Illustration Updates

SAN FRANCISCO CHINATOWN SKETCHCRAWL

2012-02-17T13:22:00.000-08:00

I went to a sketch event in San Francisco last weekend. I walked around the Chinese street fair for a little while at first, but finally sat down and decided to draw. For some strange reason I have a tendency to choose some of the most complicated buildings. I'd like to say it's because I'm giving myself a challenge, but really it's just because that's what I like to draw. This one took a while to finish, but it's the second time my environmental sketch took two pages to complete. I actually really wished it was possible to spread it to a third page past St. Mary's church.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY FROM ALFRED HITCHCOCK AND REAR WINDOW

2012-02-14T10:30:00.000-08:00

"Couples the spy together pry together"

This is a quick illustration of James Stewart and Grace Kelly from one of my favorite movies, Rear Window. I rushed through the drawing on this one, and realized about halfway through that I was relying a little too much on people seeing the movie to decipher the story. Maybe it's just me overanalyzing my own work. I do still enjoy it and had fun working on it. I just might have to do another one in the future.

SAN FRANCISCO, OAKLAND, AND BERKELEY SKETCHES

2012-02-10T12:33:00.001-08:00

Austin Madison's Angry Harpy Challenge!

2012-02-03T17:44:00.001-08:00

Sic' em!

Lost a little homework time over this one today, but any time I see a challenge to draw a mythological creature I have to take 'em up on it. I did this for a contest at Austin Madison's blog. It started as a Harpy chasing her prey and then for whatever reason I decided to add more even though it goes right off the page of my sketchbook and the rhythm gets a little crammed on the right hand side because of it. Also, now that I look at it the posing could be better, hah. I Still had a lot of fun on this one, and I'm enjoying the results. Now back to homework. Enjoy!

34TH WORLD WIDE SKETCHCRAWL: SAN FRANCISCO, FERRY BUILDING PART 2

2012-02-01T13:40:00.000-08:00

Here is the second half of my handy Tombo brush pen sketches from the last SketchCrawl. There are a few other random sketches in the mix, which is part of the reason I didn't post them on the SketchCrawl forum, but most of these drawings are from that day. I think it's obvious which ones aren't.

FINAL ANIMATION FOR TUTORIAL FROM A YEAR AGO

2012-02-01T13:23:00.000-08:00

I had my reservations about posting this animation. It's almost a year old now, and I didn't post it originally because the whole last half is atrocious and overacted. I knew this when I was finished animating, but didn't have time to go in and fix it before the final class. I had to really push myself to get to this level of animation by the end of Andrew Gordon's class, but it meant, not as much time for fixing. Not to mention this was my first pantomime, facial expression, and dialogue piece I'd ever done, and I had already decided to put the majority of my focus in visual development and story. Though as I've said before Gordon definitely ignited the animation fire in me.

Sadly that fire will have to go somewhat unattended. You might see more animation from me in the future, but I've been avoiding taking those classes this year so I can focus on developing my preproduction skills to a hirable level. I think I'm almost there, but I'm constantly trying to find new challenges for myself (and there never seems to be a shortage)

Don't get me wrong. I love animation, but if I put my focus towards too many things . . . well, that's just not very focused at all. So until I have more time. Enjoy the first half of this animation. Hah.

34TH WORLD WIDE SKETCHCRAWL: SAN FRANCISCO, FERRY BUILDING

2012-01-25T21:00:00.000-08:00

Went to my fifth SketchCrawl in a row last saturday and had a blast. This time around I used my handy Tombo Brush Pen to cap off an entire semester of drawing from life with it. (no pun intended) As I move into the new semester I'm going to try to start working with tone to define my shapes. This will bring me back to my painting roots and round out my drawing skills once again. I bought a Kuretake water brush and a Winsor & Newton Cotman Pocket Box of watercolors which I started using this weekend to start off this new stream of new drawings right. Can't wait to see how my work looks by the end of the semester. As for now enjoy these SketchCrawl scribbles :D.

FAN ART FRIDAY: MOLOTOV COCKTEASE AND BATGIRL

2012-01-20T15:42:00.000-08:00

Two of my friends gave me some amazing artwork for my B-day last semester, and have expressed an appreciation for the pinup work I did a while back. So to show my appreciation for their gifts I did two new pinups of some of their favorite characters to give them for Christmas. I hope they genuinely dig them, because they'll most likely be the last pinups I do for a while. I need to get some Ruffian drawings in this semester.

FASHION SKETCHES

2012-01-13T14:47:00.000-08:00

Sometimes when I get bored of everything else I sketch from some fashion blogs. The main two are Sartorialist and Street Style Aesthetic. I wouldn't mind discovering more sites with a wider variety of styles to draw. So please feel free to drop a link in the comments if you know of any.

PORTFOLIO TIME OF YEAR

2012-01-06T23:45:00.000-08:00

This is one of the first pages I've thrown together this week for the humble beginnings of my portfolio and I'm already feeling better about it than last year's. I still need to clean this page up and do some quick colors for the two top right images, but This is pretty much the direction I'm going in. I have a lot of fun things from summer and last semester to put in here, and can't wait to compile it all. I'm sure I'll also have quite a deal of images from my designing for shots to add to the mix next semester.

I'm going to keep most of this under wraps for a while, but I thought I'd throw this image up here today to both let you have a peak and to let you know, you probably won't be seeing much of me until this is done, hah. Unless you're okay with my being preoccupied by relentless drawing when you hang out with me.

FAN ART FRIDAY: KILLING MY LOBSTER'S FRANKENSTEIN

2012-01-06T01:43:00.000-08:00

I don't often go for cute puppies, but to my defense this adorable french bulldog was accompanied by a classic movie monster. Also this video has a fairly solid short story, as is clear by the fact that it's told without the slightest bit of dialogue and still reads perfectly. We can just ignore the fact that I have a post from a while back of a poster I did for these folks. Fact of the matter is I really do enjoy this video and the blending of all things adorable and gruesome. So, peek at the art watch the video and enjoy!

FINAL PROJECT DRAWINGS

2011-12-31T00:24:00.000-08:00

One final post for 2011. I've managed to go from an average of four posts a month to one post a week this year. Something that pleases me quite a bit. It wasn't an intentional goal of mine, it just happened to turn out that way. However, perhaps next year I should make a goal to match this years blog post average.

For this post I decided to show some of the work from the final for my Drawing for Animation class. This doesn't include my color or story beats, or all the drawings I didn't like enough to post and only makes up about a third of the work for this one project alone. Though this semester was a struggle, I do feel I have improved both in the thinking and execution of my design. Spring time is going to be another design heavy semester, so expect another load of drawings. I promise I will deliver.

The story itself is about a girl that runs away to the circus. I came up with it when I was working on portfolio art a while back. The final image in this post is the illustration that inspired the story for this project.

2011-12-26T14:04:00.000-08:00

Looks like Rogue got a few friends in my sketchpad since I first drew her, Enjoy!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

2011-12-25T01:04:00.000-08:00

Wishing everyone one a fun, relaxing, safe holiday with lots of Nog.

