The Killing

As part of their annual line-up for 2024, Gallery1988 was having a show dedicated to the works of the late great director, Stanley Kubrick. I have seen a handful of Kubrick’s films including ‘The Shining’, ‘A Clockwork Orange’, and ‘Eyes Wide Shut’, so I was familiar with his eccentric process of film making. What I was not familiar with, was Kubrick’s earlier works, prior to finding what I would call his ‘voice’, or signature style. I decided that I wanted to explore early Kubrick, and perhaps bring some attention to his less famous works. I also wanted to avoid doing fan service to his wildly popular works, particularly ‘The Shining’, as there is a plethora of artwork dedicated to the film already.

 

Grainy still I was using as a reference for both the sketches and color (the film is black and white).

I started first by going through Kubrick’s portfolio, and seeing what, if anything, stood out to me. I went through and read the synopsis of many of his films, and then decided that I should probably check to see if any of them were on an available (streaming) platform to watch. At the time, ‘The Shining’ was playing on cable, so I was able to record that as a backup if needed. I then ended up watching a few of his films on ‘Pluto TV’, which I highly recommend to anyone. It’s a free service (from what I understand), and they have all sorts of modern, and classic material to watch (some on demand).

 

I ended up settling on his 1956 film-noir, ‘The Killing’, written by Kubrick and Jim Thompson, which was based on the Lionel White novel, ‘Clean Break’.

The story, which I will try not to spoil, is basically an ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ style crime heist film featuring many moving parts, and a colorful cast of characters. The film features the performances of Sterling Hayden (Johnny), Coleen Gray (Fay), Vince Edwards (Val), Jay C. Flippen (Marvin), Marie Windsor (Sherry), Elisha Cook Jr. (George), and Timothy Carey (Nikki), among many, many other.

It also it heralded as one of the biggest influences on Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Reservoir Dogs’, and credited for attracting the attention of legendary actor Kirk Douglas. Douglas sought out Kubrick after seeing this film to direct the war drama ‘Paths of Glory’.

Kubrick (allegedly) also took no payment for this film.

Incredible.

 

One of the many promotional images for the film I used for inspiration.

After finishing the film, I started to sketch some concepts for an illustration based on it in Procreate on my iPad Pro. Initially I was going to illustrate the main players and place them within the title letters of the movie, in vignettes. I found a production image with the film’s title that I felt would work best with my vision. I still however needed an illustration for the background of the lettering, and thought about how I could ‘encompass’ the theme in one image.

I settled on a scene, which I believe sums that up nicely, at least in my opinion. It’s also hard for me to elaborate without completely ruining the entire film, but I will say this, I found it almost hilariously ironic for a picture of this nature.

That said, the scene takes place at an airport where there is an incident with some luggage.

The idea came about rather quickly, and I got the initial sketch down for my concept. At the time I was also working on some other projects (this one and this one), so I put this one on hold, and would jump back a few months later.

 

Final layout with completed sketches ready for color.

 

When I did return to the image, I noticed I was short on time meaning my original concept would need some adjusting. I started by first vectoring out the typography in Adobe Illustrator as I could not determine the font used. I then adjusted the layout, and title until I was satisfied with its scaled and placement.

I also determined that illustrating each character no matter how small was going to be a momentous task, so I instead thought about placing a single image within the typography instead. Since the film is basically a heist at a race track I figured that would contrast nicely with the background image, telling the narrative of the film without revealing too many details.

 

Title and sketch of jockeys inside the font.

With all my concepts in place, and reference material attained, I set to work illustrating each individual piece. I started first the airport scene and did my best to capture its likeness. It was rather difficult given the graininess of the imagery I had to work with, so determining where some things began, ended, or even what they were was arduous. My next task was then to illustrate the luggage and its contents as it fills the air. This was more enjoyable, but quickly became tedious (for obvious reasons).

I drew each one of those.

Each. One.

When that was done, I had to track down a picture of jockeys on a race-track, as the film doesn’t really contain any decent shots I could work with. I ended up using a reference from the film for the jockey’s clothing (for continuity), and a modern still. I then drew them out in the same manner as the rest of the illustrated elements, and then prepared for color.

 

Final colored image 11"x 17" on 100lb Cover.

The color process didn’t take too long, except for the luggage contents that we simply won’t talk about.

