Daniel Rodgers

Silent Night, Holy Night

2011-12-01T11:20:00.001-08:00

These two Christmas card designs were commissioned from other designs I have previously done. Its always a challenge to do something that looks similar but is actually quite different.

Squirrel character design

2011-11-27T12:13:00.001-08:00

Something a bit different - some character design work for a squirrel with serious financial sense.

Winter romance

2011-11-24T01:11:00.001-08:00

Jesus and his Mum

2011-11-23T03:57:00.001-08:00

Drinking wine in Dordogne

2011-11-18T07:22:00.001-08:00

Christmas Choir

2011-11-05T07:51:00.001-07:00

Fisherman Dan

2011-11-04T09:16:00.000-07:00

Ah those long autumn days idling by the riverside catching trout.

Steam train

2011-11-04T09:13:00.000-07:00

Christmas

2011-11-04T09:08:00.001-07:00

Christmas street scene.

2011-09-09T11:32:00.001-07:00

Posing for this one was quite hilarious in many ways. Painting it was, however, tricky.

Wedding bells

2011-09-09T11:26:00.000-07:00

Another wedding card design. Cropping the heads means its applicable to anyone getting married no matter what they look like.

Nativity with lambs

2011-09-09T11:21:00.001-07:00

High Tea

2011-09-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

A challenging lighting situation. I'd say its a step in the right direction but it could be better. Figure drawing needs work.

Wine design

2011-08-14T12:06:00.000-07:00

I am finding that the better I make the prep drawing the easier it is to do the painting quickly and well. So in theory if I practice my drawing more then my paintings should get better.

The Little Carollers

2011-08-11T01:37:00.001-07:00

Fine Art Santa

2011-08-09T12:05:00.000-07:00

African Baby Jesus

2011-07-30T12:16:00.000-07:00

Nativity scene aimed at African American market.

African American Shepherds Design

2011-07-30T12:12:00.001-07:00

Shepherds scene

2011-07-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

Village cricket

2011-06-13T09:41:00.000-07:00

Madonna

2011-05-29T09:16:00.001-07:00

with thanks to Michaelangelo Buonarotti for coming up with a beautiful Madonna sculpture that I can use for reference!

and more dogs

2011-05-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

More dogs

2011-05-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

Christmas dogs

2011-05-29T09:10:00.001-07:00

Relaxing

2011-05-29T01:33:00.001-07:00

Invisible waiter spills invisible drink

2011-03-24T04:40:00.000-07:00

Engagement card

2011-02-07T07:42:00.000-08:00

Wedding card

2011-02-07T07:38:00.001-08:00

Wedding card

2011-02-07T07:34:00.000-08:00

Wedding design. Had to hide faces so people of all appearances will buy the card.

Santa's workshop

2011-02-07T07:25:00.000-08:00

I used myself as a model then plumped it up.

Merry Christmas

2011-01-04T03:36:00.001-08:00

Shepherds came to see the newborn King.....

2010-11-17T06:07:00.000-08:00

An homage to Rembrandt.

Christmas Scooter

2010-11-04T12:51:00.001-07:00

Another Christmas one - first done in photoshop then given the treatment in painter.

Christmas Choir Procession

2010-11-04T03:35:00.000-07:00

This is the latest design in the church choir Christmas card series. Done in photoshop with textures ramped up nice and big.

Madonna and Child

2010-10-31T13:23:00.001-07:00

Another Madonna design done just in time for Christmas.

Mother's Day

2010-10-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

Here is a design I did for an Australian Mother's Day card (not sure when Australian Mother's Day actually is!)

Done first in photoshop then given the treatment in painter.

Shepherds at Nativity

2010-09-06T04:56:00.000-07:00

2010-09-06T00:49:00.001-07:00

Another choir one

2010-09-04T05:49:00.000-07:00

These are getting a bit forumulaic but that's commercial work sometimes. Hopefully these will get licensed then I can do some more to order.

I found myself wondering - if it wasnt for the digital approach's forgiving nature and undo feature would I have been better off doing them with traditional oil pastel.

