The World of TFlynn

PEN THING

2012-01-05T15:14:00.001-05:00

Ok, I thought I would start off the new year with something old and a sort of tip as well.

I have been doing a lot of ink lately and have been in need of doing some straight lines. This little dooflatchy I have had for EVER!! I don't know how long I have had it or what it is even called.............I call it my line dooflatchy thing............that said, there is an opening at the tip of this thing, a screw to open and close the opening...making it wide or narrow depending on what the desired width of the line you need is.

You put a blob of ink into the gap, adjust the wheel and then lay it up against your ruler and draw your line. No smudges, no muss and a great line. If you can find one or what it is get one, they are darned handy.

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This just in.....I have found out that this little thing here is called a RULING PEN, and that I got it so many moons ago from my biggest supporter and all around cool person.............my MOM!! Thanks : )

HAPPY GNEW YEAR

2011-12-26T14:07:00.000-05:00

Happy New Years everybody, I look forward to this coming year with more hope and happiness than the past year, and not as much as the next!! Lots of projects in the works and can't wait to post um here for those of you who come by to see them.

As I have done every year for the past few years.........here is this years Gnew Years Gnome, he is a bit early. I have usually done these on New Years day, but now I can relax and enjoy it more with my family.

Can't wait to see ya'll in 2012

SANTA HEADS SOUTH

2011-12-23T13:45:00.000-05:00

I haven't done a " naughty" Santa in a while, and to be quite honest, I hadn't thought about it until one day last week a good friend of mine, who I will not name.............MARY WILMER, brought up the past and told me I should do another Naughty Santa....................well the seed was planted and my mind started working without me and then all of a sudden this sort of popped out.

So there you have it, and MERRY CHRISTMAS, I'll post again at New Years with this years Gnome picture.

May God Bless and keep you always.

END OF THE YEAR CLEAN UP

2011-12-08T13:09:00.000-05:00

This rather cluttered picture is of my drawing table,and although I wish I could claim to be this productive on a daily basis, these scattered images are the culmination of personal projects I have started and had to stop and or start again due in large part to other more pressing matters.

I tend to stop working on commissions during the last part of November and all thru December, the holidays are so close together and family time is in all honesty more important, but during this time I also try to clean up a few things that lay about for the year ( or 2 in the case of the Batman, Green Lantern and hidden Superman inks ).

Along with the 3 new Hippie Chicks I posted this morning..... yeah I know, I will go for a bit with out posting anything then here today are 2 .............. I have completed 3 other inks, and a cartoon for the Naughty Bits collection. I will post the 3rd of the 3 inks tomorrow since my computer is refusing to recognize my scanner today after scanning 6 images earlier, and the ink is a bit large and I do have to paste it together............it is the cavemen drawing in the top right hand side.

CEREMONY

SHE WOLF

YES!!!

Well that is all for now, if the computer and scanner make amends, I will get the other one scanned and posted as well as any other things I manage to finish during this time............there are maybe 4 oils I would like to get back to as well.....................

HIPPIE CHICK PIN-UPS

2011-12-08T08:44:00.000-05:00

It all started with the song "Downtown", a young lady dressed in the current nuvo-hippy attire, and what is in my opinion not a very nice smelling substance called patchouli. Whether you like the aroma or not................it set my mind running because of the coincidence of time. I have Petula Clark singing a wonderful song. Downtown, and this rather attractive yet foul smelling young woman next to me.

Next thing I knew I did a quick watercolour of ...............

PATCHOULI CLARK

.... and yes the image is somewhat based on the young nameless woman......

After the incident the names and images started to come to me and I couldn't stop, I started to write them down and do the paintings when I wanted........they were there and it really seemed like the thing to be doing at the time.

So let me introduce to you a few more of the women that have come to me since the incident:

AMBER WAVES

SUMMER RAYNE

LORA BUSCHE

There are even little histories behind some of the names, like Amber Waves is a mid-Western girl who loves to walk barefoot in the fields of grass, Ms. Busche is a natural girl who enjoys dancing at parties and enjoys life as it comes...............this is all pretty scary when you think about it, but I have honestly come to terms with these things and accept them as they pop into my head.

I have a file somewhere labeled " NAUGHTY BITS", that has more images that are not as tame as these, and one day I will get around to posting a few of them.

Any how, this is just a wee bit of what goes on in my mind as I relax and let the ideas flow. Most of these come out at night as I sit and watch t.v. before going to bed. I think this is why I don't really dream all that much, or have nightmares.......... I take care of it before hand, and allow myself the opportunity to just sleep.

SNAIL GIRLS

2011-12-02T14:22:00.000-05:00

For those of you who are on my Facebook you are or maybe aware of my on going SNAIL GIRLS drawings, but for those of you not on FB with me or are unaware of the series I am going to recap a little bit. ONe day I sat down with my sketchbook and doodled out a little thing of a faerie riding on the back of a snail sort of like bull riding at a rodeo, I like it so much that I found a small piece ( scrap ) of paper that I had lying about and quickly did an ink thing of it:

....and here she is, the "first" Snail Girl. I believe I drew her in 2010.

At some point in the past year I was sitting in my living room ( aka Studio B ) and had messed up a drawing that I was working on, and as I sat there tore it up as usual, but then as I was sitting there looking at the torn paper, I drew a girl talking with a snail:

It was a fun thing to do, and I liked the image, for me it was sort of innocent a girl talking with a snail. After I a while I did another and another. All were done on torn sheets of paper of messed up drawings, and as my collection of Snail Girls grew I decided to keep the torn sheets of paper and have them on hand for the purpose of doing Snail Girls, this envelope sits by my chair in Studio B and is there ready and waiting for the next one to appear:

Here is an example of the approximate size of the drawings:

...and a few more closer images of the girls as well as an early family portrait:

As I continue to do these and looking back at them, I realized there is some sort of conversation going on between these two friends, and in realizing this, it became all the more important to me to continue with this until the conversation was over. At first it was for me about getting the body posture right, balancing the blacks and whites to where one did not over power the other, but now it is more about keeping the friends together...........sort of silly I know, but I like it.

I have to mention that all the drawings are done to the shape of the paper and not tearing the paper to fit the drawing, that would be cheating. The shape of the paper helps to determine what is being said in the drawing. The more of these I do, the more intense the conversation becomes in trying to find a posture or pose that I haven't done before..........who likes to repeat themselves in a conversation.

At the top of this I posted the "first" snail girl, well in cleaning out some things and trying to tidy up the place I found this:

This is the actual First of the SNAIL GIRL images, she was done in 2004, six years before the other First. As you see in the first to images the gals have wings and are in a sort of ironic action pose...........bull riding a snail and surfing on a snail, just something that leans towards my sense of humor, but as I went on they changed, no wings and more of an equality between them.

Anyway, this is some of what comes out in the evenings as I kick back and chillax to end my day. In the next few posts, I will be going to put up a few of the pieces that come out as I wind down and relax in the evenings before going to bed............or on the nights that I can't sleep and get up and try to get sleepy.

George Lasso's the Moon

2011-11-01T13:21:00.000-04:00

This image goes along with the last post of Stick People, in which I sort of discussed how I arrived at the figure and posturing of George.

This image was done for our local theatre group the RUSH COUNTY PLAYERS 2011 production of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. This was a really fun thing for me to do especially since this is my favourite of all time Christmas movies, and not to mention I have ALWAYS wanted to do a drawing of this as well. So for me it is a wonderful life, I got to do something for a great group of folks as well as one of my favourite images.............not too bad!!!

STICK PEOPLE

2011-10-13T12:40:00.000-04:00

I know you're saying to yourself.............THAT IS NOT A STICK PERSON!!! and you're absolutely right. but how I got to this image was through a construction of a sort of stick figure. I was recently asked to to an image based on It's a Wonderful Life's drawing of George Lasso's the Moon, and since this is one of my all time favourite movies, this image is burned into my memory. As I sat down with my sketchbook to draw out ol' George, the key thing to this image was his posture. He HAD to have that schlump, and as I started to work the pose,I realized that to get it right I had to break things down to their most basic structure....the stick man:

The outline drawings are the first attempts at getting George's posture right, and as you can see I started to break it down into more basic components of the structure.............STRUCTURE is a key word too, it is what we are built on, it defines and dictates where we bend and how we move....... so for this to work I went to the internal structure or framework of the body.... a simplified skeletal structure or a stick figure.

Now some of you are saying this is not how I draw a stick figure...................most people think of the stick man as this:

As artists we sort of do a more detailed if you will stick figure based on the rib cage, pelvis and head.....the limbs are really the only sticks:

As you can see the rib cage is sort of a cylinder and the hip structure or pelvis is sort of a barbell......a wider barbell can be used as female and narrower as male.... the dots at the end of the stick represent the joints and an oval like thing is the head, the little blob at the bottom can represent the hands or feet.

This little fellow is not new..........Andrew Loomis used a slightly more elaborate fellow than what I do and just about every artist I know or can think about has at one time or another used someone similar to this guy. In Bridgmans books he used more of a blocking system which as you will see further down I used in getting to my final image as well.

The Block man is wonderful in establishing the planes of the figure and helping to map out shadows and musculature in a basic way.

Block man also gives you a whole lot more surface area to see how things can pan out.... he is a cool dude.

In the doodles to the left you can see the page in which I arrived at my George figure. Here you can see I used the stick man as well as a version of block man.

In this I initially drew out the pelvis and to achieve mys schulmp.....I set the ribs back away from them and not linearly on top where they would usually go ( this is the little fellas at the bottom of the page ). I then used block man up top to sort of see a more solid form and from there I drew the final George.

So as you can see..............the Stick Figure is not really a lowly creature but really an extremely useful little guy. He can help you to find a position, or specific posture, he can help you to define movement and perspective. He is a work horse.............

..................................you can even draw a stick horse ( bottom of the page )

So, whenever someone says to me " I can't even draw a stick figure" I really can see why at times. The Stick Man is a cool dude and someone I come to rely on a lot at times.

Ya'll should get to know him if you don't.

PRINTS AVAILABLE

2011-08-30T14:09:00.000-04:00

This just in............prints are now available thru this site here :

TRACY'S PRINTS HERE

Dragons

2011-08-23T12:05:00.001-04:00

In my world, dragons still exist,...................

Those 6 words are at the top of this page............I was looking at this the other day and realized, except for ol' D'Argon ( that fine beastie of a yellow dragon at the top of the page under the words ), I really don't do many dragons, well that is changing and I am going to be revealing more of those fellows to you as the time goes by, and here is a quick look at Gadron, a red dragon who lives in a sulfur cave. I hope ya'll enjoy and I'll post more on him later as I get time.....and if not I WILL definitely post the finished piece.

THIS JUST IN......A Nights Horror by Timothy Ray Jones

2011-07-21T12:02:00.001-04:00

Awhile back I posted a painting in the post called Candle Cover and it was basically the picture of the painting and saying that I would post about it later......................

.................well its later.............

Author and friend Timothy Ray Jones has put his newest works up on Lulu for all the world to see, buy and thoroughly enjoy.

Monsters, monsters everywhere! Is it ever safe to come outside at night? You will ask that very question when you delve into the Horror stories within -- and more. Will Marge ever free herself from childhood fears by facing down an old...friend? How will Jonathan react when the truth he seeks is revealed? Can Irvin find solace in the arms of the new woman of his dreams? The answer to these questions and more await you. Do step inside to find them...

I do hope ya'll will stop buy and pick up a copy or two today

INK A DINK A DO.................

2011-07-20T09:43:00.000-04:00

Right now on my drawing table is a pile of pencils just waiting to be inked, and along with that pile is a pile of pencils that are partially inked.

These all range in size and scope from the torn paper pieces of Snail Girls which are no more than 4" X 5" to
9 X 12's to11 X 14's and a 14 X 17 ..............

Here are just a few o them:

The pile............

........and these lovely cavemen which I penciled in last night while hanging with the family and watching t.v.................there was a slight preview of this piece in my post back in April about sketch books in it you can see where I was working out some of the body positions before I went to the big sheet ( this is the 14 X 17 piece ).

Since most all of these are personal pieces, I just sort of let them pile up as I moved from one thing to another...mainly was just concentrating on doing some oil paintings, but now that I have this lump of stuff waiting to be inked, I guess I can just sort of get my ink on and do them all at once............

A little bit of INK-site into my process

2011-07-08T12:54:00.000-04:00

The other day I received a few pages in the ol' E-mail for a Werewolf story that I was asked to do some illustrations for, and thought to myself, this would be a good time to go into a bit of my process for doing the pictures. There is no surprises here, or any ground breaking information, nor any divulging of any secrets.....it is read and think..........or at lest in my case read and doodle out what pops into my head as I read.

