oldschoolvikings

I know the Panthers' look is fairly popular around here, but I've always been bugged by the various inconsistencies in the striping and such. I made this with the thought that I'd keep the helmet untouched, and design the rest of the uniform to go with it.

Ever since the redesign, I've been annoyed at the lack of green in the logo, but, honestly, now I get it. I tried more than a few different ways to shoehorn some green into that logo, and hated all of them. I assume the designers went thru a similar process.

Some time ago I posted this concept... Based on my undying love of royal blue and kelly green as an amazing color scheme and my completely indefensible appreciation for what is widely considered to be the worst NHL uniform of all time, the "flying V" jerseys. I feel like it wasn't well received. So, back to the drawing board. IMO, the Canucks current color scheme is beyond fabulous. I've loved the uniform of every team that's ever worn it... the original Seattle Seahawks, original Minnesota Timber Wolves, original Dallas Mavericks, the amazing Hartford Whalers... all great. So, I went back into this Vancouver concept with two goals.... first make the kelly green more prominent. This color is criminally underused in modern sports. You have the Celtics, and that's about it. Secondly, I wanted to do something to make sense of the double blues in the logo, and carry those colors to the rest of the uniform. Oh, and I wanted to get rid of the city name above the logo. So, here it is.... thoughts?

Yeah, I definitely see why you'd say that. I just have this weird thing about wanting a contrast between the hem and pants. Just a personal preference.

Taking your advice I tried with a recolor of gold on the sleeve and yoke, but I didn't love it. Just wasn't enough black for me, left it a little washed out. So I split the difference... I kept the yoke black, but recolored the sleeves to gold. I think I like it better than me first attempt... what do you think?

It's been a looong time between hockey concepts for me, but I thought it would be fun to pull this old thread out of mothballs... Here's a Penguin concept.... any thoughts?

Reworking an older Bronco idea...

I do a kind of complicated primer technique. One thin coat of gesso, followed by a thick coat with a little fine sand added, then a final coat of straight gesso. I like the texture, and it gives me the ability to pull some broken layers of color. Plus, I just paint pretty thick anyway.

Just finished this commission for someone... I think it was a Christmas present for a wife/GF...

I'm still here.

I'm asking because they have sizes and players that the NFL's official shop doesn't. Plus everything is significantly cheaper. For instance, they're selling Limiteds for $100... how does that work? You know, the old saying... if it seems to good to be true... Anyway, I just wanted somebody with a sense for these things to check out the website and give me an opinion.

Anybody have an opinion about how legitimate this site might be? http://www.vikingscustom.com/

I've done a few commissions for dog owners. It started when an elderly lady approached me at a gallery opening and asked me if I'd consider doing a portrait of her dog. I told her I really didn't do that sort of thing, I was pretty sure she'd be disappointed. When I start a painting, I can't really promise where it'll go, what colors I'd use, etc. She said that was fine, that she liked my style, and just wanted to see what I'd come up with. She also offered to pay me half up front. Then she showed me a picture of her dog... an incredibly old one-eyed pekanese... at that point I was sold. Here's what the poor old guy looked like; And here's what I gave her; Strangely enough, she loved it. Word got around a bit and I've since done a few more...

I use a digital camera. Some of those images, if they're older, might be scans of slides. Scanning the painting directly is kind of out of the question since my standard size (probably more than half) is 52" X 40". And I generally don't varnish at all... they are acrylic, which is already annoyingly shiny, and fairly indestructible.

OK... some more; A view of the studio...

I've sold a lot. (Not as much as I'd like, obviously, but I have been at this professionally for 20+ years.) When I was an undergraduate a painting prof gave me a amateur/beginner pricing guide. He said if you've never sold, or sold very little, cover the cost of all materials and then give yourself $25 to $35 an hour. (of course, that was the late 80's.) That was sort of helpful, but falls apart pretty quick. Usual, for me anyway, it's hard to say how much time you actual spend on any given painting. Sometimes they come together pretty quick, other times you struggle, but that isn't likely to show on the final result. I once sold a painting that took me less then a half hour for a ridiculous amount of money, but I gave half of the sale to a gallery. Once you get into the gallery/juried show/agent business, they start to basically tell you how much to charge. Galleries will generally take %40 to %50 of the sale, agents %10 to %20. Here's what I would say. Don't charge too little. If you basically try to just give it away for a song, you're devaluing your time, and worse, you're telling the person who wants to buy it that they have crappy taste. And if the work means something to you, you'll regret just giving it away for a small amount. When I was younger, I made some stuff that meant a lot to me, and its all gone now. I wanted to sell it, I'm pretty much glad that I sold it, but I wouldn't mind if I'd gotten just a bit more for it.

That's not cheating. That's why they call it painter's tape.

Awesome.

And this guy has, of course, sleeve stripes!

Well, OK then...