A Dutton-Sized Dump (Couple New Things 2.01.07)

[Mike Dutton]

I always say this, but it's been too long since I've posted any finished work. Luckily, it's not because I haven't been busy. So I thought I'd go ahead and show some recent illustrations as well as some personal work.

The first six was for a client who privately commissioned me to illustrate a book her father wrote when she was a kid. It's about her ordeal learning to ride without training wheels. Because the client was on a limited budget (both monetary and timewise), there was only room for six illustrations. Still, I like to think the story flows from piece to piece, though I can think of countless other moments I wish I could have included. You can read a more detailed write-up on my blog (http://duttonart.blogspot.com/2006/12/few-works-in-progress.html).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/Cecilia_Pg1_WebFinal.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/Cecilia_Pg2_webfinal.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/Cecilia_Pg3_webfinal.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/Cecilia_Pg4_webfinal.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/Cecilia_Pg5_webfinal.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/Cecilia_Pg6_webfinal.jpg

Those are actually the last illustrations I plan on trying to "paint" entirely digitally. That is, trying to create a traditional look in my digital work. I think while some people excel at it, it takes me longer to achieve this than to actually just paint it. I think the main reason I stuck with it was because of my previous workspace. I also think I take more risks digitally, thanks to undo, but I rarely feel rewarded for it, regardless of how complex I try to make the brushwork. I think I also miss the craftsmanship of working traditionally; the nitty gritty stuff like stretching paper or canvas, mixing pigment, or scrubbing paint stains off of my cat, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

So anyway, the following are some experiments with various mediums. Mostly fluid acrylic inks, and acrylic tubes. Sorry if some of you have already seen these.

This was done around Christmas:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/mendocino.jpg

And this was done sometime around New Year. I was absentmindedly experimenting with different stylizations in faces.... but didn't really stretch it as much as I wanted to. Then I decided to put some paint over it, even though it was on pretty light paper in my Canson sketchbook. I had a lot of fun regardless:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/Faces_Sketchbook.jpg

I think this one was done around 2 in the morning or so last week. One of those nights where I could not sleep so I went downstairs to sketch. Then my wife scared the hell out of me because she came down to see why I was awake, while I had my headphones on playing one of Boards of Canada's creepier tracks:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/kings_crossing_sketch.jpg

I decided to take this one to color as well. Luckily it was in my heavier stock sketchbook because there are layers and layers of acrylic on this one. I finally scanned it in and did some final touch-ups and the text (though I think I want to redo the text by hand):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/Kings_Crossing_web.jpg

There's a ton of contemporary influences in this piece (Kanevsky, Hundley, and Jean for starters), but this was just the approach (and departure) I needed after working the way I have for the past year and a half. Hope you guys enjoy, and thanks for taking a look!

[Idiot Apathy]

Yeah mike, yeah. Not sure if I mentioned it but the children's book illustrations make me insanely jealous as well as your use of temperature - and then you go and bust it out with multiple mediums and ... I can't take it any more. <3

[Alday.J]

Bonjour, Mike.
You allready know all the good I think about the stuff you made lately, so I will focus on the last two ones... Just brilliant, "à la Dutton", should I say. You will have to explain me how you draw beautyful pictures like this, even if have sleeping troubles. I will torture you for awnsers, by forcing you drink french wine and have endless philosophical conversations, in the middle of March, for exemple ? ;) :P

Nice job, Mike.
say "bonjour" to Alex for me.
J.

[robinchyo]

Great stuff, Mike! Love the third one and your first page of faces. :-) As long as I'm writing this up, I might as well inform you that your print should be sent out sometime tomorrow/Saturday.:-D

[fedezz]

Killer pieces Mike!! A breath of fresh air.
I like them all, but this page (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/Faces_Sketchbook.jpg) blew me away.
Cheers!

[mrgrumble]

Splendiforious if I must say so good sir! Whimsical, lively and just plain lively fun- i especially like your pastel color palette, as well as the 'scumbling' technique on many textures. Top notch!!!

[Stark]

Cool faces. Very different and I like how you changed it up on em man! The illos of the kids and the bike story is something else...I'd LOVE to see more things like that from you...

KUDOS

[Main Loop]

really liking that last mixed media piece, very sterling hundley-ish...

