shadow pavilion

[foster]

This is the forth in a series centered around a Chinese detective who works in the real world as well as cultural and religious heavens and hells. The story delves quite a bit into Indian lore while still keeping it's base in China. I love reading these stories but it is getting harder and harder to illustrate them there are so many cool visual things going on.

Done in Painter and Photoshop.

Jon

[bhanu]

YOu rule......................damn ................you so ruuuuuuuuuule man.

[wutangkiller]

damn... you're the best!

[Micaiah Nelson]

beautiful work as always.

[robinchyo]

oh, jon. that's so sexy. so sexy that it hurts! i love the part of the cloth/tapestry that's being tugged in the background. hope all is well, jon!

[scott*altmann]

dig it jon- really nice
hope all is well-

[Rich Pellegrino]

you forgot the kitchen sink. ;) looks nice Jon. but you already knew that.

[DanielC]

very nice !

[artmaker]

I was going to post some work, but after seeing the quality of the work here... i think i'll go work on it some more...

[Beelow]

Bought your book I've seen 2 of them already. Still really stuff. It must feel good to have frank frazetta to say that your are the best. Waiting to see more updates and waiting for a new book from you. XD

[derricksong]

wonderful! i love all of it!!

[Mat Kaminski]

Wowza! Nice!

[Snowsfall]

such a beautiful series of illo's, awesome jon :)

[tokaru]

so cool i love it dude.

[olivier_P]

I really like you style !

[Alday.J]

Another great picture, Jon. I love how you play with the background and the red banner filtering the chinese building, reaveling twisted shapes. Good idea here, sir ! ;) It's good to see you posting so many art lately.
Best,
Julien.

[El Jeremie]

This is art inhis purest expression

[Brittons]

Jon,

These are really nice... Do you have any larger images of the bottom three to post up here? Maybe some zoomed in versions or a tutorial sometime would be awsome. I see why your threads get so much attention. Really nice work.

[Brittons]

Jon,

These are really nice... Do you have any larger images of the bottom three to post up here? Maybe some zoomed in versions or a tutorial sometime would be awsome. I see why your threads get so much attention. Really nice work.

[foster]

Cool! Glad you guys dig it. I was thinking of how to do a tutorial again but it would take so long to get from point A to point B never mind point Z. basically I work slow and I'm getting slower instead of faster. My vision of an honest tutorial would be about a hundred pages long, me doing something then erasing it, doing it again, erasing it again and so on. You would give up on ever getting any kind of information by page fifty where I would still be working on the composition.

Thanks again for checking in.

Jon

[Micaiah Nelson]

Well if you have time you should be a mentor. Mines to be pacific. But if i'm wishing to hard you should do it. A tutorial would be great. I would love to see your work in steps.

[JasonChan]

uh... wow?

That's a beautiful piece, Jon. Infact, that whole series of covers is so amazing! I love how you kept that tapestry theme going throughout. Very nice :)

[Jason Manley]

Cool! Glad you guys dig it. I was thinking of how to do a tutorial again but it would take so long to get from point A to point B never mind point Z. basically I work slow and I'm getting slower instead of faster. My vision of an honest tutorial would be about a hundred pages long, me doing something then erasing it, doing it again, erasing it again and so on. You would give up on ever getting any kind of information by page fifty where I would still be working on the composition.

Thanks again for checking in.

Jon

such it is as one gets further and further with their work. I think as one gets to a point when patience just kicks in and the artist just realizes the only way to do it right and better is to slave away at it and do it until it seems right. Nox is like that too. We asked him to do a 3 hour painting demo for the downloads and he gave us fifteen hours, because that is just how long it took before he was happy.

great stuff. the one on the lower left is one of my fave illustrations of the past hundred years. no joke.


jason

j

[Ellingsworth]

I love your work, Jon. Another inspiration to me. Please, please never stop making such beautiful stuff. The bottom right one is magnificent, everyone of them is great, but the colors of the red in the bottom middle one catch my attention the most.

[JAIR...]

Cool! Glad you guys dig it. I was thinking of how to do a tutorial again but it would take so long to get from point A to point B never mind point Z. basically I work slow and I'm getting slower instead of faster. My vision of an honest tutorial would be about a hundred pages long, me doing something then erasing it, doing it again, erasing it again and so on. You would give up on ever getting any kind of information by page fifty where I would still be working on the composition.

Thanks again for checking in.

Jon

No worries!
The old renaissance painters took entire years perfecting their paintings... I think your work is "Grand MASTER" status! with all the attention to color, detail and composition your decisions and hours spent on it shows, even if you do erase a lot, your work has evolved into perfection!

An idea demo from you would have to 50 pages long, i and many others would download every image to study and learn from!:wink:

i agree with Jason your bottom right piece is da'best!

