James Elston Illustration blog

recent Screen prints

2012-02-13T10:09:00.003-05:00

here are some screen prints I have done recently.

Logos I have designed

2012-02-02T10:31:00.005-05:00

Here are some of the logos I have designed

Painted Ballet Shoes

2012-01-31T16:10:00.008-05:00

I painted 2 pairs of ballet shoes for a fundraiser.

Bass Bear

2012-01-17T14:01:00.002-05:00

Tattoo design for a friend.

Adventures in Screen Printing - 2011 Christmas Card

2011-12-19T13:31:00.009-05:00

This year I printed my own Christmas card at Artist Image Resource in Pittsburgh. Did a print run of 200. 3 color serigraph (silk screen). So satisfying.

Jesus- Sacred Heart Mural

2011-12-02T12:34:00.006-05:00

Recent mural I painted in Old Westmont, Johnstown PA.

new! Limited Edition 4" Round Vinyl Stickers - Lovely Bird

2011-11-11T14:05:00.005-05:00

Limited Edition stickers! click here to order via etsy.

Z bird

2011-10-28T17:04:00.001-04:00

Lovely Bear on the Wall

2011-08-26T14:36:00.002-04:00

Painted the studio wall again.

Recent Paintings on the Behance Network

2011-08-17T15:57:00.003-04:00

click on the Behance icon to view

Cambria County Christian School Mural

2011-08-08T22:15:00.002-04:00

Here's a mural I painted for the Cambria County Christian School in Pennsylvania.

Flying Fish

2011-07-28T18:05:00.002-04:00

Fishy.

Flash Animation of the Week: Kung Fu Hero

2011-07-28T12:54:00.002-04:00

Flash Animation of the week: Lever

2011-07-25T13:42:00.005-04:00

click on picture to see animation

Salvaged Treasures Project Video Snapshot

2011-06-10T12:21:00.001-04:00

dominion.

2011-05-13T13:49:00.000-04:00

Lovely.

2011-05-04T20:38:00.001-04:00

lovely.

Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators

2011-04-20T13:51:00.003-04:00

check out my interview on the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators website.
or click April 2011 Newsletter to go directly to the pdf newsletter.

Post-It Art

2011-04-11T08:33:00.004-04:00

for a period of three months, I began a daily creative exercise whereby I generated as many random images as possible in a 20-minute time period using standard yellow post-it® notes, markers and colored pencils.
The finished post-it notes are displayed in my gallery show, Life After Lovely, in Johnstown, PA throughout the month of April 2011.

to check out more of my post-it notes, see my behance project page.

Life After Lovely Opening

2011-04-11T00:57:00.003-04:00

The Life After Lovely art opening was a success! Good turnout, tasty food, great music, happy vibes. Thanks to all who attended.

Click here to see a full slideshow of the art and event

Characters

2011-03-21T13:20:00.003-04:00

These are some characters I designed for a local fundraising event.
Salvaged Treasures Project, Johnstown PA

Life After Lovely Art show

2011-03-17T15:39:00.008-04:00

Life After Lovely

Fresh, New Art by James W. Elston
at the ARTWORKS in Johnstown!

413 Third Ave.
Johnstown PA 15906

April 7, 2011 6-9pm

Live music by the Peter Bond Project, Mark Weakland and Striped Maple Hollow
Call 814-659-1598 for more information

or email studio@jameselston.com

Paintings, Post-it notes and ballyhoo!!!

recent paintings

2011-02-22T18:15:00.007-05:00

I did these paintings for the Characters! Show at Studio 5216 in Los Angeles.

The opening is this Saturday (2-28-11) 6pm-11pm. free.

Studio 5216
5216 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA

Here is the event info on Facebook.

Valentine girl

2011-02-14T17:37:00.001-05:00

Valentine Girl. Markers and Colored Pencil

Local TV interview

2011-02-04T10:43:00.003-05:00

part 1

part 2

My wife and I were interviewed for a local cable access TV show called, "A Woman's Worth is Worth Talking About", hosted by Sharon Narcisse.

