Cliffcature: Caricatures by Cliff

Hellhippo Rising

2010-07-14T05:53:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted here in awhile but I have been involved with various projects and haven't been able to write much of any worth.

I have been figuring out the direction I want to take with my art. I am moving away from primarily focusing on caricatures and portraits and toward doing darker material. To that end I am launching a new brand 'Hellhippo' which takes it's name from the art-book I am working on: 'Hellhippo and Other Denizens of the Dark Dimensions' More info on that is forthcoming.

As you may have noticed my cliffcature website no longer exists and you are redirected here to my blog. The reason for this is that I never gave the site the attention it deserves and as such it wasn't that interesting to visit. I think this was my subconscious telling me I was heading down the wrong path. I am endeavoring to correct that and have a new site int he works. In the meantime you can keep up with my doings on FB orTwitter......or here.

Thank you for stopping by.

Been a bit.....

2010-03-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well folks a lot has happened over the last month or two. My PC caught a nasty virus and I had to put her down. I made the transition to Mac and I am glad I did. I like the interface and the over all simplicity. Rather than morn the loss of data, I am taking it as an opportunity to start fresh. You can see on my facebook page some of the new work I have been doing.

I have begun work on illustrating a children's book. I am excited about this project and will share more details as I am able.

I have also signed up on Sketchoholic and look forward to participating there. I have more stuff to share but right now I am holding my baby and she doesn't want me typing any more. Can't blame her. Stay tuned!

Happy New Year

2010-01-18T15:04:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't been updating as often as I would like. The holiday season has been very busy.

I finally got my feet wet doing live caricature work (check out my Facebook page for pics). Unlike many in field, I don't use markers. Instead I use black colored pencil and white charcoal on toned paper. I like the look of it but have to increase my speed.

In other news:
My computer has been rather slow lately due to a burned out graphics card. Mental note- cooling fans don't work so well clogged with dust. I temporarily replaced it with a cheaper model I picked up at a local store. I will be getting a superior card in the near future. I look forward to being able to put my Cintiq back to use. I have tons of new ideas I want to try.

My wife got me an Ipod Touch and I have been playing around with AutoDesk's Sketchbook Mobile. I don't have a stylus for it so it isn't quite as precise as I want, but it is great for toying around. I have been using it's symmetry feature to design aliens which I plan to finish in Photoshop. Below is one of them:

Illustration

2009-11-24T05:24:00.000-08:00

I have started work on a practice illustration. I am fairly confident in my ability to get a solid likeness and render it to my satisfaction, however, The piece of the illustration puzzle I need to work on is to place a caricature into context, to that end I am doing a depiction of Sarah Palin as the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. I am also going to start taking news stories and thinking about how I would illustrated them.

I want to move into doing illustration work for publication and this seems like good practice. Any ideas you folks have would be greatly appreciated.

Speedpainting.

2009-11-09T17:57:00.001-08:00

Here are some recent digital speed paintings that I have done:

Putin

2009-07-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

Finally finished this one of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Originally this was an assignment for Seiler's class but alas didn't finish in time being that other stuff came up. Anyway hope you like it. My monitor calibrating equipment should come in this week and I will recheck all my colored works to make sure they are what I want them to be.

Miranda Kerr Sketch.

2009-07-05T01:44:00.001-07:00

Here is a sketch I did for the monthly jam over at the Drawing Board of Model Miranda Kerr. There are several changes that I can already see I will make when I go to paint this but anyway here it is:

I am also working on sketches of Lady Gaga, Alan Rickman (Professor Snape) and a better Jon Stewart. All of these will eventually be painted. I have also been working on a painting of Putin and Trump.

Been a bit...

2009-06-28T19:46:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I have updated this blog, sorry about that. I have been rather busy. I recently completed doing caricatures of my daughters entire Brownie Troop. The troop leaders originally wanted simple pencil drawings but I decided to go with higher quality digital ones instead. This has led to a potential private art lesson gig, so that is great.

I am getting ready to relaunch my website and start a second one for the pets. First I need to get monitor calibrating equipment which I hope to do soon. More on that as things develop.

Here are some of the things I have been drawing:

Here is a sketch I did of the great Mel Brooks for his birthday thread in the ISCA forum.

