Christmas Dragon

[Irene Gallo]

After nosing around for over a year, I thought I'd finally share some sights. I'm no artists, but here is a painting that I commissioned for a paperback book cover. It's for a collection of Christmas dragon stories. Posted (assuming I figured this out) with permission from the artists: Greg Manchess.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y141/igallo/Chrstmas-Dragon.gif

[jfwalls]

Is this in the new Spectrum Irene? I like Greg's art a lot. I saw him a couple of years ago at the Cleveland Institute of Art. He had a very nice body of work he presented. Post more of his stuff!

[dogfood]

Yeah, we had Christmas Dragon once... It tasted like chicken.


Man, I wish Greg Manchess would post here in person. I'd love to see some of his sketches.

Boy, that could be taken the wrong way...

[SapphirePheonix]

That dragon is beautiful. it's so much more different then what i useally see in dragon art. i want to pick him up and hug him!

[Matt Dixon]

What a great pic! I love the bold brush marks, and the colour choices are just perfect. I hadn't come across Greg's work until now, but seeing this has prompted me to track down some more of his work online. Wonderful stuff. Thanks for posting, Irene..!

[deschamps]

Greg's work has such confident brushstrokes and brilliant color. I envy that :)
On his reps site, I love how you can zoom into the paintings ... I've drooled over his brushstrokes there many times before.

It was great having yours and Greg's thoughts on my artwork last year at the comic-con...thanks again!

-Eric

[Muttonhead]

Yeah, thats a nice piece. i like the blend of reindeer and dragon. Thanks for sharing!

-Sean

[S.C. Watson]

Great piece. I love the idea of a "Christmas Dragon" :^^: Thanks for posting and thanks for Greg for sharing!

~Shane

[Joachim]

nice, I love greg manchess's work. He is one artist that definately should have a homepage so we can all enjoy his work :)

[DSillustration]

heya,
super nice to see you start a thread irene!
wonderful piece. i believe i saw saw of the thumbnails for this one.
if you still have them around you should post them.
;)

[Irene Gallo]

Walls - The painting was done after the Spectrum deadline, so it missed out on 12. It'll be entered into 13 though. Judges willing....

Saphire - Yeah, me too!

Hi Eric - I remember you from Comic Con! Nice website, by the way.

Matt, Joachim, Oregano, Mutton - I'll pass on the kind words.

DogFood and Dan,

Greg doesn't have a scanner, so I'm afraid he wont to be able to post himself...er, I mean FOR himself. Once again, sketches and comments are with the artist's permission:

Since the concept was pretty straight forward, these thumnails are a bit more thumby than usual. Typicaly he'd start of with this level of of quick thumbnails and then we'd chose one to go into a meatier sketch. It's that sketch that I would take to the editor. On this project, we skipped that phase.

The first dragon looked a bit sneaky...not quite regal enough for Christmas. I wanted a dragon that looked like it evolved around snow and was specific to Christmas, so I mentioned reindeer. Greg said that he found better reference in elk, polar bears, and little snowy owl.

The second dragon has the right attitude -- the front leg pushing forward through he snow made him much more confident looking than the high tucked-in leg on the first dragon. But, we all know that what's cool about dragons is that they fly. So the last thumbnail was the one chosen.

There were a few other poses, but these show the main decisions.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y141/igallo/Thumbs.gif

And, some alternate heads:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y141/igallo/Heads.gif

[el coro]

jesus christ! manchess has to be one of my favorite illustrators of all time!! thanks so much for posting this Irene! and such a treat to see the thumbs as well! you made my day!-c36

[the black frog]

Beautiful!

[Bowlin]

Awesome! Feels like a real snowy enviroment!

[strych9ine]

This is a fantastic thread, it's great to see the thumbs behind the concept too. The final product is beautiful...

[AmishCommy]

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!

Irene, Thank You!!! Thank You!!! Thank You!!! Thank You!!! Thank You!!!

Gregory Manchess is a GOD!!! I've loved his work ever since i got into illustration. I think i spent almost an hour staring at the painting he has up at the SI. And those sketches, I don't think i'll ever be the same after seeing them. Gonna staple a pencil to my hand.

Please say you're gonna post others as well.

[USER777]

i love it.
please post more work on behalf of mr manchess.. definitely one FINE artist.
uhm.. btw. GET HIM A SCANNER RIGHT NOW.. oh.. and a website, too fcourse !

:bashful:

[tylerjwarren]

That is freaking awesome! Great idea, great completed image!

[Francis]

Nice piece, and I always love his stuff in Spectrum. Please do post more of his paintings if you have access and permission! Seeing the thumbnails and process stuff is great too. :}

[meles]

great color and i love the lighting of the snow....very cool!

[S.C. Watson]

And, some alternate heads:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y141/igallo/Heads.gif

These are just great. I love the variation, and persnally am always a fan of ram-horned dragons. But that's just me :wink:

Cheers,
~Shane

[AmishCommy]

Irene - I was just checking out the winners for Spectrum 12 and I was wondering if you may be able to post a shot of Brad Holland's "Outside the Dog Museum" Gold Award illustration.

[Icey]

wow...
i agree with oregano! :D

[Irene Gallo]

Hi Guys,

Greg sends his thanks. He wants to respond personally but is out of town for a few weeks.

Amish -- Since this is a crit forum, I don't want to post anyone's art until I've had a chance to talk them. But, if you go to Amazon.com and type in "Outside the Dog Museum" you can see it there. You might be able to find it on the author's site, www.jonathancarroll.com but I'm having trouble getting into it today.

It's pretty great. It got a silver award at the Society of Illustrators as well. Brad is as good as his reputation says he his.

Irene

[gorvien]

Wow! Thanks for posting this, Irene. I love seeing sketches that precede the finished piece and the process that was gone through to get the end. :)

www.torstenkeller.com (http://www.torstenkeller.com)