Old Salt 002 Video

Here's the next episode of time-lapse illustrations from my YouTube channel. This one is the second in my Old Salt series. It's colored pencil and acrylic on 5"x5" wood. Enjoy!

Get originals and prints at www.bryancollins.etsy.com

Woman Slaying a Sea Serpent Video

With the making of this video I was reminded of why I prefer traditional forms of art over digital. The reason is that I do not have the Midas touch when it comes to technology. I ended up scrapping an entire day's worth of editing due to audio track issues and four failed uploads to my YouTube channel. However, after editing the entire video from scratch a second time and posting a fifth upload we have success! Enjoy the video, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and please leave a comment to let me know what you think.

Purchase original artwork and prints at www.bryancollins.etsy.com

~Bryan

Borderlands Claptrap Robot Illustration

Here's a time-lapse video of how I draw and paint on wood. The little robot is Claptrap from the Borderlands 1 and 2 video games. Enjoy!

Foomi Sea Monster

 

This Sea Monster is the first Kidrobot Foomi I've had the pleasure of customizing. I was given the request of creating a multi-eyed sea creature on the Foomi figure. He stands a little over four inches tall and was painted with acrylics. If you are interested in having me customize a figure for you, please email me at bryancollinsart@gmail.com or see the easy-order customs in my Etsy Shop.

God bless,

Bryan Collins / Color Chemist

Inked in Pink painting progression

Here we go with the second painting for the upcoming "Outside In" exhibit at Art Whino. This one is being called "Inked in Pink", as she will have pink tattoos covering her arms. The cherry blossoms and airplanes are being painted pink as well.

For these "Outside In" paintings I am using a technique different than my usual one where I paint the entire background first. Since I am doing all of these pieces on gessoed basswood, I am making somewhat detailed pencil drawings on the wood first and painting over top of the drawings. So far I am pleased with this process as it allows me to really plan out a piece in advance of attacking it.

This process is also much closer to what I am used to as a dry-media artist. I have been working exclusively in pen-and-ink and colored pencil for nearly my whole life, and just really started using paint in 2006. This cell-shading style of getting the paint on the board is much more like I am used to and seems to have me painting much faster.

You may notice a slight change to her wardrobe in the above photo. Once I started adding the tattoos to her arms I really wanted to have some across her chest as well, so I painted over the dark grey tank top she was wearing under the blue and black stripped one. Now she is "Inked in Pink". Time for a background.

Now that I am laying in the background and adding all the special details, this will be the last preview I will show until the opening night of "Outside In". I have to save some surprises for the exhibit!

"Outside In" will be a two-man show with Aaron Jasinski and opens June 23 at Art Whino.

God bless,
Bryan

Original art and prints available in my Etsy Shop.

Caffeine Illustration in Progress

It was so much fun sharing the progress of my last painting with you here on the blog I thought I'd do it again with this colored pencil illustration. This piece is one that I am doing for the "Caffeine" exhibit at Rendition. The illustration board I am working on measures 11"x14". I began by drawing out the girl with her to-go cup of coffee, tea, hot cocoa, or whatever. The next phase was writing out a list of coffee-related words and printing them from the computer. The next step was to trace them all with pencil and tracing paper, and do a reverse rubbing on the illustration board so the font would be how I wanted.

Once this tedious part was over I moved on to color. Worried about the light pencil rub fading as I worked, I started by coloring the lettering first. In this photo there is already about 7 hours of color work. This one is going to be a time monster!

Now with the background finished I am able to move on to working with the main form in the piece which is the girl holding her to-go cup of coffee. This is where the artistic challenge comes in. Since the background is so colorful, I have to make sure that she does not get washed into a psychedelic ocean of confusion. I have a color scheme planned out for her, but I won't mention it here because I want the freedom to adapt or manipulate the plan if the piece needs me to do so.

Now the roses in her hair are finished, and the hair is getting all colored up. I'm down to crunch-time now and this piece really needs to be finished today, which means all the unfinished work you see here needs to be completed in one sitting. That will probably be about 10-12 hours of work. I better get back to it.

Here is the poster for the "Caffeine" exhibit at Rendition Gallery -

I will update this same post with more progress soon. Stay tuned.


God bless,
Bryan

www.bacstudio.com
Twitter - @useeverycolor
Facebook - www.facebook.com/bryancollinsart
Shop for art at www.bryancollins.etsy.com

Stages of a Painting

Since I just started this painting and it has a deadline of November 11th, I figure it's a good opportunity to share the entire process. I utilize many approaches to creating a painting, so this is just one of them. I will keep updating this same blog post with pics and descriptions as the stages progress. Feel free to engage in conversation with me through Twitter @useeverycolor

This painting has been commissioned to celebrate an engagement of marriage. The client gave me a few elements she wanted in the piece: Mountains in the distance, trees around the engaged couple holding hands, with a faint rainbow to symbolize eternal promise. I began with a very rough sketch to map out the elements requested by the client. At this point I already know of a few things I will change for the painting, but this is enough to get started.