FAN ART FRIDAY: CONAN O'BRIEN

2011-12-23T14:08:00.000-08:00

"If you can risk humiliation and some pain, you can do some amazing things in this world."

MORE GESTURE DRAWINGS OF CLASSMATES

2011-12-13T15:39:00.000-08:00

1-2 MINUTE SKETCHES: GANGSTERS

2011-12-13T15:37:00.000-08:00

FIGURE DRAWING: OUR THIRD NUDE MODEL

2011-12-05T12:02:00.001-08:00

FIGURE DRAWING: KNIGHTS

2011-12-05T11:57:00.001-08:00

CCA HOLIDAY CRAFT FAIR

2011-11-27T17:34:00.001-08:00

This will be my first year in a long time not Selling my artwork at the Holiday craft fair. I'm going to be out of town and will unfortunately miss this fun community event. I should be around to do it again in Spring, but that's no reason for you to miss out on the extremely talented students/alumni and buy something unique. You won't regret you did. Find more info here. Happy Holidays everyone!

ACTUAL OBSERVATIONS: ROBIN FROM FRANK MILLER'S DARK KNIGHT RETURNS

2011-11-26T17:11:00.001-08:00

Holy look a likes Batman! Yup apparently I go to school with the caped crusader's partner in . . . justice? This girl left early in the drawing but I knocked out the basic idea and embellished a little after that. At least I know my school campus is safe from super villains.

FRUSTRATION BRINGS ABOUT FANART: ROGUE FROM X-MEN

2011-11-19T01:46:00.001-08:00

Tonight I was getting burnt out on some school assignments and decided to cool my jets with some fanart.

In which case I give you my first unrequited nerd crush ever! Screw learning to draw the marvel way from John Buscema. (I do own the book) I learned by drawing Rogue, and wolverine, more than my fair share.

I wanted to keep Rogue's original look, but in my own style. It was a quick sketch with some photoshop touchups, but I'm pleased with it overall. Maybe except for the fact that in the original sketch I put her lower leg and foot behind her other leg, making it seem as though she's hobbling around on one leg and making a questionable silhouette . . . Anyway, I caught that too late, and tried to fix it in photoshop with some hodge podge foreshortening. Ignore the quick patch job and Enjoy it Sugar!

Inspired in part by the incredible Katie Shanahan's Rogue fan work.

ACTUAL OBSERVATIONS: STAMPEDE 'o' PUGS

2011-11-18T17:47:00.001-08:00

Saw this one while riding my bike a while back. The poor old lady had no chance against the sheer number of these frolicking burritos with legs. After doing the drawing in the middle I figured it was time to experiment with shapes, and thoroughly enjoyed drawing more of these playful pups. Easily my favorite page in my current sketchpad, and the little sleeping one towards the top is my favorite of the bunch.

DRAWABOUT: MOSTLY SAN FRANCISCO

2011-11-12T03:03:00.001-08:00

ACTUAL OBSERVATIONS : YOUR OLD INSUFFERABLE GRANDADDY!

2011-11-06T15:56:00.000-08:00

Well, he's survived WWII, the coal mines and all thirteen of his ex-wives, and now you're going to find out how. Why? Because he's coming out to your house in the suburbs to live with you. You'll find charm in all his wonderful ways. You can be sure he'll leave cups of his chewed up tobacco all around your house, walk around naked whenever he damn well pleases and teach your kids to play bloody brass knuckles.

I saw this guy over the summer. I was driving to pick my friend up so we could draw at the auto museum. Unfortunately since I was driving I only had a few seconds to take in the details as he illegally crossed the street and glared at me in such a way that said "I'm gonna find you and deal with you later, but first I'm gonna fish my smoke and take a piss." The guy was already a perfect caricature so I doubt my memory did him much justice, but here you go.

DRAWABOUT: SAN FRANCISCO ZOO

2011-11-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

ACTUAL OBSERVATIONS

2011-10-28T16:11:00.000-07:00

I had the good fortune of passing these two humanitarians on the way to class yesterday. This was the actual snippet of conversation I caught as I walked by. You're doing God's work ladies, and trust me when I say . . . nobody's looking at your makeup.

DRAWABOUT

2011-10-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

DRAWABOUT: (noun) A journey in a sketchbook undertaken by a socially inept artist in order to draw in the traditional manner.

Just finished reading Invisible Ink during my BART rides, and now it's back to my staple of drawing people that detest my staring at them while frantically scribbling into my sketchpad. Dear people of the Bay Area you have been warned. Enjoy! or Enjoy not! There is no choice.

SKETCHCRAWL 33: HAIGHT STREET

2011-10-21T14:34:00.000-07:00

So, since the last post didn't have any of my own artwork I decided to immediately follow it with a post of some of the things I doodled at the last Sketchcrawl. I'm trying to get better with the permanence/honesty of a brush pen so please be patient as I find my footing with the medium. Enjoy!

100th BLOG POST

2011-10-21T13:45:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to do anything amazing for my 100th post, but I decided to at least post about something that was awesome for me. A while back I watched an interview by Bobby Chiu with the inspiring Louie del Carmen. After watching it I immediately sent it to a friend who also loves story boarding, but worries about his drawing skills (which are exceptional by the way). The reason I sent him this particular interview is because, Louie talked about going away from drawing for awhile and getting into computer sciences. Eventually he decides that wasn't the way to go, and wanted to get back into drawing, more specifically story boarding. He took a couple years out to really hone his drawing skills, and eventually got some story jobs which led to working at larger studios.

This made me feel much better about my story boarding and inspired me to keep working hard, so imagine my surprise when my friend (the one I sent the interview to) and I saw Louie behind a table at APE. I'm usually pretty quiet around artists I think are awesome, but my friend was a lot more talkative. I opened up a little when I realized what a humble and informative guy Louie was in person.

In the midst of the conversation I started pouring over Louie's art, and realized he was selling some of his stuff for pretty cheap, which is in my price range. I've always wanted to start a personal collection of artwork so when I came across the smiley old sea dog pictured above I couldn't pass it up. It is currently hanging on my wall amongst artwork and prints I've received from my friends as a reminder to keep at my own work. I hope to get another 4-5 of these in the future to frame them all together.

Thanks for the inspiration Louie!

NO COSTUME POSES PART 2

2011-10-19T02:39:00.000-07:00

MAGICAL SKETCHES

2011-10-13T23:52:00.000-07:00

I've been posting a lot of gestural sketches lately. These are all from my Drawing for animators class, and have been a refreshing change of pace. There's only so many sitting and or reading people a person can draw. So having actual poses to work with is something I've been missing and am glad to have back in my life. Expect many more in the future. These are all one to five minutes each. Enjoy!

NUDEY PICS

2011-10-12T11:27:00.000-07:00

AND. . . umm other . . . poses

2011-09-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

CLOWNS!

2011-09-30T16:28:00.001-07:00

PIRATES!

2011-09-30T16:18:00.001-07:00

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN I DISAPPEARED FOR A MONTH

2011-09-09T16:55:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, I know I've gone missing for quite some time, and I'm sure all one and a half of you missed me dearly. My life in that time has been a mixture of working on side projects for other people, events at the Castro Theater, and being sick for the past two weeks. I'm still a bit under the weather, but school has started and I can't afford to let it effect me as much as it has.

