Two Steves and a Donato, More Illuxcon Tales (Saturday Part 1)

Saturday at Illuxcon began at the crack of noon. You know us artist types and early mornings! I started the day off by watching a painting demo by Donato Giancola on Portrait Painting in Oil. There is nothing like watching a master at work. I was so impressed by his demo that I plan to purchase his video on oil painting.

After the demo I started wandering the show room floor talking with as many different artists and art directors as I could. I really appreciate everyone that took the time to talk with me and I have a few highlights to share.

I’ll start with Stephan Hickman, who was the featured artist at Dragon Con back in 2008. He’s the reason I went to the first Illuxcon and one of the first people to ever review my portfolio. When my wife and I talked with Stephen back at Dragon Con it came out that Stephen had spent some time in his youth in the Philippines. For those who don’t know my wife is Filipino and she and Stephen really hit it off. At Illuxcon last year my wife brought a book on Tagalog (Filipino dialect) to give to Stephen, but he had to cancel at the last second. This year my wife sent me with the book and I was able to deliver it for her and thank Stephen in person for inviting me to the first Illuxcon.

I made sure to talk with Donato Giancola. After all the great seminars I had been to where he was speaking I wanted to get his thoughts on my portfolio. After flipping through he keyed in on the Harlequin Dancer (this would come to be the norm). He commented that it was my strongest work, and that I was very close. He said that where it fell short was in the Secondary Narrative. Now this was not a term I had heard before so I asked him to explain what he meant by Secondary Narrative. Here is what he explained:

“To take the piece to the next level you need to really push the concept of what will happen next in the story. Think about where the character is going, what the character is doing, and what will happen immediately after the scene shown in the image.

In your Harlequin piece you immediately ask why is she pointing? Is she leading an army or a small band of heroes? Why is she on that rock, yes it looks cool, but there is nothing in the piece to explain the background story. The Primary Narrative is cool dancer heroine, with a detailed costume, in a dynamic pose. The Secondary Narrative fills in the details.”

At this point I had never had anyone explain this concept so clearly and concisely. Donato just laid it all out in the open in a way that seemed so simple. In that moment he changed the way I think about art and composing an image. Needless to say I was floored!

Steve Ellis and Sam Flegal

One of my biggest art influences right now is Steve Ellis, and I was very excited to learn that he had arrived late to the show. I’d been keeping an eye on his booth waiting patiently until he was all set up, at which point I rushed over (what can I say I’m an art fan boy). I met Steve last year at Illuxcon where I really enjoyed his demo on composing an action scene (read more here). Over the last year I’ve been sending Steve updates as I ad new pieces to my website. My most recent work has only just been added to my website, and I haven’t sent out an update yet, so I asked Steve to review my portfolio. He keyed in on the Harlequin piece like most, but he also noted the Manananggal (Filipino Vampire). He encouraged me to do more Filipino monsters, which I plan to do, and also encouraged me to let my style come out more in my work. He stated that, “If you asked most fantasy artists to draw a dragon they would all look more or less the same, but if he asked me to draw one he had a feeling it would turn out to be a gross worm thing with drool and blood pouring out of its mouth.” He then explained that being different in the art field is not a bad thing and that I should focus on cultivating that rather than hiding it. He then challenged me to do a piece the quality of the Harlequin Dancer in traditional media rather than digital.

I then proceeded to buy all sorts of goodies from Steve. His new comic trade paperback, High Moon, was out. So I picked that up. I also got his new art book Scream: Draw Classic Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies, Monsters, and More. What enticed me about Scream was that Steve explained both his traditional art process and digital art process, showing how both media help the other. I plan on doing a review of the book soon, so keep an eye peeled. In addition I purchased two prints. Now what’s cool about Steve is that he does little drawings on the inside cover whenever he sells a book. He drew a werewolf on the inside of my copy of High Moon, but what was really special to me was that he did a Zombie Portrait of yours truly on the inside of my copy of Scream. HOW FREAKIN’ COOL!!!

Zombie Portrait of Sam Flegal by Steve Ellis

At this point I had a LOT to chew on so I took a break and tried to write down as much as I could in my notebook. Let’s us take another break too…

Join me soon for Illuxcon Saturday Part 2!

