Daily Life 018: Rocking Chair

There are so many things that I love about Abby growing up into a big kid. She's so much fun to play with, and she's so loving, smart, funny, and ... did I mention already how much fun she is? There's so many things that I enjoy about her now, that I'd forgotten some of the things I enjoyed about when she was a little baby.

Like how much I enjoy sitting quietly and rocking a sleeping baby in the rocking chair. Olivia turns a month old tomorrow, where does the time go?

New Cover: American Artifacts

Hey all! Another short post tonite, I'm afraid... been a busy weekend, it's late, and I'm exhausted.

We put a new counter-top, and cabinets in our kitchen this weekend. It really opens up the space a lot, and increases the usable work space there significantly. There will be a couple of storage issues to deal with (mostly just changes to be made), but I think that's nothing we can't handle. It made me think about those home renovation shows where they do a whole room/project in a weekend, and I can't help but wonder just how tired they must be at the end of it... of course, they have a lot of people helping... and I don't think I ever saw a two-year-old and a newborn on the set of any of those shows. But still!

In other news, I also finished another cover for the guys over at Hex games last night: American Artifacts, a collection of distinctly American magical items.

When you think of magical artifacts, you probably think of magic wands, or gold rings, or weapons--King Arthur's sword Excalibur, maybe, or the Ring of the Nibelung. Wands and rings and swords were all well and good for the Old World, but this is America, and a New World demands a new style of artifact. There are a few swords scattered across these fifty states, but you're more likely to find a magic gun, like Elvis's Golden Gun, or an enchanted locomotive, like Lincoln's Funeral Train.

I'm always interested in showing some of the process (and I hope you don't mind looking), so here's the cover in various states of doneness...

Here's the Pencils. The brief was that they wanted a picture of Robert Johnson "all bluesy looking, with sinister demonic forces swirling in the background." It's sort of halfway between a tightish layout, and really loose. Usually I do a little bit of editing and refining in the inking stage, as well as adding in some details. I also wrote in the title of the game at the top, as a reminder to leave room for it... It would kind of stink to end up covering up big chunks of the illustration because I forgot to leave room for the title. Ha-ha-ha!

I do the inking with both a technical pen, and a brush. All of Robert Johnson was done with the brush, and I really like the organic line quality that the brush lends. I didn't go too crazy with the details and rendering, because that would be taken care of with coloring anyway.
I had a lot of fun coloring this one, and I think the colored illustrations are getting better each time.
And the final cover with the logo that I designed as well. You can pick up a pdf version of your very own at the Hex Games online store here .

I'm going to try to get a couple of more posts in this week. I do have some new Daily Lifes, to put up as well as some pictures... still working on getting into a new rythm. Until next time, take care and be good.

Your friend,
Jeffrey

Latest Cover for Hex

Wow. Can you believe May's half over already? The first two weeks of the new month have been hectic, to say the least. We repainted the kitchen (and are getting ready to put in a new counter and some new cabinets), Olivia was born, Abby and I got sick, Olivia got her first cold (poor thing, but she's taking it like a trooper), and I got some more work from the guys over at hex that I'm really excited about. Tonite's going to be a short post, because I'm diligently working on a cover and interior, but I thought I'd share the last cover I did for them. It was for a game called "The Pytheas Club", and is set in Victorian England. The story revolves around a British gentleman adventurers club, and the exploration, intrigue and espionage that goes into expanding the British empire.
The pencils...
Inks...
and the final cover. I also did the logo and cover layout.

If you haven't bought it yet, you can pick up the electronic version at Drivethru RPG, and if you have picked it up, go ahead and do it again! Seriously, though... the game is a really good and interesting read, and totally worth it.

Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend,
Jeffrey

My latest collaborative project with my wife.

Short post today, because I am exhausted... It's been a long weekend, but I wanted to share the completion (or the beginning) of my latest collaboration with my wife, Amy. Baby Olivia was born on Friday morning at 9:30 in the morning. Beautiful little girl with more hair than Abby had when she was one.
It's been a wonderful, slow weekend with plenty of time spent with the girls. Holding Olivia, and playing with Abby, chatting with my parents, and repainting the kitchen with my Mom. It's going to be a bit for us the adjust to this new rhythm, but Abby seems to be taking a shine to her new sister (or at least she's curious about her, Ha-ha-ha!) so hopefully that's a good sign that the transition will go smoothly.
I think I have to mow the lawn tomorrow...Hopefully it just rains, instead.

