Sharp Objects

This work was inspired by HBO’s adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s 2006 novel ‘Sharp Objects’. 

It was a mini-series following the character of Camille Preaker as portrayed by the incredible Amy Adams.  The story is primarily a mystery about (now journalist) Camille's past, and serial murders she's sent to investigate by her employer in her home town.  

It's twisted, and I would expect nothing less from the author of 'Gone Girl' (a phenomnal film as well). 

The series also features a multitude of talented actors (Patricia Clarkson, etc), who, along with the masterfully directed ambiance, was absolutely beguiling.

I was hooked immediately. 

So hooked that I was compelled to create something dedicated to a production that I don’t think got as much recognition or accolades as it should have.

 

At the time I started this piece, there was no intention to utilize it for a show of any kind. 

I was creating this piece solely for myself, and my ridiculous obsession with the show. 

I’ll be honest here too. 

Before this series, I did not particularly care for Adams in almost anything I’ve seen her in. 

She was in my opinion, a decent actress, but was without a vehicle to sway my opinion of her performances. 

Opinions change, as it was her performance as Camille in the adaptation that captivated me the most.  It was layered, and amazing. 

 

DISCLAIMER:

Now if you are unfamiliar with the show, I’d suggest you not read on, I’ll do my best not to spoil it, but I make no promises! 

You’ve been warned.

 

I knew I wanted to do several vignettes in this piece, similar to my previous works (The DarkCrystal/The Neverending Story), which would require they all be housed in one solid shape. 

I decided on using a puddle of ‘liquid’, as it would be the best shape to present the vignettes I had planned that connect to the story. 

I also split the image into two parts, utilizing tracks down the middle of the ‘liquid’, as these were intended to represent one of the main characters, and the prevalent use of roller skating in the production. 

As for the overall design, the only color fitting for this image was red.  

I was also set on using a monochromatic color scheme (yes again, I know it’s becoming a pattern but it just made sense).

 

With my silhouette created, and colors selected, I needed to find iconic images from the show, that resonated most with me. 

I wanted to make sure the illustrations told pieces of the story, in a similar chaotic fashion, as the show unveiled them. 

I re-watched the series while taking notes on the various characters, and events that unfolded. 

I then determined how I was going to portray these concepts in my work, and how I could portray them symbolically without full representation. 

There were a series of pivotal scenes in the show, and portraying them without making it seem cluttered, required some creative designing on my part.

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I was able to quickly settle on the interior illustrations, and, if anything, had a dearth of ideas that could easily overwhelm the layout. 

I started immediately rendering the images, quickly finishing major pieces in a few hours while I sat at a convention, stopping intermittently to interact with patrons. 

I would work on the piece for a few years off and on until I got the fateful call from Gallery 1988 for their collaborative show, Idiot Box.

 

Idiot Box is probably one of my favorite shows to do at the Gallery, as it allows me to pull from shows I’ve seen on television or cable that have a cult-following.

With this exhibition, I had the perfect excuse, to finish my Sharp Objects illustration. 

As luck would have it, I also had recently come across a piece of photography that inspired me.

Seeing as I had hit a creative block with the piece, this photo helped me break through, and also re-energized me.

 

I had decided to replicate the photo’s layout.

This would lead me to scour the internet for reference photos of the Adams as Camille, in the show. 

It was bit more of a challenging task than I realized, but eventually I found the reference I needed. 

I redesigned the shape of my layout, and instead, combined the profile portrait of ‘Camille’ I had just completed, with the original liquid idea.  

I then had to merge my original works off my iPad onto my Desktop, as the limitations of the aforementioned peripheral (iPad), became abundantly clear the further I progressed.

It was here I realized, I made a huge error in my initial designs on the iPad, in Procreate. 

Procreate’s default DPI was 72, not the minimum standard 300 most digital artists use (although I honestly sometimes use upwards of 600). 

I didn’t realize this as the illustration was one of my first designs on the iPad.

Apparently, I never bothered to look at the default settings, not that it really mattered, as, at the time, at 300DPI in Procreate, you were savagely limited on layers (like four I think).

Eventually I was going to need to transfer the file over to my desktop for that reason alone.

While it wasn’t a complete loss, it did set me back more than I realized. 

All of my original illustrated works were so blurry at the higher DPI, that I was working in.

This required me to have to go back, and digitally repaint them in Corel Painter, to give them the crispness they were lacking. 

Since these images were going to be smaller than the overall silhouette containing them, they needed to be very legible (a lesson I learned from my Dark Crystal piece).

 

 

After cleaning up the entire image, and the old illustrations, I organized them into the silhouette to establish my final layout. 

