Between Then and Now...

I realize it's only been a week and a half since my last final. I've drawn just a little bit, on account of being sick, but some nights I couldn't sleep, so I doodled. I'm finally getting to draw what I want to, which seems to be all pretty women...and horses, of course :-). My mother once said, "you draw ugly women," and I've been trying to remedy that since its utterance. It would seem that I am finally able to to draw a reasonably pretty female...it's a strange feeling of accomplishment! Of course the possibilities are endless...I suppose you can expect many more in the future...

I've been on this wintry kick as of late, with the "ice queen" theme. It's all Christmassy and cold and stuff...so, heavily draped women, women with fur collars, women with big coats. A lot of middle eastern influence has been finding its way in there too, which is probably as much to do with my last art history class (Florentine Art, 15th century) as the arabic influence on our

Christmas traditions and decorations. It's

something I could explore more...

I went to see "Apocalypto." IT WAS TERRIBLE! Do NOT go see that movie! Oh, it was awful, for sure! However, despite the film mashing two distinct civilizations together, and forgetting to include a plot, there was a lot of visual interest...another vizdever's "wet dream" (like that unfortunate Pirates 2). So I gulped in whatever I could see that was not covered in blood, and doodled when I got home...this drawing, then, is

solely from whatever inspiration I could gleen from that atrocity, and has just about nothing to do with what I learned about the Maya (or Aztec, for that matter) this semester. Sad...but I like the drawing.

So doodles for you...a week and a half's worth of scribbles. I plan to draw a lot during January, so I will hopefully have stuff to post often :-). Until then...or until I get back to a computer to post new

bits...--L

Some Many Different Things...

This entry is going to have a couple different things...art from projects and art from my canopic jars, in which I keep my emotions. The first, the project stuff, has taken itself in some very odd directions. I couldn't think of anything new to do, with the buffalo, so I went to look at pretty books at the Biblioteca, and I stumbled onto Winsor McCay. I have just begun to step into that capacity, so what you see with the women are drawings I did before looking at McCay, and the buffalo are after.

These other drawings are personal stuffs. Eripuuu does this often on her blog, and I find it to be an insight into her that I think people don't have into me. I think it's important that we commerical artists let our own selves leak out every once in awhile. For purely a description of subject matter, the first is a portrayal of the Greek myth of the birth of Pegasus, from the decapitated body of the Gorgon; the second and third are an Ice Queen, someone with which I seem to have a lot in common with these days. --L

Dance, Dance!

I predict it will be hard to be stressed out about final projects when said project is a bunch of dancing buffalo. I got some spiffy feedback from Bill Perkins today, mostly about color, which I really needed to hear and enjoyed hearing about. I have tried not to get too serious with my artwork for this project since it's, well, not a serious story at all. Therefore I've kept it light, sketchy...slightly more in the children's book illustration vein. Here are a couple things from today. I couldn't help but compile a character sheet for "Boris" (named by Josha). The other, a little color painting based on some Perkins pointers :-). Enjoy! --L

In Case of Dancing Buffalo....

I've been very lazy about drawing stuff for the "new" BFA project (that is, the project that was assigned, oh, almost 2 weeks ago now), there being Thanksgiving to contend with and all, but I finally go down to it today, and here are some little color sketches. The group of stories is from a collection called "Cruel Shoes," by Steve Martin. There were some very odd ones, very funny ones, some detailed, others not so much. I know a lot of people are doing "Serious Dogs," but I've decided to do "The Day the Buffalo Danced." Should be interesting :-)...

More "Stella" Stuffs

Hooray! Stage design! Ice skating! And a boat-woman-thing!

And special thanks to awesome people leaving me great comments :-)

"Stella"

Hi! I haven't posted in awhile, but I have lots of cool stuff to put up now and in the near future. I am currently working on another Barry Yourgrou prose poem called "Journey." This time we were to base our drawings on the work of some many artists on a list given to us. I was very pleased to see Erte on that list, and have since developed this character, who I call "Stella." I have so many ideas for this story that I'm afraid I won't have time to get them all out before Friday. I do want to work on this little film more, perhaps over Winter Break, so you can expect to see more stuff up then as well. For now, here's some color work for "Stella," inspired by the designs of Erte. --L

Some Characters, Yeah!

