The art of matt bacon

The Sketchbook Project

2010-07-08T16:25:00.003+10:00

I have just signed on for The Sketchbook Project. A intriging concept where anyone from around the world can recieve a sketchbook, create awesomeness, and post back to have there sketchbook exhibited around the good ol' US of A.

"Thousands of sketchbooks will be exhibited at galleries and museums as they make their way on tour across the country.

After the tour, all sketchbooks will enter into the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Art Library, where they will be barcoded and available for the public to view."

Sounds cool. eh! I'm looking at this as an opportuity to keep a regular sketchbook going. My theme is "first thing in the morning, last thing at night"

-matt

Creating Characters from Abstract Shapes

2010-05-04T23:18:00.004+10:00

Here's a series of character sketches I created from abstract shapes. Here's how the exercise works.

First, Draw some random shapes on your page. Any shape, size etc. Now sit back. What do you see?

Let the shapes speak to you. It's a bit like making shapes out of clouds.

Now start drawing it in. Be flexible. Add lines and extra curves as you see fit.

You'll end up with character designs you never would have thought of otherwise. Now you can take them and flesh them out into full illustrations.

- matt

Spike

2010-05-04T12:13:00.005+10:00

Here he is. No.21- Spike. The last of my Sea Creature Postcards.

A good experience painting all of them. I've learnt a lot and can see where I need to improve and what my strengths were. So what's next? 21 Robots, insects, dinosaurs...Stay tuned.

- matt

Head Sketches

2010-04-28T21:41:00.005+10:00

A few sketches I did starting with random shapes (shown in red) and then developing characters from there. It's a bit like staring at clouds and seeing what shapes appear. I like doing these as there is no pressure to create 'awesome' characters.

-Matt

Strawberry Dally

2010-04-12T15:31:00.007+10:00

The Strawberry Dally. No20 in the Sea Creatures Series. Two more to go!

M

Peter Lorre

2010-04-09T16:45:00.004+10:00

A doodle that started with an eye which reminded me of Peter Lorre http://www.filmbuffonline.com/Features/Centennials/PeterLorre.htm from the Maltese Falcon so I kept going from memory. Came out not to shabby:)

The Skewed Frill Fish

2010-03-29T13:29:00.003+11:00

The Skewed Frill Fish, originally uploaded by matt bacon.

No. 19 in the Sea Creature Postcard set

Snorky

2010-03-25T19:25:00.003+11:00

Snorky, originally uploaded by matt bacon.

No.18 in the Sea Creature series. I shall call him Snorky.

The Golden Roger

2010-03-06T17:21:00.005+11:00

Golden Roger, originally uploaded by matt bacon.

No. 17 in the Sea Creature series. "The Golden Roger". Used a different paper on this one. I think it holds the colour better than the smooth pressed paper I was using. Maybe the next set of whatevers I'll switch over.

-matt

Greedo

2010-03-05T09:09:00.006+11:00

Greedo, originally uploaded by matt bacon.

Card 16 in the Sea Creature series. Only four more cards to go!

-matt

Elsaron Cronicles Book Cover

2010-02-27T20:34:00.005+11:00

Elsaron Cronicles, originally uploaded by matt bacon.

Here's a book cover I painted for my Style File submission. It's a fantasy story set in a nother world called Elsaron. The boy is from our world and has mistakenly fond a way through and now must confront the dominate warlord to help bring peace back to Elsaron.

Anyway, that's what was in my head:)

Will post a more detail about the process i went thorough soon

-Matt

Part 15 Sea Creatures

2010-01-29T07:24:00.003+11:00

"The Long Snouted Warbler"
Very quick card using copic marker instead of the watercolours.

Part 14 in the Sea Creature Poatcards

2010-01-28T06:33:00.005+11:00

The Conical Squidy

Sea creatures part 10, 11 and 12

2010-01-23T14:58:00.003+11:00

The Chinese Lantern Jellyfish

The Pink Jolie

The Purple Spotted Crincher.

17 things Yoda taught me about Art

2010-01-22T16:35:00.003+11:00

EP 1: The Phantom Menace

1. "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering."

