Blues according to Mark

The man with no name makes a name for himself

2011-07-01T14:17:00.000-07:00

NEW WORK!
I just finished this portrait of Clint Eastwood this week. Acrylic on board.

In my quest to be a better portrait illustrator, I drew a sketch of Clint Eastwood from memory - thinking that he had a pretty memorable face. This was a tiny sketch in the corner of my sketchbook.

Later I came back to the idea of simplifying Mr. Eastwood's face and drew a line drawing in Illustrator, but I could not properly get his iconic squint to look right and it occurred to me that his brow sort of made an "X" across his face so I ran with it. I thought it made perfect sense, also because his character in one of my favorite movies, "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" is known as "The Man with no Name."

For the painting, I decided a brooding sunset would make a good background because he is older and nearing the end of his career. Also, the movies he's made in the last 15 years or so have been pretty heavy dramas. I scanned in the background I had painted first and layered the vector sketch on top to play with placement and colors. I decided he should be in the lower third of the frame to make the space in the sky more heavy and weighty. I also needed to see what I should do with his shirt. Blue was used in his hair and features to stand out from the orange in the sky immediately next to his face. I liked the blue dot graphic elements on his shirt, but I couldn't justify why I had put them there. There should be a meaning if I chose to be so bold in a pattern. It was just pure decoration. That might not be bad, and you may be able to figure out a meaning for it, but it was a little distracting for me.

I then redrew the face on the background and started filling it in with acrylics. I build it up gradually with a lot of water mixed in to let a little of the background color show through. I decided to make his shirt really dark like he wore in "Gran Torino." It is a lot less distracting from the focus of his "X"-brow and it brings the balance of the painting back right-side up. Keeps it grounded. I wanted to give the edge an olde-fashioned faded look, but the black I used seemed too much.

It made the whole painting too heavy and dramatic- which was sort of what I was going for, but I wondered if I could make it more pleasing to look at. I scanned this in and worked with it in Photoshop - putting layers of duotone red and desaturated color layered behind the portrait. The background now gives proper attention to the face without being too distracting. This will be used for self-promotion and can be seen on my website markamontgomery.com

Building some muscle

2011-06-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

My latest painting: "Car"

11x14, acrylic, black Sharpie, gold glitter on canvas

This is the last in a series of fine paintings recalling my son's first words: "Bus, Truck, Car." They are hanging in his room.

For "Car" I decided to paint my dad's 1974 Plymouth Barracuda. It was his first new car that he got the year he and mom were married. (Today is their anniversary- Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!) I believe it was also the last year Plymouth made them. I always called it brown, but Dad insisted it was gold and its gold flecks would sparkle in the sunlight. White patent leather interior. I drove this car for about a year from when I got my license to when I got my first car. It starts up with a low roar when you turn the ignition.

The ol' 'Cuda has seen better days. It now sits in the garage with a blue tarp over it. It only takes leaded gasoline so it is a pain to mix some lead (I guess) into each tank of gas. A little rusty and the white seats are pretty scuffed up from kids kicking the back of them while riding in the back. (without carseats!)

I thought this would be both inspirational and a nice tribute to muscle cars and family.

I enjoyed working on this. I hope you like it!

Getting Frosty

2010-12-22T09:43:00.000-08:00

Another annual favorite that my 4-year-old watches constantly is the 1969 "Frosty the Snowman" by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr. who did a bunch of my favorite classic holiday animations. From Wikipedia: "This special marked the first use of traditional cel animation (as opposed to stop-motion animation) for Rankin/Bass in a Christmas special. Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass wanted to give the show and its characters the look of a Christmas card, so Paul Coker, Jr., a greeting card and Mad magazine artist, was hired to do the character and background drawings. The animation was produced by Mushi Production in Japan, with then-Mushi staffer Osamu Dezaki among the animation staff." Read more about the artist Paul Coker, Jr. here and here. Now that I have seen other images by Mr. Coker, Jr. I am sure the title font is his hand-drawn creation. Definitely a '60s style and the ink blobs and sketchy line work belong to his other work for sure. It just looks like it was outlined on the back of a napkin. I love it! Merry Christmas!

I typically hate animated gifs on web sites, but I couldn't resist. (below)

Frosty the Snowman Graphics provided by MySpaceGraphicsandAnimations.net

Christmas fonts

2010-12-14T14:53:00.000-08:00

Every year, one of my Christmas traditions is to watch old TV specials. I now have several on DVD so I don't have to rely exclusively on TV programming. One of the things I love about the classics is that the ones who produced them were real artists. I recently took a closer look at the opening title sequences of some of my favorites and was amazed at the precision, beauty and artistry of the hand-lettered fonts. Below are samples from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Notice it aired in 1964... or did it? Anything else important happen that year for historical context? The Beatles were getting huge, I know that. Look closer at the Roman Numerals. "1164" Did anything cool happen that year? haha! I'll post more screen grabs from other favorites. I hope you enjoy this little nugget of nostalgia!

