Stiles of Art

Wednesday, September 7, 2022

LEGEND (1985)

I started the concept for this piece back in January completely by mistake. I was working on some ideas for an upcoming show when I tapped into some inspirational spark and began sketching multiple layouts for different films I loved. I had several by the time I was done, and thankfully I’ve had the opportunity to utilize some of them. Long story short, this was one of those images, albeit a bit more fleshed out than the others, but that’s likely due to my obsession with this childhood favorite.

Even to this day, Sir Ridley Scott’s ‘Legend’ manages to enchant new viewers under its spell, I think, because of its timeless appeal and rather overly simplistic story structure that draws inspiration from ‘the fall of Man’. It’s a classic tale of good versus evil beautifully presented, with amazingly talented performers. The film stars Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennet, Alice Playten, Billy Barty, Cork Hubbert, Peter O’Farrell, Kiran Shah, Annabelle Lanyon, Robert Picardo, and more. Most people will recognize Curry’s portrayal of ‘Lord Darkness’, even if they have never seen the movie nor even know who Curry is (blasphemy in opinion). Not with controversy, the film has two versions, and two soundtracks. The original is the one most have seen, but the director’s cut contains almost a half an hour of extra footage which does flesh out the story with improved pacing/character development. Musically, the film has a theatrical release with a slightly modernized score done by Tangerine Dream, while Scott’s cut contains the original by John Bettis, and Jerry Goldsmith.

As a fan, I have long loved this film, but as an artist, I have an extreme aversion to producing work dedicated to it. Why? There is an abundance of it, and most of them are really good. I don’t really want to compete with other artists in a saturated market, BUT, this was a really great concept so…I went with it. I also had some encouragement from others to choose the film, and that helped.

My first piece dedicated to the film for Creature Features 'Tim Curry Tribute Show' (2018)

As for the piece itself, I started the sketch back in January (31^st, 2022), but didn’t return to it until August (24^th. 2022). Thankfully I had a clear idea of how this piece was going to look, so making decisions about placement and design came quickly. I really wanted to include all the major players, so first and foremost was Curry’s ‘Darkness’. I have seen the antagonist portrayed so many ways, but I was always partial to one of the original poster designs in which ‘Darkness’ is blended rather subtly into the background. In the film ‘Darkness’, depending on which cut you watch, is not fully revealed until much later yet we are given an indication early on about his chthonic appearance. I chose to depict him thusly and then placed him centrally in the layout. On my list of must haves for this piece, I knew I wanted to depict ‘Lili’ (Sara), ‘Jack’ (Cruise), and the Faerie Folk accompanying him. I also wanted to include ‘Darkness’’ lair, the Great Tree as the design was always so fascinating to me. It was imperative I include a nod to the unicorns in the film (as they are major players), and as I progressed through the piece I determined having them central was best. It would also help to contrast against some of the darker elements of the image. Primarily due to spatial constraints, I ran out of room to include all the images I wanted so a few of the more interestingly designed characters did not get represented and I had to eliminate one of the unicorns as well from the composition. Since the film takes place primarily in the forest with enormous trees, I decided to use them as a framing device to duplicate the atmosphere.

I determined that most of the characters would have to be silhouetted in order to provide the contrast I was visioning. I originally planned on going back to each one and adding a bit of a highlight here or there to give them more dimension, but quickly abandoned that plan when it became apparent that the details would most likely not be legible in the final piece. I was also reluctant to place ‘Lili’ where she is in this composition, as it echoed a piece from earlier this year. It was however the best place for her and actually worked really well from a design concept as her ‘hair’ leads us into the swamp scenario and blends into the twisted roots of the trees. I chose the color palette based on the movie’s own visuals and from a previous piece I did inspired by the film (above), for Creature Features and their ‘Tim Curry Tribute Show’. I started with the background colors first, determining that the transition was the best way to contribute to telling the film’s story (without spoiling it). It also helped with contrasting elements, although the right side suffers a bit I think due to the darker colors used, but it also forces the viewer to the left which is where the story begins anyways so...there’s that. The unicorn, and ‘Lili’ were then painted next, followed by ‘Darkness’ on the original background layer (which I never do, and was VERY anxious about). Thankfully the image did not require additional proofing beyond the initial one, and the whole process took me roughly sixty (60) hours in Procreate on my iPad, in addition to a few hours in Adobe Photoshop editing. In all, this piece really did not take me as long as I thought it would and I was incredibly concerned I would not make the gallery’s due date of September 17^th(2022). While I did resume the piece on August 24^th (2022) I didn’t complete it until September 7^th(2022) as I was juggling this piece at the same time, in addition to life events. For the time spent, I can say I am very happy with how this piece turned out. I have long wanted to develop something inspired by the film, but I just couldn’t realize what that was. The first piece I did for Creature Features was a very difficult piece for me to realize, and even after completion, it just did not seem to fulfill the void. This is a prime example of not having the skills at the time to execute a vision, and how returning to a concept, or even developing a new one later is worth exploring.

