Make Day of the Dead masks

the recycle of life from Graham Smith on Vimeo.

Learn how to make Day of the Dead tributes, by recycling cardboard with a bit of paint, a touch of ink, and a bunch of imagination in this short video, the recycle of life.

You'll need: cardboard, white paint, india ink, a wide brush, a smaller round brush, and something to cut cardboard with.

Discarded cardboard is reborn and given a new life through your imagination. The decorative tributes are enjoyed for a day, then burned, because life is short and precious, and sometimes we need to be reminded to appreciate things, then let them go. The recycle of life.


the recycle of life (teaser) from Graham Smith on Vimeo.

I'll be at the Oceanside Museum of Art helping Art After Dark party goers make recycled Day of the Dead masks, this Friday, November 1st. I'll be assisted by The Art Elephant, Miss Chantelle Lamoreaux. Stop by to say hi, have a drink, and let's make art together! See you on Friday!

Make a Day of the Dead Mask

Make a Calaca Costume

Read about the Event.

MARKS: Volume One

MARKS: Volume One

Size: 8.75" x 12.25"
Price: $25
Pages: 48. Full color
Signed.

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I just finished designing "MARKS Volume One"- a 48 page, hard cover art book, containing a collection of life drawings, illustrations, and sketchbook experiments I have created over the last 2 years.

Graham Smith's MARKS Volume One, contains private life drawings, sketchbook experiments, and includes examples of my professional illustration work. The common thread throughout the work are my expressive mark making techniques, regardless of the media. I'm in love with the line! MARKS Vol. One, is my love letter to drawing the figure.

Graham Smith's marks Vol. 1 - book trailer from Graham Smith on Vimeo.



The infamous, Alberto Ruiz noticed my life drawings last Comic Con, and being a sucker for old school figure drawing, offered to publish a small run of them. He gave me 2 months to design a book, and deliver it to Xupuy Edicionés, his publishing company in Quito, Ecuador.

The Process:

I learned a lot about making a book. The biggest technical hurdle was improving the way I photograph artwork. After of years of fiddling around, I asked a professional to trouble shoot my DIY photo studio. Long story short, with some simple photography gear, common sense, and some fancy photographic diffusion plastic, an artist can photograph their artwork in-house.

To design the book, Xupuy Edcionés provides 2 Photoshop templates, 1 for a single page, and another for a 2 page spread. It is the artists job to fill those 48 pages with the best they have. Carte Blanche. Alberto Ruiz, the publisher,  takes care of the rest, supervising the books design, production and printing, in order to be "The Best Publisher of Essential Eye Candy The World Has Ever Known!"

How do you find the time to draw stuff?

A little bit at a time. Once a week, I'd venture out of my studio to brush up on my life drawing for a 3 hour session. Every week I would draw a few more, until I had a little pile going. After a couple years, the pile was pretty big.  I selected a few of my favorite drawings to put in the book. It's amazing what you can accomplish in only 3 hours per week!

I love drawing in my sketchbook, everyday. I even make my own sketchbooks, now. Inside their pages is where I invent color combinations, draw from my imagination, collect notes, and do drawing experiments. No one ever sees those sketchbooks, so I sorted through and a few, and selected some painting and drawing experiments to show you, in the book. Here is a sneak peak!

Want to see more?

Video:   Unboxing:   The night a giant pallet of boxes arrived.

Video:   Book Signing Party:     Friends, models, artists, beer and music.

Review:

Got an autographed copy of "Mark", what a collection of best work done by famous artist Graham Smith! All drawings, either in BW charcoal or colorful mixed medias, are carefully structured and rendered/painted. I saw how Graham drew figures in studio. He always wanted to have a good drawing angle and composition. Sometime he had to change his seat frequently in order to find a better angle. Besides all nice layouts, his line quality is what a professional artist should learn and master. Very dynamic and full of energy.The book contains figure drawings and illustrations in various styles that are inspirational to young artists for thinking outside of the box. The last, but not least, is the anatomy knowledge showed in the book. Graham fully controlled every inch of his figure drawings and demonstrated how anatomy knowledge should be used to depict muscle shapes, body rhythms, and figure poses. This is a five-star book an artist must have! 

