Pencil Sketching

As a point of counterbalance to my previous entry on digital sketching, I thought I’d show how I mostly sketch with old fashioned analog graphite pencil on paper made from real trees.

This illustration I did in March for Glow Health Digest Magazine was for an article about household allergens. Specifically directed, the concept called for a cute, hypoallergenic dog in a bedroom setting. After doing some research on dogs, I decided to do a Chinese Crested Hairless as they’re so darn ugly they’re cute.

You’ll see two sketches above. The first one just didn’t have enough exaggeration in style and paid more attention to the room than to the dog. Sketch number two overcame those shortcomings and became the template for the final render.

As for the process of pencil sketching as preliminary work for digital painting, I start with light sketch lines on paper to get a general composition down. If a good composition escapes me or if I just want to explore some general layout ideas, a round of very small, quick thumbnails will lock down an idea. After the light line work for the composition is down, I go in with darker lines and define a bit more detail. Now I don’t go crazy with detail or add shading, I just want enough to convey the idea to the Art Director for approval. After all, the clock is ticking toward an inescapable deadline (yikes!).

Once the sketch is completed, I scan it in to the computer and email a JPEG to my client for approval. Once approved, I use the scan as a template to create the finished art in Photoshop by keeping it as a translucent, multiplied layer above the artwork while I block in shapes and color underneath. As I finish out the details of the work, I refer to the scanned sketch less and less as the art becomes more finished. So you see, the sketch acts like sort of a crutch to help the final artwork learn to get up, limp along, and finally walk on it’s own. Or maybe it’s more like a mother sparrow gently nudging it’s tiny baby out of the nest where it can finally fly on its own in all its wonderful sky-bound glory. Yeah…

Digital Sketching

I came across these icons I illustrated for an article on contraceptive technologies in Popular Science last March and thought it might be interesting to show that although I use good ‘ol pencil and paper to do most of my sketches, I sometimes sketch on the computer.

I can quickly generate shapes and repeating objects for the sketch than doing it by hand. It might seem odd, but I’m most comfortable using the mouse (instead of my drawing tablet) to draw vector lines in Adobe Illustrator. The handiest part is that in many cases I can pull the vector lines and shapes from the sketch and bring them into Adobe Photoshop to use as masks as I render the final art.

My approach is the same as with pencil and paper. I begin blocking in areas and shapes with light lines to get the general, rough composition down, and then I draw over them in more detail in darker lines.

So, why the blue lines you might ask? When I started working way back when before computers were so tightly integrated into the workflow of graphic arts, we used non-photo blue pencils to sketch and layout compositions in our black and white line art illustrations. Of course, we would come back in, ink the final art directly over the blue line sketch, and shoot it on the photo-stat camera for reproduction. As you can guess, the ink lines appear in the reproduction, while the blue pencil lines do not. I really love the editable feel and freedom of using this color of blue for line sketching. You could say, my relationship with the blue pencil in sketching is very much like the relationship Linus van Pelt has with his blue blanket in Peanuts. Even if it is a digital blue pencil.

39 Candles

Occassionally, I’ll blog about some diversions I take to break up the isolative nature of creating visual artwork. Often times, that diversion entails a collaborative endeavor in inventive audio of breaking out the guitars and drums and rocking with friends. See Raising the Goblet of Rock.

A few weeks ago, my good friend Mark had his 39th birthday, so we celebrated the evening with a tasty-sweet jam session with cousin Aaron Von Drum Meister and rock heavy lifter Mister Dan. As I’ve mentioned before, these are completely unrehearsed live collaborations—playing solely by feel, intuition, and spontaneous inspiration, these sessions are loose and rough around the edges, but there are moments of unpredictably amazing synergy.

As always, we record the session and relive the moments via audio playback at our convenience for three to six weeks until the next jam night comes upon us where the magic happens all over again. Below are a few select tracks just to share a taste of these special, creative moments with you.

Tunnel Running | Strut | Spiral Basketcase | The Descent

Flying High With Style

Recently I got to do this cover for Sustainable Industries—a periodical who’s been gracious enough to commission covers and feature artwork from me over the last few years through creative collaboration with Bryan Potter Design.

You’ll notice this artwork deviates much from my usual style. This is much more flat, graphic, and makes use of simple ink outlines. It looks very much like gouache paint with ink brush linework, but I assure you, it’s all digital.

As an artist, it’s a treat to experiment and explore a new approach, and it’s meaningful when your client trusts you enough to suggest a different style and be able to pull it off. It’s also a nice change of pace to do something different—to break up the routine a bit and try something new is good for the soul. We were all stoked with how the artwork came out.

