Kraken Final

Release the Kraken

Acrylic, watercolor, and digital

13"x19"

Here is the final painting that will be used for the Feats of Strength 8 bouldering competition poster.To learn more about the event visit the Cliffs at Valhalla.

Kraken clean up

Release the Kraken 

8.5"x11"

Here is the Kraken drawing from my previous post. This version has been cleaned up and a few things within the composition have been moved around. At this point I will be transferring the drawing to a piece of Arches watercolor paper and will begin painting. 

The Kraken

Kraken Thumbnail Drawings

The Kraken Rough Drawing

Here is a quick preview of a new project I am working on . The top image in this post shows some of the tiny thumbnail drawings that I do when starting a new painting. During the thumbnail phase I try to nail down the large shapes that will be in the composition, as well as perspective. Once I have the overall composition worked out I move on to the rough drawing(image 2).  I like where the image is going but will most likely make some changes before completing the final drawing .

Thai Fairy Tale

Floating Village

18" x 24"

Watercolor on Arches

I created this image in one of my graduate school classes taught by Ted and Betsy Lewin. In the one week class, I created a 32 page book dummy to accompany a Thai fairy tale of how the limestone mountains were formed around Krabi. This is one of the finished spreads that would be the book opener of the floating village where the story takes place.

The Young Locals

 The Young Locals

       20"x 27.5"

Watercolor on Arches

In the winter of 2008, I was fortunate enough to travel to the temples of Angkor Wat located near Siem Reap, Camboda. Angkor Wat was built in the 12th century and is the largest Hindu temple complex in the world.  One day while on a tour of the Bayon Temple, I was greeted by a group of three local boys who said they would be my tour guides and show me the temple where the movie Tomb Raider was filmed in exchange for some American coins. They led me down a faint path through the jungle and along the way we crawled through a ruin of an old temple where the sun shined through a small window illuminating the space. Inspired by the unique shadow pattern created by the fragmented light, I asked the boys if I could take a photo of them which became the reference for this painting.

Memories of Potrero

Potrero Memories

watercolor on arches 

18"x27"

This is a large watercolor painting I recently completed for my longtime friend, Dave, who is a local climber in Connecticut. Dave has traveled numerous times to El Potrero Chico, a famous limestone climbing area in Mexico, numerous times with other Connecticut climbers and he requested a painting of the entrance to the canyon with soft details and a impressionistic feel. I also traveled to this area back in 2001 and remember the misty mornings and the clouds that encased the cliff sides, so I tried to recreate this dream-like effect.

Abe and George

Abe and George

8"x14.5"

Egg Tempera on Illustration Board

This was a class assignment I did some time ago during my undergraduate studies. Forgot exactly what the assignment was , but this was the end result. This is one of a few Egg Tempera paintings I have ever done. The final image  was completed by applying the tempera in splatters and layers , and by later scratching away the portraits of Abe and George.

Koh Tao rocks

Rocks at Shark Bay

9"x9"

Watercolor on Arches

 Rocks at Jansom Bay

10"x12"

Watercolor on Arches

Koh Nangyuan after the rain

7"x12"

Watercolor on Arches

Koh Tao Rocks

5"x9"

Watercolor on Arches

 Koh Tao or Turtle Island is a small island located near the western shore of the Gulf of Thailand, and is a place I have visited on a few trips to South East Asia. The beaches and hills are cluttered with granite boulders, that although a bit sharp , offer some pretty fun climbing. Most people go to Koh Tao for the amazing scuba diving in the crystal clear waters that surround the small island. Sadly I have never had the opportunity to do any diving, but the bouldering, amazing food, beautiful beaches, and the quiet bays that offer perfect places to paint have been more than enough to keep my interests. The paintings in this post were all done on location in Koh Tao, and are from two different trips. For me, painting in the open air can be the most challenging, as well as rewarding way to paint.

City Wide Open Studios 2012

  City Wide Open Studios began last weekend here in the New Haven area, and I am pretty psyched to be a part of it this year. This coming weekend(October 13&14th) I will be opening the doors to my studio located at Erector Square , 315 Peck St., New Haven, Bldg 2, Floor 3, Unit L.  My studio will be open on Saturday from 12 pm to 8 pm, and on Sunday from 12pm to 6pm. There are tons of other artists in the building, and there is sure to be some great work on display. So come on out and support  the New Haven art scene.

Happy Birthday Isabella

Belle

8x10 Acrylic on Arches 

It was my nieces sixth birthday on sunday. As a gift, I did this little painting of her with a painting that she did with me some months ago.  Love this kid with all my heart.  Happy Birthday Isabella!

