timothy barnes

In Progress

2010-09-11T15:20:00.001-07:00

Trying something new. This is a piece in progress, done in Illustrator that combines the rendering with the pencil drawing. Going to try and get as much texture as possible, and keep the image dark.

GREAT DIRECTION

2010-08-21T13:38:00.001-07:00

I got some great comments from a very talented friend that made all the difference to this piece. His suggestion? Make the problem bigger and the solution smaller. BRILLIANT! gave it that extra something. Thanks Chris.

A New Direction

2010-08-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

Trying my hand at doing some more illustrations in adobe Illustrator. I would like to stay true to the style that I have established already with the work I do in Acrylic, but want to give it more of an edge and push the color. I would love to hear any comments you have

a couple more kicks

2010-04-29T12:02:00.001-07:00

It's been awhile.

2010-04-26T10:46:00.000-07:00

SO long since my last post. But, I have blissfully happy on the Walt Disney Studio lot for the last year and a half working on Kick Buttowski!! It's a huge success on Disney XD and has been one of the greatest working experiences of my career. Alot of pressure, Yes! Crazy deadlines, Yes! but the crew is amazing, fun, and very dedicated. I'm posting a few of the various Backgrounds I've done and will post more soon.

TRYING NEW STUFF

2009-05-31T06:38:00.000-07:00

Always good to mix it up a bit , I guess. I've been playing around for awhile the idea of mixing my original drawing with the illustrator program. There has always been a quality about my drawings that I lost when I went to paint that I have always missed. This finally gives me the chance to retain that quality and move to color. I've posted two examples of things I've worked on that are moving ( i think ) in the right direction. Not quite there yet but I think it has possibilities. Amid all my freelance and full time job, i'm trying to continue to mess around with this new direction.

FOGGYBOAT

2009-04-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

been awhile...BUT. This is the latest piece for BNET on navigating difficult financial waters. Marc Mendell, completely supportive Art Director, allowed me to try my hand at an illustration in the Illustrator program.( i didn't give him much of a choice) UP until this time I have done completely traditional pieces for them. Having done the drawing I thought, " GOD, painting this wheel would be SO much easier in Illustrator than having to drag out my compass, brush the dust off it and then paint it by hand." SO, I gave it a shot. I think it's pretty successful. I think it's got a pretty good mood.

Drawing and Finish

2008-10-03T15:38:00.000-07:00

Here's the Drawing. I tried to stay pretty close to the thumbnail as far as the composition went.When I went to color I wanted a pretty limited palette. I figured McCain was going to be in the shadows and I didn't want alot of color distracting from him.
This piece went pretty fast. A day or two for the drawing ( likenesses are always tricky) and the about 4 days to paint.

In Bush's Shadow

2008-10-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

Here's another piece from thumbnail to finish.
I wanted to show John McCain in George Bush's shadow. I didn't think I needed to show Bush. The painting isn't about him. I figured the shadow was enough.
At first I thought I wanted McCain to be peeking out from behind Bush at the podium, but the point of the painting was to make sure he was seen as being in Bush's shadow. So I did the second rough drawing. Originally I was going to have him holding his hands in front of him but realized It might indicate that he was waiting to take over or hoping to take over. This wasn't the point of this particular painting, it is strictly about him being more of the same. Sometimes you can get away with having two or three stories going on in a piece at once. Here I wanted just one.

Animation Backgrounds

2008-09-30T16:36:00.001-07:00

NEW PAINTING FOR BNET!!!!

