First Look: Dave Dorman Original Wizard of Oz Art Premieres This Weekend at VISIONS OF OZ Show in L.A.

LOS ANGELES, CA—March 1, 2013— Dave Dorman’s “Dorothy Daydreams” original painting will be included in the upcoming Creature Features Visions of Oz gallery art show being held at the Heritage Square Museum in Los Angeles, California from March 3 – 31. Dorman’s painting, rendered traditionally in oil and acrylic mediums, is a visual homage to the L. Frank Baum literary classic Oz books.

Said Dorman, “It was an honor to be invited to participate in this tribute. For Dorothy Daydreams, I returned to the spirit of L. Frank Baum’s young protagonist, capturing some of her desire to escape the harsh and desolate reality of her Kansas dustbowl farm for the fantasy of a much more colorful, imaginary world.” Dorman will be showing the art progressives from pencil illustration to final painting this weekend on this blog.

Dave Dorman’s “Dorothy Daydreams” Painting. Oil and acrylic on canvas. 24″ x 36.”

Creature Features curated this multimedia exhibit, showcasing more than 100 works from a diverse group of artists. The collection includes illustrations, paintings, sculptures and full-sized recreations of favorite Oz characters. Also included in the exhibit will be historical memorabilia such as rare editions of the original L. Frank Baum books, props, concepts and artwork from various Oz-themed film & TV projects and many more surprises.

Museum tours are $10; OZ exhibit-only admittance is $5. For more information, visit CreatureFeatures.com/VisionsofOz or call (323) 225-2700. Heritage Square Museum is located at 3800 Homer Street, Los Angeles. The museum’s website is http://heritagesquare.org.

About Dave Dorman

Eisner, Inkpot and Bram Stoker Award-winning illustrator, writer and creator Dave Dorman was voted the #1 Star Wars Artist of All Time by fans of the property worldwide, and his art book Star Wars: The Art of Dave Dorman was an international bestseller. His landmark, critically acclaimed graphic novel, Aliens: Tribes, won him an Eisner and Bram Stoker Award as well as changing the way the publishing ad entertainment industries viewed the medium. Dorman’s own critically acclaimed Intellectual Property,  The Wasted Lands—the Sergio Leone-meets-motorcycle western epic tale of good vs. evil in a dystopian society recovering from “the Iron Wars”–continued to raise the bar in the graphic novel publishing arena and set a new standard. Another Dorman I.P., Dead Heat, is the Bram Stoker Award-winning horror anthology of his tales of the protagonist motorcycle zombie known as “Hitch.” Dorman’s autobiography, Rolling Thunder: The Art of Dave Dorman (IDW Publishing/Desperado Publishing) encompasses an estimated one-third of his illustrious art career, which includes licensed works of such classic properties as G.I. Joe, Indiana Jones, Predator, Robotech, Batman, Captain America, Spiderman, Judge Dredd, Transformers, Green Lantern, Green Hornet, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, World of Warcraft and many more. Corporate clients include 20th Century Fox, Rhythm & Hues, Hasbro, Wizards of the Coast, Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, IDW, Upper Deck, Topps, FASA Corp., and many more.

Dorman is a sought-after instructor who has taught at American Academy of Art, Savannah College of Art & Design, Reverie (Massive Black/ConceptArt.org), Columbia College and The Gnomon School. His video art tutorials are available at The Gnomon Workshop. 

 

Media Contact:

Denise Dorman, Publicist

WriteBrain Media

P: 630.845.4694

E: denise@writebrainmedia.com

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Dave Dorman’s The 5 Essential Truths of Art Directing

Dear Friends,

After a lecture at Chicago’s Columbia College this past Thursday night for Dave P.’s character visualization art class, my wife Denise asked me to write an article on boiling down art direction to five essential truths. Below is what I came up with.  I sit on both sides of the desk, doing the art for art directors, and doing the actual art direction, so I have very definite opinions based on my 30 years of experience. I even taught a class for the Florida 4th District Advertising Federation on How to Art Direct the Art Director. All of you artists and art directors following me, let me know if you agree, disagree or have tips you would like to add to this list?