[Matt Smith]

i really like the ink one that is cool. Some of the other pieces have some funny perspective to them, especially in the first one, I feel like she is about to take off in the air, and that the front wheel doesnt feel on the ground, same with the tree as well, the roots feel like they are coming out and the tree is titled back.

[e338]

Hi,
very cool illustration for the book. I like them. the colors are great. The Harley Davidson perspective in the last one is a bit stange tho ;-)
Considering the others works, i love'em all.
Chinease style inks is awesome in a pure stylish way.
like the mix you made in the "intrument shine...." pict.
congrats

[duddlebug]

Those are actually the last illustrations I plan on trying to "paint" entirely digitally. That is, trying to create a traditional look in my digital work. I think while some people excel at it, it takes me longer to achieve this than to actually just paint it. I think the main reason I stuck with it was because of my previous workspace. I also think I take more risks digitally, thanks to undo, but I rarely feel rewarded for it, regardless of how complex I try to make the brushwork. I think I also miss the craftsmanship of working traditionally; the nitty gritty stuff like stretching paper or canvas, mixing pigment, or scrubbing paint stains off of my cat, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.


Hi Mike, i know where you're coming from here, particularly the 'feeling rewarded' bit. There's something deeply satisfying about the process and tactile qualities of 'real' materials. It's something i miss and you've added another voice to my inner yearnings for splashing some real paint around. And there's so many more happy accidents with real media. Although there's always the not-so-happy accidents too...

When you say 'entirely', do you mean you're thinking of a mix of traditional media and digital painting? When working digitally, do you use Painter or Photoshop? (Or both?)

All this stuff's very cool, especially the bloke in the hat... The sketch and the coloured version are both groovy.

[amer-nazri]

Lovin the illustrations! No. 3 and 4 are my favourites, i think they evoke the most emotion for me. They are all easy on the eyes and perfect for the book.

I'm currently working on drawing different facial characteristics. I'm using Ron Lemen's way of drawing random shapes and generating a character out of each. You find that you can draw so many variations of faces with different characteristics, and its so much fun!


Cheers
amer-nazri

[vigostar]

Awesome Mike... the children illos are fantastic but that last one is really stellar... I was going to ask you if you would be interested in selling it to a fellow Ca'er but, then I scrolled down and realized you threw acrylics on top of it which makes me think I cant afford it any longer.... If you consider it let me know.. I would be glad to throw in one of my crappy drawings if you find something remotely interesting to you.. Either way great piece..

[Art_Addict]

I allways love your stuff. The children illustrations are very nice. Nice storytelling.
I know that's not easy. I like that the seal connects with the viewer in some.

[I.was.ink]

really liking that last mixed media piece, very sterling hundley-ish...

I thought the exact same thing....but damn!
Thats a great piece!

Keep it up...:)
-ink

[Zord]

Oh man, multi-media-master-disaster!! And by disaster I mean awesome, in the best sense of the word. And as usual the illustrations are great, no crits from me man, just pats. And on a side note: i've been getting into XO and Roman Candle again, SO GOOD. Cheers man.

[Matt Dixon]

I think your client's limited time budget might be showing here and there in that first batch, but these images have a charm and character that makes that observation a bit redundant. I like them very much. The sketches are a lot of fun, too!

[Mike Dutton]

Thanks for the response you guys.

Idiot Apathy - You're no stranger to throwing out some great surprises of your own, Tom, so no complainin'! Those robot pieces are waaay too awesome.... hmm, we may have to hold a finger breakin' competition?

Alday J. - I'm pretty sure you'll be able to convince me, that is, unless the wine is bad..... somehow I doubt that will be the case. Thanks as always, Julien. :)

robinchyo - Hurry up slacka! Yours should be arriving today. Hehe, thanks for the kind words dude. :)

fedezz - Thanks Fed! My brother really liked that one too. He's got a copy hanging up in his room. hehe.

mrgrumble - Splendiforious is about the best compliment one could hope for, so thanks very mucherofious!

