DIARY OF A MAD ART HOBO

Back from Hawaii, and then there's Fox

2010-10-03T10:36:00.001-07:00

Yeah, I finally took that long awaited trip to Hawaii, yay, though I went mostly for my dear uncle's funeral, but still I got chance to get a taste of the lovely island of Oahu. Didn't nearly get to see all that it had to offer, but it was good enough, and perhaps I will go there again one day.

And the first thing to do after getting back from the sun and sands (and pineapples :P ) is to finish up with Mr. Fox here. Just a little paintover on the bg so it would go more with the rest of the picture which you can see is very painterly not so crisp and clean. I like things to be sketchy and painterly, not so ultra smooth or realistic. I mean, if you want a totally ultra realistic look to your art, why not just get into photography?

As always I can't say I'm finished, I'm sure I'll find something later to rework on. Meantime though I'm gonna have to finally wrap up all this fan art stuff for a while and focus on something else. I have quite a few in mind, but oh so little time and energy. I'll keep u posted on my future dream projects, that is if there's anyone who's even following this blog. ^^;

Ciao, or rather this time, Aloha! :)

Fox Update 2

2010-09-14T19:41:00.001-07:00

Latest update:

Bunch of work done of BG (got a Britain flag image and manipulated it to kingdom come, as u can see) as well as that famous emblem on Fox's shirt. I hand-made it in Illustrator. Almost there, I think.

Picked up Linkin Park's new CD, A THOUSAND SUNS. As luck would have it Best Buy was selling it for 10 bucks!

In other news I finally got copy of ASSASSINS CREED 2 for PC, only to learn it doesn't work on my laptop, I don't have the right video card. And I cannot return it because the package is opened. >_< So now it's just sitting in the corner of the room collecting dust, and I'm debating whether I'll get a new laptop that's highly capable of playing the game (yeah, like I'm gonna really spend another $900 bucks just to play some game. Hmmm.....)

Later...

FOXY Update

2010-09-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

I've added color on a new layer with Blending Mode set to Multiply, duplicated the color layer and set the blending Mode to Overlay which I then set the transparency to about 50%. Then I flattened it and started the paintover. *Even when I paint over on new layer I don't keep too many layers as they can hamper with the overall process, and over time you lose track of what layer is what (especially since I don't properly label the layers hehe), I flatten it after a while and then add another layer to paint over on, and repeat. In terms of color selection I just sample it off the canvas (alt+click while on Brush tool turns into Eyedropper tool). I've also ran some Liquify on the face so if you compare this to the one in the last entry you can see some difference.
More work needs to be done of course. Will be back with more.

Ciao...

Introducing...STEVE FOX!

2010-09-07T14:31:00.000-07:00

So I finished with Senor Miguel, next up-Steve Fox, a British boxer with a rather strange past and relations. Don't want to go too deep into the nitty bitty details, you want to know just Google him, mate!

First up, the sketch. NOTE: It's important to know how to draw and sketch with good old fashioned pencil on a piece of paper. No matter how good a technology can imitate the techniques, the computer is just a tool, not a replacement to make you a better artist. Tradition in the arts go deep deep deep, so don't be tempted to throw away those brushes and pencils. I am appalled by some artists who claim they don't know how to draw in pencil on paper anymore. Don't let that happen to you as well.

I scanned the pic onto Photoshop, and I decided the change the position of that thrusting fist. I gather some nice ref pics and draw over that fist, cleaning up some unnecessary markings around the canvas as well:

Now that I'm satisfied with the final look, I take up new layer, overlay with shade of grey and start painting in the shadows. I already know where the light sources will be positioned, and I kinda give a light wash around the figure in the bg so I can define the highlighted area of Mr. Fox better:

I like how it's going so far. Gonna take a little break, I'll be back.

Ciao...

TEKKEN Men's Turn

2010-09-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

September finally rolls in...all settled down, for now.

So I did a reimagining of the ladies of TEKKEN. Now it's time for the men!

This isn't all of it of course, there's plenty more guys to work with. I'll get to them when I get a chance. Men's fashion is pretty tough, because they aren't as versatile as the women's. I've searched through GQ and Barneys New York and DETAILS mags for some ideas. I might probably do another version for the same characters, same goes for the ladies.

Hasta luego...

TEKKEN the Movie: My Thoughts

2010-08-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

So I saw the movie TEKKEN, via Youtube. They got everything on Youtube these days. I normally wouldn't watch movies online, I still believe in the DVDs and movie theaters. I'll most likely see this movie again in its full glory when it comes out on DVD or in theaters, whichever comes first, and I hear the release date for them is now in 2011. Gosh, why does it take so frigging long to release one little movie. Then again AVATAR took ten years. ;)

So to comment on it, I've read lots and lots of hate-comments about the movie, how it doesn't go with the game's original story and how the actors don't look like the characters they are playing, especially the main guy, John Foo, who plays Jin Kazama. Well, me being not a hard-core TEKKEN fan, I didn't expect too much, thanks to my previous experience with this other videogame movie, STREET FIGHTER, back in '94. (I was so hyped to see it when it first came out, then after I finally saw it, I was like, 'What the F--- was that???) Actually, TEKKEN the movie was pretty good. I enjoyed it, despite the occassional buffering bugs and having to click on a new link to see the next part of the clips, not to mention the horrible audio off-syncing (this is why I don't watch movies online, unless I am desperate ;) The movie reminded me of those old '90s action martial arts flick I grew up on, it had that same atmosphere. They've kept the basic premise of the original story at least, but the whole Devil Gene tale has been completely blotted out. Honest to goodness, I tell you, I really don't think that story would've translated well on the screen, and on today's audiences, most of whom I'm sure don't know what TEKKEN is about. These days movies are about grit and realism, look for example BATMAN BEGINS. It's a comic book movie but without all the campy comic-bookish flair that was in the Tim Burton's BATMAN movie back in the late 80's and I liked that version too, it just depends on the time period and era in which we live in. And the recent BATMAN movie was successful because it tried to pit an imaginary character in a more realistic world and show how he/she would react to or be treated in the society, especially in the post-9/11 age when fear and suspicion is all over the air. I would think the Devil Gene concept would probably have worked on film, like ten years ago. Now the audience is pretty mature enough to know what is real and what is remotely unreal.

To all you haters, I have to say, movies and games are different medium. I know the importance of being faithful to the original source, but too much can hamper the filmmakers' and the actors' creativities. And to date, there's like 60 characters in the game, how would u expect to see every one of them on the screen, and for like how long? As the ending showed, there may be possible sequel and they're saving some of those characters for more important roles later. And are you kidding about the characters KUMA and PANDA? You'd want the SPCA suing the film for 'animal cruelty'?

Sure there are some pretty weak spots in the movie, like fight scenes, while pretty cool, are too short and rushed, and I'm glad there wasn't too much gore in it. The costumes, while decent, I have to gripe about few of them, especially Nina Williams', it looks like one of those packaged costumes you'd find at a Halloween store; Raven's outfit would've looked little better if it had been black instead of silvery white. And overall, movie was just too short, at 92 minutes I think they could've gone little longer so the whole plot wouldn't feel so rushed.

Other than that, it is one of the more decent game adapted movies I've seen. I said my thoughts on it, some will agree, some won't but that's the freedom of speech, man. We in America can say whatever we want.

End of Story.

El Fin de Miguel?

2010-08-06T13:09:00.000-07:00

OK I wanna say I'm done with Miguel. In the coming weeks I won't have time to come back here. August is just a busy month, in terms of birthdays, and adding to it some unexpected family emergencies. :( I will probably find something wrong with this final later on, but for now I'm just gonna shut my eyes and say adios amigo!

As u can see, I kept the original position of the left arm, shifted up the lower half of the body, added some effects to look like he's actually punching something, and finally some facial hair to complete the mean brute look. As I said, I'll probably find something wrong later on and fix it, but I leave it as is now.

Have good day! :)

Mas Miguel

2010-08-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

Another pass at good old Miguel. This time I shifted the fist around I think the previous position looked pretty awkward:

Did some shifting with Saturation and Blending modes. I'm having second thoughts about the left arm. More to be done-

TEKKEN Reimagining: the Ladies

2010-08-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

I remember one artist did a whole reimagining of X-Men characters, like putting them out of their skin-tight costumes and in a normal everyday wear, like what would they look like if they were just like normal average joes and janes like us. It was kinda neat, and so it gave me an idea to do one for the Street Fighter characters, I think I have it somewhere on this blog. Well I never quite finished it, and I drifted off to other stuff.
Now just recently I started doing a whole mess of TEKKEN related artwork, and the idea resurfaced. How about I put these lovely ladies in today's latest fashion trends, see how they fare outside of all the fighting and such that they're so used to. So I hit up my sketchbook, and took me less than two hours after midnight with this result:

Maybe I'll include the men, but it might not be as easy as with the ladies because men's fashion don't really have whole lotta variety, it's just basic shirt, pants, jacket, simple stuff. I guess I'll have to take in consideration their personalities and such more deeply. I do have some good ideas for some, but others are little bit challenging.