Dave Dorman’s 5 Essential Truths for Art Direction

#1. You MUST review the artist’s comprehensive portfolio. Don’t judge an artist by just one piece in their portfolio. Look closely at all of the elements.  Ask them to show you the pieces that aren’t online. Does anything contained within match your needs for your project? What are the strengths of the artist? What are their weaknesses? Do they or can they paint in the style you need? Ask yourself, “Is this artist capable of giving me the art I need for this particular project?”

Real-World Example: Someone looking at my portfolio might think I only do muscled super heroes or hyper realism, but truth be told, I did a lot of manga early in my career for Robotech covers, I did toy design for Hasbro,  and I did very loose children’s illustration for Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings trading cards.

#2. Always provide a thorough review of the project with the artist. Ensure they understand your needs for the art and that they are comfortable in delivering the goods. An artist who does killer character design may be strong in creature art, but weak in landscape or architectural backgrounds.

Real World Example: Just because I did a detailed background on one painting doesn’t mean that I want to put that amount of work into every single painting I do. Personally, I hate painting architecture. If an art director wanted me to do a Stephan Martiniere cityscape, I would be up front in declining and saying, “No thanks. Here’s Stephan’s phone #.”

#3. A good art director should never ask the artist if they paint traditionally or digitally. First off, the art director’s eye should be trained to see the difference. There are effects you cannot get with digital, and there are effects you cannot get with traditional. Secondly, the final art is the final art, delivered digitally, no matter what tool(s) you used to get the final product. Any Star Wars painting I do with light sabers, I am taking into Photoshop to get that perfect glow on the light saber, although the original piece is oil on illustration board or a combo of oil and acrylic. Mind you, I could whip out my old air brush and get that same effect, but why go through the hassle when I can do it in PhotoShop?

Here's a painting with traditional and Photoshop Combined

With the plethora of art directors now being of the age that they came through their art education via digital art and very rarely–if ever–touching traditional media to produce their final art, I have seen a definite bias in those art directors to choose artists who work in the directors’ preferred medium: digital. The art should speak for itself regardless of the medium in which it’s created. I believe that if the art director is contacting the artist to do a project, then they are judging the artist by the art they see, whether it’s digital or traditional.

Real World Example: I had an art director call me once, absolutely raving about my Alien art. She had a big project for me, and I was eager to do the project, because it was right in my wheelhouse. Then she asked dreaded question: Do you paint digitally? I don’t, and the project instantaneously evaporated, despite the fact that my look and feel was a perfect match for her project. I believe this art director is short-sighted and I hope she has wizened up since then.

Graphic Novel Cover of Aliens: Hive by Dave Dorman

#4. Never, EVER assume an artist is outside of your budget. If you like someone’s art, speak with them FIRST about your budget before you strike them off of your list. Any freelancer can attest, we have months when we make a king’s ransom, and we have months when we go hungry. There’s rarely consistency unless you’re working on a videogame project, and even then, that consistent money can go away after a year or two.

Real World Example: As a traditional artist, I will often take on projects for little to no money, because I know I’m working on a licensed piece and I will have an actual painting that I can sell to collectors for top dollar once the project is completed. Obviously, digital artists are at a major disadvantage here! I once did a cover for the now-defunct but uber-cool GEEK Monthly magazine, for their San Diego Comic-Con issue. I was the first-ever painted cover they’d published. They were afraid to ask me to do a cover because they assumed they’d never be able to afford me. I did the piece for free. My piece was a modern day Transformer alongside a 1980s Transformer. I did it for free because I knew it was great publicity for the audience I wanted to reach, and then there was the value of the physical painting. I turned around and donated the painting to my favorite charity, USACares.org, to help raise funds for their not-for-profit, helping financially challenged active military families.

GEEK Monthly Cover I Did for FREE

Side note: I wish someone would revive a magazine like GEEK Monthly. It was brilliant, I never missed an issue and I miss it.

#5. As an Art Director, it’s your duty in fairness to your artist to have your project details organized properly. 

