Entries by johnmanders

Painting over the underpainting

Joanie asks: I have yet another question if you don’t mind since you have been so kind to answer all my others! I understand the importance of an underpainting since it establishes all the values before you add the color but when you are painting over your underpainting how do you keep all the colors […]

Should I major in art or in business?

Ashley writes: I need some college Major advice I want to be a freelance illustrator, and I’m going into college this Fall. I was talking to a friend of mine about another mutual friend who graduated college with an Art Degree, and had a 4.0, but had no work because she didn’t know how to […]

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Festival in Venice

There’s a scene in The Famous Nini when the king declares National Nini Day and everyone celebrates. Kerry Martin, the senior design editor, wasn’t happy with the scene as I’d depicted it in the thumbnail sketch with crowds on a bridge over a canal (p 17).  I worked up 3 rough alternative sketches—where we see […]

Howcome?

I see that Despicable Me has a tie-in with IHOP—some kind of merchandise giveaway thing.  Toy Story 3 has all kinds of merchandise and tie-ins at Walmart: from T shirts to action figures to characters’ images on boxes of crackers. All that’s to be expected.  Hollywood long ago figured out how to promote and merchandise […]

What if friends want free work?

A former student of mine wrote: I am having an issue with people thinking just because they know me I should paint portraits of their kids and do graphic design work for them for nothing—or next to it. I have gotten five demands this week (worse yet, 3 of those were rather rude). I politely […]

More of that Wizards’ reunion art

Some shots of the image I’ve been working on for the Wizards’ reunion.  The Wizards were a bunch of us callow art students who formed a club for the express purpose of throwing parties.  This image will get put on a T shirt for the big weekend.  I’ll also be offering prints of it on […]