Sunday, May 4, 2008

The Wall

This illustration was part of a series I produced for Bicycling Magazine a while back for a story about two brothers' bicycling trip across Morocco.

My intent with this piece was to give the viewer a flavor for the story, without literally interpreting it. The large cracking adobe wall provided a nice backdrop for a large, perhaps imposing and exotic locale. Warm colors echo the environment. And, the two bicyclists obviously represent the brothers, who look slightly out of place in front of this funky wall.

Not long before I received the call for this assignment, I was residing in Kansas City. From time-to-time, I would people-watch and shoot photos for potential reference -- a pastime I continue to this day. One of those days, I was walking around Loose Park, just south of the Country Club Plaza, and saw these two fellows checking out their bikes near the sole park fountain -- maybe just a routine look-see or maybe diagnosing trouble. In any event, I took a few shots. How fortuitous they would come in handy for this very assignment.

One of the powers of illustration is its ability to further a story and say a number of things with very little. Effective illustration comes in so many shapes and forms. Subtlety happens to be a form that I gravitate toward. The posture of the bikers says something (Why are they bent over and what are they looking at?), their placement in front of the wall says something (What's up with the wall and what is the connection with the cyclists?), and the colors say something (a warm palette versus a cool one, denoting different moods). Together, these elements (I hope) speak as one and solve the visual challenge while leading the viewer down a path that whets the appetite for what they are about to read.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch is the chair of News Corporation, the company that houses many newspapers, TV networks, and other vehicles for information, including Fox News and Dow Jones (the company that runs The Wall Street Journal). A while back, he was a TIME Magazine cover story, around the time he was trying to acquire Dow Jones, which he has since done. I decided to do a portrait of the man.

Aged faces with lines and forms provide some nice opportunities for visual interest. I tend to lay down paint with a soft brush and sculpt it around with a stiffer brush, pushing it to create the landscapes of the face, leaving brush strokes showing here and there, combining hard and diffused edges, and playing with various degrees of translucency.

On this image, I also overlaid a couple of textures, digitally. It can be seen best in his collar and in the background. I wanted to introduce a bit more to the visual textural feast. It can help draw the viewer in as they try to peel back all the layers within the illustration.

Behind the Portrait Curtain

Here is a bonus entry this week. There is a magazine titled Step Inside Design. Before it was called this, it was titled Step-By-Step Graphics. I found it a source of inspiration when they had my illustration heroes demonstrate how one of their paintings went from blank canvas to final art. Here is my own documentation. This is one of the several charcoal portraits I've been working on as of late. I thought this particular one was interesting to see her appearance change from beginning to end.



After projecting it to paper, I'll lay down some vine charcoal. This step is where the fun happens. What takes place here will form the foundation for everything -- from dark/light patterns to linework to every unexpected "happy accident," so it's the place to get loose and let the interest happen. Everything after this is basically refinement. Angles are important in portraiture. I am paying attention to those within the face -- the lids of the eye, the nostril, the mouth, the eyebrows, the contour of the cheek -- these make or break a portrait. I'm also focusing on a more posterized version of the final -- leaving the middle values of gray to come as part of the blending. It is interesting for me to look at this first image from a distance and see how I could find the map for the final art located here.



Next, I'll take a blending stump, chamois, and kneaded eraser to soften the marks and pull out the lightest lights in the eyes, teeth, hair, and highlights of the face. Windsor Newton seems to have made their soft vine charcoal even softer. Which means it doesn't take much to lose all of the interest created in the stage prior. I blend lightly to hang-on to lines and texture. As Emeril says, it's easier to add more of an ingredient -- much harder to take away. Meaning, it's easier to continue to blend and soften an edge, but impossible to truly bring back that unexpected mark once it's gone. That's the crux of my artistic challenge -- how much cool stuff to keep versus how much refinement to give. That's a variable that can be manipulated and, in the long run, helps keep things interesting for me.

Hair can be a source of fits for some, but I actually enjoy rendering it, especially when it's filled with energy, like in the subject here. I think the potential for creating movement with charcoal complements its nature.

After giving the drawing a shot of spray fixative, I go back in with a compressed charcoal pencil and more vine charcoal to add darks (usually starting with the eyes, nostrils, and mouth) and continue refinement of the facial tones and shapes, and hair. Next, it's scanned into the computer and made ready to send.

