…at H. Stockton...
A while back I stopped in to H.Stockton Midtown to meet the proprietors of the fine men's fashion boutique. One thing led to another and here we are now. The other day I needed to a place to shoot video for a painting and Joel was kind enough to share his space. The resulting image is the feature in each of the images below. Click on each to see what it is.
Great Afternoon Brunch...
Sundays are the best days. Often they are filled with good friends, eating, and coffee!
Sundays are brunch days. Yes, you can eat brunch any day, but on Sundays, especially in the south there is a culture that is surrounded by weekend brunch…and I love it.
This Sunday a group of us went to Radial Café for an afternoon brunch. Put any thoughts of brunch being defined by time. It is an experience of friendship and the breaking of bread with those friends, and for me it is all centered around that delicious, ceramic mugged, bitter, bold, caffeinated fluid. Gouda Scramble was the piece de resistance- ordered by 4 out of the 7 members of the group. This day I chose the Salmon Scramble and do believe that I have found a new favorite.
This Sunday also happened to be the first chilly day of the cold season. I arrived in a t-shirt and soon needed to dapper up to eat in cozy comfort. Click the middle image to see the way brunch dandy dresses.
A Great Day for Fashion...
I met my good friends for lunch the other day and it was a fantastic fashion frolic. I had to stop the joyful meeting and capture the moment. They laughed, they posed, they frustrated each other and it was all a great time.
And wouldn't you know it, one's a poet and one's an illustrator.
Check out Quellie's artwork here.
Morning Coffee...
Through the night the rains dropped and the clouds moved in to visit. The usual miniature city scape was turned over to the large radio towers. And that makes for another great morning. My roomie Alex made breakfast- eggs with gouda and delicious sausage.
I made the coffee this morning. Trader Joes does it again! Being out of coffee and being at Trader Joes I made the snap decision to purchase a dark roast whole bean coffee at the cheapest price. Turns out that… it's DELICIOUS! Thank you Trader Joes Dark Coffee.
Sunflowerman and Atlanta Street Fashion...
Happened to be in the right place, wearing the right stuff, at the right time. Met Sir Adams, the administrator and creative mind behind the Atlanta Street Fashion blog and we hit it off. The day began as fabulous as one could imagine. I gave myself an extra hour of sleep and still awoke at 7 in the morn. The first order of business was a watercolor concept for some oven designs. Next came the technical work in that powerful adobe application, Illustrator.
By 9:30 I was off to wisp my beautiful girlfriend to Utrecht for a paper run. On my traversing the winding paths of Atlanta's roadways I made a pit stop at the bank and found my way to my favorite Coffee spot. Yet again Condesa Coffee served as a mystifying union for strategic meetings and creative energy.
It was at Condesa that I met up with John Cutrell, who magically configured my wordpress.com address to read as sunflowerman.com. Almost immediately after I met Cameron Adams. You can see the rest of what happened below.
Women's Fashion Illustration… Book Pages
Recently I was commissioned to do this series of women's fashion illustration on the book pages. I have stayed away from women's fashion quite purposefully. It is such a highly saturated genre with little variety. Though illustrating the female form is much more interesting than the male form. One could understand the saturation of the women's fashion market after having the opportunity to work in it.
My heavy handed approach with varying thicknesses of bold blacks carried over to the traditionally delicate and fluid line work of women's fashion illustration makes for a stronger figure. With my signature book page background these illustrations maintain the sunflowerman 'look.'
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Cuffs… A Fashion Illustration
My roommate made me download Pinnacle Studio for my iPad. It was a free download at the time and I didn't think it was going to be worth it, but I stand corrected. I shot the video, edited it, and uploaded it all using my iPad 3 and Pinnacle Studio. Below is the product of the day's work.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEFc6CgdV7g?rel=0&w=640&h=360]
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Bowties...
Watch how I make a bow tie! As a part of the fashion series this video is an entertaining diversion that will take you on a journey with me and the music of The Bamboos in the creation of a Book Page Fashion Illustration. .
Enjoy
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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jJX4qDK9ck&w=560&h=315]
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Sneak Peak…
Check out the sneak peak video of the collaboration between Chris Harrap and Matthew Miller. .
Photo and Video to be released soon!
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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-kOpGk_fCs]
Caleb Morris Paints...
If you have ever heard a tall tale or seen someone paint a story in your mind then you have met Caleb Morris. He has a nack for tall tales and hyperbole. You might more accurately say that he has a unique ability to embellish, and I mean to share this with the utmost respect. A story woven by any other person is simply a reiteration of events gone by. When Caleb speaks stories are born. He gives life and character to moments that you or I would never experience outside of his recollection.
Beyond the imagination of his words is the imagination of his hands. Caleb is an illustrator. An illustrator in a world like Caleb's is a story teller. The same vivid drama that he speaks he also conjures as image.
When we decided to trade Illustrations I was elated. This was my chance to hold on to a story wrought by Caleb forever.
Below is the story that Caleb painted for me. Find his work here.
I thought that I would share my contribution as well. It was an honor to have the opportunity to paint this dog. Artie is not simply an old dog waning in life. He is an old man who thinks he can lay in the bed with ma and pa. He is full of mischief and tom-foolery and continually leads Caleb into trouble. His legs fail him, but his desires carry him. He is full of color and joy.
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Other Works by Caleb Morris
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Illustration Friday… Bounce
Bounce Sheep, bounce Bounce from dream to dream
Bounce from dream to daydream
Bounce back and forth
and forth and back.
Bounce from dream to reality.
Fashion Illustrations… Dictionary Pages
Here are more men's fashion illustrations placed on dictionary pages. It just keeps getting better!
This new collection takes the mastery of the ink and brush and highlights the great qualities of men's fashion. Sometimes the focus is on the cut of the jacket and sometimes it is on the color of the shirt and tie.
My goal is to highlight and focus on the spirit of men's fashion in an innovative and creative manner.
Illustration Friday… Loneliness
It is not the sound that no one hears It is not the face that no one sees
It is in wondering if someone hears
It is in wondering if someone sees
Loneliness.
Illustration Friday… Carry
Carry me, on the belly of a sloth- slow and slow and slow.
Move me,
through the never ending jungle- on and on and on.
Feed me,
with the fruit of joy- more and more and more.
Live Painting… Medieval TImes
The other day I had the pleasure of spending my time at the Medieval Times in Atlanta. It was time for the newest show, which I am told only happens every four years or so. I was invited in to paint during the VIP reception. Katrina was my contact at Medieval Times and found me a great Medieval jacket and vest to go along perfectly with my yellow glasses and red paisley bow tie. I arrived, set up and three hours later a masterpiece was born!
It was made known to me during the reception that the story I was telling with the painting happened to coincide with the theme of the new show where a horse opens the evening in a routine galloping naked around the arena. I guess that just goes to prove that when I do it, I do it right.
Williams' Cow...
By now you know about the collaboration between Sunflowerman and The Urban Animal Scientist. The beautiful and ethereal watercolor illustrations and the amazing quality of the hand crafted collars are perfect compliments in the commercial field. The collaboration has led to the contemporary dog-portrait illustration that now graces the home of the The Urban Animal Scientist (see here). The Urban Animal Scientists' brother Bryant has rolled into town and is continuing the collaborative process.
Initially the request to paint a cow from a man who was educated in economics seemed so abstract and quite frankly, odd. Perhaps a bull or a bear would have been more appropriate. What I didn't know at the time is having received his undergrad from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts Bryant has a deep appreciation for the arts and for purple cows.
Having the experience of the large dog painting under my belt I got right to work. What I thought would be as simple as a quick sketch turned itself over to 5 quick sketches. As you are witness of the images below, the first two images are quite deplorable. As I developed the idea further the perspective, color and brush strokes set themselves in place.
The process was beautiful. With the idea worked out and the excitement of the project still fresh from the three days before, I got right to work and within two hours the painting was complete.
Afterwards we saw it fit to do a little photoshoot with the painting.
And here's the final 3x5' painting of the Williams College Purple Cow.
Fashion Illustration… Giambattista Valli
I was contacted by the wonderful people at D2G Apparel to do some illustrations based on the Paris Fashion week that ended on the 4th of this past month. While I have been focusing on mens' fashion lately I thought that it might be a nice diversion from the normal. Also, women are just much more fun to draw. The week was full of amazing projects and designs. The first day kicked off with the always lovely Versace, but what really peaked my interest was the work of Giambattista Valli. There was a yearning for nature and beauty together that conjugated in the floral arrangements adorned by the women of the runway. Flowers and butterflies and floral prints were all a rather literal interpretation, but powerful nonetheless.
I identified several aspects from the Valli line that would work there way into my interpretive illustration.
-nature -light reds and greens -floral print -controlled hair, pulled back and tight
Included below are the final illustration and the process of the painting.
Look to D2G Apparel in the next several weeks to where this image on a shirt.
Instagram Series...
I have been posting my recycled page fashion illustrations on Instagram (@sunflowerman) and I got a comment from another IG-er asking whether I could feature him in some illustrations. Of course I was all too obliged to agree and below is the series I did via @joesteezzy 's Instagram feed.
If you are interested in getting some personalized illustrations in the same fashion just comment here or find me on Instagram.
Illustration Friday… Space
All day dreaming of astronauts in space Eating and enjoying the kumquat's taste.
Fashion Illustration… D.R.E.S and GQ
Since the very last post prior to this one is about the original illustration I will not go on for long. This is the sixth GQ cover in the series so far (the rest found here). I might say I am actually getting quite good at this. So step down this way and take a look at the newest edition of the illustrated GQ with D.R.E.S. ThaBeatnik.