Church 3

2010-08-27T13:12:00.001-07:00

Choir numero 2

2010-08-20T05:36:00.000-07:00

This is the second painting in the Christmas choir range. I think it marks some progress for me - its a different composition that what I'm used to doing so it pushed me outside my comfort zone. Also having the church in the background not compete with the choir was quite a challenge. All in all an enjoyable piece to paint.

Church and choir

2010-07-30T12:21:00.001-07:00

This is the first of a series of 'village church and choir' Christmas card designs that I've been asked to do.
The technique is intended to simulate a 'semi-impressionistic, painty, pastelly technique'

Mountain biker

2010-07-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

Mountain bike card design. One of a series of male-oriented card designs.

I actually found it harder working out the background than the biker because I found I kept over complicating it and distracting from the man on the bike.

Photoshop and Painter.

Wine on the French Riviera

2010-07-09T01:11:00.001-07:00

Yachting

2010-07-09T01:03:00.000-07:00

Illustration for a male greeting card design. I'm trying to push the boat out as it were and stretch myself - this one is a little different compositionally to what I normally do.

Photoshop and Painter.

2010-07-01T00:50:00.000-07:00

How I love to drive my imaginary classic MG on those winding country roads :)

Photoshop and Painter

Journey to Egypt

2010-06-21T10:43:00.000-07:00

Here is a nativity design for a card. The strong lighting is supposed to indicate a divine light leading them on. I quite enjoyed doing this one.

Art is certainly proving to be a continuous journey of discovery and hopefully improvement.

Final Madonna

2010-06-21T10:39:00.000-07:00

This is the finished version of the Madonna I posted previously. This one has a more 'commercial' face (borrowed from a different maddona design I did - such is the wonder of photoshop!)

Journey to Bethlehem

2010-06-16T07:35:00.000-07:00

Christmas town scene

2010-06-10T10:14:00.001-07:00

Here are some Christmas card designs. The idea was to create the effect of being painted on a rough surface and to be quite loose and impressionistic. Took me a few attempts to get there. Its interesting how it can actually be more time consuming to work digitally in some cases.

Mainly done in Photoshop with a touch of Painter.

3 magi approach Bethlehem

2010-05-13T01:02:00.000-07:00

I thought I would try and push the boat out with this one and go for a lighting effect that is outside of my comfort zone. The camels were fun to paint.

Done in photoshop

Journey to Bethlehem

2010-04-28T02:39:00.001-07:00

Nativity card design depicting Joseph and Mary's journey to Bethlehem. This one was quite a challenge - especially working out the lighting.

Done in Painter IX and Photoshop.

Madonna number 3

2010-04-17T00:04:00.000-07:00

I just got Painter IX - it's really cool. I used it to loosely block in everything and then refined things in Photoshop. I'm considering doing this one as traditional oil painting too. I tried to go quite classical with the facial features.

Nativity

2010-04-10T03:35:00.000-07:00

Another Mary and baby Jesus design. I am really enjoying improving my figure drawing and painting.

Done in photoshop.

Jesus and Mary

2010-02-28T05:32:00.000-08:00

Christian nativity card design with an old school brown palette.

Quick sketch

2010-02-08T08:09:00.000-08:00

Just a quick sketch done while waiting around in Heathrow.

Yet more Santa shenanigans

2010-02-04T07:17:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed drawing all the animals for this one.

Santa the photographer

2010-02-03T03:30:00.000-08:00

I think I'm starting to push this style in a fresher direction.

It was quite a challenge to draw all those reindeer legs!

Angelic host

2010-01-02T04:23:00.000-08:00

I think seeing a real host of angels would be both terrifying and awesome. Perhaps not as gentle as a commerical christmas card design.

I might work on some personal ideas of how the Christmas scene really looked. I saw the 2006 movie, The Nativity, recently. I think it does a good job of conveying the reality of what happened and how it must have really affected Mary and Joseph as people.

Christmas card designs

2010-01-01T01:42:00.000-08:00

Santa in some technological situations that he didn't expect.

The curious case of the phone swing anomaly

2009-12-31T03:40:00.000-08:00

If you swing on trees, and the tree is actually a part of a picture in a phone, then I guess this design is for you.

