Details!

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 A little fellow--a tiny detail from The Wizard.

Helikon Gallery's director and fellow illustrator Cayce Goldberg suggested we produce a book to go along with my exhibition, and I was blown away by his creative approach to book design. Filled with full color paintings, the book features many close-ups and details!

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 Bringing the reader's attention to the details within the artworks was only one of his ideas--and it was a lot of fun! As we worked on the book, Cayce searched the paintings for small, interesting components, which he then added to individual pages.

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Here's a shot of one of the interior pages. The skull is a detail from the painting, The Hermit.

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This is the back cover of Innate Tapestries: The Endless Stage, with cut-out details from The Hermit, and other complete paintings within the book.

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 Detail crop of The Owl and the Pussycat.

For me, a great deal of the enjoyment came from revisiting my own paintings in a new way. Studying the details close-up is not what I'm used to--often, painting is a process that's sort of unconscious working, so I'm not always totally aware of what's going into the artwork. That sounds strange, but it's true.

 

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Detail from The Voyage of the Aeolus.

 

Combing the works for details led to some pleasant surprises about how my hand works with the media, too.

 

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Here is a blown-up detail of the cricket from the painting, Pinocchio...

 

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 ...and the complete painting in the book.

 

I hope you found checking out the details enjoyable--thank you for visiting and supporting my art!

 The signed, 96 page, limited edition book is available here:

The Art of Tom Sarmo

 

Thanks again!

 

Recent Drawings from My Sketchbooks

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Some recent, selected works from a variety of sketchbooks. 

These fellows are spontaneous drawings from my head, with the exception of the blue lantern--drawn using an actual lantern as reference. 

Sketching is almost as good as meditation when I'm needing a bit of peace. I've been doing a lot of sketching lately.

I wish peace for you as well.

Thank you for checking in!

A Feature in Imagine FX

 I was very happy to learn that my submission to Imagine FX magazine resulted in a feature in the January 2017 issue. 

In a regular section called Fantasy Illustrator Exposé Traditional, several of the editors pick and critique several traditional-media fantasy illustrators.

Everyone who contacted me from the magazine was genial and considerate, and as you can see, the feature is concise and very nicely done. If you are a fantasy artist working traditionally, what are you waiting for? Submit!

Here's their Facebook page

Imagine FX Fb

and their Instagram

@imaginefxmagazine

And thanks for checking out my blog!

Infected by Art: Volume III

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No question that I am stoked to have my top-hatted bird illustration in

Infected by Art: Volume Three; it is a gorgeous, large, and high quality book filled with contemporary fantasy and science fiction art directly from the worldwide competition of the same name!

 

"From fantastic scenes of science fiction to the worlds of fantasy and horror, this book has it all, and will appeal to anyone who appreciates the fantastic arts. Artwork included in Infected by Art Volume Three ranges from traditionally drawn and painted artwork to work done digitally, as well as sculpture. Each piece of art was hand picked by a select group of judges, including Donato Giancola, Rebecca Guay, Greg Hildebrandt, and John Schindehette."

Check out all the artists (and buy the book!) to see the amazing pieces in their full glory.

 

Here's the link to the art:

The Artwork

And the link to the book:

The Book

And here are detail shots of some of my favorites, with links to the artist's sites (please click on each name):

Thomas Gianni

Heather Hudson

Elliot Lang

Maegan Penley

Dylan Pierpont

Rob Rey

Crystal Sully

A big thank you to the judges, and

 

thank you for reading and exploring these and all the great artists in the book!

 

 

Cupboard Goblin: Process

Work on a series of paintings for prints led me to the idea of this little goblin-thief, surprised in the act of pilfering something from a household. Here's the road to completion:

 The earliest sketch that's survived shows a bit of my initial idea. But I needed some help with the pose, among other things...

...so this mannequin ended up posing for me--in a drawer.

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My first thought was that the little fellow would be medieval-ish and stealing some liquor, but this bottle would have been goblin-sized, not human-sized. So I modified it to be a ring, and changed the face...

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...and changed it some more. Also bumped the clothing to Victorian.

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I traced up the border and cupboard sketch, with a back door in the cupboard...

 ...which didn't work; too much clutter. So here's the final inked line drawing, without the back door, ready for paint.

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A detail of the lettering, and egg-and-dart-woodwork.

And a closer look at a detail of the completed work.

Had him (and a few others) printed up as affordable, premium-quality posters and cards. If you like them, please click on the link below and check 'em out at my online store--I appreciate your support!

Tom Sarmo's Shop

Thanks for the visit!

The Fine Art of Ice Breaking

Old Man Winter, maybe? Artist unknown.

 

I love this time of year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Eg5-4Pn444