Until next time, take care and be good.
Your friend,
Jeffrey

One More Picture 002: Laumeier Sculpture Park

You might have noticed that today is a One MO picture, instead of Daily Life. I've got a reason for that, Ha-ha-ha! The Norton on my computer decides to scan every Monday night, and this just kills the processor speed... Which makes painting on the computer take longer than it needs to. I know what you're saying, why don't I just do the painting before Monday nite? Well, as my friend Crystal would say about me... I don't seem like a procrastinator, but I am.

So. This week, One MO Picture is the front steps of the main building at Laumeier Sculpture Park, in Saint Louis. On our first date, Amy and I went here, and there was a wedding. Then three years later, we got married here too. This picture was taken on a wet day in February of this year, and I got in trouble for letting Abby wear her new sandals... they got muddy. Fortunately, Amy had the foresight to make me change her out of her (also new) white dress sandals. I think my wife thinks I'm an idiot sometimes... I guess that maybe sometimes I do have to give her that one.

Until next time,
Take care and be good!

Has it been a month already?

I can't believe it's already been a month since I managed to do a post. Sorry about that. I had several projects come due all at once, and just couldn't justify sitting down and posting here when I should be working. Getting started again after a break is always the hardest thing to do, and I apologize for taking my sweet time.

Speaking of people taking their sweet time... we're still waiting on baby Olivia to show up, but she should be here any day now. Abby had her birthday, Olivia's bedroom is all ready for her, and now it's just a matter of waiting... We're all very excited to see her.

And finally, I brought the animal band along with me today to announce the grand opening of my updated, and redesigned website! Check it out at www.redherringillustration.com . Let me know what you think, and whether you had any problems or suggestions.

Well, that's it for this sunday. A short post, I know, but I have several new pieces to show you starting next week, and maybe then I can ramble a bit longer at you all. Ha-ha-ha! Until then, take care and be good!

Your friend,
Jeffrey

What You Talkin' About? Coraline

"...And he said that wasn't brave of him, doing that, just standing there and being stung, " said Coraline to the cat. "It wasn't brave because he wasn't scared: it was the only thing he could do. But going back again to get his glasses, when he knew the wasps were there, when he was really scared. That was brave."
-Neil Gaiman"Coraline"

When my wife and I first saw "Coraline" in the theaters we were amazed. This movie was everything we look for in a film. Excellent story, beautiful visuals, the sound track fit well...it was a movie that we knew we were going to own and share with our daughter(s).

So my first female character for little girls to look up to is Coraline Jones, from the book (and movie) Coraline. Just in case any of you has not had a chance to lay your hands on either telling of this story, I'll not spoil it for you by going too in depth here...The story revolves around a young girl who, just having moved to a new home with her parents is bored. Everything seems colorless and dull. She has no friends, her parents are busy with work, and (like many tweens) she feels like she never gets what she wants.

However. Behind the peeling wallpaper in the great-room, she finds a little door, and behind that door is another world. A world that is so much more...interesting than her own.

Coraline Jones gets my vote as a female character to look up to for three big reasons. She's clever, she's brave and she's compassionate.

Daily Life 017: The Fence

More new boots... What can I say? My daughter loves shoes. And she's not a baby anymore, she's a big girl now. Today when I got home from work, Amy and Abby were outside sitting on the porch swing. Abby has on a red sweatshirt (over a Batman T-shirt), purple flowered pants, bright yellow puddle jumpers with monkeys on them, and quite possibly the ugliest greenish-yellow felt bunny hat... ever. Apparently, she's been very into opening and closing the fence gate into the backyard today. She spent a couple of minutes showing me (over and over) how good she was at it until we walked across the boggy ground to the shed so I could give her rides in the wagon.

The one nice thing about this ridiculous time change, is that there is still plenty of daylight after work to do a little playing outside before time to make supper.

Science is about ideas and preparation

A few years ago, my oldest brother got me a book for Christmas called "Build Your Own Humanoid Robots", by Karl Williams. There is a sort of pattern with the two of us... a set of gift buying rules, I guess. Generally, everything is off the beaten path, and touches on our interests and sensibilities in unobvious ways. The use for this book is nearing as Abby gets older, and some of the little boys I know are approaching an age where little fingers are less clumsy, and interest and attention can be held on a project through completion. This leads me to the title of this post.

I was thinking about making a robot. This brought to the surface of my brain a memory of my youngest brother (he was about 10 at the time) collecting old electronic junk (literally parts of VCRs, Stereos... I think he might have had part of a CPU in there) to make a robot out of. None of these things were really useful to his final goal, I think. This was an idea without preparation, and looking back on it I wonder how things would have turned out differently with a few less encouraging "mmmm-hmm"s and a little more guidance... I take my share of dropping the ball on that one. So... let's say you wanted to make a robot that had legs like a crab, and moved like one. (idea) Part of the preparation is obvious robot stuff (programming, servos, actuators... remote control), but part of it is less obvious. Stuff like biology (studying the muscles and joints of a real crab and how it moves), fabricating (parts have to be made somehow) and drawing. So many of the best ideas fall apart due to poor planning.

