NEWS

Figure Drawing

2008-09-02T12:15:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, a good friend of mine at the figure drawing workshop asked me: "Frank, do you think I really have to do spend all this time figure drawing to get good?" and I said "No, of course not." and he said "That's what I suspected." And that was the last time I saw him in workshop.

While teaching the drawing workshop at Art Center, I would often get the question "What do you think?" from students. My response, which often would annoy them, and definitely would have annoyed me as a student, was "What do you think?"

The most important thing about getting good at something like drawing is that you enjoy the process. When I sit down in a drawing workshop, I try not to worry about what anyone around me might think of what I'm doing and just try to focus on doing what I want to work on.

For a long time, all I wanted was to practice good proportions, designing a dynamic figure and learning solid anatomy.

And also quite often I just wanted to have fun and see what I could come up with; maybe I would focus on the emotions I'm feeling while drawing, or about how I feel toward the subject, or just play with the way I design the page.

There's no wrong way to draw, unless you're not enjoying it. Always push to get better, enjoy the process and realize that being great is about the current moment and not a goal for the future.

f.

Cartoonifying Tom Cruise + R. Crumb Interview

2008-08-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

Cartoonifying Tom Cruise

I just wrapped up this comic spread for New York Magazine last week.

I was commissioned to draw up a fictitious story about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes moving to Manhattan. The biggest challenge of the assignment was making Tom Cruise and Katie into recognizable cartoon characters.

The difference between a "normal" likeness and this sort of thing is that I need more freedom to change facial expressions and let them "mesh" with the cartoon world that the story takes place in.

(By the way, I should mention that there are some great illustrators who are able to do close likenesses and still tell stories, such as the greats Mort Drucker and Jack Davis)

Basically I wind up giving up on some degree of likeness in order to have something I can tell a story with.

I spent a lot of time doodling from pictures of Tom and Katie, trying to get a simple version of them that I felt still looked a bit like them. (I'm focusing here on Tom because I think my drawings of him were more successful.)

The hardest thing about doing likenesses, to me, is looking at the person through fresh eyes. Too often I think illustrators hear things like "Tom Cruise has a big nose." And while there's truth in it, I find that it taints any drawing I come up with and actually hurts my chance at getting a good likeness. I'm much more successful when I'm able to chip away at it with a clear mind and see for myself what stands out about the subject.

As you can see I had many, many more failures at this than successes, but the three circled in red were close enough in my opinion to move forward to inking the rest of the piece.

This issue is currently on stands, through September 7, 2008.

R. Crumb Interview

Also, this weekend I received an email from George Kennedy, who recently interviewed the legendary Robert Crumb and released a podcast. Robert Crumb is one of my all-time favorite artists, though his cynicism can be hard to swallow sometimes.

Regardless, click HERE to visit George's blog and listen to the audio!

Thanks for reading,

f.

Texas Monthly - Katrina

2008-08-12T08:38:00.001-07:00

Recently I finished up this "comic" feature for Texas Monthly.

Here are the two versions. The first is my original take, the 2nd is a brighter version a the request of the Art Director, who wanted it more colorful.

Original Version:

Revised Version:

Though I think both versions look good, I'm partial to the first, which has a more serious tone about it.

I'm proud of both versions but I felt like the desaturated version challenged me more as an artist; I was working with a different color scheme than I've ever tried, and much less saturation.

One of my favorite parts of these pieces was the interior shot of the airplane. I have never really felt comfortable doing large environments (though I don't shy away from them), but on this one it really seemed to come together.

The challenging part was working with value patterns to lead the eye to the focal point. You can see from the example above I tried to put the main figures near the areas of most contrast in the chairs, as well as giving their faces more readable silhouettes than other figures in the piece.

When I went in to color it, I pushed the most saturated parts to the edges of the panel to get the viewer to look at those other parts of the panel, and to balance out the colors for both the page on its own and the spread as a whole.

Thanks for reading,

f.
p.s. on a side note, some people left comments on the previous week's entry that were never published, or were delayed by several days. I don't know what the issue is, but they appear to be working normally this week.

Playboy spots, DPI Interview, Dark Knight wallpaper

2008-08-04T22:12:00.001-07:00

Finally a "normal" week to post. Well, actually a bit more special than normal because I have a few things to report -- new illustrations, an interview I did for a Taiwanese magazine, and a desktop wallpaper of the Dark Knight piece I posted a couple of weeks ago--it sure beats waiting in the airport for hours on end.

PLAYBOY SPOTS

These first two pieces were part of a series of 5 that I did for Playboy Magazine a little while. It was an interesting how-to article for guys about handling some tough obstacles that come up sometimes in life.

This first one is about getting your special lady to pose nude for the camera, and the second one is about how to talk to the cops when they're knocking on the door of your party.

