tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313705102024-03-07T00:14:50.342-08:00Dave McClellan Art and IllustrationDave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-24216019048380782542014-09-25T20:20:00.001-07:002014-09-25T20:20:51.230-07:00New Book Cover Illustration<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhScXeQPrQEO-2t0-oFbvUkmPAusq04XdAq9P06q1pvyNfRh92DbOpUN0-EgqehAqJmNKGonRMJWOBqZ9qAY4AooIa8osHCChYvII1dLMZp5Y6xk-_4a1T46F05mzEdERiRHQvE/s1600/DM_GH1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhScXeQPrQEO-2t0-oFbvUkmPAusq04XdAq9P06q1pvyNfRh92DbOpUN0-EgqehAqJmNKGonRMJWOBqZ9qAY4AooIa8osHCChYvII1dLMZp5Y6xk-_4a1T46F05mzEdERiRHQvE/s1600/DM_GH1.jpg" height="640" width="424" /></a></div>
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Cover for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Guardian-Herd-Jennifer-Lynn-Alvarez/dp/0062286064" target="_blank">The Guardian Herd: Starfire</a> by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez</div>
Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-35828036449055856722013-12-31T11:54:00.001-08:002013-12-31T11:54:47.432-08:00Book Covers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I wanted to get one last post in before the end of the year because somehow three posts in 2013 seem better than two, which is what I've done to this point. So here are a couple of covers that I did for books that came out this year.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhctTB05Ri603YduyFVdFKzk2KY64Zp_5OU8p-ydBoRpgg_IwWnkkWjF15xv_MyirfdOPlx5CVpEkbWTUhZPdznhj8U2mt-IBdiUVqeQNKohhPikSN6bszDWPN5rQsM3_8C3qvT/s1600/DM_MAG12Power.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhctTB05Ri603YduyFVdFKzk2KY64Zp_5OU8p-ydBoRpgg_IwWnkkWjF15xv_MyirfdOPlx5CVpEkbWTUhZPdznhj8U2mt-IBdiUVqeQNKohhPikSN6bszDWPN5rQsM3_8C3qvT/s400/DM_MAG12Power.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
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Cover for the last book Michael Grant's Magnificent 12 series. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Magnificent-12-Power/dp/006183372X" target="_blank">Link</a></div>
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This has been a fun series to work on. The books are humorous action/adventure stories, and I liked the challenge of coming up with a dynamic and adventurous composition that fits the tone of the book. Like with the previous <a href="http://davemcclellan.blogspot.com/2012/09/another-book-cover-and-plug-for-unicorn.html" target="_blank">cover</a>, I went with a crazy perspective, this time with the kids climbing on the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. </div>
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A full wrap cover for Apache Portal, by Carl Grimsman. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Apache-Portal-Carl-Grimsman/dp/1493605453" target="_blank">Link</a></div>
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I never imagined that I'd ever get a chance to paint a cover for a Western/historical fiction/teen romance/fantasy adventure novel, going for an updated take on the old Western movie poster look, but that's what happened here. This cover was designed by the author who self-published it, so he gets credit for the composition. But he did let me tweak a few things to make it all flow together better, and we both like how it turned out. </div>
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Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-77751119241734444032013-10-29T22:57:00.000-07:002013-12-31T11:57:04.515-08:00Musically inspired image<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ6Q4B636w5Ysbd8nMtWtnkQeIh_Op8lbZge5M5-hsbWPOREXQptYzD7iZShccAN0ZYgZoVeOzA20-1QggxEkEIelU0Ga9ac8WTB8Q_mtArT2avHu3jDf6Nt70qPHeX_Yeknsj2w/s1600/DM_landed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ6Q4B636w5Ysbd8nMtWtnkQeIh_Op8lbZge5M5-hsbWPOREXQptYzD7iZShccAN0ZYgZoVeOzA20-1QggxEkEIelU0Ga9ac8WTB8Q_mtArT2avHu3jDf6Nt70qPHeX_Yeknsj2w/s320/DM_landed.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I did this almost a year ago but didn't post it because it felt like the time for posting fall colored pictures had passed. But it's fall again so I'll post it now. So last year in the digital painting class I teach we did the assignment where you illustrate a piece of music. I told them they could do a narrative of the lyrics or just try to capture the feeling of the music itself. I decided I wanted to do the assignment too, so I did this based on the song "Landed" by Ben Folds. That song has elements of sadness, hope, excitement and emptiness all rolled into one, and it's in the music, not just the lyrics. I wanted to try and capture the way that music makes me feel in an image. I don't know if it really worked, and for that matter, I don't know if visual imagery can ever move people as powerfully as music can, but music can certainly paint a picture in my head. And my class came up with some really good stuff on this assignment so it must have been a good exercise.Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-30792555476716330522013-07-31T13:10:00.000-07:002013-07-31T13:10:34.391-07:00Pacific Rim Lighting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT_QorrRC0J6mz4hNVU5wfsWFyVcl6iGbkGQtf1TDwyZevly8iOj-SXb0pb6gArqVlrpBDyvIZXGgZgNxfl97wqCf8nuKgOZF-S4GJk1icz9HWHT9bZsyEMGO476kgME_PHQUw/s1600/DM_PacRim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT_QorrRC0J6mz4hNVU5wfsWFyVcl6iGbkGQtf1TDwyZevly8iOj-SXb0pb6gArqVlrpBDyvIZXGgZgNxfl97wqCf8nuKgOZF-S4GJk1icz9HWHT9bZsyEMGO476kgME_PHQUw/s400/DM_PacRim.