Alley Cat

My painting appeared in Digital Artist Magazine!

I did this painting a couple months ago and had completely forgotten about it!  I was honored to do a cheat guide in this issue of Digital Artist Magazine.  I got to put down in writing how I think when i try to compose an image.  Give it a look!

This painting took a long time to complete, but was really fun to work on!

4/23/2012 WIP

Been chipping away at some of the many projects I've been working on!

This one's going to be part of the blog redesign project (that's right!  I haven't forgotten about that just yet!)  I got some specific plans for this one that I'm not going to go into right now, I'll just hint at the fact that I've been dabbling in some GIF animations, and I want to flex my muscles in new territories.  Stay tuned for the real fun stuff down the road with this one!

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I've converted my wall to a drawing board.  And I have some more ambitious ideas for the drawing board, but this is just a test run I thought I'd do real quick.  It's taking a bit to get used to drawing upright again, but it's great that I can engage the drawing in a more physical manner.  I can move back and forth, and use my entire arm to create lines, and that is definitely fun.  Also, seeing anime type drawings at this scale is always a bit unusual, and I like to use scale to my advantage.

I've decided that I'll be streaming again.  I'm trying to decide what days to do it, but one thing's for sure.  The drawing board will be a frequent guest on it!  I just have to figure out the logistics of it!  I draw super light some times, so maybe this will teach me to work more boldly.

Also in the works is a small game project I'm working on with my buddy Leo.  I've worked with him during my stay at Harmonix.  He's one of my favorite people, and he's a blast to work with!  I'll be posting some of those works as well, so stay tuned!

Some updates on what's going on

I've posted about going to and coming back from Korea, but I've been pretty absent from the blog since.  So here are some updates on what's been going on!

I've been swamped with work every since I got back.  It's gotten to a point where I've made a laundry list of things that need to get down, and I've barely even made a dent in it.  My father has asked me to do some product illustrations for him, which is impossible for me to refuse, seeing as he raised my pitiful ass.  So there's that, and a slew of other projects I need to get done before I get back to the fun paintings I so love to do!

Anyway, I've atleast had time to rearrange my room a bit so i can do some larger drawings.

I've cleared off the entire drafting table to make room for a nice diptych, and also...

I've made space on one of my walls so i can draw some really big drawings as well.

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For those who are in the competitive fighting game community, you might know a little legend from the third strike days.  His name is Dr. Sub-Zero.  AKA John D. Rockafeller.  This guy was one of the main reasons I decided to join the fighting game scene.  He really convinced me how fun and interesting it was being part of that community.  He was incredibly funny, and charismatic.  I found myself hypnotized and allured to this quirky community, and I have to thank him because I met some great friends indirectly because of him.

I found his old old podcasts through gootecks (whose podcasts taught me a lot about the technical aspects of fighting games), and I was sad that he wasn't active anymore.  Well, after years of waiting, he's back!  He's being doing Live podcasts again, and they are hilarious!

This is basically a long winded way of me saying that I ended up doing a design for him!  And I was super happy to do so! 

Hey, if you ever get the chance, tune into his show!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI1HSdEwV-c

 

Busy busy!

Sorry about the hiatus, everyone!  After I got back from Korea, I had to take care of a bunch of stuff before I started cranking out the drawings again.  I promise I will be posting more soon!

Street Fighter X Tekken

Kazuya and Ryu!

I'm going on vacation for a couple weeks starting Thursday.  I'll be in Korea visiting the family.  I'm quite excited.  I haven't been in Korea in years, and because my parents live there, it's hard to see them as regularly as I'd like.  I'm taking my camera with me, because the massive mess of neon signs and night lights are incredibly beautiful, and i want to bring home some reference for me to paint!

Though I'm going on vacation, I have a ton of work I'm taking with me.  I'll still be posting regularly, so don't forget to check in now and then!  Maybe I'll finally get some inspiration for the blog redesign finally!

Street Fighter X Tekken WIP 3/28/2012

SOOOOO close to being done!  Just gotta finish up the gloves, belt, and a little bit of tweaking here and there!

