Justin Wolfson Illustration

The glutton

2012-01-30T20:04:00.001-08:00

He's a growin' boy, give him somthin' will ya!

A small preview of an upcoming project

2012-01-29T17:04:00.000-08:00

Hmm, something outside the window?

Sneaky octopus

Dr. Sketchys Wild West

2012-01-16T12:15:00.000-08:00

We're going back to the Wild Wild West, Dr. Sketchy's style: with inappropriately dressed women!

Odds n' Ends from the last several weeks

2012-01-08T14:30:00.000-08:00

Cheer up, otter!

Food fight

Tongue action

Bad tooth

Uhoh, Sonic the Hedgehog fan art!

Safe Sex Starfish, rejected mascot

ASIFA East Life Drawing / Dr. Sketchy's Aeon Flux

2011-10-24T19:26:00.000-07:00

Flexing the ol' art school life drawing muscle. There's nothing better than drinking alcoholic beverages at the Bowery Poetry Club and drawing burlesque dancers dressed as Sci-Fi characters.

Steampunk Red Panda

2011-10-18T20:50:00.000-07:00

I do say, what a magnificent time piece!

Lightning toast

2011-09-27T17:53:00.001-07:00

Playing around in Cinema4D. Whee!

Anonymoose

2011-07-16T20:00:00.000-07:00

Something off-screen to the left is confusing him greatly. I guess we'll never know what it is.

Oh hi.

2011-06-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

Not too much to report here, so here's a cartoon cube.

No grabsies! - Finished

2011-05-29T23:37:00.000-07:00

Final color version. A nice way to wrap up a lazy Sunday.

No grabsies!

2011-05-26T21:54:00.000-07:00

A work in progress. Just a little something I've been working on in my spare time. What does he want? I don't know, just don't get in his way!

I had every intention of getting this guy done for the holidays but never got to it, and so he'll continue to reside on my computer, not knowing what's inside the gift box.

Om Nom

2011-01-23T18:18:00.000-08:00

I need to update this on a more regular basis. I'll see if I can muster the strength do some quick 30-45 minute color sketches from time to time to put up here, that might be nice eh?

Back To School Blues

2010-09-27T18:01:00.000-07:00

Cheer up, fella.

Exciting News!

2010-09-02T20:44:00.001-07:00

Attention bookworms,

I am very pleased to announce the release of Do Witches Make Fishes? written by Jason Mayo and illustrated by yours truly.

All proceeds from this book are going to the Garden of Dreams Foundation.

What have you got to lose? Buy a kid's book, help a great cause! What's better than that?

Make a like a tree...

2010-07-14T18:29:00.000-07:00

...and get outta here. I've been diving into Cinema 4D and these are the results, which I am extremely pleased with. I'm looking forward to tweaking this look even further and making some kick-arse designs.

Vulpes vulpes pointus

2010-07-05T14:07:00.000-07:00

Sketch 'em if you got 'em.

2010-06-29T21:31:00.000-07:00

Coming attractions

2010-06-24T21:47:00.000-07:00

Here's a nice little sampler platter from the last several months of what I've been working on. A few spreads from an upcoming children's book and, of course, your daily dose of cute mammals.

NYC R train riders

2010-06-03T21:08:00.000-07:00

I bought a couple of small drawing journals recently and ran into a drawing dry spell. I seem to have broken that tonight. I like to try to maintain a low profile while sketching individuals, and these tiny drawing pads are perfect. It irks me to stare someone down to try to attain an exact likeness, so I try to glance over and make a mental note of any striking features.

Chit-chat

2010-05-17T22:53:00.001-07:00

Miscellaneous Mammal Menagerie

2009-12-06T21:26:00.000-08:00

Odds & Ends

2009-11-08T21:20:00.000-08:00

Another brief post, folks. I've been pretty busy these last couple of weeks, but I've managed to do some fun little things here and there in my spare time. All works in progress, of course.