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-19130716286816057002012-10-28T17:25:00.001-07:002012-10-28T17:27:17.970-07:00Trees<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU6HIJ_Y7TRUfgVTrXgWtAmFJ7BEUgF_zMiVVA4PCuQjWRHUcYoB3SkLynNYZinGFsYTC2qQE6QlBK2qS51b0eyc3Xt9B9IMdEpUP4rMtB6EjAiG80_KM2jHc7va9DMMXB_a62/s1600/DM_redleaves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU6HIJ_Y7TRUfgVTrXgWtAmFJ7BEUgF_zMiVVA4PCuQjWRHUcYoB3SkLynNYZinGFsYTC2qQE6QlBK2qS51b0eyc3Xt9B9IMdEpUP4rMtB6EjAiG80_KM2jHc7va9DMMXB_a62/s320/DM_redleaves.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_WnRnC4DcF9q_0oYxPuaQw5cxQjHc6pVKYY5njEFcRrkkiWm2TNCzxM3ysTPihGRKJcyew2P8tuknzv6HwZvAnRab5cUFlBQ5WXhPo9pQij5P11g5GGj0s-dYKZGW5jv_pOSJ/s1600/DM_august_tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_WnRnC4DcF9q_0oYxPuaQw5cxQjHc6pVKYY5njEFcRrkkiWm2TNCzxM3ysTPihGRKJcyew2P8tuknzv6HwZvAnRab5cUFlBQ5WXhPo9pQij5P11g5GGj0s-dYKZGW5jv_pOSJ/s320/DM_august_tree.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-65569088106635582762012-10-01T22:50:00.000-07:002012-10-01T22:50:13.989-07:00class demo on warm and cool<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinALs33IMTXIMhBRzpLGhaOT5uKVG8UfekaUD5HY5NxECAraM28lPc3CmhtXW6eSUINQ2edH0jf23aZpLrbWQrL2gMwt6re-VSeL7k9iXJuLUkCVFZF_l9O6BlV1pIIOlMgAi9/s1600/dm_color_head_study.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinALs33IMTXIMhBRzpLGhaOT5uKVG8UfekaUD5HY5NxECAraM28lPc3CmhtXW6eSUINQ2edH0jf23aZpLrbWQrL2gMwt6re-VSeL7k9iXJuLUkCVFZF_l9O6BlV1pIIOlMgAi9/s320/dm_color_head_study.jpg" width="222" /></a></div>
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Here's a portrait study of an imaginary person that I did as a demo for the digital painting class that I'm teaching. The focus was on color saturation and how that relates to color temperature. The excercise was to do a head study using just one hue and to vary the saturation of that hue to produce warm and cool colors. From that point, it's not much of a jump to go to full color with varied hues. The image above started out as the top left version in the image below.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha6DGDWmE4ee2HGGy1h9rFouNdDBmyjg1-Tn_wCRxGsfGVk4FSFuVTAEw399p_QMvdcDbFw-3CZrEjcKSkJnePiagKBOFL3mAMheghqqR0Ml7sh5HattN5CjwtVUPmJPV0pF4A/s1600/saturation_excercise_example.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha6DGDWmE4ee2HGGy1h9rFouNdDBmyjg1-Tn_wCRxGsfGVk4FSFuVTAEw399p_QMvdcDbFw-3CZrEjcKSkJnePiagKBOFL3mAMheghqqR0Ml7sh5HattN5CjwtVUPmJPV0pF4A/s320/saturation_excercise_example.jpg" width="203" /></a></div>
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I still remember the day I had the realization that the key to being able to paint was understanding the relativity of warm and cool. Once I started to figure that out, I started to feel like I knew what I was doing when painting. Well, sort of. So that's what I try to teach in my class: values, then warm\cool, then full color.</div>
<br />Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-31806298415050693482012-09-01T13:35:00.001-07:002012-09-01T22:07:25.393-07:00Another book cover and a plug for Unicorn City<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5o2DZw8sEH2FdbRnt-2AiG7utledcr0vytZOJHYti9LTd4gxSS3Wi8PpO7-kaoxTZzZpVK15istnA0YvG-VLo8o-7XvxUyP1ZSDO2BEYCZVo8aijzngi1uarbcV1r1oWowPZJ/s1600/DM_MAG12book3Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5o2DZw8sEH2FdbRnt-2AiG7utledcr0vytZOJHYti9LTd4gxSS3Wi8PpO7-kaoxTZzZpVK15istnA0YvG-VLo8o-7XvxUyP1ZSDO2BEYCZVo8aijzngi1uarbcV1r1oWowPZJ/s400/DM_MAG12book3Cover.jpg" width="272" /></a></div>
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This is a cover illustration that I did for a book that was recently released. It's the third in a series of action adventure books for pre-teen readers. Here is the website for the book with more information: <a href="http://www.themag12.com/series/">LINK</a>
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Looking at it several months later I feel like the perspective is a little inconsistant between the Eiffel Tower and the kids, but if I'd made it match, the kids would probably be really fish-eye distorted with big backsides. It also looks to me like the smoke monster thing is about to tap the kid on the shoulder...not very threatening. Just a tough composition overall...but I do like the colors.
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I also want to call attention to an independant film that I did some artwork for-- Unicorn City--about some loveable nerds who are into the live-action role-playing thing. It's directed by my friend and coworker, Bryan Lefler. It's kind of quirky (by design) and a little like <i>Napoleon Dynamite</i>, which Bryan worked on. But it's really quite original with a great story and fun characters. And the best part is that it's finally available in pretty much all formats. Check out their site for the trailer and details on how to get it: <a href="http://www.unicorncity.com/">LINK</a>
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I was going to post the unicorn image that I made for this movie, but I'd rather have people just see it in the movie first. Then you'll know why I'm reluctant to post it! ;) But here's the story behind it: They had filmed a scene with a really kitchy poster of some unicorns on the wall but hadn't secured the rights to use that poster art in the film. They contacted the artist who refused to let them use his art. So they needed to replace it with something else. So Bryan comissioned me to make the most intentionally cheesey, purple-and-pink-unicorns-in-love poster that we could imagine. Mission accomplished. Just see the film. You will see.
Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-74768086945639935412012-05-21T20:33:00.001-07:002012-05-21T20:33:58.057-07:00My affliction*I've been trying to get out and paint outside as often as I can. So far that has been four times this year. Here's what I've come back with so far (minus the one that fell in the dirt which wasn't good anyway):
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX63x45kbkDsyyzORAK3Uh50rcQ50TMOavDcKtERccCeoE0p13bv0iM4IbABnwaZGhwP4GNOoZkjZdHLx4KmPlVUaf0M1PkwlGNWTa7ttX44j1aLHWGY-uuqxLK2LPLlpH0bqP/s1600/DM_2012_04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="301" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX63x45kbkDsyyzORAK3Uh50rcQ50TMOavDcKtERccCeoE0p13bv0iM4IbABnwaZGhwP4GNOoZkjZdHLx4KmPlVUaf0M1PkwlGNWTa7ttX44j1aLHWGY-uuqxLK2LPLlpH0bqP/s400/DM_2012_04.jpg" /></a></div>
*While painting the mountain scene at the top, one hiker passed by and seeing us painting said, "Now that's an affliction that I don't understand." "But at least you understand that it's an affliction" I said.Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-45436709188582066992012-03-23T11:58:00.003-07:002012-03-23T12:06:27.706-07:0050s woman<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-73-fMrqrsAr5HhkBl-JP4yw4m5uZKC4n380sA4HmfNlBX4Iw-TX4q1_NhYx1MBSDH8ejGbIcTk_E5zgf60XwGqGf6temY3qOxGLw5WXazU6zTTskX-g6ddrYClAuLMTsu0Zl/s1600/DM_50sWoman.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-73-fMrqrsAr5HhkBl-JP4yw4m5uZKC4n380sA4HmfNlBX4Iw-TX4q1_NhYx1MBSDH8ejGbIcTk_E5zgf60XwGqGf6temY3qOxGLw5WXazU6zTTskX-g6ddrYClAuLMTsu0Zl/s400/DM_50sWoman.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723169307292617890" /></a><br />An interpretation of an old 50s fashion photograph done just for fun.Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-3594314215348945572012-02-28T22:10:00.022-08:002012-02-29T00:49:40.168-08:00charcoal portrait study and process<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9AAmIzqzwv9pUTQ_8oH9oLMHzxucaefGCuJhESnIAQg8Zf4JGVsLl2nLOacV8wuCbYe1XdriOIPdN3-mXRSGXyOwzUPyqbGDo8dkyKap1NkGCgDQgT_lNMZxLv16h-eE2FzLm/s1600/DM_headdemofinal.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 302px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9AAmIzqzwv9pUTQ_8oH9oLMHzxucaefGCuJhESnIAQg8Zf4JGVsLl2nLOacV8wuCbYe1XdriOIPdN3-mXRSGXyOwzUPyqbGDo8dkyKap1NkGCgDQgT_lNMZxLv16h-eE2FzLm/s400/DM_headdemofinal.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714436793945076530" /></a><br />This post is mainly for the students in my life drawing class, but for anyone out there who still looks at this blog... it can be for you too. Thanks for looking.<br /><br />Right now, we are focusing on learning to draw heads and faces better, as well as working on our tonal (rather than linear) drawing skills. Learing to draw tonally is a step in the process of learning to paint. So, I did this demo for them in class, and actually remembered to take some pictures along the way to document the process. Keep in mind this is just one way to do a tonal study of a head. It's not the only way--nor the way I do it every time--just the way I did it this time. <br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIMdvFnb9WJ7wJSAO8vEpNYzp1NKNptOrZyTowev6P7LvZCfIYPI333K7RQ3OE42_Qc99Bt-AhSgsloFlfYdbjgbNei8ikjYI3Jich0Tsvsnk2Z_Zn_k7GIS3DkdweoNcjoo2J/s1600/DM_headdemo1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 302px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIMdvFnb9WJ7wJSAO8vEpNYzp1NKNptOrZyTowev6P7LvZCfIYPI333K7RQ3OE42_Qc99Bt-AhSgsloFlfYdbjgbNei8ikjYI3Jich0Tsvsnk2Z_Zn_k7GIS3DkdweoNcjoo2J/s400/DM_headdemo1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714436778744700530" /></a><br />Here is what I accomplished in the first 20-minute session. I started this one out by toning the white paper with my vine charcoal and wiping it around with a paper towel to create a gray midtone to work into. Then I did my initial lay-in drawing into that. For the lay-in I did more of a direct drawing approach and didn't really use construction lines. I probably should have for the sake of the demo, but I don't usually do that when drawing from life. I definitely thought about the construction lines, but I didn't actually draw them. Instead, my measuring technique is more about trying to see the model's face as a series of interlocking abstract shapes that fit together with the background like puzzle pieces. If you draw one puzzle piece correctly then the one that's next to it (the negative space around it) will look correct. You check them all against each other to make sure they all relate correctly. It's very important to get all the features lined up at this early stage. You are laying the foundation for the rest of the drawing here, and if the foundation is bad, well, you know what happens. <br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3raQnnxfkKJ7kpdgf_rqQmervH9tk7IB7MSO64jKndeI9WI9rD_at7KuWv4jqn82I3qInTDQlNJOajvsVEwue5TbhL6RjQRDE4u1N05Jsg8p1glFVHRL5Jty1iw5yCBRdp6VA/s1600/DM_headdemo2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 302px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3raQnnxfkKJ7kpdgf_rqQmervH9tk7IB7MSO64jKndeI9WI9rD_at7KuWv4jqn82I3qInTDQlNJOajvsVEwue5TbhL6RjQRDE4u1N05Jsg8p1glFVHRL5Jty1iw5yCBRdp6VA/s400/DM_headdemo2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714436782164135810" /></a><br />In the next 20 minutes, I tried to establish the value pattern. I don't want to think about detail at this point, so I squint at the model so I only see larger shapes. I erased the charcoal that was there to get the lighter value of the skin in the light, and then darkened the other larger masses around that. This is where all the phrases like "see big", "general to specific" and "large to small" apply. It's always so tempting to jump into details and start drawing eyelashes and pupils, but if you can learn to ignore all that until you have this tonal value foundation done, you will be much better off and you will avoid over-modeling things. Plus, you will be amazed how much of the likeness can be achieved with no detail.