Here I turned the sketch into a fully rendered caricature painting. You can see all the changes I made between the two.

This one of me and the one below of my brother Scott were both taken from a larger piece I did for my father featuring his three kids.

Evie

2009-05-12T02:24:00.001-07:00

Sorry for my lack of recent posts. I made some adjustments to the Randy Travis in my previous post and updated that post to include them. Nothing major just adjusted the ear and made the background all the same color, I had noticed there were some off spots in it.

Above is a caricature of Evie painted in photoshop. Still working out some printing issues but otherwise I am very happy with it. I enjoyed working on all the fur.

In other news I have tendinitis in my right wrist so I have been using my left hand more. This brings me to the below image. There is a thread on the ISCA forum for speedpaintings digital caricatures done in under an hour. Reading through this thread inspired me to attempt one myself........left handed. This is the result. It is Brian Baumgartner who plays Kevin on The Office (the American version). While I am no way completely happy with it, for my left hand I am rather pleased. I intend to do more of these in the near future. I am probably going to take this one to completion eventually as well, but maybe not.

Hopefully soon my wrist will be better so I can get back to working on homework for Seiler's class and the other things I have going on.

Randy done.

2009-04-26T19:29:00.000-07:00

This is the finished Randy Travis. I am getting ready to do an update to my website, I will let you know when that happens. My wrist is starting to feel better but not quite back to full strength yet.

The latest assignment.

2009-04-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

Finally able to post the next assignment. Took longer than I would have liked but over all I am happy with it. I have a few other projects on my plate. A bunch of caricatures for my daughters Girl Scout troop as well as a colored pencil portrait and finishing up a dog caricature that I have been doing.

My drawing hands wrist has been bothering me a bit lately so I haven't drawn as much per day to try and rest it up. I have also been training myself to draw lefty. Very interesting experience that is.

Hopefully I will have something new to post soon. Maybe that Randy when I finish it.

Feeling Randy.

2009-04-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

Hello again folks. Been rather busy with various projects. Still not done with the next assignment for the class. I was unhappy with the direction it was going so reworked it. My wrist is starting to bother me a bit so I am reluctantly taking a bit of a break from drawing or at least trying to.

Above is a Randy Travis that I am almost finished with. I watch American Idol and as soon as I watched him on the show I knew I wanted to draw him. What an interesting face. I may or may not color this. We shall see.

The third assignment

2009-03-28T15:07:00.001-07:00

The third assignment was a study in values (you can see now how I incorporated this lesson in with the Rowan Atkinson). The sketch this is done from was Seiler's I just did the painting from it. I am well on my way to completing my next assignment which is similar though it is monochromatic not just black and white.

Rowan along.......

2009-03-22T21:14:00.000-07:00

As promised here are some sketches from the second lesson followed by a progression of Rowan Atkinsom depictions starting with the Sketchbook Pro sketch through to the completed photoshop painting.

class sketches

2009-03-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some sketches I did for the first lesson in Seiler's Caricature class.
They are in reverse order.

I will post images from the second lesson soon though I actually watched the third lesson prior to doing the finished drawing so I incorporated the learning from that lesson as well. It is going to be a finished piece of Rowan Atkinson. I have been working on it all morning but went a wee bit too long between my last two saves and when I went to save it photoshop shutdown unexpectedly losing about an hour or so of work. Grrrrr!!!! gotta remember to save more frequently. Oh well it is good practice. Looking back at the Hanks below now, I can't believe I turned that crap in.

Some sketches and a decision.

2009-03-05T08:16:00.000-08:00

Here are a few sketches I have done recently in Sketchbook Pro:

I drew Dolly for the March contest over at e-caricatures. I may or may not do a more finished version.

Jon has such a fascinating face. I have drawn it a dozen times and none of them I am completely satisfied with. This probably comes closest to where I want it to be. One day I hope to do a finished colored version of him.

I drew Coulter because I love her long neck. Every time I see her I feel compelled to start drawing her but haven't until now. This one I will turn into a finished colored painting eventually (digital painting that is). Will make a great companion piece for my O'Reilly.

