Erik Jessen

Artifix Noctem 12 – Character Roulette

Erik — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 04:43:02 +0000

Random is fun. Simple as that. So I’ve got 1-6 written on a sheet… 3 categories: type of character, accessories, and style of clothing. I got Werewolf + wizard hat + business attire. It was fun and I had problems with my camera and lost some photos… so Matt and Thom… get me your drawings some how. Thanks for reading!

Honey Bear by Chris Manuel

by Erik Jessen

Artifix Noctem 11 – Monsters and Robots

Erik — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 04:36:52 +0000

What’s better than drawing your favorite monster or robot?… ok, lots of things, but it’s pretty high on my list of “cool things to draw”.

Here’s some of the creations that came from that night…

By Matt Rainwater

Artifix Noctem 10 – Cubee Craft

Erik — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 06:13:17 +0000

Artifix Noctem tried something totally different and decided to do Cubee Craft characters. Check it out here… http://www.cubeecraft.com/ This site has lots of pre-designed characters to print out and fold and cut it yourself. My thought was to go off of a blank template. They were a little hard to cut out and put together but once we all frustratingly got them done they looked pretty good. (L-R: Captain N Mega Man by Matt Rainwater, Lion-O by Robert Anderson, Invincible by Erik Jessen, Venom by Chris Manuel, Deadpool by James Jessen.

I’m doing this on an ipad

Erik — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:39:43 +0000

Seeing how well this works, I’m at the apple store in Houston. Can’t access photo drive from this thing to upload pictures… Dang

Whiskey Label Project – Yerlo

Erik — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 03:32:51 +0000

A person by the name of Po gave me a call one day requesting my design services for his new whiskey. It’s a family recipe rice whiskey that’s hand made and bottled … oh, and needs a brand! This project totally excited me because 1.) I love asian cultures 2.) This guy’s name is Po Lo 3.) And I don’t want to pass up the chance to design a whiskey label. When I met Mr. Po he had brought in this traditional Hmong flute that he wanted to incorporate into the brand. I took several pictures of it and took any paper notes and pictures that he had.

I must first link some information about the Hmong (since part of my job is researching)

This was one of the first proofs… needless to say I got waaay ahead of myself. It was all that stored up energy and excitement to get started I didn’t do enough research. I meshed in too many different cultures and need to take a breather and actually study what Po gave me.

first proof = EPIC FAIL

Some of the next proofs get way better… this was drawn from the referenced photo I took with my phone. Po liked this angle at first but then changed his mind to a “straight-on” angle… it happens to the best of us. Unfortunately I was hesitant about redrawing the angle so I turned to my friend Photoshop to distort the field of vision.

And this is after photoshop …

On to color and layout…

One of the difficult things about this logo was the balance between the “swirly” pattern and the flute. Po wanted them as both important elements that stood out. We finally decided upon the combination of contrast and drop shadow to make it visually stand out. The solid black was actually the emboss plate.

Here’s the business card…

Thanks Po for letting me work on this project. I got to taste Yerlo and it is quite good and strong stuff.

I’m also pending a photograph of the actual bottle once the labels are done.

thanks for reading.

If you’re into Chaos and Theory… and Art – read this!

Erik — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 03:00:25 +0000

WHAT IS CHAOS THEORY?: Chaos theory began in 2009 as a concept exhibit which would allow artist specializing in various mediums to display their work without being limited to a specific theme. The artists were encouraged to bring anything from landscapes to tattoo art. The theme for CTII: Chaos Reigns has been narrowed down to feature art inspired by motion pictures, cartoons, videogames, and television shows. In keeping with the spirit of Chaos, we will consider artwork that does not fall within this theme. We strongly encourage artists to challenge themselves and attempt to create a piece within the theme.

If you were upset to see no Artifix Noctem 8 or 9 post… it’s because some of us are currently working on submissions for the CTII: Chaos Reigns Exhibit. I know what you’re saying…”But Erik, how come you can’t post any of the work being done during that time?” A very valid point indeed ‘opposing voice in my head’. So in the later posts I will attempt to gather up some of the works created and post them for everyone to see.

Artifix Noctem 7 – atc

Erik — Sun, 09 May 2010 14:14:56 +0000

Another great night with my fellow artifix’ers!
Each Artist is responsible for 3 cards and at the end of the night we randomly get 3 others in an exchange.

Enjoy the show!

Pacaderms and Appreciation

Erik — Sun, 09 May 2010 13:43:34 +0000

505 imports in lake Charles, la is one of my best clients. They sell imported hand made furniture from India and Indonesia. Rebekah Dressler and Sharlene Boyle are the mother and daughter team that runs 505. They’ve made the experience working with their company a very enjoyable one. Their 5 anniversary was coming up and I thought it would be a great chance to drop off an appreciation gift I had been working on. It has been art project going over a couple of months with a little bit of work here and there when I had the time. I started with a pencil sketch on watercolor paper. I then inked it and erased the pencil lines. My color started with markers then pencil colors. I used water color for the diamond board behind the elephant. The background started as clouds and then watercolored it. It didn’t look right because the elephant wasn’t popping like I wanted. I roughly painted over the background with white acrylic – no good. So hesitated to go any further but it had to look awesome! I went with darker acrylic colors and ended up with great results (thankfully). I then brought it to the fine people at frameworks to get it framed. With a matte color of antique green and a dark brown frame we came up with a great piece of art. At their anniversary party I was super excited to give it to them and they loved it. It’s for this reason I think artist love what they do – for the reaction and praise of the client. I love the people at 505 imports and enjoy working with them and wish them the best success in life! -Erik

Artifix Noctem 5 – Toon Remix

Erik — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 14:33:31 +0000

Link by Matthew Rainwater

The concept of “Toon Remix” is to take any toon or character and either draw it in your own style or remix it somehow… as an example my brother, James Jessen, took Boba Fett and put a western twist on him. Darren Hanks, who had Sponge Bob Square Pants, remixed him as Sponge Bob “Round” Pants. When the members arrived they got a random number, then starting with 1, that person got to choose from a list of characters. Chris Manuel got #1 and he chose Fred Flintstone; I was gunning for Captain Crunch, but Thom Trahan picked him up. Thom did a great job with the Capt’n and we ended up getting a good laugh from his quote, “I didn’t want to draw the feet so I drew the earth instead.”… because, to Thom, the earth is so much easier to draw than feet…. and more colorful! Below is the gallery from last nights session – enjoy! and thanks for reading.

Two Face by Oran Parker

Artifix Noctem 4 – Character Roulette

Erik — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 02:01:39 +0000

I got Viking + Peg Leg + Mug of Coffee

I really enjoyed this sketch night and loved the randomness that came with it. We watched Black Dynamite while we drew… I highly recommend it. Anyways we had some new faces and returning members. Jason Hardesty, Chris Manuel and Eric Manuel were the newest additions. Chris and I ended up working on our drawings till 12:00am… which is what I expect a real sketch night to end up as. See the details of the subject below… thanks for reading.

Character Roulette – You’ll randomly get your subject with various accessories. Example: Cowboy with a Katana Blade smoking a cigar. Or, a Monster with a wand and ballerina shoes. Can be done on any size medium.