Mr BRANWELLINGTON

Happy Holidays

2011-12-16T19:45:00.000-08:00

Final Jacob Marley Art

2011-11-11T10:00:00.000-08:00

Two versions. One with a ghost, one with an invisible ghost. Both are getting a hit of glow-in-the-dark ink over the ghost's profile.

Minix Lass Line Art Experiments

2011-08-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

In case it's not obvious, I'm playing around with a Mucha thing here.

Minix Lasses

2011-08-07T06:59:00.000-07:00

Minix witch WIP

2011-08-05T20:04:00.001-07:00

Minix Lass Sketches

2011-08-04T12:51:00.000-07:00

Drowsy Chaperone poster final

2011-07-22T06:01:00.000-07:00

DROWSY CHAPERONE COLOR WIP

2011-07-18T20:34:00.000-07:00

MAP ICONS

2011-07-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

I made some icons for Google Maps project I'm working on. I'm planning a trip to England and Scotland in the next couple of years.

Happy Bastille Day!

2011-07-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

Drowsy Chaperone Process Shots

2011-07-13T14:42:00.000-07:00

Pencils:

MINIX logotype

2011-07-07T18:22:00.001-07:00

Getting close.

RP3BQ invitation

2011-07-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

Final invite and sketches for the RP3BQ invite and t-shirt.

Drowsy Chaperone WIP

2011-07-06T09:04:00.000-07:00

Sketches for the Drowsy Chaperone poster.

Magpie Storyboarding

2011-07-06T08:58:00.000-07:00

For a brief period, I thought of doing the Scottish book project as a graphic novel. I'm still playing around with it although I think at this point, it's more likely to be a traditional novel, if anything. Here are sketches and storyboards for the first five pages.

More M I N I X

2011-07-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

M I N I X Identity WIP

2011-07-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

Working on some beer labels and logos for my friend Shawn in Portland.

Elizabeth doodle

2011-06-03T20:10:00.000-07:00

Dunbaird Castle Plan

2011-05-18T12:12:00.000-07:00

I had to serve jury duty last year. And it was time well spent, because I designed the floor plan of the castle that the Frasiers live in. It's a standard L-plan tower house although maybe a story or two taller than average. Dunbaird belongs to Ewan but Andrew, Elizabeth and Maggie are living there temporarily. The floor plan is actually kind of integral to the plot. Secrets abound.

Scottish Sketches

2011-05-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

These are sketches for characters in a book project I've been working on for the last year. I sort of recently started thinking about it as a graphic novel/webcomic. It follows the lives of a family of whisky distillers in lowland Scotland in the Spring, Summer and Autumn of 1883. Maggie is the main character. She's 11, going on 12. She has a brother named Aleck who is a year older to the day. Her mother and father are Elizabeth and Andrew and they live with her Uncle Ewan in a castle. There are ghosts.

Maggie and Ewan came easily. Andrew was harder and I don't feel like I have very good handle on Elizabeth at all.

Little Theater of Norfolk show titles

2011-04-17T14:55:00.000-07:00

These are almost finished.

The Full Monty

2011-04-16T17:11:00.000-07:00

Working on some show titles for my brother. This is my favorite.

Behind the Scenes, Austin

2011-04-15T22:29:00.000-07:00

Behind the Scenes, NYC

2011-04-15T22:23:00.000-07:00

Behind the Scenes, Indiana

2011-04-15T22:20:00.000-07:00

We've been shooting some documentaries in Austin, NYC and Indiana. These are my behind the scenes shots from the Hoosier State.

More HDR

2011-03-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

Fun with HDR

2011-03-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

Owl Commission Finished

2011-03-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

So here it is finished. This is what I delivered to my buddy, who is incidentally the guy who wrote the stellar VW Darth Vader spot that ran during the Super Bowl.

Inks for Owl

2010-11-29T14:38:00.000-08:00

Here are the inked details I did for the owl commission. I printed out the photoshop sketch full-size, tiled it and then went over the whole thing in ink on tracing paper. I added a lot more detail than I think I'll need, figuring that I can always pull it back in photoshop. After I scanned it and stitched it back together, this is what I had. Below are pics I shot of the tracing laying on top of the original photoshop sketch. Now to combine the two layers in the computer.

Nice ampersand.

2010-11-09T08:46:00.001-08:00

Owl commission WIP

2010-11-08T10:34:00.000-08:00

This is the rough work in progress sketch of a commission for a friend. He and his girlfriend have a stuffed owl that they won in a mechanical claw game. This is the owl being rescued from the other stuffed prizes by the claw.

The final is going to be huge, 48"x36" so thinking about that has been a challenge. I printed this out full size and am going over it in ink on tracing paper to give it texture. After that, I'll scan the ink and combine it with color in Photoshop.