Tech Squad, hold it sister

2009-12-19T07:46:00.001-08:00

A crew of miniature computer cleaners doing what they do best.

Getting musical

2009-12-19T07:36:00.000-08:00

Little people in their little world. A birthday card design perhaps.

Photoshop.

Big present

2009-12-03T10:50:00.001-08:00

Little Penguins Big Stocking

2009-12-03T10:47:00.000-08:00

Santa Christmas card design

2009-12-03T10:43:00.000-08:00

Fun illustration

2009-12-02T13:30:00.001-08:00

Just an illustration sketch I did for fun after reading a children's book. The scene is based on the description of a group of homeless children's living space in an abandoned Venetion theatre.

3 kings (or, in reality, wise men)

2009-11-28T05:56:00.000-08:00

This three kings design pairs up with the shepherds one I did before. Perhaps next time I'll do them as wise men to be more biblical. I gave them all a complexion, the middle one more so but I think it would be interesting to paint them as authentic middle-eastern men of their time though I'm not sure how commercial this would be.

Reindeer snow scene

2009-11-25T09:23:00.000-08:00

Further experimentation along the digital printmaking theme, this time with images reversed out.

2009-11-07T04:48:00.000-08:00

Christmas card designs aimed at the female market.

Digital collage

2009-11-07T04:38:00.000-08:00

Christmas designs focusing on a 'digital collage and cut out' style.

Something a little bit different

2009-11-07T04:14:00.001-08:00

I've been experimenting with creating digital images that have the look of being made with traditional print making methods such as lino cut, letterpress, collage etc.

Technology designs

2009-11-07T04:03:00.001-08:00

These greeting card designs focus around technology.

For the phone image I was trying to create an elaborate scene, perhaps in the vein of Heath Robinson. It was quite fun thinking up different ways to implement construction tools into the picture.

Nativity designs

2009-11-07T03:33:00.000-08:00

These Nativity designs are something a little bit different. I was asked to focus on using larger shapes in the images. So this is what I came up with.

Christmas cards

2009-11-05T12:02:00.001-08:00

Here are some recent Christmas card designs I have done. Some have more of a narrative than others but I have always tried to create interesting 'Christmassy' situations.

Birthday Cake

2009-10-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

Illustration commission for a girl's birthday card. Its fun to see how much you can jam onto one cake!

The stars and title were foiled on the final card.

Done in Photoshop.

More snow

2009-08-28T11:49:00.000-07:00

I've resolved that one of the most appealing ways to paint snow is to paint it like it's icecream.

It's Christmas every day!

2009-07-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a Christmas card design I did. The curly beard feels like a homage to the Nightmare before Christmas (only a bit less dark!)

Done (as usual) in Photoshop. I really need to try painter, or better yet get back to some traditional painting!

Christmas Pudding

2009-07-19T02:14:00.001-07:00

Christmas is coming, albeit a long way off. So I thought I'd post up this Christmas card design I did. I like the idea of creating odd situations in my own little world:)

Everyone loves Christmas pudding, right?

Done in Photoshop.

And one more

2009-07-11T08:48:00.001-07:00

Thought I would try zooming out a bit with this composition. I was going for a sense of protection with the cub under the mother's legs.

Photoshop.

More polar bear

2009-07-11T08:44:00.001-07:00

Second in the polar bear series of card illustrations. Still trying to keep the overall feeling soft yet with an air of realism to it.

Done in photoshop.

Polar Bear mother and child

2009-07-05T02:17:00.000-07:00

This is the first in a series of greeting card illustrations of polar bears. The theme is love and relationship. I tried to create a very soft, gentle image.

Not much else to say on this one apart from that I'm embracing the challenge of being very flexible in my style of illustration.

Done in photoshop.

Sunbathing

2009-06-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

This is the first in a series of greetings card designs aimed at the female market. Bright colours and thin (but not too thin) women are the order of the day.

Done in photoshop

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-20T01:38:00.001-07:00

Whoo! It's my very first Father's Day being a Dad! Here's a card design I was commissioned to do some months back for the quintessential Dad ;) - he likes morning coffee with his paper, then he's off fishing.....

...anyway, Happy Father's Day Dad!

