zillustration studio news

IF: Forward

2012-01-29T12:18:00.003-05:00

The Angel Band

I had a dream last night. There were two top-hatted musicians, twins I think, but they were dressed in white shirts and looking very serious. There were other musicians with them, but I didn't see them as clearly. I drew them this morning in Sketchbook Pro. I couldn't help thinking of the many "societies" and causes at the turn of the 19th and 20th Century. Everyone had a band and a banner. I call this group the Angel Band... Their cause is greater than most; "Justice for all men" = Forward thinking as they witnessed some of the hardest times in the deep south.

IF: Twirl

2012-01-21T19:33:00.002-05:00

Tia with Baton and Flashlight
This is one of a group of characters I developed for the new FEMA 4 Kids web section, however the project has been shelved while funding is resolved. I was very excited about this job, but found the wheels of government move very slowly. The folks I've worked with have been great, but the upper echelon is as fickle as congress. It's tough to get approval from multiple committees and stakeholders.

Tia as initially designed with a baton, but since she was to be explaining natural disasters and emergency preparedness, she was outfitted with a flashlight... much more practical in a blackout.

Tia's Twirling will have to wait until the storm passes. Digital illustration via a Wacom Intuos3 tablet in Photoshop.

SOPA - Boiled Frog Syndrome

2012-01-18T11:17:00.003-05:00

SOPA: Boiled Frog Syndrome
Freedom's are taken one at a time... TSA Body scans, camera monitoring on the streets, indefinite detention of suspects... Like the story of the frog in the pot as the heat was turned up a degree at a time... by the time he realized it was too late: Cooked.

Web censorship is just another degree administered to the pot we're all boiling in.
Freedom isn't Free... It's a Buck 'o' Five

Mozart Gnome

2012-01-16T10:59:00.004-05:00

Mozart Gnome
The hard part about keeping the Gnomishness on the Mozart Gnome, was making his wig mimic the Gnome Hat. He looks like a dandy, but plop him down on a mushroom, and he's ready to tickle the ivories among the petunias.

This stems from a twitter conversation with a friend with a tiny piano in their living-room.

IF: Prepare

2012-01-13T08:25:00.004-05:00

Uncle Bill let me drive home from Tante Marta's. It was 10 miles of Back Roads. '63 Rambler, no seat belts. Uncle Bill sat in the back reading the paper. Dad was Pissed!

Uncle Bill's excuse was that we were prepared because we were driving all day.

True story, however he had been letting us drive the car all day, up and down Tante Marta's long dirt road driveway. I was 11 years old and full of confidence! He was 50 years old and not full of common sense. Different days, different ways of thinking.

That's my cousin Andrew in the shotgun position. We took turns driving all day.

oh,...

Dad was PISSED!

roving eye

2012-01-11T08:29:00.005-05:00

Baba Yaga, the Witch of the deep Russian woods as sent her eyeball on a mission. She's looking for our hero, Burliuk the Cossack. When her bat minion finds him, he's to follow, but not be discovered. Notice the multiple eyes on the bat... I'm always creeped out by Spider eyes, and having a huge number of eyes on a bat flies in the face of "blind as a bat"...

"flies in the face of..." funny.

The drawing is done digitally in SketchBook Pro by Autodesk, then ported into Photoshop for color and merger with an early morning photo as a background I took a few years back.

I'm pushing Burliuk's story forward, even without a concrete plan for publication. I'm very pleased with the images that have developed along the theme.

Click the Picture to enlarge to 1K pixels wide.

IF: Grounded

2012-01-06T19:42:00.004-05:00

A Well Grounded Squirrel
This is a continuation of the Children's Story I'm developing about a certain squirrel and his issues. Here he is, a well grounded squirrel, thousands of feet in the air, but never more than three feet from the earth.

Drawing is Graphite, then cleaned up in Photoshop via Wacom Cintiq. I'm sure it could use some detail in the cliff-face, but I'm rough coloring the drawing for Illustration Friday's entry. I hope you like it.

Click to enlarge it.

IF: Highlight

2011-12-30T11:43:00.009-05:00

Male Model in Watercolor, Society of Illustrators Figure Night, MFA NYC Session 2008

During the new year's season, many important oaths are made, promises promised and resolutions sworn... then broken. I have a print out of "Three Things to Quit", as presented by Professor Ron Mazellan of Indiana Wesleyan University during the 2009 commencement of the Masters in Illustration graduation of the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford, CT. Ron's words have been the highlight of my entire MFA experience. Sure, I've met illustration heroes, held masterpieces in my hands and been in critiques that set me on my heels. Ron's humble speech to his fellow classmates taught me more about myself and got me looking inside at my motivations; what drives me.

I pass this along with his permission. I ask that you print it out, and place it somewhere in your studio. I have my print-out in my studio bathroom, to the left of the mirror, where I read it when brushing my teeth, rinse brushes and wash my dog. It has to be reinforced to become a personal credo.

Three Things to Quit by Professor Ron Mazellan, July 2009

Quit comparing yourself to others.

Dwelling on what others have and what you lack is a waste of time and energy.

Be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else. There is no one like you!

Stop dwelling on your short-comings. Everybody comes up short somewhere.

Quit complaining

Quit complaining about the weather, your height, your weight, your hair, etc. It drains you, paralyzes you, and fosters a defeatist mindset before you begin.

Complaining creates a false paradigm for life. We convinces ourselves to believe that complaining will make living a more pleasant experience.

Complaining delays action. We delay and wait too long to begin, waiting for conditions to be perfect.

Complaining is contagious and it causes others to lose heart.

Quit concluding

Concluding stops dreams before they have the opportunity to begin.

Concluding waits for opportunities and when they come, many refuse to act.

Concluding creates a paradigm of fear; the pursuit of anything I attempt will end in failure, so why begin?

Most people don't begin because they lack imagination of what is possible.

You can view Ron's work and follow him on Twitter:
ronmazellan.com
twitter.com/ronmazellan
glossom.com/ronmazellan
behance.net/ronmazellan

IF: Messenger

2011-12-23T16:51:00.003-05:00

NO ROOM HERE!

The message is clear - "You Can't Sleep Here!"

Grizzly Bear is looking for a place to hibernate, and Squirrel's log house is looking pretty tempting. Squirrel has been having lots of problems, since moving to the forest floor. This is part of a story I'm developing. Drawing is done in my Strathmore sketchbook, then cleaned up in my Wacom Cintiq via Photoshop.

IF: Sink

2011-12-16T10:01:00.005-05:00

Sinking or Flawed Flotation

Bummer time at Summer Camp, good think the life-jacket is tied on tightly.

Winsor & Newton watercolor on Fabriano.
copping out today. have too much going on - rehashing a previous piece from 2009. click it to enlarge.

IF: Separated

2011-12-09T09:59:00.003-05:00

Cowboy Minus Cow Equals Boy

Higher Mathematics... This is a comp variation of my banner illustration "Cow Plus Boy" in yesterday's blog post. It works nicely for Illustration Friday's word of the day. I'm drawing these in my sketchbook and coloring them in Photoshop.

Click to enlarge.

Cow Plus Boy

2011-12-07T15:51:00.004-05:00

Cow Plus Boy Equals Cowboy
I'm invited to submit some banner illustrations for the local downtown's walking mall. It's a nice venue and the banners are hung from ornamental lampposts along the wide brick promenade. I had a couple banners get in two years ago; Elephant Tune and the Ames Piano Quartet CD cover art from 2005.
This year I'm entering the Duck King, Vespa and the above piece named, Cow Plus Boy. I'm trying to create a retro-Elementary Textbook feel, and I think it's got that vibe. I like to create things for public spaces that may make the kids stop and try to figure it out.
This piece was drawn in my sketchbook, then ported into Photoshop at 720 dpi and then cleaned up and colored in various layers with my Wacom Intuos3 tablet. The final output will be 25x29 inches, so it should be fun to see it printed large.

Zeppelin Raid

2011-12-02T08:24:00.005-05:00

Zeppelin Raid
This is a digital piece derived from a trip to the Shenandoah Caverns with my son's grade school class on Monday. We went down a few hundred feet below the ground and viewed a bunch of cavern rooms carved by earthquake and water. They had some wonderful formations that got me clicking the camera for photo reference. I took one of the photos and created a scene. Notice the tiered landscape created by the dripping mineral-rich water over eons of time. I thought of rice paddies on the hillside. CLICK!

Zeppelin Raid
This piece is of a futuristic Zeppelin raid over a less developed country. It's done in Adobe Photoshop with the Wacom Intuos3 and Cintiq. Click on the picture to enlarge to 1200px wide.

IF: Round

2011-11-25T14:16:00.004-05:00

Mike and Ike on the Moon

Dialog:
Mike: "Splee-ah! Splee-ah!"
Ike: "No, Dummy. Circle back around!"
Mike: "Derpa Derp."

getting stuff done on the moon with less-than-the-best equipment.

Three sketches merged into one narrative "A Day in the Life of" piece.

Ike is about ready to throw in the towel.

500th Post - City Cow Country Cow

2011-11-19T16:18:00.004-05:00

City Cow - Country Cow
Illustration Friday word is "Vanity". I don't know why this popped into my head, but the vanity of believing you're far removed from being on someone's plate for dinner when you're equally as vulnerable seems rampant in our American society. The fact that many of us are a mere paycheck away from the street, or a missed payment away from loosing our healthcare makes me wonder how we can still be so callous to our neighbors (cow-less - punny).

vanity.

digital piece using a couple of photos from my nyc trip, and the hair of a shorthorn cow. pen lines are done in Corel Painter 11 and the color and texture is in Photoshop.

both cows are smoking...

