It's been awhile!

Gosh! it has been a good long while since I las blogged anything. so I suppose a little update is in order. The show which I did at the isle gallery during the summer was far more successful than I had anticipated and to be honest after 2015 being such a difficult year to get anything done, I found producing the work for this show hugely enjoyable, I felt I'd gotten my mojo back. Another enjoyable thing was that the Isle gallery was the first place I'd ever exhibited (though it was the Courtyard gallery back then), so it felt like coming home. indecently I and the gallery were pleased as we had huge numbers to the show and sold the vast majority of the work in the show.

so as to why I've not blogged for awhile, well the main reason is that I tend to use integral now, though when I started the blog way back in 2008, it was a good way to keep the world up to date with what was happening, these days social media has taken over, so i feel I have had to move with the times.
You can view my Instagram page here:
https://www.instagram.com/juan_fineart/

Another reason as to why there has been a bit of silence from me of late, is that I haven't really had much to announce, my role as a lecturer is taking up all of my time these days and though I enjoy teaching, I think it's time I get back to more creative endeavours, I simply cannot balance the two anymore and the institution I work for is not making it easy, so I will be attempting to return to the world of freelance illustration, I also have 3 projects that I'd like to make a go with (more on that at a later date).
I had contemplated ditching the blog altogether, but I like having a space where I can talk casually about what I'm doing, so I'll keep it going I think.

for now here is a recent piece of work I did for Manx national Heritage, for their folklore and mythology trail guide:

Back after a break

So I think I've recovered after the image a day project and I also feel that the project was very good for me, I feel like I worked through a lot things that had began to bother me about my work and my practice. I feel far more focused now and I have a greater understanding of what I would like to do with my work next. My time is still a bit split, between teaching, illustration and fine art, all of these are necessary if I want to continue paying the bills (which reminds me, I moved house again).
So as much as I would like to get back on the computer and produce 3D work, I'm still deeply in love with traditional work and as such I'm working towards an exhibition of works based on Manx folklore... I'll update you on that later, here is a work in progress in my new studio:

What to do next?

As the image a day project enters it's final stage of about 60 or so artworks, I'm keenly aware of the fact that I have nothing planned for after it is over. In the past when I've finished a big project or large body of work, I've been so exhausted (mentally) that a break is all I've thought about. The image a day project is different in that, yes it is large project with a lot of work involved, but it a little bit of work every day rather than bursts of vast amounts of work over short periods of time. The project has been hard, but it has been good for me, I feel like I have my mojo back (so to speak). i feel like I've been a little lost with my work for a couple of years now, this project has allowed me to try new things, experiment with older methodologies, get a little closure on themes and techniques that have bugged me for awhile.

so here I am, in a position of being inspired and ready for something to do next. now all I have to do is think of something new to do.

The Guardian yesterday :)

So this is a piece I did for the Guardian recently, I have to say I'm rather pleased with it, I'm really feeling quite comfortable with the digital way of working now, this is thanks to all the practice I've had with the Image a day project. speaking of which it is all going well, I have just completed image number 235,  I'm very much enjoying the project but I'll be very glad when it is over, I hadn't realised how stressful the project would be whilst I'm trying to get other work done. Speaking of which I have a small exhibition in September, mostly of quirky small watercolour art, more on that soon. :)

The Guardian the other week.

Just realised that I'd forgotten to put this up, another piece done in the digital style I've developed for the image a day project, originally developed because i was getting a bit bored of paint, and wanted to make use of some of the digital skills I'd developed on my masters course, I now find myself keen to get back into paint. I know, I know, I'm very fickle really.

In the midst of things

Feel very much in the middle of many unfinished and uncertain things today, My masters project is proceeding, but is 13 weeks away from hand in, so it's at the early stages. It's odd being a student again, though I'm looking forward to going out into the world and no longer being a student. Ironically I've come up with a number of possible illustration projects, which will have to wait until I'm finished my MA. So keep your eyes peeled for those.
I thoroughly enjoyed painting Clara's album artwork last week, so I'm going to try and continue painting in what little spare time I have. today I'm feeling a little old and in need of a shave so here is me, half way through being 33.

Clara Barker: Fine Art and the Breslins

Well, so in amongst all this masters madness, My good friend and drinking buddy Clara, has been working on her second full length album and not only did I get to do the cover but also it's named after me too (wooooo!), one nick name I have is "Fine Art" and as some of you will  note the fellow who did the music for the MNH animation last summer was Steven Breslin, The Breslins refers to him and his lovely sister Sue, both of which are great friends, and awesome drinking buddies.
Anyway when the Album is released later in the year you should all go out and get it, it's fantastic.
Also it was so nice to do some real painting again, I hadn't realised how much I had missed it.

3D printing

So everywhere I look at the moment, I see 3D printing absolutely everywhere, so as part of my Personal inquiry (a sort of research project I had to undertake for my MA, which ends in a presentation of the findings) I chose to have a crack at it, in order to do this I used the imp-like character I used to use a lot for art and illustration (pre welcome to the neighbourhood project).

