S.M.Vidaurri : Illustration

Sketchbook

2012-01-25T13:24:00.002-05:00

A handful of character studies for today's sketchbook update

Drawings

2012-01-22T06:57:00.004-05:00

Here are some studies I worked on the past few days as a warm up. I've been busy with the deadline for IRON and I did these in an effort to not go insane.

Dog Portrait

2011-11-27T12:56:00.002-05:00

A portrait of a friends dog, Cubby.

Bird Skull Studies

2011-11-22T14:53:00.003-05:00

This week's sketchbook update. A few studies of bird skulls.

Fox Sketches

2011-11-07T22:45:00.001-05:00

Foxes for Mondays sketch update

Vulture Sketches

2011-10-20T18:07:00.002-04:00

Thursdays sketchbook update: vulture sketches.

Bird Sketches

2011-10-18T09:12:00.002-04:00

Tuesdays sketchbook update, various birds of New Jersey.

Deer Sketch

2011-10-10T19:52:00.002-04:00

Monday's Sketch Update.

Cane Toad

2011-10-09T00:10:00.003-04:00

This weekends sketch update.

Cranes and Herons

2011-10-05T13:11:00.003-04:00

Wednesdays sketch update, Cranes and Herons

More Birds

2011-10-04T20:21:00.002-04:00

More ducks and geese for Tuesdays sketchbook update.

Sketch Update

2011-10-03T18:04:00.002-04:00

Assorted waterfowl.

A mule deer, Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole

2011-10-01T22:19:00.002-04:00

A larger sketch update since I missed Fridays.

A mule deer.

Duke Ellington.

Nat King Cole.

Warm Up Sketch, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

2011-09-29T10:14:00.005-04:00

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the subject of today's warm up sketch. I've seen him around a lot lately. Recently I've been trying to improve my ability to capture a likeness. So there will probably be a few more drawings of famous people on the way.

Bearded De Niro

2011-09-28T18:24:00.003-04:00

A bearded De Niro from his new movie "Killer Elite."

Walt Sketch

2011-09-27T02:56:00.003-04:00

Lone Wolf

2011-06-02T22:19:00.000-04:00

Iron Page

2011-04-29T03:17:00.002-04:00

Here's a page I thought I would post. We're onto the second chapter now. Just thought I'd post it to show a little bit of the story as I work through it.

Spring Robins

2011-04-25T20:58:00.003-04:00

Here's some robins that were hopping around the yard.

Sketchbook

2011-03-04T21:58:00.000-05:00

Sketchbook

2011-03-03T20:18:00.002-05:00

Armstrong

2011-01-30T11:35:00.002-05:00

From my sketchbook. I was inspired by a biography of Louis Armstrong that I have been reading. He was a really interesting and admirable man.

Iron

2011-01-29T19:23:00.006-05:00

Here's a preview of some of the pages I've been working on for IRON. I'm up to about 32 now. The reason I haven't been posting them is because in 2012 I will be publishing them. Well, not me personally.

As I progress I will try to update with cool things to show you that will not ruin the story or the artwork. Expect more sketches and studies than finished pages from now on.

Animation

2011-01-04T00:00:00.000-05:00

Here's a short animation I made while messing around in Photoshop.

Keeping Busy

2011-01-03T20:22:00.006-05:00

I'm currently working on a long project, but in the morning I've been doing this little comic as a way to warm up my brush and get my mind going. I thought I'd post a little of it. I was inspired by the number of westerns I read recently.

2011-01-01T20:43:00.002-05:00

Happy new year. Here's a little painting I did recently that I enjoyed.

Moth Study

2010-12-23T23:46:00.006-05:00

Here's a more finished study of that lunar moth sketch I did a couple of days ago.

Some Drawings

2010-12-22T10:57:00.001-05:00

Some Seagulls I was watching in the cold while waiting for a train in Hoboken. And a lunar moth. Just some sketches to keep me busy.

A New Story 2

2010-11-12T01:48:00.003-05:00

Still thinking of a title for this one. But until then, I will continue to enjoy painting it. I have the next Iron page finished, I just haven't gotten the chance to scan or color it yet. Should have that done at some point.

A New Story

2010-11-09T23:27:00.000-05:00

Something new. More iron comics soon.

