Rompo catches the EasterBunny

I think that this is finished.  Something I don't quite like about it, but im not sure what that is!  There are a lot of things I do like about it, however, and I'm pretty satisfied for it being my first watercolor.  Some adjustments were made in photoshop.  Quite a few actually :P

Christmas dinner invitation

This is a flyer I did for a Ladies church organization

I used actual paper snowflakes that my wife and I cut out for Christmas decorations this year.  I think they worked out really well.

below is the pen sketch that I did at work to get a feel for what I wanted.  I took it into PS and tweaked it quite a lot obviously.

Rompo

 

A Rompo is a mythological creature from Indian and African areas.  It has a head of a rabbit, legs of a bear, arms of a badger, and ears of a human.  pretty weird.  oh yeah, and they supposedly eat humans nomb nomb.

This is for our (most likely) last project in my illustration class.  we are working with 3 other people, and we had to choose similar animal types and create a childrens book out of it.  we decided on mythological creatures.  we were assigned letters of the alphabet, and then we chose groups.  Our group just happened to get the letters A B F and R.  Which spells out B.A.R.F if you like.  so we will most likely do something along those lines.  more sketches and concepts to come.  I'm pretty excited about this project!

Whatif

A linocut print I did in my Printmaking class.  We had to illustrate our reaction to a poem

Whatif by Shel Silverstein

Last night, while I lay thinking here,

some Whatifs crawled inside my ear

and pranced and partied all night long

and sang their same old Whatif song:

Whatif I'm dumb in school?

Whatif they've closed the swimming pool?

Whatif I get beat up?

Whatif there's poison in my cup?

Whatif I start to cry?

Whatif I get sick and die?

Whatif I flunk that test?

Whatif green hair grows on my chest?

Whatif nobody likes me?

Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?

Whatif I don't grow talle?

Whatif my head starts getting smaller?

Whatif the fish won't bite?

Whatif the wind tears up my kite?

Whatif they start a war?

Whatif my parents get divorced?

Whatif the bus is late?

Whatif my teeth don't grow in straight?

Whatif I tear my pants?

Whatif I never learn to dance?

Everything seems well, and then

the nighttime Whatifs strike again!

Chromophobia

Update 7 November:  here is the final, although there is always more that can be done.

This is a sketch I'm doing for a project in my illustration class.  We got to choose a phobia and illustrate it in a creative way.  It's due on Thursday, so I should have the finished one up soon.  I chose Alice from Alice in Wonderland.  She is dressed in Goth clothes with a bucket of grey paint, painting the red roses Grey!  

I haven't added the roses to this version yet, so more to come.  this angle was challenging but really fun.  Thanks to my wife for posing for me.  

the one I tried from my head didn't work as well.

here is the earlier concept version.  she will be standing in the midst of the roses this time.  Looking at them side by side, I realize now how much I really really needed a reference!

Stupid Wrench

This was the first project in Bill Carman's illustration class.  We were given a noun and an adjective.

I pulled "stupid" and "wrench".

the 1st panel had to be just the noun.

The 2nd panel had to be an illustration that represented the adjective and the noun Illustrated.

The 3rd panel was similar to the 2nd, only we had to use a photograph of our noun, and implement illustration somehow, while still represent the idea of a "stupid wrench"

the 1st and 2nd panel are pen and ink.

for the 2nd panel I used a Prismacolor 40% grey marker

The 3rd was done in Photoshop.  (the wrench and wall socket are photos that I took)

 3   5" x 5"  illustrations mounted on foamcore

Collograph

Im taking a printmaking class at BSU and we did a collograph project, which basically is all about "glueing" texture to a plate (in this case mat board) and then putting ink on it and running it through the press.  Each and every print will be completely unique because you can only run one print per application of ink.  well, unless you want to run it through again, but your colors won't be as strong but that can be a good thing!

I made this one huge on this link to see the textures.  

I split mat board in half thickness, and used a razor blade to cut every single shape out and glued it down to the plate.  It took a ton of time, and a TON of razor blades!!!

**Update**

I added the second collograph, which i made by cutting leaves in a similar way to the ones above.

Growing Strong!

This is a logo that I donated to a non profit organization.  These are some of the ideas that we sifted through.  It was neat to be a part of helping them to create a face for their company!  

Thanks Olivia and Joel

ogre-work in progress

Updated for comparison 10/23/10

I haven't done a "daily"  for a long time because, well, I wasn't technically doing them daily anyway--but I've been actually trying to do a fun illustration of an ogre being assaulted by dwarves for trespassing.

