golfing legend Ben Hogan in 1953 at Carnoustie

drawing by Steven Salerno of Ben Hogan winning the '53 Open Championship  visit stevensalerno.com

above

Aside from my illustration work for magazines, advertising and picture books for kids, -because of my personal interest in the great game of golf, additionally I also create golf related art and graphics. ...Above is my recent drawing I created of one of my golf legends heroes, Ben Hogan, the American superstar from the 1940's and 1950's. It depicts Hogan in 1953 playing at the Open Championship (that's the "British Open" for you non-golfers) at the Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland...  Of course, I referred to a specific b&w photo from the actual event. I created this original drawing in Adobe Illustrator, then brought it into Photoshop where I scanned in my painted gouache textures to create the background sky, clouds, and ground, plus painted the watercolor-looking color and texture digitally. Posted here is the full image and a few close-up views...

1953 was a big year for Hogan. In April he won the Masters, in June he won the US Open Championship (his 8th & 9th major championship victories), and in July he played in the Open Championship, held that year at Carnoustie. (It was his one and only time competing in an Open Championship) Hogan was tied for the lead after the third round, then shot a course record in the 4th round to win the championship. (His 10th major championship victory in his career and his last.)

drawing by Steven Salerno of Ben Hogan winning the '53 Open Championship (detail) 

drawing by Steven Salerno of Ben Hogan winning the '53 Open Championship (detail)

drawing by Steven Salerno of Ben Hogan winning the '53 Open Championship (detail)

visit my illustration website to view my portfolios for editorial, advertising, picture books, etc... as well as client list, list of published picture books and more...

stevensalerno.com

ARNIE

ARNIE by golf artist Steven Anthony Salerno   visit sasgolf.com

Aside from my long career creating illustrations in my known style for magazines, advertising, children's picture books, packaging, etc... I also spend a lot of my time creating golf art -an expression of my life long interest in the great game of golf. Posted here is one of my most recent drawings... yet another image of one of my favorite players of all time, Arnold Palmer.

Visit my golf art gallery site, sasgolf.com to read about my relatively new venture into golf art, and see many more samples of my limited edition golf art prints available for purchase.

I created this image entitled ARNIE, first by drawing the figure of Palmer using just a somewhat blunt black oil crayon... just a straight forward traditional rendering... then I scanned my drawing into Photoshop where I digitally manipulated the black color of the crayon line so that it was now a saturated blue. Then I added a hyper-flesh tone to his face, hands and arms with a digital brush. The last steps were to embed the drawing onto the background, which is comprised of distressed paint on a wood panel, including the stenciled lettering of the name PALMER. The resulting "look" is of a traditionally conceived drawing, but the manipulations and layering in Photoshop gives it a modern pop feel overall, representing that Mr. Palmer is a link between older traditions and values with the contemporary game of today. 

Visit sasgolf.com to view all my available golf art prints.

Visit stevensalerno.com to view my illustration portfolio samples.

That's Mr. Hogan to you...

painting study of Ben Hogan by artist Steven Anthony Salerno  -visit SASgolf.com

limited edition print entitled "9/64" by artist Steven Anthony Salerno -visit SASgolf.com

Usually, I keep entries to my illustration blog separate from my golf art blog, (see www.sasgolf.blogspot.com -the blog for my golf art gallery site, SASgolf.com) but sometimes I do decide to enter a post pertaining to my golf art on my illustration blog anyway...as a way to inform people who only know of me by my whimsical illustrations that I also have a whole other artistic endeavor with my golf art images.


Posted here is my painting study (gouache, watercolor and pencil on paper) of past PGA Tour iconic superstar, Ben Hogan, one of my favorite players and subjects. This painting was then merged with one of my photos of wood textures to create a final art image for my edition of prints entitled "9/64" -which refers to Mr. Hogan having won 9 major championships and 64 PGA Tour victories in his career, and is available on my site SASgolf.com in the "exclusive edition" category.