For the sketches I actually went a little looser than usual. I've been playing with different ways of doing sketches for the last few weeks--different materials, approaches, etc.-- to try and see if I come up with any really different ideas. So far Things have been pretty much the same, but it makes the job more interesting.

In the inked versions you can see how slick I made the line. I've been progressing this way for a while now but feel the need to bust out some looser stuff soon. By the way, the lightened lines are something I started doing several months ago. I'm still not sure whether I like it that much or not. Honestly I think I prefer to leave the lines black but I don't always like how that looks.

DPI MAGAZINE

A few weeks ago, DPI Magazine from Taiwan interviewed me for their current issue. I've only been formally interviewed about my art a small handful of times, and I'm always surprised by the questions people ask.

With these guys, it was also interesting to see what pieces they took a liking to; for example the spread I have posted here is of an image that I was never particularly struck by, but I think actually looks pretty cool the way they've layed it out. The spreads here are used by their permission and are what the feature in the magazine will look like.

Here is the the interview:

1. The angle of vision in your drawing is usually dramatic. It makes your works unique and full of tension; why do you prefer to set the view from looking down or looking up? Any purpose behind this way?

People have asked me this before and I think it’s interesting because I never consciously decide ahead of time to do that. I think the reason I tend to go for the extreme angles is just that it gives me more options compositionally; often if I’m drawing a straight-on view, I can’t get much of an environment into the image, or I’ll have to decide what to do with too much of an environment.

2. How have you developed your current style? Have your style influenced by any movie?

I try not to worry too much about “style” because I think that means death to creativity. There is definitely a process I do consistently but I try to keep it open with lots of room for experimentation.

The inspiration for working with flat colors and black line comes from my childhood obsession with comics. Right now I work that way because I like the look, it’s fast, and I can make changes quickly. There’s also some inspiration from old Disney movies and anything else I grew up with.

3. What materials or tools you usually use for creating?

I draw with a Hunt 101 quill pen and in India ink on Bristol paper and then take it into Photoshop for coloring.

4. What’s your first concern when you start out to an illustration case? What do you think it’s the most for an illustration? (Technique, color, story…etc)

The story, storytelling, and mood are my primary concerns. I love telling stories and expressing emotion on paper.

5. It seems you like to use color scheme of yellow red, it sometimes brings vintage feeling to your works. How do you decide the color for a work usually?

Sometimes I get frustrated with my color because I wish it was more “crazy,” The main reason I wind up with the colors I do is that those are what look good to me right now. One time my girlfriend asked “why don’t you use any green?” and the next piece I did was very green, but I wasn’t excited about it.

6. Your works included comic, ad and illustration; what’s the different for you to create them? Is there any particular kind or subject that you always enjoy doing?

I love making comics, but they take up far more time than regular illustration jobs. I love the work of guys like Chris Ware, Dan Clowes, Seth, and R. Crumb—so I’m always comparing what I’m doing to what they’ve done. It keeps me trying to make things better.

I really do love all kinds of subject matter with a few exceptions. When an art director wants me to do something very explicitly sexual or violent I am inclined to turn it down unless I think I can accomplish it in a classy way.

7. Please talk about the story and your creating concept of "Science" (half page for Plan Advisor, December 2007

I don’t remember what this assignment was about. Plan Advisor is an interesting magazine where the subject matter is so boring that almost anything goes, creatively. I remember that at the time I did the piece I was looking a lot at the work of the late, great Jack Kirby and was thinking of creating something with a retro sci-fi feel.

8. Recently, which work (or series of your work) is your favorite or is the one you most satisfied with? Could you share your reason with us

The job I’m most proud of is the six page comic story I did with writer Zev Borow for ESPN The Magazine’s 10th Anniversary issue. It took me a month to complete from start to finish and I had to hire an assistant to help me get it done on time. I had to condense a 12-page story of written prose into 6 comic pages, which is very difficult to do. It’s also the only job I’ve done where I got an official author credit in a major magazine.

Another job I’m proud of is the spread I did for Intelligence Report Magazine back in December, which was my first spread. It’s been selected into Communication Arts’ Illustration Annual and American Illustration and was nominated for a Society of Publication Designers award.

There’s also the three “erotic” pieces I did for Penthouse, which was the first time I got to explore that side of my art (I’d like to do it more often), and a spread that was commissioned by Playboy Magazine that wound up getting canned before it was even finished.

9. What’s your ongoing plan? What do you want to try next in the future?

I’m still very focused on my illustration career, but in the near future I want to focus more on developing some of my own comics.

WALLPAPER

Lastly, I've decided to post a link to a desktop wallpaper-size version of the Dark Knight image I did for the New Yorker a couple of weeks ago. Feel free to take it... if you still have Batman Fever.

thanks for reading,

Frank

Stranded in Vegas!

2008-07-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

I was planning on doing a more elaborate post for the week but unfortunately I was stranded in Las Vegas following a weather-based flight cancellation after my good friend Mike Chaves' bachelor party. Above are a couple of sketchbook pages I did while stuck in the airport for 12 hours.

Last week fellow illustrator Ilana Kohn interviewed me for Lost at E Minor's website. Check out the link below:

the interview

And if that wasn't enough, here's a comic strip I did a while back, most of you probably haven't seen it before.

-frank

who's who

2008-07-21T13:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a fun one I did recently for Soojin Buzelli at Plan Sponsor. The concept was "who's investing what?" in terms of differences in age, sex, and occupation. I had a lot of fun with it. How many familiar faces do you see?

Also, here's another one for Soojin. Thanks for reading!

f.

The Dark Knight

2008-07-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

Hello

I've been super busy lately so here's yet another short but sweet blog entry. I promise a more dense entry in the near future!

Last week I got a call from Max Bode at the New Yorker asking if I had time to do a quick piece for them.

Because I already had two other deadlines on the Wednesday he needed the piece, I told him I wouldn't be able to do it. Then he told me the subject: The Dark Knight.

That was worth staying up all night for. I had a lot of fun drawing this; I got to be a little moodier and playful with my lines because of the tone of the film.

I decided to focus on Heath Ledger's Joker which is the draw to this film. All the reviews and video clips I've seen allude to how dark and terrifying his performance is, so that's what I was trying to go for in the sketches.

Here are my sketches and the final, which is in this week's issue with the controversial Barry Blitt cover.

Join me again next week, same bat-time, same bat-channel! (I couldn't resist)

f.

Back from California

2008-07-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Just back from California!

Something about being on the road had my nose buried in a sketchbook almost the whole time.

Here are some highlights from those drawings, including an entire family returning from a Disneyland vacation, some of my wounds from falling down on the rocks at Laguna Beach, a cockatiel named Moe who kept trying to land on my head, a couple of ice cold Coronas, and the right hand of someone special...

Vacation was GREAT but I am so happy to be back home in New York.

thanks for reading!

f.

VACATION!!

2008-06-23T08:14:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

I'm on vacation in California until July 1st. In the meantime, here's a black and white illustration of a popular actress. Guess who it is...

ciao

f.

National Geographic Adventure

2008-06-17T08:13:00.001-07:00

Hello friends,

I did this a couple of weeks ago for National Geographic Adventure's David McKenna. The article was about the type of physiological changes that people undergo in moments of extreme stress. Perception of time, acting purely on instinct, and overly jittery nerves are among the effects many people experience.

The opening story was about an American Diplomat at a party in Columbia that gets taken over by terrorists.

These sketches are a lot tighter than what I usually do. I've been listening to the biography of Walt Disney lately and his tendency to push for perfection from his artists got me inspired to try harder. You'll notice that in this first version, he looks an awful lot like Walt--I swear this was unintentional.

Anyhow, in this particular illustration I was trying to focus on the phenomenon of time slowing down while under extreme stress. To achieve this I wanted to have things like bullets suspended in mid air and lots of pictorial depth. I wanted to show a "moment in time" that I wouldn't normally illustrate. The goal was something that felt like frozen movement instead of action movement. I don't know if I achieved that or if it even makes sense to anyone but me--but that's what I was going for.

Originally I did the lead character on this first illustration as the character described in the story (bearded) The editors at National Geographic Adventure decided that it would be better, though, to go with a more general looking "everyman." And then, an "everyman" with more of a chin. He looks a bit like George Clooney to me in the final version.

Here he is inked. You will note he was put into more casual, cool guy attire before moving on to the color stage.

For colors I felt really clever riffing off the bright red and yellow scheme of the magazine. Later I decided it was stronger without the yellow, and at the advice of superillustrator Nathan Fox, I got rid of the lighting. The piece evolved into being a lot more film noir than I usually do.

Then he got a tie!

Then his sleeves got lengthened!

In the end the one they went with was with both a tie and long sleeves. However, I will keep the original finish as my portfolio piece because it's my favorite.

I'm really happy with the job in the end though because I thought the layout that art director David McKenna came up with was pretty sweet. To see the other images you should pick up the magazine when it comes out next month.

later!

Frank

All I Could Bear

2008-06-02T08:45:00.000-07:00

Hey friends,

Recently I did these illustrations for Seattle Magazine, about a guy who got attacked by a black bear.

I don't do a lot of animal illustration so I spent a lot of time gathering bear reference online. There isn't really a lot of good action shots of bears moving aggressively from multiple or interesting angles so I was still forced to make up a lot of it. During my research I also bought a couple of animal anatomy books and a great animal drawing book by Ken Hultgren that I recommend to anyone who's interested in an inventive approach to animal drawing.

By the way, you will notice an RSS Feed icon beside the "NEWS" link now. I've been struggling trying to figure out how to get an RSS Feed onto my blog for quite some time. Fellow artist Nate Olsen volunteered his expertise and set that up for me earlier today. Thanks Nate!

Thanks for the look!

f.

Leyendecker Exhibition

2008-05-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday at the Society of Illustrators in NY an exhibition of J.C. Leyendecker original paintings opened to the public. I was there for the opening and it blew my mind. I all but ignored the people I know because I was busy staring at the work in amazemement. I plan on going back this weekend and probably a couple other times over the next few weeks to see it again because I can't stop thinking about it.

J.C. Leyendecker was Norman Rockwell's idol back in the early part of the 20th century. He's got 100% of the skills PLUS a kick-ass design sense and and a very strong sense of style. He's the GTA 4 of illustrators.

Make time to check it out. The show is up until the 12 of July and is called "Americans Abroad," and features several other good golden age illustrators (but no one in the league of Mr. Leyendecker).

Here's a link to learn more

all the best,

f.

Poor, Neglected Sketchbook!

2008-05-09T09:33:00.000-07:00

Often I recommend to people who are bored or stuck with what they're doing to start an "ugly sketchbook" where they experiment and do whatever they want, and to keep it private.

Well, I haven't been keeping up to that myself lately because I've been so busy... and I'm showing off some of it here, so I guess that makes me a hypocrite... but here are several pages from one of my "ugly" sketchbooks. I usually sketch in these while I'm on the train or at a coffee shop, using whatever materials I can find, including coffee, to make the images.

Anyway I've felt a bit stifled in my sketching in recent months, but after teaching part of an illustration course at MICA in Baltimore last month I found that I picked up a lot of energy from being around the students and really felt like doodling again.

Here is my official plug of the other instructors' sites:
Daniel Krall
Sam Weber
(both are real manly men and more talented than myself)

Next I'm going to start looking for a good life drawing workshop...

f.

Psycho Killer

2008-04-23T17:18:00.000-07:00

It's Springtime!

Several weeks ago I got the call from Rob Wilson at Playboy to illustrate a spread for a short story that would be serialized in four sequential issues of the magazine. Playboy magazine was one of the magazines I've always wanted to work for since I was in school, and I had a subscription for a while because every month they would deliver to me full color illustrations by such illustrators as James Jean, Kent Williams, Phil Hale, and many others.

The story was a Pulp Fiction-like Noir piece about a bunch of incompetent unscrupulous characters.

I did just one initial sketch for this because I wanted to do something as awesome as possible. I was pretty psyched about getting to put tons of cool details and ambiguous drama into it.

The editors thought that this gave away too much of the story, and the story had changed a bit since my first version was sketched up, so I went back to the drawing board to have another go at it. I tried to focus on the quirky lead character for this second one--he's the type of guy no one expects to go crazy--but he's not the type to think things through.

They said to go ahead with the sketch and I started taking it to final...

Unfortunately, the day before the piece was done, Hef decided he wasn't happy with where the story was going and decided to kill the whole project.

Because I was so into the piece, I spent my spare time over the last week finishing it up to post on the blog. Also, it's going to be featured as a large desktop wallpaper on a "secret website" in the near future. I'll keep you posted when that happens.

Thanks for reading,

Frank

What's Your Vector, Victor?

2008-04-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

Hi,

A few weeks ago I did three half-page illustrations for Best Life Magazine on the topic of "how to be a better dad."

About a week after I turned them in I got a call from the Art Director saying they had expanded the article into more of a feature and wanted a full page illustration on the topic.

We went back and forth on concepts for a while before deciding to do the full page about "Parking Lot Rules," which is a phrase every good father will say to his son or daughter to let them know to stand close by his side.

I drew the car in the background in Adobe Illustrator, my most ambitious foray into using vectors to date. As far as experiments go, I kinda like it and hope to learn more.

SEX

2008-04-01T12:55:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Penthouse called me and asked if I was available to illustrate a short story for the May issue of the popular men's magazine.

I've had a couple of assignments before where I tried to go in a more sexual direction, but art directors have always opted for "safer" sketches.

With Penthouse it's safe to say that I couldn't really think of any ideas that would be too much for them.

It was so much fun to do this assignment, I really enjoyed exploring that side of my artistic personality a little bit, since one of my biggest influences artistically is an erotic artist from France in the early 20th century named Mario Tauzin.

I first stumbled upon Mario Tauzin's work at the Erotic Museum in Berlin, Germany. Most of the work they had there was Japanese Shunga, which is totally over the top and exciting to look at, but Tauzin's drawings were like nothing I'd seen before; they completely blew my mind. The fact that they were erotica didn't really factor in to how much I liked the way he put lines down but it definitely added a level of interest. I own one print of his that I bought on Ebay shortly after returning from my trip, and a hard to find book called "The Devil's Whisper," which collects about thirty of the prints I saw in Berlin plus erotic poetry by a writer named Henri Breton.

