Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Technology Improves Teaching - Cintiq Monitor

When I was in school in the Mesolithic Age we actually drew on this thing called paper with devices known as pencils. Now days art students often draw on electric tablets or monitors even though we encourage our students to stick with the paper and pencils for a while longer. But all of this technology has not only sped up the illustration process and made it much easier to make corrections - it's also made it much easier to teach!



The Cintiq monitor by Wacom or other pressure sensitive graphics monitors have enabled teachers to perform "draw overs". I just started doing draw overs last year for both my online and UVU students. In the past I had to do a little drawing off to the side of my students work - it was good but really doesn't compare to actually drawing on top of their drawing to show what decisions I would have made. If I had done that on an original drawing on paper it wouldn't allow for seeing the students drawing without my "drawover" - in other words the original drawing would be altered forever with my crappy drawover on top. The student would have had no way to continue working on their drawing after my critique.

It is amazing for teaching online because we're only dealing with sketches that have been scanned and emailed to us. We have to be able to show our students what we're talking about - so this technology has actually been a key factor in us being able to teach online. Above you can see some of my UVU students work (draw a polar bear / Viking) and my rough little drawover which doesn't go into detail but focuses on general construction. It makes teaching so much more satisfying and  - fun!...Thank you Wacom!

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

New Master Demo by Therese Larsson

I'm so excited to announce this new demo by Therese Larsson that's live in our SVS store now. She did a great job and I was so impressed that she was able to talk and paint at the same time. I have a hard time but she's a natural at explaining what she's doing while doing it. Jake Parker and I ask questions as she worked on this little fox character. Many of my students have had a hard time simplifying hair and fur so that it looks natural to the creature they are rendering. If you've struggled in the same way you may want to check this one out!


...and here are a few pieces Therese has completed over the years...her work is brilliant and she's quite busy with advertising clients all over the world. Therese lives in Stockholm yet works for many US clients which we briefly talk about during her demo. Check out her site!






Thursday, September 18, 2014

Playing in Photoshop...

As much as I can I like to make time to doodle fun things that assignments don't have me doing to keep the skills fresh and advance my repertoire...enter the time traveling Viking!


Sunday, September 14, 2014

Disney Artist Mel Milton - Interview - WOW!



Wow! I love talking to Mel - he is so positive and inspirational - I really hope you guys like listening to his words of wisdom as much as I did. We talk about money and art and all kinds of other tid bits along the way. I listen to a lot of pod casts as I work and thought that perhaps some of you will like this longer format as you work on your art.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Is Your Drawing out of Order?

Most of us jump into the details too soon! Building a foundation for the drawing is counter intuitive and the most common problem I see with up and coming artists...

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Art Drop Day - Clues To My Painting! - FOUND!

I hid the original acrylic painting of the snowmen somewhere...if you know where the clue photo's lead you can go get it for free! This is Jake Parker's new idea for World Art Drop Day! If you get my painting please send me a photo of you holding the painting and I'll update my blog with it and share it on facebook and twitter! Hope you get there first!





Found!!! In a little over an hour! By one of my former student's kids...So much fun - hope you guys like it!

Monday, September 1, 2014


This was an image I created for a storytelling festival but it was placed on hold until next year...such is the life of an illustrator! I wanted to challenge myself to include 30 animals yet keep my focal point strong. I could never have pulled this off 10 years ago. I love my continuing education in the arts. Looking forward to learning more in the coming years! It's available as a print right here!