I then took the simple character sketch and began modelling it in 3D, everything I read about 3D printing stated that as long as the mesh is water tight (no holes) manifold (no open faces or shared edges) it should be fine, there was no mention to ngons or unquaded triangles (sorry for the tech talk, these are things to avoid when creating a model for animation)..

So I deliberately left both of these things in, I kept the model low polygon (it's under 2k polys) and did not equally space the polygons, again this is something not mentioned in any of the write ups I've read about 3D printing and so after an afternoon I had this:

I then took it to see the 3D printing researchers here at the NCCA (who are doing amazing things) and I printed it on desktop 3D printer they have in their lab:

This took 11 hours to print and is around 3 inches tall (i didn't have to be there the whole time, we left it printing over night) As you can see, the structure is there, but that's about it, most detail is lost, partly due to the printer used and the plastic not being hot enough at the start. an unusual wood like pattern appeared on the model too, though unexpected, it has a nice quality to it.

Convinced I could get petter results I sent the mesh to a commercial printing service, who produced this:

The detail is all there, even down to the un-smoothed polygons. this has opened my mind up to all kinds of possibilities. Many people have asked me about sculptures of my work and the main reason why I've never looked into it is because of the spindly nature of my characters, I didn't think they could stand up. when I'm finished with the MA, this will receive a lot of  more of my attention. look out galleries!!

A new website

As many of you know I've not had a website for quite some time now (I think the I took the old one down in 2007) largely because I felt I wasn't really getting that much from it and it was a giant pain in the arse to keep up to date with, partly why I started the blog, it's much more Juan friendly. anyway long story short I recently applied for a teaching job that required me to upload my artwork to a wix site, it seemed very straightforward to get together, so after a long time here is my new website:

you can get to it here: http://juanillustration.wix.com/juanmoore
Once I finish with my MA I will make a more permanent website, with an address that is easier to remember. incidentally I didn't get the job :(

Current artwork samples 2011

The Guardian the other week

I also did this for the Guardian the other week;

Yesterday's Guardian

I've been so busy painting for the next show which is looming ever closer, that I'd completely forgotten that last week I did another commission for The guardian, which came out yesterday.

This weekend's Guardian

I got to have a whole page to myself as well as 2 spot illustrations on the following double page spread....woo hoo!

Today's Guardian

I thought I'd also show a bit of the process of a commissioned illustration. What normally happens is that I get a call asking if I'm available, I then get a bit of a verbal description of what it is that the client wants me to do, some times referencing colour or other work I've done in the past, but mostly describing the context of the illustration. I then get emailed the copy (the article I'm illustrating) I then read through the copy a couple of times and try and work out the feel or crux of the piece, this becomes my starting point. I then start doodling to come up with a very rough idea of what the copy is talking about. once I have an idea I work on the compositional elements of the piece and produce a rough:




After emailing the rough attached with colour notes to the art director, we then have have a chat about the image, in this case it was felt that the stress aspect was too much and that the begging hands and bike was enough, so I got the go ahead to do the final artwork. a few hours later its finished it's emailed off, all being well the art director then approves the artwork (or asks for changes) and a few weeks later it appears in print.

finished painting

Mannanan

After finishing work on the paintings for the DoE, I've been mucking around with the subject matter a bit as I don't have much freelance work on the go at the moment. I'm in the process of altering my work a little, I'm trying to do more work with out out the odd little black figure I've been using over the last few years. I've always liked fantasy artwork, so maybe in this down time, I'll do a little more of that, any way this is just a messing around piece, just trying things out really.

quick update

well since finishing the animation at the beginning of this month and after having a very very very drunken and enjoyable wrap party I have managed to hit the ground running and just finished a number of paintings for the Isle of man department of eduction based around manx folk lore, I'm not entirely sure what purpose the will serve, but I did enjoy doing them. I have also invested in a new printer and scanner, which will hopefully arrive soon, after a number of years loyal service my old printer and scanner have died. right on to the next job now.

Illustration friday: propagate

finally got round to doing something for illustration friday's topic, its also my last week on the animation this week, so it was excellent practice for going back to doing this full time, I'll do a big update soon, proberbly in the next week or so.

No sooner than One exhibition is done and over, the prep for the next begins a new, I have to say though of all the shows this year that my work will appear in (around 7) this is the one I'm looking forward too the most. not only is it in the town where I went to uni, but it is also with my good friend, collaberator and fellow illustrator Yee Ting Kuit.

we have also launched our own small press and will be producing comics, books and magazines together under the name Chalk & Cheese.

What makes this show even more special (and not to be missed) is the fact that we will be releasing two books at the show as well as showing you some wonderful artwork.

our first two titles will be Chalk & Cheese issue 1 the first issue of our new bi-monthly illustration / art magazine. and volume 1 of Zombies like you and Me part one of seven comics.

so this show is not to be missed!!!

Last weekend's guardian

this was the most recent peice I did for the guardian, I was quite with it, though the blue did come out a bit too blue unfortunatly but there you go.