2008-09-10T13:39:00.000-07:00

A new month, and a new painting for BNET. As usual the Art Director, Marc Mendell,
gave me tons of freedom to create some really fun and interesting characters. This piece was about 40 something people who,when confronted with the opportunity of using the latest networking sites, are either enthusiastic, uninterested or completely overwhelmed. Below I have posted the drawing. ( It originally included the main character as employee of the month, but BNET felt it was too distracting.)I have also included some of the reference I used. I followed some of it pretty closely and others I really changed a lot. The main guy was a combination of three or four different photos. The hand is one, the face another, the body another. ENJOY. You can also check out the site to see how it was used as well as pieces I have done for them in the past.
www.bnet.com

some paint themselves

2008-08-17T09:32:00.000-07:00

Sometimes this is actually easy. This is one portrait of 8 that I did a couple weeks ago for a publisher in Austin, Texas, and for whatever reason the drawing was easy and it really just painted itself. I keep it really flat , which I like and gave it just enough value change to create a little bit of form. I was also happy with how the hair became more of a pattern rather than actually painting hair. Sometimes I feel like I'm not even making the decisions when I work. When I'm in the groove, the painting almost dictates it's direction. Grateful to whoever is doing that!

Jumping Frogs

2008-07-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

When I was in High school, I entered a painting competition. It was sponsored by the Women of California Historical Society. The contest was to paint a historical site in California. My entry was based on a staute of Mark Twain in Northern California that celebrated Mr. Twain's story about the Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County.....I came in third. That painting is somewhere in the back of my Mother's closet, but it was the inspiration for this painting that I just finished.
Enjoy.

finished worrying

2008-07-09T12:18:00.000-07:00

Remember that drawing of the worried lady I posted a few weeks ago? Well,here is the final piece, and a close up of her face.
Great fun!

Draw everything twice

2008-06-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

OK not everything. But, I have found over the years when I draw somethings twice it works best for me. I can too easily fall in love with a drawing and not see a better or different way of drawing it. Once I have finished the drawing, I put another sheet of paper on top of the drawing, and reexamine everything. These two drawings are an example of that . This was for a Soprano's type cookbook that never went to publication. Too bad too, I've always liked the drawing and have every intention of painting it soon. You can see the changes I made to the food. I think they are just more interesting shapes, plus they all work as a unit 100% better. The addition of the salt and pepper shakers helped as well. Also, I tipped the perspective on the table. I made the man's hands bigger to give him more of a thuggish look. Also, although I haven't shown it I added some plastic grapes on either side of the figure to help frame him. The city in the back will look like a wall mural. This has great potential. I love the fact that he's tucked the table cloth into his shirt instead of a napkin.

Worried?

2008-06-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

I have spent so many years worrying and doubting my work. I guess that's normal. Some people have suggested to me that I update my style. Maybe try painting on the computer,get a different look and believe me I've tried. But, the conclusion I came to is, this is me. This is how I draw, this is my color sense, this is how I see things, this is what makes me happy. This drawing is a perfect example of what makes me happy. This is the main figure of a new job I am working on. The piece is about dealing with the pressures that bosses face in having less staff, less money, and more work.
I like taking chances in the drawing of figures. I'm trying to pull back a bit from exaggerating too much. I had gotten to a place where I was creating faces and bodies that were a bit odd as a result of not paying close enough attention to anatomy. Excess within control.......Originally , I was trying to create a business woman that was younger and in better shape. I think the woman I came up with is actually better. She's a real character, someone you might know. I love that her body is just one oblong shape.no shoulders. worried, defeated.. it was a joy to draw her.
I figure if I'm not gonna have fun, what's the point.

GREAT WALL OF BNET

2008-06-10T10:58:00.000-07:00

My second BNET job just appeared on their site today.
www.bnet.com
This was fun because I rarely get to play with this kind of perspective or location.
Because I wanted to have the figures be large enough to paint and because BNET deals with such a long format, the final piece ended up being 9" X 32".
I tried a new kind of board. Crescent Watercolor board.It was good taking the washes ( of course ) but was a bit rough when I got into the rendering. I'm still trying to find a good replacement for Crescent Illustration Board. I don't know what they did to the stuff, but IT STINKS!!!!!!!

