The Art of David Manuel

Nebuchadnezzar gets an update

2012-02-12T11:30:00.000-08:00

Some friends of mine are in the business of providing imagery to pastors to support the message they want to convey. I was given the opportunity to contribute images to their collection of offerings from the biblical works of Daniel and Revelation. I am intrigued by the epic larger than life symbolism put forth in these documents and chose to illustrate the "Great Statue" of Nebuchadnezzar from the second chapter of Daniel. The statue has typically been shown in a standing pose with arms folded. I wanted to change things up a bit and make a more dynamic figure that captured living humanity in pursuit of power and domination while remaining true to the author's description. The statue is described as being composed of gold, silver, bronze, iron and a mixture of iron and clay. These are meant to represent different kingdoms in a timeline from ancient Babylon to present day. The meteor hurdling toward the feet of the unsuspecting figure is meant to represent the dawning of a celestial kingdom and the destruction of human power. Viewed as prophetic fact by some and mythology by others I find the images and stories to be fascinating.

"Mah Munkeh" ArtRage Tutorial

2008-12-06T13:18:00.000-08:00

After receiving an inquiry about the techniques used to create this sketch, I decided to create another tutorial. Just click on each image to enlarge it and read all about it.

A Flea Circus

2007-03-16T13:43:00.000-07:00

Back in October of 2005 I had the opportunity to create several flea circus posters for an animated short promoting Hewlett Packard's "Wobulation" high resolution video projection technology. I painted them clean where I normally would have aged them with grime, water damage, tears, wrinkles etc. This allowed the art dept. at Bent Image Lab to age printed versions using the real thing. Here are some of those posters.

Scenic Stuff

2007-02-21T11:09:00.000-08:00

Environments are another of my joys. I had the opportunity to create environments for video games for nearly a decade while in that industry. For me a well thought environment can make or break a good gaming experience. This also applies to painted scenes. I want to create images that invite the viewer to imagine what lies beyond the bounds of the canvas. These sketches are simple studies to work out some ideas to be further expanded upon.

Flights of Fancy

2007-02-19T22:57:00.000-08:00

At times I enjoy creating images that come from the edge of dreams. Sometimes fantasy, sometimes Science Fiction, sometimes... something else.

Here's my version of the "March Hare" from "Alice in Wonderland".

My take on the tin woodsman of Oz.

Art Rage Glazing 101

2007-02-19T20:38:00.000-08:00

Art Rage Paper Tutorial

2007-02-19T18:25:00.000-08:00

I have had the great pleasure to be using Art Rage for a while now. It is a 2D traditional media art program available from Ambient Design. This is the software I have employed to create most if not all of the imagery you see in this blog. One of the subtle strengths of Art Rage is the ability to derive realistic interactions with the surface being painted or drawn upon. This ability to customize the substrate impressed me so much that I chose to create a short tutorial on the method I use to create custom papers and canvases. That is what follows here:

Light Stuff

2007-02-19T00:16:00.000-08:00

I like to draw and paint some fairly light hearted imagery from time to time. Here is an assortment of that:

I have written up a tutorial on the making of the above image.

The Wild

2007-02-17T17:25:00.000-08:00

Among the possibilities that captured my imagination when I was a child learning to draw, animals stand out as the most often chosen subjects for my efforts. I would get out the card table and put on a story record and draw for hours. I have expanded my interests into many other areas but animals still hold fascination for me. Though I have lost most of the early drawings I did I continue to enjoy drawing and painting wildlife. Here are a few examples:

Getting Started

2007-02-17T16:12:00.000-08:00

Time to revamp the way I use the internet. I used to try to keep up with maintaining a website but that became more of a time hog than I wanted. A good friend of mine suggested just blogging my notes and artworks instead. This is the beginning of that very thing for me. So welcome, I hope you find some interesting items here.