George Pratt: Calling The Shots - Available NOW!

[TAD_Orders]

trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Iy4tQ9GD-I
shopping cart: http://www.payloadz.com/go?id=1410753

Hey Guys! George is an awesome dude, and watching his loose and spontaneous approach to painting will no doubt be a real eye opener for many of you. As usual, feel free to post your honest feedback below. Thanks!

Calling The Shots:
Spontaneous Painting with George Pratt

In this download, watch renowned graphic novelist George Pratt paint a WWI soldier at the first ever TAD workshop in Kansas City, MO.

In order to keep the entire painting process alive and invigorated, George begins without a thumbnail or a toned canvas. With nothing fixed, this puts him directly in the driver’s seat as he works. At the same time he is also listening to the painting, and at one point even comments that his favorite parts of a painting are often accidents. This push and pull is a unique part of George’s style, and he generously shares the decades of experience that inform his decisions.

As this video was recorded in classroom setting, George also responds to the questions of the students around him, providing the viewer with an added level of insight. If you’ve never seen a George Pratt demo you’ll definitely want to pick this up. If you have, then you already know you want to pick this one up.

h.264 70 minutes 1280x720
$20.00

Bio

Born October 13, 1960, in Beaumont, Texas, George Pratt moved to New York City in 1980 to study Drawing and Painting at Pratt Institute, where he later taught Junior and Senior-level Methods and Media, as well as Sequential Storytelling for seven years. He also taught for two years at the Joe Kubert School in Dover, New Jersey; did per diem teaching for the Master Illustration program at SVA for Marshal Arisman; was Visiting Professor for ten weeks at Savannah College of Art and Design; and taught full-time at Virginia Commonwealth University for three years. He now teaches full-time at Ringling College of Art and Design.

A successful painter, his work is in private collections throughout the world, and has been exhibited in the Houston Museum of Fine Art.

George's first novel, "Enemy Ace: War Idyll", DC Comics/Warner Books, has seen four American editions, has been translated into nine languages, and was on the required reading list at West Point Military Academy. The book was nominated for both the Eisner Award and Harvey Award for Best Graphic Novel, as well as Best Foreign Graphic Novel in Angouleme, France where it won the prestigious France Info Award for Best Foreign Graphic Novel. In England it also won the SpeakEasy Award for Best Foreign Graphic Novel.

"No Man's Land", published by Tundra, gathers all the paraparatory sketches for "Enemy Ace: War Idyll" into one book along with unpublished monotypes and paintings, peppered with quotes from the Great War. The work has been in many exhibitions on war throughout America, Canada, and Europe.

With Steven Budlong and James McGillion, George created "See You In Hell, Blind Boy", a documentary film about his travels through the Mississippi Delta researching his blues novel of the same name. The film won Best Feature Documentary at the New York International Independent Film Festival, and was accepted and shown at the Santa Barbara, Nashville and Hot Springs Film Festivals. The film subsequently aired for over a year on the Bravo Channel on television.

"Harvest Breed", a Batman graphic novel for DC Comics/Warner Brothers, was written and fully painted by George. The book was nominated for two Eisner Awards: Best Graphic Novel and Best Painter.

"Wolverine: Netsuke", a four-issue mini-series was written and painted by George for Marvel Comics. This became a bestselling mini-series upon its release, won the Eisner Award for Best Painter / Multimedia Artist, and was subsequently nominated for the Best Mini-Series Award by Wizard Magazine.

Current projects include: "See You In Hell, Bllind Boy: A Tale of the Blues", a text novel written by George which also includes his photographs, illustrations, comics and recordings made in the Mississippi Delta. George's Blues photographs were featured in the premier issue of Argosy Magazine.

"Find Me A Voice" includes paintings and prints of the Holocaust with poetry by Gabor Barabas. This has also been written as a play that has been produced in Cincinnatti, New York and New Jersey.

"Artists at the Front", a documentary film about the eight artists commissioned by the American Government to go "over there" and paint the First World War from the trenches.

George was honored to be included in Walt Reed's definitive coffee table book "The Illustrator in America 1860-2000". He was also awarded a Gold Medal in the Spectrum Awards of 2002 and has had his work exhibited many times at the Society of Illustrators in New York, and is a member of that prestigious organization

George recently completed drawings and paintings for a Romanian film documentary in association with Kaigonan Films and National Geographic of Romania. Titled "Hill 789" the film traces the struggles of one Dimitri Dimancescu a young lieutenant in the Romanian Army.

George continues to illustrate and design books and book jackets for various publishers, including: Random House, Henry Holt, Inc., Warner Books, Clarion Books, and Columbia Studios.

He currently resides in Sarasota, Florida.

http://georgepratt.com
http://web.mac.com/georgepratt/George_Pratt_Artblog/Artblog/Artblog.html
http://www.illustrationacademy.com/GeorgePratt.htm

[DBMiller]

Excellent, can't wait!

[rass]

oh hell yes! Though I still haven't finished watching everything I bought it the sale.

[donm]

good, you guys are still doing downloads. :)

[blacksmithx]

Excellent! I just finished listening to his 2 part interview on the Sidebar podcast this morning and was really considering enrolling in the Illustration Academy's summer program... This will be a lot easier to pull off in terms of cost and not having to try and convince my work to let me take a 7 week leave.