Chinese New Year

2011-01-28T17:01:00.005-05:00

my Taiwanese Mom asked me to make a thing for her Chinese New Year party.
Year of the Rabbit y'all.

Illustration Friday- Big Chicken

2011-01-15T18:37:00.002-05:00

Big Chicken. yeah.
for Illustration Friday

Deja Vu

2011-01-07T18:03:00.005-05:00

Deja Vu! for Illustration friday

Drip.

2011-01-06T15:47:00.003-05:00

Prints for sale

2010-12-22T17:06:00.005-05:00

Security. 16x20 coated, printed on canvas.

$55.

click here to go to my etsy shop

yes yes y'all

2010-12-17T16:56:00.002-05:00

11"x17" acrylic on board

Oliver and the Magic Snowflake interactive children's book

2010-12-16T16:07:00.006-05:00

I recently illustrated 2 children's booklets for a company that makes large mall structures.
The mall structure is called "The Ice Palace", and it ties in with Disney's Chronicles of Narnia "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" film. There are a handful of malls in the US that have this Ice Palace structure. Check the list here: International Plaza

Originally, I was hired to illustrate the free book that they give to children who visit the Ice Palace, but then they added a second interactive book for the website.

The story in the book/website stayed far away from the Narnia references, because of licensing restrictions.

You can check it the interactive book here:
Oliver and the Magic Snowflake

I did all the illustrations, and another outfit animated the elements and made it interactive.

Here is a page from the first book. I went from thumbnail (drawn on a post-it note) to final illustration. I had already illustrated most of the pages, so the sketch on this one didn't need to be very detailed, since I had already defined the characters.

Represent!

2010-12-01T17:15:00.004-05:00

so at last I have representation... in the UK anyway.
The Sylvie Poggio agency.

woot!

Pepsi Refresh Everything grant

2010-11-22T12:21:00.006-05:00

Hey, this arts group that I am involved with is trying to get a grant from Pepsi's Refresh Everything program. These people are awesome, and the town I live in really needs this. This would make a big difference. Voting closes at the end of November, we are trying to get into the top 10, and it has been hovering around 79 for a long time. Please vote! Thank you!
http://www.refresheverything.com/voma
-logging into the pepsi site using your email
-using your facebook account
-text 103848 to Pepsi (73774)... free, but standard text messaging rates apply

thank you!

commissioned robot painting

2010-11-19T12:04:00.003-05:00

Robot is on a mission...

St Nicholas book

2010-10-27T17:11:00.003-04:00

Buy my friend Matt Eldridge's book! All about St. Nicholas. Great historical fiction! and I illustrated the cover.

Here is the link:
St Nicholas- The Christmas Story

graffiti wall in my art studio

2010-10-22T19:14:00.002-04:00

recent illustration work

2010-10-05T16:11:00.003-04:00

for a children's book(let) coming this winter to a fancy shmancy mall near you...

painting show in Johnstown PA

2010-10-05T15:42:00.005-04:00

My first solo show is up! At the Bottleworks, in Johnstown PA.
Through Windows and Doors.

21 paintings.

October 2-November 2, 2010

recent Graffiti pieces

2010-07-02T14:05:00.005-04:00

Here are two graffiti murals I did in June 2010.

spy series book cover

2010-06-28T10:52:00.002-04:00

here's a cover I illustrated for book 9 in a 10 book series for Scholastic a couple of years ago.

book cover illustration

2010-05-27T15:08:00.005-04:00

Here's an illustration I did for a book about St. Nicholas

t-shirt designs

2010-05-24T12:54:00.003-04:00

Over the last few years, I have been designing the program cover/t-shirt design for Concepts Dance Studio in Johnstown PA. Here is this year and last year's design.

Octopus dance Flash animation

2010-05-18T22:28:00.001-04:00

Silly flash animation.

James W. Elston Illustration on facebook

2010-05-11T12:07:00.004-04:00

you can 'like' James W. Elston Illustration on facebook by clicking here.