Keep u updated on that...

Miguel take 2

2010-08-04T09:51:00.001-07:00

Another pass with Miguel.

I did lot more work on the face, so he looks a less like a gorilla now. Some work done on the shirt and pants, man those little ruffles were pain. Since I'm going for a more stylized look it wasn't too bad.

The outstretched arm is giving me headache. I might have to resize that fist as well. And the other arm that's tucked under, that's giving me headache too, I need to see what to do with it.

To be continued-

August Rush

2010-08-01T10:32:00.001-07:00

August is here....time goes so fast. I say that all the time but it does.

I've been really trying to push myself with my painting skills. I've started on a new work, still a fan art based on TEKKEN video game, putting my own touch on it. Starting my series of TEKKEN character art, beginning with MIGUEL CABALLERO ROJO (link). He looks like a matador by the costume, but I guess that was the whole point. Storywise, he is one pissed off Spaniard who's out to avenge the death of his beloved sister, and the one responsible is none other than the new CEO of Mishima Zaibatsu- Jin Kazama. (Since when did Jin become such an asshole?)

As usual I've started with a pencil sketch, using some useful references to get the posing and proportions right. I want to capture the rage in this guy (from what I read, he fights like a mad pit bull, no formal training. Guess it complements his matador design.) I know that his last name ROJO is red in Spanish and CABALLERO can mean number of things: gentleman, horseman, knight. I don't really see any of these in him, given his personality and history, though I'm sure men in Spain are generally nice chivalrous guys. They should have given him a name that means 'Bullfighter' instead:

Now I'm laying down some underpaints and base shadows and highlights. I'm trying to give the whole thing a reddish tone, to complement his name. I'm still at work on this stage, but this is just where I'm at for now:

Still much more to be done, but I'm back to posting my progress works, as I've neglected that for a loooong time. Will keep u posted.

Hasta luego... :)

TEKKEN Art

2010-07-24T18:40:00.000-07:00

I started working on some fan art based on the popular fighting game TEKKEN. Now I don't really follow the game nor have I played much of it (only one I played was 3, had no idea they had up to 6 right now). Unfortunately nearby arcades don't seem to carry the game anymore, it's weird. So I just been reading it up on YouTube and such, they currently have up to 60 characters to date, damn. I done been scribbling away on my sketchpad of some of the well known characters and worked with markers and watercolor, did few digital paints and experimenting with techniques. Here are some few fan arts I've worked on so far, see if you recognize them:

Course there are some more, I need time to upload them. And there are few more i put them up on my Deviantart page (link to the right), I need to reorganize that site it's a pretty big mess. I'm using this as chance to experiment with media and techniques. I'll be sure to share more as I go.

Ciao...

New work

2010-07-13T17:13:00.000-07:00

Man alive, I haven't been here in months!

I got a bunch of drawings piling up in my desk but I've been lazy as usual to post them.

I just finished these two new paintings. One you will recognize, the other is all new.

My favorite original hero, the Dark Avenger. It's a mix of traditional and digital, background is more traditional, using watercolor washes. It's kinda cool how mixing and mashing can produce some nifty results.

This one was actually borrowed from another work (FAISAN, by Carine Grassett, look it up on google) but of course I try not to make too much similarities of it. I saw that painting first time and I thought that's really cool, I'd like to try that, and so here we are. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm gonna call it when I post it on Deviantart, for now it's just FAISAN AFTER GRASSET.

Lately I've been suffering from some creative block, my brain is kinda in D-Mode, but to keep my drawing fingers in tune I did some fan art sketches of another video game favorite, TEKKEN. Well it's not really my favorite, I don't play it that much I think I only played TEKKEN 3 and I had no idea when 6 came out. After hearing that a movie adaptation of it is in the works I started getting into it. I'll bring some sketches to show you one time.

Ciao for now-

My Art Book Collection Pt. 3

2010-04-17T17:50:00.001-07:00

OK Last part:

This guy was one of the primary reasons I got into digital painting back in 2007. He is just awesome, the art is so vibrant and full of energy. I had hard time getting this at all the major bookstores as they were all out of stock, I ventured out so afar and finally did find one, a last one as matter of fact. Patience and perserverance does pay off...

Actually I don't know what the hell I was thinking when I got this book, I guess I just wanted anything related to the magic of movie art. Lo and behold I learn by flipping through the pages that this guy was the genius behind the cult classics 'Clash of the Titans.' I did see the remake this past week and while F/X has come a long way in the 20+ years between these two films I have to say this guy certainly made stop-motion animation and puppets the big thing in the 80s, and still excites some of us movie geeks. And yes I do intend to get the book for the new remake when it comes out.

Well that's my collection of art books. I still intend to keep collecting, I'll share them here from time to time. Meantime I be getting back to the drawing board to share more pictures.

Ciao...

My Art Book Collection Pt. 2

2010-04-10T19:49:00.000-07:00

Continuing on:

For a long time I had not a clue what WATCHMEN was about. When the trailer for the movie came out I took the time to go buy the graphic novel and read it in 3 days. It was really good and totally different from a typical comic book I am used to reading. Now I seen the movie, I say they did pretty good job of keeping it close to the source but some parts could've been better and some parts didn't really NEED to be emphasized (e.g. the now notorious Owl Ship scene, if you know what I mean). The behind the scene book above showed just how much time and effort and dedication the staff put into bringing the book to life on the big screen.

Ah, the infamous MATRIX series. The first one really was a kicker, it was totally out of the world, and I was a big fan. Until the two sequels came out, and the magic was lost. Some really cool storyboards and concept art though.

Just like WATCHMEN I had no clue about Frank Miller's epic noir classic. I actually saw the movie first, and I read the comics. Loved the visuals and the cinematics, it looks like an animated version of the original comic.

I remember reading this back in high school ( I think pretty much everyone has.) I know there are few other film adaptations of this Old English epic but I heard it was horrible so I never looked at it. This one was actually cool, the CG was some of most impressive I've ever seen in all CG animations.

Ah the lovable panda doing kung-fu. I had such a kick a good time watching this. I loved the concept art and I'm sure when you open this book you will too. Perfect for would-be animators in training.

TBC...

2010-04-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

OK the server is working so here we go:

This is probably one of the first books I got off of eBay. I used to be into comics back in high school but I fell out of it by the end. Some guy in art class back in '05 had this and I took one look and I wanted one for myself. Some really cool realistic hand-painted comic art by classically trained artist Alex Ross, it's definitely a must have for good reference on color and anatomy, I mean this guy does it all.

Perhaps a nice follow up to the previous book, this goes behind the scenes of the newly rebooted SUPERMAN movie. Some real cool concept artwork in there. Though I'm embarrassed to say I didn't watch the movie at all ( I heard it wasn't very good though). ^^;

Another behind the scenes of the smash hit 300. I also have the comic book, which I read before seeing the movie. I say they remained pretty faithful to the original. Frank Miller was sure proud.

I'm not a huge fan of the STAR WARS universe, at least not enough to name my son Anakin Skywalker ( I'm not even married anyway, but I still wouldn't). But I really loved the costumes, especially in the prequels, which drew me into spending a whopping 70 bucks at B&N for this book. If you are into costuming you should have this.

TBC...

My Art Book Collection Pt. 1

2010-04-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

How long has it been since my last post? Too long I say. And I haven't even done much drawings either since the last entry. I still have bunch of Ezio pics left unfinished in the bin, soon though when I'm not so lazy I'll finish them, and finish some other pics I've started along the way, and put them up here.

For now though I want to share some of my 'collection' of these nifty art books I've collected over the span of five years. I'm always looking for any cool art book to browse through and use as inspirations. And whenever I see a cool movie I want to see the behind the scenes of it, and I go buy it, though nowadays I don't have a whole lotta $$ to shop around like I used to. Yes, I like shopping too, but instead of clothes and makeup I choose books and art stuff. I recently bought a Lady Gaga CD and listening to it right now, it's actually pretty good. Tell you, I hadn't even heard of the name until just several months ago! I've seen some of her videos and boy are they crazy or what, it's like Madonna or David Bowie, but I like when artists go beyond the conform line to express themselves, whether through the paintbrush or the pop tunes.