The horses and jockeys were also a bit of a diva, but overall, not too terrible.

The editing process however…that was a different story.

My initial gut feeling was the image was entirely too dark, I knew it.

I tried my best to adjust the contrast, and brightness on the illustration, but eventually I determine I needed to lay eyes on paper to see if any of it was making legible.

I ordered a proof from SGX, and much to my chagrin it needed more adjusting, but only on a few elements.

 

The entire piece was developed in Procreate on my iPad which I started on October 16^th, 2023, and finished on January8^th, 2024. I spent approximately twenty (20) hours, and twenty nine (29) minutes, drawing each of the images with the pencil tool, followed by another forty eight (48) hours, and twenty five (25) minutes digitally painting the piece. I would then proceed to spend at least one (1) hour in Adobe Illustrator creating the title, and another two (2) hours, and thirty (30) minutes, editing the image in Adobe Photoshop. Total time spent, was about seventy-one (71) hours, and twenty-four (24)minutes.

 

Final 11" X 17" image on 100lb Cover.

The 11” x 17” image (printed on 100lb Cover, thank you SGX), was made for Gallery1988’s ‘Imagination & Technology: A Tribute to Kurbrick’, a tribute show to the works of the late great director Stanley Kubrick. The show was originally scheduled to run from February 16^th, 2024, through March 2^nd, 2024, with all remaining works available on the gallery’s website. At this time the prints are exclusively available via the gallery, so please check their website for all remaining works related to the show including mine.

 

For more information, or to see a catalog of my other work, please visit my online store here.

You can also find me on various social media platforms below doing a multitude of other artistic things that include hand lettering, and the occasional sculpting, crafting or painting.

Website: www.michaelstiles.com 

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Cat Nap

This piece was inspired by Gallery1988’s ‘Off The Leash’ group show, dedicated to the (in)famous pets of pop culture. Initially the gallery sent us a list of loveable companions to choose from, but I didn’t see some of my favorites, so I asked for permission to pick an alternative one. Originally I was going to illustrate ‘Ein’ from ‘Cowboy Bepop’, but seeing as how over saturated the world is with Corgi artwork, I determined a different path was preferable. Instead, I went with the furry felines from the ‘Sailor Moon’ series: Luna, Artemis, and Diana.

 

My first pass at the piece, it included a reference to each season which was too ambitious, and off topic.

This piece went through a few layouts, until I finally landed on the one you see here. My original concept was to do a scene of ‘Usagi’s’ bedroom with the cats in various locations, along with Easter eggs littered about to represent the various seasons of the television series I was familiar with.

This proved to be incredibly difficult, and the further I got along with the image, the less it was about the cats, and the more it became about showcasing different elements from the series.

Eventually I scrapped the layout, and decided I needed a close-up of the cats instead, laying on ‘Usagi’s’ bed. I went about collecting image reference for the cats, and stumbled up a perfect layout of three cats sleeping together. The only problem was I needed a kitten to replace one of the adults in the image to complete my layout.

I would go through two different design options for Diana, before I was able to find a position, and image reference that I could work into the layout.

While Luna, and Artemis took me a fraction of the time Diana did, I was finally able to get my layout finalized.

I then set about cleaning up the image in Procreate (where I started the piece during the ‘sketching’ process). 

 

My second pass, which was still too focused on 'Sailor Moon', and less the furry feline companions.

 

I then exported the image into Adobe Photoshop where I would adjust the layout and the scale of the cats, until I was satisfied. Next I exported the image back to Procreate, where I began the painting process.

Animal fur is not my forte, and I spent a painstakingly long amount of time trying to get the lighting correct. During this phase I spent a lot of time trying to find good lighting reference, and even tried recruiting my own cat (to no avail…cats aren’t great models, or at least mine wasn’t).

After several long hours, I finally finished painting the image, and then took it into Photoshop to adjust the lighting as it was looking entirely too dark. This took me a few hours, and eventually I had something I felt was ready to print.

 

Incomplete sketch of Luna laying on top of Artemis.

 

I then sent the image to the printer for my initial proofing and had them produce two different versions (on different papers).

 

Sketch of Diana, Artemis and Luna's kitten.

