Top 7 Horror Films: #1

#1 Alien
Everything about this movie is brilliant. The movie poster, the creature and tech design, the acting, and of course the brilliant direction. One of the few perfect films out there.

Happy Halloween!

Top 7 Horror Films: #2

#2 The Thing
I am telling you, I don't think another director has ever strung together a series of movies like John Carpenter did in the 70's and 80's.

Top 7 Horror Films: #3

#3 Psycho
Do I need to say anything about this one?

Inside the Artist's Studio: Quick Sketch part 4

Design, sorry this to so long, but it is a complicated subject. I found simplifying it into a blog post difficult. There may be more coming on this topic. Click Here or on the image below.

In the meantime check out these books

Art of Color & Design by Maitland Graves

Picture This: How Pictures Work by Molly Bang

Top 7 Horror Films: #4

#4 Audition
This is the only movie on my list that I have only seen once, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I had to take a "silkwood shower" the last time just to feel clean again...nope not because of that at all.

A New Blog to Follow: Muddy Colors

Hey all,

My buddy Dan Dos Santos, who was nice enough to fill in for me a few weeks back, has started a new communal blog with a whole group of great illustrators. For the aspiring illustrator, illustrator, or fan of illustration it is a must read. Muddy Colors

Top 7 Horror Films: #5

#5 The Exorcist
Not to many horror films straight up scare me, but this one gets me everytime. Probably the only film on this list that if I watch it right now it will make me scream like a little girl... ya know in a manly way though.

Inside the Artist's Studio: Anatomy (Torso Front) part 3

Top 7 Horror Films: #6

#6 Halloween
(again to me this really includes both 1 & 2, they are so seamless in my mind)
As a kid I was a much bigger Nightmare on Elm Street fan, but I have to admit that this film has aged much better. As have all John Carpenter films up to and including In the Mouth of Madness.

Top 7 Horror Films: #7

In honor of Halloween, over the next week I will be posting a one a day countdown of my favorite horror films. Each post will go up at 11 pm.

#7 Bride of Frankenstein (in my mind this includes Frankenstein, because you can very easily watch them back to back as one movie. #6 will include the same qualification, can you guess what it is?)On the right day this list could easily be nothing but James Whale movies. Did I mention I like James Whale?

As a foot note, checkout Gods and Monsters

Reilly Method Painting

I posted a demo I did for a class I am teaching based on the "Reilly Method" of painting. Frank J. Reilly had a very controlled method of painting that has been well documented in three books.

1)Student's Guide to Painting by Jack Faragasso- currently of print, but I was told by Mr. Faragasso that may change in the near future

2)Values for Pictures Worth a Thousand Words by Apollo Dorian- Also technically out of print, but you can send away for it.

3)Mastering the Craft of Painting by Angelo John Grado- Also out of print but affordable

In short the "Reilly Method" utilizes a form of controlled palette in which you mix up to 10 values of reds, yellows, grays, fleshtones, and sometimes blue. I generally limit it to 5 to simplify for my student.

In Reilly's teachings he would preach a way of calculating value accuracy through a combination of local value and a given planes angle to the light source. This requires a long term dedication to the study of form and its ability to refract light. To simplify I tell my students that on the average person the general value of flesh in the light is a 2 (if numbering 1-5, left to right on the chart above) halftone (planes at an oblique angle to the light) are a 3, general shadow(planes facing away from the light source are a 4, dark accents a 5, and highlights a 1. This of course is a huge over simplification, but a good way of learning to control your values when beginning to paint in color. You can increase accuracy and precision by adding more values, but this will also add complexity.

Once you have established the correct value (often done using a burnt umber pick-out form of grisaille or underpainting) you can adjust the generic flesh tone by mixing in the corresponding red, yellow, or gray.

Scott Altmann Artwork Stolen

Hey all,

While exhibiting at NYCC Scott Altmann had a portfolio of original drawings go missing. Go to his blog to find out more, and help in anyway you can. If you know the person who took them please say something. Regardless of what you think, anyone who does this sort of thing is nobodies friend.

Gesture Portrait

A quick study done in between helping people today.

Inside the Artist's Studio:Anatomy (Torso Front) Part 1 & 2

Anatomy demos/handouts for the torso anatomy class this semester at Watts Atelier

Oil Painting Demo

Here is a demonstration I did for my Reilly Method Painting Class at Watts Atelier. I will discuss this method a little more in depth in the coming weeks.

Reilly Abstraction

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. I am still working on the next entry in the quick sketch series, but I have been swamped with work lately. In the mean time, "The Reilly Abstraction". More on this later.

Spectrum 17 Preview

Hey all,

They just posted a video preview for multiple books including Spectrum 17 over on the Spectrum website. Go check them out

Hey check at 1:25

Men at Work (Sargent)

I always enjoy finding pictures of great artist's working, even (sometimes especially) if they are staged.

The more authentic pictures can be more informative, it is fun to try and identify the work habits of the greats. The staged ones are great too because they are often so silly and obvious.
So to that end, I am starting a new semi-regular. Send me photos of any artist you admire working on a piece of artwork. In the vein of Ain't It Cool News feature Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day "I’m looking for the iconic, the rare or the just plain cool behind the scenes shots to feature here." These can range from rare B&W photos of artists long past to young turks caught at a workshop or convention. You can email your photos to me at emgist@erikgist.com

To start us off, who can tell me who this dapper gent is? Unfortunately this one smacks of the staged variety, with one of his most famous paintings openly displayed.

Art History Scavenger Hunt (Oct 2010)

WOW! Okay, so I knew I was starting off with an easy one, but this is ridiculous. Two winners, and it is not yet 8 o'clock. Next month I will clearly have to post later, and make it harder, to give the west coast guys a chance. Congrats to Scott Altmann and Kurt Aspland

Hey all,
About a month ago I posted my influence map, and ran a scavenger hunt competition to name all my influences. Enough people had fun with this that I have decided to make a similar regular feature. So witness the birth of "Art History Scavenger Hunt", each month (or so) I will post a visual riddle and the first person to post in the comments with the correct answer wins a prize. This months prize will be a free copy of the Dead Reign RPG core book from Palladium Books signed with a sketch. Please be patient with the prize, I just mailed out last months today.

Here is the hunt for October (see what I did there). Name each of the artist's responsible for the paintings below, as well as the mystery artist that continues the pattern.

Inside the Artist's Studio: Quick Sketch part 3

Structure and mass, enjoy.

Inside the Artist's Studio: Quick Sketch part 2

For quick sketch part two, I am going to cover establishing the gesture. The most common mistake people make in drawing the gesture is they try to get too specific to early. Do yourself a favor and draw the simple action and relationships of the figure. Detail only interferes with getting the big picture and capturing the energy of the figure.