DPM issue 14

Funkt Up Illustration

Digital

Salo Feature

Watercolor

Had the opportunity to do a few small illustrations for Dead Point Magazine issue 14. Unfortunately I do not have the files for the straight up art work at the moment. I will plan to post those at a later time. For now I am using the actual pages from the magazine which can also be viewed by following this link:

http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/launch.aspx?referral=mypagesuite&refresh=2Zt106Rag07H&PBID=67f1340a-6356-428f-8218-146b5065c4a2&skip=

Both features were fun to work on. One of them was about a climber that falls on a poodle killing it instantly. Which made for a challenge , since we did not want to make this to harsh of an image. So I tried to keep it as light hearted as possible as most of us know how hard it is to lose a pet..

The second one was to accompany an interview with Andy Salo. This was fun to work on since I have always enjoyed the comic book character Wolverine.The illustration is the small image used in the newspaper layout. The photo of Andy as well as the other photos in the feature were taken by Tomas Donoso.

Rock and Ice Issue 191

Chipping Controversy

Watercolor and Digital

This is the image I came up with in order to accompany an article in Rock and Ice issue 191. In this article , the author Bill Ramsey, offers some very good insight to the various contradictions surrounding the topic of chipping holds in order to create rock climbs. Manufacturing holds is a very controversial topic and can be looked at in a lot of different ways and from many ethical standpoints, this article touches down on a lot of them. In my eyes it is a very murky subject , one that can conjure up deep dark feelings on sides both for and against.

Anyhow here is the image. Go and pick up a copy of the magazine if you want to make sense of what it is I am rambling on about here!

PS5 Poster Art

The Power Struggle is an annual indoor bouldering competition held at Prime Climb, in Wallingford , CT.. I have always created the poster art for these events in the past. Keeping with tradition , Prime Climb's owner Brien Roscetti was nice enough to ask me to create the art for this years event .. Brien threw a few concepts at me to work with and this post shows what we came up with..

I will post more info on the event and the final poster as we get closer to the date in which the competition is scheduled for. For now here is the art work:

Power Struggle Between

Thor and the Frost Giant

Digital

Story Boards

Here are some story boards that I did recently for my friend Tim at Kemplemedia.com..

Chris Taylor Music

Nikki, Chris, and I hanging out at the Cotton Tail.

New York based Guitarist, Composer, and Producer, Chris Taylor has just finished recording and mixing his solo debut album. The album in tentatively titled "Nocturnal" and will be released in 2011 on the Abstract Logix label. Chris is a long time friend of mine and he is a bad ass musician , so be sure to check him out! For more info on Chris and his music check out his new site:

http://www.christaylorguitar.com/

Congrats Chris!!!

Tiki Luau Surfer

A little something I did while in Colorado this past summer.

Dropping the Ball

Alien Head

Graphite

Alien Head/City Close Up

Digital

They Live

Work in Progress

Digital

The John Carpenter film "They Live" is one of the many campy 80's films in which I enjoyed growing up. I was asked to be a part of an art show back in CT. , and the theme was 80's Horror. So I decided to go with "They Live" as the basis for my piece. Unfortunately I have dropped the ball and have not finished the piece in time for the show. For now here is the WIP.

Nightmare Show

I was invited to be a part of the Nightmare Show which will be held at the Mac 650 Gallery in middletown.

The painting I am showing is one of the panels in which I created in order to complete my thesis project while working toward my MFA at the Hartford Art School. The painting is titled Tonsai bay, and is 24"x48" , Acrylic on Masonite.

Tonsai Bay

24"x48", Acrylic on Masonite

Here is some additional information pertaining to the show, time, date, location, etc.:

Date Friday Oct 1st

Time 7-10pm

Location MAC 650 Gallery

650 Main Street
Middletown, CT

The North End Artists Co-op Presents: NIGHTMARES!

It's that time of year...the leaves are beginning to turn and fade. Whether you celebrate Halloween, Dia De Los Muertos or Samhain, 'tis the season for masks, monsters, horror and ghosts!

What better way to celebrate than to explore the idea of 'Nightmares'? We all have them! Face your fears and join us at the MAC 650 Gallery where the walls will be covered with nightmarish works from various artists.

Meet the artists at the opening reception from 7-10pm on Friday October 1st. Live poetry readings, music from Rhythmic Circus, and more! Drinks and snacks will be provided for our guests. COSTUMES ENCOURAGED!

The exhibit will be displayed in the gallery for the month of October. The gallery viewing hours are 11-3pm Saturdays and Sundays.

The North End Artists Co-Op is dedicated to enriching the North End neighborhood of Middletown and surrounding areas through art. Support your local artists!

New Web Site

Put together a new web site. My old one is still up, but I like the simplicity of the new one. I just wanted to have one to serve as a nice clean portfolio site.. So check it out if you have a minute..

www.DJYJR.com..

