Timothy Anderson Art

2011-12-14T21:23:00.000-08:00

This is another style exploration/homage to one of my favorite films, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. This is the first in a series of three posters I'm working on to hang up around my office. I'll let you guess what the other two in the series are going to be...

This is one of the few pieces I've done where I actually documented the steps along the way, so I'll probably put up a brief walk-through shortly.

Sims 3 Showtime Announcment!

2011-12-06T09:04:00.001-08:00

Now, those of you who know me probably don't have me pegged as big fan of The Sims. I tend to lean towards the gritty sci-fi shooter genre in games, for sure, and even in my artwork, I tend to prefer the same. However, for the last 9 months I've had the opportunity to branch out and delve into a genre outside of my typical comfort zone. I've been working at EA Salt Lake on a new expansion pack for The Sims 3, and I've been having a blast! Today is the official announcement date, so check out this video to see some of the stuff we've been working on. A lot of what you see was designed by myself and the talented Jace Wallace, and our awesome object, character, and evironment artists have done a fantastic job bringing it all to life.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-04T20:07:00.001-08:00

Here's a little style experiment for Christmas. I'm way more used to doing more "realistic" kind of stuff, but I want to practice doing a more graphical illustrative style, just for fun. My wife needed an illustration for a sign for her office Christmas party, so I thought it could be a fun opportunity to try a new style. I actually learned a lot along the way, and I've got some ideas for future illustrations...

Zombie QB

2011-11-27T09:03:00.001-08:00

I'm not the biggest fan of this whole zombie craze going on these days, but I have to admit, they are a lot of fun to draw.

Head Sketches

2011-11-19T09:01:00.001-08:00

Just some head sketches I did this week. Trying to practice my character stuff.

Race Track

2011-10-20T19:30:00.000-07:00

This is my entry for this month's Monthly Challenge over at the Gnomon Workshop. The topic was "Race Track." I always mean to do these challenges, and I'm not going to pretend this is me turning over a new leaf, haha, but I really enjoyed it, and I would like to set more time aside for future challenges.

Style Experiment Film Study

2011-08-25T08:06:00.000-07:00

Here's another sketch exploring a more illustrative style than I usually work in. As with any study, there are elements I'm pretty pleased with (the eyes) and elements that will be better the next time around (everything else, haha). I was so anxious to jump into the inking and painting that I didn't spend the necessary time to get the drawing right, but as far as the style is concerned, I feel like I'm getting closer to nailing down something I'm pleased with.

Raph Sketch

2011-08-18T23:27:00.000-07:00

This is just a sketch I did this evening to practice a new technique I'm playing around with.

MegaTRON... get it?

2011-08-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

I've always been a sucker for a (good?) pun, so when this idea occurred to me the other day, I couldn't resist :)

ImagineFX Issue 67

2011-02-11T18:46:00.000-08:00

A few months back, I was contacted by the editor of ImagineFX, a popular UK magazine that focuses on all sorts of art in popular media. They cover comics, entertainment design for movies, film, video games, etc... I was asked to provide a brief write-up outlining the process I followed when designing my personal Gears of War-based project some time ago, and I just found out that my piece will be published in the March 2011 issue (#67 for those who are counting)!

I am honored to have the opportunity to have my work featured, and I'm especially thrilled to be included in this particular issue. As you can probably guess from the image below, there's a great article by renowned cover artist Adam Hughes, and the rest of the issue features some of my greatest art heroes (including Jim Lee, one of the artists that inspired me to want to draw in the first place many years ago).

The issue is currently out in the UK, and it should be hitting shelves here in the US in about a month.

Turtle Power!

2011-02-07T21:06:00.000-08:00

This sketch is dedicated to both my son and my life-long friend, Ben Rolph. Ben and I used to draw the Ninja Turtles to keep ourselves occupied during church when we were kids, and drawing with Ben is one of the things that made me want to be an artist when I grew up. While I'm still waiting to grow up, I also still love to draw.

As our generation is wont to do, I am infecting (blessing?) my son's life with my nostalgia for things of my childhood. My son is really into Ninja Turtles right now, and his favorite alternates between "Yee-oh" (Leo) and "Raff-a-ell" (Raphael).

The Collector

2011-01-31T22:00:00.000-08:00

This is my entry for this month's 2D challenge over at the Gnomon Workshop forum. The topic was "The Collector." I've been itching to draw a fighting robot, and with the topic, I thought it could be cool to have a robot who collects the aerials from his defeated foes, as a kind of kill trophy. As you can see by the tally marks on his chest, he's almost up to his 20th victory now.

