THE BLACK CAULDRON (1985)

 I typically don’t have a problem finding inspiration whenever I am creating a piece for any show. In fact, it’s usually the opposite, but not always and in some cases, I have too many options or ideas. This piece was part of the former, because the theme for this show was ‘Back to 1985’. With such a broad theme, I went against my instincts and took a recommendation from a friend (thanks Alice), which is how I settled on Walt Disney’s adaptation of Lloyd Alexander’s ‘The Chronicles of Prydain’, formerly know as ‘The Black Cauldron’ (1985).

The holy grail of layout sketches...I had so..so..so many..

The film itself is not necessarily mired in controversy, but it was the last film to be produced in the original Animation Building at the legendary Burbank studios before they moved production to Glendale. The film which was the first of Disney’s animated features to use computer-generated imagery and, also received a PG rating (after frightening scenes were cut), hurting its box office performance. It was such a black eye for Disney, they didn’t even release the film to video until 1997. 

Yikes.

 

Since then, the film has become a cult classic (it’s even currently available on Disney+), most likely in part to it being a much darker film which Disney was known for during a short period of time in the 1980’s (see The Secret of NIMH, Watcher in the Woods, or Something Wicked This Way Comes). Being a child in the 80’s, the band-aid was ripped off completely and without warning. 

'The Horned King', his Gwythaints, and his castle (naturally...where else would a king reside?) 

For those unaware of the plot, I’ll try to paraphrase in the shortest spoiler-free way possible. 

Our story starts with a young apprentice named Taran (Grant Bardsley), and his master Dallben (Freddie Jones), who are charged with the care of a clairvoyant swine by the name of Hen Wen. When Hen Wen alerts both Dallben, and Taran of the imminent danger imposed by the return of the Horned King (John Hurt). Taran is then given Hen Wen and told to hide her from the Horned King, who seeks to use her powers to locate the legendary Black Cauldron. It is along this journey, Taran meets several characters from princesses to denizens of the forest, and even a trio of witches. 

 

I started the piece in much the same I always do…completely lost. 

I haven’t seen the film I think since it was released, as it wasn’t even available to watch at home until 1997 over a decade after it was released. I remember my parents taking me to see it at I believe the drive-in, and that was really my only reference for the film. I recalled the plot with accuracy; however, the details were…murky.

Thankfully Disney+ has the film available for streaming, and after a rewatch, I had my missing pieces. 

The biggest struggle I had with this illustration was nailing a layout. I wanted it to be either simplified (as to avoid getting hit with copyright infringement), stylized, or narrative. I even did something I tell myself NEVER to do, and that’s google what has already been done. I don’t like to do this because I feel it could easily influence me or leave me feeling dejected.

Oddly enough, with this film there really isn’t a lot of artwork outside of the original to draw inspiration from.

 

'Taran of Caer Dallben'', 'Princess Eilonwy', 'Fflewddur Fflam Ministrel of Minstrels', and 'Hen Wen'

With that I set to developing my layout which thankfully didn’t take too long. I really wanted to avoid detail in this piece but eventually…I gave in. I concluded early on that it wasn’t going to work without diving in deep, so…I went with it. 

I started first by sketching out everything rather loosely and then going back in and tightening everything up. I wasn’t sure how I was going to proceed stylistically as I wanted to make sure that the characters had volume, something the animation lacked (for technical reasons). This proved to be somewhat of an undertaking, and I determined to ditch the outlines I spent so much time on and instead use color for definition and provide the volume I desired. 

For some of the characters I had to model myself (like the Horned King’s hand) or create a composite for reference (as with both Taran and Eilonwy). It was challenging, but overall, I think it was successful.

There were also some details though that I had to discard for various reasons outlined below. 

The first item omitted was the skeletons, or ‘cauldron-born’. I wanted to place them just below Gurgi, but as I began to work on them, I realized they were going to be entirely too difficult to see (given the scale). The other issue here was also the perspective of the piece. While I was using a lot of layering, and ‘double exposure’ type work here, I felt that I needed to re-ground the illustration at this juncture as we visually lead back to the cauldron. 

The second item omitted were, unfortunately, the witches. 

I wanted to include them in the clouds that oversee Dallben’s home but felt it legibility was going to be an issue, and due to time constraints I figured, I could always add them later if I wanted to. 