Here are two of the three characters I did for a Barry Yourgrou prose poem called "Natural Law." You can tell which is the good guy and which the bad (I hope!). The other character is a boar with a trucker's hat and massive sideburns. The cat's name is Adelaide, and the hyena is Silas. I'm not very good at character--visdev is my cup'o'tea--but I decided to try it on this one-weeker for BFA. I like them, though I think they're entirely too complex (and therefore expensive!) for TV. Oh well...I'm going back to layout!!! --L

Flight Wrap, Let's Hope

So tomorrow I go to print with my little book for the new scene of "Flight." Good. I'm done. I guess it feels kindof good--I might rejoice more if I did not have a midterm on Thursday, Maya assignments all weekend, and two costumes to somehow complete by Friday. Ergh. Ah, but who cares about my life!...this is ART!

So I finally finished "Cold Morning" (I have terrible names, I know...they're just my descriptive filenames that then somehow turn into titles), which you see below. I swiped some color on those empty areas and threw a filter on it. I know that's kindof taboo, but all those lines were really just mucking the thing up, and overall I did not dislike the piece, it just needed to be simplified. So simplify I did, at the click of a button :-)

The other is my favorite piece from the whole project. I have terrible eye-level-horizon-line syndrome, so I wanted to try'n break out of that by doing a composition with the figures way way way at the top (even one of them cut off)...this would be even more dramatic if it were in a vertical format, but I wanted to stick to the widescreen constraints of the projects, even though I can kindof do whatever I want as a visdev artist. I like it just fine how it is, though, and I think the color came out very nice (quality is so bad on the internet! it's so much cooler than this, for real!). I looked a lot at Craig Mullin's "Sedone--Irish Knight" painting for the color and atmosphere. It was a big help in this project, as Craig is a big inspiration in everything I do :-). So without further adieu.... --L

A Day's Worth...

More doodles for you. Some of these are for "Flight," (yes, still), and some are just little doodles I scratched in my sketchbook throughout this day. I have never done a successful caricature of a teacher...or anyone for that matter...so I'm quite happy that I have finally acheived that. This is my art history professor...she's really a nice lady, and a good prof, but I think she knows I'm not paying attention to her, and drawing instead. Oh, and for Eripuuu, a pink girl :-) Teehee! Is that all I'm posting?...guess so... --L

"Black Beauty" Final

Here's the final of the black horse in harness. I like it just fine :-). Huzzah! :-)

"Black Beauty" Work in Progress

I'm trying to put together some more finished pieces of artwork for my portfolio, based on some of the development sketches I have. That is, I have a whole bunch of good drawings of horses in harness (or carmel mission, people on donkeys, etc.), but no finished drawings to make it all portfolio-worthy. This, in combination with what Bunny said about there not being enough color work in SJSU portfolios, has spurred me to develop some "display pieces." I do a lot of color character work in Photoshop, and have pretty good success with it, but none of those characters are appropriate for portfolio (read: I don't think Pixar wants to see nude fairies or cat-women), so I've taken the same process I use for those drawings, and have applied it to my "display pieces." The first is what you see here, a WIP for a horse in harness, to supplement my, well, supplemental drawings. I think he's going fairly well. I have a lot of work to do on the harness, of course, but then I'm kindof liking the line and solid hue look--kindof "Triplets of Bellville"-ish. I've also seen artists (noteably Wendling) use a gradiant as the fill color, which gives it that nice flat look, with a bit more interest. I may just render it out, too...I'm afraid of having a totally volumetric horse and just that flat harness. I'll likely finish this drawing soon, so I'll post it in its final form then :-). --L

Oodles of Doodles, Part Deux

I have a whole mess of drawings to show you. I got super-inspired by the events of last week, one of which was going to Pixar and talking with very encouraging people, as well as seeing the amazing art all over the walls. Seeing that mecca just makes me want to work harder to get there...we've touched paradise, and now we just need to find a way in there.

Anyway, so I went down to Carmel today to do some studies of the mission, and also try to get a handle on what it looked like before its renovation in the 1930s. I was there for about 4 hours, maybe more, and got a whole passle of drawings...I've selected the best ones to show you here, so do enjoy :-).
Also, here's some other development work from the "Flight" scene my group is working on. I delved into horse harnesses (I'll post those later), and also sketched how the mother might look on her wee donkey, with her skirts flowing almost to the ground. More "Flight" stuff--you're going to be sick of it soon!

Some other doodles for you...and "real" doodles...some unicorn designs that vary from the norm. I'd like to explore this more, so maybe there'll be more drawings up in the future.