The next step for me is just to get some paint on the canvas. A blank one is exhilarating, but can be intimidating as well, so getting some color down gets me started in the right direction. I painted the whole canvas black and then blended some dark browns, chromium oxide green, and transparent sienna to get my mind focused on outdoorsy colors. Some or none of this may be seen in the finished piece but that's okay. The point isn't to begin the images, but to begin the painting.

I now have most of the base colors in for the sky, mountains, and grassy areas. It's all still pretty rough at this point, but I will start forming out shapes next, starting with the mountains and then some signature Colorado aspen trees. (The clients live in Denver.)

Now we have some aspen tree trunks and about half of the rainbow. I am doing the rainbow in a bunch of highly diluted layers so it will have some transparency to it, like a real rainbow would. I've also defined some of the mountains on the right side. Next I will finish the mountains on the left and add some snow all the way across. Leaves will be on the trees next, too.

Leaves are on the trees now and more will probably be added later. I've also added more detail and tones to the bark of the trees. The rest of the details will come at the end. The focus now is on the couple, who are obviously the center of this painting. I have penciled them both in with a white (and purple over the light blue sky) Prismacolor pencil. The waxy colored pencil erases from the acrylic paint better than graphite so I am able to play around with the arm positions and such. The next step of course is to fill in the people with paint!

So here you can see the couple looking a little like Jim Henson's Muppets. The hands/arms are in different positions that on the original pencil sketch, since in the original it looked too much like they were giving a high-five. The man's shirt and woman's skirt will be plaid, but these base tones give me a bit of a map for shadows, highlights, and textures.

The man is now starting to have some detail and little-by-little I am getting things shaped out and shaded how I like them. Once all the plaid lines in his shirt are in, I can highlight areas of the stripes to give the shirt a more flowing look. His jeans will be given some wrinkles, too. The "blockyness" of the people will begin to relax as these features are completed.

Now come the most tedious part of the painting: Getting all the little details in and polishing up the loose places that need more contrast and definition. The man's plaid shirt still needs a lighter blue strip pattern added, and the female's skirt has a lot more plaid work to do as well. The progress made since the last photo is the highlights in the man's jeans, the base skin tones in the female, as well has her glasses. I've also added highlights to the man's hair and started making the female's hair to look wavy. Small grassy details are now in the area between the couple and more will come in around them. The next photo will be of the finished piece.



Here we have the final painting.
"Engagement"
8"x10" acrylic on canvas

Comments welcomed.

Bryan

Video for Mystery Drawing 009

After scratching away and hustling my art for months and months, then budgeting with my wife for family needs, I finally procured an HD video camera so I can get back into vlogging, shooting art for time-lapse, and other neat video experiences to share even more art with you. Above you will see the very first time-lapse video shot with this new camera. I am still working out logistics with lighting, angles, and editing, as well as needing to pick up a large capacity, high speed SD card, but those things will pan out in time. Please enjoy the video which shows the making of Mystery Drawing 009 and feel free to post your comments. Thank you!

Grab a Mystery Drawing HERE.
Bryan A. Collins

www.bacstudio.com
Twitter - @useeverycolor
Facebook - www.facebook.com/bryancollinsart
Shop for art at www.bryancollins.etsy.com

Mystery Drawing 008 Video

I finally made a time-lapse video of drawing. This was my first crack at it, so I hope to improve the lighting and video quality for future videos. Any comments or suggestions are welcome. Enjoy!

Pre-release of my 1st book

I am extremely excited to officially announce the pre-release of my first book, Proof of Faith - the art and emprise of Bryan A. Collins. This book features around 100 paintings and illustrations from 2007-2010, and a couple of pieces from my teen years. A few of my custom toys are also featured. Accompanying the artwork is a candid and abbreviated story of how I first became interested in art, how creativity got me through my troubled teen years, paved my way to touring nationally with a signed band, and how I now maintain a life as a full-time working artist. The book is written in a personal, me-to-you fashion, and answers many of the questions I am frequently asked about a variety of topics related to art. There is also a great deal of advice for aspiring artists, as well as motivational support for working artists.

