Whats Going On

Whew, sorry for the long delay in posts!  I assure you, I have been working very hard on some new paintings and I also potentially have earned my 1st professional gig for the big boys in comics.  (my Instagram account, longdogart usually has daily updates of my scribble, some even get finished!)  So here is the rundown of whats going on, new pictures and a lengthy rambling about my love of the band Between the Buried and Me and their influence on my life in general.
So for those of you wondering what I have been working on I'll show you some sneak peeks of finished paintings that most likely become prints for Phoenix Comicon or Vista Production Group.  Just about everything I've done lately has been on my own creation Space Girl Molly (whom I wish to have an actual story out for soon, even if it is a tiny ash tray) and a few licensed characters.  Here are some of these finished images-

Space girl Molly, watercolor on hot press paper

Atom Eve, inks.  will be digitally painted

Recently I completed a try out as a colorist for one of the best coloring companies in all of comics.  I passed the 1st stage of the try out and if all goes well with the next few pages I'm assigned I will be painting for the biggest companies and the biggest books in the industry.  I will post more about who this is with and what books once i know more about where I stand but needless to say, I'm very excited about this opportunity.

So anyone that has had the misfortune of discussing music with me for the past 8 years or so knows my Between the Buried and Me obsession.  If you don't know who they are go here http://www.betweentheburiedandme.com/ and just listen.  Or go to Youtube.  Or better yet just go buy Colors and Parallax 2 to support the band and free your mind.  Seriously, go turn off everything, put on some headphones and just experience masters of their craft work.  They fall into many genres but I tend to think of them as the King Crimson of prog metal.  Or King Crimson with blast beats.  They aren't for everyone but if you like heavy music and you don't listen to BTBAM then I'm sorry, you know nothing  John Snow... Anyways-  I listen to them daily and enjoy all of their albums but their newest masterpiece, Parallax II Future Sequence has even influenced some of my art.  I doodle aimlessly at work quite a bit to keep in practice and all of sudden I was adding owls into my compositions.  The Night Owls to be exact, which are the all seeing all knowing menace in several of BTBAM's songs.  I fleshed one of my sketches out a bit one day and came up with this piece -

This is my version of the Night Owls, which I guess I should mention, are not my own creation and are probably copyright of BTBAM.

Of course I had Molly visit a moon the Owls were visiting in the final drawing.  This will also be painted in Photoshop soon and I'll post the final when I have it ready.

Ok, enough rambling for now, until next time-

Matt

The family and I finally got to go to another Comicon today, the Amazing Arizona Comicon.  It was great to see my friends and to get inspired by the great work everyone of them is creating at the moment.  After this weekend I will be completely focusing on my work for 2013 so hopefully I will have even more posts and pictures for all to enjoy.  Here is my most recent "finished work."  It's Molly with a whole bunch of flowers in her hair for on a Vista Production Group sketch cover.  I also have a whole bunch of random sketches posted on my Instagram @longdogart so let me know if you would like to purchase them.  This one is available for $40 so just message me if you would like to own it yourself!  More to come in a week, another big painting of space girl Molly and maybe some other "big" news.  

2013 So far and upcoming...

Hello everybody! Happy Belated New Year!  As usual I'm behind in my updates and posting art. I blame the holidays and the day job for my tardiness.  And new video games...
As for Long Dog Art news, we will have a table at Phoenix Comicon 2013 and I'll will have some Con exclusive prints available soon for the show.  Erin and I also have been working on a children's book that we hope to have out sometime this year and trying to get a story for Space Girl Molly hashed out.  I'll keep you posted on how thats going.  I also have a few other "secret" projects that I'll be working on with some fellow artists so more to come on that when things are getting ready to come out.  Also, I'm sure I will have other Vista Production Group projects coming up this year as well.  Even with all this I do still have time for commissions so if you want anything please send me an email to longdogart@gmail.com and let me know what I can do for you.  

 Here are a few of the drawings and paintings I've worked on in the past few weeks.  Some were big projects, others just quick practice paintings.

