Art and Me.

Yes... I'm still alive... barely.

2010-04-23T13:32:00.003-06:00

Well, its been too long since I last updated this blog, and while I have my excuses, they're just excuses. I think I'm going to postpone finishing the Dallben painting for a while, and try to do more quick images, especially seeing as I need to get faster at this anyway, and I really don't have more than an hour or two to throw at this at any given time.

Anyway, this is a quick sketch I did of the horned king. I'll try to post more things over the weekend (I want to do some quick Illustrator stuff, but we'll see how that goes!)

For those few of you who actually follow this blog, don't let me slack out of it! I'm counting on you!

Check out all the stuff I've done... not on this painting.

2010-03-07T22:45:00.003-07:00

Okay, okay, I know. March 6th has rolled around, and the image isn't finished. Turns out all of my free time has been devoted to finishing all the random little jobs around the house. And my wife is serious this time, so I've done a lot, just not on the project. But I'll just have to find a way to do it anyway.

As you can see, I've changed the background a little, thanks to some constructive critique from Brandon Dayton, a friend and coworker. His blog is listed on the right there, you should check it out, he's awesome. Anyway, I'm ready to start on Dallben himself, so I'm starting to get excited about that. Let's hope I can finish this, I need to finish it for myself as well.

Hey look, there's a wall now.

2010-02-24T23:51:00.003-07:00

Well, here's the next update. Starting to have some fun now, although I'm still pretty busy, but I want to finish this by next saturday (March 6th). Anyway, haven't painted much stone before, so the wall in the background is a first for me. Needless to say, I like it so far, but it's early and still time for me to stumble on the intricacies that surely exist.

Oh well, guess I'll just keep plugging along...

Dallben Illustration Update

2010-02-22T22:29:00.002-07:00

Here's an update on the first illustration. I'm still pretty busy with some things outside of illustration, and I might have a website that I committed to doing a while ago start back up, but I'm still going to try to keep this up.

I'm still here. I promise.

2010-02-11T23:13:00.002-07:00

Well, okay. I've been very busy lately, and not with art. Laurel and I are in charge of the Ward Youth Conference, so most of my free time lately has been devoted to that.

Anyway, my first illustration is going to be of Dallben, reading from the book of three. Here are two sketches, ideas for the illustration, and the colored image is my under-painting for the illustration. Doing it in photoshop, if you're interested.

Anyway, I hope to get some time at some point to pick this up more seriously. But please, don't give up on me yet.

The Update. Finally.

2010-01-23T22:50:00.003-07:00

Here's the update. A few pictures of Dallben, the old wizened keeper of Caer Dallben, where the story starts, as well as a few more sketches of Taran, our hero. I think I'm ready to start in on the first illustration, which, hopefully, I can finish and post some regular updates on.

Anyway, until next time.

Quick Update

2010-01-22T00:02:00.001-07:00

Well, I, uh... yeah. I haven't been good at updating the blog as much as I'd like. I'll have you know that I've been drawing almost everyday still, just haven't had time to update things, but I'll do it tomorrow. I promise.

Or maybe saturday...

A horrible pig...

2010-01-13T19:07:00.004-07:00

Okay, so here's some sketches I've done over the last couple of days. I've finally settled into a routine, so I'm starting to get the "bug" as it were. Anyway, the first sketch, or two sketches, are of Hen-wen. She's a large pig, whose also an oracle for those who know how to speak to her. Anyway, the first sketch (on the top) was done in the "I can draw a pig - no problem" phase. Only after I drew what is evident to anyone with eyes something exactly not a pig did I realize my incompetence. Hence the second sketch, which turned out much better and was done using reference.

This sketch is my first attempt at what Coll would look like. Coll an older gentlemen, a little portly, and bald, who runs Caer Dallben, where the story takes place. He has other parts in the story but that's another story. Anyway, it's a quick sketch, but I like the looks of it.

And so it begins. Really. I mean it.

2010-01-05T22:53:00.007-07:00

Okay, so it's the first of the new year, and my journey begins today. Well actually it began a few days ago, but this is the first time I've been able to sit down and scan in some drawings done over the break.

Anyway, here's a quick outline sketch thingy of the horned king. I really like where this is going, and enjoyed the practice, I'll definitely have to do it again in the future.

I really liked the silhouette of the helm on this as opposed to the first sketch, and so I sketched out another quick version of what I thought the helm would look like in this design...

I really like this version. It conveys the feel of the horned king much better than the first. I took some inspiration from General Kael, from Willow, as well as a mix of Sauron's helm from Lord of the Rings. I'm going to try some more studies of this.

The next image is of Prince Gwydion. I've seen illustrations of him depicted as a younger man, maybe late twenties, but in reading the book, I picture him more in his late thirties, early forties. A man with considerable experience and wisdom, even more so than his age. I know he looks even older in the sketch, but just imagine him with blonde/brown hair.

