No. 321: Indian Chief Vintage (and a blonde)

No. 321, "Pam and her Indian" by Tom Wills, January 2016, colored pencil

Sometimes you just have to climb on board, grip the throttle and get moving.
Even if you might need a kick start ...

This big illustration is a colorful experiment that worked, once we got it going.
The persistent guy from my last blog, who convinced me to do all of those horse and cat and dog illustrations, also wanted a motorcycle.
He and his lady friend are into big bikes as well as horses, as are many of their friends.
 

Vroooooooooooooom!

But there were a few catches to making this picture a reality:
First, I had to morph two pictures together to make it look like the woman actually is riding this particular bike, an Indian Chief Vintage. (In the original photo, she is simply sitting on the big machine.)
Second, it had to be in colored pencil.
Um, colored pencil?  "That's a new one on me," I said.
"Try it," he urged. "You can do it."

I had a gigantic box full of broken and gnarled colored pencils, left over from my kids and pretty much for my grandson's use. I really lucked out one night at Walgreen's and snagged a new box of 100 colors for $9 -- mispriced (should have been like $24), but they sold it to me anyway.
So I was soon off and running!

"Leather." -- Frank Zappa.

We wanted the illustration to look realistic, but knew that it wouldn't be like a painting.
It was the chrome that proved the most challenging, because it had to look like sparkling silver -- not just blue, white and gray. I labored over the chrome and leather.
And the glass windscreen -- trying to make it appear transparent.
Those blue jeans look like denim, too.
The boots turned out leather-y.
Also, see how the light is reflected off of the front fender and gas tank?
Cool.

I worked with a few motorcycle pictures provided to me, and a few more Indian bike shots from the internet. And my pal used his neighbor as a leg model to get the posture right. Seriously!
What we ended up with is, I think, a natural enough pose of a woman on a very big bike, with a lot of chrome.
The motor was a challenge because it had been obscured by her original (non-riding) pose.  I used stock photos from Indian to draw the power plant -- and etched it with " Indian Motorcycle Co."
More chrome!

Chrome and glass

The framed finished product had been stashed since January and was given as a birthday gift on April 29, as her motorcycle pals gathered at a Mahoning County restaurant. Great effort was taken to keep this a total surprise for three months!

Motorcycles, and machines in general,  are very complicated drawings. Blending a human onto them just adds to the challenge.

But this is the second motorcycle that I have done, so I had a template to follow.  The first big bike was for a friend of mine who was celebrating his 50th birthday.  That one was in black and white, just plain pencils.
But I still captured that sparkle.

Hi Dennis. Miss you.

Here are a few more looks at the Indian motorcycle sketch as it developed:

Nos. 318 & 319: The "Family" Portrait(s)

The buyer of this giant collage of pets calls it "The Family Portrait."
Indeed, our pets are family.



Let us introduce you to the horses: Nick, Hannah, Geronimo, Mack and Sam.  We added a sixth, Audie, separately.
And the dogs: Kimber, Ruger and Barrett.
And cats: Gator, Felicity, Alli and Coleman.

These cuties have been under wraps since January and were gifted just Saturday (April 16) from a guy to his gal. These are all of her critters.

"Had the manager bring them out to her after dinner today. Was absolutely unprepared for this, totally caught off guard. Brought quite a few tears -- fell in love with the animal likenesses. ... Your work made her very happy."

It all started in a Youngstown hair salon, with one guy asking the barber, who new another guy -- my boss -- if anyone knew someone who did animal portraits. So a phone number was provided to me and I called.
Truthfully this is a drawing that, at first, I really didn't want to do.
Too many faces, too big, and too crowded. And who puts lettering on a portrait?
Sheesh.

But this guy was Sofa King persistent, and eventually we jointly hatched on the concept. He was directly involved in the photo choices and lettering selection.  We must have exchanged 100 emails -- many animal photos. We even exchanged a "map" of sorts, positioning each animal by name.
The names were then hand-lettered.