Anyway enough of that, starting off my show, in no particular order of when I bought them (cause I don't remember):

Unfortunately though the server is being a bitch and not wanting to put any pictures here. I guess I'll have to try again later. Sorry-

Some more Ezio...

2010-02-12T16:51:00.000-08:00

Yeah, since I've quit trying to do art for somebody else and do more for myself I never felt so relaxed and happy, but at the same time I'm not finding the time to post as often as I used to here. This past few weeks I've just been focusing on one subject in particular: Ezio Auditore from the video game ASSASSIN'S CREED 2:Just some simple pencil work. Nothing still beats the good old pencil. I'm also doing more watercolor stuff. Of course I still paint in Photoshop from time to time, I still have work on that HOTD comic after all. I'm currently taking 3D class and hope in time I'll finally open up that Blender program that's just sitting here on my comp and draw up some 3D figures.

Ciao...

Finally some drawing post - Fan Art

2010-01-23T22:09:00.001-08:00

My first drawing post of the new year is...a fan art.

Turned to traditional media for this one. These are based on the new video game ASSASSINS CREED 2:

I haven't played the game yet, I'm waiting for it to come out on PC in March. I guess what was fascinating is it takes place in the Italian Renaissance, which was one of my favorite subjects back in art history classes. And I really like the in-depth character developments that goes on in the game, which is you don't see too much of in other games. I would like to do some more drawings of these and possibly some digital painting of it too.

Ciao-

HAPPY NEW YEAR!...WELL, sort of

2010-01-21T19:01:00.000-08:00

Man alive, I've neglected this blog for oh so long. Holidays tend to keep you on your toes there's no time for yourself. Now that 2009 has passed and the big 1-0 has rolled in it's time to start anew. Speaking of which I've been doing a lot, I mean, A LOT, of self-evaluation and I've come to make some tough decisions about where the rest of my life is gonna be headed. So far the past 30 years has not been, well, so brilliant, and I've noted some big ass mistakes and wrong turns that has led me to where I am now, in a dump. I no longer have the liberties I've long enjoyed in my twenties, not to mention opportunities, and I have only so little time to try to take the detour back on track. That does, of course, require some sacrifices, most I don't like but I know it will only drag me down in the long run if I don't let go. I have to set some realistic short-term goals first that will hopefully lead me back to the original goals, and really really work at it. As I said, I'm no longer fresh out of the sea, I have to get back on the right track.
But that doesn't mean I'll be abandoning the primary objective of this blog all the way. I'll still have some time to put up new sketches and artwork, it is in my blood to always be creating, you know. Keep on the lookout, there will be new stuff coming this way soon, now that the busy part of the holiday season is done.

Ciao...

New Sketches

2009-11-09T12:29:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last entry. Halloween and boring relatives has kept the house pretty cooped up for the last couple of weeks. I finally have a free room to work again, though it's still not my own room, I don't know how long they're going to stay but I can't wait to get my room back!
I was pretty disappointed with the way the last painting turned out, I kinda took a break away from the Wacom and turned to more traditional mode of art: sketching. There's nothing more soothing than simple black and white lines.
The following are series of character reimagining sketches of your favorite video game STREET FIGHTER. I got the idea from artist Marko Djurdjevic who did series of X-MEN revamps (link) and so I took on this new project to give your favorite STREET FIGHTER character a complete makeover, taking into consideration the newest fashion trends and questions like what would these ferocious world warriors be doing when they're not busy beating each other up, I mean fighting isn't their only lifestyle, don't you think?
I'm working merely from memory here, it's been too long since I last played the game, I may have to start fishing on the Net for ref pics of other characters especially the hulky ones like Zangief and DeeJay. Here are the first set of sketches, hope you recognize them. More will be on the way.

Talk about Wasting Time!

2009-10-29T10:08:00.000-07:00

Man I've been so lazy lately. Have to blame the stupid Farmville and Yoville games on Facebook. They're quite addicting, worse than chocolate. Used to play Mafia Wars before but I kept getting killed by all the 'big guys' so I've retreated to something safer like planting cottons and fishing for marlins. ^^;

I have to admit, I gotten pretty good deal of compliments on all my House of the Dead artwork. That's such an underrated game, not quite as big as Resident Evil or Halo, but there's a surprisingly good deal of fanbase for the zombie shooter. I don't even know where to begin on how I ever got started playing the stupid game, but I love it and I don't care what others think of it. That reminds me, I need to start working on more HOTD fan comic, but first I have to milk the cows and skin the sheep!

Reimagining time-

2009-10-17T17:51:00.000-07:00

I was sitting bored stiff at work one day, and then it hit me, how about if I took a popular anime/manga characters and redrew them in more realistic, Westernized form? Now I'd have to choose something very recognizable and nothing too typical of a anime or manga drawing, and I thought of ONE PIECE. Now that used to be my favorite anime to watch a while back and then somewhere along the way I got tired to following it, the fact that it just keeps going and going. Still it's one of my favorites, and without any real ref pics at hand I had to rely on faint memories.

What better way to kill the boredom than expand your creativity and using a popular recognized source for it?

White Gold...

2009-10-15T17:50:00.000-07:00

Today at the shop some dude was looking for some mustache and accessories to go with his White Gold Milk Dude costume. Talk about hilarious (see pic above). That guy always cracked me up.

In other news, what was up with that balloon fiasco in Colorado?! All the scare that the 6-year-old boy might have climbed into it as it was taking off, only to find he was later found hiding in fear inside of the house attic? All I thought for a second there was, the kid was getting the ultimate ride of his life, and it turned out to be a hoax and it's not, and yadayada. But again, how could that balloon have supported the weight of a 6-year-old the way it was floating around? At least it didn't end in the worst possible way.

Well finished that picture in a weekend's worth as promised, but something's not right. I'm not sure what exactly, I'll have to go get some fb.

Need to focus

2009-10-10T17:55:00.000-07:00

Got a lot of plans for my future, but so little time to accomplish them, let along I don't know where to start. I'm so disorganized in the brain I can't think straight sometimes.

Couple days ago was watching 'SOUTH PARK' a new episode that so spoofs 'The Sixth Sense,' only here Kyle little bro Ike is haunted by the ghosts of all the celebrities that have died this year, most notably, Billy Mays (I'll miss that guy's loudness ROFL) and then he gets possessed by none other than the Pop King himself, Michael Jackson (Nooo, that's Ignorant. I'm a white child. Hee-hee ROFLROFL) What cracked me up the most was that after Ike/Michael wins the little miss beauty pageant and Mike's spirit is freed, Ike is standing on the stage in a skimpy bikini, and he looks down at himself and goes, 'Holy $#!@. What the #*&!@ am I wearing??' Seriously, that just cracked me up. Oh man.

Starting on another painting. This was originally for that contest back in September with a theme of Celebration (see the post in the September Archive).

Somewhat of a sci-fi space city having its annual festival with the floats and cheers, and you get the idea. Working in the colors and tones right now, not sure how long it might take, but I plan to finish it all within this weekend.

TBC-

Post-Apocalyptic Scene update

2009-10-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

If you look from the last post you can see a lot has happened since. About a hundred paintovers, some tweaking with Curves, loads and loads of Liquify, and few addendums and this is the result. There's still some more work to be done, but it's coming out good so far, in my opinion, that is.

I've been so hooked on BEJEWELED BLITZ lately on Facebook, it's sucking all the precious time I have left in this world. I'm seeing diamonds and rubies in my sleep. I need help!

Another Month passes-

2009-10-01T12:27:00.000-07:00

Gosh, it's October already? Time to take out that Governator Mask again and scare the lilies out of the little ones, if there are any more left in my neighborhood. Last year it was like only three or four kiddies came calling Trick or Treat, and I was left with a still full bag of chocolates. Don't worry I ate them all, my huge J-Lo behind says it all... ^^;

I got to finishing the Dark Avenger concept picture. The blue in the BG was getting on my nerves so I've toned it down:

Now I've started on another pic, this time a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk type of theme. Started it on Monday and been working on it since for an hour at a time, whenever I have time:

I am trying to do more environmental stuff, and I kinda liked how the BG turned out. Will be doing more of that in the future. Meantime I'm going around asking for FB, I'm sure there's room for improvement.

Later--

Some update - Dark Avenger Character Concept

2009-09-25T18:53:00.000-07:00

Yep, I'm treating this latest Dark Avenger painting like a character concept. I never did a full body shot of him before, and I've made little modification to his weapon of choice the sword. Also I had a wild idea to give him a gun. I guess I was influenced by the Dante character from 'Devil May Cry.'

