Crayon Box of Doom

Oppidum Commons and Depths

2012-01-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

Two more for Oppidum. Details on my Tumblr.

Updates on the Sketchpad as well: Click!

Oppidum

2012-01-02T01:25:00.000-07:00

The two below were a struggle, the one above was a joy.

Funny how that works.

More visual brainstorming for a personal project.

Resurrected

2011-12-04T01:58:00.001-07:00

I'm back ! I promise I'll never leave you again!

Nearly bit off more than I could chew on this one above,

Now I know why I don't usually detail so much ...

A few quick paints from post-it sketches:

Okay, more soon ! Thanks for dropping by !

Thrown to the Wind

2011-07-06T23:39:00.000-06:00

A rejected cover illustration, wish it had ended better but, I don't know ... I still like it.

I've also compiled a raw format of the PSD to Refuge, So if anyone is curious to see the process it has every step used in the final product. Click!

Hopeful

2011-06-26T22:52:00.004-06:00

More work for another unannounced project I was happy to have the chance to work on.

Refuge

2011-06-07T02:01:00.001-06:00

It's not been a slow realization that I haven't truly sat down to do my own work in well over half a year and it's honestly been of great detriment to my life in general. I hope it's all behind me and that you and I will see many more timely updates in the future. Not that I have anything to complain about really.

I'm also doing what I can to be a bit less of a perfectionist, though you wouldn't know it from my sloppy paintings it's a problem that has plagued me from the beginning I suppose. I think even on this painting I agonized over the same square inch of digital canvas for well over an hour just now in an area you will probably never notice. Better to move on to a new painting as I'll forget what it was that bothered me about this one in a day or two.

In the less dramatic and actually rather joyous department:

Gorilla Artfare has released it's first book via CFSL Ink !

GW2 Commmoner's Market and GW2 Risen Cave were both selected to be in the upcoming Spectrum 18 !

Yay !

Nostalgic

2011-03-20T17:51:00.002-06:00

Unused art from an unannounced cancelled project. Though at this point years old, much affinity still remains, even as difficult as it is to look back at one's previous work without some disregard. Some wonderful years spent with wonderful people on a once wonderful project.

A small sampling of the paintings.

Upcoming FuturePoly Online Masterclass

2011-03-20T17:51:00.001-06:00

I'm honored and excited to take part in FuturePoly's upcoming Online Digital Painting Masterclass. My lecture, demonstration and individual critiques will focus on the unique tools and benefits of digital art that help make creation and design easier and more efficient than ever.

It's online so it's available to everyone and I'll personally do my best to make sure it's more than worth the already reasonable price.

Further details:

This is an eight-week online class meeting once a week. Each session will alternate between eight master instructors and feature a unique lecture and painting demonstration. At the end of each lecture, the instructor will announce an assignment that pertains to their demo that week. Students can post their assignments in our forums, receive critiques, interact with classmates, and of course ask questions.

Master Instructors for this course will be:

Daniel Dociu, Chief Art Director, NCsoft North America

Kekai Kotaki, Concept Art Lead, ArenaNet

Richard Anderson, Cinematic Concept Artist, ArenaNet

Horia Dociu, Cinematic Team Lead, ArenaNet

Jason Stokes, Lead Prototype Artist, ArenaNet

Levi Hopkins, Concept Artist, ArenaNet

Thomas Scholes, Freelance Concept Artist

Matthew Barrett, Concept Artist, ArenaNet

Visit http://www.futurepoly.com/online.aspx to view the syllabus and register.

Limited Edition Prints now Available!

2010-11-14T23:01:00.002-07:00

My Etsy Print Shop !

Each print is a limited edition Giclee Print of only 50, 13"x19" with border. Hand-signed and numbered on Hahnemuhle German Etching 310GSM paper. These prints are artist proofed, color corrected and printed on an Epson Pro 3880 with Epson UltraChrome K3 inks. Treat them right and they will outlive you.

Your print is guaranteed to arrive safely and is shipped priority in a protective sleeve between two backing boards in a rigid stay-flat mailer. No shipping tube means no flattening required.

