A quick montage giving some insight on how artist David Tevenal does his tattoo flash.

Ever wondered how a Montana Spraycan gets produced? This video gives you a inside look of the production, from the first to the last step!

Steve Driscoll stops by to teach about the Createx Wicked Colors. He explains the use of his Flesh Tone set and how to utilize and manipulate the colors to achieve flawless skin tones. This is one of the many great videos available over at Coastairbrush.tv

I had noticed a couple weeks back that Blake, who most people know by the name of his studio Cross Eyed Airbrushing, had updated his website. Sifting through the pages of his new site I noticed that Mike Learn had written the forward and indicated that he had previewed the book last year during a course in Edmonton. I was excited. Blake’s shop is a few minutes drive for me, so I figured I would give him a call. “I just got the books in and they are sitting in boxes at my place,” Blake told me.

“I’ll be there in 15 minutes,” I told him. I was even more excited. I have followed Blake’s work over the years through bike shows, and events in the Calgary area, and he has been a huge influence artistically (whether he knows it or not). While excited, at the same time I was apprehensive. When I usually get excited about things, I find that my expectations exceed reality, causing me to feel let down, even though things are in reality really well done. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would be an instructional step-by-step book with a few different projects that were pulled directly from the pages of Airbrush Action, or would this be a totally different direction from the norm.

When I arrived I was greeted by Blake’s dog, and then Blake. We went into the shop and he pulled that book out, showing a beautifully embossed and centre cut cover page, pristine and sealed. Blake had worked three years putting the book together and spent hundreds of hours on top of his already busy schedule working on this book. It is a self-published deal, and not only had Blake spent hours creating the book, but had taken on the publishing role himself. He said that he wanted to write the book, the way he wanted, and not be restricted. Blake had been offered book deals, but he wanted his own voice.

The book contains so much work, that you will have to go through it several times to digest what you are seeing. Blake does an excellent job in laying oput this book, and representing his work. While in the book is a great gallery of work, it is also a great book for inspiration. Blake reveals in a sense his ‘Manifesto’ in his writings client interaction, stories about projects, how to maximize each job, and drive. The Drive section in my honest opinion is something that anyone who does custom work should read. Within the book it does contain some smaller “how to sections”, that contain some pretty valuable information.

There is so much meat in this book, both artistically and intellectually, that I really cant find the word to do this book justice. With a cover price $44 it is worth every penny. Each of the 237 pages contains so much information, and inspiration that it is a must for any artist. In fact it is probably best to buy two, so that you have another when you wear the first copy out. You can buy it online at http://cross-eyedair.com/store

Drew Brophy is an artist from California, who is best known for his artwork on surfboards, as well as his pieces revolving around the surf scene. Being from nowhere near water, I first became exposed to Drew’s art on Sector 9 skateboards. Drew has a unique style, and that’s what attracted me to his work, that and his willingness to mix media. I have seen Drew through his internet videos mix everything from water-based pens, to airbrush, to spray bombs, to get the result he desires. To me that speaks volumes, as an artist I believe that there should be no limit on what techniques you use to reach your goal, it is ultimately the end result that matters.

Drew’s latest offering to the world is the book ‘How to Draw with Drew Brophy’. Published by Walter Foster, this 48 page book goes through how to create various different scenes and characters a’ la Brophy. Like any art book we get a little background, about Drew, and of the materials you need to get working. Then Drew jumps right into his method of colouring and never looks back.

Naturally the book covers how to draw one of Drew’s trademark waves, but also covers a variety of surf characters from grumpy fish, to tikis, and even a couple of skulls for good measure. The final section covers how to paint your gear, and goes over the technique of using water-based pens to create your own custom surf and skateboard.

The book is a great size (9″x12″), with lots of easy to follow step by step illustrations with tips along the way. While the book is targeted for teenagers and kid, it makes a great read for adults as well, whether they are fans of Drew of artists themselves.

If there is one criticism that I do have is that the book does not cover surface prep or protecting your work in the custom gear section. Now I can understand that nobody (myself included) wants their 7 year old spraying a can of urethane clear coat around, but it would have been nice to see it as something to ask your parents to help you with, and gives a parent the opportunity (and the knowledge) to be part of their kids cool project and support their youthful art.

Bottom line that this a great book from Drew and is well worth the $10.95 ($8.95 US) cover price, as it contains some great drawing projects and advice. For the price of the book I know that all the little guys in my life will be getting copies. This colourful offering is worth giving up a couple cups of drive-thru coffee, to add some thing very cool and fun to your kids life…and maybe secretly yours as well…

Manga Studio Brushes

Originally uploaded by Ray Frenden

For those of you who use Manga Studio 4, make sure to check out Ray Frenden’s Blog. He has created some natural media brushes, which will be great for your work!

Ray has promised a tutorial for these brushes in the near future, and I am sure it will be great. Ray has had some awesome tutorials in the past. In fact it was Ray that turned me on to Manga Studio, a program that I would have never thought of using prior to seeing some of his work. Ray is also a great guy, in that I had some questions on pens he was using for inking, and he was more than happy to shoot me an email sharing how he would digitally ink and set up his custom pens.

Pricing an Ethical Guidlines

Originally uploaded by painincdesigns

What should I charge is a question that comes up more often then not for artists, especially when starting out.

The Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing and Ethical Guidelines provides a great deal of information for artists that are creating graphical art for consumption. Whether you are painting album covers, creating comic books, creating logos, and all sorts of areas in between this book is an excellent resource. The book is filled with numerous pricing charts to provide points of reference in which an artist can use a a guide.

The book is also a great source for contracts and forms for an artist.

The book is a must for any graphic artist.