Mark Meyers Art

Victricia Malicia

2011-12-12T13:53:00.000-08:00

I recently finished up a super fun pirate picture book. Carrie Clickard is the mastermind behind this tongue twisting pirate adventure, you can check out her site here. It will be published by Flashlight Press in 2012. Here is the description from their website:

Although Victricia Malicia Calamity Barrett was born on her family's pirate ship, this mild-
mannered, book-loving girl is sick of the sea:

"I loathe when my sisters speak pirate vernacular,
gag when my lunch is Spaghetti Tentacular,
want a new pet that's not scaly or spiny,
and wish I could keep my books somewhere less briny!"

With her nose permanently buried in a book, Victricia is a disaster at pirating chores:
her knots slip, she falls from the rigging, and her cooking makes rats abandon ship!

When Vic's mistakes finally cause a treasure to slide overboard, the pirates decide she must be
grounded - sent ashore until she's ready to become a better buccaneer. But a sea-serpent
appears and things don't turn out as planned. Victricia saves the day and is granted her wish -
to live on the little island where the pirates bury their treasure.

Far from the waves and foam, Victricia is finally able to follow her dream. She opens a
bookstore with Sea Story Hour, and Landlubber Books becomes the pirates' favorite port in a
storm.

I figured I would start by posting a couple of the sketches and then in a few days I post up some of the finished paintings. Also be sure to check out www.victriciamalicia.com

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-20T10:53:00.000-07:00

If you have a chance pick up a copy of the October issue of Spider Magazine. It was so much fun to get to do the Halloween Cover. I love when I get to draw animals!

Here's a couple looks at the details

Ballpark Mystery Poster

2011-07-15T13:39:00.000-07:00

Roberta from Random House was nice enough to send these pictures of a poster for book #2 a little while ago. I'll post some artwork for book #3 when it comes out later this month.

Goldilocks

2011-06-29T14:49:00.001-07:00

A little while ago I did a version of Goldilocks for a self publisher. I don't really know the details about when and if it will be published, but I thought I'd post a couple pages from it.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

2011-05-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

This has been the year of baseball illustrations for me. I had this book come out a little while ago. It is published by CandyCane Press, who I also illustrated 'Counting Cows' for. It's a board book that plays the tune to 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' when you open it. You can pick it up here.

Fish sketch

2011-04-09T20:51:00.000-07:00

I tend to let my desktop become a mess with all kinds of random files. Eventually no more can fit and I am forced to clean it up. I was doing that tonight and came across this sketch. I think I was just practicing drawing digitally because I don't remember drawing it for any particular illustration.

Western

2011-03-31T11:00:00.000-07:00

I went and saw Rango a few days ago and it reminded me of a painting I did a little over a year ago. It was for a card game for an Italian food company but it was never published. So I figured I would scan it in and post it here.

Baseball!

2011-03-08T10:36:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been a few months since I posted and in that time we have moved to Utah. It's been over ten years since Kasidy and I lived where there has been snow. The process of adjusting to the cold has been slow, but it has been really great to be back around family. Now that we are all settled it's time to start getting some new posts on here.

I've been doing a lot of baseball drawing and the first two books in the Ballpark Mysteries series were just released. The third book will be released in July with a few more to follow. It has been a real pleasure working with David and Random House on these books. You can get updated information on the series at ballparkmysteries.com.

Book #1 is 'The Fenway Foul-up'. Click here for more information and an amazon link for the book.

Book #2 is 'The Pinstripe Ghost'. Click here for more information and an amazon link for the book.

'Tis the Season

2010-12-08T01:16:00.000-08:00

I had the chance the to do a Holiday Card for Porkchop BMX. It was a bit of time crunch but was really fun to do. It's been a while since I've done the painting part all digitally so that was fun too.

This is what is going to be on my holiday cards this year. I think penguins have to be some of the funnest animals draw. This is acrylic on watercolor paper.

Highlights

2010-11-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

I've been bad at updating so I'm a little late with this one. So if you happen to be getting your oil changed or waiting for the dentist check out their old magazines for a September Highlights. I did a few illustrations for a story called 'How Low Can You Go?' by Maggie Murphy. I was really nice to be able to do anamorphic characters.

Counting Cows

2010-04-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post this for the last couple of weeks. I did the illustrations for a counting book that came out early March called 'Counting Cows' by Michelle Medlock Adams, published by Candy Cane Press. You can find it on Amazon here.

It was a real fun book to do and very nice to be able to work in a bit more simplified style.

Process

2010-01-01T20:24:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to everyone!

It seems like making a post about your process is the cool thing to do. So when I painted my Christmas card I took a few pictures as I went along. I didn't go to great length to get good photos of the process, but they give you a pretty good idea what is going on.

First, I made a few corrections to the drawing that I posted earlier. Once I scan it into Photoshop I adjust the color of the line to either a warm or cool color depending on the painting. I basically do a quick color study under the line drawing in photoshop. I set the basic values and colors at this step. For this painting everything has kind of purple cast to keep that cool feeling. You could go a lot further at this point than I did, but I prefer to do most of the work in paint.

