Kacey Schwartz

Happy Easter

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 16:48:00 +0000

Here is a little Easter illustration based off a doodle in my sketchbook. I didn't mind grabbing a chocolate rabbit (or two) for reference :) Hope everyone is having a beautiful Easter weekend.

Swim!

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 19:49:00 +0000

Some character sketches of ladies ready for hot summer days!

Happy Valentine's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 02:57:00 +0000

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! This red heart monster had the best intentions... thinking of you, then thinking of him, then thinking of you again. Don't forget to treat yo self this year ;)

Cafe Sketching

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 17:45:00 +0000

I used to hate coffee. I didn't even like coffee ice cream. It's been a long road to get here, but I really enjoy sitting in cafes and sketching with a nice espresso drink (meaning one with sugar and crap added in it). I recently got a recycled paper sketchbook and new prismacolor pencils and try to go out at least once a week to draw.

I definitely need to work on including more full figures and poses, but I do love a good face. It is especially fun pushing the shapes of profiles - so much negative space to play with in the silhouette.

I find it helpful to look at someone, get an impression of their personality/pose/shape- and then immediately look away. From there I gather what about them I want to share; what is their story, how can I make the shapes more interesting, do they remind me of an animal? I try not to spend too much more time staring at them after that initial impression, partly because I can fall into an old habit of copying exactly what I see, and partly because I do not want to get caught :)

It is also fun to see what you can come up with if you restrict yourself to simple shapes. So many characters are waiting to say hi :)

HARBOWL!

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 19:23:00 +0000

I have liked the 49ers since all the way back when Steve Young was quarterback, probably since I was in 4th grade. I got a 49ers Calendar each year for Christmas from my Dad, and after moving to San Francisco 4 years ago, wore my 49ers sweatshirt on every chilly day (even when at the time I was probably the only person sporting one). Heck, I am wearing it right now.

Since last year's close run, and of course this year making it to Sunday's game... everyone in the city is super excited. The SF Giants have won two World Series in the last 3 seasons and it would be amazing to celebrate a 49er victory this time around!

A (Baltimore) friend of mine encouraged me to work on a facebook banner sized illustration for both 49ers and Ravens fans to share and celebrate the big game! I was super busy at first and did not think I would have time for a bonus fun piece, but once the ideas were flowing I was inspired to stay up and work on it!

There were a lot of images floating around on the internet of the two Harbaugh brothers squaring off, or screaming at each other or raising fists. I knew I wanted to do something different, something with a New Orleans specific theme, and just make it fun and hilarious.

When looking for references one thing was clear... they provided all the character, pretty much making crazy faces all the time....

Due to all the mouth open shots, I was thinking maybe stick some food in their hands??... maybe Jim going crazy over crawfish, and John eating a beignet all classy with his pinky up. I enjoyed doing this layout sketch, but it did not have that competitive Superbowl spirit. They were too disconnected from each other and it was missing a point.

My boyfriend Chris recalled that game where you fold up paper into a triangular football and try to score goals on one another by flicking it through an arm shaped post. . . Brilliant! Luckily I was able to use the same expression on Jim's face, and no work was lost there. I kept the crawfish and beignets (instead of pizza and wings), and this .png below is in Facebook Banner dimensions, here to download, in case anyone wants to share:) Who are you rooting for this Sunday?!

Bruce Campbell

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 21:16:00 +0000

Earlier this year, a facebook fan shared with me that actor Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead, Burn Notice) was using my illustration of him as his Twitter avatar! I was totally surprised and honored, and would have had no clue if they hadn't messaged me.

Seeing as I hadn't posted this on my blog yet, I thought I would share a few stages of sketch to final.

Below were some initial, very rough, ideas. I knew I wanted to incorporate elements from his horror movies into an illustration inspired by his current look and role on Burn Notice. Being that I am from Florida, I went with the Miami, poolside scene :)

I did a quick black and white value study first, and as a result wasn't really sure I liked the skeletons tightly squeezed under the lounge chair and thought they were probably too jumbled/cramped to read.

Ultimately, per recommendation of a friend, I went with the simpler, fist clutching an eyeball :)

I'm going to try to be more active on twitter in the new year, so if you would like to say hi I'm @kaceyschwartz. See ya there!

