Douglas Fraser at Drawger.com!

Road & Track Redesign

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 17:05:12 EDT

Well the newly redesigned Road & track is on the stands. I've been drawing cars since a kid in school. I also have been thumbing through automotive magazines for decades. Car culture does have a rich history. I've been in many discussions about what a car says about it's driver, not to mention the pros & cons of the larger issues. The subject crosses over all dividing lines. Well for these illustrations I worked with David Speranza at Road & Track. We had not worked with one another before. The last decades working in an automotive magazine has an illustrator playing a supporting role to photography. The largest image roughly a quarter page, with two spots. I do enjoy working 2D vector, and was happy to hear that David embraced that approach. Working on the illustrations with David Speranza as my collaborator was….. Hell, it was fun.

March

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:57:02 EDT

I've been working on a few more pieces for exhibition. Looking to have them up for the first of March at my local gallery. The show is of a smaller number of my recent paintings. The opportunity to show is welcomed, and yet it seems to focus my schedule in a way that can be a little stressful/negative. I'm use to the deadlines in my illustration work, just not something I want too much of in these paintings. Working with a heavier weight canvas on these. The canvas suface had me doing some subtle shifting in edges.

Walls & Stairs

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 22:56:19 EDT

After scraping and heat gunning the old paint from some of our old house last summer, and then prepping, and painting, then going on a road trip to help in painting some rooms at my in-law's, I've noticed a theme in my life; walls, walls, and some stairs. In my studio I've been painting with doing another gallery show in mind. The feedback from the gallery has been positive, but the request for larger scale work has been made several times. Working with different scales, and surfaces. Some of the surfaces have been light weight finely woven cotton canvas, contrasted with a heavier duck for larger canvas, as well I still enjoy the panel boxes which I construct. As the scale goes larger the panel paintings seem to run up against the issue of weight, and being somewhat cumbersome. I've done some painting on linen as well. I do enjoy the attributes of each. As the scale has increased, I've experienced a new physicality in my painting(not to mention the house painting). It's demanded a different approach in how I literally must stand while painting. I understand it's good for digestion, ha-ha. It's possible to sit for intervals while working on appropriate sections. Well the studio, and house painting has me thinking of buying an old used panel van. It'll help transport materials as well as larger paintings.

Wall Street Gasser

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 22:04:41 EDT

More car culture. Orlie Kraus, art director at the Wall Street Journal drove an assignment proposal by. I had fun kicking around ideas of a future natural gas auto world. Orlie & I discussed the article on the phone, and we both threw out ideas. The visual steered around to an American Muscle car with big blue natural gas flames coming out of the back. The car would be frackin' fast I suppose. Probably not the most PC thing. As I worked on the sketches & finish, visions of youthful passions of Hot Wheels, Hot Rod magazine, Car Craft, …….. kept me bolting together my finish. After polishing the details I sent her off for the show. Hot Wheels & the Wall Street Journal hmm…there's a mix.

Subtext

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 22:55:25 EDT

Finished an assignment for a magazine I was not familiar with until recently. The magazine is Associations Now, which is a resource, " of learning, knowledge and future-oriented research for the association and nonprofit profession, and provides resources, education, ideas and advocacy to enhance the power and performance of the association and nonprofit community". Okay, That's from their website. The art director, Beth Lower had come forward with a visual in mind. That visual suggestion was as follows, "At our editorial meeting we discussed a simple idea of water with a periscope poking out—and maybe the subtle image of the submarine under the water. Please let me know what you think". I liked the idea having dealt with a sub-like craft in previous assignment some years ago. I had presented the idea that I wanted to work in vector software for the assignment. Beth was comfortable with my wanting to work in vector. I was emailed the article, and read it. Having read the article it was my opinion that Beth's visual was as good or better than any I would offer. After developing my sketches, a couple seemed to be leaning in another direction in my minds eye. Focusing in on the subject early has the benefit of really nailing down the design, and look of the final art. Beth & I also discussed what in my illustration work she thought stood out in her mind. She was leaning toward my traditional work in tone and feel. So it was agreed I would work in my oil based approach. By getting the focus on the subject early, and a sketch approved quickly, there was the time I desired to do the execution I wanted. My concern when working in oils is that changes or tweaks after the finish is done, is like taking a hammer to a freshly constructed surface. No command-Z keystrokes, or backed-up versions to quickly fix. In the closing, I quite enjoyed the process, and subject of this assignment as no mines were encountered.

Workin' Joe

Mon, 21 May 2012 20:20:30 EDT

Last week Joe Heroun of The New Republic emailed, and asking if I was up for a cover assignment. Working with Joe has been a great pleasure of mine. He requested a vector execution of subject matter that I've traditionally handled with oils. That subject being the worker, or blue collar person. Strangely I've not done too many blue collars on workers, hmmm…. Well, anyhow, I've enjoyed Joe's direction in past as it's gotten me delving into thoughts(visual ideas) I've wanted to pursue. The cover of the issue is the pivotal battle for the state of Ohio between the Republicans & Democrats. Now elephants & mules are staples of the editorial genre, so I focused on the opportunity to push the graphic vector nature of the medium per Joe's request for my vector work. Joe & I ended up agreeing on going with a white background which contributes to the clean look of the cover. In executing the cover I went two directions for my influences, one being back to my typography classes, and the interaction between letter forms(pre-software). The other direction was forward with influence from my recent gallery work done in paint, while dealing with a subject I'd worked with in past. In the final, Joe & I created a cover I'm pleased with. As an illustrator I am still respectfully of the printed article being the work of art. It's the cover of the current issue, thanks Joe Heroun.