Sketchbook Friday vol. 1

Posted in illustration, sketchbook friday with tags , , , on May 16, 2008 by Ryan Lynch

If you’re like me, you can’t live without a decent sketchbook. I use mine all the time and can’t help but save every single drawing or scrap of paper I have ever used. Who knows? That random doodle could inspire a masterpiece someday. Or at least make a good photoshop brush or texture.

Because of this, I decided to start a new weekly segment in which I unlock the sketchbook vault and post a particularly weird/cool/funny page of an old sketchbook. Enjoy!

Five Inspiring Movie Credit Sequences

Posted in found stuff with tags , , , , , , , , , , on May 15, 2008 by Ryan Lynch

Movie credits are great graphic design inspiration. The ultimate combination of images and text in motion. Here are five particularly great examples, plus a bunch more to keep you hunting.

1. Psycho

In many ways, designer Saul Bass invented movie titles. Every title sequence made today owes at least a little of its inspiration from Bass; either indirectly, or by making a direct reference such as Catch Me if You Can. By using cut and paste paper animation and minimal color schemes, Bass was able to convey the bare essential tone of the movie in an abstract visceral way.

Also see:

-Anatomy of a Murder

-West Side Story

Read more »

New Painting Gallery

Posted in illustration with tags , , , , , on May 14, 2008 by Ryan Lynch

Just added a painting gallery as one of my pages. It also has an artist’s statement to give a better sense of how I make my work and what my goals are. All of the paintings shown are from 2007-2008

Frank Miller takes on Will Eisner’s “The Spirit”

Posted in found stuff with tags , , , , , , , , on May 13, 2008 by Ryan Lynch

I’ve been looking forward to this movie for some time. Being a huge fan of Will Eisner and The Spirit, it’s good to see that the movie fell into the hands of Frank Miller who, after Sin City and 300 has shown that, at the very least he knows how to translate comics into movies. Read more »

Top Three Online Figure-Drawing Resources

Posted in found stuff with tags , , , , , on May 11, 2008 by Ryan Lynch

The savvy artist or designer will grab any good source for reference material and inspiration that he or she can get. These are my TOP 3 internet figure drawing resources.

1. The Drawing Club

Looking for some inspiration on developing your personal style? This is the place. Each week they meet to draw from a model in a certain theme. Anything from super geeky star wars costumes, to poses and costumes inspired by famous artists. Afterwards, they post the best work along with a photo from the model online. It’s great to see each illustrator’s take on the subject and then give it a try yourself. Good, unique, stylish, figure drawing.

2. Andrew Loomis Drawing Books

Andrew Loomis came from the golden age of 20th century illustration, where magazines had more hand -drawn artwork than photography. He needed to draw accurately, dynamically, and from his head. Fortunately, he also developed some of the most fun, most accurate, most easy to learn and simply some of the best techniques for figure drawing and illustration. Unfortunately, his books are out of print.

Luckily for all of us in the internet age, much of his work is available online. Artcone has a comprehensive post of many links where this stuff is available for download.

3. artnudes

Finding pictures of naked people on the internet is easy. Finding interesting dynamic artistic poses with a wide variety of angles, body types, and lighting is not. The artnudes blog contains some of the best in artistic nude photography, great inspiration and anatomical references for the figure artist sick of looking in the mirror.

Facebook, Parties, and Camera Phones: High Art Photography?

Posted in found stuff with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on May 10, 2008 by Ryan Lynch

Don’t untag all of those embarrassing drunken facebook pics of yourself just yet, you could be sitting on an artistic goldmine. As digital cameras continue to get smaller, more affordable, and exponentially higher quality, that candid shot of you and your friends getting black-out drunk at a Halloween party, or getting naked in someone’s apartment might make for some artsy, edgy-as-hell, photography. Read more »

Point A to Point A Poster

Posted in design with tags , , , , , on May 10, 2008 by Ryan Lynch

Poster design for the UW Design Club show in the red Gym. There’s a lot of great stuff in the show, and I’d suggest checking it out. It’ll all be up until the 13th.

Howling Monkey: Best Energy Drink Ever

Posted in found stuff with tags , , , , on May 9, 2008 by Ryan Lynch

If the 99 cent for 16 ounces price tag wasn’t enough, this energy drink boasts some of the greatest web and graphic design of anything available at a corner convenience store.

Read more »

UW Design Club Show

Posted in news with tags , , , , on May 8, 2008 by Ryan Lynch

Art News! the UW Design Club’s first show “From Point A to Point A” opens this Friday, May 9th. at 7PM at the Red Gym Gallery on Langdon. It will feature poster designs from 14 members including myself, and will run to the 13th. See more of UW Design club at our website, uwdesignclub.com

What’s Wyatt Earp without Doc Holiday?

Posted in illustration with tags , , , on May 8, 2008 by Ryan Lynch

Best all-nighter ever, or greatest all-nighter ever?