A painting for my friend Wes

In an effort to give JBF a unique return in the World Cup of Trading, I decided to make him a painting of his favorite player.

There were a few reasons I chose this route.

1. Wes has been very generous to me over the years, so I wanted to provide him with something a little more personal.
2. I am out of Willingham cards. They are going to become harder and harder to find as Wes gobbles them all up.
3. I haven’t done a painting in a few years, and had been itching to jump back in.

I was definitely quite rusty, but overall think it came out pretty good. Here’s a few photos of the process.

I started by painting the background and then drew the image on the canvas. Usually I draw the image (using grid boxes) and then paint the background around it. I’m not sure why I chose to paint the whole canvas first this time. I also drew freehand looking at a picture on my phone. I actually combined two images, using the legs of one photo and the upper half of another.

I then started painting the legs and pants. I think the right leg is the best element of the painting, as it came together nicely.

Then I did the shoes, skin, blue jersey, in that order.

And once again, the final piece. The last stages included helmet, bat, ball, and a few touch-ups elsewhere.

I enjoyed doing this, and glad it turned out well for my friend. I’m not sure what’s on tap for my next painting, but hopefully it won’t be a few years before I churn out another one.

Brushstrokes

Many of you may be aware that I dabble in painting and drawing. I wish I did it more, honestly. Right now, it's an issue of little time, and no proper space. One day, when I have a real man cave, I hope that some of it is a proper art studio.

If you're interested in seeing some of the art I've done, here's a link: CLICK HERE.

I don't create enough to call myself an artist. I'm not. But that doesn't stop me from knowing that deep down, there might be an artist begging to get out more frequently. Perhaps one day I'll be a retiree and take an easel and canvas to the park and sit for hours each morning, painting whatever I'd like.

Being that I paint, I've always loved art cards...Diamond Kings, National Chicle, etc. I don't want them to be overdone, but I do enjoy a good painted set.

A few times on eBay, I've come across a Tino card that really speaks to the artistic side of me:

It's always been around $10, but recently I won it for under $5 in an eBay auction. I think it's such a cool card. Tino is painted, and the bat relic sits within an easel. It's undoubtedly one of the greatest relic cards I have every seen. I'm a big fan of weaving the relic shape into the design of the card, and this is perfect. 

I love this card so much, it makes me want to paint again soon. Maybe I will...

My Jeter painting

I shared this early on in my first year of blogging, but thought I'd take a moment to share my Derek Jeter painting with some of those who may be new readers of my blog. In light of today's announcement, it seems appropriate. I painted this in 2011. It's acrylic on a canvas board.

New Painted Sketch Card: Chris Getz

Martyn of Arbitrary Crap, one of my favorite blog names, and I recently traded a few cards. I didn’t have a ton to send him, so I decided to throw in a painted sketch card as well. Please note, I’d never send a sketch card in place of real cards – I just include them from time to time as a fun bonus. I still feel like I owe Martyn some cards from our deal, despite what he says

Anyways, Martyn collects Chris Getz cards and is working on the 2011 Kimball Champion set, so I decided to put the two together. Getz wasn't in the original checklist, but he is now:

The size of the card is the same as a Kimball Champs. I tried to follow the same style and colors as the real things. The bottom half turned out pretty good. The face – ehhhh. It’s progress, as I’m afraid to draw/paint faces, so at least I gave it a shot. Based on other cards from this set, the face/head on mine is a bit too big, unless it was Kevin Mench.

I'll showcase the other cards Martyn sent later this week.

Must-see sports art by Dave Choate

Credit: Dave Choate

I recently stumbled upon a new, unique sports artist and I wanted to share his work (with his permission). As you know from reading my blog, I’ve done a few Yankees paintings and several original trading cards – either painted or sketched. Links to my Derek Jeter and and Mariano Rivera painting can be found HERE and HERE.