I started the piece on October 30^th, 2023 and finished it on December 9^th, 2023. The initial sketching process took me approximately thirty nine (39) hours, and thirty three (33) minutes with the painting process taking me an additional sixty eight (68) hours, and sixteen (16) minutes, with another one (1) hour cleaning up the image, and three (3) hours in Photoshop editing it, for a grand total of one hundred seven (107) hours, and forty nine (49) minutes. 

 

Sketch of all three cats (Artemis, Diana, Luna), atop Usagi's bed.

The 14” x 11” image (printed on 100lb Cover, thank you SGX), was made for Gallery1988’s ‘Off The Leash’, a group show dedicated to the beloved ‘pets’ of film and television which opened January 26^th, 2024 through February 10^th, 2024 (online). At this time the prints are exclusively available via the gallery, so please check their website for all remaining works related to the show including mine.

 

Final full colored image of the three feline companions (Artemis, Diana, and Luna), from 'Sailor Moon'.

For more information, or to see a catalog of my other work, please visit my online store here.

You can also find me on various social media platforms below doing a multitude of other artistic things that include hand lettering, and the occasional sculpting, crafting or painting.

 

Final 14" X 11" image on 100lb cover.

Website: www.michaelstiles.com

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Sugar Water

For my first show of the 2024 year, it was going to be a double feature, starting with Gallery1988’s ‘Art of the Music Video’ group show. The premise was an interesting one, and I have to give credit to the gallery for always managing to challenge me creatively. They did however send a list of some memorable videos that was helpful, but I wanted to do a more deep dive on this particular subject.

One of the many passes at free-handing the font.

The list did contain some of my own personal favorites, as I had come of age during the Golden Age of Music Television, having witnessed its dawn, and its lamentable metamorphosis into the reality television programming station it has become. Sadly, I was ‘that kid’, who ran home after school to catch the latest music video release by whatever media titan currently ruled the airwaves (be it Madonna’s ‘Vogue’, or M.J.’s ‘Black Or White’). Also, while I may be reminiscing, you’d be shocked at the list of directors for some of these music videos. Many among them now incredibly famous, and at least one Academy Award winner.

Yeah.

Crazy.

 

Curlz font used as a base for the ambigram's text.

With that all said I had some skin in the game on this one, so I wanted it to be…special, but also relevant. I made a list of the videos I could recall, and then took to the internet to do some test marketing. I asked my survey group what their favorite or most memorable music videos were from back when they were actually televised on MTV or VH1. Most of the responses were on the list, with a few that confirmed some of the ones I had on my own list. After gathering all my ‘contenders’, I brainstormed a bit, and then decided what work best given my time constraints (double booking), and personal tastes.

I decided that since the show was based around how memorable the video was, versus the song (which I was more married to), I went with Cibo Matto’s ‘Sugar Water’ video directed by (Academy Award winner) Michel Gondry. I recall seeing this video once, very early in the morning after an evening out, and also thinking it was a fever dream considering I would never see it again for many years (live television being what it was and YouTube not existing and all). The memory stuck with me, and personally it was/and is, the most memorable music video I think I have ever seen. Sure, there are plenty others, but this one was extremely clever, and creative. That I could appreciate.

At this junction, I would encourage you to watch the very short four-minute music video he made in order to truly appreciate this piece I did, because otherwise it really won’t carry much relevancy moving forward as there are far too many references in the piece.

 

Oh, back already?

 

Wild, right?

So basically the video is what I have seen referred to as a one-shot, in which there is one continuous loop of footage without interruption. In the masterfully shot video, Gondry takes us through the lives of the two band members as they meet, and return from whence they arrived. The song itself lends such a dreamy vibe that it’s an almost seamless experience.

It’s worth rewatching, as there are multiple Easter Eggs to find on each side of the split screen during the cause and effect events that transpire. I myself did so, and gathered as much visual reference as I could before I began illustrating my piece paying homage to Gondry’s skillful cut. 

 

One of the many motifs I pulled from the music video.

 

I determined early on that no matter what it was that I made, my image would need to be reversible. I do work a lot with typography, so typically for my gallery shows, I avoid using it. For this project however it seemed like it might be worth incorporating. I decided instead of illustrating something incredibly detailed, I could instead make it more fun. I had to do a little more research given my requirements, but discovered that I could create an ambigram, or a calligraphic composition of glyphs (letters) that can read more than one way given the orientation.