Some details of my update. Took total of 4 hours (not straight, though, there were looong breaks in between. Heehee):

Detail of the new addition to his weaponry : a Desert Eagle handgun. Note the ref pic next to the painting on the right.

The face was the hardest part, as usual. Trying to make it as realistic as possible (not too Anime-ish).

The overall look after four laborious hours. Yeah I abandoned the whole BG thing, spent so much time on the character I have no more room for the bg. Didn't even know what to put there anyway.

I know, I have to tell you some bit about this guy someday. I have a whole story mapped out around him, but as you know, I'm so lazy. ^^;

Be back later...

Another Dark Avenger Art

2009-09-23T21:12:00.001-07:00

I know I know what you saying, another Dark Avenger art?? Have I lost my mind?

No I haven't. It's just an excuse to make better of my painting skills. After all, all artists have his/her 'muse' and I have mine, so there!

This time I'm doing the full body shot with a full BG. I haven't done any Dark Avenger in full body except in sketchbooks. So now's my chance. Dont' know how long it'll be though.

Keep u posted-

"A Broken Bridge"

2009-09-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

It's strange how it is. You have a head full of ideas and you know exactly what to say or write, but when the time comes to bring it out of the head into paper or computer or mouth, suddenly,

zip, zilch, zap! Either it's all jumbled up like scrambled eggs or nothing comes out at all. Like even now as I'm writing this blog I had good idea of what I wanted to write about, and then, in a minute, I don't remember what it is I want to write about. It's like the bridge between the brain and the fingers or the mouth breaks down right in the middle. Why is that? Brain freeze? Or, perhaps, just the cells in the brain or the nervous system are being fried one by one a day and it can't keep up with all the info that keeps loading in every second. Tis strange, no?

Anyhoo, I've found time to whip up this great piece of HOTD art for the comic, sort of a cover I say:

It's to introduce the new chapter of the HOTD fan comic series. Since it takes place in a post-apocalyptic London I had the torn UK flag included. I had many influences for this piece, mainly the ARMY OF DARKNESS poster and to name other few.

Now I've been asked to convert this into a wallpaper, so I'm working on that, and will post that here too soon. To be continued...

Picking up where I left off-

2009-09-19T21:01:00.000-07:00

You know that being an artist and making a living of it is no walk in the park. It's harder when you cannot find someone to like your art. People are pretty picky, you know. Right now I'm barely making it on a small monthly allowance I get for usual errands and chores around the house and these couple of non-profit projects that I don't know if it's getting anywhere, my future is pretty bleak as it is and if it doesn't get any better by next year, well, I don't want to think about it. All I can do is keep poking around skimming through Craigslist and such until I can find somebody who will accept me, something that's kind of like a handicap to me...

Anyway finally got to finishing this pic:

Now, on to whatever other stuff I've put behind.

Finished Cover Art

2009-09-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

Spiced up the bg with flashes and confettis, and bumped up the colors with Hue/Sat and Col Bal. Shipped it out, end of story.

And as my mind is always hungry for more, I'm off to other endeavors...

Almost There - Cover Art

2009-09-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

Update:

Added in the BG from Illustrator, some more paints here and there along with adjustments to color and Liquify on problem areas. I also changed the scepter to something more simple and not too tacky, and the space lilies in different position than what I originally had in my first sketch. Overally it's looking real dandy. I might be able to finish by this week.

I also went and saw G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA, overall it was just a fun decent mindless entertainment. I don't know too much about the GI Joe universe so there is nothing to be disappointed about the translation from toy to big screen. Personally I only wanted to see the movie for this guy:

If you don't remember he plays Storm Shadow, member of the enemy team Cobra and rival to Joe's Snake Eyes. While I normally don't have many Asian celeb favorites what attracts me about this guys is his smile, everytime you see em you cannot help but smile as well. And even if he isn't smiling it always look like he is (kinda weird but that's my two cents).

Off to other business. Later...

Update: Cover Art Competition

2009-09-03T19:10:00.001-07:00

Some Update. Began painting over the sketch using the usual Hard Round brushes at various sizes. I fixed the raised hand, thanks to my integrated webcam I can get a quickie ref pic on the spot.

TBC...

Nine months past and new project

2009-09-01T12:57:00.001-07:00

It's September and counting down to four more months until another new year to celebrate. But the last several days has been like walking around in an oven; it doesn't help with a recent slew of fires going on in the LA county and you can see the mushroom cloud of smoke filling the sky. I'm just praying for fall to roll over quickly and relieve us all of this humid steaming weather.

I'm also just as busy as ever with school and filling up my portfolio and saving some dough so I can embark on my trek to any conventions I can think of in the next year. I need a job, and I mean, I really need a job. Of course that's on the minds of hundreds of thousands of others out there these days. Man I hate the recession...

Meantime I'm just filling my time with new projects, and the latest one has to do with an online competition. I've finished the last one so there's another one I am going to tackle, it's due in less than three weeks so I need to boost up. This latest competition has to draw upon the theme of 'CELEBRATION' in lieu of an upcoming issue of ImagineFX magazine (see link on the right). They're celebrating the big 5-0 of the mag and the winning entry gets to adorn the front cover of that issue.

I've been giving lot of thought about this one, and here I decided on a concept of a space beauty pageant. And the winning character has somewhat of a 'retro' look, she looks somewhat like Judy Jetson with the hairstyle and all. I felt it's about time I do something more 'sci-fi'-ish than the usual 'fantasy'

I've already blocked in the highlights and shadows and the base colors on a purplish bg. What to put in the bg is still a debate, and what I'm going to do about the bouquet of space lilies I still need to think about it. I got only three weeks left so I better move it.

to be continued...

Long Time no Update!

2009-08-23T16:31:00.001-07:00

Wow it's been 20 days since my last post. Only one post this month??? I've been too busy with other projects and personal stuff outside of my station, including going back to the good old school to try to add more stuff of know-hows for job seeking purposes, not to mention I have now crossed a new milestone in life - 30 years - and sad to say, nothing changed. :( But as I learned today, just keep the faith, not fear and worry, and someday, just someday soon, that door will finally open...

So aside from my 'nonprofit' work from comics to storyboards, I finally got to update the last picture:

Added the textured bg and some intricate details to the costume and hairpiece, not to mention lots and lots of refining to the face. It is coming along nicely. A few more tweaks and I can call it done.

Final to come...

Finished- Secret Agent

2009-08-05T11:44:00.000-07:00

Finally finished with the Secret Agent challenge. Only real change is the rappel hook which I made it wider so it can be seen better. And just few days left to deadline so just in time. And I can go on to other stuff. Now I don't really expect to win anything for this, but at least it can be seen by others. But I'll keep ya updated on how the outcome goes, or you can see it over at CGSociety.Org and look up SECRET AGENT challenge.

Later...

Break time; New painting

2009-07-30T13:36:00.001-07:00

I thought I take a little breather from the Secret Agent painting, and start on something new.

Recently I've been watching a Korean historic drama "Queen Seondeok" and I got tempted to do a drawing based on that. I really liked the ornate designs of their headdresses and pins and a hairpiece that could probably weigh more than their head. So I got playful and decided to draw up some of those things.

Started out with basic monotone sketch, laying down the shadows and highlights.

I then added some color and started painting over, and I tried to fix the facial features with brushes and Liquify tool, but she started to really look funny, it's like Michael Jackson's plastic surgery gone really bad. Luckily I saved a copy of the original.

I brushed in the colors on a separate layer set on Overlay, and mixed various colors and tones. Now then I just got to starting on fixing the crowns and the ornaments.

Looks good so far. Keep updating...

Update yet again

2009-07-28T09:37:00.000-07:00

Two weeks till the Aug. 9 deadline.

Note some changes from the last post. The agent's weapon of choice is now a rappel hook. Seemed more Secret Agent-ish that way. Also added a face to the bikini girl in the BG, noted some areas needed cleanup, like loose marks that needs to be dusted off. Gonna keep working on it as deadline approaches.

Been also trying to nab some more gigs while trying to finish the first ones I have right now, the comics and the storyboards. Not easy, I say, in this crappy economy. Need to consider some other options. Meantime just stick to current schedule.

Be back soon...

Still Another Update

2009-07-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

Characters added and rendered. Still a WIP I'm afraid. There's still less than four weeks before the deadline, but it's moving along nicely, so far. Trying to do a little homage to the classic 007 Bond films, particularly with the blond bikini babe in distress in the bg. Overall BG still needs work as well.

Keep you posted. Roger...

BG Update

2009-07-14T12:01:00.000-07:00

Loads and loads of paintovers here on the original marker sketch. I'm actually quite pleased with how this is turning out. A wee bit more work, but for now I can start throwing in the players.