Real World Example: I once painted a beautiful sci-fi comic book cover, based on a major license you would all know. AFTER I delivered the piece, they broke the news to me that they didn’t have likeness rights. You can imagine my disappointment. I think the fans were less than satisfied with the piece, probably thinking to themselves that it was lame without the likenesses.

Another Real World Example: I painted a beautiful sci-fi cover for a major license you would all know, but they were in the midst of filming the movie, and they were afraid to provide me with photo reference of an actor I had never seen before, for fear it would “leak out.” First of all, that would never happen on my watch, and it was frustrating for me that they trusted me enough to paint their licensed characters, but not enough to provide me with proper reference. They literally provided me with a postage stamp-sized photo reference and I could not get the facial features right without decent reference.  Eventually they capitulated, but it took a lot of back and forth.

So…let me know your thoughts. I am interested to hear your frustrations with artists and art directors and your “master list.”

In other news, I think I will be converting my Facebook Group Page for The Wasted Lands to a Facebook Fan Page soon, so please watch for that. For those of you unfamiliar with it, The Wasted Lands is my own I.P. (Intellectual Property) – an alternate universe, adrenaline-pumping motorcycle western action adventure with Steampunk aesthetics. If you like it, let me know. Given the rate of growth of my personal page on Facebook, I will likely transition it over to a Fan Page soon as I’m going to hit the limit soon to people I can friend.

I recorded a 2-hour interview last night with Alpha Nerd podcast out of Australia, so I will be posting that link here as soon as I have it.

Well, I’m off to watch Godzilla v. Mothra with my son. It’s so much fun having a mini-me!

As always, thanks for reading,

Dave.

Facebook: http://facebook.com/davedormanartist

Twitter: @DaveDorman

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/thedavedorman

Website: http://davedorman.com and http://wastedlands.com

Publicity Firm: http://writebrainmedia.com | @writebrainmedia

 

Thanks for Listening to me on Dennis Miller’s Radio Show Today

Dear Friends,

On Veteran’s Day, I thank all of the brave men and women serving in all branches of the military who sacrifice SO MUCH to ensure we continue to enjoy our freedoms. As the son of USAF Lieutenant Colonel Jack Dorman, I understand how much the military and their families sacrifice. Thank you also to all of you who were listening to me on The Dennis Miller Radio Show today. Here is the link on Dennis’ site to my interview: http://www.dennismillerradio.com/b/One-Of-A-Kind-For-Our-Military/-338762614549322936.html

Dennis and Christian were kind enough to let me come on and the share news about my military art project, Project 52, which helps to raise funds for military families who are financially challenged, given through USACares.org. Here is the link: http://www.indiegogo.com/Project-52.

Last year at this time we auctioned my Transformers painting, which was the first-ever illustrated cover art for GEEK Monthly magazine for their special Comic-Con issue, juxtaposing the “old school” Transformers character vs. the modern day version. I donated all of that money to USACares.org.

 

 

Dave Dorman and Dennis Miller with Dave's Transformers Painting We Auctioned for USACares.org

Today, I’m asking you to help me spread the word about Project 52. Please post it on your FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn accounts, and anywhere you connect with your social networks. On Twitter or Cinchcast, the hashtag reference is #Project 52. Please tell your military friends and your family about Project 52. For just $5, you or the person you designate will be mentioned in my Project 52 book, which I’m self publishing. For $1,000, you can own a Dave Dorman original oil military painting. There are tons of contribution opportunities and options between the $5 and the $1,000 range, but please contribute whatever is comfortable for you, even if it’s just words of support. The initial $52,000 we are raising will cover expenses for publishing the book, art materials, printing the limited edition signed and numbered lithographs and helping to defray costs for me taking time off of commercial work to focus on this project. Fifty percent of all earnings from the books and lithos will go to USACares.org. The remaining 50% of book and lithograph sales will go to the Make a Wish Foundation in honor of Katie Johnson (501st founder Albin Johnson’s late daughter) on behalf of the 501st Organization, for which I’m honored to be an honorary member. For those of you reading who are unfamiliar with the 501st, these are the great men and women worldwide who donate their time, wearing Star Wars costumes and marching in parades, visiting children’s hospitals and continuing to be good will ambassadors of Lucasfilm.