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ3CWIZDH4lbJJ6HikKv8IcnVVGWnGQcpxgnroNrVshOVZAyTL4eQMmQzxdfw1bc-hy4pjeNs7KfaMhDp3tynh7EcUoeIp0RMtSJNG-La_V8m5QlWP_vRhEk-ncYLnUvzSwNlF/s1600/DM_headdemo3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 302px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ3CWIZDH4lbJJ6HikKv8IcnVVGWnGQcpxgnroNrVshOVZAyTL4eQMmQzxdfw1bc-hy4pjeNs7KfaMhDp3tynh7EcUoeIp0RMtSJNG-La_V8m5QlWP_vRhEk-ncYLnUvzSwNlF/s400/DM_headdemo3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714436789811920466" /></a><br />Now that I have all the larger value groups established I can start to add the dark accents and highlights that I see into those areas. But you have to be careful to keep any dark accents or highlights subordinate to the overall value group that you put them in. So you keep squinting. If you stare with eyes wide open into the shadow areas you will see all kinds of detail as your pupils open up to let more light in. But if you draw that detail it won't look right and will seem overdone. <br /><br />Also, at this stage I can start refining edges to get the variation in edge quality that makes things look natural and interesting.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx7cc_ZPbVcZNOnh97g_s-Yvyfiorm-BbO7gZl4bgx4w3NTaI37MO9KFohXJp2-sW0xqXAHBpit9Ee-Tmtry4ef0wKNQKfx8O-ha_lUSKNHUifxqtOmPo-mGAxBD1vksEAr9hr/s1600/DM_headdemo4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 302px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx7cc_ZPbVcZNOnh97g_s-Yvyfiorm-BbO7gZl4bgx4w3NTaI37MO9KFohXJp2-sW0xqXAHBpit9Ee-Tmtry4ef0wKNQKfx8O-ha_lUSKNHUifxqtOmPo-mGAxBD1vksEAr9hr/s400/DM_headdemo4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714436787183264450" /></a><br />In this stage I start to look at the subtleties of features and facial expression to get a little more of her personality and likeness into the drawing. Likeness doesn't always have to matter, but it matters to me. I like my drawings to look like the real people who were there in front of me. I'm still working on learning how to make good designs out of those likenesses. <br /><br />Now, this last stage could take a really long time, or a short time depending on how much refining you want to do. In theory, the idea is that you should be able to refine quite a bit without snuffing the life out of it as long as you keep squinting and trying to see the whole and how all the parts relate to the whole. A lot of the time, the refinement process will be subtractive--erasing out unnecessary lines and detail until all that's left is the essential. And so that's what I tried to do in order to get to the final stage shown at the beginning of this post. <br /><br />Well, hopefully that helps you guys to see it written out in addition to the things we have talked about in class (for those of you in my class). It's all in Barrett's book as well as many other books and other artists' web demos. If you hear it from enough different sources eventually it all starts to sink in.Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-88821544014311904532011-10-26T23:51:00.001-07:002011-10-26T23:53:52.070-07:00Scarecrow<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWQ8IF_zZJCjG-2S7gL9LyKfcq81oIMu9_CyoWvK5n9KkumloVjSK6mkPi-jwF9MXQ-DLXnp5WHYQACo3ZNBE7ohy0T3ehv1oQqkVTvb_y7aTmmxxueNUwegnNhjGezk1Mf2JC/s1600/DM_scarecrow.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 273px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWQ8IF_zZJCjG-2S7gL9LyKfcq81oIMu9_CyoWvK5n9KkumloVjSK6mkPi-jwF9MXQ-DLXnp5WHYQACo3ZNBE7ohy0T3ehv1oQqkVTvb_y7aTmmxxueNUwegnNhjGezk1Mf2JC/s400/DM_scarecrow.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668061142450653938" /></a>Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-46524522803839898482011-09-28T20:37:00.000-07:002011-09-28T20:50:34.522-07:00Book Cover<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkdnstwWgupOqrh0GYQq2DkQLoBGzwQZaOk6AH-rJGzus72xKuHpomt4UzS999Wy5jnJyg0rYMjm1lGb6VgIV42ocX1Es623STB2TNj7IaHsSkYjzURjadDSFKi8I68tB-rdOJ/s1600/DM_MAG12book2.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 264px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657623334274570978" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkdnstwWgupOqrh0GYQq2DkQLoBGzwQZaOk6AH-rJGzus72xKuHpomt4UzS999Wy5jnJyg0rYMjm1lGb6VgIV42ocX1Es623STB2TNj7IaHsSkYjzURjadDSFKi8I68tB-rdOJ/s400/DM_MAG12book2.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Here is a book cover image that I did a while back for this <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Magnificent-12-Trap-Michael-Grant/dp/0061833681">book</a>.Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-90719500955876386152011-08-23T21:18:00.000-07:002011-08-26T10:59:52.204-07:00Painting People and Places in Provo with Perkins<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKW8rq13y-Pbw7hLibVBUZneyXLFPNDwWlqUF9Rmdks_Pb4vPGm4YOcDNnsZiElHKcNLQIMriGVjlbyqr0Q2m4mh-vojyjqWqMztD2GpoFAhBoDvZWypcVL5w29Vff_5F6yWee/s1600/DM_Perkins_color_workshop.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 380px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 180px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644298197818490050" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKW8rq13y-Pbw7hLibVBUZneyXLFPNDwWlqUF9Rmdks_Pb4vPGm4YOcDNnsZiElHKcNLQIMriGVjlbyqr0Q2m4mh-vojyjqWqMztD2GpoFAhBoDvZWypcVL5w29Vff_5F6yWee/s400/DM_Perkins_color_workshop.jpg" /></a>
<br />Here are a few samples of the many color studies I did last week at the Bill Perkins workshop that I advertised in the previous post. It was my second time taking the color theory workshop, and although I don't know if it's showing up in my work yet, I think I'm starting to grasp some of the concepts that Bill talked about. These were all 40 minute studies of various color and lighting situations.
