2012 HOLIDAY CARD

Here is the finished art for 2012's Christmas card. Happy Holidays everyone!

LARSON FAMILY CHRISTMAS

When I was a kid, Christmas was a very special time. Not only because the food, presents, and cartoons that were coming along with the holiday, but because of the things we, as a family,  only got to see once a year and the new things that would be added to our tradition.

Raymond Larson circa. 1980. If you look closely, you can
see a couple of the miniature houses he built under the tree

I had spoken in a previous entry about my Dad,  Raymond Larson,  and how creative he was. Christmas time was when that creativity seemed to shine the brightest. He had produced special decorations that were exclusive to us. From paintings to ornaments to miniatures, we were surrounded by things that could not be found anywhere else:

This painting was done when he was still a student
at American Academy Of Art  in 1948.

This was created in 1973 out of Styrofoam and illustration board. 

Poppy also used to create miniature houses and buildings  from
scratch. Though around all year, they usually became part of the old railroad
train set that came out at Christmas time.

In addition to the decorations, Poppy also made his own Christmas cards. He was doing them all by hand ( unlike the ones I make and digitally print out- this was before computers) so only made a couple each year.

Because not many cards were produced, I have no examples. However,
here are his plans for one of the yearly cards.

Lastly, and most special to us kids were the toys that he created. Ray Larson took time and built toys for his children and grandchildren. Sometimes he did it because there was something that one of us wanted that wasn't available. Other times, he did it because he saw what the toy companies were producing and felt that he could do a better job. The end result of this was that we received unique, one-of-a-kind toys that were literally made only for us. This made these toys a million times more special than anything that ever could have been bought in a store.

These are the plans for one of his earliest creations - a puppet
theater for the kids

My brother Erik, Me, and my nephew Joey doing a puppet play ( circa. 1975)

In the 1980's,  G.I. Joe action figures had various forts and vehicles.
My nephew Joey had a collection of the figures and wanted a fort ( shown here
from an advertisement). His Grandpa ( my Dad) saw the toy in the store and decided
that he could make one himself...

He created the fort out of illustration board, dowel rods, and styrofoam.
The end result was a more durable and realistic toy than was mass produced by the toy company.

This Star Wars snow fort was put together by someone
at Women's Day magazine, which Grandma Larson had
lying around the house. Poppy saw it and decided that
the kids would really like one. He ended up building two of
them - one for Joey than another for my brother Erik and I.

30 years later and this creation is still mind blowing to me...

The effort that was put into these creations was amazing. The result of all of this is that Ray Larson gave us all something special. It wasn't just the unique gifts, but the memories that we will always carry with us. There is no better Christmas present than that.

DEVELOPMENT OF 2012 CHRISTMAS CARD PART 2

In a previous blog I showed the preparation I did for this year's holiday card. Every year I draw my own cards with different variations. I wanted to do something a little different.

As with all artwork I do, I start with a pencil sketch. This pencil is always a little rougher than my finished comic book pencils are:

So this year, instead of doing a traditional painting, I decided I wanted to "paint" the card digitally. This process starts by adding the basic colors just like in a painting that's done by hand:

After this I started adding details. Because this was something new, it took me a while to get a feel for what I was doing. Eventually, things clicked and I was able to render a good face:

Once that was done, the rest fell into place pretty quickly:

After the faces were nailed down I began to concentrate of the smaller details:

So how did the finished product come out? The finished card will be shown in a future post closer to the holiday.

FIRST LOOK AT VICTORIA'S SECRET SERVICE

The first 5 pages of issue #1 of Victoria's Secret Service have been posted on my Facebook page. These pages, beautifully colored by Michael Coppolecchia, will be appearing in the soon to be released first issue, on sale soon. Victoria's Secret Service will by Published by Bluewater Productions.  To take a look, please go HERE.

Development of 2012 Christmas card

With Thanksgiving this week, the time has come to start thinking about this year's Christmas card. Since 2007 I've designed my own. These cards have ranged from paintings, line drawings with digital color, and old family photographs.

When illustrating the card, I usually come up with the idea for it around mid-October and start gathering reference. This years reference comes from multiple sources - from internet photos, to family photos of myself and my girlfriend as children.

Unlike my comic work, I rarely do a rough thumbnail for the Christmas card. Instead I just jump right in because I have a pretty good idea where I'm going before I start.