25% of all profit goes to support Seattle's Animal Shelter; www.seattle.gov/animalshelter/

My Etsy Print Shop !

"Doubt"

"Order Upon Chaos"

My Etsy Print Shop !

GW2 Commoner's Market Process PSD

2010-09-18T21:53:00.003-06:00

Download the Layered Process PSD for Photoshop: Click!

I've not shared a process .psd for far too long and felt this might be the perfect image to do just that. You can get a glimpse at some process, technique and how things need to be processed to be animated.

My workshop down below has just about sold-out, so if you were in the area and interested:

Now's the time to sign-up. We can high-five in person if you do!

Been doing my best with weekly updates at The Sketchpad of Doom.

Oh Canada

2010-09-04T13:35:00.000-06:00

Hey Vancouver, I'm coming to town on Oct. 9th to teach a workshop for Daisho.
You can expect to see many different processes, techniques and tools uniquely Digital.

I'd hope to see you there, we can talk about art and maybe even highfive.
Please see here for more information: http://daisho.ca/thomas-scholes
There's only 30 seats, so do hurry if you're interested.

GuildWars 2 GDC China

2010-08-16T18:09:00.002-06:00

Art Director Daniel Dociu has once again traveled around the world spreading the good word of GuildWars2 and just as before he's shared an enormous amount of concept and cinematic work to go with it. Some of my small contribution is below but you can and should view the massive slideshow on ArenaNet's blog here: Click!

Still doing my best with weekly updates at the Sketchpad

Far From

2010-06-07T23:45:00.003-06:00

Just because I told myself I'd update tonight, I suppose I will.
I'll have to come back to this one maybe? Or maybe I will just spend the time elsewhere. Been really hard on myself and my art lately, feels like there is no time to lose.

Can't stop listening to: this
In a perfect world, I'd like to take a break and make music, or sculpt, or write, or cook or make films or get a puppy.

Updates at the Sketchpad

GuildWars 2 GDC 2010 Presentation

2010-05-20T17:52:00.003-06:00

ArenaNet's Art Director Daniel Dociu gave a presentation at this years GDC that featured the art from the many and various artists working on GuildWars 2. Though I've only been here a short time I was honored that a few of my paintings were included.

You can view the presentation in it's entirely here: Click !
To see the art itself in HD you can view ArenaNet's Youtube Channel.
There is a lot of art in there from a lot of great artists, you should check it out.

All images are of course copyright ArenaNet and NcSoft.

The night's catch.

2010-05-06T20:03:00.003-06:00

A quick two from tonight. After finding myself a little burnt out from too many bigger paintings going on at once I've found solace and even joy from doing lots of sketches. I think now may be a stage in which I should focus on studies and experimentation more and more ...

Hope you don't mind me posting studies here, I'm not sure what to think about it but I'd like to share. I'll probably revisit these two when the time comes.

I've had fun lately experimenting with smudge and sharpen if you couldn't tell already.

Livestream

2010-04-20T18:58:00.007-06:00

A quick one that told me it was done.

--
www.livestream.com/tomscholes

I've been broadcasting much of my personal painting time live lately. It's been sporadic as has what I've been working on but it has been very enjoyable to have company as I paint and I hope it has been entertaining to some.

I plan to be painting live most Wednesday nights around 19:00 PST (GMT -7:00) as well as whenever I can afford the time. If you are interested please join me then and for everyone else you can watch the recorded broadcasts anytime you'd like.

(Edited player to default as off, didn't like that it played ad's with volume 24 seconds after you loaded this page.)

Come join me, shoot the breeze - ask questions - listen to my music - whatever you'd like :)

Kekai Kotaki

2010-03-23T20:22:00.003-06:00

Mr. Kekai is demonstrating his skills up here in Bellevue, WA.
I think you should be here for it, it will be fun. We can highfive.

Six hours?! 120 Dollars?! Deal of the centurrrryyyyyyy !!!
Click !