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<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC4Q3qmxOOefGGoHXeJhCDnyPLKp94YM2LNOWiaoQ8cJ5oSLa0fDt4xAW8ECEq9uVazCZ7lOujlkBRBEg7D9mYYXrSeX0sgvi9hJ9dJItHyVXytU_S2L8t34OjTdcgXlQbpoRw/s1600/DM_Perkins_color_workshop_final.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 292px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644299319770238658" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC4Q3qmxOOefGGoHXeJhCDnyPLKp94YM2LNOWiaoQ8cJ5oSLa0fDt4xAW8ECEq9uVazCZ7lOujlkBRBEg7D9mYYXrSeX0sgvi9hJ9dJItHyVXytU_S2L8t34OjTdcgXlQbpoRw/s400/DM_Perkins_color_workshop_final.jpg" /></a>
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<br />This one was the last one I did at the color workshop and we got to spend 80 minutes on it, which by that time seemed like an eternity. Ok, not really-it just seemed like 80 minutes. I still had to paint really fast. I took a picture after every 20 minutes during the model breaks so you can kind of see the progression.
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<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYF-fqOf1X8XBd0gBvWFagU0lS3iPxAJlMcqBwSbpxUIha_TA60WkOSergYHa-ToN_ifpkx0MM8x81hlqey9NYkDWAMCw8-SOqSvOzMkMuyh8rT1Gz9Q7YBMTEcXpKQ44MWucH/s1600/DM_Perkins_workshop_steps.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 380px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 126px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644299709613566818" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYF-fqOf1X8XBd0gBvWFagU0lS3iPxAJlMcqBwSbpxUIha_TA60WkOSergYHa-ToN_ifpkx0MM8x81hlqey9NYkDWAMCw8-SOqSvOzMkMuyh8rT1Gz9Q7YBMTEcXpKQ44MWucH/s400/DM_Perkins_workshop_steps.jpg" /></a>
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<br />The second half of the week was the plein air workshop. We spent a lot of time watching Bill paint, looking for good painting locations, looking for good eating locations(this was the most successful part for me) and in between all that I painted these studies. I don't feel like these turned out particularly well, but I was trying some things that I don't usually do, like paint rainbow umbrellas. Bill gave me some good things to think about, so hopefully my next few paintings will start to show some improvement.
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<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb8mp8sYgX9wUN3hpB4XdRg7q_aDOsx79IuQysQdWYO_QjyQK5UXdVkdM4lWwMjLr90ju46odoxSImK01itGQc2OZjqjJZQCccpkgsHWFNGdGTY9N-jts71lSoAJ8c6-hzOJrW/s1600/DM_workshop_plein_air.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 380px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 344px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644299951461312146" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb8mp8sYgX9wUN3hpB4XdRg7q_aDOsx79IuQysQdWYO_QjyQK5UXdVkdM4lWwMjLr90ju46odoxSImK01itGQc2OZjqjJZQCccpkgsHWFNGdGTY9N-jts71lSoAJ8c6-hzOJrW/s400/DM_workshop_plein_air.jpg" /></a>
<br />All in all it was a great week of painting with some of my favorite artist friends, filled with a lot of "a-ha" moments, as in "A-ha! so that's what Sargent and Sorolla were doing" and "A-ha! So that's why my paintings look nothing like Sargent and Sorolla." I now have lots to think about.
