Jeffords Art

Valentine Art

2012-02-16T23:11:00.001-08:00

So apparently I only do artwork for holidays;) This was for my wife. I took her on a tandem bike ride on one of our first dates.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T15:43:00.000-08:00

Final

2011-10-05T17:43:00.001-07:00

A bit of insider info on this one: The bike in the painting is one I had as a kid. It was called an "Open Road" (at least that was what it said on the pads). Even though it was yellow and blue and has a really lame name it was the coolest thing on the block. It had two speeds. (That's right two speeds.) I would race other kids on the block and shift to the second speed like I was hitting a "Turbo Boost" button. I loved that bike.

A bit of insider info on me: Until I was about 13-14 years old, I believed I would be visited by an alien. NEWS FLASH: I was a nerd. Yes - I was brainwashed by E.T. and The Greatest American Hero. (I know I'm dating myself here.) Something inside me said, "One day they're going to choose you!" I think somewhere deep inside that kid still exists and relives those dreams through my art. Ok...I'm still a nerd.

learning experience

2011-10-05T17:35:00.000-07:00

This was the color version of my first composition. It's a lesson for me in trusting my instincts. I never felt right about this painting no matter how good I thought the colors worked. Even though I brought this one to a "final" painting stage I knew I had to start over. I'm much happier with the new version and I'm surprised at how different it feels given that it's the same concept. Maybe I'll use this palette for an upcoming painting but for now this one goes into the painting graveyard.

2011-06-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

First of all...sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I did a full color painting of the image below and never felt like it was finished. I got caught up with a side project and this is the first opportunity I've had to revisit it. With fresh eyes on it, I realized that I'd been trying to turn a mediocre image into a good painting. So I'm going to try this one instead. It's closer to the idea I had in my head and tells more of the story. Maybe too much, I don't know, but I'm going to start painting it and see what emerges.

The Passenger

2011-01-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

Possible illustration entry for a gallery show here at work. The basic idea and composition is here. I'm not sure how much evolution is going to happen in the color phase. Here's a sneak peak.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2010-12-28T22:25:00.000-08:00

It's a few days late for Christmas but I figured I'd post it for the holiday season.

2010-12-10T00:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry, it's been so long. After moving twice, changing jobs, and doing a ton of freelance I haven't had much time to do my own stuff. This one didn't come as easy as the last and I didn't enjoy it as much. But hey, it's something.

2010-05-10T22:42:00.001-07:00

This one came together relatively quick compared to my usual illos. I enjoy the freedom of digital painting because of the ability to experiment without fear. Any critiques are welcome.

2010-04-28T09:52:00.000-07:00

A little work in progress. After seeing "How to Train Your Pet Dragon", I couldn't wait to draw again. Besides being a wonderful story it was artistically inspiring. I'm planning on taking this one to final color.

2010-03-12T19:50:00.000-08:00

Stream

2010-02-19T08:21:00.000-08:00

Last night I did a "stream of consciousness" drawing. That's where I don't think about it and just draw whatever flows off the pencil. When I'm completely blocked this is a good way to loosen up. It's also much easier to draw after a day of storyboarding. I like it when my day job serves as a warm up session:)

2010-02-18T18:32:00.001-08:00

Threw this one together for valentine's day. Artistic ability always comes through in a pinch. (Especially with us procrastinators) I wanted to mess with it some more but my wife said, if I posted it, I had to leave it alone:)

Monsters, Girls, Superheroes

2010-01-29T11:28:00.001-08:00

My favorite things to draw in no particular order are: monsters, girls, and superheroes. Look at most of the animated industry artists and you'll find I'm not alone. I do not enjoy drawing backgrounds. I have to force myself to care about the environment. In my experience I've found that most artists like one or the other and usually specialize. There are some though, that excel at both - I hate those people:)

Inspiration

2010-01-29T11:14:00.000-08:00

Okay, this needs to be shared. I just came across a blog that I completely "geeked out" over. Rad Sechrist is a board artist at Dreamworks and gives a mountain of information and trade secrets on how he draws and storyboards. I couldn't stop reading it. It was like crack cocaine for artists. I think it's a true gift to be able to draw but to be able to break it down so that others can learn is priceless. Check it out: Rad How To

Random

2010-01-27T19:09:00.000-08:00

Drawrings

2010-01-21T22:19:00.000-08:00

I'm doing some story/ situational sketches just as a fun exercise. These are just a couple images that came out as I allowed my imagination to roam. (They don't have anything to do with each other.) I know I'm not saying anything very original here but I figured I'd start off easy.

Dad (final)

2010-01-12T13:41:00.000-08:00

Been working on some freelance so I had to take a blog hiatus for a while. Here's the final version of the earlier post titled "Dad".

CTN-X

2009-11-23T17:54:00.000-08:00

Props to all the fine artists that came and displayed their work at the CTN-X animation expo this past weekend. Also, thanks to all those that took the time to look at my work and give me some feedback. Some of those guys had some serious lines and a lot of wannabe's (myself included) drooling all over them to get a critique. A few of those artists that looked at my work were Bill Presing, Lou Romano, Eric Favela, and Paul Briggs. Getting this professional level of feedback on your artwork in one day is unheard of and, to me, invaluable.

