VIRGUAL REALITY

Stuff...

2010-04-28T02:43:00.000-07:00

MANNY, MANNY, MANNY!!!

2010-04-18T05:36:00.001-07:00

...MANNY...

Bunnies

2010-04-15T23:07:00.001-07:00

More practice with vector graphics. Something different from the usual...

Harajuku Girl

2010-04-14T23:12:00.000-07:00

...sleep...who needs it anyway...

Oh by the way, earlier this week I just found out that the painting that I posted on April 7, which is a few posts down below, was chosen to be showcased on a TV promotional spot called "My Art" which airs on the Ovation TV network. I've been a member of their online community for almost a year now, and I joined in hopes of my work getting aired on their TV spot. Even though it's just a minute or so, it's really the gratification that I'm after more then fame. They informed me that my art won't air until a few weeks from now, so it's something to look forward to! Hopefully I'll be near a TV when it happens HAHA!!!

Figure Drawing

2010-04-13T17:13:00.001-07:00

...and another...

2010-04-12T05:12:00.000-07:00

Here's today's painting that I worked on. At this point I'm really starting to enjoy following Benjamin's work. Tough stuff and I haven't even scathed the surface yet, but I'm starting to establish a proper workflow and am starting to break old habits...sort of...

Even More Painting...

2010-04-11T02:30:00.000-07:00

Here's yet another painting that I was practicing with...

Berimbau Pulltoy Revisited

2010-04-10T02:29:00.001-07:00

Here's yet another oldie but goodie! It's the pulltoy prop design that I did for Raquel Coehlo's short film "Berimbau". I thought I'd revisit it to see what it would look like in vector graphics...

More Painting...

2010-04-09T03:03:00.000-07:00

Here's another attempt at Benjamin's style. I think I'm starting to really catch certain nuances in his paintings every time I take more acute observations in his book. That said, I still need to try and incorporate those findings into my own work because I feel like my thought process and my approach hasn't changed much yet, but I am totally confident that it will for the better. Anyway, here's another attempt at Benjamin's work...

Hellfire Hot Wings Truck Revisited

2010-04-08T01:21:00.000-07:00

Here's an oldie but goodie...in vector form!

Painting

2010-04-07T02:01:00.000-07:00

Went to Wondercon this past weekend and picked up a book called "Flash" by an artist who is referred to by only one name...Benjamin. Don't really care about his reasoning behind that, but this guy does some really killer digital paintings. This was the inspiration that I've been looking for, so I tried his style out myself. Took a while to catch any particular idiosyncrasies behind his painting. Here's my poor attempt at it haha!!!...

It's late...but that's fine cause I have to try this again!

Figure Drawing

2010-03-08T23:56:00.001-08:00

More Figure Drawing

2010-03-02T23:55:00.001-08:00

Figure Drawing

2010-02-26T01:56:00.000-08:00

Finally back doing figure drawing. This session taught me how important it is to maintain a regular participation to figure drawing nights. I struggled to draw the way I was taught cause it was several months since I last went...

More Sketchbook Stuff...

2010-02-17T20:29:00.000-08:00

Lifeless robot...scared bunnies...

DJ Krush

2010-02-05T01:57:00.000-08:00

DJ Krush is one of my musical inspirations whose music fuels many of my all-nighters. Much of the work that I have produced, I would say, has been musically driven through these sounds. I've seen him perform twice before in the past, and have very recently seen him again for a third time. Since Krush is a Japan-based producer/DJ, appearances in the Bay Area are very rare. This week he was doing a show at Mighty, a nightclub located in the SOMISSPO district of San Francisco. This is a really nice club that I like going to because it's not in a downtown area, AND there's plenty of parking out in front. Anyways, here's the man himself orchestrating the sounds...

So after the show, some of us hopped on the stage to take a peek at the equipment he uses. I figured it would be nice to see the tools that makes his music flawless...

Hands down the BEST show I have ever been to!!!

Steampunk Ninja Revisited...

2010-01-09T12:32:00.000-08:00

Some quick stuff...

Robot and Stalagmite Cave

2010-01-01T18:18:00.001-08:00

My first post for 2010! Here's a robot design and stalagmite cave environment that I wanted to mess around with.

Time to make the best out of 2010 and the next couple of years to come!

Sketchbook

2009-12-25T18:22:00.001-08:00

Here's an entry from my sketchbook. I found inspiration from "The Doll Face" by Andrew Huang and from the philosophies of Rene Descartes. Apparently there is no division between human and machine after all...

More Graf...

2009-12-21T19:25:00.000-08:00

I've been tossing out some of my old sketchbooks that I don't need, and have found a few old school things that I decided to tear out and keep for the time being. Here's one...

Graf

2009-12-16T22:11:00.000-08:00

An old habit of mine...incidentally during my graduation dinner I got announced most likely to get busted for graffiti! NOT TRUE!

Figure Drawing

2009-12-05T23:09:00.001-08:00

Figure Drawing

2009-11-14T12:18:00.001-08:00

Great model this week. Hope she comes back again...

Untitled Revision...

2009-11-10T01:53:00.000-08:00

This old piece came back to me requiring additions to the previous version.

Figure Drawing

2009-11-06T01:07:00.000-08:00

This week's...

Another untitled painting...

2009-11-02T00:46:00.001-08:00

Hanging in the Atherton Estate...

Figure Drawing

2009-10-29T20:07:00.001-07:00

This week's figure drawings. The model this week did a great job. She even did a two minute head stand!!! I know b-boys that could do that easily, but how many figure drawing models do you know could do that?!?!?!?!?...I don't have that pose in my drawings unfortunately...was not focused because of the awe in the room...

You Know Where Your Children Are???...