Any way, as I said, got a few pages of text that contained scenes for the illustrations and I printed them out to read. I know you don't have to do this and can read the words right off the computer screen, but I am really sort of old fashioned and like having paper in my hands. I also like to tote the things around with me and get to them as my schedule allows. If it is nice, I like to sit on my porch and do this, or in some cases if I have an appointment I carry them with me and do it whilst I wait.

{ The pages were really good for me and the way I like to work as well, there was detail, but just enough to give me the impressions of the illustrations, but also not so much as to limit what I see .......... I will work with whatever is presented me, but really like this combination and the freedom of interpretation }

The printed page also allows me to doodle right on the page as I read.............

........I am pretty sure there are programs and what not that allow you to do this as well, but like I said........I like paper in my hands.

So, now I have my initial doodle and idea down on the PAPER, I move onto a more "tighter" rough and play with the composition more if I feel the basic idea needs improvement ( or if I am told to by an AD or whomever I happen to be working for at the time ).....

... in the above photo I took my original idea and played with it some more. In this case I wasn't totally happy with what I jotted down, it didn't quite "feel" like the scene to me, so I played and felt I had it in the bottom thumbnail and proceeded to move on...

The two doodles in the boxes are the ideas I went with to move onto my inking .... (I will talk a bit about the other two in a few when we scroll down to it) ........ the bottom one is really fairly close to the original concept I scribbled onto the page with the text, and as you may notice the other has changed from the initial rough to more like the secondary doodles. From here I went on to do a bit of inking.........

... and ...

..........so I was really happy with the drawing and the inking of the second picture here, but still felt something wasn't right with the top one.......not too bad of a drawing in itself, but really sort of sucked when I looked at the She-woof I did just after, so I went back and re-read the text and found a clue...

( CLUE )

... once I found my clue, I went back to my paper and did some more sketching...........remember the other two drawings on the page.....

I moved the thing from her wrist to her waist sort of like my clue said, rearranged her on the page and bingo, I had something I liked better and felt right as well.

So now that I am feeling better I drew out the image from the bottom left onto a piece of bristol and have my pencil ready to ink............

.......which we'll get to later, but until then that is my process, and as I said there is nothing ground breaking in it, just good basic reading and comprehention and translating what I read into a picture....ILLUSTRATION!!!

IT GOES WITH THE COFFEE

2011-06-14T13:22:00.000-04:00

I am not sure what anyone else does with their mornings coffee, but for me, I like to sit down and do a little doodling and sometimes you just come up with something fun.

Well I had been playing around with a few ideas for a Vampirella image, and had a couple of sketches laying about:

...........and the next thing you know, I am sort of hanging out on the couch, watching Reservoir Dogs and by the end of the movie, I have this sitting in my lap:

It was a really fun morning, good movie, COFFEE, and a nice little pencil piece!!

GET THE PICTURE or a photo studio on the cheap

2011-05-29T12:36:00.000-04:00

I am pretty sure that there are a few of you out there in a similar financial situation, and looking for ways to conserve and/or save money...........get the most for less as it were. I am also sure that there are plenty out there in towns smaller than the one I live in and may not have a professional photographer around to take the image you need.

Fortunately, our town does have a great photographer in it, as do some of the surrounding towns, BUT..... they might not always be open when you need them, or like I said above...........money can be an issue. Well here is a pretty simple and easy way to get the picture when you need.

A good friend of mine ( Joe Vicas ) gave me this tip a few years back and I thought it time to pass it on.

Lights:

These are a pair of painters lights . I do a lot of our home repair and remodeling of our house and have had them quite a few years, but they are the light source for setting up the photography session. You can get them fairly cheap at any number of stores..........I am not sure but they probably run anywhere from $10 to $15, I think when I got these they were even cheaper than that.

Tripod:

This tripod was my Dad's and I have had it forever.............I am not sure what the run, but you will need one to keep things steady and not have a blurry picture.

I use my easel to hold the image, sort of handy for that sort of thing, but I have taken a marker and written on the side 2 different settings.........one for painting and one for photography, for the picture taking I stet the easel in a more upright position.

There really isn't that much of a difference between the two settings, but believe me......it does make one. If I paint on the photo setting.........the board tends to want to fall over since it is more straight up and down.

You can use several different ways to set your lights up to take the picture, you can get some extending paint poles and have them run from floor to ceiling and clamp your lights on them, or like I have been doing, I sort of use the furniture around me to get them set up:

Do not aim your light directly at the surface of the painting or what ever it is you are photographing....you will get a hot spot or glare. You want to have the light just sort of wash over the area and not really have it hit directly.

Once your lights are set up, put your camera on the tripod and take the picture. My little digital camera has a little feature on it that allows me to bracket the photos........that is adjust the light/dark to help me get a truer image of the painting. I can go a stop or two above or below and then choose the image that is closest to what is on the easel.

Once I get the image, I go to the computer and do my photo editing in Photoshop..........you will have to use whatever programs you have.........and then I am ready to save it and send it off.

The painting used as an example in this blog is not a finished piece and so I really didn't take the time to set things up properly, but all the images for the past few years have been done this way so for better examples run back thru the blog and take a peak, look at these example 1, example 2, example 3

REVELATION .... EOWYN AND THE NAZGUL, part II

2011-05-18T15:19:00.001-04:00

In the previous post of REVELATION .... EOWYN AND THE NAZGUL I had touched on the concepts of the piece and how I arrived at the composition of the painting. Here in this post I will go over a bit of the painting process........if you have been here before, you will have probably seen the 2 part step-by of how I painted the Zombie Moon painting, if not here are the links Z 1 and Z 2.

Here in this photo is the image drawn/transfered onto the Tracy-nite. At this point I was still playing with the Nazguls arm position. You will also see that the Fell Beast has some really thick hair-like things drooping about its neck, as well as a poorly drawn hand in the foreground. The neck is also leading out of the picture.

After conferring with a good friend and asking for a bit of advice on it, he had said to loose the hand and turn the neck back in to the painting..........which I ended up doing.

In the image to the right you can see I had resolved my arm issue and turned the beasites neck inward helping to keep your attention more focoused towards the center of the painting where the action is. The hand has been painted over in the under painting....although still visible, it is green and reminds me grass goes here.

I have started to paint in the sky as well, but after sending the image on to another friend of mine, he reminded me that there had been a gloom sort of cast over the area making it foggy and what not, so I had to rethink my sky. ............. I personally love doing calm clear skies for battles just as a contrast, all this nastiness going on and its a beautiful day sort of thing.

Here we have the sky taken care of with a bit of gloomy clouds and sort of mimicking the V of the beasts wings as well. The really bright area in the top of the painting is glare from either the light of my easel or the flash of the camera........not sure anymore which, but not paint.

I have also started to define the grassy area in the foreground, and put in some bits of battle in the distance. The hand at this point is for the most part gone and forgotten. Eowyns pants are starting to emerge as well as more definition of the beast and the lighting of the wing.

Now we have the beast emerging as well as the colours of Eowyns garments. A spear has been added on the ground....there is a battle going on..........you can see young Merry's shield laying about a little better, the wing is getting a wee bit of glow to it and the hairy things on the beasts neck are blocked in.

Eowyns hair is basically in, her shield and sword is blocked in as well, along with the other wing of the beast getting set in and back.

Now the Nagul is being worked on more, the cape has been established along with a lay in of his body, some detail work on the Fell Beast's right ( our left ) wing. A helmet has been added to the mix, some detail to Miss Eowyn, the saddle and some more work on the other wing.

I was COMPLETELY unhappy with the hairy things on the neck of the beast and decided to paint them out!!! So, here we have the revised neck and the start of the Nazguls mace, but alas the shaft was too short and I wiped it out after this picture was taken.

There has also been a few shadows and highlights added about the piece as I was waiting for paint to dry enough for me to continue on with things.

Now we have a mace with a longer shaft for better swinging and balance, as well as a more effective reach.

I have added a little black horse like thing to Merry's shield, a sword scabbard to Eowyn, more detaily bits and piece about the place...........more shadows and highlights popping up here and there, pushing stuff back bringing others out ............

Lots more work to the Nazgul has been done now. I have painted the eyes in and out a couple of times trying to get them to look right for me, a harness like thing is now about the neck of the beast, lots of detaily bits and pieces have gone on in the beasts neck and wing............the arms are now thicker than in the original drawing, some reigns are lying around in the grass, Merry has been worked on as well, his sword is now in the picture, lights and darks have been added again and again, to push and pull things forewards and back.

.......and here we have the final image...........

a little detail brass plate has been added to the collar
of the beast, the saddle is now complete.........as I looked at the shape of the thing, having horns and all I thought hey, that looks like it can hold the "eye" and decided to put it in there, and a bit of reflection on the neck. As I came up with this, the design was repeated on the brass plate, and the hasp holding his cloak shut as well.

A ring was placed on the hand of the Nazgul......Ring Wraith, .........Lord of the Rings.......etc, Eowyns hair has been finally done, mainly some highlights about the edges, I am sure I have done a few more things to it, but I really can't remember at this point.

Well there you have it the porgression and thoughts behind the image of Eowyn VS the Nazgul.

The painting wass done on 16" X 20" Tracy-nite.

REVELATION .... EOWYN AND THE NAZGUL

2011-05-13T14:45:00.000-04:00

Recently Jon over at the ArtOrder posted a challenge for the image of Eowyn fighting the Lord of the Nazgul............great subject and lots of ideas floating about and just an all around really good challenge. So I decided to hop on this and get busy with the idea and come up with an image.

Now that the idea .....the challenge ............was out there the problem was to come up with a composition for said idea/challenge. As I kept thinking about it, and going thru the several possibilities of what to paint, cutting the beasts head off, going with Theodin lying there on the ground dying , and so on, it really for me came down to the moment of the reveal..........the Scooby Do moment of the mask or in this case the helmet coming off ....the " I am not a man" moment.

In this challenge the wonderful folks over at Muddy Colors are heavily involved with crits and the judging......this is truly an amazing opportunity to learn something!!

In the sketches you will see that I played around with the fight scene of her and the Nazty fellow, but hit upon the helmet coming off and them about to get it on.

In this photo, of the first sketch pages in my doodle book for this image, we see several stabs at establishing the fight sequence or moment of battle. The area of the red circle with the # 1 next to it is the initial idea the beginning point of where I started to play. The area with the # 2 is when I hit on the position I wanted for Eowyn.

Here is a closer view of our heroine.

Now that I had my girl, I needed to still find a way to get her and the Nazgul going at it.................

It then came to me to have him coming off the Fell Beast and jumping down on her, and here we can see that sort of happening in the top, and a refinement of the pose for him. Even tho in the text of the story, I believe it says the crown floats above him and that he has no head, I still sort of wanted to indicate him having a cranial region so I used the cape to sort of give that impression.

So now that I have my idea and my composition starting to come together........there is still something not quite right........and it turned out to be the way Eowyn is facing, so I flipped her around and then it was there.......

here is a close up of the little bitty sketch at the bottom right of the page.

Now I have my sketch and my idea I can begin to get it on the board and begin with the painting. I drew Eowyn directly onto the board from a more refined sketch of her that I hit upon while I was doodling away at his weaponry

.....for the Nazgul I then laid a piece tracing paper on the board to work him out after I drew the beast directly on the board as well.

In the next post I will show some of the in progress shots of the painting, but I am going to end here with just the shot of the image drawn onto my board .....

CANDLE COVER

2011-04-25T11:03:00.000-04:00

Here is the latest thing off the easel for now, it is a commission for a project that I will post about later, but for now, here is the painting.

SKETCHBOOKS

2011-04-08T12:04:00.000-04:00

As artists we all have some way of putting our ideas and doodles down, and it is no secret that in my case I will draw on anything I can get my hands on. Whether it be a napkin, a brown paper bag, a sheet of copy paper..........whatever, but I also keep sketchbooks and primarily use them. It is easier and keeps things all together.

My favourite type of sketchbook is a spiral bound one.

The spiral binding is great since you can fold it back on itself and let it just be the one side of the book, or you can leave it spread open and use both halves of the thing. I sort of do both..............

Whether I have an "actual" idea that I want to draw out and see, or am just sort of doodling and searching for something, I always start out on the right side of the book. :

Starting here sort of allows me to work the idea and get it down as I see it originally. This also frees up the rest of the space............the left hand side of the book ..... for me to work things out if I don't like it in the sketch.

Here in this one, after getting the initial pose down, I felt it needed some tweaking so I kept playing with him and adjusting an arm or leg, moving them around a bit just to see what I liked better.

In this one I wanted to play mainly with the hand............there is also an alternative composition to the original idea.......which I stuck with, but the hands were the main focus.

Sometimes I just get a theme and sort of go with it and just play and see what happens. Just recently I was on a kick about cavemen and carried the them over a few pages and after sketching a few of them sort of came up with a composition that I like and will continue to flesh out as time permits.