Happy Friday surprise for me.

2010-11-05T09:50:00.000-07:00

Just found out that the Amadeus poster got into Lürzer's 200 Best Illustrators book. Pretty exciting.

Damsel and Fish Sketch Quarter Size

2010-06-15T19:01:00.001-07:00

The Damsel & Fish WIP sketches for a commission

2010-03-03T12:34:00.000-08:00

Santa Monica Pier

2010-01-22T20:19:00.000-08:00

From a plane

2010-01-21T21:22:00.001-08:00

Turtle at the Fairmont Miramar

2010-01-21T21:08:00.000-08:00

Edamame at Sushi Roku

2010-01-21T08:53:00.001-08:00

Bust of a Girl at the Getty

2010-01-20T21:33:00.001-08:00

Godzilla’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

2010-01-20T21:32:00.001-08:00

John Singer Sargent’s Madame X

2010-01-19T15:10:00.000-08:00

Rodin at the Met

2010-01-19T14:13:00.001-08:00

Metropolitan Museum Sculptures

2010-01-17T21:47:00.000-08:00

Fancy shoes

2010-01-12T19:41:00.000-08:00

Mr. Ward’s Truck or Corrie’s Sister

2010-01-11T21:19:00.000-08:00

Bob’s Hula Girl

2010-01-11T21:17:00.001-08:00

Wet Leaves

2010-01-09T20:52:00.001-08:00

Mom’s birds.

2010-01-07T20:43:00.001-08:00

Ashley

2010-01-07T20:42:00.001-08:00

ARTISTS: Kelly Vivanco

2009-12-01T19:29:00.000-08:00

Kelly Vivanco’s dark, hard edges and big doe-eyes recall comic books, but the subtlely articulated forms are anything but flat or naïve. I think I like her animals best of all.

Where the Wild Things Are Chalk Art Round 2

2009-11-13T09:27:00.000-08:00

We did the second wall last night. This one took eight hours. It’s more about uncertainty while the first wall is about joy. So the drawing is tighter here.

Where the Wild Things Are Chalk Art

2009-11-10T21:52:00.000-08:00

I drew a page from Where the Wild Things Are on the chalkboard wall at work. Evan Pease shot the timelapse.

ARTISTS: Ray Fenwick

2009-10-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

ARTISTS: Ray Fenwick makes Maira Kalman-like worlds of hand-drawn type and doodly illustration. His book Hall of Best Knowledge is fab. http://www.coandco.ca/ray/

His flickr stream is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rayfenwick/

What would Mr Darcy do?

2009-10-19T19:32:00.000-07:00

I get bored with my hair every six months or so. That’s why I’ve had three beards in the last two years. I’ve been growing my hair out a bit recently, letting it hang around my head like a hobbit or an amphetamines-era Major Leaguer.

I thought the perfect thing to coordinate with my growing halo of hair would be a set of mutton chops. “Like Sweeney Todd!” I thought. “Or Wolverine,” said Trevor. So I shaved the middle third of my face this morning. It looks good. I look like a bass player.

The kids had other impressions. Lily was excited at first to watch me shave, her cheerfulness giving over to mistrust and then finally, “You missed a spot on your cheeks!” in a tone normally reserved for the announcement of runaway trucks. When I came downstairs Noah greeted me with no small alarm, “Why did you grow sidebangs?” Both agreed, “You don’t look like our faaaaather!”

This last was delivered before they quarantined themselves in the bathroom with Corrie, who had not yet taken in the rock-n-roll innovations. She must have felt bad about the kids’ reaction though because she didn’t mention the “sidebangs” before I left for work. Corrie is tolerant of a lot of nonsense from me and the children. However, her patience runs short when it comes to experimental facial hair.

Me and Facebook

2009-10-19T18:02:00.001-07:00

Facebook’s kicked me out. I can see my news feed and click on people’s links and stuff. But I can’t update my status or send messages or comment on stuff.

So I’ll be chillin‘ here for a while I guess. Come by and see me.

ARTISTS: Betsy Dunlap

2009-10-15T07:55:00.000-07:00

ARTISTS: Betsy Dunlap’s calligraphy is beautiful and eccentric. Reminds me of a rich, carefree, bohemian aunt. http://betsydunlap.googlepages.com/bdunlap

ARTISTS: Tara Donne

2009-10-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

ARTISTS: Tara Donne’s richly detailed still-life photographs seem to live in the present and the past simultaneously. http://taradonne.com/

ARTISTS: Jessica Hische

2009-09-29T12:08:00.000-07:00

ARTISTS: Jessica Hische’s vector illustration is equal parts twee and retro;
lovely colors and bravura typography. http://www.jhische.com/

FFFFOUND.com

2009-09-28T21:36:00.000-07:00

I want a FFFFOUND! account. Anybody know anyone who knows anyone with an account to give away?

