Moving Day, 2010 Edition

Happy new year! It's 2010, a new year, and I've got a new design and a new blog. This blog will remain up as an archive, but for everything new, please redirect your browser (or RSS reader, or iPhone, or virtual reality chip) to:

www.artofzacharyknoles.com

The Antitype (Xenogears)

New painting, a piece of Xenogears fan art, if anyone out there remembers that game.



There's also a sort of sappy personal story behind this, if you'll permit me.

This is a special painting for me, because it was the one that got me back into doing traditional painting. I started working on this one about a year ago, at the end of 2008. Now, since then, I've actually managed to finish a bunch of other traditional paintings before this one, but before I started this, pretty much all of my work was purely digital. Before this piece, the last time I'd done any traditional painting was 2005.

It didn't occur to me how much I missed painting until I saw, of all things, a post on Penny Arcade showcasing some paintings that Gabe had started doing. The paintings themselves were pretty great, but he also wrote this in his post:

This latest piece is the first in a series I plan on doing based on my favorite games. I sat down and made a list yesterday of all the games I've really loved over the years and I plan on trying to do paintings based on as many of them as I can. The list has stuff like Zelda, Rez, Kingdom Hearts and Bioshock on it, plus lots more.

Strange as it seems, that's what inspired me. Just the whole idea of painting something fun. Somehow, in the previous three years, I'd been so serious when it came to making art (anyone who's been through art school maybe knows what I'm talking about) that it didn't occur to me that I was allowed to have fun.

And so I started this painting. And now a year and five other paintings later, it's finally finished.

Here's hoping I can keep it up.

December 2nd Watercolors, Part 2

The remaining four paintings from last week's life drawing set. Sketched in pencil during the live poses, then finished in watercolor later at home. Originals available for purchase.

Cogswell Dec 2

Last week was the last Cogswell session of 2009, and one of the better sets I've had in a while. Below are the five best sketches of the night, each one a 2-min or 5-min pose. Each of these is also available for purchase at my Etsy store.

I've also got another four as well, that only got as far as pencil drawings during the session, and I've been working on these at home. I'll post them later in the week when they're all finished.

In the meantime, enjoy!

More Original Watercolors

More original art from recent life drawing sessions. Enjoy.


(click here to buy the original)


(click here to buy the original)


(click here to buy the original)

Crimson Dress Timelapse

Another timelapse film, from the latest painting. Enjoy!

Illustration & Design

With the focus of this site shifting increasingly in the direction of the fine arts, I've been needing a new place for all of my actual production work. Well, today my professional portfolio finally has a proper home with the completion of my new portfolio site, Zachary Knoles Illustration & Design.

Over there, you'll find my professional art: illustration, backgrounds, design, storyboards, etc. Back over here will be my personal work: paintings, short films, and this blog. Maybe it seems like an arbitrary division, to split my work thusly into two sites. But there is a reason. With one site now clearly marked as "the portfolio," the other one can be used for whatever I want. I find that freedom comforting.