Heavy Metal Magazine Tarot

Our latest installment of Tarot cards is in the January issue of Heavy Metal Magazine!
Nine of Pentacles by Julie Bell
King of Swords by Boris Vallejo
Page of Wands by Anthony Palumbo

Small Works show in Philadelphia

Opening tonight, there is a fantastic selection of Small Works up on the walls at The Artist's House on N. 2nd Street in Old City, Philadelphia. They've got paintings, drawings, and sculptures from 35 different artists. We love to go to shows like this where you get glimpses of so many different styles of working. Seeing good original art is the best kind of brain food for an artist--always inspiring! Makes you want to go home and paint!


Randi by David Palumbo


Olga by Anthony Palumbo


Self Portrait by Anthony Palumbo


Randi 2 by David Palumbo


David Palumbo, Lorraine Reisenbach (owner of The Artist's House Gallery), and Anthony Palumbo

Personal Art

Every since I turned professional I have been talking about doing paintings now and then just for myself. The idea of painting something just for fun is both amazingly appealing and incredibly terrifying, so I mostly talk about it. However, several years ago, when I first met my Julie, she showed me a drawing that she had done long before she became a pro herself. I was so impressed with the strength of her drawing that I decided to do a painting based on her sketch (with her permission, of course) The result fell way short of the power of the original drawing. Here are both versions, hers, bold and powerful, mine, professional but lacking in drama.

Since then, almost twenty years later, I have done a couple of other pieces "just for fun". Here are two more of those. Some day I will do more, I am sure.

Boris

Portrait of My Father

I did this painting as a birthday present to my father, Milton Bell, who is a highly respected architect in Texas. He has designed many landmark buildings including the US Embassy in Mexico City and the Texas Energy Museum. I chose to paint him at work at his drawing board because, well, I think it's just his most comfortable spot in the whole world. In fact, it's possible that he may be genetically linked to his drawing board.
Inspired by our sons' gallery paintings, I wanted to experiment with a looser style of painting than my usual fantasy art style. I recommend to other artists to try out different styles if for no other reason than the psychological. It feels so funny! It's good to explore and stretch yourself.

Julie

Hajime Sorayama Show

Last night at the Opera Gallery in New York City, we were privileged to attend the opening of an exhibit by the seriously great artist, Hajime Sorayama. His work is a huge inspiration to each and every one of us and meeting him in person was an amazing experience. He's as down-to-earth, gracious, and friendly as a man can be!

Hajime Sorayama, Julie, David Palumbo, Anthony Palumbo, and Boris

Illuxcon, 2 days after

Well, if you weren't at Illuxcon this past weekend, you missed a pretty good time and a unique opportunity to see tons and tons of beautiful fantasy paintings, drawings, and sculptures by some of the best artists in the business.  Here are pictures of some of the fun(Left to Right and then down) View from the second floor, David Palumbo during a painting demonstration, Patrick Jones, David's table, Michael Whelan, John Jude Palencar, dinner at El Campesino in Altoona, Justin Sweet.  
Dave Seeley's corner, Julie with sculpted figure by Tom Kuebler, Boris with sculpted mask by Jordu Schell, Jordu with a sculpture that he traded us for a sketch!

Jesse Springer Spaniel

This is a portrait of my sister Suzanne's dog, Jesse, that I've done for her surprise birthday present. She always maintains that he has a strong resemblance to Antonio Banderas. I know that she is totally in love with Jesse and certainly has at least a crush on Antonio Banderas, so I hope I've captured whatever it is she sees in this painting!
Julie

Just for Fun!

These are two 60's covers from memory lane.
I had so much fun doing those comic covers! Much more so than doing barbeque grills and refrigerators!

Boris

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie Poster

We thought you would get a kick out of seeing some of the preparatory work we did for our Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie poster.  Here is the first rough sketch:

And here is the second, more finished sketch:

And, of course, reference pictures! David Palumbo posed for Master Shake, Anthony Palumbo posed for Frylock, and Boris posed for Meatwad:

And, ta daa! The finished painting

Julie and Boris

A Blast from Boris' Past

This is a true vintage illustration that I did in 1965. At the time I had a job doing illustrations for a chain of department stores. Not terribly exciting, but it gave me a good feeling for detail and lots of patience. This one was somewhat more interesting than the usual pen and ink drawings that I would do on a daily basis since it was in tempera. Woopy doo!!

Boris

Boris and Julie Calendar Preview 2010!

Here's a cropped close-up of the cover painting we just finished for our 2010 calendar, published by Workman Publishing. Just think...by the time you can see the full image, we'll have all had another birthday!

Boris and Julie

November Issue of Heavy Metal Magazine

The latest installment in our Tarot series featured in Heavy Metal Magazine is now on the newsstands! We show three new Tarot cards each issue, and since the four of us are creating the set, one of us gets a break. This month, it was Boris' turn to just hang out and listen to Rachmaninoff.

New Painting by Julie

Here's my most recent painting, A Rose For Peter, a private commission.

Julie

Our Tarot Project at Tor.com

It's been said that she is THE most influential force in the direction of science fiction/fantasy art today and we would wholeheartedly agree--Irene Gallo of Tor Books has posted an interview with us in her super popular blog The Art Department. She is introducing our ongoing and upcoming Tarot card project. Thanks, Irene! Once again, your energy and enthusiasm inspires us!

Julie, Boris, Tony, and David

Painting in Progress

These are stages one and two of painting a head. In the first picture the pencil drawing is glazed with a thin coat of burnt sienna acrylic.
In the second picture, oil colors are blocked quickly one next to the other with a flat brush, in this case a number 4.


The picture on the left shows the blending of the colors. This is done with a soft, round, watercolor brush, number 6 for this one.
In the picture on the right we see the finished head. Details have been added as needed.
The whole process of painting the head has taken one hour. The size of the head is around 3.25" from the top of the head to the chin

Boris

Painting in Progress

Here is a preview of the underpainting of the latest addition to my wildlife series.  I'm planning to take it to the same level of development as the second one shown here (called Alpha Wolf).

I just really, really love wolves!  I got into painting them when I was commissioned by Tor Books to do some book covers that had wolves in them.  To get reference material for the covers, Boris and I went to Lakota Wolf Preserve in New Jersey to shoot a whole bunch of pictures.  Just being around those gorgeous creatures was such an amazing experience.

Anyway, I could go on all day about them, but I should just get back to work!

See you,

Julie