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.

 

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, and painting.

 

Website: www.michaelstiles.com

Etsy: Stiles of Art

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LinkedIN: Michael Stiles

IG:  stiles1978

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YELLOWJACKETS (2022)

I started developing this piece almost immediately after finishing the first season of Showtime’s ‘Yellowjackets’ in January of 2022. I wasn’t entirely sure if the image would ever get used but I was inspired, and in case I could utilize the concept it might be worth developing. I quickly sketched down a few concepts and included some notes in case I ever returned to the image. Thankfully, I was contacted by Gallery1988 to participate in their ‘Idiot Box’ show for the 2022 year, and thankfully this piece fit nicely into their theme. 

 

Preliminary sketch with notes.

 

I typically like to pick more establish shows for this particular exhibit, but I chose ‘Yellowjackets’ because the story, characters, and theme really resonated with me on several different levels. I’ll try not to give away too many details or spoilers, but I would really suggest watching the series if you’re a fan of horror or suspense.  The show is loosely based around a high school soccer team in the late 1990’s (1996 I believe), who are all bound for Nationals on the other side of the country. Sadly, the teens never make it to their destination, and that’s where the story really picks up. In the first few minutes of the pilot episode the tone gets set rather immediately, and if you can get past that, well, buckle up. If I were to be rather reductive, I’d describe it as the story of ‘Alive’ meets ‘Lord of the Flies’, but with teenage girls instead. The ‘twist’ here is not everyone who survived, well…survived… as demonstrated in the present where we see our cast’s living adult counterparts, dealing with the aftermath of the events twenty-five years later. The production boasts an amazing cast that includes Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, Tawny Cypress, and Melanie Lynskey.

 

My concept for the piece was relatively simple yet bold as usual.  The show has a very large cast and I wanted to find a way to represent each character without making the image too cluttered or confusing. In my sketch I settled on utilizing silhouettes for the ‘survivors’ of Fight 2525, creating a triangular format out of them with the central figure being larger and more realized or detailed. With the characters in place, I next wanted to include the major environments from the first season, such as: the stump, lake, cabin, and crash site. My next goal was to fill any of the negative space remaining with imagery from the show. Thankfully, the show does not lack in the visual department and I carefully curated multiple images to litter the illustration in my usual fashion. My next step was to select a color palette for the image. This is not an area of strength for me, so I ended up googling several color combinations before finally settling on the blue, indigo, violet, and contrasting yellows.

With my colors selected and my (three [3] hour) sketch completed in Procreate, I moved onto developing the multiple images I would need to flesh it out. I first started with creating the silhouettes for each member that survived the plane crash. In order to do this, I had to go back and rewatch the show multiple times. The reason being is that some of the girls in the background of the scenes are never introduced to the audience, and a few of the ancillary characters are practically ghosts themselves. The show is really centered on four characters who the audience knows survived the catastrophe (and are displayed prominently in the final image). After determining the final count of characters, and image reference I needed, I set to work on developing the individual silhouettes (ultimately taking me twenty-three and half [23.5] hours). 

 

I then moved the project back to my desktop in order to arrange the silhouettes in Adobe Photoshop.  The reason for this is because, unfortunately, anything upscaled in Procreate loses its crisp edges resulting in a blurry mess the larger it becomes. I also know that Procreate limits the number of layers you can have depending on the ratio of the file. To circumvent this I adjusted the layout in Photoshop, saved the legacy file, and then flattened the images in order to save space for when I returned to Procreate. It was also then that I discovered a typical issue I have with working between these two platforms, dithering*. Depending on the brushes used, anything with a softened edge will be filled by Photoshop with information that shouldn’t be there. It looks like a white film, and it’s upsetting. I decided that was a battle for another day and returned to developing imagery for the piece in Procreate. (*if you’ve been reading these, then you’re probably familiar with this issue I have been experiencing for some time.)

In Procreate I continued illustrating the different images and environments planned, making several changes to the layout in the process.  Eventually I settled on a more collaged layout with the silhouettes in order to preserve some space for other iconic imagery. At some point I also redesigned the background, slightly, to match the reference imagery I had. It was sometime shortly after that when I began to experiment with finding a solution to my dithering issue. I knew from my previous issues with my Gremlins piece, I could simply collapse the layers, but I didn’t want to do that.  I wanted to maintain the freedom of moving my images if I needed to do so, and collapsing the layers defeated the entire purpose.