-J

Cheesy

2009-08-31T21:35:00.001-07:00

Toothy

2009-07-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

More abstract oddities!

2009-06-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

Two more shapes are done. I'm really getting into the process of making them. It's almost meditative and relaxing to simply create imagery without trying to labor over illustrating any particular message or concept. If anything I've enjoyed seeing other people's reactions to it and their interpretations of what it could be. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

-JW

Gross!

2009-06-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

Finished with the first shape, and busted out another one. Got a few more to go, and I gotta say I'm enjoying these.

Eww

2009-06-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

I'm making some abstract weirdness (among other visual fun) for a personal motion piece, for the purposes of practice and to also learn some new After Effects tricks. Graphite + Photoshop + nasty.

Grey skies are gonna clear up...

2009-05-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

...put on a happy face.

Animal Magic

2009-05-03T13:32:00.001-07:00

Back to tradition! It's been a while since I did a good old acrylic painting. This is going up in a gallery show in Providence. The gallery is a bunch of images taken from the internet and placed together in various ways to compose another image. This painting is my take on an image that combined the keywords "animal" and "magic".

Space cat

2009-04-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

Journey to the farthest reaches of meow-ter space!

Undergo daring space walks to fix an orbiting cat-ellite!

Explore the vast terrain of the planet Jupit-purr!

...Sorry, I just couldn't help myself.

Ghoulish

2009-04-05T21:52:00.001-07:00

Call me butter 'cuz I'm on a roll! Well, I had this guy in my sketchbook and wanted to do something with him. I hope he gives you cute nightmares.

The mutt : a dramatic conclusion

2009-04-05T16:53:00.000-07:00

All done! He is now sitting on an invisible bench in an invisible space. Ooh, how conceptual.

The mutt

2009-04-02T22:46:00.000-07:00

He's 1/8th chihuahua and 3/4 greyhound, I think. I will probably finish him soon. Now, I must sleep.

Skull Fracture

2009-03-19T21:25:00.001-07:00

Pointy

2009-03-15T12:05:00.001-07:00

Con Air

2009-03-06T09:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I watched the all-American classic Con Air from 1997. I can recall seeing it back then, but having watched it for the second time yesterday, I hadn't realized how awesome the casting was. Dave Chappelle, John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi, John Cusak, and of course, the ever infamous Nicholas RAGE!

All of these memorable faces provided an ample amount of fodder to do some quick little caricatures and sketches. I've definitely got to do some more of these. Expect other updates when more movies are watched!

And now for something completely different.

Staring contest

2009-02-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

Digital sketch fun time!

WIP it good

2009-01-17T23:58:00.000-08:00

Work-in-progress, having some fun with a graphite sketch. I am tentatively referring to this image as "Fractured Skull." Photoshop and a pinch of real media for added taste.

Mystery revealed:

2009-01-16T13:17:00.000-08:00

The elusive banjo-hog.

Mystery!

2009-01-14T20:59:00.000-08:00

Expect the rest tomorrow. Or very soon.

Tongues redux

2009-01-13T14:42:00.000-08:00

The rare bellopotamus. Open Wide!

Tongues

2008-11-20T12:00:00.000-08:00

If you keep making that face, it'll stay that way! I warned you!

Shazam!

2008-11-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

In continuing my search for a comfortable digital painting technique I'd say this is getting much closer to a look that I like.

Once again, the Little Greenie makes an appearance, having gone through a few rounds of changes in his look since my last post. Ahh! Too cute!

Testing, testing, 1 2 3...

2008-10-09T17:52:00.000-07:00

Trying to figure out a comfortable digital coloring style, something that is closer to how I work with acrylics, and I definitely think this is headed in the right direction.

Rarr!

I dont know, these sketches just appeared in my dresser!

2008-08-20T21:54:00.000-07:00

In brief: anytime I sketch with a colored pencil, amazing and unexplainable things happen. I'll be doing it more often.

-JW

The triumphant return of the Little Greenie.

