Jackhammer

OIL PAINT ON CANVAS 24x34"

Jack started out as a boxer and then moved on to ride the highways and byways as a long haul trucker. I don't know how many miles he racked up over the years but I do know he faced life like a champ and won more than he lost. He learned the hard way how to take a punch and get back up again to finish the fight. He's tough as nails but one of the most real and caring people I've ever met.

That's what makes the heartland of America such a special place to me. People like Jack are a joy to find and paint because they are a different kind of breed. Instead of pointing a finger they lend a helping hand. Instead of searching for faults they help you find strengths.

DETAIL

No matter how bad the storm may be or how tough the times seem to get people like Jack don't stay down very long. They refuse to lose. Tough as nails they don't surrender to the odds but hammer right back. Day by day and year by year they work the land, dream their dreams and put food on the table to feed their familes. I don't think I'll ever get tired of painting people like that.

Starship Sketch

This is a digital thumbnail of a starship that eventually morphed into something else. It's really all rough line work using the pen tool in CS3. This sketch is all about form and basic structure of the over all design. Anyway, this is how most of my digital painting start out. Then I just start painting over this layer gradually building up toward a finished color image.

Hellbent

This digital sketch of a futuristic battle was painted in CS3 to design the over all environment and staging. It's very raw. Everything points to a man on a simple mission—kill anything that moves. His face is covered to hide any trace of humanity as the darkness he has chosen to serve completely engulfs him. He has no detail. No personal significance. I used Ezekiel 38 as inspiration for this image.

AMERICAN MADE

OIL PAINT ON LINEN CANVAS 24 X 34"

I always look for paintings in the people I see. A moment unaware that reveals a glimpse of the person's inner nature waiting to be captured on canvas. The understanding of light and shadow which flows across flesh and bone is more than the ability to capture a likeness—it gives way to the deeper responsibility of representing the human soul. That's what makes being an artist exciting.

The challenge of this painting was to capture this man's rugged independence and inner strength knowing his unique individuality was forged by the generations who fought for freedom before him. Like them, he is American made. Hard working. Proud. Free.

I'm working with a limited palette of colors inspired by the nationally known artist Anders Zorn. My personal vision is focused on painting high contrast passages of light and dark to convey the emotional connection between the human soul and the American landscape.

OIL DETAIL

Most of my brushes are Langnickle sables but I do use bristle brushes as well when needed. I prefer filberts which give me naturally softer edges from stroke to stroke. Capturing the interplay of edges in my figure work is something I really enjoy. This painting gave me a full spectrum of edges to study ranging all the way from sharp focus to completely lost.

At my demos, artists usually ask me what medium I use to mix into my paints so I'll mention it here which is Winsor & Newton's Liquin. I use other mediums as well but this product has grown on me and I find myself using it for most of my work these days. I use lot's of it in my shadow passages with little to none in the area of light. If you haven't tried it out I encourage you to do so and see how it works with your unique style and technique.

OIL DETAIL

HARD DAYS END

Hard Days End: Oil On Linen 24 x 34"

The American landscape is filled with people working hard and living strong. In spite of set backs and rough times people fight hard to come back with a resolve as hard as the land they work. In my painting, "Hard Days End," I've depicted a young man ending his day on the ranch. He's working to feed his wife and child while carving out a new life through tough work and personal determination.

He may be down for now but he's coming back stronger than ever before. In spite of his rough times, it's not about the paycheck—it's about doing the work right because his name still means something. Like his father before him he's building a new life on the land he works. His back aches and his hands hurt but each day brings him closer to seeing the reality of his dreams after the hard days end.

To capture the intensity of this man, I kept half his face in shadow while allowing the other half full illumination. He's going through a transition. He's emerging but not yet there. This balance helps give the painting an emotional edge while creating a dramatic focal point.

It is hard to decide what more to discus here because there are so many technical points to cover. For me, it all comes down to the essence of the human soul being caught in an honest moment. Once I do this I know the painting is finished and it's time to start another.

