Still Got It

Frogs

2011-12-20T08:43:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the finished frogs (and toad) I worked on for the Trent Severn Waterway species brochure.

The Dreaded Life Drawing Post

2011-11-21T19:55:00.000-08:00

I have been going to life drawing sessions here in peterborough with some local artists at the Art Gallery of Peterborough. I have really been enjoying it, when I remember to go. I do miss life drawing at Sheridan College so this studio time has been a nice substitute. Here are some sketchbook drawings from this morning.

Ribb Ribb...

2011-11-13T23:15:00.000-08:00

And now for something completely different...
What I have been working on for the last while are these guys. Similar to the job I got last year painting Snakes of the Trent Severn Waterway, I will be painting 10 Frogs of the Trent Severn Waterway. (9 Frogs + 1 Toad) Its been nice getting to know these little guys. They are quite a challenge to draw.I will be finishing these paintings off for the end of Nov. I will post some finished frogs when they are done.
Seen here are the Male American Bullfrog and the Wood Frog (Who I have never seen in real life)

Fan Expo 2011

2011-08-28T23:22:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who came out and saw me at Fan Expo 2011. This was my first year exhibiting and all in all, it was a great experience. I had a chance to debut some Zombie portraits that I recently did for fun. I learned a LOT at Fan Expo as I'm sure most people do on their first exhibit and I plan to return next year. Here are the Zombie portraits that were featured in my display.
I did have a chance to create info sheets for them creating somewhat of a backstory for them as characters which people seemed to appreciate. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Donald Livingston Madoc Jr.

Clyde Balemore Ellington

Mary Ellen Davis

Star Fortress

2011-07-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

Here is another video game cover I did for the Colecovision homebrew game Star Fortress, coded by John Dondzila. This game looks like an 80's arcade classic. The shapes in the cover are very simple and true to the game. 2d but with a 3d twist.

Waterway Discovery Society

2011-04-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

I have recently completed illustrations for a kids' activity book for the Trent Severn Waterway promoting wildlife, geographical, technological and historical education about the Waterway itself. It was a LOT of fun and I was given a lot of freedom. The book itself was really well put together and packed with illustrations! I'm really happy to have been a part of it and hopefully, part of kids getting interested in nature.

Sssnakes

2011-03-01T12:45:00.000-08:00

Well, its been a while but I've been very busy so its ok? Anyways, I had the pleasure of working on a snake identification brochure for the Trent Severn area. I had no idea there were such interesting snakes in Ontario. probably because I'm not entirely comfortable around snakes or any creatures with built-in angry brows.
All told I ended up painting 13 snakes (in Acrylic) so there were lots of challenges, blah blah blah, here are some faves. Smooth Green Snake, Ribbon Snake, DeKays Brownsnake and Red Belly Snake

Office Jerks!! Space??!!

2010-09-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

Once a jerk, always a jerk.

Office Jerks!!

2010-09-01T11:09:00.001-07:00

A new comic about jerks in an office. Won't they get fired?
Anyways, just for fun. More to come.

Lil' ones.

2010-08-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

Here are the little drawings for the inside of the Pitfall 2 Game Manual. Imagine the excitement! This game has it all. Even...eels? I would love to one day visit a cave full of crowns and money sacks. It would be worth the falling stalactites. I mean it. Also, think of the doubloons.

Pitfall 2

2010-08-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

This is a cover I recently did for a new release version of the computer game Pitfall 2.
It was really exciting to work on art for a game which I was already somewhat familiar with. Kind of retro looking with some extra texture cheats thrown in. The top 1/4 will be occupied with the Pitfall 2 title on the box.

I will be posting some Instruction manual character spot illustrations done for this title soon.

Happy Birthday Canada

2010-07-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

This is actually a card I made for my father. Along with Canada, he is also a cancer.
Please Yuta, no laughing at my caligraphy.

Iceland

2010-04-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

This one's pretty cheeky, I guess, but hey...our planet is just gonna keep on doing what it has do to, despite our disgruntled anthropocentric headlines.

Sometimes, I feel like...

2010-04-15T09:43:00.001-07:00

In space, nobody can read your blog

2010-02-10T17:11:00.000-08:00

This is another "retro" video game cover I recently completed. I always love space themed stuff so this was pretty fun. I'm pretty curious to see how the game plays. looks pretty cute.
The end
by Chris Coles

Wildebeest

2010-01-20T10:13:00.000-08:00

I have been really busy lately with some projects and wouldn't you know it, long time no post.
Here is one little painting that I have wanted to post but wasn't really satisfied with the photo. Oh well. This is obviously a quick painting of a Wildebeest that I wanted to maintain a "spontaneous" look. I especially like this painting because I just hated it in the beginning. I am a firm believer in the "magic" happening "in the moment" But I can't help but notice how much I like my second take, my third sketch, and my fourth revision better these days.