Mostly this post is set-up for next week. Your homework this week is to think about what the word "Subversive" means to you. I'm going to endeavor to adequately explain where I'm going with it (with a little help from my local library). There are some ideas and thoughts that have been weighing heavily on me of late, that I think I would like to share with my friends.
This weeks drawing is basically just practice for my next cover for Hex, trying out some new brushes and inking techniques, and practicing my color work. The colors on this one are still pretty rough. I'm hoping to grab a couple of minutes this week to tidy them up a little bit and push this drawing to a better finish. Her shirt was originally just going to be a big red circle... maybe with some text in it. The Eggplant graphic was totally accidental, but once I saw it it was too good to just let go.

Until next week. Take care and be good.
Your friend,
(in an effort to be more searchable) Jeffrey Johnson

What You Talkin' About: Role Models

One thing about growing up and having kids... you want them to have strong role models. When my first daughter, Abby was born, I noticed that there was a general lack of female characters out there to really look up to. Sure, there were I guess the Disney princesses, but by and large they seemed to just let events happen to them. I guess you could say that some of the pantheon of mythical gods could be considered strong female role-models. They were strong, clever, independent... but they were also... bitches.

Fortunately, as I've been paying more attention to such things, I've noticed this trend changing. Does this maybe have something to do with our changing views on woman's role in our modern world? I don't know, but it does make me feel a little better to know that there ARE some very good examples of strong, clever, capable, compassionate, smart, friendly... girls who are independent and powerful without losing their femininity.

The reason I'm bringing this up this week, is that my second daughter is due to be born soon, and I think it might be a nice way to look forward to that event to spend a couple of weeks showcasing some of the wonderful female characters out there today. I have a few picked out, but would love to hear who you all think would make a good role model for a little girl (both real and make-believe.)

Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend
Jeffrey

Mustard

Now that I'm in my thirties, I can look back on some of the people I knew in my twenties with a little more... Perspective. This is the final interior illustration I did for "Waxmans warriors". As much as I enjoyed the other three, this one was the most FUN. It did not stress me out, and the ideas just flowed. Ha-ha-ha! I imagine this guy would be a bit of a disappointment in most respects. One thing that I didn't put into the drawing that I considered but just didn't really have time for is his mother. I sort of pictured her character as Marie from "Everybody Loves Raymond" (except played by Madeline Khan). She loves her first-born son to the point of being blinded by his faults. She was going to be bringing him a bowl of cheese-doodles.

Here's a shot at the pencils for this pic as well. I remember this episode of "The Simpsons" where Otto, the school-bus driver gets kicked out of his apartment. He asks the landlord if he can at least go in and get all of his stuff. The landlord tells him that all that was in there was a car magazine, and a jar of mustard. Bemused, Otto asks "I have mustard?" It's funny how some things just stick with you. The reason I bring this up (aside from the obvious pot-head reference) is that I had a minor epiphany today. The difference between McDonalds hamburgers, and everybody else's... Mustard. Everybody else uses Mayonnaise to add zip to their burgers, but McDonalds uses mustard. I guess it's not as monumental a realization as I make it out to be (you should've seen Amy's mom when I told her. She was like "So?") but I thought it was interesting.

Okay. That's it for today, I'll talk at you a bit tomorrow with a new "Daily Life".
Take care and be good.
Your friend
Jeffrey

What You Talkin' about? Mark Zug

There are several conversations that I have carried with me through the years that help me through rough patches. Overly simplistic as it may sound, they take on a sort of mantra quality, and even thinking about them can often calm my thoughts.

I remember once talking to my friend Nathan about working on our art... our skills. There was a desire there to work doing illustration for roleplaying games, media and ourselves... and to make a living doing it. He said something to the effect of, "Do you think all those great artists like Brom and Mark Zug were always amazing? No. One day, they pretty much said to themselves that they were going to learn to paint really well. And then they did it." Like I said, I'm paraphrasing there, but that's the gist of the conversation.

Whenever I feel like I'm maybe not good enough, or I need to get better, work harder, or practice more I think of Mark Zug. And I get to work.

I first ran across Mark Zug's work in the Shadowrun 3rd edition handbook. The quality of his painting and his characters was just simply... stunning.

