Art Attack!

I was recently filmed for Art Attack, a feature on SoulPancake where they "present an artist with a spark and they create a piece of art based on it. Then, we see their process unfold in glorious time lapse!

And apparently someone hates my glasses? Or rather is definitely going to. I dunno.

--CKL--

Father vs. Son

Here's a personal piece that I began in May and set aside for months now. I finally managed to sit down and finish it this weekend.
If you know me (not even all that well) you can certainly tell that I probably know Star Wars better than I know anything else (see also the numerous drawings I did last year)
Rather than repeat myself and do straight portraits from the films, I wanted to show a different angle of one of my favorite scenes. In this image, it's the "calm before the storm" moment just before Vader springs out to attack Luke in the climax of The Empire Strikes Back.

Detail - Luke

Detail - Vader

Detail - Basic on a wall panel

And be sure to check out PJ McQuade's AWESOME Star Wars holiday cards here! Tis the season to be a nerfherder!

--CKL--

UPDATE: This piece is now available as a print as well as iPhone/iPod cases and stationery cards at my Society6 store,www.society6.com/cameronklewis

Singles vs. Baker Boys

Here's a cover I did for Seattle Weekly for a story by Mike Seely (read here) that argues that Steve Kloves' The Fabulous Baker Boys, starring Jeff Bridges and Michelle Pfeiffer, is the more quintessential Seattle movie than Cameron Crowe's Singles, starring Matt Dillon and Bridget Fonda.
AD Jane Sherman (who is now over at Seattle Met) contacted me with the idea of putting Bridges and Pfeiffer in the iconic pose from the Singles poster, having apparently ousted Dillon and Fonda.

 I sketched out several variations to find the right combination of the two sets of characters.

Thanks again to Jane for such a fun gig!

--CKL--

Clever Girl

Here's a quick piece I did for fun over Sunday and Monday based on one of my favorite movies, Jurassic Park.
I wanted to make something that would pay homage somewhat to the wonderful simplicity of the iconic original poster as well as make use of one of the film's many incredible images.
I also wanted to challenge myself to use as few colors as possible so that it was clean and simple throughout.

--CKL--

UPDATE: This piece is now available as a print as well as iPhone/iPod cases and stationery cards at my Society6 store,www.society6.com/cameronklewis

You Are the Pan

Plain and simple, Hook is my favorite movie.
There's a puzzle that I made when I was a kid that's stashed away somewhere in my parents' basement. It was one of those draw-your-own-design puzzle kits. So naturally I drew the big fight from the end between the Lost Boys and Hook's pirates.
I watch it on Blu-Ray at least once a month.
I listen to the John Williams score at least once a week. (In fact, I just got the expanded soundtrack, which has several pieces from the film I've been dying to have)
Hell, I even wore out my copy of it on VHS.

 
There were a number of moments from the film I've wanted to draw as a poster...

 ...but I ended up choosing what I felt was the most appropriate: when Peter finally finds his happy thought and becomes the Pan once more.

Bangarang

--CKL--

Textbook Piracy

Ahoy! Here's a new spot once again for this week's Village Voice Winter Education Supplement, Class Action. The article by Patrick Arden, to be read here, is about how college students nowadays are circumventing the dreadfully depressing practice, which I can safely say that I do not miss in the least, of having to buy costly textbooks for their classes. Instead, they're able to find and download illegal PDF eBooks of the textbooks online for their tablets/devices.
AD Jesus Diaz contacted me with some fun ideas about really playing up the aspect of pirates. While sketching out ideas, I looked at a lot of pirate illustration done by greats like N.C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle to find the sort of "standards" in pirate characters. I also listened to John Williams' score for Hook extensively, but that's not unusual for me.

I wound up with 6 sketches, many of which I would have been happy to take to final. The first sketch was chosen, with the added idea of putting the mast of a ship in the background behind the pirate and student.

Thanks again to Jesus for an extremely fun gig!

--CKL--

Beasts of the Southern Wild

To point it out right way, yes, it's another personal illustration based on a movie (in case you didn't pick up on the fact that this is a trend, see examples here, here, here, and here) This time, it's the beautiful film Beasts of the Southern Wild, directed by Benh Zeitlin. It's a sincerely unique and powerful film, from the vision of the Bathtub to the impressive performances by Quvenzhané Wallis and Dwight Henry or the wonderful, Malick-like cinematography by Ben Richardson.
I'm still not positive why I had wanted to do this piece. Maybe it was the opportunity to draw a creature as unique as the film's auroch or to try and capture the strength in the wonderful and magnetic Quvenzhané Wallis as Hushpuppy. Either way, I was dying to do it.

Sketches

Pencils

Auroch fur texture

Hushpuppy detail

Auroch detail

I was initially planning on holding off on the release of this piece until it's release on Blu-ray and DVD on December 4th, but it turns out that someone from the Beasts Twitter (@BeastsTheMovie as well as @thebathtubber) noticed some small previews I had posted on Dribbble. They asked if they could share the piece on their blog! You can check out their post about my piece here along with a little blurb I wrote about what the piece and film mean to me.
Be sure to check out the film if you haven't yet when it comes out on Blu-ray and DVD on December 4th.

"I see that I am a little piece of a big, big universe, and that makes it right." -Hushpuppy

--CKL--

UPDATE: This piece is now available as a print as well as iPhone/iPod cases and stationery cards at my Society6 store,www.society6.com/cameronklewis