So be sure to click the image above to check out the zoomed artwork. You’ll be able to see more of the natural media texture and linework. Click on cropped close-up to the right to get an even-closer look at the gritty details, including the curls in the man’s hair.

|  Cover Art  |  Cover Close-Up  |

|  Sustainable Industries  |  Bryan Potter Design

LCS Interview

If you’re not in the know on what THE illustration portal site is in the industry where you can check out latest in commercial art news, trends, and artworks, you need to bookmark it: www.TheLittleChimpSociety.com.

My favorite part of the site is reading some of the interviews of some of the terrific artists out there, and not too long ago, LCS invited me (of all people!) to do an interview as well.

It is odd going on and on about yourself in an interview like that. At first you’re awkwardly aware that you’re shelving your gracious humility and cautiously unlocking the iron gates to your deepest thoughts for all to know. By the end of it, you’re freely blabbing on about every insignificant detail that comes to mind thinking of the next thing to say while you’re still verbalizing the last thought with a stirring confidence knowing that everyone’s just going to love hearing what you think about this or that. Yeeesh, it’s so narcissistic yet surprisingly satisfying to the soul.

Well, in that vein, without further ado, allow myself to share my bloviations in this LCS interview about…uh…myself :

http://thelittlechimpsociety.com/theape/lcs-interview-tyson-mangelsdorf/

The Deal

As many of you who know, I’ve been very, very busy the last six weeks or so, which has just been great!

The project that kicked off this lastest series of uninterrupted projects was this cover art I got to do for the Deal Magazine in February. It was for a feature about the deals of 2007 which turned out to be quite a carnival of transactions.

My good associate, Larry Gendron, who art directed this project is always faithful in providing a general concept and letting me run with it. Art Directors like that really get the best out of artists like me when they offer such creative freedom. It really allows me to think in terms of what we can do vs. what we can’t do, which in turn allows the imagination to creep past unknown boundaries and come up with something special.

Be sure to click the image above to see the zoomed artwork. You’ll note it’s a wide format and has more elements than appears on the cover above as they used it inside the magazine to accompany the feature. You also might notice that the look of this artwork has a bit more of a natural, less polished look than usual, which was on purpose and a bit outside the box for me but served the concept just great. Click on the cat to the right to see a close-up of the gritty details.

The Unknown Award

The other day, I was on the phone with an Art Director friend of mine discussing a project when he mentioned, "Oh, by the way Tyson—you remember that cover we did a few months back? Well, it won some kind of an award or something."

I could hear him fumbling through the papers on his desk until he finally came across the information.

It turns out The Custom Publishing Council gave the magazine cover he Art Directed and I Illustrated a 2007 Gold award in its Design category for distribution of 250,000 or more for Best Use of Illustration. I must say, this made my day as it was a surprising slap of pure pleasure to know your work can win awards behind your back when you’re not even looking.

In fact, it churns up quite a bit of hope in my soul to think that right now out there someone might be awarding some grand prize to an illustration I’ve long forgotten about. Perhaps it even a cash prize award…mmmmm….

These are the good times, people.

Idea-Design Interview

Recently I was interviewed by the folks at Idea-Design Magazine for their Idea Illustrator 19 February 2008 issue, which just arrived at my doorstep last week. This 112 page magazine with its thick, glossy coated pages is packed with some terrific artists from around the world and I’m honored to appear on the table of contents for the Special Interview section and be one of six artists featured in the entire issue.

That said, I need to mention the book is created in Taiwan and distributed internationally, so all the text is a combination of Mandarin Chinese and English, but mostly Chinese. So I don’t know exactly what anything says in the entire issue except for certain pronouns like CorelDraw X3, MOTORAZR2, and Tyson Mangelsdorf. That’s okay—I’m sure my interview has a positive spin, right?

Martin French also appears in this issue, who had his art appear at the Pixel Show last Summer, and his work looks terrific on the printed pages. That leads me to believe they may have come across the both of us from the Pixel Art Show Web site and checked out our respective Web sites from there. But, who knows…

The actual interview took place before I had updated the portfolio on my Pixelgarden Web site, and they requested specific pieces from the old site for the layout. Accordingly, the article doesn’t feature some of the latest works, but they made them look absolutely amazing by displaying them large on solid crimson across ten pages. Ten pages!

I do have the interview transcript before it was edited for the magazine. If you have some time to check it out, I just ramble on about how great I am and such, but you might just find out something out about me you didn’t know before.

Well, that’s enough about me. What do you think about me?

Pre-edit Interview | Scanned Magazine Spreads | Idea-Design Magazine

El Goog

Many aspects of today’s culture pass me by as I putter along in the slow lane on the freeway of technology. I’m sure most of you know this already, as it was created in 2002 by the folks at All Too Flat, but my son showed me last night the Google mirror—literally "mirror"—site aptly called elgooG. The site actually renders all the text backwards from right to left and you have to enter search terms backwards to get accurate results. Very funny and very clever!

