Influences, a continuation...

Recently, while writing about influences in my work and mentioning artists that have helped shape the way I think and look at the world, I found to my dismay that (other than mentioning Paul Calle`) I'd only talked about comic book artists. That just won't do!

I'd left out two very important illustrators that have changed the way I look at lighting and shadow...and consequently everything I draw! These two idols of the drawing board are: Alex Ross, a man who paints books, posters and everything imaginable having to do with super heroes in such a realistic style that it makes me question my station in life and whether I should work as a retail salesclerk! This man's use of lighting and shadow will actually make you squint when he's depicting sunlight gleaming off a surface ... you can even tell what time of day it is by the warm or cool tones that wrap around his figures and the surrounding atmosphere he paints. That's so cool and pretty scary, all in the same breath! Second, and still my favorite is the late Rien Poortlviet (I'd give anything to know how to pronounce his name after all these years!), who has to be one of the most dynamic yet unassuming artists to walk this Earth. A self-taught artist known predominantly for his book Gnomes, Rien was one of the most overlooked illustrators alive! His prolific legacy includes two of my favorite books, simply titled Dogs and Horses. His elegance and grace whether working with pencil, pen, brush and ink, or oil paints brought animals and people to life in the most striking fashion, not to mention his use of light and shadow.


Ahhh, there's those two words again ... light and shadow! Very important these two words, as they're what give your illustrations, life, character, dimension, and most important of all... emotion! Drawing anything while dismissing the necessary effect of light and shadow will leave your work flat and dull, and probably forgotten. Not only have the two aforementioned artists never forgotten that rule, they've elevated the use of light and shadow to such a level that it's almost impossible not to try to improve your own work by watching them closely! What I lack in correct grammar I hopefully make up for with passion for my subject matter!


Influences are all around us ... our job as creative interpreters is to absorb those influences and find a new or different way to channel them into something that others might enjoy! My entire career, I've told people that my job is to make something out of nothing ...  I relish the opportunity! Ciao bella!

A new year, a new look...

I know I said I wouldn't have time to post a new blog for several days, but I have to share this news! I'm excited, because after using the moniker of Cuccia Creative Illustration and Design for 14 years, I finally decided to change the studio name to David Cuccia Illustration, and launch the new name with a new look for the website! The web address will stay the same ... www.cucciacreative.com, as that's what everyone has remembered so far, so why tamper with the laws of physics? I'm just lucky I can spell physics!

Some work you might recognize, some you won't, but the look now befits my personality a little better...you know, colorful! I've been described as a lot of things in the past, and forgive me if I don't repeat some of those words ... let's just stick with colorful! Form should always follow function, and this design does just that ... it's crisp, clean and colorful (there's that word again!), and simple! There's still a few pages to post, and the Online Store's getting an overhaul soon, but we're on our way! I've made some great progress on There's A Crazy Dog Under the Palace today, and I can't wait to share more of the finished art with you right here ... that is, when it's finished!

I would love to hear your comments and suggestions for this blog of what you'd like to see or hear about ... and I'll do my best to accommodate! For now, I'll just ci vediamo ... see you soon!
davide!

Working working working!

I'll have to take a brief hiatus from the 'ol blog to do some work! I'm at a pretty good juncture in my children's book and I'm trying to make sure the storyline and illustrations flow together in the right way. The jury's out on whether I'm right or not! I guess time will tell! Be back soon!

In the beginning, like any budding artist I drew with pencil. Art classes in grade school through high school introduce you to a variety of media, some you love, some you hate! Around the age of 10 or 11 my father contacted the Columbus Dispatch and the Citizen Journal newspapers, as I avidly followed the cartoons they ran every week..and I don't mean the daily strips, but Mostly Male and Forever Female, which were well written and well drawn! But I digress once again...Doc Goodwin and Eugene Craig were the creators of the aforementioned comic pages and were more than happy to give advice to a young artist, and look over my scribbles of the day! I apprenticed under their tutelage every Saturday for several months, with my father running me to and fro...I cannot tell you how much anticipation I felt every time I sat at a real drawing board to practice whatever they asked me to draw (my parents bought me my first drawing board for my 15th birthday...I still use it today)...and the best part was that they gave me my first experience in working with India Ink, and pens and brushes! Needless to say I ruined quite a few shirts (pens spatter a lot, especially in the hands of a young boy who wields them like a sword and doesn't know his own strength!) and several pairs of pants, but I began to learn exercises that would teach me control of my linework and how thickness and overlapping of lines produced textures and patterns. I loved it!