London

2010-05-01T00:18:00.003-04:00

Here's an old illustration I found while digging through some old folders on my computer. I did this a few years ago for Oxford University Press.

another recent illustration

2010-04-30T13:30:00.003-04:00

recent illustration

2010-04-30T13:26:00.001-04:00

Inclined Monster - Johnstown PA

2010-04-07T13:36:00.003-04:00

At the Johnstown Inclined plane...

Vintage jimbo drawing (1983) - Hoth Battle

2010-04-07T10:46:00.003-04:00

I found this old folder of mine labeled "6/3/83". I was 12 when I drew this.

New Front Page

2010-03-31T21:55:00.005-04:00

I redesigned the front page of my website, and added a few new images. Check it out: www.jameselston.com

Illustration Friday: Rescue

2010-03-30T16:16:00.001-04:00

Graffiti cat

2010-03-22T16:53:00.002-04:00

graffiti

2010-03-18T08:48:00.001-04:00

Illustration Friday: Subterranean

2010-03-15T16:46:00.004-04:00

Clones: Fun with Photoshop

2010-03-01T20:58:00.005-05:00

Maybe my daughters are cylons. Daughters + Digital Camera + tripod + wacom tablet + Photoshop. So say we all.

Abominable

2010-02-28T18:14:00.002-05:00

Aaaaargh!!! Somebody call Ultraman! There're monsters in Dahntahn Johnstown.

Illustration Friday - Propagate

2010-02-23T23:03:00.003-05:00

Propagate - for illustrationfriday.com

Chorus

2010-02-15T23:12:00.002-05:00

Snow

2010-02-15T17:38:00.003-05:00

snow

Illustration Friday - adrift

2010-02-15T13:50:00.003-05:00

Illustration Friday - muddy

2010-02-08T23:41:00.001-05:00

My Artwork on ABC's Shark Tank

2010-02-06T17:31:00.007-05:00

I did a piece of artwork for a contestant on ABC's Shark Tank (airdate February 5, 2010)

The contestant was Nicole Jones, the shoe PROFESSA!, and I was commissioned to do a piece that would be used as a large cardboard stand up in her presentation. It was blurry and in the background, but... I saw it. yay.
here is what it looks like:

Pole guy

2010-02-05T20:42:00.002-05:00

just a pole guy. I dunno...

Worlds Apart

2010-02-05T19:09:00.001-05:00

"Hello!" said the Ocean.

2010-02-03T21:17:00.004-05:00

Bright Idea

2010-02-03T11:02:00.001-05:00

15 minute character illustration. Blue guy getting a bright idea.

Skater Girl character design sketch

2010-02-02T09:57:00.003-05:00

An early character design that ended up going through major changes before the final version. I kinda like this sketch.

from my sketchbook: thumbs

2010-01-28T01:01:00.003-05:00

My buddy Brian and I used to laugh about how people would put their thumbs in their pockets.

Flowers

2010-01-25T16:32:00.002-05:00

Flowers... for you <3

Evil Genius

2010-01-24T20:52:00.002-05:00

Evil Genius

Random Illustration of the day: Sound

2010-01-18T14:34:00.002-05:00

Random Illustration of the Day: Sing

2010-01-14T02:09:00.000-05:00

Sing a song.

Random Illustration of the Day: Behold

2010-01-11T23:46:00.001-05:00

Random Illustration of the Day: Touch

2010-01-06T17:19:00.001-05:00

experimental piece.
Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

Pile

2010-01-05T17:57:00.002-05:00

experimental.
ink and photoshop.

Graffiti painting

2009-12-28T15:15:00.003-05:00

Graffiti painting I did for someone named Annalise.
Spraypaint, paint markers and acrylic on canvas.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T02:38:00.003-05:00

Yinztown graffiti

2009-12-16T18:18:00.002-05:00

Random Illustration of the day: Girl and Robot

2009-12-09T19:50:00.002-05:00

Random Illustration of the day: The Seamonster and the Bird

2009-12-07T17:56:00.003-05:00

Welcome to Yinztown

2009-11-25T10:41:00.002-05:00

yinz.

