The Construction of Dinosaurs...
The Construction of Dinosaurs is a painting I did live at Sam Flax nearly a year ago. It was a part of a promotion for One Love Generation, an Atlanta non-profit mentoring teens in arts and service. I brought a camera along to document the 8 hour process. The week before I spent some time developing a concept and composition to have a plan going into the day. A friend had suggested a while back that I do a painting of a kid pouring water on a blow up dinosaur. From there you have what came below.
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Enjoy.
Juwan Mass Install...
I met this guy through a coffee shop. He has a passion for Men's clothing and eye for art and we hit it off. The resulting collaboration is what you see below.
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Book Page Fashion Illustration… Dr. Who
As a continuation of the Book Page series I have here featured Dr. Who, the 11th doctor- as played by Matt Smith. Complete with a Sonic Screwdriver and of course, a bow-tie.
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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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]
Fashion…Suave
I was recently invited to be a featured artist at an event by Zero Gravity Concept Salon. I relished the opportunity and created the following piece to show at the event.
Below is the evolution of the painting.
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.
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.
MADMEN… an Illustrated Series
To go along with my fashion illustrations I thought it would be best (astride the prodding of my roommate Alex) to do a few character studies from MADMEN. They are all classy fellas with a large fan base and quite recognizable faces. I hope that you enjoy these illustrations and if you wish to purchase prints you can do that through behance
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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.
Fashion Illustration… Dres Tha Beatnik
I was walking through Starbucks to see a friend. As I was walking this gentleman caught my eye. He was dressed very well and had this character about himself that was quite attractive. After grabbing my coffee I walked over to where he was seated and asked if I could use him as a part of my fashion portrait series. His name is Dres D-R-E-S (dr-ah-s). Can't lie, I struggled pronouncing Dres correctly.
It turns out that he is a local Atlanta musician, perhaps even a local celebrity. He handed me a copy of his recent album, I snapped a pic on my phone and we parted ways.
This is what came of that interaction. Also, check out his myspace and enjoy the mix.
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Fashion Photo Shoot…
Just did a photoshoot with the great Shawn Cuni. He is a fabulous photographer. This is a little preview he sent over to me after the shoot. I am so pumped to get this next set of images and cannot wait to share them with everyone!
Thanks Cuni. umf.
Fashion Illustration… Kamau and GQ
George is not an Atlanta native, but he is an Atlanta man. One thing that always strikes me about George is his sense of style, especially in regards to attending the Atlanta night-scene's dance clubs. Another thing about George is his keen entrepreneurial eye. He's got a knack for flipping shoes and perhaps a few other things that I might not want to share here.
Without further ado, George Kamau on the cover of GQ!!
If you missed it before I have linked here the first time we met George here on the blog.
Exhibit the Fashion...
I have been looking for a place to exhibit these. Preferably I would love to find a Men's Boutique here in Atlanta. Let me know if you would like to collaborate with me. sunflowermatt@gmail.com
Linked below is a little proposal I put together explaining a bit about what I'm doing.
Fashion Portrait…Cuni
Shawn Cuni is one of the coolest people you could ever know. I had the pleasure of being his roommate for a while and respect him as a person and a creative. Few people are as neat and organized, and few people have his potential.Check out his instagram @psjc and the website on flickr Shawn Cuni
All of that said his street fashion is what we are focusing on today. You might think 'hipster' upon meeting him- at least that is what comes to my mind- then you find out his love for PBR and Radiohead and you know that's probably a good assessment. During a night of chilling on the porch I snapped a few photos and brought them home to paint.
I started this painting by pasting pages from an old book onto hardboard with matte medium. Then I proceeded to sketch out the basic forms with a colored pencil. After that I go over the lines with waterproof india-ink. After that dries I pool in washes of watercolor and add highlights with white acrylic paint. Finally I add shadows and washes of other colors to bring out the form and it's complete!