That’s when I tried to export each layer as a PNG file (Portable Network Graphic).

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that this was the droid that I was looking for the whole time!!! It worked, that’s what I’m trying to say. With this new knowledge in hand, I was able to transfer over each individual illustration and piece it back together like a puzzle.  It was a lot easier than it sounds, and sure as hell beats cleaning the edges up AGAIN in Procreate (I’m looking at you Conan and Gremlins)!!!! All I had to do was export a flattened image of the version from Procreate back to Photoshop.

 

This discovery will help expedite my work so much faster. The things you learn.  I tried to find a solution myself on the internet months ago, but there wasn’t one available.  I did eventually find an obscure forum within an art website that had the very solution I ‘discovered’, but only recently (I rushed to internet to share my findings, sue me).

Eventually I returned to Procreate on the iPad and finished up the last remaining pieces of my illustration (resulting in a total of eighty-six [86] hours digitally painting). With the image finalized, I contacted my liaison at SGX in order to secure a proof. Thankfully, I only needed one pass on the image, however I did forget to digitally sign it, so I had to resubmit another file for my finals.

I started this piece on January 25^th, 2022 and finished it July 25^th, 2022, spending just shy of one hundred and thirteen (113) hours in Procreate creating the piece. All edits, adjustments, as well as the layout, were done in Adobe Photoshop. The image was due August 6^th, 2022, with the show opening on August 20^th, 2022 at Gallery 1988, and running until September 3^rd, 2022 as part of their ‘Idiot Box’ group show. At this time, the 11” x 17” image printed on white pearl linen is limited to a run of , and available exclusively 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.

 

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

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

This piece is an example of throwing caution to the wind. I am not an abstract artist what-so-ever, and as a creative, I am truly embarrassed to admit that I don’t ‘get it’ very often, or ever, in most cases. With that in mind, perspective (or arguably personal taste), shouldn’t prohibit me from drawing upon these works for inspiration, right?  This would be my second venture into this ‘space’ the first in this style being my ‘These Strange Things…’ piece for the Paul Thomas Anderson show at Gallery1988 in December (2021).  Even with that piece, my work has lately started to take on more of a graphical look.  This is my ‘abstract phase’ I guess for any historians out there willing to following along, or for when they unearth some sacred treasure with a vague signature and ‘QR’ code sticker on the back. That or it’s my ‘director series’…? 

The theme for this piece, I should note before I take you on another random unrelated tour of my mind, was based around director David Fincher. Or more importantly, illustrating one of his features. I recall seeing the email and was both elated & anxious.  I love Fincher’s work.  I’ve seen most of his films and grew up watching the music videos he worked on early in his career (unknowingly).  My favorite project of his has always been ‘Se7en’I saw it in the theaters by accident, and became (healthily) obsessed with his work. I’d watch anything his name was on and was usually rewarded.  If he’s reading this, I have one request, Mr. Fincher, David if I may, please for the love of all things holy, finish ‘Mindhunter’!!!! Damn that show is intense.  I digress…

Looking over Fincher’s work I knew I shouldn’t pick anything already too saturated.  For me that meant no ‘Fight Club’or ‘Se7en’, which left me with ‘The Social Network’. Outside of ‘Mindhunter’, this had to be my most favorite recent-ish work of his.  It is such a cross section of human psyche that it haunts me how well it was done.  This however would not have been possible if it was not for the masterful and Oscar-worthiness of the entire team involved. The adaptation (of Ben Mezrich’s ‘The Accidental Billionares’), by Aaron Sorkin (>ahem<OSCAR>ahem<), the music….can we talk about the music?!!! Holy cow, also the music by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (>ahem<OSCAR>ahem<), which created such incredible tension, and the editing done by Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall (>ahem<OSCAR>ahem<), yeah…it was great film. It was also nominated for eight Oscars in total, but ONLY won three. So, there’s that. 