Grampa Pat

Grampa Pat 

Acrylic on Saunders Waterford paper

This painting was done by  applying liquid acrylics in transparent layers ,  similar to the way I would handle traditional watercolors. I wanted to try this technique out for quite some time now , and think it could be worth exploring. The image is of my grandfather Pat Rossi, who fought in World War 2. I have been wanting to paint it since I saw the photograph some time ago. Grampa was a brave man, a great grandfather, and is missed very much by us all! 

An Oldie

City Levels

Ink on Arches

Just an old ink drawing that I did as a study for a larger painting . 

Weekly Watercolor 4

Angry Dog

Watercolor

 Here is number 4 of my (not so)weekly watercolors.

Guard Painting

Guard

Photoshop

Another character painting that I am finishing up today.

Shaman Painting

Here is the final painting based on the drawing in which I posted earlier. 

Orc Shaman

Photoshop

Chaski

Chaski Runner

Watercolor

This is a piece I did for Trail Runner issue number 80. The article is about running the Qhapac Nan and the chaski relay system in the ancient Incan Empire.

Shaman Creature Design

 Shaman Creature Clean up

Shaman Creature Concept

Here is a little something I am working on today. Hopefully by the end of the day I will have his pose a bit more refined , as well as some sort of staff in his left hand. The red drawing is directly from my sketch book , where I try and keep thing loose and gestural. Once I have something loosely put down in my sketch book I begin a series of refinements. At this point I will push certain elements further, remove others, and so on. 

Weekly Watercolor 3

Weekly Watercolor 3

Final Miner

Prospector

digital

This image is from a series of digital paintings that I have been working on for a while now. I posted an image of this one earlier, and since then I have made some final adjustments.There are three others  in the series but  I have not had the time to dedicate to finishing them. I am hoping to do so ASAP.....

Petzl Proj.

Delivery

Watercolor and Digital

Santa Drawing

Santa Roughs

Here is a little something I did for Petzl back around Xmas time. Along with the final illustration I decided to post some of my preliminary drawings . My process almost always starts with a series of thumbnail drawings ( sometimes as many as 50), accompanied by a number of character studies.

Weekly Watercolor #2

Rough Drawing

Week 2

Bandit

watercolor

Here is my second weekly watercolor. For these paintings I will be recycling drawings from older projects. This character was used in a pencil test I did a while back , as well as a digital painting that I am working on . Both I have shown in previous posts:

http://danielyagminjr.blogspot.com/2011/03/gold-rush-character-pencil-test.html

http://danielyagminjr.blogspot.com/2011/11/another-wip.html

For these paintings I plan to work with a variety of subjects , and hope to keep the painting time to under 2 hours.

Weekly Watercolor???

Monkey

Watercolor

Chances are that it will not happen, but I hope to update this blog with a new watercolor each week. So here is the first of what I hope to be many.

Lawson Wood

Lawson Wood is another one of the many great illustrators that I had not heard of until recently. While in graduate school and on a trip to California , my group had the pleasure of visiting the home of Jane Eisenstat( I posted some images and info in an earlier post titled: A Day at the Eisenstats.) The Eisenstats have an amazing collection of illustration , and among the incredible paintings that grace the walls of their home , was an original Lawson Wood watercolor.

Lautrec portrait

Henri de Toulouse -Lautrec

Trying to get a watercolor-ish feel with Photoshop brushes...

Rock and Ice Illo

Here is a piece I did for Rock and Ice a while back.

Norton Flies On

Cover

Norton B. Nice interior page

Norton B. Nice interior page

My picture book , Norton B. Nice , has been formatted as an ebook and made available in several different languages including, English , German, French, and Spanish. In order to obtain the book, you must download the Flying Books Eboo reader app through itunes by following this link:

itunes.apple.com/us/app/eebooreader/id466277060?ls=1&mt=8

Once the Eboo Reader app has been downloaded you will be able to purchase Norton B. Nice , as well as many other great books made available through Flying Books.

The Eboo Reader App is free and the cost for the download is only 2.99, and is compatible with Apple iPad devices.

Feats climber

Feats Climber

Watercolor 6"x9"

Here is another one of the characters that I created for the Feats of Strength poster.

Feats Smasher

Smasher

Watercolor 5"x5"

The Feats of Strength poster featured in my last post was a combination of three traditional watercolor paintings composited within adobe photoshop. This is a technique I have been playing around with recently, and it allows for a lot of flexibility when producing the final image. In addition to the final poster I figured I would show the character paintings as stand alone images.

Feats Of Strength 7 Poster Art

My good friend and fellow rock scaler Paul Jung asked me if I would be interested in doing a poster for this years "Feats of Strength " bouldering competition . The event is held at the Cliffs Climbing Gym in Valhalla , New York, and has been going on for the past 6 years.Since the name Valhalla has deep connections to Norse Mythology , we figured it would be fun to have some sort of Viking theme for the poster. The image above is the final poster with all the information one should need if interested in attending the event.

Below is the painting without the text, sponsors, etc..

Feats of Strength

Watercolor and Digital