On Twitter, someone I follow retweeted a Victor Cruz painting that artist Dave Choate did. I started following Dave, and he immediately posted a new painting, again with NY Giants players as the subject. Very topical indeed with NYC being swept away with Giants Fever. I then visited his website and found an amazing assortment of paintings, all in Dave’s incredibly unique style. I spent a good portion of my morning at work browsing the site and admiring Dave’s works. Essentially, his subjects are sports charactures (like 1938 Goudey baseball cards), but a bit abstract as well. I tend to paint/draw in photo realism and try to make my paintings look as life-like as possible. Dave’s are more from a fantasy world, as he describes them as "whimsical" on his website, which is a great word for his style. I really appreciate artistic styles outside of my own, and as much as I would like to step outside of my comfort zone, I don’t have the creative eye or mind to do something as free-thinking as Dave’s works. I am too literal and narrow-minded. I don’t say that as a personal jab at myself, but as a compliment to artists such as Dave who can really create a style that is truly their own.

Credit: Dave Choate

Despite the whimsical nature of Dave’s works, he still manages to capture the facial expressions and traits of each of his subjects. You’ll know immediately who each portrait is of – there is no guess work involved. Just look at Nadal and Djokovic above. 

Dave is certainly making a name for himself in the sports art industry. World Series winner Jason Motte is a client, and Carmelo Anthony is purchasing the Mike Tyson painting below. Not only is ‘Melo my favorite basketball player, but he went to Syracuse when I was there, so that made my day when Dave told me that. I can’t imagine ever getting to the point with my artwork where someone (especially an athlete!) would actually be interested in purchasing it. That must be incredibly gratifying for Dave.

Credit: Dave Choate

Credit: Dave Choate

Credit: Dave Choate

I encourage everyone to go and check out Dave’s work at www.davechoate.com. You can also follow him on twitter @DaveChoate. You won’t be disappointed.

A special thanks goes out to Dave for his permission to feature his website and paintings on my blog.

Original Andy Pafko painted sketch card

I hope that Matt from Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius doesn’t mind me showing off this card, as it’s now in his possession. You see, I was assigned Matt as my Secret Santa in Bad Wax’s Secret Santa/Hanukkah Harry idea. I received Matt’s wish list and I was able to knock a few cards off that. I wanted to send him a little something extra, so I took a spin around his blog and came to realize that he was an Andy Pafko collector, and that he also liked the 2011 Topps Diamond Die Cut cards.

Since Pafko wasn’t included in this set, I decided to make one for Matt. I found a picture of Pafko that I liked, and started drawing. He was actually featured in a Dodgers uniform, and I took the liberty to make him a Brave instead. I tried to copy the look of my CC Sabathia Diamond Die Cut. I even cut the edges so it was a true die-cut. It didn’t come out perfectly, but I was happy enough with it to begin painting.

I’m not convinced this is my strongest painting. I have an assorted pack of sketch cards with different card stock, and I don’t think I used the right one. It was a nice, thick card, but the paper wasn't perfect for this. The acrylic paint I used dried too fast and it was tough to blend colors for the sake of shading. I think the red background came out pretty well, as well as the diamond in the background.

Anyhow, Matt said very kind things about the card HERE. I’m glad he liked it and that it’ll be a positive addition to his Andy Pafko collection.

My newest painting: Mariano Rivera

After I finished my Derek Jeter painting, I felt like Mariano Rivera was the natural progression. He has such an iconic throwing motion with a silky smooth delivery, plus he is the greatest ever at what he does. Why not capture this?

I found a photo I liked and printed it off. Per usual, I measured grid boxes on the photo and then drew them on the canvas. My Jeter painting was done on an 11x14 canvas board. This Rivera was done on 16x20 stretched canvas. I had never used stretched canvas, and I actually liked it a bit better than the board, mostly because the boards tend to curl up like a 2010 Topps Chrome card.

The whole painting itself didn’t take too long in terms of hours - probably between six and eight total - but it took about two months to complete because it was hard to find the time to do it. I also am a little impatient, which is why I took a stab at sketch cards in the middle of this project – I could usually finish one in one sitting. Paintings drag on too long and I lose interest.

Here are a few images I captured during the process, along with the finished work. I think my favorite part of the painting is his front foot. I feel like it came out fairly well. I still am not confident enough to do faces. Rivera’s face here is really just shading – it looks good from far away, but close up he looks like a ghost.

Let me know what you think! Thanks for checking it out.