JUNE 21, 2010

As always, it's been another 6 months since I've last updated my site. Usually, that means I've fallen into some sort of unproductive funk (or, actually, that I had temporarily found myself in a brief moment of productivity, and finished a piece or two worth uploading.) NOT SO, today. For the last 6 months, I have dedicated much of my free time to putting together a complete, 24 page, sequential "Graphic Essay" (I believe I coined that term). I wrote the script nearly a year and a half ago, and am proud that not only was it able to see the light of day-- but that I was able to stick with it over the last half year and actually see a project of this size through to the end. That's a good sign for things to come.

December 8, 2009

Deviant Art, of which I am a member, holds a whole bunch of contests that I normally have little interest in and don't bother entering. When I ran across the Wacom Bring Your Vision to Life contest, though, I was intrigued, because: A) The prizes were cool, and (more importantly) B) I found the subject to be of particular interest. Below is the statement submitted to Deviant Art with the piece:

So the Wacom contest really inspired me to look at my "dreams" in a few different ways. There are the aspirations-- things that I feel would bring me happiness and a sense of fulfillment if accomplished within my life.

Those are, however, defined within the construct of time-- limitation on our abilities to succeed in these endeavors-- whether they be societal limitations (i.e. which careers are valued; finding a compatible spouse...), or biological (i.e. the ability to conceive a child; health issues as your body ages...), etc.

Regardless, time (i.e. Saturn) consumes all these goals with the eventuality of death, which is directly chained to the construct of religion and otherworldliness within the same plane as our collected aspirations.

My ultimate dream would thus be an ability to transcend happiness and satisfaction based purely on physical accomplishments, and find a peace of oneness with my surroundings, and thus, myself. So that, regardless of specific pursuits, I can find joy within life in and of itself, with a greater understanding of the universe I belong to, and thus, a greater acceptance of the many aspects of it which are out of our collective control.

SEPTEMBER 5, 2009

So a friend approached me to work on a cover-up tattoo design, which would incorporate a Guardian Angel in some way. More so out of obligation-- but slightly because I didn't mind the subject matter-- I decided to go ahead and put together a few concepts for him.

Additionally, while sketching out the tattoos, I ran across the project that I had started on in May of last year (see about 5 posts down), which was going to create a large collage of classic movie sketches, set against a backdrop of the lit Hollywood sign. It never quite came to fruition, as it was going to be quite the undertaking. The first sketch I made was the Gone With the Wind one I posted then. From there I made about five or six more-- none of which I was ever completely thrilled with-- except the one of Marlon Brando's Don Corleone: The Godfather.

AUGUST 11, 2009

So it only took eight months, but I finally have my design portfolio up and running. Other than that, I have done nothing of any artistic value whatsoever. I worked on a 60 page personal print project for quite a while, and also helped my friend get his site up: Dodgers Rumors. But other than that, I've been completely unproductive. Having wrapped up a couple unfinished projects now, I hope to add something of interest here soon.

February 7, 2009

So sometime in late January, I noticed a posting on an art blog about the New Yorker's annual contest, to redesign their original 1925 cover of Eustace Tilley, a character developed for the magazine. I didn't win anything- but no biggie. I whipped this out within a couple days.

I've also been spending quite a bit of time trying to get my design portfolio up and online. I'm almost there. In addition, I just recently finished completely updating my Flickr account, which I'm going to use to showcase any photography from now on. It's way easier than the process I used to go through to upload photos.

November 22, 2008

So a couple months ago, somebody that I barely know pointed out to me the "Design your Bottle" contest by 1800 Tequila, titled Essential 1800. She said she "immediately thought of me" when she heard about it, even though we had collectively said about seven words to each other ever.

So having been inspired by some work I had recently seen by Jonathan Hickman, I decided to do something a bit differently, stylistically. He really creates some hybrid form that perfectly mixes comic book style art with contemporary graphic design trends. I thought his short piece in Comic Book Tattoo was aesthetically amazing.

So I'm not going to go into great detail about what the details of the piece are. But hopefully everyone loves it and I get rich. (Actually, I'm not counting on that, but it was fun to do nonetheless.)

August 17, 2008

Nice! Exactly three months since my last update! And I have a whopping ONE drawing to show. Granted, I spent a long time on this drawing. I've been slowly coloring it for over a month-- and I'm not sure exactly how long the pencils and inks took before that.

