First Post of 2007/ Happy New Years to All!

Well the new year is here and for once I have a good feeling about this one. I had a great time in New York celebrating with some of my best friends and fellow artist. Man that city can really wear you out! This post consist of sketchebook drawings of the random kind. I have started to really get into animation and it's history recently, therefore my drawings are transitioning into a more animated style. I learned this great technique from Saxton Moore for drawing and designing characters. The technique consists of drawing solid random shapes of all forms and sizes and then fitting a face into the shape. I think this technique allows for simpler and more pleasing design while staying away from your old habits, therefore a more original fresh look. I want to wish everyone the best for the coming year and please enjoy the work.

P.S. New and exciting stuff in the works so please check back soon.

SKETCH DUMP

So I pretty much sketch co-workers everyday, most of the time people that are unfortunate enough to be in a meeting with me. I tend to exaggerate WAY too much so please if you are the subject of a drawing here don't get insulted. I like finding shapes and having confident lines. I work with quite colourful characters so if the sketches have personality it is because of them not my drawings. Saxton Moore sits riht next to me and works with me in many projects so I find myself drawing him quite often. Check out his blog, www.sacks10.blogspot.com. I hope you guys enjoy these, I know I did.

P.s. just added a couple of sketches I intended of posting earlier, one is of good friend and co-worker Jim Groman. The other is of writer extraordinare Rick Rising. Hope u like, and Jim, please don't kill me.

Cinderella Painting

I'm back at oils again!! I am so happy to have been afforded the opportunity to paint in oils again. I got commissioned to paint my interpretation of cinderella. I wanted it to have a classical feel and felt inspired by J.W. Waterhouse. I learned many things about painting in oils in a short period of time. I had minor problems with paint not drying and preparing the piece for framing. Everything worked out in the end and the person it was for loved it so I feel like I accomplished my goal. I will keep on track and start on a number of new pieces. Man digital does NOT compare to painting traditional. Hope u guys like it!

Darth Vader Redesign

INTERIOR: REBEL BLOCKADE RUNNER -- MAIN HALLWAY. The awesome, seven-foot-tall Dark Lord of the Sith makes his way into the blinding light of the main passageway. This is Darth Vader, right hand of the Emperor. His face is obscured by his flowing black robes and grotesque breath mask, which stands out next to the fascist white armored suits of the Imperial stormtroopers. Everyone instinctively backs away from the imposing warrior and a deathly quiet sweeps through the Rebel troops. Several of the Rebel troops break and run in a frenzied panic.

Me and a couple of co workers(Jim Groman and Jorge Lacera) thought it might be cool to redesign Darth Vader. It was fun to think of it as if he was never designed before and all we had to go by was the passage that first describes him in the script. I was hesitant at first because how could u hope to redesign something so cool and iconic but then i thought fuck it lets do it. It was more fun than i thought and i hope you guys like it.

HAIL TO THE FREAK!

So finally a traditional painting once more! This is the painting I spoke of in the last post. The show failed to go up because of some stupid shit but thats besides the point. Going back to acrylics wasn't really as hard as I thought it would be. It was a lot of fun and I kinda just went with this drawing without too much thought behind it. The show was supposed to be about freaks so it was an excuse to do a fun character. I didn't have much time to do it so it made me work fast and not overthink or over noodle shit. I am hoping to do quite a bit more in the immediate future. Till then enjoy this one and feel free to drop me a line.
P.S. This is the final custom vinyl toy I did for the Grumpy Freak Show held here at the American Greetings world headquaters. The show was awsome and it raised a lot of money for a good cause. Check out the blog from my links to see other great Grumpys.

VENOM!!!

We'll this one was lots of fun! He is just a fun character to explore and i like pushing things to make them my own. Another semi-quick painting in photoshop. I think once the texture was added the whole picture really pulled itself together. I hope you guys are enjoying these villains. I think for the next few posts i'm going to mix things up. I recently completed an acrylic painting for a busted show that failed to go up...oops...wasn't my fault. Now this painting resides at my workarea in AG. As always feedback is appreciated. Hope you like!

Watch OUT!!! It's the Penguin!!

Hello everyone. Again this is a quick painting done last night for fun and practice. Keeping up with my theme of villains this is my interpretation of the Penguin, Batman's classic villain. I thried playing with the composition a little more but since it was quick it doesn't really matter if its not the greatest composition. I had fun and i hope you guys like it. Feedback always much appreciated.

DOOM!!!

This is basically just a quick painting done in a couple of hours last night. Nothing too fancy but still fun. Hope you guys enjoy.

The Red Skull!

Well my first week at American Greetings is almost over. Finally getting a little settled and lookikng to get the ball rolling. I am planning on doing a series on villains as a self promotional tool and see what happens from there. Hope you guys enjoy this one. I had a lot of fun with it and it was a good get away when I got home. Leave one if you feel like it.

Cleveland Bound.