Jake

2010-09-22T12:53:00.003-04:00

On Monday my dog Jake died. He will be missed.
He was a tough and cool little dog.

Comics pick up again next week.

Seventeen

2010-09-13T06:31:00.002-04:00

Sixteen

2010-08-29T09:25:00.002-04:00

...and after a brief hiatus, we're back.

2010-07-19T01:56:00.003-04:00

Page Fifteen

2010-07-02T01:36:00.003-04:00

Page fifteen.

Chapter Two

2010-06-02T23:46:00.005-04:00

I spent today making a few changes to chapter two. Including adding another page before what used to be 13. I also changed the illustration in the introduction page as well. But you could go the website if you would like to check it out.

House Sketch

2010-05-27T22:50:00.001-04:00

It begins, as most things begin, with a song

2010-05-08T02:47:00.020-04:00

Spider venom comes in many forms. It can often take a long while to discover the full effects of a bite. Naturalists have pondered this for years: there are spiders whose bite can cause the place bitten to rot and die, sometimes more than a year after it was bitten. As to why spiders do this, the answer is simple. It's because spiders think this is funny, and they don't want you ever to forget them.

-Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (buy it)

Chapter Two - Page Two

2010-05-05T20:54:00.006-04:00

Here's page twelve (page two of chapter two). And below is a little detail from one one the panels that I enjoyed.

Harry & SIlvio

2010-04-30T08:58:00.007-04:00

I got a big jolt of inspiration for getting started on my own comic after seeing a small black and white mini comic by Eric Orchard. His little Harry & Silvio mini comic was so elegant and well done it made me want to sit down and start drawing. Which I eventually did! Eric is a great guy and his comics are awesome, you should really check them out

Chapter Two: Page One

2010-04-27T21:08:00.001-04:00

Chapter two begins.

Iron: Chapter One

2010-04-09T19:26:00.010-04:00

Here is the first chapter in it's entirety. I hope you enjoy it. I went back and corrected all the text and tweaked the dialogue a bit. I will get started on the second chapter once I get back from MoCCA this weekend. I am going to try to print a mini comic of these pages to hand out, let me know if you will be there/you want one.

Also, thanks to everyone who's read it so far and tweeted/posted about it. Special thanks to Tim Durning (who helped/ended up making me a website), Eric Orchard (who I still owe a painting) and Jason Brubaker for their support and help while I was painting this first chapter.

Page Nine. End of Chapter One

2010-04-08T21:34:00.005-04:00

Here's Page Nine. The end of chapter one. I will hopefully be printing out some mini comics of the first chapter and handing them out at MoCCA this weekend. I decided to make some revisions to the font/word balloons I was using. Hopefully I will come to a good and readable conclusion, but right now I am still trying things out. This is all very much a work in progress.

Early Sketch

2010-04-02T16:07:00.002-04:00

Here's an early rough sketch of one of the characters from my comic, from around last year I guess. As you can see I still had a while to go, but I was just messing around at that point, not sure if I would do the comic or not.

The Children's Crusade

2010-03-28T13:05:00.006-04:00

"Oh God," said Barbara, and she turned her back on him. She celebrated frustration by clapping her hands. "May I ask you a simple question?"
"Of course."
"Why is it you never mentioned any of this before the airplane crash?"
"I didn't think the time was ripe."

A View Of The Overlook

2010-03-27T15:26:00.009-04:00

He looked over his shoulder. Far down the lawn, past the putting green, were a number of vague, snow-cowled humps. The hedge animals. Between them and the playground. Between them and the road.
His legs gave way. Jack caught him. He began to cry.

Light Of My Life

2010-03-27T10:05:00.017-04:00

"That was my Lo," she said, "and these are my lilies."
"Yes," I said, "yes. They are beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!"

Page Eight, Plus A Comic

2010-03-26T08:40:00.013-04:00

Here's page eight of my comic. Also below is a little comic that I had fun making. Not for any real reason, an excuse to draw trees and telephone polls mostly. Though it is in the Zuda comic format and I've been toying around with the idea of doing one of those at some point. Maybe one day.

Page Seven

2010-03-12T13:31:00.005-05:00

Here's page seven. Things are starting to pick up a bit I think.

Life Update:

Here are a couple of sketches of my dog Jake. These past couple weeks have been super stressful because we found out that Jake has cancer. He's got a tumor, and it's not a friendly one. Luckily it hasn't spread, so we're hoping we can still beat it. He's pretty much the dog I think of when I think of a good dog.

