recent stuff

I drew this lovely gal who is originally from Moscow, Russia at an Ohio State Active Minds event. This gig came during a 10 gigs in 10 days streak in mid-April. That stretch was both exhausting and exhilarating because after a really slow winter, it was great to draw daily and resharpen my abilities.

Here are a couple of drawings I did for PhatDaddy's Pizza in London, Ohio-- a restaurant where I have drawn several times and the owners have scanned the drawings of customers and have framed and hung the drawings on the walls. These graphics will be made into decals to put on their delivery vehicles.



A portrait commission for an author in Quebec, Canada. He wanted a serious look and something that looked somewhat antique, so I used a vertical hatch technique that made it look a bit like a woodcut. I'm pretty happy with the result.


Also in April, I was booked for a gig in Louisville, Kentucky with two other artists, Tad and John. Afterwards we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for a late dinner, but the highlight was the visitor's bureau which had a Colonel Sanders shrine inside. The place was closed, but I took this shot of my friends posing next to the ghostly apparition of Col. Harlan.


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Their Three Sons

I recently completed a chalk portrait for a long time client who has had me draw a portrait for each of their three sons. What a great tradition! I hope they keep having kids!

Below are the three portraits, the most recent is first. The other two are from photos supplied by the client, so they are a little dark, but the color was the same as you see in the first.

2010

2006

2004

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Two sisters, two wedding gifts!

Over the summer, both my sister Katie and sister Sara were married. (congrats girls!) I'm very happy for both of them and gave them each a practical gift ("The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands" by Dr. Laura Schlessinger) as well as an impractical gift-- an artistic interpretation of their engagement photo. Here are the results:

(click for larger version)

Ethan and Katie
watercolor

Tony and Sara

b/w watercolor

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Catching Up...

Long time, no blog...

It was a busy summer working at the ballpark and doing my fill of gigs and studio work. I have plenty of work to show off, but I'll do that a bit at a time to keep you all in suspense. haha

Here are a couple of pieces from the Summer of '09:

(click for a larger view)

A gift for an accountant. (Digital b/w)

A birthday gift for his wife. (Digital color)

A 50th Anniversary gift portrait. (Acrylic on canvas)

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Portrait time

This week I worked on a portrait to be given as a Mother's Day gift from a father to his wife. I really enjoy doing portraits, and wish I could do more!

(click for a larger view)

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This week's art-- web caricature and pencil portrait

This week I was commissioned to do a digital caricature for a fellow blogger. You can see the drawing as she used it in her blog here: http://lindaslongview.wordpress.com/about-the-long-view/

(click to see larger view)

I also completed a pencil portrait of the daughter of a regular client of mine. She gets an updated portrait each year of her daughters. What a wonderful way to record your child's growth!




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Grandfather and Mother portrait

My grandfather, Grandpa Madden, turned 90 on Friday! (Congrats Old-timer!) For his gift, I drew a portrait of him and his only child, my mother. It was done in pencil with watercolor as a duotone.

Duotones were common in the age of black and white photos-- a b/w photo or print was tinted with a color such as blue or sepia to enhance the photo or artwork. I chose a blue color for the drawing to give it a dreamy quality and because they both have beautiful baby blues. The drawing shows them together, but was taken from two different photos-- my mother's graduation photo and Grandpa's wedding photo.

(click for larger view)

Digital painting

(click for larger version)

I loved Anna Faris in Housebunny! I'd never seen her in other movies, but before I even saw the movie, I saw a picture of her and was inspired to try to capture her in paint. This is a digital painting done with Painter Classic.

I saved copies of the file as it progressed, so I can post the progression later.

I can do paintings like this one in a digital format in about two days from start to finish.

What do you think?


all artwork ©2009 by Steve Campbell. Reproduction without permission is prohibited... and THEFT!
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