play skillfully and shout for joy

Gifts in Return

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:07:00 +0000

Just wrapped up this sermon illustration for Church in the Valley, designed to accompany a new message series called "Gifts in Return." The pastor is discussing the gifts we give to God in return for all the amazing gifts he first gave us. The theme ties in nicely with both Thanksgiving and Christmas, so naturally the graphics took on a seasonal look as well.

I started with a shaded pencil drawing and then painted the color and environment within Photoshop.

Vintage Faith

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:48:00 +0000

I recently completed design and illustration on this promotional mailer for Fellowship Church of Burbank. They're starting a new message series on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, hoping to sift through the cultural misconceptions and preconceived notions of who Jesus was, and rediscover the "vintage" Jesus as presented in the Bible.

The Pastor at FCB is a really cool, deep-thinking guy; it was a lot of fun to work with him on the project. He gave me a good measure of creative license which was encouraging and a challenge at the same time. The main ideas we hoped to convey were a sense of organic authenticity, community, and "vintageness." "Vintage" can fit a lot of things, from 60's concert posters to 50's advertisements or 40's fruit crate labels, so I researched a bunch of different kinds of vintage references to find aspects that would fit our project. The result, I hope, is an image that feels "Vintage" without necessarily being tied to one specific era or genre.

The series kicks off this Sunday and will be going for a few months. If you're in the area, check it out!

Pride weighs us down.

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:48:00 +0000

I received a really challenging idea in my inbox this week, courtesy of Ariane Goodwin's smARTist Mailing List. She was discussing artistic self-esteem, and how sometimes low self-esteem is actually pride in disguise ("pride and ambition running amok" as she put it). She suggests that sometimes artists are too focused on the highest levels of recognition, ability, and income, beyond their current level. So instead we convince ourselves we're worthless rather than be content with the moderate success we can have now.

"...If you really want to see your work on the walls of MOMA, you might find it easier to believe you're no good than to keep making art that simply sells."

I know I've been guilty of this. Just because I'm not the best doesn't mean I should give up. God sovereignly distributes gifting as he chooses, the good servant is the one who invests what he has and brings a proportionate return, not the one who hides for fear of inadequacy.

If only the best birds sing, the forest would be a quiet place!
- Rachel Naomi Remen

Trying to get back on track...

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:40:00 +0000

It's been a crazy year as far as freelancing goes, for much of the year I've been struggling just to survive. I've found myself in a few messes by trying to rush ahead and make things happen careerwise, sometimes impatiently or unwisely. In the process I haven't been relying or focusing on God as much as I could be.

The last few months I've been trying to more intentionally get on track, to let go and be patient with where things are at for now, to be faithful with daily responsibilities, and to focus on getting to know the caller more than trying to figure out the calling. And of course, I've been finding that stuff actually works out better that way! I've even been able to carve out a little time for daily sketching with some unexpected progress.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Here are a few recent sketches from the book...

Shoeless Joe Monsterface

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:59:00 +0000

Live Painting

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:16:00 +0000

I had the opportunity to do a live painting performance during our church service a couple weeks ago. I was painting for the full hour, and about 3/4 through shared a brief testimony (experiential story of faith) about a struggle that inspired the painting. It was interesting to try the same painting twice, during two 1 hour services. I actually received some really great feedback from some members of the congregation after the first service, and was able to immediately implement their suggestions during second service, resulting in a much more successful painting (in my opinion).

My friend John Martin was kind enough to take this photo, and my friend Brad Rozman made this awesome timelapse video too! I guess everyone gets a turn on YouTube.

Illustration Friday

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:38:00 +0000

Experimenting with a fountain pen...

Where You Go, I Will Go

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 07:12:00 +0000

This image was inspired by a difficult yet touching scene witnessed in Africa. A blind woman was begging on the streets of a crowded city with her daughter. Her daughter stayed close by her side, leading her carefully wherever they went.

Illustration-wise, I'm really happy with how this came out! I'd to make more pieces like this, inspired by some of my memories of Africa, and to tell the stories of people who don't have a voice over here.

One concern I have however, is the relationship of form to content - is this comic-book/disney-ish style appropriate for a piece about third world desperation? Does the caricatured style disrespect the subject, or gloss over the seriousness of their hardship? I'd love to see comic/animation artwork begin to tackle reality as well as it does fantasy. Perhaps the fact that this isn't the standard gritty photojournalistic depiction might enable the story of these two to reach a different audience?

I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on the subject!

Scattered Characters

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:24:00 +0000

Sorry for the silence (again). Hopefully I'll be more consistent with the updates this new year!

To kick it off, here is a collection of some characters that have spawned in unconventional locations - post-its, notebooks, index cards - anywhere except my sketchbooks. It's neat to see that as I'm learning and practicing more, even my doodles are becoming more fluid.

So What Now?

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:17:00 +0000

This I made a few weeks ago to illustrate a sermon called "So What Now?" about responding to the unexpected changes in life.

Drawing this was a good learning experience, I started out the process with a specific style in mind, one that is only very newly developing for me. After many attempts, I found it stifling to try to inject that style into this picture while it's still immature. Eventually I realized it'd probably be best just to draw the picture without too much attention to style, and let whatever comes naturally for me be the look. That worked much better!

I did a lot of stages in building up the drawing, from thumbnail, to figure wireframes, to a rough sketches, and a final drawing. It was very helpful, so I'll try to make the most of that process in the future, while hopefully streamlining it a bit more with practice.

Another Christmasy pic

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:25:00 +0000

Last week was a really good week for illustration! Here is another seasonal picture, my church commissioned it for our Christmas service next month.

Jars of Clay results

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 08:29:00 +0000

Thanks for your support everybody! My entry wasn't one of the top 4, but it was SO encouraging to have the support and good wishes of so many people! It's been a big confidence boost!

You can see the winners here:
http://news.deviantart.com/article/37843/

Jars of Clay contest - Round 2

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:35:00 +0000

My design did make the cut! The judges chose their top 30, which are now on display for public voting. The top 4 favorites will then be presented to Jars of Clay for their final decision. If you'd like to see the top 30, you can view and vote at:

http://www.nettwerk.com/contest/2007/jars_tshirt/

Mine is entry #027, but you can vote for whatever you like!! Voting ends tonight at midnight.

Jars of Clay t-shirt contest

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:24:00 +0000

DeviantArt was having a t-shirt design contest for my favoritest band in the whole wide world - Jars of Clay, to promote their new Christmas album. I put this entry together at the "eleventh hour" (literally, it was due at 11:59 pm on Saturday and I started executing my idea at 10:40!).

The judges are picking a top 20 this week, if I get in the top 20, I might need some people to vote for me (hint, hint). If not, c'est la vie.

Halloween Characters

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 03:25:00 +0000

Made this for possible entry into a Halloween-themed show.

Index Card Gestures

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 08:18:00 +0000

Did some exercises starting with a random gesture line and then developed it into whatever made sense. Focusing on gesture first is helping so much to bring more life into drawings. It also helped my focus to keep it simple by just using ballpoint pen on index cards.

and here with some color...

Recent Sketches

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 02:53:00 +0000

I've been getting encouragement from a variety of people to focus more on ink sketches rather than pencil, it helps me to work quickly and to not get too obsessed with shading or details at the beginning. Ink also helps squash perfectionism... just like in life, when you make a mistake, you can't erase it. The master artist can take those mistakes and incorporate them into something awesome.

Speaking of awesome ink drawings... check out these travel sketches by Dice Tsutsumi.

Character exercises

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 02:01:00 +0000

When I was in elementary school we used to play this strange game where I would challenge my friends to draw a quick scribble, and then I would have a minute or less to turn the scribble into a pig. I recently found this drawing tutorial by Ron Lemen that validates the technique as artistic tool! I was playing around with it the other day (with my own scribbles) and had a blast making some strange characters!

Self-Portraits

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 06:13:00 +0000

Tomorrow is my birthday so I figured it's a good time to be indulgent with a couple of recent self-portraits. This first one was during a bit of artist's block last week.

This one grew out of a little sketch of some items on my desk, and morphed as I followed down the page. I was using a new pen, a Micron .005 mm, which has a very thin but very solid line. It forces me to be very thoughtful about each stroke as I'm drawing, which is a good exercise for impulsively sketchy me.

Africa Photos

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 06:33:00 +0000

This blog is more for drawings but I'd love to share some photos of the incredible people and places I saw. I put up a couple of portfolios on Facebook:Africa 2007: Scenes
Africa 2007: People

Africa Sketches

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 06:38:00 +0000

I've been back in the U.S. for about a week now, after an incredible seven weeks in East Africa, teaching English and absorbing a beautiful culture. As I had hoped, it was a thoroughly perspective-shaping experience (and not just the visual kind). I'm still working on getting some words together to say something meaningful, but in the meantime, here are some pictures...

Brief Update

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Sat, 12 May 2007 05:16:00 +0000

On a bittersweet note, I had to say goodbye to my awesome drawing teacher Mike today. He got a great job offer up in San Francisco and will be moving the family up there very soon! I have been so lucky to be able to absorb his insight and enthusiasm these last couple months.

Sorry I haven't been posting very often lately. Work has been busy, which I guess is good! I'm really enjoying it and am finding that some of the very things that were frustrating at first are now working out in suprisingly good directions!! More on that later...

Cuddly sketches

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Sat, 12 May 2007 04:44:00 +0000

Here are a couple of recent sketches, they're the same kind of stuff I usually fill my sketchbook with... pencil drawings of weird characters on a nebulous background. However it was neat to make these recent ones and see how everything I've been learning has influenced my approach. I'm finding my thought process to be very different, much more intentional in the choices I make, and consciously aware of all the various aspects of the drawing that need attention - the action of a pose, the twists and direction of body parts, the subtle variations in a shape's silhouette, lost and found edges and contrasts, and the intersection of points (no tangents!). There's a much greater sense of understanding, of knowing what to do and why, and what needs to be improved and why. It's great!! It's also more fun this way because my brain is more engaged, not just sitting idly by while my eyes and hands have all the fun.

I'm encouraged too because this particular pencil drawing style had started to get really rigid in my previous sketches, but now it's starting to be redeemed, infused with new life in the figures and the lines themselves!

Rough Sketch

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 08:00:00 +0000

About 1.75 hours

Brief Update

noreply@blogger.com (iandale) — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 05:27:00 +0000

I finally put some time into polishing up my portfolio website... added a section for sketches/practice work, and another for commissioned work - graphic design, logos, websites, & illustration. Between work and classes, these two sections should have a pretty steady stream of new content, and hopefully I'll be able to add some more polished personal artwork before too long...

I also finally took the plunge and submitted my porfolio link to the Nucleus Gallery! (the one that I love and visit every month) We'll see how it goes...

And hooray for my new art-buddy Kin Lok! We met in figure drawing class and he's also trying to learn all this cool drawing stuff. We're gonna be accountability buddies to make sure we stay on top of our sketchbooks. He called me up on Monday, excited to have finished 8 pages of sketches... I had one or two. Gotta get on it! Nonetheless, it's good to have a buddy for the journey. As iron sharpens iron...