Jon McConnell Art Blog

Merry Holidays 2011!

2011-12-23T11:48:00.000-08:00

I tried something new and did this year's Christmas card with those acrylic inks. This image is at 300 dpi so if it suits your fancy, print it! Merry, Happy, Chirstmas, Holidays everyone, be safe, happy, and stuff.

-Jon

4 Swords.

2011-11-29T00:24:00.001-08:00

Pretty much how all sessions of Four Swords went for me. XD

These were originally intended to be one single drawing, but I didn't have any scrap illo board that would accommodate all four Links. So I had to pull the straggler off to a separate piece, which I guess made sense in the end. I did these with acrylic inks and black ink.

Zelda's 25th Anniversary.

2011-11-26T17:52:00.001-08:00

There's a new Zelda game out and I'm playing Ocarina of Time. Can't wait to try out Skyward Sword though. :) This one was an experiment with some acrylic based, colored inks and colored pencils. The process was pretty simple so I'll probably try more of this technique out.

Boris Karloff study.

2011-11-07T23:40:00.000-08:00

Started this sketch at work and finished it at home. Not quite on model but close enough. ;)
Thanks for looking!
-Jon

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-28T16:26:00.000-07:00

A couple of studies to put me in the Halloween spirit. Have a safe weekend people!

-Jon

Random Doodles!

2011-07-27T22:27:00.001-07:00

Art, Beats, and zing!

2011-07-08T09:11:00.000-07:00

Finally a decent update! I'm showing a few pieces at an art show tonight at Newport Beach. I did four 6x6 acrylic portraits specifically for the show. I'll have some prints available at the show and two of the portraits are available for purchase (at the show). Looking forward to seeing you there and getting my antioxidant-drink on!

Wizards gotta cram too!

2011-06-30T22:41:00.000-07:00

Here's an entry from the ol' sketchbook.

Zombie in Stripes.

2011-05-10T02:34:00.000-07:00

Spirit sketch.

2011-05-06T02:12:00.001-07:00

A lil' somethin' somethin' out of my sketch book. :)

Late night Bride.

2011-04-27T01:44:00.000-07:00

Another quick study before sack time. :)

Hepburn Study.

2011-04-26T17:35:00.000-07:00

I tried to pin down accuracy on this one but it just dragged. Either way it was a good study of the softness of female features.

Teddy Roosevelt - Study.

2011-04-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

This one came in a little under 30 mins. I'm finding one of the hardest things for me to do, is refrain from zoom in to noodle in more details as I'm still trying to define the large and medium shapes. In this case, I was able to catch myself. :)

Link sketch.

2011-04-05T01:17:00.000-07:00

Messing around with some markers and ink. :)

Goon study.

2011-03-28T22:39:00.000-07:00

Studying up for an art trade I'm doing with a friend. I got to try out my fun, new calligraphy pen...I think I'm in love.

Airy?! Airy Ott-Ah?!

2011-03-11T01:54:00.000-08:00

Did a quick sketch of Harry Potter and decided to throw some colors on it in PS.

Primal Discovery.

2011-03-04T14:13:00.000-08:00

I've been collecting reference for the Gelada and today I had to draw one.

My Name is Mudd.

2011-03-03T13:12:00.001-08:00

Lunch study of Samuel Mudd. :)

Lunch Booth.

2011-03-02T13:31:00.001-08:00

Every hero needs a villain. A quick John Wilkes Booth for yah. :)

Lunch Abe.

2011-02-28T13:31:00.001-08:00

A quick study/caricature. :)

New blog header!

2011-02-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

Finally I've got a header for my blog. :)

-Jon

Autopilot.

2011-02-18T01:46:00.001-08:00

This is an image that I did for my sister's blog. I'll post a link to that particular post once she puts it up so you can see the picture in context. I thought Id try something a little new here and kept as much of my original lines as I could manage (all of them). I'm also trying a very muted/limited palette which is a little new to me. I'm definitely going to have to toy around with it more in the future. :)

-Jon

edit: as promised, here's the text to go with the image. Thanks for the inspiration An-ja-juh!!

http://mybluescreen.wordpress.com/2011/02/18/brains-cant-live-without-them/

Veeday.

2011-02-14T19:18:00.001-08:00

I wonder how many times this has been done? Happy Valentine's all. :)

Chisel Marker Brush

2011-02-08T09:03:00.001-08:00

Due to a buddy's request, here are my basic brush settings. I use this brush almost through the entire process. I'll even modify it slightly here and there by either adding texture to the stroke, removing the opacity jitter so I can have one solid, clean stroke, as well as softening the edges. It's pretty similar to the same look and feel as a chisel tip marker. :)

Street Fighter IV fanart: Cody

2011-02-08T02:19:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to do a Cody piece for awhile now. Here's a take at my favorite thug. >:)

Har-rumph!

2011-02-02T18:46:00.000-08:00

A lunch sketch that was inspired by all the amazing facial hair in Gangs of New York. I can't believe I took this long to watch that movie. Cheers. :)

PBC - Diabolical Mechanism

2011-01-24T19:43:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was my second time participating in a Pirate Bubblegum Collective show. The title/theme of the show was Diabolical Mechanism. I chose to do three character paintings depicting a Hero, Heroine, and Villain locked in a pretty diabolical love triangle.

The show went very well. We had a great turnout and got a lot of great feedback. Thanks to the musical acts for making it out and performing your hearts out. Thanks to everyone else that participated and made the show the success it was. And thanks to all that made it out. :)

-Jon

Mr. Solo Dolo

2010-12-15T23:55:00.000-08:00

Kid Cudi sketch. :)

Plum dry.

2010-12-06T01:22:00.001-08:00

sleepy...

Lunch study.

2010-11-15T13:10:00.000-08:00

A portrait study from photo reference.

Self portrait day...

2010-11-03T00:21:00.000-07:00

...was actually on the 1st of Nov. Better late than never. :/

Spidey sketch.

2010-11-02T13:44:00.001-07:00

Zomboy sketches.

2010-11-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

Testing out a few things.

Zomboy sketch.

2010-10-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

Just a quick color sketch of a character that makes an appearance in my sketchbook from time to time. With Halloween just around the corner, he seems appropriate. :)

-Jon

The Clover.

2010-10-21T16:33:00.000-07:00

Just a take on a turn of the century, Irish boxer. :)

How you get got.

2010-09-30T21:10:00.000-07:00

5x5 Acrylic

Concept Club Demo.

2010-09-29T02:33:00.000-07:00

A demon foot-soldier.

Cammy - alternate costume jam.

2010-09-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

Some friends and I decided to do alternate costumes for characters in SSFIV. I chose to do Cammy. My idea was to give her Tatsunoko-ish costume. I'm WAY late on this one. =P

WoW TCG Card.

2010-09-24T00:50:00.000-07:00

This is a card that I did last Nov. that's in the new Icecrown expansion.

El Duderino.

2010-09-15T00:38:00.000-07:00

I love this movie...

The Big Lebowski - study

2010-09-13T23:51:00.000-07:00

Friday the 13th III - study

2010-09-10T16:48:00.000-07:00

Honey, I'm home! =P

Re-e-eear...

2010-09-09T00:53:00.000-07:00

A new pinup girl. This is easily the girliest piece I've ever done. squeal!XD

Lunch Study.

2010-08-31T13:23:00.000-07:00

Tried to study a young Mick Jagger. It's a bit off, but close?

Lighting study.

2010-08-30T18:29:00.000-07:00

Just a quick one from photo.

Red vs Green!

2010-08-26T23:43:00.000-07:00

Hellboy vs Hulk WIP

2010-08-25T13:20:00.001-07:00

I got the blacks in. Check later for color. :)
-Jon

Sketchbook pages.

2010-08-19T00:48:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd share a couple.