ARTISTS:

2009-09-28T21:29:00.001-07:00

I've started posting links to artists, designers and illustrators I like on Facebook and Twitter. I'll do the same here. This’ll catch us up. And you can always follow me on Twitter if you like: http://twitter.com/branwellington. Enjoy.

I have 145 bookmarks in a folder labeled ARTISTS. Here’s the first one. http://www.juliemorstad.com/ Fine line-work and naïve surrealism.

ARTISTS: João Ruas is taking over the Fables covers from James Jean. FWIW, I like his drawing better than Jean’s. http://souvlaki.jp-ar.org/

ARTISTS: Jonathan Viner paints moody allegories rooted in realism. Man, I hope he doesn’t remember me from RISD. http://www.vinerstudio.com/

ARTISTS: Wednesday Kirwan paints adorable, little mythological monstrosities. It’s weird. But cool. http://www.wednesdaykirwan.com/

ARTISTS: Lucong paints lovely, tense, intimate portraits with a delicate clarity and muted palette. Beautiful. http://lucong.com/portfolio/

ARTISTS: Dan James, AKA Ghostshrimp. http://www.ghostshrimp.net/ Hard lines, flat colors, complex structures, unique vision.

ARTISTS: You may have seen Sam Weber on the cover of the CA Illo Annual last year. Hs sht s tght. http://www.sampaints.com/portfolio.html

ARTISTS: Another famous one. Carson Ellis’ beautiful ink drawings are featured on Decemberists’ records. The cover of The Tain and Billy Liar are both so beautiful and have such range. http://www.carsonellis.com/

Motto

2009-09-28T21:26:00.000-07:00

What can I do tomorrow, or later today, or right now, that will be, or is, amazing?

Bobcat Goldthwait’s Dad Sounds Hilarious

2009-08-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

“My dad used to do stuff like threaten to jump off the top of the refrigerator into an open jar of mayonnaise while he had a crash helmet on. The whole neighborhood would be in our kitchen, and then my dad would climb on top of the fridge, and there would always be some kind of snafu, like it’s the wrong brand of mayonnaise: “Oh, is that Hellmann’s? I can’t do it with Hellmann’s.” —Bobcat Goldthwait [AV Club]

Cool, Lovely Office Prank at Arnold DC

2009-08-12T18:11:00.001-07:00

If I do say so myself. Thanks to the inimitable Evan Pease for the beautiful video. Click through to watch it full screen in high def.

Arnold DC Cranes from Evan Pease on Vimeo.

Alfred Hitchcock Photograph

2009-08-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

I found this in a photography book many years ago and scanned it because it's obviously full of win, even though we didn't say that back then because the internet hadn't been invented yet. I think that's Tippi Hedren. I don't remember the name of the photographer. Can anyone identify the actress or the shooter?

Gashlycrumb Tiny Jeighdeane

2009-07-28T13:21:00.001-07:00

A friend asked me to turn her into a Gashlycrumb Tiny, ala Edward Gorey.

Absinthe-minded

2009-07-22T10:51:00.001-07:00

There was something I meant to do today.

Boy Jeenyusses

2009-07-20T10:33:00.001-07:00

For a time, this hung outside the office that Mik and I shared at Eisner.

Birthday Mirror Image

2009-07-20T10:06:00.000-07:00

It's old photo day at Branwellington International. I always liked these two shots of Corrie blowing out the candles on her birthday cake. Corrie's mom and I took them at the same moment from different angles. Her with color film and a flash, me with b&w and a longer exposure. The results, when you look at them together, are pretty cool.

Algebra 1 Photos

2009-07-20T09:09:00.001-07:00

All these photos are at least 10 years old. Sorry the scans are so crummy.

Pong-Bot 2

2009-07-17T12:49:00.001-07:00

Pong-Bot has an adversary on the opposite wall. Or is it a love interest? I don't think she'd be into him. She seems like an Amazonian, ping-pong-playing robot to me. I drew her this morning.

The Death of a Disco iMac

2009-07-16T09:53:00.001-07:00

A few months ago, our 8-year-old iMac died. Last Saturday, the kids and I explored the insides and took photos. Holy obsolete technology, the CRT was nearly ubiquitous for what, sixty years? Does anyone still make them now? As I took the shell off to expose the machine's innards, Lily cheerfully informed me that "The computer is crying...I can hear it."

The Lovely Corpse: A Crowd-Sourced Twitter Novella

2009-07-16T06:55:00.000-07:00

Apologies and gratitude to Terry Taylor who had the brilliant idea of writing an entire novel on Twitter (http://twitter.com/ttaylordude). Since I'm neither as clever nor as talented as that, I thought it would be fun to crowd-source a short story/novella on Twitter (I'm also rather lazy – a whole novel is beyond my attention span).