Other highlights were: shaking hands with Don Bluth, watching a demo by Peter DeSeve and Mike Mignola, and meeting a lot of new and old friends. Some of my favorite artists that came and displayed their work were: Brittney Lee, Bill Robinson, Micheal Daley, Pascal Campion, Saud Boksmati, and Lubomir Arsov. (there are just far too many to name) If they put this on again next year, I'm there.

Dad

2009-11-18T23:47:00.001-08:00

Here's my current work in progress. It is a subject that hit me the other day and I just had to get it out. Color soon to come.

Phase three...

2009-11-04T21:25:00.000-08:00

This appears to be pretty close to done. It's taken me a long time and I've been staring at it for far too long. My next step is going to be to put it aside for a few weeks and come back to it to see if I can push it a little further or if there's any glaring issues with it. Enjoy.

phase two...

2009-10-21T23:23:00.000-07:00

Here's my first color pass. As I tighten up the painting some of these preliminary color choices will start to look awkward. This is a good starting point but is not written in stone. Any critiques at this point are welcome. I will make a few more color tweaks and then I will start to refine. The inspiration for this piece came from spending many hours on I-30 on the way into Dallas. This is the scene I would imagine.

Q-ball sketch

2009-10-14T20:13:00.001-07:00

Here's how my digital paintings begin. This is a rough b & w layout for my next illustration. Sometimes I start with a detailed drawing and other times I work this way. As much as I love to draw, I find that the detailed drawing seems to slow the painting down. (unless I'm keeping my line work) I spend a lot of time covering up or working around the lines. This method allows me to see silhouette's quickly and not get bogged down with details too early.

Bowbegonizor 2

2009-10-13T18:08:00.001-07:00

Here's the updated version of the earlier post. I'm working on a series of these while I try to get published.

Medallion Man and the Q-ball

2009-10-09T10:56:00.001-07:00

This is a painting I did for a story I wrote about five years ago. I'm dusting it off and going to see if I can't make a children's book out of it. More to come from this story and others in the works.

Happy M-Day!

2009-05-08T06:51:00.001-07:00

My wife asked me to do a drawing for our M-Day cards. I wasn't sure that this was ever going to get done given our hectic lives right now. I sat down the other night with a moment to draw and decided to take a crack at it. This is what came out. I started with a loose sketch in Sketchbook Pro and painted some monochromatic values. I then brought it into Photoshop where I converted the values into color and cleaned up the painting. (I got a couple of random comments from companies because I spelled out M-day)

Bowbegonizor

2009-05-01T13:09:00.000-07:00

I did this illustration a few years ago. It's a watercolor wash with pastel and a digital touch up. It was going to be the cover for a children's book I wrote. I'm thinking about making some revisions to the story and reviving it. It's called the Texas Bowbegonizor (Bo-beggin-eye-zer). Inspired by a story my Dad used to tell me. It's mainly an excuse to draw a bunch of creatures.

dino designs

2009-04-16T13:17:00.001-07:00

These are a few designs I did for my company. They didn't make the cut because they skewed to a younger audience. My favorite is the parasaurolophus (duck-bill dino). I'd love to see him animated.

2009-03-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted in a while. This is a little freelance I've been working on. It's a postcard mailer for an AC company. They wanted me to invent a superhero for them. I had fun with this one.

Monkeying Around (Large)

2008-05-06T10:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a larger version.

Monkeying Around

2008-05-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

Here's this weeks forum entry. The first is my color version. I asked my co-worker Mark Whiting to tweak the colors for me. The second one is with his tweaks. It's amazing what a good colorist can do for a piece. I'm still doing revisions on this one but it will be a while before I finish so I thought I'd post what I've got.

Weekly Sketch Topic: Pirates

2008-04-21T08:21:00.000-07:00

Glad I could contribute to the weekly sketch forum this week. The weekend was busy but I managed to find some time Sunday night.

2008-04-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

A little sketch I did last night. I'm trying to keep up the momentum and do a drawing a day.

Favorite Disney Moment

2008-04-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

This is another entry in a work related forum. They just invited me to join. The topic was Favorite Disney Moment.

Sketch Fridays

2008-04-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

We started doing "Sketch Fridays" at work. No topic yet, just draw whatever comes to mind. Here's my last two entries.

2006-04-21T15:42:00.000-07:00

drawing during a meeting.

2006-04-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

Not sure what I was thinking here. Just wanting to get in touch with my feminine side.

2006-04-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a WIP. Not sure how far to go with this one. I'm definitely going to add more texture.

2006-04-14T17:22:00.000-07:00

another in the motion computing series

2006-04-14T14:38:00.000-07:00

-the first of hopefully many images. I got a motion computing tablet for my work. I can easily do anything from a quick sketch to a full blown illustration on it.