El arte de Cliff Mills

Megatrends

2012-01-02T08:29:00.000-08:00

Editorial piece for TRADE-Magazine.

Happy Holidays.

2011-12-15T21:44:00.000-08:00

It has been a while.

2011-05-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

However, I'm still creating. The corporate world doesn't have that great of a hold on me.

Black Gold

2011-01-15T12:29:00.001-08:00

Up for voting on Threadless. http://threadless.com/submission/319307/Black_Gold

Mesa Temple

2010-07-20T14:38:00.001-07:00

Playground Propaganda

2010-07-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

Kiss Kiss

2010-07-06T09:20:00.001-07:00

Consumed Consumers

2010-05-01T00:15:00.000-07:00

Work Time

2010-03-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

To Russia Poster

2010-03-01T10:47:00.001-08:00

Yet another show poster.

New T

2010-02-25T10:05:00.001-08:00

There it should be white now.

T is for Typewriter

2010-02-17T12:31:00.000-08:00

I am working on an alphabet project and thought I'd give you a sneak peek. Yes that is the same typewriter from an earlier post. That is the benefit of being an artist.

Pool World

2010-02-17T11:32:00.000-08:00

If you didn't know already, I love graphic color. By the way for those of you with a printmaking background, am I getting closer with my marks?

To Russia Shirt

2010-02-17T01:53:00.001-08:00

Sketch Book 1

2010-02-16T22:08:00.001-08:00

Some random image I found that I couldn't resist drawing.

To Russia Poster #4

2010-02-02T20:35:00.001-08:00

So this is another gig poster for the boys in To Russia. They left it open to me as long as it included a triceratops. Thanks to Seth Lucas for the colab, he did an amazing job.

Tree 1

2010-01-28T14:19:00.000-08:00

This is the poster art for an upcoming To Russia show. I thought I'd show it to you before the type was added so you can see how much more it brings to the poster.

Break Time

2010-01-23T10:43:00.000-08:00

Train 1

2009-12-28T09:09:00.000-08:00

Legally Ambiguous

2009-12-07T22:53:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas!!!

2009-11-25T13:12:00.001-08:00

Happy Holidays to everyone! Please remember this holiday shopping season to use the restroom when your bladder tells you too. Santa does silly!!!

G-Squared

2009-11-10T13:27:00.001-08:00

Editorial Piece

2009-11-04T15:20:00.000-08:00

Hotel San Carlos

2009-10-16T08:59:00.001-07:00

"I use to read word up magazine"

2009-10-14T00:43:00.000-07:00

Socialist Empire

2009-10-07T14:48:00.001-07:00

Logo/Motif for the Record label Socialist Empire.

Bisbee

2009-09-28T19:50:00.001-07:00

The Big APPLE

2009-09-21T20:58:00.001-07:00

Ode de' Cas

2009-09-19T10:09:00.001-07:00

Accepting Critiques.

LOOM flyer!!!

2009-09-06T20:45:00.001-07:00

Loom flyer for an upcoming show here in Le Burg. Also playing that night are the boys from To Russia. It's going to be a great show and only $2 (holla!!!). Everyone in town should go and support great music.

Illustration Friday: Magnify

2009-09-02T19:09:00.001-07:00

Adams Morgan

2009-08-24T12:30:00.001-07:00

For those who don't know this is the infamous Adams Morgan in D.C. I have plans to turn this into a narrative illustration but I was pleased with the way this turned out, so I decided to post it.

Privileged Youth

2009-07-22T10:26:00.001-07:00

Another editorial assignment for an illustration class. This was from a Fortune Magazine article on privileged youth and their use of technology, particularly cell phones.

Fortune Cookie

2009-07-18T13:48:00.001-07:00

We were all given a fortune cookie and were asked to illustrate our fortune. Mine read "you are practical and down to earth." This is my homage to corporate America and to all the art students I have shared a class with.

First Editorial Piece

2009-07-17T08:25:00.001-07:00

This was done for a class on a Time Magazine article from the July, 6 2009 issue. The article discussed the meeting between President Obama and Dmitri Medvedev (President of Russia).

Experimente

2009-07-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

Just a couple color studies of some 3 minute sketches I through together. I'm just trying to mess around with a limited palette and develop a style a little more.

Childrens Book Spread

2009-07-06T14:05:00.001-07:00

This is the same children's book idea that I have from earlier blogs only it has been given a facelift.

Poster Design

2009-06-30T22:00:00.001-07:00

Poster advertisement for an illustration class.

To Russia

2009-06-18T22:26:00.001-07:00

Yet another shirt for a great band here in Sexburg, To Russia.

Classic Book Cover

2009-06-15T17:15:00.001-07:00

We were given the assignment to do a classic book cover so I chose the best children's book in existence.

Viraemia

2009-05-31T15:53:00.000-07:00

So I just finished my second t-shirt design for the semester and I am pretty pleased. I like the direction I am going.

First t-shirt Designs

2009-05-10T22:20:00.000-07:00

Here is my first efforts of designing some t-shirts for the the band Before You Fled. Check them out if you get a chance, they are pretty brutal!

Pancho and Sparky Cover

2009-04-29T12:32:00.001-07:00

Sorry it's been a while since my last post but here is my front cover for my book.

Red Baron

2009-02-24T16:25:00.000-08:00

So the new assignment was to do an illustration based on the red baron. I decided I didn't want mine to be historical so I thought I would go with a child playing with a red plane. Thats close enough right?

