Youngling and Terentatek (Unofficial Fan Art for Star Wars), Original Artwork by Brandon A. Miltgen, 2014
We’re still out here… floating around. My co-workers and I, the ones of us who used to be regulars on this site for our challenges, have been busy with, well, life of course. Since there haven’t been any posts for awhile, I thought I’d give a shout-out about my latest, a gift for my son. Happy Friday! We’re not dead… we’ve just been… actively elsewhere…
Give a click on those profile pics on the side to see more of what we’ve been up to 🙂
There was an angel in the snow that day.
I know because I went outside with him.
The snow was very high,
And we felt taller than usual while standing on the front lawn.
Our footprints wound around,
Through the snow,
Like a maze of dashed lines on paper.
It was beautiful.
We even stuck a shovel into the snow
Before we made our snowy angels.
We headed inside,
My legs chilled,
And he drew an ‘x’ in the snow by the door.
His words could have melted the snow:
“I’m gonna make a lowercase ‘x’
To remember what fun things we did.”
The snow didn’t melt that day.
My heart did.
There was an angel in the snow that day.
Drum roll, please. I give you: THE ILLUSTRATED POETRY ILLUSTRATION TIME CHALLENGE!
The requirements are simple:
1. Draw a picture.
2. Include a poem to go with it (the poem can be your own or one you like that someone else wrote). It’s that simple.
This is a guest challenge because my sweet lil’ daughter, Rory (who’s art has graced Illustration Time here and there), suggested we try doing an illustration combined with a poem. When I asked a couple of the other core contributors to our blog they were down with it. And so it is. So get yo’ scribbles on, Illustration Timers!
The above poem, by Rory herself, can be interpreted as thus (as best as I can remember):
When a girl does hair
Her hair gets crazy
She says:
Get my hair back to normal!
This one was tricky for me. Once I’d stared at those lines and saw a super hero in there, I knew it would be a Captain America fan art piece. The trouble came ultimately with meshing an invented physique with reference and fitting it all to Joe’s line constraints (the hands and face are from reference of me; but the rest of him is obviously very stylized). It was a very fun exercise conceptually and very worth doing. But I think I’d be a little more careful in the setup phase if I could go back and do it all over again 😉 Happy Tuesday, Illustration Timers!
Here’s a look at Joe’s challenge lines overlaid on my drawing efforts.
My daughter Rory chimed in with her answer to the Power Animal Challenge: a kitty cat. On her blog, Peace Signs Rule, she says she chose a cat, “Because cats sleep a lot like I do. I like cats a lot.”
But that’s not all. She also wanted to share Warrior Woman, her latest work:
While she made Warrior Woman, we were listening to Adrianne’s music blog, Diamond Studded Brain Waves (rock-steady-betty.tumblr.com). Here’s the song that got her excited while drawing to put some music into the post:
Brando here. My power animal is a jackal, the African black-backed kind to be precise. My coworkers and I were discussing what the new Illustration Time drawing challenge should be and power animal was the decision. I initially suggested that my power animal should be Yoda or Gandalf, but Joe and Adrianne wouldn’t let me be so cheeky. So, after some thought, I realized why a jackal is so powerfully perfect for me.
The black-backed jackal is much more than your average wild dog. He’s actually very family-centered. In fact, my wife and I watched a BBC special on mammals that featured the family life of jackals. A jackal pair mates for life. When the two have pups, while the mommy jackal does the nursing, the daddy jackal faithfully secures food for mommy. As the pups grow, daddy-jackal plays with the pups and expands his efforts to bring food back for the whole family.
I’m a family man, sharing with my jackal friend those very same characteristics. Taking care of my family is very important to me. My wife does the hardest work there is—staying at home to nurture our growing children (we have four pups). My job is to earn the money our family needs and play with the pups. It’s becoming very rare now for a mom to stay home while a dad is the sole breadwinner, but my wife and I believe it’s best for our family right now (pups grow fast and need lots of love; time flies when they’re young and you can’t get it back).
It is a very joyful life to have a family and it’s also a part of my faith. I recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity. Go jackals!
If you’d like to see how I developed this one in my cutesy style, head on over to my blog, Drawing Faith 🙂
As a kid I saw Rocky 3. It made an inspirational impact on me. Clubber Lang—Mr. T’s intense beast of an adversary against Rocky—always stood out to me as a premier symbol of personal drive and tenacity. While Rocky lazily lost his edge, Clubber stayed hungry and was able to knock Rocky out of the championship spot. I felt inspired recently to draw some tribute fan art for Mr. T. The above image is the result.
We can gain spiritual insights from both villains and heroes. This artwork represents both sides of the equation. Clubber is the villain, while Mr. T who portrayed him is a positive role model to me—hence the title of this post is “Spirituali-T.” As I prepared to begin this piece I researched Mr. T. Not only does his intensity to achieve goals stand out, but his charity as well. Fans may not know that he gave up his gold jewelry after helping to serve those devastated by Hurricane Katrina:
“As a Christian, when I saw other people lose their lives and lose their land and property…I felt that it would be a sin before God for me to continue wearing my gold. I felt it would be insensitive and disrespectful to the people who lost everything, so I stopped wearing my gold.” (The quote is from a Sky News interview with Mr. T.)
When I asked my wife what color I should use for the background, she suggested the obvious: gold. I think it’s more than fitting. Mr. T may not wear gold around his neck anymore. No, it’s in his heart now. To anyone who’s hungry to improve their character or accomplish a worthy goal, I invite you to keep at it with Mr. T’s Clubber Lang intensity.
One of the songs I listened to quite a lot while working on this was From the Arrow Loop, by Ronald Jenkees. Click play and listen in while you take in the art. It has just the right dub-stepped feel of that intense drive and thirst for achievement that says “Mr. T” to me. Enjoy:
The Thing About Perfection (Unofficial Fan Art), by Brandon A. Miltgen, 2014
“The thing about perfection is that it’s unknowable. It’s impossible, but it’s also right in front of us all the time.” —Kevin Flynn, TRON: Legacy
Some Tron-love for y’all ❤ Here’s my cutesy expression of Kevin Flynn meditating in his outland home on the Grid, having a happy aha moment. Flynn’s pursuit of creating a perfect digital world led to his overlooking what was most important to him: family life with his son, Sam. It’s a thought that’s very poignant to me, as we all are capable of delving too deep into our own personal Grids. Work, hobbies, you-name-it—all worthy endeavors, if rightfully prioritized and moderated—have the potential to eclipse the friendships and family life that we should pay the most attention too. Sometimes it takes a trip onto our own Grid to help us recognize the need to focus on what’s really important. Just one of the many worthy life insights this film has allowed me to glean. Enjoy the animation with some music:
Here’s a look at my Christmas piece for this year about the Savior offering Himself to us. My newborn, baby Jack, was a wonderful model for the Babe of Bethlehem. If you’d like to read the full message of the piece, head on over to Drawing Faith, my personal blog. Merry Christmas!
Illustration Time 