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!

Portrait for the Abegglens

     I've been working on a portrait for a friend of mine, Josh Abegglen, and his wife Karen. It was part of an art exchange that I did with Karen for some laptop cases that she crocheted for my wife and I. Karen is an amazing crochet artist and you can see some of her fabulous designs at her website: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ballofyarn

New Sketch/Color Comps

     I have a number of projects that i'm working on at the moment. But, I can only post work in progress on one of them. This is a sketch and some color comps for a new illustration that i'm working on for "The Lighthouse of Alexandria". This is a pretty epic scene in the book and I'm really excited to start painting away. The author chose the far left of the color comps but I thought I'd post the rest anyway. They are all kinda similar just playing around with warm/cool. Comments welcome.

3D stuffs

     It's been almost a month since my last post. I have to apologize for those of you who keep up on my blog. I'm doing an independent study this semester trying to learn Maya. Here are a few things that i've modeled in 3D. The first is a gamecube and the second is a robot crab that I came up with.

     The most recent out of the 3D stuff that i've been working on is modeling and rigging/animating a character's head. I decided to do the character Alex from my "baby fur" story. Eventually I will upload a video of him making some faces.

Death of Captain Smith

     I finally found a pocket of time that I used to finish up this image of the death of captain Smith. This is a scene from the book, "The Lighthouse of Alexandria" that I did the cover for. This has been a challenging piece for sure! But, I'm happy with how it's turned out. I'm still going to work on it a little so if anyone has any thoughts on how I could improve the image, feel free to comment.

Kaylee as Jasmine

     My wife's family has a christmas tradition of drawing names to see who buys presents for whom and this year I drew my sister-in-law Kaylee's name. She's always said that she wanted me to paint her a picture of a Disney Princess so I decided to paint her as a Disney Princess. I haven't posted it until now because I haven't been able to give it to her until today. Comments Welcome!

Death of Captain Smith (Drawing)

     I'm working on some pitch art for the book I did the cover for ( "The Lighthouse of Alexandria" ). This is the drawing for one of the scenes from the book. If you are wondering what the story is behind this scene, I'll give you one clue. It's about pirates....

Baby Fur Animatic - Grocery Store

Baby Fur Animatic - Grocery Store (Edit 1) from Stephen Sitton on Vimeo.


This is an animatic sequence for my Baby Fur story. This is the first time i've ever done anything like this so it was a really different experience. I've learned a ton and have enjoyed the process. I'm still tinkering around with timing and sound effects and such.. but it's done for now. Enjoy!

Christmas Card Finished

     The semester is finally winding down and I just finished this year's Christmas Card. This was a lot of fun to paint! Merry Christmas everyone...

Christmas Card Sketch

     I have always wanted to do my own Christmas card. This year I decided to buckle down and start one! This is the sketch that i've been working on. I'd like to think that this is where Santa hangs out while he's not at the workshop.  It's really rough at this point and I'm probably going to change things here and there. But, you get the idear. Comments welcome!

Frost Queen

     For the next of my artist studies I decided to try to emulate the style of the amazing Sean Galloway (otherwise known as "cheeks"). He has a very unique style that is crazy fun. His style of characterizing figures is beautiful. His blog can be viewed here. I don't know if my illustration holds up to his stuff at all but I had a lot of fun doing it. Comments Welcome!

The Lighthouse of Alexandria Cover

     It was hard to find time to work as much as I wanted to over Thanksgiving break but I did manage to get the cover for "The Lighthouse of Alexandria" finished. It is a dust jacket cover. So, the image encompasses the front, back, and both interior flaps. I am still going to refine a few things but I figured I could post it to show everyone what i've been working on. This was a blast to paint and I look forward to the next one! Comments Welcome!

Baby Fur Story Boards

     Here are some story boards i've been working on for my Baby Fur project. It's my first time doing story boards so i've learned a lot in the process!