Follow Muddy Colors, filter it, and define how you want to receive the news (via Email, RSS, Telegram, WhatsApp etc.) https://follow.it/muddy-colors Tue, 28 Jun 2022 13:26:59 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8mYFFOEDkUXJQC0qH-r7xlT

It’s been a meandering road but at long last I’ve got my next sketchbook and a new set of prints that I’m about ready to share! You might well recognize one of the pieces from a previous series where we walked through all the drawing and color stages. And another is the cover of my next sketchbook, The Little Hills. We also first talked about this one back close to the beginning of the year.…]]> Tue, 28 Jun 2022 11:00:32 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8mYFFOEDkUXJQC0qH-r7xlT https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8mdsokpht474-9WSSr4-0sP   I was very happy to be able to design a new character for this magic set, and for the Baldurs Gate world. Because this magic set takes place in the DnD universe. She is a Dragonborn bard singing from the rooftop of the richer part of Baldurs gate. Her music attracts the small spirit dragons. The brown sketch with the green dragon spirits was the first one I send in and it got approved…]]> Mon, 27 Jun 2022 13:15:59 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8mdsokpht474-9WSSr4-0sP https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nv46emeSqiIioxzwoq1nFt

Some notes and tips inspired by observations made while teaching oil painting I’ve noticed a lot of times when students’ paintings become muddy-looking that it not only has to do with accurate (or inaccurate) color mixing and observation, but it has a lot to do with application as well. In classes, we go over observation of color, the mixing of pigment, and application of paint to the surface. Lately, it’s come up that though students…]]> Sat, 25 Jun 2022 12:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nv46emeSqiIioxzwoq1nFt https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nu_kmtL7kxLyoxzwoq1nFt

Since I am knee deep in NDA work at the moment I will take this opportunity to post some progress shots of two of my latest oil paintings. This all began with linen mounted to board. The square piece is on acrylic primed linen on board from Trekell Art Supplies. The vertical piece was an odd shape so I watched the most excellent video on Howard Lyon’s Patreon about mounting linen with Beva Conservation Film…]]> Fri, 24 Jun 2022 12:00:15 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nu_kmtL7kxLyoxzwoq1nFt https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nLBsIZb-vxNKbel3Iu4GjH

    Last year I got to illustrate Tasha, the Witch Queen for Magic the Gathering‘s Battle for Baldur‘s Gate set. Right after mysterious vampires my favorite subject to paint are dark, fierce women so you can imagine my excitement when I read through the brief. It called for a dark witch with a pointy hat at the height of her powers casting magic in her study, being surrounded by dark forces. I feel so…]]> Thu, 23 Jun 2022 12:00:46 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nLBsIZb-vxNKbel3Iu4GjH https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8lPejWEnrJ61wp41t9tiERU

With my current SmartSchool workshop wrapping up in a few days, I wanted to take the opportunity to share some of the wonderful work from the previous fall semester. It’s a true honor to work with other artists in a teaching capacity, and I’m continuously surprised and amazed by what people produce during these 14 week mentorships.             I’ve been teaching this workshop through SmartSchool for a few years now…]]> Wed, 22 Jun 2022 12:00:02 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8lPejWEnrJ61wp41t9tiERU https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8mXz3OCUdlFum0dX84dnP8Y

Today I’m going to talk about a few pieces I did a while back that tackled various visual problems. The problems I was asked to address with these pieces were more of the visual communication variety and in some cases utilized visual metaphor to convey something beyond a straightforward narrative. Whether or not I was successful at conveying what I was attempting to is—well, it’s going to depend on the person. In every case, though,…]]> Tue, 21 Jun 2022 12:00:54 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8mXz3OCUdlFum0dX84dnP8Y https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8mmcxlzLc5gvJONpYks2fGs

As some may recall, life threw a monkey wrench into our plans and delayed Spectrum 28 as well as our next Spectrum Fantastic Art Quarterly. Which doesn’t mean that we haven’t been working on both: you know the old saying about idle hands. And, sonofagun, we’re about done with the second volume of the bookazine (12″x12″, full color, softcover, big and bold, you know the deal) so I thought I’d give everyone a very brief…]]> Mon, 20 Jun 2022 11:30:55 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8mmcxlzLc5gvJONpYks2fGs https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8kwIdi_wEGOEHMq2h3ehXEp

There are plenty of fantastic posts about what to put in your portfolio, but once you’ve created and gathered those illustrations, how do you arrange it all? Chronological order – with your newest work first – seems to be the default, but I prefer to take a more curated approach, because it can help make a portfolio look cohesive and well-presented. This post is about online portfolios like a website or Artstation gallery – physical…]]> Sat, 18 Jun 2022 12:00:08 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8kwIdi_wEGOEHMq2h3ehXEp https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nwJwzmyeM4ux-xWH3zZqEA

My earliest memory of practicing any kind of ritual occurred around the dining room table when I was very young. Spread out on the good table cloth were meat filled buns that my parents only bought on special occasions, Pak Cham Gai, boiled chicken with a soy and oyster dipping sauce, garnished with some green onions and sesame oil. In another dish were potatoes, carrots and onions that were boiled along with the chicken to…]]> Fri, 17 Jun 2022 12:00:58 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nwJwzmyeM4ux-xWH3zZqEA https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nTHUyfyZ_eJ-9WSSr4-0sP

