This blog is a ghost town. 

Follow my tumblr: http://jonesray.tumblr.com

Illustrator? Designer? Programmer? Brand Identity solution?

I've been maneuvering through what some would consider an art career identity crisis. However, viewing it through the lens of survivability, I call it increasing the odds of success. I've been cycling through the roles of Graphic Designer (briefly at Y&R/ freelance), Teacher (Harlem School of the Arts), Web Programmer & Brand/Marketing Consultant quite a bit lately to fight the call of the mundane day job. It's been nice to work in many different environments as a freelance visual designer; there's an immeasurable benefit to approaching design problems through a different set of tools every now and then. The trick is still finding enough time to draw and evading creative burnout!

These days, I generally have only a few minutes to sketch, usually on semi-crowded trains. More posts as soon as I organize this art-making schizophrenia. Being freelance-anything is a multi-disciplinary all consuming profession. Prepare thy self.

Here are a few random sketches, some fun, some strange, mostly rushed and in some cases inked.

Thanks for looking!

Unholy, short story

First page of a short story I'm working on. Sorcery, fire, swords... I love it. More to come as more time creeps my way.

Inks

Pencil

As soon as I layout the rest of the pages, I'll start the colors etc. Coming soon!

Talisman: Two

Talisman: Two, for Survival.

Talisman: One

An idea. You care about those right? Ideas.... Part of a series.

Class prep work

Some class sketch work for demonstrative purposes. Kids love that stuff, right? Anyway, working on a story along with my class to add emphasis to the lessons in character development I'm teaching. Tired Swordsman's leg is kinda stumpy, but I'll get to that pre-inks.

Siren 2

Been awhile since I worked on anything like this, it was fun. Sumi ink on some less expensive than "khadi" cotton rag + some subtle colors in photoshop. Onward.

Sometimes, I draw in pencil.

Damn Mr. White, you cold as ice.

Carrier Pigeon: Volume 1/ Issue 3 Release Exhibition!

This thursday at the 20/20 Gallery (Manhattan, NY)!

Stephen Fredericks

Chunwoo Nam

Details:

Carrier Pigeon: Illustrated Fiction and Fine Art is excited to invite you to the release of our third issue at the Blackburn 20I20 Gallery on July 7.


The accompanying exhibition will showcase artwork done for the first five issues of Carrier Pigeon by artists Frances Jetter, Bruce Waldman, Stephen Fredericks, Ellen Peckham, Avraham Eilat, Jahee yu, Ray Jones, Josh Bayer, Sarah Sears, Rie Hasegawa, Justin Sanz, Max Kahan, Kristy Caldwell, Richie Lasansky, Denise Kasof and many others.


Refreshments will be provided by Voss, GuS Grown-up Soda and the Chelsea Wine Vault.


We are excited and grateful that this publication has provided us the means to curate opportunities for our contributing artists and to host events based on our shared goals and mission. We hope that you can come and help us celebrate the creative process of Carrier Pigeon, the release of our third issue and the many publications and artwork still to come.


Reception: July 7 from 6–9pm
Blackburn 20I20 Gallery is located at:
323 W. 39th Street, 5th floor
NYC, NY 10018

For more information about issue no. 3, take a look at the press release through the link below:

http://tiny.cc/rd1xt

View the issue no. 3 flipbook at :
www.carrierpigeonmag.com.


Hope to see you there!

Ghost town

I promise better blog upkeep in the coming weeks. Been crazy busy juggling band, Carrier Pigeon events and job hunting. NYC is a beast(--- and ridiculously hot over the summer! Aghh!).

Here are a few unused illustrations from the Shark Engine Enigma story featured in Issue 4 of Carrier Pigeon: Illustrated Fiction & Fine Art. I decided to color these initially but a few of the images felt severely disconnected so I opted to keep them B&W. I prefer simplicity.

Still love these as individual images though! I definitely plan to color more of my own work in the future. (Color tends to be on commission. )

This illustration is for another CP story due out sometime in Volume 2. The loose idea of this story is that people of the world start coming back from the dead as an acceptable form of zombie.. even the fish have a hard time dying. An interesting story by Victor Giannini whom I collaborated with on the above illustrations.

Dead Sea (ha)

Face melt!

Buck. He has a hat.

And finally here's an image I illustrated for Esquire Russia. I completed 5 illustrations back in March, here's 2 out of 5. It was a lot of fun working on these paintings. Art director Natasha Vasilieva passed along many ingenius steampunk inspired creative descriptions for these pieces which were composed as the following.

Finding the right balance of black and white was an interesting challenge.

The Office. (Steve! Noooo!)

Thanks for checking out the work! Hope you enjoy.

--Ray

The Forest is Red

I recently worked with film maker David Jakubovic on a poster for his upcoming feature "The Forest is Red". After several emails, a brief description of the design ("Maybe a dog barking?" "Don't forget the red rainbow!" etc,) and a viewing of several minutes of the movie the project was on its way.

The New York cityscape is an important part of the story. The main character hears voices and deals with a lot of internal conflict and this definitely affects how he views the world. I wanted to express that in subtle silhouettes and distortion. I imagined jigsaw pieces of buildings being forced together but in completely logical ways. Escher landscapes.

David mentioned the psychological aspects of the main character and the importance of the NY cityscape and I wanted to be faithful to that, considering NY is my home/ love/ curse. Tall skyscrapers, decrepit buildings, bright diners, corner stores... there was a lot that I wanted to fit in the NY scenery. I tried to incorporate buildings or places from my usual NY landscape, just enough to feel like I could have visited any of these locations.

The final image was a mix of the last two thumbnails.

This is the end result! I've yet to see the film, but I can't wait.

--Ray

Changing web hosting.

email: yarjones (at) gmail (dot) com

Site should be back up tonight or tomorrow morning.

The Shark Engine Enigma

A few more illustrations from The Shark Engine Enigma, due out in issue 4 of CARRIER PIGEON Magazine. The protagonist is a Surfer, which means I had the chance to ink some waves-- which is always a good time. Water is one of the most challenging elements to capture and it's always fun to create abstract representations of it. That said....

More to come when we announce the release date.

Harlem School of the Arts

A quick post of student work from my Manga Mania (sequential art) class. I realize the zoo isn't very sequential, but I like it. DEAL. I mean... Enjoy!

A sweet Zoo scene by Jarrard, 6

"Meanwhile..." Theo, 9

Sasuke v. Naruto! Fabian, 8

An autobiographical hockey story in progress by Ariel, 15

Dead Corpse 12/15/2010 @ Trash Bar part 2

DEAD CORPSE at the Trash Bar last month (year!). We have another show on the 27th. Hopefully we won't be as hammered.

CARRIER PIGEON: Issue 2: Day 6

CARRIER PIGEON Day 1 - 5

lilseamonster

You cannot resist. BUY cute non-edible food by Shanon (littleseamonster.com!) All of this deliciousness can be ordered on Etsy.com via lilseamonster. They're all one of a kind and custom orders. Get it for the vege/pesca-tarian/sushi lover in your life.

--Ray

12/14 eh? How'd that happen?

I have a lot of catching up to do..

Here's a little bit of what has been going on:

CARRIER PIGEON: Illustrated Fiction & Fine Art, Vol.1, Issue.1 has launched successfully! We are in 17 stores all over Manhattan and Brooklyn. The magazine looks and feels great! It has really excellent printing throughout and a design that was crafted with respect to the creatives. I'm really proud to be part of the crew involved in making this a reality... So far so good.

I've also been working on illustrations for a story to be featured in a later issue of CARRIER PIGEON. The story plays with the idea of death and the afterlife, with some interesting and at times comical twists.

Still teaching at Harlem School of the Arts.

Still drumming in Dead Corpse. (show tonight @ Trash Bar in Brooklyn, we go on at 10pm, if you're in the area/ like metal, drop by!)

--Ray

Sketchbook inks

Carrier Pigeon.

Dead Corpse.

Sketchbook drawing, soon to be tshirt design.

--Ray