I was able to listen to one of the organizers (member, since it's a headless organization) speaking at the National Women's Democratic Club during our art opening last Thursday night. The DC locals in the crowd were ambivalent to the movement's lofty goals, and squawked about DC's taxation without representation not being part of the platform. The Occupy tent seems to be stuck as a sounding board for the nation's ills and complaints... perhaps not the focused force it needs to be.

IF: Silent

2011-11-12T13:05:00.005-05:00

Arlington 1963 - Remembrance on Veterans Day

These are three panels from an upcoming story about the funeral of John F. Kennedy in 1963, by Rebecca Goldfield. Rebecca and I have been hashing through her story for the last four months, and we finalized and signed off on our portion yesterday, Veteran's Day. The Eleventh Hour, of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month of the Eleventh Year into the Century.

The three moments are indeed silent, from the family's sorrow, the widow clutching the flag and the eternal flame with Lee's Mansion and the flag at half-mast. I will post the story's release when I get the go from the editor and publisher.

On a historical note, John-John and Caroline weren't present at the funeral. This is a panel I developed, but didn't include because of the inaccuracy. However, I thought it was touching enough to be shown on its own merits.

These panels are entirely digital, inked with a digital pen in Corel Painter 11, merged and colored in Photoshop CS2.

IF: Stripes

2011-11-04T14:03:00.002-04:00

Home mitt Siegfried und Roy

Stripes of all types - this is a snippet piece of a larger group of drawings about life with Siegfried and Roy... Such pet ownership joys like; cleaning the cat box, scooping up hairballs, dead animals left on the porch... you get the idea.

I didn't rag on Roy that much, he's got it bad with that tiger bite on his neck. Can't pile on. I also took liberties with the color. S&R are known for their white tigers and lions, but I love the color of the beasts in nature. Sorry... artistic license.

JuJu Man

2011-10-27T08:31:00.006-04:00

Rendition of Mark Zdepski's "Fairmount the JuJu Man" Character

My brother Mark is guy that laughs a lot. He's one to spend time on a frivolous project just to raise an eyebrow. He's a geologist by trade and a master woodturner by choice. He's always coming across beautiful types of wood or odd pieces of "wind fall". A while ago, Mark found a bizarre root structure that he thought looked anthropomorphic. He clearly saw arms, legs, torso and a huge schmeckle to complete the package.

Mark Zdepski's "Fairmount the JuJu Man" in the Nude

Mark Zdepski's "Fairmount the JuJu Man" Character

This year for Halloween, Mark has named his rootman, Fairmount. He's dressed him in a grass skirt, given him a Horseshoe Crab chestplate and a Deer Pelvis mask with glowing red LED lights for eyes. He's been showing Fairmount around to friends, including driving into town with him in the passenger seat.

When I saw Fairmount all dressed up, I couldn't help thinking of him as a Tiki Witchdoctor. SO, I riffed off of my brother's sculpture to create the drawing above. My drawing isn't as cool as the real deal, but no one can duplicate the original Fairmount!

nude figure marathon

2011-10-23T09:39:00.005-04:00

Portrait of a Black Male - Rockville Session
I took part in the 12 hours of Figure Drawing at Rockville Art Center in Rockville, MD yesterday. This was the first time I've worked from life since the 2008 session at the Society of Illustrators in New York. See them here.

I got there an hour late, due to living an easy 100 miles away, then proceeded to carve out a space among the 40 artists already present. I set up my French easel, which is packed with lead tubes of oil paint, very heavy. My drawings below are on Strathmore 500 Series Charcoal paper, which has a nice tooth and square grid weave.

10 Minute Portraits, Male - Rockville Session

The models were scheduled to do 2 hours. They varied from male, female, Latin, Black, White and REALLY White (Redhead). Each drawing pose on paper is 5 or 10 minute sessions. The longer poses were 3 sessions of 20 minutes each. The long poses were where I broke out my paints. I used cheap acrylic; Liquitex Basics and white Liquitex Gesso on clear Liquitex Gessoed Cardboard or pre-primed Aquarelle Arches Hot Press 140lb watercolor block paper. I took the Liquitex paint and a paper towel to prep the surfaces with a smeary texture.

I found that after a few full figure attempts, I was more focused on the portraiture. I ditched the idea of trying to capture the whole figure, and drilled in to try to capture the person's likeness.

Maria Supine - Rockville Session

Portrait of a White Male - Rockville Session

Portrait of a Redheaded Female - Rockville Session

Drawings of Maria - Rockville Session

Drawings of a Redhead 7 - Rockville Session

I confess, I pussed out - I only lasted 9 of the 12 hours. I was seeing double since I was staring at the spotlight on the other side of the room all day. Headaches take precedence to drawing.

IF: Fuel

2011-10-21T15:21:00.002-04:00

Out of Gas

... another spacey illustration. I didn't make it to last week's word, "Scattered" - so I combined it with this week's word, Fuel to create an organic space machine, stuck and out of gas on some distant rock. The piece is a pencil drawing merged with a NASA photo and plenty of Photoshop CS5 to color, dodge and highlight with my Wacom Intuos3 tablet.

click to enlarge the frustration and galactic swearing.

IF: Contraption

2011-10-08T14:11:00.003-04:00

Tribute to Big Daddy Roth - Rat Fink. My contraption.
I developed this illustration in March of 2010, and have juiced it up a bit with some atmospheric smoke in the region around the figure, to make him pop, as well as back lighting on the mower to make it "reverse pop" against the flames.
The drawing is a merger of a 1940s Chevy and a Push Mower.... Stupid, I know.
California Mower - Briggs and Stratton

IF: Hibernate

2011-10-01T18:10:00.003-04:00

Hibernate Mode
Space men need rest too. Fearless Explorer Comrade Cosmonaut needs to take a break while surveying a crystalline asteroid.

Corel Painter for the black lines - Photoshop for the color and NASA photo composting.

shhhh.... he's asleep.

click to enlarge.

IF: Ferocious

2011-09-24T08:58:00.005-04:00

Fierce Hawai'ian Warrior
One of the Warriors that didn't make it into a panel in Puapualenalena, Wizard Dog of the Waipi'o Valley back in 2007. I scanned the drawing from my 11x14 sketchbook and colored the piece in photoshop by porting in a flattened version of the Sentinel and adjusting the color as needed. It's a quick way to make a sketch have more body and believability.
Click to enlarge.

Mesmerizing Duck King

2011-09-16T10:03:00.005-04:00

The Duck King
A tribute to Jean "Moebius" Giraud, and his influential work with Alejandro Jodorowsky and the Incal series in Heavy Metal. I was very taken with Giraud's work when I was a high school and college student in the early 1980s, and seeing his newer work with the Wacom Cintiq tablet furthers my interest.

The Duck King is just a weird little sketch from my trusty Strathmore sketchbook, imported into Photoshop for line clean-up and color. I used my old Intuos3 tablet in Photoshop CS5. You'll notice the same blue-gray used from the Hover Vespa piece, which was still in my color swatches in Photoshop. I think it works well with the little yellow Duck King ducking bubbles.

Click to enlarge the picture.

Vespa

2011-09-12T16:37:00.002-04:00

Hover Vespa
I created a hover bike inspired by an old Vespa scooter I photographed last autumn while visiting colleges with my daughter. The bike was totally original, in need of a restoration. The hover bike I drew is ridden by a period racer, with aerodynamic jumpsuit and old-school helmet... very Tin Tin.

Old Vespa

Pencil drawing, digital color on a Wacom Intuos 3 tablet. Click to enlarge the images.

nine-eleven

2011-09-11T09:05:00.005-04:00

Falling - Housekeeping
On the tenth remembrance of the attacks on NYC, DC and PA, I'm publishing four pieces that haven't been outside of my sketchbook for as many years. I've seen some wonderful and sensitive pieces dealing with the subject, but my own reaction was removed and tertiary.

Falling - Maintenance
I was working in a web solutions company in 2001, building overpriced websites for companies that were willing to throw money at the new medium. One of our clients was a right-wing magazine called The Weekly Standard, founded by Will Kristol. Two Young Republican-types were visiting our offices that day, as part of their web team. The news of the jets crashing was streaming in on the TV in the break room. The YR's were standing in front of it when I walked in to see the towers burning. I will never forget the callous attitude they displayed while thousands of people were in the last moments of their time here on earth.
"I wonder how the Democrats are going to spin THIS..."
I walked out. The airport next to my office was silent. There were black SUVs in the parking lot, and the strange silence of no jets climbing from Dulles, 40 miles away. Birds once again ruled the skies.

Falling - Human Resources

I woke one night soon afterward, having dreamt of average folks falling to their deaths from high elevations. The first was a Housekeeper, then Maintenance worker and finally an office worker in Human Resources. Average folks that should have died from their vices or 90 years old, surrounded by their children and grandchildren, falling to the street below.

Five years later, I did an image of Muhammad Atta, the pilot of one of the jets, at his Eleventh birthday party. I thought, there must have been signs that this guy was a nut-job, and why hadn't anyone seen it? Here he's got his "I H8 NY" shirt on, etc...

Muhammad Atta's Eleventh Birthday

I think it's time to close the door on this and move on. The sun keeps coming up, and the sunsets are still beautiful to behold.