Room 112 is where the party’s at! IlluXCon 09 Part 2

After the bronze pouring Grant and I headed back to the hotel. We chilled in the room for about an hour, talking about how crazy awesome our first day had been, when we had the first knock at our door. Now I was expecting Eric Fortune and Ray, but who walks in… none other than Dan Dos Santos!

Sam Flegal, Dan Dos Santos, Grant Cooley

We, of course, offer Dan some drinks, and begin hanging out. A little bit later Scott Altmann drops by with his friend Marc Scheff. Soon after Dan asks to see Grant and my portfolios. While looking over our portfolios, Eric Fortune and Ray show up. Before we know it, our room is filled with award-winning art professionals, aspiring artists, and one of the coolest guys ever, Raymond Eulises Valentin!

Sam Flegal, Eric Fortune, Grant Cooley, Raymond Eulises Valentin

After Dan finished looking over my portfolio, he commented that I had good stuff and was on the edge of crossing over from amateur artist to professional. He then encouraged me to go to the Illustration Master Class, where Dan is one of the teachers. He explained that if I would give him the seven days in the master class to work with him, he’d show me how to take my work to the next level!

After Dan flipped through, Eric took a look. Now Eric saw my portfolio at last year’s IlluXCon. (You can read more about that here). When he finished, he set down the book and said, “Sam you have come a LONG way in the last year.” Which of course made me feel really good!

My friend Grant had similar experiences when folks reviewed his portfolio, which was great! With that little bit of self-promotion out of the way the party was really getting started! About this point, the wine ran out and we all headed down to the hotel bar.

When we got there the party had already started! The drinks were plentiful and affordable, the DJ was rockin’, and everywhere you looked there were artists and industry professionals! Last year the partying was my favorite part; well this year was even better! I made sure to stop by and buy a drink for Rob Rey, another artist who taught me how to make better use of my Epson 1280 printer last year at IlluXCon, a tool that has come in very handy prepping for all the art conventions I’ve been doing!

In the midst of all the partying I had the privilege of making the acquaintance of Cynthia Sheppard. Now Cynthia was not showing at IlluXCon–she was an attendee just like me–and when she showed me her portfolio I was floored! Her work is AMAZING!!! Later I would find out that she’s been featured in ImagineFX magazine! What a cool place IlluXCon, where little gems like Cynthia are hidden throughout the crowd!

Cynthia Sheppard

After the partying and portfolio-swapping, things started to wind down at the bar. So Dan Dos Santos invited us back to his room for vodka! And the party continued! My friend Grant even ended up with an original Dan Dos Santos drawing on his badge! I’ll just leave it to your imagination what Dan drew, but needless to say, Grant had to hide his badge throughout the day on Saturday.

By 4am I was fading. So I called it a night. IlluXCon Day One was complete, but we still had Saturday, and oh what a Saturday it would be…

BROM Borrowed my Ketchup and other IlluXCon Tales

This was my second year going to IlluXCon and it was AMAZING!!! This year I went with my good friend Grant Cooley, who is also an aspiring illustrator and a great artist. We flew into Pittsburgh Thursday and then drove over to Altoona, PA.

By the time we arrived on Thursday, things were wrapping up. We left IlluXCon and checked into the hotel. We hung out in the bar for a bit and then called it a night. Little did we know that this would be the last bit of sleep we would be getting for the next three days!

Friday morning started off with a bang! Grant is a gym nut, so he went to work out. Turns out Don Maitz, creator of Captain Morgan, had the same idea. When I went to get Grant so we could go to breakfast, I found him working out and chatting with Don! How cool!

At breakfast, one of my art heroes BROM, got seated next to us. Later he asked to borrow our ketchup! I know, right … pretty cool, but things were only getting started. I spent most of breakfast pointing out to Grant all the famous artists that were around the room. IlluXCon is a really special convention for this reason. Where else do you see Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell eating eggs on one side of the room while on the other is BROM eating potatoes!

Sam Flegal and BROM

Once we got to the convention center Grant and I rushed over to a panel on the Art of Self Promotion. The speakers were Donato Giancola, Ruth Sanderson, Caniglia, Boris Vallejo, and Julie Bell. They began by explaining where each of them came from and how they got their start. One thing I thought was cool was that Julie Bell didn’t get her start until she was 30. Just another example of it never being too late to start doing what you LOVE!

