Dead Artwork.

It’s a long and winding road that a piece of art takes from concept to completion. There are countless perils, obstacles and pitfalls, and not every piece makes it. There are many reasons I choose not to continue with a picture:

  • Boredom .
  • Change of opinion in some idea central to the artwork.
  • Having a better idea!
  • Forgetting about it.
  • lack of satisfaction with the progress of the work
  • Leaving a piece un-worked on for so long that by the time I return to it I’ve improved so much that the work is obsolete and it would be preferable to start again.

For the above reasons I’ve found that a quick look through my hard-drive reveals a number of forgotten and discontinued pieces suitable for little more than nostalgia…

…or putting on my blog for the amusement of all!

So here, in vaguely chronological order is my select collection of old dead art.

Disclaimer: To any potential commissioners – Artwork shown here does not reflect the current skill level, (including but not limited to knowledge of perspective, anatomy, lighting foreshortening etc…) taste or even opinions of Tom McGrath. Thank you.

Crusader

My old drawings all involved a sword or two. Always.Maguma rooftops…And preferably some flowing apparel such as a cloak or little samurai style sash belt that was always blowing in the wind.Monsoon

This airship is actually the precursor to another airship in the foreground of my airship battle piece.NinjaAnother bloke with a sword. I think it was a bloke anyway. Though he does appear to have enormous breasts.princess brat

My sister insisted that we end the portrait session as she didn’t think I’d captured her likeness.SexbyI didn’t capture this guy’s likeness well either.wickerman 2

Or this guy.zombieThis one was from a tutorial in Imaginefx magazine. I decided I was better doing my own stuff rather than following steps to replicate someone else’s work. though I did capture his likeness rather well.sketchStranger 1This old man is sad that his proportions are not correct.

Wisdom and Willpower

This one isn’t exactly dead in concept. I’m working on version 3 currently. I would show version 2 here but I may yet reuse part of it.Assassin_bakAnother chap keeping the fictional sword economy afloat. Note the flowing garments.
blue wyrm

I find that dragons are less imposing when they have no limbs.
gray lady

“Please finish this painting” she screamed.Hot water balloonA Hot water balloon. I like the idea so I think I’m going to redo this soon.Strangercomp1That old man still hasn’t got over his dodgy proportions. Alas.

Prioritising.

One of the key skills of successful freelance illustrator is the ability to prioritise, to be able to use one’s time wisely and effectively. After all, time is money.

Which makes me wonder what the hell I’m doing up at this time in the morning after having spent the last four hours or so creating the three pieces of artwork you see below, which are intended for my little sister to take into school tomorrow and give away to her friends (for free!(apparently eight year-olds don’t have money)). Still, I’ve been getting a little rusty at the traditional painting what with having been using Photoshop for long, and it felt nice to have a break from the computer in favour of drawing inks and foul smelling masking fluid.

I’m rather pleased with how the barn owl turned out actually. 🙂

Collaboration Art

I’ve completely fallen in love with a new method of creating artwork: collaboration.

I have to say I didn’t come up with the idea myself, I nicked it from people more creative than me: http://crookedfaces.blogspot.com/2011/11/coop-artwork-heroes-of-valley.html

I convinced a good friend that we should give it a go and make a collaborative piece. the rules were simple, one of us would paint a few random marks on the paper and then send the picture to the other who would then interpret the marks how they liked by adding to the picture, we both had to keep adding to the picture until we reached a complete piece of artwork. Also, no communication about the artwork or the process, only intuition. this is what we ended up with:

I have to say I’m really pleased with how it worked out. It was incredibly good fun, and I think the results speak for themselves. I was also impressed by the fact that we completed it so quickly. We calculated that overall it could only have taken us 15 hours or thereabouts, which is less than half the time would usually take on a picture on my own.

I enjoyed the process so much I asked my little sister (aged eight) if she wanted to have a go at one too. She said yes, here’s the results:

She had more input than I did. Honest. In truth though I’m quite taken with it, I think it brings the best of both our styles to the piece.

The Ugly People

I just got back from a holiday to Portugal. It was beautiful. Too beautiful.
Along with the beautiful sea, the beautiful sun and the beautiful location there were so many beautiful people there that it made me quite uncomfortable. Back here in Britain the sea is a sewer, the sun is a memory and the average member of the public looks like an experimental pastry.
In order to cope with the ugliness withdrawal I was forced to draw ugly people to remain sane.
In actual fact I came up with absurd names first and decided to sketch the character to match the names. I thoroughly recommend it as an artistic exercise!

This chap is called Roy LLewellyn-Wopp. He owns a 40 acre estate in the south of England which he shares with his wife Fanny Crevice Llewellyn-Wopp. Roy is a fan of heavy drinking and racial abuse, and since the fox hunting ban likes to invite ethnic minorities and poor people into his estate then chase them out again on horseback.

This fine example of an English woman is Ms Mandy Backsnaff. Mandy is an unemployed former world-series chess champion from the northern town of Sphincter-upon-Sea. She likes milkshake and listening in on other people’s conversations. Despite the fact she talks at a speed of only twenty syllables a minute Mandy is reputed to have an IQ of 194.

This portrait is of the famed detective Socrates Jones. Mr Jones is a world class detective specialising in solving  crimes that other detectives simply can’t handle. He’s mainly hired to investigate the theft of stationary from medium sized businesses. As with many well known genii Socrates has a few peculiar perks specific to his character; such as hoarding cauliflower in his home and sniffing small animals against their will.

This final image is of the Welsh-Born international superstar Susan Barnacles. Famed for her stunning looks and moderate singing ability Susan Barnacles sprung to fame on the popular TV show Britain’s quite Shallow.