IF: No Boundaries

2011-09-09T10:08:00.006-04:00

Crab-Body Spaceship
This piece is another design project to expand my SciFi portfolio. I haven't designed that many spaceships, other than a few retro looking Buck Rogers-style pieces for personal gratification. I've been trying the trick of making a broad shape silhouette and then carving into that shape with form details. Making a blob of black on a screen can be simple and daunting at the same time. I chose to model my blob off of a Horseshoe Crab or Trilobite, with little feeler legs out front.

Black Silhouette with Red Perspective Lines

I went over to NASA.gov to go through their portfolio of public images, which I used as the basis for my background and surface texture on the ship. I don't think the texture and background took 45 minutes with this comp method. I placed some atmospheric fog over the ship, and the overlaid highlights. This makes for a quick piece that is high on spontaneity and low on fuss.

The image is entirely digital, starting and ending in Adobe Photoshop on the Cintiq. Click the image to enlarge to 1000px wide.

IF: Mysterious

2011-09-03T15:05:00.002-04:00

I've been drawing Agatha Christies' Inspector Hercule Poirot from the BBC series with actor David Suchet. My son digs the rough Inspector from Scotland Yard that helps solve the cases. I've been sketching from the screen, whilst the show is running, so they're not very accurate. The darker drawings in the Poirot group is from our Whiteboard, where Poirot and his dog notice that "zah dog's dish, she is empty!" Below is a simple spooky image I call 'Slasher", inspired by watching the BBC mysteries. Sketching while watching TV makes me feel like I'm actually being productive, when I'm not.... mysterious how we try to fool ourselves.

VA Earthquake 2011

2011-08-28T13:00:00.006-04:00

Damage hits home... more like hits my Garden Shed. I have a huge amount of figured maple, both curly and birds-eye stacked on the right-hand side to 4 x 4.5 x 10 feet. That plus a snowblower, bicycles, garden and construction tools and a 30 foot ladder hanging off the side makes for a prime earthquake casualty. I didn't notice until today, since I needed the grass trimmer. There she is, uninsured and needing to be rebuilt. No money blues, since it all goes to Virginia Commonwealth University, where my daughter had to pickup a pile of clothes that fell from her closet.

Gonna have to dig piers and set footings for the rebuild... bigger-stronger-faster.
I needed to make it big enough to handle the blue mower in the seen to the right of the photo. It's far to big to fit through the door.

I experienced the 5.9 earthquake while at work. I thought the guy across the cubicle wall had a "Jimmy Leg". He's bounced it in the past when nervous about a big project. I looked up to tell him to cut it out, to find him looking at me to stop MY Jimmy Leg! The frequency of the bouncing stayed the same, but the waves got bigger and the sound was like a freight train crossing, or a Chinook helicopter coming in to land. In 30 seconds, it was over. No worse for wear, other than a cracked window in the office suite on the other side of the building (Area B). That was it, until I discovered the Shed taking a Dump.

Well, we got off easy.

IF: Disguise

2011-08-27T20:26:00.003-04:00

Tiki Drinking on a Shark Surfboard
King Wannapayday is catching a wave - hanging loose on a tiger shark.
This piece has got to work as a poster element and stand alone T-shirt design.
Corel Painter and Photoshop executed on a Wacom Cintiq.
Click to enlarge.

weekend portraits

2011-08-27T16:15:00.003-04:00

I spent my Friday evening at the Apple Store in Fair Oaks Mall, an hour ahead of my scheduled "Genius Bar" appointment. I kick around a bit, but then decided to knock out a portrait of the hipster scheduling the meetings. She kept moving, but did go back to predictable postures and mannerisms. I colored my pencil drawings in Photoshop.

The other three are friends from a new Saturday morning drawing group meeting a Carmella's restaurant, 102 South Main Street, Edinburg VA. You may recognize Tom Chipley from the Gallery Book. Tom often sports a colorful bandana. I met is lovely bride, too. Great folks. Thanks for picking up the check TOM! Tom's portrait was done in watercolor over my pencil drawing... you can see how the paper buckled.

Jamie is another friend from the Mt. Jackson arts group, and was trying her hand at watercolor. Ironically, Jamie's portrait is colored digitally...

Our statuesque hostess, Carmella has the bearing of a ballet dancer. I almost asked her what company she was with. She sat down with us and knocked out a lovely pencil drawing before duty called her to serve another group of customers.

Fun had by all, and lots of laughs around the table. Thanks to all - you made it a lot of fun. Hope to return for another Saturday session.

Grub Fairy

2011-08-07T18:22:00.004-04:00

The Gift of the Grub Fairy

A SWELL gift from a SWOLLEN grub.

This is a little bug study, morphed into a fantasy piece. I gave my Grubby subject a little crown based on the shell of a Japanese Beetle - The little human-ish figure is a Fairy Folk of some sort, I didn't imagine much of a back story for him when I was developing the piece. I just thought it would be as if the Grub Fairy was rewarding him with a special necklace for some heroic deed.

Pencil, Corel Painter 11 and Adobe Photoshop all with the Wacom Cintiq.
Click to enlarge the picture.

IF: Imperfect

2011-08-05T13:29:00.006-04:00

Amy Winehouse

We all fail in life from time to time. Some people seem to struggle with it a bit more openly than others. I like Amy's singing, but cringed at her lifestyle. I guess her struggles with imperfection are over. Hate to see anyone go out like that. Rest in Peace.

Sad to say that I got an anonymous comment that I was profiting from a death by doing this portrait. No, this isn't a commission, or being used in any article. It's just something from my sketchbook this week; a commentary on a tragedy. There is no profit in such a death, but we can learn from what has been a very, very public struggle with addiction, and also disgusting coverage of every inch of her downfall.

graphite and digital color - Intuos3 tablet in Photoshop

Bushy and Baldy

2011-08-03T20:33:00.006-04:00

"Baldy" Shrunken Head
The boys have been separated into individual pieces, so they can hang on either side of a painted piece down at the Shenandoah Arts Center in Winchester VA. I placed each on a piece of curly maple with natural edging and a hand planed chamfer edging. They're offered for $300 each at the gallery, or $450 for both through this special blog posting.

"Bushy" Shrunken Head

Each is sculpted from Super Sculpy, with bamboo, bone, shells and various stones from my wife's jewelry box.... no tattling on me. Bushy sports yards and yards of leather chord, commonly used on necklaces and bracelets. I lovingly shoved each strand into each follicle hole with a dab of super glue. Each shrunken head is mounted via bamboo pins to an 8 x 5.5 inch piece of curly maple, signed and dated on front and back, with keyhole routed into the back for hanging on the wall.

They need a good spooky home.

IF: Obsession

2011-07-30T17:54:00.003-04:00

Helter Skelter - Charlie Manson and the Beatles

Charlie was Obsessed with the Beatles, the girls weer obsessed with Charlie and the Beatles were obsessed with their music.

Digital illustration in Corel Painter 11 and Adobe Photoshop via Cintiq.
Click to enlarge the image.
Here is a link to an earlier sketch of this composition done in ink. I deleted the stained glass windows behind the Beatles, but kept the floral archway. You can see it's a bit more complicated, but I like the results of the colored version much more.

Perennial Project -Shrunken Heads

2011-07-23T12:52:00.004-04:00

Shrunken Head Number 3 illustration
Merger illustration of previous head illustration from NYC and my newly sculpted head number 3.

Shrunken Head Number 3 raw sculpture
sculpted from Super Sculpy, roughly 3x3x3 inches

Click to enlarge the illustration - sculpture is same size as blog display

Bookplate

2011-07-21T09:29:00.005-04:00

My cousin, Sarah and husband, Joel are looking into how to get the books they loan out, back. Joel is tired of whipping out a Sharpie and scribbling his name in the upper left-hand corner of the inside cover. So, a quick email and a quick turn-around has produced the first "Meissner Library" bookplate.

I've used my Armadillo Reading in the Cactus Patch for the imagery, and ignoring the border at this moment, since they may need to run them off as Avery labels. No border is the same as ample bleed in a situation like this. Many folks have Microsoft Word and an Inkjet printer, so it allows them to output a stack of labels in a few hours.

If Sarah and Joel want to go through a print shop, I can dream up an appropriate border to go with the image.

Worry Bird

2011-07-19T16:39:00.011-04:00

The Worry Bird - Flugimistletoeboo

Digital illustration derived from a carving my father did, long before I was born. I have seen the Worry Bird on the side of WW2 airplanes, and also as a character by Daniel Clowes. I wanted to put my own spin on it, but try to place elements from my Dad's carving; big beak, crossed feet, no wings, but without a pine cone body.

I'm sure my pop saw it in a magazine or while he was living in Alaska. It must have been part of some obscure pop-culture reference or song of the day... The name alone has a real "Andrew's Sisters" feel to it... I'm still researching.

The Worry Bird has got a place in my heart, like the Kitchen Witch, especially when trying to juggle so many things at once, as I do... Let HIM worry about it, not me.

Carving of the Worry Bird by Steven Zdepski - Flugimistletoeboo

B-24 Bomber - The Worry Bird

IF: Gesture

2011-07-15T10:05:00.005-04:00

The Swimming Hole
Some kids had above-ground... other kids had in-ground Pools. We had a hose!!
"Con Found the Doggon Thing Anyhow!! Oh Good Night!!" -- Dad's Tirade
Dad yelled at us to stop or we'd burn out the water pump.
So... We all got Impetigo from the Crap-filled creek.
The next year we got a YMCA pool membership.

The gesture was there... it didn't quite work out the way we planned.
The latest in the Corporal Punishment Series. Click to enlarge the Summer-time Fun!