A few gems the group passed onto us were to always be self-confident, keep a positive attitude, and do what it takes. They recommended updating your website as often as possible and trying to be consistent on when you update it. Doing it once a week or once a month matters less than getting in a pattern of updates that’s easy for other people to follow. The last thing I really took away was this: WORK HARD and STAND OUT! It is important to have work of equal caliber as the top names in your field; if you don’t, continue to hone your craft. In order to stand out consider doing crazy hard stuff, like a illustration with thirty or more figures in it, etc…

We then went to an acrylic painting demo by Michael Whelan and Chris Moeller. All I can say is wow! One tip they shared was starting on a gray or mid-tone covered canvas. This allows you to lay in the darks and then pull out the lights. Whelan kept a hair dryer on hand just in case he saw something he liked that happened by accident so that he could preserve it. He also used a sharpened chopstick at one point to paint hair! It was really impressive to watch these two champs work!

I had to leave the painting demo to go and do my scheduled portfolio review with Lou Anders, editorial director for Pyr books. My review with Lou set the tone for most of my portfolio reviews throughout the weekend. He honed in on my Harlequin Dancer piece and said that when I had five more just like it (and she was the last piece in my portfolio rather then the first), I should start getting regular work. I was so HAPPY!!! This was the first time anyone had told me that I was close!

Harlequin Dancer by Sam Flegal

After that I met back up with Grant. We then ran into Eric Fortune and his friend Ray. In between witty banter and basic bull shitting, it was decided that we needed to go get some wine before the bronze pouring … yes there was a legit bronze pouring by Vincent Villafranca and it was awesome!

Between 2000-degree fire and drinks the night got off to a great start!

But, more on that later…

Manananggal, the Filipino Vampire in COLOR!!!

After many weeks working on this project I am pleased to announce that it is finished! Since going to Illuxcon last year I’ve wanted to branch out into more traditional painting. I happen to have a lot of acrylic paint left over from college art classes, so that seemed like the natural way for me to start. Over the last year I have learned a TON about painting and illustration. And after a lot of research I set out on the task of painting an honest to god, with real brushes and paint, no digital painting!

To start I wanted to do a black and white drawing of the Manananggal. I did some sketches and multiple thumbnails. I then scanned in the ones I liked (O.K. maybe it’s not completely without digital) and I resized them to fit 9×12. I then printed it out very lightly on Bristol board. I then used marker and pen to do the black and white version of the Filipino Vampire (which you can read more about in my older post).

I then scanned in the black and white piece and printed it out on a piece of Bristol board. I then followed a process I learned about at Illuxcon where you attach a piece of paper to masonite board and then build the painting up on top of the drawing. A detailed description of this process can be found on Donato Giancola’s website.

The quick version is that I used acrylic medium as a glue to attach the print of my drawing to masonite board. I then added further coats of the medium on top of the drawing and sanded them down to create a smooth painting surface. The reason for this is to preserve the original drawing. A lot of artists loose really amazing drawings because they paint right on top of them. Donato Giancola wanted to keep his drawings so he developed this method. I also wanted to keep my drawing because I was a little afraid that my painting would suck, and at least I’d have a descent drawing even if I screwed up the painting.

And so… after a few hours of applying medium, waiting for it to dry, sanding that down, and doing all that a few more times I was ready to start. I had no idea what I was getting myself into and I learned a WHOLE HECK OF A LOT about painting. There really is no better teacher than just doing it! (Thank you Nike)

More than THIRTY hours later I present you with the color version of the Manananggal (Filipino Vampire). I hope you enjoy!

Manananggal, Acrylic on Board

Here is a detail of the face:

Close Up of the Face

Strange Like Sam Flegal

Check out this video from the Nashville Comic and Horror Festival done by Nashville’s News Channel 5.

Manananggal the Filipino Vampire

As I said last week in my Marker Art post I’m really enjoying my new markers. Over the weekend I finished up a piece done Prismacolor markers. I then went over the markers in black pen. I used an 005, 01, and 05.

The piece is one I’ve wanted to do for a while. For those who don’t know my wife is Filipino. A few years back we went to the Philippines with her family. It was an awesome trip, and one of my favorite parts was getting to learn about Filipino myths, legends, and superstitions.

