Minotaur Studios

Another Bookplate!

Phil — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 02:29:42 +0000

My wife and I don’t really do much to celebrate Valentine’s Day but most years I do some sort of little art piece for her. So this year, she got a bookplate!

The text treatment is highly influenced by Edgar Rice Burroughs bookplate. You can see it here.

Bookplates

Phil — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:00:28 +0000

I’ve always loved the idea of bookplates. They offer a personal touch to a library and show just how loved the books are by the owner. Also, when greedy friends refuse to return your books, they will a least have a reminder that you were a good friend for having lent the book and they are a horrible friend for not having retuned it. Constant and subtle guilt- endorsed by grandmothers everywhere!

My now 19-month-old son is amassing quite a collection of books in our attempt to turn him into a bibliophile. So far, I’ve created two bookplates for him. To remember what year each book was added to his library (We’re already forgetting. Parenthood destroys your mental faculties.), I’ve added dates to the bottom of each. It will be fun to have this collection of images grow along with the books. I’m also looking forward to the day when he can either request what image he wants included each year or to when he can create his own!

Yes, my son’s middle name is “Quest.” He is awesome.

Dr. Sketchys

Phil — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:28:44 +0000

The last few months I’ve been attending the monthly figure drawing sessions put on by Dr. Sketchys RVA. It occurs to me that I haven’t put any of those images up on my site here! So, here are a whole bunch of drawings.

Books I’ve Read

Phil — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:04:05 +0000

I recently discovered the wonderful writing of Diana Wynne Jones and absolutely fell in love. So far I’ve read 2 of her novels, Howl’s Moving Castle and House of Many Ways. Two more are sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. I can’t wait.

So using her writing as a catalyst, I’ve decided to start doing quick black and white drawings inspired by some of the books I have read. In a way, it’s just me doing fan art for the stuff I really like but it’s also a chance to experiment with different black and white techniques. Hopefully this endeavor will last longer than this initial post!

I don’t think this first one is entirely successful but there are a few little bright spots in it. Without further ado, here is Charmain Meets the Lubbock, inspired by House of Many Ways.

Spooky Bottles

Phil — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:26:05 +0000

To add some ambiance to our apartment over the Halloween season, my wife and I made some spooky bottles. Spooooooooooky… She filled the bottles with various things (including 2 adorable bottled ghosts) and I made labels for them all. I wanted to age the labels with tea and paint spatter but just ran out of time.

Here are some photos of the two collections along with images of the digital files.

I tried to make the Goblin Drool label as cheesy as possible because I figured goblin’s probably aren’t that great at graphic design. Hence the gimmicky font and random starbursts. The basic shape is dripping lips.

Above is the sangria label that I didn’t get a photo of. The three shadow icons down the middle of the sangria label are a bat, fire and an open mouth with sharp teeth.

On a more personal note, here are a few pictures of my kid’s halloween costume. Since he had no say in the matter, we dressed him as a hipster. below are a few photos. His shirt says “That Thing You Like is Dumb”.

I try to keep this blog here more about art & design. So if you’d like more of a post about his costume click on over to Knights of the Changing Table, where I share my experiences of being a work-at-home dad (along with a few other guys).

Even More Monsters!

Phil — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:00:52 +0000

The parade of monsters just continues! Here are 5 more along with the letters that appear on the back. That stubborn “D” is upside down. You know what they say- “Never trust a ‘D’ to follow your wishes.”*

Acrylic on Scrabble Tiles

*Nobody actually says this.

Shadowrun: Spy Games

Phil — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:15:37 +0000

Whenever I work on a new role-playing game project, I’m never on top of when they are actually released. Here is a perfect example! I did an illustration for Shadworun: Spy Games for Catalyst Game Labs. Apparently it was published back in July. Better late than never as they say. Run, elf, run!

Click to Enlarge

If you want a copy of the book, I know you can order it directly through the publisher, get the PDF e-book here or try your local game shop. So you know what you’re looking for, the cover (which I didn’t do) is below. Sorry it’s so tiny. It’s the largest one I could find online.

An Antelope Adding on an Abacus!

Phil — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:40:03 +0000

In the animal kingdom, the superior brain power of the antelope causes all other animals’ (with the exception of the dolphin) self-esteem to crumble*. Here is a fellow that supports the argument beautifully by utilizing an abacus to assist with his addition. I don’t know about you but I certainly have no idea how to use an abacus. What an intelligent creature! And he shows such refinement by wearing an ascot with his jacket.

An Antelope Adding on an Abacus
Acrylic on Watercolor Paper

*You shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet.

6 More Monster Tiles!

Phil — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:30:39 +0000

A few readers may remember the tiny monster paintings I did on scrabble tiles for a gallery show at Lulubell back in February. I had so much fun with them that I did a bunch more. Here are 6 of them along with the letter that appears on the back. You may notice that the “I” is upside down on the green fellow. Whoops.

Acrylic on Scrabble Tile

8 Spiders!

Phil — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 23:42:44 +0000

It has been way too long since I’ve posted here. So I’ll be posting just about every day this week to catch up on what I’ve been up to the past few months.

Let’s begin with something I did for fun just this past week. I wanted to play with text and readability. Hopefully the words aren’t too jumbled!

8 Spiders = 64 Legs and Infinite Fright!
acrylic on watercolor paper