The following is the process:

I print every canvas and allow it to dry for 24 hours. I have custom-built 1.5″ wooden frames.


I coat each canvas twice using Golden acrylic polymer varnish. The first coat is a gloss isolation coat. This is a permanent varnish. The second is Matte polymer varnish, removable if necessary. The canvas must dry for 24 hours between each coat, so far we’re up to three days of drying time.

I center the frame on the print. I typically do this by eye, but if extreme precision is required I will use a ruler. I fold up each corner and mark each underside with a pencil.

I turn the canvas over and line up each corner.

Using a power stapler for precision, I insert 4 staples in the middle of each side, then check to verify that everything is straight.

I then finish stapling each side, alternating out from the middle. I leave 2″ inches from the end so I can perfect finish each corner. I cut off the tip of each end, about 1″ is removed.

I finish off each corner, this is the most difficult aspect and it was impossible for me to photograph since it requires both hands. Basically it’s a hospital corner stretched as tightly as possible.

The finished product is checked for tautness first, imperfections second. Coating the canvas with varnish before stretching protects the canvas during framing.

A shot of the finished corner.

This order, completed. Each canvas is then inspected at an angle and if there are any inconsistencies in the finish on the varnish, the print is coated a third time to even out the finish.

The canvas wrap dries in this state for 24-48 hours. I cannot pack or ship these for at least that long since I do not want any packing materials to stick to the print.

The finish print is signed and dated by me on the creation date. My signature has artistically devolved into an amalgamated abstraction of “JH” and “John”.

The print is then wrapped in a thin layer of paper, bagged and bubble-wrapped before being boxed and shipped via UPS.

So as you can see, this is quite the process.
Buy one here.

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Check it out here. There are all kinds of other publications on the site, so be prepared to waste a lot of time if you’re into visual history.

I like the internet and all, it obviously makes research such as this much easier, but I hope we never see the day where printed newspapers and magazines cease to exist. Digital is just not the same in my opinion. I often wonder what our generation will leave behind. Museums have innumerable written correspondance between friends, lovers and haters. Children find vintage records, baseball cards and other priceless ephemera in their parents and grandparents attics. What will I leave behind? A hard drive with a bunch of files on it? Yeah, that’s just not that exciting at all.

Also, I feel that the Time covers aren’t quite as good the more modern they become. Older issues had lively illustrations and ideas, new ones look more like photo collages. Wonder if my opinion has anything to do with the fact that I’m an illustrator, haha. Obviously I’m really drawn to the individual portraits of the older covers and would love to do that kind of work.

A few of my favorites are:

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Here’s a list of what I do when I feel like I’ll never ever come up with a new idea that’s any good, which for me is basically at the start of every new piece while staring at a blank “canvas.”

• Get away from the computer/drawing table/studio. This is easy, fun and not so frustrating as sitting there blankly. This can involve the following: physical exercise, swinging in the park, the latest sports video game which right now is NHL 10, up next is MLB The Show 10, or reading a book, currently a biography of Woodrow Wilson.
• Eat something! I can work for hours and forget that little detail. The following are examples:
• In the Winter: Go make Hot Chocolate: 3 TBS Carnation Malted Milk, 1 TBS Powdered Sugar, 3/4 TBS Non Dairy Creamer, Copious amounts of powdered milk, 12-16 oz of water. Heat. Marshmallows optional. Nilla Wafers mandatory. Enjoy.
• In the Summer: Eat an Ice Cream Cone: Go to Dairy Queen, ask for twist. If I’m really mad at the pencils and brushes, go for the Blizzard of the Month.
• Year Round: Go to Qdoba, order Ancho Chile BBQ Burrito, ask for extra rice, black beans, chicken, extra BBQ, corn salsa, cheese and sour cream. It’s obvious I eat here oft, which means I constantly fight the creative block.
• Think of quitting
• Surf the inspiration blogs. I’ll post more in depth about these individual sites later.
• Look at my favorite illustrators specific sites. Currently those people are: Josh Cochran, Nate Williams, J Alex Stamos, Jessica Hische and Invisible Creature.
• I keep an “Inspiration!” folder on my HD. I drag inspirational images into it, keep it ordered by name. Fire up Bridge, drag the thumbnail slider to the largest setting. Very handy.
• Change the music currently playing to a different style.
• Thumbnail for another job/project/no reason at all.
• Convince myself not to quit
• Repeat as necessary.