Angel

2009-06-06T07:01:00.000-07:00

This is the second angel I did. It took me quite a while to get the face to a stage I was satisfied with. Practise makes perfect!

Niblet designs

2009-05-25T03:42:00.000-07:00

Some fun character designs for niblets. They are little bouncy creatures with curious telekenetic powers.

Angel

2009-04-26T06:52:00.000-07:00

This is an angel I painted for a greetings card design. I worked digitally trying to emulate oil painting technique and textures.

Digital lets me work quicker but traditional painting lets me work better I think. Its also more fun!

Game Character Development

2009-02-24T13:25:00.000-08:00

This is some development work I am doing for characters in a computer game. Im really loving learning about manga style.

Still Alive

2009-02-18T10:56:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would say that blog is, in fact, still alive. I am just waiting to find out which of my commercial work I am allowed to post up here.

Snow painting #2

2008-11-20T05:32:00.000-08:00

This is my second study on the snow theme. This time I decided to try a pinkish light at sunset.

Digital painting, Pshop

Snow, Trees and Light

2008-11-19T07:21:00.000-08:00

Environment study done for computer game.

I'm working out how to best depict snow and how it looks under a variety of lighting conditions.

I am also finding it interesting to notice how snow settles on different surfaces.

Digital painting done in PS CS2

Maiden Flight of the Silver Turtle

2008-10-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

This is my first illustration using my new digital tablet. Digital painting isn't quite how I imagined. In some ways its more tricky because you dont get the sense of feel that you do with traditional painting, on the other hand, being able to undo and fiddle with layers means you can make mistakes and try things out without sacrificing the picture.

I'm off to practice :)

PS Done in Photoshop CS2

Silver Turtle continued

2008-08-28T04:33:00.001-07:00

This is the development work for the silver turtle emblem to go on the aeroplane. I wanted to create a humorous character reminiscent of plane emblems from the WW2 era. For the final illustration I was imagining the logo was emblazoned on the welded and bolted stell side panels of the aeroplane body.

The painting is oil on panel. The drawings are pencil on vellum and tracing paper.

Silver Turtle Concept Sketches

2008-08-28T04:23:00.000-07:00

These are development sketches for a story I am illustrating. Basically, its about a plane built by an inventor and his adventurous children. I enjoy playing around, looking through old aeroplane books, and generally just inventing whatever comes to my mind - now the question is 'Would it really fly?'

These sketches were done with pencil and marker on tracing paper.

Restaurant logo character

2008-08-28T02:30:00.000-07:00

Some very early development sketches for a logo character I am doing for my friend's restaurant in Shanghai. At the moment we are just trying to find the right 'look'.

The character is based upon a woman from traditional chinese opera.

Flower study

2008-07-25T01:43:00.001-07:00

It was a sunny summer's day and as I looked out the kitchen window I noticed the beautiful way the sunlight caught the golden yellow flowers on the Senecio shrub in my back garden. So I quickly grabbed my oil paints and easel, ran outside, and set about doing this study.

14 x 18", oil on canvas board.

Sky Sketch

2008-07-14T03:26:00.000-07:00

A quick sketch of the sky from my studio window.

Oil on canvas board. 12x10in

First Edition of Spelling Magic is printed

2008-07-07T05:47:00.000-07:00

The very first edition of Spelling Magic hits the shelves. For those that are wondering - I fully illustrated and designed the layout of this book. http://www.spellingmagic.co.uk

Pink rose in my back garden

2008-06-20T13:54:00.001-07:00

The roses have come out in my back garden and so I spent some time sketching them in watercolours and acrylics.

The shape of a rose is both beautiful and tricky to convey with paint, which makes it a rewarding and sometime frustrating painting experience :)

Watercolour and acrylic bodycolour on 300g/m artistico rough paper, 23 x 30.5cm

Portrait of a Chinese Lady

2008-04-22T06:47:00.000-07:00

This is a portrait I painted of my wife's sister. She is Chinese. The painting is quite large - 60x70cm, oil on canvas. I was looking to practice my tonal values with this piece and to capture her expression. It was a challenge but I feel the result is a progression from previous portraits I have done.