Illuxcon 4, 2011

Illuxcon was once again an eye opening, mind blowing experience. Fortunately I have had the opportunity to attend and display my work two years in a row. Hopefully, I'll be going back next year. Speaking with the artists, being surrounded by so much of their amazing work is truly inspiring. It definitely makes me realize how much there is to learn, how much growth I have in myself and my art.

Two of my paintings sold which lead me to some commission work that I'm currently creating. Many thanks to Paul & LizAnn Lizotte and to Greg Obaugh for enjoying my work enough to purchase it! I had the opportunity to meet Zoe Robinson from Fantasy Flight Games and Lauren Panepinto from Orbit Books. I also had a portfolio review with Jon Schindehette, Art Director for D&D. Thanks for your time and advice guys!

The Event was held in Altoona, PA. from Thursday, Nov. 3 to Sunday, Nov. 6. Thursday was the Main Show set up and opening. The artwork was on display through Sunday. Friday after the show, I attended the Showcase held in the Ramada Ballroom which was pretty incredible. The Aftershow party in Grant Cooley, Michael & Paul Bielaczyc's room is always a blast. Too many double scotches on the rocks from the bar before hand for me though :) Thanks guys!

The Saturday Award Ceremony/Music Jam was at the Ramada Ballroom this year. I decided to perform a song I wrote for my little daughter for the 1st time live. I also jammed "Helter Skelter" by The Beatles with Mark Zug and Alan Pollack. Thanks to Mark Zug and everyone involved! I wish I had video of the Jam and more pics of the entire experience but here are a few below. Trust me, if you've never been to Illuxcon you need to attend. Pat & Jeannie Wilshire, I'll never be able to thank you both enough for what you've created and what you've done for my life.
My table at the Main Show. You can see more of my work on my website.
Alan Pollack painting away.
Steve Prescott's table. He lives in the same city but I never see him around!
Mark Poole's table. Glad I got to chat with him this year.
Joe Kovach's table. I rode up with him, Eric Fortune and Johnny Pham, an aspiring artist. Next to Joe is William O'connor.
John Jude Palencar's table.
Eric Velhagen's table and Tyler Jacobson.
Jeff Easley's table.
John Harris All the way from Europe! Wish I could've seen his painting demo.
Thomas Kuebler next to one of his amazing sculptures. Turns out his wife went to the same high shcool I attended.
Julie Bell & Boris Vallejo's table.

"Awakening Light" 15" x 20" Acrylic/Oil

This is my finished piece. I was able to complete it before my trip to Illuxcon 4. I'm happy to say that it sold. Many thanks to Paul and LizAnn for the purchase and also to Greg for purchasing my Eowyn painting. Stay tuned for a few words and photos from my Illuxcon trip on my next post! It was an awesome time!

My New Website!

I've been thinking about displaying my work on a website for the last couple years but I had to create a good body of work first before accomplishing that task. With countless hours of painting and help from my brother with the site design, I was able to do just that. Today I'm very excited to announce that the website has officially launched! soutchay.com

"Beholder" 12" x 24" Acrylic/Oil

Another completed portfolio piece. I will be bringing the original to Illuxcon 4 with me in November. The maquettes I built for reference helped me out tremendously! I'm sure I've stated this before but if you've never built a simple model for reference, you should experiment and take the time out to do so. It usually helps the painting process move fast and smooth. You can see the Beholder reference maquette in my previous post. Hope you all enjoy the piece! Big thanks to openimagestudio !

Beholder Maquette

This is a D&D Beholder Maquette I created for reference after baking it in the oven to harden it. The main body has a core of foil.
Close up after acrylic paint and a little gloss varnish. I usually make pretty crude models but I decided to take more time out on this one. It ended up looking better than my drawing which is usually not the case so I changed my drawing to match it a bit more.

I supported it with a simple clothes hanger and gorilla glue on a piece of wood that was made for an aquarium. This will serve its purpose for sure during my painting process on my new portfolio piece.