-Jon

Character - Darkelf Brawler/Mage

2010-08-12T18:40:00.001-07:00

A darker, more magical counter to the woodelf. :)

-Jon

Character - Woodelf Thief

2010-08-04T18:34:00.000-07:00

Long time no post. I'll try to do my best in the future to keep this thing up to date. I've decided it was time to go back and do some straight up character design so hopefully my next few entries will be very similar.

What I tried to get here was just a simple elvish thief that might join your party in an RPG sort o' deal. What I ended up with was Link as a woman. Ah well. =P

-Jon

Sketchbook studies.

2010-05-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile so here's some filler. These are some studies done throughout the day. They are referenced from photos, movies, and such. I try to do these as quick as I can. Each at about 5 -10 mins. One of these days I'll have to try doing an ambitious graphite drawing. :)

-Jon

Lizard-man lancer sketch

2010-04-10T23:33:00.000-07:00

A sketch of something you might encounter a lot of in a video game. I may go back to this guy in the future and refine him a bit more, he's a lot of fun to work on.

-Jon

Mission: King Hippo - Complete!

2010-04-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

What a great character. Hippo was a blast to paint. A great study.
Hurray! Moving forward to the next topic. Ghost and Goblins.

-Jon

King Hippo WIP

2010-04-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to consciously apply more of what I've been learning about composition and trying to show more action in my work. I realize that it's pretty simple but I gotta start somewhere. Anyway, here's my Punchout challenge I'm doing with Rich. I've been thumbnailing ideas at home so this a pretty decent start for me. I'll try to get it to a somewhat finished state by the end of the week.

Lunch sketch.

2010-04-05T13:12:00.000-07:00

I may finish this one up one of these days. I gotta try some different things. This one came in at 45 min. Gotta get faster too.

-Jon

Rock Man sketch.

2010-04-03T18:50:00.000-07:00

Richard challenged me...here's my response. Bob's Big Boy in a cheap Mega Man costume. =P

-Jon

The Pilgrim finished!

2010-04-03T02:40:00.000-07:00

The idea behind this guy was a pilgrim, wild west style. Complete with a feathered companion. :)

-Jon

The Pilgrim sketch.

2010-03-30T00:26:00.001-07:00

I'll add some color to this guy in the next few days hopefully. The Pilgrim needs color! XD

-Jon

Cowpoke01

2010-03-29T15:22:00.001-07:00

A quick warm up. Howdy partner. :)

-Jon

Link vs Rabite!

2010-03-26T22:36:00.000-07:00

Lunchtime link.

2010-03-23T13:28:00.001-07:00

A little sketch I did during my lunch break. I'll probably take this one home and paint it up in the next few days. :)
-Jon

Heads up!

2010-03-16T08:17:00.001-07:00

Just a few scans from my sketchbook today. These are little studies I
did throughout the day. Enjoy! :)

-Jon

Haitian Relief show a hit!

2010-03-10T19:43:00.001-08:00

I'm about two weeks behind on this post but...

Pirate Bubblegum sure knows how to put a show together. There was a great turn out and most of the people that went there had a lot of good things to say. PLUS a roach coach rolled up on the show. Bacon-wrapped hotdog? Yes please!

I had a great time myself. XD

These are some of the portraits I did for the show. I had a great time doing them and learned a lot. I didnt hit the likenesses as solid as I'd have liked to but I'll get there. :)

Here were the subjects all of which are famous Haitian American celebrities.

Wyclef Jean
Daphne Duplaix
Melky Sedek
Garcelle Beauvais
Jimmy Jean-Louis
Pierre Garcon
Jean Michel Basquait
Pras
Jonathan Vilma
Melky Sedek

Random character portrait.

2010-03-09T22:49:00.000-08:00

Something I started at work and finished at home. It ended up looking like Joe. I swear it was an accident.

Egor the Slave.

2010-03-08T00:58:00.000-08:00

Awe, so sad...:(

-Jon

Pierre Garcon sketch.

2010-02-09T23:29:00.000-08:00

I probably spent about 2 hrs on this one.

Jonathan Vilma sketch.

2010-02-08T11:43:00.000-08:00

Yay for the Saints.