Here she is again.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Al Gore

One of the cool things about portraiture is the opportunity to illustrate notable figures. One of those folks, for me, was Al Gore. This is the second time I've portrayed him in charcoal. The first time was in the 90s, when he was still Vice President. That particular illustration was for Science Magazine and was to accompany an article he wrote. But, as sometimes happens, the story was killed, and the illustration didn't see the printed page.

This particular illustration was done a few months ago for McKinsey and Company to accompany an article he wrote with one of his business partners, David Blood, former head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, whom I also illustrated. The two men formed an investment-management firm dedicated to investing for sustainability. In this article, they discuss socially responsible investing and society's expectations of corporate responsibility. When the assignment came, I was asked to illustrate Blood and Gore. I said, "You got it."

Of course, Al Gore has now become a bit of a rock star, what with his Academy Award, Nobel Peace Prize, and the host of other bits of recognition he has garnered over the past few years -- primarily dealing with his efforts toward calling attention to global warming.

Whenever I do a black and white portrait, I will compose one preliminary sketch, unless there is a need to create more. Then, upon approval, go to the final art, done on Canson paper at a size of 14 inches X 18 inches, scan it, and do some minor processing in Photoshop to prepare it for the digital realm (set my black and white points and do some minor clean-up).

The key for me, in doing these portraits, lies in creating an interesting composition with the black and white pattern distribution, and bringing out the interest created by the handling of the medium -- while maintaining the likeness of the subject.

reference photo


preliminary sketch

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Sacajawea

This is a book cover illustration of Sacajawea I recently completed for Harcourt Publishers -- a very fun job and a very cool job.

The project called for a fairly straightforward portrait of her at about age 17. Several challenges arose. My first became finding a model about that age and shooting photos in clothing and hair style that as closely as possible replicated my intended depiction.

The problem was, I didn't yet know what I wanted to depict or how I wanted to portray the figure. That usually comes after the photos are shot. I'll see some great lighting or unpredictable nuance that will drive the illustration.

I lucked out with the model -- a friend's daughter just happened to be the perfect age. I had a few ideas to get us started. Then, as we tried different angles, I started to zero in on the lighting and compositions that seemed to be working best. Things started to come together in my mind's eye. I took several hundred photos, and I cannot more greatly express how pleased I was with the shoot and resulting photos. That always bodes well for a job. The next task was weeding down the shots to a manageable number of the best, from which to create my sketches.

Hair and costume were the next challenges. Since there are no photos of Sacajawea, her face is fairly open to interpretation. We know she was a member of the Shoshone tribe and died in 1812. Of course, she was integral to the Lewis and Clark expedition. I scoured the net for others' depictions, as well as general research about her and her tribe, so as to not portray anything unacceptably inaccurate. I believe what I've depicted doesn't violate this goal. I integrated the clothing, necklace, hair style, hair decor, and braids after the photos were shot.

The end-goal for me was not just a straightforward portrait, but one that also says dignity and strength. I think that is accomplished with the expression, posture, lighting, and color.

I wished to keep the colors on the warm side, complimenting the reds and yellows within the figure. The subtle blues in the beads balances things out.

My preliminary sketches.







My client chose the camera-right-facing pose, you see, above.

You can order the book, written by Joseph Bruchac, HERE.

My thanks to Harcourt Publishers, for the project, and to our model, Caitlin Brady, for helping re-create Sacajawea, for the world to see.

Allan Burch is an award-winning illustrator and portrait artist, providing solutions for editorial, book, advertising, and institutional projects.
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Saturday, March 29, 2008

The Kyoto Protocol

Question: How do you illustrate the Kyoto Protocol without spinning it?

Answer: There are about a million ways, probably. In this illustration for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, we weed out all but one.

The Kyoto Protocol was agreed on December 11, 1997, when the 3rd Conference of the Parties to the treaty met in Kyoto, Japan, and entered into force on February 16, 2005. It aims to essentially bring participating countries together in an effort to reduce the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming by 5–6% of the 1990 levels.

The gist of the assignment was that the essay accompanying it had no strong opinion about the treaty. Its purpose was to enlighten and inform. The illustration, subsequently, needed to reflect this non-opinion and give the viewer an idea of the treaty's purpose without saying it is good or bad. So, my task became how to illustrate countries coming together to reduce greenhouse gases.

For the Bulletin (one of THE all-time great clients), I always knock out a voluminous amount of preliminary sketches in order to flesh out as many (hopefully quality) angles as possible, as well as give the client flexibility to choose the solution that best fits their vision for the article, as well as their overall vision for the publication (I also go the extra mile with preliminary sketches because I am conscientious about providing an above-and-beyond service from initial contact through final art). This sketch was the chosen winner. The single hand represents the unified countries reducing (erasing) greenhouse gases emitting from a slew of smokestacks. Of course the trick is not only coming up with the idea, but also composing it, visually, into something pleasing to the eye and behaving according to our laws of good design, yet also be immediately communicative. All parties were very pleased, which pleases me doubly.