2009-10-23T18:33:00.000-07:00

...because the machines are hunting for fresh meat.

Some low brow piece that I finally got to finish.

Virgual Reality Blog Banner

2009-10-17T20:59:00.000-07:00

I'm currently getting schooled in flash while simultaneously looking for work in every possible corner. This is an assignment that I recently just finished. It's a banner that I did to promote this art blog. I really like old grunge textures and film projector flicker, so I decided to integrate that along with several of my pieces. The pieces were of course photoshop bitmaps, and the effects and several of the various techniques I learned were all done in flash. The end result looked rather amateurish, but I was glad that I did something all by myself in this application. Oh...the film flicker sound is suppose to be continuous and not fragmented. I guess it was a glitch as a result of the conversion from swf to avi.

BTW, the film flicker effect was recycled from an interactive learning tool project that some friends and I worked on a while ago. Thanks to Mike Martinez for a great job on that...I think it was Mike that covered that part...

Figure Drawing

2009-10-15T18:10:00.001-07:00

This week's drawings.

Painting

2009-10-13T20:56:00.001-07:00

Here's another painting I did for my parents' house in Atherton. Felt nice going back to traditional oil paints. With 5 different projects going on at once and having to meet deadlines, I'm surprised that I even get the chance to do this type of thing anymore. Hope y'all likes!

Figure Drawing

2009-10-07T01:41:00.001-07:00

More figure drawing!

Steampunk Ninja

2009-10-02T22:31:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd post these on this blog as well. My steampunk ninja...

Figure Drawing

2009-09-29T03:41:00.001-07:00

This week's...

Untitled

2009-09-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

A piece that I did for my cousin for something ...?...!...First time using the vector style approach. Hope it comes across right to whoever it's intended for or whatever it's intended for.

Figure Drawing

2009-09-22T01:14:00.000-07:00

Trying to get back on the ball...

Berimbau Final Products

2009-09-01T03:29:00.000-07:00

Something I forgot to post. These are the last of them. Hoping to see these in the film!

To the Chaps at Top Gear

2009-08-25T16:08:00.000-07:00

This is my caricature dedication to the three hosts of everyone's favorite car show Top Gear. From left to right is Richard "Hamster" Hammond, Jeremy "Jezza" Clarkson, and James "Captain Slow" May.

Berimbau Pulltoys and African Pots

2009-08-24T15:01:00.000-07:00

WANTED!!!

2009-08-19T15:04:00.001-07:00

If the American Dental Association had a ten most wanted list of dental no-no's, my guess and my own little tribute to that would be the following. When exploring the allegorical significance of certain subject matter, I think caricatures are a good way of really bringing out the truth...even when its bad...or ugly...and just plain nasty!!! HAHAHA!!!

Pull Toy

2009-08-18T23:27:00.000-07:00

Here's some in-depth development work for one of my pull toy ideas in Raquel's film. In the end, she had me scrap this idea because it was too elaborate for a small boy to come up with. Oh well...I had other ideas...

Monterey Session Part 4

2009-08-15T15:05:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures from yesterday's live caricaturing session in Monterey. As the countdown for school is nearing its end and vacationers and tourists are decreasing in numbers as a result of that, we felt that we should do as many of these sessions as possible before the end. Even though we experienced some down time when we first got there, it picked up later on when crowds of people started showing up. Apparently, the up and down fluctuations in foot traffic was the result of a car auction going on in the nearby area and also a fair that was across town. Thanks to all those who were kind enough to sit down with us to have a drawing done. Here they are...

This week we were 3 strong! Big ups to Jeff and Rob. Great job guys! Our mileage and experience has come a long way in such a short time. Our next session will finally be at a different location in a different city...hopefully...if all the bureaucracies don't throw spiteful legal documentations in our way!!!

More Berimbau Progress...

2009-08-15T14:56:00.001-07:00

Some more developed concepts for Raquel's film...

Leo's pulltoy

African pottery, basketry, and dishware

Monterey Session Part 3

2009-08-08T01:42:00.000-07:00

Back at it once again for more caricatures by the water in Monterey. It gets more fun with every time we go out to meet, socialize, and draw people that come from nearby, out of town areas, and even overseas. I'm starting to very much like the interaction with interesting and unique people who fancy our caricature services. Thanks to all those who came out today to sit down with us to have a chat and a drawing done, and who might very well be reading this blog right now...here are the folks we met...

Usually we are 4 people strong when we come down to do caricatures. Unfortunately with schedule conflicts and miscommunications, not all of the usual crew of artists were able to join. Because of that, the number went from 4 to 2, which put a whole lot of pressure on us. However, the lack of our entire collective unit didn't stop us from much needed practice and mileage. My best friend Jeff and I were able to hold it down for the day. Thanks again to all who came!!!

Berimbau Progress

2009-07-31T23:36:00.000-07:00

This summer I'm working with a creative team of viz dev artists from the SJSU A/I program on a film called "Berimbau". This is going to be a short film based on the vision and art direction of Raquel Coelho. For this project, I am contributing as a prop designer. The following are my initial ideations for a pull toy made of found material and some African pottery.

Anthology of Friends Volume #5

2009-07-29T20:06:00.001-07:00

This is another volume in the Anthology series. Thanks again to the Ovation TV community!

Monterey Session Part 2

2009-07-19T01:51:00.000-07:00

My best friends and I finally found the time to return to Cannery Row in Monterey to once again mingle with locals and visitors alike, and to draw up even more caricatures. Making our destination towards the water again rewarded us with a well deserved break from the summer inland heat, and with the burden of school and jobs out of the way it was all but perfect to spent a summer day doing caricatures. This time around, the business of doing free caricatures picked up more immensely then the last time we were there, which was back in April. Again, like last time, we got to meet the most interesting and unique people not just from the area, but from all over. Although we were there to primarily produce free caricatures to anyone and everyone willing to sit down with us and to increase and improve our own individual drawing mileage, to me personally it was all about meeting other people to interact with, hear stories, and laugh a bunch of times! Anyways, all that came out to sit down with us were awesome...here they are...

