A Journey to Oz...

   I'm currently working on a small vintage art collection that will be available soon, "The Wizard of Oz" was the first film I chose to work with...

I've seen so much Oz art over the years and have noticed a lot of modern interpretations of the story, but anyone who is familiar with my work knows I'm a traditionalist.  I wanted to go back and recreate Oz to be how it was so many years ago, where the yellow brick road was painted on a wall and used on set for a background.  When special effects were put together by physical props as apposed to the digital world we work in today.  While choosing the subjects I realized I wanted the final product to bring a more comforting vibe, so in the end I decided to leave the Wicked Witch of West out of the art and focus only on the friendship of Dorothy, Tin Man, Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion.

Here are the references I worked with...

Finished Art-
Dimensions-22"x30"
Medium-Colored Pencil on Rives BFK paper

A Recent Commission...

Thank you for your patience, since I've just opened my blog I would like to go over a few past pieces before I begin discussing what I'm currently working on.

A little while ago I was commissioned to do a piece on Padme and Anakin from Attack of the Clones.  The initial idea from the client was to capture the young love of Anakin and Padme while also incorporating the beauty of Naboo.  Here are the references I was supplied with...

 

     A good bit of the art seen in my gallery is created with colored pencil on Rives BFK paper, which is actually a soft cotton print-making paper.  An example would be just about all of my poster work.  This paper has no tooth were the pencils can look almost like paint.  With this piece I wanted to create it with a more fine art style, where Anakin and Padme would seem more incorporated with Naboo.  I decided to work on watercolor paper and keep a strong tooth where the pencils would have a more grainy feel to them.  I laid down a wash with acrylics then rendered the subjects with Derwent Studio Colored Pencils.  If you are an inspiring colored pencil artist, I highly recommend these over prismacolor, they have a hard base which allows you to apply more detail in the rendering.

Finished Art-

Dimensions-18"x24"

Medium-Acrylic wash and Colored pencil on watercolor paper.

 

Blog coming soon...

Welcome to my official blog spot, I'm currently very busy but plan on keeping this blog up to date with all upcoming projects and artwork.  I will discuss processes, color theories, and approaches to how I create the illustrations you're familiar with on my site.  Thank you for visiting and for your interest in my work, stop by again soon.

Best Wishes-
Ben