-- Fear of rejection. Fear that you're not as good as others. Fear of making mistakes. All these negatives can suck the joy from your creative process. Don't listen to them. Don't get angry at yourself. look at the positives. Believe in your abilities and go for it!

EP 2: The Clone Wars

2. "Meditate on this, I will."

-- Take a 10min break. Take a step back and look at your work from a different perspective. If you're working digitally, zoom right out form your work or flip your canvas. This will help you see shape, contrast & composition with "new eyes". In Photoshop you can set-up a second window and have it set to small. Paint in the small window to work on shapes and form before working on the details.

Here's How: Go to "Window" > "Arrange" > "New Window for [Doc Name]". resize as appropriate.

3. "Much to learn, you still have."
-- Art is a journey of life long learning. Accept this. Don't believe me? Start using a new medium or go to an art gallery and look at the masters. Feel like you're starting from the beginning again? Now see quote 1.

EP 3: Revenge of the Sith

4. "Careful you must be when sensing the future. The fear of loss is a path to the dark side."
-- Don 't let you're imagination get the better of you. Especially when presenting artwork to clients or peers for critique. Accept what happens as it happens.

5. "Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose."
-- Try not to be so afraid of losing that you never try at all. Curb those perfectionist tendencies.

6. "Go, I will. Good relations with the Wookiees, I have."
-- Take time to down tools and meet some new people. Escape from illustration Island is a great resource for beating artistic isolation. Join a sketch group. Use twitter; Create a username and connect to other artists. Mine's @mattbacondesign. Follow me and say g'day.

EP 5: The Empire Strikes Back

7. "Help you I can! Yes! Mm!"
-- Time to give back. Help others develop. There will always be others who are less experienced that you. you are further along you're journey than they are. Lend a hand.

8. "How you get so big, eating food of this kind?"
-- I'll tell you how I got so big. Too much time sitting down, and eating too many snacks while doing it! Food = Fuel. excessive fuel which isn't burnt up goes you-know-where. You're body and mind will operate more efficiently and effectively if they aren't trying to keep you awake after a huge lunch (been there done that). Watch the late night sugar & keep the H2O up. All this means is that your artwork should get better. 'nuff said.

9. "Mudhole? Slimy? My home this is!"
-- Clean up. This is one of my personal "growth areas":) Keep good digital file structures and tidy your work area. Not only will it help you find equipment and materials quickly it will free you from visual distractions.

10. "No! Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."
--Commit to your artwork. both holistically and for each piece. Make "glourious mistakes". Don't be tentative. "Obsessed is a word the lazy use to describe the committed".

11. "Wars not make one great."
-- "Be creative not competitive" - Stephen Silver.

12. "All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph."
-- Stick with it. Focus on what's in front of you. Pin-point, prioritize and avoid distractions.

13. "So certain are you. Always with you it cannot be done. Hear you nothing that I say?"
-- Believe in yourself. Look at the positives and see the oppurtinities. The glass can't always be half empty:)

14. "You must unlearn what you have learned."
-- Don't be afraid of change. We all build up bad habits. It's never too late to work on doing things better.

15. "Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size do you?"
-- Passion matters. Not how well you're known. If you want it, go for it. "Persistence trumps Talent". - Daniel Pink

16. "Hmm. Control, control. You must learn control."
-- It's not about stifling creativity but about channeling it where and when you want it. Don't become a tortured artist waiting for inspiration. Work at being creative.

EP 6: Return of the Jedi

17. "Strong am I with the Force, but not that strong. Twilight is upon me, and soon night must fall. That is the way of things... the way of the Force."
--Letting go can be hard. We've all experienced it. That constant noodling around with an image. Add a tiny bit here, tweak a colour there, push just one more pixel and it will be perfect. But at some point you have to finish your artwork. Let it go. Don't overwork it. Overworking will always muffle the freshness of the original idea. So trust in your creative process and move on to your next piece.

--Thanks Master Yoda.