Junk, fridge, bed, etc

I finally got around to putting up another photo from Adrian, OR.  Same demolished building!  There were so many cool textures and lighting scenarios!  I should have more sometime soon!

Tablet Practice #7

Another practice I did today.  Sadly it took a couple of hours.  But I'm figuring things out, I feel.

I was playing with gradients/layer styles once the sketch was done.  I made 2 different gradient layers, one was a yellow - transparent from the upper right set to hue, and another layer black to transparent on the bottom right set to hue as well.  I thought it gave it an interesting feel.  at least it isn't AS boring as it was...

again i've posted the reference pic straight below it.   Obviously not finished, but this is just another exercise.  Someday I shall do something and finish it.  

Tablet Practice #6

It's been awhile, but I decided to try and do something uncomfortable.  Meaning a landscape.  As you can see i struggle with that.  especially water, but i think that this was successful in a lot of ways.  I'm still trying to figure out how to make fresh clean marks.  And i'm still learning to make crisp strokes and not jagged 

Tablet Practice #5

A quick sketch of a dude sitting in church.  

Ballpoint pen scanned in and colored.  

Tablet Practice #4

I thought I would break away from people and monsters and try something I really don't love to do terribly.  that is still life.  In art classes we do tons of still life, although I have never painted still life really.  just used charcoal and pencil.  

I enjoyed this exercise tho, simply because the colors of fruit are so enjoyable and often very vibrant.

below is the reference for this still life.

Tablet practice #3

Another tablet/photoshop exercise.  Yep, you caught me.  those whelps were copy/pasted and the hue changed, from the red one.  clever ;)

not finished, obviously, but I'm really trying to do a daily one, so if i only get partway done, then sobeit!

Book Cover Project

For the last assignment for my digital tools I class we had to create a dust cover for one of our favorite books that we have read.  I chose A Dangerous Book for Boys.  I had a lot of fun doing it.

The colors didn't print how I would have liked, and I neglected to put any author info or quotes on the inside flaps.  Truthfully I forgot all about that because I was so wrapped up in creating the actual cover.

Soon I will add pictures of the original book, and also how it looks on the book itself.

Tablet Practice #2

I was doing a sweet (well as sweet as I can get atm) Hansel and Grettal painting inspired by the Brothers Grimm movie, and PS crashed and I lost it all.  CURSE YOU, PHOTOSHOP!  and curse me for not saving.

SO anyway, this is what I resorted to after the crash.  Still trying to figure out the smooth blending and trying to get a steadier hand whilst drawing.  

I think for awhile I shall continue to work in monochromatic palettes...

tablet practice #1

Ok, so I've decided to grit my teeth and try the tablet again.  I tend to be super hard on myself, so I put it away a few months ago because I got fed up with failing!  Recently I've been watching a lot of tutorials and decided I just need to practice practice practice.  

SO I will be doing something almost every day to see if I can get the feel of this thing.  I've done some digital paintings that turned out pretty well, but i had hit a slump and wanted to call it quits.

"Go Green" Assaulted me!

Ok, I honestly have no problem with recycling and all that good stuff.  However i find it disgusting how literally everywhere and everything says "go green" on it.  I was sitting there, and all at once it was on the radio, in a magazine, on the internet and ti had just watched several adds on TV.  

It's somewhat humorous how so many companies are jumping on this bandwagon when they haven't changed a dang thing about the way they do business, except maybe stop using stickies.

/rant off.  (cuz I could go all day)

So this was a project where we had to create stencils in illustrator, and bring them in and "spray" them on to a wall or object, and then make it look like it was really on it.  I had a lot of fun.  There are areas where I can see some detail work that needs to be done, and some tweakage, but for the most part I'm pretty happy with it!

A Pungent of Sasquatch

A project in my graphic design tools class.  This was based off of a book called A Filth of Starlings, by Patrick George.  Here is a link to his book!  it is definitely a cool book.

Basically the idea is to make a fun image out of animal group names.  I chose a "pungent of Sasquatch".

this image is how it would look like in Patrick's book.  On one side is the image, and on the other an explanation and a silhouette.  Swell stuff indeed.

Chairs, Tires, and Red

This is another Pic I took in Adrian OR.  inside an old abandoned building.  I loved the Deep red and the Blue hues on the walls.  Also the composition was interesting!