Studies in Expression

2010-12-01T12:44:00.000-08:00

My wife has been trying to get me to do "pretty" paintings for decorating. I also promised a painting for the newly remodeled room where our Bible study group meets at church. In researching decorative art that my wife thought was nice, I came across a painting style at Springfield's First Friday Artwalk in November that reminded me of some I'd seen in art history classes.

The "Abstract Expressionist" style was what I would look at and Mark Rothko is the painter who I found most fascinating with his color studies and heavy shapes. It looks easy- like "my kindergartner could do that" kind of thing, so I decided to try to reproduce one of his works.

Once I got into it, I realized there is a lot going on and I found myself frustrated that I could not get the colors or shapes just right. First of all, I was using acrylic paints which is good for all the other stuff I do, but for the kind of soft blends and indistinct edges oils would have been better.

I was trying to reinterpret his painting using his shapes and basic color scheme, but shift the emphasis. There are many ways to do this in color theory and I ended up trying all I could think of. A sharp edge, white, hue, complementary colors, shape, etc. I was amazed at how much I had to mix colors and how much I had to care to make it work. You can't use just any green on just any orangey-red background. There were even reasons for certain outlines and highlights. Amazing. It was like having a Color Theory test all in one painting. Enlightening!

One reason I was drawn to his painter was his philosophy that Rothko saw art as a tool of emotional and religious expression. Since I was going to hang this in a church, I thought it fitting. Plus, it is not too distracting. Hopefully somebody finds it inspirational.
Thanks Mark Rothko for your inspiration to me!

My Favorites of the year vol. 2.2

2010-07-02T14:16:00.000-07:00

These are my favorite movies from the past year: June 24-June 24. I don't get a chance to go to theaters much, so these are mostly rentals. I can get a wide variety from Netflix and the library so some are classics that I've discovered this year and some are recent blockbusters.

I finally sat down and spent some time with Charlie Chaplin and I was not disappointed. He was a creative genius in many ways. From character development to acting to dance to music composition to directing to writing and producing, he did it all and was the most important actor for the first half of the last century. I enjoyed learning about his life in the special features disks and the movie "Chaplin" with Robert Downey Jr.

If you see something missing from my list that you think I should see, comment and let me know. I'm always up for a new cinematic experience!

MOVIES:

Modern Times – Charlie Chaplin
City Lights – Charlie Chaplin
Gold Rush – Charlie Chaplin
District 9
Gran Torino
(500) Days of Summer
Sherlock Holmes
Star Trek
The Blind Side
Year One
Knowing
Surrogates
Iron Man
Eagle Eye
Yes Man
Cloverfield
Ghost Town
Gandhi
Cinema Paradiso
Attack of the 50 foot woman
Them
Plan 9 from Outer Space
On the Waterfront
Traitor
Die Hard
Lucky Number Slevin
Annie Hall
La Femme Nikita
Birdman of Alcatraz
The Odd Couple

Visit my store, buy cool stuff

2010-07-01T14:09:00.000-07:00

make custom gifts at Zazzle

My Favorites of the year vol. 2.1

2010-06-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my birthday and last year at this time, I took stock of the year's preceding entertainment that I found amusing, inspiring, and all around great. So I decided I would make this an annual tradition and make a few lists of my favorite bits of whatever from the past year. I have broken these lists into three parts: music, movies, and artists.

So this week I've scoured my iTunes library to see what I've added in the past 12 months that have made me smile or inspired me while working. Maybe you'll find something new from my list to enjoy in the coming year. The other lists will be coming shortly AND I reserve the right to add to these lists as I remember items. Enjoy!

LaLa.com- R.I.P – I heard a lot of music through you this year, but Apple bought you and shut you down. I hope iTunes learns something from them.
The Black Keys – Brothers 
MuteMath – Armistice
 Needtobreathe – The Outsiders. I love this guy’s voice. They rock AND have some mountain instruments for texture. 
The Heavy – The House that Dirt Built. That song "How you Like Me now" from the Kia commercial is still cool to me. 
Sufjan Stevens – all his stuff is amazing and will probably be on my list every year whether he has a new album or not. 
Instrumental Movie soundtracks. It’s like modern classical music. Makes good background music to paint to. 
Regina Spektor – Far. She is also a perennial favorite. 
Owl City – Ocean Eyes. Kind of a guilty pleasure, but I just think it’s fun music.
Matt Kearney – City of Black & White 
Sara Watkins from Nickel Creek finally came out with a solo album 
Punch Brothers. I heard them in concert on NPR last week. They make “genius” fun. I plan to get their new album ASAP so they will be on my list next year for sure. 
Imogen Heap – Ellipse
Ingrid Michaelson – Girls & Boys 
Fiction Family – guitarist from Nickel Creek and singer from Switchfoot come together and got me through some tough times last year. 
Switchfoot song “Always” came out just before my daughter was born and it helped me look forward to her first day of life 
Wynton Marsalis – Christmas Jazz Jam. My favorite trumpeter made an incredible Holiday album
Wynton Marsalis – Mr. Jelly Lord. Old timey jazz and Dixieland
Harper Simon, son of Paul Simon. Enough said. 
Broken Bells is a collaboration between Danger Mouse and James Mercer of The Shins
 She & Him – Volume One & Volume Two
 Brooke Waggoner – Go Easy is so beautiful, like a more serious Regina Spektor
Remedy Drive – song “Heartbeat” gets my blood flowing
Toby Mac – Tonight
The Classic Crime – The Silver Cord. Just plain rocks!

RUN D=MC2

2010-06-21T13:34:00.000-07:00

A branch of my wife's family in St. Louis ran as a team in a 5K race this summer. The race was to benefit the Saint Louis Science Center where my wife's cousin works as the PR & Marketing Manager. They asked me to design a T-shirt in the name of team unity based on the name they had come up with. The cousins are products of the '80s and way into music so I combined a spoof on RUN DMC's logo and the universal rep of science- Mr. Albert Einstein. The glasses and huge gold chain were added to make him fit into the rap group's persona. I could have added a fedora, but it would have covered up the crazy Einstein hair he is (partly) famous for – I mean he did other things besides have electric hair. I think.

We changed the theory of relativity! So sue them. It's ALL relative anyway. Did you even notice?

This was a very fast, fun, and free design that paid off big in comments like "that is hilarious!" by me mostly. I also got a first run printing of the T-shirt so now when I work out, I can feel smart AND hip!

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visit

2010-04-20T14:10:00.000-07:00

Many of you who are my Facebook friends have heard me talk about the Public Affairs event at Missouri State University's JQH Arena last Friday. The keynote speaker was Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who is a lobbyist/lawyer/activist/a Time Magazine Hero for the Planet/falconer/son of Bobby. His speech was titled "Our Environmental Destiny" and he basically talked for an hour about the dangers and stupidity of coal and the need for an infrastructure to use other forms of energy.

Most importantly, since the Springfield-Greene County Parks Department had a big hand in bringing him here and I work as a designer for Parks and Springfield City Public Information, I got to create all kinds of graphics for the event. I designed access badges, parking passes, large signs, an e-vite, and an 8 ft x 17.5 ft stage banner.

Most of my work was done before the event even started, but I was there with my "All Access" badge watching everything go down and just admiring my banner. There were around 3,000 people there at the event to watch my beautiful banner that morning.

There was a little snaffoo with the printing of the banner earlier that week in which a letter "R" mysteriously was left off! Let me tell you my stomach hit the floor! Luckily the printer had a quick fix and my good friend Matt Stufflebeam printed out a new adhesive letter and got it placed on the banner. Thanks Stuffles! The TV crew in my office were taking bets as to when the letter would melt in the lights and float off the banner onto RFK's head or something. Luckily that did NOT happen.

The banner design is a modified version of the Park's logo which I did not create, but the logo has a ton of text and is strictly horizontal (landscape). My job was to make it work on a (very) vertical space.

As soon as he got on stage, RFK, Jr. moved the podium out of the way and then a security guy moved it to the back of the stage. The top photo looks like he is speaking backwards.

Security would not let me take a photo with RFK, Jr., but I was able to get my pal Chris to snap one of me with the GI-normous banner. I hope to see the banner again someday; we are friends for life.

After all the trouble I went to to make "ask Mr. Kennedy a question" signs, he went way over his allotted time and Dr. Nietzel (MSU President) only got to ask him 3 questions on the stage.

Since RFK Jr. is a falconer, we had a very dramatic moment in front of my banner in which a bald eagle and some kind of falcon and their handlers from the zoo walked up on stage and stayed during a great video introduction. Nice job CityView!

After the event I got the glamorous job of moving plants to the loading dock and cleaning up Mr. Kennedy's green room. I can tell you that he drank a diet Pepsi and opened a peanut granola bar, but I don't think he took a bite. I snagged a (different) granola bar and a Coke and a too ripe peach. It's OK- I had an All Access pass- to the refrigerator!

I can honestly say I love working for the City in Parks and Public Info because it is always a new experience every day! Keeps me hopping.

Rock 'n Map!

