Keep an Eye Out

For good compositions. That was a piece of advice I got from reading about Alex Toth. Specifically

-Study films, photographs, paintings, etc. for composition! For cutting, cropping out of nonessentials, pacing, punch, economy, forceful and direct impact. But also for beauty and subtlety-tension, suspense, action, humor, light and dark, balance, line vs, mass, ad infinitum! Use it all!

Always be looking, they are out there. If you're an artist it's not about turning it on and off it's about always being aware. Over break I got to watch alot of movies, some oldies. One was a Jubal(1956). A story with Glenn Ford, Charles Bronson and Ernest Borgnine. Some really great cinematography. One shot jumped out at me, not a big story point but a great technical shot, which the film is filled with( a lot of night shots with lit barns, 1956 people!!) . It's shot at sunset where the sky is still lit but not the ground. I was really impressed that the shot actually worked. the film was shot by Charles Lawton Jr. and directed by Delmer Davies. So I decided to do a quick sketch. This is my impression of the shot more than anything else, just trying to keep loose before diving into a bunch of boards( yes working over break). Hope everyone had a great holiday and sorry about not having a Holiday card this year( see above parenthesis). We miss ya Alex! Into the New Year!!!

I Know what I'm Getting

...for the Holidays. Sorry folks it's been really busy lately. This is just a little do dad that was sitting around. Did I mention I like gorillas? Cause I really do! I like movies about them( even ones about them sniffing their own poo) I like pictures of them, I like dolls and documentaries, I like other people who like them. I like sculptors that sculpt them, I like just about everything about them. They are amazing!!If the spirit moves you check out the

Gorilla Foundation

They do good work and have great plans. And for you phantom viewers you daily surfers drop me a line. It's nice to know who's actually looking at all this crap.

Oh for the Love of the Leader

I apologize for my absence. I left the company I have been working at for the past 10 years and hit the ground running at a relatively new start up. To be honest after Alex Toth's passing I didn't feel like posting anymore of my chicken scratch, I've been dealing with alot of loss lately. But life goes on just as death and change. And as much as things can change they can be the same. For example, this new post is a going away card for one of the amazing new guys I got to work (albeit briefly) with. This card was done for one Rick Morales ( an amazing board artist). Rick and one Steward Lee started a "jam pin-up". Steward did the Hulk and Rick did the the Wolverine. Justin Ridge came in with a very round Spider Woman and Dave Bullock zinged it with a really nice Longshot. Well, now every one is picking on one of my favorite angry green behemoths. I couldn't add to this travesty so I had to remedy it. Enter the Leader!!! Now is he controlling the Hulk or the rest of the bunch, hmmm...

Alex Toth, 1928-2006

So sad. Though we all aspire to his greatness we are less with his passing.

EGGSUCKAH

My dear friend Derek Thompson and some of his new cronies over at Pixar are putting together the second AfterWorks volume (with Image this time). The first volume boasted some heavy talent from over there and Derek assures me the second will be even more amazing and in color to boot! Derek's contribution is a story called Eggsucker and it is cute and wonderful little piece. He got the likes of Scott Morse and Steve Purcell to do pin ups and I guess he felt like he needed some one to make those guys look even better then they are. So here's my humble little contribution. Look for AfterWorks Vol II at the San Diego Con this year!!

boards lots of boards

There are alot of different kinds of boards, and I've had the priveledge to do most of them. The only thing that makes a difference is the story. I was going through some archives and found some of these lying around, thought I would share. I have some examples of commercial boards,bid boards for F/X, overly rendered story boards,F/X boards,toned story boards, a glorious key frame (the grand poobah of storyboards!That one shot that captures the essence of a scene) and key frames for an animated fiasco(color direction by the fantastic Steve Purcell the rest by little ol me). Storyboards are a lot of hard work and alot of drawing alot, alot of drawing and in reality NOT always fun to do or easy. But can be one of the most rewarding jobs in the industry. Sadly I work with alot of people who feel like storyboards are a thing of the past and choose to do 3-D previs instead. I think the best work I've seen, use previs as layout(workbook) as well as storyboards. I even did storyboards for a movie who's producer proudly stated that no boards were used ( OUCH!!). Needless to say storyboards will always be here and some of the best directors( Hitchcock,Spielberg) and studios(PIXAR) use them proudly!

