Origins of Violence | Entertaining Dissonance

Beginning work on a short series of four pieces, concerning violent behavior and where it stems from. Each piece will be focus on a different argument. Of course, there are plenty of grey areas, so there will be some overlap here and there. "Entertaining Dissonance" represents the controversy of violence growing from the media all around us. People have pointed the finger of blame to TV, movies, music, video games you name it. One down, three more to go. I'll post them as soon as they're done- one by one. 

Along with the illustration- I've been playing around a bit with GIFs so here it is animated!

Animated GIF

Linework

Homo Ferus | The Earth Mother

4th Image for the Homo Ferus Series- many more in the future. As always, I'm trying to push the atmosphere in my work. Keep that cell shading while adding some painterly aspects in there as well. I'm a man without a country- in love with graphic and bold- but at the same time, in love with foggy and blurry. Something that just flat colors can't quite capture. Short post today. Working on a few projects at the moment- some of them will hopefully make their appearance here soon.

The Sounds of Rapture

An Illustration I did a while ago for KillScreen Magazine- and never got around to posting it. For an article about the sound design of the Bioshock franchise.

Big thanks to AD Keenan Cummings for the job!

Herald

I've been rather busy lately- all with work I can't show you at the moment, so I apologize for not posting as much as I'd like. At any rate, here's a new illustration I recently finished. I wanted to draw a knight... so I did. Simple as that.

As you can probably tell, I've been trying to experiment to see how far I can push my linework/coloring. While I do love the look of a crisp outline, I'm trying more and more to evoke a certain atmosphere in my illustrations. I think that's always been a focus for me. Creating a strange hybrid between line and something more painterly.

Linework

Not sure just yet what I'm going to work on next. I've had a comic book craving lately. but we'll see. More later.

No Man's Land

Image with Pulp magazine Adventure logo

Earlier this year, for about two months, the Society of Illustrators had an exhibit of Robert Lesser's Pulp Art collection. To this day, it's the one show that really stood out to me while working there. I was amazed by these oil paintings- quickly slapped down by artists like HJ Ward, Norman Saunders, Rafael De Soto, etc. And despite some reviews here and there I've read about the work, I think the craftmanship is remarkable. Sure, they are a bit rushed, but they had to be in order to survive in that line of work. Ever since that show I've been wanting do something along those lines.

Doing a Damsel in Distress/ Femme Fatale on the cover only seemed right. At the same time, to go in with my heavy blacks and leave them with the job of defining shadows in this creepy jungle. Despite the lure of a sexy figure, that trail can't lead to anything good.

Final image without text

Initial thumbs and reference from my sketchbook

Pencil sketches under a layer of inked tracing paper

Linework

Also, don't ask me why, but after inking this, I realized those two bird have appeared in drawings of mine before. I can't help it. I like those two birds.

Speaking of birds, Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone has a nice week. I'll be in touch.

The New Gold Rush

Here's a new illustration I did for a recent issue of Penthouse. It was for an interesting article about 20-30 year olds going back up in to the mountains above LA to pan for gold just like the 49ers use to. With the economic crisis we've been in, people are willing to try anything to get some extra money. I, personally, think it's an awesome idea.

Big thanks to Art Director John Faraci

Sketch

Layout

Homo Ferus | Cracked Sky

Hope all is well with everyone. Especially after the hurricane for those on the east coast. Fortunately, I've been busy with a good amount of freelance work lately. Unfortunately, I can't show any of it to you. Yet. All in good time.

In the mean time, here is the new Homo Ferus. And one of many more to come, I might add. Every time I finish one, I think of three more to draw. Trying to concentrate on the essentials of survival, hunger and food for the first two, I now wanted to approach shelter and exposure to the elements.

I've been considering posting some detail shots everyonce and a while. Maybe I'll do it for this one. We'll see.

Linework

It's got to that point where I've begun to describe the series to other people and even with only three pieces finished, this boy is certainly growing as a character for me. While only those three are done, I have his entire story, perhaps even life, planned out.

Thumbs/Sketches

And yet at the same time, I haven't given him a name. To be honest, I'm somewhat against it. I only refer to him as "Boy" or "The Child." Even in the original photoshop files. He's never had a name and frankly, doesn't even know what a name is. Doesn't matter to him so why should it matter to me.

In addition to that, I don't want to give him the personality that comes with the name. Because of my initial argument, there is still something missing in him that would bring him to that point. The point where he's completely human. There's no developed thought present in that head of his. And that reminder is a bit unnerving.

The Roaring

http://johnnydombrowski.com/illustration/the-roaring/

A personal piece that started as my Sketches for "The Great." A image of warning between the Great War and Great Depression. After finishing, it didn't seem as menacing as I originally thought it would, so I renamed it for the Roaring Twenties.

Made with Ink and Digital Color/Collage

I chose the Flatiron Building because- beyond being my favorite building in the city- to me, it's the best representation of Old New York City. The Empire State Building wasn't completed until the early 30's so I felt that The Fuller building on Broadway and 5th had a better feeling with just as much or even more character.

I've been busy with a few jobs so I'll be able to post those as soon as they publish. More coming soon.

Homo Ferus | Strength in Numbers

Better quality version: http://www.johnnydombrowski.com/illustration/homo-ferus--strength-in-numbers/

Just finished this tonight. With the amount of feedback I've received for the first Homo Ferus, the urge and pressure was on to continue the series. I've been going through a long dry spell so it feels good to break out of it. Sketch: About 6 1/2 x 9 inches.
One part of my work that I don't tend to show you is all of the tracing paper I go through. While I'm working on a piece, if I have the slightest bit of doubt of how I should draw something, I'll always sketch it out over the drawing. Before having him jump on the back of the elk, I originally drew him running behind- which you can see in the initial sketch. Along with a few drawings to get his hand right, you can see what the original pose looked like.Above: Original pose for the boy around a few wolves. Below: A few variations of his hand with the final version on the bottom.
Coloring it was also a challenge. Unlike the first, I had no idea what time of day I wanted to set it in. With a few ideas in mind, a dense fog quickly became the winner. I'm already working on sketches for another idea. I'm going to step away from Homo Ferus for a bit but he'll be back. Also, I may be working on a short comic soon but I'll keep you posted on that later. All the best.Inked line work: Around 18 x 24 inches.

Hardboiled

Better quality version on my website: http://johnnydombrowski.com/illustration/hardboiled/

Hardboiled fiction- mostly concerning crime- is a literary style that tends to have an "unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex." Shooting a man face to face was just another day on the job. I've been reading who knows how much of Raymond Chandler and he's quickly becoming my favorite author. On top of that, I've been watching a bunch of movies like The Maltese Falcon and, maybe one of my favorite movies, In A Lonely Place. All of that detective fiction and film noir, definitely helped spark the piece.

Since I had so much fun drawing smoke in some other illustrations, I wanted to rework it as an aesthetic instead of working as a big part of the storytelling. And one thing they did do, was smoke. That's all those movies were made out of, anyway. Shadows and smoke.
Taking a little break from my Homo Ferus ideas, I wanted to illustrated a moment that could be considered either raunchy or violent. And most importantly, him not caring either way. Characters like Marlowe could be beaten within an inch of their lives and yet still manage at being a smart ass. Whether they can get themselves out of trouble is another story.

I may be posting some detail shots soon. Depends. Also, I've been thinking about blogging on more than just new artwork. It's a blog, after all. Why not use it to its full potential? Hope all is well.
-Johnny.

SOI 53 Annual

Some good news popped up recently- thought I'd share it with everyone. I found out this week that I had two pieces accepted into the Society of Illustrator's 53rd Annual Exhibit and Book! Really exciting. The two pieces that got in were Homo Ferus and Passerby- my two most recent. -Johnny

Homo Ferus | Desperation

As always-for a better quality image- view the piece of my website:
http://johnnydombrowski.com/illustration/homo-ferus--desperation/

I'm back from the dead! Here's a piece I just finished tonight. It'll hopefully be the first of a series following feral children. Children who grow up in the wild or in complete isolation from any form of social contact with other humans. Homo Ferus was a term coined by Carl Von Linné (I believe, correct me if I'm wrong) which places the feral child in a stage between animal and man. Not quite either. What makes us man? Is Nurture really that much more important than Nature? It seems like it, yeah. There have been cases of children being locked in a single room for years at a time to the more legendary examples of kids actually being raised by wolves. These children would tend to walk on all fours and even bark and act like dogs.
During the sketch stage, I wanted the first image to put the child alone fighting against the elements, and in this case, hunger. With no options or knowledge for another way out, he resorts to desperate grabbing of fish in a nearby river. I stayed pretty faithful to the sketch with the hair being the one exception. As the idea developed, I wanted the boy's face covered up in this, and most likely, in every illustration from the series. Since we relate to someone the easiest through their eyes or face, I wanted to take that safety net away from the viewer and portray him as, in a way, just another beast in the wild. That's when Ian Laser Higginbotham, a friend and fellow artist, mentioned the idea of having his hair soaking wet and dripping over his face. Perfect! After the ink drawing was done, I colored it digitally in photoshop as usual.I'll keep in touch- more where this came from. Let me know what you think! Talk to you later.
-Johnny

Stage Fright

Ink, Acrylic, Chalk

What started out as a simple piece about theft, turned me into that experimental artist living inside of me. It may not be much visually but for me the thought is there.

