Confessions of a Paper Junkie

Confessions of a Paper Junkie

The good folks at Strathmore Artist Papers™ were curious to see inside my actual art studio, and wanted me to draw something in their sketchbook. I told them, I draw on hundreds of sheets of Strathmore® paper a year, plus anything else I can get my hands on. But by all means, please send more. I'll be happy to draw on it, give a tour, and nerd out about paper anytime!

So, last month we filmed this video.  :)

Here's the transcript and some random screen shots:

Art Directors used to call it taking an idea out for a walk. That…it's, it's the best part of the project… it's when…you can just grab ideas from anything, and anything goes… and you're always on a deadline, so you are drawing as fast as you can.
You grab your sketchbook and you just start…drawing. 

 So, you explore every graphic permutation of an idea with little sketches - to develop the idea into it's best possible form. You make lots of little sketches, and follow wherever they lead.

If I'm drawing figures for an art book, I'll prep a sheet of Strathmore® Drawing Paper with a light acrylic wash… (to) give it a textural feel, and a tone to work from. Then I'll go to town with colored pencils, or ink, or anything else.

I use the same technique on this creature series. This is acrylic wash over Strathmore drawing paper. I imagine the creature, and render it with, uh, graphite and chalk. I'm combining imagery from classic(al) antiquity, (and) Victorian Flower Language to create deities from an imagined past.

Basically, I craft an image to suit a story. I'm an illustrator, and at the most basic level I take ideas and turn them into things we can see… and drawing is the very first step.

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For my art nerds that read all the way down here, here are the process details. The type of sketchbook "the girl with black hair "is drawn in is Strathmore Toned Tan (5.5x8.5"). It's nice! She's an imagined character, drawn with colored pencils, with acrylic paint washed over it, then black china marker, and more colored pencil.

I filmed this in my studio, with help from art school assistant, Britney Sharp. She climbed up the ladder to hang the art, and worked the camera. A big shout out to Alberto Ruiz for the video's name. Yes, Strathmore send me a big box of sketchbooks. No, you can't have one. Go get your own.

Photo Gear: Canon 650D (t4i), Canon 50mm f 2.8 lens, Canon 18-135mm STM lens, 2 softboxes 5000k, Rode VideoMicPro, Davis and Sanford Tripod, Cowboy Studio slider, edited in iMovie.

Credits:

Strathmore: strathmoreartistpapers.com
illustrator website: grahamsmithillustration.com
video: vimeo.com/inkdrawing
music: freemusicarchive.org

Music: There It Is by Kevin MacLeod (cc) by 4.0
Music: Astronauts On Earth by Cosmic Analog Ensemble (cc) by 4.0
Video: Copyright (c) 2015 Graham Smith/art/camera 1/edit
Camera 2 /Assistant: Britney Sharp
Models: so many models! thank you all.

Randy Johnson - Baseball Hall of Fame - Fine Art Print

Randy Johnson, by Illustrator Graham Smith. 

It was an honor to illustrate a portrait of Randy Johnson for the cover of The Phoenix New Times, the month Randy "Big Unit" Johnson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Read the article here. 

To commemorate this great athlete, I'm releasing prints on premium, archival, fine art paper, hand signed, titled and printed by the artist, complete with a Certificate of Authenticity. Each Certificate is signed, stamped, and matched uniquely to each print.

Ink: Printed with archival UltraChrome ink

Paper: Moab Entrada Rag. 100% cotton paper, acid free, archival, bright white, smooth, and heavyweight 300gsm. 

Size: 13"x19" paper with a 1" border on the top and sides, 3.5" border on the bottom, where it's signed, titled and stamped. 

Price: $75 USD. Transaction through PayPal, credit cards accepted.

Shipping: within USA only. (I make a post office run every Friday)

 Randy Johnson - Fine Art Print - $75

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Detail photos:

Detail shot of print.

Pass the Journal - the drawing process

A really nice sketchbook mysteriously appeared at my studio with a note that invited me to "create art" for the Wyeth Sketchbook in the Pass the Journal project by Strathmore. I decide to dive in, and film the process of drawing a creature called, "The Bird Feeder".

Here's the note, some photos of the drawing, and behind the scenes videos of the whole thing.

"Strathmore is sending artists from around the globe on a mission to fill the pages of our art journals! We have sent 12 of our 500 Series Mixed Media Hardbound Art Journals to different artists to kick off Pass the Journal. Each artist who receives a book is to fill a page with their artwork, upload their artwork and artist profile to this site, and pass it on to another artist to continue the cycle." - Strathmore

This piece is called The Bird Feeder. It's a graphite pencil drawing by illustrator Graham Smith, drawn on Strathmore 500, mixed media paper, created for the Pass the Journal project by Strathmore. 11"x17".

Once the drawing was finished, sprayed with fixative and dried,  it was time for me to Pass the Journal along to the next artist. I know a zillion artists, so it was hard to choose. But I wanted the book to go to a real sketchbook lover. So, I sent it to illustrator, and creative sketchbook master, Daniel Baxter. You are going to love his work.

The last question remains... is this grotesquely elegant god more likely to feed the birds, or eat them himself? Is he good or bad, or is he like us.... full of both beauty and terror?

Thoughts on Symbols: The Hopi Indians believed hummingbirds intervened with the gods on behalf of humans, asking the gods for rain. The indigenous peoples of Trinidad believed hummingbirds were the spirits of their ancestors, and should never be harmed. The tiger lily flower represents the feminine principle, reflecting the qualities of mercy, compassion, kindness and unconditional love. The brown freckles on the flower's petals allude to the concept of always being in touch with one's creativity.

