Just trying to fit in

A painting commission I did for someone a little bit ago

Tree Buddy

Another tree for a story concept I'm working on.

This toy squid has come to life!

...and much more recent stuff on my portfolio page (link to the right)

Princess Candidates

Alone Together

Stunned Bunny

Eurotastic!

After the last 3 months of intense study, it was time for a much needed break. A few weeks ago, I went to Paris, Rome, and Florence.

I've never been to Europe, so it was a special trip for me. Of course we had to do all the tourist attractions in Paris: The Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Monet Gallery, Arc de Triumph, and the Champs-Elysee.

Rome of course was mostly consumed by the Vatican, Colliseum, Trevi Fountain, and Pantheon.


















And in Florence we went to the Duomo, Accademia, and Uffizi Gallery. And I would like to congratulate myself on being a pretty good sneaky photo taker...







I don't think I've ever tasted such good food, drank such good wine, or been embarrassed by my lack of ability to order anything in Italian or French. We're almost positive one of our entrees was veal brain...

I think overall my favorite was Paris. It's true. Once you arrive, you instantly fall in love with the city. I think just the fact that the way of life there is feels so different, even though on a global comparison, it's just incrementally different from the States. People over there work to live, rather than live to work, like us Americans are so accustomed to. People seem to just ENJOY life more than we do, and I'm a big fan of the Brasserie lifestyle.

Of course, there couldn't have been a worse time to go financially - the euro was teetering around 1.55-ish while we were there, but worth it nonetheless.

In the deep dark crevices of the ocean...

.....the reason I don't care much for the ocean. Odd, because I love to swim, even based a career off of it a few years back. What frightens me more than oceans, however, are murky brown lakes. Something about not being able to see the bottom, or even if there is a bottom, or what possible lake monsters are waiting to grab my leg and suck me under, just sends me into a constant state of swimming uncertainty.

This painting precedes the 20,000 Leagues piece I posted earlier. I thought I already posted this a few months ago, but I guess not. Life's been, well, extremely hectic. (when is it not?) I'm relying on the gallery world to keep my hands in actual paint from time to time (versus this tendonitis causing, white screen hypnotizing, undo button curse that I like to call my Wacom Tablet World of Hell!) I anticipate the Syntique more than you can imagine..

And for the past few months I've been doing the Look Development for a project that Angie Jones [website] asked me to be a part of. Angie's been in the animation biz for quite some time, had a great story to animate, and has been really great directing us to help bring that story to fruition. More on this later..

Docks

I really liked the intensity of blue in the top left thumbnail, but for special effects lighting purposes, had to desaturate the sky to create the proper level of importance for each element in foreground, middleground, and background.

This is quite possibly the only piece I've done that is absent of humor. Most of the time, I find it impossible to want to make my art anything but comical. Making a joke out of everything is just too fun. Regarding the next vis dev piece I'll be posting soon: in the words of Will Weston, I "make even death look funny." Meh...no use fighting it.

Sneak Attack

Man, times have been pretty impacted. It was driving me nuts cuz I've been missing paint. I finally had some time to finish my second piece for the Gallery 1988 SF show. I'm in a bird phase.

Return to the old...

One of three for the Gallery 1988 show "Everyone in Together" in San Francisco on June 20th. I decided to go back to my original gallery style and quit experimenting for a bit because this is my favorite way to paint. I've realized embracing the process is more important than coming to a quick outcome, and usually produces better results anyways, as art is all about having fun.

Spoon Wars!!!

I took a narrative film class this last semester and this was the first project I produced.
Assignment: Take a maximum of 15 still images of anything you want and create a short film with classical narrative structure.
Software: Final Cut Pro




It's a lot harder than you think to make many spoons stand up on their own in enough time to get the right shot before a domino effect occurs, ... I resorted to clay in the end.

That's mine!

For Mattel's 40th Anniversary for Hot Wheels show "TOYS"

Updates & New Stuff

Updated Haunted House


Haunted House Concept Work


Squid and Sub silhouettes for 20,000 Leagues series


Castle Concept Thumbs


Circus Dad silhouettes presented in a different fashion. Lineups get boring.


Yo-Yo Malfunctions. (Usually what happens when I try to play with a yo-yo, tangled like a cat with a fresh ball of yarn. I lack proper hand-eye coordination for things like basketball, chemistry lab, flipping pancakes..)

1940's Circus

I figured the angry bear was most appropriate to reflect the reality of incarcerated performance animals. The sad bear too, but that was too depressing. Hey, satirical humor sells.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Assignment: 20,000 leagues theme.
Being that I'm compelled to abstract every idea I have, I chose to tell the story through a child playing with his toys in the bath tub, losing control over his imagination, the bath toys actually coming to life. I thought it'd be a cool idea to show him "playing God" with the world he creates in his head as actual real world action . This is one of 3.

Rummaging through some old stuff...

Here's some stuff from last years Illustration Design class.
We made a book of what seemed like a billion images, pulling from other materials, mediums, artists, and our imaginations to come up with strong compositions, or just interesting styles and ways of representing an idea.


These patterns, which remind me of kaleidoscopes, I did solely using the first image of scanned yarn. I did about 10 variations, but these were my 3 favorite.


The next two paintings represent what I most love to do with art: make people laugh.
This painting was in Sour Harvest's: Pick of the Harvest at Thinkspace Gallery in LA last year.


This mixed media on canvas was at the Vivisect Playset last year at Gallery 1988 in LA.


The next show I'll be in is at Gallery 1988 : TOYS put on by Mattel to celebrate Hot Wheels' 40th Anniversary, focusing on all the toys we loved as children before there were video games and nine hundred TV channels and other distractions that make our nation the leader in childhood obesity! Opening reception April 1, 2008.

Birthdays...

They seem to be more of a reminder of how much has changed in one year. This last year has been the most eventful I've ever had. I've changed sooooo much, practically pulled a 180 from who I was last year. I feel I have more direction in my life, in my career. I'm excited to see what next year is going to bring.

My parents had their birthdays and these were the pieces I did for them. I wanted to commemorate things I remembered from my childhood with each of them. I won't explain. They only make sense to us:)

How To Kill A Ghost...

Today's Painting...

Digital painting at Caltech. I thought this architecture deserved to be placed somewhere in the desert.

It's only 2 weeks away...

The end of the semester! That went by so quickly! (As has my entire career at Art Center to date.)
I mostly finished my Princess & the Pea piece. As artists, we always find ways to make something better, fudging the tiniest detail, and I usually take this to the extreme. I'm learning to force myself to just STOP, because if we had all the time in the world, nothing would every be finished in hopes of making it flawless. I see a billion minuscule details I'd love to change right now, but then after I did that, I'd probably find a billion more. Ahh...the curse of the artist. I'm working on about 5 other paintings to tell this story along with the one below.

Another Descanso Garden Painting...

I had a class this morning and did a painting of the gardens approached with a more realistic technique.

Vivisect Playset Round IV

Vivisect Playset, curated by Luke Chueh, will be in SF this year at Gallery 1988. It's December 1, 2007, 7-10pm (click the image for more info) or you can go to Gallery 1988's Website.

Wonderland...

Plein-Air Paintings...

I really enjoy painting on-site. The first is acrylic from the Arboretum in Arcadia and the second is gouache from the Descanso Gardens in La Canada.

Windup Gallery Charity Show...

Windup Gallery in Mesa, AZ (www.Windupgallery.com )is having a charity auction called "My Monster" January 12, 2008 that I was asked to be a part of. It's a benefit to raise money for The Arizona Museum for Youth and each artist gets a drawing from a kid depicting their "monster." Then we get to interpret their monster in our own style. My kid is Dylan W. and here's his monster:
How rad is that??? I laughed when I got this in the mail cuz it's just sooo perfect and right up my ally. I can't wait to start on this project.

So its 430am...

I've decided not to sleep tonight. I have class at 8am tomorrow but I just decided, as I was laying in bed, that maybe I'll just pull an all-nighter for no real reason (and it's only week 1 of classes!) Actually but yes there is a reason. I couldn't stop thinking about drawing when I was trying to fall asleep. I just craved it. So I thought, hey, might as well not fight it.

Starting this new semester, I'll be putting 100% into Art Center, which means less time for gallery shows. The schedule:

Dec 1, 2007 - Vivisect Playset Round IV @ Gallery 1988 San Francisco, 7-10 pm

Jan, 2008 - My Monster Charity Show - Windup Gallery AZ

April 1, 2008 - TOYS @ Gallery 1988 Los Angeles, 7-10 pm

June/July, 2008 - TBA Group Show - Gallery 1988 San Francisco, 7-10pm

Sept 9, 2008 - Crazy 4 Cult @ Gallery 1988 Los Angeles, 7-10 pm

Oct 7, 2008 - Cover Band @ Gallery 1988 Los Angeles, 7-10 pm

Dec 4, 2008 - Tribute to Jim Henson @ Gallery 1988 Los Angeles, 7-10 pm

Jan, 2009 - TBA Woman's Group Show @ Gallery 1988 Los Angeles, 7-10 pm

Thats a little insane for an Art Center student, if you know what ACCD is all about.

Craving art...

I haven't really "done art" in a week and it feels bizarre. I read somewhere in a magazine how a more and more ppl these days are addicted to "doing." I'm definitely one of those ppl. It's impossible for me to sit around and do nothing, I have the "be productive" itch 24/7 and I start feeling immense guilt when I haven't painted or drawn anything of use for even a day. I guess that's great work ethic, just not good on my mental stress level. Anyways, I'm glad I have artist friends who like to come over and paint/draw together. I think that's so crucial for growth of an artist, to see how others work and feed off their energy and ideas. It's also nice cuz I feel a lot of the time my normal friends don't really see the world I do. Artists generally see things the same so it's nice to get that perspective and motivation. Anyways, here comes a marathon of "The Office." I feel so much of the time life is like in the beginning of that film when whatshisname was driving to work and the elderly person in the walker was walking faster than him.

Gallery Stuff...

So I've been showing at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles for the last year. Probably my two favorite shows were the Cheshire Cat show and I Am 8-Bit. Both were awesome. Here are some pics and the piece I sold from the Cheshire Cat show.


And as far as I Am 8-Bit goes... wow. The line was INSANE! I've never seen a line that long for a gallery opening. (Stole this pic from Jensen)


This was the piece I did.


The guy who bought this commissioned me to do another piece relating to video games.

Anyways. I'm going on a cruise to Alaska on Monday. For some reason I have the need to post a lot. I guess it's just because I have a lot to say. I also hate that I have sooooooo many ideas of projects and concepts I want to explore, but not nearly enough time in the day to accomplish it all, nor enough energy for such a feat. Anyways, must finish watching my marathon of Chappelle Show.

A Little History of Process...

I should also say that the way I developed my painting technique was first from experimenting with different materials as abstract paintings. Here's a few examples of what I worked with on layering, texture, and color. I first started out with paper and various paints and inks. I did a whole series of these.


Then moved onto large canvases using oil paint and a palette knife.


Then moved to acrylics and practiced different ways of layering and dripping.


Then decided the simplify the textured backgrounds and paint characters in the foreground in a very simple layout. This has led to my current method of working. It's great because it's a very fun process and the specific way I use texture has become my signature style that no one else uses.

My First Post...

Well. I'm starting a blog again. Mostly art. Some subconscious thought. Maybe a little ranting, who knows?