"Our Families" JA poster

2009-11-25T10:38:00.004-05:00

Another big poster I illustrated for Junior Achievement earlier this year. Adobe Illustrator

"Our Communities" JA poster

2009-11-24T19:19:00.004-05:00

Big poster I did for Junior Achievement earlier this year.

Ally Angel

2009-11-19T20:21:00.002-05:00

Chimp suit

2009-11-19T20:20:00.002-05:00

A chimp in a suit. Adobe Illustrator.

A find

2009-10-30T15:59:00.004-04:00

Another illustration I found while digging around in my house.
I did this one just for fun a few years ago. I was experimenting with different techniques. This is colored inks, markers, gouache, and colored pencil on bristol.

Illustration process part 3

2009-10-30T15:43:00.004-04:00

Here is another example of the aforementioned technique. (see previous post)

sketch.

line drawing.

final.

(I copied the crowd on another layer, flipped the layer, and changed colors to make it look like a larger crowd.)

manga style illustration

2009-10-30T15:37:00.003-04:00

I was digging through my old illustrations, and I came across this piece. I did a set of these manga style illustrations a few years ago for a Christian publisher. Unfortunately, this never saw the light of day, because of some kind of budget problem. I got paid, but the publication went under I think.

I kinda like this one.

Done with Adobe Illustrator

Illustration process part 2

2009-10-30T14:55:00.007-04:00

Here is another 'anatomy of an illustration' piece.
I have a few different techniques that I use.
Here's one. This piece was done for LifeWay Christian Resources a while back. It was for a children's Sunday School curriculum I believe.

First, I did a sketch to present to the client.

After approval, I took the drawing into photoshop and adjusted the hue, saturation, and lightness (image/adjustments/Hue-Saturation) until I had a light blue looking sketch. Then I printed it.

I drew over top of the blue lines with a brush pen and fine-tipped fancy shmancy art marker. I buy the heavier, brighter stock paper, so that I can do this technique without the ink bleeding. Then, I scanned the black line drawing back into photoshop and further adjusted any little dots or mistakes I may have made in the drawing step. (in the case of this illustration, I didn't have any errors, as far as I can tell)

Then I exported the black line drawing to Illustrator, did a 'live trace' to convert the line drawing to vector, and then colored it, and added shadow shapes etc.

There. Finished.

Anatomy of an Illustration

2009-10-30T12:51:00.006-04:00

Here is a time lapse of my creative process when creating an illustration.
This piece was commissioned by Plugged in magazine. Music by the Odd Numbers.

Basically, I did a sketch, and I imported the sketch into Illustrator. Then on a separate layer, I constructed the content mostly with the pen tool, brush tools and my Wacom tablet.
Then I imported the vector piece into Photoshop, and added layers of detail, shadows, highlights and textures.

New Threadless design ... Flying Fat Cat

2009-10-13T16:09:00.002-04:00

New Threadless design ... Chasing Birds

2009-10-10T00:31:00.002-04:00

New Threadless submission - Fun!

2009-10-08T16:53:00.003-04:00

(I think I might have missed the mark when I added the word "FUN". I think it would have a better chance with just the characters.)

New Threadless design ... You are a Rock Star

2009-10-07T15:16:00.001-04:00

Time lapse of the Learning Lamp Mural

2009-09-22T18:06:00.002-04:00

I painted this in March 2009 for the Learning Lamp's Children's Book festival held at the ArtWorks in Johnstown PA.

Time lapse of the ACRP mural in Johnstown PA

2009-09-22T07:58:00.001-04:00

here's a time lapse of a mural I painted in June 2009.

Berkey Excavating Inc. Mural

2009-09-21T16:02:00.003-04:00

a time lapse video of a mural I painted for Berkey Excavating Inc. in Boswell PA.

painting

2009-07-12T20:10:00.002-04:00

I did this painting for a local silent auction.

word.

2009-07-05T02:21:00.002-04:00