It was a very difficult process, but eventually I settled upon one that worked best with the imagery I had. 

Later, I would add some other imagery breaking the frame of the main silhouette, which connect to the story of the show while still staying within the same color scheme.

After adding new illustrations, and redoing others entirely, I still had some negative space that I needed to fill within the silhouette. 

I didn’t want to include more imagery as it would look too cluttered, so instead I opted for one of the more prevailing concepts from the show: words. 

 

Throughout the series, there are multiple hidden words to be found literally everywhere. 

They relate primarily to the main character portrayed by Adams, and leave the viewer with so many questions as to their purpose. 

I decided I could utilize these in the empty spaces I had, increasing the mystique that permeates the story. 

 

 

At last I was done, and set about proofing the image, which would take almost a week to perfect, or at least satisfactorily replicate what was on screen. 

The main obstacle for me was the words. 

I wanted them to be visible, but not so much that they detract from the overall detailed images already present. 

Eventually, many proofs later, I found one that worked, and I was happy with.

 

 

 

 

The illustration is entirely digital, which started in Procreate on the iPad, and then moved over to my desktop.  There I detailed the illustration in Painter, and then finally edited it tirelessly in Photoshop.

 

The piece was originally featured at Gallery 1988 during their annual 'Idiot Box' Show, which ran from September 4^th, through September 19^th.

Unfortunately, due to the current pandemic, there was no public opening.

The work along with the rest of the shows collaborative pieces, are featured on the gallery’s website.

 

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

.

IG:  stiles1978

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Twitter:  paragonofpuns

Pinterest: Stiles of Art

Mallrats 25th: Anniversary Stinkplam Edition

 

When I first read the prompt for Gallery 1988’s ‘Mallrats 25^th Anniversary Show’, I was perplexed as to how I was going to tackle one of my all time favorite movies by legendary writer and director, Kevin Smith.

It spoke to me generationaly, as I was a late 90’s teen, and used to visit the local mall in my city regularly.

It has one of the most varied cast members, with careers spanning from film to television (like Priscilla Barnes, Shannon Doherty, Ben Affleck, and even comic book legend Stan Lee).

 

My goal for this project was to do something functional.

So much art is hung on walls to collect dust, so I wanted to create something that people could use.

My initial idea was to do a board game, and it wasn’t a very original concept, but I decided to pursue it hoping inspiration would carry me through.

I watched the film, gathered reference, and my idea started to take form.

I began sketching the mall layout, and wanted to configure it in the most genuine way possible.

I wanted to include all the ‘details’, but also wanted to adhere to the films continuity of events.

I researched game boards, and settled on a hybrid version of ‘Candyland’, and ‘Chutes and Ladders’, from my childhood.

Once I had a layout, I realized that my desire to maintain the continuity, and design were in conflict.

That’s when I had a new idea.

 

Cards.

What about a card game instead of board game?

I knew it needed to be simple, but also had a desire to base it off of the game Uno.

It was one of my childhood favorites.

I continued to mull over the concept, when it just clicked.

Simple, childhood, card game…what about ‘Old Maid’?

I LOVED the game as a child, and it also had illustrations of different characters, which I could substitute with actors from the film.

I also realized I could use the ‘stinkpalm’, from the film as my ‘Old Maid’.

Thus ‘Mallrats: 25^th Anniversary Stinkplam Edition’ was born.

I started by listing all the major, and even minor roles in the film, as the cast while varied, wasn’t large in number.

I did my best to capture all the amazing actors in the film, and if I left any out, I apologize, but the clock was ticking.

I set about gathering some templates from the websites of many card game printers, looked for ‘standard sizes’ to utilize for my design.

I also needed a way to ‘frame’ my illustrations on the cards.

The characters were going to be different, but they needed to match in some way.

I thought about the Uno cards, and what drew me to them as my initial design concept.

They were colorful, and had different shapes.

I then determined, that I could frame each illustration within a collage of shapes, some organic, and others more abstract.

I also wanted to make ‘connections’ between some of the characters in the film, since it was essentially a love story. 

I concluded, that I could flip the designs I was using to frame the illustrations, and change their color based on the characters ‘personality’ depicted in the film.

I spent several days working on the illustrations, and struggled to capture their likeness, as well as the actor’s nuanced performance.

I also included a few ‘Easter Eggs’, in each illustration that pertained to the story, or that character’s role.

Eventually I somehow managed to finish all the images in record time (for me).

There was still something missing from the finished designs though.

Now the film, while loosely a love story, has also been injected with Smith’s love of comic books, and, as mentioned earlier, even has a cameo from Stan Lee himself.

With this in mind, I did a bit of experimenting with the images.