2010-04-08T15:23:00.000-07:00

I recently finished creating a festival map for Springfield's Rock 'n Ribs BBQ Festival sponsored by the Rotary Club. The event features BBQ teams and restaurants at booths where you go down the line sampling TONS of delicious meatiness! They also have live local music playing at the big tent all day. All proceeds go to various children's charities so if you are in the Springfield area on April 17, come get your grub on. My maps will be blown up to 4'x5' and placed at various locations to help you keep your bearings.

I had a lot of fun with this project. I drew/wrote out every piece by hand then scanned it in and cleaned it up and aded some color in Adobe Illustrator. Bits of olde timey map work in the location banners and such. I can't wait to see my work put to use and eat my quota of BBQ in the same day! What could be better than that!?

Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life

2010-04-02T12:45:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased a book for which I had read rave reviews. “Charley Harper, An Illustrated Life” is a coffee table-type book with LOTS of pictures – more than 700 paintings reprinted for my wide eyes to devour! I didn't really know who the artist was, but had seen a few images on Amazon when I was making my Christmas wish list last year.

The images of birds and bugs haunted me (in a good way) and when the opportunity arose for a trip to Barnes & Noble with a loaded gift card a few months later, there was no question which book I would return home with. That night, my wife went into labor and we spent the next few days in the hospital with my beautiful baby girl- but guess what I packed in the labor bag?

It is a large book and I have still not had a chance to get through it yet, but that is OK. I look at a few pages a sitting and that is all the genius my mind can handle. The paintings influence me more when I just study a few at a time, I think. As an artist, I have traditionally found it hard to get excited about patterns, but Charley Harper does some things with symmetry, pattern, angles and shapes that just blow my mind.

"Minimal realism", Harper (1922-2007) called it, a spare, geometrical style. One quote of Harper’s in the book that sticks with me is “I don’t count the feathers on (the bird’s) wings, I count the wings.” That philosophy to painting is one I hope use to focus my own artwork whether it be wild life or cars and trucks. As I’ve been out an about town since discovering this body artwork, I can see Mr. Harper’s influence everywhere– especially in textiles like clothing, handbags, prints, shoes, etc.

There is a wonderful interview in the first several pages between Harper and designer Todd Oldham in which Harper tells of his upbringing and inspiration for the paintings. His ladybug especially stands out to me, which is built of several perfect circles. Couldn’t be any simpler! One story Harper tells is his early fascination with "Jesus bugs." Harper explained that as a young boy on a farm in rural West Virginia, he would spend hours in the creek watching water striders: insects that seemed to walk on water.

I’m starting to ramble now, but I just wanted to share the latest thing to influence me as an artist. He is one artist whose portfolio, which was more than 60 years in the making, has remained so timeless and beautiful that I would love to hang them on my own walls! Please give Charley Harper’s artwork a chance to wash over you and you will be hooked just like me.

All images © Charley Harper

Shepard Fairey admits to wrongdoing

2009-10-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

It is a shame that artists have to worry about how much to change their image from a reference photograph when making their own work. I can understand both sides of the argument over copyright.

The photographer wants to be credited (and paid) for the use of his good work. Meanwhile, his photo is probably the only link between the celebrity and the artist. I have to give the illustrators a lot of credit who can make an effective likeness of a celebrity AND avoid infringement. Some say the artist must change his image at least 10% from the reference photo (if it is not their own property). Apparently, according to the Shepard Fairey/Associated Press case, using a Photoshop© effect and coloring the image in psychedelic, patriotic colors does not count.

Those that can combine several photos together into one mashup illustration that communicates a perfect likeness are the real heroes in illustration! Believe me, it is difficult to do. Makes me nervous to use Google© Image search again.

Check out the latest in the Obama© campaign portrait image lawsuit from the LA Times.©©©

Fight the Flu!

2009-09-16T12:33:00.001-07:00

Of course the flu and H1N1 Swine Flu is on everyone's mind this fall. I just read yesterday that an H1N1 vaccine was just approved by the FDA. Media are reporting today that H1N1 vaccinations could begin as early as October 1st. Health Departments across the world are making sure everyone is as informed as possible on flu prevention and vaccination programs. My local Health Department put together this very helpful Web site with specific information targeting any group you may feel connected to. I designed and drew the round category buttons on the left side of the home page. I'm so proud to know my graphics are part of communicating something of global importance. Take a look and help us all Fight the Flu!

Illustration Friday- wrapped

2009-08-20T22:24:00.000-07:00

The princess wrapped her arms around her kitty cat, but it wasn't clear who had saved who.

New cover

2009-08-17T14:51:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the latest things I've been working on at the City for the Park Board. I came up with this updated cover design and template for a quarterly catalog of everything offered by the Springfield/Greene County Parks system for the Fall 2009. I did some ads for them recently using a similar style to this masthead so thought I'd do a little rebranding of the Park advertising. They love it so far. We'll see how far we can take it.

