rockandrollicecaveman!

flying

the gravedigger

I was thinking today of the world of the future. Because of the rarity of air and the effects of global warming, people would be shielded from the extremes of temperature, or otherwise wear thermostat-type suits that would self adjust temperatures (which would be great because you'd also be less likely to catch a cold). I was thinking of how overpopulated our cemeteries were, and that our present day cemeteries would probably exist in the air or some far off place (maybe even a planet...a dumping ground of a planet..maybe Earth itself). I was thinking of a vehicle that would transport bodies to and from this place...transportation to the 'dumping ground', which I thought would be named 'Gravedigger'. They could have serial numbers or codes that would indicate location to and from (like our present day airplanes). Anyways, this is my impression of one. :)

****

Sometimes a piece can take on a different meaning. Today, after I did this piece, I received news that my grandfather (the only one I knew growing up) had passed away. He was 88, and had just lived through his birthday in the hospital, recovering from a stroke on the right side of his face. My dad had just been with him, reteaching him how to walk, helping him to recover fully. We received news around 2pm today that he had experienced another stroke, and only 25 minutes later he passed away. I will forever miss him and I hope that he is in a better place. Love and miss you so much forever...

rhiiinoooo

orangeskybike

the pest

I was thinking about a wasp-inspired-robot-thing that would be a nuisance to the Earth. Was thinking about what it would look like. Animals tend to evolve based on their needs. Since the Earth in the future will probably be really polluted almost to the point that no one would want to live on it (go Wall-E) I was thinking it would probably not need eyes. Its body would probably have to be insulted well against atmospheric dust, etc. But it should be able to fly.

study of a sheepcow

Started out as a sheep...but then....dun dunnn!!!

space ship

For two people...because you should never fly alone! Hahaha.

study of a platy....

An animal like me! A little of this, a little of that :)

Elphonso :)

elephant skin: a study

Actually pretty challenging. It's a start. It's nice to see things come together a bit. Practise practise practise!

study of a lobster

Study of a lobster in black and white I was doing during lunchtime...

another...

spaceship

...

these are

So freaking hard to draw! Seriously, is there any other way besides drawing every single strand? The 'fur' brushes tend to be very hit or miss (although good for initial 'texture') because they are not long enough, or don't quite have the right feel. Weird. So if someone asks you to illustrate a book about porcupines, or do designs for a movie about porcupines....R-U-N!!!!!! Hahaha.

beaver!

If you haven't you should really check out their skeletons..their teeth and jaw structure is amazing!

Jerboa: a study

Study of a Jerboa. Was reading Charles Knight's book on animal drawing for artists and came across the Jerboa. So started looking for pics so that I could study the anatomy and the way it moves and textures. Makes me want to do meerkats next!

study of a pig

Awww..pigs :)

flying

This guy was flying when he got a text from his iPhone. lol. There should be a law against flying and texting. Hehehe.

Modo

This was actually from a while aback. My company had noticed I was reading all these 3ds Max, Maya and Modo books when I discovered a grant I could get that would cost the company nothing and I could go to classes and take training. I had wanted to take a Vectorworks course, but was also taking a Modo class and found I was loving Modo more than my Vectorworks class. The rendering system in Modo is great, especially if you like Photoshop. This was not the final product, but bascially I ended up doing an email blast render for my company that was showing off a new light that they made, a 30K Blast. So this was set up to show two cameras at 90 degrees, which captured the light bouncing off the reflector and casting light onto the crash test pillow, while some object would explode into a million pieces and be captured at thousands of frames per second. Pretty neat stuff. Oh, and the light is powered by a power supply that only needs AC power (basically a household plug that is 15 amps would power it). Neat, huh? I had fun modelling everything. I got no sleep that week because I was entranced by watching Modo's renderer render. LOL. Raytracing rules! Hehehe.

