Monday, December 30, 2013

The Art of Petar Meseldzija - video


I am really glad to finally be able to announce that my book The Art of Petar Meseldzija is also available for purchase in the U.S.. 
As I mentioned about a week ago, Stuart NG Books is now selling the book.  At the moment, they are the sole source in North America for this Dutch import! Please visit them at
http://stuartngbooks.com/art-books/artists-a-z/last-name-m/meseldzija-the-art-of-petar-meseldzija.html

Here is a short video of me flipping through the book.

Thank you and Enjoy!
 
 


For a  slightly better quality video please go to  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2MRsa7Pv_k
 

Friday, December 27, 2013

Diablo III: Book of Tyrael, Part 2


About two weeks ago, I posted a few drawings which I did for the book Diablo III: Book of Tyrael. Here is now the second part of that post with the remaining drawings. The last drawing I was commissioned to do was quite large and depicted the Leoric family tree. It included the portraits of all the members of the family. The portraits were drawn on a separate paper and then pasted onto the drawing of the tree in Photoshop. This drawing was published as a large two-sided fold out poster at the back of the book. One side of the poster shows the portraits of the Leoric family members as they were before they met their doom; while the images on the backside indicate the way their life ended.
Because I still did not get my copies of the  book from the publisher,  I searched the web and found this image of the poster (see the last image).


 






Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Happy Holidays!


Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you dear people!! Thank you for visiting this tiny spot in the vast virtual universe, called Petar Meseldzija Art!
Cheers!!
 
Squirrel Christmas, Oil on paper, 1991.
 

Friday, December 20, 2013

The Art of Petar Meseldzija selling now through Stuart NG Books

I would like to share this exciting news with all of you at the other side of the Atlantic ocean who wish to buy my book The Art of Petar Meseldzija.
 
Stuart NG Books from the US is now selling the book.  They are the sole source in North America for this Dutch import! Please visit them at  http://stuartngbooks.com/new-arrivals/meseldzija-the-art-of-petar-meseldzija.html

Thank you and Enjoy!

 


 

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Diablo III: Book of Tyrael, Part 1

At the beginning of this year, I did a number of drawings for the book Diablo III: Book of Tyrael. A few years ago, I did 3 drawings for the previous Diablo book. The deadline was tight back then, I remember I had only one week to finish three detailed drawings. Fortunately the art directors from Blizzard were helpful and not too demanding. The work went smoothly and at the end everybody was pleased with the results, including myself. After the job was finished and the fee reached my bank account, I forgot about the stress I had to go through due to the deadline. However one thing I did not forget - a thought I was having during this hectic week: “I hate to work under the pressure of deadlines”.

This time, however, the deadline was all but tight, but the project was much more demanding. I was offered to do 5 full page detailed drawings; at the end I ended up doing 2 one page drawings and one big drawing that included a tree, 16 heads (characters) and 2 frames. All in all, it took me about 2 months to finish the work. Much of the time was spent on the communication with the art director . This intense communication was very important because almost every detail of the drawings had to be discussed and approved. The editors made sure to get from me exactly what they needed in order to achieve their objectives. Fortunately the art director I was working with was excellent and our collaboration very pleasant. He supplied me with all sorts of reference material and gave me thorough and clear explanation of his ideas and the basic concept of each illustration. (Thank you, Doug!)

My biggest challenge this time was not a tight deadline, as I already mentioned, but the fact that the Diablo universe is not very appealing to me. It’s just not my cup of tea, it's too dark for me. Never the less, being a professional commercial artist, I put aside my own taste and preferences and did my best to deliver the work I was hired to do. But while working on this commission, I noticed how the absence of the emotional involvement with the subject matter greatly decreased the amount of pleasure I was having, and caused me to lose too much energy. Therefore I felt quite exhausted at the end of the process. It became obvious to me (not for the first time though) that being emotionally involved with the subject matter of the piece I am working on is not only an imperative for creating a great piece, but also important for maintaining the level of energy and excitement throughout the commission, as well as having a feeling of fulfillment and purpose after the job is done.

 
Young Cain Deckard, a preliminary study.