And lastly, a very quick sketch of the Dwarf king. I'll tell you his name later, I seem to have... uh... "misplaced" it. Yeah.

Anyway, there you go. I'll post another batch in a few days. As always, please leave comments and critiques.

Taran and the Horned King

2009-12-18T21:45:00.006-07:00

Sorry for not updating for the past two days, but I have been busy working on some things. I'll do better in getting them posted in a timely manner in the future.

Anyway, I have two sketches. The first is a rough sketch of what I imagine Taran, the main character, to look like.

It was a quick sketch, and I've got a better idea since then as to what he should look like. Infact, there's a young man in the neighborhood who I think Taran would look like, I'll probably use him for reference.

The second sketch is a design for the Horned King's helm.

It's an animal skull in the book, and I've seen it as a deer skull, or a human skull, but I wanted to try something different. I like the cat like look, but I actually think I'm going to try another version made out of steel, but shaped with skull like elements. For the horns I'm thinking of something along the lines of a kudu or an impala.

Anyway, it was fun to draw. I'm already getting antsy if I don't draw each day, that's a good sign right?

Today's quick sketch - When 30 Minutes isn't long enough...

2009-12-16T00:38:00.000-07:00

Man, 30 minutes is just too fast. This was an attempt at a 30 minute speed painting of some dude, who apparently has suffered from some sort of horrific radiation-gone wrong experiment.

I really need to do this more often, and when I don't have time to sit and do some sketching on the book, I'll at least try to kick out a 30 minute sketch of some sort. But take heart, it can only get better from here.

Right?

The New Beginning

2009-12-15T00:23:00.001-07:00

Well, if you've been here before, then you've obviously noticed that things are a little different. I've decided to change the focus of my blog, actually my focus. I'm going to try to get back into illustration again.

No, that's not right, I'm going to try to get into Illustration, finally. I graduated from college with an art degree in Illustration, but somewhere along the line I've been transformed into a graphic designer. I've never really been an illustrator. I've done some small things here and there, but mainly I'm a graphic designer. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against graphic designers, we're a nice group of people, but lately I've been really itching to be an illustrator. I think it comes down to this: I much prefer drawing and painting to updating CSS and HTML pages for clients.

So that's where the redesign comes into play. I'm going to illustrate a great story in "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander. I'll post all the character designs and sketches, all the preliminary work, and finally the finished pieces. I'll try to do this every day. No, I'll do more than try. I WILL post something everyday (that really means 3 times a week, but hey, look at the archives to see that even that much will be a drastic improvement from the past).

Anyway, so what's the end goal? I want to be under contract to illustrate a book, a short story, anything, by the end of the year. Next year, not like two weeks from now. So that's the journey. I hope you'll stick around to see what happens, but most of all I hope this works.

CHESTERBURY

2009-07-14T16:49:00.000-06:00

Here it is... in all it's glory. I've solicited the help of my brothers and nephews to write the comic with me, and help with any general things that will come up. I'm excited. Anyway, I'll be working on some of the rest of the cast of characters and hope to post them this weekend, but we'll see what happens.

Now in Chester-Vision!

2009-07-13T17:06:00.000-06:00

Here he is in color, and a logo! Anyway, trying to get my brother to write the comic with me, he's in "The Theatre" if that means anything...

Lord Chesterbury...

2009-07-03T00:27:00.001-06:00

Well, I've decided to resurrect the honorable Lord Chesterbury. I must say I'm quite pleased with this one, even moreso than the first attempt. I'm currently working on it in Illustrator, and I'll post it when i get it up and going.

T Shirt Designs

2009-06-24T00:16:00.000-06:00

Did some t shirt designs recently, so here they are.

This was for a family reunion, if you didn't guess. Anyway, I was first given the "Big Fat Family Reunion" idea, and while I originally wanted to do a fat guy with all his reunion gear (the family didn't like it, or more importantly someone in the family didn't like it), so I did the burger design.

The family turned that down and said they want a tree, with the family name and whatnot. So I did the second design, which again, they didn't like.

Anyway, the final design wasn't one of my favorites, but what do you do? That's usually what happens, the client always picks the one you like least.

T-Shirt Designs...

2009-05-08T18:23:00.000-06:00

Here's a quick T-shirt design that I did for my Brothers-in-law. Lot's of fun, probably do some more and post them later.

A sketch appropriate for a sunday afternoon...

2009-04-19T23:38:00.000-06:00

Found this in the files, an old colored charcoal sketch I did of the Savior. I like where it was heading.

Quick Alien Study

2009-02-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick hour study of an alien character. I need to do more of these, I like where this was heading, but I need to hone my skillz more.

The Cartoon

2009-01-30T00:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, so my wife wanted an Avatar done, that she could put up on her blog and various facebooks and whatnot, so I spent some time last night and this is what I came up with.