If there’s one topic that I’ve seen strike the most fear into artists the fastest it’s the question of pricing. Now that inflation is on the rise (in the US at least) you need to look at your numbers all over again. Are you charging the right amount for your work? If the very thought of tackling that question turns your stomach into a brick, then read on. Over the years I’ve tackled money a…]]> Thu, 16 Jun 2022 13:30:07 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nTHUyfyZ_eJ-9WSSr4-0sP https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8k6e8WjH0wkRWFk24e89-qg

I paint traditionally with acrylics and colored pencil on paper, with a little bit of watercolor for subtle tinting in between.  For my acrylics, I enjoy Golden paints that come in three different viscosity levels — heavy body, fluid and high-flow. For colored pencils, I prefer the Prismacolor brand, particularly their Premiere and Verithins, though I’m slowly trying out the Caran d’Ache pencils.  For my substrate, I absolutely love painting on 300lb Arches hot press…]]> Wed, 15 Jun 2022 12:00:57 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8k6e8WjH0wkRWFk24e89-qg https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8knshX7AZ6EG8qq6eZJzUh9

-By Mike Butkus This is a quick step by step on how I went about doing one of the concept sketches for the Resident Evil: Afterlife movie poster one sheet. This eventually became one of the final teasers. After I read the script or creative brief, I work with the Art Directors to come up with some concepts. Here I start off with what I hope is a dynamic composition. Once the thumbnail is approved,…]]> Tue, 14 Jun 2022 12:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8knshX7AZ6EG8qq6eZJzUh9 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nlJvA5z0-vxkGb1Jh49AJn

Since most of what I’ve been busy with lately is either under NDA (awesome secrets!) or non-art-related (moving!) I thought this would be a good time to crack open one of my old hard drives and see what slithers out. In this case, the god Pan, for a mythology-inspired beer label I illustrated way back in 2017 . And hey, is that the face of noted illustrator and occasional Muddy Colors contributor Micah Epstein?? This…]]> Mon, 13 Jun 2022 12:00:04 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nlJvA5z0-vxkGb1Jh49AJn https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8mZx7FLrf4ZqUTXPGaG87AR

-By Ron Lemen I simplified this dialog to the drawings.  This started off as a rant against the HUGE problem with every one of my anatomy students these days, the problem with drawing feet. Somewhere out there is some misinformation, or alternative truths that seem to be popular to the newbie art student, but need to go missing forever please.  I have created some pages of useful information that need to be put out there…]]> Sat, 11 Jun 2022 12:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8mZx7FLrf4ZqUTXPGaG87AR https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8kwjOta3MrkokQqW5gBv7mX

We think we’re doing our dance for a public audience, a potential buyer for the book we did the cover for, the film we did the poster for, or the band we did the LP art for… but what we often tend to forget, is the most important audience: the Art Directors, Editors, Publishers and Author/Creators that we work WITH while we’re working for the job. It’s this second audience you’re dancing for that will…]]> Fri, 10 Jun 2022 12:00:47 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8kwjOta3MrkokQqW5gBv7mX https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8lpgL2dah2cHmhamfNIiY2W

Packing and shipping…well, isn’t today’s topic just too sexy for words? Having just come back from our first in-person convention in two and a half years, transporting art is very much on our minds. Our first time exhibiting at Monsterpalooza was a whole lotta fun and featured terrific people-watching. The attendance was insane, with lines around the block that started forming at 4 am – those are some devoted fans. Let’s Pack It Up To…]]> Thu, 09 Jun 2022 12:00:41 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8lpgL2dah2cHmhamfNIiY2W https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8kTNWJTsVh-IQm0QkxGtqLL

This past year we tabulated a collective assessment of the art we have around the studio and home.  It was fascinating to discover we have a sizable body of my personal works still on hand.  These paintings were created outside the constraints of any guiding relationship with a client, be it private or commercial.  The works represent numerous hours of invested labor, likely bordering on an entire year’s output, yet for various reasons remained ‘uncapitalized’…]]> Wed, 08 Jun 2022 09:01:42 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8kTNWJTsVh-IQm0QkxGtqLL https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nTxWb4pQBIlbDXWBZfdr71

Hope everyone is stoked for a slew of new cool Magic the Gathering art to drop this month! It is time for Double Masters two! For those out of the loop a Double Masters set from MTG means they are reprinting some of the most iconic cards in the history of the game. Many of which get brand new art from some of the top illustrators in the genre. Naturally I am stoked to be…]]> Tue, 07 Jun 2022 12:30:24 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nTxWb4pQBIlbDXWBZfdr71 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8kwqhntbEDof5JTpfXVttXD

    Charles-Amable Lenoir was born in Châtellaillon in France in 1860. I wanted to share his work with you today because he was an incredibly skilled artist, with a remarkable ability to harness values and contrast in his paintings. He also mastered the delicate dance of balancing soft and hard edges. His figures almost look like they are glowing! It really is quite the sight to behold. I hope you enjoy this article featuring…]]> Mon, 06 Jun 2022 13:00:40 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8kwqhntbEDof5JTpfXVttXD