See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me…Sell Me

2009-08-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

Illustration Friday-Tango

2009-07-24T07:50:00.001-07:00

This illustration was for a regional lifestyle magazine for an article about an after hours secret ballroom dancing club. The art director said she wanted it more sexy than the first sketch I showed so I steamed it up with half-closed shades and a style taken from old pulp fiction romance novels. Thanks to AD Tiffany Barton for this exciting addition to my portfolio.

T-shirt store open for business

2009-07-21T09:02:00.000-07:00

I have a few items available for purchase on my brand new markAmontgomeryZazzle site! This site is so fly because you can customize the shirt/trucker hat style, color and size to fit your beautiful body. What a great service! I will update you when I add designs – I have a couple awesome ones in the works. Thanks for visiting, friend!

Norman Rockwell inspiration

2009-07-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite stories my dad read to me growing up was Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Living in Missouri and visiting the family farm in the northern parts made an instant connection for me. But what stands out in my head when I think about Twain's masterpiece are the illustrations showcasing key scenes in the story. I later found out that the art was done by Norman Rockwell and I've been hooked (along with the rest of the country) ever since. I enjoy Rockwell for his humor and storytelling. The viewer can put together a whole story from a single image without needing a caption. What makes these so memorable is the background work and composition Rockwell did before the finished piece. To really appreciate the details and composition, check out several posts I ran across on Today's Inspiration. My work couldn't be picked apart so cleanly I'm sure. Much Illustration today is pretty simple, quick and to the point. Probably not stuff you would want on your wall, but back in the 40's, they took a lot of pride in their painterly efforts. I'll bet the computer had something to do with the change.

Trends in logo design so far this year

2009-07-06T15:26:00.000-07:00

Came across the Web site, Logo Lounge over the holiday weekend that shares results of a constant study of logo trends. They list and show examples of types of logos going back to 2003. To me, this can either serve as great inspiration or show me what to stay away from when creating an identity for some company. It's nice to see what others are doing, but you also want to make an original mark for the client– so staying away from "trends" will hopefully make a lasting identity that won't have to be updated every five years. Really interesting to see the breakdown of the logos they have collected. Nice logos too! I think my Brownfields logo from last year fits in with the recycle logo trend. Who knew?

History of the praying hands

2009-07-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

One of the classic images from my childhood and in the world of art is the praying hands. I never really thought about why we fold our hands when we pray (especially in public or in the presence of children). It is just something passed down as tradition I guess. I figured bowing our heads was to show reverence like you would in front of any king, and I suppose closing our eyes is just to help the one praying to stay focused on the one they are praying to. The praying hands actually has a lot of symbolism that I found most interesting on Steven Heller's blog for Print Magazine.

Here is the quote that I found interesting:
"One symbol that we all know, yet doubtless rarely think about because it is so invisibly common, is the ubiquitous gesture of prayer. Where did the joining of hands come from? It might surprise you to learn that it does not have a religious origin. It is not signified in the Bible. And it was not even part of the Christian tradition until the 9th century. In Hebrew and Christian custom, spreading of arms and hands toward the heavens was the prevailing sign of devotion. In The People’s Almanac, David Wallechinsky and Irving Wallace wrote that the joining of hands “leads back to men’s early desire to subjugate each other and developed out of the shackling of hands of prisoners! Though the handcuffs eventually disappeared, the joining of hands remained as a symbol of man’s servitude and submission and his inability (or even lack of inclination) to grasp a weapon.” They added that Christianity adopted “the gesture representing shackled hands as a sign of man’s total obedience to divine power."

Illustrators who inspired me last year

2009-06-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

Hatch Show Print
Marc Burckhardt
Allan Burch
Kyle T. Webster
John Hendrix
Yuko Shimizu
Joe Ciardiello
Frank Chimero
Caroline Coolidge Brown
Al Hirschfeld
Michael Sloan
Sonia Kretschmar
Jody Hewgill
Joseph Daniel Fiedler
Andrea Ventura
Doug Erb
Anita Kunz
David Spear
(I hope these illustrators inspire you to be creative like they have me)

Movies that I found entertaining the last year

2009-06-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Sting
Enter the Dragon
Legend of the Drunken Master
Kung Fu Panda
Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist
The Terminator 1
Son of Rambow
Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
1984
Unforgiveable Blackness
Freaks
The Elephant Man
Genghis Blues
Stella season 1
Hot Rod
Carnivale season 1
Déjà vu
Cars
Penelope
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Inspiration from the past year

2009-06-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my birthday and I thought it would be fun to compile a list of things that inspired me over the last year. This will stretch out over a few days of posts. First, I listen to a lot of music and it is one of the biggest inspirations to me. Creativity begets creativity – that's in the Bible somewhere isn't it? Maybe not, but it's true nonetheless. Not all of these musical artists are new or of the same genre. I just might have discovered them this year or found myself listening to ALOT of their music. The above illustration of Norwegian musician Sondre Lerche for Paste Magazine is by an artist named Yuko Shimizu. Yuko's talent for line, pattern and storytelling has shown me possibilities for my own work. But I'll save artists for another posting. OK here we go:

Anything Sufjan Stevens sings or produces
Regina Spektor – Russian-born pianist/singer with many influences from her Jewish heritage to the Bible to New York street talk
Brett Dennen – singer/songwriter who sings about social injustice
Sondre Lerche – jazzy rocker pictured above; scored music to "Dan in Real Life"
The Fray
Chris Thile – Mandolin player/genius from Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers
Switchfoot/Jon Foreman – always surprises me. Looking forward to owning JF's collaboration with Nickel Creek guitarist Sean Watkins on "Fiction Family"
Crooked Still – cool bluegrass band made up of a cello, standup bass, and banjo with Alison Krauss-sounding singer
Wynton Marsalis – best trumpet player and jazz educator ever. Loved him since jr. high.
Radiohead – I can't stop listening to their album "In Rainbows"
William Elliott Whitmore – white folky blues singer from Iowa who plays banjo. Doesn't sound white
Robert Plant Alison Krauss – album Raising Sand is a collaboration of genius
U2 – new album was OK, but they are great over all. Non-music work is inspiring as well
Bart Millard – from Mercy Me with two jazzy solo albums called "Hymned" and "Hymned again"
Panic! At the Disco – "Pretty Odd" reminds me of experimental Beatles song structures
Miles Davis – Man, this guy recorded a lot of stuff
Arturo Sandoval
Spoon
Feist
Band of Horses – not real horses
Andrew Bird – not a real bird, but he whistles
Dr. Dog – Beatles-esque modern rock. Not a dog.
Modest Mouse – Probably not a rodent.
Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele – nice ukulele work. Dare I say magnificent?
Jeremy Larson – Amazing musician who lives just up the street from my office
Mute math – invades my mind constantly
Mates of State – Husband/Wife duo. She gets a lot of sound out of the keyboard and he pounds the drums
The Real Tuesday Weld – good music from the Nick & Norah's soundtrack
Flight Of The Conchords – hilarious jokesters, have a show on HBO about trying to make it in NYC as musicians from New Zealand
Bela Fleck – Saw this banjo player in concert at Christmas with some real Tuvan throat singers
Ray LaMontagne
The Classic Crime
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – band from Springfield making a splash nationally
Gummerman – local guy who works in Big Mama's Coffee shop. Doesn't have a full album, but he's good
Punch Brothers
Unforgiveable Blackness Soundtrack – Wynton Marsalis scored this masterpiece about the struggles of the first black heavyweight boxer
Louis Armstrong’s Hot 5’s and 7’s – this is some of the first jazz Satchmo recorded

How to reduce your PSD files size using Photoshop

2009-06-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

Ever needed to send a layered Photoshop file over email? The file is often way too big so I usually end up burning a CD or flattening and sending a jpg for proofing. If the need is great, I might use an online Web mail software like mailbigfile.com Here is a very helpful blog on how to shrink a normal PSD file for regular emailing. Thanks Chris for letting me know about this simple trick.

2009-06-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

Saw this video on the Little Chimp Society's site. This is truly what graphic designers and commercial artists go through. It wouldn't work in other professions. "The above video is from Scofield Editorial and is brilliant and so true to the environment we currently work in!"

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

2009-05-05T15:04:00.000-07:00

I hope you all have a tasty and fun Fifth of May! Not too fun, you have to work tomorrow. I will be celebrating by taking my son to swimming lessons and (hopefully) munching on some tasty tacos.

I painted the image above for 417 Magazine a few years ago and I love the colors and the inking of the senorita so I like to bring it out once a year. You may see it again next May. I like the hand-drawn feel, but I've always been bad at patterns so if I were to do it again, I would employ the help of my Mac for a little more consistency in the Mayan flare. Oh well, it still puts me in the mood for a fiesta! Arrrriba!

Art bike

2009-05-01T09:50:00.001-07:00

I've been working hard on a unique project this week – decorating a bike for the Ozark Greenways nonprofit group. There will be 9 art bikes being displayed around downtown Springfield kicking off Bike, Bus, Walk to Work Week. We have a monthly First Friday Artwalk with all the galleries downtown so this is all in conjunction with that. My bike will be at the Good Girl Art shop on Walnut Street. It's in the middle of the store in a small room of pet portraits. That place is always packed so hopefully the bike and Greenways program gets some attention. This is kind of the inaugural year for this event, but Lori from the Greenways office told me they hope to grow the event to more artists next year.