Also: DOWNLOAD the new 24 page Gallery Book for my joint show at James Madison University! HERE IT IS

For those that couldn't make the opening, click the link above to check out the accompanying gallery book with an introduction by WMRA/NPR contributing reporter, Martha Woodroof. If you're in the region (Virginia) between now and October 3rd, stop by the WMRA studios for a tour of the show.

IF: Stay of Execution

2011-07-08T17:27:00.007-04:00

Stay of Execution
Messing around with a new approach to digital painting. I created a brush from a photo of cluster of crystals, nearly 1500px wide, which scales well when used as a 50px or 17px brush. The result is a natural edge without the digital feel. I'm also trying to work "backwards" by creating an interesting silhouette and then adjusting the form to fit. I started with a simple grayscale paintings of an Evil-Germanic-Santa-Claus and a Raggity-Prisoner. I added color over a few hours in Photoshop and Painter11. The background is from photo reference I shot at the parking garage at the college, but crudded up the interior with a few dangling wires and three goons standing around in the shadows.

There's a lot to learn with both of these approaches, but I'm liking the recent results.

Crystal Formations for Photoshop Brushes

Also: DOWNLOAD the new 24 page Gallery Book for my show at James Madison University! HERE IT IS

For those that couldn't make the opening, click the link above to check out the accompanying gallery book with an introduction by WMRA/NPR contributing reporter, Martha Woodroof. If you're in the region (Virginia) between now and October 3rd, stop by the WMRA studios for a tour of the show.

shrunken head nyc

2011-07-04T22:23:00.004-04:00

I took a photo of a shrunken head in a glass vacuum jar while in SoHo NYC. I just found the photo and did a quick Cintiq painting of it in grays in Adobe Photoshop. Two days later I was messing in Corel Painter 11, trying to fine-tune some brushes for an upcoming comic book project. A good pen tool is in desperate need, so I made a new pen I call "Comic Inker", which is how I did the hair on the shrunken head. I didn't get to into the rope, but that would be very much a penned item if taken further.

I need to sculpt a couple more heads for my display. I've got to find some doll hair, or an old wig to use. The replacement hair from Michael's is awful; too curly and tangles too easily.

Vulture Squadron

2011-07-02T20:22:00.005-04:00

I started messing with a black silhouette on a widescreen ratio canvas. The shape was real jagged and roughly in a bird shape. I thought I'd push it into a spaceship or jet. The background had been a rough and craggy moon surface, but eventually morphed into a mysterious city at night. Searchlights are searching for the squadron, like the London Blitz.

New direction, but an obvious progression from my science fiction work.

Done entirely on Cintiq in Photoshop. 2300 x 5000 pixels. Click it to see it at 1000 wide

IF: Remedy

2011-07-01T08:18:00.002-04:00

The Remedy for Clutter is Recycling!

Get it out of the house and down to the collection center... HEY! Isn't that my P-Funk Album???

Watercolor on Fabriano.

DOWNLOAD the new 24 page Gallery Book for my show at James Madison University! HERE IT IS

For those that can't make the opening, click the link above to check out the accompanying gallery book with an introduction by WMRA/NPR contributing reporter, Martha Woodroof. If you're in the region (Virginia) during the next few months, stop by the WMRA studios for a tour of the show.

IF: Midsummer's Night

2011-06-24T19:51:00.004-04:00

Jake and Jennies
4:30 am on a muggy summer's morning - Jake (Bottom) is interested in who's disturbing his nighttime frolic with the Jenny sisters.

Sorry I'm copping out with a painting from 2005, but I'm still framing my show. I have to deliver the pieces on Monday... setting glass, screwing hangers and tying wire. The tedium of being an artist.

I could use an assistant, but I don't trust anyone to do it the way I want it done.

IF: Launch

2011-06-17T16:03:00.002-04:00

Shocked Doc
Doctor Fizzle has launched his latest creation. He wasn't expecting the Artificial Intelligence to be so independent!

I have no idea where this picture stems... Pick a word and run!

This is a very odd painting done in Photoshop CS5 on my old Wacom Intuos3 5"x7". Hope you like it. Click the image to enlarge.

Zillustration-Chillustration

2011-06-17T11:20:00.005-04:00

Paul Zdepski and Tom Chipley's art show
Illustrators indoors? Yes, we're house trained. Tom Chipley and I are showing at the local National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate in Harrisonburg Virginia. WMRA is the radio station of James Madison University, and serves the Shenandoah Valley, Blue Ridge and Northern Virgina regions. Tom's work has graced the pages of ROAD & TRACK, ROD & CUSTOM, and MODEL AVIATION magazines.

The opening is Friday, July 1st from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. If you can't make it, know that the show runs until October 3rd. I will be posting a PDF catalog of the work, including an intro by a respected person with more clout and word prowess than I can muster. The catalog will be available after the opening.

I hope to see you there. If you can't make it, download the catalog after and let me know what you think! OK?

IF: Swept

2011-06-14T08:20:00.004-04:00

Baba Yaga Sweeping Her Porch
When I read the Illustration Friday word, "Swept", I thought of "Brooms". I couldn't get past the simplest solution, which is someone sweeping... but, who? Why?

Witches are always associated with brooms. Ok... Cliche witch riding a broom? No.

I figured I tie it back to my Ukrainian roots, and have Baba Yaga doing something. How about sweeping her Hut that has Chicken Legs? How about sweeping her porch? What is a porch on a legged hut?

Why am I asking so many questions for an Illustration Friday project?

Here's Baba Yaga sweeping her porch, whistling a little Spring Cleaning tune. A Twitter friend said she looks very "Flintstones" - I have to agree

Cintiq in Photoshop - used a Primary pallet, Red, Blue and Yellow... I think I could use a couple of different pallet approaches. I'm not satisfied with the RBY pallet.

Shrunken Head Display

2011-06-12T16:54:00.004-04:00

Here they are, Bushy and Baldy. Shrunken heads made of Super Sculpy, leather, bone, shells and stones. I wanted to put them in the upcoming show in Harrisonburg, VA, but they needed a display box. I made a simple poplar box then lined the back with split bamboo, suspended the one and set the other on a bamboo section. The leaves are dried bamboo, too. I used them to make it a little "jungle-like".

The show is in two weeks, so I'm scrambling to finish all of the frames... 40 pieces going in, with a short dozen of them without frames. work work work.

click the pictures to enlarge them.

Trash Cart

2011-06-12T11:10:00.006-04:00

Family Photos: 1890, 1939 and 1969

Photo of my grandmother, Hazel in a cart with her sisters being pulled by some sad black kid from the neighborhood - The poor kid looks like he was crying, too. My White Trash great-grand parents are in the background with their hands on their hips, like a couple of Cracker-Misers... Well, that's New Jersey.

Mr. Hitler taught the Frenchtown Marching Band how to Goose-Step in bobby-socks. Mom has her saxophone and uncle Bill is in the back with his trumpet. Imagine the cacophony coming from that house on Saturday afternoons while they practiced!

My older brothers were into photography. They had a dark-room in the basement. We younger brothers were posed like action figures to get the perfect shot. James is taking a bullet, while I aim down the barrel... "Hey, Einstein! No need to aim when you're that close!"

IF: Shadows

2011-06-03T20:32:00.004-04:00

Professor Becker Smoking
My friend BJ Becker was kind enough to pose for a number of us while in New York a few years back. BJ is a handsome guy, dresses to the nines, full head of hair and sports a monocle. You can't ask for more!

Upon reading this week's Illustration Friday subject, I immediately thought of the old TV soap opera, "DARK SHADOWS" from the late 1960s. I was a bit young, but was fascinated by Barnabas Collins (played by Johnathan Frid), the resident Vampire on the show. I thought BJ had a bit of that same Gothic mystery about him in this pose, so I put a monogrammed ring on his little finger and illuminated it with the glow of the cigar.

I have been lax about painting directly in the digital realm, and thought I should do a grisaille in grays. I cheated by adding the cigar glow.

Kazu Sano

2011-06-02T13:32:00.004-04:00

Sorry to hear of the passing of illustration great Kazuhiko Sano (1952-2011). His work is awe inspiring. My condolences to the Sano Family, friends and many the students he mentored. You will be missed.

Kazu's website can be viewed here.

Click the pic to download my reaction paper to the Kazu Sano lecture of March 19th, 2009 at the Academy of Art, San Francisco, CA. The paper's theme is mentors and teachers. Sano's story was uncannily similar to my mentor Hiroshi Murata's early upbringing.

IF: Asleep

2011-05-27T18:50:00.004-04:00

Puapualenalena and the Mocking Demons

Here is a snippet from the Hawai'ian Folk Tale, "Puapualenalena, Wizard Dog of the Waipi'o Valley" by Thomas Cummings, Jr. I was matched with Thomas in the "Trickster" project, edited by Matt Dembicki and published by Fulcrum Press. Trickster is currently up for an Eisner Award in the Best Anthology category, and I PLEAD with you to vote if you're an artist or writer in the comics industry... we're real "underdogs".... snicker-snicker-snicker

This was my first fully digital project, so I'm pretty excited that it's part of such a well regarded anthology. I worked on this with my old Intuos 3 tablet. Not the easiest item to work with.

Thanks for voting, and let's cross our fingers for the announcement at San Diego Comicon!

IF: Soaked

2011-05-20T14:46:00.004-04:00

Soaked with Suds
No matter how cool the machine, some poor jerk has to wash it when the hot-shot pilots bring it back to the base.

