Post 100

It seems somehow serendipitous that on my 100th blog post, I should display my recent foray back into more traditional media (or analog media, for the nerds in the audience). Here's an oil portrait I did recently (after have not painted in oil for about 4 years). It was done in three hours.

Do I have a lot of work ahead of me? Of course. That's why artists do what they do for their entire lives. Am I satisfied with this painting? Yes and no. Yes, because I wasn't sure how much I've lost over the years of not painting in oil. I'm pleased to say I didn't lose too much and I'm almost ready to say that I'm exactly where I left off. And at the same time, I know things can be better.

Well, I've got the rest of my life to learn more and produce better work. Not nearly enough time.

Maquette

Part of the reference I'm using for my next piece. This was sculpted with Super Sculpey over a wire armature bulked up with scrap paper and tin foil. Isn't it cute?

Old Farts Redux

Remember this guy? I did this painting wwwaaaayyy back in January 2008.



Well, I spent some time reworking the piece. And here it is! Ta Da!!



As you can see, I've worked on a more definite light scheme, added more value contrast, added a lot more variety to the leaves and a lot more color overall. And of course, there are the cute, Bobby Chiu-ish creatures on the tree branches on the left. Whaddya think???

ArtOrder Earthquake Dragon

This week's ArtOrder challenge: a dragon! Sweet!!



The premise was to create a Catastrophic Dragon. This particular one has power over earthquakes. Now I could've easily done some heavy dragon made out of rock, but I wanted to add some story to it. I took inspiration from the game Final Fantasy X, which had a creature called the Anima and an old Norse myth about the punishment of Loki, and combined them to create this creature. He's bound under the Earth for some trangression or act of hubris, and whenever he struggles, the Earth above shakes.

Happy Independence Day!

This land is your land, this land is my land,
from California, to the New York Island,
from the redwood forests, to the gulf stream waters,
this land was made for you and me...

Woody Guthrie

New Work in Progress

Here's a not-so-quick rough of my next piece. Watch this space.....

IMC 2009

I was lucky enough to take part in the 2nd annual Illustration Masterclass in Amherst, MA. The class was taught by a who's who in the illustration industry: Greg Manchess, Donato Giancola, Dan Dos Santos, Scott Fischer, Charles Vess, Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell, art director Irene Gallo and the founder of the IMC, Rebecca Guay. It was a week of illustration madness: 12-16 hour days, 2-3 lectures a day, constant painting, way too much screwing around...what a fine vacation!

The assignment I took was for an interior illustration for a Norse-ish novel called 'Berzerker Lord'. The assignment was to depict three characters, a giant warrior, Aath, and a tiny, idealistic dreamer, Draaken, taking on a polar bear.

Here are my early thumbs.



From that, I picked the third thumb, blew it up, and made a few changes. I was lucky enough to have Joe Weatherly's help with the polar bear. It still looked a bit crowded though....Anywho, here's what I brought with me to the first day of class.



From the critiques of Dan Dos Santos and Charles Vess, I made a new rough. Changes include cropping the bear from only two sides of the frame instead of three, allowing me to move Draaken to the right and behind Aath. Also, Aath has a much more dramatic pose.



From that, I took some reference photos, using my fellow classmates. Thanks to Hasani and Noni for posing. The polar bear was made with Play Doh. I'm not sure why I didn't start doing this earlier; 4 tubs of clay for $1.99 at Target-what a bargain!!!!



Upon reviewing the photos, I realized I practically broke Aath's arm in the new rough.

Now here's the pencil rough. Note the note I wrote to myself because I made Aath's torso way too short-I would correct that digitally before I started painting. Note also, the change in perspective, made by lowering the horizon line-that idea came from the ingenious Greg Manchess. One simple change, and the drama just went up 200%!



And finally, here's the finished piece. I did change Draaken half way through. I wasn't too happy with how tiny he was.



Thanks very much to Rebecca Guay for putting this whole thing together. Thanks of course to Greg, Donato, Dan, Scott, Boris, Julie, Irene, Rebecca and Charles for being our teachers and staying with us up to midnight or later. And finally, thanks to all my classmates and new good friends in the IMC 2009.

ArtOrder Exchange

For this week's challenge, I've fleshed out a silhouette design created by Ricardo Guimaraes of Brazil. Check out his work here.

Here's the original silhouette. Ricardo, thanks for putting together such an excellent and inspiring design!

ArtOrder Usual Suspects

Defender-good on defense, likes to be in the thick of the action.
Striker-fast, able to strike and cause a lot of offensive damage.
Controller-able to handle multiple foes.
Leader-inspires, motivates, and supports the team.

Can you guess which is which?

Also, here are the rest of the silhouette studies I had done for this project. Do you agree with the choices I made? Did you think I was a complete idiot in some of them? Either way let me know! Happy Memorial Day!