key frames

Son of John

I love art, science, nature, fantasy and sci fi. All of it inspires me to get into my imagination. Sometimes work comes out of it some times play and sometimes it's just a big waste of time. Speaking of time, I got hooked on a internet personality who's name is John Titor. I spent probably a day and a half on him and what he made me think about. If your into time travel and have a few hours to "spend" look him up. This is his descendant Nicholas(Nick). This piece never went anywhere but I felt under pressure to post something new. Since this and a few other projects( not completed yet) have been keeping me busy I thought this should be good enough for now.

God Kong

By this age I had seen King Kong ( the original) back to back with Mighty Joe Young ( the original) on TV, and had read about Koko in Natl. Geographic. I knew I loved gorillas. At this time the much hyped remake of King Kong had been out for about 2 years. I think this was my attempt to blow up the poster from one of the ads in back of comics. The original poster was done by the amazing John Berkey. I also fell in love with ball point pens at that time. This image was just an excuse to tell you guys that I have added to the inspiration section, a link to a Kirby monster blog( AWESOME) and to the site links I have added the illusive and awesomely hip and talented Ippei Gyoubu ( Monkey Business). Check them out as well as John Berkey if you haven't heard of him before ( he is better known for his spaceships I later found out, but that is another story).

A Time Of Robots

It's important to be open to new things. In my job I am lucky enough to "have to learn new programs". It's always humbling and sometimes very hard and frustrating. These were done with Sketch Up and Vue 5 in two days( over 150 images in all). Two excellent programs that are incredibly easy for the technologically challenged such as myself. As I started doing them a story started to happen with the images, at least for me. I didn't finish the robot model till half way through so try to imagine all the torso's as whole robots. The computer is a tool and not the crutch, so I view these as "sketches". If I were to continue with any of these I would use them to draw from and not as a final render. Honestly it made me feel like a kid doing these, you know press a button or two and whammo a photo reality!!! Wow computers can be fun!

TROGS

Just some sketches from the sketchbook. Just letting the pen go some times can yield some good things. The last one on the page turned into a little study that I liked and later into a few good pieces. Try to listen to your instincts, it's hard at first, but it gets easier the more you do it. When your creating it's imperative.

GORRILAZILLA ANGRY!!!

This is for my friend Jamie Baker. One of the characters that jumped outta his wacky head was Rocket Rabbit, and I luv him!! If you have a sec or so go to his site( found on the right) and wade through the jungle of his fertile imagination! If you're at a convention try to get him to tell one of his stories and if you have cash to spend, buy one of his comics,...they're funny!!

Some Say in Fire

...Some say in Ice. Life can really smack you in the face and it did. Sorry for being out of the loop so long but some crappy smacking in my face was happening. This is for another project I'm attempting, let's see where it all goes. This is a WIP.

Oh Yeah! New Blogs and sites and stuff. Check them out!! And more coming!!

ALIEN GIRLS

Aliens and girls I should say. From the sketchbook. If you've ever seen my sketchbook it's all about visual regurgitation, and exploring and practicing. Being an artist I know that sometimes our ego gets in the way and keeps us from sharing our mistakes. I know alot of great artists who's sketchbooks are a bunch of beautiful finished drawings. I want to see the exploration and mistakes. Sometimes the journey is more exciting than the finish. I remember an illustrator in LA showed me his sketchbook, when I was a student, and it floored me. In it were a million ideas, all wonderful, he had an amazing mind as well as being an amazing artist! I also know a bunch of people who live in there sketches and are afraid to do finished pieces. All things are OK to do, as long as you are drawing. I want to walk the line between them and keep pushing ideas as well as finished pieces.

LOOK INTO the MONKEY'S EYES

I figure I needed another image here. This was done as a concept for a crew gift. It wasn't chosen. I think we got a pair of shorts( since the project was a short). I like the monkey.