Some day maybe it would be cool to do a series of erotic pieces similar to what Tauzin did, but I'm not quite ready for that, and not interested in doing it for an illustration assignment.

Thanks for reading,

-frank

A Shot at Glory - Comic for ESPN

2008-03-18T22:16:00.000-07:00

When art director Siung Tjia from ESPN called me in early February offering the coolest job ever given to a mortal, I had to say yes. Just the CHANCE to do something so big for such a visually creative, innovative publication was too much to pass up.

Zev Borow, a sports writer for ESPN, had written a short story about a fictitious performance-enhancing drug for regular guys, and editor Neil Fine thought it would be great as a comic. That's where I came in.

Zev wrote the story, I adapted it as a comic, and he went back in the end and filled in the word bubbles. It was a thrilling way to work that allowed for game of creative ping-pong that was really exciting to be a part of.

After my first shot at the story, I had a meeting with Neil and Siung discussing the goals of the project. Neil was excited about the piece so decided to push the deadline back to give me some time to make this thing really good. At the meeting he told me they'd be able to make it six pages if that eased things up on me.

The schedule was really tight when the job got pushed because it up overlapped with some other jobs I was doing. I was fortunate to have the help of a good friend and illustrator, Mike Neumann, to help me out with the flatting. There's no way I could have gotten it done in time without him. Thanks Mike!

I passed my finished line drawings on to Zev with an estimated word count for him to work with, numbering panels so he would be able to easily see where the text was going to go. I was kind of nervous but he did an amazing job on the text.

Then I went back into Photoshop and spent the next two days hand-lettering every bubble. As the project got closer to completion, the clouds parted and the sun cast a heavenly glow on my studio. Laser beams of passion then shot out of my eyes, almost causing my monitor to catch fire on two separate occasions.

The story went to print in the 10th Anniversary issue of ESPN the Magazine, with LeBron James on one side of the flip-cover double issue. It's currently on stands, and also features a full page and spread illustration by bad-asses Jillian Tamaki and Nathan Fox.

When it was all done, I was given a left-over ticket to the magazine's 10th anniversary party, where the band was none other than 90's favorite Third Eye Blind.

I love my job.

f.

CJR Scandal - Vladmir Putin Illustrations

2008-03-10T12:13:00.000-07:00

Several weeks back I was shocked to receive the following email:

Hi Frank,

My name is Jon, and I'm a freelance fact-checker for Columbia Journalism Review currently working on a piece about the Russian Esquire. I wanted to run a couple of things by you if you don't mind...

- You're based in the East Village?

- Did you recently do illos for the magazine portraying Putin as “a bouncer-like skinhead“ and as a “hung corpse“?

Let me know when you get a second; many thanks.

-Jon

The email got me a little upset because I felt like and assignment I'd done several years ago was being misinterpreted in order to make some writer's point. I asked to see the piece he was talking about before commenting either way. Here is his next email:

I can't send you the entire piece, but I can copy you the part that references you:

"In the Russian analogue of U.S. Esquire's Dubious Achievements section, East Village illustrator Frank Stockton recently portrayed Putin as a bouncer-like skinhead and as a hung corpse. Bold provocations -- and yet no reaction from Putin's administration followed."

Please let me know if any of the facts are inaccurate; thanks.
-Jon

I talked to several friends to get a good idea of how I should respond, if at all. Some friends said yes and some said no, but in the end I decided that the best thing to do was to write a detailed response and CC the editor of the magazine, as CJR is a well-respected literary publication and less of a tabloid.

Here is the response I wrote up after thinking the situation over:

Hi Jon,

From the paragraph you sent me it seems that the writer is using two examples out of a series of 30 to make some point that's not in the spirit or original intent of the pieces. It appears to imply that I was making some sort of political statement about Putin. As an illustrator, I am hired to interpret the text given and present it back to the publisher in a way that fulfills their needs, rarely if ever to present original views or opinions on issues. Pinpointing two images out of thirty is like showing two panels of a 30 panel comic strip and letting them imply a completely different story than may take place in the entire piece.

In the Fall of 2005 I was commissioned by the Russian Esquire to make 30 illustrations of things Russia leads the world in. One condition the publication asked for was that each illustration had a caricature of Vladmir Putin as the visual metaphor for Russia. Originally I was commissioned to make just one illustration for the article, in which they asked if I could illustrate the theme “child suicide” by putting Putin’s head on a child’s body and hanging it from a noose. While I didn’t personally like that solution at all (and never show that particular piece for that reason), I nevertheless still did it, because as a recent graduate of an arts program facing over $800 per month in loan repayments I took whatever I could get.

For whatever reason, my art director at the magazine asked me if I would be interested in doing the other 29 illustrations for the article, but if I could come up with my own solutions. I excitedly obliged and proceeded to quickly and sometimes more brilliantly than others make visual companions to the content of the article: 30 things that Russia leads the world in. Topics were given in a list format, and they simply asked for Putin to be in every illustration.

