leonard dente

Vancouver Opera

2010-05-07T15:58:00.006-04:00

I've been given the go ahead to show off my recent freelance work for the Vancouver Opera's 2010-2011 season. This was a very exciting project to be offered so soon after graduating, thank you Doug and Annie!
Find out more here: vancouveropera.ca

Here are the pieces as they appear in VO's promotional flyer:

Tooling Around

2009-07-14T17:11:00.001-04:00

An unfinished Kerouac portrait that I've been playing with.

Breaking the Ice

2009-07-01T20:28:00.006-04:00

July is now.

A quick and personal piece.
I have several long term projects (self motivated assignments) that I'm excited about:

2 surreal graphic novels (tentatively) titled "Astro Glue" and "The Banana Famine". Strange titles, I know.

A couple of series of paintings: Francesca VERSUS the Green Animals and The Martian Showdown; also an ongoing series of Undead Presidents. This is freestyle folks, or maybe I'm just losing my marbles ...

Portfolio Section

2009-05-06T21:59:00.002-04:00

I've added a new portfolio section above to help my blog serve as my website until I build a better one.
I'd like to thank all of my portfolio reviewers today, all of your advice and observations were very helpful and motivating.

Ginsberg Reworked

2009-04-22T00:20:00.002-04:00

After major surgery, the finished Allen Ginsberg piece.

Jean Louis

2009-04-21T00:53:00.004-04:00

Kerouac.

The three mailers have been redone:
(The Alan Moore [top] piece was reworked from scratch.)

Also, my business card:

More soon ...

Irwin Allen

2009-04-05T16:31:00.001-04:00

Graphite, acrylic, gouache, and digital.

Horror

2009-03-16T18:39:00.002-04:00

wolfman
dracula
frankenstein

Three pieces done for Experimental Illustration.

Society of Illustrators

2009-02-26T23:31:00.003-05:00

I got a piece into the Society of Illustrators student competition, specifically the W. Burroughs portrait above. Holy crap!
Congrats to Lindsay and Will, who also got pieces in!

UPDATE: I've received a Society of Illustrators Education Committee Award! I've never been so honored.

Three Postcards

2009-02-18T01:38:00.009-05:00

These are concept sketches for my three promotional mailers. The vague theme they share is either senses or "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". They make zero sense, and can be thought of as surreal visual puzzles ... maybe?

UPDATE: These are no longer going to be used, I've chosen to focus on more portrait driven mailers. Stay tuned. 9 April 2009

Alan Moore Finish

2009-01-29T17:45:00.004-05:00

Here we have the finished Alan Moore piece. I'm encountering that unholy phenomenon of finding my sketches more appealing than my finishes again, perhaps because I spend too much time on preliminary work and not enough on the finish. I'm thinking scale worked against me here as well, I prefer to work vastly smaller. (This piece = 20" x 30".)

The Magician

2008-12-17T22:30:00.004-05:00

Finished comp for Alan Moore piece, beginning finish tonight.
(Paul, why 20"x30"?!)

William Seward

2008-12-07T22:10:00.004-05:00

Graphite, watercolor, gouache, and digital.

Successful Chimpanzee

2008-12-04T18:04:00.005-05:00

Chimp final, no color yet.

Victory (None)

2008-11-18T22:24:00.008-05:00

Here we have my rejected finish for the UCF Anthology Cover.
And a detail:Although disappointed by rejection many valuable lessons can be drawn from this experience and I am greatful.
I can only find fault in their confused art direction as a team, but there were so many opinions.

The other conclusion I've come to is that this piece was overworked, the sketch had more impact and a better general feel!
Stay fresh, stoopid!

World Record

2008-11-11T01:03:00.001-05:00

Came across the humorous "record" set by a chimpanzee named Raven who chose an internet stock portfolio by throwing darts at a list. She defied expectations and was hailed a financial whizz (not saying much for the human financial gurus), and at one point had a website monkeydex.com, detailing Wall Street's first index of publicly traded Internet and new-economy stocks selected by a chimpanzee (wtf?)

Resolved Sketch

2008-11-02T01:56:00.004-04:00

More resolved sketch for UCF Cover project.

Technocracy

2008-10-29T23:58:00.004-04:00

I forgot to post this idea submitted to the UCF anthology cover "competition". Take from it what you will.

Not a Good Likeness

2008-10-27T01:59:00.005-04:00

Having so much trouble capturing a good likeness of Kerouac, posing him in such a way that I have no direct photo reference. Took a picture of myself then tried to build his face on top of mine ... really not that simple. This piece may be done by tomorrow, but no guarantees.

Know who it looks like, the detective from Twin Peaks.

Style Study

2008-10-17T23:54:00.002-04:00

After laboring far too long over meticulous watercolor paintings that never ended up looking as I wanted them to, I've decided to go nuts.
And to change the way I work. Things will be different from here on.

2 Thumbs

2008-10-09T01:35:00.002-04:00

Two thumbs for degree project pieces,
a portrait of Burroughs alluding to his "cut-up" style of writing,

and a portrait of Kerouac depicting his marathon typing.

"Why no color?" asks Wojciech.

Obama Tree-head

2008-10-02T09:48:00.013-04:00

Everyone in Illustration 4 is required to submit to the Mass Art Democracy Show's call for entries. The specifications are:

Work submitted must be of political or social nature containing content or a message that relates to topical or current issues, trends or events.

I'm going with a globally minded Obama, dreaming of leafy goodness.
(This is only a sketch. The finished piece will be cranked out in the next few days.)

It's a little absurd, but so am I.

Kerouac

2008-09-28T15:23:00.006-04:00

Facial studies of the forlorn "King of the Beats" ...

and of Mr. Ginsberg:

Two rough sketches for proposed degree project illustrations coming soon ...

Burroughs

2008-09-22T22:57:00.004-04:00

Sketching Burroughs ... aiming at a true likeness.

I'll be putting together a page like this for each of the writers I've chosen.
So there'll be anywhere from 6-10 of these study pages forthcoming.

Oh, and as it turns out, it's not that Wojciech doesn't know these authors, it's just that he thinks they're all degenerates and Bolsheviks.

Sketches

2008-09-17T17:12:00.004-04:00

Here are several sketches of Allen Ginsberg at various stages in his life:

I'm also taking typography I ...

Invitation

2008-08-30T23:49:00.003-04:00

Finally got the invitations printed for Isabella's (1st) birthday party.

Cutesy and tootsy.

Getting geared up.

2008-08-28T13:42:00.005-04:00

I was playing around today while working on Isabella's birthday invitation, combining graphite, watercolor, and digital:

Trying to get back into a productive mode.

...

Also, here's a teaser for the invitation: