Sketch Book 4

Ghosts

This abstract is about a year old. It is a 2' x 4' canvas with acrylic paint. It's my favorite abstract so far . I called it Ghosts because I think it looks like a crowd of creepy figures.

I've been splashing some paint around the last couple of nights. I have some nice textural layers on 6 or 8 canvases. I need to make an art store run for a few specific paint colors. I hate when my supplies start running out. That stuff is EXPENSIVE! Guess I'll have to choose steak or lobster for dinner. It's ok. The sacrifice will be good for my brooding artist image.

The Yapping of the Yups

The yapper is a large lumbering creature. It spends most of it's life digging for roots and bittlebug grubs. It makes a lot of grunting noises as it eats these favorite foods, but it's the constant and annoying "yapping" of the juveniles that gives the yapper it's name. A yapper will have between 6 and 35 "yups" in a typical litter. Yups have a bright red coat of fine fuzz and two pointed ear-horns. Within a day or two of birth, the yapping of the yups begins. They hop and play on and around the adults, yapping loudly. Thankfully, evolution has been kind to the yapper. Adults have no ears.

Thanking the Computer

I still love to get out real paints, pencils, inks, etc., but I've found computers to be incredibly helpful with my artwork. These are three of the greatest benefits of working digitally:

#1 Time Saver! When I sketched the little guy above, I didn't know what color he would be. I scanned the sketch into a vector program (FlexiExpert in this case) and started experimenting with color fills. Sketching, scanning, coloring, and uploading to this blog took less than 15 minutes. This is a quick way to see what direction I want to take.

#2 Ultimate Eraser Some artists argue that computers steal all the "happy accidents" that happen while working with traditional media. I can agree with that, but I've had plenty of "happy accidents" using the computer as well. I have had "Unhappy accidents" using traditional paints, inks, etc. that have completely ruined a piece (sometimes 3 or 4 hours into a project!). I am a fan of the undo button.

#3 Easy Access to multiple projects. I have a fairly large library of original sketches and paintings in my computer. They are at all different levels of completion. Having most of my work digitized allows me to access it for things like online portfolios, this blog, and hundreds of other digital applications. I can pull them into various programs as reference or as an actual part of a project. I often use my original abstract paintings to give my digital work a more organic/handmade look. For example, I think the little guy above looks good in red. I looked through my digital library of abstracts for some red areas and then combine them with the sketch using the mask tool. From this point, I could open one or more of these little guys into Photoshop or Painter and add some shadows and highlights or play around with some of the other great tools and tricks in those programs. Sometimes it's the subtlest variation that makes a piece work. Computers allow me to experiment without destroying the piece in the process.

Free T-Shirts from Your Favorite Band (aka) Free T-Shirts from an OK Band (aka) Free T-shirts from a Band You've Never Heard Of

This is a t-shirt design that I made for my band's show last weekend (which was super fun!). My band unanimously vetoed it and I can't say that I blame them. I struggled with ideas and with finding time to work on them. Late on Friday I settled on this design. I think it's kind of funny and I love cartoons and monsters, both of which play a large role in my style. In my mind, there is no such thing as too cartoony or too monstrous. Reality is often dreadfully boring. That being said, my style isn't for everyone and this design is nowhere near a favorite.

FREE T-SHIRT
I made eight or nine shirts with this design in several different color combinations. If you would like one, e-mail me at denverwagner@gmail.com with your mailing address and shirt size. I will e-mail back with color options and then I will ship your shirt anywhere in the continental US. Offer stands as long as I have the shirts (even if you somehow happen upon this post in 2017).

A Week of Gig Posters: Poster #5

THE SUPER SHRIMP
Tomorrow. Yeah!

A Week of Gig Posters: Poster #4

THE OPTICAL ILLUSION 3 more days to ROCK. Will I have a few t-shirts ready? maybe.

A Week of Gig Posters: Poster #3

THE CTHULHU

A Week of Gig Posters: Poster #2

THE STARE-DOWN

A Week of Gig Posters: Poster #1

THE PUDDING MAN

If you're in the Madtown this weekend and you like to rock out, have I got a deal for you! Come check out the return of Brickshithouse. We will be playing all those classic songs that you love to hear: Meatman, Queen of the Woodshed, No More Brandy for Andy, and many more!

Nude!

I mean Newt.

Oh, Ok. Here are some nudes.

Oh By Golly, Have a Holly Jolly Halloween This Year

Modern Halloween: -Trick or Treat in the day time! -Trick or Treat on a weekend around Halloween. (Luckily Halloween actually falls on a Saturday this year). -Trick or Treat in the mall? -Drunk adults with "Sexy - fill in the blank" costumes.

