Aurian Redson

The King of Peanut Butter

2011-12-04T16:51:00.001-08:00

Here is my piece for the upcoming "WHAT IF..." exhibit at Gallery Nucleus:

The King of Peanut Butter

Ink & Watercolor
3" x 5"

What if Peanut Butter needed a king? What if this little guy answered the call? But what if he got lost along the way? Just a few questions that led to this piece.

Hope to see you at the opening! Gonna be lots of cool people and artwork along with an awesome Muppet exhibit opening downstairs on the same night! You can click here for their website and more info.

Small Stuff 5!

2011-11-20T21:34:00.000-08:00

The Bear and Bird show is on!

The Penguin and the Flamethrower
Ink and Watercolor

The Elephant and the Surfboard
Ink and Watercolor

Update: Everything is now online! Here's a link to see all of the artwork and here's a link to their shop. Enjoy!

A Tiny Narwhal

2011-11-09T22:27:00.000-08:00

Here's a piece for the Small Stuff 5 show comin' up:

The Narwhal and the Water-Resistant Walkman
Ink and Watercolor

I'll post some more artwork when the show opens.

New Bear and Bird Website!

2011-09-28T23:49:00.000-07:00

A little while back Amanda from the Bear and Bird gallery asked if I would like to do some artwork for their new website. They have such a cool gallery and I have had so much fun doing artwork for them that there was no way I could say no!

(I tried to pay respect to some of the other really cool artwork people have done for the gallery in those little picture frames.)

Amanda only wanted a piece or two and she was totally cool with whatever ideas I came up with. I guess I went a little crazy.

My goal was to show the characters in fun situations and establish their friendship but still leave them open for other people to explore too. I guess it would be like giving little snapshots of their lives but still leaving the viewer wanting to see more.

It got to a point were I couldn't decide which ones to finish in color so I sent Amanda all of the roughs and let her pick her top four.

I also did a black and white stamp for them and before I sent all of the originals out I threw a little watercolor on it.

I had so much fun with this! I'm glad there were deadlines because I could have just kept going. So check out their new website when you get a chance!

Now I guess I should start working on my own banner...

"Heroes vs. Villains" Micro Show

2011-09-22T22:59:00.000-07:00

The Disney folks are doing a cool micro show with artwork of heroes on one wall and villains on the other wall facing them. Whatever side has the most pieces wins!

Ink wash, before adding color.

They were kind enough to invite me so here is my contribution...

Marc Moreau, Wrestler of the Deep
Ink and Watercolor

Should be a good show! Hopefully they'll post some of the images on their blog.

Mary Blair Tribute

2011-09-15T22:30:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard of illostribute you should totally check it out. Toby Thane Neighbors has created a very inspirational blog and right now he has a tribute to Mary Blair! It's pretty awesome. I was totally excited when he asked me to do a piece for it.

Young Mary Robinson
Ink and Watercolor

I have to admit I struggled with this piece but at the end of the day it was a great learning experience. It also gave me an excuse to play around with gouache again.

Brothers Grimm

2011-05-10T22:51:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: Bear and Bird Gallery had a great show a little while back and I had a ton of fun doing some pieces for it. A huge thank you to everyone who bought my pieces! You are too kind. You can still see artwork from all of the amazing artists who contributed by clicking here.

Here is a closer look at some of the pieces I did.

Seven Ravens
Ink and Watercolor

The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage
Ink and Watercolor

I also made a thumbnail beat board for the entire story of Hansel and Gretel!

Hansel and Gretel
Ink and Watercolor

The process of making this piece was an awesome experience. After a few failed attempts I ended up getting a huge piece of plywood, soaking the paper overnight, pressing the paper against the board with a roller and getting a little out of hand with a staple gun. I was done taking chances.

The inking stage.
(note the few thousand staples)

I have been lucky enough to work on a couple beat boards for movies and shows but never an entire story. Kind of intimidating. I just stayed as close to the text as possible and only added a few subtle background elements.

Finished color.
(the plywood ended up being a great workspace!)

At around 28" wide I think this is the largest piece of art I've ever made. Yet somehow I still managed to turn it in to a ton of little pieces! Good times.

Away In The Woods...

2011-04-21T00:38:00.000-07:00

In a couple of weeks the Bear and Bird gallery is hosting a show based on Brothers Grimm. I can't tell you how excited I was to be in the show! It was also a great excuse to reread the stories. The storytelling really is amazing! I especially liked seeing the differences and similarities with modern storytelling. Even back then it was all about characters and choices. If you haven't read any of the stories in a while I would highly recommend it!

The Wren and the Bear
Ink and Watercolor

My approach for most of the artwork I did was to make you wonder what happened to get the characters in the situation or wonder what is going to happen next. Hopefully those questions inspire you to pick up a book and read the stories again.