A NEW PAINTING

2008-05-30T17:41:00.000-07:00

Well,

In between assignments, i'm working on a new piece for my portfolio on the i spot ( www.theispot.com ) incase you haven't seen it.
This piece covers a few bases that I feel need attention in my portfolio. The first is, I just feel my portfolio could use some more animals. The second is color. I'm trying to introduce new color palettes in my work, using colors that aren't usual for me. I'd like to continue to have a cohesive style of work, but within that have a variety of color solutions. SO........ what I've posted is the drawing, the painting, at it's current stage, and a close up of the main boy.

Enjoy!

BNET! My new favorite website

2008-04-26T09:55:00.001-07:00

BNET is my newest client. They are an online business information site, with a very accommodating and generous art director.
I just finished my first job for them and this is the thumbnail, finished drawing and finished painting from the first series. It was a series of portraits of "millennials"(you know those 2o something entitled- new to the work force- tech savvy smart kids we all get to deal with.) Well, the job was fun. Next I'm doing a piece for them that includes the great wall of China....I'm serious.

Ispot

2008-03-16T07:57:00.000-07:00

I just put a portfolio of my work on the ispot, an illustration directory website, with the hopes of drumming up some freelance work. Take a look. Thanks!
www.theispot.com

Portfolio

2008-02-15T12:21:00.000-08:00

I have started a new blog that is just a portfolio of my Illustration work. No opinions, no sketches. hoping to add to it soon.
It is www.timbarnesillustration.blogspot.com

Portfolio PIeces

2008-02-06T05:33:00.000-08:00

These are pieces from my portfolio. This is the kind of work that I really love doing. Humorous characters and situations.

Another one on the Drawing Board.

2008-02-02T09:13:00.000-08:00

Here's another drawing that I'm gonna paint when I finish up with the series of book covers that I'm working on (but can't show you.) This was a job from years ago that ended up changing dramatically when it went to finish. I always liked it and have wanted to paint it for a while. I'm wanting to vary my color palette a bit. I feel like I am always using a similiar palette. SO....... when I can get to it I'll post the color rough.

HOLY HOLIDAYS!!!!!

2007-12-25T19:06:00.000-08:00

Well... I gave Michael, my partner, the painting I did of Faith for one of his Christmas presents, and in return I got an imac!!!!!!
( among other things) " an investment in my career" he calls it. Fair trade? I think..... NOT!! But much appreciated! AMAZING! BEAUTIFUL! TOO MUCH! Whatever I said he just smiled. Still can't believe it!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2007-12-15T07:51:00.000-08:00

Well, here's the finish..not bad I think. Pretty happy with it. It's definitely our dog. Th only struggle was the illustration board. I have painted on and loved Cresent 100 cold press illustration board for over 20 years. But,in the last year or so have found the quality of the board has changed dramatically!!! I'm not sure exactly why, but there seems to be more texture to the board and it is definitely less absorbent.As if painting wasn't difficult enough?

CHRISTMAS PRESENT

2007-12-06T10:44:00.000-08:00

Thes two are the rough and finished drawings for THIS years Christmas card featuring our dog, Faith. She has been known to get into a bit of trouble from time to time. So, given her disinterest in visitors, escpecially straight men, which I assume Santa to be, I thought this would be a fitting image for the card. She does have a passion for chasing squirrels, so the addition of the toy on the right, seemed appropriate. I'll do a color rough and then hit the finish. Running out of time, so hopefully it will only be a few days of painting and I'll have it out to the printers.

CHRISTMAS PAST

2007-12-06T10:40:00.000-08:00

For years I did a painting for my annual Christmas card. These are two examples of cards from the past.

1 of 3

2007-11-30T06:33:00.000-08:00

Here's a painting I just sent off to Sundance Publishing. I've worked with them a few times and it's always a pleasant experience. I guess I'm really lucky, Most of the time I have very few changes with any of my clients. This is one of three paintings I did for them this time around. Story of an arrogant Cat who ultimalely gets sprayed by a skunk. The addition of the yarn motif mirror and mousehead walking stick is what I love about doing this kind of job.

