Last Birthday

Okay, I promise this is the last birthday illustration I post. Well, for now anyways. I was just that I got hit with 3 friend's birthdays one after the other, and all of them amazing artists, so that's all I've been working on recently. This last one was for my friend Katie Rice. It's my second digital illustration, and I really like how it turned out. I again inked it in Flash and added the textures in Photoshop. But this time in Flash, I tried just inking the drawing by hand with the brush tool, instead of using the line tool. It was kinda hard to get used to at first, trying to get good thick and thins, but I think it turned out well. The letters are also hand drawn, I don't know why you wouldn't think they were, but some people had asked me about it. Enjoy!

Aye Aye Cap'n

Here's a paint'n I did of the cap'n. I made it for my friend and director Dave Wasson's birthday. It's my second recent attempt at gouache, and I think it turned out pretty well actually. It seems to get easier with practice, which I guess is how everything goes. This painting's cooler in real life because the gold paint I used on his fur coat reflects light and such, but you get the idear.
I saw Corpse Bride last night, and it was pretty cool. The designs and overall visuals were awesome and the animation was great! But it's hard not to compare it to Nightmare Before Christmas. I also saw the new Wallace and Grommit movie last weekend. That was awesome as well, with some really funny scenes. I think I still like the shorts better though. Still, you gotta give it up for Aardman and Tim Burton for pursuing this strenuous, but beautiful technique of filmaking (film-making? film making? filmmaking?).

Birthday Shmirthday

"Man, I need to post more stuff," I says to myself I says. I've been pretty busy just trying to make new artwork and also been busy just trying to live life. I made this illustration for my friend Gabe Swarr for his birthday last week. He's a huge Mario fan, along with most other video games, so I thought I'd take a crack at it. I've never really done any digital illustrations, so this was a first. I made all the artwork in Flash working off of the drawing I did, then I did all the textures in Photoshop. I really like how it turned out, especially the characters. And it all started with the drawing, which came almost out of nowhere. I was sketching different Marios when I thought to myself, I'll probably like drawing Luigi better, taking in Gabe's philosophy the you like drawing your own body-type. And then Boom! This drawing came out of nowhere, first-time, no erasies. I was amazed.
I posted a detail of Luigi's face just because I like it so. And when I showed people the illustration on paper, they always turned it around to look at him. So here it is for your convenience. I don't want you straining your back, flipping your monitor over. Oh yeah, you're probably wondering what Luigi's saying. I did it by hand afterwards, so that's why it's missing. It's not anything profound of funny even. Mario's depressed, so Luigi's trying to console him by saying, "C'mon, you're not old, you're CLASSIC!!!"

Markers!

These are some fun marker drawings from the other night. It's always good to mix up mediums, switch techniques. It keeps you on your toes. I have yet to master the bleeding marker, as you can tell, but it's fun to get things down on paper quickly and messily. Messily is not even a word, but you know what I mean. Enjoy!

Green, buff, monster-men are so misunderstood...

An "Oliver Twist" sumo wrestler, or the new guy who has to pay his dues? You decide.

Drawings!

Horray for paper and pencil!!! So simple, yet so joyful. Here's a drawing I did last night. I actually drew the guy and the cat seperatly, but they seemed to go together so well. So BAM! A drawing rich with meaning! I really like how the guy turned out. Lots of cool shapes in there. Oh, and here below we have yet another caricature of myself. No, I'm not an egomaniac, but it is true that I am fun to draw. Ask anyone. Even I can't help myself sometimes. I like how this one turned out also. I took a different approach to my hair shape theory, and I think it works well.

AHH PAINT!!!

I decided I needed to start painting more, one) because it's fun, two) because it's relaxing, and three) because paintings look awesome. But man, it's hard! Especially painting in gouache where you have to lay down your light colors first and whatnot. I dunno, I'm still trying to figure it all out. I haven't painted in a while so I just wanted to dive right in. These are just some tests I did last night. The first two I painted at the same time, switching back and forth when one was drying. They are pretty close to their actual size, like a business card. I just kinda went straight-ahead on these just doodling what came to mind. The first one is supposed to be some sort of cat, but it looks like it got run over or something. I like how this bird turned out though.
This third one is a little bit bigger and I actually did a quick sketch for it beforehand. I remember a couple of years ago at Calarts Tim Biskup and Seonna Hong came in to Alex Kirwan's class to give a little lecture and show people how they paint backgrounds for Time Squad. They had the bg drawn on paper, and then they would tape it on one end to the illustration board or whatever, and place a piece of carbon paper inbetween and transfer the drawing that way. So I tried that method and it seemed to work pretty well. I just have to work on my drybrush technique. It's hard to get that down. Oh yeah, and I have to learn to draw girls better. Unlike the first two, I painted the character first and the background behind it second. I'm guessing that's the only way to get the lighter colors to look good. I sure have a lot of practicing to do. If anyone else knows any techniques let me know!

Hodgepodge

So I finally decided to post more drawings. It seem that I've been drawing less recently, but that can't be right. I think it's just I haven't liked anything I've drawn. I need to get out of this slump and start coming up with more idears. But I managed to find some things that I like, so here they are. The image above was a result of my weekly meetings with friends. The giraffe and the man don't have anything to do with one another, but maybe they should. A trainer perhaps? Or just a friendly zoo visitor? Whatever they are, they seem to be both intently staring at the same thing off screen.
These were some more lunchtime drawings, hence the napkins. Birds don't say much, well, the don't say much in English anyways. I'm abnormally quiet, or so everyone tells me. I don't like it when they say that.
Oh look, it's the captain again! Hooray!
And finally, here's a sketch of my friend Tony Mora. I'm not sure why I made him into an angel, but he's a pretty nice guy. He gave me a whole bunch of avocados from his tree. Thanks Tony!