Page Six

2010-02-17T16:47:00.004-05:00

Life imitates art, very true. After drawing our friend trudging through the snow for two weeks, I got a cold. It put me in bed for about a week. Although there is still a steadily growing mountain of tissues next to my drafting table, I am pretty much back to normal.

Page Five, Finally

2010-02-09T18:35:00.003-05:00

Here's page five. I chose to use the same layout as page four to make four and five a symmetrical spread. Here's what it will look like:

Page Four

2010-02-06T19:49:00.001-05:00

Here's the fourth page. Our friend above is nearing his destination.

Page Three

2010-01-31T17:47:00.003-05:00

Here's page three. My goal was to have three pages done by the first, and I did it. Hooray!

Page Two - It's Cold

2010-01-30T16:08:00.004-05:00

It's very cold, and i'm sure that this page was inspired in some way by the frigid weather. The book is chugging along now like some un-oiled machine, so expect more in the coming weeks.

I am working on a website for the comic as well, so keep an eye out for that.

Iron: Page Zero, and Page One.

2010-01-23T20:22:00.002-05:00

Here's the title page and the first page of my comic. As I said before, the five pages that I posted a little bit ago were just a dry run. I guess this is the first page of the actual story. I guess that means that I have officially started this comic now, so, that that is something.

I'll post some more pages as I complete them. Check back often for more sketches and whatnot.

And as you can see, both the cardinals that I preferred make an appearance in the book.

Cardinal Sketches

2010-01-22T20:57:00.004-05:00

Here's some sketches for a cardinal that is to appear in my comic. He is only in one panel, but I wanted it to be a good one, so I took some time to sketch out some different possibilities. I think that I prefer the cardinal to the bottom left, though I liked the puffed up cardinal a lot as well. We'll see

Dry Run

2010-01-05T02:59:00.005-05:00

Here's a short comic I came up with. It's kind of a dry run for a longer story, just so I can get a feel for the medium and look. Hope you guys dig it.

Preview

2009-12-10T13:02:00.001-05:00

Here is a preview of a project I am currently working on.

Abe Sapien II

2009-11-30T15:26:00.002-05:00

Here is my final for the Autumn Society's Hellboy show at Brave New Worlds.

Abe Sapien

2009-11-18T14:49:00.001-05:00

Here's a sketch of Abe Sapien for the piece I am doing for the Autumn Society's Hellboy gallery show at Brave New Worlds. Originally I wasn't going to do one, but then I had the idea for this piece, and I really liked it. So, here's the sketch.

Jim James Sketch

2009-10-29T15:16:00.001-04:00

Here's a quick digital study of My Morning Jacket's Jim James for a piece I am working on.

New Intuos

2009-10-29T11:54:00.004-04:00

I bought a wacom tablet today. I've never really used one before so it's been quite fun. Here's a sketch I did on it of a crow man that I draw from time to time.

New Illustration for The Indypendent

2009-10-28T07:38:00.003-04:00

Here's my newest Illustration for The Indypendent. It's for an article about gas companies sending pollution into the ground and polluting the water source.

Acrylic Musings 3 : Winter Geese

2009-10-18T15:14:00.006-04:00

Winter can sometimes be my favorite season, I am looking forward to it this year. This new Acrylic painting depicts some Canadian geese in the snow.

Acrylic Musings 2

2009-10-17T21:39:00.001-04:00

Here's another experiment with Acrylic. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it now.

Acrylic Musings

2009-10-17T16:26:00.003-04:00

Here's a painting I did. It's in acrylic, which isn't my normal medium. It was quite fun to experiment with a more opaque paint.

It's more forgiving because you can just paint over your mistakes (with watercolors, because of their transparency, you cannot), but less forgiving because I am not as able.

This one is my third attempt. The first two were not as successful.

Cacti

2009-10-16T16:23:00.004-04:00

Here's an sketch that I'm trying to develop into a piece. I really liked the prickly pear cacti that I saw when I was in Texas, so I'm trying to work them into a motif. Don't know if it will go anywhere, but I thought this little portrait was kind of neat.

New Work On The Way

2009-10-08T20:51:00.000-04:00

Just a preview of things to come.

