Copyright Notice


All images, photos, and video excluding advertising and google generated content, or unless otherwise labeled, are Copyright Jephyr (Jeff Curtis). All Rights Reserved.

These images are not in the public domain. Contact me for licensing terms and pricing.

Unauthorized or unlicensed use for all commercial and personal applications is prohibited.





Sunday, August 21, 2016

Drawings Galore! Jephyr's August 2016 Sektchbook Dump! : )


Hello!

I've been going though my sketchbook and picking out a few of my drawings to add here.

I'll start with some "lighter" fare and then get on to some "darker" schtuffz below.


"Hey Baby" - Copyright 2016 - Jephyr!


^ ^ ^  I'm still drawing a lot of wacky faces—and am still on the "hulking doods" kick too.

As I've mentioned before, I start a lot of drawings by scribbling on the page.

Then I usually erase a bit and then scribble some more.

As I repeat that process, I'm looking for shapes that jump out at me that "lead" me to interesting subjects and drawings that I might not come up with otherwise.

The guy above came about after I did a quick scribble.

After a bit I started to see this guys eyes and nose and then—when I saw the big ole mustachio—I KNEW I was on the way.


: P

"Drake" - Copyright 2016 - Jephyr!


^ ^ ^  One night I was sketching with a friend and this rapper, mallard-dood came flying out of a "scribble."

Get it?  Flying!

I'll be here all week.........

hahaha

I'll admit there's more than a little "Daffy Duck" influence on this one—but it was done without any references—so I'll just hafta blame all those years of watching TV when I was a kid!


"Karen" - Copyright - 2016 - Jephyr!


^ ^ ^  Before anyone accuses me of sexism with the caption for the drawing above—I'll let you know what the inspiration was for it.

One night I was talking to a young woman and she asked me what I liked to do.

I told her I was all about art and photography—and then asked her what she liked to do.

She thought for a moment and said, "I like to shop and hang out with my friends."

The next day I drew "Karen" and added the caption thinking about the young woman from the night before.


"Opie P.I." - Copyright 2016 - Jephyr!

^ ^ ^  I decided to call the little guy in the drawing above: Opie P.I.—figuring he'd be the most unlikely tough-guy, private detective you'd ever meet.

(Clearly, I entertain very easily!)

: D
"Padre Mendacitti" - Copyright 2016 - Jephyr!

^ ^ ^  I don't have a clue what part of my brain this guy came from—but I did have fun naming him.

" /

A friend gave me a book called "Art and the Bible" by Francis Schaeffer, and he writes about art having both "major and minor keys"—and that the Christian artist should be able to use both in their creations—and that ultimately an artist cannot be judged by a single work, but by the sum of all the work they create in their lifetime.

That spoke to my spirit and has freed me to create all kinds of light and dark subjects.

Since I plan to create a graphic novel about the "end of days"—and will need to populate it with all kinds of characters and creatures—for now I'm allowing my subconscious freedom to bring out a lot of different images.

In this post—I will admit my drawings lean towards darker themes however.


"Spurtz" - Copyright - 2016 - Jephyr!

^ ^ ^  I'll let the captions above speak for this one—I call him "Spurtz!"

: )

"Voodla Beast" - Copyright - 2016 - Jephyr!

^ ^ ^  Dunno why—but I've done several bird type creatures with a massive bill like the one on this guy.

It started as a scribble and I got the head done fairly quickly.

Then I struggle to get a body I liked.

I began with kind of a stocky, stubby, bulky body and kept trying and trying to re-work it to get something that "felt" right.

Finally I decided to give up on that direction and took an eraser to what I had on the body at that point—and once I did that, in fairly short order I came up with the elongated version you see above.

Since there is no "undo" in a sketchbook—I call that kind of eraser use a "bravery test"—after the late, and much loved painter Bob Ross who coined that expression.


"W'azzat" - Copyright - 2016 - Jephyr!

^ ^ ^  Since it's a skull creature—I'll admit this one is similar to the one above.—but even when I go "dark" my work still (more often than not) winds up kinda "cartoony."

This "evil wild boar" look has also made appearances in other characters I've done as well.

This one also began life as a scribble sketch.


"Webster" - Copyright - 2016 - Jephyr!

^ ^ ^  I'll end with this drawing.

Again—it began as another scribble—and I eventually ended up with this squat looking fellow.

Recently I saw a photo of a Hillary Clinton's minion—Webster Hubbell—and thought my character looked a lot like him—So I'm calling this one "Webster."

--------------------------------

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Please feel free to leave a comment and join my blog before you head out—and please close the door—I have the AC on.

: D

God Bless!






Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Petition: Fraudulent Book About Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell Painting - Shuffleton's Barbershop - 1950
Norman Rockwell Painting - Shuffleton's Barbershop - 1950


Hi!

