Typically I don’t make plans to break them, I just don’t bother with planning at all. This year, however, I believe that will change somewhat. Below is a rough outline of where I’m going in the next few weeks.
Illustration Styles
So you may have noticed a slight change to the portfolio page. I’ve now separated out my illustration into two distinct styles. The reason I’ve done this is simple – quick differentiation between two completely different styles.
Many illustrators choose to operate under a separate pen name. At this time, I opted against that since I feel both styles are distinctly me, just different approaches. I’ve always known I have a love for portrait work, and the fun quirky side has always been there as well so I decided to keep them both together under one name – “John Holcomb”.
I had quite a difficult time naming these two styles, but in the end I settled on “Hi-Fi” and “Lo-Fi.” Lo-Fi is quicker, much sketchier and more naive. Hi-Fi is more refined and created in multiple stages.
Remnant Work
In the next few days I will be posting up quite a bit of remnant work from 2009. Remnant does not mean lower quality, I just haven’t had the time to post about these pieces. I will be posting some older, earlier pieces from when I was trying to find my refined Hi-Fi style. These paintings will seem rough when compared to the newest paintings from the Us Presidents series, but I think they are a vital addition to my portfolio.
I will be capping off the blitzkrieg of posts with a huge project I worked on in the summer – a full 36 page, fully illustrated children’s book which I illustrated, designed and laid out in the Lo-Fi style. It was a lot of fun and stretched my bird drawing skills. I will be making 4 fine art prints available from the project.
Us President Prints
It’s been a long time coming, but President prints will be available for sale soon. There will be 3 varieties:
8×10 prints, signed and numbered in the margins. First Editions of 20.
The same prints framed and matted in black gallery frames.
The original gouache and watercolor painting on board.
I will likely begin with a “preorder” phase in the near future.
Blog
This year I hope to revamp the blog a bit. I am going to try and write more “Tips & Tricks” pieces about things I’ve learned, products and sites I recommend, etc. I believe I’ll start with a few tips on Color Management since it’s been stealing my time recently.
