Category Archives: Selected Works

Painting of Female Mongoose

April 24, 2014Animals, Blog, Selected Worksmsanborn

Finished the painting for my female mongoose for the annual Fullsail art show. I initially was sticking with my reference and made the eye color a brownish red, which looked decent but I felt it needed more pop so I went back and pushed in a bright green. The green island surrounded by the reddish brown fur popped a lot better and I liked the idea of it meeting the color of the dress. I was a little worried about the design on the dress coming through or taking forever but that worked out well also. I love it when a plan yada yada yada.

Funny thing, I did a linoleum cut print and some calligraphy that took me far less time and effort and everyone so far is responding to that more. Makes me a little sad inside that my girl here, Isabella de la Salle, isn’t getting as much love. When I’m working on these paintings, I always imagine a back story to go along with the character and it makes them a little closer to my heart, knowing who they are. Maybe it is a good thing as I’m not ready to say goodbye to her yet.

Painting of the Bears Of Sousceyrac

February 28, 2014Animals, Blog, Selected Worksmsanborn

I am finally happy with the way the Bears of Sousceyrac turned out. It took considerably longer than anticipated. I actually went to some painter colleagues and got some feedback on this one. It has been a while since I really pressed for harsh critique but it was well worth it as they pointed out some things that were right there under my nose like some troubling contrast issues and a bit of tangency. Sometimes you get that blind spot and have trouble seeing what is right in front of you. In any case, the actual name of this piece is “The Bears of Sousceyrac are simple and industrious” I’m sure I’ll be posting about this again once we have our show which is at Hannibals on the second week in March. There promises to be a lot of really excellent work at this show!

Painting of Ruby June Being Taken Away

January 10, 2014Blog, Selected Works, The Amazing Adventures of Ruby Junemsanborn

Another painting for the book close to complete. I’d call them complete at this stage save for the fact that when I get them all painted and hung and look at them as a whole, there will invariably be things I need to tweak. Still, I’m calling this one done for the moment.

In this panel, Ruby June has displeased the mighty Coo-Thoo-Loo. He has commanded his Deep Ones to haul her off to underwater prison while he continues with his plans to take over the surface world. It is looking pretty bleak for our heroine at the moment but something tells me she’ll get the job done and save us all in the end.

Painting of Ruby June Breaking the Spell

January 3, 2014Blog, Selected Works, The Amazing Adventures of Ruby Junemsanborn

It has been a little while since I posted so I’ll blame the holidays for that. Travel and whatnot has impacted my ability to get stuff on-line. I have been working, however. I mean, when am I not? I told myself I wasn’t going to post any of the paintings of the Ruby June book until I was nearing completion but I have been putting off nearly all my other projects in the hopes that in the next 5-6 months I will be able to bring this one home.

Here is the painting of the Deep Ones freed from Coo-Thoo-Loo’s spell. I might still push on this one just a bit. I’m told some of my panels are a little on the dark side so maybe I can push in a little more light here and there. I sort of like the darker values though. It is a book about Cthulhu after all. Even though I’m making it safe for kids, I don’t want to make it too cheery or bright. Still, I might be able to bring in a little more light on the foreground figures. What I will probably do is get all the panels to this stage and then look at them all together again.

Painting of Santa Following Franklin and Nunu

December 6, 2013Blog, Selected Works, Special Projectsmsanborn

I finished the painting for this years Christmas card. For some reason I always end up pushing the bounds of getting everything done in time. Maybe next year I will start earlier. It is really hard when you are in the middle of other really engaging projects to break away, even when it is form something fun like this. In the end, I do like working on a “one-off” as opposed to all my huge projects. Even this isn’t really a “one-off” as it is page three from what will eventually be a Christmas children’s book about a bear and wild pig that end up helping Santa deliver his toys.

The painting of this one went pretty smoothly with the exception of my using extra heavy gel which seemed to give me more defined and lofty peaks in the texture. In the end I might have to tweak out some things in Photoshop to get all the panels to match for the end book. Other than that, the painting went well. I loved painting those trees and Santa was a lot of fun. Even the little sprig at the base of the tree was nice to work on. The huge expanses of snow were a bit of a drag, though. It was a lot of slow dry-brushing. Still, I’m happy with the results so it was time well spent.

Vector Image of Chapter 2 Lino Cut for New Book

November 20, 2013Blog, Selected Worksmsanborn

In this image, soon to be a linoleum cut print, our heroine is returning to her home to find the outside lantern lit. A lit lantern means visitors and the prospect of monies, an occasion which always causes the Alopairs to act erratically.

This design caused a bit of trouble. I might still need to plug away at it a bit to clean up some areas. I might straighten out the corn stalks to see if a more structured design will work better.

Vector Image of Chapter 1 Lino Cut for New Book

November 11, 2013Blog, Selected Worksmsanborn

In an effort to keep posting new materials and not fall behind while I am painting all the book panels for Ruby June, I’m doing my best to keep plugging away on other projects like my YA fantasy book about the adventurous little girl named Finch. In this hopefully soon to be linoleum cut print, Finch has recovered her abusive and oafish adoptive father’s wedge. She discovered it sitting mysteriously atop a rock with a carving on it that, when she read it, caused her to black out. It is proving to be challenging to keep the style consistent throughout these designs but I think I’m up to it. We’ll see, the first book has 12 chapters in it so lets see if I can maintain.

I am still editing the book (this is about the fifth or sixth time) and I’m a little concerned I’m taking out a little too much of the art to make it read smoother. Might need one more pass, just to be safe. The writing definitely needed to be edited. I’m finding things now that I haven’t before in my editing so it looks like progress. We’ll see.

Vector Image of Future Lino Cut for New Book

October 26, 2013Selected Worksmsanborn

I am now well under way of the fifth or sixth pass of editing this small first book in what I hope to become a series. This is the most time I have ever spent editing so I hope it comes out well. I am a little concerned about removing too much of what makes my writing mine. I might have to re-read the first pass one more time just to see if I took out anything that really worked. Boy is editing complicated. The book is about an adventurous girl named Finch with a mysterious past. She moves from guide to guide, learning skills and discovering more about herself. I’m still refining my voice in the written work but I have embarked upon completing a linoleum cut print for each chapter. That will be a challenge in and of itself trying to keep this same feel for all the images. In this chapter, our heroine has been placed down a dry well by brigands set on robbing her adopted family.

Vye Meeting painting stage 2

September 25, 2013Blog, Selected Works, The Tapestrymsanborn

Finished the William Cooper Painting. Hope Mr. Neff likes it. Think the colors turned out decent though they had me worried for a bit. Had to tie everything together with the yellow-green light from the left. The unification of the shadow color was helping but it still needed a little extra push. Strangely enough, my four year old daughter, who was scared by one of my very innocent and whimsical paintings that I painted for her room, was entirely not scared of the vyes (wolf folk) in this image. I’ve given up trying to figure it out.

Hippo painting

September 25, 2013Animals, Blog, Selected Worksmsanborn

Look who has decided to join the crew. I had a pretty productive day, got this fellow painted and plugged away on another charcoal book panel. Hooray for setting unrealistic goals and sticking to them! I might go in and push on this guy just a little more but for the time being I think he is where he should be.