A process shot. I wish I could stop working on this drawing at this stage.
I like the contrast between the finished foreground and the unfinished background.


Finished piece.

One of several preliminary studies for the drawing of Tyrael as a mortal man.

The finished drawing of Tyrael being judged by the demons.

The same drawing with the acrylic wash applied onto the
high quality print of the original drawing.
 

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Announcing the publisher of The Book of Giants

I have a great news to share. John Fleskes from Flesk Publications has agreed to publish my new book, The Book of Giants!! Needless to say,  I am very happy and excited about this news  which, by the way, has accelerated my work on this project. There are still some drawings and paintings to be finished, and some stories to be written, but the digital book dummy is almost finished.  In 2010 Flesk published my first book The Legend of Steel Bashaw in English and by doing so made my breakthrough on the international Fantasy Art market possible. The Book of Giants will be the second book of mine published by them.




Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Giants and smoking

"...In the world of Giants smoking is a popular thing. Most of them make their own pipes. To have a nice, original pipe is a matter of prestige..."

 

Monday, November 18, 2013

Nice Photo



This photo was made by John Flesk during the comic convention in Breda a few weeks ago. As far as I am concerned, this is the best process photo of me working on a piece…  If you want to see  more of John’s brilliant photos from Breda, please visit Flesk Publications blog.

Apart from being one of the leading publishers of artbooks in the world, John possesses a variety of other talents, one of them being photography and even filming.  
I suppose many of you already know that John Flesk is the new editor and publisher of already legendary Spectrum annuals.
 

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Stripfestival Breda


A giant from Breda
 
I recently attended a comic convention in Breda (Stripfestival Breda), the Netherlands. John Flesk from Flesk Publications , together with the guys from De Stripspecialist, Breda’s famous comic book store, invited me to join the Flesk Prime team and share their booth with four brilliant artists from the US: Mark Schultz, Jim Silke, Terry Dodson, and Thomas Yeates.  The convention was very busy and we  spent a few days doing sketches and drawings, talking, laughing, having some excellent dinners together and  enjoying good beer.
 
Mark Schultz, John Flesk, Terry Dodson.

Me, Thomas Yeates, Rachel Dodson, Mark Schultz and Terry Dodson.

Kurtesa Clarke-Silke and Jim Silke.

John Flesk preparing his camera, photo by Mark Thelosen.

Terry Dodson drawing, photo Mark Theslosen.

Quiet corner for drawing Giants, photo Mark Thelosden.

Thomas Yeates and his daughter Olivia, photo Mark Thelosen.


Mark Schultz drawing  at the Flesk Prime
meet and greet event, photo Mark Thelosen.


John Flesk and Mark Thelosen.

Anita and Petar


Guido de Bue, me and Michael.


Cheers! , photo by Mark Thelosen.
 
Here are two of many sketches I did during the show. Giants and girls, that is what the fans want me to draw these days.  I don’t consider myself to be very good when it comes to drawing girls, but I am always pleased when I can bring another silly giant to life… on the paper of course.  



Thursday, October 24, 2013

Some Drawings

Because this is the time of art conventions, I’ve been busy making little drawings. Beside a few drawings which I did in my art book,  I also present you with two drawings from the recently released book Diablo III: Book of Tyrael. In the coming weeks, I will show you more drawings from this project.
Have a nice day!

 




Monday, October 14, 2013

Another work in progress

One of the preliminary drawings for a new painting titled “Div Veles protecting the holy Oak-Tree”.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

New painting

I am working on a new painting. I presume that some of you already know this piece as a drawing,  which I posted some time ago. However, I never showed this underpainting. It is a private commission titled “The Giants are coming” or “Svjatogor – The Protector of the Mountains”

Oil on canvas, 70 X 100 cm.

 

Friday, October 4, 2013

Helen of Troy

                                                                

On the road to Troy, Helen receives a vision – 50X70 cm, oil on MDF board.

A few years ago, a private collector from Belgium commissioned me to do two paintings. First painting was to depict Guinevere, King Arthur’s  beautiful but unfaithful wife; the subject of the second painting was Helen of Troy. The first commission was finished three years ago, the second one a few months ago. 

