Ahh Paris! ~More art from my trip.

The left drawing is from a sculpture of Degas, one of my very favorite artists.  It was so good. All of Degas' self portraits, and photos of him come to life in this slightly larger than life bronze at the Orsay. It was like standing in front of Degas himself.  He posed for this when he was 50.  I never even knew it existed!   

The other sketch is from a bronze in the Gerome show that was also at the Orsay.  The show had just been in LA and I had missed it.  Oh well, I'll just go to France and see it... By accident!  The Bronze is not by Gerome but rather of a slave girl in a Gerome painting.  Gerome was a great sculptor himself, and I did some drawing of his work too.  soon to come!  

More Paris drawings...

Here are a few more pieces from the Orsay Museum of those wonderful earth clay caricatures by Honore' Daumier.  These little sculptures are really one of the highlights of the whole museum.  They are only about 3 -5 inches tall and roughly, but beautifully painted.  I wanted to draw them all!  but only got to 3 of them. Enjoy!

 

These were both done in colored pencil on stonehenge rag paper with washes of watercolor.... 

Some drawings from Paris

Here are some drawings I did in Paris last month when I was there for my Gallery show at Galerie Maghen.  Most of these are from the Musee D'Orsay, as I spent 2 days there drawing, viewing art and having some wonderful meals at their restaurant.

These are both done in colored pencil, the grey paper drawing was done on Rives bfk and the orange one is on stonehenge watercolor paper with a orange green wash of watercolor. 

Paris #2

Here are a few more photos of the things I'm seeing/ doing in Paris! 

The Window of the Gallery with the show poster in the window!A beautiful monument to St. Michel near the hotel, and across from Notre Dame

"Album", one of the grand Temples of French comics

Paris images #1

Hello all, I wanted to share some wonderful visuals of my Paris trip so far with you, as well as some shots of the gallery show that I am here for!  There are not too many to bore you, but some real beautiful scenes here...

Daniel Maghen the gallery owner and the show before the opening!

Anabelle, an employee of the gallery in the doorway! A mile long line of the Paris Guard walked by me as I arrived at the gallery for the first time! YES, that's Notre Dame in the Background! Beautiful evening on the Pont Alexander III Bridge looking at the Eiffel Tower..

Amazing shot of the Grand Palais in the rainy night

Eiffel Tower light show! Aman Jean PaintingBeautiful Bronze in the Petit PalaisDetail of a beautiful Jan van Beers Painting

Last post before Paris... More art!

Here's a few more images before I leave tomorrow for Paris.  It should be fun, this is the first vacation I have ever taken!  

Paris show announcement and more images!

Here is the official announcement for the Gallery show in Paris!   And below are a few more images form the show itself.  almost there!  

Paris show art #3

Here's more images of the artwork that will be available at the show in Paris! The first is pencil and enamel, and the second is oil on Rives BFK.  

The work will be available from Galerie Daniel Maghen at: www.danielmaghen.com sometime around November 5th.  -More to come! 

Paris show art #2

Here's some more images of the artwork that will be available at the show in Paris coming soon. Sort of a watery theme this time!

The work will be available from Galerie Daniel Maghen at: www.danielmaghen.com sometime around November 5th.  -More to come! 

New art for Paris gallery show #1

I thought I would start posting some images of the artwork that will be available at the show in Paris coming soon.  The work will be available from Galerie Daniel Maghen at: www.danielmaghen.com sometime around November 5th.

more to come! 

Portable brass plein-air palette project!

I thought I'd share some photos of a palette I just finished designing/ building over the weekend.  I wanted to build something that would take up the absolute minimum amount of space, yet be able to hold all of the things I need to do a little painting in any medium.  

I wanted all this because I am going to France, and really wanted something light that I could carry with me in a backpack or small bag.  The palette is made of brass sheet and square tubing to make it incredibly strong and light.  All of the parts are soldered together with a small torch and silver solder.  I lightly sanded all the parts, but still need to clean up some solder and need to buff everything to a shine.  

Palette open for use with large MoleskinePalette open with small Moleskine

Palette closedPalette open with removable trayslide-out lid-prop mechanismSlide-out table top stabilizer

Fine jewelry site has launched!