Form and Color Sketch

2010-08-30T21:08:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of blocky and straight-edged stuff at work lately, and I need to break out of that. So I've started sketching out some more organic forms in my sketchbook. I'm taking some of them and rendering the forms using photos as color and material reference. I'm beginning a personal vehicle project with a couple of friends, and I need to work on form and rendering. It's been a while, and I've gotten a bit rusty.

This one is from a photo I took of a little Corvette show they had in the parking lot of an ice cream "festival" my wife dragged us to back in June. I guess the day wasn't a total loss if I got a good sketch out of it ;)

Iron Giant Sketch and Painting WIP

2010-07-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

Any of you who know my two-year-old son probably know about his obsession with The Iron Giant. He watches it almost every day. In fact, he knows it so well that he directs my wife and me in role-playing his favorite scenes, commanding us to "stand over there. You're looking at the giant building [power plant], and I'm the Iron Giant in the trees." Then he proceeds to walk around making loud stomping sounds with his mouth. This continues for some time, until we tire of it and distract him with something else. Or put the movie on again. I'm actually quite glad that he likes the movie. I think it's one of those oft-overlooked gems, and it's one of my favorite movies.

I decided to do a drawing and painting of the Iron Giant for my son as a painting practice exercise. Here's the sketch on toned paper and the work-in-progress painting I've begun in Photoshop. It's kind of fun once in a while to do a piece whose sole purpose is to practice painting and not to have to worry about designing something from scratch. I'll post updates as I go.

New Blog

2010-07-05T12:31:00.000-07:00

Hey, everyone, as you may have noticed, I haven't posted any work on here for a while. I'm very fortunate to have been rather busy of the last few months, and while I'm doing a lot of work, I'm prevented by NDA's from showing it just yet. To be able to do work that I can show and continually add to my portfolio, I've made it a goal to participate in more online forum challenges and activities. There are so many of them out there, and I've been making an effort to catalog them for my own convenience. In so doing, though, I realized that such a catalog might be a useful resource for others, so I've decided to create a blog dedicated to gathering information about various online forum challenges. You can find it at this link.

My goal with that new blog is to make it easier to sort through the many challenges available online. I'm sure my listing isn't 100% comprehensive, and I welcome any other suggestions or links you may have. I'm also in the process of designing the blog to be a little less boring looking, but I figured I'd just go ahead and get it out there. I'd love to get your feedback, so head on over there and see what you think and let me know what you think might make it more helpful.

Thanks!

R.I.P. Norm Schureman

2010-03-21T22:01:00.001-07:00

It is with true sadness that I write about the passing of a great inspiration and instructor of mine, Norm Schureman, who was killed in a tragic turn of events this weekend. I only ever had the chance to take one class from Norm while I was at Art Center, but he's been a friend of mine ever since, always offering advice and encouragement. I learned so much from Norm about design and drawing, and I was always in awe of his vast amounts of knowledge on just about every topic he ever discussed. He taught me that it is never enough to know how to draw, but that it's more important to know about what I'm drawing-- and know it inside and out. His instruction and outlook on life have contributed immeasurably to my skills as a designer and as a person.

I'll miss you, Norm.

EOW- Ancient Palace Ruins

2010-02-05T00:39:00.000-08:00

This week's Environment of the Week at ConceptArt.org was "Ancient Palace Ruins." Here's my entry:

Constructed adjacent to the beautiful river, the palace offered a stunning view to its former occupants until it was swallowed by the raging torrents of a merciless flood. Now the palace has become part of the river, merely another large stone worn away by the rushing rapids.

Deep Space Pitstop

2010-01-27T09:09:00.000-08:00

In my continuing effort to participate in more art forum activities, I did this piece for the monthly competition hosted at The Gnomon Workshop. The topic was Deep Space Pitstop. This space station would be the closest outpost to the Serpent Nebula, and families would stop there to get some food, rest a while, and let the kids go to the bathroom before seeing the popular tourist attraction.

Creature of the Week #165: Zombie Dinosaur

2010-01-20T21:09:00.001-08:00

For someone who thinks that the whole zombie thing is getting a bit overplayed these days, I sure have been doing a lot of zombies... The Creature of the Week topic over at ConceptArt.org this week was "Zombie Dinosaur." I'm trying to participate in more of the many weekly activities available on various forums, and this is my first step in that direction.

2009-12-27T20:01:00.000-08:00

Here's a quickie I did as my brothers watched. We had to look up some gross pictures of rotting meat to get it just right. Gotta love Google image search (thank goodness for SafeSearch).

The newest member of the Round Up Gang

2009-12-16T15:19:00.001-08:00

I was given an assignment to place a character from an old movie into a screenshot of a newer movie. My son has watched Toy Story 2 dozens of times in the last few months, and I've been watching just about as many Clint Eastwood westerns. So I made the Man with No Name ("Blondie" in The Good the Bad and the Ugly) one of the members of Woody's Round Up Gang.