It would be very cool, even romantic, to say that the reason for this delay was my internal struggle with the painting, because I was not able to find the right model for Helen, for no woman I knew was beautiful enough to ignite the fire of inspiration and help me achieve the unachievable: to depict one of the greatest beauties of all times, a beauty so glorious, a beauty so divine, and so lethal at the same time, that initiated one of the most famous wars in history, the Trojan War. A war in which the greatest heroes fought and died, including the greatest of them all, mighty Achilles. A war that raged for 10 long years, eventually bringing the devastation to the city of Troy and its inhabitants;  A war that gave birth to the famous Trojan Horse; A war that eventually produced  wondrous wanderings of Odysseus, and inspired a blind ancient Greek poet, Homer,  to create two of the greatest and most important epic poems of Western literature, The Iliad and The Odyssey.
Unfortunately, the real reason for the delay in finishing the second painting was much more trivial; because of my extremely busy schedule, combined with some health issues, I could not find time and peace of mind to focus on this commission.  

However, once I did manage to give my full attention to the painting, things got a little tricky. The main question was – what should I depict, and how? There were so many possibilities, and so many different ways to do it. At the end, of all the interesting, dynamic and juicy moments from the story of Helen of Troy, I chose to depict a   nonexistent  moment, so to speak. Recognizing this as a conceptual weakness of the piece, I tried to neutralize it by giving the painting the title “On the road to Troy, Helen receives a vision”.
By choosing to depict this uneventful moment, I sacrificed many potentially attractive scenes for the sake of something more elementary. I tried to bring the composition down to the story’s very essence: the irresistible attraction between a man and a woman, that eventually produces a fatal ending.  This is a timeless theme, and while the outer elements change through time, the essential components stay the same - forbidden love and irresistible passion, betrayal and subsequent devastation.

As you can see, I used only three elements to point out the essence of my interpretation: a feminine element, a masculine element, and a vision. Although definitely not the most beautiful of women, my Helen is dressed in a simple but richly draped clothes. She is bathing in light.
 
The masculine element is reduced to the archetypal symbol of masculinity – a strong, muscular body, a spear, and a shield; and it is placed in the shadow. There is no glittering armor, or richly decorated clothes that would suggest this person is Paris, the prince of Troy.


And the third element of this composition is a vision of a broken ancient Greek helmet, with a serpent coming out of it, and biting its own tale. In the image of a serpent biting its own tail, or so-called the Ouroboros, lies the thought of devouring oneself and turning oneself into a circulatory process. Ouroboros is a symbol for the integration and assimilation of the opposites…it represents infinity or wholeness. Ouroboros slays himself and brings himself to life, fertilizes himself and gives birth to himself. (C.G. Jung)

 
I mostly don’t like to explain my paintings verbally, for I think if the painting is good, it  will speak to the spectator in its own language. But sometimes an indication of the general context is necessary, and in this particular case I thought a few hints were needed in order to help the understanding of the piece, and to enhance the experience.  My intention was not so much to present a pictorial story that one needs to read as a book - although I understand that this might be the first impression - but more to show a few symbols, and through bringing them into a certain relationship with each other, I hoped to stimulate certain questions to come to the surface.
 
Questions like:  does Love knows about the morality, or is Love a phenomenon that transcends all the concepts known to men, and therefore should stand above all judgment; what is the actual relationship between the sexual attraction and Love, between the personal benefits and Love; is there something like unconditional Love; can Love sometimes be considered a sin, or is it always a virtue; having in mind the terrible consequences of their afire, were Helen and Paris guilty of selfishness and egoism; or were they just the little figurines  in the game of chess played by Gods; or do their actions have the power to influence Gods; in other words, do Gods need man, as much as man need Gods...?

In spite of my wishful thinking, I don’t believe that my modest pictorial contribution to this everlasting dilemma has the ability to bring forth some of these fundamental questions, let alone to give an answer. However, it is true that these thoughts have played an important role, inevitably influencing the composition and the creation of this painting.