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.

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.

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.

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

Black Dog of the Hanging HIlls 2

This image was intended to accompany an article in which I illustrated for Rock and Ice magazine a while back. We ended up using a different composition which was much more effective at telling the story of the Black Dog of the Hanging Hills. Although I do enjoy the simplicity and feel of this one as a stand alone image, so figured I would share!

Angels and Demons

This is a little detail of an illustration that was published a while back in Rock and Ice Magazine.

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!

Tiki Luau Surfer

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

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.

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"

Unused Watercolors

Digging through some of my many piles and portfolio cases of art I came across a few of the many unused illustrations that I created for my book Norton B. Nice. These images were included in the original book dummy in which was chosen to be published, but were later omitted by the editor at the publishing company. After spending hours and hours creating new spreads these were forgotten, and are also not included in my self published edition of the book. The bottom image in this post (Original character study) was the first painting I created for the book. This painting was created at the kitchen table of a gite that I shared with my great friends Phil, Niki, Chris, and Carolyn on a trip to Fontainbleau, France back in 2005. So this painting also serves as a fond memory of one of the best times in my life. The original designs for the book were created during a children's book design class in which was taught by my great friend , teacher, and mentor Vladimir Shpitalnik.

Norton Detail

Unused Spread

Watercolor, 9"x11"

Original character study

Watercolor, 8.5"x11"

A few watercolors

When I am traveling I like to try and do as many en plen air or "in the open air" paintings as I can. This style of painting I find to be one of the most challenging as well as enjoyable ways to paint. Over the years I have seen some growth in the paintings I do from life on location. The quick watercolor studies that I do on location have a definite influence on the illustration work that I later create.

Below are a few from recent travels.

Tonsai Bay, Thailand

Watercolor, 8.5"x11"

2008

Nam Song River, Laos

Watercolor, 8.5"x11"

2010

The Headless Horseman

Over the past few weeks I have been working on an illustration from Washington Irving's short story the Legend Sleepy Hollow. I wanted to focus on the Headless Horseman and I have managed to come up with various compositions and solutions. Finally I have gotten to where I am happy with one and I have included it from start to color study in this post. At the moment I am unsure of what medium I want to use to take it to the finish. I am leaning towards acrylics although it may be fun to do a large watercolor, in which I hope would be a bit more atmospheric and moody than my initial color study. There are still a few things that need to be solved in the illustration such as how and where ,and whether or not I am going to include the Horseman's cape. Including the cape may mean that the fun shape in which the Horseman and his horse create will be lost. So I am trying to find a way in which I can include it, where it will not interfere to much......

Below I have included my initial sketch, my final drawing ,and a color study :

Rough Sketch

5"x 5"

Final Drawing

8"x 8"

Color Study

Watercolor and Digital

8"x 8"

Iron Mike follow up

Iron Mike

6"x9"

Watercolor on Arches 140lb Hot Press

Lately I have been doing a lot more painting with watercolor. I forgot about how much I enjoyed the spontaneity of the medium, and how much I like the fact that I can finish a painting in a few hours. It seems like the faster I paint something when using watercolors the happier I am with results. Unlike acrylics, where I feel like it takes me ages to build the painting up to a level I am happy with.

Although watercolors have earned a reputation for being a pretty unforgiving medium , I think they allow for certain freedoms that others do not! Having the ability to work fast, on paper, with only a few colors, only requiring water, and little to no cleanup makes it a pretty appealing medium to say the least.

So over the next few weeks I am trying to do a watercolor a day. Here is my follow up of Iron Mike.

Hers is a link below to one of Mike Tyson's interviews:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4l0ZyKmeNE#watch-main-area