BeautifulGrim

2010-02-27T16:58:00.006-07:00

Done for Beautifulgrim.org,
All the artists contributions can be seen here.

http://art.beautifulgrim.org/

"My name is Daarken and I am a concept artist and illustrator working for Mythic Entertainment. My friend Leif Jeffers, an animator at DreamWorks, and I are organizing an art auction fundraiser that will be held next year. Earlier this year my girlfriend, Cat, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 25. On November 3rd, 2009, she had a bilateral mastectomy after going through 16 weeks of chemotherapy. As you can imagine it has been hard for her, not only mentally and physically, but financially. In order to help alleviate some of her medical bills Leif and I wanted to throw an art auction. The proceeds that are left over after her medical bills have been paid will go to a breast cancer related charity to be determined by the artists in the coming weeks."

Mike and Cat are newly engaged. Please give them your support, spread the word and do what you can for the charity.

Please visit the website for upcoming information on the showing and auction.
In the meantime you can donate on the main-page here.

spare moments

2010-02-22T01:20:00.004-07:00

A pair done quickly, anything I added seemed to take away so in essence I suppose they are complete. Done with spare moments, the kind I wish were in abundance.

Also updated SketchpadofDoom with a few more sketches.
Going to respond to those who commented on the last post now.

Vanguard's Outpost

2010-02-14T22:36:00.003-07:00

Things are going well, I've been super busy moving and settling into a new city and haven't had the time to update nor really to do much art. This one dates back a few months and I have sadly lost a few others in process during the move. I've resolved to create a lot of more art lately so I'm hoping to update more often either here on my sketchblog so keep an eye out if you please :)

Going to respond to those who commented on the last post now.

Thank you !

2009-10-25T15:57:00.005-06:00

I wanted to thank everyone for their support as I look for a new job, really means a lot to me and I've replied to everyone in the previous post :)

I'm still searching and am open to relocating all over the country as long as it's a good fit for the sort of art I enjoy.

In the mean time here are two images I've had sitting around for awhile that are quite a bit different than my usual and were good fun to experiment with. I'm happy to say I learned a great deal from these images. I've got a few more I'd like to share with you soon, but they need another coat of polish and the majority of my time these days is dedicated to the job hunt so it may take some time.

Thanks again ! Wish me luck !

Offically Job Hunting

2009-09-11T18:29:00.005-06:00

Howdy Folks,

I'm currently looking for a full-time position in the San Francisco and surrounding areas within the fields of Visual Development/Concept Art. If you know of anything that might be a good fit I'd sure appreciate the help :) I've got almost two and a half years experience on 4 titles and am also extremely passionate <3

contact me at thomasscholes at gmail.com

I've been really enjoying art once again after a few very dormant months and as a result I have been doing about a personal painting a day as well as a few doodles here and there on top of everything else. It's been really fulfilling to expand and explore a bit further than I have been able to lately.

Anyhow, here are a few recent paintings. Some are more finished than others and all could use another layer of polish and refinement but it's time to move on and focus on other weaknesses.

San Diego Comic Con '09

2009-07-21T13:21:00.002-06:00

Hope to see you all at San Diego Comic Con this year :)
We should trade sketches and whiskey shots.
Who's going?

Epilogue

2009-07-07T15:43:00.002-06:00

I never seem to know when things are finished. It's gotten to the point that it's finished when I can't focus any more. Seemed like a fitting title for more than a few reasons, time to move on.

This one is a bit of a cousin to the last as you may see in the Process PSD below;
http://www.divshare.com/download/7854353-4a3
It might be a bit too dark in some of the stages; I worked on this one on a few different computers. Hope you enjoy!

Hydrologic Flow Modulators

2009-05-23T20:26:00.005-06:00

Been awhile, seems like I write that on just about every post here. I've actually got a few paintings I've been sitting on, this was of course one of those. They are the paintings I like parts of but can't seem to make them something I'm truly proud of; not a big deal but a little frustrating. Anyhow, I shouldn't let it hold me back from progress or posting.

http://www.divshare.com/download/7466905-693

Here is a link to the PSD if you'd like, you can follow the progress of the painting from beginning to end. The only layers I've collapsed are rendering layers, not that important.