Keep an eye out...

Update: A new BKG

2009-07-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

I've worked out a new bg, since the first one sucked. This time I drew and rendered it out with marker, all I would have to do is paint over them. It's supposed to be some super electrical conductor, I've seen it in those cheesy old movies I don't know where but it's suppose to create mass havoc on the earth's weather or cause a huge blackout all over the planet. Something a Secret Agent would typically take on.

To be continued...

Some revelation

2009-07-07T08:57:00.001-07:00

Some more work on the bg:

Added some textures and tweaked with Curves and ColorBal, and then I had a revelation: the rocket BLOWS. Rather than waste any more time on something that just isn't working, I'm scrapping it and starting over, on the BG at least. I'm sketching it out now and pretty soon I'll have it scanned into the comp and work on it in a jiffy.

Update

2009-07-04T18:27:00.001-07:00

Here is the BG. Base layout was done all n Illustrator, then some quick paintovers with some tweaking with Curves. So far, okay.

More to come. To keep in tune with the theme of the piece, over and out. -_-

CG Challenge to Go!

2009-07-02T19:08:00.001-07:00

Behold, July is here! Time sure runs fast...

Anyway started working on that SECRET AGENT challenge for CGSociety.Org. I had several ideas, even considered that cool rappel drop Tom Cruise does in MISSION POSSIBLE movie. In the end, I decided to go for a more classic secret spy adventure kind of scenario. Here is the quick sketch:

Hope you understand the situation here. I've already started laying out the bg with Illustrator. Pretty soon I'll be working in the brushwork.

Be back soon...

Update from last post

2009-06-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

Man, I'm becoming lazier and lazier by the minute, don't even put much stuff here anymore.

So I bring the update from last post, that portrait exercise I was doing.

A little more refining on the details, and then thought I try that Lens Blur effect on the gun and the hand. Looks cool, but maybe I blurred it wee bit too much. There will definitely be some do-overs here.

In other news there's another contest from CGSociety, topic is SECRET AGENT. Sounds cool, I think I might try for it.

Time to get back to shape

2009-06-06T17:26:00.000-07:00

Been neglecting my duties since my last entry here. Now that I'm finally settled down time to get back to work!

Starting off with some portraits. Here is my WIP:

More to come...

P.S. TERMINATOR SALVATION was fun. Now can't wait for TRANSFORMERS in June. I wonder if I can find the time to catch STAR TREK soon...

Back

2009-05-22T09:50:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since my last post. Few days after posting the last one this stupid comp of mine started stalling again, so I had to take it over to GeekSquad, and they told me the HDD was defective and needs to be replaced. And this was the comp I just bought barely three months ago, and how did I freakin' end up with the one with a bad HDD?? See, this is my luck. Another slammer was I lost the receipt for it, so unless I find it I'd have to pay an additional $140 to fix the HDD, and I've already spent a good $130 to get the whole OS fixed up, which by the way I thought was a total rip-off, actually I could've done it myself, but being so paranoid about the safety of my laptop and all I thought it best to leave it to the pros to do the job. Well I think it took four trips down to Best Buy and an hour of phone calls to the corporate giant to finally locate that receipt and save this comp, and finally it's back home in my room.

Life can suck sometimes, you know.

I was in the middle of working on another Good-vs.-Evil pic for that contest mentioned in the earlier post, but with all this fiasco I missed the deadline which was two days ago. Oh well I didn't think I would've really finished it in time anyway. Now I've got to hurry and finish this storyboard job and get my stuff back on track, that is if I can get this 'stuff' in order first. I'm a mess.

Later...

Update

2009-05-08T09:29:00.001-07:00

Finished the latest piece, and I admit, I'm not exactly at all pleased with the result. It wasn't really the way I had envisioned, but oh well I can always do another version of it. I'm planning yet another Good vs. Evil pic for the contest, but I'm not sure I'll make it before the deadline...

In other news I've kinda put off my work (storyboards, comics) and my personal stuff for a time being to play the new House of the Dead Overkill game. I've already breezed my way thru the Story Mode, I have one more level to go in the Director's Cut and then I'm going to play thru it all over again this time for high scores. It's a pain on my arm holding up that Wii remote and I admit the first day after playing my arm was pretty sore, but I kept right on playing. Only problem was the scenes are too dark I had hard time making out them zombies (and the birds, they're the worst!) and kept dying needlessly. Also, I have to say, other than the extra sets of zombies to kill in the DC, this is the easiest game I've ever played, and the bosses weren't as difficult to beat as I had expected. But all that aside, being a fan of the House of the Dead series I've really enjoyed this latest installment, I liked the whole Grindhouse-like elements and of course the unforgettable bad-mouthed Issac Washington who makes any other bad-mouthed male game characters look like gentlemen.

Gotta get going. Later-

Another Good vs. Evil pic

2009-05-04T10:07:00.000-07:00

I decided to do another piece for that DA Wacom contest. This one I had in mind to do for long long time but never got around to it. And finally here it is:

Still a WIP, need to work on the BG a bit more. Looks too computerized.

Later...

Upate 2: Finished Art

2009-04-28T07:34:00.001-07:00

Yeah, as you can see, this is the final. I've changed the bg to make it more like a spiked crystal cave entrance, looks better that way. With a lot of paints here and there, and some play with the layers and filters, I think I spent about six hours from last time. I've already shipped it over to DA submission, so let's see how it turns out. You can see the contest and other submissions here. A direct link to my entry along with description can be seen here. Hopefully it makes sense.

Update

2009-04-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

Well here's my new picture, after scrapping the first one. Took almost three hours.

A bit more mystical atmosphere and a bit more action. Still trying to decide what exactly to do with the bg...

More later...

Start Over

2009-04-19T12:09:00.000-07:00

I went working on that last picture for that Wacom contest I mentioned in the last entry, and somehow it just didn't do it for me. After couple of hours of worthless paintovers I decided to toss it in the bin and start from scratch. I think what was missing in the last piece was action, and that's what I'll try to do in the new one.

A little break from the comp and I saw 'CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK' and I actually liked it. I remember when it first came out a lot of reviews trashed it, and I guess that's what turned me away from attempting to rent it before. The story and the actors are not stellar, but I loved the designs, reminds me of Philip Straub, a concept artist I greatly admire (website).

Next time I'll post a progress of my new pic. For now I must be off to church...

Good vs. Evil

2009-04-15T21:29:00.000-07:00

This is for a new contest from Deviantart sponsored by Wacom. Topic: to define the classic Good vs. Evil in any way we the artists can imagine. So, I thought, maybe a battle between an angel and a demon? But with a more Romantic/Gothic flair. And it'll star my favorite Dark Avenger:

Start with rough sketch and then work in the base light/shadows. I've used the Wet Brush and I have to say it's really cool, acts more like natural brush. I have the picture clear in my mind, but it's kinda tough to actually work it out on the screen. It'll take some time before I can really get the vision right the way I want it.

More on it later...Need to finish before May 19 though.

Late post

2009-04-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I didn't do much this past couple of weeks. Had to go up to SF to see sister and new baby. Managed to squeeze in couple of sketchies for the forum:

The second one had to do with some little robot creatures taking on a larger robot foe. I'm sure I could've come up with something better than that, but I was pretty sleepy.

Also, I didn't show you that last Dark Avenger pic I was previously working on. It's finished actually.

Total time it took me to complete this picture...eh, I forgot. Best guesstimate would be about 8 hrs.

Now I need to finish that comic and then some.

A Quick and Dirty Concept Painting

2009-04-04T17:49:00.001-07:00

I tried to do this in little time and effort as possible, just enough to capture the mood and the story of it. You can see the process below:

This after seeing some works by concept artist Dan Milligan (link). He's known for a quick sketchy style that gets results, and while I won't be as nearly good as he is, I want to be able to try and emulate his speed and energy. This is just a start.

Later.

April Already???

2009-04-03T10:19:00.001-07:00

How time flies. The past month has been so hectic with family emergencies I didn't have much time to work on that webcomic or any new paintings. And I hadn't checked in much with the ImagineFX website that I missed out on another one of my pics being named 'Image of the Day.' Just to know I got on it the second time (first time was October of last year with one of my Dark Avenger pics) I guess is enough, but I sure would've liked to see it myself (and save a copy of it to my hard drive). But this morning I opened up and I saw this:

I was one of the Featured Artists of the Day (I circled in yellow), which I was mighty happy with. Hopefully I'll land more IOTD's in the future as I improve my skills, and starting in fall, add some 3D work as well.

Must get back to other stuff...

Movie Saturday

2009-03-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

Last night I saw couple of movies: BLADE RUNNER and LITTLE CHILDREN.