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<br />Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-23431887870798220942011-07-21T22:53:00.001-07:002011-07-22T11:20:52.682-07:00Painting workshops anyone?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC91rmOKCUzQx_D56W_bmTqWSUxEoTSd1nECDfGLELtBzAjh7pGao4EFbz6odY8VnFHg5ceORJoJGmC0dIkamRUTVFaEygxZpA788JzbvW2OX7k9_BNYbKz-XGhBig2C4G2V3d/s1600/PerkinsWorkshop2011.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5632242935627653234" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC91rmOKCUzQx_D56W_bmTqWSUxEoTSd1nECDfGLELtBzAjh7pGao4EFbz6odY8VnFHg5ceORJoJGmC0dIkamRUTVFaEygxZpA788JzbvW2OX7k9_BNYbKz-XGhBig2C4G2V3d/s400/PerkinsWorkshop2011.jpg" /></a>For any artists who will be in Utah the third week of August, Disney artist and painter Bill Perkins will be conducting another painting workshop like the one I blogged about <a href="http://davemcclellan.blogspot.com/2011/03/color-workshop-with-bill-perkins.html">here</a>. This time he will be here for a week and the first part of the week will be the color boot camp part like before, and the second part of the week is a plein air painting workshop.<br /><br />This is a great opportunity to learn from someone with many years of experience as both a fine artist and an animation industry visual development artist. I thought the last workshop was fantastic and I was surprised at how much information was new to me. And the great part is that the information is applicable to any disipline in the visual arts. If you ever had the thought, " I wish I were better at color" then this is for you.<br /><br />Anyone interested can contact me, as I'm the guy handling the sign ups for this. See the image for the details.Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-45951588913597692932011-07-06T23:11:00.000-07:002011-07-06T23:17:32.606-07:0012 iPad Sunsets<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhosMSi2VVKJMJfckdqWrCkeOw7-CjkeAlAxtu0ROVjkr_pixfbmwrLY_0dstdZW8RyouI9txMIuBTPs4q6dJC4JDXTmRWtXfNizAUA1mtc7wxuMyBsLJS3NptIEEZt0QWzOig/s1600/DM_ipadsunsets.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 394px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626489279437244722" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhosMSi2VVKJMJfckdqWrCkeOw7-CjkeAlAxtu0ROVjkr_pixfbmwrLY_0dstdZW8RyouI9txMIuBTPs4q6dJC4JDXTmRWtXfNizAUA1mtc7wxuMyBsLJS3NptIEEZt0QWzOig/s400/DM_ipadsunsets.jpg" /></a> A bunch of quick iPad sketches of sunsets looking out my back window. None of them is that great by itself but I kind of like comparing them all and seeing how much the colors vary from day to day and even moment to moment.<br /><br /><div></div>Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-14354309734297292502011-06-13T09:29:00.000-07:002011-06-13T11:59:17.924-07:00The Hated Heat<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW1fcnJ9AXS8eKAvwfqQemMsaDKDJuuMkGUH2titXhCmqjqcprZgBq1NXm6J2jhsAQ4qRWudtRj5Q0kSTUBwnQDwiS2c583ryeCBasch_GySjY3rR7s6k9a5xslcFwZQX67WBM/s1600/DM_MiamiBig3.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 335px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617748857340548866" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW1fcnJ9AXS8eKAvwfqQemMsaDKDJuuMkGUH2titXhCmqjqcprZgBq1NXm6J2jhsAQ4qRWudtRj5Q0kSTUBwnQDwiS2c583ryeCBasch_GySjY3rR7s6k9a5xslcFwZQX67WBM/s400/DM_MiamiBig3.jpg" /></a><br />I know most people who check out this blog probably don't like basketball. But that's ok because most people who do like basketball don't like these guys in this image either. When I was working on this I figured they would be the eventual champs. But that was before I realized that the aliens from Space Jam stole their super powers and gave them to Jason Terry. How else do you explain LeBron airballing layups and Wade dribbling it off his foot? Anyway, it was a really fun series to watch.Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-35443130968402190932011-05-31T09:37:00.000-07:002011-05-31T09:51:47.031-07:00Dirk Nowitzki<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMBPPVZNgtmG4JwrzSxiQ_Qv7pdbj2vCj9Ef-uA90-6_ToA9K__5_eEafA3bCL6TJeDWen4s1JC_EL2n_IbtJ7pRhZO-xHw_8JcSYC2kI1yGoVkZCqOliU7CiaycoUnx8t_SkD/s1600/DM_Dirk.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 225px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612921273239459698" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMBPPVZNgtmG4JwrzSxiQ_Qv7pdbj2vCj9Ef-uA90-6_ToA9K__5_eEafA3bCL6TJeDWen4s1JC_EL2n_IbtJ7pRhZO-xHw_8JcSYC2kI1yGoVkZCqOliU7CiaycoUnx8t_SkD/s400/DM_Dirk.jpg" /></a> The NBA finals start tonight, and I might actually watch this time since the Lakers aren't in it. And since Dirk and the Mavericks were the ones to dispatch the Lakers, I hope they win. Unfortunately, I don't think they will because as I was working on this portrait of Dirk, my wife said, "Oh, are you drawing Jon Heder?" And although that was probably just because of some drawing errors on my part, I realized that no one who could ever be mistaken for Napoleon Dynamite is going to beat LeBron and Wade.<br /><br /><div></div>Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-88656772653361109122011-05-06T11:20:00.000-07:002011-05-06T11:36:16.533-07:00From this morning's life drawing session<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrSWRVQArhuPs8VSGsTxN-jAk0Q-IIp6EZVo0UuLscLx1VZole0O6Jf3WrVR9WcKpmMnpj9yA789tmnRA0eKOLl6xUCvKGUYXSuBj9KoeaURLEk69IQk7uvGkAnByn8oRZLQTg/s1600/DM_ipad_May6.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5603670210128712466" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrSWRVQArhuPs8VSGsTxN-jAk0Q-IIp6EZVo0UuLscLx1VZole0O6Jf3WrVR9WcKpmMnpj9yA789tmnRA0eKOLl6xUCvKGUYXSuBj9KoeaURLEk69IQk7uvGkAnByn8oRZLQTg/s400/DM_ipad_May6.jpg" /></a><br />Done on the iPad, using the Brushes app, two hours. I like this one much better than my last few of attempts on the iPad. Painting on the iPad is fun, but it's a fight. I remember watching the documentary "It Might Get Loud" a while back and hearing guitarist Jack White talk about how he feels like playing his guitar should feel like a battle, and he's trying to conquer it. That's kind of what painting on the iPad feels like to me, and maybe that's why I haven't given up on it yet.Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-66927085552365619732011-04-27T12:21:00.000-07:002011-04-27T12:32:35.149-07:00Clouds<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjefbwoONZsCPl3Dl4IzHnPCB35KbqKfl4zjb27yuGyF5BnXmlWgZxwMnQwzgT8aLwM8qjn5bwuDPjje4GyyWk33ImfmTwxFJwvPJcLvOslFZKVAwIBanEKn2tkppCg4D_2lltL/s1600/DM_cloudsouthewindow.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 236px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600346196992265346" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjefbwoONZsCPl3Dl4IzHnPCB35KbqKfl4zjb27yuGyF5BnXmlWgZxwMnQwzgT8aLwM8qjn5bwuDPjje4GyyWk33ImfmTwxFJwvPJcLvOslFZKVAwIBanEKn2tkppCg4D_2lltL/s400/DM_cloudsouthewindow.jpg" /></a> Sometimes, just for practice, I will paint the clouds that I see outside my office window. I painted these yesterday, which was an exceptionally good day for clouds.<br /><br /><div></div>Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-83873430334099369842011-03-10T21:14:00.000-08:002011-03-10T22:13:36.336-08:00Color Workshop with Bill Perkins<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLxWPV4gnn9fD8bfsAxG7wgXVukEQO_t1jbfAJoyA2ia7avv33veT7DBEBheV8QrQ8gUrwuex3-ymPlY-QM9m7O8Wx9cOaFAwtFnsvawiy2QucCYUuxmgvZWdiewcwBn2qwGeV/s1600/DM_perkinsworkshop.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 345px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582695734637904146" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLxWPV4gnn9fD8bfsAxG7wgXVukEQO_t1jbfAJoyA2ia7avv33veT7DBEBheV8QrQ8gUrwuex3-ymPlY-QM9m7O8Wx9cOaFAwtFnsvawiy2QucCYUuxmgvZWdiewcwBn2qwGeV/s400/DM_perkinsworkshop.jpg" /></a> <div></div><div>Last week I was able to go to a painting workshop with Bill Perkins. Bill is a very experienced artist who has done a lot of things. Check out his two websites <a href="http://web.mac.com/perkinsart/Site/Welcome.html">here</a> and <a href="http://web.mac.com/perkinsart/Site_2/Welcome.html">here</a>. He described this workshop as "color boot camp" designed to teach us as much about color and light as possible in just three days. He had us do many quick (30-45 min) paintings from the model under different lighting situations. I really enjoyed the colored lights, but the flat light situations were particularly challenging. It was a lot like doing plein air paintings, but of people rather than landscapes. He kept telling us not to worry about our drawing since there was no time for that, and so some of those sketches look pretty bad, but I thought I'd post them all up here anyway because I wanted to show the whole experience. </div><div> </div><div>A lot of what we talked about was familiar, like starting with just values and talking about tonal contrast before moving on to saturation and hue contrasts, which is the way I teach digital painting. But there were some new ideas too, which really shouldn't have been new to me but somehow I managed to come this far without understanding them. Overall it was a great experience and I am excited to try out some of those new ideas in a painting when I can spend longer than 3o minutes on it.</div><div> </div><div>And if you are interested in seeing what some other people did at the workshop <a href="http://gregnewbold.blogspot.com/2011/03/maintaining-tonal-zones.html">Greg Newbold</a> has blogged about it, and I thought <a href="http://siminib.blogspot.com/2011/03/color.html">Simini</a> did a really nice job of capturing those colors.</div>Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-68257225090670957872010-12-31T01:04:00.000-08:002011-01-06T08:18:58.784-08:00Angels<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrOwz9rw0uDrpoOHThKjkOuZulcW79WQuC-ofkxPPzOLPaLGmZ_tUM0oTLPpwk_70KlZTh8EW2A3515tkiJiCmA3Nmqx185rRLipTKaO2chapwPna11D5-FK2T5qWz6mmtV1Hi/s1600/DM_angels.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 268px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559108140877761474" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrOwz9rw0uDrpoOHThKjkOuZulcW79WQuC-ofkxPPzOLPaLGmZ_tUM0oTLPpwk_70KlZTh8EW2A3515tkiJiCmA3Nmqx185rRLipTKaO2chapwPna11D5-FK2T5qWz6mmtV1Hi/s400/DM_angels.jpg" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN7OMO5kLbTHyojXhpNkGt8wHFXTMZqygnJOLa4Lp2KU8ixkkxIw4_txgxD6XnP6T7iXO3e8CH9W4211-y3DV-AamWiJEO93lbDj0mehTscT1kRQjDn3i845ZzqI9PmtHMk2t2/s1600/DM_angels.jpg"></a></div>Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-65971847795125975122010-11-28T20:10:00.001-08:002010-12-23T18:57:42.252-08:00A few more landscape sketches<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 239px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544819904238275586" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTin57YbCN-4DWLRjCaUQHprnq7dSpDd8VvmLSNPdH5cKgkAPycMpztegbuhuo0O1ODEmbEEDZzYIrrVxoybee77vFRpPVmq_0toK1DqH2eFAdP8iyZvgaAEpss63T8NRjZCC/s320/DM_utahlake_2010.jpg" /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 254px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544819894449315586" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBagC11hHwIChfvdW2lGpwLag9wPhyntAS7uEqCf40hnJ19xG1iR2ccILIULLpkhNM25b2u2fc3y1lBPbJIxKMx4Re210oDcizgDORYROr6OBV74dgpX4hrZcJn3iet3yyrnK-/s320/DM_diamond_fork_stream.jpg" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidwuYDkaG6PKvtNhUrMaFh8MKQSnwPl1JgZw3JCApw369HdHBz8hDab8kE2Vk_3f5uIQtWlXn4ocgmUXbMqPyfQKzUzxe-PJT5aZ1R7oG2g-2YNorJVps7x3iaSTOvbz099ath/s1600/DM_palmyra_farm.