Real Change

I'm sure you all have seen that Barack Obama poster by Obey. It's become quite popular. Well, here is my version of REAL change and hope. The one and only Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. I still think Obama is gonna do a great job (hard to do worse) but I've always said that Jesus is my one true President. Check it out...

Kayla's Room

It seems I've been posting lots of cute stuff lately and that trend ain't stopping here. (However the entries for our Barbarian contest will be posted soon enough so hang in there.) What we have here is the art I put together for my daughter Kayla who will be here in another 6 weeks or so. I wanted it to fit the theme of her room which is lady bugs and butterflies. I took it a step further and did a bunch of garden insects. Including a fat bee, dragon flies, and a tiny worm. I also tried to make each element have a different texture so it would have a "quilt" look to it. Hope you all like it. now bring on the AWWWWWWwwwwWWwwws!

Dealing With Graphic Designers

Here is a little taste of what I'm working on for my next promotional piece. I'm putting together a small book that will be used to help clients understand how to work with their graphic designers. (Hence the title) One of the most important steps in having a successful working relationship with a client is education. This will serve a dual role as both a promo piece and a educational tool. It's all designed to look like a cheesy 50's Survival Guide. I'm trying to make it both funny and useful. I'm still writing the different segments but would love to hear feedback from any of you designers out there who have some things you wish your clients would know. ie: "Quit saying Jazz it up!" or "Please stop sending publisher files" etc, you get the idea. I would like to keep adding to this idea and maybe get an actual REAL book out of this one day and not just a promo piece. Hope you all like it. I'll post the rest up later. Thanks!

Vintage Pinup Girl

Here is a piece I did today for a client in London. I actually have had a version of the pinup girl done for like a year and was selling it as clip art. I was asked to change her outfit and make it into a splash page for a Fashion website. Pretty fun, Enjoy!

Rock On Baby!

Now here is a fun job I was hired to do For Stuph Clothing's new Winter piece. They wanted something besides the old brochure layout so we switched it up and did a poster instead. Below you will see the final poster (both front and back) as well as a nice high resolution image of the actual illustration used for the front side. Credit to the awesome Torrance Reed for the drawing, and to the "Iron Fist Velvet Glove" Jared Mirabile of Stuph Clothing fame for the main "You're a Rock Star" text and other embellishments. I did the coloring (which byt the way I'm very proud of the style I used) and most of the layout work. It was fun working with other artists, reminded me of the times I used to work in the trenches with other artists side by side. Now back to my Lone Ranger ways.

I Love You!

Okay, My last post was a gift to my Mom. That reminded me that I had this older piece I did for my wife Valerie. It was my first "real" painting since somewhere around high school. I did it this way because Valerie said I was cheating when I drew on the computer. I wanted to show her I could use the real stuff If I wanted. I HATE painting with the real stuff. If that makes me less of an artist so be it! I'll take my Wacom Cintiq and Adobe Photoshop for all my painting needs. Its not messy, you don't have to buy canvas or paint supplies, and best of all.... I can undo. Anyway, enjoy the "real" painting. I like how it came out considering I haven't touched acrylics in years. But I think I'll still stick with my supposedly cheating computer from now on. Enjoy!

Vintage Florida Piece

So I promised my Mom that I would do an original painting for her way back during last Christmas. I just now got it done. Not that it took me a year to do it, I just have been to busy with other stuff to get it done. (some son I am) Anyway, it had to go with her decor which was kind of a "Vintage Florida Travel Theme" So that was the style I went for, something that looked like an old "Welcome to Florida" postcard or something. It was fun drawing the house I grew up in as well. Although I have to say I hate drawing buildings and scenery. But still a fun piece.

ART CONTEST 2: The Barbarian Horde!!!!

We had alot of fun with our inaugural art contest. Everyone's stuff was fantastic and I think some friendly competition goes along way to pushing ourselves further as artists. We wanted to make this a regular thing. And so it shall. The assignment this time is "Barbarians" so let your imagination run wild and submit your final stuff to me at adam@crystalclearart.com. We will hold another vote for the entries just like before. Best of luck to everyone and remember your all winners! (except the losers) Deadline is January 21st so everyone has plenty of time to wow each other. Let the games begin!



NOTE: Yes that's Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan the Raver. Yes I know how awesome it is. More hilarious stuff HERE!

