I needed a graphic for Paper Movies that would illustrate how something can happen between panels, “in the gutters” as the saying goes. Something simple and uncomplicated. So I turned to ViaDuck and gave him something to do.
ViaDuck in “Pay Attention”
As I work on a writing project about creating graphic novels, I needed to create a graphic persona who will help explain things. On the TV show CSI , I and some friends used to call Captain Brass “Captain Exposition”, because he was frequently stuck with reciting the recap of either the case or (at the half-way mark of the show) the episode up to that point. But I couldn’t repeat that. But it occured to me that since this book was about helping people learn the ins-and-outs of graphic novels, the character would be a teacher: so why not make him a professor.
So that’s how Professor Exposition was born. At least, he’s a cheerful fellow.
Since I had the scanner out, it seemed a good time to scan these four works before I got them back up on the wall. They represent my appreciation of “costume roles”, mainly because the portraits are fun to draw then. But it does require finding a satisfactory reference image to work from.
These are done free-hand, not by tracing with a lightbox. Once upon a time it would never have occured to me that I would need to make that declaration. Yes, kiddies, this is all hand-eye-coordination. It takes practice. 😀
This is Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth I in the British television series Elizabeth R. I have always had a fascination with Queen Elizabeth, and Jackson remains my favorite actress when it comes to dramatic portraits of her. This drawing was the first “pencil portrait” I had attempted.
Richard Chamberlain as the Count in a television adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo. The particular photo I worked from looked very striking and it invited me to attempt the portrait. I’ve always been fond of this one.
Chamberlain again as Louis XIV (or is it his twin?) in a television adaptation of The Man in the Iron Mask. Rendering the lace was part of the fun of this portrait. (There were also some technical glitches when I scanned this, because my scanner, in its arcane wisdom rendered the image rotated somewhat — I suppose in order to get the whole oval. But righting the image to the vertical was a bother, and I still didn’t get it perfectly back on its correct axis. Sorry) Anyway, capturing the flavor amused me. (Even though, strictly speaking, Chamberlain is far too tall to be Louis, who was notoriously short.)
Toshiro Mifune as Lord Toranaga in the mini-series Shogun. He has such an interesting face, it was fun to try and catch that. Also there was the challenge of getting the impression of the silk fabrics. I did skimp out on the details of the hawk, however. Partly because, as I recall, the image I was working from didn’t clearly capture the look of the feathers. Still, I like this.
Anyway, there they are. I’ll shortly be scanning the Musketeers from the Richard Lester film version of The Three Musketeers (yes, that will make three portraits of Richard Chamberlain). There are some others I have done, but I’m not sure where the originals are. As I find them, I will scan them.
For the 2013 60th anniversary of the publication of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, publisher Simon & Schuster is having a cover design contest. Originally, the contest was to end November 30, but they extended the deadline to December 7. I’d bookmarked the contest when it was announced, vaguely thinking “Oh, that would be fun to do!” and then didn’t think of it again until last week.
Then suddenly, the end of the month loomed, and I remembered the contest. I’d had an idea that I wanted to do, of a figure made of passages from great literature, holding a book, and on fire. So I needed to get cracking, since it would involve creating a physical object first.
As I was printing out passages to paste onto cardboard, I realized that in order for the texts to even register in the final cover art, I probably would not be able to do the full figure (intended to be stylized) that I had first thought of. So the “Man of Letters” ended up being only a partial figure.
This photo of “Man of Letters” (as I call the construct) doesn’t really give much sense of its dimensionality. It’s not really a flat piece.
For the record, the texts used were:
For the head: Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” speech; the torso: the opening of Don Quixote; the hip region: the opening of Moby Dick; the upper arms: the opening of Dante’s Inferno; the hands: Hamlet again; the forearms and the book pages: Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. If I had gone full figure, the legs would have been the opening for Dickens’ David Copperfield.
I had chosen these passages because, for me, they spoke to many of the ideas and issues in Bradbury’s story.
Once the “Man of Letters” was put together and photographed, then came working in Photoshop. I was generally happy with the final execution of my idea.
And that was enough … for about a day or so. Then the whole matter of “cover art” kept bubbling in my head. The contest specifies that the winning entry will likely not only be the cover for the first printing of the 60th anniversary edition (and one imagines any additional printings of the edition – but they’re not promising that), but also used for display art for promotional purposes.
When you start thinking of how books are displayed these days, both online and in shops, you realize the need for strong graphics that catch attention but are also very clear about what the shopper is seeing. When I looked through some of the other entries in the contest, I was really struck by that factor. Many of the entries are visually very, very interesting. Many are even very striking graphic designs that speak to the story and its meanings. But as shop displays, many of them are also too much “art” and not enough “advertising,” as it were.