I thank you all for your kind words and moral support. I’m very passionate about doing Project 52 and ensuring it is done to perfection.

We are still in the throes of unpacking from our big move, and the other day I discovered the old reel-to-reel audio tape recordings of my father, from when he was serving on behalf of the United States Air Force in Viet Nam. We didn’t see my dad for an entire year, so we communicated with him solely by letters and tapes.  I’m getting these recordings made into CDs for my sister and brother, but if you  know of a military museum out there who might want some of these recordings, please let me know.

As always, I thank you for reading and following my work.

Dave

Dave Dorman Announcement: You Read It Here FIRST!

Dear Friends,

As promised, here are some pictures of my first paint brush, gifted to me by my father and on Sunday by my wife & son; it’s now a permanent shadowbox display in my studio, keeping company with my Little Nemo calendar and my clock:

Dave's 1st Paint Brush Hanging on Wall in Studio

This was my best Father’s Day gift, second only to my son. And here he is:

Me & My Mini Me on Father's Day 2010

Here’s a close-up of the shadow box:

My Father's Day Gift This Year

Speaking of Jack, he was inspired by a recent visit to a planetarium and created this little piece of art:

Dave Dorman's 5-Year-Old Son Draws His First Astronaut

As he described his drawing, a family argument ensued as to which planet was looming in the upper right, with Jack insisting it was Uranus. Unfortunately, my wife cannot keep a straight face if her life depended on it when anyone utters the planet “Uranus” (the traditional pronounciation), so now Jack knows the magic word to say to Denise at the worst possible times, like the library, or…while she’s receiving communion.

If you received the most recent Imagine F/X magazine issue honoring Frank Frazetta (a.k.a. my favorite magazine), the picture of Frank & me that I shared with you in a previous blog is on Page 8, with a quote from me on how Frank inspired my work. It was his Conan the Barbarian work that first grabbed my attention, and it was Frank Frazetta who taught me to paint. I’m so glad I was able to tell him that in person.

In other news, our friend and Denise’s client Stan Bush, who has the #1 Geek Anthem of All Time (Transformers theme song, The Touch) just got his song ” ‘Til All Are One” in the new Transformers game from Activision, which came out yesterday. Huge congrats to Stan on that coup. We will have him on our pop culture podcast, “It’s Comic Book Day” in a forthcoming episode. This is a free download on iTunes, so be sure to sign up for it. You’d be surprised at all of the people Stan’s written for, performed and recorded with – a who’s who of rock ‘n roll. Even better, he’s genuinely a decent person in a tough business.

Rumor has it I will be on Dennis Miller’s radio show in July, so once Denise firms up the details, I’ll let you know when to listen in. Actually, you should always tune in to Dennis Miller (that is, when you’re not listening to my podcast) – the guy’s LOL hilarious every day and his choice of diverse and interesting guests is never dull. 

I want to give a shout-out to one of my favorite podcast/media personalities, Mike Dodd of This Week in Geek. If you haven’t discovered his podcast yet, definitely check it out. Denise & I may be making a regular appearance there soon, so be sure to check here for news on that.

And now, I’ve saved the best news for last. You read it here first! All of you know about my new book, Rolling Thunder: The Art of  Dave Dorman. I’m proud to announce that 10% of my earnings will go to mine and Dennis Miller’s favorite charity, USACares.org. I will have another really fun surprise announcement to make about my new book in an upcoming blog post, so again, be sure to check back with me. Here is a shot of my signed, limited edition version book cover:

Signed, Limited Edition Book Cover

As always, I thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the art.

Dave.

Dave Dorman Updates: May the Fourth Be With You

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all took advantage of FREE COMIC BOOK DAY this past weekend. I took my 5-year-old son to a comic book store in Geneva, Illinois where he excitedly picked up  Iron Man and Transformers comics – I picked up the latest B.P.R.D. comic, which never disappoints.