I think my ability to draw robots and machinery is very limited, so I'm challenging myself to do more of them, rather than avoiding them. I notice my "mecha" look very organic in places, but that's OK. I need to make them my own.

I had recently seen an old Army Air Corps film on the B-29 "Superfortress" from 1946. I took the nose of the airplane to make the "head" of my robo-thingy.

Pencil to Cintiq with Photoshop.
Click to enlarge.

IF: Safari

2011-05-14T17:26:00.002-04:00

SAFARI
1/2 oz. Lime Juice
1/2 oz. Maraschino Cherry Juice
1/2 oz. Grand Marnier
2 1/2 oz. Rum
Shake with Ice
Pour in Tumbler
Garnish with Mint
Commune with Nature

I love all things "Tiki", so I wanted to do a Tiki Tumbler drinking glass, PLUS I've been itching to do a recipe of some sort. I thought it would go well with my style of writing on my drawings as part of the narrative. I looked and looked for a Safari sounding drink name, and didn't find one I liked, so I made my own.

I wish I had a better equipped Liquor Cabinet, but I'll have to wait to gather the ingredients.

Rope a Dope

2011-05-13T21:53:00.004-04:00

I Learned to Climb Rope with My Toes
Acrylic on Canvas - 24 inches high by 18 inches wide
May 13, 2011

Enough said...

Self Portrait of me during 1968, the Summer of Love. My first painting in two years.
Click to enlarge the Muscular Tree-Monkey Toe Grip!

Davey Crocked

2011-05-11T08:47:00.012-04:00

Davey Crocked
4/5 Crock
Blinded Tennessee Hydrated Bear Grease
Warms You When You Hunt Bare
Burpled By Al & Moe Blottling Co.
Dollars, Taxes
1 lb. Honey, Tropical Blossom, Edgewater Florida

In the 1960s, before the Garbage Pail Kids and Wacky Packages, was a little company called Orange Blossom Honey by Tropical Blossom of Edgewater Florida. They packaged their honey in glass 1/5 Whiskey Flasks with crazy labels. My older brothers, Greg and Mark loved them, and had a few sitting in their room as decoration after the honey was gone. I think there is a bit of Mad Magazine influence.

Top Left: Old Grand-pa
Top Right: Daniel Booze
Lower Left: Old Bar Stool
Lower Right: Old Dog Cabin

I found them all at a Japanese collector site. My bottle is down on the right! I'm going to do some further research about the labels to add to this post.

IF: Beginner

2011-05-06T09:34:00.006-04:00

School Dance, Boy's Side of the Gym

Someone has to break the ice! Middle school dances can be a stress on kids that don't fit into their own skin. The boys are all trying to be cool, but hoping the girl they're crushing on will look their way.

My daughter Zhana was the inspiration for the chatty little lady on the right. She's all about dancing and is asking the boy that sits next to her in Civics class to boogie-down.

Beginner.

Pencil and Photoshop on with my Wacom Cintiq.
Click the Picture to Enlarge the Awkward Moment!

ALSO: Please check out my NEW Slideshow on my portfolio site... It's Ginchy!

IF: Lesson

2011-04-30T08:19:00.002-04:00

Vampire Studies
He was up til 4:30 in the afternoon studying!
Such dedication to the knowledge of the various blood-types.

Why Halloween? I don't know... just a Vampire weekend.
Click the pic to enlarge.

Cintiq in Sketchbook Pro and Photoshop

Girl's Bike

2011-04-22T13:19:00.005-04:00

Girl's Bike - Cintiq Illustration

Girl's Bike

I was one of seven kids. We didn't start out on our own bicycles when learning to ride... we tested our wings on older sibling's bikes. I learned to ride a "two-wheeler" by using my older sister's "girl's bike", which was a 1950's style Beach cruiser. The girls were very much shepherds to my brother James and me. They taught us how to ride bare-foot and how to go off of dirt-ramp jumps... totally responsible kids...

Riding these bikes was a chore - they were extremely heavy and I was way too short to sit on the seat. I learned to ride by standing on the pedals, coasting at first. When I fell, I fell hard.

No, I didn't own such cool Steampunk eye ware as a kid, but this is how I felt - cool.

needless to say, I was teased by the big kids for riding a "Girl's Bike".

Click the pick to see the dirty knees!

IF: Journey

2011-04-16T13:00:00.003-04:00

Representing true Pioneers,"Gort and Gagarin"

Gort is the robot from "The Day the Earth Stood Still", and represents all things Science Fiction, in honor of my professor, Vin DiFate, who is inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. I referenced Gort from a photograph I took of the foot tall sculpture at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC.

Yuri Gagarin, Soviet Hero was commemorated this week for the 50th Anniversary of his launch into space. I think the Soviet Union and their love of all things "space" is one of the coolest phenomenon in the 20th Century.

I give you a Pulpy version of them together as they each Journey from the universe of Science Fiction into the world of Science Fact!

Thank you Vin and Yuri!

Clash of the Idiots

2011-04-15T09:16:00.005-04:00

There is a Robin, lets call him "Mortimer" to avoid slander, who seems to think the reflection in my studio door is challenging him to a fight over territory. The same Reflection lives in the finish of my bride's black car. So Mortimer proceeds to fly into the window, peck and crap all over the door and car. This little jerk has been doing this for the last four days.

I called the local farm supply store and have requested a bobble-head garden owl, but it won't be in until Thursday next... Mortimer continues to bludgeon the bird in the mirror.

Out comes my scissors and Illustration Morgue file to the rescue! Open file drawer A-C, under "Animals-Birds" and "Animals-Cats", I found some large magazine photos I had clipped in the mid-90s from Nat Geo, Smithsonian and Audubon magazines. I cut out a few scary predator photos, like a Calico Cat, Bald Eagle, Condor and Falcon. I taped them in a few panes of window-glass.

It Worked! Mortimer has stopped flying at the glass... for one day.
He's back. Crapping on the car and flapping his crap laden wings on my nice studio glass. Jerk-weed.

It may come down to waiting for the bobble-head to arrive.

No... I don't own a BB gun. No, I couldn't shoot him if I wanted to, because he sits on the car and my neighbor's house is on the other side.

IF: Bottled

2011-04-08T18:40:00.004-04:00

Headshrinker: X Marks the Spot!
from the illustration Headshrinker

Digital illustration from 2009's Tiki Series. Spongebob flowers in the background... Recycling those potato prints I did for the Ernest Borgnine illustration!

BIG NEWS: Trickster is up for an Eisner in Best Anthology category!

IF: Duet

2011-04-01T19:26:00.004-04:00

Discussing Schiele
two fellow students from my UARTs graduating class from the 90s - Mark Natale and the lovely Patricia Quintero (who seems to be lost to the online world without a website). The piece is all about hand gestures mimicking the Egon Schiele piece that is hung on the wall behind them... it's all about the hands. We meet them during a lull in the conversation... or an mild disagreement. This is one of my favorite pieces dealing with a particular human body part, the hand.

The piece is 16x20 inches, oil on canvas, executed a while ago, but dated 2011 here because you can't read my signature in original oil painting.

click to enlarge the view to 1000px wide.

Fukushima Godzilla

2011-03-29T08:36:00.004-04:00

Godzilla switches to Water-mode at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant

In the early 1950's, the original Godzilla movie spoke to the dangers of nuclear power unleashed on the natural world. Now, sixty years later, Japan is suffering another crisis from that beast.

I can't see how pumping water on a poison like a nuclear pile will do any good except spreading it far and wide - both via steam and run-off.

If only we had heeded Gozilla's warning.

This piece is done as a sketch in my Strathmore sketchbook, then scanned into Photoshop and colored with the exact pallet used in the recent Ultraman piece. I then overlaid a black layer at percentage of opacity with an adjustment layer to bring the brights and highlights back out where needed. I chose the high contrast to mimic the original Gozilla movie's Black and White feel. There are plenty of scenes where Godzilla is almost in silhouette due to the contrast.

IF: Toy

2011-03-26T15:11:00.003-04:00

Popper
Creepy dobBaby with one of those awful faces from children's books of the 1950s.

I used to do dogBabies with realistic faces... it's pretty disturbing.

I used the Popper toy again in a future illustration for Mia as she Masterfully Mows.

Popper is Oil on canvas
Mia is digital in Cintiq

IF: Cultivate

2011-03-18T20:42:00.003-04:00

"Digging around the Roots"
a sketched spread from my Tornado Joe story - the kids are helping their grand father move one of the trees. The old milk cow and her calf are hitched up and ready to pull it back to the farm.

This image reminds me of the years my brothers and father spent harvesting timber or firewood from the many stands of hardwood in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We cut it, drug it out of the woods, "stickered" it (putting strips of wood between each plank to allow air to move and dry the lumber), planed, sawed and shaped them...

Dad was a fine woodworker - he saw walnut, cherry and oak as money in the bank. He was right. The cost of those woods are beyond the means of many, but dad's foresight has allowed my brothers and me to continue to build items with those harvested trees 30-40 years later.

Dad was cultivating woodworkers.

Sketched from my sketchbook - colored in Photoshop via Cintiq - click to enlarge

IF: Stir

2011-03-11T14:08:00.003-05:00

Hazel Awoke Singing One Sunday Morning

Hazel Stirs on Sunday morning.

I've hand bound a short run of 9 books of "Sing Sing - A One Act Opera" in the last 24 hours. My friend Matt Dembicki has offered to show them at the upcoming S.P.A.C.E. show in Ohio next weekend. He has been gracious enough to

prod me into action...

display these books within his rented space...

submit "Sing Sing" into the prize competition for the upcoming S.P.A.C.E. award...