Even my own design had that problem. I was being so clever in my selection of passages, but that’s not going to register as display art.
So, my over-heated brain started toying with a second design – something simpler, more direct. And, again, I ended up happy with my results.
The winner of the contest will be announced in January (the new edition of the book is to be published a couple months later). It’s strange, entering a contest like this — where everyone’s entries are on view. There are many strong entries.
But in the end, for me, it is the satisfaction of answering the challenge of the contest, to come up with a design that can serve their stated purposes and that also represents the work in question. (Plus… they’re samples of my work, for anyone looking to commission a cover artist for a book. Heh.)
I was chatting with a friend online about artwork and some of the playful things I’ve done in the past. In particular, things I used to do that started with contour drawings. When you combine that with my love of strong, saturated colors, you (or rather, I ) come up with something like this —
I worked from stills from the movie version of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar . I had a souvenier program book, I believe (it may actually be lurking somewhere in my papers).
This currently hangs in my living room, where I can see it every day. But I haven’t actually looked at it with attention for a while. It’s rather satisfying to sit back and consider it, and realize it is indeed a satisfying piece (even if I’m the one saying it).
I had been at the local comics shop and saw some of the Muggs Star Wars toys. Their rounded shapes intrigued me and inspired me. I wondered if I could try some cartooning of known characters using something like the style of the toys. The following two drawings are the results of that attempt.
The first one attempted was of the main charactors from the USA Network show Burn Notice.Â
I wasn’t sure that I was getting Michael right, but when I sat back to study it, I realized the line for his mouth is just right (he really does mostly look like he’s been dieting on lemons). I had misjudged the color of Fiona’s hair and so had to darken it, though it’s still too light. But all in all, not bad for a first try.
Then I moved to NCIS.
If you’re cartooning, you almost certainly have to try doing Abby (she’s such a delightful character). I was very pleased with the face of my Gibbs.
It was fun making these attempts (these are photos of the works, not scans), but I haven’t tried to follow up with other examples of the style yet.
I created the following picture digitally (actually, in the dimensions of a Facebook “cover picture”), specifically as a birthday present for James A. Owen, who is very fond of Bradbury personally and professionally. It seemed a good way to honor the memory of a writer who has influenced many through his use of language and storytelling.
The piece itself is titled “From Mars to the October Country.”
I recently set about the chore of going through several boxes of papers that had been in storage. Most of the paperwork was not really material I needed to keep. But occasional I turn up little gems worth holding onto.
One such was a notebook with some story fragments in it. I call them the “MoonDaughter Fragments,” and will soon be posting them on the website as a PDF. I liked the beginnings that are in the fragments, and have put the whole onto the list of “things to work on”. The material feels as if it wants to be a longer work, however, and I shall have to listen very carefully to it to find out what it will be.
In the meantime, I thought it would be nice to have a piece of graphic art to post on the site with the fragments, so I set to work on a “cover art” piece. This was done entirely digitally. I am finding that working digitally pushes me toward a rather more stylized type of work. But I am happy with the final result here. I intend to use the artwork in my Zazzle store, so look for that to come into the picture (as it were) shortly.
A friend wanted some cover art for an e-book novella she was working on, and she commissioned me to do the piece. Since the work in question was a comedy/horror story, this required a certain off-beat approach.
So, first the work in question —
Obviously, something’s very wrong with Santa in this story.
My first sketch was of Santa crouched behind the sleigh, fangs dripping. But I realized that the image, especially online for listings for e-books, would be too small to grasp what was up. That’s when I was hit with the idea of doing a close up of Santa.
I got about half the face sketched in, and then realized that leaving it incomplete was even creepier. Keeping to a very limited color range, and letting the white predominated worked well for the context. And of course, that glaring red eye is very ominous. The font for the title was selected for its rather “toothy” feel (it’s the Templar font).
All in all, the client was very satisfied with the result. I had fun doing it.
And you really need to check out the book itself: it’s a quick read, very twisted and funny.
I know how the thumbnails for the gallery work now. But what about showing a full image?
The original of this was a pen & ink black and white piece, which I have since colored in Photoshop. I’m going to be uploading this to my Zazzle store for various products (something I intend to do with many pieces).
I have recently created a Patreon page, where I will be posting about my works-in-progress, and indeed sharing draft chapters as things move forward.
I want to express my deepest thanks to those who have joined the Gold Level of my noble Patrons.
Bradley Rader