"Morlock" 12" x 16" Acrylic/Oil

I decided to take on another artorder challenge created by Jon Schindehette. This is an experimental piece on gessoed illustration board. I tried balancing realism with a couple graphic trees. Harder to accomplish than it sounds, at least for me anyway. The submissions will be judged by Irene Gallo and Lou Anders. Thanks to openimagestudio for photography! Hope you all enjoy the piece!

Ready to paint

Upper left is a tiny image of a character study I worked out before the final drawing. The larger image is a section of the full piece that is ready for paint.

Family Tree Final and Happy Father's Day

The final piece for my Father-in-law in ink and acrylic. He gave me a sketch and I came up with this design from it. I wanted to keep it more graphic and simple, staying away from realism. The drawing and inking portion actually took more time than the painting. It's usually the other way around for me. There was a lot of spontaneity involved which is the best thing that happens during the creative process. Thanks to openimagestudio for photographing.
After the fixative, some inking and a couple acrylic layers.
Frame close up shot. I decided to do the framing myself as a gift for my Father-in-law. I found a frame that fit the piece perfectly.

The framed piece with my Father-in-law. I'm satisfied with the outcome and I'm glad he enjoys it. Happy Father's Day!

Side Projects & Typography

One of my side projects I'm currently working on is a Family Tree for my Father-in-law. This has actually been a nice break from my paintings. I decided to break out some very old reference sheets for the lettering. Back in College I had a Typography class where we did everything by hand, yes....by hand. I don't even know if they still teach classes like that anymore or if it's all computerized. Whatever the case may be, I found that it's a good exercise. You develop an appreciation and respect for the art. I wasn't trying to be extremely precise like the college days. It's good to loosen up. After triple checking my spelling with my wife on over 100 names, I'll be inking this in before using acrylic paint to finish.

I have this piece and a tattoo design as far as side projects go. After that, I'll be using most of the time I have towards my science fiction fantasy portfolio so I can acquire freelance jobs. A family portrait here, a tattoo there, a logo here, etc. It all adds up so I'll be finished with side projects for friends and family for a very long time unless of course it fits in my current portfolio project and the budget works :-) Stay tuned for a post of the final piece in the near future.

"Trance" Framed

A couple photos of the frame work I completed last week for one of my portfolio pieces. I cut the matte and bought the frame without glass and backing. It will remain without glass. I decided to use black foam core for the back, using a staple gun at an angle to secure it all in place. The $70.00 frame was on sale and I also had a coupon. Framing can easily get very expensive depending on what you're looking for. Preparing it myself saved me money. I'm satisfied with the look.

"Eowyn and the Nazgul" 15" x 20" Acrylic/Oil

The Final drawing before some changes during the painting process.
The final painting for The ArtOrder Challenge depicting a scene from the Lord of the Rings. Acrylic/Oil on gessoed illustration board. This is my personal vision although it would be a lie to say I wasn't influenced by the movie and past paintings of this scene by other artists. It was definitely an intense challenge with the time frame, adjustment issues during the painting process and everyday life but I'm happy with the results. I photographed reference for the Nazgul and Eowyn. I adjusted the weird tangent between Eowyn's hand and the frame(which I noticed deep into the process) with a spontaneous angled tree. Unfortunately I only had time to use my kneaded eraser for the beast reference (head wings and neck). It gave me enough information to work from. I had the most fun with the spontaneous marble frame, the sparks from the slashing sword, the dirt flying off the mace and a few other areas.

There are so many talented artist submitting to this challenge and I wish them all the best. Thanks to Tolkien, all the artists involved, judges, Jon Schindehette for creating this challenge and Openimagestudio for photographing my piece. Hope you all enjoy it!

Eowyn and the Nazgul challenge

I'll keep this short and sweet. After reading Jon Schindehette's blog post I felt I had no choice but to join in. I've been up past 2 am for the last 10 days sketching, drawing, painting and letting my other piece sit on the side for a bit until I complete this new painting. It will be my first ArtOrder Blog challenge. Since I've been working on building up my portfolio it'll be a nice addition and certainly a challenge! I'll post the final drawing and painting in May. Please read the details on Jon's blog here.