Here's how it works. I've started the story here: http://twitter.com/lovelycorpse

You contribute the next bit. Whatever that is. A full sentence. Half a sentence. Three short sentences. Whatever 131 characters allows (140 char. minus #lvlycrps hash tag). I'll pick the best contribution and add it to the novella's feed, including your RT attribution.

I'll try to update the story three times a day. Around 9-10EST, around 5-6EST and around 10-11EST. Times are approximate because I am flaky.

Limitations:
1. You must have a Twitter account to contribute. Sorry, Luddites.
2. You must include the hash tag #lvlycrps.
3. You must leave enough space for RT attribution. This means enough space for your user name plus RT plus a space plus @. So if your username is branwellington, you only have 123 characters.

One last note. The story's title, The Lovely Corpse, is a nod to an old surrealist game called the Exquisite Corpse (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exquisite_corpse).

The Wizard

2009-07-15T14:05:00.001-07:00

Drew this on the wall opposite Pong-Bot. It's my boss, Woody, as the Wizard of Oz. After these pictures were taken, Chris Sheldon added the witch (complete with red and white striped socks), spelling "Surrender Jamin" in broom-smoke, to the top.

Bahamas Billboards

2009-06-12T10:32:00.001-07:00

We put up these billboards in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area for the Bahamas. They turned out pretty rad.

Pong-Bot

2009-06-12T07:29:00.000-07:00

They put chalkboard paint on the wall behind the Ping-Pong table. I drew on it.

A Midsummer Night's Dream Poster for Richmond Shakespeare

2009-03-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

I like big Bottoms.

Hamlet Sketches

2009-01-17T18:16:00.001-08:00

From the Wayback.

Amadeus Poster for Richmond Shakespeare

2009-01-13T08:40:00.001-08:00

Cannonballs

2009-01-13T08:33:00.001-08:00

I spent Sunday night making prototype cannonball props for a shoot on Tuesday. If these worked out, I was going to make 55 of them Monday night. They worked, but the shoot was canceled. The upshot is that I have three pretty realistic-looking, fake cannonballs. Huzzah! I wonder how much I could sell these for. {PS ~ that’s a bed of spiderplants in the background of that first shot. They look like grass and that makes the ball look smaller than it is. It’s about 4” across.}

Wolfie

2009-01-12T20:24:00.001-08:00

Richmond Shakespeare Billboards

2009-01-11T09:31:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Mr Steve Nash for providing us with this opportunity.

Richmond Shakespeare Sketches

2009-01-11T09:24:00.000-08:00

Mr Branwellington Ponders the Universe

2009-01-11T07:37:00.001-08:00

A Christmas Carol Poster for Richmond Shakespeare

2008-11-19T21:42:00.001-08:00

Final Poster for Hamlet

2008-11-17T15:24:00.001-08:00

Jacob Marley Knocker for A Christmas Carol

2008-11-17T15:19:00.001-08:00

Halloween Costume - Cardboard Ship

2008-11-04T17:45:00.001-08:00

My Halloween costume weighed about 55 pounds. It contained a mini-keg of Beck's beer, a cup holder for my pint glass, a stereo playing the Pogues (the music came out of the periscope and the two portholes on the back), a place for 60 plastic keg cups and actual, firing cannons. It took about a month to build, cost $50 for hot glue sticks and the mini-keg and won the Arnold DC costume contest.

Technical Drawing

2008-09-30T09:10:00.001-07:00

Flame-Throwing Tin Man vs. Samurai Bun-Bun-san

2008-09-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

Updated:

Recent Train Work

2008-09-15T13:32:00.000-07:00

Drew these on the Acela.

Two Bots

2008-08-27T11:01:00.001-07:00

Been Busy

2008-08-27T10:49:00.000-07:00

But not drawing much. I'll try and post everything I've done in the past few months.

Hamlet

2008-08-21T20:25:00.001-07:00

WIP

2008-05-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

Jean d'Arc

2008-04-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

Pencils I did some time ago. Hoping to paint it in PS soon.

More Rufus

2008-04-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

Blunder

2008-04-21T12:05:00.001-07:00

Rufus sketches

2008-04-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

Corrie and I are working on a book together. It's about a bear named Rufus. These are sketches.

Bard Bash Poster

2008-04-18T10:29:00.001-07:00

Awesome safety warning/epitaph

2008-03-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

This is the safety message stamped on a plastic shield we bought at Target.

I have to admit that I'm a little freaked out by it. It appears to be a warning FROM THE FUTURE!

It reads in part, "The simulated protective device was not safety device and offered no protection."

It's also sort of reminiscent of an Edward Gorey caption.