What you find when you clean out the garage.

Devilbiss · Joined: 06 Jul 2007 Posts: 3214

Here's some more old,old work from the early eighties.
They were in a small photo album that I knew I had somewhere and found when we had a clean-up
At the time these photos were taken I had just moved away from my home in Forster and relocated in a share accomodation house in Lindfied(Sydney).
I was working as an apprentice signwriter and helping my father out in his panelbeating shop in homebush.
Having some money for the fist time and no one to watch over me I spent it on booze and dope or whatever was going at the time.
But instead of sitting around with the rest of the crew vegging out in front of the telly watching Blankety Blanks I'd sneak off into my room and draw.

This is the result.
Remember this work was done when I was about 18 to 20 something. I think I was a bit screwed up back but I used to opt for creative loneliness rather than stimulating group telly watching.

I call the first one Pencil Head

I think I called this one Sweet Sixteen

I thought this was a masterpeice at the time.
I had a lot of fun drawing all of the menacing characters and the JD bottle was perfect.

This was a favorite character out of mine from the old heavy metal magazines "Ran Xerox" he was a half human half robot type with an anger management problem. For some reason I related to him.

And last but not least one of my first commissions from a biker friend called "Duke"
This drawing depicts Duke in his backyard happily walking around on his hands because his body has been torn in half. He's just taking a leisurely stroll through the graveyard out the back with his friends.
He thought it was a good drawing but a bit too evil. Laughing

If anyone else has some funny early stuff they want to share feel free to post them here.

Jo Tyler · Joined: 13 Aug 2008 Posts: 489 Location: Newcastle

WOW so creepy and SO good. A few illegal substances weren't hurting your creativity!

Hayley · Joined: 05 Feb 2007 Posts: 344 Location: Geelong

Unbelievable. Wow. Brilliant. Incredible. You really drew this stuff at 18 or 20?

I'm blown away. I don't know what to say. They are so technically masterful. The dark side of me enjoys those kinds of images. I am so damn impressed and envious of your drawing abilities. Damn Dan, you're the man!

Were they all pencil? There looks like some airbrushing?

Devilbiss · Joined: 06 Jul 2007 Posts: 3214

Thanks Jo, I think I used to set out to try and shock people with weirdness.
Duke was a pretty creepy guy in a funny way but I think that his drawing shocked him as he didn't hang it on the wall.

gggraph

Hi Daniel - terrific stuff.

You wouldn't be a fan of Patrick Woodruffe, by any chance?

Grant

Devilbiss · Joined: 06 Jul 2007 Posts: 3214

gggraph

Mythopoeikon was a terrific book. I've got that, Hallelujiah Anyway, and The Adventures of Tinker, the Hole-eating Duck. (probably wouldn't get a title like that through, nowdays...)

I can see the influence, but you've certainly given it your own flavour. I wish I could say I was doing stuff that good when I was 18....

My big influence was Roger Dean - I've worn out the binding on my copy of Views. I've never been a particularly 'arty' artist, so what I took out of his book was the idea that Graphics were 'real' art too... He went on to publish a whole swag of 'mere' illustrators, including Woodruffe.

I don't have any books on Picasso, Monet etc. (Struggling to think of more artists...)

But I DO have the classics: Foss, Giger, Pennington, Frazetta, Cobb, Moebius, and so on, which probably explains lot...

Here's a couple of my early pieces - late 70's: I would have been at Uni getting ready to drop out of Engineering...

Grant

Devilbiss · Joined: 06 Jul 2007 Posts: 3214

Good to see that you've kept these Grant.
Are they originals or photos?
I can see something of Roger Dean in the first one and Cobb and Moebius in the second.
I did't start on colour untill the mid ninties and this was the last fantasy picture that I did.
I showed it to a friend and his comment was..."yep, you've got the whole lava lamp thing happenin' there" Shocked

Aquarium
Polychromos pencils on two large illustration boards

Loosid · Joined: 06 Oct 2006 Posts: 146 Location: Sydney

Whoah! You were up to some way wiggy stuff back then. Makes ol' Hieronymous look only mildly disturbed. Good to see you snapped out of it!

Chrissy D · Joined: 12 Jan 2006 Posts: 1053 Location: Queensland

I think your old surrealism stuff is great! It is just so imaginative/ creative/ innovative and inspiring. Although a little hard for me. Do you still do stuff like this now?

gggraph

Wo Daniel -that octopus one is stunning. I can't believe you got that much colour saturation out of colour pencils! That's why I dived for the airbrush - but didn't learn how to use it properly until about 10 years later when the first books on it started coming out...

Grant

Devilbiss · Joined: 06 Jul 2007 Posts: 3214

Thanks Loosid thanks for your comment.
Drawing for me was firstly a means of escape.
When I was a kid I needed some escape from my family environment which was always turbulent. None of my family members or friends at that time was educated in art in any way, so I had no idea of what true intellectual art was at all.
I used to marvel (excuse the pun) over Mad Magazine, and still do sometimes.
I used to draw constantly and although it was from my imagination and not from life, I discovered how to render highlights shadow and cast shadow way before I went to art school.
So I’ve never really snapped out of it, I've just been shown a different way.

Thanks for your comments Chrissy and Grant.
That Octopus drawing took me about two weeks to complete, it was huge and it nearly drove me crazy. I have to confess there is a little bit of aquarelle crayon in the red and the yellow, and I scanned the photo and put it through Photoshop to get the true colours of the work.

Ok... if you are still interested here's some more..
First a close up of the octopuses eyebrows I don't know if you can tell but they are really little catfish riding above his eyes...

and here's one of a green tree frog with some imaginative use of french curves

Heres one showing a real Patrick Woodroffe influence

Here's a tiny pen and ink drawing coloured with pastel that was also in the little photo album
Bit of Moebius in this one

Another pastel..Sea Creatures

And one to really get things freaky..Multi Eyes Shocked

and a detail showing a bit of landscape

I can hear you laughing from here Very Happy

RCEGRL · Joined: 18 Aug 2007 Posts: 23 Location: Melbourne

Awesome! Love the tripped out subject matter. Certain substances sometimes are good for us creatives to unlock the full potential of our minds... as weird as it might be at times..

KimO · Joined: 06 Feb 2007 Posts: 1470

Far out, you're spinning me out man Laughing

Daniel, these are awesome. The subject matter is a bit out there, but they're so damn good - really inventive & interesting. Aren't you talented to be able to draw that well so young & the way you've composed them is amazingly good. I'd be really interested to see you tackle something like that in paint, now that you've mastered that, & see what you what you come up with. Thanks for sharing.

art8dave · Joined: 01 May 2006 Posts: 1333 Location: Sydney

Hey Daniel, It's a shame Yes and Black Sabbath aren't still making records, you could just go nuts designing their album covers.
Promise us you will never throw them out, your grandkids are gunna love this stuff Wink