This girl is Sequoia. Apparently her parents were hippies, which explains the uniqueness in her name. Hey I think its great having a name that no one else has!

This girl is Sunshine. Unlike Sequoia, her parents were not hippies, but she ALSO has a REALLY cool name! Sunshine and Sequoia were the two girls that really caught my attention that day because a name is something that I can remember about a person if it's a name that sets them apart from the rest...haha obviously.

A big THANK YOU to all those who came to meet us that day to get a caricature done and to see our abilities put to the test. This experience was the best so far, and we all hope to see Monterey again in a few weeks for yet another exciting session with even more awesome people. Thanks also to the businesses that were in the nearby area who acknowledged us for being there and who gave us some grateful support. My apologies to the girls at Willy's Smokehouse for us not being there long enough for us to draw for them. I'll let you all know when we're back in town!

Anthology of Friends Volume #4

2009-07-18T00:33:00.000-07:00

This is a group book project that I took part in through the Ovation TV community. It is basically a collection of work showcasing artistic and literary talent from artists everywhere. I took the chance to finally be in something published...great stuff!

Nightmare at the Chair

2009-06-30T20:40:00.001-07:00

Here's another picture that further illustrates how frightening a trip to the dentist would feel like for those of you who like to evade those painful, but necessary, appointments. Personally, I think that the bit that truly gets me during a visit would be the chair. It's the way it sits in the office silently waiting for its next scared patient. The chair cradles you not like a mother, but like an electric chair while you sit on it during that slooooow agonizing moment before the switch is pulled. Even though you're not tied down, escape is inevitable because one false move or flinch during even a routine cleaning could cost you lots and lots of bleeding and pain. So really it presents itself with such a bold demeanor that at first glance, upon walking in for check-ups or surgery, could make one's anxiety go haywire! (...haha I'm still griping about still needing to go back one of these days to get my last two wisdom teeth pulled...not looking forward to it!!!)

...thank you...

2009-06-29T18:22:00.001-07:00

I usually babble on about the entries that I post on this blog, but in this case...my words to the man are in the title bar. Here's one of my all time visually stunning MJ favorites...

No one is as genius as Michael Jackson...not your mother, not your father, not your brother, not your girlfriends, not your high school dance instructor, not the choir boy at the local church, not the star pupil in a two dollar singing class...NO ONE!!!

"...smiiiile for meee..."

2009-06-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

Here's another entry that I just completed for this contest that I'm doing all these dental themed drawings for. For this I thought that taking the caricature approach would be appropriate, since this style is more favored according to the stipulations addressed. My underlying theme in this particular piece is "We are all but our smile". In an older edition of his "It Book", Sheldon Borenstein says "we are all but our hair", meaning that we are all physiologically structured alike and that our hair makes us who we are as unique individuals. I took that, then gave it some dental finesse to make it "we are all but our smile", meaning another quality about ourselves that makes us unique would be our smile. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the individual, a smile also reveals how good or bad our dental hygiene is. I also wanted to point out that regardless of any and all diverse race, gender, or occupation, a smile is what brings us together. Like my previous entry, even if this piece doesn't get me far, I just wanted to do this for both the mileage and to also keep busy during this dark job hunting fiasco.

Here's some close-ups of all the faces...

You all know this right? Or at least know who's in the video...A song to help with the message...

Local Anesthetic

2009-06-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

A little somethin'-somethin' that I'm doing for a contest that I got invited to participate in. There will be more entries that I'll do later on. Don't really know if this entry will go far. I'm just happy that I haven't gotten lazy since I graduated! The theme of the contest is pretty much open to dental hygiene, but most importantly it revolves around the relationship between doctor and patient. InciDENTALly, I recently had a surgical extraction of my two bottom wisdom teeth. This was a perfect opportunity for me to gather inspiration before starting these entries. Well...the experience was...almost nightmarish. The pain...not fun times!!!

I wanted to give the overall look of this piece a sort of grungy, distressed old photograph texture.

...if you're honestly thinking about getting your wisdom teeth pulled, be prepared for the first 8 hours of unbelievable pain starting from when the anesthetic wears off and sensation returns to your mouth after the surgery. Novacaine is your best friend in this procedure!!!

...btw, when I was on the dental chair waiting to get my poor mouth drilled into, I was admiring a painting of an Orca whale on the wall. It was very colorful and very friendly looking. What was bothering me though was the concept that it is a KILLER whale...it's nothing really, but when you are about to be poked, drilled, and pulled at, I think that anything that has to do with "killer" would be the last thing you would want to think about...hahaha

They're HELLICIOUS!!!

2009-05-28T12:53:00.000-07:00

Here it is! It's all finally done...for now anyway. This project completes BFA and my very first college degree. This old Divco delivery truck was fashioned to sell Hellfire Hot Wings. The inspiration for the design of this truck came from the castle design featured in Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle. I incorporated elements identifiable with hellfire, so I pictured these hot wings being cooked in a boiler room type of environment since both pretty much compliment each other in terms of fire and smoke. Below are views and a page that dissects the pipe system on the roof of the truck.

Thanks Cheeks!!!

