman graphic novel, Hush (my absolute favorite thus far). Check him out sometime - it'll be worth it.

What I envy most is his perfect fabrication of human proportions and body. Young or old, buff or scrawny, landing a kick or taking a nap, Lee can draw them.-Twin 1

Ruth Thompson~Fantasy Artist

Pic Title: Brotherhood of the Sea

Ruth Thompson was born in Ohio and is a University of Alabama Graduate (1990). She originally wanted to have a career involving Biology and majored in it for the first three years in collage. Thompson eventually looked into Art classes in collage and ended up with a degree in Graphic Design. She wandered from job to job doing fantasy illustrations for collectible card games, magazines, board games, books, and role-playing games. Her final job was at Steve Jackson Games, Texas. Tired of working for others, she moved back to Alabama and started her own company called Tarnished Images (you can visit her website at www.tarnishedimages.com. Tarnished Images started with her attending or mailing in artwork to fantasy and science-fiction conventions and the occasional free-lance job. She still does that, but also includes her website, where you can order canvases of her paintings. Some are even signed and numbered.
Ruth Thompson uses oils and watercolors on every piece of work and she likes to combine both of the mediums. Her favorite medium is oils that allow her easier blending with colors and for detailed areas like faces. For her base, Thompson uses illustration board and pencil. With bigger paintings, she’ll do under-painting (something like an ink wash). After roughing some places, she’ll start painting. Any questions about her artwork can ban be found on her website at www.tarnishedimages.com/faq.htm. She sells original pencil works along with her paintings-although some are limited editions. Her paintings range from $25-$200. She also does figurines and cinch bags through other companies.
I originally found Ruth Thompson through a poster website and bought a poster of a dragon painting she did (if you want to cheat and not pay for the painting-posters are the way to go!!) It is called Equinox. Anyway, I fell in love with her style of painting and her themes. I love the prancing horses, dangerous dragons, and strong characters. But mostly the horses (duh :p). Please, please go to her website!! There are way too many pictures for me to show you! It would take hours!!

All About .... Michael Godard

I did a power-point presentation a couple of weeks ago about Michael Godard. Michael Godard is known as the "Rockstar of the Art World" and is currently the #1 best selling artist in the United States. He attended the University of Nevada for Fine Arts in Las Vegas and after he also attended The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He is an artist that is in the media a lot he has been featured in several magazines and has been on television shows such as Inked, American Casino, and Chris Angel's Mind Freak. He wrote a book called "Don't Drink and Draw" which is about his life and art, it was awarded The Art Book of the Year. Godard really wants his art to include his lighthearted perspective on life through his animated olives, and dancing strawberries. His medium is mostly oil on canvas but he does also work with other mediums such as ink and sharpies. Godard is a modern take on surrealism but he also takes famous people in history and replaces them with his olives. "Godard's unique portrayal of fun is an exciting combination of imagination and often subtle humor which evoke and engage the creative side in "Olive" us." You can view more of his art at:

http://www.michaelgodard.com/index.html Look him up!!! He is my fav!!!! Thanks!!! -love, Christen

Artist of the Week

For the second quarter, Art 3 and Art 4 students will each week present an artist of their choice. Each student has picked a week to make their presentation. They will present their artist to the class and post a short blog on that artist and why they chose that artist.

Trees. Always Trees.

The set of trees on the left are part of my watercolor tree project; I intend to combine them wth two other trees (also in watercolor) and mount them on black paper. The leftmost tree is River Birch which the others are Fir, I am pleased with the way they turned out and how their species is obvious from my painting. I tried to focus on the individuality of the kind of tree and capture it, and it worked well I think.

The set on the right is the weaker project, something i am still working on. It is meant to contrast colors amongst the same tree species (Maple.) Although the blue color sceme is unrealistic, I enjoy it and plan to pen two others...perhaps a green one and a purple; complementary colors fascinate me. I also intend to mount the finished four on black paper, and suggestions as to the color of the two I have yet to draw are welcome.

~Kate

weakness...

N is for Naive.

I'm not sure if the message is displayed very well in this picture, and I'm not happy with the colors... they do not fit in with the other cards I've made.

Mr. N,

... you are a lone wolf.

~

Any suggestions are welcome and greatly appreciated.

I love the blog for this reason, don't get rid of it Please!

Help me keep the blog by helping me fix my art work :)

Much Love

Gretta

Weakness

Too simple of a line drawing.

Harry Potter ABC Cards

A- Albus Dumbledore
G- Golden Snitch
N- Nimbus 2000

About time . . .

Here you have it Mrs. G.

montains

These mountains look a little sketchy the color too me doesn’t match the rest of the cards but makes the mountains stand out a bit, the gray and brown is what I was going for so it can look a bit smoky, the rays of light seemed to have help, let me know what you guys think.