My Super Mario Bros. piece has always gotten a great reaction-- particularly on my DeviantArt site. That is by far my most popular, commented piece that I have uploaded there. In fact, as you see a couple updates ago, D+Pad chose to include it in a fan art section of their digital video game mag.

I had a lot of fun working on that piece, and always wanted to do some sort of follow up. So I began working with something similar-- the characters of Super Mario Bros. 2 reworked in my own style. There are far more characters in this piece, and much more focus on the environment-- more so than I think any drawing I have ever worked on. I put hours and hours working on the details of this piece, making sure that optimal viewing was at 18"x24". So, needless to say, I think that the small internet version you see here takes away quite a bit. Just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about, though, here is a detailed shot of Mario.

I'm pretty happy with it. To be honest-- I'm kinda happy to be done with it. I have some other ideas floating around in my head, and I needed to get this done first! Oh yeah-- and by the way. That concept mentioned in the previous update: probably never gonna happen. (Surprise!)

May 17, 2008

So I know I haven't put up any new work in a while now-- but I actually am sorta working on something. I had a friend approach me with a project that actually kinda piqued my interest. It has to do with a large format montage of classical Hollywood scenes.

Thematically, it seemed like something different than the kind of work I usually do. But more importantly, it brings up all sorts of technical challenges that sound like a bit of fun to take on. For instance, I have never really worked on a single piece which is meant to be printed at least 3 or 4 feet wide. Additionally, I don't think my normal style of drawing and coloring really lends itself to this type of project, both because of time and the overall aesthetical quality. So I think I've decided to experiment with a bit more of a sketchy drawing style, and a more painterly finished product. I think that look suits the Hollywood theme better- being reminiscent of so many movie posters which rely on painted recreations of characters and scenes.

The overall project, though, is quite an undertaking, and I'm really not sure that I am going to completely go through with it. I guess I will just kind of figure it out as I go along. I've already done final drawings of five or so different Hollywood scenes/characters, which I hope are instantly recognizable. I am just posting one here for now. When I was first discussing this project, this was the very first image that popped into my head. Hopefully it needs no introduction.

APRIL 1, 2008

Note: That drawing to the right is not mine.

So somewhere around 4 or 5 months ago I was contacted by the editor's of a startup digital magazine called D+Pad. If you are unaware of the Gen X reference, a "D Pad" is a direct reference to the "Directional Pad" of video game controllers, which is most often shaped like a plus sign (+). So... if you hadn't pieced it together quite yet-- the magazine is all about video games. The magazine is based out of the UK; the production value seems high, and it is well written-- it seems like it may have a future. They are 6 issues in right now, and seem to be going strong.

Anyway, they were interested in my Super Mario Bros. piece, and had me send over a decent resolution copy of the file. I checked the next couple of issues, to no avail, and basically forgot about it. That is until today, when I thought about it, checked some back issues, and found my piece located in Issue 5. So anyway, props to them. You are welcome to check it out here. One warning, though: the issue downloads are somewhat large.

Oh yeah-- and not that this would even be a good joke in any sense, but this has nothing to do with April Fool's.

March 17, 2008

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Finished the colors of my latest pin-up yesterday.

So a little under a year ago, I was turned on to the Polish sculptor Stanislav Szukalski. I was actually introduced to him by the Tool website, who were advertising an upcoming show of his work at nearby Cal-State San Bernardino. Although I usually find most posts on the official Tool website to be of little interest, I decided to check out his work online, and I liked his style, so I went to the show.

I was blown away by the fluidity in his forms and lines, while at the same time keeping a stylistic rigidity. Not to mention that he had very interesting historical, mythological and religious subjects, which I always like. Turns out, Danny Carey and Adam Jones of Tool are huge fans, as is Tool-artistic-collaborator Cam DeLeon, and even actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who was a close personal friend of the artist up until his death. And all of them were major contributors in putting out one of his published collections, which I picked up.

So anyway-- I was very interested in the work titled Cecora, which chronicled a major event in Polish history. You can read about it here. I had thought of ways to work out a drawing based on that sculpture many months ago, and never got past the penciling stage. However, just a week or two ago, I ran across my original sketches, and something turned me on to restarting the piece. I did, and can say that I am quite pleased with the results.