I'm putting together an updated portfolio. The whole idea behind the portfolios was to be able to just go in an replace drawings, but I'm ending up replacing entire pages. This is a good thing, but a lot of work...hopefully it'll pay off in, like, an internship :-)

Still 'Flying'...

The new project in BFA is a group go at a new scene for "Flight." Our group is working on the scene of Pepe's father's funeral (and I think also when Pepe finds the body). This gives us lots of opportunity for good VisDev, but it also requires mucho research to get all the ceremonial tidbits correct. This sketch is a straight-out-of-the-head initial reaction/initial mind's eye image. I was going for atmosphere. --L

Another Portrait.

Playing more with brushes. She is not so mesmerizing to me as the other. I am not quite so scared of her. I altered the brightness and contrast for this more extreme look...it was very pastel and gray before, which I did not dislike, but it did not quite fit the mood I was going for. --L

Brushes!

I learned how to make my own brushes in Photoshop, huzzah! I don't have that texture problem anymore :-). I did this doodle just to play with them. Oh the joy! :-)

(I don't expect you'll be able to see all the lovely textureyness of this, since the upload is not very high quality. But you and I both know it's there!)

A Kitty

I've been doing a lot of cartoons in Photoshop...it's so fast and clean and easy, and I like sending them off in e-mails to certain people :-). I was inspired by Eripuuu, who draws wonderful little animal characters, so I decided to try it myself. So I give to you, a "slightly sexy kitty." --L

Another "Flight" Panel

I was assigned to illustrate two of the five panels for our group pitch for "Flight." I am using the appropriately titled "Shot Horse" (see below) for one, and this new one posted here. I did not do this panel in color--aw! :-(-- because we decided to stick to black and white, as a group, in order to tie all our pieces together. I didn't mind doing it in black and white--it'll be a good base to work over in color later. I have to say I am loving this project (does it show?).

I'm also posting some ideations--you can see the original sketch for this painting, ans some thumbnails that correspond to the color sketches in previous entries. I always like seeing the process of things, so I thought I'd include it for you :-). --L

More "Flight" Color Keys

Here are some more little color keys I've done for "Flight." I'm admittedly having a tough time with them...the color, that is. As usual when I paint in Photoshop, what is in my head is not what appears on screen. I think there's something to it much like jazz improv...you just have to feel it, and let it do what it's going to do--there are no bad notes, just notes that lead to other notes. Hrm. Anyway, I'm kindof happy with some of these keys (I'm not putting up the ones I'm not happy with!). Erin has some great color sketches up, and they've helped me a bit. Oh, and the quality of these is so poor when uploaded, so do realize they're not so blurry! My apologies for that. So...more sketches para tu :-) --L

"Flight" Preliminary Sketches

Hey all. As "Heart of Darkness" wrapped last week, our new project for BFA is a Steinbeck story called "Flight." Erin and I already headed down the coast to Monterey, where the story takes place, and wandered around Hwy 1, between Carmel and Big Sur, and got a great feel for the setting. These two "thumbnails" are more based on what I saw in my head as I was reading the story, than what I saw down Hwy 1. I wanted to get the color and mood down before I further inform my drawings with the reference we gathered on Saturday. So here are couple RAW sketches, for "Flight."

Heart of Darkness Wrap

Here is my final piece for "Heart of Darkness." I went a little nuts, and frankly I like--no, LOVE--the result. I took what I learned from the Sheeler assignment and either adapted it to me, or I adapted to it. I had a good time with this piece...I was out drawing "jungle plants" and then scanning them in and cutting out all the negative shapes. I did the same for the skulls. I think it has been a fine exercise in sillhouette, if nothing else. But I also just like the piece...it's crazy, and that's exactly what I was going for. I've never worked in this style before...never done anything at all like it, in fact, and I feel both nervous about turning it in, and also proud that I was able to venture down a completely different avenue, and like it so much. Do enjoy! :-) --L

I'll Try The Sheeler, Please...

Here's one of the three drawings I did while trying to "think" like Charles Sheeler. Initially, I did not like this artist, but the more I studied him, the more appreciation I developed. I won't go into a big long thing about him, but here's a drawing a la Sheeler. This is how I thought he would approach the steamboat for "Heart of Darkness:" by drawing not the boat, but the engine. We'll see how it flies in BFA :-).