milk maid line art and step one

here is an illustration of a milkmaid for a yogurt brand. They ended up going in a photographic direction so this goes on the scrap heap. So many of my drawing are for getting across a concept, and don’t actually make it to press. In this case they already had a milk maid they were using and wanted to stick with that…. this is a girl I work with named Jenny Pohlman. She graciously posed for a reference photo then I drew this version from that photo. Line art is easier to reproduce than photos for many reasons. I have always loved line art over photographs. I like to see the lines, the thicks and thins. where the artist puts a dot to represent an eye or a shadow. there were some masters of this art form who are lost to time. Line art is the basest form of illustration. And is the cheapest way to produce a representation of something. Mostly line art is relegated to instruction manuals and back panels. But it can also be the most communicative. A line art illustration can speak to any nationality. There is no language barrier. If you look at lego instructions they are all line art with no words. So they save money by not having to translate their instructions. When I was young I used to build plastic models of various things. I would get the box of parts, and a sheet of paper. With that you could assemble a replica of an old biplane, or a modern jet, a tank, a car or a ship. then you could study the miniature, and see where the people would interact with the object. and imagine it in action. Many times i looked into the box of parts and thought “how the hell will I put this together?” Start with step one, then two, take a break, step three, until you got to the end of the sheet. and before you would be the final product. Almost anything can be accomplished using this method. before you can become what ever you want to be or go where ever you want to go you always have to start with step one.

paint

this is lost in time,

at one point, before war came about, army air corp planes where painted bright colors, with racing stripes, and large red white and blue stars…

after the beginning of WWII, they realized the planes looked too much like the enemy,  because they shot down many of our own planes.

currrently our airforce paints planes in flat black, and dull gray colors, like they did at the end of the last war, they look mean and dangerous…

there is something charming about innocence, before people know fear, they live in a Utopian world, Fear makes us old before our time, religious people with pure hearts seem to age a lot slower than your run of the mill non religious person. trusting in a greater power relieves people of the day to day horror. it is hard to believe. logic does not apply, but for some reason since the dawn of time, mankind has needed relief for the soul, almost as much as food… 

reality is a punch in the face, we ultimately are aware of ourselves and we are aware of our mortality. after all we are only so much meat trying desperately to keep from rotting