Saikin - Thanks. I do plan on doing more children-type stuff so hopefully you'll have something to look forward to. :)

e338 - I'm really glad you like the last one.... considering the kind of work you do and how well you do it, I'm actually very pleased you like mine! Thanks!

duddlebug - I think it's those happy accidents that I miss the most. I try to make it happen digitally, but it always looks contrived. I oughta clear this up right away though for anyone else who is reading this: in no way am I trying to diminish the authenticity or craft involved in using the digital medium.... I'm just saying it may not be for me. At least not from start to finish.
To answer your question, I used to use Painter exclusively. Then starting with my Round Three piece for Last Man Standing 2, I used both Photoshop and Painter. In the last piece above (the mixed media one you commented on), I used only Photoshop once I got to the digital stage.

amer-nazri - I oughta try that Lemen thing out. I'm way too much of a control freak, so it may help me break loose some. Thanks for the comment!

Vigostar - Hey Rob. The original is one of those personal pieces that one could never bear to sever from his sketchbook... but the print is for sale, and I gotta say it looks pretty damn good. Just PM me and I'll send you a link, or visit my blog (there's a link there). That's as close to advertising here as I'll get, lest I get banned for trying to get away with more. ;)

Art Addict - Thanks AA. Glad you enjoyed them. The seal was her childhood doll, though I did fish it out of the client since I wanted to create an element in which she wasn't completely isolated.

I.Was.Ink and Main Loop - Thanks guys, and yeah, I definitely made it no secret that Sterling Hundley was an influence in the last one (as well as a host of others, as was mentioned underneath the piece). I like to think though, that out of the collective pool of inspiration, something of my own was created and I hope that's what impressed you guys. That, or I'm just another hack. :P

Zord - Hey Johnny. Yeah, I think we were discussing him once before too? Elliott Smith is constantly surfacing in my work, whether as an influence because I listen to him while I paint, or whether I simply decide to just sketch him. In some ways, I think he influences me more than any other painter, though I rarely get to openly express that influence. King's Crossing is my absolute favorite song by him, and I've had this painting in my head for over a year, but had no idea how to go about painting it until recently. Glad you dig the work.

Matt Dixon - Hey Matt, I agree. It does show in places. Not only the limited budget and time, but my waning attention span in working purely digital was also taking over. Still, I'm glad that overall, the result is still enjoyable to look at. I'm probably going to polish a couple of the better ones to stick in the portfolio.

[Mr. Visions]

Mike! If you weren't a married man, I'd seriously pursue having your children, then maybe they too could innately be amazing at capturing so much life and personality in their drawings, along with have a great handling of color and exaggeration. Hahaha, great work man. Thanks for the link to your blog as well, your sketches are superb. Keep updating us.

- Chris

[Jushra]

I'm digging the style and use of color here. The bully stealing the girl's bike is my favorite out of these. Keep on it.

[kaktuzlime]

Greeeeat! So much love for your work man. Made my limbs go all numb, and I cried out in joy, my face a total expression of glee! I want more. Pretty Please?

[voraz]

Very cool stuff. the kids illustrations are great.
And I really love that one of the house with the fence.
cheers

[j a k e]

Top stuff Mike. Good read on the blog too :)

[Idiot Apathy]

*Points at Mike's Blog (http://duttonart.blogspot.com/)*
*Looks around the room, stares each and everyone of you in the eyes*

Read this blog! It's good shtuff.
http://duttonart.blogspot.com/

[Ragnar X]

hahah- these are great! nice work!

[Rich Pellegrino]

Mr. Dutton. These are splendid! As the others have said your color is tops. The color theory may be simple in certain pieces like this,
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/Cecilia_Pg3_webfinal.jpg

But it has a high level of sophistication A. compositionally and B. adds to the mood.
That faces page is so good I can't even comment. Jeez man! Thanks for the blog link.

Rich

[entdroid]

These are beautiful Mike! I love the stylizations. And the colors. Your expressions are so easy to read! :)

[Interceptor]

The picture of the shadow cast from the girl is beautiful, Mike.

Splendid work all around.

[Coinpurse]

man i love your approach on these. Illustration at its finest, in love with this one (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/Cecilia_Pg5_webfinal.jpg)

[Brendan N]

awh, this means I suck doesn't it?
Mike you are a unique picture, digging all of these to the bone.
Incomparable, thanks so much for sharing.

- d.

[Chuck,mate.]

loving the style and technique.
some brilliant works here.
keep it up!
:)

[Mike Dutton]

Hi again everyone. :)

Matt Smith - Hey Matt, I missed your post when I did responses earlier. Sorry about that. Thanks for the crit. I see what you mean on the girl's tires. A harder cast shadow where the tire and asphalt meets will hopefully take care of that. Thanks for pointing that out.

