How to use this Page

Brian Bowes sent me an illustration for April and I was taken by his talent. and had to share him with you.  He lives in San Francisco, CA with his lovely wife, 2 cats and a dog. He attended and graduated from the Santa Rosa Junior College with an AA in Graphic Design. From there hewent to and graduated from the California College of Arts and Crafts (now titled the California College of the Arts.)

He loves drawing, and like so many people, he started when he was really young with the encouragement of his family. Somewhere along the way he got the bug for watercolor painting.  He admires the works of Andrew Wyeth as well as some of the artists from the Golden Age of British Watercolor. Currently Brian is pursuing work in the field of Children’s Books, Middle Readers specifically.

This project is one of those times when there’s a real harmony between art and family.  In the later part of 2011, Uncle Ed began to put together a collection of his own original songs for a CD project that he was working on. Some of the songs had been percolating for quite some time, while others were a bit more off-the-cuff. It was a perfect moment for us to work together, and to both do what we love to do.

A bit of backstory here, even as a very small boy, I can remember my Uncle playing his guitar in my Grandparents home. He played a wide range of music, ranging from Classical to Bluegrass. Our whole family has been pretty well steeped in Bluegrass for a long time. His musical journey didn’t stop there, he moved on to other types of music that fascinated him: Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Cowboy songs, and more recently the sweeter side of Jazz Guitar.

His CD, The Beverly Waltz, shows off many of his influences from the first notes picked out on his banjo in the opening song entitled “Going Down to Upperville”, to lyrical and romantically slow waltz of the title track “The Beverly Waltz.” As the music rolls on one can easily imagine warm evenings on a back porch watching the evening sunset as the world rolls by. There’s a wonderful sincerity to each of the tracks. So, as I embarked to create an image that might begin to encapsulate some of the energy and emotion that his music evoked, I began where illustrators always begin; thumbnails. Lots and lots of thumbnails.

Isolating part of the painting for the insert was fun too. I spend so much of my time with my nose about 6 inches away from the paper, that it’s pretty gratifying to show off a smaller more intimate selection from the painting. Also, the flow of the dress was another of the key elements that my Uncle tuned in to early on in the process, so it was nice to highlight it a bit.

To start with, I like to give a lot of thought to the concept and the overall design of a project, and these usually come out in the thumbnails. In this particular case I started with listening to an early version of the CD and tried to match that up with the original ideas that my Uncle had presented me with. While I was listening to the music, there were some tonal qualities that stood out to me: delicate, relaxed rolling, lyrical, and warm. I knew th

Brian Bowes sent in this illustration, titled “Dreaming On Paper” for April’s call for illustrations. The image it’s self is of the April Fool and her dog, letting go of her work onto the winds of the world, and what comes back to her is her muse. There’s no official story that goes with this image, only the story that we bring to it. (watercolor 10.25×15.5″).

Brain loves creating images of wonder and adventure. He loves the whole process. He believes that beautiful images, and well told stories can help to remind us of the magic in our own lives. His work consists of fantastical watercolors, created with care and attention. His affection for the wondrously fantastical, may stem from my early exposure to the likes of Ray Bradbury. You can visit Brian at: http://studiobowesart.com/

Writers: You have a few days left to write a first page using the picture prompt below.

Please attach your double spaced, 12 point font, 23 line first page to an e-mail and send it to kathy(dot)temean(at)gmail(dot)com. Also cut and paste it into the body of the e-mail. Put “April 22nd First Page Prompt” in the subject line.

ILLUSTRATORS: Here is your chance to show off a little. I am looking for illustrations that celebrtes the month of April. This gives you a lot of leeway. I may post some as they come in during the, but I will definitely post all on April 30th, so I need to receive your illustrations no later than April 24th. Please make sure the illustration is at least 500 pixels wide and includes a blurb about you and a link to see more of your work. Please send it to kathy(dot)temean(at)gmail(dot)com and put “April Illustration” in the subject box.

Thank you Illustrators! I’m loving the logos that have been sent in for the conference bags. Great job!

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

0 Comments on Free Fall Friday – April as of 1/1/1900

Brian Bowes sent in this illustration, titled “Dreaming On Paper” for April’s call for illustrations. The image it’s self is of the April Fool and her dog, letting go of her work onto the winds of the world, and what comes back to her is her muse. There’s no official story that goes with this image, only the story that we bring to it. (watercolor 10.25×15.5″).

Brain loves creating images of wonder and adventure. He loves the whole process. He believes that beautiful images, and well told stories can help to remind us of the magic in our own lives. His work consists of fantastical watercolors, created with care and attention. His affection for the wondrously fantastical, may stem from my early exposure to the likes of Ray Bradbury. You can visit Brian at: http://studiobowesart.com/

Writers: You have a few days left to write a first page using the picture prompt below.

Please attach your double spaced, 12 point font, 23 line first page to an e-mail and send it to kathy(dot)temean(at)gmail(dot)com. Also cut and paste it into the body of the e-mail. Put “April 22nd First Page Prompt” in the subject line.