 

'Gurgi', and 'The Black Cauldron' of legend (and title of the piece)

Upon completing the piece, I sent it over to SGX and had them produce a proof for me so I could determine what, if anything needed to be changed/altered/etc. Thankfully the piece legible, so thankfully no edits were needed. 

I started the piece in Procreate* on January 6^th, 2025, and completed it on February 17^th, 2025 totaling one hundred and thirty five (135) hours, and eight (8) minutes. 

*additional work was also done in Photoshop, but it was solely layout editing, and size manipulation. 

 

Final 12" x 18" framed image on white pearl linen

The 12” x 18” image (printed on White Pearl Linen, thank you SGX), was made for Gallery1988’s ‘Back to 1985’, an online exhibition paying homage to the films, television, and other media giants from the same year.  The group show opens online March 11^th, 2025, and 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

Etsy: Stiles of Art

Threadless: mistiles

LinkedIN: Michael Stiles

IG:  stiles1978

TikTok: stiles1978

Pinterest: Michael Stiles

Tumblr:  stiles1978

Twitter: stiles_of_art

 

 

DANIEL

 This piece was made specifically for Gallery1988’s ‘Childhood Sweethearts’ group exhibition dedicated to the teen heart throbs from film and television. Intially this was not the direction I intended to go, but I was inspired by two things: the sudden booming popularity for ‘The Karate Kid’ franchise, and ‘Bat for Lashes’ hauntingly beautiful ballad ‘Daniel’ from 2009. 

The final of many, very similar, layouts.

As I mentioned previously, my direction changed about three weeks into a completely different piece which I have since abandoned (at least for now). While I did enjoy the work I was doing, it lacked the visual impact I wanted, and the subject chosen was represented in a saturated market of similar imagery. I felt my piece would simply be added to the ‘pile’ of similar works, so I pivoted with a different agenda in mind.

Final digital sketches of 'Daniel', his car, and 'Cobra Kai'

I thought about my options which ranged from: Drew Barrymore, Alyssa Milano/Danny Pintaro, Neve Campbell, Sarah Michele-Gellar, Olivia Newton John, etc., but then I thought about pursuing something more commercially viable. It was also around this time that I had started to watch Netflix’s ‘Cobra Kai’ show which was being heavily advertised on the platform. I found the show to be incredibly charming. I was never a huge fan of ‘The Karate Kid’, but the story did resonate with me even if the details were a bit fuzzy. I hadn’t seen the original film in ages and did a rewatch of the original trilogy (which was when I realized I had never seen the third installment). 

 

It was while I was watching the media dedicated to the franchise, I thought it might be more lucrative to create something dedicated to the character of ‘Daniel LaRusso’ played by Ralph Macchio instead. For starters, it’s a smaller market, as I’ve seen minimal artwork dedicated to the franchise, so I though this might be a business savvy choice. Apparently, there is also a new film coming out in 2025 (Karate Kid: Legends), not to mention the wrapping up (I believe), of the final season of ‘Cobra Kai’.

 

I gathered my reference material for my already established layout, which was inspired by ‘Bat For Lashes’ song. My focal point was going to be a profile shot of ‘Daniel’, framed within a circular (orange) ‘sun’ that transitions from dark to light. It echoed the imagery often used in the promotion of the films, so it only made sense to capitalize on that already established theme. Originally, I had intended for ‘Daniel’ to stay centered within the confines of the ‘sun’, however, while I was manipulating my assets I found breaking the border made the layout more interesting. I added the classic car ‘Mr. Miyagi’ (Pat Morita) gives ‘Daniel’ in the film, and then placed his tormentors from ‘Cobra Kai’ on the bottom of the design to balance it out . I considered adding ‘Ali’ (Elisabeth Shue) to the image, but given the gallery’s prompt, that felt like it would start to drift from the original concept. Instead, I determined that some of the setting needed to be incorporated as well for context, so, since the film takes place in Southern California (specifically ‘the valley’), I determined palm trees would work well to indicate the locale (specifically the ones that surrounded the LaRusso’s apartment complex). The last element I was torn on adding was either a bonsai tree, or a silhouette of ‘Daniel’ performing the crane kick. I ended up going with the later in an effort to keep this piece centered around the first film, as the trees play a larger role in the third film. 