Mockingbird in costume redesign

Nude watercolor, painted after using a quick gesture pose website

Watercolor for my cousin Christie, reference from one of their wedding photos

More costume work for Molly, all watercolor, new face that i don't like as much... so that won't be used...

Mist writing... was originally drawn at the day job, painted at home.

For Vista Production Group print.  This will be available soon

Powergirl practice

Boba Fett Step by Step

Hello Everyone,

So what I have for you today is the step by step process I used for my most recent commissioned painting.  A friend of mine wanted a big action shot of Boba Fett looking awesome, so I did my best to achieve that... This painting is big, one of the biggest watercolor paintings I've ever done to be honest.  I usually keep my paintings small and in odd sizes, just to make it fun for me come framing time... Anyways, its a 20 x 24 inches watercolor on Arches Rives BFK 140lb printmaking paper.  I remembered (at least I think I remembered) that paper always held up well to heavy water saturation from my printmaking days and I felt like experimenting.  I will let you all decide if you like it or not but I feel it actually turned out pretty nice. So here we go-

Initial quick sketch of the pose.  I found an awesome reference photo on a stock site of a woman jumping back shooting guns.  So I just adjusted the anatomy to a mans and made it Boba.  Easy peasy.  I wanted a shot of Boba hovering in the sky shooting out at the viewer.

I taped up the paper to my masonite drawing board and finished the drawing on the easel so I could actually see what I was doing.

Close up.  This was drawn in 2h and hb lead pencils.

I decided to make this a gun fight happening on Tatooine, with lasers all over and the Millenium Falcon and a Star Destroyer far above in the sky.  So this image is the 1st application of paint.  I soaked the paper and just steadily kept dabbing in the yellow/ brown colors the give an effect of a hot, dusty desert scene.  

So I skipped ahead a bit but I started to add in the colors for his armor and gauntlets.  Obviously in some areas I even added in some of my shadows and details.  

More detail!  Lasers and muzzle flashes added.  The MF and Star Destroyer painted in using some atmospheric perspective to try and show that high above in the distance.

The feet and the fire and smoke from Boba's rockets are added in.  More detail!  And it's finished...

Vista Production Group!

Hello Everyone,

This past Saturday we had the unveiling of the super secret comic project that I'm a part of, The Vista Production Group.  It is a group of terrific artists based here in Arizona and it will be a one stop access to all things creative and collectible.   The group was created by Brian Augustyn, formerly of DC comics the Flash and Jesse Criscione of the comics super store Jesse James Comics. Our first event had the release of our 1st book, which has all the creators information and great images of our various styles of art.  Here is a group shot of all of us as drawn by Mr. John Derrick West (Dadicus!).

I had a big write up on all of us but my Safari decided to crash and I lost all my blogging motivation to re type it all... So here we all are!  Keep a look out as we release more info about the group and our new creations.

Here is one NOW!

 This is a limited edition sketch cover that we have for our book.  This is a W.I.P. of Spacegirl Molly and I'll have the final version of it posted and on sale soon so let me know if you want it!  I also have a few blank covers left if you had an idea for me to draw just for you.   Shoot me an email if you do!

And here are some other paintings I've done in the past few weeks, one of which is featured in the Vista Inspirational Visions book- 

Space girl Molly- A New World

Space girl Molly- Landing

Afro Samurai... random I know but he is awesome

Some more ART and News

Hello all!

Here are last weeks newest drawings for all to enjoy.  I'll have more new stuff soon as well as a another start to finish process painting.

In other news, my family and I recently had a photo session with Stacey Woodward of Dream Photography Studio.  During the course of the session I thought I recognized here from some where and when we were leaving it dawned on me, I knew her from Phoenix Comicon!  She works with the wonderful site Lightning Octopus and did an Amazing job on our photos so I highly recommend checking out her sites and the write up she did for our Etsy studio.

http://www.dreamphotographystudio.blogspot.com/2012/11/feature-matt-goodall-at-long-dog-art.html

Have a Happy Turkey Day everyone!

ART DUMP

Hello everybody!  Not much new here, just a bunch of random paintings and commissions for some terrific people.  Enjoy!