Cosmic-Flame Toad sketch

2010-01-28T01:28:00.000-08:00

Came up with this sketching around with my buddy Adam. He chose the adj. 'Flaming' and I chose the noun 'Toad.' Very fun exercise/game. :)

-Jon

Friend study.

2010-01-13T02:00:00.001-08:00

Study of my friend Tom. About 1 hr.

Thieves sketch.

2010-01-13T00:31:00.000-08:00

Pulled out of my sketchbook.

First post of the new year. :)

2010-01-03T01:07:00.001-08:00

I got some watercolors for X-mas from my lady. She knows just what I like.
Tried to go for an alien, space-cadet of some type.

Merry Be-lated X-mas!

2009-12-31T15:14:00.001-08:00

This was a piece I did for a Christmas card. For the record, I did finish it before Christmas.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Another Self Portrait.

2009-11-10T01:50:00.001-08:00

I decided to try to work color into this one as well as use broader brushstrokes. Definitely a worthwhile study. :)

-Jon

Late night sketch.

2009-11-06T00:24:00.000-08:00

Black sketch.

2009-10-25T21:50:00.000-07:00

Black from Tekkonkinkreet. :)

Pinup Lady and Cat.

2009-10-25T20:58:00.000-07:00

This was my first attempt at oils. I finished it awhile ago but its finally completely draw so I was able to scan it. What a fun medium, will definitely try it again in the future.

-Jon

Zim and Gir sketch

2009-10-20T00:34:00.000-07:00

Just another fan art I wanted to do inspired by Invader Zim. Great cartoon if you haven't seen it. Did another marker exercise but tried to do some sort of inking on top of it. I also used a little white watercolor on top to pop a few things. Thanks for looking. :)

-Jon

Harley Quinn sketch.

2009-10-16T02:57:00.000-07:00

Did a fairly quick sketch of Harley Quinn. She's such a fun character, I enjoy drawing her. Decided to try some markers this time around. ;)

Self Portrait.

2009-10-09T01:32:00.001-07:00

I found a photo that I took last year and used it as reference. Had fun trying a little something different. :)

-Jon

Zombies!!!

2009-10-08T02:03:00.000-07:00

I still need to see Zombieland. That, in combination with the approaching Halloween , made me want to draw some zombies. This time I tried to keep my brush strokes a little more broad. It was a lot of fun to work on and was a lot quicker. Definately learned something with this one. :)

-Jon

Hugo!

2009-10-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

Some Street Fighter fan art. I'm so hoping Hugo makes it into SSIV.

-Jon

Link finished!

2009-09-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

I've been playing The Twilight Princess on Wii and its quite the experience. Every time I sit down to play it, I get just a little more hooked. Being that the character designs are so slick, I had to do a fan art.

Slimer redesign.

2009-09-21T23:06:00.001-07:00

Another allied-forces topic. This week's was movie monster. Co-worker Kevin mentioned Slimer and it sounded fun. This is what I came up with after 3-4 hours. I had a lot of fun with this one. Tried to stay a lot looser which made it a quick one. Tanks for looking. :)

Link sketch.

2009-09-21T18:25:00.001-07:00

Going to take a stab at some twilight princess fan art. I started playing through the game a month or so back and I'm loving it.

King of all Wild Things

2009-09-19T17:36:00.000-07:00

This was just my intrepretation of Max's crowning of all things wild. This was for an
activity blog with my coworkers. Last week's topic was Where the Wild Things Are. I let it bleed into this week so I could put a good amount of time into it. I had a good time painting it.

-Jon

Thicket Troll

2009-09-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

This guy took me some time over the last week but I've finally finished him. I've learned a lot from this piece and am excited to start another one that's similar. I was thinking of him as another simple enemy that you might fight in a game. He makes his home in the thicket of the forest. Which forest? Who knows. Thanks for looking. :)

Troll - sketchbook

2009-09-08T23:24:00.000-07:00

Did a little sketch at work of this guy. I'll probably paint him up once I'm able to get around to it.

