Back at it....

here are a few more conceptual pieces done recently...gotta post something! hope ya like em.

"I'm a winner!"

the first sketch is Jeff's ....then the colored pig is what I did

Been a while since I've been able to say that!

I entered a little contest over at http://www.cartoonsinc.blogspot.com/ I've been having a little trouble getting off my lazy butt and getting things done lately, so I almost didn't enter. Then Saturday morning I woke up and thought, ya know, I've got some time this morning, I'm going to paint up that little sketch. Now I'm glad I did. Thanks for helping me get going again.

If you want something to paint...cuz you're having trouble being motivated enough to get going on your own, then maybe this is your answer...Jeff is going to be having more of these weekly contests, so go check it out and give it a try! Maybe you'll be a winner too!?

Illustration Friday: Contagious

We just had our first confermed death last week here in Utah. (from the swine flu) A 20 something year old male in good health. Crazy times we live in...several schools have also closed here for a week or two. These days your only school supplies should be a mask and hand sanitizer! Anyway, this is what I was thinking when I sketched up this little doodle.

I didn't have time to do much for this topic, but I got an hour this afternoon so I sketched out something. This is a real fast one, and I know it shows, because of that, I also made a conceptual piece as well. So ya get two for the "price" of one!

Illustration Friday: Parade

I've been trying to put a little more effort into my stuff that I show...even on my blog....but this week I reverted back to my old ways...simple and quick.

I marched in a few parades when I was a freshman in high school, I remember one time when my shoe didn't fit right...it was horrible. So I guess that's where this image originated...I thought the weird gesture would be fun to try...but I got board with it and just pumped it out so I could have something to post for IF... and keep my little streak going. enjoy.

Illustration Friday: Hierarchy

When I saw this weeks topic, I thought it would be a lot of fun to draw a bunch of different "high school-type" characters. My plan was to do about 10, but I soon realized it would take too long to paint all those. So I cut it down to something manageable... I posted the results

there is nothing like the hierarchy in which we place ourselves and others. It starts in grade school and never really ends. So many different factors...some are heredity, others are monetary, but the list is almost endless. Color of skin, color of hair, how ya talk, where you live, what cloths you wear, how much money your dad makes, who your friends are, then there is always the way you look, how smart you are, how often you choose to bath, and lets not forget how naturally coordinated you are...and there is much much more.

I guess we all need to remember that all men are created equal...not the same, just equal!

Distractions

Here is a picture of a pinewood derby car my son and I made last week. All artwork and nothing else makes me happy, but then who would have won the race? This post is to show my little brother that I can make things out of wood too. We did take first place. This picture was taken after some cousins got to it and stripped off the weights and the paint underneath...oh well I put them back on...minus one that went missing.

Illustration Friday: Theater

When I first saw this topic, my mind went back to the first musical I ever saw. Oklahoma. My high school performed it when I was in the 9th grade. It was amazing, I couldn't believe people so young could sing so well. I have to admit I've liked "most" musicals ever since.

So, I sketched out a quick doodle and painted it up. I like painting these little IF pieces, something fun to distract me from my concept paintings I've been doing. I sure wish I could get paid for painting in this style... I don't know the childrens market at all...at least not yet. If you are an art director or a children's illustrator and you have some good ideas where I might market this style, I'd love to hear from you! I'm currently trying to put together a mailing list and could use any tips you might have. thanks.

Illustration Friday: Impossibility

Here is an illustration I sketched out and started painting last friday...then finished up today. I was really excited about how it was going, but I'm not sure if I like it that much now that it's finished. It was fun to paint. I have to credit Sam Nielson because I "used" a sky he did a while back...I really liked it so I tried to do something similar here. You can see his great work here

Is it possibile to be objective about your own work? Lately I'm starting to think it's an impossibility. Let me know what you think.

Illustration Friday: Fleeting

I needed a change of pace after all this concept stuff I've been doing lately. I turned to illustration friday for a topic....Fleeting. The first thing that came to mind was my bank account, but then I realized there is nothing more fleeting for me than a personal goal to excersize. Sometimes my goal doesn't even last one day! Now that's fleeting!