ArtOrder Primal Gnome

A sort of gorilla ancestor to the modern Gnome. A lot bigger, a lot more dangerous, a lot uglier, and a hell of a lot smellier.

ArtOrder Unfamiliar Familiar

I thought I'd try my hand at a necromancer. They're not really my favorite subject, but it seems everyone likes zombies.

For his pet familiar, I thought it'd be cute to make a sort of MiniMe. Cute, but dangerous. That's the plan, anyway.

ArtOrder Boll Deevil

Bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs!!!!

Dragon Slayer Extraordinarie

NEWS FLASH: THIS IS NOT FOR ARTORDER!!!! Nope, it's for ANOTHER art challenge, in this case, Imaginism Studios'. Rules for the challenge can be found at their DeviantArt website.

The dragon is Kei Acedera's creation, as reinterpreted by me. Hope she likes it...

Oh finally, if you're thinking about taking a class to up the quality of your artwork and your marketability as a professional illustrator, seriously check out Imaginism's online school, Schoolism. I've talked about it before, but I cannot overstress how highly I think about Schoolism.

Oodles of Life Drawings

Some more life drawings from my class at WCC. Let me tell you, coming back to these life studies after 4 years feels like visiting your old college. A little dusty, but everything's still there. I'm grateful I didn't lose it all. I owe it all to my old teachers at the Academy: Chuck, Lisa, Sherrie, Jian, Xao Ming, Henry, Warren, Valerie, Bill, Oliver and Barbara (God bless her soul). And of course, I'm indebted to my current teacher, Bruce. Thank you all!

ArtOrder Shock and Awe

This week's ArtOrder assignment (seems that's all I do doesn't it?)

The topic is simple and straightforward: make a big bad weapon that screams death and destruction. Do these Dungeons and Dragons people think we're nerds or something? Wait...don't answer that.



Anyway, I've titled this thing the Thunder Hammer. I think it's a bit uncreative though. Anyone got any better suggestions? Titan's Fist? Hammer of the Gods? Toe Squisher?

Come up with something cool and I'll send you a print of one of my paintings. You pick. Either from this blog or my website. Email your answer to me at piyastudios@yahoo.com. Thanks.

PS: I thought I'd share my silhouette studies for this project.



Fun huh?

Draculsaurus Pyro

I reworked my Dinogloth painting for the ArtOrder blog. Not much of a surprise that I would gravitate towards big scaly reptiles huh? I think this new version can now be considered a finished painting. I've been changing my way of doing things lately, due in no small part to Kekai Kotaki's article on ImagineFX Issue 41 (Kekai's blog is found here). His way of painting is much more free, spontaneous and more organic (not to mention a hundred times faster!). The tradeoff is that the line between work in progress and final finished painting becomes more hazy. I hope I have sound judgement on finding that line.

Oh and I named my dino Draculsaurus pyro (Fire Dragon Reptile). If my Latin is completely off, please let me know. Thanks.

ArtOrder Fire Elves Sketch

This week's ArtOrder sketch.

I've placed the Elven race on a far off planet orbiting a red dwarf star. Due to the low energy output of the star, there is very little heat on the planet. The only sources of heat and energy available are the many active volcanoes that dot the landscape. The elves have learned to harness the power of these volcanoes to survive and thrive.

The atmosphere of the world blocks much of the incoming visible light, but is transparent to dangerous UV radiation. In response, the elves have evolved pitch black skin to protect themselves and reflective corneas to help with seeing in such dark conditions. Thus, the elves eyes glow red.

I've chosen to depict a typical city of this race. Flowing lava is channeled throughout the city to keep it warm and to be harnessed for power. The city is built as compactly as possible. Skyscrapers are an inevitable result. However the elves have never lost their sense of grace, reflected in their organic architecture.

Thanks to matte painter Dylan Cole, whose art inspired this idea and to Seth Shostak and the SETI Institute, whose work continues to keep me thinking and coming up with these out-of-this-world ideas.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all! May God's peace, blessings and grace be to all people.

ArtOrder Dinogloth Sketch

This week's challenge is a zombie demon dinosaur. Geekdom at its best.



He's a mix of a Therizinosaurus, the skull of a Dracorex, the teeth of a Tyrannosaurus, with a bit of the Balrog from Lord of the Rings thrown in the mix.

This image is a great way to grate on the nerves of a paleontologist....

ArtOrder Bromide Sketch

This week's ArtOrder topic is the Bromide race. They're a race of plant based humanoids, mostly peaceful, full of agility and grace and with an inherent ability to defend themselves.



I chose to depict mine has a humanoid female, mostly because I haven't done much with the female figure (I find the female form one of the most intimidating subjects to take on artistically). Also, a woman's body lends itself well to depicting grace and rhythm. But as well all know, nature is red in tooth and claw, so I tried to design her hands and forearms to be thick, hard and durable in the form of tree bark.