Dr. Wei Xu  - Writer, Teacher, Scientist, Mathematician, Artist 

Let's Draw! Video

Graham Smith - Sizzle Reel from Graham Smith on Vimeo.

Let's Draw! A video portfolio of illustration, life drawings, and sketchbook experiments by illustrator Graham Smith.

Art Book by Graham Smith - Coming Soon!

Graham Smith's marks Vol. 1 - book trailer from Graham Smith on Vimeo.

Woo hoo! I just finished illustrating, and designing my first art book, AND it was published by the coolest of cats, Alberto Ruiz of Xupuy Edicionés! I was so happy about it, I made this book trailer video containing sneak peaks at the book's artwork being made.

"Graham Smith's mark's Volume One" is expected to debut March 30th, 2013. I will let you know when signed copies are available.

This full color, hardcover book is a beautifully printed 48 pages of personal work, life drawings, sketchbook experiments, and illustrations - all created over the last 2 years.

Signed copies will be for sale on this blog.    Stay Tuned!  
Cover Model: Briana

How to combine illustration and photography for a unique title sequence

BritneyDraftA from Chris Park on Vimeo.

Making this 3 second animated title sequence took a lot of steps, but was the funnest thing ever to collaborate on!

First, Tim Mantoani and I did a 2 set up photo and video shoot with America's hottest hammer thrower, Miss Britney Henry. One set up for a glamor studio shoot, indoors; and another action shoot, outside at the Olympic Training Center, where Britney throws her hammer.

Second, the photos were edited, and 24 action stills were selected.

Third, the stills were outsourced to India, to remove the backgrounds, and drop them out to white.

And fourth, one set was printed at a 1 hour photo processor.

I showed up at Tim's photo studio around lunch time. The plan was to draw something on the photos while filming the process, and then to make something with the footage we shot. I didn't really know much beyond that. We were going to wing it.

Tim set up a giant piece of foam core as a table, and I sat on an apple crate with my random selection of art supplies brought from my studio. I suggested Tim move his giant expensive looking softbox back a bit, because I felt the need to fling some ink coming on. He switched the light to a 500 watt halogen, diffused by a sheet of plastic, and he was ready to film. I still hadn't thought of an idea.

The Canon 5D fired a shot every second, and sounded like a clock ticking. I grabbed a brayer, some tracing paper, ink and acrylic paint and started to go for it. 6 hours, and thousands of frames later, I finished painting on the 24 photos for the title sequence, and film maker Chris Park's work had just begun.

Thousands of jpeg stills were imported into Adobe Motion, and saved out to a movie file, where Chris edited the assets into the dreamy interview, hammer throwing showcase above, using Final Cut Pro.

To get the arial shot of the hammer flying through the air, film maker Chris Park taped a Go-Pro camera to Britney's 8 pound steel hammer. She threw the whole rig 200 feet downrange three times - and the camera survived.

Here are some behind the scenes shots of the production. Peek at BHP photographer Teresa Heath's Behind the scenes photos, too.

Hand painted frame #18 of 24 of Britney Henry by Tim Mantoani and Graham Smith

Britney "the Hammer" Henry by Tim Mantoani

Britney "the Hammer" Henry on white, by Tim Mantoani

Chris Park tapes a Go-Pro camera to the hammer

Photographer Tim Mantoani at work inside the weight room at the Olympic Training Center

Getting the shot

Chimping for Britney

The assistant - Austin Sosa

Britney Henry from athlete to model in a day.

Britney Henry working the photoshoot

 At the hammer ring

The hand lettered credits were chucked in the bin still wet. We got a schedule to keep people!

24 hand painted photos drying in the photo bay.

Ok,  here is the set up - go ahead and make something!

