Illustration Friday: Orange

How's it going out there everyone!? It's been a while since I last posted on the old blog but I thought it would be fin to share with you a recent painting that I created. As some of you know The Illustration Friday website hosts weekly challenges based on topics suggested by artists from around the world. I really like participating in these challenges because it forces you to think and sometimes work outside the box. This weeks topic was Orange. Being a character designer I thought it would be fu to create a lounge singer spokesperson character based on an orange.

Here we have Oscar T. Jones aka OJ not to be confused with a certain former NFL star turned murderer. After a brief stint on the 1968 top 20  list for his popular jazz song : "Orange You Glad its Me" his career, if thats what you want to call it, experienced its share of up and downs. For the past few decades OJ has been found singing in various bars, taverns and state fairs across the country. As luck would have it his popularity picked up and he is currently the headlining act at the Tropicana in the desert oasis of Las Vegas. Ironically, he is also the current spokesman for the Florida juice company Tropicana!

Okay enough goofing around hope you enjoyed this weeks topic. If you have any questions or comments sound off below! Take care everyone!

Throwback Thursday: The Flash!!!

Heres a painting I did a while ago, last august I think. If I had to rank my favorite DC Comics superheros the top three would have to be Superman, Batman and the Flash! I was so stoked when The WB announced that they would be developing a new series based on the Scarlet Speedster! Overall I really liked the show. The first season was a little 90210 for me but man the second season did not not disappoint! I'm really looking forward where they go with season three. This was painted in Photoshop using a Wacom Cintiq

Sketch Dailes: Two-Face!

Quick Two-Face sketch for today's Sketch Dailies theme...

Captain America: Civil War

I saw Captain America: Civil War last night!!! All I have to say is WOW!!! Such a great film. Fun and light hearted while being emotional, dramatic and compelling at the same time. Well done Marvel... Well done! Oh and Spidey was awesome! I think that Marvel finally got him right. 

Painted this Cap vs Ironman MMA piece to celebrate the new film! Can't wait to see it again!!!

King of the Field

Recently I attended a lecture at BYU by the amazing Cory Loftis. He was the Lead character designer on the hit Disney animated film Zootopia! If you haven't seen this film yet you need to drop whatever you'er doing and go see it right now! Everything about this movie is amazing! The design, the color pallet is a pure visual buffet! The story is cute, super funny and teaches a great moral. I loved this movie!

Cory's  lecture was incredible. He was able to show never before seen art and talked a lot about the process of developing compelling stories with believable characters and environments. It really helped me to recharge my batteries and reset me motivation. 

Also, I'm coaching my son's soccer team this season and Thought it would be fun to do a quick Zootopia inspired soccer painting to bring on the season! 

TBT: Rocket Raccoon!

Seeing as it's Throwback Thursday I thought that I'd share a painting that I never posted on here before. I've posted it other places such as Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram. Those outlets are fine and all but the images are small and you can't really see some of the fun details that go into one of these paintings. 

I painted this last year to use as a print for the Salt Lake Comic Con. The sketch below was created using 11x17inch bristle board, prismacolor pencils and Copic markers. The Painting above was made in photo shop using a Wacom Cintiq 24 HD. The sketch served as a really good foundation for the final painting. Not much of the sketch really changed, all I did was enhance it with some extra pixels. If you'd like to pick up a copy you can visit my store.

Batman V Superman!!!

Here's a little something I painted for the new Batman V Superman movie that came out this weekend. I know a lot of people are mad that these two heroes are duking it out. The fact is that they've gone toe to toe numerous times in the comics over their differences of opinions and it all worked out for the best. 

I saw it twice and being a comic book fanboy I picked up a lot of the subtle correlations between the comics and the motion picture that the average movie goer might not. Also, I feel like it was written more for the comic fan in stead of the general public and there's going to be a lot of confusion from those not in the know. 

It's definitely a very dark film and goes to places that most people aren't going to like. Overall I liked it and I'm excited to see where they take the franchise!

The second picture is of my brother and I in the early 80's rock'n our superhero gear!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's day! 

Hazard Hunters

Fire and Electrical Hazard Monster

Slips and Trips Hazard Monster

Falling Objects Hazard Monster

Powered Equipment Hazard Monster

Sharp Objects Hazard Monster

Hazard Hunter: Buck

Hazard Hunter: Viki

What's up everyone one? I thought I'd share my latest work assignment with all of you. As an illustrator, I get asked to work on a lot of really fun projects and this last one is no different.

Recently I was contacted by a client who asked if would be willing to draw up some monsters for a project that he had at work. The project was called Hazard Hunters and my job was to design monsters for potential safety hazards around the warehouse. Also, in addition to the monsters I need to create two Human characters that would be the hunters or wranglers of the hazard monsters.