Coupla Paintings

2009-11-20T00:20:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of digital paintings I did today. The first is from a 4 hour life painting session in class. I'd like to go back and figure out something for the background to make it more interesting.

This second painting is the result of about 20 minutes of experimenting with a method of "finding" an image in an assortment of random found images. I like the mood of the piece, and I'm afraid to do anything more to it, lest I ruin what it has going for it. I'll probably go back and add some more, but here it is for now.

Film Study

2009-11-11T01:22:00.001-08:00

I'm kind of a latecomer to Westerns, but I've spent the last year finding and buying every Western featuring Clint Eastwood that I can find. They invented the term "tough as nails" for that guy.

Here's a study I did from one of his movies. Bonus points go to whoever can name the specific film that features this shot.

Santa Ana Airport Sketch

2009-08-25T21:55:00.000-07:00

Here he comes, here comes John Wayne. I'm not gonna cry about my pa. I'm gonna build an airport, put my name on it.

Kitbash, Part II

2009-08-01T01:07:00.000-07:00

I've managed to do a little more work on my kitbash project this week, and I want to make an effort to show my progress. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of the build, but I'll try to update the further ideation steps as I go. I've never done this before, and I think showing the process can be useful in finding what does and doesn't work. What better way to motivate oneself than falling flat on one's face for all to see?

So, this week, I took a straight-on side view photo and used the path tool in Photoshop to create a line drawing. I really like the orthographic line drawings you find in books about airplanes, and I wanted to recreate that kind of drawing here. After doing the line drawing, I experimented with various color combinations.

In my head, this is a scout/recon vehicle designed for navigating moderate terrain. It doesn't travel very far, but it can travel rather quickly. It has one large gun, used primarily for self defense, as it is not an attack vehicle. After trying several color combinations, I realized that a type of camouflage would probably suit it best. From a design perspective, camouflage is not necessarily the best coloring, as it masks the contours and shapes of the design. However, that masking would perfectly suit a vehicle with this purpose, so I think I may take it in that direction. Perhaps the camouflage reacts to its environment, like a chameleon, so it can be used in various types of locations. I will probably experiment with it a little more, but here's what I've got so far.

Please share your opinions and suggestions! Which color schemes do you think are working, and which ones should we never speak of again?

Kitbash, Part I

2009-07-21T23:12:00.000-07:00

So this last week, I decided to do a little design experiment. Well, it was an experiment for me, as I'd never done it before and was not quite sure how it would work out. For those of you unfamiliar with the term "kitbashing", it refers to the activity of taking parts from various model kits and combining them into something new and original.

So I got an Apache helicopter kit, a jetfighter kit, and a couple of Gundam kits, and put 'em together. Then I painted the whole thing with matte gray primer to unify the whole thing, as many of the different pieces from different model kits were a wide range of colors.

Below are photos of the finished model, and I'm pretty pleased with it. Next, I'm going to take photos of the model in specific lighting scenarios and do some digital paintovers to experiment with paint schemes, weathering, environment, etc...

It's nice to work on some personal stuff amidst the professional work, but often hard to find the time. I really want to finish this project, though, so stay tuned for Part II, coming soon...

Walker Concept Indoors

2009-03-03T20:59:00.000-08:00

Our assignment this week was to practice rendering an object with an indoor studio lighting setup. For consistency's sake I decided to use the same vehicle as last week's.

Walker Concept

2009-02-25T13:30:00.000-08:00

This is another rendering exercise. I tried to get more into it and really develop something I'd really want to work on.

A couple of new things

2009-02-17T11:33:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've posted some stuff, so I figured I'd put up some work in progress.

This first one is a concept for a gun that I'm doing for my Gears of War 3 project in my Props and Vehicles class. It still needs some tweaking, but I like where it's headed.

This is an exercise in rendering chrome and different reflective surfaces. I extended a photo that my wife and I took in Moab, Utah, and painted in the rocket ship. It was a time-consuming but kind of fun exercise.

Armored Transport Concept

2009-01-16T21:22:00.000-08:00

It's been forever since I've posted on here, so I figured I'd throw up a piece I did this week. Hmm... I could probably phrase that better... I figured I'd post a piece I did this week. Yeah, that's a little better.

I don't often do wheeled vehicles, so I decided to make myself do one to satisfy an open-ended assignment in my Vehicle and Prop Design class (the assignment was to design a vehicle of any kind). There are still some ideas I'd like to see on this, so I'll probably do little bits here and there as I find the time.

VisComm 3 Homeworks

2008-11-17T00:30:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted for a while, so I figured I'd show some of my recent homework assignments. These are all for my VisComm 3 class. The first is a painting done over a photograph of a foamcore model (which I just realized is probably still taking up space in the shared laundry room... oops, I'll have to take care of that tomorrow...). None of the model shows, but it was the starting point for perspective and shadow reference.