Since narrative is such a strong focus in illustration- the part of me that wants to make it incredibly abstract is usually taken out of the picture. In fact, it only really shows up when I'm working in my sketchbook. If you look back and some of my personal work like Hugo or Son, you can see what I mean.

I had originally planned for this piece to be about the fear or anxiety before committing a crime. I'm a bit fascinated about criminal psychology. For example, how certain criminals can rob the same place or store over and over again. I guess we are creatures of habit. Even when it comes to somethings as extreme as stealing or holding someone and gun point.

Southwest

For a better quality image of this, check it out on my website: Southwest

Hey everybody, here's a new illustration I just recently finished. Hope you like it! There wasn't much of a concept behind it. It may even be cliche but I don't care. I had fun. Time flies when you're having fun! Also, below are the color studies I played around with before I started to paint the line-work. Most of the time, I usually jump in head first and fool around with colors- like I did for If and When- but for this I wanted the color palette to be really simple. I figured I would test it out in photoshop first. You know, dip my toes in, if we're going to keep up the water analogy. And hey! The picture has water in it! Coincidence?! Yeah, it was.
I'm heading back to Connecticut for the weekend to see the family and hang out with my sisters which ought to be fun too. Fun flies when you're having fun! Okay. Up next I'm going to start a series I'm working on with a few friends. So more info on that when it starts to manifest itself. Talk to you guys later.
-Johnny

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

Jonathan Weiner

I recently did a illustration for the Village Voice! A portrait of the Pulitzer Prize winning author, Jonathan Weiner. The article was an interview with him on the idea of immortality. I felt that, with his previous books and the idea of rejuvenating or even perennial life in nature, it would be an interesting setting for the portrait.

Art Direction by John Dixon

Motif | Thought Processor NYC

Hey everybody, The Thought Processor was really cool. A bunch of cool looking people showed up. I wasn't there for long- just passing through. It's still up so if you have the chance you should check it out.

I did this piece for the show. It's untitled there but I've since named it Motif. Sorry for the confusion. Hope you like it. Some of you may have already seen it and if that's the case... look at it again! It's 18 x 24 and done in Ink and Watercolor. All of that aging or... I guess just damage, is actually on the paper. I've played around with watercolor washes over some smaller pieces but never with some as big as this. When it started to happen- you could say I went into a bit of a panic but I later decided to embrace it and push it even further. Fortunately, the results came out looking pretty interesting.

Anyway, I'm trying to keep busy. I'll keep you posted with anything I'm up to. More coming soon.
-Johnny

Naturally Violent/Violet

Hey everybody, Here's a new Illustration I did for portfolio class. It's on the topic of whether we've inherited violence through out evolution from chimpanzees. After coloring it, I was playing around for a bit and took away the linework and ended up with the second image. I thought it was pretty cool! Named it "Naturally Violet" for the fun of it. It's fun! Wordplay is fun!

Also, I'm noticing that blogspot is washing out the images A LOT, which is usually the problem here. So if you wanna see cleaner versions of them- check them out on my website: http://www.johnnydombrowski.com/illustration/naturally-violentviolet/

Which one do you like better? Let me know what you think!
-Johnny

Ubasute

"...refers to the custom allegedly performed in Japan in the distant past, whereby an infirm or elderly relative was carried to a mountain, or some other remote, desolate place, and left there to die, either by dehydration, starvation, or exposure."
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia

My latest and last assignment in my portfolio class was to illustrate "The End." What it's the end of? Well, that was for us to decide. Coincidentally, my teacher in human nature mentioned how Inuits and Japanese have folklore concerning the abandonment of elders in the mountains or out on the ice. The idea haunted me and seemed like a perfect topic for the piece.

Also, you might see that I'm trying to play around with a signature. For the longest time I've never dreamed of signing my own work and even now, it's been added later on. In the realm of commercial artwork, it seems preposterous to sign your name. Instead, the most you usually get is credit in the fine print. Certainly better than no credit at all, of course...