My admiration slowly melted into a quiet envy as I’ve been working on my own Web site redesign off and on for the last few months and have been trying to come up with some clever ideas of my own. Fore example, I’ve thought about displaying an icon under the heading of "Tyson’s Current Mood," which might take quite some set-up time to design the 1293 icons for each distinct emotion I encounter each day. Admitedly, designing simplified graphical symbols for feelings like "Creatively Stubborn" or "Thirsty for Inspiration" or "Drunk with Peace and Good Will" might be a bit of a challenge.

I also could do daily tutorials, like how to paint happy trees like Bob Ross or illustrate portraits of melancholic ambivolence in classic Baroque style. Although, creating daily tutorials might cut into my work day which eventually might negate my ability to actually fund the Pixelgarden Web site.

I could get more interactive and do regular polls like "Guess What Tyson’s Wearing Today in the Studio" or "Rate Your Favorite Photoshop Brush." Or how about "Does Digital Art Suck Compared To Real Art?" or "Which Pixelgarden Staff Member was Late to Work Today?" That could be fun, but would I be able to keep coming up with relevant questions? After all who wants to read a poll where only three people are voting? Let’s face it, with fewer than ten voters, the results can get skewed very easily. That’s not very scientific.

Although you can see I have some very creatively intriguing ideas, they’re not quite settling. So, I turn my glossy-eyed gaze to you.

Are there any ideas you think would make the Pixelgarden a better residence on the virtual streets of the internet? Are there any clever bits of info you’d like to see? Are there any twists or angles that would draw folks in on a regular basis? I’d love to wring your brain like a wet wash cloth and the let the rain of ideas fertilize the interactive soil…er, uh…I’d really like to hear your ideas no matter how far fetched. Just let me know.

Let’s get creative people!

The Advertising Conundrum

I was tidying up the myriad of clutter in my studio today when my eye caught the Directory of Illustration No. 24 patiently slumbering under a bedcover of folders and papers since December. I picked up the thick hardcover book for a moment and made my way to page 256 to review my ad page once more before I will shelve it amongst my other beloved source books. I have to be honest, it is a terrific looking page showcasing my favorite illustration of last year, Dreamscape. I couldn’t be happier with how it looks on the printed page.

Periodically, I receive a call or e-mail from an artist in another part of the country who is considering paying for space in one of these illustration source books. The question arises, "Is it worth it?" After all, it is a very high quality book shipped to thousands of Art Directors and Designers all over the country, but it’s not an inexpensive endeavor and you’re flanked by hundreds of other artists competing for attention.

In this I can only answer from my own experience. Whenever I initially converse with a new client, I ask how they found me. Often, it’s from places I advertise, not only source books like The Directory, but also their respective Web sites and others like The iSpot and Portfolios.com. This helps me rank in a real-world sense the number of jobs getting commissioned from which source. For example, when my ad budget was a bit constricted last year, I decided not to advertise in the book that provided the least commissioned referrals.

There’s also an indirect factor that exists as well. In one case, a client said they found me in one of the source books, pinned up my page, and hired me two years later when the right project came along. There are cases where Art Directors see my page pinned up in someone’s office (like the previous case), look me up on the Web, and bookmark my site for future reference as well.

Now, don’t be fooled. You don’t suddenly start getting hundreds of calls once the book is published and distributed. Many creative professionals stash these books upon delivery and pull them out to review artists for a project in progress or simply to conjure up some creative inspiration. In this way, chronology comes out of the equation a bit as many folks keep these high quality books for several years, making long-term commitment an important consideration. Some years I can count the number of new source-book-referred clients on one hand, but many become loyal, repeat customers, which adds up over the years.

In the end, advertising in the source books is just one of the arms of my marketing octopus continually reaching out to grasp potential clients in a deep dark sea of potential art buyers. Upon reflection, I’m grateful as it has helped build my business over the years client by client, job by job. I find it has been well worth the investment of time and money.

Now, as I pry open a 3-inch wide space on the shelf and ease the heavy book into its place amongst the elite, bound collections of pages showcasing some of the country’s finest artists, I become introspective and think to myself:

I wonder if some creative right now in America—you know, in some expensively prestigious design studio in some fancy metropolis out there—is gazing deeply into page 256 of this very edition, contemplating the style and execution of my Dreamscape, saying to himself, "I gotta call this guy and see if he’s available to work on my upcoming project…"

Then, after seating the book back fully in line with the others, I go back to my desk and arrive at the sobering reality that I’m way behind on several projects. I should get back to work. But then the phone rings….