Wednesday, January 18, 2012

A Sodom and Gomorrah New Year! -- The Captains of Industry Calendar



THE CLIENTS

Eyerus + Visual Communications Studio
The Captains of Industry

THE ASSIGNMENT


A calendar, illustrated in the style of '70s Blaxploitation movie posters. Each month will focus on an extremely esoteric holiday (or a popular holiday handled in an extremely esoteric way), all staring The Captains of Industry.

The Captains of Industry are: Graham Funke and StoneRokk, two innovative and eclectic DJs known for their creativity, sense of humor, and opinionated worldviews. You may find them working high-profile corporate and celebrity events around the country, or at their Las Vegas residencies at the Palms Casino Resort. They are "Your favorite DJ's favorite DJs."™

THE CHALLENGE: JANUARY

January's featured holiday is New Year's Day. In the style of The Captains, this can be no ordinary Rockin' New Year. This must be epic. It must be biblical. Its debauchery must cause the cursed to want to return to the nefarious bosom of Beelzebub just for the safe haven. Amidst the wrath of the Almightly and ensuing eternal chaos, The Captains emerge from the charred rubble, Baby New Year in-tow.

THE PROCESS

Prior to the sketch phase, The Captains took part in a photo shoot, wearing approximate clothing and staging various poses appropriate to each month's scene, as they envisioned it. The resulting images allowed us to pick and choose from a variety of angles and expressions to create the best illustration. The photos made for quite entertaining viewing, too.

Here they are, preparing to rock in the new year with faux toddler (aka -- paint roller).



Also prior to the sketch phase, I did extensive research on '70s Blaxploitation movie posters, to be sure I understood their pulp magazine-like color palettes, dramatic compositional stylings, and in-your-face narrative approach. Favorite inspiration included: Superfly, Shaft's Big Score!, and Coffy.



HOW TO START?

An epic New Year's Eve party requires plenty of debauchery. So, naturally, I spent time researching debauchery. The trick is to present it in a way that is not gratuitous and uninteresting, but witty, engaging, and allows one's mind to create a final punch line. Engaging the viewer's mind adds another layer of interest, as well as adds real and perceived complexity to a scene.

Part of the look of '70s Blaxploitation movie posters is in the perspective. I decided to use a lower viewpoint, here, to make the scene seem larger and more imposing. The lower angle also adds a sense of heroism to The Captains, emerging in front.

Before launching into the final art, I staged a photo shoot to give me information for the passed-out partiers. A reminder to illustrators out there: don't skimp on your reference! Your college professors weren't joking. Make it easy on yourself in the long run.

My fantastic models (and me) all had fun pretending to be passed out and completely out of commission New Year's revelers. The resulting images gave me plenty of options to create a middleground of spent humanity. Here's one of my faves. His identity has been hidden to avoid incrimination.



I wanted to create a visual flow around the guys, subtly pointing the eye back to Baby New Year, kicking and screaming its way into 2012. The blazen cave entrance is a good place to start. If you get lost, there are plenty of visual helpers to point you in the right direction. Take a look around and you'll be either entertained or offended. Either way is perfectly okay.

THE DETAILS

I had, probably, too much fun coming up with debaucherous detail, strewn throughout. I'd still be adding things, today, if I could. Although, it's one thing to have a mountain of ideas and a creative concept, it's totally another to execute them in a way that tells the story and doesn't waste a millimeter of space -- meaning every item should be composed in a pleasing way which both leads the eye and successfully helps tell the story.

The largest items, like The Captains and the high-contrast cave opening, are very prominent, and among the most important components of the illustration. Like a theatrical play, they set the stage. Using details to both lead the eye and allow some visual rest, I created subtle breaks in implied lines where I wanted the eye to gravitate. For example, the "road sign" breaks the edge of the composition on the left, drawing the eye into it and its goings-on, as well as helping to lead the viewer through the complex composition. The pointy party hat on the supine partier on the far right also breaks the edge of the composition and directs the eye back up to StoneRokk, whose bottle directs the eye back down through the scene.