There's nice warm weather up here, might become apparent in future paintings.
In the mean time, I'm off to scan in some sketches to post over here;

www.sketchpadofdoom.blogspot.com

Noodles

2009-03-14T17:45:00.004-06:00

I've been noodling this for far too long. It actually dates back a month or two, but I kept forgetting to check the values on a few different computers. *shrugs* Finished it just the other day.

Anyhow, don't really hate winter any more. I'd almost miss it if I didn't love spring and summer. I really think the seasons should change more often though, once a month or something.

Going to write up a bit of a walk through on this one for an upcoming publication, stay tuned :)

Oh and if you weren't aware of my other blog; sketchpadofdoom.blogspot.com I've been updating there too!

And yet ... more winter.

2009-02-10T18:23:00.002-07:00

Snowed again today. February always tricks me once or twice. Tch tch.

Tired of working on this one, lots of problems and a broken composition. Yet, time to move on :)

I'm going to go reply to the last post now :)

Boycott Winter! Join the fight!

2009-01-06T16:38:00.006-07:00

Been awhile! I'm back to painting personal art, I think the holiday vacations played a vital role in that. I've been doing studies and such since the last post but hadn't done any personal illustrations.

Anyhow, this is a quicker one. Lots that could and should be fixed but I'm ready to move on, speaking of which - a few more paintings in the pipeline and hopefully soon.

New things; Manual Opacity, No pressure sensitive opacity, some new color thoughts, pinlight fill layers, crazy amount of layer effect glazing. Check the PSD below if you are interested, it has the full messy process, hehe.

http://www.divshare.com/download/6258528-f23

Edge of Dawn

2008-10-13T20:48:00.003-06:00

I feel this deserves more polish, so much that needs a little more love and sections that need simply to be redone. But it's past the expiration date as far as my motivation goes; I feel the urge to move on to learn new things with a new painting is far stronger than the urge for a finished work.

Anyhow, learned so many good things on this painting and it felt good to exercise a few muscles other than the environment variety for a bit. The canvas texture you may see in the back is actually from a plein aire painting I did on a work outing. The painting looks nothing like this, but the outing was still vital to the overall mood and palette of this painting. I need to get out and paint more, so good for me.

Hope it's not too dark, but I'm sure it is :P

TechnicolorCrayon

2008-08-08T17:19:00.003-06:00

Here is one I've squeezed in every now and then, a few minutes here a few minutes there...
In the past I would usually start and finish a painting in one sitting, but in the past I used to have a lot more free time. It's been interesting to come back to a painting every few days, it has it's benefits and drawbacks...

Here is the PSD if you are interested;
it's got lots of layers to show progress and much larger :)
http://www.mediafire.com/?y1dmqjcdynz

Tac Oh!

2008-08-01T23:30:00.004-06:00

Wanted to polish this one a bit more, but uhm - it wasn't working, just ended up making it worse :P
Anyhow, haven't been spending that much time doing personal work lately - going to see what I can do about that ...

Oh! ComicCon was great. So happy to meet old friends and new friends :)

New Blog

2008-07-06T18:40:00.003-06:00

http://sketchpadofdoom.blogspot.com/

I took about a half-inch thick stack of doodles and sketches home from the other day because I finally have a scanner. Yeehaw - about 2 or 3 inches left at work... nothing fancy, just a few minutes here and there - things during meetings, during breaks and some fun stuff from DrawNights.

The plan is to use the new blog for quicker studies and sketches and this for the finished stuff. Hope you enjoy!

Joe Olson needs to draw more.

2008-06-18T23:57:00.004-06:00

Another one in this recent series of sorts, a bit quicker and sloppier; especially with the tack on figure :) . I think it's time to play with something else.

Did this at work the other day for our group blog:
http://avalanchesoftware.blogspot.com/

The lines were kindly provided by the Illustrious Joe Olson, who needs to draw more and show me at work and make tshirts.
http://joeolson.blogspot.com/

Values look so different at work than at home :\

Fishing Robot is no more!

