One of the Coolest Things I've Ever Seen

Yesterday My family and I went to go see a "rock opera." I must say, I went into it not knowing what to expect. I knew the fellow who wrote the music, and I was intrigued by the premise. The opera is called "The Twelve" and retells the story of Jesus, but from the viewpoint of the 12 disciples entirely. You never even see Jesus the whole time.

I've blogged before on "JC Superstar" and how I dig the music even though it's message is confused. This production got the message right and the music was every bit as throttling, perhaps more so.

The story is told by the elderly Apostle John who, when the play opens is in exile on the island of patmos. He proceeds to recount the whole story of Jesus and His 12 dudes. In the beginning, you find James, John, Andrew, and Peter all looking for adventure and true destiny. You see their brotherliness and their humor and you really love these guys. You hear how Christ called them, including Matthew the tax collector. You are then toured through key highlight moments during Jesus's ministry; the raising of lazarus, the water to wine deal during the wedding at Cana, exorcisms, healings, etc.

The Disciples are stoked to be part of this. Their longing for adventure and destiney has found fulfillment. All the while, tension and opposition is mounting from the chief priests and the teachers of the law. And then, what's really interesting, is that you see nothing of the passion narrative. YOu have Gethsemane, and then in the next sequence, Good Friday is over, and the Chief Priests are reveling in the end of Jesus's ministry.

Persecution ensues after the ascension, and the Disciples begin seeing how following their master is no longer the fun and adventure they initially hoped for. This will cost them. Peter loses his wife, and his life. James also is martyred. At one point, the disciples are all flogged.

The most jarring moment for me was at the end when the elderly apostle John is out on stage with the young apostle John while young John is mourning the death of his brother James, and Peter, realizing all that is at stake if he continues to follow his Lord. He is counting the cost.

Blown away. I keep saying that, but I'm usually super critical when it come to "Christian art" because it usually falls into a category all its own that is sub-par, cliche, safe, boring, flowery, and usually bad.

The Twelve was none of those things. It was good, good art. And it left an indelible mark on my soul. Good, good stuff. Learn more and watch some videos here.

2 Book Covers

Had a double rush job last week. I kind of like those, especially when it's something fun. For two trivia books that will be out in 2011 by Barbour books. I did the illustration work in the background, Kirk over at Dog Eared Design did all the text and layout. He's an amazing designer. I believe the lady's blouse in the final version is a bit more on the purple side.

Getting there...

I got all my apostles drawn here. This has been challenging. I drew each Apostle separately because wanted to use their images at the beginnning of their specified chapters as well. Background and several table elements have not yet been placed in.

I'm trying an experiment this week: sleep and exercise as opposed to lack of sleep and caffeine.

Simon the Zealot

Here's another unfinished image from the Last Supper illustration I'm working on. Simon the Zealot. As I'm learning, Zealots, were sort of first century Jewish militants who were bent on expelling Rome out of the Holy Land by force. Interesting that Christ would have chosen Simon.

Given Simon's "zeal" I imagined he would have been a pretty intense guy, so I tried to show that a bit in his eyes.

This project has been extremely ambitious, challenging, which is part of the reason I took it. I always love projects like this that I'm learning at the same time I'm making art.

Thus far I have all the figures drawn, as well as the table, and background. This weekend I will begin piecing together the whole illustration.

Final illustration and concept ©copyright 2010 C. David Jones, DMin

Character Sketches

Doodles

Been Drawing alot of Apostles

Been working feverishly on this Last Supper project. Here's one portion of the drawing. I've drawn each of the apostles separately, I'm also drawing on Vellum for a change. Not sure if that was advantageous or not. Saved me from using a light board and other medievel image transfer methods though.

Final illustration and concept ©copyright 2010 C. David Jones, DMin

Iron Man for a Friend: part 3

Here's the final piece scanned. Figured I better scan it before framing.

Iron Man for a Friend: part 2

Just finished inking this minutes ago.

Iron Man for a Friend: part 1

Tomorrow I'll be attending my High school reunion. First one and it's been 16 years. Not sure what to expect, and am curious whether the caste system is still in place after all this time. One cool thing about it though is it's to raise funds for our friend Joe who has fallen ill with Lymphoma and is struggling financially. So, one of the organizers asked if I'd do a sketch to donate in an auction for him. I said sure and what else is more appropriate than Iron Man?!?

Just finished the pencils. I'll post the final inks if I don't screw anything up: )

Graphic Novel update

Quick sketch card here of my GN character. It's coming.

The Next Step

Alright, so the last couple days, I've been working on a loose sketch with basic detail on the Last Supper image for the book cover. As I said, the client is very, very specific in what he wants. This is the stage where things begin to come together and I start getting excited about the final product.

The architectural component to this presents a unique challenge as I don't do alot of architectural stuff.

I'm thinking I may execute this in different segments, piecing it all together in Photoshop. The architecture and backgrounds in one layer, table in another, people in another, etc. This will allow for easier modification if I have changes to make.

More to come.
Final illustration and concept ©copyright 2010 C. David Jones, DMin

Composition is Everything

I'm in the process of sketching out this Last Supper image and hit a mental roadblock and so began looking at some of Rembrandt's Biblical imagery. I have a big book of it, along with fold out poster size images of the picture below. I was staring at this image with my daughter and was showing her how much thought Rembrandt put in to this and how intentional he was in orchestrating your eye to move through an extremely detailed image and land on Christ.

I dissected the image a bit below. Check it out...

Pay special attention to Rembrandt's patterns of light and dark and how he uses highlights to lead your eye up to Christ. Then at the top, he uses the soldiers' weapons to frame his head. How even the fellow looking out the window leads your eye.

Blows my mind it does.

Ghosts of Monday Present

Here's a smattering of ghost drawings I did this morning. I always loved the technique of drawing an object, by actually not drawing it, rather drawing that which surrounds it.