I was glad to have help with this one given the short notice (four days). My co-creator is graphics guru Bruce who I work with every day down at City Hall. He did the photo collage in the center of the bike and I did acrylic paintings for the wheels. It took both of us a lot of time to figure out how to piece our idea together for "A Night on the Town," but I think it came together nicely.

If you get a chance on this rainy weekend, stop by Springfield and Good Girl Art to see it in person. Circumstances prevented them from organizing an auction or voting for this year, but this may be a possibility for future years. The bikes should be on display for two weeks. Now that this is done, maybe I can catch up on some sleep! Enjoy!
Currently listening to Dashboard Confessional – "Dusk & Summer"

Been so long

2009-04-11T20:50:00.001-07:00

Music I'm listening to: Jeremy Larson-"Salvation Club" and Sufjan Stevens-"The Avalanche."
It's been a busy month and a half. Brochure designs and health concerns have kept me away from you. I now work half for the Springfield Parks Department and half for the City's Public Information Office. Should be some interesting projects involved. Today I shot photos at the Farm Park for the Park's first annual Easter egg hunt. My 2 year old son and I both got a little sunburned- ouch. Thanks to my brother for hanging out so I could concentrate on taking photos.

Just for fun, I posted the drawing above of some cartoon characters I did for the Health Department. They may appear on a kids health Web site someday when they finish it. I think these guys are too cute to keep locked up in my computer. I've been working on some illustrations for a new animal magazine called TAME. Will hopefully post those soon. Happy Easter!

I want to thank the little people...

2009-02-23T18:51:00.000-08:00

The Springfield Advertising Club hosted the 30th annual ADDY Awards Saturday, February 21. I had 4 entries, 2 from work at the City of Springfield and 2 of my own freelance work. The City, of course, did not pay for my personal entries in case you were keeping close tabs on Springfield's financial problems. Anyway, it turns out that 3 of my entries won ADDYs! My wife sat patiently through nearly 3 hours of awards mostly given to Noble & Assoc. She was such a trooper. We decided next year I should enter stuff in the categories they announce at the beginning of the ceremony.

The piece that won for the City was a logo I made for the Brownfields program. It is an EPA partnership-type of program that can assist developers clean up abandoned gas stations or other industrial waste land to make it safe for new construction. Like recycling the land. Hence the arrows and building in the background. The "B" is for Brownfields of course.

Another winning entry was an illustration of Sufjan Stevens (Soof-yawn Steev-inz) that I did as a part of my self-promotion packaging. He is my favorite indie folk/rock musician. He plays banjo, guitar, piano, clarinet and probably every other instrument known to man and comes up with these extravagant arrangements that pay homage to Michigan, "Illinoize" and swans with some religious undertones. Or overtones, I don't know. In his "Illinoize" tour, he was onstage wearing wings and some kind of boyscout uniform while his orchestra of "Illinoizemakers" wore butterfly wings. I painted him with those wings communing with nature/Creation, specifically a robin which is Michigan's state bird. I use this illustrated portrait on postcards that I send to magazines. I think it's time for another mailing.

The third winning entry was my stationery I made for mailing out with these promotional cards. I hand-painted the edges of some paper and envelopes and worked my "M" logo into it. Of course my business cards were also a part of the package.

Now that you see all these together, can you tell what my favorite color is? Maybe I should branch out to other colors of the rainbow. Anyway, it was a successful evening and I expect to be doing even better (and colorful) work in the coming year, so stay tuned.

ADDYs

2009-02-09T19:39:00.000-08:00

I just got word today that "some" of my work will receive ADDY awards. "The ADDY® Awards is the advertising industry's largest and most representative competition, attracting over 50,000 entries every year in local ADDY® competitions. The mission of the ADDY competition is to recognize and reward creative excellence in the art of advertising.

Conducted annually by the American Advertising Federation (AAF), the local ADDY®
Awards is the first of a three-tier, national competition. Concurrently, all across the
country, local entrants vie for recognition as the very best in their markets."

So they called earlier today as a bit of a teaser to get me to buy a ticket to the fancy awards banquet. Well, it worked. I'll be taking my lovely wife again this year, Feb. 21, and I will let you know which entries won. I'm so excited!

2009-02-09T19:08:00.000-08:00

This is how I envision the Keep on Truckin' T-shirt. The shirt will be a "Tarheel" blue. I'm now looking at brands and cost of shirts. Did you know there is a company that makes bamboo shirts? Also there is an organic cotton to cornsider. I don't know, I'll have to consider the look and feel of the shirts too. I want people to actually wear the shirts. Maybe I'll get the ones made of human hair donated from the beards of Tuvan throat singers high in the Himalayas. Fairly traded of course. I'll weigh the possibilities.