Book Publishers Catalog

2007-11-16T06:21:00.000-08:00

Here's a project I did last year, that I'm hoping will be a good piece for the portfolio. Each year, the publisher,Harcourt puts out a catalog of their books for young readers. The catalog cover is chosen in a competition. The theme is always animals and books. Here is the rough drawing and color sketch I sent them in hopes of getting the cover.......I came in second.

well, hello there.

2007-11-15T11:42:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile.
Personal and professional setbacks and difficulties have been the reason for my long absense.
BUT, I'm back working BLISSFULLY at home. And, I'm loaded with work. It's great and all the work is great fun.
It's giving me time to experiment a bit with different media and return, on some projects ,to oil painitng, which I really love. The example I've posted was drawn traditionally and then painted in Photoshop. Surprisingly, this is new to me . This was for Highlights magazine ( that magazine you always ran to in the dentists office.) This is one of a group of spot illustrations I did for them. I love workiing for Highlights. They always give me a good amount of time and never make too many changes.ya gotta love that.

Black and White and Red all over.

2006-07-06T06:38:00.000-07:00

I really have been working....I swear...No really.
These drawings are roughs for the Black and White Illustrations that will accompany the bookcover. The red in the title of this post refers to my embarrassment in taking so long to get them up.
As this is a fictional book, I don't need to explain where these two pictures will fit in the story because honestly I don't know. I just wanted to do something that looked interesting.
As I said these are roughs, the girl holding the small glowing pea is a first pass and will most likely change as I revisit her. The other just needs to be cleaned up, and then painted. I'll paint these in Black anad White instead of doing them in pencil, which I think is the norm.
I really have been working on other projects. I'm drawing, as well, pictures for a children's book I've written. I've also been writing two new books ( it would be nice to finish the first one) and collaborating with a friend on another.
I haven't even started talking about the Fine Art yet......

Finished!

2006-04-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

I had great fun with this,changing and adding things as I went along.I think adding the toy and carvings on the castle helped greatly.This will be the first in the series. I want to do a few in black and white using these same characters.
Good, I think, to show what might be a series of illustrations done for a book. The great thing is this is an imaginary story so I am free to do what I want. I 'm posting that so I will feel a bit of pressure to keep working.

Some come easy, some come hard.

2006-04-24T18:35:00.000-07:00

Boy, I'm makin' a career out of this one.
But, here's what I have so far. I still want to
add some more symbols in the stone work
and of course the dragons need to be done
as well as the boys arm and some of the
landscape.
I'll get there.

Thanks Norman

2006-04-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

So, after remembering my friend Norman, I gave another look at the piece I am working on. It's just a little flat. What can I do to spice it up?, I added more architectural flare to the castle. I haven't posted that yet because most of the work was done right on the painting. I added some carvings and ledges to give it a more personal look. Like people that actually cared about the place, built it. In some of the carved area's I want to add some Dragon motifs to stay with the theme of boy and Dragon. Then while looking for castles in a fantastic book I have on Vikings, I can across this wooden toy from about 800 A.D. GREAT! I hadn't even thought about that. Now the story is fuller. This kid has been living in a castle that obviously gives thought to dragons, he owns dragon toys, and then one day he looks out his window to find dragons have appeared to play.

Here's an opinion

2006-04-18T16:37:00.000-07:00

NORMAN IS KING!!! If you don't think Norman Rockwell is a genius, I invite you to look again. If you believe the fact that an Illustrator is simply a storyteller, you can't deny that Norman did it better than any other. Forget the subject matter, grandfathers and dogs,look at the fact that there is nothing in a Rockwell that doesn't further the story telling.Color, costume,composition all communicate an idea or theme. If there is something in a painting, it's there to tell the story. Nothing is there to look cute or fill space. And, let's talk painting. The application of paint... Rockwells in person, if you are lucky enough to see them, are masterpieces. They are painted with such confidence it is humbling. Give him a look.

So Far So Good...