A website entirely devoted to my collection of fine jewelry has just been launched and has gone live!  

craigelliottcollection.com

I use an unusual process to create these works, modeling the forms first in Maya, the program that animated films are made with. The 3D models are then made into real prototypes that are cast in metal.  These "metal masters" are cleaned up and and fixes or flaws removed.  Then the masters are used to make the final molds for lost wax casting.  All the jewelry is hand made and assembled and ships in its own specially sized box.  

-Enjoy!  

I've been called out on "A is for Artist" !

I have been written into a wonderful regular feature on the Tor website written by the talented illustration team of Kurt and Zelda. The theme of the feature is that they pick a few artists who's name start with each letter of the alphabet, and then introduce a different letter for each installment of the feature.  They, by now, have reached the letter "E" and have chosen me to be part of the five or so artists for that letter!  

Jump on over to the Tor website and have a gander at this installment and all the others if you haven't already!   

Dean Cornwell rocks.

I did a couple sketches from some Dean Cornwell paintings last night and I thought I would share them.

 I always love the strength of structure that he puts in the heads he paints and draws.  they are exaggerated in character and simplified in structure.  all the right stuff!  

Painting like a madman....

I've been painting like crazy after work and on the weekends to create enough work for my show in Paris later this year.  Here is a funny shot of the 7 paintings I am working on this week drying all at once. All this art leaves me little room to make more!  Sadly I cannot put them outside, because it is very dusty out here due to my neighbor having 20+ horses and goats etc.  

But what the hell. I'm having fun!  

Glass Jewelry now available in store!

My new line of glass cameo jewelry on silk ribbons is now available in the store area.  There are 9 designs, each centered around one of my fine art paintings.  Several of the designs sold out at their introduction for Comic-con this year, so this should prove a popular new item! All the cameos are signed by me and hand made.  Each cameo is somewhat unique, as the glass beads used in each are all different.   

All of the cameos are available for $25 with $4 shipping. 

Enjoy!  

-Craig

Comicon 2010 in the bag.

Comic-con 2010 has wrapped up, and I'm still putting away all my booth gear!  I wanted to thank all of you fans and friends who stopped by this year.  Special thanks to My friend Lana who possibly suffered a spider bite from a spider in my con equipment (and had to go to emergency), and my assistant Jackie and her friend Laura for helping me out at the booth on the weekend.

I introduced a new line of glass cameo jewelry as well as several new prints of paintings.  Keep an eye on the website for these items!  

Thanks again for all your complements and interesting conversation, and see you again next year!  

-Craig

Next stop Comic-con 2010...

I just finished attending and speaking at the Icon6 conference in Pasadena, CA and I'm making all my final preparations for comicon 2010.  If you are going to the con this year, come by the Craig Elliott Gallery booth# 4812 and say hi!   If you come by, also check out the work of my friend, Christian Alzmann, nearby at booth# 4816

New at Comic-con this year, I will have new prints, originals and a new line of glass cameo jewelry.  I will doing commissions again this year and my list fills up fast, so get on the list soon!   

See you there! 

 

ICON6 film panel speaker and exhibit

If you are going to ICON this year, stop by on Saturday July, 17th in the Huntington Ball Room from 4:20-5pm to hear myself and some of my fellow film designers speak about designing on The Princess and the Frog and art in general. 

Ian Gooding, Bill Schwab, John Mahoney and myself will all be contributing!  

"I like Craig Elliott's artwork..." There's an App for that!

Well, soon there will be! I have been putting together a special collection of images for the iPhone and iPad this past week and just submitted the final set of pages and icons for approval:  

Bring inspiration and guidance on how to draw the female form with you wherever you are!  "Craig Elliott: Pinup"  is a collection of large studies, well suited as wallpaper images.  The studies have been rendered in many colorful mediums of expression such as watercolor, pencil and pastel. (31 pages, full color)

My hope is to continue to release these book Apps under different themes, as long as they do fairly well.  Keep an eye on this spot for final release dates etc.  I am shooting for a Comicon 2010 release!