One of my favorites is the Manananggal, the Filipino vampire. Manananggal translates to”one who can remove.” In Philippine mythology the Manananggal is a witch-like person (usually a woman) with long hair and wild eyes who can detach her upper torso from the lower half of her body at night. When she does so she grows wicked claws and fangs, and bat wings sprout from her back. She usually flies in the dark searching for victims whose blood she sucks.

The common story is of a pregnant woman lying in bed asleep, the Manananggal lands on the thatched roof of the grass hut, lowers her long tongue into the house and sucks the blood of the fetus in the mother’s womb.

The only way to defeat a Manananggal is to find its lower torso and apply garlic or salt to the severed stump, which will make it impossible for the Manananggal to reattach itself. If the Manananggal is still in its monster form during the day, sunlight will destroy it.

Ever since I heard that myth I’ve wanted to draw it. The idea of a wild-eyed bat woman with her intestines hanging down always seemed pretty sweet to me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

 

Filipino Vampire by Sam Flegal

Marker Art

At Dragon Con this year I stopped back by the booth of Jeff Preston. For those of you who’ve been reading my blog for the last year, you might remember that Jeff Preston reviewed my fledgling portfolio at Dragon Con last year. If you’re curious here’s the link to that post from October 15^th 2008.

What continues to amaze me about Jeff’s work is that not only is it awesome, but it’s even more awesome when you discover that he works in markers! That’s right markers! Take a moment and check out Jeff’s MySpace and you’ll see some really cool samples of his art.

So a funny thing happened at my local art store, Jerry’s Artorama. When I was walking about looking at all the fun art supplies I come across the type of markers that I saw Jeff using, and they were marked at only $20 for 12 markers! There were several different sets but I settled on Prismacolor Marker Set 12 Warm Gray. I think ran home to give them a try, and I loved them!

The first thing I drew was a simple zombie face. Whenever I’m testing out a new medium I like to stick to what I know and not venture out to far. When I was done I used my 005 pen to pick out some basic details.

 

Zombie Face by Sam Flegal

 

 

I liked the results so much that I did a monster face next, but this time I used my pens a 005, 01, and 05 to pick out more details.

 

Monster Face by Sam Flegal

 

 

I had so much fun with the markers that I brought them to Scare Fest. In between drawing Zombie Portraits we had some downtime early Saturday morning. My buddy Matt Essary looks at me and says, “Hey draw me a monkey with a knife.” I should mention that my friend Matt really enjoys coming up with random stuff and having me draw it. So I broke out the markers and once again rose to the occasion with this creepy little piece.

 

Monkey on Skulls by Sam Flegal

 

 

After Scarefest I was dying to draw my new Cat Skull, so once again I got out the markers and set to work.

 

Cat Skull by Sam Flegal

 

 

I have to say I LOVE my new markers! They are a lot of fun, and I love the finished look they give to my sketchy style. My next goal is to do a more finished illustration piece with the markers.

Later!

Scare Fest 2009

 

Scare Fest Booth (Scott on Left and Me on Right)

 

 

This September 11-13 I had the opportunity to be one of the vendors at Scare Fest. I packed my bags, and along with my friends Matt Essary and Scott Mizis, headed to Lexington, KY. It was different from the last few cons that I’ve done because there was no art show, so I had a vendor booth in the dealers room.

 

While Scott and I set to setting up the booth, Matt raced off with his wad of cash to take care of getting all his celebrity signatures early. A few minuets later Matt returned with his new friend Leslie Easterbrook (aka Mother Firefly from Devil’s Rejects) pushing him in his wheelchair. Matt then grinned at me and introduced me to Leslie. I found out that Leslie really wanted a Zombie Portrait done of her, and I was more than happy to do it. She explained that she wanted to send it off to Rob Zombie as a joke, because she was always trying to convince him to do a third film where the House of 1000 Corpses family comes back as zombies.

 

Leslie Easterbrook with Zombie Portrait

Matt Essary and Leslie Easterbrook

 

 

 

Later in the convention Matt brought Walter Phelan (aka Dr. Satan from House of 1000 Corpses) over to my booth, and he wanted a Zombie Portrait too! I was super pumped and when I finished and brought it to him I dropped to one knee threw up the devil hand signs and did the classic “Dr. Satan” high pitched yell from the movie. Walter was a really cool guy, and we chatted for a bit about the various behind the scenes stories from the movies he’s been in.