I got to work rewatching the film and collecting some reference materials for my illustration.  As usual the final images you seen here were developed over time, and it transformed at least twice before I settled on my final layout/design.  My first idea is something I may return to, so for that you’ll have to stay tuned, but I will tell you it was a quote.  The second phase I had a better idea of what I was going to do, but no clear layout, just a bunch of imagery I knew I wanted to include and it was going to look something like an old Facebook profile.  I was firm however on three things:  the color scheme, the focal point, and a design element to relate it to technology.

At this point I looked at some of my previous work and decided with at least two out of three elements nailed down (color/focal point), I should just start something.  Taking inspiration from the illustration I mentioned earlier (first paragraph…I’ll wait), I painted the background in Procreate, and the returned to my reference material. Since I was going to keep things mostly abstract and only planned on having one actual realistically rendered element, I would need to choose anything I could use as a ‘symbol’ of some kind (be it logo in the case of Sean Parker’s representation here with Napster), or even typography (with the detailing of Mark Zuckerberg’s alleged hacking for Facemash).

I finalized the layout rather quickly after determining what I was going to represent, and what was not going to make the cut.  I settled on the pint glass of beer (which originally was a Beck’s bottle as in order to true to the context of both film and alleged ‘facts’), the ‘equation’ written by Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), on Mark’s dorm window. I still needed a technological element to connect everything to fill in the dead space and as a method to convey more of the story.  I knew the bottom of the work, much like the ‘These Strange Things…’ inspired piece, would have silhouettes of iconic buildings/structures that could be easily identifiable.  

I turned to the web, which eventually led me somehow to circuitry images that I ended up using for inspiration. I then took my background into Adobe Illustrator, and began constructing the silhouetted buildings I needed for my base along with the window & circuitry.  It didn’t take me entirely too long to design all three and take it back into Procreate. Meanwhile back on the iPad I went about finishing the illustration/design, detailing the central beer glass, window (banners*), and rowers. Upon finishing I got it ready to send to SGX for proofing. (*Those banner images were hella hard to find.  The Greek letters were in the movie, but the Phoenix Club’s symbol has been almost wiped form the internet, I’m guessing because of all the controversy around these Harvard Final Club’s and their ‘sunsetting’ back in 2017).

Covid, however, was not done with supply chain and so the paper I had so diligently asked my printer to hold for me the day I started the image, was not yet available…yay… Eventually, much closer to the due date, the paper arrived, and there was one more final hiccup, because…life, amiright? After one proof, I was able to correct any ‘issues’ (being only the rowers changing in hue as they were lost in background), I got ready for my final round. I originally scaled the image to 11” x 17”, for the sole purpose of having the extra layers available on Procreate.  You see non-artist types, the larger the starting size, the less layers you have, even at an industry standard threshold (300, but really 600 IMO at least).  Thankfully, upscaling can be done in Adobe Photoshop without error. You DO NOT under any circumstances want to upscale any image or item in Procreate, it will become hideously pixelated, losing most of the detail.  Wait to do it in Photoshop or other software that has the capacity to upscale an image without destroying it. The problem here was none of that, and I’m pretty sure I’ve issued this warning before. Typically, when I get the White Pearl Linen Paper from SGX, it comes in sheets of 13” x 19”. So as not to waste any of the precious commodity, I enlarged my final image to 12” x 18”. The paper SGX had, was however, also 12” x 18”, meaning some of my image was going to be lost, AND it was not going to fit in the frame I needed it to for the show. Or at least I thought. Luckily, I was able to get things worked out (with help from my liaison at SGX), and the final image fit beautifully in the frame.  

The final illustration is hidden with ‘Easter Eggs’, entirely digital, started May 2^nd and finished May 11^th totaling about twenty-two (22) hours. The image was primarily developed in Procreate, with some design work done in Illustrator, and minor editing in Photoshop. What’s that? Well, I could tell you everything I ‘hid’ in this piece (another Stiles Trademark historians!!!), but I’m not going to, so either enjoy or look away, you’re ruining the ‘mystique’.

The piece (limited to a run of 11), was originally featured at Gallery 1988’s ‘Political Menace & Moral Despair A Tribute to David Fincher’, which ran from June 11^th, 2022 through June 25^th, 2022. The image is roughly 12” x 18”, and is printed on white pearl linen paper.  Please check the gallery’s website for all available works related to 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 and 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