Sean C. Jackson's Blog, page 3

Sea of Solitude Fan Art Maze

Maze-themed fan art for the video game Sea of Solitude. Follow the path to the boat in the lower right, then return by water to the open sea.

Even though this piece is digital, I wanted it to be painterly. I used a nice rough, oval brush in Photoshop set at about 92% opacity. Since I was not relying on black outlines to define the shapes, it was important to add the cast shadows. Once I picked my shadow colors though, I would also lay those in opaque (92%)
The buildings continue under the water, like in the game. I only reflected the sky, which seems to work well. Many of my decisions were based on eventually making more maze oil paintings.

Sea of Solitude the game is both lovely and haunting. It is a string of interactive puzzles overlaid with dread, anxiety and childhood trauma. It is somewhat linear and story-like, but also beautiful and cathartic. I enjoyed the game very much. The game’s creator, Cornelia Geppert at Jo-Mei Games saw my maze on Twitter and kind of dug it, which is kind of awesome.

You can see purchase the game or watch the trailer on the Sea of Solitude website.

Silkscreen Prints Available

I was invited to collaborate with Brooklyn based Kayrock Screenprinting on a limited edition screenprint. Karl Larocca and his team are friendly and knowledgeable. The final prints are available in my online store as well as Kayrock pop-up art print shows.

Gabe mixed colors and helped me pick the opacity. She also pulled the prints!

This is the tiny test print. You get a good idea of the detail and how the colors overlay.

Signing day! Limited edition of 185

You can see some other pieces they produced behind me. There is a lot of great work at Kayrock.org

The final print. Hand signed and numbered edition of 185. For purchase in my shop —>

 

Kayrock Screenprinting is the way to go if you need art prints, art books, concert posters, shirts or other screened products. They also have great work for sale on their website.

New Step Style

Here is a new style for doing steps. I like it!

Larry Evans Books

I've mentioned often how the Larry Evans maze books influenced me as a kid. His first two books were published in 1976 and 1977. I was 10-years old. The introduction said to not solve the puzzles with pen or pencil, so I was able to run the mazes over and over again. I would practice drawing my own mazes. When learning perspective, I would attempt rectangular tube mazes similar to the works in his books. Hose mazes, landscape mazes- I have been drawing mazes ever since.

My original Evans books were lost, probably to my younger siblings. Recently, as I was finishing my first book for Chronicle, I though it might be fun to see those early books again. Once I shipped my final work, I hit eBay to see if I could find those books from my childhood.

eBay finds of the books I grew up with. That’s my pencil work in the background.

Evans professionally made architecture renderings and most of his mazes were ruled with strong one-, two- or three-point perspective. Needles to say, it was all manual pen and ink. No computers. How badass is that?

Evans did a few landscape mazes like this one. These were a huge influence!
I have since met a collector of Larry Evans originals. He sent me some photos of the works in his collection that included pieces I've never seen.

If you want to read a cool article about Evans's publisher Troubador Press, I linked it to a post here-->

The book 3-Dimensional Mazes is also available at the Open Library —>

Skateboard Maze

 

This ramped maze was designed specifically as a skateboard deck! The path goes around the truck mounts, so cool. It can be found in my Threadless shop

More Post-Its

Six new PosIt mazes for the Sticky Show in Vancouver! by Hot Art Wet City . Curated by Flavia C; IG@catscanpuke and Jeff Chiba Sterns; IG@meditatingbunny . Inspired by the Giant Robot Post It show, it is a great way to score tiny, original art from local and international artists!

So, while you’re in Vancouver on Saturday, March 30, go to the show. Buy Flavia’s art. Maybe one of mine. Snap some selfies. One night and cash only.

Ballpoint Commission

Working on a fairly large red and blue ballpoint commission based on the maze from my December post. It’s too fun! 

Any larger, I’d have to work on an easel or wall.  

The maze is created in the red ballpoint. I did use light pencil guidelines for the isometric grid. 

Though I used a grid, I still kept the buildings and paths kind of loose.  

Cleaning the pens as I draw. I love my Zebra pens!

Ballpoint Maze 03

How many bicycles? How many cats? Can you find the cannon?

Giant Robot Post-It Show 14

Giant Robot Gallery in Los Angeles has an annual group show where hundreds of artists are invited to submit small, 3x3” works on Post-It notes. The pieces can be bought for $25. It can be a fun way to score original art from your favorite artists and illustrators or discover new stuff. After the initial week or two, the unsold work goes online. Here are some of the pieces I sent in for this year:

Here is the art I picked up last year:

Top: Eric Nyquist , Ako Castuera , Genevieve Santos
Bottom: Gemma Correll , Gina Triplett , Allison Cole

My first GR issue! >sigh<

You may remember Giant Robot as a magazine in the 1990’s-2000’s. When I was a young Mid-Atlantic Gen-Xer, discovering anime through fan-subtitled VHS tapes, Giant Robot was essential. The magazine was all about West Coast, Asian-American and Asian pop culture. I devoured every issue. I wouldn’t say I was obsessed… but I was buying pirated Faye Wong CD’s when I visited Toronto, listening to Cibo Matto*, and giddily awaiting the Disney release of the new Miyazaki movie, Princess Mononoke. The editor then, Eric Nakamura, created the Giant Robot brand and runs the current gallery in Los Angeles. The gallery continues to promote Asian-American artists and West Coast pop and street art. Everyone should follow.

*Cibo Matto’s 1996 video, ”Sugar Water”, was directed by uber 1990’s music video director, Michel Gondry. The video is pretty great. Prior to ”Sugar Water”, he made the Bjork videos, ”Human Behavior” and ”Army of Me”. After, he made Daft Punk’s ”Around the World” and Kylie Minogue’s ”Come into My World”.
”Army of Me” and Minogue’s ”Can’t Get You Out of My Head” are two of the greatest music videos ever made.

Oil Paint Maze

So all my morning painting, ink detail drawing, IG following, and frame building has brought me to this. My first oil painting maze.. I am kind of super excited, because it is freaking awesome. That said, it is 10,000 miles from where I want to be. Like leveling up from Acolyte to Priest.