PULP

Earlier this year I got the opportunity to collaborate with photographic dynamo Neil Krug on two illustrations for his and Joni Harbeck's upcoming PULP ART BOOK. I have been a huge admirer of Neil's polaroid work since first seeing it on Flickr, and although these are still in-progress, I thought I would post some of the sketches and pin-up drafts so far.

Nerding Out

I had the good fortune to get a call from Nick Vogelson at OUT magazine last month for an article on the crossing-over of nerdism into mainstream American culture. Through the eyes of the writer at events such as the San Diego Comicon, I was left with a certain reverence for the pop culture pile-up that these events seem to inevitably lead to. The first few sketches were essentially riffing on this idea of fictitious comic book and film worlds colliding, first with each other and then again with the world around them. The rough pencil ideas were scanned and re-drawn into the more legible sketches in Photoshop, and once the hallway version had been approved I did my best to retain as much of the loose, crowded quality of the rough sketches as possible.

Overall it was an incredibly fun assignment, and really any day I get to draw Skeletor sleeping on someone's lap at a bus stop is a good day. I think it's the issue should be on stands now, thanks again to Nick for the opportunity.

Conchords

Here is a new self-promo portrait I just finished of New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo, along with a bit of the process from sketch to digital paints. Owenfreeman.com has also just been updated with a bundle of new sketches and illustrations.

Also in case you haven't seen it there is a fantastic Drawger post by Yoku Shimizu detailing the process of a new portrait she did for Golf Digest. Can't recommend it enough.

Tempest

Here is the latest illustration for this week's LA Weekly, inspired by a longstanding infatuation with the concrete forests of overpasses across Los Angeles.

Brütal Lemmy

Here are some of the sketches I did for the new issue of Nylon Guys magazine along with the finished illustration. The piece was for the "Rock & Awe" interview with Lemmy Kilmister about his role in the upcoming heavy-metal themed Brütal Legend video game- I couldn't ask for more visually fun elements to work with. Much thanks to Alexander Chow for the opportunity and thanks again to the illustrious Frank Stockton for the assist.

Mash Up

Here is a new piece I just did for this week's LA Weekly. I had been reading about the history of Malibu Creek State Park, where M*A*S*H and the Planet of the Apes series were filmed when I did the rough sketch. After hiking up to shoot some reference shots for an idea about a misdirected extra, I painted the ink and watercolor version. After some trial and error and strange accidents with color and temperatures, I came to this version, which hopefully retains most of the anachronistic feel of the original concept.

In other news, I'm incredibly honored to have my unpublished "Waiting" illustration awarded a spot in this year's Communication Arts Illustration Annual, which is on stands now.

Unbelievable 2.5

Unbelievable_2.5, originally uploaded by owenfreeman.

Portrayals

Here is an ink drawing/portrait of Mr. Hugh Hefner I did for this year's Playboy Jazz Festival. Throughout the assignment I was inspired to keep practicing with daily warmup portrait sketches of whoever else came to mind, and push various limitations like duotones or lighting as I went (while trying to maintain some fleeting likenesses.) It's an unexpected bunch, all together, but I guess there was a lot of Kojack on in the background...

Northlake

New illustration for this week's LA Weekly. Also just received a bronze medal for the Meric piece in the current issue of CQ, which was a cool surprise.

G20

Here is a cover and double-page spread I did for the current issue of Securities & Investments Review. The assignment was a super-heroic take on the single superadvisory board that world leaders were creating to confront the global economic recession at the G20 Summit in London this year.

The cover was penciled pretty much directly from the rough sketch, but the thumbnail sketches for the spread at the top left were still a bit too subtle, so for the tighter pencil versions we tried to take it in a more direct and cinematic angle. After a few color treatments the double page spread finally felt dark enough without being too dark, and the recession had the correct number of tentacles and it was off to print. Thanks to Johanna Ward at Wardour for the opportunity, and special thanks to Frank Stockton for the assist.