The 12” x 18” image (printed on 100lb Cover, thank you SGX), was made for Gallery1988’s ‘Crazy 4 Cult XVI’, a group show dedicated to many classic and modern films with a (cult-like) following. The show was originally scheduled to run from October 1^st, 2022, through October 15^th, 2022 with all remaining works available the following day at noon. 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.

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Sunday, August 28, 2022

Elden Ring (Sketch Cards 5)

Seeing as I had some mild success with Hero Complex Gallery’s ‘Sketch Cards 4’, I decided I’d try my hand at their next installment aptly titled ‘Sketch Cards 5’*. This time however, I was much more prepared…or so I thought.

"Godrick's Great Rune"

"Great Rune of the Unborn"

In my last bungling attempt, I had used all of the 5” x 5” cards leaving me with nothing but the standard 2.5” x 3.5”. I was prepared to overcome this daunting task, but I was really concerned if I had enough space to do really…anything. I’ve seen what people can do with these cards so I know what’s possible, but can I pull it off? Only one way to find out, right?

"Radahn's Great Rune"

"Rykard's Great Rune"

"Morgott's Great Rune"

I began by trying to come up with a theme for my cards. A series, or thread that connected them all to one another, yet still uniquely different. I had just finished watching Amazon’s ‘The Boys’, and I really enjoyed it, so I began coming up with concepts for possible cards. The only problem? Size. What I wanted to do just wasn’t going to work with these tiny @$& cards. Thankfully, inspiration struck in the form of a video game…‘Elden Ring’.

"Mohg's Great Rune"

So I’m a little late to the party on FromSoftware’s ‘Souls’ franchise as they are notoriously punishing games, and I like to play games, but not if they make me throw my controller down in an epic rage quit. I did however receive a copy of their George R.R. Martin & Souls love-child ‘Elden Ring’ as a present. I had been playing the game off and on for several months (I’m a busy person) and noticed that the design work was beautifully elaborate. I can identify when care has been put into design, and this was one of those times. Every item in the inventory comes with an eloquent backstory or haunting description. The ‘Great Runes’ I took particular notice of as each one is part of a shattered larger symbol mysteriously referred to as, the ‘Elden Ring’. Most ‘Great Runes’ have a similar circular shape, varying only in color, and placement of certain intersecting lines (perhaps where they were individually shattered). I felt replicating these symbols would be a less arduous task than my original plan considering the spatial restrictions and began collecting the necessary reference material.

"Malenia's Great Rune"

My biggest challenge here was that most of the content online wasn’t true to color. For instance, the imagery I collected off my own television was more vibrant than anything I could find online. In fact, most of the time the imagine I had from the web was so poor quality that making the structure out of each rune was almost impossible. I even tried more unorthodox methods like posting on reddit, but to no avail. I determined that for me to complete this project I would need to complete this game. That or collect all the ‘Great Runes’ in the game so that I had access to high quality images. When I started the project (in June), I had all but about five of the runes I needed and was confident I could gather the resources I needed before the cards were due (August 31^st, 2022).

"Marika's Seal"

Casting aside the lack of reference, I started the project by painting several of the cards completely black as I would need the contrast. The black would also help in cleaning up any edges or mistakes made during the painting process and trust me there were plenty! Truth be told I wasn’t even sure this was going to work, as I feared it might warp the paper of the cards beyond use. Thankfully that was not the case, although they did warp a bit, they eventually completely flattened as I worked on them overtime.

