This post is showing my process for the latest Red Sonja cover. I've included the 3 thumbnails I submitted in the beginning of the project. As you can see I took a few liberties with the one that was chosen but still stayed close to the original idea. Most of the line drawing and value were done traditionally with pencil on bond paper and Rives bfk paper. I drew a lot of it in sections and merged them together digitally. Because the values in the drawing were so strong, it made it very easy to color. It is mostly flat colors with a bit of digital painting on top, also taking advantage of the Burn and Dodge tool in Photoshop. The background was all digitally painted, then I added a bunch of scanned in textures on top. The final step was to flatten the entire image and refine values and add little bells and whiles here and there. And there you have it!

These are covers for the Pathfinder comic series These were done digitally, with scanned in ink wash textures that I created (That's how I did the stones and the clouds). The background, branches & skulls were done with ink and acrylic on Rives bfk paper. This digital process Ive been doing recently takes a bit longer but I'm really enjoying the polished look I'm getting from it

Hunger Magazine

Here are a series illustrations I did for Rankin's Hunger Magazine. It's a biannual music, fashion, culture and lifestyle magazine. A 500 page mag full of everything artistic + celebrities (actors, musicians). Pretty cool stuff. It's available all over Europe now and hits the States next week (late May, 2012) These are painted on Rives bfk paper done with: Watercolor, Prismacolor Pencil, Acrylics, Water-Soluble Oil Pastels, I did some digital stuff, including helping mask off painted shapes and color correcting. Really fun project Original photograph for reference provided by Rankin. creator/owner of Hunger Magazine

Daenerys Targaryen (Game of Thrones) - Canvas Print

Daenerys Targaryen (Game of Thrones) Canvas Print - 16 x 24" artwork (18 x 26" total) Limited to 6, Signed & Numbered $150 plus shipping, $10 US or $20 International Buy it here: http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=891429&GSub=128783

Little Red Riding Hood: Tattoo Commission

This was a tattoo commission I did recently for a client. I also ended up doing a really big mural of it at the cool little bar in the lower east side of NY called The Library Bar. More on that soon at: www.theirison.com This illustration is of the Little Red Riding Hood story. It's not my typical "style" so I started researching to get inspired and found some tattoo artist that I absolutely love! Rachi Brains, Cris Cleen, Richard Smith, and Regino Gonzales to name a few. Ive been doing a bunch of tattoo commissions recently and I'm gonna post a "commission" bottom on my site where you will be able to see them all, here" www.theirison.com If anyone is interested in a commission, let me know! email me: erik@theirison.com

Daenerys

This is a painting of Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones

It's 15"x23"
Watercolor
Colored Pencil
Water-Soluble wax pastel
Nue Pastel
Acrylic
On Rives bfk paper (white)

The frame for this is really cool.
It mimics the dragon scales on the eggs! You can see pictures of the original painting in the frame on my site, here: http://theirison.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12&Itemid=28
Prints are available in the commercial section and The original is available here http://cadencecomicart.com/art.php?page=15565 "

This piece was done for The Ashcan Allstars blog.

A weekly blog where some of the top comic artist in the industry come together and illustrate a common weekly theme.
Very cool stuff, I'm honored to be apart of it this week.
Check out the blog here http://ashcanallstars.blogspot.com/

Like me on Facebook please! :) http://www.facebook.com/ErikJonesArt

Blu Magazine Cover art

This is the latest issue of Blu. It features a lot of my newer work, including a new piece for the cover and has a great interview in there as well.

This was painted on Rives bfk paper
done with: Watercolor
Prismacolor Pencil
Water-Soluble Oil Pastels
Acrylics

You can check out a digital version of the mag here: http://issuu.com/blumagazine/docs/blu_14?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

Here is where you can purchase it!: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/361361/

Also check out my new site: theirison.com
boom.

Rose Systyla

Here is the final piece along with some of the process.
(you guys said you like seeing those shots so I'll try to show more of it from now on)
I used water-soluble wax pastels, prismacolor pencils, nue pastels and acrylics, on Rives bfk paper.
In the process shots, you're seeing more of the flower process.
I hadn't intended on painting the bees in there until the last minute. So I made some in photoshop, printed them out, cut them up and moved the cut out bees around the painting to try and find nice spots for them to be painted in. When I found a fitting place, I took a yellow pencil, sketched the bees in and used mostly the wax pastels to paint the bees on there. In the 4th panel of the process shots you'll see the cut out and the painted bee
I used Prismacolor nue pastels and acrylics to dirty up the flowers.
I really enjoy that process, it feels good to "mess up" the painting after spending so many hours trying to make everything perfect.
This and the other painting "the Pride" will be shown at the Supersonic Electronic show at Spoke Art Gallery on the 5th of January. If you're around those parts, check out the show, it will be a good one for sure!

Follow me on twitter( http://twitter.com/#!/theIRISon )to see more process shots and to watch me mess up more pieces in the future. You know what I'm talking about if you followed me on this piece for the last week.... uuuuhhh so frustrating but it all turned out well... both pieces.

