Happy Halloween!!

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Natalie Imbruglia Portrait

Had a little bit of time this week to finish my Natalie Imbruglia painting. Continuing my experimentation with using more colours.

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Saltire Exhibition - Dundee Comics Day

This past weekend was the Dundee Literary festival and as part of that, Saltire Comics held an exhibition showing all the artwork from their comic. I was honoured to be asked to contribute my painting of Saltire (the main character and superhero in the comic) to the exhibition.

The exhibition will continue through this week, so if you are in the area, pop in! Here is the painting..

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Legends of Football - Thierry Henry Portrait

Besides art, my biggest love is football (or soccer for my friends from across the pond!). I've had an idea for a while to do a series of portraits of legendary football players covered in paint in the colours of their team.

Thierry Henry played for Arsenal from 1999 - 2007 and then again in 2011 scoring 228 goals in the process. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players ever to play in the English Premier League, he is a true Arsenal legend.

If you have any ideas for club legends for your team, let me know! I'd like to make this into a bit of a series! :)

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Why Should I Use Illustration?

Ever since I started taking an interest in art and illustration, I've been hearing, "illustration is dying" or "It is too difficult to make a career by drawing or painting" While I agree that there are easier ways to make a living, I disagree wholeheartedly that illustration is dying.

In fact, i think illustration is in the process of making somewhat of a resurgence! The most common "competition" to illustration is through photography. Why pay for a custom piece of artwork when she can use some stock photo or even a paid photographer?

My feeling is, that as technology improves (as it is doing exponentially at this moment in time) its is becoming easier and easier to produce high quality photographs. Everyone now has an iPhone or a smartphone with multi-megapixel cameras and an endless supply of apps that give you any filter you can imagine. Very soon, high quality, "artsy" images will become something of the norm. And before any photographers feel that I am doing their profession a disservice, "just anyone" can't take a great photo. The experience and training involved in photography gives the professional the "eye" to see things that the average guy on the street wouldn't see., and is ultimately what a photographer is paid for.

But to the untrained eye, a photo is a photo. So if magazines, movie posters, book covers, billboards, marketing companies, ad agencies, etc. are looking to stand out, I feel illustration let's them do just that. To commission a one-off piece of art means that image has never been seen before. And the style that comes with any artist or illustrator, gives the viewer the feeling that thought, effort and skill has gone in to making the image, instead of (naively thinking) someone just pointed a camera and pushed the button.

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Drippy Drips.

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Seve Ballesteros

I started this painting a couple of weeks ago when the Ryder Cup was on. I always get hit with golf fever when any of the big tournaments are on, but the Ryder Cup is a bit special. On the eve of the tournament, I was listening to a podcast (BBC 5 live I think) and they were listing their top Ryder Cup players.

This got me thinking about mine and for me, there was only one candidate, Seve Ballasteros. Both as a player and a captain, he was inspirational for the European team. And for me, the year he captained the team to victory at Valderrama will always stay in my mind as one of the best sporting moments I can remember.

So I had to include the Valderrama clubhouse in the painting, with Seve wearing his trademark navy blue jumper with white shirt, which he always wore on the final round of a tournament.

Technically, I am starting to find an aesthetic I am becoming more content with. I've had a few comments saying my work looks like oil paint, and I instantly break out in a big cheesy smile, because that's exactly what I am after. I love realism but I am trying to get away from hyper-realistic photo realism. I figured, if people wanted hyper realistic photo realism, they would just use a photo! I want to leave some brush stokes showing in there and throw in some random colours that you wouldn't expect to see. I'm still working on being more loose in this way, but I'm getting there.

On a seperate note, I am only 10 away from 1000 followers on Twitter......wink, wink, nudge, nudge! ;)

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Seve Ballesteros details

DETAILS!! Still a work in progress but this is an extreme close-up showing the loose brush strokes and random colours I like to have in my work.

Trying to update my blog and social media on a more regular basis.

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Creativity Quote....

I'm making a conscious effort to post more regularly. But as things stand I'm finding it difficult to fit in with work and everything else going on. So this is all I have for today....

Hope to have a finished painting ready to show you all soon.

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Should I work for free?

One of the most common questions artists and creatives in general have is, "Should I work for free?" Indeed I have been asked this from many new and aspiring artists just starting their career, and my answer is always…….YES!!

This opinion goes against a the opinion of a lot of artists who I really admire who say that working for free cheapens the industry, that lawyers, doctors and dentists wouldn't work for free and that working for free makes it more difficult for artists to make a career for themselves when others are willing to do it for free.

In general, I agree. However, I still feel there is a place to work for free. The difference comes in who you work for. As an artists starting out on your career, the more work you put out online, the more eyes will see your work. It won't be long before you are offered the "opportunity" to do some form of work and you will be paid in one of the following ways; exposure, percentage of sales (if it sells) or "it will be good for you portfolio". Let me make this clear, I am in no way recommending taking on these jobs. For all the reasons above, this not a good way to start on your career. Also, if you are going to spend your time doing free work, why not do personal work, something you feel passionate about, demonstrates what you are about as an artist and tailored exactly what you want in your portfolio?

So when do I think you should work for free?

Particularly when you are in the early stages of your career, you have time where you are not working on paid work i.e. you are not working at full capacity. This is the perfect time to do exactly what you want. In doing so, ask yourself the following questions: What is your dream job? What companies do you want to work for? Who can help you with your next step up the career ladder? Once you figure these out, then you can start on your "free" work.

Let me give you an example. Say you are wedding photographer. Why not go to a local wedding cake designer or wedding dress shop and offer to photograph their shop or merchandise for their website or brochure. Offer to do it for FREE, and all you ask in return is that they recommend you to their customers, or give out your business card with every purchase? It's a win/win for both parties.

Or say you are an aspiring concept artist who wants to get into the video game industry. Why not do some fan art of a particular game for the company who you really admire? The power of social media nowadays means that is is really easy to get your work in front of the people who you want to see it.

So when I say you should work for free, it should be on YOUR terms. How is it good for you? Is it directly leading to something better for your career? As you get more experienced and regular paid work starts to come in (you approach working at capacity), there will be less and less time to adopt this technique. But as an artist in the early stages of your career, working for free, on your terms, is a fantastic way to market yourself.

That's all for now. I hope to continue these posts on a semi regular basis, answering any questions that any of you guys may have. Or just ranting about whatever comes in my mind!

If you have any questions, either "Ask Me" on Tumblr, comment below or drop me an email on info@kevinmcgivern.com

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Natalie Imbruglia painting update

She's got some colour on her cheeks.

While you are and I have your attention, I have recently been getting more and more into (addicted to) Instagram. I just love how simple it is and how valuable it could be for artists. I am showing the full process for this painting on Instagram so head to http://instagram.com/kevinmcgivernart to follow me and see my process.

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Natalie Imbruglia Sketch WIP 2

Some progress on Natalie Imbruglia painting.....Still a long way to go! :)

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Natalie Imbruglia Sketch WIP

Sketchy sketch sketch! Very early stages of Natalie Imbruglia painting. I’ll be showing the full process of this one.

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Seve Ballasteros painting WIP

Just a quick one here to show is crop of a painting I am working on. One of my heroes, Seve Ballasteros...

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