Gore! Workspace! Spera!

The dead guy that brings the end to all humanity... and my home work space. It's small, but I love it. At least it isn't a meat locker like my usual space at the moment (though I love my arctic chamber)..

There's a lot missing from this image, it's just the first layer of the drawing. I'm planning on adding another layer of bugs and disgust. It's an image from a series I'm working on for a short story.



Always on my desk whether I use them or not:

"It's not how good you are, It's how good you want to be" -- Paul Arden
Araki, photofile (gotta love mini photobooks) --Thames & Hudson
When You Are Engulfed In Flames" -- David Sedaris
ART/WORK: Everything you need to know and do...
One Hundred Demons... roughly translated, Yoshitoshi
Handjob: A Catalog Of Type -- Michael Perry
Fables Covers -- James Jean
Acme Novelty Library -- Chris Ware

And my latest sketchbook:

At the beginning or very end of every year I end up buying a sketchbook. Not on purpose, it just sort of happened. They haven't all made it through the full year, they usually are "full" (whenever I feel like stopping) after several months. It's tough picking out a good sketchbook, this may not apply to most people but I have to really personalize and at the same time make the book less precious to me. If I can't manage to do both with each new book, somewhere along the line I lose interest in working in the sketchbook. HEY, maybe it's strange? But that's how I relate to my books. This is why I own a million moleskine's that are precious and unfinished and stacks of black canson books with scribbles and mistakes. I'm looking forward to my new cotton rag paper sketchbook though--off white pages? heavy paper? I think this one will make it.

Yeah, I'm kind of a paper geek.

EDIT!!




I wanted to mention a project I took part in a few months ago that has been steadily and epically coming together. Spera! From the about page:

Written and created by Josh Tierney, Spera is a collaboration between artists from around the world, illustrated and told in consecutive sections that incorporate character designs by Sarah Ferrick. These sections form a tapestry of artistic styles and storytelling methods, turning the world of Spera into a poetic, surprising and wholly unique realm.

Above are two of the images from my section. Here's a link to the site! http://spera-comic.com/ Check it out! There's a lot of beautiful work to enjoy.

Happy New Year people!


--Ray

Nothing goes as planned.

Personal work is still progressing, I had a few set backs on the pieces I was working on a few weeks ago-- when I said I was originally updating. Things are back on track though. Trust me, I want to post an update.

As far as life goes, the band is practicing pretty intensely (I play the drums. Aaand we play metal. Evil evil metal. Word.). As soon as we start having shows, I'll post something-- or at least a link to our site. I'm still sketching and drawing new ideas, and I'm still a teacher.

I've just about completed my first semester as a teacher at Harlem School of the Arts... and I have to say, I have an even greater appreciation for every single teacher/mentor I've had up to now. The kids I've had the honor of teaching are incredible! I'm constantly blown away by their creativity. I've even been introduced to new concepts just helping them develop their ideas, which has been really enlightening. This sort of thing happens to me just about everyday I teach, and has caused me to question and reevaluate all the lessons I've learned on my incredibly caffeinated path through art education.

How many hours of figure drawing? Making god awful paintings? How many gallons of ink did I go through to this day? Is that enough? How many different medium's did I try before I decided I loved ink? How many different sizes felt comfortable to work at what stages of my development? Who did I look up to in the comic world when I started? .... it goes on. I've heard it a million times, but as cliche as it sounds, it's the truth when people who work with kids/teens say they draw inspiration from their students. Also, overcoming the terror of all the eyes and ears paying attention to you is damn good for us creative introvert types. There are scarier things out there than having people listen to you. I promise.

It really makes you think when a 10 year old looks at one of your pieces and in two sentences gives you an idea that helps you take it to a finish. Don't underestimate the youngin's!

--Ray

In the meantime..

Here's a better shot of a piece I posted here a few months ago. It's definitely an improvement-- pro' photographers are life savers. I'll be making a decent post in the following week, promise. Sketchbook, pieces, life update...

Kinda sick and disturbing.

A detail of a piece I'm working on. Blood, bugs, guts. More to come.

Skull Dog, thing.

The last two weeks:

Drawing. Drumming. Teaching. Drumming. Drawing. Teaching. --HORRIBLE ALLERGIC REACTION--... drawing.

"EY ...ey youngblood!"

I've landed a teaching job, so a lot of my time has been driven towards getting ready for the upcoming semester (in about 10 days). I've never taught before, but I'm loving the challenge already. Should be a good time! I'm also juggling a few other projects, expect updates to come in bursts over the next few weeks. Look! Sketchbook zombie.

Contracts

No matter how friendly someone seems on the approach, always sign a contract.

A designer from a reputable book publisher contacted me sometime last year(July?) to work on a big project. It was a book cover for a new young adult fiction novel; about a girl who is essentially stranded on an island. The designer claimed to be a fan of my work, so even though I knew the schedule would be intense(2 weeks, give or take), I was determined to make it happen. This publisher was also overseas at the time, so working around the 6hours ahead/6hours behind schedule was a valuable lesson in time management.

I was told to redraw the boat near the deadline and ended up submitting both of the above for approval.

UNFORTUNATELY, I was not paid. I worked solely on this project during that time and ended up working for free. When I sent the high res files, the publisher and designer became elusive. When I finally got in contact with the billing department, they gave me the run around, eventually told me I would be paid. Months passed, follow-up emails unanswered I painfully accepted I was screwed.

A few months later I found they didn't use the image for their bookcover, but I could argue that they stole the color scheme and the general feel of the piece for the final image they used. Unfortunately, it's an "idea" and those are generally up for grabs before execution or incredibly debatable. My time spent was severely undervalued.

In the end...

NO MATTER HOW NICE SOMEONE APPEARS TO BE-- SIGN A CONTRACT.
Even if it's your Mom. I'm serious.

That said, I'm avoiding mentioning the publisher in this post because honestly, burning bridges isn't my thing. I'll leave the rest to Karmic retribution.

--Ray

There are few things worse....

There are few things worse....than being an illustrator and finding out you're not getting your email. If you sent me anything in the past two weeks, feel free to resend.

15min ink 2

Fun between projects... September is a busy month.

15min ink drawing

Everyone loves Zombies

Am I right? Drawn during an episode or two of Lost and colored during 1/3 of a Hendrix album.

No Supervision

Part of something big.

Phew.

New work! Image update as soon as I get access to a better camera. This piece was all about rhythm for me, rather then symmetry. It was a lot of fun to make, and taught me a lot in terms of control and patience. ANYWAY, thanks for checking it out!

Work in progress vid part 2, final piece

12+ hours of thinking and drawing (and re-redrawing) later...



here's the url in case theres problems with the vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaR5bEB-TW8

And the final image:


Thanks for checking it out!

--Ray

6/17/09 ...Work in progress vid

You'll want to play your own music in the background for this one. Youtube has a terrible rights-free music selection...

Work in Progress

A new piece I've been working on.

posters? book covers?

Some quick posters I inked to keep myself warmed up for the bigger projects. The one on the left is a poster for my band or at least some EP art whenever we finish recording. The one on the right is work in progress-- but it could go in a few directions now content-wise, so I left it alone.

Accepting commissions!

Accepting commissions! $75.00 each, including shipping.

You get: 11.5 in x 17 in original inked artwork on handmade khadi watercolor paper, the ink I use is Yasutomo brand ink, the blacks will be rich and sexy, I promise.

Payments through paypal, shipment through fedex. Expect it to take 2-3 days to create depending on the complexity of the image. I'm also open to the idea of getting say-- a single word and making a response to it. Contact me at ray@jonesray.com , serious inquiries only please.

p.s. As far as reproduction of the work goes, I own the rights to the image, this is solely personal use/ collecting.

Autumn Release -- Now slightly more recession friendly!

Autumn - the collected works of Ray Jones 2007-2009, 8x10 and 42 pages. --The book contains work from my "book project" -Peaceoffering, as well as the TBFL (to bury future lovers) series now simply known as Autumn.

I decided to publish my book through Blurb.com. The paperback is $22.95 not including shipping.

Order here.



I may come out with a small supplementary sketchbook-book with all my sketchbook work all the way back to undergrad soon, but I'm planning that right now.

Work for Sale

I'm selling the last 3 large pieces I created at the show, but I thought I'd give the interweb a chance to buy them too. If anyones interested that is.

Each piece is priced at $850.00 USD, not including S&H which I would handle through FedEx.
Payment will be through Paypal.

Each piece is 60'' x 36'', Sumi Ink on Khadi Handmade Watercolor paper. It's really really thick/ heavy paper.


At War with Deceit

Sink


Like the Abyss

Work will be shipped after the MFA Illustration thesis show comes down. Contact me via email at ray@jonesray.com.