More Process

Here is another piece coming at you.
So far it's just colored pencil and I'm super happy with how rich it's coming out
Follow me on twitter to see more progress: http://twitter.com/?lang=en&logged_out=1#!/theIRISon

The paper I used is Rives bfk printmaking paper.
So far it's only prismacolor pencil, just Poppy Red on top of the paper.
Then white for the highlights and Rouge Toscan (red) for the darker values.
All nicely blending with that blending stump.
I went trough about 3 Poppy Red pencils to get that base down.
I usually would start with a watercolor background.... but I forgot, ha. seriously.
The next step is adding Water-soluble wax pastels (Caran D'Ache) on top of the color pencil.
This is a new step in my process.
The pastels are freakn amazing though, I strongly recommend using then over your pencils

I'll keep you guys posted on more process.
I wanted to try and do a video for this one but had to start it faster then I intended.
Soon though guys, soon!!

The Sea Widow

I was in an oval mood for the last two pieces I did for the POP-OP show at Redletter in Hyde Park
This piece is 24"x39"
Watercolor
Prismacolor pencil
Acrylic
NuPastel
Water based oils
On Rives bfk paper

Perspective

A piece I did for the RedLetter show that opened last weekend 6/3/11
The show was awesome! People really seemed to like this one a lot, so I'm excited to show it!

Its 24"x36"
Watercolor
Prismacolor pencil
Acrylic
Water based oils
acid free, trimmed artist tape, bight white
On Rives bfk paper
(By the way, those lines....not fun to do)

more to come from this show!

POP-OP

Here is all the info for my show coming up June 3rd.
It is also the opening of the NEW RedLetter 1.
Very excited about this show! Did a bunch of new work for it and will have high end Giclee prints available there.
I you can t make it to the event I'll post the new works after the show.
Keep your eyes open!

34"x39"
Done with
Watercolor
Prismacolor Pencils
Acrylic
Water Soluble Oil
Prismacolor Nupastel
Artist tape (for the thin white lines)
On Rives bfk paper

BIG Thanks to the model ,Sara Hnatiuk!!
Hope you like it Sara

New piece in Progress

This is a new piece (In progress)for the show coming up in June 3rd at RedLetter Gallery in Hyde Park, Tampa FL.
So far it's watercolor, nupastel, prismacolor pencil on Rives bfk paper. 25"x40"

Patriot

40"x40"
Watercolor,
Pencil,
Acrylic,
Nupastel,
Oil, Rives bfk paper.
This is the first piece completed for a show that's coming up June 3rd in Tampa. More to come on that soon!!

DOMINGO

Working with 2 other guys and writing and illustrating a graphic novel called Domingo.... Ba Ba BOOM
This is a concept "sketch" of the main character, Jackson.
The background is done with ink, the character is digital.

Oh!! by the way, just completed a DVD digital tutorial for ImagineFX.
if you guys want to get a good perspective on how I do my digital work, check that out.
I believe it will be for issue 71
COMING SOON!!

New Work

Here are a few new pieces.
All of them are done with:
Watecolor
Prismacolor pencils
Prismacolor Nupastels
Acrylic
Oils (Holbein Duo Aqua Water Soluble Oils)
On Rives BFK paper
Got a few more coming.

This new "thing" that I'm doing is really just about experimenting.
Though the figures tend to be "attractive", the new direction places less emphasis on sexuality. I simply start out with a loose line drawing of a figure and experiment with building up and breaking down color and shapes in and around said figure. It is not only a salubrious experimentation with the figure but also an exploration of mediums. This process is more sporadic and embraces imperfection, rather then focusing mainly on rendering "perfect" realistic skin.
...It's also a lot of fun.

Hope you guys enjoy it,
and be on the look out for more work coming soon.

HI FRUCTOSE write-up

COOL COOL!!!
http://hifructose.com/the-blog/1420-erik-jones-salubrious-experimentation.html

FFFFOUND

So I took today off from working mainly because my wrist has been bothering me slightly. So I spent most of the day on the web finding inspiration in various places.
I some how ended up designing a fan FFFFound poster.
Now I know I said I wasn't supposed to be working but... design is rather therapeutic for me.
I found the images used on the top of the poster in ffffound and thought they represented the site in a well rounded way (especially Voyage, ha)
I did the hand type with a Japanese Pentel color brush (awesome!)

just thought I'd share

Wolverine, just for fun

You know when you can't sleep and just start messing around on the computer trying to get ideas.... well that's what is was. About 3 hours of nothing and this came out.
Inspired by an artist named Jeff Depner http://jeffdepner.com/ I actually ended up making a painting of this for a Superhero show but give it to a friend before I could scan in the painting.
Well anyway, here is the digital version of it.

More...

Air Candy

OK, FINALLY A NEW IMAGE!!!
I cant wait to post all the new stuff I'm doing but I cant till they are published, so stay tuned.
In the mean time here is a piece I did for the Tata Gala!!
I did it the night before the Sarasota show. I actually hung the show then rushed to my dad's house and cranked this out in the living room. It was actually really challenging to do, not being in my studio. I had nothing!! I had to go to a local art store and buy all my supplies....for one piece, ridiculous.
Fortunately, it turned out rather nice.
It's done with a watercolor base, colored pencils and acrylics.
Its 24"x36" on Rives bfk toned paper (great stuff)

I also included the drawing process, dont on 11"x17" bond paper with prismacolor Col-Erase pencils

I actually just finished the poster for the NYC Tata Gala so look for that in the next day or two. I used this piece for it. That show starts February 5th at Sacred Gallery in Manhattan. More on that soon.