Eagle Tshirt design

2009-01-30T07:42:00.001-08:00

Music listening to: random playlist-currently White Stripes.
Here's another T-shirt design I want to print. I can't quite figure out what words to put in the banner. Can you help? I WAS thinking clever - tongue firmly in cheek, but I slept on it and now am thinking maybe something philosophical like what you'd see on a tattoo or something. Possibilities: FAITH HOPE LOVE, TRUTH EQUALS FREEDOM, TASTES LIKE CHICKEN, BANNERS KILL EAGLES. Just joking ... but maybe. I am torn. Any better ideas? Please give me your two cents! I am meeting with the T-shirt printing gurus at Czar Graphics today to see how they can help my designs become wearable. Wow, I feel like a real entrepreneur (French for "business man").

Wynton process

2009-01-28T22:20:00.000-08:00

Wynton Marsalis

2009-01-19T20:04:00.000-08:00

I did this painting in November of one of my all time favorite musicians. This one has been my favorite jazz musician since junior high when I was learning the trumpet - Wynton Marsalis.

Here's a little background:
Born in New Orleans into a Jazz family. He has done a ton of work through music education and is an expert in jazz history (appearing in the Ken Burns "Jazz" documentary). He is a virtuoso in trumpet performance, but also he is an amazing composer winning the Pulitzer Prize for Music, the first time it has been awarded for a jazz recording.

So the apple in my painting represents his involvement with education and even the worm in the apple is inspired to play music by just being near the guy. Mr. Marsalis is still an inspiration to me after all those years since junior high. I frequently listen to his music while I paint and I just recently picked up my trumpet again after letting it sit for 10 years. Check him out, maybe you'll be inspired too!

Keep on Truckin'

2009-01-09T15:07:00.000-08:00

Music I'm listening to as I type provided by: Dr. Dog's album "We All Belong"
I tried something new with this T-shirt design (top) by drawing all-digital! I've used a pen and Wacom tablet in Illustrator before but it has always seemed cumbersome because it tries to fill in the strokes and I couldn't get the pressure sensitivity to work right. But I saw a Photoshop tutorial from a GoMedia enewsletter with some recommended settings and it worked beautifully.

The theme again came from my friend Adam for a T-shirt and/or bandanna idea for a church youth retreat. Originally we thought a retro '80s cheesy shirt would be fun, but after the Ascend shirt went over so well, I thought I would do something more fashion-oriented similar to Ed Hardy graphic clothing. Without the skulls and knives of course.

I started with the acrylic truck painting that I did last year originally for my 2-yr-old son's bedroom (which after I finished it thought it looks too scary for someone who's 2). Opened the file in Photoshop and made a layer over it and traced the basic outline of the truck using the Wacom pen and tablet. Then turned off the painting layer and filled in details with simple hatching marks. Made another layer and drew the banner and lettering freehand and then that was it. It's nice drawing with the pen tablet because you can also erase with the same pressure sensitivity so I ended up with a scratchboard effect. I'll have to play around with placement on the shirt and ink and shirt colors of course, but it has potential.

Ascend

2009-01-07T10:42:00.000-08:00

This is a T-shirt I had made recently and am thinking of ordering reprints to start selling on my site.

This design is inspired by the poem "The Lark Ascending" by George Meredith (1828–1909) introduced to me by my friend Adam who likes words (and cameras). I had sketched several images to illustrate this idea from an octopus holding a balloon to a cheesy heart morphing into a bird, but this idea seemed most simple and direct.

Then came the challenge of how to produce the image. I decided I liked the imperfectness of the sketch with wings not quite in proportion and decided the only way to get the same effect while refining my sketch was to work in a medium I had little control over. So I made the bird out of paper that I carefully tore into a bird shape then used scissors to cut long, jagged cuts for the flight trail.

To make the one color ink look like the image was made out of paper, I wadded up a piece of the same paper and scanned it and traced it in Illustrator. I then placed it over the graphic to give it a kind of handmade texture that I would never be able to plan.

I really loved working with my hands on this one to make a simple image more appealing. All in all I think it has a generic positive message to keep looking up and rise above your circumstances for a new point of view. Anyway, I hope to get this available to sell soon. More to come.

Stuff Coming Soon!

2009-01-02T13:35:00.000-08:00

I am planning on making t-shirts to sell from my Web site (markamontgomery.com) sometime in the coming weeks/months. Currently looking at a couple of options for a shopping cart. Working on translating my paintings to vector to take it easy on the screen printer. Do you have any requests for images that might look good on a shirt? Also coming up with designs and funny words to add to the mix. It's going to be a crazy ride, folks!

New business card

2009-01-01T18:35:00.000-08:00

I had some new business cards printed up for the new year. 2009 is going to be a good year. I can feel it! I had a week and a half off of work for the holidays and thought I would get a lot of work done on some creative stuff. I finally did my last night of vacation. This blog is the result of my efforts. Hey, it's a good start.