Steampunk Wizard poses

     These were extra, super rushed to get them in on time. They could use quite a bit of finessing but for the most part I'm happy with how they turned out. Enjoy!

Steampunk Wizard finished

     I've had a lot of fun with this character. I've also had a lot of frustration with this character, but mostly fun. Here is a render of my character in a basic pose. I am in the process of rendering out a couple of different versions of the character in different lighting/different poses. I'll post those soon. Enjoy!

Palettes Assignment

     Here are the finished versions of the palette's assignment. I didn't get a ton of work done this thanksgiving break so these were kinda rushed. But, I'm happy with how they turned out for the most part. Enjoy

Palettes Assignment (roughs)

     For my Color and Design II class we have an assignment to do an illustration three different ways based off of another artist's color palette. The artists whose palettes I decided to emulate are Sam Nielson and Brandon Dorman. These two artists are among my favorites because of their amazing sense of color. In the middle are color ratios to show the amount of each color as compared to the whole. And, on the left is my rough color comp based on those color ratios. I've also included the sketch just for kicks. Enjoy!

Glowbug Desert Spread

     Here's the Desert Spread from my Glowbug book. It's been nice to not have to paint the jungle this time around! More to come....

Steampunk Wizard Update

     This project has been on the backburner for a while. I dusted this off yesterday and have been having a ton of fun. I have been learning the program Zbrush which is a 3D sculpting tool. It's a beast to say the least but I feel like i'm making progress. I've only really started sculpting his face, beard, gloves, hat, and pants. I'm excited to get to all the other little details! This is a screenshot from within zbrush. Enjoy

More Glowbug Stuff

     Here are another couple spreads for my Glow Bug book. If I ever plan on getting this published I probably shouldn't post the entire book on here :)  The first one is finished and the second one is a rough color comp. Enjoy!

More Color and Design 2 Stuff

     The first images are a warm light, cool shadow and a cool light, warmer shadow exercise. As part of the experience we were to take photo reference and use the colors and enhance the warm/cool aspects of them. I chose to take a photo of my beautiful wife Michelle. She's a great model and is always fun to paint. I've obviously exaggerated her proportions and stylized it a bit.

     The second group is a study on different types of contrast: Value, Saturation, and Hue or color. We were to take the same drawing and paint it 3 different ways based off of the above criteria. The first is an image based on saturation. The second focuses value. The 3rd wasn't intended to look good. It was mostly to force us to keep everything the same value but create shapes with only color. Enjoy!

What in the....

   They told Jim to keep the bags in a cool, dry place for a reason.....

Hobbes and Calvin

     Here's the finished version of my Calvin and Hobbes redesign. I had a ton of fun with this image. I'm still going to tweak a few things but they are minor. Enjoy!

Hobbes and Calvin (round 2)

     So, based off of a very beneficial class critique, I decided to abandon the circus approach to my Hobbes and Calvin illustration. I was really in love with the idea of painting a circus scene, but in reality it didn't communicate the idea of Calvin and Hobbes very well. So, I started over...

     I went through a lot of ideas in my head and on paper about how I wanted to communicate the idea best. I thought Calvin's red wagon was a very iconic element of his character. And I know that Calvin is always pretending to be in different situations. What I am attempting to do is to show that Hobbes is pretending to be an astronaut, but also show the relationship between him and his stuffed Calvin. It's still very much a work in progress. But, I'm liking this direction a lot more than the circus one.

I've also included two color comps that I am trying to decide between. What do you guys think? I'm open for any ideas you may have.. Enjoy!

Glow Bug Cover

     Here's the finished cover. It's pretty similar to the sketch, just more refined. Enjoy!

Circus Tiger Sketch

     Here's a sketch for a new painting i'm going to start. This was kinda rushed so i'm hoping to get some good feedback from my fellow classmates tomorrow. There are a few things i'm still trying to figure out, but for the most part I think it's going to be a fun piece. I was trying to take a spin off of Calvin and Hobbes in reversed roles. I know that it's a little bit of a stretch but I still think it will make a fun illustration. I was trying to think of where a baby tiger could exist and have a stuffed toy to play with. The first thought that came was the zoo but, i've already done a series of zoo illustrations. So, I thought the circus would be fun. Anyway, we'll see how this turns out!