March 3, 2008

Just uploaded the second installment of my "Untitled" series of sequential exercises. This one is three pages long, and I was going for a very metacomic type of experience. Not sure if I really achieved it completely, but I did have fun with the awareness of that fourth wall which is created in biographical comics, and playing with it throughout the narrative. As I am writing this, for some reason I am reminded of Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, which was a great read, and really challenged my ideas of what a traditional narrative was.

March 1, 2008

So for the first time in life, I began taking some Life Drawing classes. My hope is that maybe... just maybe... if I take these classes, I will begin to at least form the smallest bit of understanding of what the heck is actually going on when I draw the human body. Right now I am alright with the body: I have a very basic understanding of proportion, muscle structure, etc...

But just after two classes, I can already see improvement in watching how certain body parts interact with each other, and how that translates into one realistic, fluid being. Those changes may not necessarily translate into my drawings quite yet, but after 10 more weeks of practice, I hope to see some real improvement (particularly with the female body, which I really have some problems with).

It looks as if we are doing 20+ quick drawings every week. My original intention was to post what I considered to be some of my best here. But starting the second week, I began using a large 18x24 tablet, and scanning those in are a pain in the @$$. I tried taking pictures of them, but as you will see, the detail in Week 2's drawings aren't anywhere close to those of the Week 1 drawing. So, don't be surprised if I don't post any more of these...

And just a note: So far we have only done 3-5 minute poses (and some 30 second poses, which aren't shown here). Our basic idea is to get the spirit of the pose in the drawing. The details don't matter here-- we are looking to create a realistic, natural pose quickly, then we can build the details later.

February 10, 2008

Wow, it's strange enough that I am making two updates in the same season, let alone the same week! So I worked on this piece today because, well, I want to start drawing more, and I had some free time to get back in the coloring groove, and I had found an artist on DeviantArt that I really like, so I 'borrowed' one of his pieces and colored away. His name is Charles Holbert Jr., and he has a great gallery.

Oh yeah, and if you don't know who this drawing is of... then... well... I dunno. Can't wait for July to see Heath.

Anyway, I am laying out my second miniature story for my 'Untitled' comic I'm doing. And in a week or two I am going to start taking some life drawing classes to hopefully force myself into focusing on my art a bit more.

February 4, 2008

Well, it's been almost a year to-the-date since I last made design changes to this site. And here we are again. Version 6.0. And what purpose did that last update really serve? I updated the site a whopping 4 times since the changes-- and haven't touched it in nearly half a year.

As I say every time I throw up an update, I really am going to try to spend some more time drawing and creating work that is worth the effort of me putting in this portfolio here. In fact, I've even signed myself up for some drawing classes to force myself to do something.

Now, what will you notice that is different about the site now? Most notably, you will notice a whole bunch of stuff missing that was here before, such as web-design, graphic design, desktops, etc... I have decided to really have this web site focus on what it was originally meant to: self-fulfilling artwork, most often in the comic medium. I'm no longer going to post every little web site I complete at work, or every graphic design side-job I do at home. If/when I am eventually looking for employment elsewhere, or just have a bunch of spare time on my hands, I may try to create a graphic/web design site that I have tentatively called DMV Design.

Something else you may notice is missing: Photography. I know there are about three people composed of family and friends who actually like looking at my photography, but the truth is, I'm not a photographer, I simply take some snapshots when I go different places, and that really isn't worth the time or effort in placing everything on my website. I have started a flickr page here, and I may eventually put up a bunch of my favorite personal photographs here, but I honestly can't commit to whether or not I will ever actually get it up-to-date.

Now, what am I throwing up here today? Adding a few things that have been around here for months, that for some reason I never took the time to display. Mostly because I had this redesign on my mind for some time.

At the bottom you will see a tattoo I drew for somebody. It is the only time that I can remember that somebody actually used 100% of my drawing for their actual tattoo, and didn't have the artist change anything.

Above that is a drawing I did for myself this past October. I was really itching to draw something, and while thumbing threw some old unused sketches and concepts, I came across this idea from November of 2005. I really dislike that it is about the same time in my life that has been covered in my artwork ad nauseam. That whole thing really is old news, but I found the piece to be aesthetically interesting to work on.

And the last thing I am uploading right now is a 2 page comic that I created in November/December titled "Untitled". There isn't much to it, but I hope it kind of serves as a launching pad for me branching off and doing more sequential work.