After I'm done in Photoshop I printed it out on some 13x19 Epson water color paper. I gave a few quick coats of workable fixatif. The ink in my printer is very waterproof or else you have to really coat it with workable fixatif. Then I stretch it like you would any other type of watercolor paper.

In the end pretty much all of the digital painting won't be visible, but it helps to speed up the process, and gives you some direction. I use acrylics and usually start from the furthest point and work my way forward. For me it helps me keep control of values, and you don't have to worry about painting around things as much. Also if I paint the funnest things first then I run out of motivation to paint everything else.
Here's a detail where you can see that I'm not very concerned about over painting things in the foreground.

I keep moving forward. The buildings are a good example of how in paint I refine things but the digital color still peeks through here and there. Basically the same concept as toning a canvas.
The values are off in this picture, but at this point I'm starting to refine the main characters.
Once everything is painted I spend a little more time making all the small adjustments. I could do this forever and would more than likely eventually end up ruining the painting. So after a bit I usually stop myself and call it finished. (click on the image to see it a little bigger).

Here are a couple details shots.

Some Stuff

2009-12-29T12:55:00.000-08:00

I haven't had the time to do much commissioned work, but I was able to fit this one in. This was for some friends that used it as their Christmas card this year. I've never considered myself very good a catching peoples likenesses, but I think they turned out very recognizable.

I love to tinker and figure out how things work, I also have fasination with old things. I love old cars and have owned quite a few, but I just don't have the time or space to deal with one now. So I've been messing around with old bicycles when I have a chance. Earlier in the year I was part of a build off contest at Rat Rod Bikes (check out the forum there are lots of cool bikes and cool people). For the contest I volunteered to do a drawing of the winners bike. This is what I came up with.

I actually ended up coming in second place and here are a couple shots of the bike I put together. The bike is a 1962 Schwinn with tons of antique and customized parts..

Carolers

2009-11-03T12:17:00.000-08:00

This is the sketch for this years Christmas card. Still have to make a few adjustments before I go to paint, but it's close.

Alice in Bomberland

2009-10-05T11:28:00.000-07:00

I've been waiting for a little while to post this up. They now have a website up about the game so it should be safe to post about it here. I did nine character illustration for the game 'Alice in Bomberland' that will soon be coming out for the iphone, and is published by Sonic Boom. Originally it was a simple game and the artwork was just sort of an added bonus to get to each level. We picked out the characters that they wanted for the game, and then I was given a lot freedom to add the weapons and what not. After some sketching we came to the conclusion that it was funniest to have very classical characters in crazy situations. Eventually the game changed quite a bit (for the better), and now the artwork is used to tell the story. Also the weapons of on each stage are based off of the illustrations. The backgrounds for the levels were done by Alan Song, and the visual artist from Braid did the playable Alice.

I had a chance a couple weeks ago to actually play the game and it is a ton of fun. It gets super crazy and there are tons of surprises and power ups. There are somewhere along the lines of 48 levels. This was super fun to work on and a big thanks to everyone at Sonic Boom. An especially big thanks to Chris DeLeon for getting me involved in this and letting me run wild! Thanks Chris!

You can see the official website at www.aliceinbomberland.com
On the site you can even download some of the images!
This video show you what the game play is like. The illustrations I did are used before you actually go into the levels. Also the logo you for the game you see at the end of the video was designed by my brother!

August Highlights

2009-08-19T21:58:00.000-07:00

This month in Highlights magazine I have a couple illustrations for a short story called 'Rocket Man' written by Marilyn Phifer. This was a very cute story and the illustrations were super fun to do.

You always lose a little something when it's printed on newsprint type of paper so here's a scan of the original.

Utah

2009-07-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

You know you've been bad about updating your blog when people start to mention it in the comments, lol. So thanks Chris and Dusty for keeping me on task, sometimes I need a little push to get things done.

Kasidy and I got back from a short vacation to visit family in Utah. We had a great time and it was exactly what I needed. I had a couple of projects that I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere on, and now I feel really motivated.

We had a great time with both of our families just hanging out and eating more food in a week than we usually do in a month. My parents rented out a old school house that has been converted into an inn near Lava Hot Springs in Idaho. All my brothers, sisters, and their kids came. I think in total there were somewhere around 24 people. Lava has a little river that you can rent tubes and ride down it. It was a blast but we had our share of injuries. The rocks in the river are lava rocks (imagine that) and are super rough if you touch them. Kasidy got the skin taken off both her knees and elbow, my brother cracked a rib, and both my mom and another brother lost their glasses in the river. Good times.

It's funny because when I first moved out of Utah I thought I'd never move back, but every time I visit I feel the pull to go back getting stronger. I miss family, mountains, the crazy cloud formations, and even the snow. I guess we'll see what the future holds.

These are couple photos I took from my parents backyard.

This is the peek that is directly behind their house. I don't remember the name anymore but I'm sure my dad would know it.