The piece as a whole was designed to have a humorous yet somber tone. To take two of these solutions out of context as the writer is doing in this article makes it seem as though I am making a statement about Putin; either who he is or about how I feel about him. I never thought the article would be misunderstood or myself misrepresented in this way. I’m very proud of the series of Putin pieces I did for Esquire Russia and stand behind my solutions and my integrity as an illustrator. But I assure you I am not and have no interest in political illustration although on occasion in the past political figures have been the subject of my work.

Thanks for reading,

Frank

I've decided to re-post the Putin 30 series here with the descriptions for everyone to see.

Most abortions
Most auto accidents
Most cops
Most diamonds exported
Most emigrants to other countries (?!?)
Most female bosses
Most gorodiki enthusiasts
Most kangaroo meat consumed
Most dogs sent to space
Most instant coffee consumed
Most computer piracy
Most scientists
Most under-age smokers
Most swimfins
Most people trafficking (pictured above)
Most alcohol-related deaths
Most of claimants of human rights violations
Most prisoners
Most alcohol consumed
Most leaves on the ground (?!?)
Most generals
Most heart disease
Most child suicides (pictured above)
Most neo-nazi skinheads (pictured above)
Most opium consumed
Most domesticated reindeer (pictured above)
Most private security firms
Most sunflower oil exported
Most tanks

The biggest lesson I got from the whole ordeal was to think more carefully about the assignments we choose. As a freelance illustrator, there's frequently a struggle I face between making art and making a living -- more specifically, sometimes in the struggle to make rent, we take on jobs that we otherwise wouldn't have interest in.

Artistic freedom is certainly a goal of all of us working in printed media, and while we want everything we do to be true to ourselves, that struggle of dealing with a client who calls you up and knows exactly what they want in the most excruciating detail is often times a pain, especially if you're someone who's trying to innovate and go further with each piece you do.

I've been making a bigger effort over the last several months to respectfully turn down jobs that I don't think I will be able to push myself with, though its sometimes a tough economic decision. The result has been (in my opinion) a dramatic jump in the quality of the work of mine that is seeing print.

All in all, I'm always grateful when someone calls me with a job offer whether I can make the time to do it or not because I know how rad it is to be able to make pictures for a living.

Thanks for reading!

Frank

Yuki-Onna

2008-02-11T08:58:00.000-08:00

Jacob Covey of Fantagraphics emailed me several months ago and invited me to be a contributor to the forthcoming “Beasts 2” book.

Originally I was planning on illustrating a Satyr, but unfortunately another illustrator beat me to it, so I chose to illustrate the Japanese ghost “Yuki-Onna.”

Here is how Wikipedia describes Yuki-Onna:

“Yuki-onna appears as a tall, beautiful woman with long hair on snowy nights. Her skin is inhumanly pale or even transparent, causing her to blend into the snowy landscape (as she is most famously described in Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things). She sometimes wears a white kimono,[2] but other legends describe her as nude, with only her face, hair, and pubic region standing out against the snow.[3] Despite her inhuman beauty, her eyes can strike terror into mortals. She floats across the snow, leaving no footprints (in fact, some tales say she has no feet, a notable feature for many Japanese ghosts), and she can transform into a cloud of mist or snow if she is threatened.[4]”

I had a lot of fun with this project, there was no back and forth of sketches, I got the chance to just do the thing my way right off the bat.

I wanted the piece to relate visually as well to an old Japanese woodblock print. Three notable characteristics that I utilized were limited colors, minimalist background, and the contorted facial expression of the Yuki-Onna's victim on the bottom left.

Here are some images I photographed from books of Japanese Woodblock Prints that were inspirational to the illustration:

Incidentally, there is an open competition for the remaining few spots in the Monsters book, you can read about it here. Good luck if you decide to take part.

Thanks for reading!

f.

ESPN "Fans" Issue

2008-01-31T14:56:00.000-08:00

I have a full page in this week's ESPN Magazine. The 10x12” format is always a challenge, and only my second time tackling it.

ESPN sent the writer to the Martinsville Speedway with only a video camera and $20. His mission: acquire a ticket to the the $75 general-admission event.

He endured shockingly hospitable senior citizen race fans and hitchhiking misadventures before finding himself “mucking horse stalls” to earn his way into the race.

Though I didn't grow up on a farm, when I was 18 my Dad bought a house on a few acres in Winchester, Ca. and my step mom built some stables. I never was too keen on horses, but have spent enough time around them to know how disgusting, stinky and dusty the fly-filled air can get (especially while “mucking,” which to quote step mom means to “clean up the horse poop and pee”)

My primary focus on this illustration was to show some cool lighting effects while trying to evoke the unique pulverulent odor that shoveling shit in small spaces creates. Whether it comes across or not in the illustration I don't know; however, I can imagine it without much effort.