"Rune Arc"

With the cards primed, I let them cure overnight and then began working on them the following day. I started each ‘Great Rune’ in the same manner, by using white acrylic paint to replicate the design and shape. I bounced back between using a brush, and marker to develop each one, and then proceeded to tighten them up, by cleaning up the edges with black. I wasn’t entirely sure how successful this process was going to be as it was all very new to me, so when I started, I only did four of the ‘Great Runes’. When they turned out successfully, I began recording the process with my iPhone and uploading the timelapse videos to my social media accounts (TikTok/Instagram).

"Radagon's Seal"

With the first step done, I then had to paint over the white base of each ‘Rune’ and replicate their appearance from the game. The first rune I tackled in this manner was ‘Rykard’s Great Rune’. I chose to start with it because it was the most vibrant and colorful of the ‘Runes’ I had reference for at the time. I also figured that if I started with the most complicated one I could determine how do-able this was going to be. I was rusty, but thankfully skilled enough to pull it off convincingly (I hope). With success on the horizon a new hope was rekindled, and I set out replicating the remaining ‘Runes’ in my possession (that is the ones I had acquired thus far in the game). Most of the replications went without event, that is, apart from the ‘Great Mending Rune of the Death-Prince’, winner for longest name, and most spatially challenged of all the runes. Its design is beautifully obnoxious, and I had to reorientate the layout of the card in order to (fail to) accommodate it (yet again).

"Great Mending Rune of the Death-Prince"

"Great Mending Rune of Perfect Order"

"Great Mending Rune of the Fell Curse"

I started these sketch cards on July 26^th, and completed the set on August 28^th, 2022 spending varying amounts of time on each illustration. As stated above, each card was a two-step process, first designed in white, and then rendered in color. Of all the cards I did, the most laborious was definitely ‘Malenia’s Great Rune’, followed by ‘Rykard’s’, or ‘Radagon’s Seal’. The cards were due on August 31^st, 2022, which I narrowly met,

*The show has since been renamed to ‘Mini Masterpieces’ and opened on April 29^th, 2023. All of cards measure in at 2.5” x 3.5”, are one of a kind, and exclusively available at Hero Complex Gallery. Please check the gallery’s website for availability and any other remaining works related to the show including mine.

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Saturday, August 20, 2022

MRS. DOUBTFIRE

There are certain themes for (gallery) shows that simply allude me, or are really challenging for me to come up with concepts for. Gallery1988’s ‘Fake Gigs’ is one of them. The concept is simple enough, create a poster for a fictitious band, product, show, movie, etc., that is from a film or television series. The issue I always have is picking something that will resonate with an audience and not just me.

I started originally brainstorming of what I could do for this show, and even had a few ideas, many of which pertained to films I have already done work on. I had over twenty concepts a few of which were pretty strong (and may be developed in the future), but ultimately I went with my favorite Robin Williams film, ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’. Truth be told the choice was made last minute, and I can’t even remember what made me think of the movie to begin with. I think (from what I recall), I was having a conversation with a friend and the film came up somehow providing me with the inspiration (and motivation), I needed.

In the 1993 film, Williams plays a talented voice actor whose marriage ends in divorce. Separated from his wife, and three children, ‘Daniel’ (Williams), concocts a scheme to get back into their lives full-time (see the pun…oh wait maybe not if you haven’t seen the movie). With the help of an all-star cast featuring: Sally Field, Pierce Brosnan, Harvey Fierstein, Polly Holliday, Lisa Jakub, Matthew Lawrence, and Mara Wilson, Williams turns in one of his best performances. The film also contains such a great message overall, even if the material itself is a bit risqué by today’s standards.