2008-08-04T21:24:00.000-07:00

It's a been a while since this guy made his first appearance (in fact, my first post on this blog) but the Little Greenie is back and more adorable than ever. Along with pretty much every other character I design, I'd like to develop a story around him too. Gotta find the time to do that. Enjoy your visual snack!

-JW

Sketchies and revisting an old peice

2008-06-08T06:21:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, e-readers, pretty much all of the content in my sketchbooks can't be posted here, but there's always something else I can show!

This is an old illustration I started a while back for Illustration Friday for the subject of scale, thus the scale between our respective shovels.

The color sketch turned out well, I made a set of custom brushes based off of acrylic brush marks. I'm going to see if I can finish this in photoshop.

Some more sketches of my pudgy sea otter dude, the Smart Aleck. I don't really have an official name for him yet. I enjoy this character and want to develop and world/story/concept behind him. One of these days!

Until next time, e-readers, put way your tray tables and keep your chair in an upright locked position.

-JW

An even briefer update

2008-05-10T08:35:00.000-07:00

Hello e-readers, it has been a while since my last post. I have since then moved to New York and am now working at a small CG animation studio as a concept artist, and eventually will be learning the ropes about texturing in Maya.

As soon as all my computer equipment and art supplies are sent from ol' Michigan, I will become an art producing robot.

Until next time, e-readers, drink your milk and eat your veggies!

-JW

Brief Update

2008-02-26T20:38:00.000-08:00

I'm still here! Pardon the collecting internet dust. There are a multitude of things I'm planning on working on in the next coming months. One of those things is a portfolio with more stylized, flat 2d characters, suited more towards animation.

Cute, no? I am supreme commander of fuzzy wilderness creatures.

But seriously, how can you say no to a Red Panda?

Stay tuned.

-J

Winter Kids

2008-01-16T14:23:00.000-08:00

In honor of the time of year when all children are excessively dressed to play in the snow, I felt it would be fun character design exercise to draw some of them. These are just a sample of the first six kids, I'm going to design 6 more and then color them. Expect more themed character designs soon!

-JW

...Saturday!

2007-11-09T21:36:00.000-08:00

Hi, folks! Today's dinner special is a lovely sampler plate from the last several weeks. Enjoy your food!

-Chef Justin

Digital Style Experiment

2007-09-20T14:30:00.000-07:00

Hello, folks. I apologize for the inactivity, I have been getting settled in Michigan for the time being, getting things organized and producing more work. Since I finally had access to a scanner, I decided to do some experimentation. Here is a running dinosaur, who I made doing a combination of traditional and digital media:

I was attempting to reproduce the style of another peice, "Bells and Whistles of the Serengeti." An example of that style is seen below.

The dinosaur is a total of about eight Photoshop layers. Two layers make up the outline, two layers make up the color of the dinosaur's shadow, three layers make up the color of the dinosaur, and finally the last layer on top provides a textured effect. Each layer was painted with acrylic, except for the outline and texture which were done with pencil.

It was quite a bit of work to achieve the end result, but I am very happy overall. I know there are some ways to streamline the process.

Anyways, stay tuned for more updates, folks!

-JW

Sketchy Monday

2007-08-06T15:16:00.000-07:00

Nothing much to report here this week. For now, here are some recent sketches I have particularly enjoyed. Blue photo pencils are becoming my best friend, as I generally do a lot of messy scribbling before figuring out what I'm actually going to draw with regular pencil. Maybe I'll post a step by step sketch process... that could be fun.

Profits are down! Boss angry!

I hack you, laptop.

HALP!

Stay tuned, folks.

Portfolio logo update, no.2

2007-07-26T13:23:00.000-07:00

The colored pencil is done on the sun. Here are some before and after images.

Portfolio logo update

2007-07-25T17:55:00.000-07:00

Having sprayed the acrylic painting with a thin layer of Crystal Clear, a clear acrylic spray coat, it was time to go back in with colored pencil. So far I have completed the wolf's head. Here is the wolf head before and after the colored pencil work.

