Some sketches

Here are some sketches I thought I would share. I did these just messing around in my sketchbook, seeing what could come out of some doodles. I know it's been a while since I posted. I'm going to post soon a pic of the marquee I've designed and painted in downtown historical Redlands. It was something different, but still a challenge for me to do.

A new push for marketing

As an artist with no representative, no degree in marketing, no company to do illustrations for it's tough to find an avenue that can keep me busy and happy with the art that I do. I love to draw people, I love to draw in public so how could I make that into a revenue? Over a year ago I decided to market myself as a caricature artist for parties, events and festivals. This has been going on with ups and downs at different events. Why stop at trying to do everything by myself though? Connecting with party and event planners was one marketing strategy I had to tackle. After making a bunch of fliers with this service and spread it out to dozens of stores, I got a call the next day from a party planner about working a party. So any artist that is just waiting for something to happen without doing anything different will wait a long time. I say reboot your strategy by reaching out to others and connect with them, you never know what will happen. My goal is still to develop my own illustrations and be recognized for them, but I need to be pro-active in what I am happy doing right now. I used to think that the caricature artists in the bay area were uneducated and talentless hacks, and for some I still think that ;). That doesn't necessarily mean I am one in doing the same trade. This new approach in marketing seems to work and hope it will continue to work, along with the people I connect with.

Palm Springs art class

So I taught a class at the Palm Springs art museum on Saturday, October 16th and it turned out great!! The kids were nice and focused, ready to do some work and learn. As I walked around to observe the teen's art, it was already obvious to me that they were getting a hang of things. It was not only a learning process for them, but for me as well. They were really involved in what they were doing and seemed really into it. My age range was from 12 to 19, which seemed that it might be hard to handle but it wasn't too stressful. It was an awesome class and the education coordinator asked me to come back in July, so I look forward to teaching the kids again!

The Design of Music

So here's the color comp of the commission sketch that I posted earlier. I'm genreally happy with the direction I'm taking it. The posterized edges in it gives it a more stylized, graphical type of painting. As with all my paintings that I do a digital color composition for, the colors may change when I paint it traditionally. Which is what I want so it doesn't look so much like a digital painting. Will post another update as time goes on.

New Commission Sketch

So, here's a sketch for a new commission I received from someone I met at the recent Stage Coach Days event in Banning. It's musically inspired and considered a challenge for me, especially since it's going to be stylized in a posterized, traditional painting. I love challenges though, because it always makes me think differently on how to approach something. So here's a preview of what it's all about, enjoy and I'll post up a digital color comp of the piece soon.

Sketches and Color Comp "for Harvester of Sorrow".

Working on a new piece, which I actually posted a first sketch of previously. I thought it was too restrictive and didn't like the composition that much so I completely changed it. I'm putting up some development sketches, the final sketch, and the color comp I did. I'm painting it traditionally so it won't look so "Digital". I'm doing this illustration in the hopes to add a new client to my list, Wizards of the Coast. Time has been going to long since my portfolio review with them at Comic Con. Since I have a direct contact with the art director I'm going to send him this, along with one more piece.

new illustration sketches

Here's a sketch of a painting I'm going to do for Wizards of the Coast in the hopes of getting some work for them. I'm not gonna send just one, but a few more so I don't keep on having to send new stuff all the time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Saving Grace

This is my latest finished commission for my first real collector of my work. I'm really happy with the way it came out and he was also. I actually immortalized my roommate in it, so he's another person that's happy with it, ha ha.

My First Comic Con!!

Last weekend I went to my first Comic-Con and I was not quite sure what to expect. I had two pieces up in the art show so I wanted to make sure I was there. I had my portfolio ready and plenty of cards to pass out, my goal was to make connections. I arrived at the San Diego convention center and it was HUGE!!!! I heard the con was big, but actually seeing the size of the convention center and how many vendors there were was overwhelming. I went and hit the ground running, going to as many publishers as I could find. I hit up the Del Rey booth, expecting an art director to be there that I could show my work to. Unfortunately none was there, but I gave the editor my card anyway, hoping he would pass it along to the art director (kinda doubt it). I did that to several other publishers, and then went to pay a visit to my old boss, Eric Joyner. It was good to see him again and catch up. I learned that he met Matt Groening and had a small talk with him, very cool! After my visit with Eric I went to go visit one of my favorite artists, Donato Giancola. He is easily one of the nicest guys to meet, very open to give feedback on my portfolio. I learned a lot just from talking to him and getting feedback from a grand master. I might go visit his studio when I take a trip to New York in September. Next stop was Todd Lockwood, who was also very open to give feedback on my portfolio. He laid down a lot of faults in my work, which was actually very helpful and that I will use. Next up was my portfolio review with Wizards of the Coast, which actually went really well. They loved my work but want to see what I can do when I push my work even more, through color and dynamic composition. I talked to the senior art director of D&D and the game designer which really helped and gave insight to what they were looking for. I came out of it with the art directors card and already started an e-mail thread, which was golden. That's all I could ever wish for, a direct contact within Wizards that I could send work to as they come along and eventually come to the point of getting work from them. My paintings didn't sell, but getting that portfolio review and contact info from Wizards was worth more than my paintings.

