Owen William Weber Illustration

This is a piece I did for the Running with Paintbrushes blog Scott, Becca, and I are doing.  The assignment was to do a young adult oriented image based on "Flight".  Mine is more of a children's piece.  I had a great time doing this piece, and am really happy with the final product.  Really fun, got to take my subject matter less seriously. The Magic Feather , 11" x 17", Oil on Paper on Masonite, 2010.

Frank Frazetta died yesterday as many of you know, and I just felt like I needed to say something about him.  I was introduced to his art officially in art school.  This was the first image that was shown to me This painting had such an immediate impact on me.  I think I had been on the fence about which direction I should take my art, I've never felt I have any strong message to push on people, and abstract art always felt forced when I tried to do it.  This image instantly let me know that I could pursue fantasy art and not feel ashamed or like I was wasting my time.  Everything is working in "The Mammoth",  he has all his darkest darks and lightest lights together to draw the eye toward the center focus of the painting, the curves of the tusks contain the viewer completely on the action, and the curve of the man's leg into his back gives a wonderful sense of forward movement towards the Mammoth.  What Frazetta always did best was showing what was needed to be show