Mr. Visions - Thanks Chris, I was wondering how hard I was gonna have to work before I started getting the homoerotic compliments! I'll do my best to keep updating, sorry I can't help with the kids though. ;) Love the work you're doing lately as well, man!

jushra - hehe, that seems to be the favorite one for quite a few people. Everyone roots for the bully? :P

kaktuzlime - I'll do my best to squeeze in some more work here in the near future. Thanks for the flattering comments. :)

MikeCorriero - Hey Mike. Thanks for the crit. You're right on the perspective on the last page. Regardless of the stylization, those kids are on a totally different plane than the street itself. That's one item (of many) Matt Dixon must've been referring to when he said the time budget shows in places... funny how even when the dust settles and I get to relax, I still can't see some of these more major mistakes. So double Thanks!

voraz - Thanks voraz.

Jake - Thanks Jake. Glad you enjoyed the read as well.

Idiot Apathy - I didn't know you took my "unpaid - intern- slash- marketing- assistant" offer so seriously, Tom. hehe. I think I even got four hits!

Ragnar X - Glad you like'm, man. Thanks for stopping by!

voodoochile - Hey Rich. Thanks! That page was my favorite one in terms of when it came to figuring out the color scheme. It's a little muddy or incorrect in places, but I'm still happy with it overall. Glad you like the Faces page. :)

entdroid - Thanks Ent. Expressions are always the fun part. :)

Interceptor - Thanks Loren. My brother did a pretty funny "narration" when he showed that one to our parents. In the story, the dad wouldn't fix the training wheels and the girl stops riding altogether instead of learning to ride without them. The dad puts the bike away in the garage and at that part, my brother said in the girl's voice,"well fine, I will just sneak up and kill you." ... I guess it looks a little ominous, but I'm glad people like it for the mood I think I was originally trying to convey. ;)

TheST - Thanks! I had a lot of fun doing the different expressions on that one.

Brendan N. - haha. No, it doesn't mean that at all. Thanks for the kind words though.

Chuck Mate - Hey Pat, Thanks. :)

[Mike Dutton]

I just finished a couple editorial illustrations last night. These were for a magazine feature about newspapers moving toward online formats as more people get their news on the web. Both were done in acrylic/mixed media, and finished up in photoshop.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/Mike_Dutton_Newspaper_Web.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/Mike_Dutton_newsboy_web.jpg

Originally, I was told the article focused on newspapers folding entirely due to people getting their news online, so the newspaper was a lot more bleak in its look and headlines. The name of the paper itself was "Yesterday's News". I liked this concept more, but ah well. Still a very fun job overall.

[Alday.J]

Ho, Mike, I hate you ! <3 <3 <3 !
These two are great and perfectly fits to the topic. In fact I have understood the purpose at the first look, before read your words about it. There's a strong unity in the final renders, even if made in mixed-media/photoshop. respect.
Julien.

[Olof]

Must say, this is beautiful..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/mendocino.jpg

Impressive !

.hugs

[bdfoster]

I like the original concept more too, but I still think the illo is succesful. Great stuff Mike. Great to see you getting work with the editorial stuff...

[Kian]

Such a rich style Mike :D Beautiful and intricate works :yayca:

[Fellah.]

Your posts always makes me feel good, Mike. Great stuff!

[Idiot Apathy]

Mike's blog! CLICK! (http://duttonart.blogspot.com/)

Just awesome Mike!
Love that you used the 2nd sketch in the 1st's newpaper, great touch.

Legs in the 1st seem a bit small/wonky perhaps? I think the text could use a bit of dirtying up to keep it from looking too digital? It works best in the newspaper because of the amount of grit and textures. A simple grungey photo over top on a soft light layer would do the trick, perhaps grayscaled or colorized.

Mike's blog! CLICK! (http://duttonart.blogspot.com/)

[mrgrumble]

well sir, to paraphrase the great spinal tap, this sketchbook goes to eleven! i agree the legs are a wee wonky, almost optical trick! but it adds a quirk to the illustration i like.
(i stare at your avatar but alas, no pirate :) )
cheers!
timmy

[Rich Pellegrino]

I love that 3nd one Mike. I agree with Tom about the text and legs. The foreshortening seems a little too drastic. The shoulder to the waist is a gradual change and even though you may be accurate, I still feel the legs are extreme.