Glow Bug Cover Sketch

     Here's the sketch/rough color for the cover of my Glowbug book. I'm really excited to paint this one :) It should be done in the next few days so stay tuned!

Stilt Clown

     Our second exercise in my Color and Design class was to do an analogous color schemed illustration. This was one of my sketches that I really liked the composition of. I still have a few days to sit on it and see if there are any changes I want to make. Enjoy!

Steampunk Wizard

     I'm doing another independent study of 3D. I feel like this time around is incredibly less frustrating than before. There's obviously loads that I still don't know but i'm pretty happy with the progress i've made so far. Here is a character that I am working on. He's no where near finished but I thought i'd post a work in progress. Eventually i'm going to try to make his beard/eyebrows/hair out of real hair instead of just a shape. I'm also going to give him a few props and a cool environment. Enjoy!

Stilt Clown Sketch

For my Color and Design class we are moving onto analogous color schemes. This is the sketch that i'm going to paint analogously :)

Glowbug Tongue Spread

     This is the flushed out version of the sketch I did for the spread of my Glowbug book. I'd still like to tighten it up some but it's mostly there. Enjoy!

Jane of the Apes (Finished)

     Here's the finished version of my take on Jane and Tarzan. I still have a few days to let it sit and see if there are any changes that I want to make. I was going to wait until Monday to post this but I figured there was no point in waiting. I might make a few changes, but it's mostly done. Enjoy!

EDIT: I've revised this based on some feedback. Thanks for all the help to those of you that gave me feedback in class :)

Warm up Sketch

    I thought I'd warm up a little bit today before I started into my big projects. Enjoy!

Jane and Tarzan

     Here's the sketch for the illustration of Jane and Tarzan in there reversed roles. I'm having all kinds of fun with this project! I'm still working out a few kinks but for the most part I'm happy with where it's at. Enjoy!

Glow Bug spread

     For my narrative illustration class I am illustrating a book about a chameleon named Lyle. The book describes the adventures that Lyle goes through while trying to catch and eat a very appetizing glow bug. I'm super excited about it! Here is a sketch from a spread within the book. The text is still undergoing revisions. Enjoy!

Jane of the Apes

     In one of my illustration classes I'm doing a project that involves redesigns of classic duos. The fun part is that I'm taking each duo and reversing their roles and their characters. In this instance I'm going to do Tarzan and Jane but, I'm going to have Jane be the one that was raised by apes. These are sketches of my designs for Jane and Tarzan. Eventually I'm going to do a full on illustration of the two of them. Enjoy!

Monochromatic Genie

     Here's the finished, colored version. It was hard for me to only use one color. But, it's definitely teaching me to do more with less. Enjoy!

Monochromatic Genie (work in progress)

     Here is a work in progress of my monochromatic illustration. For those of you that aren't familiar with the term, "monochromatic" means one color.  I am still working out what color I want to use. But for now here is the black and white version. Comments welcome!

I dream of Genies....

     Well, not really. But, I thought that it would be fun to paint one for a class assignment.

     In my color and design II class we are exploring monochromatic color schemes. Here are a few rough sketches of some genies that I was messing around with today. We are working with 8x11 format. I like them both for different reasons but I think I'm leaning more towards the first one. Either one will be fun to paint. More to come!

Little Racoon Friend

     Here's the finished version of the previous work in progress. I've had a lot of fun with this one. I hope you all enjoy!

My website's back!

Hello everyone. My website was offline for a month or so while I made some hosting changes and such. But it's back now! Enjoy:

www.stephensitton.com

Work in Progress

     I thought I'd give you guys a little peek. I just blocked in a rough background for lighting. I'm going to actually go back in there and paint up a sweet gypsy wagon and some more defined trees and leaves and stuff. Enjoy!

Little Racoon Friend (sketch)

    A quick sketch just for fun. I kinda like where it's headed so maybe I'll finish it :)

Airline Travel

     

This piece has been alot of fun. Actually most of the illustrations I do are fun. I think that's because being an illustrator is awesome. I love what I do. Honestly! I didn't have a whole lot of time to work on this one but I'm still happy with how it turned out. Enjoy!