2009-05-20T07:07:00.001-07:00

Sean Galloway inspired a few projects that I did in the senior class last semester. During Wonder Con a couple of months back ago I finally had a chance to see him in person. He was selling his art book and doing head sketches of our choosing in them. Seeing his work over the years automatically prompted me to finally buy his book. During the con I was thinking long and hard of what I wanted to have him sketch in it. I saw that most people were asking him to draw comic book characters, but I wanted something a little bit different then that. After a long walk around the other booths to think about what I want sketched, I figured that a drawing of me in his unique style would really personalize the book I wanted to buy from him. However, when my friend and I walked back to his booth with this idea, he was already packed up and gone...Fast forward to the recent Super Con where he was again selling his art book and doing head sketches of our choosing in them. What an opportunity to finally get myself drawn by the man himself!!! Below is the awesome drawing that he did of me. Big ups and a thank you to Sean Galloway for showcasing such supreme talent!!! Definitely worth it!!!

Hellfire Hot Wings Truck Design

2009-05-15T00:44:00.000-07:00

Our final project to close out the BFA senior class, spring semester, and my long academic career in the A/I program at SJSU is a prop design. After choosing 1 of 4 pictures of delivery style trucks, we were then instructed to "pimp" it. In other words, our task was to tailor it to sell a particular food item. I chose to revitalize an old and weathered Divco milk truck to sell hot wings. These are my initial ideations.

Animal Farm Windmill Revision...part 3

2009-04-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

This is a most recent revision of one of my Animal Farm environments. Its the establishing shot of the windmill. Still not done, but I will eventually take this into its final stages.

Steinbeck's Cannery Row

2009-04-26T02:03:00.000-07:00

Nearly two months of strenuous labor have lead to this much anticipated point. Three things that I have learned to emphasize and put to pratice during the duration of the Cannery Row project was to investigate, inform, and inspire. This is definitely a visual development must! The following pieces feature work that I have developed for Steinbeck's Cannery Row. This includes two layouts for Lee Chong's General Store and two layouts for Doc's Lab. Both include development work leading up to the final renders. Although a lot of effort was put into their construction, more hours are still very much a requisite for their full completion. Luckily summer's just within my grasp. With the start of a new and final project currently underway and graduation around the corner, I'm counting down the weeks left of a long academic career...

Carmen

2009-04-19T00:53:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to go attend a dress rehearsal of "Carmen". This was my first opera that I attended, and I was blown away by the strength of the actors' voices. Coupled with the acoustics of the theatre, the amplification of the performance was mind blowing...no need for electronic surround sound for this! Anyways, we were there for a great sketching opportunity. These are some of my sketches from that day.

Cannery Row...GO!

2009-03-31T20:59:00.000-07:00

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck is the current literary work that we in the BFA class are doing art for. I think that one of the most enjoyable parts of doing work for our personal disciplines is the research because you find an entire gamut of inspiration from the oldest building to hearing personal testaments of unique people. My good friend and colleague Jeff and I have visited Cannery Row in Monterey many times during the duration of the project, each time finding new and helpful tidbits to bring back to the drawing board and really utilize to its potential. Authenticity and really getting the audience to buy into our ideas is paramount when it comes to the development of our work.
Here are my initial impressions of what I want out of this project to be the end result. Ideations and well thought out thumbnails have become very important as my starting point, so I try to build a decent spectrum of ideas to bring into further conception. Below are thumbs for the interior of Lee Chong's general store, the exterior of Lee Chong's, the interior of Doc's Lab, the exterior of Doc's Lab, character designs for Lee Chong, and character designs for Doc's Lab.

Free Caricatures...Monterey

2009-03-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

After much planning in advance and endless effort in drawing mileage, it all boiled down to my good friends and I doing our very first public caricature drawing. Everything about yesterday went as planned, surprisingly, and it was nothing but FUN! We posted ourselves within the busy friday crowds of Cannery Row located in Monterey. Even though our services were absolutely free, it didn't stop us from seven and a half hours of straight-up drawing, meeting exciting and unique people, enjoying the clear, sunny weather by the water, and just hanging out with a few of my best friends. Here are photos of some of the great people we got to meet that day holding their very own drawings that I was able to dish out for them. I would like to thank all those people that took the time to sit down with us to chat, laugh, have a drawing done...and laugh some more!!! You all were very kind. Below you might even find a picture of yourself holding your drawing!

This man's name is Mr. John Lawrence. He's one of the many awesome people that sat down with us to chat. It was really interesting how we met him. About midway through our drawing session, we decided to move to another part of Cannery Row that drew a bigger crowd of people. We posted in an area near the bust of John Steinbeck, and about an hour later this man approached us. Apparently, what we had thought was public property was actually private. John is the owner, but was super-duper cool with us finishing our session in his property. His huge generosity prompted us to do his caricature. In the process he shared his many interesting stories and was even kind enough to show us spots around the area where we could go to do caricatures the next time we're in town. This guy is super nice and we hope to contact him again when we come back.

This is John's big, fierce-looking cat.

What a way to end a day on Cannery Row in Monterey. A picture of all of us and of course John. A big thanks again to those that came to meet us. Oh and another big thanks to both Cindy and Sandy who got the ball rollin' for all of us. You two were the first people who approached us, but unfortunately we forgot to take pictures with you...sorry ladies!!! We're planning on being back sometime in April!

Caricature Practice

2009-03-28T16:44:00.001-07:00

The previous project that I worked on involved getting familiar with the caricature style of Steve Brodner. After a month of endless construction and deconstruction of certain elements quintessential to his approach to ultimately integrate into my own drawings, I began to develop a strong interest in this type of artform. Though I have done a lot of caricatures in the past, it wasn't until just recently that I began to delve deeper into its humorous appeal. Here's some practice sketches of random faces found on corbis.