Credits:

Athlete                                       - Britney "The Hammer" Henry

Photography primary                 - Tim Mantoani

Photography documentary 1      - Teresa Heath

Photography documentary 2      - Graham Smith

Video / editing                           - Chris Park

Illustration                                  - Graham Smith

Make Up                                    - Momi Gonzales

Grip                                            - Austin Sosa

Location                                     - The Olympic Training Center, Chula Vista , CA

Music                                          - Cracks - Freestylers feat. Belle Humble

La Gaita Movie Poster

My cousin Janine Fung, a fantastically talented film maker, premieres her newest documentary, La Gaita, on Sept 22nd and 27th at the Little Carib Theatre, and MOVIETOWN in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.

La Gaita is a documentary film about 2 brothers and their band, who sole mission is to bring hope and comfort to the downtrodden, poor and lonely, by singing them traditional music, in the old time ways.


I illustrated this poster for the movie by combining imagery from the national flag of Trinidad, a red field with a white and black diagonal stripe, and the cuattro, the traditional 4 string guitar that characterizes Parang, a type of Trinidadian folk music. To emphasize to La Gaita's underlying themes, one can see a Christian cross, and rays of lights, emerging from the black ink.


La Gaita, roughly translated from the patois, means, " The bad is not to fix."





- G

Drawing on Grocery Bags

Bree on brown paper: Graham Smith

Acrylic wash, colored pencol, white chalk on a brown paper grocery bag, from life.

How to Paint a Portrait - Video

1. Wet the paper with clean water
2. Lay in the general pattern of light and dark shapes with a thin wash
3. Work thin to thick - thin wash to thick paint
4. Work light to dark - building the values and base colors with thin washes
5. Dry the wet layer - so you can paint on top
6. Get down with your paint for a while - pop the highlights, push the darks.
7. Peel the tape off - the funnest part!

I'm filling up Sketchbook 31 with a series of self portrait acrylic paint studies. I like to explore lots of different media and paper, and my new Kilamanjaro Watercolor Natural White Paintbook is just perfect for bashing about with paint!

Besides the paper itself, I like two things about this spiral bound watercolor pad. Number 1, it has paper fly sheets between each watercolor page. Number 2, it has a wide aspect ratio. Tall, in this case.

Below are a few self portraits from Sketchbook 31.

Acrylic paint self portrait studies by Graham Smith.

Paper: Kilamanjaro 140lb cold pressed watercolor paper.

Brush: 1 inch flat, #8 round nylon.

Color: Raw Sienna, Ultramarine blue, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Mars Black, Titanium White, I think one of them has Magenta, and there may be some Burnt Sienna in there somewhere, too.

Video: iPhone 4s, Stop Motion Recorder, iMovie.

Music: Moby - Extreme Ways - 18

Sketchbook 28

I like to make my own sketchbooks and fill them with people and places, both real and imaginary.

Sketchbook 28 got it's first drawing in October, and it's last in January. I draw in my sketchbooks everyday, so it took about 4 months to run out of pages.

Sketchbook 28 is 8.5"x11 inches when opened and has about 224 pages, not including the extra pages tipped in. I stapled it together using Neehah Environment recycled paper, regular xerox paper, lots of blue tape and used a recycled file folder for the cover.

I like to draw with pens and pencils of all kinds, but mostly I draw with my Lamy Safari fountain pen. I use a fancy ink from Japan in the pen - Carbon Platinum Ink. It is really waterproof and it doesn't clog the fountain pen. Guache, graphite, colored pencil, magic marker, cut paper, inks, and tip in's all find a place there, too.

This video shows a few (47) of the drawings from the sketchbook, but inside are also art supply lists,  typography, rants, job notes, big ideas, business cards, and assignment sketches.

If we met in person, most likely you are mentioned, or drawn, in one of my sketchbooks. If you made an impression, you are definitely in the book! I love drawing people.

See More Sketchbooks:
Sketchbook 26 - the sketchbook sessions
The Restaurant Sketchbook


Music: Crimson and Clover: Joan Jett covers Tommy James & the Shondells © EMI Records.
 

Graham Smith: Sketchbook 28 

San Diego - Open Life Drawing Studios list

A short list of open life drawing workshops in San Diego. Send me a note via the red "Contact Me" button, if you want a workshop added to the list.