I didn’t want to alter the illustrations any further, so instead I opted to adjust the framing shapes they live within.

I ran a textured brush over the colored frames that mimicked the ‘Ben-Day Dots’, from comics of yore.

Fully satisfied, I was ready to proof the images before sending them to a printer.

After a few batches of proofs, and some OCD level editing in Photoshop, I was ready to locate a printer, preferably one who did high quality work.

I wanted to make sure these things were pristine.

That’s when I recalled a conversation with another artist, who recommended (although not used personally), a printer (Shuffled Ink), who specialized in card games.

With my deadline looming, I contacted Shuffled Ink, asking if they could meet my fast approaching deadline.

 

 

Thankfully they were able to accommodate me, and I got them just in time for the show.

The work they did was amazing, and I was so proud of myself for accomplishing this feat.

Why?

Full disclosure:

I was not familiar with the process of printing cards, as I have experience dealing primarily in prints…this gave me anxiety.

I didn’t know anyone with experience designing/printing cards, and that gave me anxiety.

I had very little time before the work was due at the gallery, and this gave me anxiety.

I got ambitious, and frantically worked myself to the bone, which also gave me, yup...anxiety.

It was a mental and sometimes physical struggle, hence the anxiety, and extreme neck pain as a result.

Despite all of this, it was worth it.

Why?

It was a success.

 

 

I was really excited about this show, as there were whispers during the initial planning stages that Kevin Smith himself, was going to be present at the opening.

The physical opening, however, was cancelled because of the pandemic. 

I’ll be honest, I pretty bummed, especially since I was really looking forward to possibly snapping a selfie with Kevin, as he’s been known to be a really cool guy.

I always miss him at any conventions I attend, since I’m typically table bound, so I can never do the meet and greets.

That being said, Kevin is a real hero, and did not disappoint his fans.

The gallery sent out an email letting the contributors know, that the show was going to be physically installed, and they were planning an Instagram Live feed of the reception with Kevin himself.

Each piece in the show was introduced to Kevin, and it was really great to see the person who inspired your work, appreciate it in person.

That was a real gift.

 

This project is also the first one I have ever completed, solely on my iPad, in Procreate.

The illustrations are entirely digital, with some editing done in Photoshop during the printing process.

 

 

The show originally ran at Gallery 1988 from September 25^th – October 10^th 2020, my cards, along with the rest of the shows collaborative pieces, are all featured on the gallery’s website.

 

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.

IG:  stiles1978

Tumblr:  stiles1978

Twitter:  paragonofpuns

Pinterest: Stiles of Art

Walley World (Souvenir Mug)

I had literally just finished my ‘Mallrats’ cards (which you can read about here), when I had to start my next project for a show (Quest for Fun), based on the ‘National Lampoon’sVacation’ franchise.

The show was to debut at Gallery 1988 in a few weeks, so I needed to start working ASAP.

Much like the ‘Mallrats’ exhibition, I wanted my contribution to be once again, functional.

I had decided, early on, that I was going to do some kind of souvenir item from one of the films.

Each installment in the franchise revolves the Griswold’s, as they navigate many new, and sometimes foreign, experiences during their travels.

The films primarily star both Chevy Chase (Clark Griswold), and Beverly D’Angelo (Ellen Griswold), as the head of the beloved family, with cameo’s from other familiar faces.

 

I had a hard time settling on a film to base my piece on, as my favorite exploits take place during ‘European Vacation’, the second film in the franchise.

Since my time was limited, I decided the most logical approach was to design a souvenir from the fictitious theme park of ‘Walley World’ in the first film.

Originally, I planned to do a keychain of some kind, which evolved into a bottle opener, then a felt pennant, and finally a souvenir mug.

The deciding factor for me however, was the production time.

I could design something simple relatively quickly, but I had no control over how long it was going to take for a distributor to manufacture my product in the time remaining.

If time was not an issue, I probably would have picked the pennant, unless I could’ve come up with a concept for the bottle opener I preferred.

 

Since I had experience with designing mug wraps (here and here), I had a reliable, and consistent manufacturer for the mugs, so I knew what to expect.

Now usually when I do these types of designs, I like to try and linearly capture the subject, story, etc., in a way that is faithful to the original content.

Initially, I was going to illustrate the family’s travels from their home in Chicago, as they traipse through rural America in the early 1980’s, on their way to the fabled amusement park in California.

I began sketching out my idea, and gathering resource materials, when I realized that this particular approach was not ‘right’, for what I wanted to convey.

I should mention here, that as a native of Southern California, and child of the 80’s, I had some personal experience to drawn upon.