We all have our own way of doing things and what not, but I just thought I would let ya'll in on the way I work things out thru my sketchbook. No matter how you do it just keep on doing it. There is no right or wrong way ............. the only way it is wrong is if you don't keep doing it.

St. Patricks Day

2011-02-10T10:45:00.000-05:00

Every year I wait have usually waited until the last minute to do my annual St Patricks image, well this year I got it done early!!! This image is included in the 13th Annual Rushville St. Patricks Day Party raffle. We have done an image for this charity event for I believe every year that we have been here in Rushville ( which I believe is 8 years now). It is a privaledge for us to be able to participate in this every year, and something we look forwards to attending and donating too, and an honour to be able to help give back to the community here which we so love.

Many thanks to Dan, Brian, and John for doing this!!

"Dan Shanahan, John McCane, and Brian Sheehan each year put together the best per capita St. Patrick's celebration in the world. Thanks to friends, family, and sponsors each year we are able to raise around $10,000 for local charities. The party is always the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day. Mark your calendar today."

ZOMBIFICATION, or the progression of a zombie Part 2

2011-02-08T09:25:00.000-05:00

When we left off with the painting in Part 1 I had just finished with the underpainting and gettting all the whiteness off the board. So now we are back at it and into the painting process.....

In this stage I have pretty much completed the sky area of the piece, and established my trees with the highlights of the leaves leading down to our star........the Zombie. The colours of the sky were a mixture of Sap Green, Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Red Medium ( to sort of tone down the green ) for the darkest areas, as it fades or lightens I used Cerulean Blue and Cadmium Yellow Light.......this was also the colours of the highlights in the leaves.

In this part of the process I also established the beginnings of the mist for the painting as well as the foundation for the Zombie path.

After getting the sky and trees in I went back to reestablish the moon. With the paint still workable in the sky, I into the moon so I could have a softer edge in some areas and blend it into the sky. I also started adding some detail to the path, putting some grass along the edges of it and working on the stone pillar on the left had of the image.

The rocks of the pillars are basically a mixture of reds and greens to give me some muddy browns......as well as some Ultramarine Blue for the darker areas.

Next I started in on the Zombie and getting the gate back in, as well as some more mist work.

At this stage of the painting I am now working the entire surface of the painting bringing out and pushing back to bring it all home, but mainly concentrating on the Zombie.

....some Zombie detail....

For the flesh of our Zombie, I wanted it to be a greyish colour but with just a little more "colour", so I made it more of a bluish purple. Some of the shadow and decayed areas are Asphaultum and a little black, and dry brushed on to kind of give a dried out appearence to the flesh. For some of the hair, I took the tip of a very pointy exacto knife and scratched into the paint to get the fine lines of highlights.

...........and here we have the completed Zombie.

Thanks for listening.

NEW YEAR........NEW SERIES

2011-01-24T13:26:00.000-05:00

With the advent of the new year, I have decided to embark on a personal project to do in the inbetween times.........I have always sort of wanted to do a project on my favourite movie monster.....sort a Famous Monsters of Filmland thing......those mags had some of the greatest covers and art work. So, with all that in mind, I did this little image of the Phantom to start if off, and will be doing others as time permits, but here we go...................

THE PHANTOM

FRAZETTA TRIBUTE SHOW at the Gallery Provocateur

2011-01-18T15:32:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to the results for Gallery Provocateur's up coming tribute show for Frank Frazetta.

Congratulations to all those who were accepted and a special thanks to the judges as well as Veronika for devoting so much time and energy into putting this thing together.

ZOMBIFICATION, or the progression of a zombie Part 1

2011-01-08T12:16:00.000-05:00

In this and the next few posts, I will be showing my process of painting. Now it is very basic, and quite honestly similar to most everyone elses, but it is a learning experience for me as well as some of you out there.

It all starts somewhere, and that is with the concept and basic sketch for the image. Sometimes it just comes from the A.D., and you are given a passage or discription from the story, or if time maybe even the book to read. In this case, I just basically wanted to do a zombie image, and did an extremely rough rough.

Now that you have your idea and a rough, you can either go to a colour comp, and lay out your colours and get all the lights and darks down. This is definitely the way to go because it gives you a reference of what you and or your client will be getting in the end. I actually did not do this on this one.........I had a very clear idea of what I wanted, and went straight for it, since it was going to be a personal piece.

After getting the sketch ( sketches in most cases ) and all done and approved it is time to get your idea on the board, or whatever it is you choose to paint on ( stretches canvas, canvas panel, illustration board...you get the picture ). I personally paint on gessoed Tracy-nite ( it is actually masonite, but I still like the term of Tracy-nite ). There is no one right way to get your image down on the board!!!

Repeat this phrase........

THERE IS NO ONE RIGHT WAY TO GET YOUR IMAGE DOWN ON THE BOARD!!!

Do whatever you can to get it on there. I use several methods of doing so on the same image. For this painting it was pretty simple, I just drew directly onto the surface of the board. In other cases, I will draw directly onto it, draw on tracing paper to get the image down, use a carbon paper to trace one of my drawings onto it. I have even scanned a drawing enlarged or reduced the image to fit the size I was working on, even flipped the image because I felt it would look better going the other way.

Some folks will do there complete drawing on a sheet of paper, and project it to the surface, and retrace it. Some will have there drawing done on paper and then apply it to a stiffer surface ( checkout Donato Giancola ).

Once I have the image down on the surface and all settled in the way I want it, I will first spray fix the image to the surface, sand it lightly to take any bit of slickness off, and then I will apply an acrylic matte medium to the surface. For this step, I just squirt it out of the bottle onto the board.

Once I have the medium on the board I will spread it about with a 2 inch foam brush and cover the whole surface with the stuff. Let it dry completely.

After it completely dries, I will lightly sand the surface.......not really sure why I do this, but I do. ........it may have something to do with some past wood working where I would sand in between layers of varnish........

anyway, after I sand the surface I will take my foam and run it under the faucet and wet it down completely, and then squeeze out all the excess moisture so that the brush is damp.

I will then re-apply the medium with the damp brush. Doing this tends to give me a smoother surface to work on.

After this step is done I will let it dry comepletely again. This is actually pretty important, if the medium is not COMPLETELY DRY, it can come up off the board and you are back to square one and starting over.

Now that the surface is completely dry ( if you have time overnight is good ) I will lightly tone the surface of the board with a wash of yellow ochre. This step is pretty important for me and my process especially when I get to the next step, which is the underpainting.

In doing the underpainting I am establishing the lights and darks and overall tone of the piece. Here in this one I am establishing the background with colour and tone in very thin oil washes, laying in the basic foundation of the gate with a black........I did this for two reasons, the black will show thru the paint once I start laying in the thicker paint for the background and once I get further into the piece, I will already have it basicaly painted and just have to re-establish certain areas and highlight the areas I want to show thru.

Except for the background, I will usually do the rest of my underpaints with asphaltum or burnt umber. O.k., here is where I find toning the surface to come in handy........ aside form taking the white out.......it gives me a basic mid tone all over the surface....so with either the umber or the asphaltum......I can establish the darks. For the lights I will take a rag and a wee bit of turps and wipe out the ochre to give me back my lights.

In the next post I will go into the actual painting of the piece.

HAPPY NEW YEARS

2011-01-02T15:26:00.000-05:00

A few years back I was in the habit of doing a watercolour of a Gnome for Christmas, as well as New Years, traditionally I would do them the day of the holiday or maybe a day or 2 in advance.........yes sometimes a day or 2 after as well.

This year I started back again at it, but this time in oils

...this little guy is going to be unique, since he is in oils, and although I do like him, I am going to go back to the watercolours for these, for me there is something about them that I like more, they are I guess for me more charming and I just like the look of them better.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2010-12-23T13:13:00.000-05:00

Just want to wish everyone out there, a very Merry Christmas, may God bless you all and bring only good things to you in the new year.

This Santa is a quick little fella done in oils on Tracy-nite, and 8 X 10. I did him in a little over 3 hours...........a nice and fun way to spend some time and get into the Christmas spirit.

SORTING IT OUT

2010-11-29T09:27:00.000-05:00

We all have our own way of keeping our "stuff" organized and ready at a moments notice for use. At one point I was the tackle box king..........everything in tackle boxes except for my fishing stuff, but after awhile they were unorganized. After building my "ultimate taboret", I started using one of those little slide drawer organizers, and has now become a "why didn't I do that sooner??" type of thing.

All the paints are at an easy reach, the drawers are clear and you can see what is in there......of course I wrote on the drawers what the colours are so I don't have to remember what is where, and the paint fits perfectly!! except for the really large tubes which I don't really use except for white and sap green.

GIRL WITH LION AND CIRCLE

2010-10-27T13:51:00.000-04:00

Realizing it had been a long LONG time since I had sat down and done an ink, I doodled out this image in my sketchbook, and said to myself......" ya know, that would be a nice ink" so I continued sitting down and penciled this in and proceeded to get my ink on and here we have it.

Once it was done, I sort of realized it was similar to my favourite Frazetta ink, the one on the cover to Living Legend......which really doesn't bother me especially since I had been working on a few things for the Tribute Show. Who knows I might just submit this one as well.

Finished Fritz Tribute Paintings

2010-10-19T10:25:00.000-04:00

Well folks I have finally gotten photos of the two finished paintings for the Frazetta Tribute Show that is being held by The Gallery Provocateur in Chicago. This is a juried show and no guarantee that I will even make it, but it is worth a shot and for a good cause. If nothing else I got two pretty good paintings out of the venture and that is never a bad thing!

ON THE BLACK RIVER

This is a Conan piece loosely based on the story Beyond the Black River.

THE DEATH DEALER

No real need to explain who this is, but I will note that although this is an original image done by me, the Death Dealer is a creation of Frank Frazetta and belongs to him, it is his creation, and this is just my interpretation of it.

A FEW ROUGHS FOR THE FUN OF IT

2010-09-27T10:17:00.000-04:00

After making yesterdays post on the FRAZETTA TRIBUTE SHOW I thought I would post a few roughs for the pieces I am doing as my entries.

This is the original concept for the Conan piece, the sketch in the upper left is the beginning, then I started playing with the fellow impaled on the tree, and fleshing himout.....sort of became fun so he is a lot more detailed in this than just a normal doodle

Now we have a rougher but more fully lain out rough of the painting with a few production notes of what I want going on in the piece, complete with coffee stains, (I think Frank was around while I was doing this and bumped my hand............I was pleased, sort of made it seem more of a tribute)

............just sort of a colour schemey thing ..........

.......here we have a bit of progress on the actual painting..........

This little yellow doodle came out of nowhere one night. My wife and I were at the local community theater's ( the Rush County Players.....aka RCP) awards program.......The Hammies, and while I was talking with a friend of ours, I sort of rudely began doodling while listening to her, and this ol' boy popped out..............he is drawn on a folded up paper place mat .......

......so in the morning when I got up and looked at the doodle again, I thought to myself....."I really should do this one" so I re-sketched it and did this little colour rough.

..........and here we have him in progress....................

Originally the emblem on the shield was the bird from the first Death Dealer, but as I was painting on it I thought that the Frazetta "F" would be more than appropriate. I hope the family will understand and not be offended.

FRAZETTA TRIBUTE SHOW

2010-09-26T07:55:00.000-04:00

This is just a quick little heads up, The Gallery Provocateur in Chicago is having a Frazetta tribute show and I will be entering a few pieces. More Details will follow as well as some pictures of the images that I will be entering.

This is a juried show with an amazing pannel of judges:

Jon Schindehette, Creative Art Director of Wizards of the Coast

Master Artist Simon Bisley

Paul Hellard, Editor CG Society & Assistant Editor Ballistic Publishing

Master Artist Gerald Brom

Arnie & Cathy Fenner, Publishers, Spectrum Fantastic Art Books

Veronika Kotlajic, Curator of Gallery Provocateur & Art Muse

I will be entering:

2 oil paintings............a Conan piece that I have been working on for a bit as well as a Death Dealer that sort of just came about and had to come out.

A pencil piece..........Man or Beast, which I happen to have some 11 X 17 prints of available for $20.00. Just drop me a line @ tracy@tflynnartgallery.com

I am also intending to do an ink piece as well as a watercolour.

So please stay tuned for further updates, and best of luck to all who enter!!! I hope to see many of ya'll there..........I personally intend to be there whether or not my pieces make the cut.

All the best.

BIG BONE

2010-08-12T11:44:00.000-04:00

Here is a little pencil thing I did a month or so ago, it is I think 14 X 17. Still in need of a scanner so unfortunately the photo is really all I have right now...........