2008-06-15T23:55:00.002-06:00

Hopefully this isn't too dark, had to mess with monitor settings right at the end. Sigh.

Playing with the same world as the last image. I spent way too long trying to place a figure/creature and even a fishing robot but ended up liking it better with nothing.

Let's see if I can keep the updates coming :)

Heads or Tails?

2008-06-07T02:23:00.003-06:00

Been a long long time since I've sat down and done any personal painting. Felt good to finish this up tonight. I might return to it later and give it more polish, but for now I want to move on.

It's interesting, I've found that it's best to get away from the sort of subjects I deal with at work both in order to keep things fresh and interesting as well as in order to protect the mindset used for work projects. I'm thinking lately this means I'll play with more sci-fi and structures at home, maybe some creatures and characters every once in a while.

Anyhow, less talk more paint:

Overdue

2008-05-01T20:21:00.003-06:00

I'm so bad with updating. In truth I have done very little personal art since the last update. I am consumed with my efforts at work and am happy to say it has been fulfilling most of my artistic hunger and has resulted in many recent breakthroughs. I now truly understand the pain of NDA's.

Work aside - most of the time and energy I put aside for personal endeavors has been invested in the Last Man Standing contest (Thanks Cody!). Contests always pressure me to expand and explore even more than usual - sometimes perhaps too much. I'm still a little mentally sapped from the following entries. Flawed as they are, the knowledge gained has been completely worth it.

I had a lot of trouble concerning monitors and values on these two as well. I have a habit or perhaps a penchant for using subtle value differences at the extreme ends of the spectrum. I'm practically asking for trouble. :|

Characters are hard!

Thanks to everyone encouraging me to update, makes me very happy!

Presidents Day is for Painting. Painting ZOMBIES!

2008-02-19T00:50:00.003-07:00

Zombiesss! Fun to step outside of environments for a short spell. Here are some mutant zombies! WOO!
Hopefully they aren’t too dark. Did I mention I hate monitors?

Sunday is for Painting.

2008-02-17T23:45:00.002-07:00

Spent most of the day painting, felt good - real good. HuWAH. Anyhow, a few from today that I liked :)

Two Sketch Videos

2008-02-12T23:58:00.004-07:00

To be honest, I don't particularly like either one of these. I learned a ton on both, but neither were taken to a point where I was satisfied. Oh wells, learning is the good part anyhow. Regardless, thought they may be of some small use perhaps?

Should probably name the music in these before someone asks, first video is the Metallic Falcons and the second is Bonobo. Both are great :)

Also should have edited the first video better, I was showing someone the PSD and process for another painting in the middle :) Hehe. Which reminds me, I should upload the PSD's too. Will try and do that tomorrow.

Landscapes and Color Demo

2008-02-02T19:41:00.000-07:00

This was a demonstration done at work. Video is 2 hours reduced down to 10 minutes. Please excuse all the zooming, it's a valuable way to check your shapes; it's not nearly as annoying when it's not 12x the speed. See the divshare link for a full resolution (1600x1200) XviD video and check back with a few days for the PSD file if you are interested.

Full Resolution Video: CLICK!

Here are a couple more from work. Working on encoding a video of the 2nd one if there is interest.

Unleashed

2008-01-27T19:08:00.000-07:00

Used the last painting as a starter for this one. I think the last one is more successful in a few ways but I learned a ton on this one and had fun detailing; something I rarely do. Still, quite a few things about this one I don't like and could noodle forever, but I'm ready to move on.

The dog has let the human roam free of his leash on this one.

Edit: Let me squeeze one more in here. Quickie remix from this last one. Good fun. Thought about adding a figure but thought it would ruin it. I like this one actually :)

Click the image!
Gorilla Illustration by Alexander Draude.

Wanted to announce the launch of GorillaArtfare.com, a new art collective blog of which I am a member. You'll probably see the same stuff from me that you do here, but you don't want to miss out on what the other members are posting :) Should prove to be a sweet little hub. (Thanks to Fed and Vic!)