 

Close-up of 'Daniel's' classic car gifted to him by his mentor 'Mr. Miyagi'

I also felt like this design would work well with different background colors, and spent extra time adjusting the illustration, as well as some of the assets to make swamping them a seamless process. This did require I remove some overlapping elements, but overall, it was worth the effort. The other challenge I encountered with this piece was finding good reference material for ‘Daniel’, as I wanted it to be based on his appearance from the original film. I ended up having to create a composite for my reference of two or more shots, and had a rough time when it came to painting the final layout as the lighting was different in each. The painting process was also rather laborious for both ‘Cobra Kai’, and the car, but I think it paid off in the end. I also realized right about when I thought I was done, I had forgotten to add the skeleton make-up onto the faces of ‘Cobra Kai’. 

 

I then sent the image to print and was elated at the quick turn-around. The proof looked really good however I decided to make one minor adjustment on the ‘Cobra Kai’ face paint. It was a bit too dark, so I dropped the opacity on the layer by about half, making the details from the underpainting more visible.

 

Close-up of 'Cobra Kai' from the final image

I started the piece on November 17^th, 2024, and finished it on December 15^th, 2024. I spent approximately twenty-eight (28) hours, and thirty-two (32) minutes sketching all the various assets for my layout. The painting process took fifty-nine (59) hours, and three (3) minutes, with about an hour in Photoshop doing some editing (mostly initially layout stuff), bringing the total time on this piece to a whopping eighty-seven (87) hours, and thirty-five (35) minutes. 

 

The 10” x 10” image (printed on White Pearl Linen, thank you SGX), was made for Gallery1988’s ‘Childhood Sweethearts’, a group show dedicated to the teen idols of film and television which opened February 11^th, 2025. 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" framed 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

TikTok: stiles1978

Pinterest: Michael Stiles

Tumblr:  stiles1978

Twitter: stiles_of_art

 

 

Doctor Sleep

This piece was originally a loose concept I had for Gallery1988’s ‘Location Scout’ show, but just didn’t have the time to fully flesh it out (which you can read about here). For the aforementioned image I depicted the hotel from the original 1980 film ‘The Shining’, with the intention of creating something that also included the sequel ‘Doctor Sleep’, from 2019. I also realized the more I fleshed out the layout, the less it was about the location, and more about me fulfilling a personal need to include everything I wanted from both films. I discarded the idea, but kept the concept on hand for use later. Thankfully, as I made my way through my invitationals for the year, I found a contender with Gallery1988’s ‘Close Your Eyes’.

 

First initial concept for a Doctor Sleep/Shining combo piece.

 

I started the process much like I normally do once I select a subject for my piece. This time however I had a clearer idea of what I already wanted to do with a strong layout already established in Procreate on my iPad Pro. The only thing I really needed to do was locate all the reference material I would need in order to accomplish the task. I began by watching the Mike Flanagan film, which is a direct sequel, to the original Stanley Kubrick film, and stars Ewan McGregor (Danny Torrance), Rebecca Ferguson (Rose the Hat), Kyliegh Curran (Abra Stone), Cliff Curtis (Billy), Zahn McClarnon (Crow Daddy), and Emily Alyn Lind (Snakebite Andi). Also special acknowledgements to both Alexandra Essoe, and Henry Thomas for filling in during those flashbacks. It couldn’t have been easy to embody someone else’s performance. The story itself catches viewers up to the events that leave us with an adult Danny Torrance (McGregor), who reluctantly assists a budding young psychic Abra Stone (Curran), after she draws the attention of the True Knot, led by charismatic Rose the Hat (Ferguson).

 

Final layout design.

 

The film is an audio/visual feast. The Newton Brothers did a marvelous job scoring the film, adding to the tension. I tried my best to capture this in the illustration by using a few tropes from the movie. ‘Steam’ as it is called, plays a heavy role in the story, so I quickly decided to use this as my main device for the narrative image. I knew I also wanted to depict the three major players (Danny, Abra, & Rose), while not overcrowding the layout with faces. The best way to mitigate this I decided was to depict both Danny and Abra, while using Rose’s iconic ‘Hat’, to signify her presence. This also helped ground the illustration.  

