Arrested Motion

By now, all AM readers should be familiar with James Jean (interviewed) mastery of the paintbrush, but did you know he does a pretty mean sketch as well? Every now and then, the LA-based Jean like to update his blog with his latest moleskin gems like the piece above entitled “Rust.” It’s always interesting to look at the details closely as these definitely seem to be more spontaneous compared to the planning that goes into his paintings.

For those lucky enough to be at SDCC, James Jean will be signing his new book “Rift” with Chronicle Books on July 24th, from 12 - 1pm. More sketches after the jump…

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As we continue our series of sketchbook features, we move on to one of our favorite artists, Travis Louie (interviewed). Not only does Travis carry around a sketchbook full of his kick-ass sketches, he also has a journal where he writes the famous stories that go along with each of his paintings. Unbeknownst to most fans, the stories are written first and the paintings are based on ones he likes.

Take a look some pics we took of his sketchbook after the jump.  You may even see one that could be turned into a painting for his show at Josh Liner’s in July.

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Last summer, AM flew out to the UK and took a road trip up to Bristol to visit Banksy’s exhibition at the Bristol Museum. As we mentioned, Banksy made an installation that replicated his studio and in that brilliant space, we realized that he had numerous pages from his sketchbook. Between chuckles, we zoomed in to take detail pictures of each one. From “No Ball Games” to “NOLA” to more that we’ve yet to see used, this edition of our sketchbook feature gives us a little insight into the brilliant humor and wit of Banksy.

Enjoy all the pics after the jump.

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Following up on a great opening at JLG, Josh Keyes posted up some additional photos of his creative process for the creation of his newest body of work “Fragment” - (covered). The images allow us to gain some access into the meticulous thought process Josh goes through before ever laying a brush on canvas. It’s incredibly insightful to see the all the notes and sketches that lead to the creation of many of the pieces that we saw at the show. We also note some of the real life pictures/studies that inspired him to paint pieces like “Howl” and “Self Portrait - Old Man”.

If you look at the sketches carefully, you may even get a hint of what’s possibly coming up for future shows. More after the jump….

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Time for another peek inside a sketchbook. “Practice makes perfect” and if the old axiom is true then it may explain Ian Francis’ crazy skills with the brush. Ever the passionate artist, Ian is constantly honing his concepts and technique with sketches and studies.

As AM observed in our recent studio visit (here), Ian’s studio was littered (certainly didn’t look like “litter”) with numerous sketches of his fantastic landscapes and hypnotic characters. Mostly utilizing just charcoal and graphite for what he refers to as “simple doodles,” Ian creates amazing snapshots that would have even seasoned collectors chomping at the bit.

Check out a detailed look at Ian’s sketches after the jump.

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We had only recently started our new sketchbook feature which takes our readers back to what is often times the very beginning of an artist’s creative process. Conveniently for us, Stella Im Hultberg (interviewed) posted up some images of her sketches on her blog for all to enjoy.  Take a look there or after the jump at the ballpoint pen & brush pen produced gestural doodles.

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We hope you enjoyed looking through Nate Frizell’s sketchbook a couple of weeks ago. This time, we take a look at some of Yoskay Yamamoto’s (interviewed) creative process as we flip through his sketches. He was kind enough to share it with us during our studio visit with him last year.

Take a look after the jump - maybe you will see something that will become a painting for his solo show in June at LeBasse Projects.

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While visiting Nate Frizzell’s studio a while back, we had to opportunity to flip through some of his sketchbooks. It’s always a privilege to be able to look into the inner workings of an artist’s creative process and is one of our favorite things to do. Of course, we made sure to take some pics to share with our readers. Definitely expect to see more of these features here in the future.

Take a look after the jump at some prelim sketches for completed paintings and ideas for what may come in the future…

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