This is just to the left of the above picture. The arrow is pointing to what locally was reffered to as 'Bats Cave'. At night when you are in the cave bats circle around outside wanting to come in but not willing to because of the fire. It's a cave that is about twenty feet up a cliff. One person would have to climb up and then tie a big rope around a rock so everyone else could get in. Next time I go to Utah I'll hike up there and get some pictures of the inside.

Heat and high moutains make for some serious N. C. Wyeth type cloud formations.

I promise that I will get some actual art posted in the next couple of days.

Cricket & Spider

2009-05-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago I did some illustrations for both Cricket and Spider magazines, and they just came out in the May/June issue. These were really fun jobs and the people were great to work with. It's funny that both stories revolved around a similar character (a grumpy old guy).

The Spider illustrations were for a poem called 'Mr. Ollie Odenhofer' by Monica Gudlewski. Please excuse the image quality. I haven't gotten the originals back yet so I just took a snapshot of the magazines.

The Cricket illustrations were for a tall Tale called 'Making Do' by Joan E. McCarthy.

Many thanks go out to Sue and Karen for involving me in these projects.

The Big Cheese

2009-01-16T14:37:00.000-08:00

I did this drawing for a friend in trade for some vintage bicycle parts.

To warm up this morning I did a quick colored version in Photoshop.

Some New Stuff

2008-11-08T12:39:00.000-08:00

I recently finished a couple of books that were for the educational market. For both of them the time frame was really short and the images had to be pretty specific, but they ended up being fun to work on. The main challenge for me with a short deadline and lots of images is that you have to design for the time you have. Usually I like to put in as many details as possible, but with these it is all about simplifying and making the images easy to understand. I've noticed that when I'm painting faster the over all colors end up being brighter.

This one is from Rudyard Kipling's "Just So Stories" for Compass Education.

These two were from "The Three Little Pigs" for Benchmark Education.

Mr. Lincoln

2008-09-09T12:20:00.000-07:00

Recently I read part of a biography on Abraham Lincoln and it inspired the sketch below. He was an extremely interesting man with a face that just begs to be drawn.

2008-07-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been a month since I posted anything! I've been working on a couple of projects but I can't show anything from them yet, so here is a promo sketch that I've been working on in my spare time. There are a few things to fix and hopefully I'll get it painted in the next couple of weeks.

When pigs fly...... or at least try to!

2008-06-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

This has been sitting next to my desk for quite awhile waiting to get painted , and finally I had a chance to get it all finished. 13x19 acrylic on watercolor paper

(click it to see it bigger)
(detail)
(line drawing)

Doodles

2008-06-10T10:47:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while since I posted anything, so here are some random people sketches from a little while ago. It is always crazy the variety of people you see while riding bart.

New site

2008-05-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

Finally got the redesigned website up and running. This time I tried to make it real simple so that I will actually update it. I'm still making changes and adjustment to get it exactly the way I want it. I will be adding some more work in the next couple weeks, but it is working so check it out.

www.markmeyersart.com

Illustration Friday- Wrinkles

2008-04-27T08:58:00.000-07:00

It's always fun to draw a wrinkled elephant, especially when he is the main mode of transportation for a group of escaping circus monkeys. This is an illustration from a couple of months ago and it is acrylic on watercolor paper (click on it to see it bigger).

2008-04-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty busy lately and haven't had much time to work on my own stuff. So I thought I'd post a couple illustrations that I already had scanned in.

Save for web

2008-04-09T11:17:00.001-07:00

I don't know if other people have struggled with this but it seems like every time I used the 'save for web' function in photoshop it would severely wash out my colors , and would tend to lighten the values. The portrait below is what it would do to most of my images.So I started looking around and found out that if you switch the profile to sRGB IEC61966-2.1 before saving it fixes the problem. I didn't notice that it changed the color at all (below image). This is probably common knowledge and I am just dumb, but I'm so glad I found this out. I used to try and compensate for the drop by adjusting the curves and saturation before saving for the web. However it never did work very well and when I look at most of the images on my website they are suffering. I guess it is better late than never to figure this out.

More website stuff

2008-04-08T18:10:00.001-07:00

I finally had a couple days to do some work of my own while I was waiting for approval on some sketches. These are the first digitally painted pieces that I have done in a really long time, and surprisingly enough I had a lot of fun doing them.

For the new website I'm hoping to have it streamlined enough that there isn't any loading time between pages. However for those who are on really slow connections I figured this would be better than staring at a white screen. Now I just need to squeeze out enough time to get all of the site put together. Well sketches are approved so I will be way busy for the next couple weeks and this will all be put aside for a while.

Self Portrait

2008-03-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

I've been slowly getting things together to redesign and update my website. This is the line drawing for a little self portrait for the bio section on my site. It is always kind of weird for me to draw myself. I really don't know how much it actually looks like me, but it works. I'll post the colored version as soon as I have a chance to paint it.

New Illustrations/First Post

2008-02-19T13:49:00.001-08:00

These are a couple of illustrations I finished a while ago and haven't had a chance to put on my website.