Lines and Colors art blog
  • Breath of Embers: Art of Dragons

    Breath of Embers: Art of Dragons at Gallery Nucleus - Justin Gerard, William Stout, Heather Theurer, Omar Rayyan, Eric Velhagen, Caitlin Hackett, Cory Godbey, Olivier Tossan
    There’s just something about dragons, in all their scaly, writhing, whip-tailed, bat-winged glory, that gives artists a subject they can really, if you’ll excuse the expression, sink their teeth into.

    Breath of Embers: Art of Dragons is a new show at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, California that revels in dragons in a multitude of interpretations by illustrators, fantasy artists and visual development artists. Dragons big and small, fearsome and fanciful, will fill the walls from now through October 31, 2011.

    The feature page on the exhibit gives a list of the participating artists with links to their websites or blogs, and the “view pieces” page can be sorted by first or last name, and there is also a choice for “See All” on a single page.

    When viewing individual pieces, it’s worth noting that the gallery now has a feature for viewing close-up crops for the images, allowing you to see the details and visual texture that give so many of these works their extra appeal (e.g. images above, bottom two).

    (Images above, Justin Gerard, William Stout, Heather Theurer, Omar Rayyan, Eric Velhagen, Caitlin Hackett, Cory Godbey, Olivier Tossan)



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  • Jean Béraud

    Jean Beraud
    Originally trained as a lawyer, 19th Century artist Jean Béraud turned his attention to painting after his studies were interrupted by the Franco-Prussian war.

    He was born in St. Petersberg, his father a sculptor, and moved to Paris after his father’s death. After studying with well known portrait artist Léon Bonnat, Béraud painted scenes of life in the Parisian streets, cafes, bistros and theaters.

    His style ranged from academically realist to not quite full-on impressionism, though he was at his best, in my eyes, when both influences were evident in the same canvas.

    He also painted satirical impressions of Parisian life, including works in which biblical figures appeared in contemporary scenes.

    It’s interesting to compare his Absinthe Drinkers (above, bottom) with Degas’s more famous painting of a similar subject.



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  • Steve Jobs typographical portrait by Dylan Roscover

    Steve Jobs typographical portrait by Dylan Roscover
    In his wonderful typographical (and topographical) portrait of Steven Paul Jobs, designer and artist Dylan Roscover defined Jobs’ face and hand in words taken from the “Here’s to the crazy ones…” Apple ads, in typefaces associated with Apple graphic design.

    The ads, part of Apple’s famous “Think Different” campaign created by the Los Angeles offices of the TBWA/Chiat/Day agency in 1997, seem particularly appropriate in their description of the dreamers, misfits and rebels who changed the world because they were crazy enough to think they could; that they could make or do things that were, in Jobs’ words, “Insanely Great”.

    Here is a link to a version not aired at the time, narrated by Jobs (via Daring Fireball).

    In addition to the current landscape of human/tecnology interaction and the redefinition of how business should use and value design (and do business in general), not to mention the nascent revolution in publishing, personal computing and media communication that is known as the iPad, Jobs left us with a number of thought provoking quotes.

    “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
    — Steve Jobs

    [Addendum: A personal note: Steve Jobs’ life was extended because he received a liver transplant. Willam Saletan has written an excellent short article for Slate magazine titled: Help the Next Steve Jobs, If you want to honor Steve Jobs, do what somebody did for him: donate your organs.

    If you’re confused or have questions about organ donation, get the answers. Every signed donor card changes the numbers — makes the odds better that someone, maybe you or someone you care about, will get a second chance at life.

    I call this a personal note because I’m here writing Lines and Colors today by virtue of someone’s similar thoughtfulness and generosity. I was fortunate to receive a kidney transplant almost 20 years ago. Here is an educational interactive for which I did illustration and animation on Gift of a Lifetime (click on “Understanding Donation”).
    — Charley]


    Steve Jobs typographical portrait by Dylan Roscover, on deviantART
    Dylan Roscover gallery on deviantART
    Here’s to the crazy ones…” Apple ad on YouTube
    Here’s to the crazy ones…“, narrated by Steve Jobs

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  • David J. Teter

    David Teter
    In his most recent work painter David J. Teter takes a particular interest in the rough textures and muted colors of the industrial landscape.

    Subjects like rusty sheet metal structures, corroded storage tanks and weathered railroad abutments give his compositions a strong geometry, and his controlled palette, often emphasized by the low value contrasts of overcast days, makes the textural aspects of his subjects more prominent.

    Teter studied illustration at the Art Center College of Design in Pasedena, but has shifted his focus to gallery art. In addition to his industrial landscapes, his subjects include landscape, cityscape, seascape and figure.

    Teter doesn’t have a website, but maintains an active blog titled Avid Art. You can browse through subjects for paintings within the blog posts by clicking on subject labels like “industrial painting” in the right sidebar of the blog.

    In addition you can find his work on the sites of galleries in which he is represented, including Horizon Fine Art in Jackson, WY and the Randy Higbee Gallery in Costa Mesa, CA.

    Teter’s work is currently the focus of a solo show at the Randy Higbee Gallery that is on view until October 14th, 2011.



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  • Sketchtravel completed

    Sketchtravel: Greg Couch, Terada Katsuya, Sylvain Marc, Peter de Seve, Jerome Opena, Erik Tiemens
    Sketchtravel is a project started by illustrators Gérald Guerlais and Daisuke (“Dice”) Tsutsumi in 2006 in which a single sketchbook has traveled around the world, being handed from artist to artist between 70 artists in 15 cities, each adding a single page to the whole.

    The project, which involves well known illustrators, animators and comics artists, benefits Room to Read, an international non-profit devoted to children’s literacy.

    The sketchbook was completed by its final contributor, Hayao Miyazaki, in February. The first print edition has just been released in French and is now available on Amazon.fr. English and Japanese editions are planned, though there are no firm details yet.

    The sketchbook itself will be auctioned off in Paris, and online, by Pierre berge & Associes on October 17, 2011. Details for the online auction, as well as other information, will be found on the new Sketchtravel website.

    Designed by Seth Van Booven, the website itself it entertaining, with parts of the interface animating as you scroll down the page. There is also an impressive list of the contributors, with links to their websites or blogs.

    Unfortunately the virtual version of the sketchbook that used to be available on the old site seems to be gone, but you can see more images of pages from the book on the Sketchtravel blog, along with interviews and additional features.

    There is also a video trailer for a planned documentary about the project by Catherine Bonvalot available on Sketchtravel.tv.

    For more, see my 2007 post on Sketchtravel.

    (Images above: Greg Couch, Terada Katsuya, Sylvain Marc, Peter de Séve, Jerome Opena, Erik Tiemens)



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  • Su Blackwell

    Su Blackwell
    Books, we are told, are on the way out — soon to be replaced by iPads and other widgets, complete with fake page-flipping gimmicks to assure us that we are in fact, still reading a book.

    We’ll forget for the moment that movies were supposed to be the death of books, just as surely as TV was to be the death of movies and the internet the death of TV, and assume the pundits are correct. So what to do with the remaining dead-tree editions?

    UK artist and art director Su Blackwell has one answer, in the form of beautiful cut-book sculptures.

    She cuts the pages with a scalpel, forming the printed paper into various forms. Some are elaborate scenes, sitting atop the books from which they were formed, some as simple as flowers in which the ink from the printed lines is arranged to form the dark-hued edges of the blossoms. Some are arranged as dioramas in wooden and glass cases, at times theatrically lit.

    In addition to her website, Blackwell also maintins a blog in which she lists upcoming exhibitions and installations.

    Her themes frequently seem to be of fantasy, escape, freedom or enchantment — apt for the medium that has so long captured the ephemeral; even if the medium itself were to become ephemeral.

    [Via A White Carousel by way of Sean Cowen and Eric Orchard]



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Vasari Handcraftes artist's oil colors

Charley’s Picks
Bookshop.org

(Bookshop.org affilliate links; sales benefit independent bookshop owners; I get a small percentage to help support my work on Lines and Colors)

John Singer Sargent: Watercolors
John Singer Sargent: Watercolors

Sorolla the masterworks
Sorolla: the masterworks

The Art Spirit
The Art Spirit

Rendering in Pen and Ink
Rendering in Pen and Ink

Urban Sketching: Understanding Perspective
Urban Sketching: Understanding Perspective

World of Urban Sketching
World of Urban Sketching

Daily Painting
Daily Painting

Drawing on the right side of the brain
Drawing on the right side of the brain

Understanding Comics
Understanding Comics

Charley’s Picks
Amazon

(Amazon.com affiliate links; sales go to a larger yacht for Jeff Bezos; but I get a small percentage to help support my work on Lines and Colors)

John Singer Sargent: Watercolors
John Singer Sargent: Watercolors

Sorolla the masterworks
Sorolla: the masterworks

The Art Spirit
The Art Spirit

Rendering in Pen and Ink
Rendering in Pen and Ink

Urban Sketching: Understanding Perspective
Urban Sketching: Understanding Perspective

World of Urban Sketching
World of Urban Sketching

Daily Painting
Daily Painting

Drawing on the right side of the brain
Drawing on the right side of the brain

Understanding Comics
Understanding Comics