Thank you Matt.

you can download a PDF version of the booklet here, without the super-duper cover wrap (with Hippocratic Oath).

IF: Warning

2011-03-05T12:55:00.011-05:00

Ultraman just defeated another Rubber suited monster from outer space. He's worked up an Ultra-sweat, and depleted his energy. His Ultra-lite begins blinking a warning. He MUST fly to the sun before he collapses to the ground and dies.

Thank you Ultraman, for your service to the people of Earth! Now fly, hero, Fly!
showing my age...
I loved Ultraman as a kid. I had to hang out with the kids down the street to see it. They had better television aerials than us... even though we were on top of the hill, we couldn't get the New York UHF channels in too well.

Ah, the age of analog TV... Three channels and static everywhere else.

Wacom Cintiq, Sketchbook Pro, Photoshop = merged and animated in Photoshop and ImageReady CS2

Refresh the page to "get your seizure on" again!

IF: Swarm

2011-02-25T09:03:00.003-05:00

Bee Devil - or - Be'd Evil

Whichever you prefer.

Graphite in my lucky Strathmore Sketchbook. It was part of my series dealing with childhood issues... I was scared to death of bees. My dad kept honey bees in the backyard, which would occasionally sting when stepped upon, but the hornets and bumblebees in the shed out back were merciless. The could sting repeatedly and pursue you as you ran.

I hated going in that shed for any reason - except in winter.

digital work done in Photoshop with my Cintiq - Click to enlarge

IF: Layer

2011-02-19T15:26:00.006-05:00

Layers of Fat... "Fat Cat"
Acrylic on MDF panel, 2007

He loves his life, and someone keeps bringing him fish. What's the problem? I'm fascinated by those shows on the Discovery or National Geo channels showing morbidly obese folks as a tiny head among a pile of fat rolls, covered with a contour sheet. What gets me wondering is: Who is carting all of that food within their reach?

mmm... bonito... nom nom nom nom...

click to enlarge

IF: Sweater

2011-02-12T13:14:00.004-05:00

In honor of my lovely bride and her years of knitting sweaters for friends, family and commissions. She has her own blog - Atomic Knits. She's been teaching classes through the local Knit Shop in town. I'm a beneficiary of her talents, and can tell you, they're plenty warm.

I encourage you to follow her blog - She's doing some wonderful work and would like to know more folks doing handcrafts.

This montage is of various people wearing sweaters, and her in the middle: knitting the next one. All very quick drawings in my sketchbook, merged into a single photoshop montage.

Sing Sing Sing - Cover

2011-02-11T08:33:00.008-05:00

Here's the cover of the booklet - I shortened the title from Three Sings down to Two. Sensei José Cruz thought I should play upon the famous prison name, as well as the song that runs throughout the piece. I had originally titled it this way, but thought the prison connotation would cause confusion about the institution. I will go with his advise, as well as pushing institutional Green throughout the piece. I had sent a few choice folks the preliminary BLUE version, which was mono-chrome steel blue and black. The addition of the greens added a huge amount of complexity and depth to some of these pages. I also boosted the heck out of the contrast, hiding the fact that I draw with a number 2 Ticonderoga pencil... very gray.

As suggested by my pal Matt Dembicki, I will be pursuing a real publication of this. Not a huge run, but enough to get it dispersed among the masses. I haven't figured on the strike price, but that's TBD.

Thanks to Mike Rhode at ComicsDC for catching a consistency item - I couldn't make a big change with the drawing, so I rephrased the nurse's action to be less of a permanent item, and more of a one-time act.

I've been very honored by you all encouraging this process. I originally thought this would end up in my flat file, never to see light. The piece ended up being downloaded 500 times in three days from my initial arts group emailing for advise. I thank you for taking the time to be my critics and audience.

here is a link to the "green" web version or my original "black and blue" web version. Let me know which scheme you prefer. I will be removing them once I go to print, so get it while you can.

IF: Reverse

2011-02-05T15:53:00.004-05:00

"But Could Only Coo"
Last page of the mini-zine, "Sing Sing Sing - A One Act Opera". I will be finalizing the print layout and making a short run - keeping it around 25. If I have to make more, I'll be sending it out to a printer.

I chose this for the word Reverse, since it seems that there is no detail in the pigeon, but the focus in on what surrounds his outline.
Secondly, our heroine is in a Reversed situation, being caged, while the bird is free.

poetic.

Click to enlarge to full 1K pix wide

Three Nurses

2011-01-31T08:46:00.003-05:00

Three Nurses - Page 12 of "Sing Sing Sing - A One Act Opera"

Hazel is getting worn down. Her voice is quavering, but keeps singing. The nurses are perplexed with what to do. They check the chart, and consult with each other.

graphite in sketchbook for the drawing - Cintiq in Photoshop for the color

Click to enlarge

Pittsburgh Propaganda - 2

2011-01-26T20:54:00.003-05:00

Release the Keisel!

Dan Rugh put me on the case again - Number 99 of the Pittsburgh Steelers is sporting a monstrous beard, or "Feard" - looking like the Viking a name like Keisel should be.
It was a limited run, and has sold out, but ask Dan if there is one in your size over by the ink cabinet = Commonwealth Press Merch

Originally his beard was going to be tearing apart a ship made of Cheese, but I thought this image may have a shelf life beyond the Green Bay game - as long as Keisel doesn't trim that beast!

Below is a version of the same drawing with a few gradients - I like yellow and red on black - they're pretty awesome.

Pittsburgh Propaganda

2011-01-25T08:14:00.003-05:00

My pal Dan Rugh at Commonwealth Press shot me a direct message via Twitter - "I need a Steel worker cutting Cheese - how fast can you do it?" = an hour and a half later, he had his blue collar bruin slicing some Swiss. He asked for one revision - Make him look more angry. I added a few forehead furrows and a clenched jaw.

Dan added his own touches and put the final Typography together and rushed it to the press. T-Shirts for the Masses! Buy yours here! Commonwealth Press Merch

Baddah Boom, Baddah Bing!

Sing Sing Sing - She Sang In Church

2011-01-23T12:14:00.003-05:00

Page 4 of "Sing Sing Sing, A One Act Opera"
Hazel Sang In Church

Surrendering to the feeling.

graphite and digital

IF: Dusty

2011-01-21T08:06:00.003-05:00

The chicken from last week is now hunkered down with the kids from the "Tornado Joe" project. I'm using the chicken's as comic relief as the story progresses and gets more tense.

The kids are ducking down as the villain's wagon tears into town during the middle of a drought... Remember the chickens fighting over worm jerky?

CHICKEN FIGHT!

I need an office manager. SO many projects going on...

graphite and photoshop via Cintiq
click to enlarge

Sing Sing Sing - 1 Act Opera

2011-01-16T12:19:00.004-05:00

I'm in the midst of writing a 16 page "zine" called "Sing Sing Sing, a One Act Opera". The premise is about a young girl named Hazel that wakes up one Sunday morning singing. It progresses from there. I have been doing a pile of portraits this week, all former Nazi guards and doctors. They're an integral part of the piece, becoming an "aside" on the right-hand page as the story progresses on the left-hand page.

So far, I only plan on doing a few short run versions, and a PDF, but I hope to see if I can get the entire piece published through the DC Conspiracy group publications, as part of an upcoming collection.

still very early on, but thinking of marketing outlets.

IF: Chicken

2011-01-15T10:11:00.002-05:00

CHICKEN FIGHT!

These two are squabbling over a piece of Worm Jerky... It's the middle of a drought, and they found it under a piece of corrugated steel behind the tractor shed.
pencil and photoshop - 2009-2011

More sedate is the four chickens in the shade - late July at high noon. I painted this back in 2003 while working for Sono Luminus and Ayrshire as their designer. I kept trying to do "nice and pastoral" pieces to sell at the local Virginia Piedmont art shows. I played that game for a while, but felt my artistic center was elsewhere.

oil on canvas - 2003

Click them to enlarge.

Deja-vu

2011-01-09T22:50:00.007-05:00

Bad Doctors - Deja-vu
My sister died last year due to a life of poor decisions and practice of a long list of doctors in her life. She received some of the most severe treatments to science, including doses of drugs so strong they destroyed her kidneys.

I'm so sorry for her lot in life... I'm still trying to work it out on paper. I found photos of various Nazi doctors from the concentration camps, and drew their likeness in my scratchy style. I can't help but equate her treatment as a systematic brutalization. She died from her mistreatment.

Doctors Mengele, Brandt, Clauberg... the worst. The repetition of poor treatment on innocent beings - Deja-vu.

These photos are part of a larger project I'm working on dealing with the life of my sister.

Graphite on Strathmore, then Cintiq in Photoshop. Click the image to double the size.

IF: Resolution

2010-12-31T12:28:00.003-05:00

I promise not to waste time in 2011 drawing stupid ideas that are 10 years past their freshness date.

What kid even knows who Popeye and Sailor Moon are? Not many.

All stemming from that stupid song getting stuck in my head on Thursday....

"I'm Popeye the Sailor Man
I live in a Garbage Can
I eats pork n beans
and pee in me jeans
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man.
TOOT TOOT!"

Too Stupid, Too Late.

No more... I promise.