After the initial layout I start my rough sketch.

This particular card involves trying to get likenesses right without the benefit of and exact reference.

Every year I try to do a different technique, and this year will be no exception. I will do another update on this when we are closer to the holiday. Until then, please take a look at cards from past years, HERE

COPING WITH THE LIFE OF A FREELANCER

Being a freelancer is not always an easy thing. I experience it in two forms - my day job at Steven Edsey & Sons, and with my illustration career. Everyday is an adventure - and not always a good one.

There are times when freelancing seems exciting - work is coming in, projects are new and interesting, more people notice your work, and things are generally on the upswing. You feel on top of the world and there is nothing that can't be accomplished. Things could not be better.

Then the opposite comes. Work dries up - usually because of something that has absolutely nothing to do with who you are and what you are doing, companies don't pay their bills, things you've worked on get stuck in Creative Hell and it looks like they will never see the light of day or a project is put "on hold" indefinitely. You feel as low as you can go - and then the bottom drops out. Things could not be worse.

Living as a freelancer is probably what being a manic depressive is like - you're either riding the wave of happiness or the wave of despair with nothing in the middle. Things go up and things go down. What's the best way to adapt to this? It seems that there are two choices: Be happy when things go well and angry when they don't or stay exactly the same no matter what happens. Neither choice really bodes well.

The truth is this: you cope with it the best way you know how. There is no one answer, no one solution. As time goes on and you see the repeating patterns, it should get easier. That doesn't mean it does.  It truly is up to the individual who is being affected by the changes.

The only thing I can say is that the worst thing a freelancer can do is loose his or her head. Clients, editors, job givers of all kinds remember things about a freelancer: They remember that the person is reliable. There are many freelancers who are not. They remember if the person is easy to work with. There are many freelancers who are not. They remember what a person says publicly. People who go on social media such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, ect. and trash other people - like clients, other creators, members of their audience,  projects they want to work on, political figures, or ANYONE - instantly show potential job givers that they are not to be trusted. A freelancer who lives inside his or her head must recognize the fact that the world does not stop at what their limited point of view is, they are not always right, and not everyone thinks the same way they do.

Being a freelancer is one of the hardest things in the world. A person truly leans that the only person they can rely on is themselves. It is not fun or easy, but it is a reality that just about everyone in the creative community gets to experience.

STORMY TEMPEST STORY THREE: FUTURE HEAT!

The following is artwork for the third in a series of 4 short (10 page)  stories written by Len Strazewski, and penciled by me for AC Comics Stormy Tempest character. Stormy was created by Bill Black had been appearing in Femforce as a character from the future who was sent back in time to assassinate a U.S. Presidential candidate. She was captured and sent to prison, then escaped only to end up working as a stripper in a gentleman's club in Vegas. As the tale progressed her antagonist became her former best friend from the future. In this story, we see the disastrous consequences of the time- travelers. This particular one was special to me because I was asked to ink  as well as pencil it. I added layers of grey, known as zip-a-tone to the pages. Unfortunately, the zip-a-tone did not make it into the final pages due to printing issues. Stormy Tempest: Future Heat appeared in Femforce #155 (2011).

COMING SOON

Coming later this month is Victoria's Secret Service: Russian Roulette #1 published by Bluewater Productions.

VSS: Russian Roulette #1

Writers: CW Cooke

Pencils: Scott J Larson

Cover Artist(s): Scott J Larson & Andrew Pepoy

Come meet the gang. New faces have joined the Service and you can get the info drop here! Also, in this the first issue of a new 4 issue mini-series from the hit VSS, one of their own is kidnapped behind enemy lines and the girls have to go undercover to save her!

Here are the first 5 pages of my pencils for the issue:

LIFE DRAWING PART 12

When someone talks about doing life drawings, it is natural to assume that they are referring to drawing people or live things. For the most part this is true. I've come to realize that it doesn't have to be though.

Not long ago, someone suggested to me that I could use some work on my backgrounds and that they were not believable. That person was 100% correct. Backgrounds are not just about perspective and lines. It's not just about box shapes. A believable space has to have real things in it. The only way to truly understand what this means is to make careful observations.

Sometimes being an artist is like being a scientist. We have to look, study, understand and take notes. The following are my "notes" - drawings of things I'm come in contact with recently.