Animal Farm Environments

2009-03-08T00:35:00.000-08:00

Like all the visual development that goes into making a story a visual reality, you can't have character designs without the environments for which to establish their interactions in. Here are the establishing shots for both the barn and the windmill, two important locations featured in Animal Farm. Below are the thumbnails for each. I would like to one day revisit this project because of all the information and experience that I took from it, but for now it's on to the next task which is currently underway...Cannery Row by John Steinbeck...

The Brodner Farm

2009-02-28T23:48:00.000-08:00

After weeks of effort, my Animal Farm animal character designs are complete. Well...there is always room for much more improvement, just like everything that I am given to complete. These are my designs for Napoleon the pig, Boxer the horse, and one of Napoleon's guard dogs. I developed these in the style of Steve Brodner and were approached in the same medium as his work, which is watercolor. This process was really difficult to follow especially when making attempts in translating Brodner's style to animal physiology. On top of that, before tackling the final renders I hadn't really touched upon watercolor painting for several months. I enjoyed this project though because the entire duration was all a learning experience, and I of course learned a whole lot of new things which will definitely carry on to future projects and life itself!

Here are some examples of Steve Brodner's work that I tried to adapt to this project. As you can see I have a whole lot more time to invest in order to fully grasp the essence of his work. His art will continue to keep me entertained as I make even more attempts to truly adapt to his style.

Animal Farm meets Steve Brodner Round 2

2009-02-25T23:54:00.000-08:00

Weeell this is actually round 2 million! As fun and entertaining as Steve Brodner's style might be, it is a tough obstacle to overcome trying to emulate. Here are some more refined drawings and color studies that I put together. I'm getting closer and closer at fully understanding Brodner's approach with every batch of drawings I do. Regardless of all the hours of sleep I have lost thus far, as one of my advisors put it, it will all be well worth the effort in the end! I most certainly agree!

Animal Farm...and Steve Brodner???

2009-02-21T23:09:00.000-08:00

Here is my very first attempt at developing my designs for Animal Farm using the style of Steve Brodner. As you can clearly see my first attempt was a difficult round of trial and error...well...more error then trial. I'm not giving up though. Time to try again!!!

Animal Studies

2009-02-09T14:16:00.001-08:00

Our first project of the semester involves designing animals for the story Animal Farm. This story encompasses a heavy dose of political satire in which the Russian Revolution is retold through animals on a farm that play the roles of their individual human counterparts. Like the rebels of the old Soviet era, these animals overthrow their human masters in order to govern their own lives the way they see fit. I will be designing Napoleon, a berkshire pig, Boxer, a clydesdale horse, and one of Napoleon's guard dogs, a rottweiler. As inspiration, I will be using the style of Steve Brodner, famous political satirist. Here are some of my preliminary animal studies from life.

...and another one...

2009-01-11T02:17:00.000-08:00

Here's another painting done for the other house.

By the way, I saw Gran Torino today. It was a well thought out production, and I recommend seeing it. What lured me into the movie was the character played by Clint Eastwood. His incredible character arc, from a disgruntled all american rascist bigot to an open-minded simple man seeking none other than absolution from a war fought past that gave him no peace, delivered an excellent story. I could go on, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone...see it!!!

Fleet Towing Services

2009-01-08T20:48:00.000-08:00

I know this post is a bit out of the ordinary from my normal material, but I thought that I'd give my mechanic a plug on my blog for the outstanding job that he did repairing some of the mechanical flaws on my STI. His commitment to quality reminds me of the kind of work that those in our animation/illustration community strive for. As a result of this great quality, I don't go to Subaru dealerships or other autobody repair shops because of rip offs and scams. His towing service is 24 hour (...just tell him I sent you...). I give you my official guarantee that if you want quality auto repair service, this is the man to go to. Don't get ripped off!!!

Back to the Basics Part 2

2008-12-29T19:33:00.000-08:00

Another painting for the house in Atherton. Simple landscape I wanted to do to practice atmospheric perspective, color, lighting, fg, mg, bg, and pretty much everything else on the visual development spectrum. Done in oils on canvas. Need more practice...not there yet...5 WEEKS LEFT!!!

Back to the Basics...

2008-12-27T13:20:00.001-08:00

Usually after a semester of painting in photoshop, it always feels good to go back to painting traditionally. This is yet another painting that I did for my parents' house in Atherton. My mom likes stuff from natural environments, so I'll be painting a lot of this kind of subject matter. Great practice!

The Magic Chalk Final

2008-12-19T22:08:00.000-08:00

These are viz dev pieces for "The Magic Chalk", and are also the final for the first semester of BFA. I was inspired by the work of Willie Real, so I wanted to apply some of his work's aspects into the development of these environments and the Argon character. Upon reading the story, my initial visualizations to be applied to the final pieces were dark undertones with a cold and sickening feel to the environments and the character. Some of the visual imagery that I began to develop had a creepy, threatening feel to it with a slight whimsicality. These were elements that I attempted to replicate from Willie Real's very entertaining work. Improvements are always needed...luckily I have 6 weeks of winter break ahead of me.

The Magic Chalk

2008-12-05T19:23:00.000-08:00

The Decameron project and the whole visual development process throughout was a step forward for me and a great learning curve. Moving on to a fresh new story, I hope that that same inspiration can guide my ambitions and fuel my motivations. The Magic Chalk is a story immersed with a dark and surrealistic undertone delving deep within the psyche. A lone artist, Argon, living in a San Francisco apartment studio falls deep within a downward spiral of hunger and poverty. Desperately seeking out the means to better living, he comes upon a mysterious piece of chalk. This chalk becomes a God-like tool from which the user turned fantasy into reality. Drawings done from this chalk materialized into tangible substance. Cups of coffee, knives, apples, even a bed were turned from drawings on a studio wall into actual things. Trying to play God by creating a woman he aptly name Eve, and then proceeding to draw out an entire world became his ultimate downfall. These drawings are my initial impressions of the story and my though process. Again this phase is still pretty rough and there is always opportunities for improvements. My work for this story includes interior and exterior designs for the San Francisco apartment studio, an establishing shot of the neighborhood that the house is located in, and a character design of the artist in the story named Argon.