Tarzan Yell's

2010-06-23T10:27:00.000-04:00

A while back I made a post about Life is a Taboret, and had a movie quote in the post and turned it into a giveaway. Guess the movie the line is from win a drawing, a drawing drawing.

The winner of the drawing was Carlos Pereira Da Silva, and I must appologize to Carlos for the delay in getting to this, but life has a way of doing this, so Carlos I am sorry for not getting the image to you sooner, please forgive me for this.

Part of the life getting in the way is also a scanner that has decided to die on me and leave me without means of getting good digital images of some of my images. So here is a rather bad photo of Carlos' drawing.

With the advent of me being scannerless, I will be posting some drawings and paintings to help offset the expense of getting a new scanner, ( I am looking at a bigger one )or if you would like, I am always open and willing to do a commission of two or three as they come along.

BEAUTIFUL GRIM AUCTION

2010-06-02T08:26:00.000-04:00

Here is a artist list for the 2nd wave of artists contributing to the BEAUTIFUL GRIM ART AUCTION. I hope you will stop by and look at the amazing works by the folks and if you feel compelled bid.

Now is a good chance to get some works by the best in the buisness, just look at the list:
1. Aaron Coberly
2. Anastasia Belov
3. Andrew Jones
4. Ben Thompson
5. Chenoa Lindsey
6. Christine Griffin
7. Christophe Lautrette
8. Dan Cole
9. Daren Bader
10 .Dave Kendall
11. Dominique Fung
12. Eric Braddock
13. Eric Favela
14. Evan Hunt
15. Everette Downing
16. Frank Lin
17. Gayle Wheatley
18. Horia Dociu
19. Jeff Miracola
20. Jessa Sininger
21. Jessica Ward
22. Josh Cole
23. Joy Ang
24. Katy Hargrove
25. Kekai Kotaki
26. Kristen Perry
27. Lettie Lo
28. Lisa Evans
29. M. C. Matz
30. Martha Chan
31. Michael Corriero
32. Michael Phillippi
33. Patricia Smith
34. Richard Anderson
35. Richard Sardinha
36. Sarah Gonzalez
37. Scott Altmann
38. Sergio Lopez
39. Shyla Ford
40. Simon Christen
41. Simon Otto
42. The Loin
43. Tom Bagshaw
44. Tracy Flynn
45. Victoria Ying
46. Willie Real

I am seriously looking for some extra cash to bid on a few pieces myself, Daren Bader, Eric Braddock, Scott Altman, Mike Corriero..................

Well anyways, a great cause and an honour to participate, stop by look, bid, and tell everyone you know.

Thanks

Tracy

BARBARIANS, MORE THAN A BLOODY CROWN

2010-05-24T08:59:00.001-04:00

Now running at LuLu.com is Timmothy R. Jones' s book BARBARIANS, More than a Bloody Crown with a 10% discount.

To recieve your 10% discount type in the code FLOWERS at checkout.
Discount good thru May 31, 2010

A few final words on Frank

2010-05-15T10:27:00.004-04:00

It has taken me a few days to get my thoughts together on this, the passing of Frank Frazetta, at this point I think I can maybe put together what I have been feeling and thinking for the past few days.

Like so many people in the field of fantasy art.............I took this path from seeing the works of Frazetta. I first saw one of his paintings in the 7th grade on the cover to Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar, Tarzan swooping down out of the trees at a lion by fire light. The copy of the book was old and the dust jacket was gone, but it was a light blue book with spotty orange inking on it. I loved the motion the intensity of the image, but was unimpressed............next was Conan the Usurper. HOLY CRAP I was hooked.

From the moment I saw Usurper I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to do THAT! I wanted to paint those pictures. Then one day I found the Ballantine book, THE FANTASTIC ART OF FRANK FRAZETTA. If I wasn't hooked before, I was then. It wasn't until the third Ballantine book came out tha I saw Opar in full colour...........I was wrong..........that is the most amazing painting ever. I am always asked at somepoint or another what my favourite Frazetta image is.........that is tops on the list, but as I have said way to often, my favourite painting is whichever one I am looking at at the moment, which really does hold true.

You look at a Frazetta, and I have been doing this for about 35 years now ( I am a young buck in fandom ) and I STILL see something new everytime I look at one of the images. That says it all about his work. I will continue to look at and study the mans paintings for the next 35 years and still see something new. Newer generations of fans will look at his stuff and point out something new to me........let that soak in.... there is ALWAYS something new to see in a Frazetta.

Frank Frazetta was a mythical giant to me, a mentor, an inspiration, a guidance counsoler, and in many ways a friend. If I was stuck on an image .......... go see what Frank would do. That was something I constantly did growing up and trying to learn my craft. It was almost always "look to Frank", pull out the books get a new grip on the problem and go solve it. Still to this day I will do this......I know I will do it in the future as well. You may say what you will about it.

I would look and see how he would solve a similar issue and then apply that to my image and do it my way. MY Way........a big key in life, follow the examples of those who went before you and learn from them and apply it to you and your situation, and resolve it your way.........through their guidance. Frazetta seemed to always say " why be a second rate Frazetta, be a first rate you" . Very inspiring words to me, and in my art I have always aspired to do that and in life in general.

I got to spend several hours with Frank in his studio in the mid '80's just prior to all the health problems, and I have to say meeting the giant was more than I ever expected. Warm, gracious, friendly and interested in me and my stuff. In that meeting it was for me, a dream come true. Sitting on the floor of his studio him flipping thru my portfolio ( all college stuff and a shambles and everything I had......EVERYTHING ) pausing here, and commenting, holding this up and that up, asking questions. It was honestly a better crit and review than I ever got in school, not because it was Frank Frazetta, but becuase of the interest and passion in the man.

During that visit, he would bring this painting out, and that one .......Reign Of Wizardry, and if I remember, the nude from '64 because at the time it wasn't hanging in the first museum............and as he was doing so, he would ask what do you think of this area, should I do this or that or just leave it alone?? We talked of art, coffee, guns all sorts of things just had a grand time.

That night I had purchased a museum print. I didn't have all the money, but was allowed to make installments. I brought the last payment up to Pennsylania a year later, and got to visit the house again. Frank wasn't there, he was getting tested. Ellie brought out the print, and pointed out the drawing on the bottom, and said he did that the night after I left.

Twenty some odd years later, I got to go back and see the new museum, met up with some friends I had just met, but had known for a few years thru the internet. We wandered around the place, talking, discussing and discovering new things about the paintings. We got to meet Frank, and after the twenty some years, the bad health and all..............the one thing I saw that never changed was the sparkle, the fire in his eyes. Intensity..........Frazetta.

We all knew that the Master would one day leave us, it was expected, as it is for all of us, but I just wasn't expecting it on Monday, May 10, 2010.

I have not had an artistic life without Frank Frazetta in it. Many of us haven't. His art will endure, and continue to astonish and amaze people for a long, long time. I guess I went through that brief lifestory for this........

Frank Frazetta was a mythical giant to me, a mentor, an inspiration, a guidance counsoler, and in many ways a friend.

The images he painted, drew or thought of were larger than life and left me with a desire to be better, to do the best I can and to be me, to do it my way......INSPIRITATION

He sat with me for a few hours talking art, discussing my images, suggesting things, taking the time to offer advice and crit the works of a young 22 year old wanna be, but on the level of an equal. ..............MENTOR

Looking at his works and seeing ways to resolve my own conceptual problems ......GUIDANCE

A lot of us have read about him and heard things over the years, grew up with him and in a sense known him. Now I cannot claim that I was his friend, I only met him twice, but in those meetings, he made me feel as tho I was. I can say this, in my heart he was .............my FRIEND

Frazetta was so many things to so many people that it is a difficult task to put things into words that will encompass all. I can only relay what he was to me.

There is a passage from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, that I love and have hanging on my studio wall which reads:

"The friends that we have lost do not repose in the bosom of the eath, but are buried deep in our hearts; and it has thus been ordained, that we may always be accompanied by them."

Frank Frazetta will be carried in numerous hearts, and memories. His works will continue to warm and inspire the hearts and works of generations to come.

I know personally that I will carry him and all I have garnered from him with me, and will pass on what I know and have learned so that the chain will remain unbroken and more links can be added.

I got to say this to him in person on my last visit and I wish to say it again now

Thank you.

R.I.P FRANK FRAZETTA

2010-05-10T17:49:00.000-04:00

Un - COVERED

2010-05-03T11:46:00.001-04:00

A few posts back, was a post titled Cover Up, shows me at the easel working on a painting...............well folks, here is the finished painting and the book for which it was done for.

BARBARIANS More Than A Bloody Crown

written by Timmothy Ray Jones

"Journey to an Age when civilization clashes sword to sword with barbarism under the watchful eyes of gods, and lurking in the shadows, users -- masters of sorcery ever seeking power at any cost. Follow four adventures wherein: A barbarian learns there are times when it takes more than victory on the battlefield to usurp a throne. A barbarian escaping slavery learns there are more kinds of slavery than he ever imagined. A barbarian discovers there is much more to going home than just the mission assigned him. A barbarian awakens from a mysterious slumber to find he is not the man he thought he was. "

It is available thru Lulu.com at this link....BARBARIANS More Than A Bloody Crown

This was a fun project for me and I amlooking forwards to reading the thing. Just the brief bits I was given to do the illustration was enough to hook me and make me WANT to read the stories, and do the painting.

So congratulations to Tim, and may we see many, many more from him in the future, and a thank you to him as well for letting me do the painting for him.

And here is a picture of the completed painting as well.

WINNER...........................

2010-05-03T09:35:00.002-04:00

Just letting the word out that we have a winner to the movie quote from the post "Life is a Taboret". The line was " without further elloquence", and the movie was THE QUIET MAN, and is one of my all time favourite films.

Our winner is a fellow artist, Carlos Pereira Da Silva, I will try to get a link to his site so that we can all share in his gift.

We will be doing more of these from time to time, so please stay tuned and as always please let us know what you think and are up to.

Ok here is a link to Carlos's site..........:

Carlos Pereira Da Silva

LIFE IS A TABORET....................

2010-05-01T11:17:00.002-04:00

Over the past few days, maybe a week or so, my wife and I have begun to remodel, our studio/office space in the house. In doing such, I have had to do a bit of cleaning and cleaningout, and organizing.

The closet in the room was made into a storage cabinet for various things such as a few needed household tools, but also oganized to hold my art supplies, old paintings, boards for new paintings and paper and those sorts of various things.

In getting the closet organized, and cleaning things out, I was afforded the opportunity to do something I had been planning on and wanting to do for quite awhile. Build my "ultimate" taboret. Like many folks I am not quite an off the rack person, and have to customize things to suit my particular needs and wants. I built my own easel when I started painting again, of course there were numerous reasons for doing such, but one of the main ones was I want it to fit me and my needs. Now a few weeks back I purchased an easel I had been wanting for a long time, a simple H framed thing that I felt would do what I wanted and needed. Well once it was out of the box I had to customize it....................not much, but the bar in the back wouldn't hold the smaller size boards I use without them being all wobbly, so I took the backing off of my other easel, and added a paper towel holder to it.........pretty much it....suits my needs MY easel.

Doing this also allowed me some of my needed nostalgia of previous paintings and in a sense a sort of tradition...........silly I know but it works for me.

NOW............my "ultimate" taboret:

This Frankenstien of a thing is pieced together from all sorts of things I have collected and made use of over the past 10 to 15 years. So " without further elloquence" ( movie quote.........be the first to guess the movie win a free 9 X 12 pencil drawing) here is my ultimate taboret:

A) a cheap little table used as a taboret some 15 years or so ago. Mainly held brushes and watercolour stuff, the drawer keeps extra pencils and things.

B) an old surplus card file I got somewhere that I now hold new brushes in.
C) an NYC Police Dept. coffee cup
D) a vertebrae shaped coffee mug my mom gave me one year for my birthday...........looked like marrow in the bone when you had coffee in it.
E) an old flower vase picked up somewhere.
F) old glass plates used as palettes during the college portion of life.
G) a strudy oak staple style table I got from a neice.......thanks so much, Mo.
H) an old painting I never got around to completing......yes it was gonna be a big one.
I) some 2 x4' s from an old video rack bought when Deb and Bob's went out of business.
J) the youngster of the group, a cheapo file cabinet maybe 3 to 4 years old.
K) the glass palette I use now, I got from OfficeKing while I worked there.

.....and a couple of other views just because:

COVER UP

2010-04-04T06:41:00.000-04:00

Here is a little preview of a recent comission that I am currently finishing up. After this one I will be back on a Conan that I have been dying to finish.

Evening Sketches

2010-03-24T09:41:00.000-04:00

I have publicly stated so many times about my compulsion to just sketch or doodle.....I can't help it, it is an ithc that I have to scratch one way or another. Most recently I have been scratching the itch in what I feel is a more productive way.