New on-line golf art gallery at sasgolf.com... (my new [other] site!)

Anyone who knows me, knows I have been involved with and keenly interested in the great game of golf nearly all my life...

 Just recently I (finally) launched a new web site named sasgolf.com (based on the initials of my full name, Steven Anthony Salerno) It is a showcase for my personal golf related art images and graphics... available on this new site as limited edition giclee prints. (on the site you can also read a brief bio/info of my involvement with golf and how my golf art has been used by the PGA Tour.) 

During my rather lengthy professional illustration career I've developed a recognizable whimsical style, which has appeared in literally thousands of illustrations for advertising, magazines, product packaging and children's books.... but my golf art images on my new golf art site are a complete departure from my regular illustration career style. These golf images are more painterly and/or "reality" based in concept and execution... Posted above are a handful of my original golf images and graphics.

I love creating illustrations, but as anyone in the biz knows, many times there are compromises to be made (some big, some small) due to client needs and especially due to time & budget constraints. And many times you are having to align your illustration style with topics that do not necessarily line up with your style nor your own personal interests. Of course as a professional, the trick is to create a wonderful illustration despite any of these various obstacles... and for the most part I feel I have done it well. But after nearly thirty years of tight illustration deadlines and commercial demands, it is refreshing when doing these golf art images to not have client factors in the mix ... and to take as much time as I want. Compared to the all-too-often feeling of being pressed for time to complete my illustration projects, in contrast, when creating these golf art images I can relax and feel more in sync with what I am creating. 

My motivation is to create the best golf images I can -to express in the images the thoughts and feelings I have about the game and its top players who become incons. I'm selling these images as fine reproductions prints... so, of course it will be terrific if the prints sell well, but ultimately my goal, as an artist, is to leave some lasting images on the subject. Hopefully the golfing world will enjoy them.

Visit my new site at sasgolf.com

BLACK is back! (US Open returns to Bethpage)

Visit my golf art web site, sasgolf.com to purchase signed, limited edition prints.

BLACK is back! On June 18th, the US Open Championship is back at the Black Course at Bethpage... (in Farmingdale, New York on Long Island) The best professional golfers are back to challenge one of the toughest golf courses on the planet! (The US Open was played there back in 2002, won by Tiger Woods, who was the only player to finish under par. And this year's course is playing to an even longer yardage!)

I love the game of golf. And when I am not busy with my regular illustration career schedule, I find the time to also create golf related images for myself...

Seen above (top image) is a poster I designed, using a full-color digital painting I created of the Bethpage Black Course's 14th hole, a short par 3, seen on a late summer afternoon when the shadows were getting long. (and below it is a detail view of the painting)

For reference I used a photo I'd taken on a day I played the Bethpage Black Course last year. (I had managed to snag a tee time ONCE on the Black Course last summer... Yes, it's a public course! It's nearly impossible to get a tee time on the Black Course, so usually I end up playing the Red Course or the Blue Course.)

Then I simply painted my image in Adobe Photoshop, on multiple layers, using my custom color palette of cmyk colors, just a few different paintbrush tools and erase tools and working with my digital "pen" on a 12" x 12" Wacom tablet. It's a terrific way to "paint" because I can try multiple color and texture variations so quickly. And when I make a mark or stroke, and don't quite get it just the way I intended it on the first try, I can simply delete the mark or stroke and try executing it again...

The poster shown next (entitled "The Black Course") is another I designed using a very graphic drawing I had created in strong blues and blacks only, of the Black Course's par three 17th hole. It was drawn in Adobe Illustrator directly on my digital Wacom tablet using just a few different "brush" tools and color fills... It's difficult to see in these small screen samples, but the trees in the background are very boldly done in a calligraphic manner. One must see the full 24" x 36" sized poster to appreciate the simple and bold nature of the image.

Click here to see an earlier posting on several other US Open posters I created for the upcoming event next month at Bethpage... as a self-motivated project.