-By Justin Gerard
Tuesday, 17 April 2012
Sunday, 15 April 2012
-By JJ Palencar
The guys at Sidebar having been busy providing the arts community with priceless interviews from some of our favorite established artists and illustrators.....
Since no one has posted this.... here's a great interview from a couple of weeks ago with the noted artist and illustrator, Mark English. Mr. English has won more awards then any other artist at the Society of Illustrators Annual competition. He now focuses his energies in the fine art gallery market.
In 1980 I had the opportunity to attend the Illustrators Workshop on scholarship awarded at the Society of Illustrators Student Competition. It was my senior year in art school. That year, the workshop was held in Paris, France. The attendees were divided into various groups and I was in Mr. English's group. He did a wonderful demo in oil on an existing print of his work. Mark's versatility and technical knowledge regarding paint and design were quickly soaked up by our eager minds. The Workshop has launched many careers in illustration .... including mine. During the Workshop, Bob Peak bought me a cup coffee while we sat in a cafe that faced Notre Dame cathedral. Those were the days my friends!
Mark English Interview @ Sidebar
Mark English - Website
The guys at Sidebar having been busy providing the arts community with priceless interviews from some of our favorite established artists and illustrators.....
Since no one has posted this.... here's a great interview from a couple of weeks ago with the noted artist and illustrator, Mark English. Mr. English has won more awards then any other artist at the Society of Illustrators Annual competition. He now focuses his energies in the fine art gallery market.
In 1980 I had the opportunity to attend the Illustrators Workshop on scholarship awarded at the Society of Illustrators Student Competition. It was my senior year in art school. That year, the workshop was held in Paris, France. The attendees were divided into various groups and I was in Mr. English's group. He did a wonderful demo in oil on an existing print of his work. Mark's versatility and technical knowledge regarding paint and design were quickly soaked up by our eager minds. The Workshop has launched many careers in illustration .... including mine. During the Workshop, Bob Peak bought me a cup coffee while we sat in a cafe that faced Notre Dame cathedral. Those were the days my friends!
Mark English Interview @ Sidebar
Mark English - Website
 |
| A partial page from the Workshop Brochure. |
Thursday, 12 April 2012
by Eric Fortune
I've been reading some interesting literature on the science of motivation in human behavior. The book is "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us" by Dan Pink. In the book Dan presents what four decades of scientific research tell us about what it is that motivates humans.
For a quick intro into extrinsic and intrinsic motivators and how they affect us here's one of my favorite RSA videos.
So how is this relevant for artists and other creatives? Below is an excerpt from the book "Drive".
"Something similar seems to occur for challenges that aren’t so much about cracking an existing problem but about iterating something new. Teresa Amabile, the Harvard
Business School professor and one of the world’s leading researchers on creativity, has frequently tested the effects of contingent rewards on the creative process. In one study, she and two colleagues recruited twenty-three professional artists from the United States who had produced both commissioned and noncommissioned artwork. They asked the artists to randomly select ten commissioned works and ten noncommissioned works. Then Amabile and her team gave the works to a panel of accomplished artists and curators, who knew nothing about the study, and asked the experts to rate the pieces on creativity and technical skill.
“Our results were quite startling,” the researchers wrote. “The commissioned works were rated as significantly less creative than the non-commissioned works, yet they were not rated as different in technical quality. Moreover, the artists reported feeling significantly more constrained when doing commissioned works than when doing non-commissioned works.” One artist whom they interviewed describes the Sawyer Effect in action:
Not always, but a lot of the time, when you are doing a piece for someone else it becomes more “work” than joy. When I work for myself there is the pure joy of creating and I can work through the night and not even know it. On a commissioned piece you have to check yourself—be careful to do what the client wants.