Companies and Prisons

2009-09-22T02:11:00.002-04:00

Here's a spot illustration I did for WIN Magazine. It's about corporations and their effect on prisons.

Texas

2009-09-14T01:21:00.006-04:00

The famous Texas Piney Woods (viewed from a train)

Prickly Pear Cactus

Some paintings in my sketchbook from my recent trip to Texas. I plan on going back soon to spend some more time in the country painting.

Woodstock

2009-08-09T16:20:00.001-04:00

The commercialization out of Woodstock for The Indypendent

Michael Jackson : MMIX

2009-07-19T17:44:00.002-04:00

Jackson as a crumbling cracking statue for the next issue of The Indypendent.

Willow Study

2009-07-17T04:49:00.007-04:00

Inspired by watching the sun set over lake Champlain last week.

Flower

2009-07-09T04:05:00.003-04:00

A piece from my gallery show at The ChapterHouse with Tim Durning

Opening at the Chapterhouse

2009-07-08T23:42:00.003-04:00

There will be a small reception at Chapterhouse on Friday July 10th, from 6-9pm. Come on out to enjoy some great art!

White Roses

2009-06-25T20:42:00.001-04:00

White Roses.

Flower Study

2009-06-25T14:31:00.003-04:00

Here's a little study I did of some flowers in my backyard.

Ducks

2009-06-22T09:23:00.003-04:00

This painting is based off of a picture I took when I was at the Mystic Aquarium. There were so many amazing animals there, but as always, the ducks stole the show.

Obama And The ACLU

2009-06-21T10:42:00.005-04:00

This spot will run in the next issue of The Indypendent alongside an interview with Anthony Romero entitled, "Executive Director of ACLU Talks on Obama and Torture." I tried to reflect the uncertainty of the Guantanamo inmates future, and the looming decision Obama has to make about them.

Sketchbook.

2009-06-19T01:37:00.000-04:00

Another sketchbook page.

Sketchbook.

2009-06-10T15:26:00.002-04:00

Here's one from my sketchbook.

Appalachian Trail

2009-05-22T16:54:00.010-04:00

I just got back from a backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail. It was well worth it to get out there and recharge my batteries. It was a pretty tough hike, especially for someone who does little physical activity (my usual exercise is walking around Philadelphia, not exactly tough terrain ). I drew a little bit, but I mostly took pictures. I'm not a very good photographer, but I still had fun doing it.

Thinking For Yourself

2009-05-10T17:07:00.009-04:00

Independence of thought.

This illustration was done for The Indypendent. The article was about someone who had ideas that strayed from the norm. I wanted to do a painting that was more interested in the overall themes of the article, rather than doing another portrait.

Update: 5.11.08

Einstein on Israel and Zionism Review.

So the Indypendent wasn't happy with the last piece I did, they thought it was too abstract. So for the next final they wanted my sketch that was a straight portrait, I only had hours to finish this one so I did it in pencil/digital. And in the end they went with the initial illustration anyway. Hooray!

Drawings.

2009-05-02T23:28:00.002-04:00

Just a couple of faces from my sketchbook.

Things Fall Apart

2009-04-26T17:01:00.008-04:00

Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart."

I finished reading this book last night, and I really loved it. It was very well written, and also incredibly depressing.

I started the sketch of Okonkwo earlier today and just kept going until I had this, it's very different for me, seeing as it's finished digitally. It was fun to step outside my element, the whole piece was done in 2 hours. It's nowhere near as cool as Edel Rodriguez's version, but it was worth spending my afternoon on. It will be a worthy addition to the "Sketchbook/Experiment" section in my website.

Drawing

2009-04-25T20:19:00.000-04:00

Observation.

2009-04-12T00:00:00.002-04:00

Mutter Museum + Extras.

2009-04-03T03:41:00.003-04:00

I spent the last week at my mothers house. It was nice to visit my old room, pet the dogs and watch HBO on demand. But I am glad to be back in philly, back to posting work. The first sketch is for a new piece I am working on, it's a study of one of the figures. The second sketch is a collection of drawings that I did at the Mutter Museum (it's such a cool place). If you like malformed fetuses, Victorian medical tools, or horribly diseased skeletal remains, then the Mutter Museum is the place for you. The last sketch was done on a napkin, probably inspired by my Mutter trip. I used a brush pen and I thought that the holes created a unique texture for the drawing.