[sve]

Hello, Mike! I took your poster framed from the store today... Man, it looks gorgeous! Christina claimed it long time ago, it will be in her room... I will make a picture and show you how it looks framed, but right now I'll tell that I chose dark phantasmagorical frame with sparkles of gold and copper. It makes world in your picture even more exciting and unpredictable... Frame has slightly spooky mysterious sensation and your picture is brilliant and light comparing to it. Like the window into strange beautiful and hard to imagine world...

On some days it is sad for me to look at it, on others it is dreamy and delightful. I love it, realty very much... I love so many things in this picture, and one of the most beautiful it is glowing delightful colors. I never say genius, but I would say in this case, this was perfect and very dear.

And the secret is that it is just so much heart in this image, so much soul and warmth, maybe that's why I feel sad in some days looking at it. Such a beautiful untouchable dream...


OK... new images...
I like them for coziness, for little small world in them... your little people are so soft mannered and mild.
I don't know maybe it is just me being lyrical, but I feel that they are happy in their little room, surrounded by their little furniture, barricaded actually by their little furniture from the huge, aggressive, angry world... I don't know, maybe I'm wrong thinking like this, but many things make me do that.
Like too big hat on one character, he is drowning in it, small hands and feet, typical of home bound intellectual, big forehead, small thin body, glasses, unguarded relaxed pose, funny, family type computer table with sentimental flowers painted on it :).

Make me think farther actually, that newspapers are stress, blood, explosion and grief we allow in our house, and computer gives us a refuge from all this.


OK.. critiques... Not sure if you really need to think about that, but you do have some strange perspective distortion in your picture. I especially see it on the person with huge hat, in the way you painted the laptop, it has a strange angle... And the the whole perspective is wrong to the degree it makes me feel uncomfortable, it is strange...
The same about monitor and keyboard in the big picture, it is painted at strange angle again... You know it is not always a bad thing in my opinion to make some distortion like this, but sometimes they overweight the message of the whole picture and make me alert more than it should be I think...

Newspaper is painted lovely and everything is very interesting and tasty, I look at them with a constant attention, tilted my head to read text and look at pictures :). you put a lot of details for me to be in focus...
Colors are a bit too loud, maybe, and it looks like everything is lighted up with blue lamp... but maybe you were given a certain request for colors...
For idea of computer winning over the newspaper, I think heap of not read paper would be better in the context, but your interesting to look mess of them is much more picturesque :)...

Hope you and Alex doing great.
Best wishes to both of you...

[Mike Dutton]

Thanks again for the comments guys. I took the crits to heart and attempted to rework the image a bit; specifically the wonky leg and the text being too clean. I also restored the name and headline I originally intended to use.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/Revised_Mike_Dutton_Opener.jpg


The character was supposed to be cartoony, but I can see how even so, the foreshortening was a bit extreme when compared to the rest of his proportions. Tom, that soft light overlay texture was a major help. It's one of those things I guess everyone knows, but hell, I didn't until you mentioned it. Thanks! I agree with Sveta about the overall blue needing some other color, so I added some pinkish purple here and there.... save for web function unfortunately obliterates a good chunk of it though! The funky perspective on the depression-era newsboy was deliberate and I think it works, so that bit stayed the same. I do wish I made the laptop a whole lot bigger to make the boy seem smaller though. I may go back and do that. (And Sveta, I do look forward to seeing that framing job. I'm very touched you went through the expense of having that done!) As for the composition.... well, the art director had a very clear idea of what he wanted so there wasn't much I could do about that. Here's the sketch he sent:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Viticeps/Artwork/newssites.jpg

Thank you for helping me make what I hope is a stronger piece, guys. Have a great weekend!

[sve]

Mike, it looks even more interesting with adding some variations in colors.. I just add in case if you think about that too.. those thick black outlines on paper, is it to keep composition together and create certain shape of it? Looks a bit too thick and too black, in my opinion... The violet color of the guy clothes and the the same hue on his skin, colors of newspaper are a bit different from a color of the cup he is holding and a laptop. Do you want to tweak it a bit in Photoshop to see what looks more natural together? No pressure of course, just a suggestion...

[Stark]

I love the latest reworking you got going on here...It looks really good and holds some truth. I still read newspapers but man, it's been a long time since I have.

The style and lines are so nice and the colors are perfect for the story you are conveying to the public.

KUDOS