Three Red Bulls, seven hundred miles, two ciggys, multiple rice crispies threats, seventy dollars in gas, and one hotel room. My first day of two from this trip was pretty smooth. I was excited that the hotel had internet and since I got off the road around seven thirty, I actually got a little painting done. Totally different than anything I will do at American Greetings but I enjoy mixing things up. I already feel more creative being more north, and I must say that the people just get nicer and nicer the northern you get, or is that just me? I'm excited about living in Cleveland, (yeah Cleveland) especially because I will be a part of a very talented team of illustrators. I'm honored. Saxton Moore, Jorge Lacera, James Groman, Kelle Riley, amongs others are incredibly talented and creative. You don't believe me, just check out their blogs though my links. Mauricio I must say that I missed you and thought about you buddy, good luck in N.Y. Anyways I will definetly be updating this thing way more often with hopefully a lot better stuff than this painting, but hey, it's just a blog!

SENIOR THESIS!!

Catcher in the Rye

The Picture of Dorian Grey

Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde

Sleepy Hollow

Moby Dick
Ok. The time I've been waiting for for four years finally arrived! This Thursday was the opening of our senior illustration show. I must say it was a big success and a great showing of a variety of works. Now it's time to move on to the real world and put my skills to use. These paintings are all roughly 24x31 oils on masonite. I decided to do illustrations based on classical literature because I felt the subject was rich in imagery and substance. It was nice to paint so much and fairly big. It was also nice to have a consistent style and one that I enjoyed immensely. The process was long and tedious but seeing the final products up on the wall made all the hard work worth it. I would like to thank all my amazing peers here at school for providing infinite inspiration to me, you guys are truly amazing and I wish you the best from the bottom of my heart. To everyone else thank you for visiting my blog and I truly hope you enjoy these works! Please feel free to drop me a comment. Prints are definitely available for purchase. I DID IT!!!

Illustration Show!

Finally the Illustration Show is on Thrusday! Four years of schooling and it comes down to this. I have to say it's been quite a ride. If youre going to the show I hope you enjoy yourselves. See you guys there!!

New Sketchbook Marker Drawings!

Like I said in a previous post, I've been drawing in my sketchbook like a mad man. I don't know where this is all coming from or what's inspiring me do draw this much, especially in a time like this when i should probably be working on other stuff. I guess I just need a release from everything going on right now, like trying to find a job and getting thesis ready. This style is fun and it allows me to design as well as draw and I'm enjoying myself. Anyways I hope you guys like these and drop a line if you feel like it.

Double Dragon!

Hey this was a lot of fun!! I actually started with a more realistic and rendered drawing, but decided that sucked and that I needed to stylize the piece. I'm pretty happy with the results and I think the illustrator element really adds something to the design. Let me know what you guys think, feedback is always appreciated.

Pool Shark!

Ok, so I took a break from the portrait series but I still had fun with this one. Mucha was a big inspiration for the type of woman I chose. This is pretty simple but I liked the drawing so I wanted to keep it as much as possible. Check out the story behind this piece at Blogarians, it's a heart breaker. Anyways, I hope you guys like it and feel free to drop me a line.

Ok so heres a version without the diagram. I also darkened the background and added a pattern. Let me know what you guys think. I personally will probably still go for the one with the diagram, but thats just me.

Recent Sketchbook Work!

I recently got a new sketchbook and I've been burning through the pages. I figured I'd post just a few pages right now and then some more later. Let me know what you guys think, hope you like!

Arabian Thief Concept

Now this is the worst of the worst!! The kind of guy that would buy you a beer and then stick you witht the tab...you know... THAT kind of scum!! Don't let this guy around your sister, ever. Someone you do not want to be associated with.

-Anyways this guy was fun to come up with, Hope you guys like! More to come soon...

Employee of the Month

I'm learning something new everytime I do one of these portrait illustrations. I pushed this one a little bit more than the others and hopefully that will continue as I keep on doing these. I would love to hear what you guys think about this direction and any comments or critisisms you might have.

-Also my good friend and amazing artist Clayton Stillwell just got his blog, so make sure to check him out in my links if you like incredible drawings and paintings!

Back to the basics...

I haven't drawn the figure in a long time. I love painting but it was nice to go back and draw again to gain new perspective. This drawing was about 45 min. to an hour. I'm going to miss drawing from the model once school is done with. Hopefully wherever I go I can find a place to keep on practicing good ol' observational drawing from a live model. Hope you like!

Circus Freak: "The Real Four Eyes"

Im liking this frame element. I feel that it gives the piece instant history. It also allows me to experiment with photoshop and really explore the possibilities. If you want to read a brief story of this character then check out the piece at the Blogarians.

Portfolio Time!

Illustration on the play Romeo and Juliet.

Illustration based on the play Phantom of the Opera.

Piece based on a great great book about the magical world of a child's mind.

I especially enjoy this piece. Old school illustrators used to do illustrations of the seasons all the time so I figured I would do my rendition of spring.

self-portrait in my weird odd kind of way.

Based on an article about a twisted act of revenge.

Based on an article on optimism.
So I finally decided to break down and put part of my portfolio on the blog. I guess my website will take a while so why not have some work up for people to see. I enjoy painting in oils tremendously and I got a feeling that after Im done with school I won't get a chance to paint as much! The industry has moved to the digital era and thats fine with me but respect your ROOTS, you know what I mean! Feel free to drop me a line, your opinion is valuable to me and hopefully you enjoy what you see!

Memory...

Growing up, especially going to different countries I remember always feeling different and like I didn't fit in. This piece exprecess how I felt. I had fun and I like experimenting with textures and frame elements. Let me know what you guys think.