[Metal Fingers]

This wouldn't happen to be going up onto the VLP would it?

[TAD_Orders]

Nope.. not this one.

[Colin Boyer]

George is the man. It was a real pleasure to watch him paint this in person at the workshop.

[Thyname]

woot. Just finished watching the video.

I had already seen it once since I was there when it was filmed (you can see my handsome face in the black when they pan around). I can't believe I had forgotten so many of the words of wisdom that George drops.

I know this is a Oil Painting demo with an emphasis on exploring the paint on the canvas, and it does a fantastic job with that subject. But I the true gem of this demo is George talking. George begins the video with several minutes of introduction and he is prompted by student's question and answers them. I hope that some of the questions that we asked during the live demo also were questions that you would have asked. He also talks about his technique and mindset on painting and speaks from when he learned to paint with Jeff Jones.

Regardless of Medium or skill level, the quotes and maxims that George lives by will enrich your outlook on your art.

Enjoy
-Evan Norman

[Andantonius]

Wowza, this is an awesome demo, every time I see George paint I'm floored by his immediacy, he balances speed and control stunningly well.

I think this is especially useful for digital junkies like me who are wanting to break in to traditional art; I used to totally tighten up when doing traditional work and think that everything needs to be totally perfect right from the start, then tediously painting around your drawing to be sure you don't lose it, and finally rendering each thing one tiny detail at a time. This is immensely useful for learning to work general to specific and not freaking out about making a mistake or taking chances with color or bold brush strokes. His method of working in midtones and saving the final kicks for the end is really cool too, overall this is just a really solid process; not to mention all the variety in markmaking he gets with just a few tools. The tidbits of advice he throws out here and there are great little nuggets of gold too.

So yeah, great demo! If you're wanting some solid observational techniques for oil painting (or painting in general for that matter), you're not gonna find much better than this. Go TAD!

[TAD_Orders]

This is immensely useful for learning to work general to specific and not freaking out about making a mistake or taking chances with color or bold brush strokes.

Yeah, totally agree. I've been able to work a lot more freely since seeing George give a few demos. A degree of polish comes in at the end, and where I choose it, if at all. Makes for a much more enjoyable approach, at least for me.

[kakosi]

thanksssssss

[knoxie]

Damn! George Pratt is an absolute painting powerhouse. His work on Wolverine (Netsuke) and Batman (Harvest Breed) just blew me away, so is a real treat to see him create a piece from scratch and his explanations throughout the video give a real insight into exploratory process both with brushes and the palate knife.

The video is super clear (1280 x 720) and the informal classroom recording makes watching it less "step by step tutorial", and more of a "fly on the wall" experience which I totally dig. I also like how the footage is a combination of real-time and time-lapse, so if gives you a good sense of how long a piece like this actually takes, not just the process.

George is mic'd up throughout the piece so his commentary comes though just clear as day, although the students around him asking the questions are a little hard to hear.

I loved this demo, it makes a photoshop slave like me wanna reach for a tube of oils and & a palate knife, and for $20 it's an absolute steal. Thanks to the TAD crew once again for sharing this with us.

Carl.

[Mykro]

This was the first download that I bought fresh off the presses, usually I wait for sales, but for $20 this was a steal. If you're really new to oil painting, I would recommend getting El Coro's Alla Prima Portraiture demo first, but if you've begun to get comfy with the medium this is spectacular. My mind is blown with his color control and mainly his balance of control and spontaneity in all aspects of painting. The quick exchange between George and Andrew Jones is really the spirit of what's happening here. George is one who lets the work speak to him as he goes, no forcing of where he wants it to go.

I was blown away, I highly recommend this product!

[warry]

Hi guys, thanks a lot for that video to TAD and George it really wash my brain, and make me want to explore new approach of a painting ! I would like to ask, can I try this kind of technical approach and study this piece with acrylics ? Is it possible to have any link to the model photo ? Thanks a lot again.

[George Pratt]

Hi,
This method will work with just about anything, really. Acrylics are fine, but you don't get the benefit of the wet ground which will harmonize your colors for you.

However, you can get this effect by "tuning" your palette. Just mix a color (analogous to the wet ground) into every color, which will "tune" those colors to the same color space.

Acrylics require a LOT more mixing than oils do, but you can get a lot of great stuff out of them. One other way of harmonizing the palette, very like a wet ground, would be to throw some Dr. Martin's dyes (concentrated watercolor) down first. Because this in not waterproof, it constantly mixes into the colors you are putting down. Works just like a wet ground.

Hope this helps!

George

[warry]

Thanks George, i'm gonna try this !

[Sascha Thau]

Just wanted to say THANK YOU, GEORGE! For your time and your knowledge.

[Sascha Thau]

Okay, I had to come back and say THANK YOU, GEORGE again. I didn't expect it would have such a longtime effect on me. Right now when I draw or paint I think a lot of what was said during the video. I constantly say to myself that *I* have to call the shots. Sometimes you create a workflow that makes everything to easy (if you work professionally you almost have to, because you have to meet your deadlines and produce quality in a short amount of time). But you lose a lot of creative struggle with that and at least for me this is where the fun is. I want to be challenged.

It's like a videogame, you died a thousand times (and who doesn't when one paints), but when you make it to the end alive, you really feel you've achieved something. And it brings you one step further. You're now skilled enough to tackle the next level.

This video was a really inspiring lecture for me.