Artists can make whatever kind of art they want, and it’s totally legit. I’m all for it. It mostly just comes to good or bad examples of the kind of art in question. People might think that because I am pro-visual art, and because I criticize certain conceptual works, that I am against conceptual art…
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Each entry in my Top 25 will have: a descriptive paragraph. a sentence or two about why I chose it. one or more close-up details. a link to my original post about the work. thumbnail gallery with all artworks included so far. prints for sale. Links for all previous entries. a poll for picking your…
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Each entry in my Top 25 will have: a descriptive paragraph. a sentence or two about why I chose it. one or more close-up details. a link to my original post about the work. thumbnail gallery with all artworks included so far. prints for sale. Links for all previous entries. a poll for picking your…
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The third in the series, and I sat on this one for a long time. There were some technical difficulties towards the end, such as in making the monster’s appendages persuasively symmetrical (working anatomically and compositionally). If I share an earlier version, you’ll understand why. Below you can see I’d drawn in a couple appendages…
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One of the oldest techniques I use to invent imagery is to just make a bunch of marks and see what I see. I sometimes make a bunch of thumbnail sketches, and then choose whichever one inspires me at the moment. I made about a dozen thumbs before making my most recent piece (above right…
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This kind of piece stands on its own, needs no placard, no description, no interpretation, no translation, no perusing a CV, no background or context, and no assaying the significance of the biology of the artist. The only reason to read any further is if you are curious to know more. Sometimes it seems like…
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It’s just a wee bit odd to propose this as the first in a new series, as this is a core example of the type of art I do going back decades, including the technique (though I used to do this in charcoal). Let me just dredge up one of those real quick. The reason…
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This is the 2nd piece in my new series. If you are one of my perspicacious fans, you’ll have seen this before, but it’s a larger, revised, impasto version, which will be more evident in the close-ups. The original is below: I could have probably done with just touching up the original, but I wanted…
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This might seem an unexpected departure from my self-portrait series (I’m taking a break from it), unless you already know me or my blog, in which case you might think, “Here we go again!”. I’ll grandfather in (not sure if that’s the right term here, but you get the idea) several pieces that fit nicely…
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One of the good things left about the Internet and social media is that we can still discover artists we appreciate on our own, before they become popular. Amy Regutti (a.k.a. “spacethrob” on Instagram), with her deceptively simple, brightly-colored, and peculiar paintings of mannequin-like, animated figures is one of the more unique artistic voices I’ve…
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I’ve been picking away at this one for a while, abandoned it a couple times, and finally finished it. It was more difficult than my prior piece for this series (below), and the main difference is just that I used a smoother brush. The smoother brush is more technical and demanding in terms of rendering…
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This is a style of B&W drawing I return to again and again. Not only have I done at least 10 using the same approach recently, I used to use the same technique for charcoal drawings 25 years ago. The procedure is super simple and direct, and it relies entirely on my imagination, memory, and…
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Hi kids. It’s your Uncle Eric. I’m back with another image in this series, and I know you’ve been dyin’ t’ see it. If you don’t know, all of these digital paintings are based on my humble visage after feeding it through the ever popular neural network that is Faceapp. Now, your uncle has been…
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If you are new to this series all the images are based on recent photos of me after being fed through Faceapp (which can change age, gender, etc.), then altered in Photoshop, and then painted in Corel Painter. None of the people actually exist, and thus they are like self portraits from parallel dimensions or…
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This is the color version of a drawing I finished earlier this month: And this was based on a ball-point sketch I did in a lined pad of paper: I like the color version with its Impressionist colors and treatment, but the B&W I feel is more mesmerizing. Maybe that’s just how I feel at…
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My Early Work is Saved There are many reasons being an artist is rough, or as we artists might say to ourselves at times “sucks”. 90% of art majors do not continue on to art careers (according to an article in The Atlantic), and I would guess that among visual artists that number is even…
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For my next exciting act I’m going to attempt to make this into a color, digital painting. I’ll save the commentary until then. For now the image can stand on its own. Be back soon with another baboon: ~ Eric Funding. Through Patreon, you can give $1 (or more) per month to help keep me…
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Video may be the best way to share my art, because I can include close ups and pans and give it some music. For this one I used Camtasia, which is better for recording what you see on your monitor (useful for tutorials and such), but not so good with the specific things I was…
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I did this in one shot, and just used my laptop microphone, so the sound quality is not as good as I’ve done in the past. But I cover the main points, and there are some good ones in there. And now I want you to look at this shit: Occasionally I get somewhat dejected…
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This one merits some explanation, but I’m working on a video that handles that better than writing about it, because I can zoom in and out, and highlight areas I want to discuss. In the mean time, better to access it through the eyes than via verbal/written language, in the same way it’s better to…
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Look if you dare. Do the typical swipe before even blinking once. But beware if you linger. This is one of my darker pieces, dredged up from the subconscious. If you stare at it you start to get sucked in and images will suddenly appear. The more you look, the deeper it gets. There is…
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I have plans for this guy, which include putting him in color, once he’s done, and incorporating him into one of my digital impasto paintings. If you follow my blog you’ve seen several B&W drawings recently, purely 2D stuff. Those are a lot of fun for me, but I’m also working on a more ambitious…
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Dear Readers: Here’s my latest creation, and I’m having so much fun with this style. It’s a way of working I started decades ago, but which was beaten out of me, metaphorically speaking, in art school. If I were in art school today I don’t think I could get away with churning out this sort…
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Don’t worry my discerning fans, the title is humorous. I don’t think we descended from an alien/ape hybrid. Well, not, y’know, like an alien named Enlil, who was an Ananyaki space commander from planet Nibiru, came and inseminated a bunch of chimps in order to create a hybrid slave force to dig for gold. I…
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This is #40 in this series so far, and the 9th in which I’m using the same basic technique. I have a very hard time working in a single, definitive style, mostly because one of my primary objectives is exploration, as opposed to the much more popular and practical approach, which is to produce a…
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This is a very different way of drawing from my last piece. This is deliniating form with line. This has a lot more rules, though I surely broke just as many. It’s body doesn’t quite make sense and it doesn’t need to. This is a drawing, not a design for an alien. The helmet works…
Read MoreHere are 39 aliens, monsters, and robots (and an android or mutant or two…). I don’t consider myself a sci-fi artist, but these are all sci-fi creatures with a fine art sort of treatment. You an watch the slide show or click in the gallery below it. I recommend watching the slide show through once!…
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This is a sketch of an alien head for a new series I’m starting. I’m planning all aliens for the next few months. We’ll have to see if I stick with it. The series is unified around the topic, not the medium or style, so allows for stylistic variety. There’s a lot more to it…
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