Well nothing is different this week except the fact that I only recently discovered Andrew Millist on Juxtapoz’s website yesterday. So, it has been far less than a  week, but nonetheless I love his art tremendously.

It seems he’s recently broken into the illustration industry in a big way and is getting much deserved attention for it. A long while ago I focused primarily on digital art myself and still have a great affinity for it, so naturally when I saw his work I gravitated toward it. I’m not certain if that is his only medium, as I mentioned I only recently discovered him, but I plan to do more digging into what he has to offer and feel inspired on a whole new level. And for that I thank him.

And now I urge you guys to follow these links and see for yourself what you’re missing out on.

Here’s a link to the Juxtapox Article on him

And I found a blog run by him here.

Once again I can say that Cavemen invented it and it be true. Truly these guys were rocket scientists and invented everything… except housing, as they lived in caves, such as shame. But, I’m going to start from about the middle ages in Europe for the most part because that’s where we get our current interpretation of what watercolor painting is all about.

Apparently one of the earliest proponents of this form of art was Albrecht Dürer… What you don’t know who he is??? Of course you do… When he painted a self portrait of himself like 500 years ago he made himself look just like Jesus. So, you all know him quite well… some may even worship him — as a painter a mean, not a false idol. Maybe both.

But, even his Jesus-like appearance wasn’t enough to get the medium off to a good start. Most artists just used watercolor as essentially studies, or sketches, or some merely as cartoons… how demeaning to a Jesus-like fellow. It truly wasn’t much of an appreciated art form. Some might say that even today. I wouldn’t because I think it’s awesome. But you know how some people are always trying to make things less cool looking because they don’t do them.

Well it took a few hundred years, well into the 19th century before anyone ever cared much to treat it as a true art form, despite the fact that many great pieces had been created since renaissance times.

But, supported by my tutorial, it really didn’t get the widespread attention that it deserved until spit shaders came along and started using the art form as medium in which to tattoo everyone they saw. And there you have it… almost all tattoos, arguably the most widespread art form, originate from watercolor art. Truly one of the greatest mediums.

Secondly, from almost everything I’ve ever seen that was referred to as Spit Shading I noticed it was almost exclusively Tattoo Flash. And I just simply don’t do that type of artwork. I mean if someone wanted to get something I painted turned into a tattoo — AWESOME! But, I definitely think they should have my work taken to a Tattoo artist to have it rendered into some flash that would be easier tattooed before just having it done.

With that being said I definitely see the similarities between what people call Spit Shading and what I do.  I simply just wouldn’t call mine that myself, even if that is what you call it.

However, with all of that out of the way and a few paintings under my belt I felt I would like to drop a few tips on the likes of you aspiring Spit Shaders.

The major thing I was asked was basically:

How do you apply gradients?

What this question means basically is that everyone wanted to know how to go from a darker shade of one color and slowly let it fade to the lighter version. The answer isn’t simple. First of all there are multiple ways that I’ve seen that you can do this.

• Work in Layers. Applying a darker version over a lighter until it gives the desired affect.
• Use the natural attenuation of the color — as it fades move outward from the darker source.
• Continually dip your brush into water to force it to lighten as you move outward from the darker source.

I really use a combination of all of these. Which is why my work is far less uniform and much messier looking than most Spit Shading Tattoo Flash. However, that is the look that I’m going for.

The first style with layers will leave you with a terraced type affect with clear lines separating each shade of a color. This style is probably the least desirable.

The second style will do what you’re looking for, but not using as much water will allow the color to fade to a lighter version much quicker and less gracefully which will allow the paper texture to be seen through the color more.

So truly working with a good bit of water — after your darkest part is applied and nearly dried — will apply a gradient that looks much more natural. The drawback to using a lot of water will be that staying in lines can be a problem. Which looks to me like a negative thing when working with Tattoo Flash.

Personally I apply all my colors first then go over everything with dark lines after I’m done painting. It seems Spit Shaders do it opposite from me.

If you have any more questions about Spit Shading, Water Color, or Inks — Whatever it is that you call it, comment below and I’ll respond… or I’ll make a new post addressing the new issues.

Below are a few YouTube videos I though were pretty cool and may be useful to all of you.

A few of his pieces:

A Leap of Faith: Quitting a Corporate Job and Making Art for a Living

Adam Thomas was born and raised in Battle Creek, Michigan and moved
to Arizona when he was 25 years old. After ten years working in corporate
marketing, he quit and pursued a career creating pet portraits. Using his
marketing background the landed spots on television news morning shows with
his clients and their pets. After building a reputation as a respected artist while
grabbing the attention of a few local celebrities and one major rock star, Adam
transitioned his pastel pet art business into large oil paintings of clouds and trees.