Hot Sales

2009-11-21T19:10:00.000-08:00

This is a little fun one-night project I did with my wife for her school Vendor's Market sale at Flemming College. She wanted to represent the Vendor's market with this kind of sandy bazaar scene where someone could possibly be eating dates or filling their cantine. So I whipped up this criminally un-referenced drawing. We were both pretty happy with the result since between the two of us, it took just a few hours to complete whith photoshop and all.

True Patriot Love

2009-11-11T18:07:00.000-08:00

From what I have heard, the True Patriot Love Gala Dinner in Toronto was a success! Thank-you to those who came out and had dinner and/or bought a helmet and supported military families. I was humbled to be a part of such a grand cause which managed to raise over $2 million in one night.

Speed Greed

2009-11-11T17:49:00.000-08:00

Here is another independent video game cover I worked on recently. I tried to mimic the cold slick 80's airbrush style on the the truly 80's flagship sportscars. Pretty straightforward here...racing in the U.S.A

Valour

2009-10-29T18:10:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to be involved in a charity project in which 100 artists were chosen to create art on helmets for an auction to benefit military families. The auction was set up by The True Patriot Love Foundation headed by former general Rick Hillier so this was a pretty exciting opportunity.
It was really, really tough coming up with a concept to paint onto a round "canvas" but I decided to base the design on the Victoria Cross Medal for valour which is the highest honor you can receive in the military. It was a long, mostly enjoyable process which I'm glad I had the chance to experience.

????

2009-10-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

????

2009-10-08T16:53:00.000-07:00

It's been a long while since I've updated, but I have been busy with a few projects. So here is one I recently completed which is box art for a video game. I had the chance to work on some video game art earlier this year as well, and it doesn't get much better.

Modern Hero

2009-08-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a portrait that I did as a favor to my lovely wife who is writing an article on one of David Suzuki's books; Sacred Balance. this is the first portrait I have done in this loose kind of style.

Unit

2009-06-09T12:01:00.000-07:00

Here is an old idea I had from school. Originally, it was conceived for a class instructed by Rick Sealock. The project was meant to be an exercise in not-so-appropriate imagery. Something shocking or risky. It was among the first of many roughs which may or may not have even made it to the teacher's hands. To be honest, I can't remember what article this image was first based on.
To me however this image came to represent the mentality of soldiers who function as a unit or singular cause. I imagine there is a lot of individuality lost in being a soldier.The mask represents this loss. On the other hand, a great deal of strength comes from unity. Naturally, an unfortunate loss of accountability can be a side-effect.

BT stands for...

2009-05-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to make this kids book based on my dog since my third year at Sheridan. Almost two years later, it's been really nice having time to actually work on it with my wife. The writing is not perfectly hammered out yet but that doesn't mean I can't have fun with a couple of drawings. The Story will invlove BT (my dog)his Red Squirrel buddy and many other animals trying to figure out what his name "B T" actually stand for. (It will eventually include some colour as well) forgive the bad scans

Awesome

2009-05-19T17:57:00.001-07:00

This past May 2-4 weekend was one of the best ever. My Wife Laura and I decided we wanted to go on a road trip adventure for our anniversary. We decided on Chadds Ford Pennsylvania. Why? Because it is home to the Brandywine River Museum. What’s so special about that museum? It has some of the best American art that I would ever hope to see in my lifetime. Who made that art? Several members of the famous Wyeth family; N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, Jamie Wyeth, plus other members of the Brandywine River School including Frank Schoonover and Howard Pyle(who taught N.C.)
Did I mention its only ten dollars to get in? (or six if you say you’re a student)
All I can say is that if you are interested in even one of these artists, it’s worth the price. If you’re me, it’s a ten dollar tour-de-force.
Plus, if you want to pay an extra five bucks, you can go to the old Wyeth house/studio where the massive family lived and exchanged techniques in being awesome.

This is the outside of the Brandywine Museum. It was a nice museum, inside and out.

This is the Wyeth house, don't you want to go? It was designed by N.C. Wyeth and paid for by the illustrations he did for Treasure Island in 1911! (The original paintings are in the museum)

Here it is, the "barn" studio of N.C. Wyeth, where he worked and trained his students/children. Needless to say, it is amazing inside, complete with prop room full of guns, swords, costumes, farmtools, animal heads and whatnot.