Pencils: Uni, Staedtler, Dixon Ticonderoga, Derwent, 4h, 2h, h, hb, f, 2b, 6b Erasers: Mars Plastic, kneaded, and Tuff Stick. Paper: Strathmore 500, Mixed Media, 90 lb. Vellum finish.

Old Man's Story - Drawn from Life

Crazy Nekkid Grandpa from Graham Smith on Vimeo.


Art model, Van worked himself into character, building up, then channeling all his energy into each pose, creating visceral emotion through physicality. And he named each pose as they progressed, "Nekkid Grandpa, Alone in the Dark, Tortured, Feral Man, Cabaret..." 

He tied a strap around the stage and pulled against it with all his strength, that same strap was tied around his hands for his "Tortured" pose, and he cantilevered his balance against a stick, which became a prop in other poses.

Later, looking over the drawings, I began to make sense of the story from the names of his poses, and made this short video.

Crazy Nekkid Grandpa sure can tell a good story! And as for judging books with old covers: look closely or you might miss classics like Ernest Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea", or Herman Melville's, "Moby Dick".

Christa with deer antler necklace drawing

It was great working with the talented artist and model, Christa at the Sony Life Drawing Workshop this week. She is a talented artist/ photographer, and makes her own props, like the deer antler necklace featured in this drawing. Here is a link to the models photography portfolio: Balm in Gilead

This drawing is 18 x 24 inches on Strathmore toned grey paper, and is drawn with carmine red, black and terracotta color pencils. I used white china marker for the white highlights. This drawing took about 40 minutes, but of course I wished I could draw Christa for hours!

Sole Survivor of the Yarnell Fire - illustration and sketches

Brendan McDonough for Phoenix New Times - Graham Smith

"If anyone knows why the Granite Mountain Hotshots left a safe area on top of the Weaver Mountains west of Yarnell and descended into a box canyon that became the worst death trap in the nationwide history of such crews, it's Brendan McDonough.

The only survivor of the 20-member hotshot crew that perished in the Yarnell Hill Fire on June 30, 2013, McDonough, 23, is in the unique position to have heard some, if not all, of the discussions between Granite Mountain Supervisor Eric Marsh and Captain Jesse Steed in the moments before Marsh, Steed, and the others died."

Thumbnailing is the funnest part. I like to draw lots of them.

Brendan was the lookout for the Hot Shot team.

Illustration assignments for the weeklies like the Phoenix New Times come and go quickly. Art Directors and their editors like to see sketches within a day or two, and the final art a few days after that. The whole process takes about a week.

Tip: For a cover, always provide lots of extra area in the artwork (a bleed), at the top and sides of your illustration to allow the art director to room to design, and or crop the illustration to fit the layout.

Link to Yarnell Fire article by: John Dougherty in the Phoenix New Times. Art Director: Peter Storch.

Classic beauty pencil drawing

It was great drawing the 6 foot tall, classic beauty, Tamara at the Sony Life Drawing Workshop this week. A tiny bit more is learned every time I sit down to draw. That's pretty much the secret to drawing well, lots of practice.

Blue colored pencil, with white china marker, on Strathmore Toned Grey paper. 18'x24". 40 minutes pose.

First century warrior - life drawings

We had a great time at the Sony Life Drawing Workshop, drawing muscular model, Yoni, costumed as a first century warrior, complete with a few props from the TV series, Sparta. 

Here are a few quick sketches, and a couple of 20 minute drawings done with colored pencils, gesso, and acrylic paint wash.

Twitter Shaming illustration for Boston Globe

Twitter Shaming - Graham Smith

The Boston Globe asked me to illustrate some current events for the Sunday Arts section. It was so much fun illustrating a bunch of awful people who have said terribly racist, or homophobic remarks in public recently, and drawing the writer that shames them via twitter wearing pink slippers, was the icing on the cake.

In case you haven't been keeping up, here's what the mounted heads said, that got them is so much trouble:        Read the article in the Boston Globe.

Donald Sterling (Clippers owner)

"It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people"

Janelle Ambrosia (Dollar store racist lady)

"I called you a n****r. You're a n****r. Nasty f*****g n****r."    Watch the video.

Justine Sacco (pr executive)

"Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!"

Clint McCance (Arkansas school board member)

"I like that fags can't procreate. I also enjoy that they often give each other AIDS and die...I would disown my kids they were gay."

Janice Daniels (former mayor of Troy Michigan)

 "I think I am going to throw away my I Love New York carrying bag now that queers can get married there." 

Cliven Bundy 

“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro.”

Wall of Shame - illustration process from Graham Smith on Vimeo.

Pencil sketch - Graham Smith

Illustration Process: First, I sketch the idea really roughly, in pencil. Then I refine the sketch, trying to get the scribbles to look like the people I 'm drawing. That's the refined sketch above. Next step, I've been doing a little differently than the traditional old school method of tracing on a lightbox. Instead, I scan the sketch, and print it onto nicer paper. In this case, Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper. Then I ink the print, which is below, and color the illustration digitally.

ink drawing - Graham Smith

Cliven Bundy (detail) - Graham Smith

Donald Sterling (detail) - Graham Smith

Janice Daniels (detail) - Graham Smith

The Twitter shamer (detail) - Graham Smith

Twitter desk (detail) - Graham Smith

G.

That Red Head from the Weekend

That Read Head from the Weekend - drawing by Graham Smith