Knitting Factory Poster

Very happy with the project!

I was able to accomplish everything I wanted; having the free standing piece, and the Knitting Factory poster separated. This project gives me the confidence to do it again. The watercolor pencils worked fantastically; I had more control using them with the pen and ink, and the colors really popped. It is safe to say, a good time was had by all.

The Fix Coffeehouse 4.15.11

Workings on these projects has given me a large portfolio. Out of all of the pieces, this one has become one of my favorites. The concept of Brian’s Great Grandfather is tying together well. I see a great Album cover, T-shirts, etc. in the future.

Two designs. One in the Filmore tradition; fill up all the space and don't give your eye's a moments rest. The second a more traditional county fair type.This style focuses on the picture more than the type. Nice too. Both work for me. Both have been printed up and are being used. You can take your pick.

The Brian Bateman Blend

Preview of the art work. Albums recorded, just needs to be mixed. The photo is one of Brian's Great Grandfather. Quite a character! Every family should have one...every family probably does. I like the feel of old family photos, they have to be cleaned up and scratches remove to get them to look good big.

Self Portrait No. 9

It always, mostly, starts with a phone call. The voice on the other end will say, “Dave…I have an idea.” Today it happen so fast I don’t remember what the original idea was, and what was my creative process, so if I mix them up, please forgive me if I sound too clever. The voodoo doll is always the object of someones anger. Sometimes the person’s so mad; the pins go in quicker than bullets through a target at a shooting range. But what about the doll itself, does anyone stop to think about his feelings? I’m drawing this thing, and it starts taking on all of these emotional traits. It was funny and sad at the same time! I though of all my old acquaintances, girlfriends, and stuff…just nailing me to the wall…and finally the last one just sticking this big fat sewing needle through my heart…the next words I heard out of my mouth were, “…Please, will someone just finish me off and be done with me?!”

I laughed so hard…I LOVE ART.

Can we do it? Yes we can!

I came to Brian with an idea some time ago, “I want to draw a piece with you and your guitar in the middle of a circle of nymphs! ‘Good’ he said, not even batting an eye. Wait I’m not finished ~ I want them all to be Rubenesque! ‘Even better’, he said and then he smiled”

I posted last month that I wanted to concentrate on poster size art. This idea would fit in well with that, but as things go, my muse had other plans. I still owe Brian the circle of nymphs; fortunately they found their way into his coffee cups. The coffee can design would feature one of the girls prominently on it, after we put a wedding dress on her.

The coffee can is Brian's baby; he knew 90% of what he wanted when he brought it to me. The other 10% was a series of fortunate events. This design is the visual center piece for promotional posters and t shirts.

Thanks for all your input on this Scot.

More is More!

While in school working on my Bachelors several years ago I signed up for a life drawing class. The class had thirteen students gathered around nude male and female models. If you want to learn how to really draw a human body you have to be able to see what you’re drawing.

My kids are going through my backpack, and start looking at the text book for the class. “OHHH does MOM know you have this?” They had a lot of questions. As I remember it, I went through how my text book wasn’t a Playboy, and how Mom signed me up for the class, so yes she knew there was going to be a “naked” lady in the classroom.

Drawing the human body is fascinating. It’s the way the light falls on the muscles. It’s the lines and shape the skeleton forms. So fascinating that I even forgot the model was nude one time. I was talking to her about one of the kids being sick. She was studying nutrition, so the conversation went on and on about vitamins, and my son’s health history...
...until the teacher shut us up!

It was only then that I remembered I had been talking to a young woman with no cloths on!

It is one thing to draw thin-ish models, and quite another to draw someone like me. I have about one hundred pounds on those classroom models, which makes it harder to render a figure like that right. Now, women that weight that much are even more difficult to draw. I'm liking the idea of that challenge. These promotional pieces are drawn without models. I haven’t found a good way to approach a “big and beautiful woman” and asking her to let me draw her naked!

To be honest, I don't thing there is a right way. Here are the pieces.
I’ll fill you in more later about the things I've learned from this project.

The Art of The State

I was a little, little kid, like five, and I can still remember going to JC Penny’s to look at albums; my how things do not change! I saw a Disney LP for Snow White. The cover was beautiful. My mom would not buy it for me. I don’t know how soon after that, but I do remember thinking, “Well fine. I’ll just make my own.” I took out the scissors, the stapler, the cardboard, the crayons, and pencils. I made my own! I can remember thinking how cool it was going to be to listing to this. Did you already see this coming? Well, much to my disappointment, I looked into the sleeve; mine did not have the record! Never the less, this was my jumping off point for my love of album art. I would go through the seventies, eighties, nineties, and well into the new millennium before I would get to do real album art and much to my disappointment everything had gone to the smaller CD jewel case format. Just when I thought it couldn’t get worst. It did. With the switch to Internet download music, album art work has been reduced to postage stamp size art. So with all of this being said, here are two of my most resent pieces. Go to iTunes and cd baby and search for Brian Bateman. You'll like the music, and you'll see my stuff "in the rack". The project is a little bit bigger than a postage stamp here. I thought you would appreciate that.

Return of the Splotch

This poster was for a friend of mine.

Lets go back a little bit. It started in High School. The local bands would come to me and ask if I would design their fliers and logos. Back then, everything was done by hand. If there was a mistake, I would have to start over. Advances in the last ten years have changed the way I do everything. What I can do on the computer today, was impossible to do back then. Adobe products, like Photoshop and Illustrator, allow me to add and subtract things from my original art quickly, therefore cutting down on time and frustration. Getting back to this piece. I love all the colors. To think it started from just a little doodle I drew at lunch. Everything is basically just one layer on top of another. From my original ideas, to line drawings, to watercolor splotches, and hand written text, forty layers finally making up one piece. It was a great learning experience. I had a great time!

[one of those splotches from the watercolor class is in this piece]