Another study of artists over a longer period shows that a concern for outside rewards might actually hinder eventual success. In the early 1960s, researchers surveyed sophomores and juniors at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago about their attitudes toward work and whether they were more intrinsically or extrinsically motivated. Using these data as a benchmark, another researcher followed up with these students in the early 1980s to see how their careers were progressing. Among the starkest findings, especially for men: “The less evidence of extrinsic motivation during art school, the more success in professional art both several years after graduation and nearly twenty years later.” Painters and sculptors who were intrinsically motivated, those for whom the joy of discovery and the challenge of creation were their own rewards, were able to weather the tough times—and the lack of remuneration and recognition—that inevitably accompany artistic careers. And that led to yet another paradox in the Alice in Wonderland world of the third drive. “Those artists who pursued their painting and sculpture more for the pleasure of the activity itself than for extrinsic rewards have produced art that has been socially recognized as superior,” the study said. “It is those who are least motivated to pursue extrinsic rewards who eventually receive them.”
This result is not true across all tasks, of course. Amabile and others have found that extrinsic rewards can be effective for algorithmic tasks—those that depend on following an existing formula to its logical conclusion. But for more right-brain undertakings— those that demand flexible problem-solving, inventiveness, or conceptual understanding—contingent rewards can be dangerous. Rewarded subjects often have a harder time seeing the periphery and crafting original solutions. This, too, is one of the sturdiest findings in social science—especially as Amabile and others have refined it over the years.10 For artists, scientists, inventors, schoolchildren, and the rest of us, intrinsic motivation—the drive do something because it is interesting, challenging, and absorbing—is essential for high levels of creativity. But the “if-then” motivators that are the staple of most businesses often stifle, rather than stir, creative thinking. As the economy moves toward more right-brain, conceptual work—as more of us deal with our own versions of the candle problem—this might be the most alarming gap between what science knows and what business does.”
I find this type of research fascinating. If you're low on time for reading but are looking for more insight on the topic here's a more in depth Google Talk where Dan states
"Being an artist is really, really hard ok? Doing anything well is really, really hard. It's takes a really long time. And you're less likely to stick with it if you don't really love it. And so, because they really loved it, it was "what I do", they got a lot better at it. "
If you do have time and are looking for more there's one other book on my reading list dealing with the affects of extrinsic motivators and incentives called "Punished by Rewards" by Alfie Kohn. For all the students out there grades are indeed a form of reward. So what does research say about the affect grades have on motivation? You might want to check out Alfie's book from your local library to understand more and maybe even share it with your teacher.
I've been reading some interesting literature on the science of motivation in human behavior. The book is "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us" by Dan Pink. In the book Dan presents what four decades of scientific research tell us about what it is that motivates humans.
For a quick intro into extrinsic and intrinsic motivators and how they affect us here's one of my favorite RSA videos.
So how is this relevant for artists and other creatives? Below is an excerpt from the book "Drive".
"Something similar seems to occur for challenges that aren’t so much about cracking an existing problem but about iterating something new. Teresa Amabile, the Harvard
Business School professor and one of the world’s leading researchers on creativity, has frequently tested the effects of contingent rewards on the creative process. In one study, she and two colleagues recruited twenty-three professional artists from the United States who had produced both commissioned and noncommissioned artwork. They asked the artists to randomly select ten commissioned works and ten noncommissioned works. Then Amabile and her team gave the works to a panel of accomplished artists and curators, who knew nothing about the study, and asked the experts to rate the pieces on creativity and technical skill.
“Our results were quite startling,” the researchers wrote. “The commissioned works were rated as significantly less creative than the non-commissioned works, yet they were not rated as different in technical quality. Moreover, the artists reported feeling significantly more constrained when doing commissioned works than when doing non-commissioned works.” One artist whom they interviewed describes the Sawyer Effect in action:
Not always, but a lot of the time, when you are doing a piece for someone else it becomes more “work” than joy. When I work for myself there is the pure joy of creating and I can work through the night and not even know it. On a commissioned piece you have to check yourself—be careful to do what the client wants.