I don’t have a lot of news to report, except to say that I have completed the 7-page comic for Magic: The Gathering’s online sequential art series, and I am hard at work on some art for publisher Howard Feltman.  I am also working on the graphic novel project for SoGoPro, still in its early stages.

This past weekend, my wife and I finalized copy on the new book from IDW/Desperado Publishing on my art career, “Rolling Thunder: The Art of Dave Dorman.” It was a lot of work, but a labor of love. I hope you all enjoy seeing the work in my private collection, much of which has never before been seen by the public. This book is about as “insider” as it gets. You can pre-order it Amazon via this link: http://www.amazon.com/Rolling-Thunder-Art-Dave-Dorman/dp/1600106730/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272921491&sr=8

For those of you who didn’t know my background before reading this new book, much of my art will begin to make sense in a new way like  it never has before.

As for our new “Wednesday is Comic Book Day” podcast, we have 3 episodes “in the can,” according to producer Michael Mennenga. Summer Brooks is hard at work pulling together the special Web site just for the podcast, which will be available as a free download via iTunes. If anyone has questions or comments about our podcast, or guest suggestions, please call the podcast hotline at 206.350.6326 or email my wife at denise@writebrainmedia.com.

I offer up a special thanks to fan, attorney Mickey K. Thompson, who created a FaceBook page “Fans of Dave Dorman Art.” I really appreciate his kindness. I also appreciate the kindnesses shown to me by attorney Zane Zielinski and Kalamazoo, Michigan comic book store owner Tom Fleming. It was great to reconnect with these guys again at C2E2. Tom ended up buying an iconic piece from me, and if I can’t own it, I’m glad it’s owned by someone who really loves it as much as I do.

As always, thank you for reading. Your interest in my work is what keeps me going.

May the Fourth Be With You…

Dave.

P.S. Follow me on Twitter: @DaveDorman, friend me on FaceBook, link with me on LinkedIn, or join Fans of Dave Dorman Art on FaceBook.

A Special Thanks to Dennis Miller & Christian Bladt

For those of you who listened to my Dennis Miller Radio Show interview yesterday, thank you for tuning in. For those who haven’t heard it yet, the link is as follows: http://multimedia.play.it/m/audio/26472417/dave-dorman-interview.htm Let me know what you think. It was great fun reminiscing about my father, USAF Lieutenant Colonel Jack Dorman. I speak for my entire family when I say we really miss Dad and my mother, Phyllis, who lost her battle to breast cancer.

I forgot to mention to Dennis that while I lived in Hawaii, they filmed “Tora! Tora! Tora!” The day those Japanese planes flew low over our house re-enacting the bombing in Pearl Harbor, that was beyond eerie. I’ll never forget it. Someone emailed me after hearing my radio appearance yesterday who also lived at Hickham AFB the same time I did, and he recalled the Tora filming as well. That was so cool to hear from him.

In case any of you ever wondered what Dennis Miller is really like in person, Dennis Miller is one of the coolest cats in person I’ve had the pleasure to meet. I look forward to “breaking bread” with him in San Diego. My wife tells me I’m the only person she knows who “gets” every single obscure reference and metaphor Dennis utters. What can I say? Dennis & I have similar interests. Also a cool cat: Christian Bladt. I was just as interested in meeting Christian, since I have listened to their radio show forever and feel like I know of him just as much. A special thanks to WriteBrain Media for setting up that interview yesterday – my wife’s great PR, marketing & brand management firm. Christian is now the proud owner of a The Devil’s Candy Store t-shirt, my wife’s other company with Charlie Athanas, who is @charlie_athanas on Twitter. Also, a special thanks to WIND Radio, 560 AM in Chicagoland for hosting us yesterday.

Be sure to bid on the painting I donated to USACares.org – it was the first ever painted cover for GEEK Monthly magazine, and it is of old school and modern day Optimus Prime, so if you’re a Transformers fan, you should OWN it!

For those of you who can have visited me today for my painting demo at the Make a Wish Foundation event in Wheaton, IL, thank you so much for stopping by.

Thanks for reading, everyone,

Dave