Use your skills of perception and see how many details you can find in the illustration. Drop me a line and I'll point out some hidden gems.



To put a punctuation mark on the holiday, Graham is rockin' a mustache (and accompanying sideburns) I affectionately call, "The Ron Jeremy." Each month features a 'stache integral to the story.

Thanks, again, to the amazing team at Eyerus for allowing me the opportunity to be involved, for their direction, and for fostering an environment for creativity that any illustrator would cherish. Thanks, too, to The Captains of Industry for conceiving such a wonderfully-inspired collection of ideas for the world to devour, as well as for their very generous write-up about the project and their kind words toward me. See it, here.

You may secure your own calendar at The Capts Online Haberdashery.

Over the coming weeks, I will show and tell the stories behind each month's art. Stay tuned. Tell your friends. You won't be disappointed!

Allan Burch is an award-winning illustrator and portrait artist, providing solutions for editorial, book, advertising, and institutional projects.
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Sunday, November 20, 2011

Country Doctor



The assignment:

Create an illustration to reflect the compassionate relationship between doctor and patient for a book of short stories about country doctors.

The challenge:

In order to capture a compassionate, intimate scene, I felt it important to create a close sense of space -- using the bedside and curtain partition, as well bringing the viewer outside looking in through the room door. All this helps create context. A warm, lovely light helps to add emotion and a sense of intimacy.

It was also important not to make it about specific people, which is what can happen when faces and eyes are involved. Through viewing angles and use of light, I attempted to make the faces a lesser area of focus.

The process:

My mother and father just happened to be visiting at about the time this assignment was given. I asked if they would be the subjects. They graciously agreed. We then proceeded to do a photo shoot at their hotel room.

It was about 2 hours of some of the silliest doctor-patient conversation one would ever hear -- certain to cause heads to roll at the AMA. But, I captured some terrific poses.

From this, I crafted several sketches.



The last entry was the chosen candidate for the final.

It was a pleasure, not only to be involved with the project, but to also be able to immortalize my parents in this way. To me, every nuance reveals the compassionate relationship they share -- here, as doctor and patient.

Allan Burch is an award-winning illustrator and portrait artist, providing solutions for editorial, book, advertising, and institutional projects.
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Saturday, July 23, 2011

Amy Winehouse

If you haven't heard, Amy Winehouse passed away.

I am a huge fan of her work. She injected the type of emotion into her music that I aspire to with my own art. After you read this post, look for a particular video of her singing "To Know Him is to Love Him," live in the studio. It was a heartbreaker on July 22. She was found dead on July 23rd.

Much like my Lady Gaga piece, seen elsewhere on this blog, I wanted to paint her as an individual, like anyone you might see on the street. Someone you, the viewer can relate to, rather than a celebrity who lives on another plane of reality from you and me.

There are the hallmarks, present, that make her Amy, such as the dramatic eye treatment, tattoos, monroe, and mane of hair, but it's also just a beautiful human face, not far removed from you or someone you know.

I felt black and white was an appropriate palette, for its starkness and the way it forces one to consider the forms and marks without the added variable of color.

Plus, her style was very noir, dark, and moody. I thought black and white would reflect this, nicely.

A portrait of Amy wouldn't be complete without alluding to her troubled ways. I chose to do this through a sense of raw energy as well as fragility within the brush strokes.

A distant look in her eye rounds out the story.

RIP, Amy.

Allan Burch is an award-winning illustrator and portrait artist, providing solutions for editorial, book, advertising, and institutional projects.
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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Bert Degheri for USD Magazine

Bert Degheri -- a 1961 alumni of what is now the University of San Diego, a significant donor to the school, and the subject of the "Giving Back" feature of a recent issue of USD Magazine, for which I was fortunate to illustrate.

My challenge with this illustration was to keep the color palette more natural, rather than use the pumped up reds and oranges that tend to permeate my pieces. By the same token, I wanted to give the eye something extra to feast on, so I let the radiant warm undertones just peek through between select seams in the composition.

The University of San Diego is a long-time terrific client, for whom I'm always honored to work.