This Present Darkness Comic Book Pitch

I've been slacking on updating this blog lately, and since I don't really have anything new I wanna show right now. I dug into my past for this post. A little background on these images.... Christian novelist Frank Peretti wrote a book called "This Present Darkness" it's about Spiritual Warfare. ie: Angels vs Demons. And the power of prayer. I fell in love with the book way back in middle school and have always wanted to see it adapted into "comic book" form. Well I got tired of waiting and so I created a "Pitch Book" that had all kinds of goodies in it. (Conceptual Sketches, Finished Pages, Financial figures, etc.) Problem is I never heard back from the author (who is quite hard to reach) or his manager. But if either of them read this blog, I still would LOVE to make this happen. For my first post you will see the 8 page sample that I adapted from part of the book. Props to my man Mike Damico for coloring it for me. I'll update with more sketches and pieces related to this down the road. Enjoy!

Zombie Competition Entries!

UPDATE: The polls are officially closed and the anonymous artists can now be revealed, along with the "winner" of the contest. Click below on the artists names to go to their personal blog were you can see more of their artwork. So who won you ask? ME! The one and Only Adam Meyer! Well, that's not exactly true. You see I had two entries and while I had the most total votes, its a little more complicated than that. Rather than get into details I'm just gonna award Mike Damico the honors of first place whether or not he had the votes to back it up. LOL. This was never about votes anyway but about the art. I hope you all enjoyed the scary images.

I have to say that even though only a few people "entered" this contest. It was a success. Mainly because it was never about any prize but about a friendly competition that would hopefully push us all to try something new and maybe even push our skills. Please fell free to vote for your favorite entry by using the poll above this post. you can only vote once so there will be no cheating. I'll reveal who all the artists are once there has been enough time to get some votes in. Thanks to everyone who entered.

1. Roger Mortis by Tad Branham
2. Zombie Victim by Adam Meyer
3. Attack of the Zombies by Torrance Reed
4. Chainsaw Savior by Mike Damico
5. Alpha Zombie by Adam Meyer

ART CONTEST!

That's right an ART CONTEST! One of my fellow artists called me up the other day and suggested we pick a topic and have a friendly little art competition. I thought it was a great idea. Competitions help us push each other as artists and when a contest is themed as this one is. It forces you into new territory and you might just find yourself out of your comfort zone.

So here we go the first ever Crystal Clear Art Contest has officially begun and since its Halloween, the theme is "The Living Dead" Zombies, Vampires, John McCain, whatever. Its up to you. Whatever style you want, whatever medium you want, However abstract or realistic you want to be, its up to you. All art must be emailed to me at adam@crystalclearart.com by Halloween 10.31.08 I will post the entries I get and we will leave it up to the general public to vote for the winner. I will make sure you get credit for your piece and link to your site so people can see more of your work.

My friend and fellow artist Mike Damico has offered to print the winners art on canvas and frame that bad boy up in all its glory. If you don't win and still want this to happen (or want anything else printed or framed) you can go about it the old fashion way and pay for it. You can't beat his companies price and quality. Trust me. View his site here... I will also do a little article showcasing the art here on my site discussing the winner in more detail along with other pieces they have done. And besides, you get to draw Zombies and that's fun! So get started people!


NOTE: The above art is not mine (I'm not that good) it's from the very awesome "The Walking Dead" comic books which if you haven't read I suggest you go pick up a couple graphic novels, You'll get addicted to it...

Crystal Clear 3D Animated Intro

So now that I've been getting my feet wet making these speed drawing videos. I thought I would get a fancy 3d animated logo intro to put before them. I've always wanted one of those cool movie studio intros to use on my short movies. But since I have yet to get around to shooting said movies I have never had the need. But these speed drawings give me an excuse to be a little self indulgent. That and having my good buddy Keith Lackey hook me up. (Check out some of the movies he's worked on here.) They include everything from Happy Feet to Fantastic Four 2. He's also working on the new Hobbit movies and James Cameron's new flick Avatar. Anyway, I designed the logo of course and even added the sound but he did the coolest part. Modeling and animating it. PROPS TO MY BOY! I'm also now considering offering 3D creation to my customers with him at the helm. I'll have to see if there's a need for 3D logos out there. Hope you all like it. You'll be seeing this before all my videos now. Which by the way, my next speed drawing will be Angelina Jolie as Catwoman. So stay tuned for that.