"If art is therapy, if art is to inspire, if art is a weapon, if it is a medicine to heal soul wounds, if it makes one not feel alone in his or her visions, or if it serves as transportation to a higher self, than that is where I aspire to live everyday."---Rudy Gutierrez

Promo Video....WARNING!!!! SUPER CHEESY!!!!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Toast

We were given the assignment to paint toast.  Definitely a different subject matter.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Caricature self portrait

Here is a quick caricature I did today in digital illustration.  I'll add color later.  Enjoy!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Master Copy

Ok I realize that Dice Tsutsumi hasn't quite reached the title of master but his work is amazing.  The assignment was to do a copy from a piece of work from an illustrator that you like.  The idea was to maintain the painterly quality from traditional work in a digital painting.  

Monday, September 29, 2008

Arghh!!!

Here is a quick pirate painting for my digital illustration class.  The assignment was to paint a pirate head using texture and actions.  Pretty simple really. 

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Warm and Cool Study

Sorry it's been a while.  I know it's not much either but I liked the way that they turned out.  This was for my design and color final.  The assignment was to do a still life using warm and cool lighting.  They are not very big only 5 x 7 but it definitely was good practice for me.  The are both gouache/charcoal on board.  

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Figure Drawings

So I just completed my second semester of figure drawing and decided to post a couple of my favorites.  At the end of the semester we have a portfolio review with the professor and while he was looking through my stuff he gave me the first compliment he has ever given me.  He pulled these two to the side and said "you can put these in your portfolio."  I know there are still some issues I have with these two, but it meant a lot that he said that.  So it is my goal to draw for at least 3 hours each day this summer and totally devote my time in understanding the figure more.  Anyways enjoy.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Gouache

So here is yet another Gouache painting.  As I'm sure you can tell some of it is digital.  This was my first gouache painting ever and I got a little to opaque in the shawl and it created some nasty textures so I decided to work it out digitally.  Still doesn't look quite right, but there isn't really much more I can do. I was listening to a lot of Death Metal around the time I came up with the concept.  I attempted to make it look not so dark due to the school I attend by applying a triatic color scheme to it.  I can't wait to play more with the concept in the future. So until then enjoy.

Ink Gouache Off

So I have yet another painting that I just finished touching up that I thought I would post.  This was a difficult assignment, but I like the way it turned out.  It doesn't look as rendered as some of my stuff so it was different for me to do.  Basically for this assignment I painted really thick with gouache and everything I wanted black I would let the board expose through.  After I had my painting done I then dumped a huge amount of ink on it and washed it off.  The places where the board was exposed turned black and the places I painted real thick left a beautiful stain.  So all I had left to do was just a little touch up work.  It definitely could be better but I think it went well for my first time trying the technique. 
(Photo Reference: Megan Mills)

Saturday, July 19, 2008

A Few Media Experimentation Paintings

So here are a few paintings that I completed this semester in Media Experimentation.  I'm not totally excited about all of them because it was an experimentation class so my craft suffered on them a bit.  Overall the class was pretty successful and I will have the rest up as soon as I get at them digitally.  
(Dia De Pancho; acrylic on board)
Having grown up in Phoenix I have always been influenced by the Mexican culture.  The use of color in their art work and graffiti alike has always caught my attention.  I'm a big fan of the day of the dead and thought I'd throw my own spin on it incorporated with a touch of traditional tattoo themes.  
(The Fredman; Charcoal/Gouache on board)
I have always been terrified of this man, even until this day!   
(Deadmingo; oil/acrylic on masonite)
Not much to say here, just tried mixing the two mediums really.  So yeah.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Oil Lift Out


Sorry its been a while since my last post but I finally got some graded work back and decided to put one of them up.  I have a couple more that will be in up in the next two weeks or so.  This is only the second painting I have ever done in my entire life so don't be to rough on me.  The assignment was given to do an oil rendering from a photo reference while lifting out color with a little turpentine.  I'm sure some you of you have seen masters like Bernie Fuchs (such a great last name) use this technique before much better than myself, but it has given me the
opportunity to learn alot about oil.  By the way I am sorry for some of the creamy areas! The turp got the best of me! I'll be much more careful next time!  
(Photo Reference: Megan Mills my unbelievably talented sister)

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Head Drawings

Here are a couple of head drawings that I completed near the end of this last semester.  
(Conte on Canson)
I know this wasn't drawn from life but it wasn't supposed to be.  My professor gave us the assignment for our final to complete a head from either an old master or from a photo.  So I decided since Chuck Close's work is found in art history books you could technically define him as an old master (I know thats pushing it).  Other
 than that his paintings are basically photos so it really qualified under both of the assigned topics. I have always liked the original, it just has an I don't care feeling to it.
(Reference: Chuck Close)
(This last one is from a model that I thought had interesting features, thats why I decided to put it up.)
Sorry about the nasty stain on this one.  The tip of my spray fix was clogged and I it just dripped out at first.

Sketches

These are some sketches I thought I would throw on here for now to start my blog.  I will try and get some of my head studies up this weekend.  So for now try and enjoy yourself.



(Photo references: John Davis)