William Marchant

The Difference Between a Photograph and an Illustration

Above are two images.  The first is a famous photograph by Annie Leibovitz of Pete Townshend.  The photo appeared in Rolling Stone Issue #320, June 26, 1980.  This amazing "bloody fingers" photo was further made infamous through it's "cameo" on Damone's bedroom wall in the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

The second image is an illustration I did today of the same photograph.  All I did was redraw the photo using line variation and then added color and halftones in Adobe Illustrator.  Big deal, huh.  Well the reason I did this was to illustrate the difference between photography and illustration.   I didn't change or add too much simply to exemplify the topic I'm discussing here.  

So what does the photograph do?  It portrays iconic Pete Townshend with a bloody hand...essentially getting across the idea that he played guitar so hard that it made his finger tips bleed.  The photo perfectly captures Townshend's expression of tiredness as well as satisfaction.  I consider the photo to be a masterpiece of photography and feel that I could look at it for hours.

The Best Mistake I Made Learning to Screen Print

Up until last week, I had been using 3M Injet Transparency Film on my Brother MFC-5890cn to print transparencies for my screen printing process. I had been quadrupling them up to get darker black areas.

In an effort to cut some costs, I found a much cheaper injet transparency film made by Apollo.  My costs for transparencies were substantially cut!  $50 for a 50 pack of the 3M stuff went to $14 for a 50 pack of the Apollo stuff!

So the new transparencies arrived and I ripped open the package...only to look at the specifications and find that they were not compatible with my Brother printer.  Tiss tiss for not looking into that before I ordered, right?  But, I tried printing a few anyway...only so my Brother could completely eat each page.

I sat there for a few minutes letting set in the fact that I was stuck with 200 transparencies that I couldn't use.  And a thought came to me!  They were compatible with HP printers and I had an old HP printer collecting dust next to my desk! 

DECEMBER UPDATE: W Marchant Ilustration & Design

My blog hasn't been updated for a while so I figured it a good idea just to explain why.  Why is because I've been busy as EVER!  While I've gotten only rejection letters back from a few of my picture book submissions...the design side of things has been great!

One thing I've been busy with is a lot of renderings and other design for a company in New York called Populate: Drawing People In.  I can't really talk about the projects I did for them because each involves 2011 ad campaigns for some major companies.  But I will say that a major soft drink company, a leader in dress pants, and a technological giant have some really cool campaigns coming soon and I am glad to have had a hand in pitching them! 

Other projects that I can only "mention" are the work I did for the CDC (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention)...but there is some neat stuff going on there too!

Some stuff that I can actually talk about, for one, is all the stuff I've been doing for MSI (Motor Service, Inc.).  I've been handling a rebranding of their company since early this year, which has included everything from new business cards, to truck decals, to merchandising items, to carbonless forms.  It has been a well-rounded project to say the least.

With all this design work, I feel lucky to get away from the computer screen every now & then...and some recent t-shirt screen printing orders I've gotten have helped that! 

Also, in whatever spare time I get, I have been developing a mini-comic or zine that is nearing completion (that's the cover above).  I will be targeting some underground comic stores and indie bookstores to sell some of these things so look for them soon!  If you want to pre-order a copy just shoot me an email.

And the last thing is always my side project RockScratch...I'm always adding new stuff there so check it out.  I'm running a 20% OFF Holiday Sale...so now's a good time to take a look!

Well, I think that covers most of what I've been doing lately...I'm going to get back to it, but have a happy Christmas season!

Bis dann!

LIMITED EDITION Kings of Leon PIGEONGATE Tees!

Check out RockScratch.com for more info on ordering yours today!

 

 

Recent Commission Work

Here are some commissions that I have been working on the past week or so.  An abstract landscape, a dual portrait of John Bell and Dave Schools done on scratchboard, two rather large scale close up portraits of Jerry Garcia and Jimi Hendrix, and a cartoonish painting of some ducks.

Drop me a line and let me know what I can do for you!