In college, I learned precise handling and control of these instruments as we drew dozens and dozens of pages of art, sometimes per week, to fulfill our assignments. Since my intention at the time was to work in comics or comic strips, mastering black and white art was key to the craft...color was always supplied by someone else or in some cases, would be handled by the initial creator. My sense of color was never extraordinary, but I knew the color wheel and what colors could compliment others best. I was having a blast throwing all kinds of dyes and watercolors around on my artwork until oneday when the school's owner, the famed Joe Kubert remarked in open discussion of the classes' assignment that I in particular possessed "the most garish sense of color" he had ever seen! Now we would all critique each others work in an open forum, never backstabbing or slandering...no no no...you had to critique in such a way that you not only told what you thought was wrong, but you had to offer a solution....so critique was not new to me at all...in fact I have very broad shoulders when it comes to people's comments about my work.

But the damage had been done. And I didn't even know it. I found that I retreated more and more into black and white solutions for my art assignments, and only used color sparingly if at all. That helped me understand and further develop my draftsmanship capabilities, but for some reason that comment stilted my learning of color. Once I discovered Paul Calle`'s brilliant pencil work (as I'd mentioned in a previous post), my abilities with pencil far outdistanced my patience for pen and ink, and I left it behind. But it wasn't until I learned computer years later (all the while experimenting with pastels and colored pencils along the way also, but on my own!) that I began feeling enough confidence to color my work as I saw fit. Oh, I still get heavy handed at times with the color saturation, but I'm more in control of my thinking and what I want to see accomplished with the illustration I've created.

I respect Joe Kubert. I respect his opinion of my work at the time. But looking back at some of the work I'd created then, there's nothing wrong with it at all.


Art is subjective. Color is subjective. People's tastes are subjective, and usually stem from personal opinion rather than from an open minded view. So my advice to artists of all ages or skill levels is to trust your own heart and trust your own opinions... and although you might cultivate other opinions, don't lose sight of your initial idea and remain confident in your creation and your decisions! You are the artist!

Passing my personal baptism of fire (or color!), I found that trusting my own judgment has led me into interesting choices. In Dark of the Sun, this particular spread (Iustitia Fiat Pereat Mundus or Let Justice Be Done, Though the World Shall Perish), tells the tale of two brothers, their mother, and a cruel, heartless father who rules the family with an iron fist...literally. Unable to take the abuse any longer one of the brothers murders his father, and in committing patricide he knows he will be executed for his crime in a violent manner. The other brother spirits his mother away to other surroundings, which spares them bitter memories of the past, but also spares their lives as Vesuvius erupts! With the mother and her one son now safe, I used warm tones to convey the warmth of the living, the condemned brother accepting his fate led me naturally into the cooler color range of blues and purples. The choice of color for the fist that signified the father's cruel abuse could not be anything other than blood red!

This piece was the easiest to color of all the illustrations in the book for two reasons. One, I followed the logic of the story being depicted and two, I followed my heart in looking for the way I could best convey the suffering and loss this family felt. The solution was there and the illustration almost colored itself! Today I look forward to making a lot of mistakes with color and finding better solutions...but nowadays, I'm my own worst critic!

Sorry 'bout that!

Well I goofed! I meant to show more samples of artwork with other friends and family members...instead I stuck my own mug in there several times! Maybe I need more espresso!

