Sir Lion-O

Did this for a character challenge over at CGHUB. It's a Thundercat's meet dark adult themes...so I know it's a pretty loose interpretation, but mostly I wanted to paint metal armor. So I started with a quick black and white sketch...then I did a line drawing and tried to solve any design or layout problems...then a color study and then to final. I have always had trouble with making metal look like metal, so this was a big personal challenge with myself as well. In the future I need to finalize the pose closer to the beginning. I ended up modifying the pose halfway thru, which just is a pain and wastes too much time.

Here are some quick sketches...I just got a new phone, so I took a photo of a sketch book page and sent them to photoshop to see what would happen...definitely liked the process. The photos were pretty crappy but added a really nice, very chunky grain, that was enjoyable to work with. For me this is way better than scanning...for some reason I have quite the aversion to scanning, I think its because my scanner used to crash my computer after every scan, and turn what should be a simple task into a endless endeavor.


I actually did these quite a while ago for practice. I painted several landscapes from an Ansel Adams book I have. I feel that he did a really great job of keeping his values close and delicate. Also I was really interested in his compositions and how he made them work...Overall it was a really informative process.





And here is me trying to put those studies to work. My fantasy landscape with crazy waterfalls and all. It still has a long ways to go if I want to finish it, But Just wanted to show what I'm working on.

Here are some quick sketches from tonight....

akira and such....

So here is my entery for that akira gang member character design thing...Ahhh it came out ok...once again went too dark...and didn't really think much about the pose before I started rendering, definitely need to stop doing that.But I then removed the background and added a sweet gold helmet and felt better much better... And then here is also a little doodle, yay!!!

Some watercolors...

I did these a couple of months ago for Christmas presents and thought I should post them. I painted them on a smooth bristol, which really accents the edges of the paint strokes. These were pretty quick to paint and a lot of fun. Hopefully I can find some time to do some more watercolor'n in the future, It's such a blast. Currently for fun I'm painting a character design for the character forge over at CGhub.com My friend Ryan lee(awesome artist) moderates the thread and I'd thought I'd throw my 2 cents in, so I'll post that soon.

Set, Reset, and Sunset.

So I have been working on this piece on and off for awhile now. I started with a set of thumbs. I picked the top right one. I definitely didn't stick to the orginal plan, but I feel that even though it changed drastically, that the overall basic shape and composition stayed the same. The main change came about when I decided that I wanted to paint a sunset that faded off into the distance. Another thing that I have been thinking about lately is the best way to finish something. I feel that usually I try to render everything as much as I can...But I realized that actually if you don't render certain parts that it makes the painting go faster and look better...I mean shoot that rock in the corner might not look as awesome, but the whole painting works better as a whole, and I guess thats the point.

I also picked the top left one for another picture some of you might know...I might also post that one at a later point.

Lets get things rolling

I have finally wrapped up my first children's book... with four rounds of revisions and a cover redesign it felt like it took forever. I just recently printed out the entire book myself to send off to the printers to give them a reference for what the paintings should look like. I am super excited and really can't wait the 7 or so months it'll take to print the book.




I also submitted a piece to an art annual called Spectrum, and hopefully will make it in...The competition will be extremely fervent considering many of my favorite artist have also entered art.

And here is a portrait study I did from a photo of Hilary Duff, I guess it kinda looks like her, probably should have spent more time on the sketch...but I was more interested in painting the form.