Some people have been asking to see my thumbnail sketches recently, and while I wanted to show them for this assignment, I have been unable to locate them. However, I will post my initial sketch submitted to the art director as well as a brief run-down of my process leading to the final artwork.

1) read the story, underlining or highlighting words and passages that give me visual ideas.
2) jot down immediate ideas for what might make a good visual to the piece, or doodle them if that makes more sense.
3) go online to sites like flickr, corbis, gettyimages or google to search for and collect jpgs of visual reference I might be able to use. Anything and everything helps.
4) relax and clear my mind by going for a walk or something
5) sketching small thumbs or 50% final sized ideas for general composition
6) submitting 2 or 3 sketches for approval.

I try to make the sketches I send in as clear as possible because I find that it saves time on the tail end and that I tend to have fewer changes to the sketches. I try not to fall too much in love with any sketch in particular because that one tends almost invariably to wind up killed.

Have a great week!

f.

Baltimore Magazine

2008-01-23T10:16:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I was asked by Baltimore Magazine to do a full page about the HBO TV series the Wire.

The editorial suggested that the series creator, David Simon, was doing a sort of disservice to the city by choosing to focus on its gritty underbelly rather than on the prosperous, beautiful high-rises and really good things that have happened for it in recent years.

The tough part in an assignment like this is communicating the writer's message briefly without making his or her opinions my own. For example, I don't know David Simon of the Wire personally and I don't have any grudge against him, so I wouldn't want to make something that I would be uncomfortable with him seeing. I have enough enemies in Hollywood.

I think my solution was pretty good and that the editors chose the stronger of the two sketches.

Below are two additional images from the process, both my final line drawing and the inked version. I was asked a while ago if I have a step between sketch and ink, and I replied that sometimes I do and sometimes I don't, depending on the complexity of the illustration. You can see from the tight pencil drawing that I was careful to map our my proportions and “perspective” (I use the term loosely) so that when I did the ink drawing I would have room to play without worrying about it getting away from me. For the likeness I drew directly in pencil and inked on the board.

In other Baltimore-related news, I'm going to be listed as a contributor in this same issue of the magazine, complete with a photo and a biography-blurb.

Thanks for reading,

Frank

How to Get Better

2008-01-12T20:07:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

I received the following email a while back from a student artist/illustrator. I thought it was a helpful exchange, so I've decided to post it here for anyone to read.

enjoy

Hello Frank,

I saw this posting of yours on the flight forums:

“Lastly, make sure you really believe that you're a great artist.

This final part is the most important and the most overlooked by people who decide to put in the time to become good at art (or anything, for that matter).

Some folks think they are AWESOME artists, but never put in time to really improve and move forward. This person will go through life thinking “my stuff is soooo bad-ass!“ but the rest of us all know its not really that good.

The other type of artist, who is in the minority, is a critique junkie that puts in countless hours in drawing workshops and reading books and learning from different teachers but inside doesn't truly believe he or she is a great artist. The irony is that this person believes himself better than the cocky guys mentioned above, but will never really reach full potential because of the refusal to believe that he is truly a great artist. This person's confidence dangles by a thread of compliments picked up here and there from folks going to those same workshops who are working on the same things. “

This comment really struck me because I believe I'm of the latter category, and I know a few other folks who are the same way. I've been told by teachers that being in either of these categories won't allow you to move forward in your work. Have you ever been in the position of not believing you're a great artist? And if so, how did you overcome it and how did it help you?

I spend a lot of time drawing and just practicing with the meager hopes of ever escaping mediocrity. Consequently I belittle my own work often and rarely show it to other people.

I would really be interested to hear your opinions on this, since I really admire your work and you always seem to have sage crits on the forum.

_______

Hi there,

I'm glad you asked me this; I've been thinking about writing down some of my thoughts on this for quite some time since it's an often over-looked and necessary factor in learning any new skill, not just in art.

One of my hobbies for the last year or so has been reading up on how our brains learn things--and have been sort of surprised--but also not surprised--to find that a lot of the ideas I had on my own about learning and improvement are more or less congruent with psychological studies into the process of learning.

Fortunately for me, I grew up with parents who would always tell me that what I was doing was AWESOME, and not only that, but that it was the BEST. And they actually believed it.

Looking back at the art I did as a kid, I've found that a lot of it isn't really that great in my eyes today. However that isn't important. What really was important was that while I was making it, I was continually reinforcing the idea in my mind that I was an awesome artist. Whenever I did a new drawing or painting I would step back and sort of “parent“ myself and go “wow, this is really great! look at what I did!,“ while simultaneously thinking “hmm, if I was to change this part though, it would be a little better..."

Fortunately, you can train yourself to think about your work in ways that will help you to improve by leaps and bounds.