These are thumbnails done for the image that follows. Some weren't too great, and I really liked a few of them. I might come back and revisit some of my favorites.

This was based on the winning thumbnail. I tried to go for the iridescence of a beetle, and I think it turned out pretty well for my first attempt to do so. It was an interesting process.

You've got a mis-shaped head

2008-10-29T14:44:00.000-07:00

Just a quick doodle to flush the homework out of my system. Midterms are gathering like buzzards, so I've gotta do something short-term and fun once in a while.

Quick Portrait Fun

2008-10-18T03:24:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick little portrait I sketched tonight to relieve the pressure of homework. It's nice to have super short-term projects like this to remind myself that drawing can be fun. I did this one in about 15 minutes, and it is in no way related to any of my school or work projects.

Israel Hands: Pirate, at your service

2008-10-14T00:26:00.000-07:00

This is a character design for my Visual Development class right now. We are developing Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Israel Hands is one of the nastier conspirators and mutineers who take over once they land on Treasure Island.

Derelict Spacecraft: Exterior

2008-10-03T20:41:00.001-07:00

So, here's an exterior view of the derelict spacecraft for which I've recently been designing the interiors. To be more accurate, this is the spacecraft before it has been left derelict and is portrayed in full working order. I've got to weather and damage it a bit before it reads as derelict, but it's a start.

Derelict Spacecraft Interior- Sleeping Berth

2008-09-06T22:10:00.000-07:00

This is another room in the derelict craft whose interior I started exploring this week. Classes begin next week, so I've been trying to cram in all the personal pieces I can before homework takes over.

Space Craft Interior

2008-09-03T22:18:00.000-07:00

This is an interior environment I did for an Epic Tuesday Studios project.

Lava Monster

2008-08-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

Our speedpainting in Working Title this week was "Lava Monster." I did most of it within the 1 hour limit, though I took an extra 15 minutes afterwards for finishing touches.

Spacemen and Monsters

2008-07-26T09:49:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted for a while, so I thought I'd put up some sketches I've done recently for a couple of unrelated personal projects. I've still got to paint the monsters, but other jobs have taken up a lot of my time recently. Hopefully I'll be able to put up some of that stuff soon, too.

Colorado Bridge

2008-06-06T22:23:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of sketches I did a little over a month ago at the Colorado Street Bridge with Aaron. I've just gotten around to scanning a big stack of images, so I figured I'd post these up.

Creature Design

2008-06-05T00:34:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a collaborative project with some friends, developing a science fiction short story as if it were to be a live action film. This is one of my sketches for a creature that sucks the flesh off of its living victims. I gave it a venom sac behind the jaws. When it attacks, it sprays the flesh-melting venom on its victim, enabling it to suck off its liquified flesh. Yum!

Serious Play Conference

2008-05-09T20:32:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity over the last couple days to attend Art Center's bi-annual design conference, this year entitled "Serious Play." Sometimes it's nice to benefit from where my tuition money goes, but that's a discussion for another post... Anyway, I was helping out with the documentation efforts, and decided to do a couple of sketches of my own. The first one was from my point of view on the far left side of the conference hall, the stage to my left.

The sketch below is from Michael Curry's presentation. He is the one who developed the puppetry for the Broadway production of The Lion King and other shows. He talked about how puppeteers auditioning for his shows must be able to convey personality and emotion through a simple mask held in the hand. I liked the imagery of that, and here is my representation of it.

Welcome to the Gun Show

2008-05-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry, ladies, not those guns...

Here are some sketches I've done over the break, practicing the sketching techniques I learned in Dynamic Sketching. It's pretty fun.

More Dynamic Sketching- Planes

2008-04-22T07:40:00.001-07:00

These are some compiled pages from my final Dynamic Sketching sketchbook. If you hadn't guessed, we did planes that week.

Beowulf and Grendel Finals

2008-04-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

Our second project for Character Design 1 was to redesign key characters from the story of Beowulf. We were supposed to base the designs on a particular historical culture, while modifying the motifs a little bit. I chose to base mine on the ancient Celts and worked that culture's ornamentation and design motifs into Beowulf's costume. I'm not sure if the resolution will be high enough to see, but the band across Beowulf's chest depicts various creatures and monsters he has defeated, among which is a Teletubby...

Tank Studies

2008-04-01T12:43:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, our Dynamic Sketching class went to the Military Vehicle Museum in El Monte, CA. I had no idea something so cool was so close. Greg, the proprieter of the musem, does all sorts of military vehicle work for films, both as a driver and as a consultant, and many items in his collection have appeared in major motion pictures. We got to walk around the collection, taking photos and sketching. He even let us crawl around inside an M60 tank. It was pretty sweet. Here are some sketches I did on site, from photos, and from a book on tanks that I picked up at Borders a while back.