All in all is was a great project to work on! I mean lets be honest I get to draw monsters for a living!!!  Now on to the next assignment! Take care everyone!

Darkwing Duck: I am the terror that flaps in the night!!!

Yesterday the prompt for Sketch Dailies was none other than Darkwing Duck! I loved that show growing up and had to take a break from my normal Illustration work to paint up a little tribute to my favorite feathered crime fighter! Painted in Adobe Photoshop CS6 using a Wacom Cintiq.

I also included a gouache painting/ study I did last summer of Darkwing Duck as well. Forgive the sloppiness and the tangents this was one of my first attempts using gouache. It's a fun medium for sure I really enjoy painting with it. I'll have to make blog post that features some of my traditional paintings.  

Rest In Peace Goblin King!

Rough Sketch

Anatomy line art

 Rough costume sketch

 Final line art

Color flats

Value and highlight rendering

Final rendering with texture and generic background

 Little tribute painting I did for the late David Bowie. My first real introduction to him was through the movie Labyrinth. I remember when I was a little kid and my cousin brought the movie over when she babysat us one time. I was totally freaked out by the Goblin King and the weird dismembering pink bird creatures. Even though it sacred me half to death I loved every minute of it. Rest in peace Mr. Bowie! 

Made entirely in Photoshop using a Wacom Cintiq 

Final rendering with texture and generic background

Disney Screen Grab Paint overs!

Saturday evening the family and I were watching Disney's The Sword in the Stone, one of my personal favorite animated films. After the movie ended and the kids were all in bed I went in to my studio and thought it would be fun to do a quick paint over of a screen shot from the film. Originally I saw this technique done by the incredibly talented Tyson Murphy. I limited myself to about an hour or so for the over painting.

This exercise was actually a lot of fun and I learned a ton from doing it. I even painted one this morning over a Jungle book screen grab. Honestly the things you can learn from studying other people work is amazing! I think a big part of being a professional artist is the fact that you'er never really done learning. You will spend a lifetime practicing and growing in your respective disciplines. I look forward to doing this again sometime.

I've included the original screen grabs for comparison. Have a great week everyone!

Bing Bong Commission

One of the best parts of being an illustrator is creating fun artwork for a living! I get the opportunity to work for amazing clients all the time. Recently, I had the chance to work for one of my best clients ever, my brother Brad. If you don't know him he is an extremely gifted film maker and animator. He can do things on screen that I only dream of. I'm always inspired by his creativity and thirst for awesomeness! A few weeks ago he commissioned me to paint this painting of Bing Bong from Pixar's Inside Out for his Daughter, Kaylin's 12th birthday!

As usual I had a blast working on this image. For me my digital art never really seems finished until it's printed and ready for display. For this piece I had it printed on a high quality canvas and I'll tell you it turned out amazing! I couldn't be happier with the final version! I took a few photos of my niece with her birthday present with my iPhone but the quality was so so. Happy birthday Kaylin!

Life After Art School!

Last night I had the opportunity to be a guest, along with three of my former classmates from UVU, on Will Terry's youtube vlog. We were interviewed about life before, during, after art school and what we are currently doing professionally.  It was great to catch up with my old friends and talk about the awesome experiences we all had in school! check it out!

Force Friday Star Wars Art Jam: Kylo Ren

 Awesome Art Jam poster Created by RickWilliamson

Mel Milton and Myself

Over the shoulder view of a work in progress

Last week I was invited by the awesome Mel Milton to a Star Wars Art jam celebrating Force Friday and the release of all the new merchandise for the up coming movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens! Rick Williamson, who was putting on the Art Jam, wanted to showcase digital painting so myself and a bunch of other amazing artists packed up our computers, tablets and Cintiq monitors and set up shop at the Reclaim Events Center.

There were a ton of people that stopped by to watch us all work. It's always fun to engage with the public because most of my days are spent working at my studio isolated. Using digital painting tools every day I forget that most people haven't seen digital art being produced. A lot of the spectators didn't know that Photoshop could be used for painting and a most of them had never seen a cintiq monitor before. So it was a real treat and a lot of fun to answer questions and show them how I digitally paint.

For my painting I wanted to paint a character that I had never painted before and with the upcoming Salt Lake Comic Con coming up I thought it would be good to try and get a new print finished to sale at my booth.  I chose the mysterious Kylo Ren  for my subject. Here's a step by step of my start to finish of the Illustration.

In conclusion, I had so much fun at the art jam and made a bunch of new friends can't wait to do the next one!

Rough Sketch

Line Art

Value Painting

Color Glazes

Lightsaber Effects

Background

Snow and motion blurring

Textures and overlays

Final adjustments