Gene Ploss Studio

Tech Solutions

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:33:00 +0000

20"x36" paint marker on coroplast & foam core board

Made To Order Salads

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:02:00 +0000

20"x36" spray paint & paint marker on coroplast & foam core board

Made To Order Pasta

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:01:00 +0000

20"x36" spray paint & paint marker on coroplast & foam core board

Made To Order Paninis

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:58:00 +0000

20"x36" spray paint & paint marker on coroplast & foam core board

Flutterby 2

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 10:00:00 +0000

5"x7" watercolor, colored pencil and ink on Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper

Edwin

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:30:00 +0000

2.5"x3.5" ACEO graphite on hot-press illustration board

sold

Buffalo Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Back in February, the folks from the new Buffalo Magazine here in town asked if they could include my Family Name House print in their publication. I said yes of course! It came out a couple of weeks ago and I got a nice big response. Thank you Buffalo Magazine!

cover

The Local Finds Page

Detail (click image for a larger view)

Here it is on the rack

Flutterby 1

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 01:25:00 +0000

5"x7" watercolor, colored pencil and ink on Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper

Jimmy The Nose

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 03:08:00 +0000

"Everyone in the little town knew about Jimmy. Not just because he was the leader of the notorious Butcher's Alley Gang, but because of his tremendous dancing ability. He had won the annual crazy legs dance competition seven years in a row. People would travel from miles around to see him perform. Even though he was greatly respected, he was forced to sleep outside the town wall because of his incredibly loud snoring. The thunderous noises were described by one resident as the sound of a drunken tuba fight."

2.5"x3.5" ACEO ink, marker, watercolor, colored pencil and graphite on Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper

sold

This is the first art card in a series called Slipperytown. The series will be made up of a cast of unusual characters, each with their own unique story. Each story will be a small piece of a puzzle that will tell the larger story of this quirky little town.

Strathmore Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:42:00 +0000

A while back the people at Strathmore Artist Papers asked if I would do an interview about the 400 Series Paper Pad that I did the cover art work for. They asked me several questions including what I thought of the paper itself. Although I'm a big fan of Strathmore products and have tried many of their papers, I had never used this particular paper before. I have to say that I was very impressed with it. I will definitely be using it in the future. They also asked me what artists inspired me. I actually had to think about that question for a long time. I mean, of course I have been inspired and influenced by other artists, but I've never spent any real time considering that question. After I did, I was somewhat surprised by the list I came up with. For instance, Norman Rockwell topped the list! It makes sense because I remember being mesmerized by his magazine covers at a very early age. I am influenced to this day by the faces in his paintings. They are so expressive and full of detail. The other question that I spent a lot of time answering was the one about what advice I would give to beginning artists. I really enjoyed answering this one because I love to teach people, especially about making artwork.

I did my best to answer all their questions. If you would like check out the interview, it's on the Strathmore Artsits Paper site right here.

Back Cover

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:55:00 +0000

Children's Book - "Tie Your Shoe Strings"

8.5"x8.5" watercolor, colored pencil, graphite & ink on Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper

Starting fresh in the new year

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

I have decided that this is the year of getting things done. Like many of you out there, I have a growing number of projects on my to-do list. Since we are beginning a new year it seems like the perfect time to declare war on clutter and just get it all done!

I usually have several projects going at once, plus a dozen ideas running around in my head. Then add all the normal day-to-day domestic tasks that need to happen. Despite my best intentions, there always seems to be a to-do pile waiting for attention. Occasionally, debris creeps in and takes over my drawing table until, you guessed it... there's no room to draw on it! Does this sound familiar?

I do maintain a pretty high level of organization already, but I want to take it to the next level so I can be more productive. Therefore, I am setting these goals for 2012:

Simplify - clean up clutter that gets in the way physically and mentally.
Streamline - scale down existing systems to make them more efficient.
Do it now - don't put things off that can be done immediately.

So it is written, so shall it be done!

Greek Yogurt Man

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000

5"x7" watercolor, colored pencil, graphite & ink on 90 lb. watercolor paper

Here is my first clip art illustration of 2012. Cute little guy isn't he? Clip art will be one of several main focuses for me this year.

Front Cover

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Children's Book - "Tie Your Shoe Strings"

8.5"x8.5" watercolor, colored pencil, graphite & ink on Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper

Page Eleven

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 01:45:00 +0000

Children's Book - "Tie Your Shoe Strings"

8.5"x8.5" watercolor, colored pencil, graphite & ink on Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper

Page Ten

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:19:00 +0000

Children's Book - "Tie Your Shoe Strings"

8.5"x8.5" watercolor, colored pencil, graphite & ink on Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper

The Making of: Happy Easter 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 11:13:00 +0000

Cut and spray paint the background panel.

