Thumbnails

I have a confession to make...  

I hate thumbnails!  Let me rephrase that by saying, I hated thumbnails.  Up until recently I have always felt my thumbnails left a lot to be desired, not only for myself but also the client. While I have never gotten a complaint as to the level they were ever at I just felt they never really showed my final intentions.  I’d always be chomping at the bit to move along and get started throwing value down on the final canvas as quickly as possible.  I just didn't enjoy all the preparatory work involved with creating the final image, even though I knew it all was necessary.

Recently I have forced myself to really push my thumbnails as far as possible, trying to create full blown miniature black and white paintings of the image I have in my mind.  This has helped me immensely!  Even though I spend more time on these sketches it saves time down the road at a later stage of the illustration.  Everything is now figured out and there is no trial & error moving forward.  I know what I am looking for in reference, what I have to do for the final drawing, and even know what’s happening value wise with the final painting.  Best of all, I have really come to enjoy the thumbnail stage of a project now!

Check out the thumbnails above (click to enlarge) from some recent projects and let me know what you think.  Also let me know your thoughts on preparatory work.  Love it or hate it?

-Dom

Frazetta Tribute Show for Juvenile Diabetes

My A Princess of Mars piece was selected from over 300 entries for inclusion in the upcoming Frank Frazetta tribute exhibition at Gallery Provocateur.  The Exhibition will open concurrent to the Chicago Comic Convention which runs from March 18th - 20th. Proceeds from the show will be donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for Frank's granddaughter Jessica, who has type 1 juvenile diabetes, in hopes for a cure.

Like so many, Frazetta’s work was a tremendous inspiration for me as a young artist and continues to be to this day.  More specifically Frank’s Dark Kingdom piece from above was probably the single greatest influence on me and fueled my desire to pursue illustration.  Copying from my older brothers Molly Hatchet album, I would spend countless hours trying to recreate the masterpiece as a child.  That original album hangs in my studio to this day.

More info on the artists and exhibit can be found here, and many thanks to Veronika Kotlajic of Gallery Provocateur for putting together such a great show for such an awesome cause.

I am very honored to be a part of this show.

-Dom

Lincoln: Process

Just in time for his birthday here is a recently completed portrait of our sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln.  I have always been fascinated by Lincoln and have wanted to paint him for quite some time.  Such great sunken eyes!

I also thought this would be a good opportunity to show off a step by step of my painting technique.  I’ve added a new section to the website called “Process” which can be accessed from the site’s main navigation bar.  So if you've been curious as to how I go about a typical painting click here and check out the step by step process and video slideshow.

Happy birthday Abe!

-Dom

Swashbuckle Fred Pirate Study

Here’s a quick little figure study from an old pirate painting that unfortunately never came to be.  I have decided to revisit the figure here as a study because a friend of mine was kind enough to pose for me and thought he’d like to see himself as the swashbuckling hero.  Who knows, maybe someday Ill be able to recycle this figure into a future project.

You can also click on the image above to enlarge and get a better look at some of the brush work.  Enjoy!

-Dom

Spectrum 17

Spectrum 17, a compilation of the years best fantastic art has arrived in book stores everywhere.  I am both honored and fortunate enough to be included in this year copy.  Ive had the pleasure of owning every single copy of Spectrum since its inception in 1994 and still to this day find myself flipping through past years for inspiration.  With the awesome Manchess cover (which I had the pleasure of seeing created before my very eyes at IMC 2009) on the crisp white background, amazing type design, beautiful reproductions, and new artist info next to the specific art, it is in my opinion the best Spectrum to date!  Heres a small list of some fellow artist friends & colleagues I have the pleasure of sharing the pages with.

Aaron Miller
Greg Manchess
Boris & Julie
Howard Lyon
Donato Giancola
David Palumbo
Allen Douglas
Scott Fischer
Teetering Bulb (Zelda & Kurt)
Rebecca Guay
Steven Belledin
Terese Nielsen
Kristina Carroll
Raoul Vitale
Matt Stewart
Allen Williams
Justin Gerard
Joe Devito

Congratulations to everyone who got in this year.  If you've already got a copy Im on page 249, if you don't... what are you waiting for?  Its awesome!  Run on out and grab yourself a copy or get a really great discount from Amazon here.

-Dom

Imagine FX 60

Head on out and pick up the latest issue of Imagine FX magazine.  Besides being a really great resource for illustrators it has a cool article on the Illustration masters class I attended this past summer.  I was fortunate enough to have my Maid of Orleans piece featured with some other really great artists that attended the class.  In addition to the IMC article theres a neat little piece on the science behind visual perception by Jim Gurney and nice article on legendary illustrator William Stout.  So run on out and grab yourself a copy!

Here are links to the two previous articles I posted about the Illustration Masters Class:

IMC 2009
IMC 2010

Go check them out if you haven't already.

-Dom

IMC 2010: Joan of Arc & Imagine FX

Here is my assignment for this years Illustration Masters Class I attended a couple of weeks ago in Amherst Massachusetts.  (For those unfamiliar with IMC check out my previous blog post on last years here.)

For this years Assignment I chose to take on the Maid of Orleans... Joan of Arc.  We were free to interpret this book cover anyway we wished through either a historical viewpoint or, as I chose here a more fantastical one.  I’ve been wanting to do an angel piece for quite sometime and this was the perfect opportunity to take on the challenge.

You cacheck it out in my portfolio here or check out a larger view with some zoom details of brush work here.  Enjoy!

This years IMC class was a little different than last in that Imagine FX Magazine chose 10 artists to be featured in an upcoming article.  I just found out that I was fortunate enough to be one of the select artists.  Ill post an update when the article hits the stands, but in the mean time here is a list of all the artists that were chosen.

Anthony Palumbo
Clark Huggins
Dominick Saponaro
Andrew Baker
Jason Cheeseman-Meyer
Marc Scheff
Michael Hayes
Rebecca Solow
Sam Kennedy
Winona Nelson

Congratulations to everyone, Im honored to be in such good company!

-Dom