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 234px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544819901528254194" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidwuYDkaG6PKvtNhUrMaFh8MKQSnwPl1JgZw3JCApw369HdHBz8hDab8kE2Vk_3f5uIQtWlXn4ocgmUXbMqPyfQKzUzxe-PJT5aZ1R7oG2g-2YNorJVps7x3iaSTOvbz099ath/s320/DM_palmyra_farm.jpg" /></a>I kind of lost momentum with the iPad sketching, and went back to the real paints. Here are the three that I thought turned out the best from the last few months. I have had the pleasure of teaching some classes in the BYU illustration program this fall, and one of those classes was a landscape class where we went out plein air painting as a means of studying light and atmospheric perspective and then applied those principles to illustrations. I did the top image in that class. It must have been a nice spot because a lot of the students got a good sketch there too. Kind of surprising since it's Utah Lake...not known as a very picturesque spot. I have realized that I really like yellow and blue together. Almost as much as yellow-green and purple.Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-15817595736936452232010-09-22T21:03:00.000-07:002012-09-01T22:15:13.446-07:00More Illustrations<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh10kvMLNHZOaF_6VIRXoHnLTJ84k0-VvP5uGgqdLduPASG0c7rCzotNtEeiL0ACTsseuF5maLtWs_SAwMZB58MmPSyWcGQ39xWskScUes1ZR-MgxijEEdtHoTq5ncLzAy_MsQc/s1600/DM_Mag12castle.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 198px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh10kvMLNHZOaF_6VIRXoHnLTJ84k0-VvP5uGgqdLduPASG0c7rCzotNtEeiL0ACTsseuF5maLtWs_SAwMZB58MmPSyWcGQ39xWskScUes1ZR-MgxijEEdtHoTq5ncLzAy_MsQc/s320/DM_Mag12castle.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519954996070136050" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyrS36sCiqE6vmb8-Sjdj_8fqYx0VxNGACmZqCC7q5vtCE-Wodlb6jP1w_A2d7Y0g8W9amRmw-m3GygofIMfnR4R1kblibdg8Ko-FOh5nWqyG7WdqQIHLRmlBNl3BFak9No3Fq/s1600/DM_MAG12Heads.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyrS36sCiqE6vmb8-Sjdj_8fqYx0VxNGACmZqCC7q5vtCE-Wodlb6jP1w_A2d7Y0g8W9amRmw-m3GygofIMfnR4R1kblibdg8Ko-FOh5nWqyG7WdqQIHLRmlBNl3BFak9No3Fq/s320/DM_MAG12Heads.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519968389826363698" /></a><br />These are some images that I did for the website for the book mentioned in the previous post, <em>The Magnificent 12</em>. I did a lot more, but these are the ones I like the best.Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-55958520600909151192010-08-29T19:12:00.000-07:002010-08-29T20:00:52.618-07:00The Magnificent 12<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif48Wt5TWKgpOvgpLhRoSsJicffTJF1aGp3O0iHQg0gvcq0jxchIP_oNQFaLt8s2py47cvxE83wjuMVHoD31FckJFUzgEklaZRvN84f4W__qhwKrQctaBBGl8x92HM81FtIN4m/s1600/DM_MAG12Cover.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 206px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif48Wt5TWKgpOvgpLhRoSsJicffTJF1aGp3O0iHQg0gvcq0jxchIP_oNQFaLt8s2py47cvxE83wjuMVHoD31FckJFUzgEklaZRvN84f4W__qhwKrQctaBBGl8x92HM81FtIN4m/s320/DM_MAG12Cover.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5511032331913875346" /></a><br />This is a book cover illustration that I did for a book that just hit the stores last week. It's a fantasy adventure story with a lot of humor in it, which is my kind of book. It's for pre-teens so it's probably about my reading level, too. I really enjoyed reading it with my kids. <br /><br />I also did a lot of character spot illustations for the book's website: <a href="http://www.themag12.com/">themag12.com</a>. If you are nine or ten years old, or know someone that age, it's worth checking out.Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31370510.post-57422180654964828332010-08-05T20:01:00.000-07:002010-08-05T20:34:51.272-07:00More iPad Paintings<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3kdHR3_pDdlk0LdCx46hi94Ng3TJUS7W1roojxmreWfohepR3Aa4IymqAoMFL0X1stiKJ6q8ObKKdx_AImCkFl9ozeuGUZVOxuPtxlz9Livf-ZOXaZckvHYZED1QHMuqpvW8l/s1600/DM_red_rain_ipad_sketch.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3kdHR3_pDdlk0LdCx46hi94Ng3TJUS7W1roojxmreWfohepR3Aa4IymqAoMFL0X1stiKJ6q8ObKKdx_AImCkFl9ozeuGUZVOxuPtxlz9Livf-ZOXaZckvHYZED1QHMuqpvW8l/s320/DM_red_rain_ipad_sketch.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502127230474126274" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7pAGsdldhUJRPRdxP0exOam_7p_SYWN7-27pghYEETIUICR4VbJtEAt_KeLAr0u682OmObkx0FRlOND2m0WQ5QyaIiw6osBQX0Uowt3o6qyLb2vp_sMb6qXD7sZN3JXRWHLXS/s1600/DM_CityCreekSketch_iPad.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7pAGsdldhUJRPRdxP0exOam_7p_SYWN7-27pghYEETIUICR4VbJtEAt_KeLAr0u682OmObkx0FRlOND2m0WQ5QyaIiw6osBQX0Uowt3o6qyLb2vp_sMb6qXD7sZN3JXRWHLXS/s320/DM_CityCreekSketch_iPad.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502127225966482594" /></a><br />The sunset one I painted last night out my back door. That effect with the red sunlight hitting the rain from behind was awesome, but lasted only about five minutes. So I tried to just get the colors and then did the rest from memory. It was done in Sketchbook Pro, but when I got it to the computer it looked too purple compared to what I remembered so I touched it up in Photoshop. <br /><br />The other one was done near Memory Grove in Salt Lake City. I started that one in Brushes then switched to Sketchbook Pro because Sketchbook has a smudge tool for softening edges.Dave McClellanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16821008099128033170noreply@blogger.com13