This led me to recall a design from my youth on the confectionary bags from ‘Disneyland’, which contained small vignettes of attractions, and utilized a limited color scheme.

It was exactly what I needed as a reference, if I could find it.

I then scoured the internet looking for authentic images from theme parks and their merchandise, during the year in which the film takes place (1983).

I eventually found the original inspirational image, but in my search results, I resulted in procuring an even better example from Disney’s ‘Magic Kingdom’ in Florida during the same era.

 

 

 

With a direction to proceed in, I began selecting my color palette for the project, based on what I thought best related to the family, and the 1980’s.

I considered that, since the film takes place during the very early 1980’s, a conservative color scheme was more appropriate (as it was also closer to the late 1970’s), and I wanted to avoid the bright, obnoxious pastels, which afflict most designs from the decade.

Once I settled on my swatches (which were selected from the pantones provided), I needed to move onto building the imagery that would appear on the mug itself.

 

In order to capture ‘Walley World’ as faithfully as possible from the film, I had to once again gather resource material.

It took quite some time to find some of the images, primarily because in the film, many of them are part of a matte painting dropped over an actual existing theme park façade, in Southern California.

In the movie, the theme park set is actually none other than ‘Six Flags Magic Mountain’, in Valencia, California.

Many of the rides on display either do not exist at the actual park, have been removed, or redesigned.

I had to dig through archives on many sites dedicated to amusement park history, and ride catalogs.

The four armed bucket ride in particular was a nightmare to find reference for, and you’d think after how long it took to find it, I’d remember what it was called.

Many of the images I found were either pixelated, making the details too small to make out.

I also had to cross reference the ‘fictitious’ images with that of the actual rides the family interacts with in the film.

 

Once I finally gathered all my resource material, I laid out the images according to how they appear in the film in an attempt to faithfully capture the park as the family approaches the front gates.

Utilizing my inspirational image from above I ultimately ended up making some design decisions to direct the flow of my work.

 

I immediately started on designing the images, working primarily in Adobe Illustrator, a very different approach than I would normally take for a project like this.

Luckily, I managed to quickly finish the designs, and spent the remaining time editing the size, and placement in until I had something that resonated with me.

 

I then worked on a title treatment for the mug, which I designed around the motif of a moose head, inspired by the character of ‘Walley Moose’, who’s theme park the family was attending.

I then had to hand-build the font in the logo, in order to mimic its likeness from the film.

The final touch came, when I set about adding the tree line in the background as a transitioning element throughout the design.

After a few more adjustments, I managed to create a design that had an appropriately ‘whimsical’ feel to it.

 

  

As stated previously, this project was completed entirely in Adobe Illustrator, with the exception of the tree line done in Procreate, and editing in Photoshop.

 

The show originally ran at Gallery 1988 from October 16^th – October 31st, and the 15 ounce mugs (sold out) along with the rest of the shows collaborative pieces, are all featured on the gallery’s website.

 

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

.

IG:  stiles1978

Tumblr:  stiles1978

Twitter:  paragonofpuns

Pinterest: Stiles of Art

 

The Dark Crystal

I had been toying around for some time with the loose concept of a tribute piece to this childhood favorite.  Much like my Neverending Story illustration, The Dark Crystal was a project close to my heart based on the 1982 film, written/directed by the late great Jim Henson, brought to light by Frank Oz, and the visionary team of Brian & WendyFroud.  There were so many amazingly talented people who worked on this feature.  Unfortunately, like most movies during this time period, it didn’t achieve critical acclaim, or a following until much later.

 

As luck would have it, I was invited by Gallery 1988, to participate in their annual flagship show, Crazy 4Cult (14).  Since the status of this film had been elevated to ‘cult’, over the last few decades, I decided it was time to pull the trigger on this piece.  I was reluctant at first to even pursue this work, partly over the fact that my ‘vision’ was a bit grand, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to execute it properly.  I also wanted to do the film justice, as I have seen many very talented artists of my generation create works based on the beloved film.  I wanted to do something bold, and possibly different.  I even had the perfect frame in mind for the main piece that was going to be shown in the gallery.

 

I immediately went into research mode, watched the film multiple times, and gathered all the necessary reference material I was going to need.  Once that was done, and I had decided on a rough layout/concept, I took on the arduous task of replicating the titular crystal from the movie.  This was possibly the most frustrating part of the entire piece.  I first designed the crystals outline in illustrator, as I wanted clean edges for how the image was going to look.  I was able to capture the shape pretty quickly, but it was the segments that alluded me.  I spent weeks trying to get them to look realistic by painting them digitally on both my iPad in Procreate, and my computer in Corel Painter.