For my background I went with the blackboard wall from Danny’s residence, that played a key role between our protagonists. I also wanted to incorporate an element from the film (and subsequent adverts), in which we are presented with the infamous throwback ‘RedRuM’. In this case the literal plaster cracked from the wall. I wanted the word to be legible, but my plan was also to render it slightly obscured by the ‘steam’ I was using as a narrative device.

 

I then moved onto to developing the visages of both Abra, and Danny. It can be a challenge when attempting to capture an actor’s likeness or image from a film. I was very thankful that my reference material was decent enough that I was able to successfully replicate them, and without much struggle. Sometimes it’s a fight. This time I was able to quickly develop the faces, and then go back in later and clean them up.  

 

A collection of sketches ready for the color process.

 

I already knew from my initial design, The Overlook was to be placed central, between the two visages of our heroes. The placement was essential as it is pivotal to both stories, as well as a connecting element that bridges the films. I (reluctantly) utilized my previous illustration from the ‘Location Scout’ show of the hotel, and simply did some editing to make it look abandoned by adding boards onto the windows. I rationalized that reusing this image was the best route to finishing this piece on time, and because it was going to be so small in contrast to the original image, I pulled it from, it would be more implied.

The next step was to determine what to do with some of the negative space I had left. Luckily during my rewatch I gathered a couple of references that could work to fill in the gaps in the piece. Above the hotel, I added Abra’s window, which appears multiple times during the film, and plays a role in the narrative. I also added the skull-moon because it just felt appropriate, no real reason there, there was just space, and I felt like it. It does add some ambiance though I suppose, but I also wanted it to be rather subtle anyhow.

Below ‘The Overlook’, I used the forest as a transitional image that leads us to ‘The True Knot’. Now, originally I wanted to make a knot either out of roadways, or use the shape of the caravan to imply one. Either way, I couldn’t get it to work the way I wanted, and I was also having trouble envisioning how this would transition to the hotel from above. Instead, I opted for a simple approach by choosing to depict one of their RV’s. I found an image from the film that worked well, allowing me to creating the illusion of it emerging from the forest behind. I added the park bench as a reference point for those who recognize it from a rather poignant scene in the film. 

 

Final color adjusted (for legibility) color image.

 

With some time remaining, I decided to add back in, an idea I had but couldn’t figure out how to incorporate. In the film there is a cat (and I LOVE cats), named Azzie (after Azrael the Angel of Death), who would provide bedside solace to numerous patients. While he doesn’t play a huge role in the film, he is based off of an actual cat named Oscar (who passed in 2013, I know, very sad). I determined the best way I could get Azzie into my piece was to create some paw prints as if a cat had walked through the room. I’m not entirely sure it reads, but I wanted to work it in rather subtly anyways.

 

I then sent the piece out to SGX to print.

 

I started this piece on January 5^th, 2024 technically as it was the origin for my ‘Location Scout’ contribution, however I wouldn’t return to it until late August (around the 25^th), 2024. I would complete the piece on September 20^th, 2024 (although adjustments took me to the deadline September 27th, 2024), spending approximately one hundred and six (106) hours on this project. I’ve estimated that about twenty (20) hours were spent sketching all the image, with an additional five (5) hours modifying the original ‘Overlook’, and the remaining time spent digitally painting in Procreate. There was also some time spent editing in Adobe Photoshop adjusting the layout, or resizing images as necessary.

 

Final 11" X 14" image on White Pearl Linen.

 

The 11” x 14” image (printed on White Pearl Linen, thank you SGX), was made for Gallery1988’s ‘Close Your Eyes’, a group show celebrating spooky season with artworks based on your favorite flicks,

which opened October 11^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.

 

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

 

Amigos! Amigos! Amigos!

Inspired by the 1986 film ‘Three Amigos!’ (directed by John Landis), Gallery1988 decided to do a tribute show to the classic comedy. The film stars three legendary actors and comedians: Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Martin Short, alongside Alfonso Arau, Tony Plana, and Patrice Martinez. The remaining cast is filled in by an assortment of familiar faces (as are most movies starring SNL alumni), along with a large cast of characters that fill the small fictitious village in Mexico, where most of the film takes place. It is here in the village of Santa Poco, where the story takes place involving a classic villain, and a village in need of heroes!

