the art of Will Terrell

I was talking to some artists today about Brian Stelfreeze. I am a huge fan of his and I pretty much owe my career to him. He gave me so many good critiques and such amazing advice back when I was first starting out. I would never have made it this far without his patience and willingness to share. He has an amazing gift for cutting through an artists personal excuses. I visited him every year for about 5 years, and each time its like he took a sledgehammer to my roadblocks. He’s rare in that he’s able to do that. Most artists can tell whats wrong, they just can’t explain what to do about it. He has a gift for it. The guy is such a class act!

The last time he was at that show, I was lucky to not only be on some panels with him but even got to share a table with him. I’ve heard many other artists say the same thing about how much he helped them. He’s just a great guy. Anyways, I just ran across some old photos of him doing a painting demonstration the last time he was at Aggiecon in 2006. I have photos from previous years, but I think I’ll have to find the originals and scan them in. I learned more from being able to watch him work. Which is why I always do demonstrations whenever I work with new artists. I feel very fortunate, looking back now, that I was able to cross paths with him. Maybe one of these days it’ll happen again, lol.
[Gallery not found]

Everytime I finish a sketchbook, I like to do a little painting on the cover.  In this case, its the character Anna from an old, old story of mine.  If you’ve followed my work for any number of years, you’ve probably seen her before.  I am happy with how this turned out.  It was done with white and black airbrush paints pretty quickly and loosely.  About 20 minutes.  I have been doing a lot of digital painting, and digital drawing lately, and for some reason, having that kind of control is helping me to see the painting process a lot differently.  It makes me want to try a lot more painting.  I’ll have to see if I can squeeze it into my schedule.

This likeness turned out a little better for Mr Vader I think.  though I still see lots of room for improvement.  Whats weird is that I thought I lost this one several times because I over-inked the thing, but was somehow able to bring it back in the painting process.  Its funny how that works.  I almost never scrap drawings now, because I know if I’m patient with them, eventually they’ll come out alright.

I’m going to try a few more portraits if I have time outside my freelance work.  After a handful of those, I might try for an actual “Star Wars” style illustration, the way Drew Struzen makes it look so effortless.  Till then, I’m having fun practicing.

-Will

BUY THIS SKETCH!
[artpal=insert]

Continuing with the Star Wars theme, I Decided to take a crack at painting Darth Vader.  Definitely takes some work to get the costume right.  Especially on the helmet.  I think this turned out well, and I’m anxious to try it a few times till I get the result I’m looking for.

-Will

BUY THIS SKETCH!
[artpal=insert]

I love Star Wars.  I need to do more Star Wars art.  Its so much fun.  Except when your airbrush is acting up and you end up breathing in too much atomized paint.  *Coff* *cof*

This was a quick illustration, using pen/ink, prisma markers, airbrush and acrylic paints.  About 10″x10″.   Its from a stormtrooper design I saw in a toy magazine.  Coruscant trooper, or something like that.  Pretty cool.

-Will

BUY THIS SKETCH!
[artpal=insert]