Another study of artists over a longer period shows that a concern for outside rewards might actually hinder eventual success. In the early 1960s, researchers surveyed sophomores and juniors at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago about their attitudes toward work and whether they were more intrinsically or extrinsically motivated. Using these data as a benchmark, another researcher followed up with these students in the early 1980s to see how their careers were progressing. Among the starkest findings, especially for men: “The less evidence of extrinsic motivation during art school, the more success in professional art both several years after graduation and nearly twenty years later.” Painters and sculptors who were intrinsically motivated, those for whom the joy of discovery and the challenge of creation were their own rewards, were able to weather the tough times—and the lack of remuneration and recognition—that inevitably accompany artistic careers. And that led to yet another paradox in the Alice in Wonderland world of the third drive. “Those artists who pursued their painting and sculpture more for the pleasure of the activity itself than for extrinsic rewards have produced art that has been socially recognized as superior,” the study said. “It is those who are least motivated to pursue extrinsic rewards who eventually receive them.”
This result is not true across all tasks, of course. Amabile and others have found that extrinsic rewards can be effective for algorithmic tasks—those that depend on following an existing formula to its logical conclusion. But for more right-brain undertakings— those that demand flexible problem-solving, inventiveness, or conceptual understanding—contingent rewards can be dangerous. Rewarded subjects often have a harder time seeing the periphery and crafting original solutions. This, too, is one of the sturdiest findings in social science—especially as Amabile and others have refined it over the years.10 For artists, scientists, inventors, schoolchildren, and the rest of us, intrinsic motivation—the drive do something because it is interesting, challenging, and absorbing—is essential for high levels of creativity. But the “if-then” motivators that are the staple of most businesses often stifle, rather than stir, creative thinking. As the economy moves toward more right-brain, conceptual work—as more of us deal with our own versions of the candle problem—this might be the most alarming gap between what science knows and what business does.”
I find this type of research fascinating. If you're low on time for reading but are looking for more insight on the topic here's a more in depth Google Talk where Dan states
"Being an artist is really, really hard ok? Doing anything well is really, really hard. It's takes a really long time. And you're less likely to stick with it if you don't really love it. And so, because they really loved it, it was "what I do", they got a lot better at it. "
If you do have time and are looking for more there's one other book on my reading list dealing with the affects of extrinsic motivators and incentives called "Punished by Rewards" by Alfie Kohn. For all the students out there grades are indeed a form of reward. So what does research say about the affect grades have on motivation? You might want to check out Alfie's book from your local library to understand more and maybe even share it with your teacher.
-Jesper Ejsing
This cover illustration is for a DnD supplement book called: Elminster's Forgotten Realms. I think it is the first cover I ever did picturing a bright sunny day in “Fantasy Land”. It struck me, while starting on it, that I always choose strong unrealistic or symbolic color themes. This time I would have to base the colors and light on something real.
First attempt:
The assignment was to show a Ranger waylaying a disguised Drow on a wagon pulled by a troll. All should take place in a sunny country-like setting. One evening in my sofa I sketched a couple of thumbs. One of them caught my fancy and I sent it along with a description of what it was. It kind of needed that. I was going to make the ranger hide behind a pillarof stone about to draw his weapons. Kate Irwin, my art director at Wotc liked the idea and asked me to continue.
As always, I started sketching each figure individually to keep me from keeping the darlings. I do a bunch of sketches of each figure going for the strongest expression or pose I can. The rest is abandoned midway or when I see they are of no use. I then digitally placed the ranger and the troll sketch in the thumb to see what it looks like altogether. “it kind of looked boring”. When I looked at it for a while I realized, that the trouble was, that the ranger, who was supposed to be the antagonist, was facing away from the action. His face was turned away from the villains and the whole storyline read more like he was being discovered while hiding in fear, than that he was attacking them. This is, to me, one of the worst pitfalls in sketching. Since I am the illustrator and I got the art description to read out loud again and again, I KNOW what is going on in the picture, no matter how unclear that is. But the spectator should be able to see the same thing even at first glance. That is my job.
Second attempt:
So I started out again on the ranger. I sketched him as he was jumping over the pillar striking at the unaware troll. The troll seeming to have heard something behind the stone and looking for it while lifting his club. This sketch had a much better story. But now I ran into some other troubles: The Ranger was filling out way to much at the top of the image where the title would be. In order of moving him down I changed the pillar to a stone fence and corrected some anatomy of the troll. I also changed the drow from being unaware to having actually spotted the attacker desperately trying to pull the troll back. This image shows the scene right the second before it all goes bloody and crazy. It holds so much more tension and automatically makes you guess at the outcome. Those are my favourite. I am pretty sure the Troll is not going to make it, and the way the Ranger is smiling it seems like he got everything under control.
This version I sent for approval, and it was accepted with one change. The trolls was not using clubs but fists and claws. I decided to change that while transferring.
In transferring a sketch to board I try to further emphasize everything the picture is all about. I add details and use references of trees, stones, paths and wagon and harness. One more thing: I liked the idea, from the first thumb, that the troll was leaning or bending down searching as if he heard or discovered something. I was going to add a dead chicken or a bloody piece of meat to the cracks in the stone fence. Supposedly the Ranger left it there as a decoy to make the troll halt or even look down so that he could strike. I tried different things but was afraid that it would be impossible to see what it was, so I came up with the idea of a small golden statue of a ranger like figure. It would gleam and shimmer and catch the eye of the stupid troll. The nose acting almost like an arrow pointing towards the figurine.
The grey version is how my painting looks like before I start painting. It is inked in thin pen, toned with black acrylic. On a print out I made a colour rough. In the final I got so carried away in details that I even added butterflies. ( there is 2, can you find them?)I liked the idea of the ambush taking place in “just another day in Forgotten Realms”. I even stopped at my way to the studio in the morning to pick flowers along the road to paint from. This painting is one of my favourites from last year. Perhaps because I got to tell a story. When I think back on my favourite DND covers it is always the ones with a story I remember the clearest.
This cover illustration is for a DnD supplement book called: Elminster's Forgotten Realms. I think it is the first cover I ever did picturing a bright sunny day in “Fantasy Land”. It struck me, while starting on it, that I always choose strong unrealistic or symbolic color themes. This time I would have to base the colors and light on something real.
First attempt:
The assignment was to show a Ranger waylaying a disguised Drow on a wagon pulled by a troll. All should take place in a sunny country-like setting. One evening in my sofa I sketched a couple of thumbs. One of them caught my fancy and I sent it along with a description of what it was. It kind of needed that. I was going to make the ranger hide behind a pillarof stone about to draw his weapons. Kate Irwin, my art director at Wotc liked the idea and asked me to continue.
As always, I started sketching each figure individually to keep me from keeping the darlings. I do a bunch of sketches of each figure going for the strongest expression or pose I can. The rest is abandoned midway or when I see they are of no use. I then digitally placed the ranger and the troll sketch in the thumb to see what it looks like altogether. “it kind of looked boring”. When I looked at it for a while I realized, that the trouble was, that the ranger, who was supposed to be the antagonist, was facing away from the action. His face was turned away from the villains and the whole storyline read more like he was being discovered while hiding in fear, than that he was attacking them. This is, to me, one of the worst pitfalls in sketching. Since I am the illustrator and I got the art description to read out loud again and again, I KNOW what is going on in the picture, no matter how unclear that is. But the spectator should be able to see the same thing even at first glance. That is my job.
Second attempt:
So I started out again on the ranger. I sketched him as he was jumping over the pillar striking at the unaware troll. The troll seeming to have heard something behind the stone and looking for it while lifting his club. This sketch had a much better story. But now I ran into some other troubles: The Ranger was filling out way to much at the top of the image where the title would be. In order of moving him down I changed the pillar to a stone fence and corrected some anatomy of the troll. I also changed the drow from being unaware to having actually spotted the attacker desperately trying to pull the troll back. This image shows the scene right the second before it all goes bloody and crazy. It holds so much more tension and automatically makes you guess at the outcome. Those are my favourite. I am pretty sure the Troll is not going to make it, and the way the Ranger is smiling it seems like he got everything under control.
This version I sent for approval, and it was accepted with one change. The trolls was not using clubs but fists and claws. I decided to change that while transferring.