I think I have mentioned in previous posts that I wanted to take a couple courses at Schoolism.com I want to take Character Design with Stephen Silver and A Caricature class by Jason Seiler. Unfortunately I can't afford both. I had decided to take Silver's course this year and Seiler's another year, but re-thinking it I have decided to take them both after all. However instead of taking the full course I will take the self-taught versions. While I have no doubt that the full version is well worth every penny, at present it is more economical for me to take the self-taught versions and take both. I will post progress updates as soon as I begin either of them (hopefully within the week if I am correct in thinking I can start them as soon as I pay being that they are self-taught).

I am almost done working on a dog caricature and will soon begin working on a colored pencil portrait for another client. Haven't done one of those in a bit, I look forward to it. I am also starting preliminary work for a special personal project I want to have completed by April. More on that later.

Cintiq Review

2009-02-28T15:59:00.000-08:00

I recently purchased a Wacom Cintiq21UX. I thought about getting the smaller version for the cost savings but being used to a larger Intuos, I didn’t think I would like it. Having tried both at the NYComicon I confirmed my suspicions. I wanted the big one. They were offering a discount if purchased there so I ordered it (thanks to a fortuitous timing of my tax return which cleared that day).

I couldn’t wait till they delivered it less than a week later (with very inexpensive shipping). The day the delivery was due I had to have checked out the window a dozen times an hour for the UPS truck.

Finally it arrived. I took the stand out of the box and placed it on my newly cleared desk (where the Intuos previously dwelled). All seemed to be going fine until I put the Cintiq on the stand and realized that if I wanted to tilt it down to a more horizontal position (which I certainly did) than my desk would need modifying.

The way y desk is configured my monitor is on a raised platform toward the back end of the desk. The platform consisted of 3 sections: the middle one which had the monitor on it and the two end ones which angled in toward the front. Those end sections had to go, so I put the Cintiq back into the box and did the necessary modifications all while hearing the Cintiq’s siren song beckoning (and faintly in the background the Intuoses mocking laughter).

Finally I got it all set up and spent about an hour or so configuring my system. I have it set up so that the Cintiq is my main monitor and my Dell monitor is my secondary one with the desktop continuing up form one to the other.

I find the Cintiq to be a fantastic tool. It has made it far easier to do detail work. With the Intuos I sometimes had to guesstimate where to draw whereas with the Cintiq, I know. I also like being able to draw on the Cintiq with my reference on the other monitor thus freeing up valuable screen realestate. Another benefit of the Cintiq is that it doesn’t succumb to Cliff’s First Law of Flat Surfaces: They can and will collect clutter. The Intuous did frequently.

The Cintiq has programmable buttons and a touchstrip on either side of the display. You can set them up differently depending on the program you are using. I currently have mine tweaked for photoshop but not yet for my other art programs. The pen also has a programmable side switch which acts in the same manner. On the other end of the pen is an ‘eraser’. The ‘eraser’ is an eraser by default in most art programs but can be changed just like the other buttons and switches. By default it uses whatever settings the eraser is set on without regard to the settings of the current drawing tool. This can be changed so that it keeps the settings of the tool you are working on already thus you don’t find yourself erasing more or less than you intended.

The only thing I have found annoying is the right side touch strip which I have a habit of hitting with my palm. This seems to be a rather common problem. The discontinued 20” inch model had this problems solved by placing the touchstrips in a different location, not sure why they didn’t do that with the 21”. Overall well worth the money (now if only I could convince the wife of that).

Sketchin with Sketchbook Pro.

2009-02-19T13:46:00.000-08:00

I am starting to really dig Sketchbook Pro. It is great for just doodling or sketching. I still haven't gotten around to learning all its ins and outs but I have been using photoshop7 for ages and I have barely scratched its surface.

Here are two sketches of NCN members I did recently.

Mike Carlon:

Joe Bluhm:

Me Again

2009-02-19T13:13:00.001-08:00

Wow a lot more people have drawn me. Some of these are from the Drawingboard and some from the NCN Firing Squad:

By Guido Salimbeni:

Another By Rocky:

By Mike Carlon:

By Ritalin:

By Ramanjit Kaur:

Another by Chris N:

By Murgunstrum:

By Joser:

By Cucukahuna:

by About Faces:

Thank you all!

Been busy.

