I was born in San Francisco a few weeks before the Cuban Missile Crisis. (I wasn't yet a month old and already in a world of trouble!) I was the second child of four kids and thought of by most of my family as the strange but quiet one. After a lackluster career in High School, I went off to Junior College and later enrolled in the Academy of Art College. There at the Academy, I earned a BFA degree in Illustration.
I'm currently an Adobe Certified Expert in Adobe Illustrator 10. Though since leaving school I've used many different graphic programs for the computer;. I've recently decided to focus on creating artwork in Illustrator. Vector based art allows for the widest range of final options and usage for my work. I can create artwork without worrying that it may be too big or too small for whatever print usage I may want to do with it later. Also the smaller file sizes vector art allows for easier transfer of my work over the Internet to vendors and clients.
I was happy by how fast this one went. It was an image I've always meant to do something with. After taking a month doing the Raven-Go-Round illustration, I was going to take some time off. But not working on anything never feels right for me. I took this picture out and just worked on it a little at a time everyday. It was more to keep busy than to create a masterpiece. So I was surprised when I finished so quickly. It turned out to be a nice little Art Nouveau inspired piece.
In the place where I work we print wine labels. So of course we use a lot of gold foil. I rescued a spent roll that was going in the garbage after it was used. In the reference photograph, you could actually see the name of the wine it was for originally.
Application Illustrator
Labels Portraiture, Pop Art, Fantasy
Times Viewed 1377
Approved By itailu
13 November 2010 - 03:48
Comment From
itai (itailu)
cool :-)
13 November 2010 - 05:48
Comment From
Russell Katuin (rKatuin)
Very nice, you nailed the foil love it.
13 November 2010 - 10:29
Conversation With
Srdjan Milovanovic (lala)
Great Work James! Is that mesh you are using for the skin or blurs & transparency?
13 November 2010 - 11:15:
James Courtney (Comixguy)
replied...
Blurs and Transparency. I'm working in CS2, so I believe the mesh tool wasn't really too developed then. Like everyone I know, money is tight with me, so I don't think I'll be upgrading to CS5 anytime soon. The one advantage of using such an old version of Illustrator so long, is that you get really familiar with doing stuff in it. Lately I have been using a transparency layer of just white to control my color saturation. That has been helping separate foreground and background elements.
Blurs and Transparency. I'm working in CS2, so I believe the mesh tool wasn't really too developed then. Like everyone I know, money is tight with me, so I don't think I'll be upgrading to CS5 anytime soon. The one advantage of using such an old version of Illustrator so long, is that you get really familiar with doing stuff in it. Lately I have been using a transparency layer of just white to control my color saturation. That has been helping separate foreground and background elements.