As is often the case, part of our Dynamic Sketching assignment was to do redesigns of what we had drawn from observation. I explored several designs that could be built over a 1940's farming tractor. The premise is that US munitions factories have been destroyed by invading Nazis, and the army is forced to fit anything and everything with armor to defend American soil from the invasion.

Speedpainting

2008-03-28T00:06:00.000-07:00

I did this in about 15 minutes, mostly with the line tool in Photoshop. I added the atmospheric snow and some detail in the foreground with a brush. I've been studying tanks this week and wanted to get an image out of my head so I can get on with my homework. This one might be kinda fun to explore a bit more in depth someday.

Weekly Creature #002

2008-03-23T22:01:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter! At some point I'll probably flesh this out a bit (yeah, right...), but I have other things to get to this evening.

Transform and Roll Out!

2008-03-18T15:30:00.000-07:00

For those with whom I am not in regular contact, just thought I'd throw up an image of the work that's been consuming most of my time lately... Weston James Anderson is 3 weeks old today and looks to be a WIP for years to come.

So far, being a Dad seems a lot like being a POW in a foreign war... I am constantly awakened just as I fall asleep; I need to be alert and on my toes at all times; strange substances are always flung at me, making sure at least part of me is wet, damp, and uncomfortable at all times. But instead of relentless beatings, he is actually sweet some of the time, so I can't complain too much. Besides, if I've got the time to complain, I oughta just sleep instead...

Weekly Creature #001

2008-03-13T22:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've decided to do weekly themed drawings before (see the... um... 2 weekly robots I did... months ago...), but this time I really mean it! Well, by calling it "weekly," I feel like I'm at least making the commitment to do it regularly. Maybe you all can keep me on task and demand more creatures. Right now I'm not very good, but after a couple of months of weekly creatures, I should at least improve. Comments and crits welcome and encouraged!

As far as format, I kind of like the idea of doing them at a 3.5"x2" size, as that is a standard size for business cards. It might be kind of fun to print them off on business card sheets and trade 'em with friends. If anyone else is interested, let me know. We could trade them physically or just download 'em from each other's blogs and print 'em off ourselves. And why not throw vehicles/robotics/whatevers in there with it? Yeah, this could be kinda fun. Anyway, here's week #1:

Natural History Museum Sketches

2008-02-18T23:25:00.000-08:00

We went to the Natural History Museum the other day and sketched some animals who were kind enough to stand very still for us for extended periods of time. Unfortunately, there are significant portions of the museum that are closed for renovation, but there is still enough to keep one busy for a while if pausing to sketch. They have a great collection of birds, and they wound up being some of my favorite animals to draw. They have such beautiful shapes and are quite stunning simply as objects of design.

Best. Homework. Ever.

2008-02-15T21:29:00.000-08:00

Homework can be a real drag, especially when it piles up the way it tends to at Art Center. But once in a while, you get an assignment where the instructor tells you to do pages of sketches of dinosaurs. Technically, the assignment was to draw dinosaurs and other animals, but he had me at "dinosuar."

The first image here is a compilation of several pages of quick, 1-2 minute thumbnail sketches:
We were then asked to pick one animal that we briefly studied and do a couple pages of research sketches. I chose the T-Rex because... well, it's the T-Rex. As part of my T-Rex research, I also studied eyes and scale patterns of modern lizards to help envision what the T-Rex may have looked like:
I then drew the T-Rex from my imagination, referring to my studies: After I finished this assignment, I found this awesome article, closely related to this assignment. Two new dinosaurs! Pretty cool...

LA Arboretum Sketches

2008-02-07T19:57:00.000-08:00

These are some observational sketches from the LA Arboretum. We went with the assignment to observe and document plants and animals from nature and then to redesign our own organisms based on our research. I was amazed by how strange and bizarre actual flora and fauna can be. Not so much the goose, but there are some weird plants out there.

For our redesign, we were assigned the topic of "A Children's Fantasy Garden." A lot of the plants we saw at the arboretum are kind of scary, with all sorts of spiky things protruding at eye level. So I just pushed that vague threat a little further into a more overt and even aggressive nature.

Sad Bald Guy

2008-01-27T21:28:00.001-08:00

He's sad 'cause he's bald...

Quick Charicature

2008-01-27T20:47:00.001-08:00

This started as a quick charicature study of ol' Clint, and then it kind of took on a life of its own, so I ran with it. Not quite Clint anymore, but still tough as nails.

