Hi Everyone, I am proud to say I am in the process of illustrating a new children’s book. It will include over 30 hand painted full page illustrations of animals, so if you or your child enjoy going to the zoo this is the book for you. Below is a short preview of what is…
Tag: painting
New Work: Large Painting for Frontier International Academy
Earlier this year I had the privilege to do second piece for Frontier International Academy in Warren, MI. The first piece I did a small mural in the lobby area of the school. The principal of the school wanted artwork that showed the character traits the school aims to develop in the students. I also used…
NEW WORK: Sketchbook Paintings and Videos
Hi Everyone, I haven’t been posting on this blog a lot lately but I have been busy making new work but, most of it I can’t show yet. In the mean time, I have recorded the process of many of my other projects and sketches and below are some of my videos of painted sketches…
Mini Mural for Frontier International Academy
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to paint a small mural for Frontier International Academy in Warren , MI. This small elementary school had just opened up their doors and was accepting students in their newly renovated building. During the process of decorating the school I was called in to add some color to the…
New Octo-Samurai Comic Pages
The second chapter of Octo-Samurai comes to an epic end. (I promise this will make sense in the comic) For anyone who doesn’t know Octo-Samurai is a side project of mine where I draw the epic story of an octopus… who is also a samurai that fights ninjas underwater. In addition to being super fun to…
Downsizing (a new challenge)
A New Challenge For a the last month or so I have been using a new smaller sketchbook. I would love to say I did this as some cool new challenge for myself. But it wasn’t, it was mostly a happy accident. Recently I filled up my painting sketchbook and went to the store to get a new…
Lots of NEW ART
I haven’t shared anything in a while. That is because I have been busy working on lots of new art planing some changes to the website. I will take the time to talk about what I am sharing in this post in detail later. For now here is a quick run down of some of the new artwork….
Sketchbook Paintings 5: Casein
Are you looking for a new painting challenge? Do you love oil painting but need to be able to scan it for reproduction? Want to have something besides watercolor to paint out in the field? … I answered yes to these questions. I also found the one medium that has made it possible to have the feel…
Sketchbook Paintings 4: Travel Gouache
For a long time I had looked for a travel setup for my gouache. Now, I have found it. Above is a picture of one of my fun dinosaur sketches I did at a restaurant with my friend Laura. This is a picture of my travel gouache kit. A collapsible water cup Ceramic palette Small…
New Year, Love and Art Books
As we wrap up the year I would like to thank all of you who read this blog. It has been a very eventful year with both ups and downs. No matter what, I still feel blessed and thankful to have the support of so many wonderful people. Over the past few posts I have posted…
New: Sketchbook Paintings 3
Ready for more small paintings? Here are more of the paintings from my sketchbook. These and more paintings are part of a book I will show later. For now, enjoy!
New: Sketchbook Paintings 2
Can using a limited palette take your painting skills to the next level? The short answer is yes. A limited palette forces you out of color-mixing habits. If you don’t have a color “grass green” you’ll have to mix it from scratch, and you’re more likely to get the right green that way. James Gurney I…
New: Sketchbook Paintings
Everyone loves seeing sketchbook work right? Check out these pages from my watercolor moleskin sketchbook. This one is a study of a photo from a trip to the Detroit Zoo several months ago. This sketch is from this is for a personal project I’m working on I will talk more about that later. Later this week…
Creative Book Review Relaunch
The Creative Book Review is an ongoing series of reviews of books for creative people. For each book I review I create an original illustration, give a summary and share some of my own thoughts on the topics. Creative Book review came from a desire to share good books with other creative people. My goal with this…
Animated Banner for The Descovari Channel Blog
Earlier this month I worked with Ashleah Sy’Mone on updating the design of her fashion blog, The Descovari Channel. Ashleah is a fashion stylist in Atlanta, GA and a close friend of mine. Along with some things behind the scenes, I did the animated banner top) for the blog and a static banner (bottom) for her other social media…
Creative Book Review 4: Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland (Part 1)
“What separates artists from ex-artists is that those who challenge their fears, continue; those who don’t, quit. Each step in the artmaking process puts that issue to the test.”- David Bayles & Ted Orland When I was a kid, making art was simple. When sharing my work, I was fearless and people loved it. In…
Unicycle Brand Contest Entry
I had a lot of fun painting this piece, I haven’t entered a contest like this since I was in art school. I did this painting for a contest hosted by Unicycle Brand. To enter the contest artists had to use one of the reference photos provided by the website to do a piece of…
Postcard Illustration: Octo-Samurai
I wanted it to be something epic. I always liked the over the top fights in anime and martial arts movies so I decided to go in that direction when working on the illustration. This piece is an illustration for my promotional postcards I’m sending out to potential editorial clients. The inspiration came from a…
Creative Book Review 2: Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
“Nobody is born with a style or a voice. We don’t come out the womb knowing who we are. In the beginning we learn by pretending to be our heroes. We learn by copying. ” – Austin Kleon I remember being in art school and worrying about my style and being jealous of people who…
Creative Book Review 1: Make Art Make Money by Elizabeth Hyde Stevens
“It is foolish to think we can’t be both artists and entrepreneurs , especially when Henson was so wildly successful in both categories.” -Elizabeth Hyde Stevens Originally published in 2013, Make Art Make Money isn’t your typical book with 10 lessons that will set you on the path to greatness. It doesn’t give you a…
Justin Perkins 