PRE-ORDERS come with an exclusive, signed and numbered limited edition print. The number of prints in the edition will be determined by how many pre-orders are made. Pre-orders can be signed and personalized at your request. Pre-ordering is available for a limited time only. Books are scheduled to ship in late March 2011.

"Proof of Faith" - the art and emprise of Bryan A. Collins
80 pages, hardbound with dust cover, full color

Place your order now at http://www.bryancollins.bigcartel.com

2011 Prophetic Assumptions

New Years' resolutions tend to be a prelude to disappointment for most folks. We come up with a list of goals, many of them too grandiose to ever achieve, then by mid to late January we are depressed and wallowing in our failure and hoping that the next year will get here soon so we can start over. I'm going to skip that.



Instead I am just going to make some prophetic assumptions of what 2011 will bring forth in me and my work. I add assumptions after the word prophetic because if they don't come true I will be labeled a false prophet and there were times in which people were killed for holding that label.

Now, even though I just took a shot at list making, I will still make one here but again we will remember these are not resolutions. These are projects that are either already in motion or are likely to happen during the course of 2011. If they do not manifest, you are free to give me a hard time about them but I will be exempt from public hanging or being stoned to death because prophetic assumptions are not prophesies per se.

1) Finish the "Proof of Faith" book - I began putting together a book mid 2009 and many projects and life circumstances kept pushing it to the back burner. It is to the point now that I have scrapped the whole thing and will be starting again from scratch. The book will be a collection of select works from 2006 to 2010 and will also feature a few pieces from my teenage years. I am writing about the inspiration behind certain paintings and illustrations, as well as telling the story of the journey that brought me to art as a career and an obsession.

The book will be released through Blurb and available two ways. You can get it as a print-on-demand, meaning you order one through Blurb and they will print and mail it to you. Or, I will have copies at my studio which will be signed and come with an exclusive limited edition print. These will be available in my Etsy shop and at BigCartel and can be personalized if you wish.



2) Make more (and BIGGER) paintings and drawings - The bulk of 2010 was entirely consumed by the series of 100 Beast Buddies which recently sold out. Due to this enormous project, I had little time to work on 2D pieces. I have a few paintings that were begun more than a year ago which I intend to finish and I have many new pieces swimming around in my head that need to get born (all babies want to get born).

Furthermore, up to this point, 24"x36" is the largest painting I have ever created. I want to move beyond and create my largest work-to-date. I intend to at least begin this piece this year. I have not settled on an exact size, just larger than 24"x36".

3) Set up a new permanent studio - My wife and I are in the process of buying a house and when this happens, I will be setting up a permanent studio. From there I plan to do some live painting from my Stickam broadcast channel. You can sign up and friend me on Stickam and when I am broadcasting you can tune in and out and check in on paintings and drawings in progress.



Once settled in to the new studio, I hope to get back into occasionally posting video blogs on my Youtube channel. Some fast-motion drawing sequence videos are going to be made as well. With these I will film drawings being created from start to finish, then post a video of the entire process shown in fast motion. That should be fun.

4) Release new sets of customs - With the Beast Buddies finished, I will be releasing new smaller sets and individual custom pieces. Some will be Dunnys but I plan to create on more Teddy Troops, Munny and mini-Munny, and some works already in progress including a Giver, a Muscamoot, and a Bambaboss. I will be going much lighter on the customs for 2011 as I give time to the 2D projects mentioned above so I am not sure when these projects will be finished. Having said this, if you would like a custom toy created specifically for you please email bryan@bacstudio.com to chat with me about it.



I'm sure that I could add about 96 more endeavors to this list but I won't. These are the projects I wish to share at this time. There are a couple of other adventures I really want to mention but I have been sworn to secrecy and cannot confirm or deny any information about these clandestine operations at this time. I will leave you with that and may your 2011 be blessed and pure.



Bryan A. Collins

www.bacstudio.com
Twitter - @useeverycolor
Facebook - www.facebook.com/bryancollinsart

How to Customize a Dunny

Since I have completed about 75 custom toys at this point, I figure I've worked out enough kinks to give a decent tutorial on how to customize a Dunny. This is just my own personal approach to customizing a Dunny, and can be applied to pretty much any vinyl toy on the market.

The very first thing I do is remove all of the original art from the toy with some acetone. Acetone is very potent, and I always do this outdoors. You don't want to be breathing this stuff in. With an old rag I dip a small portion of it into the acetone and wipe the toy down a number of times until just the base vinyl is left. I did not post photos of this step to avoid offending the artist who designed the work for this particular Dunny. You would't want to see your work smeared all over the place, would you?

*Special tip - Make sure you strip all the paint off of the Dunny arms. Sometimes they are slightly sticky and trying to paint over them can be a nightmare and they may remain sticky. Strip them well and you won't have any problems.