All The King's Men Final!!!!!

It's finally finished!!!! I'm really happy with the way it turned out and I consider it my best yet, conceptually and technically. I'm taking this down to this years' Comic Con to debut it to the world! I'm super excited to get some feedback and see peoples reaction to it. I feel this painting needs as much exposure as possible and could very well lead me to my big break.

"All the King's Men" W.I.P. 6/9/10

Here's an updated pic on "All the King's Men"! It's getting there, but I have to solve more of the background and simplify some things in the wall.

It's Coming Along!!

So, here's another w.i.p. pic of "All the King's Men". Don't know if I'll make the personal deadline of May 28. I never know though, it may happen. I still have plenty to do on the background, the wall, and of course Humpty. I want to save him for last because I know I'll just half ass the rest if I put all my energy into him in the beginning. I'm happy with the way it's progressing.

"All the King's Men" W.I.P.

So, here's a work in progress picture of my latest big painting "All the King's Men". So far I'm really excited about it and am working hard on it. Seeing that this is my own personal project I'm holding it to some high standards and putting a lot of faith in it. I set a personal deadline to finish it on May 28, and it is now the 14th. I feel I really need to focus harder on it and get it done, but at the same time I don't want to rush it. I got a commission going on which I need to work on, but my personal priority is this. I still plan on taking this to comic-con and see how it is received. I hope it is a big hit.

plein Air paintings

While up at a cultural arts and dance festival at the Edward Dean Museum I decided to do some plein air painting of the Koi pond. Overall It came out pretty nice and happy with it. Also did another plein air painting as a demo for my students in my painting class. I'm pretty happy with that one as well. The Edward Dean one is on top and the demo painting is on the bottom.

Decade Anniversary

Today marks the day that ten years has passed since my father died, and I feel I need him now more than ever. I don't know why I'm writing about this, I think it's easy for me to put this down in words. If I were to think of how he would feel of my accomplishments if he were alive today, I honestly believe he'd be ultimately disappointed. He may say he was proud, but be disappointed. He was my inspiration and it was both of our dreams for me to go to art school and do something with it. And here I am, back in the town I grew up in. I feel I let him down. It's hard to make a living as an artist, especially when no one will rep you and in this type of economy marketing yourself is a full time job. I do what I can, but don't feel it's enough, and think I need to work harder but my motivation is not enough. I wish I could ask him what I should do and hear him make some obscure answer with a joke, that was his style. He was also a very philosophical guy and read a lot of books about different philosophies. He gave me a book about Zen Buddhism by D.T. Suzuki, which he wrote several notes and and highlighted. In the back cover of the book he came to a conclusion and wrote a note. It said, "In life, it's not about how much money you make or how much you own and successfull you are, but how far you get from where you were." Smart guy, I guess I have to take that quote to heart and make a goal to advance further in life.

Another Dissapointing year!

I've been checking the Spectrum: The Best in Fantastic Art site every day, almost every hour for the past week, seeing if they posted the artists that made it in to the annual. Well tonight they posted them, and yet again I did not get accepted. For anyone that does not know what Spectrum is, it's an annual of the best sci-fi/fantasy done for the year and I try to be in every year. I submitted my Pinnochio painting, which I was sure to get in! I mean, it got such a great response from everyone I showed it to and I put my heart and soul into doing it. This makes the third time I submitted, and the third time I was rejected. It sux especially when I have peers from my school repeatedly getting in. Oh well, I guess there's always next year!

Almost there . . . !!!

So, I've narrowed down the drawing to this final sketch!! Next step is to do a color comp and finally get to the painting. I'm kinda scared to get started because I anticipate this being finished to such a high standard that I don't think I'll be able to pull it off. Oh well, gotta wait and see!!

All the King's Men update!!!

So here's an updated sketch and sculpt for my next project. Trying to figure out the background more and some of the bodies in the wall. Don't want to overload the wall with detail but need to suggest more in it.

All the King's Men

So, here's my next pet project!! I think it's one of my most ambitious yet and really brings me out of my comfort zone in terms of complexity and concept. I decided to do a painting on Humpty Dumpty and he's sitting on a wall, of dead bodies. Did I mention the wall of dead bodies is all the King's men that didn't put him back together again? Did I also mention he's a badass crusader with a scar over his missing right eye? Like I did with pinnochio, I want to do a familiar character but with a different twist on the tale. With inspiration from one of my old teachers, Kazu Sano, I decided to also sculpt out a piece for accurate reference on lighting on the character. So here's a sketch of my piece, and a picture of the sculpt I'm still working on. Of course this will eventually turn into a painting. Sketch still needs work and I'll post up more stuff as it comes along. Hopefully this will turn out well and be a big hit!