Playing Catch-up, Episode II: Digital Landscape

2007-12-12T23:57:00.000-08:00

Once more, I'm posting a bunch of images from this term's Digital Landscape Painting class. If you haven't already guessed, the term is now over, so I have time to post my stuff, and I've got a bit saved up. I hope you enjoy...

Playing Catch-up, Episode I: Digital Life Painting

2007-12-12T23:50:00.001-08:00

Lately I haven't been taking the time to post regularly, so I've got a lot of stuff to put up. First off, here are some paintings I've done in my Digital Life Painting class, in no particular order, though you could safely construct the order under the assumption that I have been improving.

Illustration Friday: The Zoo

2007-12-12T23:48:00.000-08:00

This is actually the topic from a few weeks ago, but I got a little bit behind...

Illustration Friday: Scale

2007-11-15T18:06:00.001-08:00

This week's topic was really fun for me, as I've always been obsessed with things of great scale. The more I worked on this, the more I realized that I'd really like to do a very finished piece based on this painting. Because of that, I haven't finished all the details this piece demands, for I want to make sure that I devote the necessary time to doing it right. I envision the completed piece being much more overgrown and aged, but I plan on using this as a starting point.

S'more Speedpainting Ships

2007-11-10T23:18:00.001-08:00

These are some more crumpled-aluminum-foil-inspired spaceships. I managed to focus a little better today, so I got more done. Funny how that works, huh? Man, now I want s'mores...

Vehicle Speedpainting

2007-11-10T02:56:00.000-08:00

This is the end result of manipulating and painting over a scanned image of crumpled aluminum foil. It took about an hour spread over too many attention-deficient sittings.

Speedpainting

2007-11-08T17:27:00.001-08:00

Hey, this is just a quick little speedpainting I did this afternoon. Composition needs work, and there's not much detail, but that's what a speedpainting is, I reckon. I just needed to post something; it's been a while.

Illustration Friday: Trick or Treat

2007-10-30T21:30:00.001-07:00

Trick or treat? It all depends on your point of view...

Illustration Friday: Grow

2007-10-26T01:54:00.001-07:00

This is the last thing you'd want growing in your basement. One ate our cat once when I was little... Not really, but you could imagine...

More Landscapes

2007-10-23T22:22:00.000-07:00

Still struggling to lay down the basic colors and values before getting bogged down in details, these are a few digital landscape paintings I did today. The top two are from Oliveira Street in LA, just across from Union Station. The third is another one from the LA Arboretum.

LA Arboretum

2007-10-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

This is another line-tool painting I did of the LA Arboretum. I was going to say that I'm beginning to venture more into color, but then looking at this, I realized that there are basically two colors. Oh well, baby steps...

Illustration Friday: Extremes

2007-10-18T17:03:00.001-07:00

On the planet Reginald, the Klyntaan Egg Relay is the fastest growing extreme sport among a race of thrill-seekers. The event requires relay teams to compete with one another, each stealing the Klyntaan's eggs and passing them via relay as far as they can until the angry Klyntaan catches up to them. Scoring is determined by complex calculations, factoring in the distance traveled with the egg and-- as the Klyntaan always eventually catches up-- the number of team members who survive the event before being caught and devoured.

Forest Lawn Memorial Park

2007-10-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

This is a quick sketch I did of Glendale as seen from above, at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park. I'm experimenting with using the line tool in Photoshop to lay down basic shapes, mainly in order to prevent myself from getting bogged down in details too early. I'm pleased with the results so far, and certainly have room for improvement.

Illustration Friday: Open

2007-10-10T17:54:00.000-07:00

I'm excited for Halloween, so here's a quick painting of an open casket in an open grave.

Cobb Estate, October 7, 2007

2007-10-08T08:50:00.002-07:00

Here's another marker sketch I did from the same trail head yesterday, this time on toned paper. Again, I added the whites with gouache. My friend, Tim, and I found this nice peaceful spot for sketching and had just commented on how nice it was to get above the noisy city below when half a dozen riotous youth showed up with a boombox and the desire to party. In all fairness, they did offer us beers-- which we politely declined-- but it was still kinda lame that they chose the same shade that we did, when there were so many other spots. Tim pointed out in their defense, though, that we clearly chose their tree to set up our easels...

Cobb Estate Marker Sketch

2007-10-07T10:32:00.001-07:00

Jean (my wife) and I finally checked out a local trail head the other day, and I came more prepared for sketching than for hiking. We just kinda hung around the clearing at the bottom, and I sketched as she read. This sketch was done with Copic markers, and I added the highlights with white gouache later.

Still Life, October 4, 2007

2007-10-07T09:56:00.000-07:00

This is a still-life setup we painted in my Digital Life Painting class this week. My goal was to capture the effect of the light on the objects, and overall, I feel pleased with what success I had. Digital painting is really growing on me, and I'm finding it more and more fun to digitally draw and paint from life. This study was done using Photoshop CS2.