Street Fighter X Tekken WIP 3/27/2012

Some more work in progress!  I've been messing with the colors on this painting and I'm finally getting them to a place that I like.  I still have a few places where i want to mess around with the colors, but this is a good starting point so far.  I'm getting a bit more comfortable messing around with multiple brush-sets.  Pulling together tricks I've been picking up in the past few months finally. 

Street fighter X Tekken WIP 3/20/2012

It's been a few days!  I have a secret project in the works right now, and I'm trying to figure out how to start releasing info on it.  If you want to know more, I guess you'll have to just wait and see  ;-)  I've been drawing out ideas and what not for this secret project, and it's been taking up a bit of my time.  But I didn't want to start neglecting the blog, so I'm back with some drawings!

In the very little spare time that I get, I've been playing a little bit of Street Fighter X Tekken.  I used to go to tournaments and have met some great people while playing the Street Fighter 4 series.  Since moving to Rhode Island, there aren't as many people to play with, so I haven't been able to attend tournaments, but I've been keeping up by practicing combos every night, and getting a few games in online.  The game is really fun, which inspired me to do some fan art! 

I'm planning on making this a full painting, so stay tuned!

My mind at night

Finally finished this painting.  I'm super happy with how it turned out...


BUT...



Sadly things didn't work out the way I wanted it to.  For those who have been keeping up with the previous posts, I've been working on this painting as part of my blog redesign project.  Originally I had thought about putting this painting behind the header.  So my logo would almost seem like it was part of the scenery, but alas, after trying it out last night, I've realized that it was a massive disaster.  I had to down res the image and compress it to the point where it looked hideous, and not to mention the header getting lost in a massive pile of neon mess.  Hahahaha, oh boy...   No matter, atleast I got a pretty painting out of it.  Now I'll just have to come up with an even BETTER idea...

Stay tuned, this battle is not over.  This blog will look amazing sooner or later.  THIS, I PROMISE!

3/12/2012 WIP

just chipping away at this one, almost at the finish line! 

3/10/2012 WIP

Still moving along with the blog redesign.  I've finally got something down that I'm happy with.  Much work is needed to be put into this piece, but I haven't posted in a few days, so I thought I'd give everyone a preview of what I've been working on! 

3/6/2012 WIP

Sorry for the lack of good lighting on this one.  I like to use a camera instead of a scanner, because i end up working too large for the scanner bed to take my image.  But it makes digitizing my pencil drawings a little difficult when lighting situations are not optimal.

Anyway, I'm ditching the city skyline painting for my blog redesign, and it's going through a bit of an evolution.  I won't end up using this pencil drawing to start my painting either, but it was a good exercise.  The end product is going to be related to this, but you'll have to stay tuned if you want to see where this is going!

3/4/2012 WIP

Hello everyone, it's been a few days, so here's a bit of an update on what i've been working on!

The city skyline painting is something I'm doing as part of my blog redesign.  I don't want to give too much away, I want there to be a bit of a surprise on what the end product is actually going to look like, so stay tuned!  It's going to be a fun one!

I hesitated posting this skyline painting I'm working on, even though it's a WIP, I'm a bit dissatisfied with it.  I'm not sure what's going on with the colors in this one, but hopefully I'll be able to pull things together sooner or later.  Working on environmental shots is always a challenge for me.  I'm used to understanding forms, but when it comes to creating space, it's a bit more difficult for me.  Which brings me to a realization I've had; Always include a background to your painting!  The practice is invaluable.  I've done too many paintings where I simply draw a figure on a white background.  Since I was a character concept artist by trade for most of my professional career, I've neglected mastering environments for a while.  Learning's always fun, but it's tough to think inversely (from forms to spaces) from what I'm used to.  But in the immortal words of Kintaro Oe; STUDY STUDY STUDY!

Also, a few friends came over during the weekend, and we had a bit of a movie marathon.  And movie marathons are a great opportunity for some doodling!

Blog Redsign

Strap on your seatbelts, this blog is going to get redesigned!

Oro

Got to mess around with dummy oils this time around.  Fun stuff!  I'll have to think of a way to keep the texture of the paper, but clean up the sketchy line work.