The Town of Kansas...and Westport

Here are some sketched ideas for the first illustration of a new mystery project.  OooOOo a mystery! I will say this - its about Kansas City!  I'm having a blast with it and learning a lot about the area.  And when I say I'm learning a lot its not code for "I reluctantly did boatloads of mind numbing research".  Honestly I'm having a hard time putting down  the books and keeping myself from taking too many "research" road trips around town.

One thing I've begun to unravel is the relationship Westport had with Kansas City.  I just figured settlers got off their horses two centuries ago and said "Here we shall make thy bar district!  Jebediah! Thou quaffs ale like a Puritan!"  Not so!  Turns out it was a small town where people would set off on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails.  It was a Port to the West.  Which makes sense because it always baffled me why a town five miles from the river would have "port" in the name.

Well.  It kind of turned out to be a river port too.  There was a nice rock landing on the Missouri 5 miles north of Westport.  It was nicer and less prone to becoming a muddy nightmare then the popular landing in Independence, and since it was further west it would shave off overland time for settlers making the wagon journey across the country. So a road was cleared from Westport  to the rock landing. (That road pretty much ran the path of modern day Broadway.)  Well, that landing got to be pretty popular and a town company was formed to purchase and develop the area around it. Hence the Town of Kansas was formed, having narrowly escaped being called Rabbitville, Possom Trot, or Fondas something or another. It grew up quickly and Voila!  BBQ and Jazz!  Okay there was a lot in between but its late and I need sleep. 

A family staging in Westport for the journey...well...west.

Early pioneers in a keelboat approach the small settlement of Kawsmouth

Meh

Dinosaurs! Again!

Here's how the dino art for wall stickers ended up.  They're all loosely based on actual dinosaurs.  Well, all except the sauropod which is based on my idea of a brontosaurus which wasn't an actual dinosaur.  I seem to recall it was a misnomer for the apatosaurus.  Anyways in my universe the Brontosaurus is alive and well!  AND Pluto is a planet (don't get me started on that one).  Its just weird the way we label things.  A good example:  The other day I was with my 3 year old at the store. While waiting in the check-out line he picked up one of those styrofoam, lacquer coated decorative pumpkins and said "Dad! Ball!"  I said,"Evan, thats not a ball, you know what that is. Can you tell me what that is?"  He looked at me with a devious grin and drop kicked the pumpkin.  As it went sailing across the aisle he looked back at me and said "Ball."   

Anyways I want to do more dinosaurs.  I almost wish this was just a warm up, but I gotta move on to the next thing.

These wall stickers will be available at MyRoomRevolution.com .  Just use the links to go to the Amazon or Etsy stores. My wall sticker sets are pretty easy to identify. There are many to choose from in addition to the great sets made by the guys at My Room Revolution.

T-Rex

Brontosaurus!  Okay fine, apatosaurus.  Happy?

Ankylosaurus. My whole life I've pronounced this dinosaur as AN KLEO SAURUS, but its AN KIE LOW SAURUS. Which makes sense cause thats how its spelled!  Makes me think how a lot of people pronounce library as "Libary".  But then again there's words like Wednesday and Favre where we all agree that we'd rather pronounce as if the letters were in a different order!  Hmm I seem to be on a tangent...

Stegosaurus 

Hadrosaur 

Raptor

Triceratops.  Still the best ceratopsian.

All together

Dinosaur sketchy underpainting thingy

Here's what I'm working on now - some dinosaurs that will be made into wall stickers.  I'm getting caught up  to make way for a couple big projects that are on deck.  One begins tomorrow.  In fact I should stop writing this post that 3 people will read and get out to the studio stat!

Ladybugs for stickers

Here's a baker's dozen ladybugs that will be made into wall stickers.

Here's how the original rough looked.  I made this on a previously painted panel partly because I thought it would look cool and partly because I'm out of new panels.  

Sketch to color composition to final art

Here's an image sequence showing the progress of an illustration from b/w sketch to color composition to final art.  If you look close you can see that some things were changed along the way, which is why taking these steps can be really useful.

My Brain At Work

Here's a snapshot of how my brain sometimes works. This is a real series of thoughts I had while walking and talking.

Blechh

Another quick painting from the other nights session with a buddy.  I call it "Blechh" but it also goes by "Open a Window! NOW!" and "Jazz Fart". Classy, I know, but it was one of those goofy nights.

Apple Boss

A friend and fellow artist paid me a visit yesterday.  After a great time running around town, we capped off the day by staying up painting until 3:30am.  We had no goal or expected outcome other than just painting random stuff.  I'm pooped but man it was fun.  I'm thankful that nights of caffeine fueled delerium and maniacal laughing are still possible.  I mean, I knew it was still possible, but its just weirder when I'm laughing maniacally by myself.

The Robbery of the Kibble Express

Here's a rough color comp of a previously shown sketch. 

Progress

This manuscript/dummy revision is my main focus lately. I haven't wanted to post too much about it since I've been "figuring it out" but its super close to being done.  I'm at that point where I want to say "Good enough!" and start submitting it, but my gut tells me there is still work to be done.  And if there is one thing my gut knows, its tacos. Is that a non sequitur? YES but I'll make it work:  I can have a taco that appears yummy but if the meat is not quite done then my gut is going to reject it.  I guess what I'm saying is this manuscript looks like it could be a delicious taco, but the meat needs to cook a little longer.