He showed at his first gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he sold consistently
every month. With that success, he started showing in more galleries in Arizona
and California and developed what is now know as the “Red Tree” series.
He took these new paintings to Atlanta galleries and was also represented in
Ashville and Highlands, North Carolina.

Today, living in Michigan, Adam is working in a new direction of whimsical
paintings with abstracted backgrounds, using wax and surreal representational
themes. One of his new pieces shows a lily pond that is melting, bright orange
wax dripping over the flowers. In other paintings, you will discover portraits of
chimpanzees or flying birds amongst soap bubbles.

Artist Statement
I have had a strong love for animals and nature since I was a little kid growing up
in rural Michigan. My first drawing deemed scrapbook-worthy was from the 4th
grade, of an elephant. So it is no surprise to see monkeys and birds in my work
today. I love going to the zoo and photographing animals that later appear in my
work. Instead of realistic studies of these animals, I want to bring a bit of humor
and joy to my work. That is where my soap bubbles come in — they just make
people happy. Including me!

In my artistic journey, I have tried many styles and methods. My recent
exploration was with wax medium and a heat gun. I wanted to take images of
nature like rocks or the ocean, abstract them and create a new landscape of
colors. Even though these abstract pieces are successful and beautiful on their
own, I felt that I was alienating my pure passion of realistically painting animals
and nature. My new work, therefore, is a combination of the old and the new
styles, creating more surprises yet staying true to my love of the animal kingdom
and the beauty of our natural surroundings.

Website: www.Adam-thomas.com
Email: Adam@adam-thomas.com

Gallery Representation: 

The Leigh Gallery, Chicago, IL
www.theleighgallery.com

Recent Publications:

Traditional Home Magazine, Oct 2011

Upcoming Expositions:

One Inspired Evening, March 2, 2012,, 6-10pm,
Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Union Hall, 1340 W.
Washington, Blvd 60607

One Man Show
Buchanan Art Center
Buchanan, MI
June, 2012

Krasal Art on the Bluff
July 14 – 15

Ann Arbor Art Fair
July 18 – 21

If you’re an artist and would like me to write an article like this about you please contact me.

I only sketched a bit and wound up with this little gem in progress of an all grown up Alice.

See! Not too much happening this week. However, I did manage to knock out a couple of decent articles that I think all of you should read. The first one being imperative to the growth of any artist.

How to Expose Your Art in the Golden Age of Social Media

This article is great to me because it explains my philosophy on how to get your work out there and to be a truly productive member of an artistic brotherhood. It explains how helping other artists will inevitably help you as well. Give it a read.

Also, I wrote on a really awesome artist this week that you should all check out.

Introducing Artist Angie Porambo

She’s got some new T-shirt designs with a zombie Jesus that I’m really digging.

I also did an article on a project called the “Eight Arms of Inspiration.” That title alone is simply brilliant and inspiring in of itself. The project is a book collection of tons of different styles and mediums of the almighty octopus. Don’t pass up the opportunity to contribute to this either.

Contribute to the Eight Arms of Inspiration Project

Since I haven’t been doing much artwork this week I didn’t dig through tons of artwork and look for inspiration too much, so I don’t really have an artist of the week, BUT I did cleverly find another way to attribute yet another form of art to cavemen… and that is worth reading every time. LOL.

Art History: A bit about graffiti

Here’s some words directly from the project creator’s mouth:

Another subject dear to my heart is keeping the creative spirit alive in our schools. I’m the mother of three teenagers and during the time they have been in the educational system, I have seen a steady decline in the importance placed on art. One of my sons is taking an art “class” this year in high school and it’s downright pathetic the lack of enthusiasm, instruction, and inspiration that he is receiving. Not only that, but they just don’t have the resources for materials, and as an art lover and ink aficionado, it breaks my heart to see this happening. So long-story-short, I wanted to use a portion of the profits made from the books sold to give back to this area that I see is in such jeopardy. We will be donating 10% of the book sale profits to donorschoose.org which is an amazing charity that helps pair donors with teachers and classrooms that need help. If you haven’t heard of it before, I highly recommend browsing the site and getting a feel for what they are doing and the difference it is making!

I think a collection of some really awesome creatures from a vast array of mediums, styles and artists will make one terrific book. So, for those artists that would like to contribute to it, there is still time. Deadline is April 6, 2012. So, give it a shot and get your art exposed.

Then while you’re at it follow the progress of this project on

Facebook  &  Twitter

If you’re an artist or have an art project that you want me to expose for you just go here!

I don’t even know how to get my Art out there!

So, I figured I’d tackle this one with a HOW TO of my Pay-It-Forward philosophy for artists.

Don’t Ever Assume “If you make it they will come!” — Remember you’re not famous. People will not just look at your art because you made it, even if it is the Magnum Opus of humanity at large. People simply wont look at it.