Character Sketch part 2 (Before & After)

Yesterday I posted info about the left photo. Today I made some minor adjustments to the sketch. There's leather padding under the armor wrapping around and extending to the upper arm. Some of it will be showing through the metal. He now has a bigger jewel on his helmet, bottom tooth showing, 3 piercings in his ear, 1 behind his eye and a few leather straps in his hair. Every little detail helps to make a character really stand out. I never do separate character studies before the final piece but I think it'll pay off in the end. As I mentioned in my last post, he'll be accompanied by a warrior elf on the final.

Both beings of light are fleeing from a suffocating structure that they magically set ablaze in some far off land. They're attempting to drown a corrupt system overflowing with riches, a darkness where love is sleeping and evil has no bounds. Shadow lords threaten to control every inch of their lives, their world. With shielded hearts the ones of light unfold and begin the ultimate domino effect, setting in motion a breath as light as a moth that pervades their Universe and our very own. Evil is in repose for evermore and Love reawakens, forgetting nightmares and burying heavy eyes.

Character Sketch 8" x 10"

Working out this character sketch for my next painting/portfolio piece. Spent a couple hours trying to figure it out and I'm still working at it. He'll be running alongside a blade wielding warrior elf chick on the final. I'll probably make the armor more intricate and do some minor adjustments either on this sketch or right on the final. The hair's beginning to bug me a bit. Thought I'd share the progress.

"Trance" Oil - 15" x 20"

Here is the final painting on gessoed illustration board. This is my first time using oil throughout the entire painting process on this type of surface without an acrylic underpainting. It's a bit different from canvas. This is for my portfolio and it will be joining me at Illuxcon 4. Thanks to openimagestudio for photographing! Hope you all enjoy it!

Things Change

This is an unfinished portion of my current piece. On the left is the initial drawing. As you can see from the image on the right it went through a few changes. I constructed the crude maquette after completing the drawing which is my usual process. Inspired by my model I decided to paint over the existing drawing, making the dragon's helmet appear more powerful. Obviously I wouldn't be making changes without permission to do so if this was for a client but considering that it's a personal portfolio piece, I went with the flow. The complete painting will be up on the blog this month.

Background in progress

I've been working on the background using thin washes, pushing and pulling areas. At this point nothing is finished on this piece and I'm looking forward to the last few minutes where I'll be refining and yes.....I also need a hair cut.

As I mentioned above, nothing is complete. I'm being a bit more loose with my brushstrokes, letting the eye blend the chunkiness at a distance. The main character will be detailed, sharp, in focus.

Spectrum 18 Submissions

Several days ago I sent out four entries for Spectrum 18. I've been attempting to get in for a few years now. Last year I sent in my Centaur piece, which I believed to be one of my best pieces at the time. I thought I had a good chance with it but unfortunately, it wasn't accepted. That's not stopping me though. I'm going to keep on trying and hopefully one day my work will be published. Good luck to everyone entering!

Thanks to openimagestudio for printing!
Click here to see last years Centaur submission :)
Click here to visit Spectrum's website.

New Year, New Piece.

Wow! 2010 was quite a year! Had a baby girl, finally got my portfolio in order, Illuxcon just to name a few things. Here's the final drawing calling for some paint - 15" x 20" on gessoed illustration board. Took a while to create the reference maquettes but as always, it's worth the time and effort. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm gearing this piece (& the next several) towards companies that I'd enjoy working with. This will be in Oil. New year, new piece and it looks like on Saturday, a new age. Yikes! Good excuse to party :) Below are the mountains I created out of clay to use as reference.
The rocky maquettes after playing with the color, pushing it closer to my vision.
The original layout on tissue paper over a glass table, lit beneath with a flashlight and a simple lamp off to the right. Happy New Year!