The Rochester Postcard Project Version 2 //post#1

 So - as I have mentioned recently I am working on producing a book titled the Rochester Postcard Project.  I am right now in the throws of blitzing through 35 birds eye view maps to go with each postcard I have done.  To go with that book I did this poster to help promote the book.   Possibly to become a fold out in the book.  I will post here a review of each postcard and the map that goes with it.  So starting with the one furthest north, following the order I put them on the map here, I start with Charlotte Beach.

 This was done during a concert on the beach. During a break I went down to the beach since it was sunset and quickly blocked this piece in with some hints of the colors.  I took it home and finished it there.  I just loved the colors that the sun cast at this time of day.

The map is an overview of the entire beach. This use to be an amusement park before the turn of the century and the only part left of that park is the merry go round under the square roof on the top right of the map and the large community sports center in the bottom left.

Kissing the Sky

 

 So - I was forced further into the 21st century because I wanted to submit artwork to NASA - yes NASA - They were calling for artwork that would be digitally placed on the space ship "Osiris Rex" that will be launching in September to travel to,collect samples from the asteroid "Bennu" and return that sample to earth. To submit the work to them is was only through Twitter - so I set up my own starter Twitter page. Here is the piece I created in 3 hours in colored pencil

Minted

I am trying out a new venue for my work. It is a company called Minted. They produce cards and postcards along with prints both poster and canvas prints. Below is the first one I am submitting to them. This a customer voted contest. If I am picked then my work will be available for resale in the formats mentioned. Please go to the link on the side to vote on this piece for me. Your help is very much appreciated

Portfolio

 (General Rader/Pencil)

Most of my life I have been an artist.  from an early age my Grandmother Guldenschuh took time to sit me down and tutor me in the basics of art and how to view the world around me.  Very quickly I developed an obsession with detail. I had to make sure it was all there when I drew something.  That was both a blessing and curse.  A blessing in that I would not stop till I got a work right and a curse in that I sometimes would take too long.

I worked through that when I began drawing to have my art published and began dealing with deadlines.  I took up sketching to teach myself how to be quick and I forced myself to not linger too long any one piece.

(Museum exhibit at BSA event, Pen and Ink and Colored Pencil)

My formal training as an artist was as an art major at Asbury College.  That was 1981 - 85 so therefore back when computer graphics did not exist.  I learned it all by hand, old school.  That gave me a foundation not only in design and format, but also in the importance of relying on your own talent and training - not the tools.  I took that philosophy with me into the US Army.

(Article illustration,Buenas Noticias magazine,Pen and Ink)

Having that as my core belief has helped me develop a style all my own.  With the advent of digital graphics programs I have been forced to teach myself some of those tools, however I still begin ALL my work by hand.  Even the work that appears to be all hand work gets some work done in photoshop to clean it up.

(Vehicle Decal for 19th Cav Regiment, Pencil to Digital)

Each time I begin a new project with a style I have not worked in before I take the time to work out the details and the materials needed.  It is why I work in such a wide range of styles.  

(Xmas Cover/Buenas Noticias,Pencil to Digital)










                                                                                     (Easter Cover/Buenas Noticias,Pencil to Digital)

When asked to provide multiple illustrations for the same issue of the magazine Buenas Noticias I made a point of creating artwork that was completely different from one article to the next - trying to create a seperate "feel" for each article.

(Buenas Noticias, Pen and Ink to Digital)

(Buenas Noticias, Pen and Ink to Digital)

                                     

(Buenas Noticias, Pen and Ink to Digital)

 My clients have included the Salvation Army, the US Army the Boy Scouts, the Landmark Society of Western NY and many others.

(Buenas Noticias,Pen and Ink)

 (Buenas Noticias,Pen and Ink)

                                                        (Logo for Restaurant,Pen and Ink to Digital)










(Temple Building/Landmark Society,Pen and Ink)

 (19th Cav. Regimental Crest,Texas State Guard,Pen and Ink to Digital)

                  

 (Camp Massawepie,Boy Scouts,Pen and Ink to Digital) 

              

(The Academy building,Rochester NY, Landmark Society, Colored Pencil and Water Color)

Snap Shots by Hand Day 13

Some people make more of an impression then others. Granted I have seen thousands of people in this city. After so many how can they make that impression.