Acetone evaporates very quickly, so if you just wait a minute or so the toy is ready for primer. Sometimes I use white primer if I want to use brighter colors on the finished piece, and sometimes I use black if I'm going for the darker look. Any color will accomplish the main goal, which is to help the acrylic paint stick to the vinyl. Priming also provides a consistently colored base to paint on, since a production toy like this one may often have different color head, body, and arms once it's been stripped.

Next, aftet the primer has dried, I use another rag to buff out any roughness or uneven overspray. Little spits and sputters from the aerosol tip will show up when you start painting, so get rid of them now. If you are sculpting on the toy, this step is not so important, but since I am painting directly on the primer, I want it nice and smooth.



I usually like to paint the feet black, even if I use white primer. This is because the feet will be touching some kind of surface at all times when the piece is finished and on display, so the more paint on the feet the better. I choose black because if for some reason the toy is picked up and moved from place to place too often and the feet were to ever sustain any scratches, black will be the least noticeable color if it appears through most surface colors. Does this make sense?



At this point I put down about three to five good layers of base color, which usually consists of two or three different pigments blended together to create a nice custom color that cannot be purchased at your local art store. I don't always do this, because sometimes I find a color so beautiful right out of the tube that I just put it on the way it is, then build my custom colors on top, but for this piece I've used a pink and a purple mixture. Sorry, I won't divulge exactly which ones. You can experiment on your own to find something you like.

This stage can take me an hour or two before I am happy with the color and saturation. Be patient, don't rush. This is art.

*Special tip - If you are using multiple coats of a base color, give the toy plenty of drying time between them so that you don't wipe the paint back off while you are working. Same goes for when you are done and ready to begin painting your details. A standard hair dryer will speed up the process, but don't let the vinyl get too warm or it will become soft.



So far everything I have shown you is pretty standard and most other toy customizers will arrive at this point the same way I do. Now is the time where the road tends to branch off into many routes. Some artists choose to draw directly on the Dunny with pencil or marker to plan out where to go next. Some will just start painting away waiting to see where the piece goes on its own. I take this path sometimes as well. Since this piece is going to be in my Beast Buddies series, it will include the pencil drawing used to plan out the piece, so I have a shot of that below. This will be my road map for this Dunny.



From this drawing I begin with the messy stuff so that the details I add later can be crisp. On this piece I start by spritzing some of the raw purple I used in the base mix onto the Dunny 'ears'. Once the purple is dry, I spritz some pearl satin gold over it. There are a variety of ways to spritz or splatter paint.

*Special tip - Try using an old toothbrush with paint on the tip of slightly damp bristles. Use your thumb to flick the bristles and the paint will spray off nicely.



Now that the messy work is done, I begin adding the features that were planned out on the drawing. In this case, I first lay down the toenails and fingernails. I use a color that will flow well with the gold on the 'ears'. I also map out the eyes with the same raw purple that I sprayed on the ears.



Now I further define the eyes by adding contrast above and below the ball of each eye. Highlighting the top makes the brow appear to be set above the eye in 3D fashion.

*Special tip - Turn the Dunny's head as far around as you need to be able to paint underneath its cheeks and chin. At some point in each of my Dunny customizations I have the head turned a full 180 degrees.



The personality of the Beast Buddies really start to come through in this stage. I add the pupils, some spots on the top of the head, and a little more contrast under the eyes. I couldn't decide between green or blue eyes, so I chose a combo of both. More wrinkles are also added between the eyes.



This guy is called the 'Purple Platypus', so he gets a bill on the part of the Dunny's face that is already a protrusion. The belly has a little lavender on it now, getting ready for a little lighter fuzzy looking cream color. A lot of my Beast Buddies have spots, so this guy has some dark green ones now on his legs and arms.



I like to keep the backs fairly simple. Even though this is a 3D piece of art, the finished product is only viewed from the front when displayed. If I put anything too fancy on the back I am worried that there will be excess temptation to pick it up often and this is not a great idea since the work should be treated like any other hand painted canvas or panel. I gave the little guy a bandana style design on his back and a couple rear toenails and that completes the back side.



Now the bill is sharpened up with nostrils added, the tummy is fuzzy, the eyes are highlighted, and more contrast is added to the brow, and with that, the 'Purple Platypus' is born.



If you would like to grab one of my Beast Buddies for yourself, click over to www.bryancollins.etsy.com and click the custom toy category.

I will try to answer any questions you may have about this tutorial, so please ask them in the comments section below. Hope you enjoyed it.

God bless,
Bryan