Envirooooomint

2008-01-23T23:41:00.000-07:00

One from tonight. Feels good to paint random stuff again. I should have my LMS up soon, just want to tweak the values on a different monitor... I hate monitors.

Long Overdue

2008-01-17T23:35:00.005-07:00

Sorry! Sorry! 3 months, jez that's bad. I did update a few threads on Conceptart.org but not here. Well, here's a small dump saying I'm sorry! Ironically - apologies to those of you who have already seen these :P

Links to higher resolution videos from the last post:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

First up, something I haven't posted yet - a workshop for ImagineFX. I forgot all about this hehe, never did figure out the licensing agreement but I think it's ok now...

Here is a link to the workshop article graciously made available free in PDF format: CLICKY CLICK

Some photostudies, I repeat - all from photographic reference :P

Process GIF

Process GIF

Process GIF

Video Demosssh

2007-10-07T12:27:00.000-06:00

Three 30 minute Video Demonstrations:
Nothing fancy, just a few quick black and white sketches. Wanted to show the process and a few different techniques to some friends.

I've got full resolution video's hosted if you'd like, just give me a shout.

Here are some Sumi Ink, White Acrylic and Digital experiments.
Just quick stuff, but loads of fun:

lazy sunday

2007-09-23T21:04:00.000-06:00

Two from today, what else to say? Mm, how you been? :P
Edit: Updated the 2nd one, got some crittage. Thanks devin.

Two from this evening

2007-09-20T18:01:00.000-06:00

Yarrr! You know I missed International talk like a pirate day yesterday? :(

Original and it's ugly cousin remix. :P Just playing around. I think orange is my favorite color, especially with blue.

Back so soon?!

2007-09-08T00:36:00.001-06:00

Paint frenzy, just been having the desire to paint these past few days - plus I left one half finished from last night. Ok, 'nuff jibbajabba - two from tonight - well one and a variation/continuation...

Paints!

2007-09-06T23:13:00.000-06:00

Only a handful of personal paints since that last batch, here are two I like :)
It's interesting to see what sort of painting I do with the main objective of relaxation... hrm hrm.

First is a little slapped together :\
I think I may pick the second one up again this weekend, maybe...

Long time no see!

2007-08-18T20:40:00.000-06:00

Been awhile :)
Sat down for the first time in over a month to do some painting outside of work. Here are a few of the ones I liked.

More Doodles

2007-07-04T19:02:00.000-06:00

Just a few quickies from the past few days :)
Another character! No way?!

Just a few ;)

2007-06-29T01:37:00.001-06:00

A few new things :)
Taking a break from SketchUp for now. It's a little tiring when most of the creative portions are done right from the beginning. Too literal as well I suppose.

Been playing with edges more than usual lately. Messing around with Painters blenders and a few of my own, also playing with Smudge in Photoshop.

Anyways, nuf' jibbajabbba!

These next few are quickies ;)

Another One

2007-06-15T00:35:00.000-06:00

Another environment in the same vein as before; sketch up to start again.
A few people mentioned how sloppy I got with the perspective, oops! Definitely paying more attention to that now. Still, I like this one ...

And the model for those who are curious :)

Environments OF DOOM!

2007-06-09T03:33:00.000-06:00

Been trying to work on my conceptual side a little more, usually I work with a sort of chaos technique (read: messy and random :P) So anyways, First up is ConceptArt.orgs current (you might catch it if you hurry :P ) Environment of the Week: Floating Bazaar. Played with Painter a little bit on this one. After that is just a personal study, just started with some blocks in SketchUp and went from there :) Model is the last image if you are interested :)

Characters and Portraits

2007-05-28T02:10:00.000-06:00

As much as I enjoy environments and landscapes - I also enjoy variety :)
Up tonight are two more character sketches and a portrait study from photoref.

Here is a link to an animated process gif and the psd if you are interested :)
Animated Gif PSD (Click)

Glad to Paint & Some Reads

2007-05-11T00:53:00.001-06:00

Apparently the last post had some sort of freak error, should be fixed I hope :)
Thanks Ana!