 

 

 

Since I didn’t have much practice in painting fractal images, so eventually I decided a better (less maddening) strategy was to make the whole image more graphic including the crystal.   I did however tell myself, that in my free time I need practice painting fractal object digitally.  Some of the images I came across online were absolutely stunning digital masterpieces of rocks, stone, and gems.  It was all very inspiring, and a bit sobering.

 

Stylistically, since I had decided to go in a more graphic direction, I would need to find a vehicle to separate the illustrations in the crystal’s interior, and provide smaller vignettes.  I determined the best course of action would be to use the crystal’s segments.  Since the image was going to be mostly graphic in nature, I took my drawings into Adobe Illustrator, and retraced them using the pen tool.  I then set to work on the segments of the interior.  This helped give me a better idea of where to place my images, for the final piece.  Upon complete the vector work (on my Mac in Adobe Illustrator, and iPad in the Graphic App), I transferred the image into Photoshop, and then played with some gradients.  I made several passes, and adjustments until I finally had something I was (somewhat) satisfied with.  I also decided that at this point, it was no longer productive to continue working on this part of the image, as I had several other illustrations to still do for the interior, so it was time to move on.

 

I already settled on the interior images, but was struggling with their placement, as I wanted them to be placed in order of the film’s progression (much like my Neverending Story illustration).  I spent some time organizing my layout, and once I found one I liked, I was able to start the illustration process.  I then proceeded to the interior portions of the images, and began illustrating all the notable moments, characters, items, and other various icons from the film that I had selected. This took me a while, but nothing nearly as long as the weeks involved in the initial crystal design.  Given the direction I took with overall style of the image this process was a bit tedious as well, but much more enjoyable.

 

Once I completed the entire illustration, it was time to proof it.  I should mention here (which you can probably already determine by the image provided), that I had a very specific (purple), monochromatic color scheme that I was working with.  The problem was that due to the (self induced) size constrictions of the frame I was going to be using, the overall piece was smaller than I had intended for the level of detail included.  I made several adjustments to the contrast, brightness, even the hue and color saturation.  It was to no avail.  The most frustrating aspect of this was, these color choices were not even my first selection for the image.  My original intent was to use the colors from the film, which had cooler (purple/blue) tones at the top, and very warm (yellow/orange/pink) at the bottom.  The crystal in movie is after all hovering over a rather steamy volcanic looking bottomless pit.  I had failed in my many previous attempts when designing the initial crystal shape/segments to capture this likeness, but fortunately for me, this set back would give me another opportunity.

 

The process was monotonous, and had I not been so far into the project, I may have abandoned the whole thing for something much less elaborate.  I was however, at this point, determined to finish the piece, no matter how distressed I was over how the entire image was getting away from my original vision.   I wanted to challenge myself on multiple levels.  For me this was about trying to let go and embrace what was happening organically.  It was also about trying to do something different, and more ambitious.  If I do something I know I can execute easily, how am I challenging myself to grow as an artist? 

 

Resolved to make this work, I decided the best strategy was to simply take the illustration, and convert it to a grey scale.  My plan here was to attempt to run a gradient over the entire image using brighter colors to see if I could get the smaller vignettes to be more legible.  This also afforded me another chance to utilize my original color scheme that I had initially planned on using.  I manipulated the image a few times in Photoshop like a chemist creating a new compound, and somehow through pure sorcery I was able to get the image color corrected.  It printed out beautifully, and I couldn’t have been any happier with the image.

 

 

 

I was however, not yet finished.  The frame I picked out for this particular show was an oval shape.  It echoed the design of the chamber floor (link), from the film where the crystal rises.  I had a hard time finding reference for the glyphs that littered the inlay of the floor in the movie.  Eventually I came across multiple sources that allowed me to piece together the design, which I could then cross-reference with the film.  I then located a textured paint to use that was perfect for mimicking the porous floors in the castle.  I also utilized some paint to replicate the runes around the main ring adorning the floor, which houses the crystal. 

 

 

 

The final illustration is entirely digital, started in Graphic/Illustrator, detailed meticulously by hand in Painter, and edited painstakingly in Photoshop. The frame, and runes were done by hand in traditional methods stated above.

 

 

 

The piece was originally due to be featured at Gallery 1988 during their annual Crazy 4 Cult Show ('Crazy 4 Cult 14', which was scheduled to run from August 7^th, through August 29^th.

Unfortunately, due to the current pandemic, there would be no official public opening, and thankfully my work sold, so it is no longer available for viewing on their site.  Feel free however to check out the works of many of the other fine talented artists who contributed to the show here.

 

To purchase this image, 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

.

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LinkedIN: Michael Stiles

IG:  stiles1978

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