Instead of just randomly doodling a hand or a leg, face or what have you, I have been trying to do full sketches more in the vein of getting a more refined rough done for a painting or ink, anything that would lend itself to a bigger and better finished image. The forementioned method of doing head, hands, and feet ( great band with Albert Lee as well ) is productive, but I am wanting something a little bit more from the time spent. Now I haven't stopped doing that, but am spending less time on it.

These few sketches here, I've done late in the evening, just kicking back and relaxing. They have mainly been done before turning in for the evening. They have honestly helped me to sleep better at night as well. They have really relaxed the mind and body and gotten me some good doodles as well.

Axe guy, possibly a figure for a battle scene, could be another Conan, who knows but nice fellow.

Kull, he is floating but is obviously standing on something, and I will figure that out at somepoint, I like the attitude of the pose and will find a fitting background for him ................suggestions always welcome if you like.

The Creature...........yes our old friend and in my opinion the best movie of the classic horror films. He has an environment, and I am torn between doing an ink on this one or an oil. I am not sure which, the layout really lends itself to the ink, but see the painting as well. I might do both although I really don't like to do that. Not sure why, I guess I feel ......done it time to move on and get something new, but with this guy, I really might do both. Voice an opinion if you want, would love the help.

THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER

2010-03-19T12:34:00.000-04:00

Here is a quick pencil I just finished this morning, for a contest over on the ArtOrder forum.

The Beholder.

I had started this one around 8:30 in the morning, and completed it by roughly 11 a.m. It was honestly a good time, I had not sat and just drawn like that in a long time, and just had a blast with it. Might have to make it a regular thing.

A LITTLE UPDATE AND IN THE WORKS

2010-03-16T12:34:00.000-04:00

This is just a little heads up for what is coming up in the near future.

There will be a new Conan piece coming out shortly, it will be the best one I have done so far, and is based on Beyond the Black River.

I am currently working on a comission for a bookcover that will be released later this year.

I am also currently working on the next ArtOrder challenge.....MUTATION NATION.

We are still waiting on the dates and location for the BEAUTIFUL GRIM artshow and auction, as soon as that is available I will be posting it here as well.

Well that is about it for now.

going for tha Green

2010-03-11T17:40:00.001-05:00

HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY

BEGINNINGS

2010-01-26T09:13:00.000-05:00

Seeing as this is my first blog for the year, I thought I would talk about ......Beginnings. Every picture has to start or come from somewhere.

As an illustrator, the images that I create do not come from some divine inspiration or muse, but 98% of the time come from some kind of text giving me a description of what is wanted, some of it very specific :

Art Description:

Assassin Devil
— 6 feet tall
— Devilish humanoid
— Female
— Indigo skin
— Unappealing devil face with the left half covered by frightening iron mask that looks like a demonic face
— Two horns
— Lithe but muscular
— Wears dark leather armor with iron parts that resemble demonic body parts (iron pauldrom with iron horns sprouting from it)
— Wears a cloak made of shadows and darkness
— Wields a black longsword made of shadowstuff
— Has devil feet.
— Looks at us dourly with her sword held at the ready
— Vignette image on white background

............ sometimes something as vague as "I need a warrior with a pruple sword".

Once givin the description........the divine inspriation comes in handy in putting the words into a picture.

The longer more specific description above comes from over at Jon Schindehette's blog ArtOrder. It is the first of the challenges I worked on this year........anothe beginning.....and is what gave me the idea for this blogs subject.

Since I have my first step ....... a discription of what is needed for the illustration, the next step is to turn that need into an image, so I start to scribble.....and that is litteral. My first initial roughs are nothing more than little gestural scribbles:

these little scribbles are on the back of the piece of paper where I took and printed out the description for the image. I had folded it up and kept it in my pocket for reference and it also gave me little sections to do my doodles in while playing with the image. The one on the bottom right is the one that I liked best and started there to develope the concept further.

Once I had my visual concept, it was time to take it further and get a little more detailed:

In the top left of this you can see the refined scribble. That was the first thing drawn on this page, the others are me still playing with the concept and looking for the best positioning to make it a non-static pose.

These two sketches are a continuation of the process, and they really weren't working for me, but the sketch in the center.......

....that one said work with me. I liked the positioning and the movement of the figure. The attitude of the head. It all worked better for me than the original concept, so I went here and fleshed this one out more:

....and this is the finished sketch I went with for the painting:

So, there is the process from beginning to end, description, concept to completion, and its like the Dave Edmund's song says " From Small Things Mama, Good Things One Day Come". From the humble little scribble to the finished painted image.

KRAMPUS CHALLENGE

2009-12-21T08:17:00.000-05:00

According to Wikipedia entry, Krampus is a mythical creature who accompanies Saint Nicholas in various regions of the world during the Christmas season. The word Krampus originates from the Old High German word for claw (Krampen). In the Alpine regions, Krampus is represented by a demon-like creature. While Saint Nicholas gives gifts to good children, the Krampus warns and punishes bad children. Traditionally, young men dress up as the Krampus in the first two weeks of December, particularly in the evening of December 5, and roam the streets frightening children and women with rusty chains and bells. In some rural areas the tradition also includes birching by Krampus, especially of young girls.

I had started out to do this challeng over on Art Order, and even got the drawing done, but sadly enough I got busy with a few things and did not get home in time to send in the drawing, such is life, but I do not regret it since the time was well spent with my family, and they do come first.

Anyways here is the little ( 11 X 14 ) ink I did for the challenge. It is on a heavy Bristol and available for $45.00 .

This will most likely be the last post for the year, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years, and that all will be safe.

Tracy

Quazi's Paradise

2009-12-19T11:31:00.000-05:00

here is the painting just off the easel for BEAUTIFUL GRIM

BEAUTIFUL GRIM

2009-11-23T10:44:00.002-05:00

This is for my friend..............

My name is Daarken and I am a concept artist and illustrator working for Mythic Entertainment. My friend Leif Jeffers, an animator at DreamWorks, and I are organizing an art auction fundraiser that will be held next year.

Earlier this year my girlfriend, Cat, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 25. On November 3rd, 2009, she had a bilateral mastectomy after going through 16 weeks of chemotherapy. As you can imagine it has been hard for her, not only mentally and physically, but financially. In order to help alleviate some of her medical bills Leif and I wanted to throw an art auction. The proceeds that are left over after her medical bills have been paid will go to a breast cancer related charity to be determined by the artists in the coming weeks.

We currently have artists contributing that hail from all regions of the industry: concept artists, animators, photographers, sculptors, fine artists, illustrators, you name it. The theme for the auction is "Beautiful Grim." The interpretation of "Beautiful Grim" has been left up to the artists. A tentative deadline for the art has been set for February 1st, 2010. Venues to hold the event are also currently being researched, but so far we are considering either San Francisco or New York.

...............and yes I will be donating a piece to this.

LEAP

2009-11-12T13:37:00.000-05:00

Here we have the completed painting detailed in the previous post.

REALIZING A PROBLEM AND MAKING THE CHANGES

2009-11-10T11:27:00.001-05:00

Ok, in this one I had a concept for a painting, liked the idea and did the little concept sketch, doodle, rough.......whatever you want to call it, and still liked what I was doing..........pretty good so far. I have an idea, a sketch and am ready to start on the painting.

Now I get into the painting............things are going good in my mind and am just rockin along, background done, moved onto the central figure and thinking .....yeah, this is cool

the horse is doing fine, got the the dude working it with the axe ......cool axe Trace.......nice one there...........and then I sit back and LOOK at what I have done, and something just isn't right. Got sort of an S shaped pyramid compositional thing going on......some action happening, but still something is wrong.........Ah Ha!! the arms aren't working .....too big, anatomy is off.........so I paint them out, but as I start to paint them back in..........IT still isn't right. So I just sort of sit back and really REALLY look at what I have going on here, and quickly come to the conclusion that it is the whole positioning of the rider..........it just doesn't work. Balance is off. Not believeable and he would fall off.

Back to the sketch book and play with it...............

.......now this really works for me, arms opened up for balance, still got an S like pyramid thing going, very fluid movement in harmony with the horse. Go with this I say to myself, so I begin to flesh it out and add a little detail to the figure..........if it doesn't work for this then I still have something I can play with later......... still a cool axe, so for a little bit of fun I scan the sketch and place it ontop of the painting in photoshop:

Now I really like it...............the changes were the right thing. They turned a painting that would never really work from a waste of time into a viable piece of work. After seeing the potential for this in the little digital mock up, I truly begin to play with the figure and

add the details to it so that I can get a little better idea of what is going to go on. Big round belt buckle to mirror the roundness of the shield as well as the axe head. Two handed sword adding a third diagonal and continuing the upward motion of the sheild arm as well as the horses movement .............directional lines are cool and an effective means of motion and compositional tools as well. Added a little oval thing to the harness creating a little triangle thing happening with the small circle of the shield and the belt buckle. All these little things that I am mentioning are what I saw AFTER doing them. While I was doing the drawing and adding this here and that there..........this was not going through my head, it was all subcontious activity and not planned.

Just like the legs of the horse and the arch of its back leading you up to the figure from the bottom.

After getting all of this going and transfered back to the painting it looks sort of like this:

and here is a side by side comparrison of the old version and the new version......both in about the same stage of progress:

At the writing of this, the painting is 95% completed and bennefiting from the changes made. I am happy.

The ability to be your own critic and look objectively at what you do is a vital asset. Be open and honest with yourself .........an AD will as will everyone else looking at it .............and realize that not everything you do is going to come out exactly as planned. What looks good in a black and white pencil doodle won't necessarily be all it was cracked up once you start to add colour.

If you have any doubts about a piece, and you have the time......set it aside for a day or two, don't look at it and when you do go back to it, the answer might just be there for you. If that doesn't happen try showing it to a friend and see what it is that they are seeing in it. Be open to advice and try not to take it personal....especially if you want to improve and grow as an artist.

SNAP-SHOT DOODLING/MEMORY GESTURES

2009-10-19T11:42:00.001-04:00

Last night I did something I hadn't done in a long time, I did what I call SNAP-SHOT DOODLING or MEMORY GESTURES. The basic concept is to capture a pose or "gesture" while watching a movement and then draw it. So last night while I watched my favourite monster movie...THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, I picked up my sketchbook and started to doodle some of the action. I know they are rough and not a refined image, but that is what they are supposed to be. Each little doodle was a captured memory of what I had just seen on the screen. The only intent of the drawings were to capture the gesture or moment of that memory of what I had just seen.

For me, this is a good way to incorperate a movement or to capture an action. No, they are not exact replicas of what just occured on the screen, but a flash picture of it. Once it is seen then draw it and try to capture the action of the pose.

I not only do this while watching the t.v./ movies, but when I go to some of our childrens sporting events as well. This is even better than doing it to the television........you cannot rewind a live action, so you must get that mental snap-shot and get it down right quickly to preserve the moment.

When I was in school we used to go to the zoo to draw the animals, and this is most likely where this concept originated for me. At that time zoos were mainly cages and the animals sort of just sat there bored and didn't move much, but nowadays with the advent of the eco-envirement zoo...........might be fun to do again if you get to see the animals at all you will get a good primer of animal movement.

Looks like we will be making a trip to the zoo at somepoint, and the sketches will be coming out. One example I have of this sort of thing is from earlier this summer when I did the llama doodles.

MAHAR SACRIFICE

2009-10-11T09:22:00.000-04:00

Ok, well its been awhile since I had spoken about this project............so long in fact that I had almost forgotten I had planned to do it. The project was my AT THE EARTH'S CORE portfolio, and yes it still is in the works. I had had a few things come up that I had to put aside the personal projects for, but now I am winding down on those and getting back to the CORE of things, and wanted to show a CORE sample to let anyone who might have been interested in this that I have gotten back to work on it.

I know that originally this project was intended to be in ink, well that sort of changed last night when I sat down in the living room and started to draw..............this came out, and I LIKED it. So while sitting there watching Jules Vernes the Mysterious Island and hanging out with my family I decided that the pencil 'folio would be just as cool as doing an ink and so............the AT THE EARTH'S CORE portfolio will still consist of 6 black and white images and one colour, but the B&W stuff will now be pencil.

continuing with the Dental work

2009-10-01T13:36:00.001-04:00

Just a little update on the progress of the most recent comission. The original pencil for this can be seen here . I have been having a blast with this one and will honestly be sad to see it go, but am glad to know it will have a good home when it is finished.

a Dino doodle

2009-09-27T08:21:00.000-04:00

This little guy was done while I sat at my table at Rush Fest, and is a one sharpener. Once I had set up and was waiting for folks to come by, I pulled out the ol' 11 X 14 pad of paper and it only had one sheet left in it so I figured I 'd better make the most of it, so this is what came out.

