July 31, 2010 | Posted By: Chris
Filed Under Chris, History of Redemption, Our Artwork
A neatly shuffled pile of drawings for the History of Redemption book… I’m going to be cranking out the rest of the illustrations over the next month, I’ll post more, I promise…
For all the illustrations, I’m painting/priming transparent poly sheets, then drawing pencil right on. Gets this great subtle brushstroke texture, and super silky to draw on. Scans easy. Yeeeeeeah… then comes the heavy duty Photoshop mess. Fun stuff.
July 30, 2010 | Posted By: Chris
Filed Under Chris, Friends + Family, Life, Our Artwork, Portraits
As Annie already mentioned, I recently got back from Comic-Con 2010, and I’m still recovering. To say it was overwhelming and overstimulating is an understatement. But I’m already looking forward to next year. Met so many great new friends, artists I’ve long admired… good times.
After getting back home, I started and finished a portrait commission for a certain Nick, a surprise birthday present from his awesomely thoughtful wife. Nick loves icons and he makes the benediction gesture a lot (really). Yay for me: I recently picked up a fantastic old book full of giant color reproductions of icons, MAJOR inspiration as of late, so this commission was such a blast. I can’t wait to hear about his reaction…. YAY
Some pics of the finished piece, some showing the glossy coats of varnish. I’ll probably post some in-progress pictures after this so you can see the various stages.
June 28, 2010 | Posted By: Chris
Filed Under Chris, History of Redemption, Our Artwork
Hey everyone, remember me? My name’s Chris, I’m actually the husband of the amazing woman who runs this blog nowadays, since she’s been posting such amazing stuff the past year or so I kind of gave up on the idea of doing any posts, since Annie does such a fine job at it. Her posts are like poetry. What could I possibly add to this beautiful slice-of-life blog of hers that makes our artsy lives look so freaking interesting? (wink wink)
But hey, I’m still around, eyebags and all, drawing stuff for people in our hot and humid studio while blasting music over the hum of the fans, and I’m especially excited about my current illustration project… a set of about 50 pieces for an upcoming book called The History of Redemption. It’s going to be a really special book and I can’t wait to share more over the next few weeks and months, but for now here are some of the pieces, some in-progress photos of the original drawings and the finished illos as they’ll (likely) appear in the book…
I’m really excited about the direction these are going in (and I’m ecstatic that all my thumbnail sketches are approved already), I feel like I’m finally arriving at a style that feels personal, honest, and fun for me, and appropriate to the subject matter…
April 20, 2010 | Posted By: Chris
Filed Under Chris, For Sale, Our Artwork, Sweet Ride
Behold, the time is nigh! The Bike Snob book will be out any day now!
I feel so thankful and happy to have my work be a part of the Bike Snob’s new book. A big thank you, first off, to the Snob for being the Snob, and for writing such a hilariously perceptive book about the wonderful world of cycling (and beyond). And many thanks to Chronicle Books for asking me to illustrate it! I honestly could not be more happy with how the whole book turned out. I was especially excited about doing lots of hand-lettering, including a hand-lettered typeface for the cover title and other headings throughout the book. The art direction of Brooke Johnson at Chronicle and the design and layout work of Gregory Klein were an absolute pleasure to work with, and I’m just so thrilled with the final product (gah, it’s a golden hardcover!!!) Cheers all around!
It’s funny… for the first time, seeing all this on the blog, that silky golden-tan color for the book (nice pick, Greg) matches perfectly with our blog… ha! I didn’t plan that, I promise.
And, to celebrate the release of Bike Snob, we’re doing a promo sale at the Sweet Ride shop!
Just mention “Bike Snob” at checkout, and you’ll receive 15% OFF your order! (Discount will be refunded through PayPal after you place your order.) Promo runs through May 31.
So GO BUY THE BOOK for you and a bike-loving someone you love (if you pre-order now you’ll get 20% OFF + FREE SHIPPING!) and visit the Sweet Ride shop for more bikey art!
Here are a few of my favorite illustrations from Bike Snob (there are about two dozen in the book). Enjoy!
