Friday, December 14, 2012

Amplifier Illustration: R is for Reflection



     I wanted to take a moment to share with you the illustration I did for this month's issue of The Amplifier. As you can see above, this month's letter was "R." We wanted to show that the holidays can be a very hard time for people, specifically for those who are homeless. People can be homeless for a variety of reasons which often include or result in their life being turned upside down and loosing the good times they had. The Christmas is a perfect time to think about the blessing of Christ's arrival, his crucifixion, and the gift of salvation through his resurrection. Its also a great time to consider the other blessings that we have, while trying to support, comfort, and help our neighbors around us that may not have the blessings we do. 

     Conveying large ideas like this in one small image can be challenging. Leslie, from the Amp, suggested showing someones past through their reflection in a shop window. I thought the idea was brilliant! It was the perfect way to depict our concept.




     Here you can see some thumbnail sketches and quick (and sloppy) notes that I sent to Leslie. These can sometimes be very detailed and other times very simple and quick. They allow her to get a better understand of directions we can go with the illustration. They are also great for making sure I understand what she wants the illustration to be like. After communicating these ideas to each other and settling on which specific composition we want to go with, I begin the final illustration.



     
     Here's the first version of the illustration with Leslie's text. As you can see I've taken the image much further into the "finished" stage by adding details, tones, and colors. 



     After a few needed changes with the text and its placement, the illustration was finished! If you want to see it out "in the wild" and support The Amplifier's ministry to the homeless and the community, just pick up a copy of the paper. It's available in the greater Knoxville, TN area. It is just one small way anyone can help make a difference in someones life over the holidays.

     Thanks so much for checking in. I hope you all have an awesome-tastic Christmas and happy holidays! Until next time, God bless!

Friday, December 7, 2012

Sketches and Holiday Specials!


Howdy, gang! I hope you guys and gals are all doing well this week. I was going to upload some more of the gnomes paintings that I did for the exhibit a while back, but I'm having technical difficulties. :/ 

So! Instead, I give to you evening Photoshop sketches above. Haha! Just some doodles, Dr. Zaius, and some Bat-manga. I really liked how the Photoshop brush I was using was coming out very much like a good ink brush. Good times.


By the way, tell your mom! Tell your friends! Tell your enemies!!!
Take advantage of the last Society6 Artist Promotion of the year! Click here to get FREE Shipping* when you order products (men & women's T-shirts, regular art prints, hoodies, & tote bags) from my Society6 Store now thru December 9, 2012 at Midnight Pacific Time. *Offer excludes Framed Art Prints, Stretched Canvases and Throw Pillows with insert. 

Pretty incredible, huh? Just make sure you click That Link or you won't have FREE Shipping.


Another awesome thing, I'm still offering FREE Shipping for both 5'x7' and 8'x10' commissioned drawings! Just tell me a topic or theme and I'll draw it! The theme for the 5x7 drawing above was "Jimmy Olson." Just check them out over in the PABshop. They make great gifts for the holidays!

Well, enough commercials. haha I'll try to figure things out and post some more paintings and stuff soon. In the mean time, God bless!

Friday, November 16, 2012

New SHOP page, T-shirts, Tote Bags, & Original Art Online Store


Are you already trying to figure out what gifts to get people for Christmas, Hanuka, or Winter B-days? Want something unique? You may want to check out the SHOP page here on the website. You can click the tab above or click here: http://www.philipabuck.com/p/shop.html 

I'm totally here to help you out. 



Want some of my illustrations & designs on T-shirts, hoodies, art prints, framed prints, canvases, throw pillows, and tote bags? Fret not! You only have to check out my Society6 store. 

Tees & hoodies in many different sizes & colors are available! 




T-shirts: "American Apparel Organic Fine Jersey T-shirts are made with 100% USDA Certified Organic cotton combed for softness and comfort."




Prints: "Fine art print on natural white, matte, ultra smooth, 100% cotton rag, acid and lignin free archival paper using an advanced digital dry ink method to ensure vibrant image quality. Custom trimmed with 1" border for framing."

Are you wishing you could get your hands on some original custom artwork by Philip A. Buck? Look no farther than my original art shop, PABshop

At the PABshop, you can request a drawing of something and I will happily draw and ink it for you! I'll even send you the drawing through the post with no extra fees!!! I know, it is cool. It's my way of giving back...

Friday, November 9, 2012

Amplifier Illustration: O, P, and Q

Click the images to see them larger.

  
   Hey pals! I've been so busy posting gnomes and T-shirts and such that I haven't been able to show you the last few illustrations I've had the pleasure of doing for The Amplifier! So here they are:




Here are some of the thumbnail sketches I did as general examples of directions we could go for the letter "O." We ended up going with the guy below for this letter, but they decided the option that I starred would be great for a later illustration.