I know it's an old old movie, but BLADE was one of the movies I only heard of by mouth and never got around to seeing it, and finally, after pushing it back and back I got the time out to rent it from a nearby video shop. I loved the design, which was brillantly planned out by artist Syd Mead, and I have to say, it was a movie that was definitely ahead of its time. I think it was made in the eighties or something. The story was somewhat slow and bit confusing, but it does make you think about the science and morale of playing God and creating machines that can think and act like human. And with the advent of cloning and robotics in this present age it leaves me wondering, how long before we can expect to see an actual humanoid walking among us, and when we do, how will we react to it? And how far as science is concerned is going too far when we attempt to recreate life? Will we experience the same thing as God did with Adam and Eve after they disobeyed him and became 'like the image of God'? Oh, and BTW I'd be terrified if I ever ran into someone like Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer).
LITTLE CHILDREN was an entirely different matter. Think DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES but without the ridiculous soap opera plot and the unrealistically beautiful housewives with devious antics. I kinda sympathized with the Kate Winslet character even though adultery is a sin, in a way I also feel confined and tied down in my current situation like she was, and can somewhat understand the decisions she makes. The movie is also about the superficiality of the suburban life and the people that live in it, especially the wives who spend their days gossiping smack about children and others they deemed socially unfit like Ronnie the ex-convict, as if they're living the perfect lives but we can assume they really aren't. I cannot help but give kudos to the actors who aren't afraid to 'bare it all' in front of the audiences, as long as they got the bodies for it (ROFL).

When I was renting LITTLE CHILDREN I was also about to rent MAX PAYNE with it, but the movies at Blockbuster now costs 5 bucks each. 5 bucks! I can rent a newly released movies at a mom-and-pop store for 2 bucks. I only went there because the other store didn't have LC, but yeah. I guess I'll just stick to the good old mom-and-pop types, and go to the other only if necessary, and since they do have lot more selections. Maybe one day I'll rent a game there too.

Update on Last post

2009-03-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

Some update. Did a lot of sketching and fine detailing. Took about 3 hours. Now I must tackle the sword and then do something about that bg. Then comes the harder part: Colors.

TBC-

New Project - Reimagining the Dark Avenger

2009-03-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

I spent a few days scribbling away in my sketchbook and coming up with some new ideas, one of them being reimagining some of my old existing works, such as this one, my favorite Dark Avenger.

Someday I should tell you wee bit about my original dark hero, but right now I got work on the sketch. I got the base layout of the figure, I'm going for a composition known as the Golden Ratio using a Fibonacci Spiral (you position the main focus of a painting in a way the viewer's eyes are trailing in a spiral-like manner to the finish line; I don't fully know the def, so better you just Google it). I'm also trying a different body pose which I haven't tried yet.

Some quick line work with a Hard Round then block in the shape with an underpaint. I'll probably have to take some hard photo ref to get this position just right.

TBC...

More DSG moment

2009-03-22T16:31:00.000-07:00

Topic was: MILITARY ROBOTS, THROUGH THICK DUST, IN FULL RUN TOWARD VIEWER.

I'm not that great with drawing mechanical stuff, as you can see here, though I treated this as more of a speedpainting, done in 30 min flat.

Also I got back the computer running, and I've finished the first page of that HOTD comic that I told you earlier that I had lost when the comp went dead. I'm actually pleased it looks better than the first time.

Until next time...

Technology is a B!@#!!!

2009-03-19T18:51:00.000-07:00

My comp freezes up on me, and I had to end up cleaning out the entire hard drive and spend painstaking hours reinstalling all the nooks and crannies of the system. And the worst part is, I lost all my files from before I had to wipe out everything, including that new HOTD comic. That's what I get for not having backups. Now I have to start all over. That's why I hate technology sometimes; you just can't put your life in its hands.

Daily Sketch Group @ ConceptArt.org

2009-03-12T19:13:00.000-07:00

Yeah, there's this great site dedicated to all things concept art (http://www.conceptart.org/) and I've gone there regularly looking at bunch of inspiring artwork by very talented pro artists. There is a thread in the Forum section that's all about sketch groups. Every day a mod posts a topic and anyone can whip up their magic wands (pencils, brush, wacom, you name it) and conjure up their interpretations of that topic. Well it's been four years and I finally took up the nerve to join one, and so far, it's fun, and I learn quite a lot from it. I've done those challenges over at ImagineFX forums, but this is different; you have to draw something different and new every day, and it's not a competition. Now I can't guarantee I'll be in perfect attendance, but I want to try and make the effort to partake in it as often as possible and hopefully improve my ever volatile drawing skills.

Here are just a couple I've done so far:

And the best part is, I'm not limited to just Wacom and Photoshop, unlike at IFX. I can use whatever medium I darn please, whatever I'm in the mood for. And hopefully I'll be able to conquer my inner fears of venturing into other territories of concept art, namely, environmental and creature designs.

Later...

Street Fighter Galoooooooooree!

2009-03-04T15:59:00.000-08:00

It just so happens there is a poster art contest for a Street Fighter IV that's now out on PS3/XBox (website: http://www.dontpaniconline.com/designbrief/client/streetfighter4). Somehow I just couldn't pass up the opportunity. It's been ten years since I even laid my eyes on any SF related machine in the arcades, but it still takes me back to the good old days of '92 when the whole SF madness started. And those were the good old days of 'smoke' filled arcades with bunch of nerdy and grungy adolescents crowded around the machine and pumping coin after coin trying to see who gets the highest score and whatnots. Hey I think I'll talk about that a little more later.

For now to debrief y'all on what I've been doing the past two weeks now for the contest.

I had several ideas about what I want to work on, but ultimately it was the cool artwork of the Original Seven members of the Justice League of America by artist Alex Ross that drew me to the final work seen above. Here I portray the Original Eight of the SF universe. Started out with meticulous pencil drawing then all the base color and shadow layout done with watercolor, before transferring it over to Photoshop for the finishes. I'm still working on it; the deadline is 22 of this month so I need to hurry.

Time 2 Update!!!

2009-02-24T05:18:00.000-08:00

Yello! It's been 11 days since last post. Was kinda bz, especially the last few days with my sister over from Bay Area and prepping for her baby shower and all that good stuff. It was fun and gave me idea of what my baby shower should look like...wait, what baby shower?? for ME??? That's a laugh. A HUGE laugh.

Anyway I finally finished with Pepper. Got her the much needed nose job and a tummy tuck, just see from the last post to see what I meant by that. It's a pretty big file this time, I was lazy to resize the res:

Finally I can set my sights on that other project that's due in few weeks. Tell u more about that later...

Another Update

2009-02-14T21:27:00.000-08:00

Added some coloring to the skin and overlays on the costume. Did some more liquify to the face and then sprayed some glitters around. Finished off with Unsharp Mask, and well, I'm not quite done yet.

Now that I see it, her belly button looks funny...

Pepper Project 4

2009-02-11T22:24:00.000-08:00

Another update. Three more hours from last time:

Did a lot of tinkering with Curves and Color Balance, as well as some Liquify to fix that face, man the face always stumps me. The costumes look all right, looks little dull in some places still, have to deal with that. Had bit of trouble with the accessories part for a while, but I think I finally got it the way I want it to.

I think I'll give it a little break for a while. Gonna read the latest issue of IFX that just arrived today. Later...

Take Two - Pepper Project

2009-02-11T16:06:00.000-08:00

Update after two hours:

Coming along all right.

Check back soon!

Continued - Pepper Project

2009-02-10T15:57:00.000-08:00

First WIP:

For now just working on the base light/shadow and trying to get the final put on the proportions and such, before adding color.

TBC...

New project for 2009

2009-02-08T16:23:00.000-08:00

Starting on my first project for the new year:

This was inspired by the Pepper Project competition which I found out a year too late, but doesn't mean I can't do anything about it. This is my rough of it, and I've already laid down the underpaints. We'll see how this goes.

Keep ya posted!

The Wii Sensation

2009-02-07T16:02:00.000-08:00

Last Christmas we kids bought out parents a Nintendo Wii with Wii FIT to help them get and stay in shape. Not so much Mom, but Dad's getting a really bad case of the Muffin Top (I made that up to refer to the oversized belly) and we the kids went thru a lot of trouble trying to find the Wii cause they keep selling out like hotcakes. Especially the Wii Board which we didn't get until a month after Christmas. Well needless to say the parents don't seem to be too into it and the poor machine has just been sitting in the corner of the TV stand for quite a while. Finally this week I took it upon myself to give the Wii a much needed activity. I set a goal to myself to do the fine workout on the FIT for the entire month of February to try and lose some of these awful fat in my body. So far it's going well, just went thru one week. And I also took advantage of the Mii Character Creation feature, and made a Mii of myself here:

Isn't she cute?? Now I'll see if I can try and make the rest of my family into a Mii Family.

