http://www.drawger.com/tonka/ Sun, 19 Nov 2017 17:50:04 EST FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://drawger.com/_images/drawger_leo_logo.gif http://www.drawger.com/tonka http://www.drawger.com/tonka/index.php?section=articles&article_id=15371

I was commissioned by Smithsonian Magazine to paint a portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte for the current issue.  The article had an interesting thesis that asserted that we would have been better off if Napoleon never lost in Waterloo.  Certainly he would have been. The idea I let float around in my head for a while was a smirk.  I envisioned a Napoleon portrait of the regal, diminutive emperor with a dejected smirk on his sweaty face. From the article: "If Napoleon had remained emperor of France for the six years remaining in his natural life, European civilization would have benefited inestimably. The reactionary Holy Alliance of Russia, Prussia and Austria would not have been able to crush liberal constitutionalist movements in Spain, Greece, Eastern Europe and elsewhere; pressure to join France in abolishing slavery in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean would have grown; the benefits of meritocracy over feudalism would have had time to become more widely appreciated; Jews would not have been forced back into their ghettos in the Papal States and made to wear the yellow star again; encouragement of the arts and sciences would have been better understood and copied; and the plans to rebuild Paris would have been implemented, making it the most gorgeous city in the world. Napoleon deserved to lose Waterloo, and Wellington to win it, but the essential point in this bicentenary year is that the epic battle did not need to be fought—and the world would have been better off if it hadn’t been." (Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/we-better-off-napoleon-never-lost-waterloo ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's a funny thing about smirks, if you look them up, they are all over the place.  The best ever was that amazing real moment when McKayla Marone, the Olympic gymnast let her feelings show on the medal stand in London after receiving her silver (See below).  By putting a smirk on Napoleon in the final, it might lean too 'cartoonish' for me and lose the power of the hat or 'crown' being knocked off.  I had to figure out how far to go with it and in the end I went with suspicious. Inspired, when it came time to deliver sketches, I felt I had several good options, but something about that first sketch worked for me and it was the hat being blown off his head with a minimal smirk. Thankfully, my favorite sketch was chosen by the wonderful Maria Keehan and I was on to the final art. I also made a short gif of the hat being blown off, but it's not quite an 'evergreen' gif as the hat has to go back onto his head eventually.

















Close-up of a sweaty and concerned Napoleon. We decided to keep the color weak in the final art.



Close-up of a sweaty and concerned Napoleon. We decided to keep the color weak in the final art.

]]> Fri, 05 Jun 2015 15:13:00 EST http://www.drawger.com/tonka/index.php?section=articles&article_id=15340

Recently I was talking to my soon-to-be former students about sketchbooks. They are so very important and what comes out of them is not only future pieces, but perhaps insights into what we were feeling at the time.  Artists jot down ideas and some sketches are just winners and we go to those first, others need to sit a while, their meaning not clear yet.  Perhaps an element need to come into focus, the right model enters your life or some other aspect changes that 'green lights' the image.   The thumbnail for this was sketched while waiting for my son to come out of surgery last summer.  Grim, I know, but looking back now it's easy to see, while I had no idea what I was sketching at the time, that the tortoise was lighting his own back on fire, hence, we were doing this to our son.  I know both my wife and I were feeling terrible that day, and it all comes out in the art. A strong image can work in other ways too and I actually thought this image was about a tortoise causing his own demise, an oblique reference to climate deniers and other that imperil the planet and it's species. When the RJD Gallery (Richard J. Demato Fine Arts Gallery in Sag Harbor) asked for me to participate in a group show to benefit the Southampton Animal Shelter, I pulled out the sketch and offered this painting titled, Tortoise Acting Human, oil and gouache on panel.  Also in the exhibition and sale is a piece done several years ago titled, Dark Horse, oil and gold leaf on panel. Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation – "A Magical Menagerie” May 9th - May 21st RJD Gallery PO BOX 1994 90 Main Street Sag Harbor, NY 11963  











]]> Thu, 07 May 2015 14:54:00 EST http://www.drawger.com/tonka/index.php?section=articles&article_id=15194

This summer I was troubled, as were many other Americans, when an unarmed black man, Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, Missouri.  This followed the case of Treyvon Martin and was followed by Eric Garner's choking death (recorded) in Staten Island.  No matter what you feel about Michael Brown or other recent deaths of unarmed black men, 2014 was the year it came to a boiling point. Just prior to the verdict in Ferguson, I was asked to illustrate Michael Brown on the ground.  For me, the awful video of his body prone on the pavement, in the hot sun was hard to watch.  Imagine the pain of his family seeing him there for almost 4 hours. Writer, John H. Richardson wrote a piece for ESQUIRE about the incident and how it endures through the eyes of his father, Michael Brown Sr.