Open Studio Friday

2009-02-20T19:57:00.000-08:00

So a couple members of the art faculty hold an open open studio time each Friday between 1 and 4. It works out great becuase there is usually only the one model for the entire time so you can do quite a few drawings or knock out a sweet painting if your up to it. This has been going on as long as I have been going to school here but I have failed to take advantage of it. However, I know my drawing needs major improvement so I decided to stop by today. I decided to experiment with prismacolor and a ball point pen and this is what I ended up with.

Toast

2008-11-06T13:16:00.000-08:00

We were given the assignment to paint toast. Definitely a different subject matter.

Caricature self portrait

2008-10-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick caricature I did today in digital illustration. I'll add color later. Enjoy!

Master Copy

2008-10-06T10:02:00.001-07:00

Ok I realize that Dice Tsutsumi hasn't quite reached the title of master but his work is amazing. The assignment was to do a copy from a piece of work from an illustrator that you like. The idea was to maintain the painterly quality from traditional work in a digital painting.

Arghh!!!

2008-09-29T18:24:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick pirate painting for my digital illustration class. The assignment was to paint a pirate head using texture and actions. Pretty simple really.

Warm and Cool Study

2008-09-02T14:53:00.001-07:00

Sorry it's been a while. I know it's not much either but I liked the way that they turned out. This was for my design and color final. The assignment was to do a still life using warm and cool lighting. They are not very big only 5 x 7 but it definitely was good practice for me. The are both gouache/charcoal on board.

Figure Drawings

2008-07-22T11:09:00.001-07:00

So I just completed my second semester of figure drawing and decided to post a couple of my favorites. At the end of the semester we have a portfolio review with the professor and while he was looking through my stuff he gave me the first compliment he has ever given me. He pulled these two to the side and said "you can put these in your portfolio." I know there are still some issues I have with these two, but it meant a lot that he said that. So it is my goal to draw for at least 3 hours each day this summer and totally devote my time in understanding the figure more. Anyways enjoy.

Gouache

2008-07-21T19:58:00.000-07:00

So here is yet another Gouache painting. As I'm sure you can tell some of it is digital. This was my first gouache painting ever and I got a little to opaque in the shawl and it created some nasty textures so I decided to work it out digitally. Still doesn't look quite right, but there isn't really much more I can do. I was listening to a lot of Death Metal around the time I came up with the concept. I attempted to make it look not so dark due to the school I attend by applying a triatic color scheme to it. I can't wait to play more with the concept in the future. So until then enjoy.

Ink Gouache Off

2008-07-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

So I have yet another painting that I just finished touching up that I thought I would post. This was a difficult assignment, but I like the way it turned out. It doesn't look as rendered as some of my stuff so it was different for me to do. Basically for this assignment I painted really thick with gouache and everything I wanted black I would let the board expose through. After I had my painting done I then dumped a huge amount of ink on it and washed it off. The places where the board was exposed turned black and the places I painted real thick left a beautiful stain. So all I had left to do was just a little touch up work. It definitely could be better but I think it went well for my first time trying the technique.

(Photo Reference: Megan Mills)

A Few Media Experimentation Paintings

2008-07-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

So here are a few paintings that I completed this semester in Media Experimentation. I'm not totally excited about all of them because it was an experimentation class so my craft suffered on them a bit. Overall the class was pretty successful and I will have the rest up as soon as I get at them digitally.

(Dia De Pancho; acrylic on board)

Having grown up in Phoenix I have always been influenced by the Mexican culture. The use of color in their art work and graffiti alike has always caught my attention. I'm a big fan of the day of the dead and thought I'd throw my own spin on it incorporated with a touch of traditional tattoo themes.

(The Fredman; Charcoal/Gouache on board)

I have always been terrified of this man, even until this day!

(Deadmingo; oil/acrylic on masonite)

Not much to say here, just tried mixing the two mediums really. So yeah.

Oil Lift Out

2008-05-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry its been a while since my last post but I finally got some graded work back and decided to put one of them up. I have a couple more that will be in up in the next two weeks or so. This is only the second painting I have ever done in my entire life so don't be to rough on me. The assignment was given to do an oil rendering from a photo reference while lifting out color with a little turpentine. I'm sure some you of you have seen masters like Bernie Fuchs (such a great last name) use this technique before much better than myself, but it has given me the opportunity to learn alot about oil. By the way I am sorry for some of the creamy areas! The turp got the best of me! I'll be much more careful next time!

(Photo Reference: Megan Mills my unbelievably talented sister)

Head Drawings

2008-04-23T17:17:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of head drawings that I completed near the end of this last semester.

(Conte on Canson)

I know this wasn't drawn from life but it wasn't supposed to be. My professor gave us the assignment for our final to complete a head from either an old master or from a photo. So I decided since Chuck Close's work is found in art history books you could technically define him as an old master (I know thats pushing it). Other

than that his paintings are basically photos so it really qualified under both of the assigned topics. I have always liked the original, it just has an I don't care feeling to it.

(Reference: Chuck Close)

(This last one is from a model that I thought had interesting features, thats why I decided to put it up.)

Sorry about the nasty stain on this one. The tip of my spray fix was clogged and I it just dripped out at first.

Sketches

2008-04-23T08:49:00.000-07:00

These are some sketches I thought I would throw on here for now to start my blog. I will try and get some of my head studies up this weekend. So for now try and enjoy yourself.

(Photo references: John Davis)