Josh Holtsclaw

Short Update

2012-01-24T19:51:00.000-08:00

Work continues on the animated short. I finally nailed down a working animatic, and have now continued on to paint the final artwork. It has been a long time coming, but I am happy with the results. One step closer to the finish line!

The Long Drive Home

2012-01-19T19:17:00.001-08:00

Gouache Dry Brush Process

2011-12-10T22:43:00.000-08:00

Recently I was asked by a friend to do a painting of Finn Mcmissile from Cars 2 for their nephew. I usually paint digitally, and I was excited to paint with traditional media. Here is a step by step process.

The first thing I did was nail down the drawing that I would be painting. Because the style I was going for wouldn't have a lot of rendering, it's helpful for me to figure everything out at the drawing stage. Laying out the color at this stage also helped me come up with a plan for which areas to do first.

At this point I used a light table to line up my drawing under the watercolor paper to paint the yellow circle background. The trick with gouache is to mix up the paint well enough on the palette so the color isn't marbleized at all. If the color isn't perfectly mixed, all of the other colors will show up on the paper.

At this point I taped my drawing to the top of the watercolor paper. I used graphite paper to transfer the drawing of the car. To do this you basically lay the graphite paper between the watercolor paper and the drawing, and then trace the drawing. I used the end of a calligraphy pen to trace the drawing. Originally I thought that the drawing would show through all of my paint layers, but what I learned was that I only needed to transfer the first layer I painted. I kept the drawing taped to the paper so that after I finished painting each layer, I could use the graphite paper to transfer the next sections. Keeping it taped ensured the drawing would always line up.

This picture shows some of the flat colors laid in. It's helpful to think about the order in which the colors are laid in. The way I do it is background to foreground, and light to dark. The background to foreground idea is pretty straightforward, I painted the yellow circle first so that I didn't have to paint around the contour of the car. The idea behind light to dark is that darker colors are harder to paint over with lighter colors, so I painted the lighter gray of the car first and then the darker color. In hindsight I probably should have left the white of the paper show through on the windshield, but I found that the white gouache covered really well.

This was the fun part! Here I've started dry brushing some shadows and highlights. The trick to that is not going overboard. Also, using the right brush and having exactly the right mixture of paint/water on the brush. If it's too wet, it just looks too solid. For the dry brush look, you want it to break up and drag across the paper. I used a scrap piece of watercolor paper to test the paint before I used it on the car. I also added in some of the details like his eyes and mustache using a wetter/thinner mixture of paint so that they didn't break up as much and looked a little cleaner.

And here is the final piece. The last step was adding the line work. Overall I am happy with how it turned out. It was fun to get back to using real paint after painting digitally for so long, and I hope to do more painting in the future.

Hopefully this was helpful for someone out there. Thanks for reading!

Prehistoric

2011-11-21T10:53:00.000-08:00

Halloween

2011-10-31T10:20:00.000-07:00

Here is a Halloween piece I did for a new blog adventure I am doing with some co-workers called Shark Mountain. We are going to post artwork based on a new topic every 2 weeks. Keep an eye out for some fun work from some inspiring artists!

The Land of Treats

2011-10-18T11:04:00.001-07:00

Pattern #3

2011-09-19T16:50:00.000-07:00

Here is the third and final pattern we will have for sale on books and boxes at Hallmarket. This was a fun one to do. Hope you like it! If you do, check back soon for info on how to order if you can't make it to the event.

Here is a photo of the finished fabric which we received from Spoonflower! It turned out great. Thanks for looking!

Pattern #2

2011-09-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the second pattern for Hallmarket. This will be used on books and boxes made by my wife. If you don't live in Kansas City and can't make it to Hallmarket, we will hopefully have some items for sale online after the event.

Doodle

2011-09-06T11:08:00.000-07:00

A little lunch time doodle.

Pattern #1

2011-09-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a piece I recently completed as part of a project I am working on with my wife. For the first time ever, we are joining forces: I am designing patterns that we are printing on fabric, and she is using that fabric to cover books and boxes. We will have a booth at Hallmarket, an art fair here in Kansas City where you will find artwork from Hallmark artists. This pattern is the first of three. I'll be posting the other two soon. Thanks for looking!

Oh My!

2011-08-14T17:05:00.001-07:00

A new piece I did that maybe for sale soon. Get it?

