Saturday, October 31, 2009

Wine.

So, for my Wines of the World course, I made a label for a Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc:



Obviously I was inspired by some poster art!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Moonshadows.

Some things I'm working on:

This is a portrait for my anatomical figure drawing course that I will be painting. Currently it's charcoal on gessoed illustration board, but I'll be doing oil paint washes over the top of it. I think I'll be taking work in progress shots for this, since it's a new technique I'm trying out.


Hunter S. Thompson, at about 98% complete, I have some nitpicking I'd like to do.



And finally, Mr. Clapton, pretty much finished. I decided not to hold back on my color choices for htis one. I also painted it a little bigger on just a gessoed board instead of canvas. It was a nice change of pace and I'm decently happy with the outcome. Could use some adjustments ot the jacket. We'll see.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Designs.



Also, Mr. Clapton is on the board and ready to paint this afternoon, and I will have a good scan of Hunter today too I hope.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

"Her name is Aphrodite and she rides a crimson shell..."

Hello.

I figured I'd update with some sketches from pieces I'm working on/working out to a final stage, mostly because it makes me feel better about life.

First off, I'm still trying to get this Jack White portrait down:


It's looking better, I still have to work on the hands and a few things on the guitar, but his face looks a little better I think. It's been a frustrating battle with this piece, but there has to be one or two of these in the mix.

Next, Hunter S. Thompson:


This should be done later tonight, and hopefully I can find a way to get a good scan of it before I have to give it up. I'm really happy with this one. Maybe because of all that yellow.

Some sketches for a painting of Eric Clapton:




These are in order based on development, which means I'll probably be going with something closer to the the last sketch for a composition. His face is just basic shapes right now, but this will help me when I get to the canvas.

I've discovered that painting a caricature is about a thousand times harder than drawing one, which I did not think was going to be the case at all. Either way, after these sketches I'm super determined to get the hang of it. I think I'll be looking more Phil Burke's way this time (check out his Warhol piece, love. love. love.) and be listening to a whole lot of Cream. I need to get more colorful, freer, and cleaner. I've been fighting with what I love lately, when I really should be fighting with other things, or just keepin' the peace.

Keeping this Rock-blues theme:


For my illustrative design class I'm designing a hot sauce bottle label. "Crossroads Hot Sauce" is my concept, with a devilish, southern blues mystery about it. Lots of antique looking designs around the middle drawing and possibly some old wallpaper in the darker areas. This is going to be a lot of fun! I plan on doing it in a gouache and colored pencil technique, like I did with my Sleepy Hollow pieces last year.

And just a random sketch I like:


Off to work.

Love.

Sorrento.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The current WIP...

So I've been obsessive compulsive about this for a bit longer than two weeks...



Needs a lot of work on the hands and general details... but I'm going to keep on keepin' on.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

"All they got inside is vacancy!"

Just some things:

These were part of my first illustration in RIT's Reporter Magazine:




My latest colored pencil caricature, Hunter S. Thompson:




And a hip bone, from my anatomical figure drawing class. I just kind of liked it:



Love all around,

Sorrento.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Gushing after a whole lot of coffee...

This is definitely not something I usually do, but I really feel the need to (granted, it's 12:34 AM, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.).

I just got back from seeing the film It Might Get Loud.

So.

Utterly.

Fantastic.




I could go on for hours about this, but I won't. Granted, I know very little about the details of music, but I think I can safely say I know a lot about emotion.

I'll just say that it was amazing to see three different perspectives on what rock music is, was, and could be. Three totally different interpretations of the soul.

Jimmy Page, the God of guitar, talking about his early beginnings, his bow, the Yardbirds, Stairway. Even as someone as old as my grandparents, he can still rock that guitar (oh, why did you have to age!!).

Seeing the way the Edge (U2, in case you were wondering) works with his guitar and sound alterations was fantastic, especially because they are so different than any other band that popped out of the 80's.

I especially enjoyed Jack White (possibly because I'm working on a portrait/caricature of him right now), who seems to be a collector of the old. It's nice to see an appreciation for things that may be considered useless throw-aways. He puts old recording devices, pianos, guitars and an array of broken and altered instruments to good use. How inspiring to hear someone say that they like things that are broken, so they can battle with them, and push them to the next level.

So the neck on your guitar is bent, or in my case my paintbrush might be a little stiff, you make it work, and you make it work for you. You find where your soul lies and you run with it, and you don't let anyone take you away from that.

"I heard George Harrison say the Beatles used to go to see Blackpool lights. What is that? A different place all together? I'm in the right place at the wrong time? That's how I feel every day." - Jack White III

Signing off- Love you all.

Sorrento