He's only $45.00.

RUSH FEST 2009

2009-09-24T11:07:00.006-04:00

Well it is that time of year again, and I will be down at the 201 Building this Saturday, September the 26th for this years Rush Fest. We had a great time last year and thanks to all those who came by and said hey and participated in the event. I know that it will be even bigger and better this year, and can't wait to see every one who comes by.

This year we are doing something a little different with what works I'll be showing, we will be displaying some of the CHILDHOOD MEMORIES watercolours and have some prints available for purchase. Along with the "MEMORIES" series we have decided to include some of my HALLOWEEN images as well, these will include 2 of the Headless Horseman paintings as well as some of my pencils.

These are the prints that will be available that day*, and will be $20 each:

A) TUBIN' ** ( this image hangs in the Rush County Library in the Children's Book Section )

B) DROW VS. FLAYER

C) BUBBLE CONTEST

D) HEADLESS III

E) ICEWORM

F) EMPEROR WORM

G) THAK ATTAK

H) TAR SWANG

* prints are available year round, just contact me at anytime and I will get them to you

** Five dollars from each sale of this print will go to the Rush County Library.

Hope everyone who can make will come out, and if you can't send someone down who can.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tracy

WIP'ed out...........St G. and the Dragon parody completed

2009-09-22T12:55:00.002-04:00

Just finished as we speak. ....now on to the next one.....which is a painting my dentists kids as barbarian/pirates in the mode of my Childhood Memories Series.

A LITTLE DENTAL WORK

2009-09-17T10:44:00.002-04:00

As I am finishing up one commssion, I am in the process of starting another as well. Here is a preview of the latest painting I will be doing, it is also the first of its kind..............one of my CHILDHOOD MEMORIES series images, but done in oils, all the others are in watercolour and a sepia toned ink.

KEEPING IT IN MIND.........

2009-09-05T12:28:00.004-04:00

I posted this image over on my Facebook page, but as I did it, it made me stop and think a bit about the image, how it came to be, AND the fact that this is a memory picture.

I was driving home one day when I passed this old guy on a scooter and the image stuck in my head, his positioning, the body posture clothing, and so on. The cigars in his pocket, the beer in the milk crate on the back all of this came into mind when I sat down to do this drawing this morning ( 9-5-2009 ).

There is something to be learned here...................drawing from memory. Pulling things from your head and lifes experience is a valuable thing. We cannot always find an exact reference photo of something, cannot always take the photo ourselves, and on occaision we have to make stuff up, and having a visual memory of things is a valuable asset.

Next time your sitting around wondering what you should draw or looking for something to do............think about it and then draw something you remember. See what comes out.

A BIT OF WORK IN PRGRESS......

2009-08-27T08:10:00.006-04:00

Just for fun I thought I would post a little bit of progressions on a piece I am working for a private commission, the shots take you fromthe intial rough, to a more "completed" rough to an in progress shot of the painting.

The concept was to do a painting based on St. George and the Dragon and use a portrait of a real person as St. George with a few symbolic things thrown in to personalize the image and

The sketch above is the original doodle based on the concept given to me by the clent, very rough indeed......

....here we have a tighter sketch with a few minor changes to the design ...............

..........and here is a small taste of how the image is coming along. The face s blacked out just because of the most remote possibility of the St. George individual some how finding this blog and seeing his portrait in the painting...............would not be cool since this is a surprise gift for them.

If I can ever remember to take the time to take the photos, I will eventually show my whole process on a painting from beginning to end.

FOOTLOOSE the musical

2009-08-21T08:28:00.002-04:00

Rush County Players Presents: FOOTLOOSE tonight and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at Rushville Consolidated High School's Laughlin Center for Performing Arts. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for studetns K-12.

I have only seen parts of this one in rehearsal stages, but what I have seen tells me this is going to be a GOOD one. So, if you are in town or near the town or passing through the town or Rushville this weekend................go see the show!!

The logo is one of my little inks as well.................

THE BELL RINGERS DANCE

2009-08-18T23:43:00.004-04:00

This started out as a doodle, and then became a rough for a painting I still intend to do, but in the process somewhere along the way I felt like doing it in pencil as well. Althought the painting will be similar............it will be done slightly different and more like the original doodle. Once the painting is done I will post the doodle as well.

14 X 17 on Bristol

$120.00

Drow VS Mindflayer

2009-07-22T10:30:00.002-04:00

Done for the Art Order cover challenge.

14 X 18 oils on Tracy-nite, if you are interested in purchasing this image please feel free to contact me. Would love to see it get a nice home.

R.I.P Ellie Frazetta

2009-07-17T11:30:00.003-04:00

25 years ago I was a young college student who was slightly bored, and sort of depressed with certain situations, so on a whim I called information and got a phone number. After dialing I got to speak with Ellie Frazetta, of course I asked for Frank but that didn't happen. It was much to my fortune tho, that I did speak with her. It changed some of my views and kept me persuing my dream of drawing and painting.

In speaking with her I felt connected and over the past 25 years I have called and spoken with her, been to the museum, even got to meet Frank a couple of times and spend some time in his studio with him. As much of a thrill as the experiences with Frank were, I think the quiet times that I did get to spend talking with Ellie are my favourite memories.

I remember one trip to the musuem where while my wife Dana wandered about looking at the paintings, I sat on the patio overlooking the lake with Ellie just talking, we covered a lot of topics in that conversation, love, life, happiness, even talked a bit of art and Frank, but just sat a talked like 2 friends. Now I cannot claim that she and I were friends, since we had only met a few times, breifly spoken on the phone on occaision quite infrequently, but that is what it felt like to me, and that is what I will always remember and cherrish about the memories of a dream come true, the unexpected connection I felt with her the first time I spoke with her as a young kid from Georgia who made a phone call hoping to speak with his idol, and got something more. Meeting Frank was a dream come true, feeling close and sharing personal and intimate moments of conversation with Ellie was beyond a dream come true.

All our thoughts and prayers are with the Frazettas at this time of sorrow and loss. I know where I will meet her again and look forward to the day that I do. God bless you Ellie and see you again.

Tracy

Thunderfoot Part II

2009-07-15T08:37:00.004-04:00

Ok, just for fun here are some of the thoughts I went thru in creating the Thunderfoot dragon.

The first sketch is the basic idea and position I had for the image, a note to myself on his feet to help add to the concept. As I was sketching and coming up with all of this, I was making some mental notes as well, those didn't make it to the sketchbook, but were used in the image none the less.

After the initial concept, I continued to dwell on the subject and honestly to some degree obsessed over it, making notes and refining sketches and the concept..........

At one point I took the time to work out the bone structure for his wing and shoulder mechanics...........I am actually still playing with this structure, just because I am not satisfied with the anatomy and I feel I can do better..........

.....the image as I posted it .....................

...............and the whole thing put together with text and completed.

Thunderfoot

2009-07-08T10:09:00.003-04:00

A little dragon piece I was working on for a contest over on ArtOrder. I'll post more about it coming soon, or you can go over there to Jons site and read about the contest for yourself now if you would like. I will be posting some of the skeletal structure doodles and stuff I played with while I was coming up with this little fella.

Llama Fashions

2009-06-29T15:31:00.002-04:00

This past weekend I got to spend time with my brother and his family as my niece Caroline, participated in a 4H competition involving Llamas. It was a blast!!, and gave me the opportunity to view and sketch an animal that I never would have considered drawing.

The Llama is a camelid.....which is to say a member of the camel family, which includes camels (no brainer there), alpacas, and dromedaries. The llama is the South American version of the camel as it were. They were used as pack animals by the Incas, you can click on the link and read more about them if you want to.

The Llamas all had fabulous cuts or coiffures as a fashion statement as well as a way to dispence heat. These cuts also made for more fun in drawing since I could come up with my own names for the cuts and differentiate the animals by other means than just colour.

MAN OR BEAST

2009-06-12T13:59:00.003-04:00

An illustration based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstien. This is the first of more to follow. I hope you enjoy this image and are like me looking forwards to the next one. Thanks for stopping by and if you are interested in purchasing this drawing please contact me for information on it. This is 14 X 17 pencil on bristol.

All the best to ya'll Tracy

Tracy@tflynnartgallery.com

BOREDOM

2009-06-01T12:28:00.003-04:00

Just a qucik thought on one of the best things about being an artist.

I often hear the words " I'm bored", "there's nothing to do", and many similar phrases, and I say to myself...."how can you be bored" but then again I realize not everyone draws or sketches to pass time away as I do.

The images posted here are from two of my little Moleskin Notebooks, the 2 in back are from a 5 X 81/4, for those days when size isn't an issue, and the one in front is my pocket pal a 31/2 X 51/2 for ease of carry and concealment.

I always have something on me or near me to draw with, so for the most part am never bored. It is really an amazing thing the gift of drawing, you will always have something to do. I personally feel that everyone HAS the ability to draw, what comes out might not be a DaVinci or a masterpiece, but it is something that has its own merrits no matter the ability level. I think the thing that keeps others from doing it as a way of passing time is the want to. I always want to draw.....especially during those times when I shouldn't or seemingly have nothing to do. It relaxes me and I enjoy it.

In a world where most people need the aid of electricity to make them happy or keep them from being bored, I feel most grateful to have the ability and the desire to draw or sketch. To make use of my time enjoying the simple things like drawing a lamp post while waiting on a train, drawing the scene of my car window and reflection of the mirror, or trying to capture my daughters face as she competes in a speach meet, and yes making up a frog prince just for the fun of it ( and for her).

So maybe next time you are feeling a little bored or seem to have nothing to do, find some paper and a pencil and sit down and doodle. It doesn't take much, is quite easy and passes the time. Just do it and see what happens.

KULL

2009-05-21T10:44:00.003-04:00

KULL
THE ORIGINAL MAN FROM ATLANTIS

Ok....so in the post GOING WITH THE FLOW I said it was going to be sepia toned.......I didn't like it so I went with the black ink, which is sort of following the post of going with the flow.

TRADITIONAL TECHNOLOGY

2009-05-17T10:56:00.003-04:00

Although I am a traditional artist, i.e. I do not work digitally, I do at times use the technology available to me to make my life easier and to achieve my goals at times. In saying , here is an example of what I mean.

The images you see in this post are scans of the actual size of a piece I started the other day, and was not happy with the face I had draw. So instead of reworking it a bunch of times on the actual image and ruining the surface of the paper, I scanned the head in actual size. Then I just made a couple of sheets with the multiple head "blanks" on it so that I can work it out that way thus preserving the original piece.

A little extra work, but if you think about the time doing this verses the time of re-drawing a whole image.......well worth the effort.

One other thing done in this is after scanning the image, I flipped it around so that it is a mirror image to the original, that way when I go to transfer the image via tracing paper, all I have to do is go over the lines twice instead of 3 times.

GOING WITH THE FLOW

2009-05-14T12:07:00.008-04:00

After waking this morning and as I was enjoying my morning pot of coffee, I sat down at the drawing table and got out a sheet of parchment paper, as I was wanting to do an ink on parchment......actually a sepia toned ink.... just for something different and just the fact that I hadn't done one in long time.

The image on the above is the rough I did for this idea, and yes it is indeed rough. I actually drew it out on a scrap of bristol I keep on the table to wipe excess ink on when I am inking a piece.

After getting the concept down, I pulled out the parchment and as that it is a touchy surface, I got out my old friend the tracing paper and started to roughly sketch out the the piece. Now the more I drew, the more fun I had and the more I enjoyed the process, and ended up with something not quite a rough outline for the inking and something not quite a finished piece either. Yet as I was enjoying this freedom of just drawing and seeing what was coming out, I just sort of went with the flow of the day and the piece.

Now after about an hour or so I have a really nice "rough" and if I wanted a finished piece, but I think this is as far as I want to go on this one for now. I do still have intentions of doing that ink with this, but as I have a more detailed rough now, I will hopefully have an even better ink.

The face and right hand are a bit awkward, but I will be addressing that in the final image.

The ability to recognize when a piece is taking on something more than you intended is a good thing to have......like knowing what to leave in or take out, as well as when to stop. The time to be able to go with the flow is a wonderful thing and getting the chance to go with one is a good thing. In this one I reached a stopping point and said ok.

Will I take this farther, yes, but not on the tracing paper. I will post the ink when it is done, but for now........I am just going with the flow.

Tarzan, The Phantom, Devil and the Griff

2009-05-12T11:54:00.003-04:00

Just a recently finished commission. This was a fun piece to do, I loved the concept of having the Phatom and Tarzan meeting a dinosaur, and having just rececently finished re-reading Tarzan the Terrible, putting the Griff ( a Tricerotops like dino ) in the piece seemed natural. It also combined 2 of my favourite elements to draw........Tarzan and Dinosaur(s), so it was a plus.