Friends and Family aka Models

When I began doing research for people to draw for my first book, Mythology, I called upon my next door neighbor to play the part of Herakles for several reasons. First, he had a great face for the character (I later decided to use another view so that theory went out the window!), and second he had the perfect physique for the role ... in short, he was a ready-made model! He consented to help me and I explained that he was to pose as if he were holding up a massive weight, which in the myth of Herakles and his labour to obtain the Golden Apples of the Hesperides meant he was temporarily holding up the Heavens for Atlas. He must've felt silly posing with his arms outstretched, but he humored me, it worked beautifully, and the results are posted here!  I made my first debut as Polyphemos the Cyclopes!

Friends and family can be invaluable when you're looking for someone to draw. Of course you must be thinking about what you're striving to achieve with your illustration and whether you've chosen the right person for that role... and you've got to have their consent!  I've yet to be disappointed with my choices ... and time after time, I can't resist playing the ham and getting my schnauzola into the action as well ... the second sample is from my third book, Dark of the Sun, which chronicles the last moments of the people of Pompeii and Herculaneum when Vesuvius erupted on August 24th, 79AD. I loved playing the role of Dr. Hanuman in Salva Sis/May You Be Well ... he's a man weary from treating soldiers on the battlefield, usually with limbs missing ... then oneday he treats a little slave girl who's fallen while running from the first soft pumice rocks as they rain down upon Pompeii. My wife, my brother in law, even my cousins abroad ... all have helped me in my quest to tell a story and I thank them all! The little girl in Salva Sis is Sandy Sposito, the daughter of my cousin Giuseppina in Sicily! The third sample is also from Dark of the Sun, but has myself and creative brother, Malcolm Deeley smiling like a couple of goofy guys in the background of the crowd. We couldn't resist!

This still holds true for my latest work-in-progress, There's A Crazy Dog Under the Palace, as the main character, princess Jasmine is my black labrador! See? A live-in model! Even better! An artist or writer should use whatever references he or she needs and feels comfortable with while creating their vision. In the end, your confidence and your project will exceed your expectations! Ci vediamo!

Teaching the Basics

When I saw this as a boy, I couldn't stop laughing! The great Mort Drucker always loved to make fun of himself, and this was no exception ~ case in point, this may not be the correct way to teach someone how to draw!...just maybe!

Influences and Developing a Style!

Every budding artist worries about having a definitive style to his or her work ... it's too bad we waste our time on such things, but that's the learning process necessary for the human brain. On reflection I found that good drawing is the cornerstone to any successful illustration. Or, as on of my college instructors explained it "look at creation like points on a line...our longest journey is from point A to point B where we're working on drawing solid form and mass, trying to capture the attitude of our subject matter....point B to point C is the shortest distance...that's the style you're using to finish the illustration!"

And he was right! Flashy technique will never take the place of solid drawing and the understanding of how to make characters interact with each other...in most cases a glossy technique only magnifies your lack of initial planning!

I travelled along the same rocky road as every other artistic novice out there...that's the only way you really learn! I had my influences, mostly from comic book artists while growing up...Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Gene Colan (still a demi-god to me..and now HE likes MY work! WOW!), John Buscema, Murphy Anderson, Joe Kubert...these gentleman propelled superheroes before my greedy eyes month after month and I ate them up like a starving dog! I tried to draw their characters, mimmicking their line techniques and placement of shadows...but sometimes things just didn't look quite right! In college I learned how you must "draw through" everything to fully flesh out your figures and forms before you apply the shadows and fun line techniques! Duhhhhh!

Shortly after graduating college, I picked up a book by an artist name Paul Calle`...and I was hit with a bolt of lightning! His technique more closely followed the pen and ink renderings of artists from the turn of the 20th century...James Montgomery Flagg (famous for his Uncle Sam rendering), Charles Dana Gibson (creator of "the Gibson Girl"), and even overtones of JC Leyendecker (famous for his renderings of the Arrow Shirt Collar man!) emerged through his precise pencil renderings! Finally this style spoke volumes to me! At first I copied his technique closely, trying to figure out why these lines followed the form this way, while other lines brought new depth to the image that way...and please understand  I would never ever, under any circumstances, compare my rendering style to the brilliant work of Mr. Calle`, but he's been a major influence in my work and the way I approach a project. I've been fortunate to receive compliments for "draftsmanship" which many people wouldn't understand, but it gives me a smile to be compared (in some small way), to the magnificent line illustrators of a century gone by! What I wouldn't give to have apprenticed under one of those gentlemen!

