Friend Portrait

Awhile ago I participated in a charity auction to buy presents for needy kids on Christmas. I donated a painting of any subject and finished it earlier this month. It was a christmas present for my friend's sister and brother-in-law so I had to wait until today before I could post it.
Um...nothing entertaining to say really....so....how about a joke?

Three fish are in a tank.

One fish looks at the other two and asks,

"Either of you two know how to drive this thing?"

TRAINS!!!!

I grew up in a town just north of Los Angeles that has always had trains. When I was a kid I used to love to listen the faint whistle in the distance as the train carried fresh citrus to and from the town. Eventually the need for trains waned, but became popular again as they became as tourist attraction. Now they run as murder mystery dinners, carry tourists to pumpkin and christmas trees farms during the holidays, and production companies constantly use them for shoots. So here's a little ode to trains. I'll probably be doing more paintings like these in the future.

Children's Book Progress

So I've had a couple of children's books sitting around for a few years and I've decided to finish them up. Here a few sample images from the first one. It's called, "Brayden Weldsworth, and the Mystery of the Stolen Pie." Enjoy.

Roller Derby!!!!

So when I was an art director at Blue Table Painting, there was a girl there that was in a roller league. She recruited me to be a referee....which was AWESOME. It was sad when I had to move...no more reffing for me. But anyways, I've got a lot of respect for those ladies.

Surprise Attack!

So this one I started earlier this year and finally had time to finish it. I originally called the big guy there a Grumph, named thusly because of the huffing sound they make when they're shuffling around. Story in an image is very important me. It guides my decisions and helps add authenticity to a painting. It also helps create a mood and can carry me through some of the more tedious moments when painting.

And here are a couple of closeups of some areas that I found interesting.

Enjoy!!

Art Order

So my last post was the first few processes in my art submission for the Art Order Story Extraction...And I finished it...Well...as finished as it's going to be.

There are some obvious changes...like a massive amount of cropping for one. I did this for two reasons. 1. I wanted the characters subtle facial expressions to read and, 2. It meant less work, which means less time. If this was for an art director I never would have dreamed of doing that once the initial sketch was approved...however...There is no art director except me...And he said to crop it. *shrug*
I also changed up the sky a bit. I had spent hours on the sky according to my initial sketch and the color study I had done. It looked like crap. Udder crap. Yep, you read it right...that's crap with four teats. I just couldn't get it to work, so I scrapped it all and started over again. It's better than it was, but I'm still not satisfied....but then, with regards to my work, am I ever? The answer to that would be a big, morbidly obese 'NO'.

At any rate. ENJOY!

Art Order Challenge.

So I've decided to participate in the Story Extraction Art Order Challenge for July. http://theartorder.com/2011/07/13/story-extraction-artorder-challenge/ I chose the steampunk scene of an airship coming upon a city set into the mountains.
After some thumbnails, a couple of my friends were gracious enough to pose for me.

So generally when I do drawings for paintings I'm not necessarily trying to make a beautiful drawing. Most of the marks I make are really just a complicated series of notes I've made based from the reference shots I took. If you'll notice, most of the dark shadowed areas are noted by dark hash marks. The detail level is extreme in the most important areas and the lines get more bulky or lighter the less important something is...or less "notes" I'll need when I start painting. Clouds and mountains need less notations than say, the airships, so there's a slightly higher degree of detail with those. Generally the notes include shadows, contours, plane changes and perspective marks so when I start painting I can make my brush stokes move around the forms, lending more depth and dimension to the objects in the painting.

The way these guys are drawn kept reminding me of 'Take On Me' by Ah-Ha. I had that song stuck in my head constantly while drawing....so....in honor of that... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914&ob=av3e

PHONICS

So last year I was contacted by a person who had developed a phonics program that targeted 3-5 year olds and wanted to bring it to fruition. I created 26 characters, one for each letter of the alphabet. A few are listed below. I was also commissioned to design a box for everything to go into...which I did....but never got paid for. BOOOOOOOOOOO! Fortunately, I never sent a large resolution file so there's no way they can use the image in any decent capacity. So instead, I shall show the box cover to you!

InfoGraphics

Several years ago I sat on a Virgin Airlines jet, it's engines' thrumming seeming to permeate everything attached to them. As the slightly pleasant disorientation of the upward lift wore off they began to play an animation explaining the emergency procedures normally recited by flight attendance. A pleasant British voice narrated while little iconic figures went through the emergency actions. I loved it.
This was, of course, an animated infographic, while most common are generally in static 2d posters. I've always been in love with design and random facts...So merging the two appeals to me to no end. I recently finished a test page for a potential client, (seen below); will it bear fruit? I've no idea. But here are the fruits of that labor on my end regardless.

Grumping around

So I started a new painting about a month ago using some friends as reference. My art director and painting duties have me pretty busy at the studio, so I've been slowly picking away at it when I have time. This image is a severely cropped portion of the total image; obviously, still a work in progress. What's he looking at so worriedly? What's casting that shadow on his leg? hmmmm. I wonder...

Axon Revision

So I refined the image a bit and change the background as well. I just thought it worked better with a cooler background. I entered this new version into Spectrum. http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/ Hopefully I'll get in!! *fingers crossed*

Axon, Axoff

Recently, I was asked to submit some work for a Los Angeles Brain Bee contest. It's an event sponsored by various psychological and neurological societies. I've always been fascinated by the subject, particularly biological psychology. This is what I came up with.