"Zenith"

"Zenith" / 14 x 17" / watercolor, acrylic & ink on paper

And so Alphabet Attack! Series 3 comes to a close, with "Zenith." Though it consists of my more frightening subject matter, I had a lot of fun creating these illustrations. It felt great to explore horrors lurking in the darker recesses of my imagination. It was also a wonderful opportunity to delve into mixed media techniques & aesthetic approaches that I had previously reserved for my sketchbooks.

Stay tuned for news, regarding the future of Alphabet Attack!

"There are those who laugh & not believe, until they feel that touch upon their sleeve."

- David Crosland

"Wayfarer"

 "Wayfarer" / 14 x 17" / watercolor, acrylic & ink on paper

Perhaps it's the Holidays, but I've been thinking about traveling a lot, lately. Past trips, future journeys... hell, even other people's travels have been especially interesting to me. And I think that's where the inspiration for this piece came from.

As I began sketching out this weary wanderer, though, I started wondering what sort of effect they might have had on the people they met along the way... what spell they may have cast on the very landscape they traversed. And that's where the creepy elements slithered their way into the illustration.

"We mind-boggling, spine-tingling. Got the stroll of Galactus, now I'm planet-swallowing."
- David C.

"Undertow"

"Undertow" / 12 x 15" / colored pencil, watercolor, acrylic & ink on paper

This eerie, aquatic piece keeps with the horror theme of this Series. Of course, my powers of creepy expression are super enhanced, now that autumn is in full-swing....

"How to make a homemade mummy: get corpse, get gauze, get comfy."
- David C.

"Tawny Tigers"

"Tawny Tigers" / 12 x 15" / watercolors, acrylics, gouache & ink on paper

This was another fun mish-mash of mixed media, for me. Now that I spend so much time working on a Cintiq, I truly relish opportunities to get my hands dirty. I must have "finished" and gone back into this drawing about three times, mostly because I just wanted to keep adding marks and playing with paint.

Of course, eventually you have to put the last nail in a piece, and get on with the show!

"I'm bewildered, for we're strangers when we meet."
- David C.

"Sublime Spectacle"

"Sublime Spectacle" / 14 x 17" 

watercolors, acrylics, gouache & ink on paper

This piece started as a quick ink sketch. But once I began layering colors & mediums on it, things just went bonkers. Of course, bonkers is my speciality.

"Nothing's impossible, I have found. For when my chin is on the ground, I pick myself up, dust myself off & start over again."
- King Gum

"Rivals"

 

 

"Rivals" / 14x17" / watercolors, gouache, acrylics & ink on paper 

Eight more letters to go....

"And that's why they say I'm different... and that's why they say I'm strange."

- King Gum

"Questionable Quiche'

I'm not totally sure what the inspiration was for this one. But as soon as I got to the letter "Q," the title "Questionable Quiche" just popped in my head. So I ran with it! Perhaps this is all rooted in my deep-seeded fear of being eaten by my own food.


"Will you shoot the blue Earth down, in the space station, polishing the raygun? You say correlation is not causation."
- David C.

"Perilous Position"

This unfortunate scene -- well, unfortunate for the diminutive human in the image -- was created during C2E2, at the Nerd City booth. It was my first painting of the weekend, just meant to warm up the ol' painting arm. But when I got home, I realized it was the perfect scene for what I wanted to do with The Letter P.

"Perilous Position" / 9 x 12" / watercolors, gouache & ink on bristol

Who knows? The little guy might find a way out of this... somehow.


"What's growin' like grass with the mass appeal?"
- King Gum Crosland

"Necromancy"

"Necromancy" / 9x12" / acrylics & gouache on paper

I thought I'd wrap up this week's illustration run on a creepy note. Nothing says, "TGIF," quite like the gaping maw of an ungodly resurrection.


I hope you've all been getting as big a kick out of the new Alphabet Attack! as I have. Stay tuned, as there are about to be some developments with the series, beyond the digital constraints of The Interweb.


And, por supuesto, you can count on having your eyeballs rocked by a whole new run of pieces, next week.


"I'm cranky like nobody understands me. White tee, dagger in the back, nothing fancy."
- King Gum Crosland

"Mephistopheles"

"Mephistopheles" / 12x15" / gouache & ink on paper

I don't think there's a corner of mankind that doesn't recognize some form of The Devil... a creature of pure evil, who's aim is to pull the whole of humanity into the bowels of Perdition.


