So as promised here are some in action shots of me painting my latest work “Dark Starry Knight” I switched to acrylic paint for this project, and I am working at a larger scale. 
I wanted to mimic Van Gogh’s brushwork as best I could; that meant watercolor was out, and even though the original was done in oils, I did not have the funds to purchase such supplies for my own work, so that left me with the poor man’s oils, acrylics. I used heavy body gel medium to mix with the paint, this helped add some chunky-ness to my paint that mimicked Van Gogh’s heavy amount of paint that he placed on his canvas. 
To speed up my process, I used a projector to cast a really low res version of Starry Night onto my canvas. Once the basic forms were there, I went at it with my chunk of graphite and added my version of things to the design. Then onto painting. 
I started with the sky, doing a lot of on canvas mixing of paint. I tried to start with larger areas of color, and move into more detailed work as the larger areas would dry. Once the blues of the sky were mostly in place, I attacked the yellows. At this point I could see the end product in my head. The building came next, along with the bat signal itself, and every so often, I would add a few more strokes of blue or white to the sky, never truly satisfied at it’s completeness. I continued moving down the piece, adding the buildings and Joker’s balloon. 
The last bits of the painting to be complete was the Joker gas clouding over the town. The original painting just had trees, 
and they were mostly blue. My gas is quite a bit more green, however due to the nature of Van Gogh’s work, I still think
that my gas clouds look like trees, no matter what I tried to do to change them.
This painting was also my excuse to finally buy an 11 x 17 scanner. I hate stitching my paintings together in Photoshop, it’s such a time waster. However, due to this painting’s size, I still had to scan it 8 times to get the full image into my computer.
The original painting has already sold, but Prints are available to anyone who might like to purchase one.
So I had been putting it off for too long! My 2010 Moleskine Sketchbook page has 11 new sketches in it, go check it out! Here is a peek at the latest sketch, which I drew this week while Amber was in the hospital (don’t worry, she’s okay now)
Tomorrow, I head off to Dick Blick for some long overdue supplies, then I am diving into my latest parody painting titled “Starry Dark Knight” which will be done in acrylic for a change, on canvas, and at a larger size! I think I might post some in process shots of it here on the site, for those of you who want to feel like a fly on the wall.
So if you have been following my tweets on twitter, you might have noticed me saying I was back to work on Into the Dust, figured I would give you all a peek at a page. There will be dialog in the final version, but you can look at the pretty artwork. I tried a thinner bristol on this page that had been lying around the studio for years (it was a sheet of Blue Line pro comic board) and I have to say that even though it worked wonderfully for the inking and drawing,
once washes went down, I was cursing every few moments. This paper wicks like crazy, it was if I was painting on a roll of Bounty! So, for future pages, I will not be using this paper, but my good old 3ply (or 2ply in a pinch) Strathmore 300 series. I have finally bit the bullet, and I am working at 11×17 like most of my peers, working at 6×9 was fun, but I love the room (plus it hides the mistakes better)
You may have noticed a few new conventions on my list for the fall, looking forward to getting back into the swing of conventions for the late 2010 season, and all of 2011! Expect me to travel quite a bit next year (there may even be a San Diego trip possible)
I have commissions again! Expect a few of those to show up soon too!
Quick mini-post! So, I have been watching the show Glee on dvd this past week, and I heard someone ask me if I was a “Gleek” Of course, I thought of the monkey first…so why hasn’t anybody else drawn this yet?!?
Hello everyone! So since I am done with commissions for the first time since November, I took a little time and designed this T-shirt. It’s up on Threadless, so everyone take a moment, and vote for it so it can get printed! 
Well, after far too long, I have finished two of my versions of “Las Meninas”, one a parody of the original by Velazquez, and the other a parody of one of Picasso’s versions (I believe he had an entire show in a gallery once, with over 50 versions of this painting) These were done as a commission and my patron wants them to be titled “Earth” and “Htrae”.
“Earth” depicts various Superman and Silver Age DC Comic Characters, and “Htrae” has Bizarro versions of all of those characters, with one exception, Batmite appears in “Earth” and Bizarro Junior in “Htrae” purely because neither had a Bizarro/Non-Bizarro counterparts. Can you see what Superman is painting in the reflection in the mirror? Perhaps he is trying to trick Mxyzptlk into saying something? I have one other “Las Meninas” to finish; based on Witkin’s version, with different colored Lanterns. Expect to see Killowog, Sinestro, Kryb, and maybe G’nort! Just have a few more details to work out, but you should see it soon.
In other news, Jesse Rubenfeld Illustrations has it’s own dedicated phone line now, feel free to use the link at the right, or call 734-985-0JES (0537) for any questions about commissions, or interviews. Life has calmed down a bit, so expect updates at a better pace now, ’cause I still have an ever growing list of commissions to work on, not to mention a project or two of my own.