Look what I found!

I knew I still had this somewhere...just couldn't find it. This is what the Koreans call a ToeJang. It is kind of a personal stamp they use like a signature. I had this one made for me while I lived in Korea...it has my korean name Han Dae Sun...which kind of sounds like Henderson when ya say it fast. Who knows, it may start showing up on some blog posts as a kind of signature/watermark or something....we'll see.

More Conceptual Stuff

this could be just about any of the countless companies getting government money these days
this is my take on the economy....I'm the guy riding the arrow on the left
rebuilding the 401(k)...isn't it on everyone's mind?
this one hits a little too close to home for me...I hope all of you employed folks appreciate what you've got.
...and of course another take on time is money....

I know this might not be what you expect when ya come by to see my stuff, but this is about all I've been doing lately.  I just sent off another 20 of these concept pieces.  These are a few of the ones I finished last week. enjoy?....

finially some progress.

well, it took a while, but I finially have some progress to report.

Firstly, and probably most important, I finailly got my first freelance job...well, first in the last couple of months since I've become a full-time freelancer.

Secondly, I've got a little website up and going...www.laelhenderson.com...so I can show work to people out there.

And Lastly, I've got a massive emailer ready to go out in a couple of days. I've deceided to market both styles and see if I get any work from either...I'm sure one style or the other will eventually take over, but for now, I'm going to be marketing both. Wish me luck

Didn't I say I wasn't going to post more of this stuff? Well, I guess I lied. I feel like I've found a groove with these little concept pieces, so I keep pumping them out...not sure when I'll move on, but I'm almost at 50 now, so maybe I'll give this look a rest pretty soon. This is one I did today and I kind of like the "patterny" look that it has. I could title this "an artist in the sea of programers". I thought about makin the artist dark...then I could have called it Mel in Utah!

Time for a facelift!

I've been thinking a lot this week about the direction I want to go with illustration. I'm in the process of making a website and at the moment it is all over the place style-wise. I'm continueing to crank out the little business guy concept pieces, but that is not my focus, so I probably won't post those anymore. I hope that from now on, I'll post things that will fit together stylistically and hopefully improve my portfolio in a new "fun" direction.

For now, here is an older piece that I hope I can load into a blog header...not too good with that kind of thing...we'll see.

they keep commin

I've painted about 40 of these little "stock concept pieces" this month. That is about double my goal, so I'm pretty happy about that. I hope among other things I can paint about 40 more this month. This week was a little less productive because I spent 2 days skiing. Hard to pass up free midweek skiing at Park City. Here is what I did this last week, I know these aren't too exciting to look at, but hey, it is what it is!

More of the same....'cept different.

Here are a few of what I finished this week...getting faster, now I just need to get better too.

Productive Weekend!

I had a fairly productive weekend, so to treat myself, I played around in painter a bit. This is still a work in progress, because it has a long ways to go. There are some things that are still very ugly...but that said, there are also things I'm liking about it, and hope it'll finish up well. enjoy.

What? More?....

I know what some of you must be thinking, "Lael, what are you doing this crapp for?" "These look like you paint them with your foot!" Well, all I can say is, I know...it's true, BUT...even though I'd rather not paint in this style, I don't mind it. For me this is a known comodity...I know this stuff will sell. Believe it or not. My goal is to get "my collection" to about double the size of what it is now. That is a lot of painting, but it can easily be done it time. Since my studio phone isn't ringing off the hook, I'll market myself with my painter stuff and in the down time...paint as many of these little suckers as I can! Here is what I've finished this week...better results and much faster....this is good!

What the...?

this is probably the last thing you expected to see when you came to visit my blog, but for those who don't know, I used to be a "conceptual illustrator" This is actually what I did before I got into games. This week I decieded to see if I could still paint in that old style...not so much. These actually look better in person than they do scanned, but it's plain to see I need to work a few issues out.

Anyway, this is how far I got this week...and I'm just hoping Mel is right when he says, "it's all about the numbers"...you'll have to ask him to explain his theory.

If ya like this style at all...you can see more that I did way back in the day by clicking here