Future pets

Here is my pet of the future. lol.

aliens

I was thinking about an alien planet of the future. Here is a guy filling up his tank....let's see..since human beings are pretty much ensuring that we have no more oil, fossil fuels, or air left...I haven't worked out exactly what it's being filled up with...I think it would either be an alloy (which would probably be taken from a mineral that is renewable) or a gas that is in abundant supply. Hehehe. I'm not sure why I still think of horizons..maybe all planets don't have horizons....hmm.

spaceship

old stuff

I was taking Bob Kato's classes a few months ago when I could. I wish I could take them more regularly....it's electrifying and I love it! Hopefully since my 'paint by numbers' class is over now (I just call it that because it's hella boring and the prof's work is ehhh so I usually ignore the teacher and just paint..lol) I can attend a few more classes that just focus on drawing. Red Engine has one every Tuesday and Thursday. There are great traditional sketching classes all over town, but sometimes it is easy to tell yourself you will stay home and draw...especially if you're a hermit like me :) My anatomy book came in a mail today..whoop dee doo! Looking forward to making that jump as I press along. Was looking up Art Center since i heard from Scott that they do offer full schols. Yeah...that would be the only way I could attend...and then I'd have to figure out how to pay for that thing called housing and food. Now where is that stripper pole when you need it? LOL. (just joking)

I was reading a while ago that Nathan Fowkes said that to be a good artist you should paint a painting every day for fifteen years. I think it really helps if you like painting, also...so it's not like brain surgery (then again if you like doing brain surgery...) So here is an idea for a cop droid of the future that would give you parking tickets. lol. This one hangs out at Venice Beach. Working on rendering metals again.

rendering of objects

I attended Scott Robertson's "Design and Rendering" workshop at Red Engine Studios (where I attend classes) this past weekend. An Amazing amazing workshop! And I'm always happy when Concept Designers are nice people as well (like Charlie Wen...what a sweetheart!)! He taught us a few tips about reflections, rendering metals and about what is important as a concept artist. Coming from a lighting and photography background, a lot of it was revision, but it was incredible that all these artists are being introduced to this information.

He said among students, he often doesn't see time spent on rendering (ie everything looks the same material) and just a bad@$$ design. One student was saying that's kind of Hollywood's fault because of all the remakes, but as he said, there are ways (for example, the Iron Man 2 suit) that a designer repackages a design into something new (um..it's your JOB! LOL). I have a fascination with realism. I get frustrated because I just want everything I paint to look real. And it's excruciating because I know it will never look real because then it will just be..um..reality (?) or reality-simulacra (to be Post-modernist). So I'm just focusing on shapes, ideas and material rendering. It would be so kick@$$ to be a concept designer one day. Or a goat-drawer (since I have a fascination with drawing fur on goats..lol). Anyways, enough rambling...I was thinking about the LAPD (LOL) when I drew this..something about my disdain for them and the metaphor of 'prey'. LOL.

Concept 101

I've been taking a Concept class at Studio Arts, a wonderful school that offers training in both 2D and 3D and introduced me to one of my loves, the programme Modo (which Neville Page and Tully Summers both use). Each week at Studio Arts we do a different aspect of Concept Design. Here are some pieces from our "Nightmare-classic inspired" piece and our mech design class. Because of this class, I decided at Red Engine Studios that I'd take a Vehicle Design class. I think it would be great for me because I do enjoy the practical technicality of design as well.

Animal Renderings

Inspired by the work of Neville Page (If you haven't been to his exhibition at Gnomon you should; it's incredible), I decided to focus on material rendering and animal anatomy. So I badgered my coworkers to tackle an animal a day in black and white. Sam Michlap said "if you can't draw it in black and white, you can't draw it". Neville had said that he still starts in pencil sometimes, because it is about design, and you can often convey a lot of things (materials, scale, gesture) with just pencil or black and white. Having a science background and having loved Physics from high school, I love observing the way light hits and object or how things are put together (or can be put together). Enjoy!