Life Drawing Workshop August 7th 2010

Yo. Jon was asking me how the session went. It felt pretty bad at first, but towards the end I felt better about it. Something about drawing such a long dress on the figure after doing the nude poses was very strange. This session had a strange mood to it for me...it's hard to explain. Trying to let go of several different factors of stress and nervousness can be difficult sometimes.

BLAMMO!

Tweaked an old assignment for my demo reel. I wanted to add a couple more moving holds to it. They still feel a little funny...not as good as the first ones for some reason. I must have just been bad ass that day. The main reason I did this was to extend the syncopated music-animation action in the beginning of my demo reel. Le sigh...there is less Flash(it's just not good enough I guess...), less illustration, less 2d and more 3d and motion graphics. Oh well, at least I could totally get a job if people know I can rock Maya & Aftereffects. Then they will look at my site and be like, "He knows Flash too?! GET HIM!" Or at least that's what I hope. Damn, I do a lot of stuff! It sucks that I need to try and sell just ONE skill to graduate. I still want to try and do some really awesome Flash animations that hopefully someone will say I should throw in there. Too much work to do, but now that I know how to use the render farm, things will be much easier. If only I figured that out on week 1! It's already week 4 and it's practically week 5. And I have a show coming up! Weezer covers! Ahahah!
http://www.myspace.com/imyourdaddyband


*Edit: I rendered out some different lighting on the render farm. It looks alright but I noticed a bit of clipping on a few of the poses. There is some weird shadow I didn't really want in the back corner of there too. I might have to try and use some render passes to get rid of the background so he can just be in that white Matrix-y place.

Sites & Logos...Damn You Graphic Design!

I have been trying to make an awesome website and logo and I'm getting frustrated in attempts to come up with something simple yet original. Trying out tons of different fonts and colors...shrinking things down to make sure you can still read it...Lots of Photoshop alignments and transformations...grids, rulers, snap-to action...with some of my art mixed in. Just trying to make a ridiculous amount so that when the time comes I have at least one good piece that I feel represents me.

Reel Dumb

Yo. I was messing with my reel just a little bit today. I threw in an updated version of the Wrhythm Flash which I will probably have to remove anyway...and I cut out some illustrations and silhouettes. I feel sort of down. My prep. schedule that I made is a just big list of what I wanted to have done by now. I don't want to have to take this class again and I am starting to feel like they will probably say some shit like that. Which blows because I know I could do better with more time but I still have some left.

It looks like I will probably have to go 3D for character animation and maybe some After Effects motion graphics stuff. But I feel like I have learned so much more than that and I am way more valuable than that. It seems, though, to graduate from the school...your reel needs to be more specialized and focused. I may have to remove all my illustration and Flash work which sucks because then it makes me feel weak and crippled...

Blah! I have this 3D lighting hurdle to get over, shit just isn't working out. A lot of my animations still need tweaking too before they are really noteworthy. And if I have to do 3D animation to pass, I would rather do it all the fucking way. So that means to satisfy myself in that manner, I have to do a LOT of work to create some new pieces and make my old pieces mean much more. I have to create stories behind this shit, adding environments and combining elements to show how creative my mind truly is.

*EDIT: I tried to use the render farm for the first time and it worked! But I accidentally messed up the lighting on one of my scenes so it looks like ass but at least I figured it out and can start making a work-flow. So I threw in those re-lit pieces real quick.

Keep It Reel

Yo. So I took some stuff out and changed the music. I think that's basically it. Yeah.

Reel Edit From 7-30-10

Yo. This is what it's looking like now. Of course, there is a lot of strangeness going on in my mind. Renders I have to re-do, animations to tweak, animations to FINISH, lights to mess with, photos to take, things to scan...blah blah blah. I will probably change the song too because I've got something else in mind. Basically this just sort of cements the fact that I am still not satisfied because I feel like it isn't representative of my true potential. Fuck...At least I finally put some of those other pieces in there so I can feel out the overall groove.