So how are things going, out there? Well, I hope.

How are things with me, you ask?

Things are good, thanks!

Where in the heck have I been, you ask?

Thanks for asking! I've been illustrating, as usual; creating all sorts of creative work for lots of terrific clients, to which I'm always grateful.

I've also discovered photography, and it's gotten under my skin. I'm enjoying the challenge of learning and applying my visual sensibilities to this new (to me) medium.

My illustration work derives a touch of influence from fashion photography, so it was only natural that my efforts at photography take on those same influences.

Here's a recent effort featuring the lovely Melodie, my frequent collaborator.



So, between my many attempts at visual creation, and trying to learn with rabid fervor, I'm afraid my blog has suffered undue neglect.

Thanks, again, to everyone who has checked in and supported this blog and my work. I haven't forgotten about you!

Thanks, as always, for taking some of your time to check us out! Stay tuned...

Allan Burch is an award-winning illustrator and portrait artist, providing solutions for editorial, book, advertising, and institutional projects.
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Long Time No Post

Well, hello there.

I hope everyone out there is doing well.

I wanted to make a quick post to let you know I'm still around and making art at a feverish pace. In fact, as you've no doubt noticed, I've had difficulty keeping my blog posts current.

Thanks for your patience and your continued support of this blog. I'll have some new work to show you, soon! Stay tuned...

Monday, November 15, 2010

The Adventures of Danny and the Dingo


® & ©2010 Fuel TV, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

THE CLIENT

Eyerus + Visual Communication Studio (the agency)
FUEL TV

THE ASSIGNMENT

With a tongue-in-cheek nod to Drew Struzan's Smokey and the Bandit II movie poster, create an illustration reflecting the chaos and craziness of the upcoming 4th season of the FUEL TV show, The Adventures of Danny and the Dingo.

THE CHALLENGE

Create something wild and wacky, with as many visual detours as possible, and a Burt Reynolds/Dom DeLuise-ish movie poster vibe. The 2 main characters would take center stage while the chaos and mini story lines that succumb to the gravitational pull of a Danny and the Dingo experience orbit about their feet.

THE PROCESS

Research

I began by screening some episodes from the show, which stars Danny Kass, 2-time Olympic snowboarding medalist, and Australian snowboarding personality, The Dingo. This helped me get a feel for the show and its characters.

When taking on a job, I like to learn as much as possible about every component, so I feel confident speaking on its behalf -- which is what I'm entrusted to do, in a way.

This project took some initial sketching to find its concept. It started out with more of a Cannonball Run II nod, with the craziness bursting out at the viewer.



The client opted to go the Smokey and the Bandit II route, instead. They liked the storytelling potential of smaller elements swirling around large main characters.



This season takes place, largely, in the snowy climes of places like Alaska and Switzerland. So that sort of scenery needed to form the basis of the illustration's landscape -- setting the tone.

Snowboarders, snowmobilers, wakeboarders, heli-boarders, dogsledders, goat-milkers, fishing-boat-gun-shooters, trophy-truckers, RV-riders, Euro-sports-car-drivers, lederhosen-clad dudes, German-beer-maid gals, police and rescue vehicles, and any other crazy folks we could think of needed to feel welcome in this illustration.

Taking a respectful cue from Mr. Struzan's aforementioned poster, I set out to glean from its humor and general idea.

This type of assignment is a good exercise for illustration students to understand what makes an illustration work. There are a lot of decisions that went in to the making of Drew Struzan's poster, from the placement of the vehicles and the value composition within that swirl of vehicles, to the large figure poses, to the cloud composition, to the color of Bandit's jacket.

Sketches

We tried a few options with the guys in center stage, but they didn't seem to quite cut it.





In what I'm claiming as about a 3rd degree of separation to extra-coolness, Danny and the Dingo were called to a house in Los Angeles for a quick photo shoot just for this project. I was poised at my computer, on-call for when the agency received the photos and sent them to me. I would plug them into the layout and shoot it back for final approval. Upon approval, I would immediately turn my attention to the final, as our deadline was rapidly approaching.