 

Walter Phelan with Zombie Portrait

 

 

The other highlight of Scarefest was being positioned across from Matt and The Insect Kingdom. Matt runs a business of framed butterflies, scorpions, beetles, bats, and various animal skulls. Needless to say I spent most of the weekend eyeing the skulls and the bats. As an artist I’m always looking for good references and it doesn’t get much better than owning your own bat! Matt was a super cool guy and I am thoroughly happy with my new bat and cat skull. All you artists out there should really check out his website the reference potential is amazing.

 

Me and my Framed Bat

 

 

In addition to the awesome celebrity endorsements and my new bat, I had the pleasure of zombiefying about 30 folks at Scarefest! I also sold one original inked drawing of the Death Jester and several prints and magnets of my art.

A big thanks to Scott and Matt for helping me man my booth! I couldn’t have done it without you guys!

For more examples of my zombie art at Scare Fest 2009 check out my Facebook photo album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106970&id=680083591&l=3c35f6e1a2

Gen Con 2009 Part 2 (Critiques!)

After talking with a few different artists I met at Hypericon I was highly encouraged to enter the Gen Con Art Show. I managed to purchase the last art booth for Gen Con about a week before submissions closed! And boy am I glad I did!

In addition to drawing a ton of Zombie Portraits I also had the privilege to go through several portfolio reviews by some really talented artists and art directors at the con. What was especially cool for me was that a couple of the artists had reviewed my portfolio at other conventions last year, and it was great to get some confirmation that I was improving. The other thing I found interesting was that once again I noticed a trend in the comments I was getting.

I want to take just a moment to talk about getting critiques, as I have done quite a lot of them in this last year. A close friend of mine, who is an aspiring writer, asked me a great question on critiques that I want to share.

 

“When taking a critique how do you know what feedback is valid and what to ignore?”

Like all things in the creative field to a certain degree you have to go with your gut. In the end art is about expression and as an artist it is specifically about YOUR expression. That said it is more than likely that the person you have asked to look at your work is either a professional in your field who’s work you admire or a art director/editor who you want to work for. That means that in your chosen field they know more than you! Take just a moment to let that stew, swallow your pride, and remember to listen. Don’t defend yourself, and let your work speak for itself.

If you can do all that then very likely you will get some good feedback. Ideally you will show your work to multiple people, and over time you will find that all these different people, with different styles and ideas of the own, keep saying the same things. Those are the comments to hold onto, and hold them tight. Right them down analyze them, and really take them to heart. In the end one person’s opinion may be a fluke or might not gel with what you’re trying to do, but when several people from different backgrounds keep saying the same thing… take the clue.

For me at Gen Con this year I once again saw certain comments about my work made to me again and again. In the past I’ve gone through and detailed each individual critique, but this time I’m going to speak on them in a collective.

The first comment I got a lot was, “Better Anatomy.” I need to work more with models, references, and really nail down the anatomy in a sketch. I need to make sure my figures don’t flatten out when I ad clothing, focusing on the roundness of form. I kept hearing that I was close, but just not there yet.

The second comment I kept getting was that I needed to pay attention to my “Values and Color.” My black and white stuff was fine, but when I moved into color I often lost depth in the image by using the same value of colors throughout the piece. I needed to do a black and white under drawing, before moving into color.

The third and final comment I received a lot was that I needed to work on my “Textures.” I need to make sure that wood, leather, and skin all react differently to light. Specifically making sure that the shadows don’t flatten out the piece.

All in all I felt really good about the critiques I received. I was told pretty much universally that my Explorer illustration was my best, but that the values in my Silia illustration where good, and the color in the Dwarf Surveyor illustration was where I did the best job of blending. So if I can combine better values and color with the dynamic composition of the Explorer than I will be in a good place.

Once again I found all the critiques very energizing and I can’t wait to do some more drawing and painting.

A special thanks to all the folks at Gen Con who critiqued my work:

John Tyler Christopher (Illustrator)

Randy Gallegos (Illustrator)

Jim Pinto (Art Director for AEG)

Wayne Reynolds (Illustrator)

Sarah Robinson (Art Director for Paizo’s Pathfinder)

Jon Schindehette (Art Director for Wizards of the Coast)

Chris Seaman (Illustrator)

Ben Thompson (Creative Developer for Blizzard)

Richard Whitters (Lead Concept Artist for Magic the Gathering)

Gen Con 2009: The Con of 85 Zombies!