The main thing I learned from following the work of Mr. Calle` was that by allowing your linework to follow around the forms you're drawing with a certain precision, a pattern would emerge that has flow, depth, even movement sometimes! Over the years my style has changed and become a bit looser than before, but I still do my utmost to concentrate on solid drawing as the basis for all my work! Hopefully, you'll agree! Grazie!

Grazie, mille grazie!

I just wanted to thank you all for your opinions and comments about this blog ... when you begin something like this, you really don't know if you really have something to impart to others that might be of benefit, or whether you're competition for Charlie Sheen's ranting! Whichever I may be, thank you for your support, friendship and love! Vi voglio tanto bene!

Inspiration or People Really Do Matter!

In November of 1963, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The nation was in mourning ... various countries in the world had their own turmoil ... and a seven year old boy had a pencil! After a few months, the nation began moving forward, the countries of the world blamed each other for their problems, and I began to work on a memorial drawing to honor President Kennedy. I didn't know what else to do...everyone was in shock over the incident and all I could think of was that maybe a drawing would somehow tell someone in the White House that I was sorry and mourning in my own way. I found the perfect reference photo from an issue of LIFE magazine and set down to draw. Freehand illustration takes control, precision, and lots and lots and lots of practice...sometimes the magic works, sometimes it don't. I worked on it for hours and hours until I thought I had a good likeness. When I was finished, my parents helped me package it up very carefully and send it to the White House. I don't even want to think about how bad the drawing was...it was the thought that mattered! Shortly afterward I received a letter from President Lyndon Johnson's personal secretary, telling me how much my gift was appreciated. I couldn't believe my eyes! I not only felt satisfaction that I'd done a good thing, but in turn I realized I had an audience! Tiny, almost imperceptible, but it was there nonetheless! Oh, don't get me wrong, the short letter was almost generic in context, but it was a reaction to my work!

I could hear gears turning in my little head!

After that, I couldn't get my hands on enough things to draw, whether from photographs or comic books, or from life itself, which still holds the most beautiful treasures you could ever discover with a pencil or a camera lens! Cars and buildings were a problem and they still are, but believe me I don't lose sleep over it! But I thought "a true artist" would be able to draw anything anytime without looking at any reference at all! Yeah, right! Whoever started that lamebrained way of thinking should have a colonic with a garden hose!...my treat! Every artist uses reference! Every artist studies their subject matter before they begin a final illustration...sometimes in the form of small "thumbnail sketches," aptly titled as they're usually pretty small, but give you an idea of layout and size of your subject(s)!

Once you have an idea of how you want your drawing to look, you can move into securing good reference shots or whatever you need for inspiration...I'm fortunate that I can look at a photo of most anything and "turn it" in my mind's eye and draw it with some level of accuracy...that's proven to be an invaluable asset in my professional career. Also, I had no clue as a child that drawing the Superman typeface-logo in perspective (at least 10,478 times) would prove so beneficial in my line of work...I often illustrate and make up typefaces for things such as "Once Upon A Time..." (or in Italian) "C'era` una volta..." which will appear in my book! Even the book title for the cover of "There's a Crazy Dog Under the Palace!"

Generally, you'll pull things you like from reference shots and use them, changing them into your vision, without following them to the letter...but once in awhile you find something so special that you decide to draw it "as is," because there's really no way to improve upon it! For this drawing of "the crazy grandma," (who in the book will yell "That dog...she's CRAZY!")  I found a old photo from a book about the 1950's and 1960's in Sicily...but she was yelling with grief over a loved one being shot! But I didn't see it that way...and I drew her (with that beautiful body language!) as part of my opening montage about the townspeople's reaction to Princess Jasmine!

In closing for now (geez, I didn't know I was going to write this much!), people are important to me....yes, they're my strong suit in illustration, but they can impact you in so many ways, from a boy's memories about a fallen president, to the unusual person you might encounter running for a bus! Open yourself up to what's around you ... how people can affect you, and in turn, how you may affect others! It's fun!

