Friday, September 25, 2009

The Lost Boy of the Ozarks :: Early Halloween Special

tomer :: this biting horror story by Steve Freidman unfolds as a boy who's been lost in the woods a century ago creeps back into contemporary consciousness in the form of a ghost suspected as the reason behind a recent missing person incident of another boy, last seen in those same woods.
the first stab at illustrating this consisted of a ghost boy dragging a modern boy to the edges of the image and beyond, letting the woods take center stage. eventually focusing solely on the ghost boy, eating something not quite definable while looking straight at the viewer.

while digging for photographic references this eerie still of an out of focus girl standing in a perfectly sharp surrounding came up. seems to be the classic approach of getting that other-worldly ghost feel, in this case completely accidental. and so, for the execution a similar logic was applied only inverted.

for Backpacker magazine, art directed by Matthew Bates.

27 comments:

  1. you sketches are so freaking cool

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amazing. This piece is one of my favorites of yours now. Truly unbelievable.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great stuff. Way to push it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I really like seeing the process sketches on the way to the final piece. So much is revealed in the sketches... i love it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beautiful piece, I love how you toned the background.

    ReplyDelete
  6. absolutely beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's really great to see the process! Thanks for sharing! :D It makes me think to try to do a little something for Halloween too!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, this is great!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Very creepy, looks awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Beautiful work, I love the process shots, so inspiring!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Different but kinda the same !

    ReplyDelete
  12. Tomer-

    I think you pushed the textures in a new direction with this piece. Very good. The trees are great.

    ReplyDelete
  13. wow those sketches are so gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  14. awesome sketches, I love it when you show your process. I really love the inking you did but I wish that the final image was a little bigger so I could see better detail in the background and environment.

    ReplyDelete
  15. amazing, one of my favourite pieces you have done!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great inspring artwork.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous9:44 AM

    Perfectly creepy...

    I love the mood you've created. I also like how you elaborate on your process. Its nice to see the inner workings of a project.

    ReplyDelete
  18. It's fascinating to see how hard you work to find the best solution to what you want. That kind of passion is only on the best artists.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I'm of the opinion that only great talent is comfortable with revealing the process behind the work.

    It is the most polite way to state that you are aware your work is inimitable - I would have to agree.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Tomer, this is one heck of a great drawing.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I love the fact that you post your process work and references, as its really shows how you lead to the final image that really communicates that story best.

    That was great how you got that idea for that really ethereal feel from accidentally stumbling onto an old photograph.

    Was the boy done digitally? The splatters on the lantern and shoe make me want to think its ink.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Wow...Love this soft look. Your the man...

    ReplyDelete
  23. Geez what a great piece. It is so haunting. You have been really daring in this one. It fits with the header so damn well. And so much prelim work and thought gone into the image. wow.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Sososososo nice. I love your work!!

    ReplyDelete