A few things today :)
Been really enjoying utilizing SketchUp for simple models. My perspective is so crap, but this has really been helping me learn and visualize. Shadows as well. Good crutches this SketchUp ;) Did I mention it's the FREE version from google?

Quick and dirty sketch; then really simple model in sketchup - mainly wanted to play with color this day. :) Birds are from a brush I made from a photo, gives a nice silhouette that you can paint over :) Stole the idea from my homey Codakromek; deja vu - I wrote this once before. Tony you need a website!

Had an idea in my head from just before I went to sleep last night. Went straight into SketchUp and played around with it :) Wanted to focus on process and to a lesser extent detail so I nixed color to keep things simple. Here is the model if you are interested :) CLICK!

Playing with a custom brush and making silhouettes, this flowed amazingly well and I don't do figures. Was really quick and painless 0_0! Still rather wonky though :P

Reading this at the moment; been searching for a compendium of this sort for a long time. Goes over so very very much - it's not extremely in-depth nor is it a mere introduction, which is just right for me :) All this for 9 Bucks?! On bookstore shelves till October 2007 it says go grab one from the magazine section NOW! :D Here is a one of the sections: CLICK!

Bee and Dub-yuhs

2007-04-26T03:32:00.000-06:00

Some quickie black and whites, nothing too fancy.
I sure hope I've got my monitor calibrated this time, do let me know if you can't see detail in the darks :S

Stole the idea of a bird brush from my man Codakromek, whom I didn't realize up until now doesn't have a website? The man is insane; check out his ConceptArt.org sketchbook. http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=41916&page=13

Itsa meee Maaaarioooo.

2007-04-22T02:27:00.000-06:00

Did a self-portrait last night, about damn time! Finished it up this evening :)
This time it was from photo but I'm going to get a mirror and have a go.

I did have to cheat a bit :\ I couldn't figure out where I had gone wrong, and gone horribly wrong I had; Really need to measure more. Anyways I laid the photo overtop and did some comparing. Nasty drawing errors on the exterior edges, cheekbone down. Bleh.

Click here for an animated process GIF!
http://apollo.divshare.com/apollo2/files/2007/04/22/454849/processb.gif

Some Sissy Stuff

2007-04-12T01:16:00.000-06:00

Lordy, almost been a month?
Sigh! Been busy with work and a little relaxation ;) Good to paint a few things for myself finally.

Cracked this first one out today :) The rest are scraps from every now and then.
On the third, can you see the nasty seams? I really wonder ... monitors are dumb. Using an LCD now, values are so different than my CRT (but who knows what is correct?)

I'll try and update more! I promise.

EoW and Remix

2007-03-19T20:56:00.000-06:00

Look at that! I updated an it's only been a day, no way!

First one is for Conceptart.org's Environment of the Week Contest;
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=92228
Second is a quick remix of that, about an hour?

Crits and Comments greatly appreciated, Questions too!

Oh, also -
Go vote for my good friend Vic's character "Ye Olde Bunny" !!!
http://www.mojizu.com/war/match.aspx?mma=49a75cb1-32bf-47f8-ba88-03da48bdc793

Doodle Potpourri

2007-03-17T22:03:00.000-06:00

I've been hesitant to post the more sketchy stuff for some reason, only wanted to show the cream of the crop - but that's dumb and updates are far an few in between. So from now on I'll update more :)

So, you will see some quicker dirtier stuff stuck in with the usual ;)

Here is a big "I'm sowee" dump:

This first one is for my good friend Victoria Maderna:
http://fedvic.blogspot.com/

New Batch

2007-02-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

These are from today and yesterday, lot's of painting :)

Just returned from a weekend trip to Southern Utah visiting family. Soaked up a lot of imagery while I was down there, such beautiful and unique landscapes. Anyways, was good to have a break ;)

Any questions? Always happy to try and answer :)

Just Playing

2007-02-18T03:04:00.000-07:00

Just playing on these, same sort of techniques - some new twists but I feel my enthusiasm waning. Time for something new ;). I think I'm going to do the OFDW at CGTalk, some other studies. Maybe it's time to break out the paints again? Can't wait for spring, can finally go outside and draw without frostbite.