Buy Bike Snob here!
March 11, 2010 | Posted By: Chris
Filed Under Chris, For Sale, Friends + Family, Like + Love, Our Artwork
Scott Tuma’s new record, Dandelion, released on 12″ vinyl from the fine folks at Digitalis, is now available at Digitalis and Boomkat!!! Oh happy day, a dream come true!
About 5 or 6 years ago in college, one of my art instructors handed me a CD with a fish on the cover (no cover title) and said I might like it. Upon first listen, I realized I had been given something utterly unique and special. The CD was The River 1 2 3 4 by Scott Tuma, and consisted of four untitled tracks, and it was unlike anything I had ever listened to. Since then, I’ve been soaking in those very same sounds, listening late at night, early in the morning, any time and all the time. I’ve listened to The River at least a thousand times, and to this day, when listening, I still don’t even know which track it’s on. And it doesn’t matter, because any given moment of the music is completely captivating, and that’s all that matters. Same goes for all of Tuma’s other releases, including his work with Boxhead Ensemble and beyond. Scott is a true musical master, a conjurer of sepia-toned worlds of dust and sun, of warmth and heartache, of creaking floorboards and slow-motion rivers.
Long story short, I eventually got in touch with Scott to let him know how much I appreciated his work, and the rest is history!
A huge thank you goes out to Scott for making his beautiful, inspiring, timeless music that has filled my home and studio for the past 5 years, and to Brad at Digitalis for being awesome and letting me go to town with the artwork. When we all meet up in Chicago one of these days, I’m buying the drinks!
* * *
A very limited art edition of Dandelion, including an original hand-inked, hand-printed 8″ drypoint monoprint, signed and numbered in an edition of 30 unique prints, plus a digital download of the album and extra digital images of the artwork, including hi-res desktop wallpapers, is available by contacting me directly.
Over half of the limited art edition has already sold out, so quantities are extremely limited and for sale on a first come, first served basis.
Contact me to check availability and reserve a copy. $50 USD + shipping
Overseas customers are encouraged to purchase the standard edition (limited to only 400 copies for the world!) from Boomkat. US customers can order from Digitalis.
February 25, 2010 | Posted By: Chris
Filed Under Chris, Our Artwork
…one framed for Scott.
More images coming soon. If you missed it, the cover art is here.
February 19, 2010 | Posted By: Chris
Filed Under Chris, Friends + Family, Life, Like + Love, Our Artwork
I won’t say too much about this for now, except:
I’ve listened to Scott Tuma’s music more than anything else in the past 5 years. Just ask Annie.
Creating the artwork for his upcoming release Dandelion is a total dream job.
The record will be released on 12″ vinyl on Digitalis.
A special limited art edition of 30 copies will include original artwork.
I can’t wait to show you the rest. I’ll keep you all posted!
February 6, 2010 | Posted By: Chris
Filed Under Chris, Life, Our Artwork
Well, after working on this book for almost an entire year, I think I may have the tiniest bit of understanding of the sense of accomplishment, relief, and pure elation that mothers feel after birthing a child. I mean, come on, who’s pregnant for 11 months?
Kidding, kidding. But seriously, I’m so relieved and so excited to have finally accomplished the complete illustration of my very first graphic novel. I started working on the book back in Feb/March of last year, and about 130 pages of art, thousands of reference photos and videos (thank you, my awesome models), hundreds of emails and phone calls, and buh-zillions of man-hours later, the Hitherto-Top-Secret book is done and almost ready for the world. It is an absolute beast, and I, the writer, and the rest of the Battle Surgeon team cannot wait to hold the finished book in our hands.
The story and images are not for the queasy or faint of heart. You’ve been warned.
A huge thanks to everyone who has encouraged and supported me over the last year, you know who you are. We shall be having a very big party, very soon.
Starting now, I’ll be keeping you all posted regarding Battle Surgeon. For now, here are some first-look sneak peeks at some pages, minus the text, of course. We don’t want to give away too much of the mind-blowing story now, do we?
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