Drawing on iPad

2010-12-29T13:32:00.007-05:00

I just got an iPad as a Christmas gift from my boss. Not because I'm special, but because he's a kick-ass boss, and he gave them to everyone in the company. If you follow my blog, you may know that I have an iPhone, too. I bought a program called Brushes for the iPhone last year, and had a bit of fun with it, but never liked drawing on such a small screen.

The iPad has removed that barrier. It sports a larger work area, bigger tools and more memory (32 Gb) to work with. I was able to move my Brushes app over to the iPad, but haven't worked in it on my iPad yet. I did, however, buy an application by Autodesk called Sketchbook Pro for the iPad, which is put out by the same folks that make Sketchbook Pro for my Mac. Two different animals, but that was to be expected.

I found that using my finger is limiting when it comes to control, brush accuracy and work-flow, i.e.; my hand's drawing posture is different when pointing than when holding a pencil. I bought a POGO stylus, which works fairly well, but isn't as precise as my Wacom Cintiq/Intuos Pen Stylus. The POGO is like drawing with a small pen with a 1/4 inch disc of sponge felt on the tip. It takes a bit of training, but you get used to it.

After downloading the application, I got into my first drawing. Me, on the couch with my graduation fez and a puzzled look. One layer, one color, one pencil setting. Fun.

I did a couple of life drawings of my wife and daughter, but it wasn't until this afternoon that I got into the layers and brush variations. Sketchbook Pro supports 4 layers with limited styles (normal, multiply, overlay...) and the ability to change the opacity. The brushes are limited (not exactly Photoshop CS5), but able to accept adjustments... fine for sketching and color studies.

I sat down after wolfing down my lunch of rice and crackers to draw a three layered piece I call "The Vengeful God of Illegal Ivory". The final output is merely 720 x 540 pixels at 72dpi, but Sketchbook Pro allows you to save it as a PSD with the layers intact at 1024 x 768 pixels, which you can email to yourself or upload to Facebook, Flicker, etc... nice feature.

Digging the new toy - Hope I can bring it into my bag of tricks in a significant way. Click the images to enlarge them.

Van Toad Auction

2010-12-27T07:54:00.015-05:00

THE WINNERS! - Adam and Barbara pose with Vincent Van Toad. Barb is a wonderful, bubbly artist and teacher with a huge heart for little Adam. Both met on Superbowl Sunday afternoon, after nap time. The Heatwole home was warm and full of action... some kids playing, some kids cleaning up where the others mussed it up. Overall, a beautiful illustration of a loving family. Thanks for letting me peek in.

Vincent Van Toad, Paul Zdepski, 2007
acrylic on canvas, handsomely framed
2nd Place - Book Category, at the 14th Juried Exhibition of the Illustrators Club of Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia, May-June 2008.
Cover of the MainARTery, Oct/Nov 2007

Additional Swag:
A signed copy of IC 14 Catalog featuring Van Toad
A copy of the MainARTery, Oct/Nov 2007 featuring Van Toad

SOLD

Thank you to Barbara S. for her winning bid, and new ownership of Vincent Van Toad!

Auction Closed February 1, 2011

Folks, there's a little boy I know of that's having a tough go of things in Georgetown University Hospital, in Washington DC. His name is Adam, and on top of his liver transplant a few years ago, he just had a bout of sickness that killed the majority of his intestine. He's still in the ICU, and his parents have spent the holiday season shuttling between their home 100 miles away and downtown DC.

Adam is a little trooper, and is looking at a bunch of recovery time and getting used to a new scar from his sternum to his pelvis.

Adam's dad, David gave me an opportunity to illustrate a cover of an arts magazine he started, The MainArtery in 2007. He didn't know me, I didn't know him, but we hit it off. In 2008, We did a dual show together at the Blue Elephant Art Center in Frederick Maryland called Harmonic Dissonance. I got to see David's full body of work and witness his love of art, community, family and faith.

I knew David and his bride had a large family, foster and adopted kids, and being at the opening was quite an event for them. I've only got two. I can't imagine the effort needed to keep their tribe going.

I needed to do something. I'm not in a great position to help - recent graduate, two cars dying in one calendar year, daughter starting college in 2011... It goes on...
I did what I could by offering a piece that has significance to David and my relationship, Vincent Van Toad.

The starting bid was $200, which barely covered the framing. It was an original with a pedigree. Click the image to see the piece up close... Inspect the goods.

Even with the bidding past, there is a 501(c)3 set up to receive your donations. I am planning to print Van Toad "Thank you" prints on archival paper. David is getting me the details.

David Heatwole
304 Bowers St.
Martinsburg, WV 25401

IF: Winter

2010-12-25T19:33:00.002-05:00

Skate Pups in Manhattan, a slight return.

This was originally a watercolor from 2008 that had stalled out. I revisited it with some help from my Cintiq. It pops a bit more, since I took control of many of the details that were being over run by the wet on wet issues with the watercolor.

I loved this scene while in NYC - a skating rink surrounded by high-rise buildings... mere blocks from Time Square. I may still be working on this piece this weekend, so don't think that you're looking at the final version... things can change.

Happy Holidays, all!

Winsor & Newton Watercolor on Fabriano, Digitally altered with Cintiq in Photoshop.
Click to enlarge.

IF: Mail

2010-12-17T21:00:00.005-05:00

Dear John, I don't love you anymore... I fell in love with the Motorcycle Mongoloid. Didn't you get my letter? Your friend, Sue

This is my take on the word "Mail" which stems from the book of 1936 and Film Noir of 1946, "The Postman Always Rings Twice". There isn't an actual "Postman" in the movie, so I switched it around and had the troubled couple bumping off a postal carrier as he crossed the road... The written note in the background stems from the lyrics of one of my favorite bands, Weird War, headed by Ian Svenonius...

The point being, she wrote the breakup letter, but mows down the postman as he's delivering it. Double tragedy... The Postman Always Flips Twice.

Graphite and Cintiq with Adobe Photoshop
Click the pic to enlarge the Return Address...

IF: Phenomenon

2010-12-12T21:21:00.004-05:00

I swear - every red-eye flight... there is some bawling infant that the parent is toting up and down the isles, so everyone on the flight gets to suffer equally.

Flying Finster at Forty Thousand Feet Phenomenon... it never fails.

It's 3:30 AM, SHOVE THAT KID INTO THE OVERHEAD AND SHUT THE DOOR!

Dad is waving the kid over his head like one of the Sand People pumping his rifle in Star Wars... BWWWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDddddd...

"Chewie, is that you?"

Fun J-Animation

2010-12-09T10:26:00.003-05:00

Buddha Noodles!

Nahto's Origin... Slimey soybean goodness

I'm in love with the watercolor wash backgrounds in these. The character designs are a riot. This style of design can be seen in many humorous Japanese print cartoons - Not the Manga, but the goofy little slap-stick three panel pieces tossed into many a J-Magazine.

Professor Becker's Pants

2010-12-01T10:08:00.007-05:00

Professor Becker's Rhinocerotidae Triubhas (Rhinoceros Pants)

I've finished my piece for Sandra Dieckmann's Creature Curiosity project, and I thought it would go well with the Illustration Friday word, "Prehistoric" as the Rhino Pants are modeled upon an ancient looking animal. I encourage all you illustrators to review Sandra's proposal and consider doing an animal half, too.

The Creature Curiosity Project is a non-profit collaborative venture bringing illustrators and children together with an aim to spread creativity and self-expression. Giving the illustrators the chance to inspire and educate a younger generation with their work and exposure to fellow creatives, teachers, parents, arts organizations, charities and whoever else falls in love with the fantastical hybrid creatures.

So, here's the skinny on the inspiration: I like Rhinos. I like my professor, Murray Tinkelman's hybrid creatures... I like my friend BJ Becker's character and lifestyle. Merge them together with a few early steam engine pistons, and you get "Professor Becker's Rhinocerotidae Triubhas (Rhinoceros Pants)"

100% Cintiq in Adobe Photoshop. Click to enlarge the clanking...

IF: Savour

2010-11-29T22:23:00.006-05:00

"Savor the Flavor of the Savior" or "Sing-Rest-Sing"

I was at a religious service last week, and drew three pictures of the lady in charge of singing solos to karaoke tapes piped in over the loud-speakers. I always thought people that did that were kind of brave, or kind of nuts.

I can't stand singing in live situations... I hate musical theater, uncomfortable folk singer situations and campfire choruses. Perhaps because I was forced to sing in the church choir from early grade school through high school... when I rebelled and learned to mumble while pretending to sing.

Church lady isn't anything like that... She loves what she's doing, and doesn't give a hoot what I think. You go girl!

No malice meant here - she sang very well. I just can't be trusted with a pencil!

Three pages from my Strathmore sketchbook hastily fused into a wide image in Photoshop.
Click the pick to Savah the Flavah!

Gnome for Holidays Sketch

2010-11-22T15:21:00.004-05:00

Forget the Jello mold Gnome. I'm going cute.

"Gnome for the Holidays"

Sketched during my lunch break - colored, and off to the printer by Wednesday.

To my friends who aren't on my postal mailing list: Download the Christmas and Holiday Card right here, right now!

my dear sister

2010-11-19T22:40:00.005-05:00

I lost my biggest fan, protector, confidant and inappropriate out-burst'er today... My dear sister, Ellen. She passed away an hour and a half ago, in a hospital in New Jersey. She had suffered long and hard, but you would never have known it by her ability to find joy in every little thing.

I visited her in the Intensive Care Unit earlier this week, and we all had hope for her recovery, but the evidence showed the opposite. I drew her portrait in the hospital, while she was hooked up to the respirator, and intravenous tubes to various parts of her body. Even with those indignities, she looked peaceful and contented.