Instagram!

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 01:11:00 +0000

Recently I've gotten into instagram! It is a fun way for me to share photos of what I'm currently painting on my screen, rough sketches of people while at coffee shops, photos while on trips, and of course, of food ;)

Hope to see you there! http://instagram.com/kaceyschwartz

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 00:47:00 +0000

Wishing you a Happy New Year from their tropical, post-Christmas vacation, are the sun-kissed and relaxed Claus duo! For this illustration I referenced vintage beach/resort post cards, and tried to use some of the same aged colors.

Hoping all of you have a great winter and amazing 2013!

New Holiday Card Design

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 01:05:00 +0000

For a snowman, winter can be just as tough to survive at night, as it is during a hot sunny day! Although they may look cute, snow bunnies get hungry too!

This seasonal card is now available in my online shop.

Monster Sketches!

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 17:45:00 +0000

Happy Halloween!

Charlie Chaplin

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 19:49:00 +0000

Here is another late night paint sketch, with my old laptop and wacom intuos 3 tablet. My intuos no longer reads my stylus accurately, all while my laptop makes noise like an old junk car trying to start up. This saddens me because at the end of the day I really love to switch things up from sitting at the desk, and work in a more relaxed setting.... lol bed.

I tried to keep this one quick and loose, while paying extra attention to the face/eyes, and overall body shape. Details are so much fun to add, and it can be easy to get carried away and overwork a painting. If the entire subject/illustration is painted with the same level of detail, the viewer's eye won't know where to go, and the drawing will lack focus!

Once I determine where I want to lead the viewers' eye, that is where I'll spend extra time on the details. For instance, if I want the main focus to be on the eyes, I won't add equal/more detail and contrast to the ears. That way the eyes will not have to fight for attention. See what results when you play with well defined edges, tighter details, sharp highlights against soft/blurred edges, neutral values and loose strokes. You will find that your eye will be drawn to areas with high value contrast, sharpness, and you'll stay and linger where there are more details to explore. A good thing to remember is that when objects recede into the background, contrast btwn darks and lights decreases due to atmospheric perspective. Features with higher contrast will appear to jump forward, and tend to grab more attention in comparison.

To help myself from getting detail-happy, I try not to zoom in too closely on my canvas right away. By working small, in addition to sticking with a larger brush size, I will be less inclined to paint every stitch in the pants, or each scuff on the shoes...especially before having my composition, main shapes and values worked out.

Monster Sketch

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 22:43:00 +0000

Wedding Invite Commission and Feature

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 02:49:00 +0000

Last year I was asked to do a custom map illustration for Christina and Rabbit's super fun Las Vegas destination wedding! I am happy to be able to share the final work, and its inclusion in 'Destination I Do' magazine!

The cute couple . . . and a pig!!

Special icons included are famous neon signs, their white chapel, playing cards with their wedding date, and let's not forget Elvis :)

Commissioned Portrait, Jayden

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 19:17:00 +0000

Overcast lighting may at first appear a bit dull to paint, but due to the diffused light source, there is a resulting softness (low contrast and faint/indistinct shadows) while colors appear more saturated, making for nice accents in an overall gray scheme.

As with a few recent commissions, this digital painting was delivered as a hi resolution digital file and then printed on a large canvas at a printer of the owner's choosing. I'd love to see a finished canvas print sometime because everyone who has done this approach has later told me how pleased they were with the result. I think one of the advantages of a large scale print, is that the brushwork and details are more apparent then when printing it really small.

Though it seems people have been happy choosing their own means of printing commissions (it removes shipping and handling costs), I hope to soon offer final archival prints of custom illustrations from my own home to those interested. Until then, if you don't want to worry about finding your own printing service, I have a great local place that I go to, and can add the printing cost + shipping to your final order :) Please don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions!

Frida Kahlo

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 17:48:00 +0000

Wow, it is already June. I have just returned from an awesome vacation to Italy, running around seeing incredible works of art...my feet have never hated me so much, but it was worth it! Have yet to shuffle through all the photos, but when I get a chance I'll find some favorites to share:)

When working on this digital painting of Frida Kahlo, I focused on color, shape and feeling. It is my interpretation of her, and less tied to getting an exact likeness and more about developing a character. The values are not as accurate as I normally try to achieve, but I am happy with the luminance to the overall painting.