Sneak Peak

     Here's a sneak peak at the illustration I'm working on. Enjoy!

It's Been a while...

     So, it's been a long time since my last post. With good excuse, however! I just barely finished the internship portion of my stay at Picture Plane Imaging and they have agreed to let me stay on for the summer as a Freelance artist! I work there 40+ hours a week and have had the privileged to have worked on quite a few unique projects. In the meantime, this is a rough sketch that I'm working on for an illustration for Perspectives magazine. It's supposedly a feature on travel or something like that. I'm still figuring things out. Comments welcome!

Atop the Lighthouse (finished)

     I finished up the background. I'm happy with how this piece turned out. It's been a lot of fun to work on. Comments Welcome!

This might be the last piece that I post on here for a while. I'm starting an internship with Picture Plane Imaging in Texas and most of the stuff I will be working on this summer will be under a Non-Disclosure-Agreement so I can't post it here. And I'm also working on a picture book that I won't be finishing until June. So, don't expect posts very often over the next few months. Sorry guys.

Atop the Lighthouse WIP

     I had this finished a few days ago but I pretty much decided that I hated the background. So, I'm sucking it up and I'm going to re do the background but, in the mean time I thought I'd post what i've got so far. Comments Welcome

Warmup Sketch

     I don't sketch in my sketchbook near as often as I should. It's usually that I'm working on other stuff and don't make time for it. Anyway, I thought I'd warm up a little with some of my new col-erase pencils.

Atop the Lighthouse (Re-drawn) EDIT 1

 ***Edit 1: I've gone back and adjusted a few things as per the comments i've received. I made more overlapping in the armpit area of the horses wing so that it helped the wing curve back into the body better. I've adjusted the pose of the soldier dude to where he's gripping the boy from underneath the arm instead of from above the arm. I've also made the soldier dude starting to climb out of the trap door instead of just standing there. Thanks for the great comments so far!

Atop the Lighthouse (I need some good comments guys!!)

     So, after not having looked at it for a long time, I've finally found time to start working on this image of the scene from the Lighthouse of Alexandria again. It's still extremely rough but, I've got a pretty good idea of where I want to take it from here but I would really like some input from some of my fellow artists. I don't request comments much but I am now. Please feel free to comment to your hearts content with regards to how I might be able to improve the image (without starting over) :)

There are a few areas that I will point out that I would like help with. But feel free to make any other comments:
     I know that there are a lot of you out there that have a better knowledge of horse anatomy than I do. So those of you horse lovers, please feel free to make any comments with regards to the anatomy, expression, and even the wings on the horse. I'm not 100% sold on them myself yet.
     I'm going to rework the gesture and pose of the characters. So don't focus on that as much at the moment.
     One thing that I would like some input on is the lighting in the image. There is obviously going to be a large amount of light coming from the various flames on the harbor. But I also want a nice balance between that and the moonlight. And I'm not quite sure how do achieve that yet.

Anyway, feel free to make any other comments. Also those of you who feel like you have enough free time to do any sort of paint-overs or anything like that.. feel free to slap some colors on there and email it to me at stephen@stephensitton.com

Thanks guys!

Into the Sunset

     I finished this painting about a week ago but I couldn't post it until today. It's a birthday present for my Dad and today is his birthday. My dad owns a small Piper Cub airplane and he's flown airplanes all his life so I thought this would be a fun gift for him. The background is my parents home in Arkansas. I've never painted planes before so I had a lot of fun painting this one. Comments welcome.

Jester

     I've been working on a new character for my 3D independent study in Maya. This character started off just as a doodle that I was messing around with. I've been having a blast learning how to model stuff in Maya. It's so different from anything I have done before but, I'm enjoying it nonetheless. I'm debating on whether I want to change the colors to something other than red/green because I think it feels to much like a Christmas elf instead of a jester. I'm currently working on learning how to rig a skeletal structure inside him so that I can pose and possibly animate him. Comments welcome!