Refinery Metropolis

2008-12-01T07:04:00.000-08:00

This is something that I worked on during Thanksgiving. It's yet another city view from my recent Decameron Project. Even though this project is already done, this was a piece that I really wanted to paint but never got around to doing. My characters here are at work during sunset in this steamy city of production.

Decameron Initial Stages

2008-11-28T16:55:00.000-08:00

This is something that I had forgotten to post before all my other Decameron posts. I thought that I'd show my preliminary thought process stage before it all happened, as with any and all projects that I undertake. These are all thumbnails drawn in a super rough pass in order to get an understanding of the direction that I wanted to take this project to and to filter through all the imagery being visualized. Just thought I'd share some of my process...

The Decameron Project...4th pass Final

2008-11-22T23:00:00.000-08:00

After an entire month of 5 hour energy shots and all nighters like you wouldn't believe, this project is officially done. As you can see from the results of a month long hiatus however, more work needs to be put into polishing up these drawings. My optimism and enthusiasm for doing this project has prompted me to continue making revisions on my own time and with the help of ACME and my own peers. Here they are. Feedback from Sean Galloway would help a great deal...hahaha!!!

The Decameron Project...3rd pass In-House Final

2008-11-15T01:00:00.000-08:00

Here are my third revisions for the Decameron project that I am currently working on. Included are my first workings of color and light into the environments and characters. I'm still trying to make attempts at getting out of my comfort zone to really work in the style of Sean Galloway, one of the requirements for this project. I still don't think it's going as well as I want it to, but I AM NOT giving up!

Decameron 2nd Pass Revisions

2008-11-09T00:35:00.000-08:00

These are the 2nd pass revisions for the Boccaccio/da Vinci project currently in the works. The characters have been revised to display more personality through thoughtout body language and gesticulations. Once again, these characters are drawn out through the style of Sean Galloway. Included are more ideations for establishing shots of the plague ridden city as well as shots of the country house and mechanical devices used with da Vinci's touch. With these I was practicing depth and atmospheric perspective in order to get a better understanding of the vast space of this desert environment.

Boccaccio's Decameron meets Da Vinci's Technology

2008-11-02T00:36:00.001-07:00

This is a first pass at a current project in the works. After visiting the Leonardo 500 Years into the Future Exhibit at the Tech Museum and reading the Proem of Boccaccio's Decameron, we were to fuse the two worlds together and create a post-renaissance city. On the basis of a viral apocalypse and a city built around the technology of Leonardo da Vinci, the usual viz dev components were constructed. Here are character designs, establishing shots of the city, and some of the technology that I created. The time period of my city is the recent past and it takes place in a desert wasteland oasis.

Water For Elephants character designs

2008-10-11T23:50:00.000-07:00

This is Uncle Al, who is the ringmaster of the traveling circus that is featured in Water for Elephants. I wanted to give him animal-like qualities since he is described in the book as a person who has the circus in his veins. He also mentions that if there are no animals in his circus, then there is no circus at all. I gave him qualities of a gorilla, a vulture, and a bengal tiger because throughout the book he is somewhat domineering over all performers and workers, and handles his businesses with a superiority complex. This is the woman of the story Marlena. She is an equestrienne, and is also the wife of equestrian director August. I pictured her as a dainty and demure character because in the story she has heart felt moments and has a loving connection to the animals she works with. However, when on stage in front of a crowd, she changes from that character into the charismatic and athletic onstage performer that she is. So I gave her slender shapes with a slightly built frame to compliment her athleticism.
This is Kinko, a midget clown. Although Kinko was first introduced to the story as being aggressive in nature, it all changed with his attitude towards the protagonist of the story, Jacob. I pictured him with fiery red hair to compliment his aggressiveness towards certain characters in the story. I also wanted to introduce a contrasting element to that aggressiveness because in the story, he seems rather tame with his best friend Queenie, a jack russel terrier. Queenie herself seemed like a really tame dog throughout the story and is super loyal to Kinko, so I wanted to establish that connection between the two. Also, he has a scholarly quality to him as well as he reads Shakespeare, poetry, and the bible.
Finally, this is Queenie. She is a jack russel terrier and is Kinko's pet. I saw her in the story as a loyal dog and performer along side Kinko. Although there are aggresive moments with Queenie in the story, like Kinko I wanted to tone that agressiveness down and just focus on her being an onstage performer. Thus, this brings that established connection with Kinko to light as they both have the same characteristics.

Water For Elephants Final

2008-10-11T23:20:00.000-07:00

Well its been a month or so of the BFA senior class and our first project for the class is finally complete. Doing visual development for the book Water for Elephants has been a rigorous process full of exploration, discovery, success, and of course the usual failures. After all the initial ideations and final conceptualization these are the final products of this assignment. This is one half of the viz dev that I did for the book. The first image is an establishing shot of the big top at night. The following images are that of the train car belonging to August and Marlena, performers of the traveling circus depicted in the story. As a requirement of the assignment, we were told to mimic the style of an artist from a list. Sean Galloway was on the list. I fully respect his principle on less is more so he became my immediate inspiration for the process. The execution of these environments were a challenge to complete because Sean Galloway is primarily a character designer, so I had to integrate his character design thought process into the environments.