I know that in the epic fashion of horror film 85 zombies does not seem like a lot, but for me it was a horde! Let me start of by saying that Gen Con was a Blast! It was one of the best administered conventions I have participated in, largely thanks to Barbara the art show director. Let me pause here a moment to give Barbara a big round of applause!

::Applause!!!::

 

Sam Flegal's Gen Con 2009 Booth

For me Gen Con officially started at 9am Wednesday August 12^th. My wife Loraine, my friend Sarah Roush, and I all pilled into my car and drove to Indianapolis, Indiana. We arrived in the afternoon and immediately set to finding the art show and setting up my booth. We hung up and arranged all my framed pieces, we organized my prints, and gussied up my table. A big thanks to my wife and her mad decorative skills and Sarah for her help! As we did at Hypericon we put up a sign advertising Zombie Portraits. Little did I know how big a difference in my weekend this would make!

 

By the time Gen Con was over I had drawn over 60 Zombie Portraits, which totaled to 85 individual Zombies!!! The most popular item by far, was the Couples Zombie Portrait. Geeks in love are a beautiful thing, but I also did fathers and their children, families, friends, and roommates. I literally could not draw fast enough to keep up with the impending Zombie Horde.

 

Angry Zombie

 

 

On Thursday, our slowest day, I did a few Zombie Portraits and also sold a framed piece. As people would walk by they would say, “Zombie Portraits… what a neat idea.” On Friday I did twice as many Zombie Portraits, discovering that key was in a camera. When I’ve done Zombie Portraits in the past, I had people sit a talk with me while I drew their portrait. At Gen Con however people were always on the move, going to their next game, or event, or shopping, etc… So thanks to my wife’s love of photography we started taking peoples pictures and telling them they could come back later to pick up the finished Zombie Portrait.

This option was REALY popular. At first I was drawing directly from my wife’s digital camera screen. My friend, Adam Doochin, came by and saw me hunched over the tiny screen and took pity on me. He happened to bring his amazing Mac laptop, and told me I could use it for the weekend. I was in business!!!

 

Zombie Youth

 

 

On Saturday things were CRAZY. We had tones of folks swarming the booth asking for Zombie Portraits. It got to the point where I had so much to draw, that I had to stop talking with people. Loraine (my wife) took over as my manager. She talked with people, took their photos, wrote down their information, and noted special requests (you know things like missing an eye, or licking someone’s brain). Loraine was AWESOME!!! There is no doubt in my mind that I could not have done it without her. Thank You Sweetie!

Saturday night we had so many requests that I was drawing zombies until 2 am! I did manage to find the time to spend an hour at the White-Wolf party hanging with some old friends and my other artist friends. I was able to teach my fellow artist Sarah Frary all the proper hand signals to be a werewolf, after which it was back to drawing zombies!

On Sunday I was a Zombie! Thanks to Sarah Roush I was able to eat breakfast. I continued to draw zombies throughout the day, but as people walked past the booth their comments had changed. People would say, “Oh look it’s the Zombie Portrait guy, I’ve heard of him.” Apparently news travels fast in tiny Gen Con Town. Cool!

Some of the more interesting Zombie Portrait requests included a couple who wanted Santa Hats on their Zombies because they were going to use it as their Christmas card this year, a gaming group who all wanted to pose together, and guy who collected images of characters knitting, for whom I drew a zombie knitting a scarf from the hair of a severed head.

 

Christmas Card Zombies

 

 

I was truly honored and overwhelmed by the response I got from the fans at Gen Con. I had no idea my Zombie Portraits would be so successful. Thanks to each and every person who gave me the opportunity to bring them into the world of the undead!

With the success of Gen Con I am officially looking for other Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror conventions to do Zombie Portraits at. If you or friend knows of an event please drop me a line via my website: www.samflegal.com

However, this only scratches the surface of my Gen Con experience more to come on the awesome artists I met, my artist friends who I got to hang out with again, and the numerous portfolio reviews I went through. Stay Tuned…