Speed Painting practice...

Just some speed paintings I was working on the other day.  Found a color scheme I liked and gave myself a theme and ran with it.  I think the total time for all of these was around 8 hours.  I was pretty happy with that!  I haven't had a chance to develop any of these further, but I thought each was a cool environment worth exploring.  Hope you like!

Process: The Ref Sheet...

So, most everyone who's around me when I work knows that I can be a little insecure when it comes to my own process of creating art.  I'm always thinking that it should be done a different way.  I see some great artist do a demo and I say to myself, "Hey idiot.  He's good.  Do what he does."  And try that out for a week or so, adopt some that artist's practices.  Then I see another great artist and say to myself, "Hey idiot.  He's good.  Do what he does." And so on and so forth. 

Because of this, there are not a lot of things that I can call mine.  Things that I can say I came up with on my own.  There are exceptions though.  One such exception is THE REF SHEET.

When I was at SJSU, one of the first courses I took was an illustration class taught by Alice "Bunny" Carter.  One thing that Alice stressed was the need for good reference.  I remember gathering pictures from wherever I could find them (internet, magazines, my own photos) and taping them all to a board and having that in front of me throughout the whole drawing and painting process.  I learned that reference could inspire me, teach me, and also prompt new and interesting ideas.  But it was important that those images were in my face all the time.

When I left school and got a job in games, I often didn't have the time to print out tons of pictures and organize them nicely on physical boards or the space to put them anywhere.  So I developed a new way of organizing my images.  THE REF SHEET!  I'm sure it's not entirely original, but it was a great solution that merged the things I loved from my traditional days with the digital workspace I use now.

I start in Photoshop with a blank, black document.  I then peruse the World Wide Web for images that will inspire my concepts and drag and drop them straight from the browser to my document.  The images I drag in tend to fit into two categories.  1) Other artists' work that might inform the style (and just look cool) and 2) photos for subject and texture reference.  Each image needs to be fairly large and awesome.  No grainy pictures in this dojo!  One of the funnest parts is the organizing.  Each photo needs to fit well with the page as a whole.  It's very Mr. Miyagi.  Zen-like and soothing.  The black background serves to keep the ref images as the focus.  White or grey backgrounds tend to fight with the ref and can be a distraction.  Once my ref sheet is done, I keep it on my second monitor where it stays until the assignment is done.

 

It can get pretty extensive!  

 

Anyway.  Revolutionary it may not be.  But very helpful.  And its a good way of keeping your reference in it's proper place:  nearby, where it's accessible and inspirational.

Getting ready!

The flight has been booked.  The hotel has been reserved.  And I got my transport, a little Kia Rio, waiting.  Come mid-May, I'm taking a trip to Kansas City, MO.  What's in KC, you ask?  Well, one, the greatest BBQ in the world.  Two, Hallmark Cards (and the great friends I met when I interned there). And, three, the Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 2 fantasy illustration convention.  Chowing down BBQ'd burnt ends and seeing some old friends will be great, but the purpose of the trip is #3.

I've never been to a convention like this!  I'm very excited and nervous at the same time (but mostly the former)!  For those that don't know, Spectrum Fantastical Art is a juried annual publication that showcases some of the best illustrators in the scifi/fantasy industry.  It's been around for many years and their books are always a source of inspiration for me.  Well, last year they created a very successful convention that brings all the greatest talents together in one place for a weekend.  I wasn't able to make it last year, but I decided I couldn't miss this one.  Looking through the list of exhibitors is crazy!  All the fantasy artists that I've loved for years will be there.  And I can go and chat with them.  There will be seminars, demos, and even portfolio reviews (I was lucky to secure three interviews Saturday morning!).  Should be a great time and I'll let you know how it turns out after it's over.  In the meantime, here's the promo card I got printed for the occasion.  I'll probably do a process post of this illustration later.

Hope it goes well!  Thanks for stopping by!

Great Artists I Wish I Could Paint Like or GAIWICPL #1: Adam Rex

I can't remember how I was first introduced to Adam Rex' work.  But as soon as I saw it, I immediately told everyone else about him.  Fantasy artist, children's book illustrator, writer, poet!  He does it all!  One of the things that stood out to me right away about his work is the way he bridges the gap between children's lit and fantasy work.  His work seems equally appropriate for both genres.  I love children's books and fantasy illustration and struggle to pick a genre to focus on.  Looking at Adam's stuff makes me think it might be possible to entertain both sides of my art and be successful at it too.  I even had the chance to meet him (though he'd never remember) several years back when he was on a book tour, here in Raleigh, promoting one of his award winning books, Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich.  My son and I sat in as he made up a story for a group of kids and, afterward, he was kind enough to give me some valuable industry insight.