Not quite the same as when I was a kid, but we will still have fun. Halloween is also my boy's birthday. He turns one tomorrow. We're having family over for a party and trick or treating. I think every major Wizard of Oz character will be represented. Then maybe a good horror flick. I'm thinking Frankenstein or The Wolfman.

Also, a shout out to Matt, Kathe, Dale, Jordan, Gina, and Marq. I appreciate your support and comments with my art life. Trying to make some kind of career out of artwork is a hard transition. In the years leading to success, it's nice to know that my artwork is at least being seen. Miss you guys.

Would You Hire this Man?

Here are some rough business card layouts I've been working on. I'm thinking of printing up one that is kind of whimsical and kid oriented and one that's a little more serious and business-like. Any thoughts?

The Forgotten Wildlife: Sunflapper

Sunflappers have large wing-like ears on the side of their heads which they use for "flopping". Flopping can be thought of as either a really impressive hop or a really pathetic attempt to fly. Thousands of sunflappers can be seen flopping during the long, hot summer afternoons. This is how they find each other through the deep and thick grasses of the rolling plains where they live.

As they flop, their long rubberband-like necks stretch and snap between their bodies and heads. A sunflapper landing is not a graceful sight. The body usually lands first causing the neck to snap the head to the ground. The sunflapper drags it's head and droopy ear flaps along the ground until it's next flop.

I used the same sketch to experiment with some different color options and style:

Princesses Everywhere

My Daughter likes Disney princesses. I'll take that over Bratz any day. Actually, I think I'm more excited about the upcoming The Princess and the Frog than she is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6DmEgtibOg
I made this canopy for her play set.

First, I found pictures of all the princesses and combined them into a composition that would fit the canopy. Then I traced the composition so I would have crisp closed lines. Scanned it in and vectorized it. Digitally filled in color and found matching vinyls. Cut the vinyl (over 15 colors) and applied each as a layer on the canopy. It turned out pretty cool, but it seemed to take forever!

Leave(s). Go. Goodbye.

Please, Please, Please, can we have a mild winter? I am not a shovel and blower fan.

Back and Forth

I painted a bunch of abstracts with this back and forth theme. These are all acrylic on canvas. The back and forth theme carried over into some of my other paintings. You can see it in the background of this 4' x 5' painting that is hanging in our living room.

A Monster's Favorite Time of the Year

I love Halloween. Horror movies, monsters, and candy are a year round obsession for me. This is the time of year when these things are everywhere. Horror Geek Fun!

Here are some scenes or trailers from five of my favorite horror movies.

Jacob's Ladder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0kW6xuxtPU

The Innocents: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmwJ-IB6ceY

The Devil's Backbone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUhHxGmFyus

Frailty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKFi3owPUmg

Creature from the Black Lagoon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM1o1xe5FGE

Zombie Has The Blues

Why? Because it is Monday.

I started working on Cow 158 this weekend, but I won't have time to finish it before it's due date. I will finish it, though. It's a pretty cool start.

The time I have for working on art will mostly be devoted to an upcoming show for one of my bands. I'm working on gig posters / flyers and t-shirts. We haven't played together in a while, but practice has been good. We are thinking of recording the show to release as a live disc. (which could be another fun packaging project.) We'll see how it goes.

19 Cups!

Coffee is an artist's best friend. Long and strange hours are a necessity, especially for an artist with a full-time job:( who comes home to a full-time family:). . .

I was up late last night setting up a portfolio website. It is basic but I think it looks pretty sharp. I set it up through a premium membership at DeviantArt, which lets me use my own domain name (denverwagner.com) and opens up a bunch of other options on their site. After alot of research on setting up a website, this was by far the best value for me. It is new so I will be updating it over the next few weeks to get it right, but I think it's a nice start. Now I just have to figure out how to get clients there. ..

Any thoughts, comments , or advice will be appreciated. http://denverwagner.com/

The ABDUCTOR

"Please pull your pants up, Sir."

I am working on a portfolio website. I've done a lot of research on this over the last few months, and I think I found a way to make a nice site with a reasonable cost. Should be up by next week!

Dinosaurs!

Dinosaurs rank pretty high on my list of cool things. No, I'm not 8.

I was flipping through some old sketchbooks from high school that my mom found at her house. There were dozens of dinosaur scenes that were pretty bad. I like these five, though. I think they represent a transitional time in my artwork. I was beginning to understand composition, lighting and shading, and narrative. I was starting to create things just because I wanted to see them.

I miss being able to sketch and doodle all day, which is how I spent my high school and college days. I think it's easier for some people to absorb information with the left side of their brain while their right side is engaged. Thankfully, some educators understand that. I still try to sketch when I can, but it was much easier when I was able to sit at a desk for 6 or 7 hours every day.