Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Art history

What I learned in Art History yesterday:
Mary Cassatt was a classy lady. A real go-getter in times that women were expected to be demure and stoic.
Monet and Renoir were close pals... they even lived together on a house boat. BROMANCE BOAT PARTY! :D

I wanna draw comics for these images in my head.

Speaking of comics, have you checked out Matt Forsythe's work? I dig Ojingogo!

After hearing about it for years, I finally go around to reading Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow... and find it a bit messy in pacing, but at least more clarifying than the movie.

I finished reading Jiro Taniguchi's A Distant Neighborhood Vol. 1 and now I really want to read Vol. 2... figures that a 3-time Eisner nominated mangaka knows his storytelling (correction, I have read both and highly recommend it for people who enjoy slow-paced, mature artwork). There's an interesting review of Vol. 1 and Taniguchi in general on Read About Comics, a comics review site by Greg McElhatton. A French movie adaptation is currently in the works.

in progress



This is just some stuff in Drawing II I am working on... I have to get cracking on my painting too and plan to get mostly done by next week.

In other news, I am considering working on campus during the summer as an New Student Orientation Leader? I just hope I can get some faculty/staff recommendations.
I have been reading up The Art of Osamu Tezuka by Helen McCarthy and it is fascinating; he was really styling! :D
Check out those Ray-Bans!
Lastly, I plan to get through this scholarly attempt at analyzing Batman. Then I will move onto reading all of Blade of the Immortal by Hiroaki Samura (23+ volumes ongoing!). I am on vol. 7.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

sleep, the new frontier.





so I've slept more but I still be a bit out of it (read this sentence piratey). At least this photo was taken prior to spring break.... and that is how I looked recently.

I am drawing and painting for the next piece in Illustration Tech I so you get some progress shots later... like Friday? The parody copy of a master work is based off of Manet's In the Conservatory and features one Don Kilpatrick III... and yes, he is getting older but w/e. A real fun guy. And no, he's not balding.... this ref photo is just weird.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Te Wei, Sergio Martinez, tumblr

Te Wei passed away this month at the ripe age of 95. He did a lot of great musical animated shorts that depicted Chinese folk culture. He was an artistic role model of my vaguely remembered childhood.

Recently, I found a thread post on Sergio Martinez' process on ConceptArt.org with a scanned interview/step-by-step article from the long defunct magazine, Step By Step. Martinez is well known in book illustration for Treasure Island and Pinocchio.
Since I discovered Martinez' illustrations through the blog Lines and Colors, I've been trying look for more of his work and the techniques he uses to work on both sides of vellum/trace. He has 4 separate, specific blogspots in english/spanish (?) that cover categories of his artwork, but the most comprehensive (and up to date) blog is Sergio's commets.

I bought some vellum the other day and can't wait to try working with some of his techniques!


Due to extreme customization capability in tumblr (apparently its practically like free webhosting), I am considering making an official site in tumblr that is more aesthetically streamlined and pleasing. This blogspot is more personal work than anything else, but it tries to keep a professional air. Gotta keep this classy!

Anyway, if anyone is willing to provide some tips about beginner html code for tumblr, that would be great. I'll doodle for it.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Robots...


I thought I should mention that I finished my painting the other day. I don't know why I stress out in the beginning of the week so often, it's probably 'cause of my schedule and some issues with life. As usual.

Anyway, this painting was done for Chuck's class and its a combination of opaque and transparent glazing. :D 3rd real painting ever! I think the landscape is fudged a bit but the fog in the scene really covers that.

Friday, March 12, 2010

hey its spring brake




Hey folks! I have enjoyed most of my spring break. Now is the time to buckle down. Mostly.
Here are some sketches to show that I'm not wasting my time completely. These are obviously from a couple weeks ago but so be it. I am working on another one currently and Prismacolor Col-Erase pencils are great to work with. Some quick sketches and very delicate details in pretty colors!