The end result is, I think, a little crowded -- by design.  That's a lot of fur, but we wanted them close-knit. The dark mat and the wood frame are beautiful and set off the blacks and grays of the pencils.
This one exhausted me, taking weeks to do, but it's so unique and special.
All of the planning and effort were really worth it.

The sixth horse, Audie, came home right after the big picture had been completed. I was asked if she could be added and I had to say no. 
So we hatched a separate drawing of Audie running in a ring, and I found a unique sea-green piece of glass for the oak frame.  I've never seen anything like it.

This is the result of collaboration and letting imaginations run free. I reigned in a few wild hairs but basically these are the customer's vision, from the very beginning.
It's a happy family portrait. Long may they run.

But wait! There's MORE!

Meet the newest member of the 'family,' handsome Marcel!
This time a head and chest portrait was requested, and I obliged.
We wrapped this one up in late April and I will deliver it upon framing.
We're not horsing around here!

No. 329: Goodtime Hour

"Goodtime Hour" by Tom Wills, April 2016

Initially No. 329 was to be a tribute to country legend Merle Haggard, who died April 6. In trolling the internet for suitably raw photos of Hag, however, I came across a still from Glen Campbell's "Goodtime Hour" television show that captured a moment of banter among Haggard, Campbell, Buck Owens and Johnny Cash.

Now, imagine seeing those four guys walk into a bar …
So I figured, "Why not?"

One friend dubbed this image "The Rushmore of Country," which I like, but truthfully such a monument also would include Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson (and probably Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn …)

I like Waylon. But I have to work much harder to get into him, and Willie, and even Cash. I just find Buck and Merle and even cornball Glen a lot more tuneful and rocking. And they could really sing, especially Hag (also a prolific composer).
The other two guys are, um, "originals," which is fine — but it takes me longer to dig it.

So for now we have these four titans, three gone and one in failing health.
Torches continue to be passed.

My grandparents, and my Pennsylvania relatives, would like this drawing. It's because of them that I learned, early on, about these entertainers — whether through rummaging through their records or watching "Hee Haw" and the like at my grandparents' place on Saturday nights.
These four men, however, went a long way beyond their sometimes-cornball television guises.

Buck Owens, in particular, rocked and swang.
The Motherbucker!
They have deep catalogs, covering a variety of styles, and their songs tell stories of plain people's loves and losses.
And trains. Gotta love a train.

 This illustration is for sale. It is $200, framed.  Contact willstom01@gmail.com

Nos. 327 & 328: A Perfect Pair

Nos. 327 (March) and 328 (April 2016). Blue and Storm I, Blue and Storm II

I haven't had this much fun in a while.
The order for "Blue and Storm" I and II came at the right time. These yellow labrador siblings followed heavy duty drawings of Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald, and a detailed watercolor painting of Ashtabula Harbor.
They also follow a series of drawings done for one client from November through February, to be revealed soon, of six horses, four cats, three dogs and a lady on a motorcycle!
Whew!

So, I was ready for some happy work and a bit of fun.
Initially this was to be just one drawing, of the puppies under the table.  But at the last moment it was decided to do a second piece showing the dogs a little older and much bigger. They had to fit a prescribed size (18" x 20") and have a matching, light frame.
I lucked out on the frames.

There was some sleight of hand in making the first image, which I also call "Under the Table and Dreaming."
You will notice from the photos that one pup is on its fluffy belly in one shot, and standing through the little table in another. We decided to put the images together so that both pups are close together with their paws on the ground.
It's ridiculously cute.

The "Under the Table and Dreaming" image was completed first, as it was the most time-consuming and difficult. That wicker table was some work!

The second image was supposed to be easier, but it turns out that drawing light-colored dogs on white paper takes some effort, especially with the hair and shading.
My marching orders were to "show those big lab chests."

I suspect, having raised a lab myself, that the little wicker table is now toast  (Yes, the owner later confirms.). One lab is a voracious chewer, so these two boys had to be shredders for their first three years.
They are 5 now, in what should be their prime years. But Blue is undergoing chemotherapy and could use your well wishes. (He looked great, below.)
They are a perfect pair. Go team. Go Blue!