It is exactly why I draw them. I look for something to strike me and I draw them. That way - even years later - I can tell something about them just by glancing at the drawing I did of them. The drawing itself becomes my memory trigger.

These drawings are a record of my own mind as well as my own skill. It is the apitome of what a journal is for. Check out these two below.

 

 
Now I travel at 6 am in the morning - when I go to the call center to work. Because of that I can recognize all the people that ride with me. This woman works in the IT dept for U of R hospital. She has the same hours as I. Every morning when I get on there she is in the back, sound asleep. One morning I couldn't resist and I drew her like this. Yes, I did tell her about this drawing and she had a good laugh.

The man with the unique tattoo's. I had seen him several times and was the kind of guy most stayed away from. He fidgetted and twitched. He mumbled with out opening his mouth. Some people were afraid of him. I felt he was the other way around - being afraid of us. But when he put on the earphones and turned on the music he stopped all of that. The volume was up high enough that I could hear classical music. One piece I recognized and hummed and bobbed my head to it as he was - he noticed and after a second of staring he smiled and went back to it

Snap Shots by Hand Day 12

I sometimes wanted to just draw the scene from the different bus stops I had to wait at. Spread out every where it is like a pin in a map. "YOU ARE HERE!" It is what I fell back on when I was tired of seeing the same people over and over again on the bus.

Several of the stops I have draw no longer exist what with the new Transit Center downtown so it is also a record of the city's history. here is a collection of the different "bus stops" I have drawn - check them out.

 

A very quick sketch drawn from inside the bus stop on Jefferson - east of 390 - looking east. I was a foggy rainy day and I was glad for the shelter to sit in. I tried to express the wetness of the scene with the reflections of the cars and pole on the road.

 

 Downtown at the bus stops on Broad St. This stop was eliminated after the Transit Center was built. Here the #17 bus to Nazareth College with a bike on the front rack.

 

A view from the bus stop on Jefferson rd on the west side of 390 looking back east. The pidgeon's have a colony under this bridge and during the day they line up on top of the street light arms.

 
View form the bus stop on Jefferson rd, east of 390 looking west. This time I was looking through the glass walls of the shelter with the yellow dots to warn people that there was glass there (makes me laugh).

 

 Inside the bus stop at liberty pole. Across the street is the Triangle building at the intersection of Main and East ave.

 Back to the Broad st station that had 7 shelters there. I remember it was another rainy day(hint-lady in the scene with umbrella)

 

 The Temporary bus stops on Main street. Between the 2 poles in view were the bus's lined up in front of the Chase tower

 

Late night view of the Shelter at Liberty pole downtown

Snap Shots by Hand Day 11

While line defines an image - color explains it. I am not talking about full on black and white images that involve shading and such I am talking about the type of line drawings that I do.

The line will tell you what you are looking at most of the time. every once in a while I do achieve the explanation through line but it is harder. To our mind it is unnatural and so it is abstract. Our left side of the brain takes over and tries to assign meaning to it. Tell us what we are looking at.

On the other hand we have seen color since our first sight. When we are young our right side rules and we assign emotions to them - Red(hot), Blue(cool), White(soft) and so on. It becomes a big jumble in us even when the left side of the brain takes over. Color still defines how we feel.

I know, I know there is SOOOO much more to all of this, but, I wanted to simplify for the sake of this post. Check out the picture below and what I say about them.

 

When I took the number 5 bus from work to downtown late at night I had to walk(very fast) 45 minutes to get to the bus. So usually I would get there minutes before it left. It had a 15 minute layover there. I got there with 2 to 3 minutes left. On this night I got a ride to the stop. So I was there before it even got there. Having 15 minutes to wait I decided to draw this. Dark on and off the bus, it was a bit moody. Nobody else on the bus talked we just sat there waiting and relaxing. Out the window the street lights threw yellow spots on the empty parking lot - inside the driver was quietly reading her paper.

 

This is an example of just a little color makes the image POP. most of the colors during winter are bleak. We bundle up like mummy's to stay warm as we go about. This guy was humming a happy tune. Don't remember it now but his attitude was infectious. The line drawing did not do him justice so I added the tiny splash of color to his face. A stark contrast in the dark grey hood and color of his face.