If and When

If and When
Inks and Acrylic

Hey everybody, sorry for the lack of posts. Hopefully that will be stopping soon. Here's a new illustration I finished recently. I'm trying to move away from Digital at least a little bit, but most importantly, I'm trying to loosen up. I always tend to be very precious with my work. While some care in that area is good, too much can really hold you back.

The times when I honestly and/or totally wreck a piece and just go crazy with it, tend to be the moments I really have fun creating work and end up with some of my favorite pieces.

Stop being so precious.

Be more daring.

There's always been this craving to buy a motorcycle in the back of my head. Especially when I was a kid. One thing that really struck me was a comment someone in my family made. It's not a question of if you'll get into an accident, but rather when. It's seems like that cliche one-liner at the end of every History Channel natural disaster TV show, but it stuck with me for some reason. The last place you want to get in an accident is on a bike. I wanted to play around with my approach so I thought it would be a dynamic image to play around with. Hope you like it! I'll try to keep posting work- be finished illustrations, sketchbook stuff or otherwise. I'll keep you posted.
-Johnny

Death Upon Death

An illustration I did for "The Book of Skulls" a book that Faye Dowling is putting together at the moment. It seemed like it was right up my alley so I thought it would be fun to try it out. And it was! She's considering it for the book so hopefully I get in! I'll keep you posted...

The Skull has always been an iconic image connected with things like change, fear, and of course, death. Whether is was used as a symbol of mortality or just plain evil, it was an image not to be trifled with. Lately however, It's become more and more trendy. In fact, it's become one of the most common features in art today. We can only use something so much before it comes a cliché. Before it becomes yet another feature in that big stereotype parade.

Is the skull doomed to walk the same path as the wilting flower or the snuffed out candle? And with that repetition, are we shattering everything that the skull originally stood for?

I always try to throw in, at least a bit of symbolism or metaphor into my work and it seems like the people most successful are those who take those clichés and present them in an unexpected way. There's so much pressure to be brand new and unique in illustration and it's comforting to think that we don't have to come up with absolutely everything we put down on paper or canvas.

As usual the image on here is a bit washed out and even blurry. If you want to see a better version of it, check it out on my website:
http://johnnydombrowski.com/illustration/death-upon-death/
-Johnny