I have been teaching Illustration this Summer at the Art Institute of Las Vegas. This is a color pencil demo I recently did in class of Bill Murray. It is Prismacolor pencil on tinted matboard.

My Advanced Digital Imaging Class at AILV

I have been teaching advanced digital imaging (Photoshop) this Spring at the Art Institute of Las Vegas and thought it would be interesting to share some of the student’s work. Below are some blue screen composites they recently completed. Their talent and ambition are noteworthy. (I wish I could take all the credit for their burgeoning Photoshop skills.)

Alexandra Myszkowski

Gary Shikhelman

Harry Potter in the style of Mary GrandPre

For my illustration class at the Art Institute of Las Vegas, I did a demonstration of an existing composition by Mary GrandPre in an effort to teach students how she handles goauche and pastels when she renders.

Mary GrandPre is famous for her Harry Potter Book cover (and chapter spot) illustrations, just be certain not to overlook her other beautiful work…

That said, here is a link to a show of her Harry Potter work as well as an incredible gallery of her sketches!

Frankenstein

Another demonstration I did for my illustration students at the Art Institute of Las Vegas:

This was a two-hour demo done with oils (and to the surprise of some students—paper towels in addition to paintbrushes!)

Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn

This is from an in-class demonstration I did on March 14th for my Illustration students at the Art Institute of Las Vegas.

It is Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn. It took about two and a half hours to get to this point. The media consists of nu-pastels on Arches watercolor paper with a gouache underpainting.

Here is what the sepia underpainting looked like before the pastels went on top.

The goauche underpainting

Wonder Woman (In the style of Alex Ross)

On of the most popular technique requests illustration students of mine want to see is that of Alex Ross.

I assure them that first and foremost, Alex Ross is a conceptual genius and that his unique vision can’t be taught (nor should it be attempted,) but I do have a nifty demonstration (taken right from Ross’s own book) on his materials and methods, so I teach them essentially how he works the medium.

I use identical compositions of Ross’s for a couple of reasons, mainly to save time, but also so that students can see for themselves how you get to the final look from a sketch.

Superman (in the style of Alex Ross)

Tina Fey (unfinished)

The medium is prismacolor pencil on tinted paper. It is unfinished, but what is done took about and hour and a half.

Dave Chappelle

Another in-class demonstration I did in February of 2007 for my Illustration students at the Art Institute of Las Vegas.

This Dave Chappelle painting demonstration is built for speed.

It utilizes some techniques that were made famous by legendary illustrators Bart Forbes, Bernie Fuchs and others.