I've also included my reference board to show my influence for this painting. The photograph is just a launching point . . .try not to limit your inspiration to one source. What a great exercise it is to work from an old photo and develop a new color scheme. I've done it once before and it is definitely a challenge! I drew color influence from the work of Frida herself by playing with the yellow/orange cast to her skin, as seen in a lot of her work. I also included signature Frida elements such as; a monkey (recurring in a lot of her portraits), an outfit I liked the colors of, ribbon in her hair and roses too.

It is tricky knowing when to call something finished(subject of a future post) but for now I am happy with the result and definitely learned a lot along the way:)

Tommy Lee Jones

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 20:02:00 +0000

Here is a b/w digital painting I did of Tommy Lee Jones(plus alien guns). His head is pretty bobbly. Am I the only person on the planet who has not seen MIB?! Hopefully shooting aliens on the MIB ride at Universal was sufficient reference.

I'd also like to welcome you to visit my facebook art page, where you can find posts of what I'm currently working on and albums of various finished/unfinished works! Thanks for all of your support!!

Andy Serkis

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 02:23:00 +0000

Painted with Wacom Intuos 3 and Photoshop.

This one was definitely tricky and went through a few unsightly stages early on. Flipping it horizontally before I finished helped a ton, not just with anatomical and structural issues but also with softening/adjusting values that were jumping out too boldly where they shouldn't. It was a fun process though, and I am happy with how it evolved!

No Shave November

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:52:00 +0000

Hey Everyone! Don't forget that it is "Movember" and to rock your 'staches proud for prostate cancer/men's health awareness! Representing below are three awesome CDI team members who totally look exactly like this...didn't exaggerate any of their facial features whatsoever :)

Here for more info!

Norman Rockwell

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:55:00 +0000

I tried something new for this digital painting. For my main reference I chose a black and white photo, and didn't use any color references. I always create my own color palette but in this case I didn't want to have other images influencing me in any one direction. I also did my best to stick to only those colors throughout the entire painting. I have gotten quite comfortable with painting b/w or monochromatic value paintings, probably to the point of it being a crutch. I think it is due to my limited traditional painting experience/mixing colors that intimidates me from starting a painting with a wider range of colors(this is still a limited palette, but a step in that direction). Moving forward I am going to try and be less uptight about color from the get go. Best way to learn is by doing...

Jason Segel

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 00:58:00 +0000

Created this digital painting for another CS3000 challenge a few weeks ago on facebook and won second place! Inspired by the Muppets Movie to be released later this year:)

Canada and Company Avatars

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 22:21:00 +0000

Hey it sure has been a while! Hope everyone is having a great summer so far and drinking lots of fluids!! I keep forgetting we are only in July because I am currently working on some personal projects with winter holiday themes:) That, plus the 55-65 degree San Francisco weather is making me think it is fall already. . .where are my pumpkin lattes at?!

I just got back from a trip to Toronto, Canada where I was able to meet two of my long-time clients! What an awesome city it was - super clean, GREAT food, and probably would not have been as fun without our awesome tour guides:) My boyfriend Chris and I were even able to venture off for a day to Niagara Falls (obligatory poncho photo above.) I can't wait to visit Canada again, and hopefully see the Northern Lights next.

Finally, I wanted to share a little bit of recent client work- "Meet the Team" avatars! They can vary btwn B/W or color and can be more or less realistic/caricatured depending on what you want. These ones were created for the members of Auctionopia.com.

Daniel Day Lewis

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 17:02:00 +0000

This week's topic was Daniel Day Lewis for the fb group - Caricaturama 3000- (now close to reaching 4000 members!!) It is an awesome outlet to meet other artists and share interpretations of the same subject.

I am going to show a somewhat typical breakdown of what happens when I DON'T do a solid sketch before painting - - it is a bit crazy. This is not to say I completely omit thumbnails or preliminary sketches from my process. It happens (100% of the time with client work) - But I find when painting, no matter how long I spend on a sketch, I am constantly re-evaluating and figuring things out during the process. Sometimes it feels like I do six paintings in one before reaching a final.