  After some notes and feedback, I made some changes and was able to jump into illustrating and refining the image. The crossed line effect in the figure was created by scanning the inside of an envelope. -A cool trick I picked up from Patrick Leger's blog.  




Here is where I sketched out different approaches for our ideas about the letter "P."



Above is an alternate version of the illustration with different colors. We wanted to have the little girl writing the Preamble, so I typed it into Photoshop and then wrote over the letters myself with a "chalk brush" so that they would have a handwritten look.  It was a lot of information to fit into one illustration, but I'm pretty happy with they way we decided to do it.


Here is the final illustration we went with for the letter "P."


More thumbnail sketches! I straight up copy and pasted some from the sketches for "O" and drew some other approaches as well.  We ended up going with the first version with the man and the box.


It was a pretty quick turn around for this one, but since I had completed some pretty detailed sketches the process of actually illustrating the scene didn't take me as long.

I hope you guys enjoyed seeing these three illustrations. Remember, you can pick up The Amplifier in Knoxville, TN and support the homeless.
Have a great weekend! God bless!

p.s. Don't forget that today (Friday Nov. 9th, 2012) is the last day you can tell me your choice for which Kit the Cat T-shirt design I should have made! Check out the previous post! ;)


Monday, November 5, 2012

Possible T-shirt, Listening to Living Legends, and NEW ONLINE STORE!


   Friends and Fiends! I need your help. I'm thinking seriously about making a t-shirt to sell to you all online. Would you be interested in one of these as a T-shirt? If so, which one/variation/combination? Your help is much appreciated!!!

MEANWHILE...

I had the pleasure of attending an awesome free seminar held by the National Cartoonist's Society at Watkins College in Nashville, TN over the weekend. It was very good with incredible speakers! If you want to hear more about the experience and see some examples of the artists who spoke and their art, head over to my Tumblr blog, PABDESK.

ALSO...

I am very excited to announce to you all that I have begun setting up my NEW ONLINE STORE MART SHOP over on Big Cartel! It is a great place for you to buy my original art. Anyone need Christmas gifts? This is a great way to get special, personalized gifts for a good price. I think you will dig it! Check it out now and you may notice some SALES that are going on!

Thanks for stopping in and helping out today, pals! God bless!

EDIT: I'm probably making the cut off Friday for suggestions on which T-shirt of Kit the Cat to have made so make sure to let me know which one you think is best!

Friday, October 26, 2012

Two Years Out- The Carson-Newman University class of 2010 Alumni Exhibit

Photo by Michael Alvis
FRIENDS! It has been a couple of weeks since the Alumni Exhibit opening reception at Carson-College University's Homecoming. I've been really busy since I got back in town, but I wanted to let you all know how the weekend went. It went Great! As you can see above, it was a grand reunion among most of the exhibiting artists (my former classmates.) In the photo, we are doing the traditional pose of Strongfortism in front of the Warren Art Building. Want to see some more photos? Cool. Here we gooooooo!

Photo courtesy of Sarah Jones (Allison Smith and Alex Smith not pictured.)
Here we are being normal smiling artist people. It is good times. I spy art professors in the background of some of these photos!

Photo by Sarah Jones
Here are my pieces! They came out rather well, if I do say so myself.

Photo by Sarah Jones
Here I am with the cool Kourtney Kelley Smith & the stoic Daniel Aisenbrey.

Photo courtesy of Danielle Schlafer
Here I am again and this time with the talented Gretchen Hill and our brilliant friend, Danielle Schlafer.
And here is a closer look at the art I had in the exhibit: 






By Allison Smith
 Above and below are just some of the great pieces that were also in featured in the show!

Daniel Aisenbrey
Daniel Aisenbrey
Here some of us admire one of Allison Smith's pieces.
Allie Smith
Alex Smith
Alex Smith
Is everything ready? Yes! Let the public in!
Kourtney Kelley Smith
Kourtney Kelly Smith
Kourtney Kelley Smith
Meg Lynch
Cory Jones
Sarah Lynch Jones
Gretchen Hill
Gretchen Hill
Meg Lynch
pssst, Here are the business cards I set out. Each one has an original drawing on them!
Thanks for looking at all the photos, guys. There's plenty more that I could share, but I thought I would take it easy on you all. REALLY cool stuff huh? It was great times! 
Some of the totally amazing artists that contributed to the show have websites. You can check them out here:

Cory Jones
Sarah Lynch Jones
Alex Smith

I enjoyed it all so much! If you didn't get to be there for the opening reception, that's OK! The exhibit is on display in the Warren Art Building at Carson-Newman University, Jefferson City, TN until November 20th, 2012. I hope you all get a chance to check it out. Thank you to everyone who stopped by and helped make it happen (especially the faculty of the Art Department!) See you guys next time, God bless!

BONUS PHOTO
Here is my sister, Mary and my girlfriend Kayleigh at the Homecoming football game.  They are very wonderful people.