A Fitting Musical Tribute to Shel Silverstein

I figured this appropriate because it combines two things I love: Good music & picture books...

A tribute album was recently released called, Twistable Turnable Man: A Musical Tribute to Shel Silverstein.  It caught my attention because Silverstein is one of my favorite children's author/illustrators.  What really got me though was the musicians/bands that contributed to this album...such as My Morning Jacket and Dr. Dog!

Can't wait to check it out...

CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF ON AMAZON.COM

NEW Rock & Roll Illustration Series!

When it comes to the music I love (rock & roll) I have always been intrigued by the heart of the band...which, for some reason, many times turns out to be two key figures.  It just seems that as you look through the history of rock that the great bands seem to have these power duos... Lennon & McCartney, Plant & Page, or even Will.I.Am & Fergie (that is simply an example of a modern pop music group and I am in NO WAY putting them on the same level as the Beatles or Zeppelin).  So in a study of these power duos of the past & present, I am starting a new series of RockScratch illustrations called the "Rock Duos Collection".

The first two installments of this series are Jack & Meg White of the White Stripes and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.  Future additions will include duos from bands previously mentioned (except for the Black Eyed Peas...which I will not be illustrating) as well as the Black Keys, Kings of Leon, Black Crowes, The Band, and many many more.

Each work will be scratched on 5"x7" inked clayboard.  I feel that keeping them small makes them more intimate as well as more likely to be something you would want to hang on your wall.  Each will also be framed with a unique "roughed up" frame.  Prints of this collection will also be available.

Check back soon for more!

Check out the ROCKSCRATCH STORE NOW!

My First Batch of Screen Printed Posters...

I just finished with my first screen printing run...and for a first attempt, I think they turned out alright.  An experienced screen printer will see the obvious mistakes that I made, but the posters will look okay to an average viewer.

For my first run, I chose to do posters for the Black Keys concert I'll be going to on June 10th at the St. Louis Pageant.  The printed posters are seen at left...I did 15 black and 5 blue (and I completely botched 10 others).  I wanted to do something with a lot of detail and a couple different colors just so I could see how well it came out.

Rather than laying out instructions on the screen printing process (which you can find like I did by Googling "how to screen print") I'd like to offer some general ideas that I worked through. 

New RockScratch Illustration:"The Black Keys & Danger Mouse"

Ahh...what a beautiful day (at least in the midwest) for the release of the new Black Keys album Brothers.

In anticipation of the new album, I did this illustration which depicts producer Danger Mouse lighting the spark on a Black Keys rocket/firework.  The track "Tighten Up" off Brothers being DM's second collaboration with the Keys (the first being the entire album Attack & Release), I wanted to show the effect he is having on the band.  "Tighten Up" has the potential to appeal to a much broader/mainstream audience than the band has ever before...thanks in part to DM's production influence.  Sure the band has sold rights to multiple television shows and movies to use their songs...but for the most part, much of mainstream music listeners still do not know who the Black Keys are.  With the release of Brothers and the promotion of the single "Tighten Up," I personally feel that that is about to change drastically.

With that stated, this illustration is supposed to be reminiscent of my first Black Keys illustration from several years ago.  It is the same backyard scene, only the duo is no longer breaking out by themselves...they have already broken out...Danger Mouse is rocketing them to greater heights.

Prints should be available later this afternoon on www.RockScratch.com!

BUT FIRST, I'm gonna go buy the album!

Art St. Louis "Seeing Red" Exhibit Now Open

Who's Your Audience? is the Third Work From the Right

The 54 original artworks featured in this multi-media juried exhibit focus on the color red and/or address the theme of "Seeing Red," i.e. annoyance, frustration, and related issues of heated emotions, controlling anger, etc.

Join me at the Opening Reception this Saturday (May 16th) from 6-8pm!

555 Washington Avenue, #150 • St. Louis, MO 63101-1239 • 314.241.4810

CLICK HERE FOR MORE ABOUT ART ST. LOUIS