Racing Rivals-Cars 2

2011-07-04T18:51:00.000-07:00

Sometime last fall, I was asked to illustrate a book for Cars 2 for Disney Publishing, called "Racing Rivals." It was a great opportunity and a huge learning experience. Now that the movie is out, I am free to share some of the artwork. I thought it might be interesting to show some of the process that went into getting the book done. Below is a step by step example of the first 2 page spread.

After being given the text that would go on each page, I started to layout each page to figure out a good composition.

After working with the art directors at Disney and Pixar, I began to refine the layout. The decision was made to go to a two page spread, so the layout needed to change accordingly. I was also thinking a little bit more about the size relationships of the characters and the background. Because this scene is in the movie, I was given in progress reference of what this scene was going to look like. Also, this whole book was made digitally in photoshop. Even the sketching at this early stage was digital-no pencils! Working with so many art directors on a project that was constantly changing (the movie was still being worked on), working digitally made making changes a lot easier.

After a few minor revisions based on feedback from Disney and Pixar, the layout was locked in. At this point, I began to work on a tight line drawing. When I work, I prefer to plan everything out so that when I paint all of the problems are already solved. Painting is hard enough as it is, and it would be a lot harder if you also had to figure out the underlying drawing.

Part of the process of this book was figuring out the styling of the characters themselves. As you can see these are sort of my versions of the characters...they don't look exactly like they look in the movie. I landed on this style after going back and forth with my art directors on what would be appropriate for the target audience of this book.

And finally, the finished page. As I said before, I painted this book digitally. I was given reference images of this scene from Pixar, and after I saw the movie I was really happy with how close they seemed to match.

Here is the page with the text laid in.

Next time you're at the theaters, check out Cars 2, and buy the book!

Happy Birthday Poster

2011-06-08T08:31:00.001-07:00

Just finished this poster as a birthday gift to Mira, the daughter of our friends Matt and Wendy.

Color Studies

2011-06-04T21:54:00.001-07:00

Here are 3 color studies for the short. I'm getting closer to the point of starting to actually paint the scenes.

More character designs

2011-05-15T21:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some more character designs from the short I'm working on.

Short Progress Update

2011-05-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

Since moving to Kansas City, I have been back at work on an animated short idea I've had for awhile. Here is a rough layout of one of the main scenes.

space sketch

2011-03-21T19:28:00.000-07:00

2011-01-17T15:45:00.001-08:00

2010-10-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

Notre Dame Poster

2010-06-23T14:44:00.000-07:00

It's done! Next up: Chenonceau

Notre Dame #2

2010-06-17T13:27:00.000-07:00

Here is a rework of the Notre Dame color/layout study

Greetings from Paris

2010-06-15T14:12:00.000-07:00

Having been in Paris for the past 3 months for work, I haven't been able to update the blog as much I would have liked. Being here has been really inspiring artistically and I have alot of ideas for projects I'd like to do once I'm back in the states. One such project is a poster series of some of the highlights of Paris. Here is a little color comp/sketch of one of those. I plan to do a whole series once I'm back and have them up for sale. Until then, enjoy!

A Good Balance

2010-03-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

Here's an album cover I've been working on for a friend

Ollie

2010-01-21T19:42:00.001-08:00

Title

2009-12-29T21:29:00.000-08:00

Here is the finished title design for the short. It was really inspired by title cards from the 50's/60's. The title will appear in the sky in the opening shot, before the camera pans down and reveals the house, so for now imagine the snow falling and clouds moving behind

Snow Test

2009-12-21T20:45:00.000-08:00

Snow Test from Josh Holtsclaw on Vimeo.

In honor of the holiday season, here is an animation test of the snow i'll be using in the short

Animation test

2009-12-15T16:49:00.000-08:00

Animation Test from Josh Holtsclaw on Vimeo.

A motion test using flash and after effects

SSS logo

2009-12-01T19:54:00.000-08:00

Logo I did recently for Studio Say So

More Progress

2009-10-24T15:46:00.001-07:00

Color Study

2009-10-20T18:45:00.000-07:00

Animatic #3

2009-09-15T18:47:00.000-07:00

Haha...well just when I thought it was time to start animating, inspiration struck and I decided to recut the animatic. Cutting this thing so many times is definitely a lesson in "less is more."

Animatic #3 from Josh Holtsclaw on Vimeo.

Animatic #2

2009-09-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest and greatest animatic. Some tweaks were made to make it stronger all around. From here, I think its time to start animating.