Watch Out Death Dude!
Ink and Watercolor

Watch Out Death Dude! is from the story The Messengers of Death. It's a piece that is a bit of a tangent from the rest of the story but I loved the visuals of how the story opens. Even if you just go back and read the first couple of paragraphs I think it's totally worth it!

Brother and Sister
Ink and Watercolor

Brother and Sister was a lot of fun to do and I tried to put a few subtleties in with this piece. One of the things I wanted to hint at was the brother keeping watch for his sister just to play against their relationship at the end of the story. I also thought it would be fun to get a deer somewhere in this piece to foreshadow things to come.

I'll post some more pieces when it gets closer to the opening. Stay tuned!

Edward Scissorhands show this weekend!

2011-04-15T03:00:00.000-07:00

Seb Mesnard has set up a really cool blog to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Edward Scissorhands. Tons of really talented and inspiring artists have submitted artwork, I was very flattered he asked me to join the mix. Here's a link in case you haven't seen it yet: click here for the Scissorhands blog.

Now Nucleus Gallery is hosting a show of the original artwork from that blog this weekend! Here's the piece I did:

BFF's
Ink and Watercolor
3.5" x 5.5"

And even more cool news! I just found out my piece is gonna be the original artwork raffle prize! Here's a link to their blog for more details: click here for the Nucleus blog.

Hope to see you there!

Updates and coming soon...

2010-11-30T21:43:00.000-08:00

Good news! The Bear and Bird boutique in Florida has put all of the artwork still for sale online! Here's a link to their store: Small Stuff 4 artwork. Check it out. There are still a ton of cool pieces available. I think they have photos of the event posted as well.

The bad news for any of you online buyers? I think all of the pieces I did have already sold. Sorry. I hope they have found happy homes in sunny Florida. Sounds like a good life to me.

Which leads me to the next show...The Super Big Micro Show! Here are a few of the smaller pieces I did for this upcoming show:

Felipo, espresso aficionado.
Ink and Watercolor
2.5" x 2"

Somebody has a crush on Pinky...Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.
Ink and Watercolor
2.5" x 2"

The show opens on December 11th at 7 p.m. It's gonna get crazy! If you do plan on buying anything from this show I would suggest signing up for the online preview. And if you want to see some of the freshness everybody is doing check out the Micro Gallery blog. I think most of the artists have links from there. I can't wait!

More Small Stuff

2010-11-21T22:48:00.001-08:00

Here are some more pieces I did for the Small Stuff 4 show at the Bear and Bird Boutique:

Captain Brisbane
Ink and Watercolor
4" x 6"

Sub Tours
Ink and Watercolors
4" x 6"

If you get a chance, and happen to be in Florida, you should definitely check it out. There are a TON of really talented artists involved! Plus they have comics downstairs! Too cool.

I'M OKAY!

2010-10-28T22:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of posts and replies. I have been super crazy busy. Part of that is because I'm working on artwork for two different exhibits! The first one is for the Bear and Bird art gallery over in Florida. Here are a couple of pieces for that show:

Fisherdudes
Ink and Watercolor
4" x 6"

Pirates!

Ink and Watercolor
4" x 6"

The show opens on November 21st. For more info here's a link to their website. Their store looks really cool! I wish I could visit them.

We are also having a Micro Gallery show at Nucleus this December! Some of my friends over at Disney started a Micro Gallery blog to explain the whole thing a little better. Check it out if you get a chance.

Stay tuned, more artwork coming soon...

"Transit" Micro Gallery

2010-05-13T21:38:00.000-07:00

"Transit" was the theme of the most recent Micro Gallery show. Here's what I did:

Best. Trip. Ever.
5"x5"
Mixed Media

The Captain America comic and the first X-men comic are almost impossible to see in this image but bonus points go to anyone who can guess the other eight comics.

Improv Gestures

2010-01-12T09:26:00.000-08:00

Here are some more gesture drawings from our class yesterday. The actors are always moving unless they play a freeze game. It's so much fun!

If you get a chance you should also check out what my buddy Paul Briggs has been doing too. His stuff is amazing! Not only does he capture the poses but he's able to get a lot of storytelling and character across as well.

Winter Micro Gallery

2009-12-17T15:27:00.000-08:00

It was an awesome show! Everyone rocked it. We ended up raising over $800 and all of it is being donated to the National MS Society.

Here's each of the pieces I did in detail:

Ted Flies South for the Skin Diving
2.5"x3"
Ink & Watercolor

Julie Flies South for the Attention
2.5"x3"
Ink & Watercolor

Jack Flies South for the Siestas
2.5"x3"
Ink & Watercolor

Bill Flies South for the Margaritas
2.5"x3"
Ink & Watercolor

Gifted Artist show preview!

2009-12-07T21:00:00.000-08:00

More art! This time for the Gifted Artist show. Check it:

Sand Sculptors

5x5
Ink and Watercolor

Stick Boats
5x5
Ink and Watercolor

It's gonna be a really cool show. Seems like a ton of artists are going to have stuff on display and it's for one night only! All of the money is being donated to the Loma Linda Children's hospital and if a piece isn't bid on then IT gets donated to the Loma Linda hospital. It's a win/win situation as far as I'm concerned.