Detail of Oil Painting

STORM CLOUDS

Storm Clouds/Oil On Linen 26 x 34"

This oil painting launches a new series I'm working on depicting people of the American heartland. I'll be exploring many emotions by depicting character studies of everyday people as they live their lives and dream their dreams throughout our nation's landscape. My main goal is to capture the inner soul of real people and paint a moment in time that encapsulates an emotional beat in their life. Painters like Andrew Wyeth and Edward Hopper inspired me to embark on this journey of discovery in my own unique way.

This series will cover a wide spectrum of people ranging from happy to sad and from lovely to hard weathered. The common denominator will be the truth in what I see—taken as it comes. In my first painting of this series, "Storm Clouds," I took the opportunity to delve into a man's life at a moment when he is dealing with deep feelings and bitter choices.

We have all been cheated. We have all experienced loss. It is what we do in the aftermath that set's the course of our individual life and those around us. "Storm Clouds" captures this inner struggle as it is set against the backdrop of the American West.

Oil Painting Detail

BATTLE READY; Digital Painting

Digital painting of a warrior in battle. In CS2, I like using gritty brushes to block everything in and then build up the areas of light with more refined brushes—this keeps me from painting too slick and smooth. Anyway, I suppose my detailing of the eyes are too sharp in terms of capturing a true rendering of nature but I wanted the attention focused in that area—so much emotional impact is expressed in the eyes.

As for the indication of gritting teeth, it's just two brush strokes but I re-painted those two strokes over and over to get just the right look. When you look at John Singer Sargent or Anders Zorn it's not just about rendering an image—it's about putting energy into each and every stroke. I think that's what makes painting fun and hard at the same time. The whole process is deciding what to leave in and what to leave out and making sure that everything that remains is there for a reason.

WARRIOR BEHIND SHIELDS; Digital

I painted a series of digital paintings to serve as inspirational bluesky development. The over all look and feel of the series was very intense so painting the images allowed me to explore some very interesting emotions. I wish I had more time to make the painting perfect but deadlines are deadlines. I could keep refining it but there are more paintings to do. Anyway, the emotional impact was really exciting to develop. The program I used was Photoshop CS2 with all sorts of custom brushes. I worked it just like an oil painting except I got the added bonus of using command z.

WARRIOR; Digital Painting

This digital painting was a blast to work on in CS2. Talk about primal therapy. I blocked everything in using a custom brush that was ugly grainy—I mean just plain ugly. I used this to work out the big shapes. Then I started to define forms—basically light and shadow using cross hatching. After that, I blended the hatching with my larger grainy brush. The background was ambigouis so the entire head would be the over all focal point.

The detail close-up shows how free the brush work was—just indications of detail in the right places. This painting is really a study of edges. The frontal face edges (although they vary) are sharper than the backside of the head and helmet. I've been studying Velázquez lately for edge work and shadow patterns. Simply amazing. Anyway, this painting gave me the opportunity to have a lot of fun playing around with the shapes and edges.

Digital Sketch—Game Environment II

Digital tonal concept sketch for a gaming company depicting a cityscape with forground elements. The emotional beat in this series remains consistant with the nature of the dark world depicted. This idea was painted with no preliminay drawings. My aim was just to capture the raw emotion I felt about the subject and the energy of the man on a mission.

Digital Sketch—Game Environment I

This is a rough digital sketch I painted of a city environment for a gaming company. I love doing this sort of design work using broad strokes and alternating forms to create movement and drama. All of the artists at the studio are top notch so I was a bit apprehensive at first, but the art took over and it was fun seeing this new world emerge as the strokes of digital paint came together.

Digital Sketch—Game Environment III

This gaming environment leads us inside a maze of steel beams and catwalks lined with tubular pipes, gas lines and cables. Painted in CS2, this quick sketch conveys the over all emotional dynamic of danger, hidden mysteries and pulsating directional lights. In this case, since it was just an idea sketch, I made it up as I went along feeling my way through the many possible design solutions. I had a lot of fun playing light against dark and exploring the raw emotion of the scene.

Marooned

My digital painting "Marooned" depicts a space trooper stranded on an alien planet illuminated by the moon behind him. Wreckage of his ship in the background along with distant planets hint to his long journey from home. His mission completed, so it seems, is now behind him as the lone survivor is forced to ponder his fate. The vast expanse of this desert planet is formidable, but nothing compares to facing the dark enemy he has hated for years—himself.

