Autophobia

In his new book Autophobia, Brian Ladd examines the history of our hostility to automobiles, balanced against the long history of the undeniable triumph of cars, from the Model T to the SUV.

Cars are the scourge of civilization, responsible for everything from suburban sprawl and urban decay to environmental devastation and rampant climate change—not to mention our slavish dependence on foreign oil from dubious sources abroad. Add the astonishing price in human lives that we pay for our automobility—they kill the equivalent of a dozen jumbo-jet crashes every day—plus the countless number of hours we waste in gridlock traffic commuting to work, running errands, picking up our kids, and searching for parking, and we can't help but ask: Haven't we had enough already? After a century behind the wheel, could we be reaching the end of the automotive age?

Do we hate cars more than we love them? Here's a test: Next time you go on a gallery crawl, count the number of car-free paintings you have to walk by before you see a canvas that features an automobile.
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NY Times book review of Autophobia, link

The Arab Guard

Portrayals of Arab guards are a staple of Orientalist painting. Kristian Davies, author of The Orientalists, wrote, “a theme grew within Orientalism of depicting guards and sentries dressed in the traditional medieval regalia of the Islamic warrior.”

Austrian painter Ludwig Deutsch (1855-1935) painted A Palace Guard in 1892.

The archetype still exists today, though modern guards lack the colorful garb. Deep in the labyrinth of the medina of Fes, Morocco, I met a man named Hassan whose job was to stand watch over the doorway of an antique store.

He patiently posed for me while I drew his features in brown and black water-soluble colored pencils. (Photo ADF)
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More on Ludwig Deutsch, at Art Renewal Center, and a Ludwig Deutsch blog by Enzie Shahmiri, who has commented on this blog.

Digging Machine

This is an unused concept sketch for a paperback cover for the novel Digging Leviathan by James Blaylock. The story involved a kid building a homemade machine to dig down to Pellucidar under modern-day LA.

I love a science fiction premise that mixes the bizarre and the banal, and I relished the opportunity to include a Rambler, a Mobil sign, a fish flag, and a TV antenna.

We didn’t end up using that particular sketch, though, because it didn’t have quite enough immediate impact. Instead we used a design that put the machine more in silhouette.

Art and Influence

A bountiful new art blog called "Art and Influence," has just burst upon the scene. The blog is the work of Virginia plein-air painter Armand Cabrera and Diane Burket.

In less than a month since its inception, they have hit the ground running with dozens of posts on Armand's traditional painting instruction, mainly in oil landscapes. There is also a rich collection of biographical spotlights from art history, focusing on realist/impressionist painters of the 19th and 20th centuries, complete with quotes and bibliographies.

Many of these posts were adapted from material Armand and Diane created for the website Outdoor Painting.
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Art and Influence blog, link.
Armand Cabrera website, link.
Outdoor Painting website, link.
GJ post about painting with Armand earlier this year, link.

Rabat Alley

In this quick watercolor painting of a narrow street in Rabat, Malta, the goal was to keep the shadow together as one shape. The edge of the shadow is cool on the upper right, where it picks up the color of the sky.

And the shaded buildings on the left are warm where they receive reflected light from the warm illuminated buildings.

But compared to the light tones in the distance, the shadow is one basic tone, and I tried to downplay the detail in the doorways and windows in the shadow area to keep it simple.



Here's how the little street appeared as I painted it, with bells ringing and car driving into it.

Smith & Wesson

One year after 9/11, I met Joseph in a deli in Kingston, New York. He told me that he believed the end of the world is coming.

"I was a member of a gang," he said, "but I don't do that no more. I don't need to worry about no terrorists. I got a Smith and Wesson next to me all the time.

Atmospheric Study

When you're planning a fantasy landscape painting, it often helps to do a quick atmospheric study. Here's one I did for the painting Waterfall City: Afternoon Light, from Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara.

If you make a 3-D schematic maquette, you can do the study while looking at the model. This study uses white and black charcoal on brown Kraft paper. The goal is to study the chiaroscuro: and to consider which things are light on dark and which things are dark on light.

An atmospheric study also gives you the chance to think about the mist and atmosphere. In a scene like this, not everything should be crisply lit. Some areas should be in shadow, and others half hidden behind veils of atmosphere.

SF Signal's Top Ten Art Websites

Thanks to illustrator Dan Dos Santos on SF Signal.com for picking Gurney Journey as one of the top ten art websites of 2008.

Don't miss Dan's website and his complete top ten picks:

10. Imaginistix - Newly launched blog by Boris Vallejo and Julie. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this develops.


9. GFX Artist - A great collection of Art tutorials from some of the industry's hottest artists.


8. Turtle Art - A massive database of SF/F artists... an amazing efficient way to kill time.


7. Lines and Colors - Updated frequently, with a focus on modern and classical illustration


6. Gorilla Artfare - A group art blog, much of which is either SF/F based or concept art.


5. Google SketchUp - Sketch-up is a new program from Google. Not only is it rapidly becoming a staple of many SF/F artist's process, but it is totally free!


4. ConceptArt - A staple of the art community.


3. Gurney Journey - James Gurney's blog is still one of the best out there. A must see for fans of illustration.


2. CGUnit.net - My favorite blog for daily art doses.


1. Tor.com - Years in the making, any SF/F geek will find Tor's new site hard to resist. Be sure to check out the artist galleries!

courtesy SF Signal.com

Watercolor Portrait, Tangier

A couple weeks ago I posted this watercolor portrait of Zack, the antique dealer. He posed for me at a cafe in the old medina of Tangier, Morocco.

Here's a new video to show you the atmosphere of the scene. The light was coming from the blue sky above the square where we were sitting, and it made a cool highlight on the top of his head. Film by Alan Dean Foster.

Geneva Church

Here’s a small sketch with watercolor pencils of a church in Geneva. I left out a lot of detail, mainly because of a lack of time, and I gradated the tones of the tower to a light tone behind the two figures.