TIKI SHOW

It's a bit late but here are some pics from last
weekends M MODERN Annual Tiki show. It was an impressive and crowded show. I'm still new to the L.A. gallery scene and I'm always amazed by the talent and variety of work that is out there. I'm humbled and excited to be part of it! Especially when I sell a painting. Many times I don't get to meet the buyer but this night I did. He was opening a TIKI bar in Las Vegas and he was collecting paintings for it. In the mean time I've been cranking out as many paintings as I can during my hiatus , Which unfortunately is at an end. I'll be Joining my cartoon comrades soon at Family Guy. My new works will be shown in July at the Copro Nason Gallery. I'll keep you posted.

BEWARE THE ORPHAN WORKS BILL !!

YOUR ARTWORK IS IN DANGER!

This is a warning to all visual artists. A Bill is currently being written that could change your art career for the worst. It's called the Orphan Works. It would make it very easy for anyone to take photographs or works of art from artists and use it for monetary gain, and take away the rights or ability for the artists to do anything about it. So why would any advertiser, publisher, or licensing company ever buy art directly from an illustrator, photographer, or fine artist when they could just browse the web and take any image they came across. This Bill reads as if someone was specifically making a plan to bypass paying artists for any work they use, and make it nearly impossible for the artist to take legal action. Please listen to this podcast by Illustrator Brad Holland who is part of the Illustrators Partnership. It will explain this issue in better detail than I am.

Since the Universal Copyright Convention and the Berne Convention Implementation Act in 1988, intellectual property has been protected by the government. Artists, along with authors, musicians, or anyone who created a work, were protected. Nobody could use your work without your permission, and if you registered the work with the Copyright Department, you could get monetary damages for the violation. You simply showed them that you possessed this work.

If this Orphan Works Bill passes, artists, only visual artists and photographers, are NO LONGER PROTECTED, can NO LONGER GET THEIR WORK COPYRIGHTED, and have to prove HOW and WHEN someone stole their work, using their own lawyers. It would make artists and photographers the only artists who can't. Artists can register their works for a fee with private commercial agencies(which don't exist yet), but this gives no protection either. A company will just have to look at one or two of these agencies, and if they don't see the work, can legally use it, paying a whatever fee they choose. The artists has no say. The company can always say,"Oh, I just came across this image." And legally they are protected. Artists will have to register their images with every single company if they want full protection, and still get close to nothing if an image is used. A lot of time and money for nothing. My paintings and drawings will no longer belong to me.

The Bill is being written as THIS blog is being written and is scheduled to be put into motion THIS SUMMER! The podcast and website will let you know the steps you can take to help stop this.

If you care about your artwork and your rights as an artist GET OFF YOU ASS AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!

Serpent

Here's a new creature sketch. I've been switching modes a lot during my hiatus. This past week I was immersed in painting for my upcoming gallery show. Now I'm back to concept mode. GOTTA PRODUCE before the baby arrives!!!

Jake Lee

I recently discovered the work of the late Jake Lee in a Westway's magazine of all places. He Illustrated several covers for them back in the 60's and had a pretty lucrative painting career. The Chinese American Museum has a great retrospective of his watercolors and cover work. The museum store also has a catalog of the show for $12.00. Check it out if your in down town L.A. His work beautiful!

MORE TIKI??

Yes more tiki! The trip to Maui was pretty sweet, naturally. A lot of snorkeling , jungle hiking , volcano exploring , and of course picture taking.

























































Right when we got back I got an invite to partake in the annual TIKI show at the M Modern gallery in Palm Springs. Perfect timing since I was already surrounded by Tiki sculptures and had endless reference. Here's the sketch.

OFF TO MAUI !!!

Joy and I never really took a honeymoon so we decided to spend some time in Maui before the bundle arrives. We're looking forward to a completely different environment than asphalt and concrete buildings! Here's a few TIKI sketches to tide you over until we get back.

We did do the nose. And the hat...BUT SHE IS A WITCH!!!

