I survived...

Friday was the big day. All the family was in town for the ceremony. It was a little sad and somewhat anti-climactic for me. Maybe it's because deep down I know that this is but a brief moment on the road. But despite that I believe that ceremony and rights of passage are an important part of any culture. Marking our milestones and progress seems to give weight to the journey we are all on. Not to say we've arrived, but to appreciate where we've been and to look ahead at where we will go. It's been a great experience for me and I'm excited to see everyone go off and become or do something great with the tools we've been entrusted with. I was surprised to hear Jim Brown (actor/NFL star), Bill Russel(NBA hall of famer) and Dan Macaw (California Impressionist painter) all give inspiring and wisdom filled words to the students.

I hope to go forward from this point and surround myself with the kind of people who will help encourage and challenge me to continue to grow as a human being and as an artist.

I want to thank everyone who has visited and commented. Your words are confirming and supporting. I look forward to what's next for all of us on our various paths. I wish everyone fullfillment, humbleness, success, friendship, zest for life and every other wholesome, edifying thing I could hope for.

La chaim! To Life!

Had a fun and tiring time with all the sketchcrawlers of San Francisco. Saw some beautiful sights on the Filbert steps. I'm going back to paint there! We stopped in China town, it was a smorgasbord of wonderful faces to draw. Met a lot of new folks and was really impressed by some of the sketchers. The benefit auction at Maverix was a hoot. Bid wars ensued as Ronnie held on for dear life trying to win the Uesugi original. Lot's o' great art up for bid and for a good cause too. I donated a couple of sketches and thankfully someone donated some cash for one of my meager offerings not sure what became of the other. Anyways, it was great to get out among the masses.

Up to my neck

Last push for my story final! Ahhh! I'm screwed! Story is such an engulfing process. It's overwhelming and rewarding. But mostly overwhelming. Hahah! I'm drowning in board work right now.


Layering in PS (for reusability)

I'm doing the backgrounds on a seperate layer in PS so I can recycle shots. The two above are the same bg.
This is a traditional method updated with the use of PS. You could get a similar result without a computer by drawing the bg on one sheet and drawing your character acting on an overlay sheet then cutting your characters out (leaving a little white edge to give the characters some breathing room on the board) and taping them to the bg. Then photocopy and viola! finished board now you can add some tone.

In the images below you can see a finished background with roughed in characters. I will next clean-up the characters (for better readability) like the first image in this post.

With this process it's easy to drop new drawings onto an existing background, thus cutting down on drawing time.


Thumbnailing
Probably one the most important ingredients for me in boarding are thumbnails. Quick little ideas that need not be pretty and shouldn't be, in order to facilitate quick jotting of ideas. It's really easy to get bogged down in choices. Things like acting, camera placement, continuity of story can all become too much if I don't break them down in this thumbnailing phase. Thumbnails apply to just about any artistic medium. When you paint, illustrate even writing a story requires seeing a larger whole which is in a sense thumbnailing.

Reflective

I've been thinking a lot about my time in school recently and where I am now. What's next for me? Seeing an intern at work pursuing her goal is one of the many things that has reminded me, that it's time for me to quit looking at the lack (in life) and just focus on doing something great. Really go out and kick some ass! It's the people who push through obstacles and trials to reach that goal, (that thing, whatever it may be) that will arrive on the other side a stronger and more capable individual. Stop telling yourself you can't and start believing in your dream or vision. No, this isn't a self help seminar, but those things exist for a reason, there is a need to overcome or silence our own fears and doubts about our lives. So whatever it is you want in life don't ever allow that dream to die. Doesn't have to be earth shattering stuff, but make it your life's work until you do it and then move on to the next thing.

oil on canvas 14x18

I was digging through my paintings and found this study. I remember I was more inspired at the time to capture a scene instead of just another model painting. Still though trying to organize the values to create a focus on the model.