Recent Work: Floyd Scholz

 This is a recent commission I liked, and I thought I'd share it here. I had a blast drawing it in more of an illustrative cartoony, almost "MAD" style, with a few in-jokes, or "Chicken Fat" thrown in for good measure. I'd like to do more like this in the future. When I revamp my studio website, this style will be well represented there, I think. I've already done another piece like this since  finishing this one, that I'll try to get around to showing here soon.

The subject of this caricature is a friend of mine, Floyd Scholz. It was commissioned by a mutual friend as a gift for Floyd. Being friends with Floyd, I know a few things about him, and I also know his personality ( he's a really great, friendly guy ), so that made doing this caricature even easier and more fun.

Back in the late 70s, Floyd was an amazing athlete.  He even qualified to be part of the Olympic High Jumping Team for the 1980 USA Olympic Team. Yes, 1980. The year the US boycotted the Olympics. Ugh. Thus ended Floyd's athletic career. So, he started carving.... birds. INCREDIBLE carvings of birds. He's now famous for doing this, in those circles, and written several books on the art, such as the one above. 

And trust me, it IS an art.  I've been to one of Floyd's studios, here in town ( the other is at his Vermont home), and seen some of these carvings. They are huge in scale, and you can not conceive that they are not real birds, just from wood. And all one block of wood, too... one giant piece.

Every last detail is perfect. Even down to the FEEL of the feathers... you'd swear they're real feathers, not wood.

Now, Floyd stays busy with this... his waiting list is a couple of years long at this point. Oh, and the price tag for something like that large Eagle above? How about A HALF MILLION DOLLARS?  Yep. You read that correctly.

I'm obviously in the wrong business.

Toon Challenge: Punk Rock Chick!

I am determined to learn to draw on the iPad just as well as I draw with any other "tool". So, to practice, I drew this  in the Art Studio app for this month's Toon Challenge over on FaceBook. You haven't joined the group yet, what are ya waiting for? Lots of talented artists, professional and beginners.

iPad Keelan / Sketchbook Pro

Typical of me on vacation, I can't NOT draw. I have to, At least a little bit. But I get to draw what I WANT to, not what a client wants me to. Now that is a vacation to me! On our trip this week to West Palm Beach, in between our naps ( :D ) and trips to the pool and beach, I decided I would really put Sketchbook Pro on my iPad through it's paces. In fact, my iPad was the only drawing materials i brought with me. Therefore I decided to see Exactly HOW good could I draw on the iPad, with fairly unlimited time. My goal was to produce a piece that was of similar quality to what I can do on the Cintiq. Again, this was completely in Sketchbook Pro. I like drawing in this app best, but it does bug me a bit, with how difficult it is to change the brush size and the opacity. The ArtStudio app makes those changes easier. So, that's my next task... I am going to color this piece in that app as well, to see which I like best. Stay Tooned....


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