Loose concept for Amigos! Amigos! Amigos! alongside some notes.

 

I recall seeing this movie at least once, but the details were rather hazy, so I went into research mode. This typically involves me watching said film which happened to be available on MAX to stream at the time. I reviewed the film, and after familiarizing myself with the story, I set about brainstorming howI could properly capture the nature of this film.

 

I’m not sure at what stage it was, but relatively early on, I had the idea of creating a ‘Where’s Waldo’-style page with the Amigos. Now if you haven’t seen the film, this concept will be entirely lost on you. If you have, you’re probably thinking…Ohhhhhhhhh!

Right?

Well, I immediately set to work getting shots from the film to adapt into a cartoon looking version of the village, along with other various elements from the movie I was going to depict.

I also really needed some reference material for the ‘Waldo’ page. I know I could do it, but it would be much easier if I had a visual example so I could determine how best to layout my piece.

Luckily, I had a friend who happened to have a ‘Waldo’ book they let me borrow (thank you Sandra).

 

Preliminary sketches with completed telegram.

 

I began working on first designing the ‘postcard’ that each ‘Waldo’ page has upon opening it to a new section.

In this case, I suppose I could have used a postcard, but thankfully the film starts out with a very important and misleading telegram from a concerned resident of Santa Poco addressed to the Amigos. I opted instead to recreate an authentic looking telegram from the time-period of the film (1916). I had to rewatch the film to get the verbiage correct on the message sent, and then needed to find images online of actual telegrams from that era.

I then took my sketches into Adobe Illustrator, and vectored out the design, while also utilizing several fonts for the telegram itself (Courier New, American Typewriter Semibold/Condensed, and Mom’s Typewriter).

 

Final digital inking of Santa Poco.

 

I then exported the final product back into Procreate as a PNG, digitally painted it to looked aged, and added a shadow as well (like the ‘Waldo’ books).

Next, I set about sketching out the background and village.

This took some time as I’m not that skilled of an artist with perspective, and the ‘Waldo’ books have a very specific one. I did my best to capture the spirit, and then proceeded to cleaning up the drawings for color.

After inking the linework, I then quickly applied color as my deadline was rapidly approaching.

I stuck to a very limited color palette as I noticed this was one of the key details that they use in the book which causes confusion for the eye. It’s difficult to ‘eliminate’ details when looking for something if it falls within a similar pattern as the elements surrounding it, go figure.

 

With the background, and buildings all finished I went to work at adding my ‘Amigos’ into the mix.

This also proved to be REALLY, tedious after a while. I did enjoy some of the process and had fun with it, but soon ran out of ideas for what the ‘Amigos’ could be doing.

I also started to include various Easter Eggs to reference other parts of the film, some more obvious than others. If I had the time I would have included more, but I was on a deadline, and even at that, I had asked for an extension of a few days to finish. The overlap of this show and my last one, made it almost impossible to finish this one on time.

I intentionally chose to do something simple for both shows, and while this piece was the more complicated of the two, I thought I could get it done in time. I was under A LOT of stress.

 

Final color.

 

 

Thankfully with this piece’s color palette, I really wasn’t concerned about proofing, and it did turn out great on the first run. I’m not sure if I’d ever do another image like this, but it was a learning experience and gives me much more appreciation to the artist(s) who work on the ‘Waldo’ books. I discovered that it usually takes about six (6) to eight (8) weeks for an illustrator to finish one page for the ‘Waldo’ books which seems like a lot, but trust me, it’s not. I on the other hand started this one sheet (the books are usually a double spread), on August 1^st, 2024, and finished it on August 18^th, 2024 (originally due on the 16^th). I spent two (2) hours in Adobe Illustrator, fifty-five (55) hours, and fifteen (15) minutes in Procreate, and around forty-five (45) minutes editing in Adobe Photoshop, totaling in around fifty-eight (58) hours.

 

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

 

The 11” x 14” image (printed on 100lb Cover, thank you SGX), was made for Gallery1988’s ‘Three Amigos!’, a group show paying homage to this charming comedy which opened August 30^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.*

 

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.

 

*UPDATE 9/29/24

The piece is currently sold out at the gallery.

 

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