1) Realize that art is a process, not a result. Illustration is a result, because we're talking about business and a product, and different rules apply. But you're going to have to get to a level with your art before you are able to make a product out of it. Are you following?
Whenever you make something, practice letting go of the end result. Allow yourself to LOVE how it feels to put ink on paper. LOVE the attention and detail that go into stretching a canvas, or even sharpening your drawing pencil with an Exacto blade. The details are what create the whole. If you love every moment of the artistic creation, it WILL come through in the final result. Conversely, if you dislike or rush the process it will also come through in the final result.

2) Ask yourself what you LOVE about this thing you've just created. Step back when you finish, and give yourself time to breathe easy and appreciate what you've done. If you have a difficult time enjoying your work, make a list of 10 things that you're happy with about the piece.

3) Ask yourself "what could be better?" about the thing you just created. Be very specific. Try to visualize the same piece with the changes you wish you could make. If you were to go back in time and re-do the entire piece, what would you have done differently? Sometimes this could be a “duh“ kind of thing like gathering better reference, or doing a better starting drawing, or allowing yourself to freestyle somewhere. The point is to be intimately specific about what you would change, and NEVER vague, thinking things like “oh its just terrible.“ Eliminate those useless and detrimental thoughts from your brain circuitry.

Those three things will take you very far with your artistic improvement.

When I was in school, every time I would do a new project or a life painting I would set it out in plain view, both to admire it (because usually I thought it was totally awesome), but also because I needed to see it multiple times to disconnect from how wonderful of an artist I thought I was and actually be able to think of what I could do to make it better.

Some other thoughts:
You mentioned that you belittle your art sometimes, and don't like to show it to people.

1) NEVER belittle your artwork. Only constructive criticism is allowed from here on out, until you die.
2) DO show your work to people. Show it to a mix of laymen, pros who you look up to, and artists in your peer group. Have people tell you what they think. Don't take anything personal. The point is to develop a thick skin to criticism. You'll notice, by the way that when you start to get good, your peers will tend to tear it apart, or say nothing. People are very insecure. If you're really good, you're going to be a threat to the ego of others who think they're good. Get lots of critiques and take everything with a grain of salt. When someone gives you advice or a critique, take some time to think it over, every time. Roll the advice around in your head for a day or two. Ask “do I agree with that?“ and decide, after your emotional response has subsided, whether or not you agree with their advice. I always avoid blindly taking advice.

Also, keep a sketchbook that you don't show to anyone, that's intended solely for playing in. Make it the opposite of anything you do for “practice.“ Work in it an hour a day and focus on letting go and being uninhibited. It's actually a good strategy to TRY and make some UGLY pages in it. The sketchbook is the garden where you plant the seeds that are going to eventually spring up into your unique and original artistic voice--but if you don't take care of them and let them get trampled by other people, they'll never grow big and strong enough to survive on their own.

I hope that was helpful.

sincerely,

Frank Stockton
_________________
“I do not get discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward“
--Thomas Edison

Odd Man Out 2007

2008-01-03T10:45:00.000-08:00

Happy 2008! Last year was amazing for me. I learned a lot about myself, about the business of illustration, and how to cram lots of stuff into a teeny tiny East Village apartment. It's been real good.
Looking back, I realized there were a lot of really cool jobs I did last year that I didn't get to blog about. Below are six illustrations that just didn't quite make it to the front of the pack. Until now!
On a side note: I hope you've all given some time to think about and actually write down your New Year's resolutions. One of mine is to put an RSS feed somewhere on this blog. Unfortunately, I'm not the most knowledgeable person on the subject, so if anyone can help, please email me and let me know.

Take care,

Frank

clockwise from top left:
Runner's WorldImage for an article with advice on running a 5k.
Security Magazine A full page about trends in surveillance technologies.
Esquire Russia A recent job wherein I was asked to illustrate completely in pencil. Portrait of the famous Russian explorer Fedor Konyukhov.
Popular Mechanics One man's rant about how confusing a lot of technologies are.
The New Yorker Simple vignette for the film "Hitman" that came out a short while back.
Turner Classic MoviesI worked with One Trick Pony to come up with this image for the 1920's classic film about the occult, Haxan.

Runner's World Germany

2007-12-18T15:08:00.001-08:00

Hello and happy holidays!

Recently I finished these three pieces for Grit Brüggemann, an art director from Germany who I worked with before for Best Life Magazine.

A while ago she called me with an assignment to do a full page and two 2/3 page images for an upcoming issue of Runners World that she was art directing. Images of people running is one of my specialties and Grit is pretty hands-off and easy to work with, so I accepted.

The article was about things that annoy people while running. While I can't imagine people who go running all the time to be high-strung enough to get annoyed about anything in particular, I did caricatures of every-day people I see around the city in these crazy situations. They were a lot of fun to illustrate and quite a challenge, but I'm really happy with how they turned out.

Thanks for reading.

F.