2009-02-18T16:22:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile since I have had a chance to post. Since my last post I attended the NYComicon and learned a good deal. I also met several great people including Joe Bluhm. I purchased a caricature from him which I will post soon (Thanks Joe!). If you are not familiar with his work you should rectify that. As soon as I have more time I will post a more complete description of my trip there.

I have also become a member of the NCN and purchased a Wacom Cintiq (review on it's way)

I have been playing around with my Cintiq and Sketchbook pro when I haven't been working on a couple of commissions. Here is a sketch I did of a coworker:

I will have more pictures to show soon of what I have been working on.

Life Drawing

2009-02-03T10:44:00.000-08:00

This Monday I went to a life drawing session. Getting together with fellow artists is always a great thing and this was no exception.

These first two are of other artists who were there drawn during a break.

I am still working on proportion, I noticed I tended to shorten the legs. I look forward to going again.

Me, Me, Me...........Sick of Me Yet?

2009-01-30T20:33:00.000-08:00

Here are some other artists take on my ugly mug. Thank you all.

By Alison Gelbman:

By Don Pinsent:

By Sinj:

By ioO:

By Inkwell:

Life Drawing this coming Monday....

2009-01-30T20:29:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine, Zane Degaine told me about a life drawing session that is on Mondays. Next week shall be the first time I attend one of them (if all goes as planned). I look forward to it. I will post pictures when I have some scanned in. I also have more of me to post as depicted by others.

Even More Me

2009-01-25T13:23:00.001-08:00

Here are several more depictions of me from the good folks at E-Caricatures and the Drawingboard.

By Tendho-

By Supermouse-

By Rowly-

By Phantazmo-

By Jodie-

2009-01-23T13:35:00.000-08:00

While watching Jack's Big Music Show with my kids this morning. I got inspired to draw the violin duo Nuttin But Stringz. I watched a bunch of videos on YouTube and did some gesture drawings and chose two that flowed nicely together and put them together via photoshop. Eventually I will work this sketch up to a finished drawing (of course I have had that plan for other pieces such as Dueling Wonkas which have yet to be completed).

Youthful ignorance

2009-01-23T12:56:00.000-08:00

I have recently been getting back into MAD magazine mostly because of Tom Richmond's MAD blog. I used to read the magazine a lot as a kid and teen though truth be told I always preferred Cracked mazagine.

For a long time I used to think that Cracked was the original and MAD the imitator, hence the title of the post. In either case I used to view them both as the best magazines in the world. When I was old enough I would buy them but as a kid I would read them while my mother would shop. Years later I figured out that I was wrong in my thinking MAD imitated Cracked (this occurred around the time Wikipedia had entries on the two magazines).

I can't pinpoint exactly when or why I stopped reading them but as I got older I did. I recently purchased my first MAD magazine in many years. Although I liked much of what it contained there was only one article that made me laugh out loud and that was 'It's a GOOD brand name and a BAD brand name...' written by Jeff Kruse and illustrated by Joe Coker. The rest of the stuff in the magazine I found myself appreciating more for the art than the humor. Not to say the magazine was unfunny just that the bulk of it wasn't as funny as the average 'Pearls before swine' strip.

I am in the middle of reading MAD ART by Mark Evanier. Very interesting stuff between that and the Wikipedia pages I have learned a great deal(Not to mention from the aforementioned Richmond Blog).I really loved all the Don Martin stuff ( I knew him from Cracked and had no idea he was from MAD originally as was John Severin ).

I was disappointed that Cracked no longer exists as a print mag, the online thing is nowhere near as good. I didn't get a chance to catch the brief revamped print version but I suspect it was as much a disappointment as the revamped Ren and Stimpy was.

Since I brought them up I might as well talk about them. I loved Ren and Stimpy when I was a kid. What disappointment that Rugrats lasted as long as it did but they didn't. Doug was good too (until Disney ruined it). When Ren and Stimpy came out on Spike TV I was ecstatic. That didn't last long. While I did enjoy some of the stories I got the sense that it just went over the top. I love stuff that walks the edge but not when it goes over the edge like I felt this did. Much of it seemed to be vulgarity for vulgarities sake rather than for advancing the cartoon. It also had the misfortune of being on in a block with the superior Gary the Rat and Stripperella (in my opinion the best thing that Kelsey Grammer or Pamela Lee did). Those two cartoons I was surprised to see gone so soon. While I did find Ren and Stimpy to be a bit of a disappointment I didn't want to see it end before it really had a chance.