Carl's Final Stages and Completion!

2007-10-04T17:35:00.001-07:00

Here are Tak (red hair), Jacob (beard), and I (white shirt) working on the landscaping of Carl's base. We had to work outside, as the foam particles would have made a mess of the rug. We also used a highly toxic and stinky resin to coat and seal the foam base.

Here he is after we've finished the terrain-building and minor landscaping elements. Carl slept outside for a few days before the stink wore off (at the request/orders of my odor-sensitive pregnant wife).

Here was the first picture of the fog test. I bought a whole bunch of dry ice, found out that the base was waterproof and worked fine, then spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the leftover dry ice.

Here's the finished Carl with painted background and display! Keeping the dry ice going for the class presentation was a bit of a challenge, because the water to which one adds the dry ice should be warm but tends to cool and even freeze upon the addition of the dry ice. I had to keep sucking up the cold water with a syringe to add more warm water. Fortunately, Jacob and Tak helped out as Carl wranglers for the final presentation.

Illustration Friday: The Blues

2007-10-02T22:24:00.000-07:00

This family is known to their neighbors as the Blues, though their real last name is unpronounceable by the human tongue. They appear to be frowning, however to their race, a closed mouth is a display of contentment and good humor. Were they not to be posing for their portrait, their mouths would hang agape as they struggle to get what Nitrogen they can from Earth's inhospitable atmosphere.

Death Dealer Copy

2007-09-29T17:32:00.001-07:00

We had to do a Master Copy in my Digital Life Painting class, and I chose to copy Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer. This is one of my favorite paintings of his, and I thought it would be a good exercise in trying to simulate his brush strokes in a digital medium. I painted this in Corel Painter X, with some color correction in Adobe Photoshop CS2. It was my first attempt at Painter, and I feel like I learned a lot in the process. And what could be better to work on for 10 hours than a guy holding a bloody axe on a giant horse?

Juggle

2007-09-25T00:35:00.001-07:00

This week's Illustration Friday topic is "Juggle." After seeing a street performer juggle a couple of chainsaws, I wondered what it would be like were the roles reversed. A bit harder to stick the landing, I imagine...

Carl is Complete! Now he just needs a home...

2007-08-02T23:42:00.001-07:00

He is painted and ready for his diorama to be built! Unfortunately, all of the flashless pictures were too blurry, but the color is a little more accurate and quite a bit sharper with the flash anyway. The bones around him are going to be scattered around in the swampy moss and marshy area in which he'll be standing, just to give him a bit of scale. I didn't feel like sculpting an entire human to indicate Carl's relative size, so I'm throwing in a couple of human skulls for that purpose. And little human skulls are kind of fun to make. My wife, Jean, has named the owner (?) of one of the skulls and the forearm "Garth." The rest are from anonymous corpses lying about.
Tomorrow, I'm beginning the habitat with the help of some friends. This has turned out to be a really fun project, and I'm pretty pleased with the results so far. The more pleased I am with it, though, the more scared I get that I'm going to do something to screw it all up.

Almost Done...

2007-08-02T23:29:00.001-07:00

So, these pictures are actually from a couple of days ago, but I just realized that I hadn't posted them yet. Here, I have finished the sculpting and have spent several hours boiling, baking, and overall scorching various bones. It took a long time and many large pots of boiling water. Good times. On with the paint!

Carl's new Backbone

2007-07-18T21:18:00.001-07:00

This week, I added Carl's spinal column, ribcage, and humeri (upper arms). He's really moving along. It just brings a tear to my eye when I see how fast he's growing up... >sniff!< My big guy...

Carl gets Bone Pants!

2007-07-12T16:41:00.001-07:00

This week, we were to sculpt a pelvis, pair of femurs, tibias, fibulas, and feet for our Imaginatomy creatures. The pelvis is an incredibly difficult bone to sculpt, especially when it is so different from a human pelvis. All the bones and landmarks are the same, but their arrangement is fundamentally different in quadrupeds. Carl's pelvis is based on that of a rhino, who has a rather vertical pelvis. It's a fun challenge. Because he is inspired partly by the elephant and the rhino, he actually walks on the tips of his toes. Elephants and rhinos (and other ungugrades, or toe-walkers) have a fatty cushion under the arch of their feet, and only the tips of their toes reach the ground.

But, anyway, it looks like he has pants on, and my wife referred to them as "bone pants," so the name stuck. I think he may get a bone shirt next week.