I just read Norman Rockwell's granddaughter's accounts of the very fraudulent, dishonest account of Rockwell's life in a supposed "biography" by Deborah Solomon.

The author of the book fabricates material in a dishonest attempt to portray Rockwell as not only a homosexual but as also as having pedophilic tendencies.

You can read both of her protests about the book on The Huffington Post.

Deborah Solomon’s Disaster (and How She Duped So Many):


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/abigail-rockwell/deborah-solomon-norman-rockwell-disaster_b_5607745.html

Autopsy of a Fraud: Update on Deborah Solomon’s Disastrous Norman Rockwell Bio


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/abigail-rockwell/deborah-solomon-norman-rockwell-falsifications_b_6705134.html

Acclaimed artist James Gurney also wrote about the controversy on his blog and gives a link to a petition you can sign to have this book removed from the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts (who have been promoting and selling this awful book) and I've included the direct links below.

When you read Rockwell's granddaughter's accounts on The Huffington Post your blood will boil at the absolute disregard the author has for the truth—not to mention that her publisher and the media are complicit in promoting this book.
 
If you would like to join me in signing the petition just follow either link.

You can also help by sharing it with your family and friends or posting it as I have done.

Here are the petition links:

https://www.change.org/p/ceo-norman-rockwell-museum-stop-promoting-selling-a-fraudulent-biography-of-norman-rockwell





Monday, August 8, 2016

Inspirational Video & Paintings: Chris Mars - "Painted Saints"


Painting Copyright - Chris Mars - http://www.chrismarspublishing.com/
Painting Copyright - Chris Mars - http://www.chrismarspublishing.com/


Hi!

I saw "Painted Saints" last night on PBS —a very interesting short documentary on an amazing painter, Chris Mars—and it is embedded below.

Some may be familiar with Mars' time as a drummer for the band The Replacements.

I'm only vaguely familiar with their music and story—but was blown away by Mars' current artistic efforts.

He talks about his early days with the band and shares that sometime along the way he became interested in painting and couldn't wait to get off the road to get back to it—eventually focusing solely on that.

He reflects on the frustration of his early efforts but kept working on it until he began to master the craft of painting—something most (all?) aspiring artists can relate to.

His work has a very "dark" feel to it and while definitely remaining original—reminds me of Hieronymus Bosch and HR Giger paintings.

Paintings Copyright - Chris Mars - http://www.chrismarspublishing.com/
Paintings Copyright - Chris Mars - http://www.chrismarspublishing.com/

Mars reveals that his older brother's battles with schizophrenia greatly affected him and themes related to that run through his art—and statements about his art on his website really help add to an understanding of his images.

http://www.chrismarspublishing.com/statement.html

I hope you enjoy this short video as much as I did and that you'll also feel inspired to chase after whatever gifts and interests you have with all your might.




Friday, August 5, 2016

Video Tutorial: 10 Tips to Drawing Horses - By Bobby Chiu


Video Screen Captures:  10 Tips to Drawing Horses by Bobby Chiu
Three Screen Captures From The Video Below



Hello!

Quite awhile ago, when I was first struggling to learn how to digitally paint I came across a YouTube video by Bobby Chiu.

In that tutorial, Bobby drew an image real-time and talked in a sort of stream of conscious way about art and staying motivated.

I have to admit I learned a lot from just that one video and patterned a lot of my early digital art efforts on what he had taught in that lesson.

Fast forward many years and I came across another tutorial by Bobby that he just published—and he has not only developed a great deal as an artist since I first discovered him—but his teaching and delivery has really improved as well.

The video is called 10 Tips to Drawing Horses and I learned a bunch from it—and so I thought I'd share it here.

If you've struggled at all with understanding how to draw a horse, Chiu gives a lot of great, simplified but very helpful tips about the anatomy and structure of a horse—while throwing in some very useful drawing tips too.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!











Thanks for stopping by!

God Bless!





Monday, August 1, 2016

New Lion Pastel: "His Royal Highness"


Hi,

Last year I went to the Phoenix zoo and captured a great shot of the male lion they have there with my Canon EOS 5D Mark II and the new Canon 100-300mm L lens.

The lion's name is Kitambi and he is a regal beast indeed.

In the last few days I decided to give a go at creating a pastel drawing of him and thought I'd share what I've done so far.

It was done on grey paper and is approximately 18 x 24".

I'll still call this a work in progress and in fact have worked a bit on it since I made this post and will update with a final pic when it feeels done.


Pastel:  His Royal Highness - Copyright 2016, Jephyr!
Work In Progress Pastel:  His Royal Highness - Copyright 2016

Thanks as always for stopping by!

See ya soon!