The Art of John Wayne Holcomb

Moustache Cowboy

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:33:25 GMT

If it ever warms up I'm going to start screen printing posters out in my shop. This is part of a series I've begun on moustache's.

Character Roughs

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:25:05 GMT

Some more rough sketches I've created over the past few weeks.

Weird Sketch

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:21:38 GMT

This character was a test in illustrating with india ink and good old homemade walnut stain.

Benjamin Shafer - Rebuild

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:02:04 GMT

Here are two different comps I did for Benjamin Shafer's album art package.

Joseph Heller Would Love This

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:46:38 GMT

I did the art for The Growing Robot Population's swan song "Joseph Heller Would Love This." This is the type of project I love, a total DIY package. We copied the liner notes at Kinkos, including the transparecy. The title of the record was printed on the transparency and laid over the band name to create an abstract black shape. Inside the liner note I lines up all their faces, eye over eye, and wrote the lyrics out over that. It's a really messy, really frustrating, really cool project that I'm proud of.

House of Heroes

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:35:39 GMT

Some more work I found buried on my external. These are over 3 years old. They are some logo/t-shirt/sticker, etc roughs I made for the band. Work like this is fun to find because it shows how much you can grow if you stick to something for awhile. At least I hope I've grown.

Those Are Some Fine Glasses

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:33:00 GMT

This was the final series project for my illustration class. I remember it well because I was working on these little illustrations of people and their glasses and I became extremely hungry. I took an Arby's break because I lived on the 5 for 5.95 deal in college, but as I finished my meal something felt weird. It ended up being food poisoning. Not enough to hospitalize me, but enough to make me feel like I was dying. I finished these between trips to the bathroom and lying on the bed moaning. That's why there are only 8 and I just changed the colors of the other 8. It became a color study as well!

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:24:00 GMT

To be honest, I didn't particularly enjoy ad design class. But I did come up with two magazine ad campaigns that I enjoyed. This is work is 2 years old, but it's tied to some fun memories.

Vincent van Gogh

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:29:00 GMT

I'm fascinated by the Masters of art history. One of my obsessions is the work of the late 19th century Post-Impressionists like Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne and the entire oeuvre of Henri Matisse and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's work. I am currently in the process of copying the works of some of these masters. I believe that copying is an excellent way to learn and grow as an artist. But, just like if I were a musician, I wouldn't cover a song note for note and beat for beat. I feel the same is true for copying masterpieces of art. I try to get the essence of what the artist was trying to accomplish while attempting to add influences of his technique to my own skill set.

Up first is my favorite artist from this group, Vincent van Gogh. I love his work on many levels because not only are his brushstrokes interesting, but so was his personal life. I copied his "Yellow Wheat with Cypresses" and one of his later self-portraits. I was not concerned with matching his color to the exact value or laying brushstrokes in identical places on the canvas. I focused on capturing the energy his paintings possess.

I will be adding more images to this set over time. I am creating an original painting using what I learned from these studies based on my own original photography.

Polaroid Run #1

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:21:00 GMT

My wife and I went on a walk and a photography excursion last weekend. I took my Nikon and she took her Polaroid camera. In the end we walked about 4 miles through the countryside. She took quite a few exceptional images so I uploaded them here for display. All credits go to Alison Joy Holcomb, not me of course. Got it?!?!?