I don't do anime styled pieces, so this was a new challenge for me. Infact, I don't draw females very often, so that's a challenge as well. I think I'll need to focus on that here in the future.

The Blue Dog. Thingy.

2009-01-27T00:11:00.001-07:00

Here's a quick hour long drawing I did tonight of a dog-like dude. It's for the MOAG blog, they're having a creature creation contest. Anyway, I like it, and it was fun to just bust out the wacom and go from scratch. I'll see if I can do more in the near future.

As for things at work, I'm really loving the project I'm working on right now. I've done some awesome stuff for the UI, and I wish I could show it, but it'll have to wait until it ships. Anyway, until next time...

Species Sketch

2009-01-21T00:31:00.000-07:00

A quick species sketch and color that i did for the MOAG blog. Check it out to see a detailed description of the species and whatnot.

Tilt-Shift Photography

2009-01-14T00:07:00.001-07:00

Here's a couple of quick photographs manipulated to look like minatures. It's a fun technique, called tilt-shift photography. It's actually really easy to do, even if my examples aren't the best to look at, it's still pretty fun. I'll be playing around with this for a while...

Sketch Dump

2009-01-07T22:02:00.000-07:00

Finished a sketchbook. It's taken quite a while, years infact. Anyway, here's a dump of some of my favorite sketches.

Well, there you have it. Just a few of the sketches. Anyway, you can check out some of my sci-fi sketches and cg work on the MOAG blog.

One last pic, this was done by one of my girls. It's the incredible Hulk, but like I needed to tell you that.

The New Year's first post...

2009-01-04T22:30:00.001-07:00

So, It's been a while since I posted anything here, but here's something for you. My brother and a couple of brother-in-laws were going to the BYU - Wake Forest Basketball game. It was a pretty big deal, Wake was ranked #6 in the country, and BYU was riding a 53 game home winning streak. Anyway, my bro wanted me to design a tshirt for the white out, apparenlty it's the thing now a days... so this is my design. I like it, it's classic and I think it would look good on a tshirt. I got some inspiration from the old Golden State Warriors logos, and well, I like it.

Anyway, had a good holiday, went to San Diego for Christmas, and spent the new year in St. George. In all we were gone from the house for 2 weeks. Never took a vacation that long. It was a lot of fun.

Oh, BYU lost, but they kept it close. Lost by 5 or 6, but that was because of foul shots.

Anyway, I'll try to post more often this year.

But I wouldn't count on that.

Drawings...

2008-12-07T20:21:00.001-07:00

Here's a quick sketch I did of Norman Rockwell, based on a photograph in a book I bought at the D.I. for $2.oo. It was fun to get back into realistic drawing. I've been doing alot of stylized, cartoony type stuff for work lately, which I really enjoy, but this was good to get the ol' pencil out and really give it a go. It's scanned in pretty big, but it's only about 2 inches square, and I did it with a mechanical pencil. This made me realize I need a new sketchbook, something a little more smooth and bigger than standard paper.

This is a piece I did of my Dad, done in new pastels. It's something I stared probably a year ago, and while I like where it is now, I always wanted to get into it a little more and really finish it up nice. As some of you know, my Dad passed away this summer from Cancer. I had Mom over for dinner tonight, and I showed this to her. She really like it. I was glad she could tell who it was! Anyway, I think I'm going to give it another try and see if I can get a finished piece out of it.

TF2 Pyro

2008-12-06T00:07:00.001-07:00

I love playing the Pyro in TF2. It's one of the most rewarding things to light a spy on fire (I know, I'm sick...). This was done completely in Illustrator, and I enjoyed it quite alot. On a side note, now that CS4 has opacity control in it's gradients like Photoshop, I'm in heaven. No more opacity masks.

The Studio 22 Header

2008-12-04T23:06:00.000-07:00

Finished the header for the blog today. I like it. I just wish I could have named the blog Studio 22. I wanted that, but it was taken, unfortunately. I think. You know, give me a sec, I'm going to see what the Studio 22 site is... Well, apparently there are a lot of "Studio 22's" out there. Huh. Oh well. Anyway, enjoy.

The Bird Man of Alca... uh... The Pirate Bird... uh...

2008-12-03T22:47:00.000-07:00

This was a quick piece I did during a little down time at work. I thought it would be a good place to start seeing as it's one of the first "speed" paintings that I really liked. I know, it's not anything remotely close to a "speed" painting, but I liked it.

Okay, well, I guess this is a start...

2008-12-03T22:26:00.000-07:00

The main reason I started this, was that I need to work on drawing more everyday. After discussing it with some fellow artists at work, a blog was suggested, seeing as you can easily update it with various drawings and whatnot. As to whether or not that happens, well, that's another story. I'll see if I can get something up every day, but I'm not going to promise anything. I'll also try to post links to tutorials or other artists that I enjoy/like/want to punch in the stomach because they're too good, etc. etc. Anyway, please enjoy and as always, let me know what you think.

Thanks.