Pirate sketches

2009-09-08T00:42:00.001-07:00

Got in some sketches of pirates. I may color the first image this week, will update if so. Thanks for lookin' :)

Necromancer rockstar...=P

2009-08-26T23:07:00.001-07:00

A little something from my sketchbook. I'm hoping to turn this into a simple illustration maybe. The idea was that he's a necromancer of some type with a coat made of crow feathers. He might as well be the crow lol. Thanks for looking. :)

Wanna wrassle?!

2009-08-20T23:49:00.000-07:00

Another lunchtime sketch today. Figured I'd give the boxer a wrestler to fight. =P

Put up your dukes!

2009-08-19T21:47:00.001-07:00

I wouldn't want to get hit by these meat-hooks!! This was a little sketch I did during the last 15 min. of my lunch break. I hit it up a few times throughout the day to tighten it up a little. I was trying to go for a vaudeville-looking, boxer fella. He pretty much just looks like a disproportionate Dudley. Awe well, just a sketch. :)

Black and White Sketch - Tekkonkinkreet

2009-08-15T01:16:00.000-07:00

Tekkonkinkreet is probably my favorite animated feature at the moment. So, I had to do a fan art of Black and White. This is the sketch so far. Sleeeeeep...

Toms Shoe sketch - Apestar

2009-08-12T00:25:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine bought a pair of Toms Shoes. Apparently this company gives a pair of shoes to an under-privileged child per purchase. Seems like a nice bonus to buying a pair of plain, canvas sneakers for as low as $30. Not too shabby I'd say!

Anyway, he bought them and asked if I could do a sketch on them for him. I figured it would be a fun challenge, and it was. Drawing on shoes turned out to be harder than I expected. =P As long he thinks its cool that's all that matters.

Here's a link to TOMS for anyone interested.

Bear-Crow...finished!

2009-08-01T22:06:00.000-07:00

Growl! This guy was fun to work on. I experimented with Paint Tool Sai on this piece, what a fun program! I also used that in combination with Photoshop. Hope he's satisfactory. I'm always open to critiques so send em my way. :) -Jon

Bear-Crow

Pook and some oldies.

2009-07-30T13:21:00.000-07:00

Nothing too new now, once I get a little time I'll scan in a few new sketches lying around. Just wanted to get some more stuff on my blog because blogging is so fun. =P

This is a character I started working on I dubbed "Pook." He's an alchemist of sorts. I'm still trying to work some things out with him design wise and of course I still need to finish the painting. I'm hoping to take this and do a sculpt of him in Zbrush. I haven't done any 3d sculpting in a long time and I felt it's been a long time coming. Since he's a work in progress I'm hoping for a little feedback from anyone who wants to throw in their two cents. Rip me a new one. :)

5x5

8x8

These are some older paintings I finished not too long ago. I'm hoping to do a small series of these strippers. This one was inspired by a photo I saw of my lady (who's a costume designer) trying on a feathery fro she just made for a show she was working on. I did these on little fun sized canvases and I used acrylics. They made for a super fun and challenging learning experience. :)

From the ol' sketchbook...

2009-07-29T00:36:00.000-07:00

I found an old half-filled sketchbook lying around at home and decided to take it to work. Hopefully I won't get all lazy and leave it home just because I don't want to carry it. I'm such a bum. =P Anyway, here's a few scans from what I've done so far this week. I plan on painting up the Bearcrow for a project of mine and some buddies. Anyway, hurray for my first post!

-Jon

Sewed by the hands of evil, Bear-crow will eat your face. The idea with this guy is that he's going to be an enemy in said project. Just your common minion to beat up and have your way with. He's supposed to be a scarecrow but made in the visage of a bear. He's a bear, scare-crow. Bear-Crow!! Git it?! *snort, snort*

Just a samurai or warrior of some type, how creative of me. =P

I'm not jaded at all, nor do I detest of the quality of my life. I was just feeling silly and felt like drawing a cross-guard for some reason. Wanna fight about it?