Figure Drawing-Vista CA,

Vista Art Foundation Gallery 204. 
204 Main Street, Vista, CA
Corner of North Indiana and Main Street

Wednesdays: 6-9pm
$10 fee
Uninstructed Life Drawing Open Studio.
Organizer: Judy

Purpose: Adding to the list of Life Drawing sessions in North County. gives the artist the option to practice an additional evening; Wednesday nights. This session will not conflict with the other open Life Drawing classes in our area, which are Studio2ndStreet and Encinitas Library. Drawing exercises the creative side of the brain, which improves their creativity in all artistic media. All levels are invited, all media welcome, Bring Your Own Supplies. BYOS

Sketchbook Sessions: San Diego

Wednesdays: 6-9pm
No fee to draw.
Uninstructed sketchbook drawing. Open to public. All skill levels welcomed.
Organizer: Paul Davies and Eddie Holly 

Sketchbook Session: San Diego Artists are a mix of professional artists and beginning art lovers currently working to create video games, concept art for movies, tee shirts, books, magazines and comics, all dedicated to supporting the arts in San Diego. They meet once a week in San Diego, to draw in their sketchbooks and socialize. Facebook Link

Watts Atelier

171 Calle Magdelena Suite 103, Encinitas, CA. 92024
Phone: (760) 753-5378

Fridays: 7 pm-10 pm

Uninstructed Life Drawing Open Studio.
Model Fee:
Jeffery Watts

Watts Atelier of the Arts is located in the quiet beach town of Encinitas, CA, 30 miles north of San Diego. The Atelier was founded by Jeffrey R. Watts in 1992 as an intimate studio environment now operated by Mr. Watts and a core of 8 professionals in the areas of representational drawing, painting, sculpture and illustration. Watts Atelier has been modeled after the studio atelier of nineteenth century Europe.


Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art

The Ruby Room.
 1271 University Ave (between Richmond St & Vermont St)
3rd Saturday of every month: 3 pm-6 pm
A fun drink and draw, with games and racy themed costumed models.
$10 admission

We’ll be combing San Diego to find the most beautiful burlesque dancers, delicious fetish models, spunkiest Rollergirls, drag queens, drag kings, belly dancers, and the most rippling hunks of man. Then we let you draw them for three hours. Interspersed with posing are ridiculous drawing contests (best left handed drawing? Best incorporation of a woodland critter?) where you can win alcohol and fancy prizes.
Dr. Sketchy’s is the little Brooklyn event that became a movement. Founded in 2005 by artist Molly Crabapple, Dr. Sketchy’s asked a simple question. Why can’t drawing people be sexy?

From its humble Brooklyn beginnings, Dr. Sketchy’s now has 100+ branches around the globe, including Hollywood, London, Tokyo, Rome, and Melbourne. Since it’s successful launch during Comic Con 2007, Dr. Sketchy’s San Diego branch has been going strong each month, featuring everyone from burlesque beauties to professional dancers to hunky male models.
YOU BRING: Your sketchpad, your drawing implements, some cash for liquid inspiration
WE PROVIDE: Hot models…Drinks…Drawing!

21 AND UP

North Park Open Studio Figure Drawing Group


4044 Idaho Street. 
San Diego, CA 92104
Thursdays: 10 am to 1 pm.
Uninstructed Life Drawing Open Studio.
Model Fee:

Saturdays: 9:00 am to 12:00 pm
Uninstructed Life Drawing Open Studio.
Model Fee: $5

We are a casual group professional artists, art students and hobbyist that meet at the North Park Recreation Center every Thursday from 10am to 1pm and Saturday mornings from 9:15am to 12:15pm to practice in classical life drawing with a live model.

We provide chairs and tables, but you must bring your own art supplies. We start with 2 minutes gestures, then 5 minute poses, a 10 minute pose, then followed by 20 minutes poses until the end. The last Thursday and Saturday of every month is one long pose after the gestures. No photography of the model is allowed.

If painting with oils, “Gamsol” or odorless Turpenoid are recommended. Currently space is limited so first come first serve. Thursday mornings are a lot less crowded than Saturday mornings.

Free Parking.

You must be 18 years of age or older.

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If you know of more open life drawing studios in San Diego, please contact me, and I'll add them to this list.
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Updated: Feb.2015