This post seems a bit random and discordant. I am going to edit it in the near future when my thoughts are more organized. I will also add some links.

Something different.

2009-01-20T19:57:00.000-08:00

Here are some older pieces that I have done. Felt like sharing something different today.

This one was sketched in pencil than done in illustrator. I drew it during a period in which I got a lot of people asking for 'tribal' style tattoos.

These two are colored pencil on colored card stock 8x10. Just a small sampling of the animals I have drawn. Unfortunately I do not have copies of most of them.

This one is graphite on paper 11x14. Thus far the only house I have been asked to draw. (unless you count Dr. House)

More caricatures of fellow caricaturists

2009-01-18T21:26:00.000-08:00

Here are few more caricatures that I drew of fellow Drawingboard and E-Caricature members. Still working on exaggeration.

Supermouse:

Chuck Drywall:

Bangalore Monkey:

Hand Sketches..

2009-01-15T06:09:00.000-08:00

Did these quick sketches while bored at work. You can clearly see the fold lines and neat shadows from when I folded the paper to put in my pocket. It is great practice and I have realized it is damn hard to keep my hand in the same position while I am drawing with the other one. Good reason to pick up my speed. Over all I am happy with them but I definately see room for improvement

Me, Me and more Me

2009-01-14T21:14:00.001-08:00

I recently posted some pictures of myself on both the DrawingBoard and E-Caricatures.
Some great artists have taken time out of their day to look at my ugly mug long enough to sketch me and for that I thank them.

By VHPayes:
By Rocky:
By Chris N.:
By Kaya:
By William Appledorn:

Setting myself up.....

2009-01-12T13:08:00.000-08:00

Well I added that followers gadget to this page. I am a glutton for punishment so this should provide plenty of ego crushing experience.

Unfinished business

2009-01-11T10:37:00.000-08:00

This is a post that I originally posted awhile ago on one of the blogs that I deleted. Sadly I don't really have an update for them...

There are several projects that I have been working on intermittently that I would one day like to finish. Here I will list a few:

Jenesis-- I know a lot of Jens. There was a time I could easily be sitting at the diner with 3 or 4 of them at a time. I wondered what it would be like to live in a town where EVERY girl was named Jen. Than I thought what if there was a girl who wasn't? How would they treat her? Thus the seed for my story started. I started writing it with an outsider as the main character. Being new in town he goes to a local diner to meet the locals. He sees a beautful woman at the counter and makes the mistake of asking her name........thus it begins. Eventually he teams up with one of only two girls in town NOT named Jen, Sara. The other girl is named Janine and she wishes she was a Jen unlike Sara who things the whole town is insane. The plot gets stranger. I won't go into it further here otherwise there would be little point in you reading it should I ever get around to finishing it.
Although it started off as a short story than grew in scope I think I am going to make a graphic novel out of it instead. I can get more accomplished in more time with less space that way.

Toto's tale- A look at Oz from the dogs perspective. In my version the tale is told from Toto's view. In it while he is at the bitch neighbors garden he eats some shrooms. The world starts spinning and he trips. He than sees something he never saw before....color. The whole story is his journey while tripping until at the end it wears off and normality returns.

Collage of Colbert- I am working on a large sized portrait of Stephen Colbert made out of cut up pictures of George Bush. (edit: although I would have liked to do this I never actually started)

FOF- Another comic strip that is loosely based on my life. The main character Froth has four kids and works in a candy factory. Yes very loosely indeed. (edit: not likely to happen any time soon.)

Deleting other blogs....

2009-01-11T09:54:00.000-08:00

I have three other blogs here on Blogger but I am going to be deleting them and rolling whatever content they have into this one. One is the first blog I started here which I kept up with for only a short while. It originally started out as a place for me to share my world but I generally only showed my Sunny and Gloom comic strips. I didn't keep up with it and eventually started this one for my caricatures and this one I have been keeping up with (for the most part) so I have decided to roll the that one into this one. The same goes for the other two blogs I have. One is for my fine art stuff and I never added more than a post or two and the other was for just my opinions on just about everything patterned after one that I have on my employers intranet. I never had quite the same motivation for that kind of thing outside of work so I didn't add anything so away it goes.