Hopefully you've all had a good August, and I'll try to update again soon. Until then please send me cupcakes in the mail. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it'll keep US Postal workers in business past December and it'll supply me with a good throwing pastry to haze Animation Noobies with. Won't someone please think of the Noobs!?!?!

Also, here are some pictures to associate with my schedule from last month. For those of you that prefer not to read things. I won't judge you.

KILLING MY LOBSTER CONQUERS THE GALAXY

2011-07-31T15:21:00.000-07:00

Recently I worked on a poster for the good folks over at Killing My Lobster. This was my first full illustration in a while, and I decided to try and start blending all the ways I love to work in one piece. Traditional with Digital. Painterly with with Cell shaded. Etc. There are a couple things I'll have to do differently in the future, but I'm still enjoying the finished product, and it was refreshing to do some illustration work to break up the visual development, story boarding, and study work I've been doing lately.

Interested in Killing My Lobster more than my artwork? Want to know what this crazy poster is all about? Killing My Lobster is a San Francisco sketch comedy troupe and the poster is for their Sci-Fi show coming up September 22 - October 9 and if you've never been to one of their shows, then you should make it a point to go to this one. Especially if you need a good laugh. Can't wait that long to have a good time you say? I'm tired of blogs and I need to meet people and have a good time NOW you say? Well then make it out to their "Enchantment Under the Sea" Prom/Fundraiser this week (August 5). You can even bid on one of their cast members for the night if you need a date. What are you waiting for? Click on one of the links above and become a fan of of these crustaceans.

DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTS

2011-07-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

I've been working on some environmental practice in photoshop to keep up the digital work. Enjoy!

CLASSIC AUTOMOTIVE WORKS OF ART AND A DUCATI

2011-07-25T20:46:00.000-07:00

On Thursday I went to the Blackhawk auto museum and Hot Summer nights to draw and gawk at some amazing motor vehicles. I wish I had the time to draw every single vehicle at both, but here are some of my favorites for now. I hope to make it back out to both before the summer is over. The Ducati I drew because it was near a convenient seating location.

CELL SHADED CHARACTERS

2011-07-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

I've done a few cell shaded characters lately, and for my illustration work I want to start blending this type of work with more painterly backdrops, and foregrounds. Here are a few that have made it to random places on the internet already, but haven't had a proper appearance here. Enjoy!

STAR WARS DR. SKETCHY'S SAN FRANCISCO

2011-06-30T01:41:00.000-07:00

Just in case you missed the two lovely ladies at Dr. Sketchy's last Tuesday I made sure to do some artist renderings of their poses and burlesque dancing. Enjoy!

FANART FRIDAY: DONALD DUCK

2011-06-24T23:59:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start doing Fan Art Fridays every so often, and I figured where better to start than with my favorite character from childhood memories of Disney's cartoons. I watched so many of these when I was young and though I moved on to Anime, Comic Books, and various other interests. Donald along with Disney cartoons still hold a place in my heart.

For this particular design I decided to blend the old and new character models. I love Disney's current design, but for this exercise I wanted to create a completely new Donald. Hope you enjoy it!

-James

RIFT CREATURE CONTEST

2011-06-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

There was a creature contest for the new Rift video game coming out, and I spent a little too much time working on my entry. I'm not super pleased with my final product, but I'm always pleased with myself for trying this stuff out. This picture was done in photoshop from beginning to end, and though I've gotten much better since I first started in photoshop, I still feel like I'm doing a lot of hopping around from one foot to another most the time. Part of my goal for this summer is to become confident using photoshop for color scenes and environments, which means you can expect some digital studies of real life things in the near future.

The worst thing an artist can do to themselves is let the fear of terrible artwork prevent them from creating it. When you get frustrated with your art just remember it's happening because you're learning and striving to get better. The only path to trying and succeeding is trying and failing. Keep drawing.

-James

FINAL PROJECT BACKGROUND

2011-06-01T21:17:00.000-07:00

This is the background for my final project in animation tutorial. This was my third class in animation and it meant doing a lot of new things for the first time. This project was my first attempt at pantomime and dialogue and I can tell I have a long way to go. Maybe some day I'll post the actual animation. I had to hit the ground running in this class, and things didn't fully start clicking for me until the last couple weeks of class, but I think I was able to keep up.

It was hard not to be inspired by this teacher. He demanded a lot, which in turn makes me demand a lot from myself. He won't be returning to teach at CCA next semester, but I'm hoping he'll relent and return sooner rather than later to whip future animation students into shape. He teaches more than just animation, and always gives great direction.

111 MINNA PAINTINGS

2011-05-26T19:55:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to go and draw/paint at Minna for a while, so this was a nice night to just get back out into the surrounding art community. Unfortunately the night was extremely slow. First time I've ever seen it that dead.

The Dr. Sketchy's event for the night was Cute Girls (and Guys) on bikes. However instead of paying the new, more expensive, fee for drawing from the models I opted to make up my own girls on bikes drawings while enjoying the company of a few folks. I even sold one of my paintings (the top one) for $35. The bottom one did not sell and still needs a home. If you're interested then let me know. Stay tuned this summer. I'll be working on a lot of projects and posting sporadically.

Happy Summer to everyone that'll have the time to enjoy it, and for those who don't, make a little time!

End of the semester hibernation and Hellboy

2011-05-16T20:33:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my post semester relaxation with a little sketch I did of Hellboy. There's a little school pride and illustration pride in this one since Mike Mignola graduated from the same college I have a degree from and in the same major no less. Which is more than a little awesome. Also awesome were the classes I took from some animation and story giants, this last semester. Between learning from them and working on two portfolios that I sent in for internships, this semester has sapped me of a lot of energy. So I took last week off and refilled the well.

Some projects have already started lining up for this summer. Much of which I will be able to show you right away, but some of which I probably won't get to show you, at least not for a little while. The next 3-4 months is already looking fruitful in the art department, so stay tuned.

SPRING ART FAIR AT CCA

2011-04-19T15:13:00.000-07:00

Time for another Spring Fair. Once again I will be there manning a table, and once again everyone should swing by and say hello. It'll be nice to see some familiar faces. The event will be located at 5212 Broadway, at the intersection of Broadway and College Avenue. this saturday (April 23rd) I'll have my usual paintings and prints including my tattoo and scooter lady pinups. Hope to see you there.

-James

SKETCHCRAWL 31 : DOLORES PARK

2011-04-19T14:58:00.000-07:00

I was having an off day last Saturday during SketchCrawl, but I'm pleased with how this particular sketch came out. Just goes to show if you can manage to muscle through the drawings that aren't working out, eventually your hand will start to flow back into the ones that do. I love going to SketchCrawl and being surrounded by the most supportive and inspirational people. I hope I can get to know some of them better in the future. I've always looked for an art community in the Bay Area and SketchCrawl has been the first time that I've actually felt as if I'm a part of one.

