ZOMBIES!!!

Smort posted the game I worked on with them just in time for Halloween. The name of the game pretty much sums up what it's about. Here are the videos I'm aware of and here's the link if you'd like to purchase this iphone application http://www.smort.com/ It's only a buck so go out and buy it now. Unless of course you don't own an iphone, in which case it'll be a couple hundred dollars plus the dollar for the game. I'll understand you're not buying it if this is the case LOL. Anyway, the people at Smort are awesome, and you should support them. I can only hope that I get to work with them again in the future.

I also realized today that I've not been signing my full name on the original artwork I've been selling. Something I'll have to rectify from here on out. My signature will remain to be j*c*t, however since I'm in the process of getting my name out there I'll have to also sign James C Trujillo on the back of each original painting, just in case people want to find me on the internet. I wouldn't even mention it, but by the act of my typing it here it'll now be tagged and show up in a google search engine, hah.

Happy Halloween, and happy zombie hunting from Illustration Updates!

Sketch Tuesday at 111 Minna

Sold some paintings at 111 Minna, and tried my hand at drawing in front of a crowd. It's going to take some getting use to, but I met some really nice people and had a damn good time regardless. I'll certainly return there next month for another round. If you're an artist or just enjoy being around art/artists, or maybe even want to get some fine art you can afford then I highly recommend going to this event. Also tap me on the shoulder and show some love. I always enjoy a familiar face, or even seeing new faces. Don't worry I'm not as aloof as I seem to be. I'm still working toward getting a spot at the big kids table, complete with more space, better lighting, rubbing elbows with popular Bay Area artist and a nice big name plate so that everybody knows who I am. It's amazing how easily people will find you without that though. After that I went to Postmortem for some drinks and schmoozing for potential industry jobs.

So next month I'm debating doing some pinup ladies. Which will mean larger paper. I'll also still be selling some of the smaller paintings though. I may or may not stay longer( I tend to only stay half the night so I can make it over to postmortem) Hope to see some of you there next month. Especially if you're painting.

ONCE UPON A TIME

Once upon a time I painted a vinyl toy. It was partially for a friends birthday, and partially for the experience of painting on a three dimensional object. It now sits on a shelf somewhere carefully placed in it's original box and I know it's cared for and appreciated. I never posted anything about it because, I didn't have a blog yet, and I forgot to post anything about it when I started up my new blog. I probably have many things like this that nobody but I has had the pleasure of enjoying. I grew up with the mentality of art as an escape, and created worlds around myself to bring solitude to a chaotic surrounding. I guess I still bring that to the table these days. I promise to share more of it in the future.

I almost designed a custom toy for an art show in October, but decided against it. However it reminded me of these photos and I thought it would be perfect to blog about. This particular Custom Vinyl Toy, was done in a Star Wars theme since my friend is a huge fan of of the world those characters exist in. I created a cartoony looking creature to please myself while painting, and placed him in x-wing gear. I had the foresight to take photos of his progression. It's the only time I've intentionally done so for any of my artwork.

ART MURMUR

Come on out friends. I'm going to be at Art Murmur in Oakland. More importantly my artwork will be up at the Skate Deck show. I'll probably be walking around to all the different galleries, but I'll be at Termnal22 probably around the beginning for a little longer than the others. Then all the other galleries, and possibly a bar after that. I hope to see you there, because it's always nice to see a familiar face.

In other news, I'm finishing up a couple things for my concept art portfolio. I'm hoping to get a job in that field soon. I thought I should mention it since it's been eating up a majority of my artwork time. I'll take my other projects off the back-burner later, but this is important. I'm also debating starting a bay area club for artists, the meetings of which would take place in San Francisco. Would any of you be interested? I might go more in depth on that later. Hope everyone has a good week, but hey, if you have a bad week you can always go to art murmur to finish it off right :-)

DECK DESIGN

I know I've not updated this in a while. Shame on me. However, it was for a good reason. I was busy working on my first major freelance project. An iphone application made by Smort I had a lot of fun working on it and they announced it at Comic-con. A fine game that combines alien women in bikinis, beach music, zombies, and shooting stuff. After finishing that I admittedly relaxed for a little bit, and then went back to work. This time on a skate deck design. You can see the original digital design and finished skate deck above. This will eventually make it to the terminal 22 gallery in Oakland once they get to their new location on Art Murmur row. I'm surprised the actual skate deck came out as well as it did. Never thought I'd be saying that about going from digital to traditional, but there it is. I haven't worked with straight acrylics since I was in a figure drawing/painting class in college four years ago, and I haven't ever painted a fully acrylic piece of artwork that hasn't been a study of something. I'd also like to mention that Terminal 22 has set up a small store of the work I've shown in their gallery. You can view that here. The deck will eventually be up for sale too, though I have yet to decide on a price for it. Have a good week everyone and enjoy.

GOING DIGITAL

There will always be a battle between traditional and digital in the hearts of the majority of hardworking artists. Fact is they're both good for their different reasons. I haven't made this switch over for any reason beyond the fact that it is the industry standard for the business I'm trying to get into, and that I love to push my art in any way I possibly can. That being said, I still have a long ways to go. I'm finding a lot of helpful things that traditional mediums just can't beat, and some areas where traditional mediums must enhance the art for lack of a digital equivalent. For many reasons, I think it's best for me to stick to digital. There are too many benefits for me to look back now. I still work in my sketchpad when I can, and I will make sure to post some of those up here in the future, but this is the new direction of my art. Enjoy!