 His art and stories are beautifully created but also have a strangeness to them that I love.  Superhero Abraham Lincoln fighting a giant squid on the moon (as seen on his blog), for example.  Need I say more?  No.  I don't.

 Adam is also a fantastic blogger and a really funny guy!  He knows his readers and cares about them. He answers people's questions, challenges his readers to write poetry, and will even pour chocolate syrup over his head for his readers, under the right circumstances.

Anyway!  Check out his art, news about his books, and his bio on his site.  To catch a glimpse at his process and other random cool stuff, check out his blog!  Enjoy!

It's time for a change!

Alright.  I've been wanting to do something more with my blog for a long time.  But I wasn't sure what.  For those of you that currently follow this blog, you know that I'm not the most consistent blogger.  And I appreciate your patience with me.  But I'm feeling a change in the wind!  I'm motivated!  I'm excited!  And I've got a plan!

So, moving forward, my goal is to post every Monday. But instead of posting finished illustrations or concept work (which can be found on my portfolio site), I want share the things that are inspiring me.  Other artists.  New techniques.  And a lot of the crazy ideas running around in my head.  Hopefully this blog can become a new source of info and inspiration for you!  If you like what you see, please let someone else know about it!  And please comment!  I'd like to get to know y'all better!  Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

I'm famous now...

No, not really.  So I'm a fan of cghub and gather tons of inspiration reference every week from the great artists that are showcased there.  I started a profile a while back, but only posted 4 or 5 images.  To be expected, I had no traffic.  But recently I decided to add more of my stuff in hopes that it might get my work out to more people.  Well, yesterday I was totally surprised to see one of my pieces show up on the "Popular Now" mosaic on the cghub homepage.  A tiny little square with a tiny little thumbnail of one of my pieces.  I was totally stoked! 

Anyway, I had a hard time finding that thumbnail again, so I took a screenshot to document the moment...

Feel free to visit my profile on cghub.com and if you're on there already, please send me a note.  Happy to exchange contacts.

An Alligator and a Princess...

Hey all!  Had a couple of days of downtime at work this last week, which allowed me some time to work on some spot illustrations.  The goal here was speed, and I'm pretty happy with the results.  Hope you enjoy!

New Resnick Cover Illustration...

Earlier this year, I had the privilege of working on the awesome Mike Resnick's latest Weird West Tale, The Doctor and the Dinosaurs.  I did the cover (seen below) and several interior sketches.  Can't show those, but the book should be released later this year.  Please check out Mike's site for upcoming news on the book and his other work!

Paperman is online!

Last November, my company went to the local theater for an exclusive opening day showing of Wreck it Ralph.  I enjoyed the feature film plenty, but short film that preceded it changed my life.  It sounds a little dramatic, but Paperman, in my opinion, is the best short film I have ever seen.  I don't know if a full length film has ever impacted me this much. At least not lately.  The short has a flawlessly complete story, the most beautiful art style, and almost more charm than is bearable.  I told my wife about it immediately after I got home that day, but could not show her or my kids.  Until now.  Yesterday, Disney released Paperman on the internettings and I think I've watched it 6-7 times in the last two days.  Every time I watch it, I'm prompted to put away every other art endeavors and finally write and illustrate one of stories I've been working on forever.  Now totally inspired,  I'm making plans to make that happen.  If you haven't seen it, please check it out here! 

A small team produced it and among them, two very talented friends from SJSU: Kendelle Hoyer (Story Department) and Scott Watanabe (Art Department), a husband and wife creative powerhouse team.  Great work guys!  Amazing!

Some retro stuff!

Was working on some retro sci fi stuff!  Lots of fun!  More to follow!

Concept Art World

A nice surprise!  My work was just featured over at Concept Art World.  I'm a big fan of the site and visit regularly to get inspired by all the awesome artists in the industry.  Thanks, Louis, for shoehorning me into the company of such talented people!

Happy Halloween!!!

 

We'll be coming for your candy tonight.

The Old Gnome...

He's a scavenger of sorts.  With miniture flip flops of course.  More about him later...

Working like a mad man...

Hey all!  Been working real hard on some new concept pieces!  These have been done for a little while, just forgot to post.  These are all pieces for two different personal projects I'm playing around with.  Enjoy!

Flaming Arctic Masks?

Hey all!  Continuing with a more whimsical feel.  This is what came out this time.