Sea Creatures Part 9

2010-01-08T22:07:00.003+11:00

"The Club Foot Floater"

Sea Creatures Part 8

2010-01-07T10:47:00.005+11:00

The next in line. The Jelly saucer.

Sea Creatures Part 7

2009-12-24T11:24:00.001+11:00

So here's the latest Sea Creature: A Red Tailed Guppy

-Matt

Sea Creatures Part 6

2009-12-20T10:38:00.001+11:00

A Zebra Sea Horse.

Sea Creatures 03, 04 & 05

2009-12-14T17:07:00.004+11:00

Here's some more sea creatures I finished off while on holidays last week.

Sea Creatures 2

2009-12-03T21:23:00.000+11:00

Sea Creatures Part 1

2009-12-03T08:04:00.003+11:00

Started doing a series of Sea Creature postcard paintings. Here's the first of 20.

I'm using some 185gsm cold pressed paper and some basic portable water colours and a water brush.Here's the set-up.

- matt

Loneliness

2009-11-06T14:34:00.004+11:00

Just finished listening to Bobby Chiu's ChiuStream. Today's 1hr topic: Loneliness. Here's my idea. After the battle the warrior climbs the nearby hill to contemplate the horror, the loss of mate's, the lonliness. Wow, deep stuff eh?

Shark Horse

2009-10-31T16:54:00.002+11:00

Here's my entry for Bobby Chiu's ChiuStream Competiton: A shark inspired Creature. It's a Shark-Horse. We only had 1 hour to paint and I came in 15 mins late. A great experience. Love the ChiuStream.

-Matt

StarTrek

2009-10-30T02:12:00.006+11:00

Just watched the new StarTrek movie again. Still think it was pretty cool. Here's my take on the two main characters.

Moodle Man & Moodle Gal

2009-10-28T12:06:00.010+11:00

Here's the CubeeCraft fold-up toy I designed for the MoodlePosium which was held at the University of Canberra. Click to download. Enjoy!

The Water Dragon

2009-10-23T07:32:00.003+11:00

Decided to do another more 'serious' dragon. I also desided to draw every scale! I may not do that again:) Anyway. This one is a water dragon, hence the side frills and back spines.

- Matt

Winter Term and the wandering pencil.

2009-10-19T22:04:00.003+11:00

Must have sub-conciously been thinking about University of Canberra's new Winter Term while I was doodling. Out popped this little chap. That happens sometimes. In the midst of drawing "nothing" suddenly something solidifies and you have a clear idea of where the pencil is going.

Leave space for happy accidents. Often I'm deliberatly designing/illustrating/creating something. I'm trying to come up with a visual solution to a conceptual problem. It's a good reminder to just "be" creative. Let go and let pencil and brain wander where they will and you can be suprised where you end up.

- matt

2009-10-12T22:29:00.001+11:00

Quick Colour scheme text for my Giraffe. Wanted to go bright with the colours.

- matt

Jellies and Octo's

2009-10-12T22:09:00.002+11:00

Here's some Jellyfish and Octopus concepts. Will paint some of these up. The one's with colour on already are my short list.

- matt

Odosketch

2009-10-12T15:03:00.002+11:00

Just found this excellent online sketching tool called Odosketch http://sketch.odopod.com/. I love it. So simple but works fantastically well. You even get a replay of your entire sketch. Cool.

Here's a link to the "live action reply" <http://sketch.odopod.com/sketches/110882/edit>

- Matt

Super Buddies

2009-10-06T14:31:00.002+11:00

What kid doesn't want to be a super hero right? Here's a quick poster I did for my boy's bedroom. Started as a small sketch and then blown-up in Photoshop and coloured.

- Matt

T-Shirts

2009-10-02T12:26:00.001+10:00

Here's some T-shirt concepts I've been working on. I'll get these out available for purchase pretty soon:)

Oh! Play?

2009-09-23T23:59:00.000+10:00

Here's the final! finalised some small details and did some colour correction. What's next!

-matt

Robot

2009-09-23T20:13:00.000+10:00

Did this while I was painting with my son Jack. I actually used his kids poster paint set. Blue splotch is Jack's contribution:) I like the feeling of this one. Could be cool to 3d model this one.

