Sexy Librarian

Sexy Librarian. August 31st, 2012.

I drew this today with my Intuos 5 in Photoshop!  I'm just starting to learn how to draw and paint with Photoshop using the stylus.  It's taken lots of practice, but I am getting it.  This is my first big project.  I spent about 5 hours drawing this rough out on 5 different layers.  I think I'll keep working it and see if I can get a full rendered painting out of it.  I'll post it again with color.  Fun stuff!

Updated 9-3-12.

I got lazy and decided all I wanted to do is flat shading.  So now it just looks like a cell painting.  After about 15 hours of work on this one... I just decided I was done.  So here it is.

Sexy Librarian Color. September 3rd 2012.

An Old 54

54 Chevy Pickup. October 2001.

This is an old pickup truck I used to own.  A 1954 Chevy Truck.  My dad bought it off a friend of his back in '98 or '99 I believe.  I remember when he brought it home.  Right away he started tinkering around with it.  He basically brought it back to life from a non running vehicle.  I thought it was great!  I helped out a lot on that project.  Learned a lot and enjoyed every moment of it!  My Pop eventually got tired of it, like he does with everything, and decided to get rid of it.  I had to intervene.  So I suggest he sell it to me!  And of course he did.  Then I began tinkering with it on my own!  I rebuilt its rear end drive train completely!  It was a massive job.  Expensive too!  I believe I dumped well over $2,000 at the time!  It ran so much better after that, though.  The only problem I had with it after that point really was it's front end, and it's ability to break safely.  I started to consider rebuilding it's front end, as well as upgrading it's brakes from drum to disc.

Tinkering Under The Hood. June 4th, 2002.

Grandpa loved that old truck just as much as any car enthusiast.  He would come over on weekends and usually end up tinkering around under the hood with me and Dad.  So I caught him in the act a few times.  He had a lot of knowledge to impart.  I learned a lot from Grandpa about old cars.  Learned that cars even from the 50's era were a lot more maintenance free than cars from his earlier years in the 40's.  He would tell me things like, "These trucks were real good back in those days.  You could go for 3 thousand miles before changing the oil!.  On the old 39 I had, you'd have to change the oil every 1,000 miles, and check the gaps, and adjust the valves if they need it..." Sounds like a lot of work Grandpa!

Skewed Perspective. October 2001.

This is one of my first attempts at painting the old truck  not long after my dad acquired it.  It was sitting in the driveway all tore up.  Missing front wheels and various parts torn out of the front end.  My dad was rebuilding the front end drum brakes at the time.  That's when I started learning about brakes.  From watching him and helping out on the job.  I was also brushing up on some long neglected perspective drawing too!  It looks pretty bad here, but I eventually remembered how to draw in perspective again.

Under The Hood. June 2002.

  After having rebuilt the rear end of the truck and enjoying the fruit of my labor I decided I didn't want to dump any more money into the project to continue rebuilding the whole thing.  It was getting too expensive.  It was a great learning experience and I had a lot of fun! But at this point, I had enjoyed spending my money and decided that if someone else is going to enjoy it as much as I did, it's time to turn it over.  I knew the day would come when I no longer would own it.  So I made some memories and captured them in pencil and paint.

Summer Sketches!

It's been a little while since I posted something new!  Here are a few things from my sketchbook this summer!

 Charlie and Lucy.  July 2012.

 Random Girl Sketches I liked.  Also, I think I made an attempt at Perry The Platypus?  July 2012.

Some sketches inspired by a recent trip to San Diego Zoo. 

July 19th, 2012.

Gorey

Inspired by The Gashlycrumb Tinies.  This was really fun to do.  It makes me smile and laugh!

I, J. April 30, 2012.

K, L. April 30, 2012.

Today

New sketches made at work today.

 Coffee. April 21, 2012.

A Mouse! April 21, 2012

 Doorway. April 21, 2012.

Casey

Here are some oldies. These where done back at Calarts in Fall '97. It is an idea for a short film I had about a dog that gets rabies in a very graphic way. The animal becomes rabid and is eventually shot by the master. It's a little bit of a dark and twisted Old Yeller Story. The dog goes chasing after rats and is led into a trap set up by the rat colony. The rats attack and infect the dog with rabies, who ultimately turns on his master. The dog is put down.

She Caught One. Fall 1997.

Cabin in The Woods. :) Fall 1997.

Casey. Our Dalmatian back in fall '97. She was inspiration for The Dog. Because she was such a killer. Everything from cats, turtles, birds, squirrels, rats... And her specialty, possum. She got em all.

The End. Fall 1997. The end scene in the animatic I made for this.

1960's Girls

I drew some girls at work today. I was thinking about styles from the 1960's. So here are some of my thoughts on that. Not much in the way of fashion drawings... just some drawings of girls that I imagine might come from that era. Here they are:

Girl Smoking. April 16th, 2012.

Girl with Hands on Hips. April 16th, 2012.

Another Girl Smoking. April 16th, 2012.

Intuos5

I have officially entered the digital age. I got a Wacom Intuos5. I can see that I will need a lot of practice working with this thing. It's pretty close to the feeling of pencil on paper. Not exactly the same, but pretty darn close! Sketching with it is fun! Here are a few of the first things that I did with it. I did a tutorial on painting clouds. Here are my clouds.