THE MERRITS OF THE MUCH MISSALIGNED TRACING PAPER

2009-05-07T12:16:00.004-04:00

The other day in conversation, the topic of tracing and tracing paper came up with the phrase, " well at least your a real artist and don't trace stuff, you can draw ". I really found this kind of funny since I use tracing paper ALOT in my works, I like the term "Layout Paper" but it is all the same to me.

Yes,I do draw out all my own stuff, but tracing paper is a vital tool in the artists tool box, and does tend to get a bad rap. As most of us already know there is no one right way to do anything, and as time goes on.....there will be even more right ways. There are some artists who use a projector to transfer their drawing onto their painting surfaces, some whom I have heard will take their image, scan it enlarge it, print it and the paint right over the scanned image...........all cool to do, it is their image and their works. I myself will take my drawings scan them, enlarge or reduce them to the size needed for the space I'm working in. No one way is right and the fact that they were traced, or scanned or whatever does not change the fact that the image was originally drawn by the artist using it, and as I have grown as both artist and person, I find myself using more and more "aides" to create my works. Some of it is convenience, others practicality, time constraints and even just plain lazy.

Just a few of the ways that I use it :

A.....to work out or fix a part of an image so that the erasing doesn't ruin the original paper or whatever I am working on.

B.....these are images straight out of my sketchbook that I liked so much that is didn't really see any point in "re-drawing " them and loosing what it was that I liked about the image. Each of these two examples were actually taken and then scanned into my computer, and enlarged to fit onto the board they were going to be transfered to.

C....these two images were drawn directly onto the tracing paper while sitting on the board they were intended for so I could get the sizes right for the painting.

So just because you see tracing paper laying about somewhere, don't automatically assume that it is being used to copy something that shouldn't be, and don't get all high and mighty about not using it either. The stuff is good, practical, and a lot cheaper than having to start over if you ruin the surface of the original paper.

OPEN TO CHANGE PT II

2009-05-02T12:29:00.003-04:00

After writing all that about being Open to Change, and saying I had come up with the image....well when I sat down this morning to work on the drawing, I realized that the sketch wouldn't work, so I drew this out and am sure it is the final position for the piece. Using this figure will also add another element of depth to the composition as well so, there you.......be open to the changes that present themselves.

OPENESS TO CHANGE

2009-05-02T09:54:00.011-04:00

O.K., I know this is going to sound pretty simple and very basic, but being able to go with the flow or OPEN TO CHANGE is in my humble opinion a key to being a good artist/illustrator. It also sort of helps in your day to day life as well.

Getting stuck on a certain position for a figure or what not in your layout can hinder you or set you back on whatever it is your working on.

Changes can even happen at the last minute by the client, the AD or whomever maybe involved with the piece. The change may come just because of something like it just isn't working, or "I don't like it". Which is exactly what has happened to me on an ink I am currently working on. After doing 2 pages of roughs working on a position for one particular figure in this piece, I just was not satisfied with the action, position, and all that, so I just sort of put it up for the night and was going to come back to it in the morning.

As can be seen in the two pages of doodles, there were variations on the theme. So, even as I am fleshing out the idea, I am playing with the concept of maybe this will work better.

Well the morning came, and I pulled out the ol' sketching stuff.........not hard to do since it is everywhere .......and said to myself, "what if I did this?". Well I did it, and sure enough it is the right one.

Being open to the change as well as being able to recognize it and accept it are keys to getting the work done and having a good piece. So be open minded in what you do.

Simple to say, but sometimes not all that easy or simple to do. Very basic, but without the basics where would we be?

ITS ALL IN THE BAG

2009-04-28T11:14:00.016-04:00

A little more on the subject of the Setch-A-holic.

I am a card carrying confirmed sketch-a-holic, and am proud to say incurable. It is something that I cannot stop doing. If I don't have a pen or pencil with me, I am honestly composing and sketching images in my head.....these are just harder to keep track of and catalog as I get older, when I was younger they were easier to recall and put down, now I have some masterpieces that only I have seen and you will just have to believe me on that account.
When we go places there are certain things that have to go with me. Right now I have what I think is the ultimate in sketch equipment, it is a canvasmessanger bag , and is just chock full of pockets pouches and compartments for all the things needed to keep the compulsion to sketch and draw fed.

I do know and realize that I have said in a previous post "you really don't need a lot to do this with if you really want to." All of this stuff is not really a necessity, but it does make things easier for me if no one else, and may God bless my wife Dana for putting up with it and me. I will draw on anything, and have.........borrowed pens and stuff from people to get it done.

A) the aforementioned Creativo Messenger Bag

B) Tracy-nite panels for sketching out paintings........8 X 10 and 9 X 12

C) Moleskin Notebook

D) coloured pencils

E) a little watercolour set...this one is a cheapo Prang thing, nothing fancy just gets the colours down

F) a little metal clip to hold paper down if it is a windy day

G) Strathmore Bristol pads....8 X 10, 11X 14, and 14X 17......you just never know

H) an aluminum ruler........it was longer but a hacksaw solved the problem of not fitting into the pocket chosen for it

I) a smaller Moleskin Notebook....pocket sized, more later on that one, but I have been there before in another post

J) loose leaf paper

K) sketchbook

......there is also a refillable brush pen on one of the pads that I just forgot to give a letter.

Here is a look at some of the pockets..........I mainly keep 2B's and HB's with me. The HB's are good for sharp lines and give you some good darks, and the 2's are good for softer things.........but you all know that.

This bag stays with me 90% of the time and I will not go anywhere without it. It will travel with me even if it never comes out of the car. I sort of have other things that come with me in those situations that call for me to be more discreet or just won't allow the bag to come with me. For thosetimes I have my commando supplies.........

......THE COMMANDO KIT..............

Yes that blue thing is a travel toothbrush holder, the pencils, eraser and sharpener fit perfectly into the thing. I would almost swear that it was intended for the use of holding sketching stuff and that the whole toothbrush thing was an after thought.

The Moleskin Notebook is 3 X 5 and fits into most any pocket, the pencils are usually the same, one HB, and one 2B, the red pen looking thing is an eraser, and a bullet pencil sharpener...........those things are the best.

If anyone out there has any suggestions or just wants to share what they use or carry, let us know, we all might learn a new trick to the trade.

Thanks

STORAGE SPACE.......

2009-04-26T12:24:00.005-04:00

For a lot of us.............sketching and doodling is a compulsion, a need.........WE HAVE TO DO IT!! and I like a lot of folks will draw on just about anything I can get a hold to. So needless to say I have a LOT of loose papers lying about with this idea or that on it, which actually is what I am here to talk about today.

I know I am not the first to think of this solution to what to do with all those bits and pieces of paper, but I honestly have not seen anyone post anything on it either, but my solution to the piles of paper lying about is 3 ring binders (notebooks we used to call them back in school) and clear sheet protectors. They are easy to use, are expandable, and don't take up much space. You can lable them if you want to get real specific about what is in which book, I have one labled "ERB" which I keep all my Tarzan, and Burroughs stuff in, I have one for Conans and Robert E Howard, one just labled "roughs" and one just for doodles and such. Another cool aspect to these things is that you can take them to cons, set them out on your table and sell the sketches and what nots without tearing up your sketchbooks and things as well.

Quick easy and keeps the mess to a minimum.

PAINTINGS FOR SALE

2009-04-23T14:40:00.006-04:00

Here are a few pieces I have done recently on a smaller scale for fun/practice and are now available for purchase.

TARZAN STUDY

oils on masonite

11 X 14

$175.00

.....a few of the places in my world as well:

THE ABANDONED TEMPLE OF THE CARDHU

oils on masonite

8 x 10

$100.00

PASS TO WOLFSHEAD PEAK

oils on masonite

8 x 10

$100.00

If you are intersted in any of these or something else on my site http://tflynnargallery.com/ please do not hesitate to contact me at Tracy@tflynnartgallery.com . If you are intersted in commissioning me for a piece again please feel free to contact me.

Thanks

Tracy

AT THE EATH'S CORE II

2009-01-01T08:18:00.007-05:00

Here is a quick preview of one of the Earth's Core portfolio inks.

HAPPY NEW YEAR as well.

Tracy

BURROUGHS-ing IN...............

2008-12-27T11:55:00.002-05:00

After all the festivities and good times with family and friends, yesterday I got to go back into the studio and spend most of the day working and I must admit it felt GREAT!! I got 90% of the background done in the Earth's Core painting and started to work a bit on the figures. Today I am starting on some of the foreground as well as more of the figures and tightening a few things up, so the whole thing is coming along and there is another ink that I have started to pencil in sitting on the drawing table.

I will update a bit more later and maybe let a few images sneak out soon, but until then I am keeping them to me. There might be a rough pop up in a week or so.

Thanks

Tracy

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2008-12-23T12:46:00.005-05:00

My wife and I were at the annual Christmas party that we go to last night, and somehow during all the fun I managed to find my bag of stuff that I carry everywhere I go and whilst we were sitting around talking and having a good time...............I accidently did this drawing.

I was just sitting there on the couch and talking and making comments and yet at the end of the evening I had this sitting on my lap. I don't really remember doing it, but there it was and so here it is.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY

Tracy

KEEPING SPIRITS BRIGHT.......

2008-12-19T18:10:00.003-05:00

Just a few Christmas cards that I had done in the past.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, I wish you PEACE , LOVE, and HAPPINESS in the new year and hope everyone has a safe and blessed Christmas and holliday season.

See you all next year.

Tracy

POP

2008-11-27T09:29:00.002-05:00

Here it is, the special painting I was talking about in the COMING SOON post a week or so ago. As the title says "POP", its my dad. This is a special image as it is the first real portrait I have ever done, but even more so........this is for my mom. Today is her birthday and this is her present. As of the writing of this she has not seen it, but will open it later today, I truly wish I could be there for it, but in some small way I am.

In this painting, I just wanted to pay tribute to my dad, whom I love and respect more than anyone I have ever met. When I grow up, I would like to be the man he is.

Through this painting I also wanted to say thanks to my mom, for all the encouragement, advice and love she gave us growing up and still does. She is my number one supporter and "fan", so this painting is for her. In some small way with this image I can start paying back some of what they ( mom and dad ) have done for me. I know I can never repay all they have done for me, but I can try and the first step is to say thank you. I would not be who I am without their efforts or help.

So thanks to both and HAPPY BIRTHDAY mom.

I love y'all.

Tracy

ON SALE ON E-BAY

2008-11-24T16:09:00.004-05:00

Starting tonight......November 24, 2008 at 9:00 p.m. EST. There will be 2 origianl works on sale on E-bay for 7 days.

Both of these paintings are in oils and measure 16" X 20", and are painted on gessoed masonite.

So from Nov. 24, 2008 until Dec. 1, 2008, there is an open opportunity for anyone who wishes to buy one of these paintings:

(Just click on the painting title and the link will take you there)

HEADLESS III

PTERODACTYL PTROUBLE

Thanks

Tracy

COMING SOON.....

2008-11-15T12:33:00.001-05:00

Come November 27th, Thanksgiving day I will be posting a very special painting that I have been working on. It is a thanks as well as a gift.

MAHAR

2008-11-15T12:25:00.003-05:00

Here is a quick little post of a Mahar for the Earth's Core portfolio.

Now that the special personal project I was working on is finished, I have gotten back to the EC folio, sketching and roughing out the inks, and the oil is back on the easel.

At The Earth's Core

2008-10-23T09:22:00.003-04:00

There is a rumor going around that I am working on creating a limited edition portfolio of images from the ERB book, "AT THE EARH'S CORE".

I want to say that yes this is TRUE!!

I want to say this........because yes it is, I am the one who started the rumor as well ( smiley face goes here). The folio will consist of 1 colour image, and 6 black and white brush and ink images. It will be in a very limited quantity of only 300 pieces, with an additional run of 50 in a "collectors edition" which will include pages that consist of my sketches, doodles, roughs and notes for the project.

The price and packaging are as yet to be determined, since it is still in the very early stages, but I have started on the painting for this, and have all but one of the roughs for the inks worked out.

I would hope that it is all done and ready to put out in the spring of 2009. I will post more on this later as it progresses, but for now...it is in the works.

Thanks

Tracy

King Kong Solidario........

2008-10-23T09:18:00.002-04:00

Well the Auction is over for my piece..........I odn't know the actual figures, but I am quite happy to say that I in some small way got to help out a good cause. Maybe in 25 years I can do something for the 100th anniversery of the 'ol boy and help out someone esle as well.

I do want to thank all those who participated, art wise, production wise, bidder wiser, buyer wise and other wise. So thanks to all.

