Figure Studies!

I've tried to make a habit of doing figure drawing at least once a week over at the St. Louis Artists' Guild. Here are some examples!

Jupiter v. Saturn

Hello everybody!

Sorry for the delay on this one!

I was inspired by my visit to the Illustration Academy to create this piece based on Gary Kelley's assignment. He tried a new one this year- an project based on one of the seven deadly sins. Sounded good to me!

I phoned a friend and had her give me one randomly. She chose "RAGE".

After thinking of a bunch of different situations, I remembered the mythological story of Jupiter slaying Saturn and taking over the realm of the Gods. This let me do some fun visual research! I got to look at tons of ancient and neoclassical works of art. I also decided to depict Jupiter as a bull(he definitely turned into one at various times), to create a better composition and what I think is just an image that's more fun.

Enjoy!

INTERSECTIONS!

Woohoo!

I have officially been published by the St. Louis Beacon! Be sure to check out the first in a series of illustrations based on neighborhoods in St. Louis.

Here is the link-

http://www.stlbeacon.org/uneasy_street_maplewood/intersections_maplewood

I want to thank my amazing editors at the Beacon, Robert W. Duffy, Donna Korando, and Susan Hegger! An amazing paper with an amazing crew.

My Favorite Hits Vol.1

Hey everybody-

I am in the process of getting a lot of stuff ready, so it may be a bit before I can get some more work up on the blog (more to come, I promise)! In the meantime, I wanted to post some links on the blog.

I was talking to my friend Louise Smythe the other day and mentioned to her my admiration for the illustrator Carlos Nine. She told me she had never heard of him, so I sent her some images and she was, like myself, blown away by the work. I was surprised by this- apparently a lot of Americans still haven’t heard of this awesome artist. This set me to thinking- how many other artists are out there that are amazing but not known across the spectrum of fans.

After thinking about this for a bit (and some inspiration from fellow bloggers posting their favorites) I decided to start posting some of my inspirations, starting with this group here. I will continue this list from time to time, and hope to present a wide variety of folks for you all!

Hope you like them!

Lets start with the amazing Carlos Nine:

http://www.carlosnine.com/

Image from CarlosNine.com

An amazing South American Artist, it’s a shame he’s less well known in the US than in Europe. One of the most-inspiring figure morphing artists around.

Eric Powell

http://www.thegoon.com/index.php

Image from darkhorsecomics.com

One of my comics heroes. If you have never read the goon, do yourself a favor and go buy one of the TPBs. NOW. It is incredible work, and Mr. Powell’s story in itself is incredibly inspiring. He worked his way into comics the hard way, and you can see his hard work and determination in the incredible paintings and drawings he produces.

Ryan Sook

http://ryansook.com/

Image from ryansook.com

I first saw Ryan Sook’s work in the Arkham Asylum mini-series form the early 2000s. Absolutely incredible line work and distortion. Do yourself a favor and check out his AMAZING SITE.

Guy Davis

http://www.guydavisartworks.com/mainFrameset2.htm

Image from guydavisartworks.com

A self-trained artist who does amazing work! Possibly one of my favorite character designers, and a brilliant pen and ink man.

Coconino (not exactly one artist, but an incredible collection!)

NO IMAGE – BUT GO CHECK IT OUT: AMAZING

http://www.old-coconino.com/

An excellent European resource for European illustrators and cartoonists. Be sure to check out the classics sections: http://www.old-coconino.com/s_classics_v3/mng_classics.php

A treasure trove of work from Winsor McCay to Grandville to Simpliccissimus.

And finally, a less traditional source of inspiration:

DER GOLEM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golem:_How_He_Came_into_the_World

A Silent black and white film created by Paul Wegener in 1920. While it does contain various stereotypes form the era, the film itself is an archetype of the horror film genre, and features a distinct and inspiring sense of design in black and white, similar to other amazing films from the era. I believe the film is in the public domain and can be found online, or DVD. Well worth your time to watch it.

That’s all for now. I also believe this might be my longest post to date. More to come!

Cheers!

on a side note. Congratulations to all the recent grads of this year's Illustration Academy. I visited for lecture week and was once again blown away by the program. Amazing work. Amazing program.

Breaking Rules

I was at work the other day and had an itch to do a drawing. On my break I drew this- an astronaut vampire fighting a zombie barbarian. I want to make a note of this- I completely broke alot of the rules I've set up for my work with this. Cross-hatching everywhere. No reference. An axe instead of a club for a barbarian. It was completely for fun- and a great way to experiment with media. I was happily surprised with the result, and decided to post it here.

Let me know what you think! Successful experiment? I'm excited to draw another.

EXPLORATION? ZOO? INDEED

Took a break the other day to do some quick sketches and studies at the zoo. Must go back soon.

shout out to mike hirshon here.

Old Man Washburn Strikes Again

And now, a post inspired by my colleagues at the Summer Studio and the fine folks at Drawn! This is Sam Washburn at age 100. As you can see I finally get an epic beard, but no mustache. I also lack hair on the top of my head. Male pattern baldness. Just waiting for it to hit me. And of course, I'm still drawing animals in suits. Very important to my life of course.

The medium here is very mixed. I used oil, pen and ink, acrylic, etc. Wanted a chance to experiment. Think it worked out well.

CH-CH-CH-CHANGES!

You might notice some things have changed on the blog. This is related to some exciting news- I have a new website! You can check it out here-

www.washburnillustration.com

In order to keep with my design aesthetic, I have adjusted the layout of the blog. I have some exciting things planned, and hope to keep you excited and surprised!

Cheers!

Sam

VIKING FUNERAL!!!!!

Jon: So I'm starting up this band with some friends at home.

Me: Oh really? What are you guys playing?

Jon: It's  a mix of Heavy Metal and Video Game inspired music! 

Me: Sounds Righteous! What's it called?

Jon: VIKING FUNERAL!

Me: ..... 

so of course I'm doing illustrations for you!