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.