I did this quick sketch while watching a little TV last Sunday night with the fam. I love to sit back and relax and doodle in my moleskin sketchbook. I love just scribbling with loose line work and letting the sketch flow on the page. Owls are always fun to draw and this one easily found his way onto the page...maybe I will do a painting with one as the main player instead of a small element in it...does that sound like a good idea to you? Let me know. Stay tuned.
doodle art
Step By Step Art Progression By Fian Arroyo
Here's a step by step progression into how one of my watercolor and ink paintings are created. This piece is called Discovering Truth In Ancient Fables. This was created for myself to sell as a fine art giclee print here in my shop at www.fian.com.
A photo of my daughter sitting a tree on the Blue ridge Parkway on a misty day, was the inspiration for this painting.
The original sketchbook doodle for "Discovering Truth In Ancient Fables". It was originally going to be called Beneath, Between & Behind but I wanted a title with a little more to it.
I scanned the doodle printed it out to size to fit my 12x16 watercolor block which I had covered the reverse side with graphite to trace the drawing onto the paper. The traced drawing on Arches 140 lb. cold press Arches watercolor block.
Using the original doodle as a guide for the line work I wanted to capture in the final art using my Pilot Namiki Falcon fountain pen.
The final ink drawing complete.
Painting the beginning layer of the tree with watercolor and the background in gouache. I wanted that opaque painted look in the background to get a misty feel.
More of the tree and starting to get in some vegetation. Drawing and painting the plants is real fun for me…I don't know why but it is.
The foreground, tree and sky are complete. Now to finish the rest of the critters and tree top.
Done! Discovering Truth In Ancient Fables ©2014 Fian Arroyo.
How it could looked framed on your wall. Pick up an unframed giclee print for yourself here.
Fun Map Of The Music Highway
Got the OK from the client to show this fun mappish illustration I did for AAA Carolinas for an article called "Cruising Down Music Highway". The top part shows the illustration in its entirety and the bottom part shows blown up sections. Being a guitar player myself it was fun creating this illustration.
What is your favorite part of this map?
Choosing Between Two Troll Illustrations
Two days ago I posted on my personal Facebook page and Facebook illustration page and got a great response regarding which version of The Blue Ridge Mountain Troll I should chose to hang in the "Spooky" themed show at the ZaPow gallery in Asheville N.C. which starts this weekend. I needed to know that afternoon to let the printer know and almost immediately comments were flooding in. So with that in mind, I thought it would be great to see what folks visiting my blog would think. Let me know which one you would choose. Also, you can pick up a print of the one that was chosen here. Thanx!
Fian Arroyo Illustration at Gen Con 2014
Finally decompressed after an amazing 5 days in Indianapolis attending the Gen Con gaming convention with the game company Mindtwister. I sold a lot of prints, signed a ton of Mindtwister games my art is on, made some great contacts for possible future work and had an amazing time enjoying what Indy had to offer. Here are some highlights of my trip.
My booth with MindtwisterUSA.
Behind the scenes.
Workin' Gen Con selling prints.
Doodling behind the scenes between selling prints and signing Mindtwister games.
Yard decor?
The crowd waiting to get in. Over 50,000 people attended.
Small corner of the universe called Gen Con.
Dr. Who robots in my hotel lobby.
typical Gen con eye candy.
This motley crew posed on the spot for me.