There are too many awesome things about this place to talk about on here. If you get a chance, go.

Done

2009-05-11T16:10:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a fast year. What a wonderful grad show. I can't believe its all over. I'm really going to miss spending time with all of my brilliant classmates. I'm really so proud of everyone. Its been a while, so I thought I'd post some drawings that I showed at my grad show. They are an impromptu collection of western outlaw characters that I whipped up. It's been really exciting to have some time to work on my own work since school has finished. Plus my new website www.ccoles.com is now operational like the death star. Thanks for coming, more soon.

Snakes

2009-03-17T17:08:00.000-07:00

Okay I'm going overboard with this western theme, but I'm really enjoying it. I have been working on satirical propaganda posters within the western genre; Law vs. lawless. The idea for this one is that "the law is everywhere" nobody's boots are safe.

3rd

2008-12-19T15:36:00.000-08:00

This was a faster painting which is based on the the earlier painting in this series. This time, Thompson is inside a bomber cockpit. It's more serious than the others, but I'm pretty happy with it.

Marauder

2008-12-16T08:03:00.000-08:00

This was the largest piece I did for the Western/WWII series. The simpler elements make me much happier than the complicated ones.

Giant

2008-12-04T23:38:00.000-08:00

This is a Narrative piece I recently did. It involves simply a catch phrase so I didn't make it too elaborate. Its been pretty interesteing learning to tell a story with images. I've got a long way to go, though.

2008-10-19T19:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, So here's introducing my crazy, crazy first semester interpretive series...
It's called "How the West Was II" Its about a cowboy named Thompson, who, due to some wierd loophole in time/space, is fighting in WWII. It is a comedy series. It is also an excuse for me to poke fun at American bravado and pay tribute to the great American Illustrators of the early 20th century.
I have just a little bit more to do on this piece. Rick Sealock, my instructor this semester has really pushed me to make this project something I'm really happy with.

Update

2008-08-11T06:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a progress update on the FLIGHT painting. Not done yet. This summer's been pretty busy with co-op and extra client work, but I'm still having some fun on the side. It really has been an amazing summer.

Follow Up

2008-08-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

I guess I could call this part 2 of my last post. I did this in my Lanscape sketchbook and threw some dark tones over it in photoshop just to see what kind of mood I could get out of it. Maybe I will paint something like this. I dunno.

Wow

2008-07-31T09:33:00.000-07:00

I'm not a history buff but there is something about old historic wreckage/remains that really interests me. So when I saw photos of this, I was amazed!! It's a memorial site for the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor....right above the Arizona herself. Apparently the ship was full of millions of gallons of fuel when she went down in '41 and still leaks oil to this day. The Arizona took more men down with it than any other vessel in US Naval history.

I just thought I'd share it.

Dogs

2008-07-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

This is a sketch I did of the two best dogs ever, my Bostons. It was on a really hot day so they finally sat still long enough for me to draw them as they twitched and sneezed by their little swimming pool. Some say their dogs are silky. I say mine are silkiest.

Batemanor

2008-07-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

In the master's domain.
Thank-you for the privilege, Bob.

New

2008-06-21T12:40:00.000-07:00

WOW. A lot has happened to me since my last post. I've been in B.C. for a couple of weeks and the spring has been a busy/exciting one to say the least! On top of getting married, I got to meet a personal hero of mine which was really exciting and inspirational. I'm really feeling lucky these days.
Here's a two panel piece that I started since school ended. It's still in progress. I'm trying to keep everything in it experimental, though it is a familiar theme for me. The planes are "Zero" Fighters
Any criticisms are welcome, of course.

Abstract

2008-03-26T14:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a new piece I recently finished. I have been enjoying line shape and colour recently in my personal work...obviously. That's what this painting is about. Just experimentation.

Thanks for stopping by.

2008-02-25T14:08:00.000-08:00

I did this painting instead of interpretive homework last weekend. Bad drawing, but I like the colours. These side projects are really keeping me going these days. Whoopee!

Moves

2008-02-18T15:05:00.000-08:00

This is one I did last weekend. It is mainly about the colours interacting but I ended up enjoying many hours painting the design. (And yes I have heard of Adobe Illustrator.) Anyways, any growth is welcome growth and I liked this strange colour combo.

Bird

2008-02-11T09:45:00.000-08:00

This is kind of a wierd one. Just experimenting. I like how parts of it turned out. I should probably get some real homework done.