Tribal Tats

2008-08-28T23:33:00.001-07:00

These are some tribal tattoos that I recently did for my cousin. Although I am not trained yet in doing tattoos, I want to pursue this artform as one of the possible ventures when I get out of school. Even though I'll still be applying to studios to further hone and test my skill sets that I have developed over the years, I always believe that going in every direction, as far as career paths go, will grant me the versatility that I try to strive for. Anyhow about the tattoos, if you're Filipino, then some of the iconic symbolism incorporated in these tribals would look familiar. I drew upon influences from the country's flag and also elements from the Filipino Headhunters of the past. Then of course I had to integrate my own personal flavor to them as well to get that unique brand.

Rainbow Falls

2008-08-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

My mom needs paintings for the family's second house in Atherton, so I decided to start off with a painting of Rainbow Falls located in Hilo, Hawaii. I visited Hilo last summer and was able to use my own photo reference instead of looking up pics on corbis. Done in oils.

Skulls

2008-08-12T23:03:00.000-07:00

I recently bought the artbooks of Samuel Flores and Blaine Fontana, and wanted to see if I could inspire myself to go towards that direction. This piece is the somewhat mediocre result. It didn't take me very long to do because I just went for it without thinking, which I believe are the mindsets of Flores and Fontana when they work. The looseness and freedom of the medium that I observed looking very closely at their work makes it pretty clear of thoughtful control without being too technical. Their distinct styles and imaginations are eye candy. Guess I still have a long way to go...

MW-003

2008-08-06T19:57:00.001-07:00

Another mechanical warhead that just came off the production line. This piece was done using both photoshop and corel painter. Having never used painter before in the past, I soon found a level of difficulty adjusting to the application's many features. So doing this piece was a lot of helpful practice in becoming familiar with those features. The fleshy part of the head was done in oils, and was really hard to manipulate compared to using real oils. Everything else was acrylic, watercolor, ink, and photoshop.

Mechanical Warhead

2008-07-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

The thing I really enjoy about summer vacations is that it gives me the opportunity to create art that has no boundaries. During the semester, we in the program get swamped with work that has to be fined tuned with systematic approaches and technicalities. The material that we learn is greatly valuable, and is used time and again with any project or job that we happen to land. When it's a personal project, systematic approaches and technicalities are not the entire capacity in which I create art. Going beyond that exercises imagination. I think that pieces that suit your own fancy is what makes art enjoyable, even when you break certain rules. This piece, and others, is a product of that. It symbolizes death, and instead of a scythe I envisioned death with many claws. Once again, I took an element from Baron Storey's work and incorporated twine to bundle up the canvas. I wanted to give that trapped eye an imprisoned chaotic feel with that.

Police Brutality

2008-07-28T08:46:00.000-07:00

This is yet another piece that was done in Baron's class last semester. It was an assignment that was to be done within the time frame of one class session, so we only had 3 hours to complete it. I, unfortunately, was not able to complete it the class session that it was assigned. I really don't like leaving projects undone, so I finally came around to finishing it. The premise behind this assignment was to find a topic of political or social controversy, and to take a pro or con side to it. Our position was to be 100% one sided, so we could not be neutral. Recently, a friend of mine experienced police brutality, then was unjustly put behind bars. He was released the same night, but was scarred physically and mentally. This gave me reason to take the side against police brutality towards the minority, since he is Philipino-American. So, this piece is for my friend who suffered wrongly. I have nothing against America even though I am considered part of the minority, but when power is given to idiots, then that crosses certain lines. This piece was done in mixed mediums, but am not sure that it reached a desirable success. I guess I was having trouble finding and defining a clear focal point.

Got Training Day???

2008-07-22T20:32:00.001-07:00

This is a logo design that I did using the Training Day monicker as a kind of brand label. Although Training Day reflects upon a blog my friends and I initiated several months ago, its origins derive from a collective of inside jokes shared between the blog's originators. Needless to say, these jokes came from Denzel Washington's role in the movie..."Training Day". This post should have actually been put on the Training Day blog, but since i used a caricature version of my head in this item as a filler, I thought it would be unfair to my blogmates...so I say to my other blogmates reviewing this post..."What chu got?"

CHEERS!...Mr. Bean.

2008-07-10T23:56:00.000-07:00

This is an assemblage that I recently finished which pays homage to the incomparable Mr. Bean. The character is a product of British actor/comedian/writer Rowan Atkinson, who plays Mr. Bean himself. Giving an entire synopsis of the story behind this British bloke would make one go on for hours. I admire the man for his spirited acting capacity. To act out emotions and scenarios with little to no dialogue at all and to make an audience react with laughter as a result is a brilliant talent like no other. Like in certain works that I have done in the past, I wanted to also explore the concept of exaggerated facial expressions/caricatures with Mr. Bean. If you study the character's acting, most of Mr. Bean's comedy and charisma comes from his facial expressions because they tend to always be pushed beyond their normal boundaries (...I guess this is to make up for the absence of excessive lines of dialogue...). So my goal was to push those even further towards a more caricature approach. I must say I really enjoyed the approach because with caricatures, there are no restrictions. I could go on for days about Mr. Bean...but I'm in the middle of one of his hillarious episodes. Hope this piece makes you laugh!!!

Seacliff Beach

2008-07-07T14:46:00.000-07:00

I was at Seacliff yesterday at an attempt to try and cool down from the San Jose heat. I got there early and wanted to skimboard since I hadn't done it since last august. Unfortunately, unlike the ugly rise in temperatures here at home as of late, it was really cold near the coast. Although it felt nice and it was a great relief from the heat, it was still way to cold to even approach the water. Me and everyone that was there were either on the sands or at the picnic tables. Since skimboarding was out of the question, I decided to draw the time I spent there. This is a sketchbook spread of the concrete freighter call "The Palo Alto". It is found at the end of the fishing pier. As a child going to this beach, the freighter used to be open to the public, but is now closed due to safety reasons.