With the convention sneaking up on us this weekend, I have been hard at work with a few commissions and projects. First off, I had to paint a pair of dogs on some wine glasses for a repeat client. Next up I started and completed a painting for Motor City Comic Con based on Picasso’s “The Old Guitarist” from his blue period. It was screaming to have one of those blue aliens from Avatar in it. I’m simply calling it “My Blue Period” Now I am currently working on 2 different parodies of Las Meninas by Velazquez. That painting has been parodied numerous times, once by Picasso and once by Joel Peter-Witkin just to name a few. Mine will feature a slew of DC comic characters from the silver age, and the second version will feature Bizarro versions of the same characters. Look for it on my site soon!
Also, I was given permission to post all of the pages from my latest magic book Square, from my magician collaborator. Enjoy it in its own gallery!
Hello! C2E2 was wonderful a few weeks ago. I have found that I am horrible at reporting such events, so I will leave it at this. I saw a lot of friends, made some new connections, sold a lot of things (paintings paintings paintings), lost some sleep, ate great food, and generally had a great time. Sales wise, it was probably my best convention yet.
Upcoming events, Motor City Comic Con is in a week. I have been working on getting my table mate Josh ready for his first show. His raw excitement is so cute, reminds me of simpler days when I was just starting out. Amber missed setting up at C2E2 with me, and now she is missing out again for Motor City. She has expressed interest in doing one show later in the summer, so we are attempting to get the time off work to do so. I will keep you informed on any added events. I am also thinking about venturing out further from the Midwest for shows, I have already figured out how to fit everything I sell into a carry on bag. Whether or not these conventions will happen this year or the next, at least know that it is in the plans.
There are 2 collaborative comic projects that I might be working on, too early to say what they are yet…but they are exciting. I will leave you with my latest painting. I have expanded my parodies to movie posters as well, this is the first, based on the movie The Graduate. Enjoy my cheesiness!
Okay, so over the weekend, I did crank out another painting for C2E2. Based on Salvador Dali’s “Persistence of Memory”. Instead of melting clocks, I decided to go with Plastic Man, due to his Non Newtonian Fluid state (Yeah, I know physics! And yes, I know force does not need to be applied to Plastic Man’s body in order to have him keep a solid shape, but how else would you describe him?) It was a fun idea, originally I was going to add a few more “stretchy guys” but upon laying out the piece, I knew that Plastic man would have to take center stage (he’s my favorite stretchy guy anyway) That’s it for paintings for the show, I have no more time. I’m heading out to the printer later today to get my prints made, then I will have to start organizing and packing for the show. I will be leaving Thursday evening after my “booth babe” father gets off work. We will drive as far as we can that night (I’m hoping to get just outside of Chicago) and wake up early on Friday to get into the city and get set up before the Professionals Only hours start (10 am) Expect some Twitter updates during the show, but don’t count on a blog post until I get back. I hope to see you all at the show!
So, C2E2 is next weekend! I had to get done a few commissions that were sitting on my desk (one of which is for a client that is attending the show) So I figured I would post them here as I always do, just to keep my fans informed on what I am up to. The first one is part of my Art about Art series, a portrait of Ben Grimm, which I have titled “When Yancy Street Ran Red” It’s based on a few Picasso paintings (mostly Woman Sitting in Armchair with hints of others) This is by far my most abstract work to date, but I have had quite a few people ask me to paint a Picasso, so hopefully this will keep them at bay. I will have some prints available of it at the show.
The other commission I recently completed is quite strange. It was for a Canadian writer who is working on a graphic novel, and he wanted me to depict the birth of his superhero….pretty literally. What I thought was cool about the idea was that the mother is completely human, but during the pregnancy she has the child’s powers. She loses them as soon as the umbilical cord is cut, so this scene is her last moments of flight.
I have another painting that I am going to attempt to get done before the convention. I don’t know if it will be done, but if not I will be working on it during the convention, between sketches for people.
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I wanted to mimic Van Gogh’s brushwork as best I could; that meant watercolor was out, and even though the original was done in oils, I did not have the funds to purchase such supplies for my own work, so that left me with the poor man’s oils, acrylics. I used heavy body gel medium to mix with the paint, this helped add some chunky-ness to my paint that mimicked Van Gogh’s heavy amount of paint that he placed on his canvas. 
To speed up my process, I used a projector to cast a really low res version of Starry Night onto my canvas. Once the basic forms were there, I went at it with my chunk of graphite and added my version of things to the design. Then onto painting. 
I started with the sky, doing a lot of on canvas mixing of paint. I tried to start with larger areas of color, and move into more detailed work as the larger areas would dry. Once the blues of the sky were mostly in place, I attacked the yellows. At this point I could see the end product in my head. The building came next, along with the bat signal itself, and every so often, I would add a few more strokes of blue or white to the sky, never truly satisfied at it’s completeness. I continued moving down the piece, adding the buildings and Joker’s balloon. 
The last bits of the painting to be complete was the Joker gas clouding over the town. The original painting just had trees, 
and they were mostly blue. My gas is quite a bit more green, however due to the nature of Van Gogh’s work, I still think
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