Clash

"Clash" | acrylic & graphite on paper | 8.25 x 10"

© Ryan Cooper | All Rights Reserved

New Painting - The Hypnotist

The Hypnotist | traditional + digital | 12.25x12.25" @ 600ppi


sketch



drawing


final image


detail

© Ryan Cooper | All Rights Reserved

DS20

© Ryan Cooper | All Rights Reserved

Japan Relief: Land of the Rising Sun

Land of the Rising Sun - ink on bristol, digital color - 8x10" @ 600ppi

Here is some 3D artwork I created to benefit the earthquake/tsunami victims of Japan. It is presented here in both anaglyph (red/cyan 3D glasses required) and crossed eye versions. All artist proceeds were donated to AmeriCares and tagged for Japan relief.

© Ryan Cooper | All Rights Reserved

Friends of Cupid

Here is a painting I recently finished which will be available as a print soon. As per usual, I started this image with a series of conceptual thumbnails and a preliminary sketch on standard 8.5x11" bond paper.

Once satisfied with the comp, I transferred the drawing to a sheet of Rives BFK via light box and toned the paper with thin washes of acrylic.

I then scanned the drawing into Photoshop and painted it digitally, first working out the flats and values in a typical layer structure, then pushing and pulling until it popped.

The final image:

Sketchbook #7 + Wedding Invitation

Below is a wedding invitation I recently finished. It is based on this sketch.

Concept Sheet

The above image is an all-purpose concept sheet I designed in an effort to streamline my creative process. It is up for grabs as I feel it would be a useful tool for any artist or graphic designer.

The main box (including the trim/bleed area) measures
7.5x5.367"—roughly the size of a B-Format paperback cover. The center grid indicates areas in the picture plane that are typically chosen for focal points, yet it can also be used to divide the image area into thirds or even ninths, depending on the project. On the right-hand side, there are seven thumbnail boxes, each proportionate to the main stage, with an eighth box for experimenting with lineweight, crosshatching, color, etc. Lastly, at the bottom, I included eight lines for notes.

The Substitute

This image is part of a larger project that I'm not able to talk very much about right now, so I'll spare you the details and you will have to excuse my brevity in that regard. On the other hand, I did want to reflect a bit on the process, as I feel it signals growth in the right direction for me, if only from an illustrative perspective. Illustration is a unique form of art in that it allows certain "rules" of art to be bent or distorted. This is not to say that illustrations are somehow less deserving or otherwise unqualified than fine art, but form does often take the back seat in exchange for subject. In short, illustration is storytelling.

I started with a sketch on a folded sheet of standard 8.5x11" paper. The same type of stuff you can pick up anywhere for your printer. Copy bond. Once I had the basic shapes roughed in, I started working on the characters and other elements in more detail and tweaking the overall composition. At this point I am thinking of the sketch as a seesaw (or teeter-totter, if you prefer), where its balance correlates directly to the position and "mass" of elements on the page.


Once satisfied with the skeleton of the image, I scanned it into Photoshop and blew it up to somewhere in the neighborhood of 22x30". After printing out the pages and reassembling the image on my kick-ass light box (thanks, Robert), I recreated the drawing on a much nicer sheet of cream-tinted Rives BFK and sealed it with acrylic gloss medium.


After scanning the finished drawing back into Photoshop, I laid the flats in monochrome, establishing some value and separating the different elements. Once I had decided on how bright or dark each part would be, I started painting in the larger expanses of color. I created contrast, tone and depth in the picture plane using cool vs warm colors. You can feel that the substitute teacher is very angry and quite evil, really, but it is not the expression on his face that communicates this so much as the coolness of the blue and magenta in relation to other areas of the painting.


My personal critique: I am happy with the finished painting overall, but next time I will spend a bit more time polishing the initial sketch, as it seems to be lacking in energy compared to my original vision. On the color side of things, however, I exceeded my expectations.

• • •

A signed and numbered edition of prints of this piece will go on sale sometime early next year. If you would like to be
added to this list, drop me a line.