I was inspired by the great artist, Howard Pyle, who painted a pirate stranded on an island. The emotions of isolation and abandonment touched a cord in me and served well to set the tone for this space environment.

Deadeye

I really enjoyed painting this character study of a cowboy who's eyes give a hint to the condition of his soul. Years of living in the old west has hardened him and his youth faded away along with his dreams. He's found someone he has been looking for making this is a dangerous moment—payback for something everyone else forgot about. He hasn't forgotten. It's as though it happened yesterday.

I wanted his face to be the primary focal point. The shadow color under his eyes is darkened and void of color to give a clearer vision of his nature and intent. This oil was painted on a double primed linen canvas using a lead primer. Very slick to paint on but easy to wipe off when a mistake is made. I allowed the canvas to show through in spots and had a blast playing around with the brush strokes.

Forever Friends

I painted this oil depicting a little girl who found a friend. The story in the painting depicts a lovely girl with the simple surroundings of a bare orphanage. The girl seems a bit out of place standing in the corner. There is comfort, however, in holding a doll that she found along the way. Their special relationship allows the little girl a friend wherever she goes.

The model for the girl was my daughter, Sarah, who my wife and I adopted from South Korea when she was a baby. I remember when Sarah got older she wanted a doll to play with. We went to the store and she finally chose the one she wanted. She smiled and gave it a big hug. At that moment, I saw in her the first hints of being a mother. A mentor. A woman.

It amazes me how many people define themselves by the job they fill or the talents they currently have. To me, being a dad is everything. When it's all said and done Sarah will remember me most—not for my art or design—but for being her dad. Her memories, as well as my son's, define me. Our relationship makes me the man I am. It also grows me into the man I want to be.

Nile Concept & Final Painting

The first image is a digital concept painting of a location I designed for an animated film. The second image is the finished digital painting I noodled out with various Photoshop brushes. Whoever programed "command z" is a friend to me.

Dr. Ken Taylor_02

It's exciting that one of my first corporate portraits was of a man I truly admire, Dr. Ken Taylor, founder of Tyndale House Publishers. This was painted from a black and white photo of him when he was in his fifties. One of the most humble and talented man you'd ever meet. The painting hangs in his son's office in their corporate headquarters.

Dr. Ken Taylor/ Oil On Canvas

Oil Paintings .02

More oils from my first gallery series. I chose painting kids because I love the innocence and honesty they naturally express in their eyes. My next series which includes much larger pieces focuses more on adults so I can explore deeper world weary emotions etched in their facial features.

This series, however, was challenging in the sense of painting a smooth child's face without getting too slick with the brush work. All in all I loved working with the models. When you think about it, oil painting is basically the art of capturing an emotional moment using animal hair attached to a stick to apply paint—no Photoshop "command z" to make mistakes go away.

Anyway, my son, Josh, posed for the painting Chores and the talented film director, Tim Hodge, posed for both Drifter and Hondo which was included here in an earlier post. My apologies to all of the victims—I mean models.

The Runaway

First Shave

Chores

Drifter

Jenny's Prayer

The Lil' Sheriff

The Westerner

The Day By Day Bible .01

My new book, The Day By Day Bible, gave me the awesome opportunity to illustrate a children's Bible. This is something I wanted to do for years. The design sensibility was much more simplified from my normal style due to the deadlines involved but the emotional impact was maintained by the broad strokes of color. I created over three hundred digital paintings while also designing animated films—it was rough but everything got done on time.

I can't tell you the thrill I feel having played a small part in developing this book and bringing it to market. It will touch so many lives in the process. The recent agreement with Wal-Mart has not only made this project successful in terms of sales but also in terms of outreach to a very diverse and broad market. The book has just been released yet we are already moving forward on the second printing in order to meet market demands—simply amazing.

Special thanks to: Karyn, Luke, Jackie, Julie, Jan, Talinda and Dr. Ken Taylor who taught me the true nature of success.

UPDATE:
We just went into our third printing which is so amazing. I'm really thrilled about the success and outreach of this project. I'm currently art directing and co-illustrating a new series of books which will be launched sometime this year in America and England. I hope it does as well as this.

