xibitz

Wednesday Workday (+109 Chris)

Facebook Faces, US Catholic, xibitz


Actually had some ‘real work’ to do today, so I’m taking a break from the portraits for a while. The illustration above was for US Catholic, and I’m moving ahead on more of the ‘museum figures’ (pictured below). I’ll be moving ‘full speed ahead’ on these figures, now that I’ve had a chance to touch base with the client and iron out some details, so expect some more samples over the next week or so. I also had a quick turnaround piece for Barrons, that I did some prelim sketches for this morning, and will post the finished product sometime later this week.


Ok, so I had a little time left over at the end of the day, and did another portrait. This one is of another local musician here in GR, Chris, done in conte pencils (still trying to break out of the rut I’ve found myself in).

98 Lisa (& trying to get back on the horse)

Facebook Faces, xibitz


I always have a hard time getting back into ‘work mode’ once I go on a vacation, or take a long weekend, and this week has been especially difficult, what with many distractions, including a houseguest from out of town, a mid-week radio interview with the band, and worries about my Dad’s health situation. But today, I managed to get back to a semblance of normalcy. Have gotten 2/3 of the way through the sketches for the next ‘Amish girl’ interior spots (and will probably finish those up tomorrow, and will post the finishes when I get to them), did another of the ‘museum figures’ (pictured below), came up with a ‘blown covers’ idea (actually finished that yesterday afternoon and will post on Friday), and got back on the horse with regards to my ‘facebook portraits’ self imposed summer challenge. Today’s portrait is of yet another high school classmate, one of my ‘art class’ buddies, Lisa, who makes a living these days doing horse sculptures. Did this one in my fallback ‘colored pencil/watercolor’ technique, since I didn’t have a lot of time for experimenting today.

back to work

Blown Covers, xibitz


Spent a long weekend sailing and taking a break from work over the 4th holiday, and am having a hard time getting back into ‘work mode’, but I still have enough on my plate that the ‘facebook portraits’ will still be put on a back burner for a few more days. The black and white figures above and below are for a Museum display project that I’ve been working on for several months and are now starting to move into the final phases. More of these to come later in the week.


My ‘Blown Covers’ sketch last week is pictured below. Had a hard time with this one, and with a busy week, wasn’t able to put as much time into conceptualizing as I would have liked, so wasn’t too surprised that it got lost in the shuffle. Still, I enjoy the challenge each and every week of just ‘getting it done’.

sketchy (& more portraits of course)

Facebook Faces, WSJ, xibitz

I spent a good portion of the day today working on sketches for various projects. The ‘figures’ above and below are for an upcoming museum display project that has been ongoing since early this spring, and will no doubt continue on into September. Once I get these figures approved, I’ll be finishing them in a black and white scratchboard style and they will be reproduced at life size.

Also this morning I had a project for the Wall Street Journal, that I was contacted about yesterday afternoon. I was made aware that there were other illustrators involved, and that this would possibly result in a kill fee for the sketches alone (and that’s how it worked out). Below are the two scenarios I was asked to sketch up.


And since I’m in a ‘sketching’ mood today, I’ll probably do a couple portraits before the day is out, in a sketch style (since I missed doing one yesterday due to taking the afternoon off for an extended bike ride in the 90 degree heat). Stay tuned.


The first of my ‘sketch portraits’ today is of Sarah, a German Exchange student we had living with us for a few weeks back in 2006 or 2007. And the second one of the ‘catch-up’ illustrations today is the wife of my music partner (#80), Beverly.

Sketchin’ and Ridin’

Barrons, xibitz


The pace has relaxed a bit toward the end of this week. Spent the past two days mostly doing preparatory work, rough sketches, tests, etc for upcoming projects. The ‘bicyclist’ above (and the alternate sketch below) are for an upcoming ‘museum display’ project that I’m working on for a local client. A series of life sized cutout figures, which should be challenging both in adjusting my style for readability at that size, and trying to keep the ‘big picture’ in mind while working on whatever portions of the art can fit on my screen at one time. I also did a series of ‘test runs’ for the final art at different line widths so that the client could get an idea of what would work with their printing processes (the picture of the bicyclist’s head, below is from that test batch).


I also did a series of sketches for a Barron’s interior piece for next week (the one they chose, based on the editor’s idea is pictured below), and I’ll post the finish after the weekend. Been beautiful weather here all week in Michigan, so I’ve been lucky enough with my workload that I’ve been able to take a few hours off each day for extended bike rides. Of course, all the trees and flowers are all confused and blooming early. A frost at this point could really wreak havoc with the fruit crops around here.