"Rough in" the Lettering.

"Build up" the lettering.

Cut out the lettering.

Dry fit the lettering on the background panel.

Using the back side of the background panel as a work surface, spray some fun color on the top of the lettering.

Spray a complimenting fun color on the bottom of the lettering.

Using the "finger-pull" method, "Marker-in" a nice pin stripe around the edge of the lettering.

Mount the finished lettering onto a sheet of white foam core board.

Cut around the lettering, leaving a half inch of white foam core board.

Mount that onto the background panel, and then mount the whole works onto a sheet of black foam core board. Then cut around the whole thing leaving a half inch of black foam core board.

Add some cute little Easter eggs and DONE!

Close up right

Close up left.

The Making of: Golf Ball Dangler

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:19:00 +0000

This may seem random, but a while back several large golf balls were needed to hang throughout a large display area. So I started thinking about how I could make multiple golf balls out of foam core board. After some head scratching I came up with a plan... and a two step stencil!

The first of many blanks.

I started by carefully placing stencil #1...

then I applied some Gray Flannel spray paint to the exposed area of the blank...

I removed the stencil and let the panel dry. Looking good so far.

Then I carefully placed stencil #2...

weighted it down and applied some flat white spray paint.

Removed the stencil and let the panel dry again.

Here is the finished golf ball. Not bad. Now, just 20 more to go!

The Making of: Halloween Event A-Frame

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:58:00 +0000

With Halloween quickly approaching, it was no surprise to me that I would end up creating some kind of creepy character. I was asked to create a 5'-6' tall A-Frame sign in the shape of a "kid friendly" witch to promote a Halloween event.

I started, as always with my preliminary sketch.

Then I started drawing on a full sheet of foam core board using my sketch as reference. Looking at the drawing, you can see that I was working out the design further... changing and developing it as I went. Then I started cutting the drawing into a template so I could use it to make two panels (one for each side of the A-Frame.

Here is the finished template. Next, I took a fresh sheet of foam core board and traced through the template on it. Then I took another sheet of foam core board, flipped the template and traced through it to make the design in reverse (the second side of the A-Frame).

The next step was to mist on some color, right over the traced drawing on each panel.

Here is one of the frogs after I sprayed in the background color and then markered in the details.

I used the template to trace and cut two cauldron shapes out of Navy Blue Coroplast. These will be added onto the top of the finished panels at the end to create a layered effect.

Here is one of the finished background panels. It's red Coroplast with a mist of Blackberry Design Master spray paint at the top. The last step before assembling all the pieces was to marker in all the color and detail on the witch and the cauldron.

The Finished Piece

Trader Joe's Shopping Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 13:53:00 +0000

I was finally able to check out a Trader Joe's store last year during our trip to Virginia. I recently found these photos that I took at the time. We located the wine that I had illustrated the label for and bought close to a case of it. It was a strange but wonderful experience to see "my" wine on the shelf there.

Squire White

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:16:00 +0000

18"x24" acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

Commissioned portrait for the White Inn - to hang in the Bar
named "The Squire White Room"

This portrait is of Squire White who was the original builder / owner of the White Inn located in Fredonia, New York. I discovered a lot of history associated with the building itself which I enjoyed very much.

The reference was a black and white photo copy of a etching from an old book. The reference didn't have a lot of detail, so I had to create some of the wrinkles and shadowing. Since the reference was black and white I was also forced to invented the color scheme. After doing a little research, I found some other portrait paintings from the time period of the etching (early to mid 1800s) and used them as color references. I also considered the colors in the room where the portrait would be hanging.

Page Nine

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:12:00 +0000

Children's Book - "Tie Your Shoe Strings"

8.5"x8.5" watercolor, colored pencil, graphite & ink on Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper

Page Eight

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 11:11:00 +0000

Children's Book - "Tie Your Shoe Strings"

8.5"x8.5" watercolor, colored pencil, graphite & ink on Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper

Pages Four - Seven

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 11:06:00 +0000

Children's Book - "Tie Your Shoe Strings"

8.5"x8.5" watercolor, colored pencil, graphite & ink on Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper

Page Three

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Ploss) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 10:23:00 +0000

Children's Book - "Tie Your Shoe Strings"

8.5"x8.5" watercolor, colored pencil, graphite & ink on Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper