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!

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!

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

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

Illustration Friday: That's "Nature" For Ya!

This week's Illustration Friday topic is "Nature". While I was trying to think of an idea for the painting several different possiblitlies came across my mind; like someone taking a walk in the forest, or some kids gathered around a campfire telling ghost stories, or even Poison Ivy from Batman surrounded by plants and shrubs. 

All of those ideas seemed like the obvious route then this one hit me...

 I was on the phone speaking with a client and I randomly drew this quick sketch of two birds perched on a tree with a hawk in the background swooping in on them. Almost immediately this joke popped in to my mind; "The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese." Boom, now I had an idea to run with... The circle of life and a little karma mixed in. 

Here we have Thomas (green bird ) getting his worm snatched away by Nathaniel (red bird) who is unaware of his impending doom. 

Down below is the original sketch drawn on copy paper with a blue mechanical pencil and the rest was painted digitally in Photoshop CS6 on a Wacom 24 HD Cintiq. 

Have a great week everyone!

 Original Sketch

 Value Block-In

 Color Ruff

Final Painting

TMNT... Raphael!!!

Raphael

Rough Sketch

Refined Sketch

Value Painting

Final Painting

A good friend of mine, Micah Larsen, works for a local museum called The Leonardo. He is the supervisor over the digital commons area. This is a really neat part of the museum that focusses on digital mediums such as video, animation and art.

 Looking to feature some digital artwork at the museum, Micah thought it would be fun to showcase some of the artist from Utah Valley University. He contacted Don Seegmiller and they worked out a theme and set a date for submissions. The theme surprisingly was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Any of you who have taken classes from Don, know why we were all shocked.

For my submission I wanted to paint my personal favorite ninja turtle, Raphael. I've also included a few progress images so you can see how this painting was created. This was made100% in Photoshop CS6 from the sketch to final painting.

Sad Simon

This is my first painting of the semester. It was for Will Terry's Children's Book Illustration class, which I'm taking for a second time. The assignment was to illustrate an emotion along side a given narrative. 

As usual I had a lot of fun with this project. I loved designing the characters but, I struggled with the overall layout and the background. With help from Will and some other friends I was able to get it somewhat passable. You win some and you lose some. The biggest thing that learned is that I really need to do more environmental  studies!

Till next time! 

I am Iron Man!

Hey everyone out there in cyber space! I'm really excited to share another painting with all of you! For my latest project I'm continuing with the superhero caricature theme for my table at the Salt Lake Comic Con. This week's subject is...The Invincible Iron Man!

I've been a big Iron Man fan for a long time now. I love the movies and the comics, especially Adi Granov's work on the graphic novel Iron Man: Extremis.

Like last week's Thor painting, I had  a lot fun working on ole' Shell Head's armor. In particular the scratches and the arc reactor on his chest. It takes forever but, I really enjoy zooming in and painting some of these little details!

Also, for your viewing pleasure, I've included step by step process shots for each stage of this painting. Hope you enjoy it!

Now it's time to get back to work!

Darth Maul Sketch

I've been home sick this weekend with the stomach flu. My wife and son are sick as well, so we have been having a movie marathon. Can you guess what movie we watched when I drew this? (colored pencil, ink and marker on toned paper)