Personal Work - Jeffrey Alan Love

In between jobs for the past two weeks I've been working on these pieces trying to replicate traditionally some of the things I've been doing in my digital work.  Both of the above are acrylic on paper with slight photoshop manipulation.

Recent Work - Jeffrey Alan Love

Some recent work for myself and new editorial work for The Wall Street Journal, The Progressive, and Government Executive (thanks to awesome AD's Nick Jehlen, Kelly Martin, Dan Smith, and John Nichols! )  I went out to Spectrum Live a few weeks ago and had a great time - it really threw me for a loop and I've been processing it ever since I got back.  Got to meet a lot of great people and reconnect with old friends.  I would definitely recommend attending if you get the chance.

Spectrum 20

It was a shock to receive word that this piece, "Night Upon the Mountain", was accepted into Spectrum 20.  At the beginning of this year when I decided to commit myself fully to building a fantasy/sci-fi portfolio and pursue work in that field I had no timeline for success, knowing full well that it could take me years to gain a foothold in the industry.  I was (and am) okay with this, as through editorial work and teaching I have just enough financial security to focus on growing my skills with these pieces and trying to become better with each one and to develop my personal voice through the learning process.  This was the sixth piece I made in that initial portfolio, and have since then made 28 more, almost completely replacing that initial group.  I have never had more fun working and to have a piece in Spectrum, long a dream of mine, seems totally unreal.  Thank you so much to the judges for helping me realize this dream.

Part of the process that I've developed, and that I hope brings that personal voice into this work, is that in working digitally I decided early on to rarely if ever use "stock" textures for my work.  99.9% of what I use I make myself (with acrylic paint or printing ink), or steal from previous "gallery" pieces I've done (such as the work for "Yugen", my two-man show with Edward Kinsella).  For this piece, the special sauce was a portrait of a good friend, Will Godwin, that I had done as a gift for him, using house paint, printing ink, oil paint, wax, crayons, and roofing tar.  Thanks for lending me your subliminal magnetism, Will - in person or in a photoshop layer, you have a power few can resist.

The New Yorker - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

I did a portrait of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds for last week's issue of the New Yorker.  This was a dream job in many ways for me.  Before becoming an illustrator I was a musician (with the Philadelphia-based band National Eye), and Nick Cave has always been one of my favorite artists.  I love how his voice comes through in whatever he does, whether one of his musical projects or in his writing of novels and films.  My first memory on getting the job was going at midnight with my friend Rick to get a copy of "The Boatman's Call" when it was released and listening to it over and over.  I had actually been listening to his new album "Push The Sky Away" almost non-stop for two weeks when I got the call for this.

Another reason this was a dream job for me was that I got to work with AD Jordan Awan, a great illustrator in his own right.  When I first started promoting my work he was one of the few AD's who wrote back to me.  He even took the time to let me know which pieces of mine he liked, and which pages of my sketchbooks he enjoyed, suggesting that I perhaps push my artwork in those more personal directions.  As my artwork changed and evolved over the last two years of professional work, he would occasionally send me a note of encouragement.  So often in making and promoting illustration work it feels like you are shouting into emptiness, so those small acts of his meant a huge deal to me, and gave me the courage and conviction to continue pushing towards a more personal, honest voice in my work. 

Even though it was a pretty quick turnaround, I did 43 thumbnails for the job, wanting to nail it.  I ended up sending Jordan 6 that I thought would work.  Below are three, including the one we ended up going with.  And again, thank you, Jordan. 

Personal Work, or "Life is Short"

Two more new pieces from this past week's personal work - "The Blind Wizard's Counsel" and "To War With The Giants."  A few months ago I had a health scare where, over the course of the last few months, I had to confront the fact that my life might be considerably shorter than I thought it would be.  Thankfully, it now appears that won't be the case.  That brief period of fear and uncertainty stripped away almost everything from my mind, and brought a new, clean perspective that I hope sticks with me.  I don't have all the time in the world, but I will find the time to do the work that I want to do, that means something to me, and that I have to get out of me.  No more periods of just killing time between jobs, between teaching classes, etc.  Time to work.

Working Towards a Dream

Two pieces from this week's work towards my science-fiction/fantasy portfolio - "The Witch's Hair" and "A Prayer Before Battle."  When I was apprenticed to Sterling Hundley he used to constantly tell me to think of myself as a designer - he said that was my strong point.  But I didn't want to be a designer - I wanted to be a painter, a mark-maker, an illustrator!  I just couldn't see what he was saying.  With this period of sustained effort on a body of work I feel that I'm really beginning to understand what he was trying to teach me.  The "how" of the piece, the completion of it, the mark-making, are secondary to the composition, the design of it.  They are this year's clothes hanging on the bones and flesh.  Next year, maybe even next week, the manner in which I make the piece may change, but the design, the flesh and bones, will always mark it as mine.

I've also tried with this body of work to open myself up to my dreams and daydreams (and occasionally nightmares) to mine for the substance of the pieces.  My education as a fiction writer (I have a degree in English: Creative Writing, and dropped out of art school) is informing a lot of my process here.  Each piece is a visual short story, and I'm enjoying trying to figure out what I can leave out versus what needs to be left in, trying to find that blurry edge between too concrete and too mysterious.

Tomb Raider

  

I was commissioned to do a limited edition poster (along with some other excellent artists, including Illostop's own Victo Ngai) for the new Tomb Raider game that was released this week.  I've been working mostly as an editorial illustrator for the past year and a half, but have started to promote myself to the science-fiction/fantasy market, which is my true love, and this was a wonderful first assignment in that genre.  Marc Scheff was a great AD to work with - he wanted my interpretation of the source material - it didn't even have to include Lara Croft! Throw in some samurai, an oni (demon), some arrows, and a mysterious island and I'm in heaven.

Thank you to Chris and the rest of the Illostop crew for inviting me on board - I'm honored to be a part of this great group.