ILLUSTRATORS: Here is your chance to show off a little. I am looking for illustrations that celebrtes the month of April. This gives you a lot of leeway. I may post some as they come in during the, but I will definitely post all on April 30th, so I need to receive your illustrations no later than April 24th. Please make sure the illustration is at least 500 pixels wide and includes a blurb about you and a link to see more of your work. Please send it to kathy(dot)temean(at)gmail(dot)com and put “April Illustration” in the subject box.

Thank you Illustrators! I’m loving the logos that have been sent in for the conference bags. Great job!

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

3 Comments on Free Fall Friday – April, last added: 4/21/2012

Summary: I randomly selected the book, “RGK, The Art of Roy G. Krenkel” off of my shelves of inspiration to do a book review. Along with a brief overview of the book’s contents there are some of my opinions about aesthetics in fantasy art.

Read the entire post at www.StudioBowesArt.com

Dear Reader,
Please note that I do publish my blogs primarily from my website. If you would like to stay up to date, use the above link, and you can subscribe to the RSS feed there. ~ Thank you, Brian

Summary: What follows here is my story of becoming involved with my immediate neighborhood to solve the issue of an unsightly asphalt ramp. The result is an example of how we can use the power of illustration better the world we all live in.

Read the complete blog post here: steps-in-the-right-direction

Dear Reader,
Please note that I do publish my blogs primarily from my website. If you would like to stay up to date, use the above link, and you can subscribe to the RSS feed there. ~ Thank you, Brian

Well, wish me luck, the images have been submitted and the bill has been paid! Now it's all up to the judges at this year's Society of Illustrators annual show/ contest to vote on this year's winners and participants in the 53rd Illustration Annual.

For my submissions, I had to balance the cost and the number of images that I could afford to submit. I felt that 4 of the images that were created over the last year would be a nice representation. Of course I wanted to submit the piece that I did for the IMC, that was such a formative experience that I wanted to show the final piece. Also, in keeping with the Steampunk vibe, I entered my cover illustration for Steampunk Magazine #6.



Next up for submission and in a different genre, is the wraparound cover completed for PM Press' Noir Anthology;"Send My Love and A Molotov Cocktail." I submitted this one because of the over all feeling of the image, and because it is a little more concept and a little less figurative work, and besides all that, I just like it.



And finally, the piece that I have been working on for the past month or so, and that was alluded to in an earlier post, "A Curious Introduction!"



Watch for an upcoming process post about the creation of not only this image, but of the whole promotional piece that this is a part of, and of the considerations behind the core concept. But for now, these are my four entries, and I feel that they do represent where I've been and where I am at. Of course I live in hope that maybe one or more of these images might be chosen to be amongst the prestigious pages of the Society of Illustrators Illustration Annual #53! Only time will tell.

Links to other blog posts:

Click here to read more about the "Jetcycle Getaway," and part of my IMC experience.

Click here to read about the creation of Ol' No.6.

Thank you to everyone who keeps checking back in with the blog. I have to admit that this last month or so has been quite busy. I am happy to say that some of that 'busy' has been creating new works, that will be appearing here on the site soon enough. Oh look here's one now!

The Lovebirds are a response to the the recent overturning of Propostion 8 here in California. (There's a news article, if you'd like to read more, at the end of this post.*) I am happy to see that all marriages will be recognized by my state. I was actually quite surprised when Prop 8 passed back in 2008. I guess that at least as a state, if not as a country, that we'd gotten past all this 'separate but equal' crap. This is the 21st Century after all!

I chose the Lovebirds intentionally. After looking into it a bit, I found out that Lovebirds are a bit difficult to breed because it is hard to tell the male and the female apart. Along with that factoid, I was initially drawn to their almost rainbow coloring. If you are unaware, often times Gay Culture will stand behind a rainbow flag. I think that the metaphor is obvious; all the colors of the rainbow representing all types of people. The text at the bottom reads, "Lovebirds Sing Freely," meaning in part that Love's sweet song is free to us all regardless. I think that's is apart of the best of humanity, the ability to love and love freely.

This piece is a more editorial type of piece than I've been doing in the past. I am putting in an effort to broaden my horizons and to develop a quicker process in hopes of courting some publishing work for not only online sources, but also the traditional sources like newspapers and magazines. So, look for more pieces like this in the near future.

This push towards an editorial style dove tails nicely with the recent 4 Week Challenge** over at Zero2Illo.com. I really enjoyed the 12 Week Challenge, but was unable to finish it, sad to say. In part I fell off the trail at 'build a website' week, along with the pending trips at that time to the IMC followed by ICON. As the saying goes, "Fall down 7 times, get up 8." This is me, picking things back up again, moving forward the best I can.
I really enjoy recieving feed back on the work, the writing, and the messages, so please feel free to drop me a line, or to leave a comment on the blog.

Best Wishes,
Brian
{p.s. If you haven't already, please mosey on over to the blog's new home on www.StudioBowesArt.com I will refresh this blog for a while, but eventually everything is going to move onto my website. So please, follow the link on over and adjust your blog readers accordingly. Thank you!}

*San Francisco Chronicle Article

**The 4 Week Challenge