Given a tight schedule, this would definitely be an idiotic approach - but for now, I think it is helping me develop and understand different techniques, and what interests me the most.

words words words... now to see what I am talking about -

This was the first idea I was messing around with. I was trying to be all funny like, and missed the mark with the likeness completely! Ended up with a crooked nose Kevin Kline wannabe paint sketch (I am in a sharing mood, normally this would not see the light of day):

Okay scrapped that - decided to work full face again, and developed the eyes. I know it is best to really move all around the painting and not get too caught up in one area BUT, for me at least, if I really nail the eyes, I get really inspired about the rest of the painting. Boom, instant life.

Cool so I'm all happy with the eyes. Hours go by... what is going on, I CANNOT get the rest of this face to look like anything but a Billy Crudup, Kevin Kline, and Christian Bale love child. I don't know if this happens to other artists, but routinely my reference and painting start resembling other people in my brain. . .

One way to make it more difficult for yourself to nail the likeness: Lean too heavily on a reference that does not "look" like the subject(wise words from J. Seiler's class). How is this possible? It is a photo of them... so it IS them, how does it not look like them?? What if it is a shot of them mid sentence, chewing food, or a windy day and their hair is all funky making their head shape look unfamiliar, or they are made-up differently for a photo shoot... In my case, I realized I am most familiar with this actor in one movie - Gangs of New York - and if you have seen him in GNY, he has an oddball bangs, a crazy mustache covering a third of his face, and the expressions he delivers make him look like a different person entirely!

So once again it was back to the drawing board. I put on some youtube clips of him in that movie, and reworked(and in some areas overworked=/) the painting. I was sad because I liked the broad strokes, spark, and texture happening in the older version above - and by painting on top I lost a lot of that quality(it is hard for me to get that kind of effect later on, it ends up looking contrived). I did try to keep the focus in the central facial expression through higher contrast and detail in those areas, and balanced it with loose and more atmospheric lighting around his hair, clothes and chin. I feel like his chin area gets a bit wonky, and would have liked it a little less soft in some areas, but I do like the highlight intensity, because he seemed a bit oily/sweaty as that character=)

On a final note, don't be a chicken; share your work in progress to anyone who is willing to take a peek. They do not have to be an artist. When it comes to likeness, especially where well-known subjects are concerned, a fresh set of eyes can be a great help - Or, you can also get the same "fresh-eyes" effect by flipping your image in a different direction. And if working traditionally, holding your canvas in front of a mirror... Flaws will appear to you instantly.

I'd say "more soon" but that always makes me a liar, so "until next time..." =)

Tilda Swinton

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 22:14:00 +0000

Kotton Kandii

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 02:12:00 +0000

Gurrrl just loves getting her hair did! Kotton Kandii(as I like to call her) is a fierce bald headed character who can werk any style wig, in any color. Most of all, Kotton enjoys putting her own spin on iconic styles -- the platinum princess leia(above middle) is a personal favorite. I did this design last year and although I only showed a few possibilities above, I also painted curls, dreads, long straight hair, braids and more! Kotton's hair pieces are totally customizable to fit any occasion. One can only wonder, what will she do next??

In Memory of Tristan

noreply@blogger.com (Kacey) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 23:08:00 +0000

At the end of last year I was commissioned by a friend to do a very special and memorable portrait. Tristan Hunter was a young man who passed unexpectedly, and sadly I probably would have met him the following week, as he was packing for a trip to San Francisco to visit my close friends at that time. Though I did not get the chance to know him personally, it was clear he touched many lives. After looking through tons of photos of him, reading stories and comments on facebook, I felt connected enough to capture the thoughtful, down-to-earth, generous friend he was to many.

This was a very intimidating commission for me as I felt a great weight and responsibility to do the best possible job. After much searching, I found the perfect photo reference; the back lighting felt magical, and his downward gaze and warm smile was a nice reminder that he is still a part of everyones' lives.

As with every project, there were challenges throughout. Trying to to recreate the ambient/diffuse environment lighting was particularly difficult since I am used to working with references of a bit more contrast. Additionally, in the beginning I was also limited to incredibly low-res photos, so many thanks to everyone who helped obtain the higher-res references. Initial trials aside, I am really happy with how the painting turned out, and could not have been more honored that I was chosen as the one to work on it.

Photo credit: David Craver @ Courtney Craver Photography