WORLD WIDE SKETCHCRAWL 31: ARTISTS HELP JAPAN

2011-04-09T02:34:00.000-07:00

As an artist I tend to feel pretty helpless when major issues/catastrophes happen on my blue planet, but for the first time I'm deciding to put myself out there and see if I can make some sort of difference. I know I'm not famous, and my artwork isn't sought after, however this is a good cause and any little bit helps.

The creator of SketchCrawl, Enrico Casarosa, has decided to make the 31st annual crawl a benefit to help Japan. He's asking that each artist raise at least $100 for the cause. This blogpost serves two purposes. The first is to raise money for the event, the second is to make any other artists that may see it aware of the sketchcrawl and invite them to come out and raise money as well. Not only is this a great cause, but you'll also be around a supportive community of well meaning, incredible artists for a full day.

So here's what you can do if you want to help my sponsorship for Japan. First off, you can donate money here GIVE2ASIA or you can write me a check or send me money by Saturday, which I will then give to Enrico at the end of SketchCrawl. One more thing, if you give a donation of $15 or more I will give you a print of your choosing, and I will even go further to say that if you donate $25 or more I will do a sketch for you. However, if you donate $50 or more, I will happily produce a personal color commission of your choosing. Those of you that know me should know that I never offer up private commissions, and I probably won't again for a long time after this event.

This is a great opportunity to show the support and love of the world around you. I really hope to see a lot of artists out and about next saturday, making an impact, and giving hope. Thanks for taking the time to read this to the end and thanks in advance for any donations you give Japan.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW YOU CAN BE A PART OF THIS EVENT

-James

STORY PORTFOLIO IS HERE

2011-04-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of stories I'd like to board at this point, but for right now enjoy this little story about building sand castles, and see if it relates to how you feel about things in your own life. Especially if you're already familiar with story boarding, and the phrase "Story boarding is Re-boarding" This story took about 3 passes to get it to this point so please enjoy. STORY PORTFOLIO

MY ART DEPARTMENT BLOG IS NOW FULLY OPERATIONAL

2011-04-05T00:11:00.000-07:00

My hard work has paid off in the form of two blogs. One still needs to be fully created, but I've assembled the first of the two today. There are things I'd like to add and tweak here and there, but these two new portfolio blogs will start off basic and easy to view, much like a flatwork portfolio should be. This first one is for the art department. The next one, which will be up by the end of the week will be my story department blog. Thanks to all who have supported me in any way possible over this last year. I've gone through a lot to get to this point and the following year will be just as tough. Cross your finger for me on internships, and finally enjoy the new portfolio. JCT Art Department

A BACKGROUND IN ANIMATION

2011-03-19T20:34:00.000-07:00

I thought it might be fun to share some of the backgrounds I've been adding to my animations. I've placed the characters in there so you can have a bit of the story to go with the original backgrounds. Even with all the portfolio work I've been amassing I've been trying hard to put a good effort into my classes as well. The combined efforts have resulted in lack of sleep, a drain in my energy, and a sweet body of work. These are two of the backgrounds from my current animation tutorial class. Having a setting as fun and appealing as the story in the animation is very important to me, and even though I have to rush these so I can get to the animation, I've still been trying to take care in making them fit with the story and in some cases even give hints as to what happened before the moment that happens in the animation. My teacher has been really helpful in guiding me to think about and perfect that stuff as well. In fact both of these have been changed from the original to better fit with the animation, and one of them has five versions that change throughout the animation to help the story progress. Anyway, enough talk. Enjoy!

TELLING MY STORY

2011-03-08T21:18:00.000-08:00

I realized I owe you guys another post. So here's the art for the cover of my story portfolio. Psst it's my 75th blogpost. 25 more until 100th blogpost awesomeness. Thank you all for the support and kind words. If it weren't for the community of artists around me my art desk would seem a lonely place.

ILLUSTRATION

2011-03-06T13:04:00.000-08:00

I did this illustration in one day as a cover for my art department portfolio. It's been a while since I've had a chance to do a full illustration, but it was nice change of gears. I might note that this is the first illustration I've ever done with walking characters. I also tend to want to zoom in on the characters in my illustrated work. Not the case in this piece. Hope you enjoy it.

JUST BEAT IT

2011-02-19T12:06:00.000-08:00

I'm just throwing these on here for today. I'm feeling the heat of deadlines so I'm not able to write much at the moment. Check the end of the last post for a description of this assignment. Enjoy!

SECOND VISUAL STORY TELLING CLASS ASSIGNMENT

2011-02-13T23:17:00.000-08:00

Here are the scenes from my second visual storytelling class. The homework was to draw four different people waiting at bus stops. I added a little extra story to them. It's a natural habit that I might have to keep in check this semester(at least until it's called for). For anyone else interested in the movie selections of this class the movie for this week is 'Dances with Wolves' and the first movie we watched was 'the Duelists' Our next assignment is to add three additional beats to one of these scenes. Essentially give one of the scenes a story. I'm thinking I will go with the scene in the city since it seemed to be the most successful.

A FEW RANDOM DRAWINGS

2011-02-04T02:17:00.000-08:00

I wanted a blog post for this week, but these drawings in no way relate to one another. I decided to just throw a bunch of the behind the scenes drawings into the mix for this post. The first drawing is from my current visual story telling class.

For this first drawing my teacher read a police blurb for us to illustrate. The blurb mentioned a hairy, crazed man, with reddish complexion jumping out of the bushes and across a median in the street. I got a lot of good feedback and corrections on this first assignment, and was shown some good ways to make a scene interesting without a dutch angle. I originally wanted to make the person animal from the Muppets, but that kind of flew out the window when I decided to go with this composition, it's still Animal, but I decided to have him facing the driver.

The second picture is a gag I drew when a friend mentioned a random idea to do a gag for a condom ad. This was the first thing that popped into mind. I could think of some pretty good sailor or "Sea Men" jokes to go with this one, but I'll spare you.

The final image was done for the contact info page of my portfolio book. This one I'm quite pleased with. It came out even better than I hoped it would. Enjoy!

WORLD WIDE SKETCHCRAWL JAPAN TOWN SAN FRANCISCO

2011-01-25T00:10:00.000-08:00

This was my first Sketchcrawl. I was told about these a couple years back, but when I was told about them I was also told they were only once a year. Well, they were wrong, and I can't be more happy that they were. I had so much fun at this event that I wish they could take place once a month, but I guess four times a year is good too. I'm already counting down the days to the next one, and I can't wait to look at other people's sketch pads again. I was a bit shy this time around, because everyone else's work was so amazing, but next time I'll break out of my shell more. I'm too busy to scan all of my own art in so I just scanned in my take on the Sketchcrawl logo. It shows the ambivalent nature of being both crushed by the phenomenal work of all the other artists and enthusiastic about getting out to draw with such an amazing and friendly community.

Joining me on this venture were some of my favorite people and good friends Tim Kallok and Jim Allison. Together they form team TimJim. Make no mistake this team doesn't fight crime or play extreme sports, but they do play a mean game of Cranium.

Character Designs for Ed Bell's class

2011-01-22T01:20:00.000-08:00

For this assignment we were able to pick from about 7 different animated shows to design a new cast of characters for. Two shows stood out to me most, X-men and Jonny Quest. It broke down to a question of drawing superheroes or trying to match Doug Wildey genius. That said, I tried my hand at a group of characters that could fit in the Jonny Quest world.