You'd think that the first week of an artists two month hiatus would explode into a frenzy of painting and drawing.......but nooOOOoo. So far the first three days has been an annoying exercise in cleaning , reorganizing the studio, and throwing out crap loads of garbage I've been hanging on to for years! I really had a hard time beginning work surrounded by chaos. So in the meantime here's an old sketch that reappeared in the madness. It's a sketch for a painting I never started. In fact the halftone drawing is on my website http://www.markcovell.com/Concepts003.html but I always liked this sketch because it was drawn pretty fast and is full of movement and fluidity. Now I have to keep all the same movement in the final painting. Whenever I get to it that is.

NINJA

Talk to anyone who knows me and they'll tell you "Mark Covell digs Ninjas!"
Not only am I a fan of the ridiculous 80's Ninja movies starring folks like Sho Kosugi, but I'm an even bigger fanatic of the true historical aspects regarding those reclusive warriors. Here are a few interpretations that I sketched. What the hell is the bottom Ninja pointing at you ask? I dunno. What do you want?....it's a quick sketch!

BUGS

Switched from Bots to Bugs!

New Bot

Here's a quickie I managed to sneak in this weekend between painting, looking at condo's, and prepping for fatherhood. The madness never ends! I found some old halftone paper and remembered how much I like this method using marker, ink and white colored pencil.

WOAH....BABY!!!!

Well I'm always talking about sketching interesting new characters and creature designs so here's my latest and best creation PERIOD!! Yep it's a baby if you haven't guessed already! Joy and myself will be new parents in early August. We'll know whether it's a boy or girl in another month but for now we're having fun looking at the baby name book and imagining what it will be like six months from now!

RECENT SKETCHES 08

Some people have complained that I've had no posts for months. Folks I know it's annoying but you apparently have not figured out my blog pattern. Post something ...wait several months....post something else. I'll try to be more attentive. Here are some more Post-it sketches. When I have time for a break these robotic creations come naturally and are a nice change of pace from drawing cartoon characters!

DAMNED AT THE CLAM

The latest Family Guy art auction strikes again! The theme this time... movie posters. I didn't have a lot of time to do a painting so I did the next best thing. India ink.

I AM LEGEND UPDATE

I was surprised to see that they're using my cover to promote a cool anamatic version of "Sacrificing the few for the many." It's one of the better stories in book one of the IAL comic trilogy. Check it out here.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/

and here

http://iamlegend.warnerbros.com/comicBook/comicBook.html

I AM LEGEND

http://www.joblo.com/con-i-am-legend
Here's a cover I recently finished for Vertigo comics. It's part of a trilogy based on I AM LEGEND. If your a Richard Matheson fan and are eagerly awaiting the movie coming in December, keep your eyes peeled for these free issues at Comicon this weekend! I felt honored to be part of this project which features art by Bill Sienkiewicz, Jason Chan, and David Levy to name a few.

A BOY AND HIS WHALE

KUNOICHI

More Oil Sketches

I had a chance durring my hiatus to actualy go OUTSIDE and paint wih my wife and Frank Serrano.
Frank is a superb plien air painter and I always enjoy picking his brain on how to simplify when out in the field. Time is the enemy when you paint outdoors. The sun is always shifting so you have to learn to capture what you see FAST! I'm amazed at how fast Joy. works. A long time ago I knew that whoever I married would have to be an artist. Besides being a fantastic partner she is extremely helpful to have around when I'm in a jam while painting. She is my extra pair of eyes and can help me solve problems that might take me hours to figure out. Color, values, etc.

CORROSION OPENING

As usual It's been months since my last post and as usual I have a good excuse! Back in August the world famous Joe Vaux.
invited me to be part of his next exhibit at the Copro Nason Gallery.
With much glee I cranked out four new paintings while working at Family Guy. Having a month hiatus was a big help as well! The opening was saturday March 3d and was a great success. I sold three out of five so I was in great spirits that night. I also met Dan Quintanna who was exhibiting his latest paintings. I've always liked his work and I believe we have similar inspirations. Joe's exhibit was a lot of fun to look at. You can stare at his work for hours and still catch things you didn't see before. Thanks so much everyone for being with us Saturday. I can't wait to get back to painting!

There are some great pics of the event on the JUXTAPOZ site!

SPECTRUM 13

This piece called "incantation" is in the new issue of Spectrum The best Of Contemporary Fantastic Art. The book continues to grow in size every year and I'm always blown away with the incredible work featured!


www.spectrumfantasticart.com