Oh, you might have noticed a new face to the blog. Played with this for several hours today, who knows if this is what I stick with or not; was fun to play around. Just a template that I customized and altered a bit, this html and etc. makes my head hurt.

Anyways, more unfinished doodles -

Today's Doodles

2007-02-12T20:42:00.000-07:00

Just some quicker doodles today; trying the same techniques as below but with quicker monochrome sketches. Using color balance and a few other tricks to stretch that a bit. Nothing special really, didn't even feel like fleshing these out - just playing with shapes. Let's just say, keyword: half-assed.

I do like the limited palette, almost duotone on these - so simple but can be so convincing. Will also need to play with the lone robot and master idea, they can be my anchor in cityscapes perhaps.

Snowy Landscape Process + PSD

2007-02-06T12:33:00.000-07:00

Looks like you have to click this one to see the animated process.

PSD and other Files:
http://www.divshare.com/download/106503-828

MikeCorriero asked me a few questions I'll try and answer them as well as I can;
The brush I used 99% of the time in this was a default round; size, opacity and flow set to pressure. I almost never use the manual opacity and for this particular style I found it best to use 100% flow as I didn't really have to 'blend' much. After the initial sketch I used an abstract brush with many hard edges to sort of lay down a base coat of the primary color I had envisioned for this painting. Directly afterward I used a soft light layer and the same brush to create even more variety in color, overtop of which I also use an overlay layer with the same method. Here I was establishing the general palette I used for the next several rendering steps. It can also be great to use the clone brush with these methods as it adds another layer of grit, grime and variance. Now, next came something I've really been enjoying lately something I saw Andrew Jones demonstrate at the recent San Franciso workshop. Duplicate your layers, or hit ctrl+alt+e. Flip this duplicate canvas, set it to either lighten or darken and experiment with it's position on the canvas, you may also want to enlarge your canvas by 200% in each direction. I think you'll find that some things work quite well symmetrically and others work best if you stretch and distort the canvas. Overall I really enjoy this technique - it's helped me see many possibilites that I would otherwise never see. I think it's also a great tool for conceptualizing. Moving on I used a 'dirt' brush, very low impact with essentially small bristles to add even more grit to the canvas. Afterwhich came one of the most drastic changes done with the editing modes; curves, color balance and selective color. If you have Adobe CS or above you will be able to click on these adjustment layers to view them in more detail. These are very handy tools if you've changed your mind about what colors/values you want as well as changing mood etc. Even if I haven't changed what I have in mind, I will still experiment with these and most often find something that I think works even better. The next steps are just more rendering and in the final just a unsharp mask to help visibility for web as well as tweak some edges.
Thanks for listening to me ramble ;)

Robuts and RowBoughts

2007-02-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

I know most of you have certainly seen these before, and they are a few weeks 'old' now. But I like them and want them here for the posterity of my blog :)

Done in Photoshop, these are what I've dubbed Digital Paint and Photo Montages. The majority of photographs used are from imageafter.com, they have a huge selection of images; be sure and check out the textures section too.

Again, this series has a few progenitors and derivations - you can probably pick out which is which.

If you have any questions please let me know! :)

Today's Paintings from Yesterday

2007-02-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

Right, crazy title I know. Missed a night of sleep, but I was productive at least right?

Photoshop, 2 hours or so for the first one. The rest are "derivatives" of this first one, or derivatives of derivatives, with of course lots more to it than just that. Lot's of little tricks, that sort of thing ;)

Please feel free to post any questions!

Introduction

2007-02-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

Hey All,
Guess it's about time I got one of these, I was really just waiting till 20 people told me I needed one. Hit that marker a few days ago.

So, me? I'm a starving artist, no better yet - starving art student. Bam! Many ways to cook ramen you know, try it fried with an egg - pretty good.

I keep a sketchbook over at ConceptArt.org, chances are if you are here - that where you know me from. Here's a link in case we're strangers:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=56810

Ok, let's get this party started.