Carl, part 2

2007-07-08T20:56:00.001-07:00

Here's the final wire armature for Carl's skeleton. The white foamcore base is a bit overexposed, but photos with less exposure tended to lose the definition of the processes on the spine, so I went with this photo. The processes (or bony extensions on the spine) serve to hold up the heavy head and tail, as muscles attach and support the weight, similar to cables on a suspension bridge. Because Carl is so large (in scale, of course), he has proportionately oversized spinal processes. Isn't anatomy fun?

Meet Stanley and Carl!

2007-07-07T15:44:00.000-07:00

Here is Stanley Skeleton, my sculpture of the skeleton of a human man, named for alliteration. This was done for an anatomy class I'm in right now called Imaginatomy. The class was invented and is taught by Rey Bustos, and is a lot of fun.

We start the term learning human anatomy and sculpting the human skeleton. Stanley's left (our right) will remain just bones, but his right side (our left) is sculpted to support muscles, once I get time to put them on.

Here is the wire armature for Stanley's pet Xiphodont, Carl. Carl is my Imaginatomy project, a fictional creature created from the inside out. We had to design an animal, then figure out what its skeleton would be. Again, half will remain skeletal and the other half will be sculpted to accept muscles, time permitting. Eventually, a diorama will be constructed around Carl and will display his adaptive traits and such. I regret not having posted my progress of Stanley, so I will post the various steps of Carl's evolution from wire to skeleton. The wire armature as it appears here is still a work in progress, but I'll post pictures of the finished armature once it's done.

Here is the skeleton design for Carl. It is a combination of rhinoceros, elephant, cow, bear, and sabre-toothed tiger anatomy. I don't have an indication of scale in this drawing, but a full-grown man would be able to stand comfortably beneath Carl's head. Well, as comfortably as you could with those giant tusks...

Sketches from Rome

2007-05-14T22:52:00.000-07:00

We just got back from our trip to London, Paris, and Rome, and it was fantastic! I was able to sketch from some of my favorite sculptures in Rome, and here they are (the sketches, that is...). The first one is from the Fountain of Neptune at Piazza Navona; the second is from the fountain in Piazza Barberini; the third is the central figure in the Trevi Fountain; and the last is my absolute favorite sculpture in the whole world, Bernini's David. It was such a thrill not only to be able to see Bernini's magnificent sculptures in the Galeria Borghese, but to be able to sketch in person my all-time favorite work of art was a dream come true! It was an enlightening experience for both me and my wife, and one we will never forget. We'll try to get some pictures of our trip up on a blog of our own soon.

Illustration Friday: Red

2007-02-01T00:49:00.000-08:00

This week's topic on Illustration Friday is "Red." In trying to figure out what to draw for such a topic I got the idea to do a sci-fi/fantasy redesign of the classic tale of Little Red Riding Hood. This is just a quick marker sketch, colored in photoshop, of Red herself.

It still needs work, but my main intent with this sketch was to establish a precedent for my participation in Illustration Friday-- something I've been meaning to do for some time now.

I think I'll continue the Red Riding Hood redesign as a personal project to flesh out my character and environment design skills. I've got some cool ideas for what exactly she rides that makes her need her famous hood...

Right after the Robot Wash...

2007-01-31T00:05:00.000-08:00

Finally, a little over a week later, I've got the second robot up! In truth, I've had the drawing done for several days now, but my hard drive crashed, and I was delayed a few days in scanning and coloring this fellow.

Anyway, this drawing shows that sometimes the same things that plague us humans also affect robots. It never fails that when you get your car washed it either rains or a big ol' bird decides to do some "custom detailing" by leaving a giant poop on your windshield. This bird's scoping out a prime spot to leave his mark.

Robots are awesome

2007-01-18T01:52:00.000-08:00

My sister told me that when she has a baby and it's a boy, she wants me to design a robot theme for his room. Well, she and her husband just found out that their first little bundle of joy on the way is a boy, so I've gotta start brainstorming some robot ideas.

My second term at Art Center also just started, and I have the feeling that it's going to be replete with abstract and non-representational assignments. I'm going to need to do some more personal sketching, so maybe I'll do, like, a weekly robot or something. That could be fun.

Farmer Joe

2006-04-19T01:48:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick sketch to get me started. I did it during a particularly boring discussion in my final English class at BYU. I colored it in Photoshop just to give it some life. No real inspiration that I can think of; Farmer Joe just kind of appeared on the back of a handout.

My First Foray into Blogdom

2006-04-17T22:28:00.000-07:00

This is my first time doing a blog, and I'm not really sure what I'm going to post on here. I'll most likely use it to show off some of my art work, and I'll most likely wind up including the occasional rant. I'm about to write the (hopefully) last paper on literature of my college career (finishing up my BA in English this month, and abandoning "academia" in favor of the visual arts), so I need something to keep up my typing and composition skills. What better way to do so than a blog that probably no one will read? I hope get some artwork up on here soon. See you all soon!