"So grab your eight-plus-one! Start flippin' and trippin'!
Niggas is jettin'! I'm lickin' off, son!"
- King Gum 

"Juke"

"Juke" / 9x12" / watercolors & ink on paper

Hello and happy Monday, art fiends! It appears my football illustrations are back, just in time for The Letter J. I think this is the kickoff to a fine week of drawing and paint smudging. Pun intended!

"You can holler, you can wail, you can blow what's left of my right mind."

- King Gum

"Iago"

"Iago" / 12x15" / watercolors & ink on paper

The Letter I is for "Iago," the serpent-tongued villain in Shakespeare's Othello. And with that, comes the end of yet another fantastic five days of Alphabet Attack! Have a great weekend, and tune in on Monday for more illustrative mayhem!

"Talons fly as a last disguise. But no return... the time has come."
- David C.

"Harbinger"

From watching The Terminator as a child, to seeing Akira as a teen, all the way up to my current obsession with Sons of Anarchy, I've developed a keen vehicle crush on motorcycles. While I may never actually ride one, they remain one of my favorite monstrous means of transportation to depict in drawings. All that speed and growling fury, all that power... it sinks it claws right into my imagination! How could I not get a kick out of loading these iconic iron horses with terrifying riders & letting them run loose on the page?!

"Harbinger" / 12x15" / watercolors & ink on paper

"You grabbed my hand and we fell into it, like a daydream or a fever."
- King Gum

"Gargantuan"

"Below the streets that steam and hiss, The Devil's in his hole."
- King Gum 

"Doggone"

This marks the end of my first week back on the daily illustration wagon. I hope you've enjoyed Letters A through D. Have a swell weekend, and be sure to check back on Monday for more Alphabet Attack!


"Clan in the front, let'cha feet stomp."
- David

"Coral Carnivore" Early Glazes

Here's a peek at the early stages of my opaque painting process. While these colors are still fairly transparent, they're thicker and more purposeful than what I did in the under painting.


I prefer to determine my darkest areas in a painting early on, so that's where I tend to start my attack. Once I'd gotten the base bright pink color placed in the sky, I started darkening up the stone archway around our evil siren.



While the arch will be pretty dark both above and below the water, I still want to maintain a difference in warmth and coolness between each side of the surface. To do this, I've used a dark brown for the stone above the water (warm) and a dark blue for the stone below it (cool).


Lastly for today, I've begun laying in the darkest parts of the hidden sea beastie. Along with the gaping maw of his hungry mouth and his eerie pupils, I've also started to darken the linework on him. I'll do this throughout the piece, in a manner that's similar to inking with a brush. This process helps me keep my drawing strong, while I build up layers of paint.


From here on out, I really just have to dive in and paint like a fiend. A lot of thought and consideration goes into taking the piece from this to its completion. But with the right music and mood, those conscious thoughts will fall into the background. When I'm really on a roll, I'll detach myself from the process... almost like I'm watching myself paint. And that's the Jedi trance action I'm aiming for.

That's all for this week! Tune in on Monday for more Alphabet Attack!

"What I do? I called up the Geto Boys crew, 'cause my mind's playing tricks on me too!"
- Dave

"Coral Carnivore" Step Three

The next stage of "Coral Carnivore" is one of my personal favorites -- the under painting! This is the point where I really begin developing the chroma (color) and value (light & dark) tones of a painting. With this piece, I went about this using thin layers of paint and a spoonful of spontaneity.




Under painting is like live art for me, in that I rely mostly on creative instinct -- I let the beast take hold and attack the canvas in a flurry. By doing so, I'm able to accomplish a lot of spontaneous, bold mark-making. Since this layer will inevitably be glazed over with more opaque layers of paint, there's a lot of freedom in how I apply the color. I've found that this helps me create bold marks that I wouldn't have made otherwise, especially during the more tedious painting steps to come.



Now that I'm beyond the drawing stage, I've also begun working out the puzzle of painting coral. Coral itself is an otherworldly, colorful sea creature. And it comes in all shapes and sizes. Rather than draw it first, I'm relying totally on texture and brush strokes to bring it to life. The spontaneity here is extremely helpful in conveying the alien landscape look of coral. But I'll have to maintain my sense of design & draftsmanship as I take it to completion. I'm not out of the woods yet....


Keep an eye out for the more developed painting stages of "Coral Carnivore," at the end of this week!

"You bring the ladies and I'll bring the brew! Oh shit, anotha' barbeque!"
- King Gum