It's Official: The Mad Art Hobo is BACK!

2009-02-04T10:24:00.000-08:00

I finally got my Photoshop up and running, now I can continue!

But first I have to take care of that one business where I'm being ripped off and left me on cold ice the past few days. I never had to dispute a charge before, but I'm bound to run into that road again sometime in the future so might as well get used to it.

I got a webcam on this computer, and I haven't even used it yet. Question is, when would I need it? I sure ain't gonna be 'baring' it all like all those horny gals do on their Myspace. I got some dignity to preserve here.

I also have to start on that HOTD comic again soon. Right after I get some of my storyboard project on the way...I'm gonna be busy again, and not being paid for it. Woohoo! I don't call myself the Mad Art Hobo for nothing! LOL

Back in Action!

2009-01-31T21:31:00.001-08:00

My lord, what a week.

My laptop crashes and after few days of futile attempts to revive it, I had failed. Yes, I'm no Dr. Frankenstein of computers. Must dispose of the corpse now, while today I have finally found a new one, a DELL Inspiron with Core Duo 2 and yes, the Windows Vista. Much faster and powerful than the old one, I must say. Now must go thru the painstaking process of installing all the softies and trying to remember what the hell I had in my Favorites folder from the previous laptop, yes I suck at backing up my files, but now I will try and do it, if my pea brain will allow it.

Now must get back to rebuilding the body. I shan't be long, you come too. (Quoted from Robert Frost's THE PASTURE.)

Another Marker Fan Art

2009-01-19T18:11:00.001-08:00

My third fan art using markers, this time Talim of SOUL CALIBUR game series.

Gosh I remember playing that game way back since 2000, it was one of my favorite 3D fighter games. Had few favorite characters, Talim being one (she comes out in SC 2). I remember her being cute pigtailed Hindu girl, but don't let her looks fool you once she wields her deadly blade tonfas at you. Now I'm not sure her hair was that blue, but I did it for a friend who's koo koo for blue haired girls. XD

I hadn't played the game since 03 now and I've heard there were two more sequels. Maybe one day I'll look for one and try them out. I however had seen the concept art for the newer games, is it just me or the women's boobs look like pair of footballs? What is it with these geeky game developers and their hopeless fantasies?

Well, actually, I'm a geek too with fantasies, but at least my girls don't have 46EE chests.

Meanwhile trying to look into upgrading my internet experience with a 'web client' Need to ask some people who knows...

Some pics from my SF trip

2009-01-16T19:35:00.000-08:00

OK, enough stalling. I'm gonna talk a bit about my trip to the NorCal.

On the second day we took a long drive from Alameda (where my sister lives) about 90 minutes, to good old Cali capital of Sacramento. I found on the internet a few days before about a place called Crocker Art Museum, and it just happened at that time that they were having the Art of Warner Bros. exhibition, so we were there. It was actually a small nice Old English style building, and the interior was just as amazing. There were plenty to see besides the Warner Bros. stuff (which, unfortunately I don't have pictures of because they don't allow it. Boo) from old European and American paintings to modern art and sculptures.

After that was some trip to the State Capitol. I really liked the interior, looks like the Roman Pantheon. And, yes, this is the office of our The Governator.

Meh, there really wasn't much else to see in the old capital, but the trip was worth it. Next time I'll talk about the historically bizarre house in San Jose, the Winchester House. I got too many pictures to count, let me see what I want to put up here...

Finishing up

2009-01-13T09:47:00.001-08:00

Ok, enough stalling. I worked out the hue/sat and Curves on the bg as well as the contrasts on the fg, and I think it's safe to say it's finished. I will shortly submit this for the EXPOSE 7 and some other places for friendly viewing. Now I can finally move on to other stuff.

What a long weekend...

2009-01-13T01:02:00.000-08:00

I just got back from visiting my sister up in SF Bay area. Was a long wknd but fun. Got to see the Art of Warner Bros. Cartoon exhibit over at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento which was a good 90 min drive from her house. They wouldn't let us take pics of them unfortunately but I got the rest of the museum. Sorry I haven't uploaded them yet along with rest of other pics I took during my weekend up there. Maybe once I'm not too lazy enough to get out that USB cable and plug it up here...

Details to follow.

Some time away from the computer...

2009-01-07T09:13:00.000-08:00

I wanted to take a break away from the comp screen for a bit, and play around with some old tools of mine. I find a box o' Prismacolor markers I had since back in the Long Beach days, and I thought, hey maybe I'll brush up on my pretty much rusted marker drawing skills.

Thought I do some fan art, though it's been a long time since I did any of that. Was not a big enthusiast of copying someone else's creations, not since transferring out of jc in '00. Here are a couple I've done in the past two days:

Though they are both anime characters, I drew them with more Western influence. I've pretty much abandoned the old anime big eyes and pug noses, but if there is ever any need to, I'll still draw them.

Might do more marker art later on. Look out!

Happy 2009!

2009-01-05T00:04:00.000-08:00

Happy New Years everyone who bothers to read this blog! God Bless your souls. :3

Latest update. Spent the last few days from last update. More details to the lizzie and the heroine, and the bg:

Got some fb from an online forum and did some adjustments to the figures and tinkered with the hue/sat and stuff like that. I hope I can really polish this piece in time to submit it to the upcoming EXPOSE 7 book from Ballistic. I really hope I can get into one of those books this year.

tbc...

Eve of new year

2008-12-31T21:38:00.001-08:00

Wow, the year has gone by so fast...

I still haven't gotten my resolution figured out, though. Too much to think about. Still pretty uncertain about my future, but I have to hold on to my faith. This year has to be the year something starts happening in my favor.

Anyway some update to my piece. Did some detail work.

Coming along nice, I think. I could still do some work on the monster.

TBC. C U next year, in about 3 hours...

Christmas woes and more WIP

2008-12-28T20:02:00.000-08:00

Well this Christmas was pretty interesting.

My sis and bro-n-law had come down from Norcal for the wknd and on Thurs (Christmas) there was a big family gathering that included my aunt and uncle with their Chinese friends. Well they decided to have the dinner at some Chinese restaurant in Monterey Park, and let's just say, if I ever went to China I think I prefer to eat at McDonalds. @_@
After Christmas we spent all day up at Cabazon and two big fat buffet meals at the Morongo and later to Pechanga. Came back with sick stomach and sour mood after having blown off big fat dough on the damn slot machines.
As if I didn't learn from the previous night Saturday we go out to Fogo de Chao, the infamous Brazilian BBQ joint in Beverly Hills. Having not eaten anything since breakfast I had planned to really pig out all night, only I ended up with another sick belly. Bleh...

Anyway it's finally settled down after such hectic weekend. Now I can sit down and continue my work. Some update here:

Added some textures to the tree trunks and the big lizard. Now I've bumped up the dpi and started adding the necessary details, starting with the bg. Will get more to it later.

Not sure what to look forward to in the New Year. Have to think about that. TBC...

More work

2008-12-21T20:41:00.000-08:00

So tonight for dinner I prepared me a casserole, Korean style: ramen, dumplings, eggs, pork bacon, chili peppers, shrimp, and mushrooms. I know that's a lot of stuff; I call it 'The Hobo Stew' because in the old days the poor didn't have lavish dishes like the rich do, they just mixed a whole mess of stuff together. I'm pretty stuffed, and I'm continuing my work. After almost two hours, I got in the base details:

Now you can kinda see the images coming together and you can see what the situation is. Still have little more to do before I bump up the dpi and put in a whole mess of details and refinements.

Currently watching "The Hulk" the old one by Ang Lee. I can kinda see why it didn't do too well; though it had some depth that the newer one didn't have. And Jennifer Connelly made a better Betty Ross than Liv Tyler, imo. No offense, I like Liv also.

TBC, again...

update...

2008-12-21T10:32:00.001-08:00

Spent 30 min. Got the base shapes and color down.

I'm a bit nervous moving on with the next stage: background. I've never done a forest scene before and I'm sure to have lot of hard times getting the trees and the leaves down. But as they say, never be afraid to do something new and master it. So I'll just give it a go, after a few drinks maybe. ROFL.

TBC...