This segues into an interesting question and a continuation of a very intriguing discussion I was pleased to have with one of the generous followers of this blog. Does an artist run the risk of becoming pigeon-holed by depicting a topic that might be polarizing?

I definitely do not think my image strikes enough fear into viewers' hearts to warrant a concern, but what about an illustration that steps onto the bleeding edge of an extreme opinion? Will this artist be called-out with mock-disdain on The Colbert Report? As an artist and a business-person, I can only hope I end up on Stephen's show. But my larger answer is, in my opinion, no. I can, however, think of two examples of art that, not long ago, caused a mass-movement of consciousness. Remember the recent Ronald Reagan cover of TIME Magazine? It showed an illustrated tear streaming down his face that led to just such an appearance on the Report. Remember the O.J. cover back in the day, illustrated -- by an illustrator -- with great effect to evoke a mood? Both illustrations caused many people to think the magazine had just sneakily doctored photos to make Reagan and O.J. look bad. Both artists are hugely popular in the illustration field and have suffered no scars from these incidents. In fact, of those carrying the torches and pitchforks, at the time, I would wager the vast majority didn't know the artists' names, and even fewer would remember their names today. I would also suspect many art directors were watching from the sidelines with amusement and awe at the publicity. I know I was.

I know art has the potential to effect change. There is a great book out called The Design of Dissent by Milton Glaser and Mirko Ilić. It showcases art and design that exemplifies its potential power -- speaking on many levels and cutting the viewer to the core about war, peace, government, humanity, and the lack thereof. The ideas are brilliant, as are the artists who came up with them. Will they, or similar artists, be ostracized from doing something more benign because of their strong opinions? Doubtful. In my view, those who come up with great solutions will be prized for just that by those who make the decisions to hire. Of course, if one's portfolio is riddled with an overtly substantial amount of work featuring the same angle on a particular topic, or topics cut from the same talking points, then, yes, I would say there is risk. Problem-solving then ceases to be the point. His or her stance on X, Y, and Z becomes the point.

If you are savvy enough, over time, to cover the left and the right with equal love or hate, then your opinions become irrelevant. It's akin to a quality news anchor to whom you cannot distinguish a political affiliation. If an illustrator can bring that level of trust to their brand by having a body of work depicting pure problem-solving, rather than partisanship, then I would say the odds of you being golden are quite substantial. That means an intelligent, far-sighted approach to your work and defining what you want from it.

Don't be afraid to try something. Decide not to do something because it does not fit your vision for your work.

"But, that's just my opinion...I could be wrong." (Dennis Miller)

Friday, March 14, 2008

Yesterday

"Yesterday." What does that mean? When I need to title my illustrations for competitions or other reasons, I tend to grab from songs that pop into my head as I look at them. So what is it about that song from the McCartney songbook that screamed to me as I looked at this charcoal on Canson paper illustration, digitally toned and colored?

The story in the picture is one of seeming joy with the young woman looking happy, rather than melancholy...dressed like she is perhaps at some festive place, having a good time -- not exactly reflecting on troubles or looking for a place to hide away -- or is she? Maybe she's the one who went away. This image could be used as a dichotomy to a dark theme. That's a trick I use when thinking of ideas -- the opposite. How can you know happiness without sadness? Therefore, it stands to reason something happy can be used to force the opposite emotion, when in the correct context and with visual clues for the viewer to pick up and ultimately figure out the game the illustration is trying to play. Here, there aren't enough visual clues, I think, to play that game. She is too happy and there is nothing else, besides her dark hair, to suggest darkness of mood.

This was actually a personal piece that seems to receive a lot of good feedback. I used it as part of my promotional poster for the Road Show at the 2005 Illustration Conference in San Francisco. The Road Show is an event held before the official opening of the conference where illustrators congregate and claim space to promote their services to art directors -- like a trade show, but instead of booths, the participants occupy real estate at a table. There was live music, and design and illustration legend Seymour Chwast was there signing his new book. It was a great addition to that year's conference, and I look forward to participating in the same event at this year's conference in New York City. Drop me a line if you plan on being there.

So what does the title mean? Like art, it's in what the viewer brings to it. Take a listen and see if you think it fits...