MW-002 : Human to Mechanical Reconstruction

2008-07-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

This is another mechanical piece that I did as a personal endeavor. It portrays a revitalizing beauty augmentation. The robot to the right does some operating, creating a mechanical head on a human female body. I'm surprised at the galvanizing increase of human alterations people undergo, regardless of being male or female. Of course, physical appearances of this magnitude are as science fiction as Ghost in the Shell...but I sometimes wonder how much of the human body will remain natural, and how much domineering plastic and robotic metal will take its place sometime in the near or distant future.

Lick Observatory

2008-06-21T20:29:00.001-07:00

My friends and I drove up Mount Hamilton to have a drawing session at the Lick Observatory, which sits at the very top of the mountain at a staggering 4,000 feet above sea level. This is a watercolor painting that I did of a monument dedicated to Laurentine Hamilton. This piece was done in my sketchbook, which is the reason for all the warps and wrinkles on the surface. Next time I'll pack watercolor paper instead! During the course of this painting, my friend and I were attacked by an army of insects. Next time I'll pack some really effective bug repellant!!

Busted!

2008-06-08T20:59:00.001-07:00

This will hopefully be my final self-portrait post. Although painting is an experience like no other, painting myself this semester as much as I did has become very tedious and redundant. This was my final for my painting class last semester. I changed it up a whole lot from what it looked like when I turned it in. Enjoy!

Beers with Barron

2008-06-08T20:01:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our day with Barron Storey. He took our class to several museums in San Francisco , while at the same time giving us an introduction to visual journalism through hands on activity (...drawing). It was a humbling experience for all of us to hear Barron's articulation on the subject of art and how it's perceived through careful observation of every nuance in our surroundings. Through compulsive vision, we were all able to draw out our experiences and bring those experiences together to create an entire visual composition. Afterwards, we traveled to North Beach to visit his infamous studio where it all begins. Here are pictures of his cramped up studio that the entire class tried to fit in. Very inspiring to see everything that surrounds Barron and his ongoing work. The last picture was our last stop of the day, which was dinner at an Italian place called U.S. Restaurant. We ate, drank, talked, laughed, and Barron signed mementos for some of us. This day was well worth the trip, and I definitely can't wait to take his class again!

Figure Painting

2008-06-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

This is a figure painting that I did in five 3 hour sessions.

Golden Key T-Shirt Design Winner!

2008-05-24T02:00:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago, the Golden Key International Honour Society had a contest to create a t-shirt design for the San Jose State University chapter, which I have been a member of since 2004. I've never been an active member of this society because of my obligations to the animation/illustration program. After all like everyone else in this program, I try to follow strict time management and must give my work in this department the utmost priority. Because one of my many obligations as an artist and as a constant competitor in the illustration field, I found it necessary to meet this challenge as a way of testing my skills. I entered the contest not expecting to win, but merely to just have fun! Well, I won the contest and was very happy when I found out. I'm not really sure when and if this design does get printed on shirts, but I'll let you all know when it does. I look at this design now and think that I could have made this better...a whole lot better. However as always, I didn't have enough time as I did this all in the day before the deadline. I'm hoping on making some refinements, but if the officers of the school's chapter are happy with the way it looks now, I guess I did my job. Another happy accomplishment...may not be big, but it was worth the efforts.

Self-Skull

2008-05-24T01:50:00.001-07:00

I've never actually painted myself as many times as I have this semester. I don't particularly like doing self-portraits, but I love to paint. This is another self-portrait from this past semester that I did for figure painting. I chose to incorporate a dark element by melding together myself and a skull with everything painted in dark desaturated colors for added mood.

Sketchbook Page

2008-05-24T01:46:00.001-07:00

Here's some more action from my black book.

Master Inspired Painting

2008-05-24T01:22:00.000-07:00

It's been a long while since my last post. I've been busy trying to finish up the last of the spring semester days. Here is one of the spoils of my month long hiatus. It's yet another self portrait that I painted in my figure painting class. The assignment was to pick one of our many artistic influences, and to use there work as a conceptual model to illustrate a self portrait. I decided to rip off N.C. Wyeth for this one. His painting that I used was one of many that he did for Treasure Island. The style in which Wyeth paints gave me a whole lot of inspiration. The bottom image is the original painting done by N.C. Wyeth that I followed. As you can see, I still have a long way to go.

Brother

2008-04-28T22:55:00.000-07:00

Here is a piece that I did for my brother. The two most distinct idiosyncrasies that define his life are turntablism and the advocating of the filipino community. I really enjoy the bits format that I have learned in Barron's class, and I do it really often now. This piece was done in ink and marker, my mediums of choice.

That One Guy...

2008-04-17T01:37:00.000-07:00

This is yet another piece that was done in Barron's class. The project was done as a collabrative effort where the entire class was to create a magazine spread to be later put together. After a brainstorm session with Barron, the class narrowed down the theme for this magazine to "That One Guy". The premise behind "That One Guy" revolves around illustrating a homage to a particular "stand out" individual. I decided to pay tribute to the universal definition of the slob. Although I based this guy featured in my spread on a real life actual individual, Barron had suggested that I create this spread so that anyone who doesn't know this particular guy would know who he is or would know of someone who is similar. Basically, this is that one guy that people would point out as being a societal parasite. This is that one guy that is never hygiene conscious. I've just recently been experimenting with exaggerated facial expressions because I think that it's one of the major keys to good story telling in an illustration, and it gives life to a character. So, this is the end result