So You Want to be a Wizard Portrait

This is a fantasy portrait commissioned by a Boston-area fan. I've done a lot of these portraits with varying success. My portraitee suggested the theme of a "student wizard" which was a more original idea before the Harry Potter series took over the theme. The title of the book, "So You Want to be a Wizard," refers to the influential young-adult fantasy by Diane Duane. As I remember, the portraitee didn't think my portrait looked like him and wasn't satisfied. I wonder what he looks like now.

"So You Want to be a Wizard" is ink and watercolor on illustration board, 8 1/2" x 11", November 1990.

Baroque Space Marines

These two drawings fill spaces in between text blocks in my graphic-heavy journal book. The top one is more Baroque architecture details and the bottom is roughly sketched silhouettes of Space Marines. The general rule in the Warhammer 40K world is that if you see some glorious palace or beautiful city or lovely natural area, it is guaranteed to be destroyed by the end of the book. I suppose the authors, gameplayers, and fans enjoy this type of thing, somewhat like boys knocking down sand castles or virtually nuking SimCity. I doubt whether any girls play Warhammer but some girls torture and dismember their Barbie dolls, too. I just feel bad for all the annihilated fictional beauty and uncounted fictional people massacred to fulfill the Emperor's destiny-bound commands. I'm just too soft, I guess. Just don't ask me to get really soft and do pink "My Little Pony" cartoons. If you do want me to draw My Little Pony, you'd better have a lot of cash. Me, I'd rather go for baroque. 

Ink and Copic brush marker on sketchbook page, about 4 1/2" x 4", June 16, 2013.

Elric versus the Theocrat

I have always been a big fan of Michael Moorcock's Elric, the exiled albino sorcerer king of Melnibone'. Elric's world was wildly creative and colorful with a heaping helping of destruction and angst. He bore with him the demon sword "Stormbringer" which sucked the souls out of the beings he killed. I encountered the Elric series in the 1970s and just couldn't get enough. During the mid to late 1970s I did dozens of Elric pictures, usually quite small, since for some of those years I was a graduate student in a dorm room. 

I've often wondered what would happen if I went back to Moorcock's Elric after all these years. What kind of fantasy art would I do now, with modern tools and skills? I find myself overwhelmed by current fantasy and science fiction, not knowing what to choose or read. And modern fantasy doesn't seem to be as "fantastic" as Moorcock's, for instance the immense "Game of Thrones" series which replicates the brutality of the late Middle Ages with a bit of fantasy added in. I don't want irony or parody either. I like the old style High Fantasy full of magic and color and special effects and even some old-fashioned morality. Am I just out of touch? Should my creative efforts be "brutal" and "gritty" which seem to be the standard nowadays. Should fantasy be like real life, complete with terrorists and vicious gang warfare and mass murder? I want my fantasy to be escapist!  I can see that other stuff on TV. But I am still struggling to create anything more than a small sketch anyway these days. 

"Elric Versus the Theocrat" is watercolor on Fabriano paper, 14" x 10", November 1976.

Rationalist Neoclassicism

The use of Classical motifs and decoration, whether Greek or Roman, is often associated with rationalist ideals and the idea of stability. Rationalism steers away from supernatural or religious explanations for the phenomena of the world, and supports science, skepticism, and the experimental method. It tends towards materialism and a non-metaphysical worldview. The classical style is often used in traditional bank and government buildings such as those in Washington, DC, to give an aura not only of stability, but of Empire.

Neoclassicism is the use of these Roman and Greek forms and images long after the age of Greece and Rome. In the "Enlightenment" era of the 18th century in Europe, neoclassical design was popular. This architectural study depicts archways and elaborate cornices in the church of St. Genevieve in Paris, which was built in the later third of the 18th century. Interestingly, rationalist forms here support a religious building.

I am interested in the Neoclassical style for non-rational reasons. I find this style compatible with various fantasy universes which feature galaxy-spanning star empires imitating ancient Rome or Byzantium, such as the "Warhammer 40,000" gaming world. Eventually I'll be pairing Neoclassical forms and ornament with space-suited super-warriors, as the authors meant it to be. That is, if I ever get my main computer back in action, and if I ever make larger artworks any more.

Pitt drawing pen and greyscale markers on sketchbook page, 3 1/2" x 4", June 14, 2013.

Deconstructed Bird

I activated the hand-held scanner. This is a peculiar piece of gear, very useful in limited situations. It can scan the pages of a book which will not sit (or be crushed) flat on the flat bed of a conventional scanner. You set it to scan and roll it across the page till you've covered what you want to copy. It sends the scan to a mini SD tiny card and then through a USB cable to your computer. The scans are quite good but they are small so if you were scanning a larger page you'd have to do a number of them and then "stitch" them together in Photoshop. There is one major problem with this device and that is the power source. It runs on AA batteries but if you leave the batteries in the device when you are not using it, it drains the power out of them (even when the scanner is turned off) so when you pick it up to use it after a few months, the batteries are dead. I solve this by simply removing the batteries after each use and keeping them near the disassembled device. So there.

This is a shape and texture doodle I did in my sketchbook journal, with both birdlike and wood-scrap-like elements. It's kind of like what my blogging buddy "Emikk" does with plumbing.

Pitt drawing pen on sketchbook page, 4" x 4", June 2013.

Still non functional

A note to my devoted handful of readers: My main computer is still non functional and my scanner won't work with the laptop I'm currently using. So until I do some digital work or activate my hand-held scanner I cannot post here daily the way I used to. I'll try to get some By-Product for you as soon as I can. I have dozens of gadgets and most of them work fine, but only if I have the organization and time management to use them. Until then, posting will be sporadic.

Failure in the blog spot and WinePaddery

The By-Product missed two days due to the failure of my main studio computer, an iMac nicknamed "Bizmac." I have no idea why the thing won't start up but up until then it had been doing fine. I must have done something to it...too much byte-heavy graphics and photo-processing work? A corrupt file somewhere? Too much wine? When a computer fails, it's always the user's fault. When a Macintosh fails, it is not only the user's fault but the user must do penance to the enshrined spirit of Stephen Jobs. I'm hoping that one of my expert friends will help me get Bizmac back on track, or at least help me haul it to the Apple Store at the nearby mall. I am currently posting from my laptop, "WineMac," which is hooked up to the cable system and studio setup.

The day Bizmac conked out, I went to Casanel Vineyards outside of Leesburg, where I did this bright-colored bit of iPaddery while sipping Casanel's Pinot Gris and munching on crackers and blue cheese. A moment of ideal pleasure in my life which hasn't had much of that these days. The leaves and vines were that special brilliant green of a well-watered early June, before things get baked by summer heat and turn yellower.

"Art Studio" app on iPad, June 8, 2013.