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This is the Most Insane Tattoo Design Ever

June 7, 2012 by Dan Redding Leave a Comment

Back in 2009, a friend of mine asked me to illustrate a tattoo that he described as “The King of New York Ultimate Kick-Ass Basketball Tat.” I was shocked when he told me what he had in mind: he said that it would have a basketball wearing a crown as the centerpiece, and surrounding that would be majestic lions and the World Trade Center and King Kong scaling the Empire and, obviously, the Himalayas. After my giddy laughter subsided, I started drawing. Three years later and the tattoo has been inked. Below is a photo and an excerpt from the original brief. Move over Frank White, there’s a new King in town.

Design Brief: The King of New York Ultimate Kick Ass Basketball Tat:

  1. 2 majestic lions
  2. the Brooklyn more pref. Williamsburg bridge
  3. world trade center
  4. basketball (on fire or not)
  5. “KING OF NEW YORK”
  6. crucifix???
  7. Shamrock???
  8. Empire st. building
  9. Kong?
  10. Crown
  11. HUGE possibly japanese magestic mountain w snow and clouds

Filed Under: The Vault

Photobooth Portrait

October 8, 2010 by Dan Redding Leave a Comment

This multimedia painting is a portrait I did in the early 2000’s. That’s me on the left, along with my cousin Jered (center) and friends. The image is based on the photo below. This piece was done with acrylic paint, colored pencil, and a photocopy transfer technique (involving using nail polish remover to transfer ink from a photocopy to a layer of acrylic) that I used often at the time.

Filed Under: The Vault

Sketchbook Pages II

October 7, 2010 by Dan Redding Leave a Comment

For more images from this sketchbook, see my previous post.

Click here to view the rest of this post.

Filed Under: The Vault

Old Liar Sketchbook

October 6, 2010 by Dan Redding Leave a Comment

I’ve had this sketchbook for nearly a decade and it means a lot to me. In a former incarnation, this was a book about the Dag Hammarskjold Library at the U.N. I have defaced and repurposed it so now it is a sketchbook. It says ‘Old Liar’ on the spine, which is one of the derivations I made out of the former title of the book (another derivation is visible on the cover). There’s a lot of collage in it and drawings as well. Here’s the book and a few pages.

Click here to view the rest of this post.

Filed Under: The Vault

My Faux Rockwell

January 13, 2010 by Dan Redding 2 Comments

Rockwell reproduction by yours truly

I stumbled across this in an old sketchbook today and just had to put it online because I still feel very affectionate for it. This is a (skewed, poorly lit) photo of an oil painting that I did in college. The assignment, given to students in the Illustration Department at Parsons School of Design by the legendarily skilled and bawdy illustrator Alan Reingold, was to duplicate an oil painting by a famous artist.

I chose a Norman Rockwell painting (see Rockwell’s original here) in which I saw a whimsical concept and challenging photorealism. The last time I saw my version of the painting, it was in Dad’s basement somewhere, but I’d love to find it and frame it because it remains one of my favorite paintings I’ve ever done, despite the unoriginal subject matter. It represents a time when I was drawing and painting all day every day and learning all the time. I still work hard and learn always, but I rarely paint anymore, and, well, I’m a nostalgic sap, okay? There, I said it (as if it wasn’t already obvious enough by the fact that I chose to emulate a Rockwell).

Filed Under: Artists, The Vault

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Magnetic State is a design studio powered by Dan Redding. We create websites, brand identity, and print design. Wanna work together? Send Dan an email.

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