What's going on?!

Good question!....I haven't posted in awhile as I've been extremely busy working on one of the last stages in preparing my book for printing...the color stage! Egad, this is the last time I leave this much color work to be done at the end of it all!...it's overwhelming!
       But enough of that...I'll be back soon! Promise! Ci vediamo!
davide!

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!