Clouds Tutorial. April 14, 2012.

Then I made this little thing here. Just a simple sketch of a landscape that I applied some color to. Kind of a fun little thing.

Desert Landscape. April 14, 2012.

Between Shots

I drew some Princesses when I was bored in between shots this week at work. I was inspired by this book I got called The Art of The Disney Princess.

It's a neat book, but there is a lot of contemporary pop art interpretations that I don't like in it. I generally like the more traditional renderings of the classic Disney Princess. Although, there are a few really well done contemporary pieces that I absolutely love. There is are a few pieces by a artist named Jenny Chung that are awesome. Her draftsmanship is amazing and her pop art interpretations are based on a very classic looking design with an Anime twist on it.

Here are some of my ideas based on what I got out of the book.

Snow White with Unfurled Hair. April 9th, 2012.

Ariel Going to A Dinner Party. April 10th, 2012.

Aurora from The Art of The Disney Princess. April, 2012.

Rockwell Studies

These are older drawings from 2002. I was studying Norman Rockwell at the time. I love Rockwell! One of the greatest artists of the 20th Century in my opinion!

This is a study from "Rumble Seat". I love the dog in this picture! June, 2002.

A cowboy from what painting I can't remember. June, 2002.

Can't remember from what painting of a boy in a baseball hat. June, 2002.

I think this is from a painting called "Freedom of Speech". It depicts a town hall meeting. Awesome painting! June, 2002.

Don't Ask

I don't know what these are. Just a couple of weirdos I drew while trying to do some character design stuff today. I thought they looked kinda neat, so I'm posting it!

Weirdos. April 6th, 2012.

Anita's Wall

This was a big project and so fun to do! So I say to my friend Anita, "Hey! Let me draw Ariel on your wall in the basement." Of course she had no objections about that. All I asked for was some food and some paint! Oh, and I think they bought me a plane ticket to go to their house in Dayton, OH. I did it over two visits. The first visit was some time in June, when I started the project. Then I came back in September the same summer to finish it up for Anita's birthday that year in 2005. It was such a big painting. I had never made anything that big before. So it was a whole new scale to work in for me. The painting is 8 feet tall!

Close up of Ariel looking to the surface. :)

Mid close with a bit of Flounder.

Full finished painting. September 16, 2005.

A Birthday Present

I LOVE The Little Mermaid! One of my best friends is a major fan too! So I made this picture for her birthday years back! It's always been one of my favorite pieces of fan art. She has it hanging in one of the rooms in her house now, and I love seeing it there every time I visit! I miss this painting! I also made a HUGE Painting of Ariel on the wall in the basement of her house. I'll post that one too!

Anita's Gift. September 16, 2004.

Green Eyes

Inspired by Coldplay.

Green Eyes. April 1st, 2012.

Dark and Twisted

A couple of designs that were inspired after a visit to The Tim Burton Exhibit at the L.A.C.M.A. in September 2011. I bought the book that shows all the pieces on exhibit. I had only seen a few of Burton's hand drawn designs before. This show was HUGE! The volume of work he produced is pretty amazing. Burton's designs are based on many different things. Simple things. But some how in his sick twisted mind, he made all the most basic things in life, look monstrous. Some of the drawings are simply UGLY! But wow! It's in your face! It was definitely a emotional experience.

Not as dark and twisted as Burton....

Sunshine. September, 2011.

Girl With A Dog and Silver Mermaid. September, 2011.

Denise, Civic Ballet

This is one of the earliest examples of the distinction of my style. I had really felt something at this point in my life. I had just been accepted to Calarts. It was as though I had won hundreds of millions in the lottery. A friend of mine was taking class at the dance school in Pasadena, Civic Ballet. My best friend had suggested I go to the class and draw the girls warming up, like in those famous Degas paintings.... I saw Denise there... and It felt as though I had fallen in love.

But it only ever went as far as the page on which I drew her. I never could find the courage to talk to her. So I just drew pictures of her.... The only romantic way I could think of to express myself. :)

Denise, Civic Ballet. June 5th, 1995.

It vs. The Rover

I was thinking of doing a comic book at one point. But it seemed like so much work I eventually gave it up. I still think its a great idea though! Maybe when I get motivated enough, it will eventually become something.

It vs. The Rover, June 2002.

No Trusty!

A sketch of my mom's dog Trusty. I call him No Trusty, simply because I don't trust him. He pees on people! He peed on my sister in law and one of my best friends last time they came over for a visit! He's half Pug, half Beagle and all pain in the butt! No Trusty!

No Trusty! From April 2011.

Old Mermaid Sketches

I did these back in school c. 1997! I love mermaids! Anyone who knows me well enough will tell you this! :D

Blue Mermaid.

Here is another one from that same series.

Mermaid and Friends.

Sour Punch Relaunched

Welcome back to Sour Punch!

These are some alien designs I did probably around 2001-2002. I've always drawn since leaving school in 1998. So I have a lot of work over a period of about 20 years. It's crazy to go back and look at this stuff trying to remember what I was thinking at the time. I had some fun ideas! These guys were based on an idea that I had back in school. Just a fun sketch of those.