In order to do this piece I had to shoot reference and it's such a removed process to ask someone you know to pose for a piece like this.  In the end I hope it made more real something only seen in grainy quality images. Years ago I did a similar clarifying piece in responce to Neda being murdered in Iran.  It's a foresnic form a portraiture.

]]> Tue, 13 Jan 2015 23:19:52 EST http://www.drawger.com/tonka/index.php?section=articles&article_id=15211

]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2015 16:36:19 EST http://www.drawger.com/tonka/index.php?section=articles&article_id=15164

Life couldn't have worked out better by the end of 2014.  Still, the Irish in me begins to feel wary when things are too satisfying and I often find myself mentally 'testing the floor' to see if it's sturdy.  I am learning to trust and enjoy the good parts of life.  However, this image is about the way that life can sometimes flip you out of your boat. My sketchbook is a place where I work out ideas and jot down simple images that suddenly, a while later, become relevant and need to be turned into final art.  Sometimes I need a bit of clearance from the actual real-life events that inspired the sketch.  This personal work from the fall of 2014 comes from that clearance and a more distant perspective.  I like staring out at the crystal-clear lake in Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania in the late summer, when the light gets softer and the clouds become wisps and glow like neon against the falling sun.  One particular day this August it all lined up perfectly; wispy clouds, soft ripples and evening light.  That was the night I decided to do the piece.  This is an image of a man being tossed from his comfort.  I don't imagine him losing his life, but it ended what was a blissful moment.  I look forward to doing more work from the sketchbooks in 2015.  Lean into life, take it all in and trust the good things all around, and no matter what, get back into the boat!







Here's a toast to all those who made this year such a great one for me.  Cheers to all of my friends and family, my e-mail group, my running friends, to anyone who lost someone they love, who fought against some illness, who picked themselves up, to my far away friends, to my friends at the Society of Illustrators,  to all my students (most of them) and to my heart, Elizabeth Parisi and Cassius.  It was quite a year.

Click below to see a brief slideshow of 2014.  Have a great holiday and New Year.

12/18/14 by Slidely Slideshow

]]> Fri, 19 Dec 2014 19:54:40 EST http://www.drawger.com/tonka/index.php?section=articles&article_id=15110

Every now and then an assignment comes along that is just perfect with where your head is.  A freelancer should be ready to work with assignments and ideas that may not be right in one’s wheelhouse, thus is the reason it’s called a collaboration.  Good illustrators can maintain their look and identity while working with another’s idea.  This is the real job of an illustrator. Recently, when Len Small of Nautilus contacted me about an illusion assignment, I was immediately inspired.   The assignment was to attempt a realistic version of the Duck/Rabbit illusion.  Investigating these illusions, I saw that the more simple the artwork the harder it was to see either animal as the definitive choice as the eye goes back and forth trying to determine which is which.   I made several attempts with the illusion in digital comps and then let myself play a bit.  I had several solutions and I liked the floating rabbit a lot, but the more direct illusion in the grass fit the article better.  Nautilus kindly ran both. Click to see the article at Nautilus... http://nautil.us/issue/19/illusions/how-your-brain-decides-without-you What an amazing publication Nautilus is.  There are certain places out there in the editorial market that are warm and sunny and have all that we dream of when a client calls. PlanSponsor,  Scientific American, Playboy and Smithsonian are just a few examples.  We all appreciate when illustration is loved and is used to enhance the writing.  In Nautilus, the work is always beautiful and effective so I do hope other publications notice.







]]> Thu, 06 Nov 2014 16:31:25 EST