Not so weekly sketch

Have not been keeping up with my weekly sketch post for various reasons. Hopefully I will get things together here. For now here is one I put together this week:

Rock and Ice Issue 189 Illustrations

Bush Pilot

Watercolor, 8"x8"

River Crossing

Watercolor, 8"x8"

Strappo vs. the Vultures

Watercolor, 9"x11"

Village Elder

Watercolor, 8"x8"

During my recent trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, I was contacted by Rock and Ice Magazine in order to see if I would be able to create four Illustrations to accompany an article in an upcoming issue. The article was about legendary climber, Roger" Strappo"Hughes, and his epic adventures climbing Venezuelan rock formations known as Tepuis . This was one of the most enjoyable assignments I have ever worked on, as the article was full of wild content to work with. Super thanks to Jeff Jackson, Andrew Bisharat, Duane Raleigh and the rest of the Rock and Ice staff!

So get out and and pick up a copy! Rock and Ice Magazine issue#189, should be found at most major bookstores, newstands, and online at:www.rockandice.com

To learn more about the author , Roger "Strappo" Hughes check out this video:

Strappo and the Tale of the Mountain Room Bar from Rock & Ice on Vimeo.

Weekly Sketch 4

Another page from the sketchbook:

WMCC RENDEZVOUS

It's that time of year again and the climbing season in New England is right around the corner, and with comes a lot of great things. One of them is the Western Mass Rendezvous. I was asked again this year to create a poster for the event , and this is what I was able to put together while I was on the road in Colorado. I handled the imagery and WMCC president Jeff Squire took care of the layout and type setting. This was a fun collaboration to benefit a great cause ..If you are in the area be sure to check out the event!

Here is some info on the event:

On Saturday, October 2nd, the WMCC will be holding the 2010 Western Mass Rendezvous. A day and evening long event featuring breakfast, bouldering competition, gear demos, clinics, raffles, a huge BBQ, and highlighted by the 2010 REEL ROCK TOUR(www.reelrocktour.com).

Free camping and parking available. More information will be available soon (westernmacc.com).

All proceeds benefit the Western Mass Climbers' Coalition for the protection & preservation of our climing resources in western Mass.

Robot Attack

Over the past few years I have been working on various techniques for digital painting. One of them involves scanning a series of abstract marker compositions in layers into Photoshop. Once the marker comps are scanned I will go ahead and tweak the layer properties, opacities , etc.. After that I will see what can be created, by working with the large shapes,textures and patterns in which I have created through this process. This is a very fun way to work, and is kind of like staring into the clouds and picking out an object or image. I usually approach this without anything particular in mind as far as subject matter, and simply see where it takes me. What I love about it is that you will usually end up with shapes and patterns that you would not have otherwise drawn by hand.

This is one of the many things I learned during grad school from fellow illustrator Ron Spears.

So the image in this post was created using this technique:

Robot Attack

Digital

Weekly Sketch 3

Third weekly sketch.. Nothing fancy , just another page from the sketchbook.

East 28th

Weekly Sketch 2

Second weekly sketch here, sticking with the skateboarding creatures theme!

Pool Riding Beast

Saddle Boulder

Summer climbing conditions are not nearly as heinous here in California as they are back in Connecticut, although they are still far from ideal. Despite the sweltering temps I headed up to Donner Summit with my friends, Alex and Kailin. We ended up having a really fun day and I managed to drag myself up one of the area classics , Midnight Train. This is surely one of my favorite problems for the grade! Here is a little video of it:

Midnight Train from dan yagmin on Vimeo.

Weekly Sketch

Planning to post a weekly drawing or sketch of some sort. We'll see if it happens??? I have been working on a lot of different projects lately. All involve some pretty wild subject matter, ranging from skateboarding dogs to Venezuelan Bush Planes . For this week here is one of the many new pieces in my sketch book.

Skateboarding Pit Sketch

5"x8"

Stranger in A Strange Land

Went back up to the Hallet Boulder yesterday to give another try on the problem Stranger in a Strange Land.

Here is the vid:

Stranger in a strange land v12 from dan yagmin on Vimeo.

A few more from the Rockies

Evenings in the alpine environment often produce really amazing light. These photos were taken the other night as a few friends and I hiked down from a very fun day up in Rocky Mountain National Park. Although I did not climb the boulder I had hoped to, and ended up with a heinous skin tear on a finger on my right hand, I still had one of the best days out yet. Just being in the mountains with some good people is more than enough to put me in a good mood.

On the day we went up to climb there was a pretty large fire burning around Lumpy Ridge. The fire caught ablaze due to a lightning strike that touched down the previous day. I think that the wild fire had an affect on the atmosphere in which made for a really amazing sun set , and I was lucky enough to get a few photos of it seen below....