Ya’ dig?

I chose the song’s title for my ambigram, and began by sketching out my composition, and how I wanted it flow. After some time, I developed the design entirely on my iPad in Procreate, but I wasn’t happy with the outcome. I then went into Adobe Illustrator, and decided that I needed to pick a font instead of trying to do this myself. Given the vibe of the song, and the background of the band, I knew I wanted the font to be lively, but also playful. After a bit of testing I selected a font called Curlz MT as the basis of my design. I then configured the layout in Illustrator using the type, and took it back into Procreate to manipulate by hand.

After some time I had the initial look of my ambigram, and moved on to filling the empty surround space of the composition with fun kawaii-esque inspired illustrations from the music video.

There are several littered about the perimeter of the piece and even repeated a few of them throughout the piece.

Upon completing the illustrations, I decided I was still not satisfied with some of the elements I had here.

First the snowflake wasn’t working for me, so I redesigned that.

Next I took the ambigram into Illustrator and vectored the lettering. It was incredibly time consuming, and I wasn’t even sure it was going to be worth the effort, but thankfully it turned out to be exactly what I needed to do.

Having completed the outline, and I adjusted the line work to smooth out my lines, and readjust any details I had added when I was working by hand.

With that done, I took the image into Adobe Photoshop, and began rebuilding my layout with my clean images.

Seeing as this piece is rather simplistic in design, I took more time with the compositon, adjusting, and moving multiple items in order to get everything to ‘fit’.

 

Final image of the ambigram orientated with Sugar at the 'top' of the reversible image.

Upon completing my layout, I then took the image back into Procreate to add color which would essentially be me using an overlay or screen of color, along with some textures to give the image a more ‘handmade’ feel.

While experimenting, I opted out of adding any textures, and decided instead to see if printing it on textured paper would be a better option.

 

I started the piece on October 16^th, 2023 and finished it on October 29^th, 2023*. The initial sketching process took me approximately twenty eight (28) hours, and forty-seven (47) minutes with the painting process taking me an additional one (1) hours, and sixteen (16) minutes, for a grand total of forty one (41) hours, and three (3) minutes (this includes three [3] hours spent in Photoshop, and eight [8] hours spent in Illustrator). 

*I would pause here and return to paint it on December 9^th, 2023. I was working on both this project and my piece for their ‘Creatures’ exhibit as well, both of which open the same day.

 

 

Final image of the ambigram with Water at the 'top' of the reversible image.

The 10” x 10” image (printed on White Pearl Linen, thank you SGX), was made for Gallery1988’s ‘Art of the Music Video’, a group show dedicated to a the golden era of MTV, which opened online January 26^th, 2024 and ran until February 10^th, 2024. At this time the prints are exclusively available via the gallery, so please check their website for all remaining works related to the show including mine.

Final 10" x 10" image on white pearl linen.

For more information, or to see a catalog of my other work, please visit my online store here.

You can also find me on various social media platforms below doing a multitude of other artistic things that include hand lettering, and the occasional sculpting, crafting or painting.

 

Website: www.michaelstiles.com

Etsy: Stiles of Art

Threadless: mistiles

LinkedIN: Michael Stiles

IG:  stiles1978

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Twitter: stiles_of_art

Vertigo (1958)

I usually get most of my invitationals to participate in shows at one time, but occasionally a gallery will reach out to me with a request, and this was one of those occasions. Much to my surprise Gallery1988 reached out to me regarding my ‘Psycho’ print I did for their ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’ show. Apparently, the print sold so well the gallery was commissioning me to design another image based off of the infamous director Alfred Hitchcock’s line of work.

I was shocked, flattered, etc., and immediately accepted the offer. I did however ask what films of his they had in mind, as I was only familiar with a handful of the more popular ones. Even then, I’ve only seen two, maybe three of his films in their entirety, and the others I simply recognize by name. The Gallery responded and sent me a list, of which I picked the one I was intrigued by, and knew the least about: ‘Vertigo’.

 

Final layout design featuring Kim Novak as 'Madeleine Elster' in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' (1958).

 

The film, for those who want a brief spoiler free synopsis, is essentially this: A retired cop suffering from vertigo after a traumatizing incident, is hired by an old friend to follow his heiress wife who is exhibiting strange behavior.

 

I started my process much in the way I always do, by watching the film, although this time, I had to end up buying a collection of Hitchcock’s films, because my rental expired before I had time to finish watching it, and it seemed like a good investment at this point.

SIDEBAR: When I started watching this on Amazon Prime it was in its original format of black and white. When I received my copy, it was colorized. I was NOT happy. I get why this was done, but its appeal is lost on me, and the fact the collection doesn’t have an option to switch OFF the color to its original glory is mystifying.

When I finally finished watching the film, I began to sketch my layout, and think about how I was going to showcase this piece. I did some research again on art movements, like when I created my ‘Psycho’ piece based on the Composition works of Piet Mondrian. This time however I was at a loss to find a similar style that would work with this piece, and not copy my original idea (which I could have done as well). 

 

Reference photo found on internet when search for Optical Art, which offered some inspiration.

I found some interesting art movements, but there were no ‘key’ pieces of work I could find that would make a good template like the ‘Psycho’ piece. Instead, I took inspiration from both the films premise of confusion/disorientation, and that of the movement of OP (Optical Illusion) Art. The more I worked on the piece however the more I discarded the OP Art influence in favor of something with a bit more organic imagery. I like my pieces to be narrative or at least tell the main parts of the story. Much of OP Art is very mechanical making it difficult to incorporate. I did however find one reference photo of a model wearing clothing that blended into the somewhat psychedelic background. I did use this as inspiration when I designed the main portrait of ‘Madeleine Elster’ as played by the multifaceted Kim Novak. 

 

Digital pencil render of the Mission San Juan Bautista as depicted in the film.

 

Naturally I went back to the film, gathered my reference imagery, and set about sketching each image in the same way I did with the ‘Psycho’ piece. I knew I wanted to include: ‘Madeleine’ (as my main focus), Carlotta’s Necklace, The Sequoias, The Golden Gate Bridge, the McKittrick Hotel, The Mission San Juan Bautista, the Palace of the Legion of Honor, and some reference to all the driving that took place in this film (there’s A LOT).

 

Digital pencil render of the 'McKittrick Hotel' from the film.

I then began sketching all the images I needed in Procreate on my iPad Pro, this time at a much larger scale, and then took each one individually into Adobe Photoshop, and rearranged them until I was satisfied with the layout. I then transferred the file back to my iPad and finished painting the image in Procreate. I decided early on that I wanted this piece to remain in a gray scale. I’m not sure why, I just felt like it was the best way to properly represent the image as classically as possible. I wanted it to look like a portrait but also have much more hidden within to look and see. I also figured a bit of (limited) color to the piece who be a nice accent, so added a bit of red to the gems on ‘Carlotta’s’ necklace ‘Madeleine’ is wearing. The necklace I felt was a key element in the film that transcends all parts of the story, and nicely ties the film together despite the confusion.

 

San Francisco's own Golden Gate Bridge as it spans over Fort Point.

Upon completing the painting process I took the image back in Photoshop to make some minor edits or adjustments to anything that wasn’t reading well. I then got the image ready for proofing, which thankfully only took one pass, as the image was legible.

 

The Palace of the Legion of Honor, Seqouias, and Carlotta Valdez's necklace.

I started the piece on August 15^th, 2023 and finished it on October 5^th, 2023. The initial sketching process took me approximately sixty (60) hours, and twenty-two (22) minutes with the painting process taking me an additional seventy-five (75) hours, and five (5) minutes, for a grand total of one hundred and thirty-six hours (136), and fifty-seven (57) minutes (this includes the one and half hours [1:30] spent in Photoshop). 

 

Final 11" x 17" image.

The 11” x 17” image (printed on 100lb Cover, thank you SGX), was made by request for Gallery1988, and was given a special release on October X, 2023. At this time the prints are exclusively available via the gallery, so please check their website for any remaining inventory.

 

For more information, or to see a catalog of my other work, please visit my online store here.

You can also find me on various social media platforms below doing a multitude of other artistic things that include hand lettering, and the occasional sculpting, crafting or painting.

 

Website: www.michaelstiles.com

Etsy: Stiles of Art

Threadless: mistiles

LinkedIN: Michael Stiles

IG:  stiles1978

TikTok: stiles1978

Pinterest: Michael Stiles

Tumblr:  stiles1978

Twitter: stiles_of_art