-matt

LongBeach

2009-09-22T21:35:00.000+10:00

Hey. Just found this on my hard-drive in a folder I'd forgotton about. Some other goodies in there too. Will post 'em soon. A painting of the cool beach we go to for holidays. Longbeach, southcoast with rain storm coming in.

-matt

Landscape Thumbnails

2009-09-22T15:36:00.000+10:00

Some landscape thumbnails sketches I did while waiting at the doctors.

Matt

Dragon and Duck Ver6

2009-09-21T22:44:00.002+10:00

Almost there! Added the vines, a bush in the foreground, mist coming off the waterfall and some stronger highlights on the dragon. Gotta keep at it!

Dragon and Duck Ver5

2009-09-20T18:24:00.001+10:00

More Dragon and Duck stuff. This one's taking awhile. Good job I have a day job! Tidied up the rocks. Tidied up the dragon. Addded some shadows. Started on the duck. Re-arranged the rocks on the right hand side. More to come.

Horned Nicker - Monster Blood tattoo

2009-09-02T13:34:00.000+10:00

Pencil sketch of a Horned Nicker. One of the prominent monsters from the most excellent series by D.M. Cornish - Monster Blood Tattoo http://www.monsterbloodtattoo.blogspot.com/.

Dragon and Duck Ver4

2009-07-31T12:16:00.002+10:00

Ok. I'm back to the dragon. Here's another update. Started painting in the rocks. Starting to get some depth into the pic now.

-M

Microsaur - Strawbrasaurus

2009-07-23T20:41:00.002+10:00

Microsaur - Cherrysaurus

2009-07-23T20:39:00.002+10:00

Microsaurs - Mushrosaur

2009-07-23T19:55:00.003+10:00

So what if not all the dinosuars became extinct? What if a small group of them survived? What if they survived because they are so amll no-one notices them. Well be careful where you tread. Because here they are. The Microsaurs.

My first foray into Painter 11 too:)

Dragon and Duck ver3

2009-07-06T03:21:00.000+10:00

I decided that I needed something at the topp of the pic to fill in
that blank space. Some overhanging grass and foliage will do. Mmm. Now
the green dragon is getting a bit lost. So let's change it to
something that will pop off the screen. Red. Added a quick reflection
and some texture to the water.

Dragons and Ducks update1

2009-07-03T15:35:00.001+10:00

Here's a quick colour rough. Starting to block in some of the shapes.

Dragons and Ducks

2009-07-03T15:09:00.000+10:00

I sketched this dragon during a work meeting about 8 months ago. I
found it the other day and wondered what would he be looking at. I
figure maybe he's a kind hearted dragon wanting to be friends with
someone. But who? The answer was obvious of course...a duck.

Wombats @ WHPS

2009-06-07T07:27:00.004+10:00

Finished this pic for my son's pre-school class. He's in the Wombats. Go Wanniassia Hills Pre-School!

Dino-saw

2009-05-15T13:27:00.002+10:00

Have taken more and more of an interest in dino's recently as my two boys seem to be smitten with them. Here's the good 'ol pleasaur.

Lil' Aussie Battler

2009-05-10T18:56:00.003+10:00

Wanted to try and capture that summer feeling of being in Australia. Bright sun, blue sky, Strong light, gums and of course the man on the land.

Hill Cities

2009-03-27T11:28:00.002+11:00

I took this photo from my front door then it just seemed obvious that there should be alien citidel/spacecraft some where in the pic.

2009-03-26T16:38:00.001+11:00

Le Sketch

FW: Relaxed Jack

2008-12-16T09:46:00.002+11:00

Illustrator Live Trace works like a charm.

I've got crabs!

2008-12-15T15:53:00.004+11:00

Crabby characters for a kids book that didn't go ahead.

The Gargon

2007-11-22T09:27:00.005+11:00

Here's a little alien design. The Gargon's are small but incredibly ferocious.