I later attempted to go back into these and realized I wasn't in Wildey mode anymore. To which I promptly stopped and decided to post these as is. However in the same vein as Bandit I did try to give the Cheetah character more of a Hanna Barbara feel. I could easily perfect these further if I ever have the time, but for now enjoy the originals.

Also my nerd picks for a live action Quest movie would be Daniel Craig for Race and Liam Neeson for Dr. Quest. Best bet for Jonny and Hadji would be unknowns. End nerd talk.

FANTASIA AT THE PARAMOUNT THEATRE IN OAKLAND

2011-01-16T16:31:00.000-08:00

I had the good fortune to see Fantasia(1940) at the Paramount in Oakland this Friday. I've seen it on VHS a few times, and I saw Fantasia 2000 at the Imax in San Francisco, but this is my first viewing of the original on the big screen. I don't know what I enjoyed more the animation or the newly refurbished interior. For those that think that's an insult to the animation, please reserve your opinion until you've been inside the theater.

Someone behind me mentioned that outside it looks like the tower of terror, but on the inside it looks like a palace. Though not my favorite analogy, I'd have to agree that most would think nothing of this theater when they pass it by on the street. Choosing my favorite animation out of the lot was difficult, but in the end humor wins again. So here it is "Dance of the Hours"

REGGIE WATTS AND NATIONAL LAMPOON'S

2011-01-06T17:55:00.000-08:00

Lately as a break from portfolio work I've been punching out some caricatures. I'm really trying my best to make everything about each caricature say something about the person I'm drawing. Posing, shapes, energy, the way they carry themselves are all important. Not only is it a relaxing exercise for a break, but it also helps my thinking and guides my portfolio work in the right direction.

For this round I present you with Reggie Watts and the Griswold's neighbors from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Enjoy!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2011-01-04T01:31:00.000-08:00

I thought I should ring in the new year with yet another blogpost about my activities in the art world. Yay! The forces of the universe have been trying hard to make me sick and get me out of commission this holiday season. Probably trying to get me to take some sort of a "vacation". Pfft, that's for chumps. Which is why I've decided to load up on a lot of what you see in my first picture. That thermos is full of about six bags of a blend of throatcoat and lemon/ginger tea. Blended together it tastes . . . well, it tastes awful. However, it gets the job done. Also beside the thermos is ginger lemonade for washing down coughdrops, echinacea, and Airborne. Take that ailment, nobody gets me away from my art desk, and into bed. At least not without a couple of crisp Benjamins. (ehem)

Anyhowww, The second picture is to show that I'm moving into phase two of Operation Redeye. All those sheets of paper total up to about 75 storyboards. Originally there were 90, but I took 15 out, and I still need to double what I have left. Which means before I'm done there needs to be . . . like a thousand or something. I don't know, I never learned how to count. Anyway it's a lot of drawings. Needless to say I still need to redraw all of the ones pictured first, all the while filling in the blanks and correcting the screen direction and compositions. Notice how they're all hanging over my desk in a daunting way. That's called hierarchy kids, and if I were in that shot sitting in my chair, it could be considered foreshadowing of the week to come. You'd probably just see the top of my head, all dinky looking, shadowed, and forlorn until . . . STARWIPE to the third photo in this blogpost.

The last picture is a photo of the building designs I've been working on. I still need to do a few more drawings for it but have other things to move on to for the time being, which is why I haven't bothered scanning it in, so squint yer eyes and get a peek.

OBEY

2010-12-30T13:00:00.000-08:00

OLD DESIGN PROJECT

2010-12-30T02:07:00.000-08:00

These are a few designs I did this last semester for a project about two Japanese deities. I thought they were worthy enough to toss up on the blog, but haven't had time to scan and post them until now. It's 2:15 in the AM here and I'm kind of tired and don't feel like revving up the old word noodle enough to write much more at the moment soooo . . . . . zzzzzZZZZZzzzZZZzzzzZZZZZZzzzzzz

good night friends <3

PORTFOLIO WORK

2010-12-29T01:03:00.000-08:00

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

2010-12-27T15:19:00.000-08:00

I haven't had the chance to do a Holiday post, and I've been needing to work on caricature so I decided to kill two birds with one stone. In case you're not aware, or my caricatures are too terrible to recognize, these are a couple of my favorite Griswold characters from National Lampoon's Christmas vacation.

I was rewatching this movie recently and realized just about everyone in it was perfect for caricature. So, where better to start. I know these are still a little stiff and there are some twinning issues going on, but I'm working with shapes and likeness first. My next round of caricatures will also be from this movie, and I'll do my best to make their poses express their personality more. I'm thinking the two neighbors in their jogging gear. I'm doing these as a break from internship work, so it might be a little while before I do those ones, but I'm hoping they'll be even better than these characters. Enjoy!

JAMES'S ANIMATION FESTIVAL 2

2010-12-25T13:41:00.000-08:00

So I know everyone looks to my blog for the most ambitious and up to date animations of our time, and I'm quite sure my fundamental exercises won't disappoint. I'm presenting you with three featurettes titled "Walk Cycle" "Side Step" and "Step Up." The final feature film is titled "Jump, Drop, and Run" This feature comes complete with a new fangled background drawn with the rarely used blue cole-erase pencil. So sit back and prepare to be awed by these masterpieces.

On a serious note, though these videos are of a small file size they may take a moment to load, so please be patient. Also I'm aware that they're not perfectly executed exercises, and I could fix a lot, but you have to move on to new exercises and understandings at some point. I'm sure I'll be animating many of these again in the future . . . over and over and over. Getting better each time ;)

-James

JACK THE GIANT KILLER: ROUND 2

2010-12-24T16:27:00.000-08:00

This is the second round of perfecting my characters for the Jack the Giant Killer fairy tale project. Even though I'm quite pleased, with these designs, I think I may have to go further with them at some point. Even though I more than fulfilled the requirements for this project there are some expressions and details that I feel could be further fleshed out and explored.

A lot of people might not realize that behind the designs I've posted here, there are at least twice as many pictures that weren't working that I had to perfect to get these to the point that they're at. The day a design comes out perfectly formed on the first round is the day I should probably stop working on art, because in my mind it'd mean that I've stopped trying to learn and perfect my craft. One of my teachers said it best when mentioned that "Struggle is good, if you're not struggling, then you're not learning." I couldn't agree more. I've struggled with my work long enough to know the truth in that statement. So keep working hard, never stop questioning, and as always, enjoy!

HELL BREAK!!!

2010-12-20T14:37:00.000-08:00

I know what you're wondering. James, what is Hell Break and will I go there when I die? Well Billy, Hell Break isn't a place. It's a wonderous event. Artists all across the CCA campus have just finished slaving away on their finals with the promise of a relaxing holiday season, and now that finals are over and the Winter break is upon us, I'm here to tell them to get back to work.