Hope you get a chance to check out all the sweet artwork in person, it should be awesome!

Power In Numbers at Nucleus!

2009-12-07T20:23:00.000-08:00

This show kinda snuck up on me. Sorry for the short notice. Here's what I did:

Air Traffic
5x7
Ink and Watercolor

I looked at a lot of cool Japanese woodblock prints for inspiration on this piece. I was going to add tails to the kites until I read that Edo kite makers believed that if your kite needs a tail to fly then it wasn't made very well. Tough principals, I love it.

My goal was to somehow have the power in numbers creating a problem instead of the usual lovey-dovey-gooshy-gooey happy stuff. Lots of kites messin' with the flight path of a bird seemed to do the trick.

For all the details on the show you can check this link. Hope to see you there!

Hey You Guys!

2009-11-29T20:21:00.000-08:00

Here is the piece I did for the Hey You Guys! art auction this Saturday, December 5th.

The doors of the Rialto Theater in South Pasadena open at 6pm. They are also going to start an online silent auction starting on Monday November 30th. I'll update this post with a link once it starts up.

UPDATE: The online auction has started! Click here for the link and then just look through the sidebar for the piece you want to bid on.

Gesture Drawing

2009-11-15T22:53:00.000-08:00

We have a gesture class at work with two models who are actually improv actors and for an hour they just do skits. Makes for some quick sketch fun! These drawings were done in 1-3 mins.

For one class I even managed to sneak in some watercolors.

Stay tuned for some art show info coming up really soon!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T23:15:00.000-07:00

Here are the pieces I did for the Halloween micro gallery show:

Every Halloween Fred Stocks up on Candy is about 3"x3". Ink and watercolor.

Candy Bandits is about 3"x6". Again, ink and watercolor. I was trying to tell a little story with a frame that had two openings, kinda like a comic. Not sure if it's successful or not, but I had fun trying.

The show was awesome! We managed to raise a nice chunk of change and all of it is going to charity in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Pretty crazy what can be done with a hallway space that would otherwise just be a dead end.

The Micro Gallery

2009-10-31T22:52:00.000-07:00

There may be a new gallery at work.

It may have lots of cool pieces of artwork from an awesome group of artists.

And it could be really tiny.

But if you were to ever ask me about it, I wouldn't know anything.

By the way, notice anything odd with the last picture? Maybe something attached to a pillar that shouldn't be? A table? Could be leftover from a saran wrap prank? I wouldn't know.

Sendak on Sendak

2009-10-31T22:39:00.001-07:00

There's a great show going on in San Francisco right now at the Jewish Contemporary Museum. I think it runs until next January. You can find more info here.

It's worth it for the gallery guide alone!

Terrible Yellow Eyes

2009-09-16T23:18:00.000-07:00

Nucleus Art Gallery in Alhambra is opening an exhibit displaying the physical pieces of art from a super cool blog by Cory Godbey. The show and blog, both titled Terrible Yellow Eyes, are inspired by Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are."

I grew up with this book. There was no way I could not do something for this. So here's the first piece I did titled Terrible Yellow Eye.

I thought it would be interesting if the Wild Thing that crowned Max king was also the one who ratted him out.

The second piece is called Wild Sea Thing Joins the Rumpus.

I always liked the sea serpent in the book and wondered what happened to him. I think he would be a big splasher. Both pieces were done with ink and watercolor.

The opening is this Saturday, September 19th, starting at 7pm. Should be fun! Hope to see you there.

Ink and Watercolor

2009-09-11T15:09:00.001-07:00

I love working with ink and watercolor. I've been drawing this way off and on for a long time. I even tried to storyboard in this style once but it was too hard to keep up with the story changes. Now I just do it for my own stuff.

Housewarming Card

2009-09-08T21:48:00.001-07:00

Just a little card I made for some friends. Congrats on the new home!

Bolt Endpage Character Studies

2009-09-01T23:17:00.000-07:00

"One Ridonculous Adventure" focused on the relationship between Bolt, Mittens and Rhino and the arc their friendship took over the course of the movie. I thought it might be nice to accent that arc with some studies of the three characters not getting along at the front of the book:

and then poses of them all chummy for the back of the book:

Everyone bought off on it and I eventually colored these bad boys up and they made it to print. I used to love catching little details like that in books when I was a kid.

Illustration Classes

2009-08-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pieces I did for my illustration class recently. The assignment was to use a Mother Goose nursery rhyme as the text for a two page spread.

The first one is in the style I have been storyboarding recently. The second one is similar to the style I used for One Ridonculous Adventure, with a few tweaks I've been working on.

This was a children's book illustration class at Art Center and Marla Frazee was my teacher. It was awesome! If anyone has a chance I would HIGHLY recommend it. Marla gives really great critiques and her books are great! Check 'em out.