Here are some of the Sunny and Gloom strips that I had posted...

I will post the others shortly.

I never quite finalized the character design on them. I will hopefully be taking Stephen Silver's Character Design class and will hopefully finalize them after that.

Some E-Caricature members

2009-01-11T07:31:00.001-08:00

These are members of E-Caricatures.
My tablet is still acting up so I will not be doing much digital work until I get my new Cintiq sometime next month. I can't wait. In the mean time I have been using my pencil a lot more. I have a few portrait commissions in the pipeline as well as a couple of digital caricature ones. There is also a logo for an aromatherapy company I have to finish up.

From the Sketchbook

2009-01-07T10:44:00.001-08:00

These were all done of kids in the book 'Facial Expressions Babies to Teens- a visual reference for artists' by Mark Simon which my wonderful wife got for me for Christmas.

She also got me Joe Bluhm's book 'Rejects- the extree3m art of retail caricature'. God I love her.

Hello Again

2008-12-26T13:17:00.000-08:00

Here are those Office sketches I meant to post previously. Been too busy. I just got Sketchbook Pro and have been learning how to use it. I shall post some results soon. I also got 'Facial Expressions babies to Teens by Mark Simon for Christmas from my wonderful wife, Lisa. I shall be putting it to good use.

The Office and Other Things.....

2008-12-15T06:25:00.000-08:00

I have done a few more sketches from that wonderful show The Office. Right now I am posting B.J. Novak or the temp. I don't have the other couple scanned in yet.

Over the last couple days I have been reading through every one of Jason Seiler's blog posts as well as every one of Joe Bluhm's. Both of whose books I hope to receive for Christmas this year. I am hoping to be able to take Seiler's Schoolism course sometime next year and should be joining the NCN shortly. Currently reading Stephen Silver's blog. I am still in 05 so have a bit of catching up to do. I have learned a lot by reading through these artists blogs and they are leading me to other blogs. Overall well worth the reads.

James Hetfield

2008-12-11T06:55:00.000-08:00

This first sketch is my first attempt at sketching Metallica's James Hetfield. Obviously it didn't work out all that well. The second sketch is with the head redrawn and photoshopped onto the original sketches body. This is a study for a larger Metallica digital painting. I am going through WACOM withdrawal right now because I need replacement parts for my stylus. Probably will be another week or more until it arrives. There are some more pieces I might get to posting later.

SJP Sketch

2008-12-09T10:31:00.000-08:00

While watching the Sex and the City movie with my wife last night, I couldn't resist sketching Sarah Jessica Parker. Finished it up this morning. I think it came out well but there are parts I think could be better. I am still in the process of reorganizing this blog so bear with me.

I think the problem I have been having with my WACOM is the nib on the stylus I think it needs to be changed but I don't remember where I have my spares. Frustrating. I hope I can find them so I don't need to purchase more. Eventually I need to get a new stylus anyway since the side switch popped off of mine and one of my kids lost it.

Finally

2008-12-08T17:11:00.000-08:00

Figured out why the images that I have uploaded into blogger came out looking screwed up color-wise, I have them all saved as CMYK for printing and didn't switch to RGB for uploading to the web. Now I am going to go through all my posts and edit them so they take up less space so I can use a different layout and still have the images fully visible. Bear with me it might take a while. In the mean time here is a Kid Rock I drew for the November monthly contest over at E Caricatures

Here is my entry for the December contest:

This is my entry for the monthly drawing jam over at the caricature forum at The Drawing Board :

Feeling Sketchy

2008-12-03T13:00:00.000-08:00

OOooooo three days in a row. I am impressed. It has a been an inspirational day. While looking through the threads at the World Artist Network group on MySpace, I saw a few things that made me want to draw. The first was a family photo of one of the members, that resulted in this quick digital sketch:

The other was a video of Terry Border from over at Bent Objects. Which resulted in some sketches in my newest sketchbook:

No art, just words.

