Thursday, July 27, 2006

More sketchbook pages

I drew this during lunch the day before my birthday. I finished it off over a fish taco dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant and a coffee dessert at the bookstore afterwards. Watercolor, gouache and ballpoint…

I had a pet arowana when I was younger that I had to free because got too big for my tank. He or she was about 2 feet long. I still go by the lake where I released him/her. On my lucky days, I'll catch a glimpse of him/her swimming by under the shadows. I hid it in this page. Watercolor, gouache and ballpoint…

I got to see the sun come up...

Happy Birthday to me {:^)

I went to Key West and got to scuba dive as a suprise gift by Yvonne. I have done some snorkeling and free-diving in the past but never with full gear. Breathing was a little awkward, my body definitely freaked out as soon as I dove in, but I got use to it soon enough especially during my second dive. The visibility wasn’t great though (about 25-30 feet), it’s been raining pretty regularly down here but it was definitely fun.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Some pages

I will be posting more sketchbook stuff sometime soon. In the meantime, this is a sample of something I’ve been working on.

I have been fighting desperately with the whole process of creating comics. There are certain things I like about these two pages, but I feel like I am pulling punches overall. It is clear that certain influences have managed to seep through, which in many ways can be O.K. But I am unsure if enough of me has managed to come across. I have a certain affinity with confident and distinct lines; something I always try to do when I draw, but I feel like the excessiveness of the textures and colors pull me away from my initial goal. I get way too distracted sometimes when I work… But I am fairly new to the medium so I guess this is all trial and error. Sigh… Things will get better right? Err...right?

On a happier note, Yvonne and I got to see Cirque du Soleil. We sat about 3 feet from the stage. It was truly amazing. If you have the means, I highly recommend it. We were both smiling from ear to ear. It definitely fits in the “thing to do before dying” list....

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Study Drawing

This is sketchbook study I did after seeing Gustav Klimt's “Study of The Head of a Blind Man”. It would be fun to reproduce the painting one day...

For future projects

This is another digital painting. Her skin pores ultimately looked textured mapped in 3-D, but it was all done in Photoshop. I think this speaks volumes for the versatility of the program. Although, truth be told… the effect was pretty much accidental on my end.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Today...

Today, North Korea launched a series of missiles into the Sea of Japan , including a long-range Taepodong-2.

It is very important for us all to be educated about this all. Please make time and visit this old website, endofexistence.org.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Painting with Photoshop

I recently have taken up Photoshop painting. I have been using the program for quite a bit of time now (design and photography), but have never dwelled into using it as a painting tool. I remember trying out Painter 5 a long time ago, but found it frustrating (although many people suggest it is much better now; I have yet to get a copy for myself).

I still revert back to some comforts when trying to paint in Photoshop. I do import textures in because it gives me such a wide array of options, especially with the layer effects.

This was created with the Wacom 4” x 5” Graphire. It’s a small little thing that can get exasperating sometimes, but for the budget minded, its still very good. I hope, sometime soon to get a 9” x 12” Intuos 3.

Oh, and yeah… on a personal note; I have the flu. Plus I just had oral surgery. It sucks terribly (*no pun intended). And I’ve been working quite a bit and trying to manage time in between to create and research, and still have some sort of life. I would really love to break into comics in the next year, so I’m working diligently on creating a decent body of work to shop around.

Though I must admit that so far, I have been doing a decent job juggling everything. But I know deep down I really do need to time to relax. A whole day doing nothing would be wonderful (*nothing meaning no work or obligations). I will be heading out to St. Augustine this weekend, maybe I’ll find what I’m looking for there…