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After a light pencil transfer, I tape the sketch to the wall behind the desk. I actually find cheap Bic mechanical pencils to be the best for the transfer. The sketch is always done freehand, using a photo reference of the president. I don’t go for 100% accurate replication in the sketch or the final piece, rather I attempt to portray an emotion I feel is relevant to his legacy. For Cleveland, that feeling was “regal.”

I always begin by laying down the face details first, starting with broad areas before moving to details. This particular piece was started using Ivory Black. Neutral saturation in the initial color helps me make the piece cohesive, though sometimes I like to spice it up with a Paynes Grey.

I usually take details to about 50% completion here before moving to a different area of focus, typically the background.

I use a wide variety of round brushes, somewhere between 10-12 brushes, to keep colors clean as possible. I also swear by Kleenex Viva! paper towels. They’re so smooth! I go through so many paper towels throughout the painting process, I’m sure I’ve made Al Gore shed real tears.

I use a limited color palette, which I’ll blog on in the future. It allows me to mix consistent colors, in this case a bright orange red.

Then it’s back to face details, working out contrast and adding texture, especially to the hair. I have two approaches I take to hair, which has always been my favorite feature to draw and paint for some reason. I also chose to use only 2 colors in the Grover Cleveland painting.

I typically try to spend 3 times the amount of time I spent on the sketch on the final piece.

Photos of me at work yo! I work in low light. There’s no direct theory behind it, I’ve just chosen two bulbs, one that leans towards cool and one towards warm and I cross their paths.

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So I did it! For quite some time I have been eying the fine craftsmen at House Industries, particularly their typeface Neutraface. I’m proud to say that I’ve finally made the purchase and what a wonderful decision that was!

Typeface: Neutraface Text, Display and Condensed
Cost: $275
Includes: 36 fonts in a beautiful array of weights

Now, if you’re reading this and you’re saying “Gosh dude, why burn that kind of bank on a font when you can binge on all-you-can-download-for-free-fonts at sites like Dafont.com!!!” I suggest you leave now. Better yet, stick around and learn a thing or two… maybe.

Quite honestly, cost has always inhibited me too. The old adage “You get what you pay for” never helped either. Buying complete typefaces is an expensive endeavor! Frankly, this is a competitive option, dare I say “economical” in comparison to others I looked at. This by no means means “lower quality.” I decided, however, it was time to make a call and buy the face.

The unending problem with free fonts is the lack of variety! As much fun as it is to get free stuff, let’s be real here – how often does a job call for you to a layout making extensive use of even a nice looking free font like Chopin Script? A job should definitely never call for Papyrus. If it does, avoid at all cost. It’s a solid reason for why I’ve avoided Avatar thus far.

Why Neutraface?
I was in need of a versatile typeface for a project I was working on. I wanted to set the whole layout in one face and I’ve always wanted a modern, clean sans serif that was more flexible than Futura and less hackneyed than Helvetica. After much searching, I rested on this typeface when I saw it used on the cover of Charley Harper’s wonderful anthology. I had seen it elsewhere, but this was the final straw for me. I had to have it!

The reason I purchased this face was simple. I love the smaller x-height of the lowercase letters as well as the lower bars in letters like A, E and R. I also love the alternate cuts, which are full on separate full-family fonts, examples are evident in the G. The text version of this family is readable at small sizes and the display family is wonderfully bold. I will likely be overusing Display Titling. Love it!

Also, I e-mailed House industries with a few questions and customer service was not only timely (less than 24 hours) it was friendly, obliging and helpful. Everything my AT&T service is not.

I feel this type-buying thing could be come a hot chocolate like addiction (No coffee for me, 2 cups of hotchoc a day!). It’s unbelievable how something so simple as a few new letterforms can inject life and vigor into a stale project. So I’m already wondering what’s next (far down the road, of course). Cost is even more prohibitive in this decision, but up next I’m eying the Paperback line from House. Such a beautiful serif! I also still have the option of getting Neutraface 2 and Neutraface Slab. 2 raises the bars and x-heights slightly while Slab is self explanatory.

Of course there are a few more I’m interested in from other foundries.

So, what typefaces do you rely on? Are there any workhorses I should be aware of? And how about designers and foundries? Any good, unheard of ones?

Website: Houseind.com
Full Directory: Fonts

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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.

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