Schoolism

2007-11-22T09:13:00.000+11:00

Just finished my 9 week digital painting course with Bobby Chui over at Schoolism.com It was a fantastic experience. I learnt a huge amount and had a great time. I'd recommend it if your wanting to improve your painting/illustration/design skills.

Also check out the new schoolism blog.

He's here!

2007-10-24T10:12:00.000+10:00

Big news this month! Luke John Bacon was born 2 weeks ago. Everyone's healthy, happy and rockin! It's great to be a dad again.

Well I'm working on my last assignment for Bobby Chui's painting class. I'm also trying to finish off some learning objects for the NPS project at work. You can check out the progrss here: http://www.canberra.edu.au/teds/webct/NPS/

3weeks to go until DMF in Sydney. Looking forward to it.

-Matt

Skwark, Skwark

2007-08-06T16:47:00.000+10:00

Just a pic I knocked out while waiting for some 3D to render. One of those things when you just start to doodle then all of asudden you have shape, form and viola!

-matt

Forget June. What about July?

2007-08-03T16:28:00.001+10:00

Well the title says it all doesn't it. But August is here for the picking so it's time to get going. This month I start a 9 week digital painting/illustration course with Bobby Chui over at www.schoolism.com. I'm pretty pumped to get started. It's going to be a great experience learning from one of the guru's in the biz.

August also means we're 8 weeks away from baby No.2 making it's grand entrance. Now that's really, really exciting!

-Matt

EEK! What happened to June?

2007-07-17T14:20:00.000+10:00

Been ages since I looked at the blog. Been buried under heaps of work. I've been picking up some of the slack as more people leave the place. Some of the work's boring and annoying but some is prety interesting.

I've been doing a lot of short video work, 3d modelling and pumping out the Photoshop. I'll post some stuff when I get the time.

Sgt Rock

2007-06-22T15:37:00.001+10:00

Here's a sketch with some basic ink work of the tough as nails, don't muck with me Sgt Rock. You never know I might even get round to finishing it off.

Changes are afoot

2007-06-06T15:47:00.000+10:00

So there's big changes happening at work at the moment. redundancies, resignations, a real trip into the unknown.

It all had to happen of course. The new VC has been left a house in disarray and a good clean up always involves uncovering things that have been hiding in the dark. Hopefully the short term pain will be better for UC in the long run. I think it will.

Snails

2007-05-29T22:59:00.001+10:00

Here's my entry into Conceptart.org's monthly stylized animal challenge. It's tough being a snail. Everyone's out to get you. Your a prime target to be stepped on, kicked , flicked and generally pushed around. But a brave few refuse to lie down. They pick themselves up and keep on going.

Using Flash for illustration (Aces High)

2007-05-16T21:17:00.000+10:00

I'm still going on the Aces High illustration. But I'm almost finished. When ever I can get a free moment I'm on it. What's interesting about this is I'm using Flash MX (I'm a tight arse and haven't upgraded for awhile) for the rendering. I wanted to do this piece in more of a flat coloured comic style. So I'm combining gradient fills with some bitmap textures to get the effect I want.

I like Flash for these kind of jobs as it's a bit more intuative in it's line creation and fill work. You can draw a line and then drag it into any shape you want and you can just fill what ever you want quickly and easily. Of course the newer versions of Adobe Illustrator have started to do this as well with LivePaint but it still seems a bit clunky to me.

It might be interesting to do a painted version as well to see the difference. In all those free hours I've got I might be able to do something :)

Matt

Still in the sky (ACES HIGH)

2007-04-27T21:57:00.000+10:00

Just a quick update on the ACES HIGH image. Started blocking in some of the colour, getting some of the tone and shading in. Stay tuned.

The Anteater

2007-04-23T21:37:00.000+10:00

Here's my entry in conceptart.org's stylized animal challenge. This month's animal was of course an anteater.

Aces High

2007-04-22T21:45:00.000+10:00

One of my latest works. Wanted to do more of a portrait piece but as I was sketching out it kinda moved into becoming a WWII pilot (spitfire) and ended up being more of a pulp/comic cover. So that's where it's headed. I'll update as I'm going along.