Once again Billy I can tell what's on your mind. You're thinking of me as some cruel and hideous slave driver that wants nothing but pain and suffering for his friends and peers. Ohhh ho ho Billy, you couldn't be more wrong. You see, artists are masochists that expect only the finest from themselves, and many artists in school have internships to apply to and Senior projects to catch up on. So you see, I'm not asking anything of them they don't already expect of themselves. I'm just throwing accountability into the equation. You see I've created an event page on facebook and I've invited all my unsuspecting friends to it to hold them all responsible for the things they said they'd do. Aren't I a great guy Billy? Of course by doing this I'm holding myself accountable for all the work I said I'd do.

If this whole plan works out not only will we all be proud of our industrious efforts, but we'll be completely exhausted and ready to dread next semester in proper fashion. What's that Billy, you don't want to work over the holidays? You just want to eat candy and play with the toys Santa brings you. Well Billy, I hope that Santa gets off his pathetic fat ass, gets his priorities straight, and delivers money and passionate, sophisticated teachers with intelligible curriculum to your school. Until that happens you just have to hold yourself accountable and create a good support group of like minded individuals around you. Now run along Billy, you smell like garbage juice.

Happy Holidays, and sleepless nights

-James

JACK THE GIANT KILLER

2010-12-03T16:52:00.000-08:00

HOLIDAY ART FAIRE

2010-11-27T17:28:00.000-08:00

That time of year is upon us yet again, and I'll be there in high spirits. Make your way out to CCA for the Winter Faire next saturday (Dec. 4th) and come find me. I'll be selling my paintings at new low prices and will have some new prints as well. So swing by and check out my artwork or just hang out and talk shop. Can't wait to see you there.

FINISHING MY PINUPS WITH A BANG!

2010-11-23T21:54:00.000-08:00

Finally! All of my Pinup Sweethearts in one post. I just finished my final two, and instead of just posting them alone I decided to post them all together. The reason? A vote. I'm going to be making two different prints to sell at the Winter Art Faire, and I want to know what pieces you'd like to buy if you had green. Don't worry I won't hold you to buying one of these sweet ladies if you vote, but I will appreciate your opinion. So please vote away. Also, nine of these twelve originals are still up for sale. So if you're interested then feel free to drop me a line and I'll let you know the pricing. Thanks all. Don't forget to vote for your two favorites.

GUARDIAN ANGEL CHARACTER ASSIGNMENT PART 2

2010-11-09T21:30:00.001-08:00

MODELS, AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

2010-10-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to type much about the last three posts at the moment, but I will come in and reedit them at a later point. At least the art is here right? ;) Happy Halloween.

MORE CHARACTER DESIGN HOMEWORK

2010-10-30T00:14:00.001-07:00

GUARDIAN ANGEL CHARACTER ASSIGNMENT PART 1

2010-10-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

This is an assignment for my character design class. I don't have a lot of time to clean up these sketches today, but I'm hoping to get at least two more blogposts in before the end of the weekend. I've been too busy to slow down and scan images to show you guys, but thanks for being patient. There's so much art I've been producing over this past month, and I can't wait to share it with you. I'll discuss this specific post in greater detail in a later post. As for now enjoy these two characters.

MORE CHARACTER DESIGN HOMEWORK

2010-10-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

That pretty much sums this post up. I posted some of the quick thumbnails I did for this one. I was short on time for this assignment, and so had to crank this one out a little more quickly, which meant a sketching during times I typically wouldn't to make sure it got done on time. I'm pretty pleased with how it came out.

The idea of this assignment was to come up with something that went with the phrase 'adorable little stalker.' My first inclination was to do a kitten stalking it's prey, but I decided to go for something less obvious. Hence a child gazing into the magical world of a candy shop. Enjoy!

MILESTONES, MY 50TH BLOG POST

2010-09-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I've hit some milestones recently. My birthday was last week, I just started school about three and a half weeks ago, and most importantly I've reached my 50th blog post. To be honest this, post is mostly about that last one. It's been a little over a year and 3 months since I first started this blog, and I don't intend on shutting it down or stopping my posts, so there will be a lot more art to come.

In celebration of this occasion I've actually constructed my very own banner, as opposed to just throwing a clipping of art up and having Blogger throw some text up in front of it. I decided to clean up an old piece of my artwork and add extra shadows and design elements to it to showcase the front page of my blog. You'll also notice I took some time and thought into personalizing a new template. I don't know html and did not create the template myself, but I chose something that was close to what I wanted and tried to tweak it as much as possible. I might make small additional tweaks in the future, but this is pretty much it for now. Maybe I'll change the look again for the 100th blog post, but for now enjoy a whole new blog.

JAMES, FORM OF THUNDERCATS

2010-09-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't been posting as much lately, but school has started up and it's been eating up quite a bit of time. Mix that with all the events going on in my life lately and you get the perfect mix for socially deprived James. Luckily, my art itself is not suffering. Quite the opposite. I'm now in animation two and I'm allowed to draw more than just flour sacks and bouncing balls. I'm also enrolled in the character design class. I'm most likely going to be posting drawings from the latter class on this blog. So for my first post since school started enjoy this little treasure.

For this assignment We were suppose to draw ourselves in the style of one of our favorite cartoons from our childhood. I chose Thundercats. I also decided to post some of the preliminary and practice sketches here as well. I didn't clean those ones up too much since I have lot of work to do, but I thought it might be a nice peak into some of the process that happens before the final image gets started. Typically I would do more work beforehand, but I don't have much time to work on these assignments, so it forces me to make choices more quickly. Enjoy!

FUN WITH THE PHOENIX

2010-09-03T20:57:00.000-07:00

A while back a painted a picture of a baby phoenix, and I liked the idea so much that I explored more designs for it. So here you go. Some colorful feathered friends.

Believe it or not, this is not the first time I've drawn this fiery bird. Around a year ago I was asked to do a logo design by a client that chose to disappear on me before it came time to pay for the finished product. The funny part is that he never received the full size finished product. Only the thumbnail version. I've posted some of original thumbnails here since it goes with the topic. These aren't exactly the most dynamic thumbnails, but it's along the lines of what the client wanted, and sometimes that means a more subtle design. Enjoy!

TWO MORE 111 MINNA PINUPS

2010-08-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

Not much to type today, but check the post underneath this for more info about one of the pieces I sold at Minna this last Tuesday. In the end I sold two pinups, and a smaller piece. It was a pretty good night. Enjoy!

ANOTHER 111 MINNA GALLERY SELL FINDS A HOME

2010-08-23T14:39:00.001-07:00

I have so much artwork these days that I no longer have space on my own walls for the majority of it, and creating new work becomes bittersweet. On the positive side I have new work that I enjoy working on and sharing with people. An artist also gets better with every piece of artwork he/she makes. On the down side, the original might not get seen much after its completion. I can't tell you how much work I have hidden away, waiting to be rediscovered, and I'm a little afraid to delve back into it all and find out for myself. That's why I always love it when other people enjoy my work enough to take it home.

I just received some pictures of my artwork framed and hung on a wall. This is always a big thing for me, because it means more of my artwork has found somewhere where it will be seen and enjoyed. This particular person is even an incredible artist himself. I was lucky enough to get to take a look at his sketch work last Tuesday only to be blown away by his skills in the medium. It's truly an honor to have my art hanging on his wall. Thanks for the pics Levi, they're perfect.