Squid Painting

2008-01-31T19:30:00.000-08:00

This is a painting I really enjoyed doing instead of doing real homework. Just what I needed after a long unproductive day.

Another Life

2008-01-20T14:25:00.000-08:00

Here are some highlights of Life drawing class last semester. Plus a sketch of a fish which looks like a Piranha. Viscious.

Life

2007-12-02T21:26:00.000-08:00

Here is a recent life drawing from my sketchbook. Its not perfect but life never is. ...Thank-you. P.s. This scanner sucks. Sorry

Dead First

2007-11-20T14:06:00.000-08:00

Sooo, this was the first page in my new horizontal sketchbook. Some colour is showing through from another page, (that's how I found out that watercolour isn't the best for this paper.) but you get the point. I'll probably go back and colour it some more soon. So, far, most of my sketches in this book have been tall ass verticals. I love it! So much freedom. The end.

Planes to see.

2007-10-30T20:10:00.000-07:00

So I did these plane paintings with a brush and black ink. Quick and super fun. I did them on a pretty big sketch pad and kept it loose. Now it looks like dubya dubya II on my blog.

Lil' Paintin's

2007-10-24T01:06:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, and here's some little paintings that I did on black card paper. I LOVE working on black paper. (I have old sketckbooks that are entirely black) Sick.

I shouldn't have to explain what these are. I just shouldn't, alright.

New Post

2007-10-24T00:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok here's some...old drawing from the summer but since I last updated last winter that's still pretty good. I played a lot of Ninja Gaiden over the summer, so that explains the ninja picture. the Giraffe is from National Geographic, my favorite photo reference source. And the tree/birdfeeder is at my cottage. I drew it before my fruit Loops that moning. Sorry there's nothing super colourful..yet.

Frankentime

2007-01-30T22:44:00.000-08:00

OMG A post!
Ok, so here it is, my first post since before Xmas. I hope it was worth it. Well...it's school work, mostly. You may be thinking these look like Frankenstein without neckbolts...you're right. That's because I read the Frankenstein book for Interperative class and there are no neckbolts or flat-topped monsters or insane brains or Egores. GASP! Ok, I guess these ideas made the movies more interesting. *Note: None of these characters are based on Gene Wilder from Young Frankenstein.

Cat scratch board fever, bacon

2006-11-28T19:45:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally scanned this scratch board project from school, plus I added a little colouring for fun. The first one is my Hallowe'en self portrait, me as Paul Atreides from Dune. I guess you could say I scratched up my face pretty good. The second is a Triceritops cooking a steak, duh, and the third is two opposites...I guess...a mountain and a crevasse... Together.

Figures

2006-11-28T13:23:00.000-08:00

This is an ink resist. Two figures, one artist. You do the math.

Animals

2006-11-15T20:44:00.000-08:00

This? Oh, let's see, we have a tobogganing bat, a demonic goat, a frigg-it bird, and some Ostrich who seems to like sniffing things. Aw geeze, I wish I'd gone to the Royal Winter Fair with Hannam.

One against Zero

2006-11-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite project drawings from last year. It's a digitally coloured pencil drawing. Oooh some blunt symbolism added too!

Ugly Fish, no seriously, that's what I saved this file as.

2006-11-09T20:24:00.000-08:00

Fishin' for ideas? try a dark backround.

Hmmm....

2006-11-09T20:18:00.000-08:00

What do you see? Look closer, NOW what do you see? I give up. What the f&%# are we looking at?

Julien Bacca

2006-11-09T09:49:00.000-08:00

An oldie but a goodie, actual size: about 3-1/2 square inches

Rhin........

2006-11-09T09:42:00.000-08:00

A Rhinostrich...'nuff said? Who doesn't want to see one? You? Shut up!

Toshiro

2006-11-09T09:35:00.000-08:00

Lately, it kinda feels like school's taking a lot out of me and not giving as much back. If you go to art college you know what I'm talking about. Anyways, this sketch is about enjoying drawing what I want to F$#%n' draw for a change. Oh, yeah, fun. Plus I go a sweet new sketch book, linen cover, smooth white paper, you know, the works. Just thinking about it kinda makes me wanna draw right now.

So anyways, here's the real caption for this sketchbook pic:

One of the best scenes in the history of film. I don't really do it justice in my sketchbook, but...

2006-11-09T09:30:00.000-08:00

here is a tree. Can you count the faces? I didn't draw the faces, they just showed up on thier own. huh. kinda chep.