ART ATTACK in Harbor Country

I live in what is known as Harbor Country and they have a yearly popular event called ART ATTACK. This year it will happen in the first weekend in May, May 1, 2 & 3rd, to be exact. Many galleries from New Buffalo to Sawyer, Michigan will be participating. It's a fun event and I hope that any of you in the area will join us. The gallery that represents me, Craig Smith Gallery, will have an opening reception for new work by his artists, it starts at 5 PM, May 2, 2009. Hope that you can join us ! You'll love it here, it's a very beautiful area of the state, some great restaurants are also located here, check it out.

Gallery open house Sunday April 26 in Oak Park

Tomorrow Craig Smith Gallery is having an exhibition at PURE REIGN in Oak Park, Illinois from 2 to 5 PM. If you are near the area, stop by and see some of the gallery artist's work as well as mine.

If you have any questions about my life in the illustration and ad business in the 1940's, '50's, '60's, '70's + or about any of the art techniques I've shown on these posts, feel free to ask. Just post them as comments and I'll do my very best to answer. If I can't answer a specific question, I probably know someone who can, There are still a few of my old buddies around, artists and reps that I worked with over the years who may be able to help.

Simple cartoon heads created on the computer

The computer is a great creative tool as well as being a lot of fun once you get used to working with it. Frequently I experiment to see what I can come up with. Here I have created a couple of cartoon heads using only the Line Tool and parts of a typeface.


I begin by doing some simple shapes with the Line Tool.


Then I add a couple of letter "O"s for the eyes and the hair. A large "O" which was cut in half was used for the lady's hair and a smaller "O" for the bun. Her eye is composed of a stretched "O" with lines added for the lashes.


Next I added the eyes and mouths, finishing them off.


Here is one color version, I could try several more very easily.


A change of expressions by altering the mouths and his eyebrow.


Another change of expression. Try this and see what you can come up with, it's great fun and will help you develop your computer skills.

Experimenting with line sketches

First I drew a very quick crude sketch of a figure with a Pentel pen. Don't worry about accuracy or perfection for experiments like these, just have fun.


I scanned my sketch into the computer, distorted the image and combined it with another image of the same sketch.


Here is another version of the combined images to which I added color shapes.


Still another version with colors added. This is a wonderful way to experiment with color on the computer. Even with a very rough sketch as I started out with you can create a number of interesting color images.

Some more color and design studies

The computer medium offers great experimental and learning possibilities. I frequently do a series of abstract color and design studies like these. They are quite easy and fun to produce. These studies can also be used as sketches or ideas for larger acrylic paintings. They were all done using the Photoshop Elements 2.0 program. You don't need the more expensive and complicated versions of Photoshop to create images like these.













I usually begin by just creating a flat color background, then I start by adding various shapes. Try it, you'll enjoy it.

Opening today at PORT 412

Today is the opening of my exhibition of paintings, sculpture and comic book cover parodies at PORT 412 restaurant in St. Joseph, Michigan. If you are in the area drop by. The exhibition will be up for a couple of months, so if you can't make it today, stop by at a later date and have a great lunch or dinner.