New project

2008-12-18T18:59:00.000-08:00

Started up another piece. This sketch was done in less than half an hour:

Another action-oriented piece, this time trying to incorporate some creature into the scene, which until now I have not done. I'm gathering a whole mess of ref pics for this creature, which will be modeled after a mighty Komodo Dragon. Now let's see how long this will take to finish...lol

Another Koi Painting

2008-12-18T01:30:00.000-08:00

Here's a glimpse of me at work on yet another Koi painting. I've gotten fair amount of requests for them, they seem to be popular these days. Who knew people loved them fishies!

As I can't yet afford my own studio, I must settle for an outdoor patio for my working space.

My tools of the trade. Some of the oil paints and brushes I had for more than ten years!

I'm working on the underpaints

All the underpaints are done, I have base idea of which colors goes where and such. Will be posting more progress in a while.

Ciao...

Finished Christmas Card

2008-12-16T20:36:00.000-08:00

Merry Un-Dead Christmas!

Nuff Said

Back to old school - Oil Painting

2008-12-16T20:13:00.000-08:00

Yes, yes I remember I said I was going to post some oil paints up here, but I kept putting it off and off and...you get the idea. Now, finally, I am.

The first of numerous Koi paintings. I had gone down to this Japanese Garden at my former college, and they had a real nice Koi pond which I took a bunch of pictures of. Somehow I got the idea to paint out of them, and I had this old block of wood sitting in the garage, and I thought, why not give it a try. I've been working on the standard canvas most of this time, so the wood was a challenge. I was trying to go for Van Gogh-esque Post-Impressionistic style, which has always appealed to me, and you could somewhat see it in my digital paintings. I had to get custom framing for this because of the odd size of the panel, cost me nearly $400 bucks man.

This was painted way earlier before the Koi. There was a garden park near my old college which had bunch of different styles of gardens. I particularly liked this one, because it gives a sense of mystery of what could we see on the other side of this road. This was also done on wood.

Yup, after seeing my first Koi painting hanging in full glory on the wall of the family room I got couple of requests for large-scale Kois. This was if I remember correctly a 36x48 canvas. I like the vibrancy of the colors in this one. I had done another one similar but that one wasn't as good and as populated as this, and I had already sent it off before I could take pictures, so boo.

I had a bunch of paint leftover on my palette, and rather than wipe them all off with newspaper and toss it into the trash I wanted to make the most out of them. This turned out to be a speedpainting done in an hour ona 5x5 canvas, a self-portrait. I don't know why this picture came out as a portrait, and there is no picture rotate feature on this blog.

Yeah, every now and then I like to take a break away from the computer and turn to the old-fashioned way of making art. It's also better to be handy both digitally and traditionally. Now I'm working on yet another Koi painting on request, it'll be a housewarming and a late late birthday present to my sister. I'm also looking into rekindling my old love for watercolor and printmaking, and maybe even submit some stuff to local galleries. I'll keep u posted about that.

Later...

HOTD Webcomic part deux!

2008-12-15T10:27:00.001-08:00

After much delays I finally managed to finish Part 2 of the HOTD comic. Lettering was all done in Illustrator by me. Yes, I'm a one-woman band!

Won't spoil too much of it, the full comic will soon be up on stconline.co.uk. But first, man I have to hurry and finish that Christmas card.

HOTD Christmas cont.

2008-12-11T19:18:00.001-08:00

I hardly have time to post anything here this month. I've been pretty booked on all these projects. But at least I finally got the comic done, which will be up sometime next week.

Some update to the Christmas card:

Some more brushwork and I should be able to send this off to the editor by end of this week. whew.

HOTD Christmas

2008-12-08T12:20:00.000-08:00

Feeling better now. I'm getting pretty busy.

I've started on a HOTD based christmas card. Hope it's a hit.

The little kid on the left is suppose to say "Santa, there's something different about you..."
Yeah, he's a zombie, kiddo!

El finito???

2008-11-24T21:54:00.001-08:00

I think I am about reached the final point of this painting. Did everything I could think of to make the overall comp work. Who knows, when my brain's loosed up again I'll work on it a bit more.

Still working on that HOTD comic. Got three of them done so far. Still have to draw and ink out the last three, and they are the toughest. Sheesh.

Update 3

2008-11-22T21:11:00.001-08:00

Did some more work to the painting, did some Col Bal and Curves as well as work on the flames, so it looks like it's really coming from somewhere (like, off-screen). I also tried working a bit more on the face and added the tattoo, but I might have a change about that.

In other news, I'm trying for this coloring book project, it's a bio, which means I can't mess up on the main character, he has to look exactly as he appears. Which is kinda hard considering I never had to anything like that, drawing from a real living breathing person. But hey if I want to stay on the job I gotta be able to draw anything, real or fake. I'm also pretty behind my second issue of the HOTD comic, I really need to get rolling.

TBC...

More update

2008-11-18T16:24:00.001-08:00

I had some comments about the bg not having enough depth and that the overall tone is too monochromatic giving the whole piece a flat look, among few other details, so I reworked them over new layers. I also saw to fixing that back left arm which I felt from the beginning was pretty way off. I know I still got more stuff to deal with, but for now it's looking better. I'm still trying to see how to develop the flames. Also I had some pretty funny comments about the mustache and the eyebrow, I gotta think about that too.

TBC... :p

Update 2

2008-11-14T13:51:00.000-08:00

Another three hours plus and this is where I'm at right now. Did some more detailing on the figure, the sword, and the swirling flames. Made some adjustments to the face with Transform and bit of Liquify, kept in check with ref pic for the anatomical issues. Starting to look real good, in my opinion. I might pass it over to a forum for some crit.

Later.

Continued - Dark Avenger 3

2008-11-13T02:02:00.000-08:00

Update:

Not much happened, added some color layer and worked a bit on the swirling flames. I'm doing some initial detailing while still in low res, once I get the forms and shapes in order, I'll bump it up to 300 dpi and work on it some more.

Stay tuned...

Third Dark Avenger Painting

2008-11-11T21:12:00.000-08:00

I've started up another painting of my favorite dark hero. WIP:

Base drawing done in pencil, then scanned in at low 75 dpi. Applied Variations tool for a maroon line color, then overlayed it with warm brown, because basically my hero is going to be engulfed in fiery blaze, so lots of fires around. Trying to work on the lighting.

TBD

Blah

2008-11-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

No pics to show today, just few really short rants:

1. OBAMA the first black president of the USA. My thoughts: ABOUT &^*#@% TIME. DEEP IMPACT and "24" both predicted it, after all.
2. Looking for more freelance work, but their answers are so slow. Am I doing something wrong?
3. Continuing my current freelance work, no pay. How can I pay my bills with only 12 hrs/wk at the shop???
4. Trying to keep my head high amid economic bombing. We all have bad days.
5. Graduate school. That's the only thing I can look forward to now in these bad times. Hopefully I can get into one with one hell of a financial aid.

THE END.

HOTD Webcomic Finally UP!

2008-10-31T19:15:00.000-07:00

It's Halloweenie time, and the day I've long been waiting for: the release of my newest webcomic House of the Dead: Resurection Men Part One!

Looked pretty good, got some pretty good feedback from the readers. This is going to be a start of something new...!

I just noticed something about my pinup/poster art though. I guess it was fatigue from the long hours I spent at the shop this whole month; my sights have gotten the rest they needed and looking over the finished piece I spotted a few fatal errors I did not note earlier:

-Rogan's outstretched arm with a shotgun was WAY off perspective. The shotgun looks more like a puny water gun.
-From where she's standing, Sophie's head looks too huge.
-What the hell is going on with Lisa's head? She's looking like a Conehead!

Not much I can do now that it's up on the site, but I can still fix it for my portfolio. I make the necessary changes quickly, tweaking the problem parts with the Lasso and Free Transform, and brushing over the cutout lines:
You can see my previous post for the before look and now. It's way better, I think.

For the webcomic, go here.

HOTD Poster cont.

2008-10-27T22:01:00.000-07:00

Some more detailing, fixing the lighting situation, and then played around a bit with some filters. I also noticed some discrepancies in the anatomies (e.g Rogan's head was too big), so I worked on that too. About four hours total in two days, this is the result:

I kinda like how it turned out. I was somewhat thinking of Alex Ross' paintings when I put this together. Sure I can do little more work, but for now I'll just give it a rest.

HOTD Poster cont.

2008-10-26T16:44:00.001-07:00

Continuing with the picture. I block in the base shadow and highlights, set that layer to Hard Light so the highlights wouldn't get lost, and add the colors on another layer set to Multiply.

After I'm satisfied with the whole sketch I flatten everything and start painting over with my customized Hard Rounds. I make new layer and add a Gradient to confirm the lighting position.

I'll use some Curves and Color Bal later after doing some initial detailing. Afterwards I'll blow up the dpi and do some more finer detailing. I'm still wondering what to do about the bg...

Continued...