Tracy

AUCTION FOR CHARITY...KING KONG SOLIDARIO

2008-10-15T13:22:00.006-04:00

Ok here is the link to the Kong Auction for DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS I spoke of in a previous post. Here you can bid on ORIGINAL works by SANJULIAN, DAVE DORMAN, SERGIO ARAGONES......and even one of mine. Please take the time to look and check them out. Good cause great works.

http://shop.ebay.es/merchant/scifiworldmagazine_W0QQQ5ftrkparmsZ72Q253A895Q257C39Q253A1Q257C66Q253A2Q257C65Q253A12QQ_trksidZp3911Q2ec0Q2em14QQ_pgnZ1?_trksid=p3911.c0.m14

and just because this is my blog, here is a direct link to the image I did as well:

http://cgi.ebay.es/King-Kong-Solidario-Tracy-Flynn_W0QQitemZ270286565501QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item270286565501&_trkparms=72%3A895%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14

Thanks for stopping by.

Tracy

RUSH FEST 2008

2008-09-14T10:40:00.003-04:00

Just last week I recieved an E-mail from the Executive Director of the Rush County Chamber of Commerce :

"Tracy,

RushFest is having an art show as part of our festival this year. I wondered if you would be our featured artist for the show. The festivalis on September 27th from 11-3. The art show will be in the newlyrestored 201 building.

Thanks!"

Of course I accepted, it will be good for the community as well as good publicity for me........we all win :)

If you are in the area stop by and take a peak at some of the works in person.

King Kong Charity show and auction

2008-08-14T10:15:00.003-04:00

Back in July I recieved an E-mail from Luis M. Rosales, editor in chief for Scifiworld, the onlymagazine dedicated to fantastic cinema in Spain. In his letter he asked me if I would like to take part in a solidarity action that they were organizing. In October, later this year, we are going to carry out anexhibition on the 75th anniversary of King Kong. The name of the event is King Kong Solidary. For this occasion we are inviting several celebritiesrelated to the world of cinema, illustration and cartoons. It consists ofsending us an original art related to King Kong which will be displayedduring the Sitges Film Festival. Later it will be auctioned on eBay,donating all the obtained money to Doctors Without Borders.

The answer was of cousre YES! it is for a good cause, and it is KING KONG.

I will post more about this as the date gets closer. I hope some of ya'll out there will check it out, maybe even bid on some of the works in the auction.

Thanks

Tract

Its not what you got but HOW you use it.

2008-06-26T10:57:00.007-04:00

Just recently I was talking with a friend, and he stated how he used to love to draw, but just didn't have the time,the space, or the right stuff to do it anymore. Now I just recently talked about the whole time thing in WAIT A MINUTE, so now I think I will talk about STUFF. I work on an extremely tight budget, but I do work and do get some things done.....not as fast or as much as I would like, but I do draw, and paint. I am using the drawing table that my parents bought for me 30 years ago.........no problem with that, its a good table. I have an easel........one I built out of 2 X 4's and some masonite and screws and such.......it works for me., and yes I do have a studio space in our home, but even when I didn't..........I still drew, and did some watercolours.......not really painted, as I have stated, I took a few years (20) off to pay bills and all that sort of stuff........ I still work 2 jobs and still take care of the house, cook ,clean and all that...........but still make the time to draw and paint.

Ok...enough on time...............the statement "the right stuff" got to me. I actually got up, walked over to their computer, pulled a sheet of paper out of the printer, picked an ol' yellow pencil up from the desk and said " there now you have the right stuff".

My point being..........you really don't need a lot to do this with if you really want to. Space not really an issue.......got a house, apt ....whatever...........I sort of use my whole house as a studio, I do only paint in the "studio" tho, but if I didn't have that, I honestly think I would be set up in the kitchen or laundry room..........somewhere I will find the room, because I really want to tdo this............to coin a phrase " its in me and has to come out"(thanks to John Lee Hooker).

Here are a few examples of what I am talking about:

these are my drawing pads, drawing board, sketch book and such, I carry a toothbrush holder around to hold some pencils, a sharpener and an eraser, the "palm pilot" is a small moleskin notebook that I sketch in when I am supposed to be payint attention at a function........concert, school thing, or church.

This is as it says.....my nite stand, the pencils and erasure and sharpener are right there for when I have that idea in the middle of the night.....,or for when we are just sitting watchin the tube and I want to sketch.

this is my home made easel, for when I decided to get back into painting.............it was originally a tripod thing, but went to this format to hold extra boards and such.

Basically all I am saying is that if you want to do it.......just do it, you don't need all sorts of fancy stuff to make the art, just the drive and the ability. A yellow school pencil is basically a 2B........ I have all this stuff lying about because it is what I want to do. I do make the time for it, but I would do that even if all I had was a yellow pencil and some computer paper. I wanted to paint, so I built an easel to do it. You don't have to do that, but you can sit at the kitchen table and draw and paint just as easily.

When I handed my friend his own pencil and his own paper, he started to say something about "its not" .......I just asked him....

" do you want to draw or not?"

WAIT A MINUTE

2008-06-19T14:42:00.006-04:00

IT'S ONLY A MINUTE

One minute.......not long when you think about it all by its lonesome, but added up they become a long time, an hour a day.....a year.

Now I am going to back track for a minute.

Earlier today I walked with my wife while she went to work. We live on 8th street and she works on 1st. I had some dealings to do with the post office and since it is on the way.....3rd street, I decided to walk with her......it was only a few minutes of my time, but it was extra time with her and that is always a good thing. We had a nice talk while we walked and it was fun. On my way back home I stopped at the library, since it would only take a minute, and I wanted something to read....I checked oout Jules Vernes 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. All in all my few minutes added up to 48 minutes.

Now a bit further back.

There was a statement made by one of our kids friends which basically said " How did you get to be so good(not my thoughts or words), I wish I could do that " I really didn't think about it much and said I have been doing it for awhile.....I am about 30 years older than the you are.

Now, on my walk home for some reason I began to think about time and all this sort of thing. There are billions of people younger than I am who draw and paint MUCH better than I do....so it is not the years they spent doing it. It is the MINUTES........and that thing called talent, but how many minutes DID they spend working on their craft to get to where they are now?

How many minutes a day do we spend working on our craft to improve what we do, or for that matter doing what we do?

Now, math is not my forte`, but the way I have figured it there are apoximately 1,440 minutes in a day, so if we take out roughly 480 minutes , 8 hours for sleeping ( I know that is a joke...who gets a full 8 hours ) that leaves us with 960 minutes. Now if we take out 180 minutes ( breakfast, lunch and dinner ) that leaves us with 780 minutes or 13 hours. I am going to take 2 hours out or 120 minutes for the other little things that happen throughout the day. Now that is 660 minutes ( 11 hours). As an artist...........how many of those 660 minutes do we spend working? .

Now I know that I am not full-time in this, I have 2 jobs that I do work so that I can spend my minutes on the art, but even when I am at one of my jobs, I get 2, 15 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch......that is roughly 60 minutes that I get to draw. I sit in my car during those breaks and work on my craft. In the evening time after work, I like to spend time with the family as we all do, but in the roughly 240 minutes ( 4 hours ) of family time.......usually with the tv on, I will sit and draw while we watch tv and talk and visit with each other. So that is 300 minutes of drawing in a day.......still need another 330 to make it to 660.

I wish I could say that this was an everyday thing, but it is not. There are some days that I am just not into it, or I am just too tired from the days work that I don't feel like it, or my favourite one.....I want to devote all my after work minutes to my wife and family.

I do make up for some of those minutes by drawing when I am not supposed to....in church during the sermon ( I do portraits of the preachers ), I tell my wife that I can listen while I draw, or at one of the school functions, or some other thing that we go to. So the time is there if you want to make use of it. I will draw on anything if I get an idea, I worked inpackage stores for a while and that is where my whole "bag art" stuff came into play.

I guess my basic point is that if you want to get better at something you have to put the time in to do it. There is no secret in that. You have to work at what you want to achieve it. Today is sort of my day off from the other jobs, but I still have work that needs to be done....cut the grass and do dishes, cook dinner, and a few other things, but it is still early and I am shooting for at least a minimum of 360 minutes ( 6 hours )of drawing....even with taking the time to write this down.

Just thought I would take a minute to say all this.......I do think it is important.

It is not the years spent doing sometihng but the minutes you actually INVEST in doing it. Of course this is true in most cases but there is still a little something like ability that does have to come in as well. No matter how much I try to sing.......it doesn't work and the dogs bark way too much, which leaves me hoping I am not waisting my minutes in the art department ( sorry IG )

BARNUM!!

2008-04-27T21:47:00.002-04:00

Friday night my wife and I went to the opening.......wonderful show. A few opening night gliches in the tech department, but that was no real bother. The kids new their stuff and were amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! I was totally impressed with the staging, the preformances and the whole she-bang!! Miss Hathaway the director knows her staging and allher stuff!! My duaughter B:) was always in character and was amazing as always ( and that is not just a proud adopted dad speaking ) the kid ( Josh ) who played Barnum was made for the role........his final role in the school as it was his senior year and he nailed the preformances that I saw...Friday night and Sunday after noon.

On a sort of cool note for me............ not sure if it was added after seeing the poster or what, but the show ended with the Barnum character standing in the pose that I drew for the poster, as well as some of the staging mimicking the poster. ...........i.e. the two love interests being above someof the stage in the same corners as the poster......... All in all I was completely proud and honoured to be a small part of the production and even more so of those who worked so hard to pull it off! The cast and crew rocked!!!!!!!!!

Tacy

BARNUM

2008-04-15T09:04:00.006-04:00

OK,

It seems that every year I get to do something special and fun for some friends of mine at the Connersville High School Theatre Department, this year was no different. I have to say it is an honour and privilege to be associated with this fine group of young folks and their teacher.

I would like to invite anyone who reads this and is in the area to come on by and check out what a great group of young thespians these kids are, what a great coach and director they have and sit down for an evening of great fun and enjoyable theatre. I know you won't be dissapointed.

The dates are on the poster but here they are again:

April 25th & 26th
CHS Spring Theatrical Performance of "Barnum" in the R.E.W Center* @7:30PM
April 27th
CHS Spring Theatrical Performance of "Barnum" in the R.E.W Center* @2:30PM

*R.E.W Center....Robert E. Wise Center for Perfoming Arts

Robert E. Wise was one of the greatest directors we have ever had. He attended the Connersville High School. Some of his credits include: The Day the Earth Stood Still..the greatest sci/fi movie ever made Westside Story The Andromeda Strain The Sound of Music Run Silent Run Deep The Hindenburg Star Trek.....the motion picture ......these are just a few

IDEAS or where did you get that.....

2007-10-25T16:17:00.000-04:00

This may just be a fun topic for me and anyone else who may happen along and read it. I know I get asked this question ALOT!!!!!!:

" Where did you get that Idea.....how did you come up with that?", or even " where can I find refrences for this, that or the other thing?"

Well for me....its in my head for one, it is in the books I read, and even the stuff I watch on tv. I find ideas come from anywhere and everywhere. I see it as I drive down the road, or like today I was watching the History channel and they had a thing on about the Mayans......guesss what---------NOW I WANT TO DO A PAINTING ABOUT MAYANS. So it is everywhere for me.

Ideas and subject are the easy questions to answer. Reference for things maybe more difficult..........but not really. Reference stuff is EVERYWHERE.

Like I say at the top of the page:

"In my world, dragons still exist, knights in shining armour still rescue damsels in distress, and trolls still live under bridges waiting on billygoats."

.....and yes they do.

In the town in which we live, our courthouse is (to me) a castle, or a large villa for some noble, or even a courthouse

......these two photos are the courthouse in another town near us.

For me the refrence is there ready and waiting.....I just have to see it. It is all a matter of perception, here is another example, when I was working on the painting Primal Dawn I had to paint ape fur.....I didn't have an ape or a zoo close by....so here is my reference for the fur

Yes that big mess of hair belongs to none other than our dog Bob.

Well that is it for now, I will be doing more of these as I go along, but in general.....IT IS EVERYWHERE for everyone, whether you are a cowboy artist, fantasy, space, whatever you do, it is right there for you, you just have to look and see it.

Tracy

wip

2007-09-25T17:24:00.000-04:00

Ok, this is the one I am just now starting, got it drawn out 2 days ago, toned and the underpaint that you see here. Today ....I get started on the colour.

Tree of Pain

2007-09-21T14:19:00.000-04:00

The latest of the works. As soon as it gets typed up and all the littel finishing doodads done to it, there will be a step by step tutorial posted on my web-site along with this image.

Next will be a Tarzan image.

Luna Lux Lucis

2007-08-21T18:58:00.000-04:00

Ok.....it translates to Moons Light........at least if the Latin to English translator I found on line is right. I did this painting....well finished it over the 4 days of Gencon Indy.