TWO GIRLS WITH GREEN EYES!?

2010-08-19T15:37:00.000-07:00

So, a few of you have noticed that I work in two different ways lately. Maybe some of you are wondering what's going on. Let me be the first to tell you that I am one artist and there's a good reason for the division of my style. I say division, because both pieces are part of the whole. Let me explain.

When I first got out of school I graduated in illustration. I love illustration for several reasons the strongest of which being that I love telling stories and illustration is about telling a story through still images. I also love to create new imagery and worlds and illustration can work as an outlet for that as well.

Towards the end of my last year of illustration someone mentioned the idea of concept art to me, and when I looked into it further, I realized that it resonated with me on similar levels. Art departments and story departments were the main two I took notice of. At first I tried developing portfolios for both illustration and concept, but when I took my finished portfolio in for my first real world critique I was told that I needed to shoot for one or the other and not try to mix them together. Since then I decided to focus on concept/story work. It was a lot to take on and I've created a lot of terrible work to get good at it. Much of which will never see the light of day, but I realized that we all have to pay our dues at some point and well . . . lets just say I've paid plenty over the last 2-3 years. It's been far from easy, but I've earned something in my artwork that money can't buy and no magical tips or hints can accomplish. Confidence. But I digress.

It was put to me rather bluntly at one of my portfolio reviews. There are two ways of drawing for concept work. One I'd describe as more gritty and realistic, and the other being more exaggerated and cartoony. Luckily for me I had both in my portfolio, and the two styles were already living together in my illustrations. Which for the most part is how I'd still consider my illustration work to be, except I've been working on portfolios for studio work for so long that I've pretty much split them into two categories for the time being. Which explains why you see the two in their own spotlights right now. You'll notice that the first two pictures above somewhat show the work separated for portfolio purposes, and the bottom picture is an old illustration before I started going through this process.

On another note it's been a great experience separating them for the time being. I've learned so much more from it, and it may sneak back into my personal work here and there even after I've finished my portfolios, because lets face it, it's fun.

Chris Sanders Nightmares Contest

2010-08-16T13:04:00.000-07:00

I entered this submission for the contest over at sketchoholics, because I love Chris Sanders artwork. Every so often Bobby Chiu will do an interview with some amazing/inspirational artists. At the end of each interview the artist looks over a batch of contest submissions created for a certain theme. They then pick their favorite to which they award an original piece of their artwork created for the same theme. The theme this time around was nightmares.

I think I started out with a good idea for this one, however I do feel I could have executed it better. It took me around 2 days from conception to finish for this one. Toward the end I noticed things I would change that seemed great at first, but I realized could have been worked out a little more. I'm pretty pleased with how it came out with the self imposed time constraints in tact, but my submission for the next contest will be better now that I've seen the kind of awesome work other people post for these things. I think Bobby Chiu came up with a great idea, and amongst many other reasons that makes him awesome. Can't wait to hone my skills at another one, and see all the other awesome entire too. Anyone who really wants to get better at their craft should test their medal in these contests.

I reallllllyy want an original Chis Sanders, but I may have to wait a little longer, as I'm incredibly humbled and blown away by the art of the other contestants.

FISHNET FOLLIES

2010-08-09T19:33:00.000-07:00

I finally got the opportunity to scan some new Dr. Sketchy's doodles. This was the second Dr. Sketchy's I've attended in San Francisco and oddly enough Flame Cynder's (the blonde one with the feathery hat) modeled for both of them. To which, you won't find any complaints here. The other girl's name is Mynx d'Meanor. Something tells me neither of these girls used their real names.

I had a drawing buddy this time around, and I believe we bothered the girl in front of us with social banter and art talk. However, she did come late, drag a chair to the front, and popped herself in a tight spot effectively blocking the views of many of us that showed up on time, so she couldn't really complain. Unfortunately due to this girl, I couldn't really see the legs of the models which meant not putting them in or just making up the shapes quickly. All in all this was a good night. I got some good, energetic drawing in, received a drink token and a bag full of free art shwag for showing up early and helping set up, and I even sold a piece of my artwork in the other room. Which means I sold something at Minna three months in a row. Hope I can keep up that streak this month. Until then, enjoy the new sketches.

PINUPS PART DEUX

2010-08-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

I was going to wait until next weekend to post these up, but I decided since I've mentioned them a bit that I'd just do it tonight.

I was inspired to start putting a little more narrative and humor into this batch. I've also started to add quick washy backgrounds. (Which by the way is a first for my illustration.) I already have some ideas for the final four which may very well include a surfer, a musician, and a cross between rollerskating waitress and a Roller Derby girl.

I feel I've upped the bar with these four and I'm determined to maintain that with the next batch. I hope you're enjoying them so far.

COMIC-CON IS OVER AND A SNEAK PEEK

2010-07-28T00:59:00.000-07:00

So Comic-con is finally over. When I can't go this turns out to be my least favorite time of the year. I have an account on Deviant Art and this time of the year I get the pleasure of having bulletin updates jammed full of my favorite artists getting really stoked that they are going, and saying things like " Come over to my booth, I'd love to meet other artist and would be happy to give advice, swap info, and hang out."

You want to know where I spent my Comic-con? See the first picture at the top. That's my desk where I worked on art, listened to music, and eventually curled up underneath muttering indiscernible nonsense. Happens every Comic-con.

On a more serious note I thought I'd take a break to share a little bit of my work space, which just so happens to be my living space at the moment. The first picture actually is my desk. Sometimes I feel like I'm staring at that monitor pushing pixels too often, but luckily I've been able to switch that up a bit with traditional artwork this summer. The second is a full shelf of a lot of my favorite books that I constantly look to for inspiration. I wish I could say that was all of them, but I've acquired far too many art books and the collection just won't fit on that tiny shelf. The last picture is a sneak peek at my most recent batch of pinups. I snapped this picture tonight since I probably won't post the full jpegs for another week or so.

So there you have it. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy!

NEW DESIGN

2010-07-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

So I finished this design a week ago and completely forgot to post it. It's a quick design that goes with the story I want to do for another blog. I'm still trying to decide on the name for it so I can stop referring to it in vague terms. Maybe I'll just come up with a temporary name for the moment so people know exactly what I'm talking about.

This design is the first race of beings our main character encounters. For right now lets call the main character Nero (that was one of the names I was debating calling him). This race has nearly done away with all the nature of their world, and Nero is there to help them save their wildlife by taking it to Rift, an intergalactic wildlife preserve.

This species live their whole lives in these robotic suits. They're suspended in a mist that serves several purposes, one of which is the projection of their thoughts for communication. This race is benevolent and regrets the loss of their wildlife, but can't find it in themselves to stop their technological progress.

DRAWING JIMS

2010-07-13T00:14:00.000-07:00

My friend Jim and I have started drawing on location in various spots around Oakland and San Francisco. A tradition I hope we can keep up throughout the school year. I've decided to post some of the sketches here, and will likely post more in the future.

