Take A Bow

Let me set the stage. A few of my co-workers and I decide to head Fuddruckers for lunch to celebrate my last day at work before my trip to NY. I had mentioned that fuddruckers had a one pound burger, and that I was thinking of getting it. A few of my coworkers doubted my abilities, so I had to do the only logical thing - step up to the plate. In my case I opted for extras - mushrooms, onions and swiss cheese, not to mention the lettuce and tomatoes. So, there I was with only one pound of beef to stand in between me and immortality. As I stared that patty in the face I knew that I would literally have my hands full. It was a daunting task to say the least, but I was up for the challenge. It seemed that 1/3 of the through that I was slowing down, and it appeared for a time that the "one pounder" had the upper hand, but with my co-workers cheering me on and time on my side I prevailed and with my dignity in tacked as well.

For those hoping to see some artwork I'm leaving soon for the Hudson River School for Landscape Painting and promise to post the results of that adventure. Till then, may your patties always be well done and your buns slightly toasted.

A Kingdom For Keflings

The project that I have been working on at Wahoo Studios has been announced. The name of the game is A Kingdom For Keflings. I am not at liberty to say much other than it is a city-building game that involves little creatures named Keflings. I was fortunate enough to design the characters and buildings. It will be released this fall on Xbox LIVE Arcade. I'll post updates (maybe some concept art) as time goes on. Here is a teaser trailer for those interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXTxBRiyKSs

The Hudson River School of Landscape Painting

It is official, I've been accepted into the Hudson River School of Landscape Painting. It is a 6 week intensive landscape painting workshop in the Catskill region of New York. The instructors will be Jacob Collins, Nicholas Hiltner, Edward Minoff, and Travis Schlaht. Aside from having amazing instructors tuition and housing are provided for at no cost. Those who are interested can check it out at www.hudsonriverlandscape.com/about.html

Fear Not

I got a moleskin sketchbook about a year ago from my mom for my birthday. The sketchbook is nice, maybe a little too nice. It is a little intimidating to draw in, in fear that the drawing may degrade the sketchbook. Well last weekend I overcame that fear and put pencil to paper and this was the result. I feel safe to say that the sketchbook has now increase in value having had drawn in it. Moral: fear not!

Drawings

These are a couple of drawings that I have been working on. I plan to do several other variations.

Mustache March

I know what your thinking, were can I get a mustache like that! This baby has been a labor of love. I wake up each morning and look in the mirror and think to myself - I look like a complete fool. If it weren't for a contest we are having at work I wouldn't be so courageous. We have until the last Friday in March to see who can grow the best looking mustache. The contest really should have been to see who can keep their mustache the longest. We started with about 15 people and after the first week it was cut in half. Only a real man can walk around looking people in the eyes when he know full well that he looks ridiculous with a mustache. Hopefully I can go the distance, only a week left. Meanwhile you can remain jealous knowing that you can never grow something as hideous as this mustache.

Memory Drawing

I have come to the conclusion that I am shallow. Shallow in terms of my imagination. So I've determined to make that weakness a strength. I have a small sketchbook that I have for drawing compositions and faces. I got the idea from James Gurney's post about his Facebook. The idea is to find a face that has certain characteristics that appeal to me and draw it from observation. The objective is to concentrate on observing structure and specific facial characteristics in order to later draw the same face from memory. The result is the impression of what you have observed. Later when I am drawing from imagination my brain can call upon these observations to inform my imaginative drawings. These were done with a ball point pen. Total time is 30 mins.

Jared

This is an oil painting that I finished in November of a good friend of mine.

Another Drawing

Here is another drawing. I used a blending stump to create softer edges. Trying to work on incorporating atmosphere and form.

Finished

Finally! I can now say that it is finished.

Staying Warm

With staying true to my new year resolution I spent some time yesterday morning drawing from life. This drawing was done from my living room. Needless to say I couldn't ask for better a better drawing situation. One of these days I'll muster up enough courage to brave the elements.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! I'm feeling rather ambitious this year. There are a ton of things that I want to accomplish as an artist. Next week I start a figure painting class from the master, Patrick Devonas. I can't wait! In addition to the figure painting class I plan on drawing in my sketchbook from life. Something I've been meaning to do a lot more of, but never made the time.

A Time For Reflection

Here is another w.i.p of the painting of my daughter Thea. This marks my 50th post! A year ago I started this blog as a way to share my art and to motivate me to get better. I really didn't think that that there would be many people interested in what I had to share. But to my surprise there were. I am grateful for all the comments and those who have shown interest in my blog. I want take the opportunity to thank Charley Parker for taking interest in my art and for helping me reach a larger audience than I could have on my own. I also want to thank my mom for for encouraging me and supporting me in becoming an artist. I want to give a special thanks to my wife and children for their love, support, and encouragement. Without them I wouldn't be half the man I am today. And lastly, I want to thank my Heavenly Father for giving me the talent, and for the beauty of his creations that provide a constant source of inspiration to me.

Why Not Me?

I have to apologize for the lack of posts. I've been busy with my oil paintings at home. If I ever learn how to photograph them without making them look like garbage I might post a few of them. As always I seem to lose interest with what I am working on and shift my attention else were. I still need to finish the painting of Riley and a few others. So bare with me will I start a new one. This is my oldest daughter Thea. When she noticed that I've painted (or started painting) her brother and sister, she felt excluded. So this ones for her.

Here is the work in progress. For those interested, this is the process: 3 drawings with the values getting darker with each drawing and the brush getting smaller. I also start with painting the shadows, proceed to the halftones and next add the lights, reserving my darkest darks and lightest lights for accents.

Divide Light from Dark

Here is an example of a simple drawing exercise that I learned from Perry Stewart while I was in college. He referred to it as "shadow massing". The idea is that you are to draw the shadow shapes only. The idea behind this exercise is to train your mind to see the shapes of values. In this case the shapes of the shadows. The same exercise can be done for the lights, except you draw with a white pencil on toned paper.

Collaboration Part Deux

Here is my second collaboration ever. Drawing by my 3 yr old daughter and color by me. I love coloring in crayon, for some reason I feel more freedom to explore. This pieces owes some credit to Van Gogh, his pen and ink drawings are amazing.

Revisited, Revisioned,and Reworked

I posted this work in progress awhile back. It has taken some time, but I decided to revisited it and change the color scheme. I think there was something wrong that I could quite put my finger on it and I lost interest. I decided to come back to it and see what I could to improve it. After making some changes to the color I found my excitement renewed. I'll post the progress as I go.

Whimsical Meets Beauty

I've been thinking about designing a whimsical character lately and wondered how I could combine whimsical with beauty. So, I conjured up this mental image, and this is what came out.

Sheriff

This was suppose to be a character design for a white rapper. I was going to take grandpa and put him in a suede jumpsuit with tons of gold accessories. But there was something wrong with the design and I was struggling with conceptualizing it. I thought about it for a while and the more I thought about it the more he looked like he needed cowboy boots and then he needed a gold belt buckle to go with it. After adding those elements I said to myself he looks like a sheriff. And as soon as I made that connection painting the character was smooth sailing. When it came to putting him in an environment, I thought he should be in the desert. I'm not sure why, but nevertheless, he is in the desert. I guess I'll leave that up to you guys to figure out. If anyone would like to comment on why you think he is in the desert I would love to hear from you.

As a side note, I want to thank those of you who visit my blog, as well as those of you who leave comments. You guys inspired me to keep doing what I'm doing.

First Mate

What good is a captain without a first mate?