Danger's Art Pad

Danger's Art Pad

Monday, September 30, 2013

TImpanogos sketch


Today in my Plein Air painting class, we went up Provo Canyon to paint. The scenery was astounding, as it always is up there, and I was in such awe with it all that I didn't even want to haul out all my paints; I just sort of sat on the ground and let it all soak in. I'd like to go back and paint sometime this week, but I did this little value sketch in my sketchbook just to get an impression of what was there. 

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Sunday Sign Painting #4- BFA!


There sure are a lot of us. (Sorry for the grainy pic, my cell phone camera was all I had on hand, and it's a little old)

Tuesday, September 24, 2013


Little sketch from class today. Spent a lot of time sitting in the grass in front of Nate and Kia's place this Summer. 

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Sunday Sign Painting #3- Live Fast, Die Young!


Here's this week's sign, one that I had to hurry through a little more than I had planned, like last week. As you can see from the Stabilo scribbles , I had some trouble deciding how I wanted to lay out the "Die Young" portion. Another issue on this one was painting on raw masonite, which sucked up the 1shot and made the whole thing pretty difficult. Still fun though. Approx. 12"x 24"

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Logos for Rocky Mountain Tie and Timber




I was very excited to get to design a logo for a Boise company, Rocky Mountain Tie and Timber. They wanted something sort of old-timey, and this is what I came up with. Both the large and small shield are to go on the back and front of a company t-shirt. All of the art and text were done by hand in ink on Bristol. I'm looking forward to seeing how they look on cotton, screened by my pal Ken up in Idaho. If I can get my hands on one of the shirts, I'll put a picture up. 

Sunday Signs #2- Tiptoooooe through the Tulips with Meeeeee


Tonight's Sunday Sign pays tribute to one of my Father's favorite musicians, Tiny Tim (Just kidding, Dad). For anyone who hasn't, you should see the great terrifying effect to which this song was used in the trailer for the second Insidious movie. Main item I wanted to practice tonight was the use of serifs, which I hadn't really done before (at least not large serifs on a Roman alphabet). Not quite as difficult as I had imagined, but still not super easy. Hopefully next week, I'll have more time and will be able to do at least some drop shadows or something. DON'T MISS IT!

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Sunday Sign Paintings #1- "L"s


During the last Winter Semester, I painted a head study every Sunday evening in an effort to improve my head painting skills. It was a marginally successful exercise, but it was fun and at least kept me busy doing nuts and bolts stuff, which is good for me. This semester, I want to increase my proficiency in an area I've been half-assedly pursuing since I was 15: sign painting. I've produced a number of hand-lettered things in the 10 years that have passed since I first got my hands on 1shot (though I didn't get my first lettering quills until I was 18, having initially purchased the 1shot in Jr. High in my zeal to become the next VonDutch), but while many of them have had admirable qualities, I've never quite accomplished a sign that didn't have at least one or two glaring flaws (not the human errors and organic imperfections that make sign painting worthwhile, mind you, but mistakes that hurt the overall presentation). I hope to remedy that this semester by doing something I've never really done as a sign painter: practice. With no exception I can think of, every sign I've ever painted (or leather jacket, or flask, helmet, what have you) has been a piece that I've created as a finished work, for sale or display. I've never spent any real time creating signs I could just letter, then toss, stuff no one would really have to see (I'm aware of the irony of posting these practice pieces on the internet). So, this Sunday, it begins.

This week's theme: the letter "L". As I am left handed (which presents a whole slew of issues), I letter from right to left, so my hand doesn't smear the paint. This means the "L" in "LIKE", was the last one I painted. The 3 "E"'s in the sign provided the same practice I was looking for. Not quite there yet, but I figured out some things I wanted to, which was good. Tune in next week for more SIGNAGE!