When I draw for myself I typically draw pretty girls and or creatures/monsters. For these drawing excursions I've decided to draw my surrounding environment. It's something I've been working on lately to strengthen my arsenal, and I have to say I'm enjoying it almost, ALMOST, as much as drawing beautiful girls. I've already seen improvements in the few sessions we've had, and I hope to put some of the still life's in my art department and story portfolios.

Also, I'll post my burlesque sketches from the last Sketchy's soon. Most of them are very quick drawings, seeing as I was busy socializing during the longer poses, hah. That was actually a fun night and I even sold a small $25 painting. Which reminds me. Some of you have been bugging me to post the most recent pinups. I have finished the final drawings but I'm waiting until the next Sketch Tuesday to paint them. I don't feel like doing a post just for the drawings this time around so when you see them they will be in their full finished glory. You can expect a mer"maid", a vespa girl, a pulp astronaut, and a homage to Frank Frazetta (who's energetic art has inspired me from an early age) in the next batch. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy!

FINISHED PORTFOLIO COVER

2010-06-28T02:03:00.000-07:00

I'm getting three different portfolios ready for next summer's internships. There are so many things I want to do in art and so many different studios in the Bay Area, that have inspired my development and imagination, that I'd love to be a part of and hopefully have the opportunity to inspire new generations through.

This particular cover is for my sci-fi/fantasy concept art portfolio. I plan on applying to Lucas and Tippet along with many others with this particular portfolio. I'm also going to do a portfolio of my cartoon concept art for art departments of that sort, and a story boarding portfolio.

Between now and next summer I'll also be sharpening my skills to take a stab at an animation video portfolio.

I have a rigorous year ahead of me and it's quite possibly going to be the most important year of my life to date. I'm getting these things together now, because the sooner I start the more I can perfect it until I have to send stuff in. So enjoy this tidbit for now, and cross your fingers for my peers and I.

KEEPING UP ON ENVIRONMENTAL CONCEPTS

2010-06-24T16:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a little something I started as a background for the cover page of my internship portfolios for my sci-fi/fantasy work. This is about as far as I typically take my quick concepts, sometimes they don't even make it this far, but since I'm not on a tight deadline I can do a little extra.

Before I assemble all the elements of the cover for my portfolio I'll most likely fix things up even more and put extra details into it. I'll be working on a couple more environmentals throughout the year. I noticed I do a lot of ones that involve water in one way or another, so I want to work on a couple that don't to show my versatility. Enjoy this one for now!

NEW MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURE PAINTING

2010-06-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

Don't worry folks. This little guy is a phoenix, and the look on his face is clearly not one of agony, but rather sheer delight in discovering his ability to light his head on fire at will. Enjoy!

BIRTHDAY GIFT ART

2010-06-06T20:23:00.000-07:00

Nerd 1: " Happy Birthday, here's some dragon art. Don't you wish toothless was real?"

Nerd 2: " Thank you for this uber nerdy gift and to answer your question I'd rather have a terrible terror so he could sit in my lap."

*This conversation may be entirely fictional, but the gift is real, and it was inspired by a particular nerdy dragon movie.*

Digital Retouching or Airbrushing

2010-05-27T21:06:00.000-07:00

I recently did some volunteer work at a local high school. Though I'm typically the drawing and painting type of artist I was asked to do a demonstration of some of my skills in photoshop for photography. So I thought up a demonstration on ways for retouching photos.

I figured the students already knew how to use a majority of the tools so I mostly focused on different techniques that I figured they might not have thought to use. I know this isn't my usual MO, but I felt like doing a quick post because I had fun teaching it.

Sorry about the goofy looking picture. Despite popular opinion the picture on the left is a raw photo with no work done yet, hah. The picture on the right is the end result. I probably could have delved further into cleaning the photo up but, I didn't have enough time, and I wanted to get all the steps in.

PINUPS!

2010-05-15T17:34:00.000-07:00

I've been saying for a while that I'd work on some pinup art. Not too long ago I took a large sheet of paper into Kinko's to cut it down into smaller sheets, with every intention of doing some pinup work. It wasn't until I finished cutting and counted my sheets that I realized I'd be doing a lady for every month of the year. Purely by chance I had broken that large roll of paper into 12 sheets all cut to the same size. Here are the first four. I'm assuming the next four will also be worked on at 111 Minna during their next sketch Tuesday. I just need to come up with some good ideas. Who knows maybe I'll make some calenders for the art fair next year.

One more thing that should be noted. The pirate pinup is in homage to a painting from the Pirate's of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. I've always imagined that if I were to come into a lot of money that I'd buy that painting. I know it's unlikely, but seeing as I'm an artist I will most likely do my own version of the full painting some day.

Sketch Tuesday Pinups

2010-05-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

Finally had a chance to work on some pinups last night. I just picked some themes at random and went with it. I'll be painting in some color for these at 111 Minna tonight. All of these are on 11x15 sheets. The price is still up in the air, but I believe they'll probably be around $40 each. I actually took a break from these last night and noticed someone else I know has started doing pinups for a deck of cards which I'll most likely be purchasing when he's done. Talk about strange.

I know these aren't cleaned up yet, but I decided to use a new photoshop technique that saves a lot of time for things that need to be scanned in pieces and later assembled in the program. I think I need to do just one more scan for each from here on out and the shadow cleanup will be a thing of the past. I love finding new ways of saving time. I'll clean these up and color them eventually, but for now enjoy them in their original glory.

PLAYING IN PHOTOSHOP MAKES FOR MULTIPLE VERSIONS

2010-05-06T19:42:00.000-07:00

Well, it's finally happened. I've created a piece of art that has two different versions. I honestly couldn't decide which I like best so I opted to post them both here. I suppose the top one has a little more color, while the bottom one is slightly more subdued. Anyway, if you happen across this blog post please vote which one you like better in the comments below. Top or bottom.

On another note. You might notice that I've stopped doing my progress reports. Have no fear, that is still in full effect. I'm still posting at least once a week. I just stopped titling them progress reports because it would have been too many, and I don't really do enough other posts to merit keeping a specific title. Alright, enough yammering. Enjoy!

THE END OF A SEMESTER AND STRENGTHENING OF A REALIZATION

2010-05-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

When my visual storytelling class ended two weeks ago I knew I was going to miss it the second people started heading out the door. However I didn't realize just how much I'd miss it until I left the campus and took the long drive home. Once I sat down for a little relaxation at my computer it hit me hard. At first I didn't know what came over me, but once I thought about it I realized something. I really love a collaborative environment. I can't imagine my life without it. It also helps to have people that know their stuff, and are as nerdy as I am. I'm really going to miss it and I hope to see you all next semester if not sooner.

FINALS ARE OVER!!!

2010-04-30T18:06:00.000-07:00

This took a lot of time and effort. There's more I want to do to this project, but it'll have to wait until I can get back in the labs next semester. I also need to figure out how to clean up my animations better in these programs. I'm sure all of this will come with time, and quite possibly with learning newer programs. I used somewhere around 700 sheets of paper, including mistakes and redos, to complete this animation, and even though it only runs for around fifty seconds I can't even begin to guess the hours I've put into this. Days blurred together, and music, caffeine, and acting things out in front of a mirror made time disappear more quickly. When all is said and done, I can't wait to see what I get to do next semester. Enjoy!