So, don’t expect people to love your art. Instead you have to make people love you. People who love you will always LOVE your art. Ever notice that all your family and friends think you’re terrific but no one outside of them ever seem to care? It’s because they don’t know you. They might like it but they’ll never tell you because they don’t know you and they feel disconnected from you.

So, as an artist you have to be your own promoter as well. How do you become this promoter? START TALKING A LOT

Get on facebook, twitter, and tumblr. You can do more than this, but these are the three I recommend. Don’t do too much or you can’t keep up with everyone you meet. You can talk about anything and everything. I recommend finding people that are all interested in art, mostly though I would follow other artists and start talking to them. People just like you.

Secondly you will need a place to write about these people. This is a key thing. If you don’t have a website, have one built… or you can start a blogger account or wordpress. What you will do here is start writing about your passion. Write about yourself and your art obviously, but you will need to write about other artists.

If you write about other artists chances are they will start writing about you. It’s simple… write about an artist, then email them and show them the article. They will be very appreciatve because all artists are looking for the same thing as you. Exposure.

Do some simple math. If you write about an artist 5 days a week that’s 250 artists a year. If only 10% also wrote about you, you’d have 25 artists telling their fans to check you out every year. I can assure you that the 10% number is a low one though. In my experience almost everyone returns the favor in some way, shape or form. But you can see how this can snowball.

So obviously, don’t write about super famous artists and expect to get returns on those. People write about them daily and they just wouldn’t have the time to return the favor to everyone. Write about them because you want to, nothing more.

And remember, WRITE! Don’t just put their name in the title and post some of their artwork. Search engines love content because people love content. People are social creatures. They want to know everything about each other. Look at all those reality TV shows. People are famous now because their famous and their fans want to know every detail about them.

So contact some of the artists and ask them stuff about them and their art before you write about them. Because no matter how famous of an artist you are you always have some fans and they simply want to know more about you.

After you write this article up make sure to include links to the artists website, blog, Facebook, twitter, tumblr accounts too. That’s the kicker. You want to send your readers to their pages. This will make them want to do the same for you.

So, like that movie with the kid that sees dead people: Pay It Forward. Artists need to be each other’s cheerleaders and the people will come. So yes, if you build it they will come, but what your building is your name, not your art.

I can even get the ball rolling for you. If you’re an artist contact me and I’ll write a post about you.

She says her influences are Frank Quitely, Jim Lee, Ian Churchill, and Dr. Suess. She says she loves mostly dark art, something with a nasty little twist. Musically, she’s inspired by mostly blues when she draws — gritty-dirty blues, she adds.

Some of her notable work: She’s done some Blowfly picture discs (Hole Man and Burning Pussay) and a comic for the Turbojugend fan club. (limited 300 print run, sold out in a week!)

Yesterday, I was on Facebook and noticed an update she made of some shirts that she has available for purchase now. The zombie Jesus one is personally my favorite. Buy One! But she has much more work that you should check out.

|  Visit her Website Here  |  Her Tumblr  | Her Twitter  |

BTW If you would like me to write a little bit about you and your artwork I will. Check this Out.

Down to business now I say. It’s that time of week again for an Art History lesson and since I’ve been gone I really haven’t given it much thought on just what I’m going to write about. So, I’ve decided to teach all of you a thing or two about the history of graffiti. Why you might ask? Well, I don’t know anything at all about it except that I really like it. I’ve never attempted to do anything of that nature, but I see pics of it all the time and I simply want to know more about it. Now just listen.

Graffiti was started thousands of years ago by Cavemen. LOL. Just kidding. I’ve been writing about cavemen and their artwork for much too long now. It was really invented by a guy named Russel P. Graffiti on an island actually devoid of paint. He used coconut milk as his base and colored it with chopped up flowers. I’m lying again. Sorry, I just know a guy named Russel P. Graffiti and I had to throw him a shout out.

Now on to the real business. Graffiti in its rawest nature is simply markings of some kind in a public place. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the artwork in public places that cities are hesitant to cover because they recognize the artistic value of it. So, since the advent of spray paint, Graffiti has taken a new course and has given rise to the art that graces the sides of our city’s walls and trains. Without spray paint it wouldn’t be the same.

Also, according to Wikipedia, graffiti has evolved along side the hip-hop culture. That makes sense to me. Inner-city art by inner-city people, most of whom like hip-hop. So, if you break that down a bit it would lead you to believe that the art form is pretty new, as the music isn’t too terribly old. BUT it is very very old!

On to some history: the word “Graffiti” is derived from the Italian word graffiato which means scratched. So from an art history perspective graffiti is more of an art that involves scratching designs into a surface. And who were the first people to scratch art onto a surface?

Cavemen! I told you. You thought I was joking.  Cavemen invented everything because they’re awesome. PEACE OUT — I’m off to go watch Encino Man.