Oily Oily Oixen Free

Worked on the oil painting a bit more. It was nice to just chill outback and listen to music. But it sucks that we have a laser sun in Las Vegas...Looking back, I am not really digging that wall. I couldn't really get the right hue. I will have to keep trying because there is more that I want to do to this one contrast-wise. I learned a lot about mixing colors and I am starting to really see the pros and cons of using a paint that takes so long to dry.

Nujabes Lady Brown Featuring Cise Star

If you have never heard of Nujabes, you should check his music out. Unfortunately, he passed away very recently in an accident but his music is beautiful. I cannot get enough of this song right now!

Life Drawing Workshop July 31st 2010

Here are my life drawings from the last workshop session. It was long pose day so we started off with a bunch of 2 minute poses then we did a couple of 20s and then two 45s. I used conte for the last 45 minute pose. I think I got some decent ones.The whole time though I was thinking of how awesome my marker ones were and about how much I was struggling to really get my charcoal to do what I want. I spent a lot of time sharpening and sanding it so I had the thin and fat edge but I must have been pressing hard or something because my thin edge was always wearing down quick. I was constantly experimenting with different weight leads...B, HB, 3B...all that fun stuff.

Then I tried to take better photos by setting it on my easel outside instead of just on the ground in the garage or on my bed where I always end up with horrible photographs that I can barely even level in Photoshop. I have found something else I need to learn...

I also decided to try and tackle oil painting once again so I started that small canvas while I was chilling with Jon. He gave me some good advice when it comes to preparing your materials and how much paint and linseed oil I should use. Turns out I usually mess up my preparation and screw myself right in the beginning when it comes to the more traditional mediums I am not as experienced with. But it feels like a good time to really figure it out. Anyway...um...yeah! Peace!

Window Love

Man, I had some of those sliders from the Slidin' Thru truck for the second time the other day and those burgers and fries are THE BOMB! The design looks dope too! From what I hear Lance and Alex worked on it, some homies from the Art Institute. I'm sure you could find their work somewhere on the Hot Sauce Gang's blog.

Alright so let me explain what's going on here...Listening to some old Tryforz right now and getting distracted...damn some of these beats are sick! D.J. THIRTEEN! We still should make that conceptual album/animation thing with Flash or some shit...

Okay! So on the top I was experimenting with logos. I was studying simple, famous logos and writing my initials in different ways and stuff. I honestly think I could have been and could still be way more experimental with it. But I have some other things I will post later that I am still messing with.

Below that is total gouache action. Gouache is a bitchy paint. I remember I used to try to use it like it was acrylic but I realized you have to treat it very differently to get the results you want. I feel my skills with it are improving since I usually "cheat" and use some acrylic mixes with most of my "gouache" paintings. The backgrounds on that page are all watercolor. To start some of these gouache paintings, I actually removed my glasses and used my shitty vision to my tonal advantage. It helped me nail the contrast and create some dope silhouettes for the darker colors.

Then I tried to do a marker portrait of Eminem but he came out looking like some old Devo albums or that gigolo guy from that A.I. movie.

Then underneath those pages...I have a ton of silhouettes. Some of them I was just doing for fun, there are a couple reference shots in there from photos I have taken. I drew myself, Patty and Rudy. I made Patty a ninja haha!

A couple of the yellow/red silhouettes were based off of this dude's ideas. I can't remember his name but he is in the Zombie Squad with Rudy. He was a funny guy and he had a really cool story in his head with imagined characters that had back-stories and everything but he said he couldn't draw and I was sitting right there with my sketchbook and markers.

I am trying to do some new stuff with my silhouettes to make them interesting and more presentable. I have lots of good ideas. It helps to use the same color scheme for a whole page so that people don't favor one silhouette over another (based only on color) when you have them grouped up. And it is dope when you lay down light colors then bring in shadows and leave highlights. I want to mess around more with this technique in Photoshop and with markers.

Okay, I have written way too much. Nobody even reads this.