It happened, I did it, and we got it...approval, that is.



The Final

If you are an illustration student, you've probably heard over and over -- there's no substitute for good reference. It's true. Listen to your professor, especially, if you're trying to work realistically. Bad reference will sink your ship, and quickly.

With the help of my intern, Andrew, I tracked down reference for the background: clouds, Swiss Alps, Alaskan fishing boat, Brandenburg Gate/Berlin Wall, Swiss airport, Berlin Tower, wakeboarders, snowboarders, snowmobilers, and dogsledders. I also researched the snowy ground for something non-descript, yet definitely snowy.

Then, it was time for my camera to come out of its bag.

Since this is such an unusual giant's-view perspective, I wanted to make sure the vehicles and people looked correct. So, I shot 'em.

I scoured the toy shops for scale vehicles of all sorts and set them up at the perspective of the illustration, shooting them group-by-group, lit from upper left, on a sheet of white foam core until I had what I needed.

Then, I needed to contact some models to pose as the characters at the guys' feet.

It was a race against the clock, at this point, and Briana (a lovely Southwest Missouri model) and her husband, Daniel, came through for me on short notice and knocked it out of the park. They completely embraced the humor and tongue-in-cheek undertone. Their participation, in my view, solidified this illustration. Look closely to see all the terrific roles they played. My sincere thanks to them for their perfect participation in this project.



Color

Cool blues would have to rule the landscape. But, then what?

Too much color amongst the cars, below, would be too chaotic and distracting. I kept it somewhat muted, with a few flashes of light on the U.S., Swiss, and German police cars.

Why is Bandit's jacket red?

The rest of the Smokey and the Bandit II poster has very muted tones and colors. The red jacket leads the viewer's eye toward the main character and creates, arguably, the primary area of visual interest. Cover up that jacket with brown and the color composition becomes very blah. The red makes it work. And, there's just enough of it below to harmonize it with the color palette.

So, that's what I needed to do, too.

Thank you Mr. Struzan for the lesson.

This was a very complex and involved project, but also very rewarding. The folks at Eyerus are an illustrator's dream with which to work. I'm very grateful to them for the opportunity to help with this very cool assignment.

This ad can be seen in the December 2010 issue of Transworld Snowboarding Magazine (on newsstands as I write). And, the 4th season of The Adventures of Danny and the Dingo debuts Tuesday November 16 on FUEL TV.

Allan Burch is an award-winning illustrator and portrait artist, providing solutions for editorial, book, advertising, and institutional projects.
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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Howard Nusbaum for The University of Chicago Magazine

Howard C. Nusbaum, Ph.D. is Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago. He's also a trained cognitive psychologist, whose research examines the area of speech research, and, most recently, the study of wisdom. Check out the Defining Wisdom Project for more information: http://wisdomresearch.org/.

Mr. Nusbaum was also the subject of a charcoal portrait I completed for The University of Chicago Magazine, earlier this year.

For some reason, I always feel as if I'm in my groove whenever I'm fortunate to work with the folks at the U. of C., whether I am or am not. The charcoal marks feel just a little more vivacious and my confidence beams just a little brighter.

Charcoal portraits are a large bulk of my workload, and something I thoroughly enjoy doing. It's fun for me to explore mark-making as I sculpt a face.

I lay down large, vague areas of charcoal and, without committing until I have to, pull details out of the morass until my subject emerges, like a Smilodon out of the La Brea Tar Pits.

Maybe not exactly like that, but close. I'm sculpting, over here.

It's always a pleasure and an honor working with the U. of C. and contributing to their thoughtfully-designed publication.

Things have been ultra-busy for me over the past few months with commissioned illustrations and my newest hobby -- photography. Hence, my lack of posting. Thanks so much to everyone who has checked in, looking for a new post. I sincerely appreciate your loyalty!

I have some neat things coming your way, so stay tuned.

Allan Burch is an award-winning illustrator and portrait artist, providing solutions for editorial, book, advertising, and institutional projects.
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