Then of course there's the chance I got mixed up and made the tacos with dog food and no amount of cooking will save them.  

Wow, I really need to bail on this awful comparison.  Back to work.

A bit more

I'm thoroughly engrossed in this project.  Its a challenge to pick out sketches to share that aren't too revealing.  There are ones I really really want to show, but not yet.  So again, another rough sketch with no context.  

Being Sketchy

I'm working on new sketches for a story revision.  Woo!  Happy to be back to work on this labor of love. Here's a couple samples with no explanation or context.  Ha!

Rivercene

After some rough starts, Joseph Kinney ended up doing quite well for himself in the steamboat business.  He built a mansion for his family just across the Missouri River from Boonville.  The mansion was playfully called Rivercene by Joseph and his wife Matilda as a pun playing off the fact that the river can be seen from the house and the house can be seen from the river. Rivercene still stands today and it remains a striking building unlike any other in the area.  

This artwork is for the Notable Missourian book on Joseph Kinney, written by Maryellen McVicker and published by Truman State University Press.

Steam Boat Race

This illustration for the Notable Missourian book on Joseph Kinney saw some changes since the most recent composition sketch.  Mainly, I changed the angle of the steam ships so it looked more like they were passing by instead of heading right for the poor spectators.  I also changed the POV of the ships to make it appear as though the crowd is on higher ground instead of near the shore line. Below is the final illustration along with some of the original composition sketches for this chapter.

This artwork is for the Notable Missourian book on Joseph Kinney, written by Maryellen McVicker and published by Truman State University Press.

Final illustration of steamboat race

Final composition sketch showing steamboat race 

An early idea sketch for this chapter showing the race from inside the wheelhouse.  I still like the potential of this one.

An early rough sketch.  Hell I'm not sure why I'm including this one.  It doesn't look like a race or anything really.  It more looks like some knucklehead just hanging out with his lady and waving a flag while ships pass by.

Assistance League Mural Finished!

Well this was just a lot of fun!

The full mural 

School bus detail

fish buddy

Girl and Bluebirds

The Greeter

Rabbit. Yep. Its a rabbit.

Schoolhouse

sledders

Blue Girl

Joseph Kinney's Shoe Store

The illustration of Joseph Kinney working in his Boonville shoe store unexpectedly turned out to be one of my favorites from this story.  I just really like the atmosphere.  

Below is the final art along with the original composition sketch and the revised composition sketch.  This artwork is for the Notable Missourian book on Joseph Kinney, written by Maryellen McVicker and published by Truman State University Press.

Final illustration

Revised and tightened composition sketch

Original composition sketch

Assistance League Mural progress

I've begun work on the "Operation School Bell" mural for the Assistance League of Kansas City.  After some consideration they decided to have the mural painted on a 4ft x 8ft panel instead of directly on the wall so they can take the mural with them should they move.  That's a move I've noticed more people making these days.  Maybe it says something about folks appreciating their art investment more and not wanting to fate their mural to the inevitability of getting painted over or being hidden behind a file cabinet and fake plant. Still, a well done on-the-wall mural that flows around a room is something special and creates an atmosphere that can't be duplicated on panels.  I know artists who can make true magic happen with that kind of mural.

Anyways I'm just getting started and its coming along smoothly.  It helped a lot that the approved final composition was full color, so I don't have to "figure it out" so much on the fly. Here are a few quick shots of how its going.

I started with an underpainting/drawing to make sure the locations and proportions match that of the approved composition.

I put my hand by this one to give a sense of scale.  In case you're wondering I have huge working mans hands.  Okay maybe not...more like medium sized artist hands.  But with ninja like reflexes.  Why am I still writing here?

Starting the actual painting

The flatboat hits a snag

This is another illustration that ran through a few versions.  It depicts Joseph Kinney's venture into flatboat ownership ending in disaster.

Flatboats were an affordable means of moving goods down river, especially before the steamboat was firmly established.  Rivers were pretty treacherous to navigate due to snags and boat wrecks were not uncommon.  When such wrecks would happen, nearby flatboats (should they be around) would help rescue the crew and save the cargo.  

Originally I thought an illustration of such a scene would be interesting to look at, but the problem was that Joseph Kinney lost most all of his cargo which makes it unlikely that there would've been another flatboat close enough to salvage anything.  So I pushed the other boat far into the background and made some other changes as well.  Both versions are shown below.

This is the final art showing Joseph Kinney's wrecked flatboat.

Here is the first version of the flatboat wreck with another boat helping out.  While I do like the commotion of this one, Joseph looks a bit too calm. Like he's asking the other captain how his corn crop is coming along or something.

This artwork is for the Notable Missourian book on Joseph Kinney, written by Maryellen McVicker and published by Truman State University Press.

Young Joseph Kinney watching an early steamboat

Here a young Joseph Kinney is seen working for his uncle and admiring an early steamboat passing by.  And so began his life long passion for steam boats. 

This one went through a few changes in editing.  It was decided that it was more likely that Joe would have had a clerical job than a labor job when working for his uncle so I changed him from pushing a barrel to pushing a pencil.  While at it I tweaked quite a few other aspects of the illustration too.  Compare them and try to spot what's different.  

This artwork is for the Notable Missourian book on Joseph Kinney, written by Maryellen McVicker and published by Truman State University Press.

Final version - Joseph Kinney counting barrels and watching an early steamboat

First version - Joseph Kinney pushing a barrel watching said early steamboat