In transferring a sketch to board I try to further emphasize everything the picture is all about. I add details and use references of trees, stones, paths and wagon and harness. One more thing: I liked the idea, from the first thumb, that the troll was leaning or bending down searching as if he heard or discovered something. I was going to add a dead chicken or a bloody piece of meat to the cracks in the stone fence. Supposedly the Ranger left it there as a decoy to make the troll halt or even look down so that he could strike. I tried different things but was afraid that it would be impossible to see what it was, so I came up with the idea of a small golden statue of a ranger like figure. It would gleam and shimmer and catch the eye of the stupid troll. The nose acting almost like an arrow pointing towards the figurine.
The grey version is how my painting looks like before I start painting. It is inked in thin pen, toned with black acrylic. On a print out I made a colour rough. In the final I got so carried away in details that I even added butterflies. ( there is 2, can you find them?)I liked the idea of the ambush taking place in “just another day in Forgotten Realms”. I even stopped at my way to the studio in the morning to pick flowers along the road to paint from. This painting is one of my favourites from last year. Perhaps because I got to tell a story. When I think back on my favourite DND covers it is always the ones with a story I remember the clearest.
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
-By Justin Gerard
"Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs, high-captain of Angband, was come; and he drove a dark wedge between the Elvenhosts, surrounding King Fingon, and thrusting Turgon and Hurin aside towards the Fen of Serech. Then he turned upon Fingon. That was a grim meeting. At last Fingon stood with his guard dead about him..."
-From The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
"Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs, high-captain of Angband, was come; and he drove a dark wedge between the Elvenhosts, surrounding King Fingon, and thrusting Turgon and Hurin aside towards the Fen of Serech. Then he turned upon Fingon. That was a grim meeting. At last Fingon stood with his guard dead about him..."
-From The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
More imagery from the The Silmarillion show on display at Gallery Nucleus.
-JJ Palencar
Locus Magazine, the industry standard of speculative fiction, has a special Science Fiction & Fantasy Art issue. The April edition features fellow artist Brom with some insightful additional commentary by a number of Muddies and some of my favorite contemporaries. To top it off they even included the stellar Art Director, Irene Gallo. She gives a bit of well rounded advice for young artists.
Pick up a copy at your local newsstand or order a digital copy online Here
Locus Magazine, the industry standard of speculative fiction, has a special Science Fiction & Fantasy Art issue. The April edition features fellow artist Brom with some insightful additional commentary by a number of Muddies and some of my favorite contemporaries. To top it off they even included the stellar Art Director, Irene Gallo. She gives a bit of well rounded advice for young artists.
Pick up a copy at your local newsstand or order a digital copy online Here
Monday, 9 April 2012
I have mentioned Last Rites Gallery a few times here before. It is the NYC shop of world-acclaimed tattooist Paul Booth, but it is also a gem of a gallery, and frequently hosts some of my favorite young artists. This Saturday is no exception, as they will be hosting the opening of The Fury: New Works by Billy Norrby.
From the Last Rites website:
Billy Norrby’s paintings juxtapose classical aesthetic with themes of contemporary turmoil, as masterful brushwork tells the tale of 20th century revolution. In his art he illustrates the defiant nature of humanity, and it is the average person who is the protagonist. With their impassioned expressions and commanding air, these modern radicals are canonized, idealized, and painted with an almost saintly reverence, harkening back to religious iconography. It is with homage to the old world that Norrby tells the story of the dawning of a new era.
“Fury is a collection of work inspired in part by the Theban plays. Images seen through the unending 24/7 news cycle are filtered through a grander, mythological context. Tying the struggles of our time with the nostalgic notion of the loss of an earlier era, an aging city has become a shadow of it's former self. Turmoil on the streets is contrasted against the splendor of buildings who embody its former glory and ideals. At the heart of destruction of the ancient world, we find the figures of defiance. They are the actors or the ones being acted upon by malevolent forces.”
-Billy Norrby
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Billy Norrby is a Brooklyn based oil painter and fine artist. Since his graduation from SVA in 2010, he has appeared in numerous exhibits throughout the world, and publications such as Spectrum and 3X3. "Fury" marks his first solo show in New York.
The opening is this Saturday, April 14th, 7-11pm.
Below is a small sampling of Billy's work, many of which will be part of this show. I am really looking forward to seeing these pieces in person. If you are unfamiliar with the gallery, I implore you to come check it out, as the shop itself is quite a spectacle.
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