An image reference I came across on Amazon while looking for inspiration

My concept was simple enough as I was going to create a poster for the children’s show from the film. In order to get started, I needed some inspiration. I began googling several different children’s shows like ‘Sesame Street’, trying to find any television or magazine ads for their telecast. It could provide me with a template of sorts that I could draw from. Eventually I came across a beautiful design that graced the cover of a book based on ‘Mr. Rogers’, the infamous children’s television host. The layout was very simplistic, with Roger’s trademark sweater, and a few accoutrements that were altered cleverly to connect back to the show. Utilizing this design scheme, I created a rough sketch in Procreate for my ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ layout. Next, I needed to watch the film as it had been many years since I had seen it, and my memory was fuzzy in terms of what I could use for the piece. I collected reference as I watched the movie, and then set to work cleaning up my layout. I decided mimicking the sweater vest from the Mr. Rogers image would make for a good background. ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ often wore a sweater over her blouse, along with a broach or string of pearls. The cup also made for a great device as the stereotypically ‘British’ persona drinks a lot of tea. I went with colors for her blouse and sweater directly from the film and settled on a contrasting color for the cup. I also wanted to make sure that this piece was simple, and the color palette was limited. The focal point needed to remain the cup, and the text I was going to be adding later. I achieved this through the contrast, but also by ‘framing’ the cup within the sweater. I did a lot of experimenting with this piece in Procreate using different brushes than I normally do to create the ‘fibers’ in the sweater, and pattern in her blouse. Due to time constraints, I did have to eliminate some of my concept. I had planned on created ‘Kovacs’, ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’s’ cheeky co-host as a miniaturized doll or puppet of sorts that was going to rest on the right side of the mug to balance out the composition. I wasn’t entirely sold on adding him the further I went along with the illustration, primarily because I wasn’t sure how I wanted to depict him, and I realized that he would need a different color palette which would honestly attract too much attention. Instead of agonizing over the design, I simply discarded it. I originally wanted to create a vintage style poster, but much like my ‘Big Fun’ poster for last years ‘Fake Gigs’, I ran out of time, and it’s probably better I didn’t. I’ve only successfully managed to distress a poster for the gallery once with my ‘Life of Brian’ pieces for their (licensed) ‘Monty Python’ tribute show. It’s a technique I’d like to utilize again perhaps on a different piece (or maybe a variant if I have time).

The next step was to take the image back into Adobe Illustrator as a flattened image to overlay the text on. I wanted to mimic the font from the film, but finding the official version was a bust. I then took a screen capture of the movie title into Illustrator and went through the fonts I had until I could find one that was close enough to the desired. I settled on a font I used for my ‘Scream’ project to replicate the title (‘Mrs. Doubtfire’), and Comic Kings for ‘Kovacs’ name. For the standard text (weekday afternoons/disclaimer), I used Abadi MT Condensed Extra Bold. The last bit of text I used a custom font I had made a while back from my own handwriting (Stiles Font). The trickiest parts were adjusting the cast shadows I added on parts of the letters and coming up with a slogan that made sense. In the film ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ only repeats a few words or phrases throughout the film that could be utilized, none of which would work for this image. I instead, opted for my own tagline of which I’m moderately satisfied with after playing around with some different phrases. I used colors that were already present within the piece for the typography in order to maintain cohesiveness.

With all the lettering completed I needed to piece the image together in Adobe Photoshop and make some adjustments before sending it off to the printers at SGX. Most of the edits I made were to the color of the blouse, and sweater as they were competing entirely too much. The blouse was too dark, and the sweater was the same color as the vapor & pearls washing out the piece. I ended up desaturating the sweater and lightening her blouse to a paler lavender hue. I also kept the pearls the same color as the vapor in order to bring back in some of the color I had just eliminated. Satisfied with the adjustments I sent the image off to proof and thankfully it didn’t need any adjustments.

I started this piece on July 31^st, 2022, and finished it August 20^th, 2022 spending about twenty six (26) hours in Procreate, and an additional seventeen and a half (17.5) hours in Adobe Illustrator. The base for this image was all designed in Illustrator, brought into Procreate, and then back into Illustrator before briefly receiving its final touches in Adobe Photoshop. The piece was due August 26^th 2022, with the show opening on September 10^th, 2022 at Gallery1988, and running until September 24^th, 2022 as part of their ‘Fake Gigs(3)’ group show. The poster is 11” x 17” and is printed on 14pt paper. The piece is currently only available via the gallery, so please check their website for all remaining works related to the show including mine.