2008-12-02T15:46:00.000-08:00

Wow two posts in two days,lucky you. I have been working on so many projects some of which I am actually being paid for. Ever since burning my previous graphics card up my photoshop can't be used all day without garnering serious performance issues so I am taking a break from working for a bit.

So far today I have started a new Gary Sinise because I did not like where my previous version was going (except the mouth which I cut and pasted into the new one). I have been continuing to find a cohesive way of working. I didn't work on the Obama yet today because I want to be completely fresh on that when I continue it.

I am working on a logo for an aromatherapy company. That is going well so far (to me anyway) I am using Photoshop for it but I might eventually use Illustrator to get a clean version. I haven't used Illustrator for a long time (since I designed my last tattoo) and am kind of dreading using it, I never did quite get the hang of it.

I want to work on my Monk cast caricature later as well. I like working on several different pieces at once because it keeps me from getting bored, however I sometimes start too many to be practical. Many on the back burner. I figure as I search through my files I might get some inspired to finish one of them.

Better Obama

2008-12-01T20:19:00.001-08:00

I started a new Obama caricature today. I am trying a new digital painting technique borrowed from Joe Bluhm I have been watching a lot of his YouTube videos lately. This one is coming a long much faster than my prior work has. I will probably incorporate some of my usual techniques into this one do come up with my own way. I have also been working on various other projects such as one of the cast of Monk. I will post some of that when I have something more on it.

I am going to be going through and organizing this blog better in the near future. At least I want to hopefully I actually get around to doing it. I have a habit of wanting to do more things than I actually ever get around to doing. Unless there is immediate money involved than I can bang something out pretty damn quick.

Obama troubles and other randomness

2008-11-20T15:36:00.000-08:00

I redid the Obama caricature that I am working on for my promotional mailer.

I also added the mole to the previous version which somehow I forgot.

Still not completely happy with it.
I want to make sure that I am before adding it to the mailer layout, which I still have to complete.

Last night I was watching CSI:NY and couldn't help but think that Gary Sinisi would be an awesome subject so I started one of him this morning. I meant to only do a quick sketch but ended up working on it for awhile. Still working on my speed with them.

Two new ones...

2008-11-17T18:16:00.000-08:00

These shall both be part of a promo mailer I am working on. Still need to tweak the layout a bit than integrate them. I hope to be done with it soon. In the mean time I have a couple of commissions to work on as a possible mural.

New Site

2008-11-08T06:35:00.000-08:00

Well my site is up and running. It is just a basic portfolio site for now. Ordering info will be added in the near future. Check it out here. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

Papa Bear.

2008-11-05T07:37:00.000-08:00

My latest completed piece. I have a few more that I have in mind to do starting with a Kid Rock for the November contest at E-Caricatures. I also want to finish the Dueling Wonkas, that one has been plaguing me for awhile.

I have been practicing doing live digital ones on my daughters but so far not much success. I think part of the problem is my computer layout isn't set up so I can see the screen and my subject at the same time. Something I need to work on.

Corbin in color

2008-11-01T16:23:00.000-07:00

Not entirely sure if it is finished yet. Might need some tweaking.

Anyway I have been looking for a market for these. I am thinking about doing them as gifts for people. Perhaps look into the print market like magazines and what not. Not entirely sure yet. If anyone has ideas, let me know. Also taking suggestions for future subjects.

Jerry Seinfeld

2008-10-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

I colored one that I had done previously in pencil. Been busy with other things lately so haven't had a chance to update this blog much. I hope to re-organize the layout soon but I don't know if I will ever actually do it.

Jon Lovitz....Now in Color!!!

2008-10-07T15:09:00.000-07:00

Chef Gordon Ramsay

2008-09-29T00:17:00.000-07:00

I have been working on this version of Chef Ramsay for the last week or so. Let me know what you think.

The Pope

2008-09-22T06:48:00.000-07:00

OK here is Pope Benedict, my latest finished piece. I am thinking about doing another one of Gordon Ramsey this time in color. I wasn't happy with the Ramsey I did earlier in the year. One day I hope to finish all the other pshop projects I have started but I have to wait until the spark hits otherwise it will come out like crap.

First post in awhile.