Animatic #2 from Josh Holtsclaw on Vimeo.

Animatic

2009-09-07T11:25:00.000-07:00

Here's my first shot at animatic for my short. Doing all of the boards in Storyboard Pro makes it so easy to turn them into an animatic. This is a rough first draft, and I'm sure I'll be refining it in the days ahead

Animatic from Josh Holtsclaw on Vimeo.

Background color study

2009-08-30T13:22:00.000-07:00

A quick color study of the main background

Character development

2009-08-29T14:23:00.001-07:00

Ive finally nailed down what the character for my short will look like. This is version 4,912,432.2.

Here are some thumbnails

Love Birds

2009-07-13T17:21:00.001-07:00

Three Cities

2009-07-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

Recently I designed the album artwork for my friend Keeley Valentino. After much anticipation, she sent one to me and it turned out great.

2009-07-05T22:26:00.000-07:00

For our proposal, I needed a logo for Monica and I. This is the sketch, and here is the final version:

Save the Date

2009-07-05T21:31:00.001-07:00

I really enjoy hand lettering things. I also really enjoy getting married, so this was like the PERFECT assignment for me

Storyboards Continued

2009-06-28T22:22:00.001-07:00

Another random page of storyboards. Hoping to finish tomorrow, and then move onto the animatic. Thanks for looking

Storyboards

2009-05-28T18:09:00.000-07:00

Im currently in the midst of working on an animated short. Here is one page of the storyboards. I did this in Sketchbook Pro, which is turning out to be a really cool program. My vision for the final film is something kind of flat, textured, and hopefully something funny. Its quite an undertaking, but Im hoping to finish it by the holidays. Ill put the rest of the progress up as it comes...

Hurley

2009-04-29T21:11:00.001-07:00

In honor of LOST's 100th episode, here is my tribute to Hurley.

owls

2009-03-17T18:20:00.001-07:00

stranger with candy

2009-02-07T18:58:00.000-08:00

Pooped Pirate

2009-02-03T19:10:00.000-08:00

Parrots of the Caribbean

2009-02-01T10:34:00.000-08:00

Hippo

2009-01-25T18:01:00.001-08:00

Anchors Myspace

2009-01-06T21:22:00.000-08:00

Recently I've been working on a sort of brand overhaul for my brothers band, Anchors. Above is the logo. It was fun working on it because the band was looking for something that looked like it could have come from the 60's/70's-a time when music was visually represented much differently than it is today. The band isn't afraid of color, and used the idea of physcodellic posters as a reference. I wanted to give them something that looked timeless.

The first step was changing the look of their myspace. Many thanks to Glenn for doing the hard part and making the whole thing function. Check it out here

Big Al

2009-01-03T19:40:00.000-08:00

Here is a piece I just finished based on the Country Bear Jamboree

Color study

Initial sketch

Big Al Illo Progression from Josh Holtsclaw on Vimeo.

The Future #2

2008-12-13T20:46:00.000-08:00

Here is the next piece for the book. Hope you enjoy it. For some reason this piece was a little more challenging than the sea monster piece (which might sound crazy when you see how much bigger that one is). There is something about using the white space of the paper that makes colors and composition that much more important.

The Future #1

2008-11-18T19:53:00.001-08:00

Here is a new piece I have been working on. Some friends and I are working on a book, and this is my first piece for that project. I cant wait to see what everyone else comes up with...Im sure it will blow this one away. I have 3 or 4 more pieces planned.

After I have a finished sketch assembled, I'll do a couple color studies. If I do this step (which I definitely dont do enough), it can really save me trouble in the final piece. Its so nice to just focus on the finish and texture with the color already taken care of.

Here is the first sketch. I usually sketch in pieces in my sketchbook, and then put the pieces together in photoshop and play with the composition. That way I can focus on each section as its own little piece of art, without worrying about the rest of the piece. Thats way too stressful for me. This sketch is in a really finished state...prior to this I would work from a thumbnail.

2008-10-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween

2008-09-20T09:20:00.000-07:00

I have never seen Mark ride a tricycle, but I hope to someday

2008-08-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

new piece. digital.

2008-08-09T21:53:00.000-07:00

Just did this one tonight. It makes me happy

2008-08-09T21:51:00.000-07:00

This is a guy i did trying out a new digital dry-brush technique.