Bouldering on the Hallet

Ominous skies Above Hallet Peak

Evening skies above Halllet Peak

Amazing sunset above Estes Park

I have been staying up in Nederland with one of my long time best friends from back in Connecticut, Steve King. We got out to do a little painting the other day at a look out up above his rad new home in Ned...Didn't produce anything I was happy with but it was fun to push some paint around and spend some time with my good friends outside.

Colorado Photos

I have not been out climbing in almost a week since I have been feeling a bit under the weather. So in the meantime I have been editing some photos , and working on some illustration projects. Here are a few photos from last week in Colorado.

Fire Ball

Hiked to the Hallet Boulder yesterday , and did some climbing. Here's a short vid of one of the problems up there called Fire Ball.

FireBall V10 from dan yagmin on Vimeo.

RMNP

Here is a little video we shot of the Marble the other day up in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was nice to climb on this problem especially since as we arrived in the park it was raining and then sleeting. We decided to hike up despite questionable conditions and had a fun but short session. So....

the marble v10, rmnp from dan yagmin on Vimeo.

Rock and Ice Paintings

A little while back my friend Tomas Donoso and I started working on a project/photo essay about Connecticut climbing, in which we wanted to try and pitch to a climbing related publication. At first we were not so sure in what direction we wanted it to go in, except for the fact that we wanted to try and do something fresh and unique. For a while we toyed with different ideas in which we talked over while we were out shooting photos of various boulder problems. Tomas eventually decided that it would be great if we could somehow link Connecticut Folklore with Climbing. This seemed to work especially because many of the blocs that we climb upon are situated in the woods in which much of Connecticuts Folklore originated.

Tomas shot some amazing photos of many boulder problems within Connecticut as well as some portraits of a few of the different climbers in the area that helped contribute to the piece. I created five watercolors to accompany these photos in which are seen within this post. The project was submitted to Rock and Ice Magazine and was accepted and printed. The staff at Rock and Ice did a great job with the layout in the magazine as well as the handling of the artwork and photography. Big thanks to everyone at Rock and Ice for accepting this piece and making it happen.

The issue of Rock and Ice Magazine with this feature is available now and can be found at most any major bookstore , climbing gym/retailer, and news stand. I urge everyone to go out and pick up a copy!

Chief Sassacus

Watercolor, 8.5"x11"

The Black Dog of the Hanging Hills

Watercolor,8.5"x11"

Jemima Wilkinson

Mixed, 11"x17"

The Leatherman

Waterclolr, 8.5"x11"

Dudley Town Curse

Watercolor, 8.5"x11"

Final Round

Time was running thin for bouldering here in Ct. as temps are rising , and even more importantly due to the fact that I am moving to the bay area tomorrow. Luckily before leaving I was able to get my act together and send a problem I have been trying on and off since last spring, The Buzzer Beater.

The Buzzer Beater from dan yagmin on Vimeo.

Random Drawings/Sketches

Haven't had all that much time to get to involved with any big projects at the moment as I am moving to the bay area on weds.. So time has been spent packing things up and getting somewhat organized. While digging through my art work in order to figure out what I am taking with me I came across many drawings and sketches that I have created for various reasons. As you can tell they are pretty random as I think a lot of my work is. In order to keep things fresh, I tend to bounce around between different mediums and subject matter. In addition I like to switch things up as far as the way in which I create my work, as you can see by looking at these drawings. Some are done directly from photographic reference, some are completely created out of my imagination, some from direct observation, and some are a combination of all.

Georgie Porgie

Brush and Ink, 6"x7"

Five Brave Nights Rough

Graohite, 5"x7"

Five Brave Knights Rough 2

Graphite, 5"x7"

Pasadena Prelim,

Graphite, 6"x"9"

Sketch Book Page,Koh San Rd., Thailand, 2010

Graphite, 5"x5"

Kinaree,

Graphite, 8"x11"

Rough Drawing for DPM article

Graphite and Digital, 7"x11"

Cuckoo's Nest Drawings

Nurse Rached

Graphite, 9"x13"

Shock Shop

Graphite,8.5"x11"

The Ward

Graphite, 8.5"x11"

Mac

Graphite, 8.5"x11"

The Escape

Graphite, 8.5"x11"

Arrival of Mac

Graphite, 8.5"x11"

Chief Bromden

Graphite, 8.5"x11"

When I began the MFA program at the University of Hartford back in 2007 the first class I was enrolled in was known as the "Dream Assignment Class". This class was supposed to guide us along in the direction that we were going to head in for the thesis project, or at least get the wheels turning. This class was completely open ended and as the name suggests was to encourage complete creative freedom.

At first I thought I really wanted to do some Illustrations pertaining to Ken Kesey's , One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. We were supposed to show up on the first day of class with six potential compositions. So in this post I am including the six drawings in which I showed up with that day as well as the final drawing(Nurse Rached) I did during that week at Hartford. Similar to most of my classmates, my thesis project took a completely different turn from where things started in this class. I am thinking about going back and finishing all of these pieces in a digital format.. We'll see.