2008-09-20T18:29:00.001-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit. Haven't drawn much of anything recently. I drew this one today and have one of Steve Buscemi that I started the other day but didn't finish. Not sure why but the mood has been escaping me.

Jon Lovitz

2008-08-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

Josh Blue

2008-08-13T19:54:00.001-07:00

Branson

2008-08-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has a been a bit since I have posted. Been really busy with other things. Anyway here is my latest WIP. I should have it finished soon:

Spleenal

2008-07-31T14:25:00.000-07:00

This one is of the creator,author and illustrator of one of my favorite comics on the web, Spleenal. You can find a link to his blog at the bottom of this page or you can click on the image.

Michael Moore

2008-07-31T14:18:00.000-07:00

Bill Bellamy

2008-07-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

I have been watching a lot of Last Comic Standing lately. I prefer the original format for the show.

The Office

2008-07-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

John Krasinsky from one of my favorite TV shows The Office:

I plan on doing the rest of the cast eventually. I have done both 'Michael' and 'Dwight' previously but they are from before I had a clue of what I was doing.

Miranda Cosgrove

2008-07-19T08:28:00.000-07:00

Larry David (almost finished 7/21@1amEST)

2008-07-13T03:18:00.000-07:00

Since lately I can't stop myself from drawing, I started yet another piece last night.
While doing the pencil version I couldn't help but decide to start coloring this one in. Here is the progression thus far:

Not quite happy with the hair as it looks on screen in RGB. In pshop in the CMYK colorspace it looks a bit better. Going to rework that part a bit.

Christopher Eccleston

2008-07-12T12:17:00.000-07:00

Drawn for a few of my friends from WAN.

By Request

2008-07-12T00:37:00.000-07:00

Since Terry, the master of Bent Objects took the time to make a couple of requests, I took the time to grant them. Only finished with one so far:

Two today

2008-07-11T17:57:00.000-07:00

Mr. Ford I drew for a jam at The Drawing Board

Bette Davis I drew for the July contest at E-Caricatures

Corbin Bleu

2008-07-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

I came across my daughters High School Musical poster book and couldn't help but draw him. Probably going to color it digitally. Not sure though. Depends I have some other projects I am working on. One of these days I will remember to erase all the background. I have noticed some stay parts on some of these. Never notice them until I post. AAaargghh....

Fellow Jerseyans.

2008-07-03T20:05:00.001-07:00

Drawn at the request of a World Artist Network member.

While Taking a Break

2008-07-03T15:57:00.000-07:00

Drew this for a jam at the drawing board caricature board. I am also working on a Jay and Silent Bob one.

The Dr. is in. (Finished 7/9/08 8:41EST)

2008-07-02T01:29:00.000-07:00

I am going to attempt something I haven't tried yet. Coloring a caricature digitally. I am going to see if I can get the results I want faster than if I were to use colored pencils. If not than I am going to use colored pencils for future colored attempts.

Some progress shots:

Finished with it. I am happy with how it came out.

James Coburn

2008-07-01T23:56:00.000-07:00

Here is James Coburn. I drew him at the request of a member of the previously mentioned E Caricature board. I think I could have polished a bit more on this one but I am too anxious to start my next one to bother at the moment. Perhaps after a while I shall return to him. For now I am content with it as it is.

Shannon Elizabeth

2008-06-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

Today I drew Shannon Elizabeth because someone in WAN said my Mary Murphy looked like her.
Here it is:

Welcome

2008-06-28T21:50:00.001-07:00

I have been talked into starting another blog. This one is geared toward my adventures in caricature or what I am now dubbing Cliffcature.

For a long time I struggled with drawing caricatures. The problems I had stemmed from not knowing what to exaggerate and how much. Also it was a problem of medium. I had always thought caricatures were pretty much all done in marker or perhaps pastels. Overtime I realized this wasn't the case. I also learned the differences between live caricatures and those done from references which are the ones you are far more likely to see published. These are the kinds I generally do now. Though I have taken a stab or two at drawing live ones as well to mixed results.

So without further ado here is a Cliffcature:

This one was drawn for a monthly competition at E Caricatures a website that I joined a year ago but only just recently returned to.

That's it for now. Tommorrow I shall post some of the one I have done for fellow World Artist Network members.