Recently completed album artwork for sibling and musician Eric Leva. Done entirely with a digital tablet in photoshop, this doodle will be the featured image for his new single “Heart Gallery,” available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc on January 29th, 2013. Eric is planning to release a new single at… Read More »New Album Art
This weekend was awesome. Besides a wonderful annual caricature gig on Saturday afternoon (I love being paid to draw children), my best friend Kelley came up to my studio in Lowell for the weekend to have a super craft marathon. In a day and a half we got a solid… Read More »Super Craft Weekend Recap
The other night I finished a painting of a leafy sea dragon. I saw one of these beautiful fish a week or so ago on TV and decided that it would be a really fun thing to paint. I hunted down a couple of different reference pictures online, and from… Read More »The Leafy Sea Dragon
In an effort to get my Facebook fan page over that last hump before 300 ‘likes’ I decided to have a give-away. One lucky fan of my page will be selected at random to receive this hand-made, hand-painted ginko leaf leather necklace for free! All you have to do in… Read More »Facebook Give-Away
Hey Everyone, Long time no see. I have been busy getting ready for the Holidays, finishing up my holiday open houses, and of course, making some of my first large scale leather armor pieces. My Etsy shop is finally filling up with the sorts of impressive armor I aim to… Read More »Large Leather Armor
Here is a commission that I finished some time ago for a custom Christmas greeting card. This portrait of a house was done in watercolors on cold press paper. As always, I worked from a photograph. Starting with a sketch, I refined the drawing and transferred it onto my watercolor… Read More »Custom Christmas Card
I recently finished making two cute and cozy holiday ornaments out of vegetable tanned leather. They were hand cut, carved, and painted using a waterproof acrylic ink. I modeled the ornaments after cliche vintage christmas sweaters, to give them an extra warm an cozy visual appeal. The ornaments are… Read More »Holiday Ornaments
Here is a fun painting! Like my others lately, it was a quick one to finish, taking only a day and a half to complete. I wanted to try something really whimsical and free-flowing, while still defining the form of the face. I had a lot of fun with it,… Read More »Blue & Pink Fashion Illustration
Another quick fashion illustration of a woman with big green earrings. This watercolor painting only took a day to finish. Not much to say on this one besides it is another experiment in a stylized way of working.
As part of my development of a new style, and an effort to get into fashion illustration, here is a practice piece of a girl with a blue feather fascinator. In this piece my aim was to loosen up with my rendering and incorporate an outline into my work in… Read More »Blue Feather Fascinator
So! Lately I have been working on a new style of illustrating. Most of my paintings to date have been highly detailed, meticulously rendered, very realistic images where every inch of paper is belabored over to achieve an evenly finished surface. The end result is a painting that glows, but… Read More »The Spider Princess
Here is a new watercolor landscape that I made of a state park in southern Connecticut. I was drawn to the name of the park more than anything; it is called “The Devil’s Hopyard” and is located in East Haddam. Earlier this month I was hiking this park with a few… Read More »The Devil’s Hopyard
I just added a boat-load of new pictures to the crafts gallery at Shaunart.net. In preparation for the fourth quarter (the holiday season, crafting season, and an artist’s most profitable time of the year), I have completed a big round of crafting, making fall accessories from vegetable tanned leather. There are… Read More »HUGE Update in the Crafts Gallery.
The commissioned work gallery has been updated with the latest portrait of a house completed for a local real-estate agency. Done in watercolors and black ink, this “fluffy” watercolor portrait is light and simple, and makes for a wonderful gift by which a seller can remember their former home.
The craft gallery at Shaunart.net has been updated with ten new leather pieces. All medium to large jewelry and accessories, each item was made from vegetable tanned leather: hand-cut, carved, and painted by me. You can find all of my leather items currently for sale in my Etsy shop, but… Read More »Leather Crafts
I like how this necklace came out so much that I am going to write a feature on it. You can view the listing for this one-of-a-kind item here. This is the first of what I am sure will be many maple leaf leather pendants. I cut this leaf from a… Read More »Featured Etsy Item: Fall Maple Leaf Necklace
Here I have two pieces just added to the Sketch book gallery. Done back in the Spring as practice for field sketching, the first is a watercolor sketch of the Hog River in CT on a rather dreary day. The second is a copy in watercolor of a Hopper master… Read More »Two new sketches
Hey everybody, I spent a lot of time this past Thursday adding items to my Etsy store. I went out and bought a necklace stand so that I could take better pictures of the extra jewelry inventory I have lying around. Right now I am working on some new leather… Read More »Lots of New Items on Etsy!