Until next time, take care and be good.
Your friend
Jeffrey

Links: Mark Zug
Brom
Nathan Miller

Daily Life 016: Chainsaw

I read in the manual that this is the face you're supposed to make when you are chainsawing stuffs. Grim and purposeful... this face has nothing to do with the fact that I spend faaaar too much time sitting in a chair working with virtual things, and not enough out showing real stuffs who's boss.
I keep on telling myself that it will all be different in six months. Maybe I need to change some of my habits now. Ha-ha-ha!

Interior Illustrations for Hex Games' "Waxmans Warriors"

As the babies due date gets closer, the weeks just seem to go faster... Whew, they're exhausting too, LOL! So, the week flew by and I managed to miss all three of my posts, but I got some other stuff done, and am ready to hit you all with some new stories this week... so I'm not going to apologize.

Last week, I talked a little bit about the cover art, and the general idea of the game. Like I said, it's satirizing the religious tracts of Jack Chick and offering a sort of commentary on that world view. While it can be tempting to dismiss much of this dialogue as juvenile, with some very generalized statements taking easy pot-shots at a... Let's dial this back a bit, before I get myself in trouble. I realize that this can be a sensitive subject, so I've been hesitant about even posting and talking about it. I am going to talk about some of the things that I thought about while I was working on them though, because I feel like that stuff is an important part of this process.

This first drawing is the kingdom of heaven. My brief described it as "...a large, clean city with streets paved of gold and an eclectic mix of breathtaking architecture and numerous public plazas and parks. A clear, pure river flows through the center of the kingdom from its source near a golden palace on a hill in the city’s center." Going on to describe some of the other landmarks in heaven. I chose to illustrate the Tree of life against a backdrop of the City and Golden palace.

Often while I'm drawing, I'll write notes to myself in the margins of my workspace. I had this idea that I would put a paved walkway circling the tree of life. In the margins I wrote "What kind of (insert explitif here) would put a sidewalk around the tree of life?!" For me, this is more of a comment on the culture I live in than on anything else. It seems like a terribly arrogant thing to do. I concede that this kind of thing makes nature easier to enjoy, and probably makes it possible for people who otherwise would not be able to. As I am writing this, I'm thinking of other examples of things I enjoy that should by rights be put into this category (the zoo, the botanical gardens... ) Wow. This is turning into another terrible post, where I look like an idiot that didn't think things trough very well! Ha-ha-ha!

This second drawing is of hell. Hell has always seemed like a disjointed set of ideas that are put together in discord. Maybe that's part of why we remember our bad dreams more than our good ones. Things that are off-kilter and discordant, seem to resonate more in our brains and are... scary. I think we tend to like and gravitate towards order. So, silly as I always thought Bosch was in art history, perhaps he was on the right track.

These two illustrations were basically conceived at the same time. I wanted the heaven drawing to be vertical and tall. Light and airy... tranquil, and framed by clouds. Hell was to be horizontal and heavy. Framed by flames and darkness. Jumbled and chaotic. The central elements of the hell illustration are the lake of fire and the heavenly monorail. This is the real impetus of the thoughts of arrogance and ego-centrism. The idea is that there is a monorail tour of hell for the residents of heaven. Like a tour of a third-world country where you see the highlights on the surface and get an idea of how horrible things may be, but then get to go home to a comfortable life.

It's all just thoughts, and the start of a line of questions about my values and beliefs. I hope I didn't come off too... something bad. Ha-ha-ha!

Until next time, take care and be good.
Your friend
Jeffrey

More work for Hex Games: Waxmans Warriors

Hi! I hope everybody had a good week. Mine was long, and a little tiring and frustrating. Tomorrow starts a new one though, with new possibilities. Looking forward to that.

This week, I have the cover image that I did for another game by the guys at Hex, "Waxmans Warriors". It's a satirical adventure based on the cartoon religious tracts of Jack Chick. I read a lot of these during the research phase of this project, and was really struck by how... mean they are. That's really neither here nor there, just an observation.

So, here are three images. The first is the pencils that I sent to Steve Johnson over at Hex for initial approval. The character is "Giant Glowing Jesus", a 25 foot tall robot Jesus that guards the gates of heaven. His character would be played by Viggo Mortensen if they ever made a movie of "Waxmans Warriors". Steve's only suggestion was that I add in St. Hubbins, the patron saint of quality footwear, to give a sense of scale.
...So I did. The next step is inking. Pretty straight-forward line work inking. I've been looking at some stuff on the interweb, trying to expand my inking repertoire, and have found a couple of things that I'm going to try out on the next project.
The final step was to take it all into photoshop and color it up! I'm really pretty happy with how the clouds came out.

Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend,
Jeffrey