Van Jones for WIN Magazine

2009-03-22T08:17:00.003-04:00

Van Jones : Modern Day Prophet.

This illustration was done for WIN Magazine. It is a portrait of Van Jones for a review of his book, The Green Collar Economy. The title of the article was "Modern day prophet."

The Thane of Cawdor

2009-03-21T05:59:00.005-04:00

Characters : Doomed.

Here's a sketch for my gallery show. Still not sure if I am going to use this particular one, but I liked it enough to post it.

Shelter

2009-03-20T07:53:00.002-04:00

I couldn't get this piece to work for me. I was trying to incorporate these other panels into it, and it was very frustrating. In the end I think it works best just as one panel, it makes much more sense this way. I am kind of sad that I spent so many hours painting panel 2 again and again. But I figured it out eventually, sometimes you just need to leave it alone.

Characters : Flamboyant.

2009-03-17T09:16:00.003-04:00

Flamboyant.

Here's my first finished piece for my gallery show this summer (with Tim Durning). I was originally going to do literary characters, but now I am just doing characters in general, specifically ones that entail certain traits. I'd never painted armor before, so it was really fun to paint. I included my initial thumbnail sketch and my final sketch below.

Late Night Bowie Sketch.

2009-03-17T02:26:00.003-04:00

Here's a quick David Bowie sketch I did while watching the videos below. I am currently pretty obsessed with Bowie, and I have come to the conclusion that it's okay.

Oh, You Pretty Things.

Starman.

Rebel Rebel.

Slumdog Colonizer

2009-03-15T16:24:00.005-04:00

Danny Boyle's vision of India for the Indypendent.

Here's an illustration I did for the Indypendent yesterday. The article was about Danny Boyle's movie Slumdog Millionaire, more specifically how Danny Boyle portrayed India in the film. This wasn't my favorite sketch, but they picked this one so I went with it (the one I liked had an elephant in it, I really wanted to paint an elephant). They also wanted it to be an irregular shape - I'm not sure if having it fade off is better than a nice big black area at the bottom, but it's different from how I usually work so I guess it's worth it just for the change.

Sketchbook 5 : Midnite.

2009-03-13T02:10:00.008-04:00

Dr. Mid-Nite

Eric Orchard is a wonderful artist, his work has a beautiful whimsical quality, it can be extremely soft and nuanced, or very graphic and powerful. Recently Eric had some awesome kirby inspired drawings on his blog. And it got me to thinking about old comic characters. After trading a couple of emails with Eric and we decided to each post a sketch - I chose Dr. Mid-Nite (as many of my friends know, I am a huge fan), and Eric chose Hourman. I love the designs of those old characters, like Hourman, the original Sandman or the first Blue Beetle. They're just so classic!

The sketch was inspired by how Dr. Mid-Nite used smoke bombs to fight crime (second only to sandmans sleeping gun), I tried to invision him coming into focus through the smoke. Nowadays every superhero has bones sticking out of their skin and telepathic fire that shoots out of their eyes which they got from hell. But Dr. Mid-Nite could just see in the dark, and he was really a doctor.

Update: Here's Erics Hourman!

Sketchbook 4.

2009-03-12T14:59:00.007-04:00

Here are some more black and white drawings from my sketchbook. Mostly chickens this time, and a pigeon in there, because why not.

Sketchbook 3.

2009-03-11T17:36:00.013-04:00

I took a bit of the afternoon today and painted some cats. I used a brush pen, and just used the blacks to describe the form of black and white cats very quickly. I did a bunch, but these were the ones I liked.

Sketchbook 2.

2009-03-10T15:10:00.004-04:00

Barn and silo at dusk, from my sketchbook.

Sketchbook 1.

2009-03-08T16:49:00.005-04:00

Here's a quick little study from my sketchbook.

Homer at the PMA

2009-03-07T20:19:00.005-05:00

I ventured out to the Philadelphia Museum of Art today, as I am known to do. I've been to every section of that museum multiple times, so nowadays I just skip the lot and go straight to what I really want to see. Today consisted of standing in awe of some of my favorite painters, Homer, Eakins, Wyeth and Sargent.

It made my heart heavy when I read: Andrew Wyeth, Born 1912, Died 2009.