Abraham

Frogs In Pond

Moses Parting Sea

A Big Fish

Out Of The Grave

Joy Again

The Slave That Ran Away

The Man of Sorrows

This is my Conté crayon sketch depicting The Man of Sorrows in Isaiah 53. I didn't use a model for this—just let it happen. I love the imagery in this passage of a man most would pass without a second glance. The text is very sad and I did my best to convey this in his eyes. This Conté sketch was recently sold at an auction with the profits directed toward Masterpiece Ministries—which provides a series of workshops for young adults concentrating on painting, writing, dance, theater, film, music and graphic design. Timothy Botts, one of the most incredible calligraphy artists in America heads up the program.

The Man of Sorrows (Isaiah 53)

Oil Paintings .01

After working in film and television with so many great artists, I caught the oil painting bug and finally took a crack at it. I love expressing human emotions and relationships using this medium. The samples here are from my first series in which I focused on the person caught in a moment and used minimal background treatments. My son, Josh, posed for "Bored" wearing his official Indiana Jones fedora. After spending considerable time posing for a commercial painting beforehand he naturally inspired this image as he took a break.

Hondo

Wanted

Grampa's Home Blend

Grampa's Coffee

Bored

A Snoodle's Tale

This is a digital painting for the animated film, A Snoodle's Tale. It was a blast painting the backgrounds on this film. The saturated colors and fun shapes really made it a joy to design. This was the main location where the characters jumped out of a door on the top of the clock tower and slid down the slide. Alas, the budget hit the film hard and the end result was good but not what was in my mind—the hard reality of commerce over art. All in all, however, a great experience.

Visual Development_01

This is the last piece I did for this animation studio as a full-time designer. The shop had gone through so much turmoil at this point the emotions were raw. Some were deeply saddened for those who were laid off while others jockeyed for positions under the new management. As for me, I would eventually move on to several Disney projects where I learned more than I could have ever imagined. Couple things I took away from all this—integrity is the worth of a man and dedication to your craft is the best business card. Be true to your art. The road may be rocky at times but everything has a way of working out if you have the faith.

Pie Wars

Visual Development_02

These concepts are from Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie. This was a very challenging production primarily due to the budget limitations we had to deal with. All in all, however, this production was a time of strong creative energy as I worked with one of my mentors, Michael Spooner. You can see a reflection of him in these images—I'll always be thankful for the time we worked together and the effect it has had on my work ever since. Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki directed this production. Dan Philips managed the studio while Ameake Owens served as producer.

Corporate Portraits_01

This is a few sketches from a series of commissioned portraits I recently completed for a corporation. It was a great deal of fun capturing the likeness of each person and bringing out the warmth of their personalities—each had their own stories waiting to be told. The final work was framed and displayed in the corporate offices as well as featured on their website as bio images.

One of my favorite sketches is the first one listed here. The inner joy of this man shines through his eyes. He went through a great deal in his life and is a true survivor. The experiences he faced and triumphed over are etched in his face, yet true to his nature, there are no signs of self-sympathy because the valleys he walked through made him who he is today. Most just see him as an extremely successful business man but others look into his eyes and see much more—a father, a husband and a man who breathes deeply every moment life has to offer. It's amazing what a pencil on paper can capture—a life, a moment and even a man's love for life.

Dr. Ken Taylor_01

This is a sketch of a man who was like Moses to me. I was involved in the CBA market for years and would always have people tell me I would love to meet Dr. Taylor—story upon story built a remarkable reputation. At First, I thought it was too good to be true but when I met him I knew he was the real deal.

I did this portrait a day or two after he passed away and gave it to his family as a gift. They displayed the framed original at his wake—I never saw so many people at a wake before—it was amazing how many souls this man touched and inspired. I realized what true success was that day and it's helped me stay focused through the hills and valleys of this business. Anyway, this portrait is currently on display at Tyndale House Publishers—the company he started in his garage so many years ago.

Jungle Bio-Dome

I designed this Jungle Bio-Dome location for a film directed by Keith Lango. He is one of those talented guys you just enjoy to work with from start to finish—although I think I gave him a few grey hairs. The top image is the visual development art followed by a quick color concept and rough idea sketches. I would have liked to paint the final background but my time ran out and off to another project I went painting Mickey and his friends.