-JAIR

[Dougbot]

I don't know how you do it. I don't see how you get Painter and Photoshop to look so not Painter and Photoshop. I love digital art, so I'm not attacking that, but I would not have guessed this was digital. You are absolutely incredible. Not only are you able to capture all the life of traditional work, you also bring great color and design sense to your pieces. Wonderful.

[GriNGo]

Wonderful dedication to the craft! Completely mind-blowed!

[Bomba]

Boobie... love your creamy colors. You always make me feel lazy and inspired at the same time. THanks for posting and a new bounty of work to view.

And I hear you about the working process. Time is my greatest enemy.
-J-

[el coro]

jon,
Loving you
Is easy because you're beautiful....
Making love with you
Is all I want to do....
Loving you
Is more than just a dream come true....
And everything that I do
Is out of loving you....

No one else can make me feel
The colors that you bring....
Stay with me while we grow old....
And we will live each day in spring time....

Because loving you....
Has made my life so beautiful....
And every day of my life
Is filled with loving you....
Loving you....
I see your soul come shining through....
And everytime that we....
Oh I'm more in love with you....
-c36

[sourgasm]

i read the first novel in this series and loved it. getting into the second one this coming week. i rarely go more than a couple pages with out putting down some ideas in my sketchbook. that guy is so visually evocative.

for a similar effect, but in a much dreamier sense [think of animatrix short with star cheeked girl searching out cat in abandoned house], check out Haruki Murakami.

Great work on the covers. I work at barnes and noble, and I actually picked up the first novel in this series based on your cover art :P

[Mike Dutton]

No Jon Foster thread would be complete without a Coro lovenote. We're still missing the musings of Milligan though.

Then there's always me gushing away. This time's no exception, but I'll keep it down to just "I love it."

....and "you're my hero", for good measure.

[Arctis]

You would give up on ever getting any kind of information by page fifty where I would still be working on the composition.

Jon

Do you bet ?

[draw]

Amazing work!!

[DirtyiroN]

WOW.....the red bull one is my favorite,so beautiful,make me a little bit sad...

[foster]

I am so into Coro now! I read the lyrics picturing you at the beach, it's night you are sitting on a big curvy piece of driftwood, an inviting fire crackles near by. Many youthful admirers are gathered around, at your feet, leaning against you as you strum your guitar... but you look straight into me eyes and your words are just for me! oh dreams do come true!

I tried to put you're lyrics to Barry White's "let me spend my life loving you" it kind of works and you are oh that much more sexy with Barry's voice (not that you need it). thanks for the song big man you made my year.

Jason, you are right plus you manage to make it sound good instead of my version of just getting old and slow. thanks! and I big thanks for that incredible vote of confidence on the first snake agent piece, that is a very flattering thing to say and goes right along with Coro's lyrics in making my year.

JasonChan Mr. Chan, a wow from you is high praise indeed. thanks for checking in, it does make me happy when people I admire, dig the work.

Micaiah Nelson, ha, I could show you how to procrastinate and take naps.

Ellingsworth, thanks, more high praise indeed. some times I think I will stop illustrating and flip houses (been watching too much discover TV) but then again I know I would miss drawing.

JAIR... thanks!

Dougbot, this is great, when ever I read these replies I start to puff up and feel like I might actually know what I'm doing. this is often invaluable in getting through the day.

GriNGoLoCo, thanks!

Bomba, when ever I think of you I hear Barry Whites too just like with Coro. you just have that smooth love machine air to you. when is your book out?

sourgasm, thanks and I went to your web site, really cool!

Mike Dutton, ah but I want to be so much more to you mike.

Arctis. thanks, in the future I will try and boil something down to ten or so pages. A well know artist once told me that he could show me all he knows about painting in ten minuets, it's the experience that is the real teacher.

draw, thanks

DirtyiroN, thanks too

[Alday.J]

Mike Dutton, ah but I want to be so much more to you mike.

Hophophop ! I see him first, Jon ! :P
So much love in this thread, suddenly. El Coro strikes again !
And only you can bring that mood via your art. ;)

[drd]

You're definitely in a league of your own.
I can easily say that when compared to every artist in history, you're very close to the top.

[Fellah.]

Been wanting to reply here for a while, but every time I see these illustrations I get kind of speechless. They are so damned beautiful its not even funny:O I bow to you, sir!

[Farvus]

That's beautyful!

I remember that few years ago I was looking into one National Geographic and I found there one illustration which made a big impression on me. It was very believable and had strong mood at the same time. The article was about Moche pyramids and human ceremonial sacrifices. Now I know it was your art. I checked it again to make sure of that and there was Jon Foster written with really tiny letters :)