Once Upon A Time...

Yesterday I talked about how an artist (or any person of creative aptitude) might get an idea to develop into a project. It's really hard to put your finger on "the moment of enlightenment," and sometimes and it seems the harder you try, the less likely you are to find that lightning bolt you're looking for! Still, consider this thought ... I didn't draw (no pun intended but it's fun to say anyway!) my inspiration for this book from watching television, the internet, an iPhone, or the latest 3G, 4G, Infinity-and-Beyond gadget ... it came from a Sicilian limmerick parents have been teaching their children for (most likely) over 100 years! Even more astounding (to me anyway) is the fact that this creative opportunity would never have been triggered had I not discovered my long-lost family ties in Sicily!

That makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. No espresso necessary!

I've learned not to question a good idea too loudly ... I just shut up and greedily pull it to me like Scrat the prehistoric squirrel from the IceAge movies! You may sit on an idea for a week, a month, or years before you're ready to let it take flight, but that doesn't matter as long as you find that idea!

More later....ciao!

"Where do you get your ideas?"

This is the universal question asked by everyone that's ever drawn a breath...including yours truly! Generally, we're so astounded to meet someone we really admire and we're looking for that one golden nugget of information they'll freely give up about the creative process...how do I find it?...how do I start it?...how do I make the idea truly my own?

When you find out, be sure to give me a call!

Truth is, there are many ways you can receive an idea, and no, I don't think it has anything to do with wearing a tinfoil hat. We forget that everyday of our lives we're open to a constant barrage of input and streaming information from everyone we meet and everything we see...we simply have to learn how to look at something with a different pair of eyes! Once you're able to do that, you'll have your epiphany!

Or maybe not. My latest book took quite awhile to take ahold of my imagination, and it started with our first trip to Sicily to see my second cousin, Antonino Cuccia and his family...a family I'd rediscovered after a "separation" of almost 80 years! But I digress...I'm good at that. My cousin couldn't believe I'd prepared a book of words and phrases in Italian to try to learn the language...one morning he started telling me several tongue twisters and limmericks generally taught to the children. One of them went "sotto un palazzo, c'e` un cane pazzo..." or "there's a crazy dog under the palace..."...there's more to the phrase, but that notion stuck in my mind and I always had a smile on my face when I thought about it....I don't really know why. One day while walking our black lab, Jasmine, my wife said "why don't you make a children's book from that kid's phrase Nino taught you?" 

There was my epiphany.

I'd been toying with the idea of developing a children's book but had absolutely no idea where to begin. We won't even get into the massive competition with the major publishers for that market, or the intense scrutiny of art directors, carefully matching writers to artists to produce the best, and most profitable book possible...no, "we" didn't even have an idea! And yet there it was. Perfect. Fun, bouncy, bright and full of promise....and slowly the story began to make itself available to me. My wife and my dear friend Karen gave me several great notions that I wove into an emerging storyline...why do the people think the dog is crazy? Why, she lives under a palace!...and that makes her think she's automatically a princess! But it needed something else...another main character to balance the idea...and that idea became Topo the mouse. HE would be part of the reason the townspeople thought this dog was crazy...because she talks to herself! But in reality she was talking to Topo who rode in her fur or tucked behind her ear, so well hidden hardly anyone could see him when they passed! That's it!

In the next post, I'll share some sketches from my book and show development from a rough idea to the finished pencil illustration! See you then! Ci vediamo!

Where to start?!

I think that's the question every new blogger asks themselves .... where to start and what do I have to say? It's all subjective opinion, and hopefully it's all fun!

I've always imagined myself of the raccoon persuasion, just born to human parents...it would sure explain a lot of my childhood, but things are never that simple! In the meantime let this image suffice as fuel for my delusion.

The creation of artwork or a story should always start from the imagination ... but let's be honest ... it generally starts as an offshoot of something we've witnessed in real life! The best stories or the best images are the visualists' interpretation of facts and their perceptive slant on reality!

I'd love to hear from other people that love to create something out of nothing ... that's what it's all about! More later! Ciao bella!

davide!