I sat with her and drew a portrait of her as a young girl of 13 years old, sneaking out into the garden in the wee hours of a summer's night. This piece is called "Ellen Among the Iris". She began her struggles at this age, and I wanted to show her in the un-bound joy she would so easily muster.

Tonight, I painted, cried and painted some more. She was a genuine love of my life... my dear sister. I miss you so...

IF: Burning

2010-11-15T18:41:00.002-05:00

Tillie the Hotdog

not sure what this means. just did it on Saturday night - colored today after work.

it is what it is, my dog Tillie merged with a match-head - ghostly green flame.

Pencil drawing - Cintiq with Photoshop.
Click the pic to enlarge

District of Design

2010-11-08T11:20:00.002-05:00

I've been profiled by the blog "District of Design", which is a Washington DC centric blog. I was surprised to hear they were interested in my work, since it's certainly not a slick and design oriented style, but I am glad they dig it.

Click on over to read the full interview. If you've been following my blog, you've seen the images, but there is a bit of history I tell that may not be known. Short and sweet with links to my sites and number... gotta love the web!

IF: Afterwards

2010-11-05T09:29:00.004-04:00

Legend states: In 1963, my oldest brother Greg took an old woman's bike from 1938 down our hill, hit a dirt jump called "The Nellie" and proceeded to fly 30 feet into the air like a wounded pelican...

He hit the ramp with such force that the bike's front forks sheared off. upon impact with the ground, Greg's family jewels were driven into the now stationary framework...

He lay motionless on the ground... his junk crammed so deep into his abdomen, the by-standers thought he was dead.

...they scattered to the wind.

The next in line, older brother Mark recounts after my posting:

It was a Sears bike that Mom had gotten w/ S&H green stamps just before the war. The jump was called "The Nellie", it was at the edge of Pete Schiable's lawn, at the intersection of the drive and the road. It was a steep dirt incline only about 12-15” high at about a 45 degree angle, but it could launch you to get air. The name probably derived from the first kid saying "Whoa Nellie" as he went over it in the dawn of kiddom. We (the observers in Pete’s lawn) used to exclaim "and he hits the Nellie!!", as the rider launched into the air, then we’d measure the distance, in a form of competition.

We’d reconstituted this bike from weather-beaten rust, got new tires from Clyde’s bike shop in Milford, and brush painted it red & black. On the maiden trip down the hill, Greg took charge and decided to go faster than ever before, starting in front of Mr. Curtis’ house (1/4 mile up the hill from Schiable's ramp). Pete & I waited in the lawn off to the side near the front stoop, it was a warm summer evening and I was laying down in the grass, light was failing. When Greg came into sight he was laid down, feet trailing behind, not even on the pedals, head down to eliminate drag, chest over the handlebars. At the moment that we exclaimed "and he hits the Nellie!!", the goose neck that holds the handlebar to the frame broke and Greg and the bike began to separate into slightly different trajectories. My distinct mental "snap shot" has Greg 6 or 8 feet in the air (probably exaggerated as I was small and was laying down), still climbing in a sitting position and holding the handle bars as the bike was falling away beneath him (kind of like 2001 space odyssey docking maneuvers). He and the bike were in silhouette (just like that scene in ET , he seemed to just keep climbing and traveling). After he hit on top of the bike he didn’t start groaning until after Pete & I had made our way over to him. Pete and I judged that he’d broken the record, but at a significant personal cost, because he’d broken his balls on the bike frame.

I think we repaired the bike, but only after months of searching for a replacement goose neck. I’ve laughed until I’ve cried in the embellished retelling of this story (I only chuckle when I type it).

m

pencil in my canson, scanned and reworked in SketchbookPro and Cintiq - Full color illustration in the Corporal Punishment Series.

Click to enlarge the pain.

Mid-Century

2010-11-03T08:19:00.008-04:00

I found an old AMERICAN BUILDER magazine from October 1954 that my dad had in the attic. It's been kicking around the studio bookshelves for years. I cracked it open last night and found a pile of gems. The design ideas, advertisements and homes are really worth studying.

The garage door ad jumped out at me, firstly due to the garish designs, but secondly as a classic showcase of a full sample offering from a company displayed on one page. I remember the little magician on the lock mechanism of the garage door of our house, which was built in 1958.

Our house had Aluminum Windows like the ones in this yellow and gray-tone illustration, too!

"Jackstraw!" - I love this interior shot! Look at that flooring texture with matching curtains! I'm going to make an Illustrator pattern from it... The color pallets in these ads are fantastic. Swatch time!

The masthead was cropped and placed on an image of the featured home, which came with blueprints in the issue. I want to have that house! It's a mix between Frank Lloyd Wright and George Jetson.

IF: Spent

2010-10-31T21:45:00.004-04:00

I spent hours of toil at Old Lady Brown's. She had a yard that was long enough to drive golfballs. She must have been 80 years old when I knew her, but she still wanted that huge yard mowed. It was the first time I experienced heat exhaustion, when the grass below my feet looked like rippling water, and was floating above my body as it slogged that mower through the knee-high grass. She never sharped the blades of her cheap sears push mower.

OLB often called on the phone without a "Hello" - she would bleat out my dad's name "Steve??!", forcing the person on the receiver-end to yank the phone away from their head with the sonic blast. My brother's reminded me of her constant interjection of "am I right?" after every statement, as her false teach clickity-clacked with the syllables.

She was a grand old girl. White hair from the age of 18 - timelessly old.

Oh yeah... after mowing for $2.75 an hour, I had to walk 5 miles home because my mom wouldn't pick me up.

My dad volunteered me to be her "mower"... years of obligation... thanks, dad.

Corporal Punishment Series - Old Lady Brown
pencil, photoshop, Cintiq. 11 x 17 inches

IF: Racing

2010-10-23T21:27:00.005-04:00

If you plan on Street Racing... Officer Rabbit will have to do his duty.
Officer Rabbit's New Bike
oil on oval panel in antique frame. 20" x 13" - Click the Pic to enlarge.

"I'm the Hi-way patrol, Hi-way patrol.
My hours are long, and my pay is low
I'm here ta keep all the speeders drivin' slow,
I'm justa doin' mah job, I'm the Hi-way patrol."
-- Jr. Brown.

Dia de los Muertos

2010-10-21T09:54:00.006-04:00

Day of the Dead - Dia de los Muertos
I finished the piece and delivered it. The show's opening is on Friday with dancers and music from Mexico. I was able to work through some heavy stuff making this piece, including revisiting the poem I wrote when I learned of Steven's murder.

The final piece is made of the poplar box provided by the Shenandoah Art's Council, 1/8 inch birch plywood, silk flowers, 60lb fishing line, 3 springs and a modified paint brush. I used three colors of paint (pallet has more): white, purple and clear opalescent. The writing is with a sharpie and cut back in with paint. In the lower jaw, three paint tubes and two brushes are to be placed.

The hardest part was carving. Each bone had to be made and bound together with fishing line. The easel and bench are made just as doll furniture, tiny mortises and bevels - all removable. I tried to be as true to "hand-made" and Folk Art as I could, avoiding manufactured props.

Requiem for Steven Hornbaker

We painted in Spring, landscapes before us
Skull grinned back from your canvas
Rose thorns dripping blood, Houses of the Holy

Mommy left lives ago, her stomach wrenches
With news, eight hundred miles
“Baby’s now stillborn, sucking air”

The bullet entered your arm
You gaze heavenward like St. Sebastian
Porcelain doll face, ruby lips gasp

How you cough like your father’s cancer
No strength to clear the slop
Look at the shooter’s face

Swooping scythe separates you from little Brielle
Will she know your dreams, our dreams for you?
Dragon’s whisper, icy embrace

Staring at life dripping on Naugahyde
Steering wheel leaving the lines of Ash Wednesday
THREE, FOUR, FIVE shots shatter ribs, new shirt

Sleepy gaze, eyes half shut
Valkyrie carry you from the battlefield
Your side losing, Arrogance vs. Lead

Pierced lungs, drown your summer’s breath
Tearing your heart, you glimpse the heaven
You seek in smoke

Tuxedo, white shirt, bow tie, no holes
Die with your boots on, don’t cry
Grinning obituary, so happy to be dead

--paul zdepski

Oct 23, 2010
Winchester Star:

IF: Spooky

2010-10-15T22:06:00.008-04:00

UPDATE:

ORIGINAL POST:

Day of the Dead - Dia de los Muertos
This is a progress shot of my shrine for a friend of mine that was killed 10 years ago during a drug deal. Steve Hornbaker and I were a couple of art geeks in high school. We often painted together for hours and dreamed dreams of being professional artists one day. I went on to pursue that dream, and Steve found a love of heroin.

He tried to scam a street dealer in North Philadelphia... tried driving away without paying for his junk. Six shots later, Steve was dead behind the wheel of his car.

I was given the chance to create this piece by Tracy at the Shenandoah Arts Council. She's putting on a Dia de los Muertos show by the 21st. I need to finish building the wooden marionette skeleton artist as he paints the portrait of Steve looking into the mirror 4"x5" acrylic on a mini easel that is still to be made. The entire piece is currently a black poplar box with three compartments upon which, the skull is to be mounted. The skull's eyes will show the two lower compartments with votive candles. The larger opening will show the skeleton painting in the studio. the entire piece is to be ringed with dried mums.

The piece is accompanied by a written piece of prose called "Requiem for Steven Hornbaker". I'll post that with the final photos of the finished piece within the next week.