I've been interested in high conrasty stuff lately.

Chrissy watching Toy Story

My wife falling asleep (as usual) watching a movie.  This time it happened to be Toy Story.

She kept moving!!  so i decided to make the continuous contour feel around the..well, contour. 

the buttons on the couch were off, so instead of leaving them be I just did more around them, which makes it look awkward, but its just a sketch, right?

USCG Collage

A collage I did for my cousin's husband serving in the Coast Guard.  He requested this to place with a resume.  This was pretty fun to do, and has been a LONG time since I had done one of these.  Thanks for the refresher :P

The challenges on this one were that I didn't have really great resolution on the photos that were sent to me.  I think it turned out pretty well anyway.

Daniela Uhlig - "Unfair"

Another very cool tutorial with some good tips!

Mike t artworks

I found a Tutorial over at 3dtotal.com that I thought was amazing.  There are TONS of great tutorials in there to dig around in.

Vandelay Design

Wow I stumbled upon a seriously cool website that deals mostly in Photoshop.  They do everything from Photo effects / retouching, to movie poster tutorials, vector image tutorials, and all around cool effects.  very good tutorials.  I just don't know where to spend my time!!!!


THIS is one of my favorite ones.  absolutely awesome.

Turkey Tutorial

A turkey I did following a video tutorial HERE . It's quite a bit different, but hey, why would I want to completely copy hers, right?!  I learned a lot, and have a TON left still to learn.  I never really did much in Illustrator as I learned most everything in PS.

Neon Luv

A wedding photo taken about a year and a half ago.  It's funny to those who know better because these roles are very much the reverse.  Done in Photoshop, and sad because I don't know how to flatten the image and convert it to CMYK without losing the effects from the layer style.

Discarded

Found this old briefcase.  Wonder what is inside?

found during my photo treasure hunt in Adrian, OR.

Faded Paint

Another building in Adrian, Oregon.  This was a building that had faded paint on it that I just HAD to photograph.

Adrian Market

The Adrian Market in Adrian, Oregon

My Dad and I stopped in to take photographs of this sleepy town.  It was a really fun time.  I still have a ton to learn about taking photographs and also about HDR.  I know it doesn't look real but I just love this effect.

Ben and the concrete mixer

This is my friend Ben.  We were at a Father and Son's outing on friday and saturday at a dam in Oregon.  I was playing with my dad's camera and decided to try some HDR stuff on CS5.  I love the textures that it brings out as well as the colors.

This is an old concrete mixer close to the dam.

Dream to Reality

Another project in my drawing class.  This one was supposed to deal with a dream.  When I was a kid I slept on the top bunk.  One night I had a dream that I was falling from a cliff.  I hit the ground and woke up laying on the floor!

Anthropomorphic Me

This is a project in my Drawing class.  ink, tempera, and charcoal

Body Part collage

Another charcoal illustration that I did for my drawing class.

Neat-O

http://www.addictinggames.com/fireboyandwatergirl.html

pretty fun controlling 2 things at once.  goody!  another time-waster!

The Great Christmas tree chopping of '08

Friends Jed and Shelly went with My wife and I above Idaho City to find our own Christmas Trees, and this is a picture I did SUPER fast as a joke for them. Funny after the computer crash of 08 I thought I had lost this pearl of a memory. I found it on a CD I had burned. Huzzah!

I have to mention that I took the body of the abominable snowman from the christmas claymation cartoons from when I was a youngin.

Ryan Jones!

One of my favorite artists, Ryan Jones, who created Sam and Max, and did tons of work on the Monkey Island game has a blog!!!! alas, it doesn't have a "follow" option.  So I shall sneakily place his blog link HERE

Muahaha.

Josh and Hailey the Pirates!

My Brother and Sister in law, Josh and Hailey as pirates.  Took about 6 months because I neglected it.  Finally good to have it done!

actually not done...it's a work in progress, but I no longer have the programs to finish it... until then...

Childrens Illustrations flier

A flier for an illustration job emphasizing children's books. We were not supposed to use any computer programs at all. so scissors and glue were it

Trick Or Treat

I did this as a greeting card for an illustration company I worked with.  It is done in colored pencil and ink.

Turkey Hunt

Extremely late is the Thanksgiving - themed pic of a Pilgrim on the hunt.  This was submitted to for a calendar contest to Blizzard Entertainment.

It says "Lead Turkey Feed" on his ammo pouch