The difference is there, but I aim to make it a more subtle effect. I used three colors to create a texture that was not too bold or out of the color range that I had already established with the acrylic paint. Here is an up close shot of the colored pencil at work.

Odds 'n Ends

2007-07-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since my last post. Here is a lovely little assortment of things I've been working on. Firstly, I'm making a logo for my portfolio. It's a wolf and a sun, just an association with my last name. I'm doing this with acrylics and colored pencils. The acrylic is done, I just need to spray fixative on the piece so that I can go over with the pencil.

Lemurs are by far my favorite animal, so I did a little sketch of a father and son at the beach. Oops, dropped your cone!I felt motivated to do some digital painting of the sketch on photoshop to try a quick digital painting technique.

Also, here's a little acrylic and color pencil sketch. Some sort of indistinguishable animal thing. I need to do more color sketches like this... they're fun.

Bells and Whistles Fishing - Final Painting

2007-04-17T23:08:00.000-07:00

I was really pleased with this. I loosened up more in the beginning, in that I addressed the entire image by applying areas of color first and blocking in the shadows and highlights first and foremost. This made it a bit easier to then proceed with adding details. The fish on the far left turned out a bit more yellow than I had anticipated, though I think it draws the eye in that direction first, then across the rest of the image.

Bells and Whistles Fishing - Color Sketch

2007-04-13T20:32:00.000-07:00

Before going to a final painting I always like doing a very quick color sketch in Photoshop to get a general feeling for composing the colors of the final. I made the lake water a tad bit bluer than the sky to push it foward in the composition. I'm aiming for a more limited palette this time. I want to make the bell and whistle lures extremely shiny and warm to counteract the coolness of the water.

Bells and Whistles - Revision

2007-04-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

After submitting the fishing sketch, it was decided that the fishing line looked odd and that the composition looked strange with only two fish. I also got rid of the fishermen altogether. For some reason I keep getting this weird feeling about the even spacing among the fish. I may add some small bubbles to make use of the small space among the fish.

Bells and Whistles Revisited

2007-04-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

Last semester our class worked with art director SooJin Buzelli to do an illustration for her magazine, called Plansponsor. The illustration corresponds to a column in the magazine called "Bells and Whistles" that is concerned with new product launches. This is always a really great assignment because SooJin allows us to have total freedom. The only restriction is that the image needs to include imagery of bells and whistles.

Well, lucky for me I am doing this assignment again in my Professional Practice course!

I whipped up these sketches last night. I am fond of the fishing one myself.

Process: Polar Bear Shark!

2007-03-28T18:44:00.000-07:00

If there's one thing that you need to learn quickly in the illustration world, it is to have a process from sketch to finish that ensures that the final product is sweet! I was working on this image the last couple of weeks that corresponded to an article about how rapid environment changes caused by global warming (whether you believe in it or not) may spur evolution. Thus, I came up with the idea of...POLAR BEAR SHARK!

In essence, the idea worked though my teacher made the comment that polar bears are pretty solitary animals. Then, I came up with another sketch in Photoshop to resolve this issue.

The simplification of the idea was nice. Unfortunately, I zoomed in too far. Then I came up with a bunch of new thumbnails and produced a color sketch in Photoshop to flesh out the new idea further.

This time, there was a bit too much dead space between the polar bear's right paw and the bottom of the composition. I eliminated this dead space when I went into the final painting.

I later added bubbles to the composition that filled up those very small spaces of dark blue around teh polar bear. Also added were some bubbles in front of the polar bear to create a sense of space. I, unfortunately, do not have the final version, as it is still in the hands of my professor. I will upload that version soon enough.

Here we go.

2007-03-01T22:47:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody, name's Justin Wolfson and I am a senior in Illustration at RISD. This chunk of precious internets is going to be home to illustrations, sketches, digital work and anything deemed suitable for your viewing pleasure. I think I shall start this off with a character design that is intended to represent who we are as an artist. I was going for a fun, youthful and carefree feeling.