2006-04-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

Here's the painting after a few days. Most of the stuff is just layed in with a thin wash or two of color. I work pretty thin with acrylics anyway and then just build up texture, color and value as I go.
I've spent most of my time on the boy so far. After starting I realized the dragons are going to have to be
three different colors.
I need to get a little more color into the thing over all or I'll end up with blue castle,sky
and clouds, and brown and red boy and dragons. I think this about two days so far, but I'm working on other stuff as well.

A New Bookcover

2006-04-13T11:49:00.000-07:00

Here are two drawings for a new bookcover. I'm not sure where the idea came from, but I try not to question that any more.
The boy,again is my nephew from a picture taken a few years ago. The dragons are from a variety of reference. I decided after working on the drawing that I wanted to make a few changes. So, as you can see from the second drawing I made changes to the boys body, two of the dragons and part of the castle. I didn't work out a color rough like the last one, and I'm paying for it now as I struggle a bit with color. Didn't I just write last month that I have an easier time if I do a color rough..???? I never learn.

Ta-dah

2006-03-24T18:00:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is. I made some changes from the color rough. A liitle more saturation in the color and brought the kids in the background forward a bit. Changes for the better I hope. There is always a point where I question everything, but I think it's pretty fun.

REFERENCE

2006-03-23T11:13:00.000-08:00

As I finish up the painting I thought I would post the reference I used for the drawing, and now the painting.
These images are from a huge reference file that I have been adding to for years. I've divided it up into subjects such as children, animals,couples etc... It's a great help and I can usually find whatever I need.
The picture of the boy with his hand to his chin is my nephew Cody. The picture is from a series I took years ago for another project. He's a great model and I use many of these over and over again.

By Dawn's Early Light.

2006-02-28T09:42:00.000-08:00

This morning, I looked once more at the color rough I posted yesterday.
Purple Shirt ? What was I thinking? Color wise it might have made sense but,
I don't think this kid would be wearing a purple shirt to school. Blue with stripes.
Much more "boy."

Roughing it.

2006-02-27T17:42:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been blessed with a great opportunity to do a lot of personal work.
I just started a 9 week hiatus from my regular 9-5 at Cartoon Network, and I am chomping at the bit to get away from the computer keyboard and back to my beloved paint.
This is the color rough for the imaginary book cover. I always find it helpful when I can get at least one of these done before I start a finished painting. Occasionally when I don't have the time or am brave enough to forge ahead without it , I usually regret it. Sometime I may never refer to it again , but it allows me to think about the final painting and solve most of the problems that might come up later. Basically, I think about whether the story is being told or not. Is the main focus obvious? What is the mood? All that. From the drawing stage I new that I wanted the boy to have red hair, to give him a devilish quality.( Illustration is all about stereotypes.) So I complimented that with a predominately green palette in the background, careful not to let it look too Christmasy.

Click on it

2006-02-12T18:13:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all of you that have sent me emails of encouragement.
Some people aren't aware that if you click on the image, you can see a larger
version. FYI
Thanks,Tim

Good Boy!

2006-02-11T14:22:00.000-08:00

Here's the good boy version mentioned below.

Here goes!!!

2006-02-11T13:12:00.000-08:00

So, I started this blog to keep people ( at least those interested ) up to date with what is going on at my drawing board.
BUT, what to show?....I always love seeing the process of the work. Rough sketches, drawings, changes in direction.
And so I thought, why not? Until that retrospective of my work is published I'll give you a visual diary of my personal, and not so personal work.

The drawings I have posted are rough sketches of a non-existence bookcover for a 4th or 5th level grade kids book I thought I would do for my portfolio.
I did the sweeter, softer version first but didn't think it told enough of a story. So, the angry boy appeared. He's not as cute,
but much more visually interesting.
NEXT....color rough.

my website

2006-01-30T18:20:00.000-08:00

Working on a brand new piece for the blog....
but until then you can find my work at
www.shannonassociates.com

timothy barnes

2006-01-14T09:53:00.000-08:00