The Gilley van Weirden Workshop

[gilleyvanweirden]

UPDATE:

The Rime of the Pirate King was completed and I'm now running proofs to make adjustments to color, saturation, etc. Two months to finish this sucker



ORIGINAL:

Hi tribe - I'll spare you the details and just put it out here that I used to draw, then I stopped for way too long, and now I'm old and I draw again. I prefer to work in ink (Micron pens, brushes, dip pens), as well as 23.5-24k gold leaf. Here's some work that I've put together since deciding to draw again, as well as a couple of pieces from 2012. I maintain a feed of progress shots at http://instagram.com/gilleyvanweirden and post fairly regularly at https://www.facebook.com/vanweirden as well if you'd like to follow along.

Enjoy! Comments and questions are welcome.

"Dulce et decorum" - 2012

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"The Tommyknocker" (detail) - 2012

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"Memento Mori" - 2014

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"Atropa Belladonna" - 2014

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"Bubo Imperator - Lord of Owls" - 2014

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"Harbinger" - 2014

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"St. Peregrine" - 2014

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"Rime of the Pirate King" - 2014 (draft/work in progress)

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[Synch]

This is some absolutely amazing work. Your Memento Mori work is similar to a tattoo I have in mind; I'd like to have Tempus Fugit and a skull or an hourglass of some sort.

On that note, have you ever designed tattoos? I think your inking work and art style would be perfect for it.

[gilleyvanweirden]

This is some absolutely amazing work. Your Memento Mori work is similar to a tattoo I have in mind; I'd like to have Tempus Fugit and a skull or an hourglass of some sort.

On that note, have you ever designed tattoos? I think your inking work and art style would be perfect for it.

Thanks Synch! I actually shipped 2 of my prints to NZ - Aukland and then Paraparaumu. I've designed a couple of tattoos, and have been asked about it quite frequently (and never grow tired of looking at the wide open eyes when people discover what it costs for a personalized design ). I even have a queue of people waiting for me to break down and buy a machine so I can ink them directly but that's not likely to happen hehe

Thanks for the comments - hoping to see you around!

[Synch]

I've designed a couple of tattoos, and have been asked about it quite frequently (and never grow tired of looking at the wide open eyes when people discover what it costs for a personalized design )

Looking at the labour of love and amount of hours you must put into each product, the cost wouldn't surprise me. Many people seem to undervalue high quality art.

[LooksClosely]

Great work Gilley!

[gilleyvanweirden]

Great work Gilley!

Thank you, Looks!

[LooksAndSmiles]

The two bird pictures (Bubo Imperator and Harbringer) look as if they were 3D in parts. Pretty cool.

[gilleyvanweirden]

The two bird pictures (Bubo Imperator and Harbringer) look as if they were 3D in parts. Pretty cool.

Thanks, LooksAndSmiles! There are parts of the owl that continue to mess with my head when I look at them, just because of that 3D effect from the shading.

[featheredfeath]

I think that owl is my favourite one. It just looks so crisp!

[gilleyvanweirden]

I think that owl is my favourite one. It just looks so crisp!

Thanks Featheredfeath - there are many things that went just right on that one

[SeeAMoose]

I absolutely love the Lord of Owls, it is just stunning to look at and the level of detail throughout is awesome. If I had the money right now I'd buy a print in a heartbeat. Keep up the great work!

[gilleyvanweirden]

I absolutely love the Lord of Owls, it is just stunning to look at and the level of detail throughout is awesome. If I had the money right now I'd buy a print in a heartbeat. Keep up the great work!

Thank you SeeAMoose!

[gilleyvanweirden]

Here's the latest piece that I've been working on. Sorry - but because of the technique I use to illustrate there's a lot of time for "work in progress" and not a lot of "hey it's done!" It's the album art for a prog-metal band out of Ontario that contacted me. They gave me advance access to their lyrics and the art is steeped heavily in themes they visited for this album.

[LooksAndSmiles]

It looks pretty good already.

[gilleyvanweirden]

It looks pretty good already.

Thank you Looks

[gilleyvanweirden]

Papercraft!

I created this chest as a stretch goal reward for the Kickstarter (2 weeks to go and we're within shouting distance of the first one). I haven't done papercraft in some 30 years so this was a lot of fun to put together.

Once the Kickstarter is over and the backers have had some time to enjoy these, I'll eventually release the PDF with the templates into the wild so more folks can enjoy them.

[spiderwrangler]

OK, that's awesome. It has such a weight to it, even though I know it's just folded paper.

[nikohl]

Oooh, I want one

[gilleyvanweirden]

OK, that's awesome. It has such a weight to it, even though I know it's just folded paper.

Then I did it correctly I think that the inner liner has a lot to do with giving it a visual weight. This prototype is now stuffed with Easter candy (as stuffed as 5 pieces can be) and going to a friend's desk tonight.

[gilleyvanweirden]

Oooh, I want one

Thanks Nikohl - that's as high a praise as I could hope for!

[spiderwrangler]

I, more than most, can appreciate the amount of work that goes into stippling, even though it remains my favorite art technique. I did a fair bit in highschool art classes, as well as in an Insect Morphology course I took as part of my Masters.

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A wheelbug.
[thumbnail]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-kg1w ... 41117a.jpg[/thumbnail]

An internet photo of the real deal.
[thumbnail]http://www.oddballdaily.com/wp-content/ ... 782595.jpg[/thumbnail]

The head of a tiny parasitoid wasp. Dozens of them emerged from the pupae of one cabbage moth each one only a few mm long. Left shows detailed patterning of the microscopic plates that make up it's face.
[thumbnail]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/q04YI ... 43-h553-no[/thumbnail]

[gilleyvanweirden]

I, more than most, can appreciate the amount of work that goes into stippling, even though it remains my favorite art technique. I did a fair bit in highschool art classes, as well as in an Insect Morphology course I took as part of my Masters.

Love these! Great work there, Spider!

[gilleyvanweirden]

Here's the latest thing I've been working on. It's the sample page for a coloring (or colouring) book page for a project with a pastry chef!

[spiderwrangler]

Made with real hummingbirds?

[gilleyvanweirden]

The hummingbirds are a crucial ingredient, but the secret's in the souls of orphans!