Another painting not yet discussed on the web, this is a recently commissioned tattoo design. The patron is an Aquarius, and wants her next tattoo to be a mermaid fused with Aquarian symbolism. The painting is fairly small in person–about 6 or 7 inches tall. Painted with watercolors and outlined… Read More »Aquarius Mermaid
Here’s a little painting that I did a while back but haven’t had a chance to talk about. This is my Blue Chameleon; he is done in watercolors on cold press paper, and took about three hours to paint. He is currently in a cute little green frame along side… Read More »Blue Chameleon
After spending Spring break 2012 in Sicily as part of a travel & art class at University of Hartford, I came back to the United States ready to make artwork about what struck me most during my time abroad. I am extremely proud of these three paintings. They can be… Read More »Series of Sicily
Last painting done for my senior thesis! This one is of two modern dancers whom I photographed at the University of Hartford Hartt School. They were a joy to photograph, and provided my camera with all sorts of elegant and gravity defying shots. I chose to paint this particular pose… Read More »Modern Dancers
Another painting from senior year that fits with my thesis on art for the theatre, this is a retro-styled poster for the musical Chicago. Here I am show-casing the main character, Roxie Hart. I wanted to add several elements from the musical, such as the stage, and Chicago night life… Read More »Chicago Poster
Part of my senior thesis project was to do a series of three. I chose to do a series of three portraits, of three women, in three different modes of costume, interacting with three different classifications of animals. The first portrait is of a woman in a tradition costume. A… Read More »Portraiture
This painting is more concept art, but this time for the musical “Into the Woods.” This musical, if you haven’t seen it before, takes all of Grimm’s Fairy Tales and combines them into one great big story. Cinderella is a major character in the play, and as you know, her… Read More »Cinderella
I addition to keeping a sketch book while in Sicily, I also did a lot of sketching in watercolor. Sometimes a camera just doesn’t capture the full experience. When a camera takes a picture, the lighting is always a little different from what the eye is seeing. A camera focuses… Read More »Field Watercolors from Sicily
So, as my frequent readers know, I went to Sicily over my last spring break as part of a course at the University of Hartford. But because my semester was so crazy, I never got a chance to post my sketch book from the trip. Here, finally, are my best… Read More »Sketch book from Sicily
For the next few weeks I will be blogging about the individual pieces that made up my senior exhibition. In no particular order, I would like to start with this re-imagining of Audrey II, the monster from the musical ‘Little Shop of Horrors.’ For my senior project I choose to… Read More »Little Shop
Hey! You know what’s cool and exciting? I am helping to design the costumes for CONNetic Dance’s upcoming production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream! CONNetic Dance is a ballet company based in Hartford, CT and their show this June is a steampunk rendition of the Shakespearean classic. The set designer… Read More »Costume Consultant for Connetic Dance!
Hey everyone, it’s been way too long since my last blog post! I am back in school for my final semester!! The past month has been really crazy; I had to get my senior project all figured out as well as all sorts of preparations for graduation, but now my… Read More »Preparing for Sicily: Field Sketches at Trinity College
As my frequent readers know, this past semester I took three independent studies which focused on the adornment and modification of the human body. One independent study was a psychology class, one was a makeup and wigcraft class, and the other was an art studio course. In this studio course… Read More »Body Modification Animation
This post is to highlight a little project that I threw together at the last minute for my musician brother. He put out a new single titled “The New Year” this week, and the graphic that we collaboratively constructed is below. Nothing too special or complicated; this happened in about… Read More »The New Year
This post is a continuation of yesterday’s article on the two paintings from a book illustration class that I completed this semester. For background on the class and the story, please go read my previous post! Today I have the second painting, which happens to be the last full-page spread… Read More »…Dear Liza, Dear Liza
First post of 2012, and its for a new illustration, just uploaded from the end of the semester. This painting, and another which are now featured in the illustration galleries, are the fruit of the book illustration class that I have recently completed. In the course, we learned about everything… Read More »There’s a Hole in the Bucket….
Okay! Now that the Holidays are over, and my internet connection restored, I can get back to updating my site and this blog. Here we have my last painting for the advertising illustration class that I finished this past semester. Our assignment was to design an album cover. Now, album… Read More »Fire-breathing Dragon in Space
Musician and little brother Eric Leva has just released a new Holiday EP, available for free as a download when you sign up for his mailing list. The album artwork for this EP, available only in digital form, was created by yours truly. This painting was executed from start to… Read More »Album Art for Eric Leva’s Holiday EP
Whoa! November just flew by, didn’t it!? I haven’t posted in forever, and for that I apologize; it has been such a busy month. Finally, I have a new painting ready to show. This illustration was done as a special project in our illustration department at school. Every year, the… Read More »Summer Term Cover Contest Illustration
Ah, the first snowfall of the season! Who would have thought that it would be such a major storm? As I sit under the threat of loosing my power at any moment, I would like to get in a blog post while I still can. I have for you today,… Read More »A Reindeer Painting to Welcome This Winter Weather
Today I’ve added two new paintings to the Illustration gallery. This set of two was designed for my advertising illustration class to appear on bottles of wine. Our assignment was to come up with two different wine labels, done in a comparable style, that features two different animals: one for… Read More »Paintings for Wine Labels: The Walrus and Penguin
I recently completed another commission for CD album art! Here is the finished packaging images. All the images and type were rendered digitally by me. You can find out more about the music and the artist at www.ronbrault.com
Here is a Commission that I recently completed for a local Real-estate Agency. They wanted three original paintings of one of their client’s homes. I like painting houses in watercolors because the softness of the paint helps to ease the hard geometry of the modern home. These portraits are quick,… Read More »Another Home Portrait Commission Complete.
New painting in the illustration gallery, done especially for the Renaissance Faire. This girl with the flowers in her hair was done in acrylic inks, watercolors, and colored pencils. I absolutely love celtic knotwork, and want to work more on decorative boarders and embellishing my work. This was the perfect… Read More »Girl with Flowers in Her Hair
I have added a new painting to the Illustration gallery, and it is my final oil painting from Spring semester 2011. Our task was to paint something related to the field of illustration that we think we may want to pursue. I’ve been thinking a lot about paper goods and… Read More »Owl painting
Another part of my jewelry making endeavor has been to make necklaces out of recycled bottle caps. These youthful, one-of-a-kind necklaces are all for sale on my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Shaunart I start with a bottle cap, currently all from alcoholic beverages. I clean them, and then fill them with pretty,… Read More »Summer Crafting Part III: Bottle Cap Necklaces
In preparation for the Silver Kingdom Renaissance Festival this June, I have been spending considerable time making jewelry by hand. I went to the library to look for ideas on things to make, when I stumbled upon a book on Celtic knot-work. I have always thought that knot-work is absolutely… Read More »Summer Crafting Part II: Celtic Knotwork
Here is the first assignment from my oil painting class. Our task was to define an alter-ego for ourselves, and to paint our likeness on this fantasy identity. I decided that my alter-ego would be an exotic snake charmer, hiding from the dessert sun in her lavish arabian, or maybe… Read More »Alter-ego: The Snake Charmer
Graphite illustration from the Hunch Back of Notre Dame. Quasimodo has saved Esmerelda from being hanged, and brought her to the cathedral under the law of sanctuary. The Truands then charge the cathedral in an attempt to save Esmerelda. However Quasimodo thinks that they want to hurt Esmerelda, so he… Read More »Hunchback of Notre Dame
Last painting of the year from my Acrylics illustration class! I decided to take a more stylized route for this assignment, which was to include a turtle. It was an extremely open assignment, really. It could have to do with anything we wanted as long as there was a turtle… Read More »Turtle Rock
This is what we call a stock image. It’s a vague, metaphorical piece that could be applied to a number of projects. Painted with oil, this cheerful piggy bank is perfect for an add for savings accounts, or an article on financial growth. It could also be a an image… Read More »Stock Pig
Last figure from this latest batch of colored pencil figures that I’ve been posting. This one was done with a henna colored pencil on pearl paper with white for the highlights.