Jack-Jack!

Thought I should bring up the awwww factor on my blog and how can you go wrong with Jack-Jack from The Incredibles?

From the Sketchbook

Below are some subway sketches I did on the way home from work. I am happy to announce I haven't been caught or confronted by any angry commuters since that last incident.

And here's some sketches from a day at Tibbetts Brook Park here in Yonkers, NY. I grew up going to summer camp here.


I figured it's a good place to draw children from life (probably the ultimate challenge in life drawing since you feel like you're trying to draw the wind). I think one woman caught on that I was drawing her baby niece, but she only smiled. I guess she was happy to see that someone was capturing this everyday but precious moment on paper and preserving it.

Yes, I'm Still Here

Been very busy taking animation design tests. Lots of drawing and whatnot, but I can't post it here because of confidentiality and all that jazz. I have been able to steal away some time for my own work, so here's the roughs for my contribution to Illustration Friday for this week. The word this week is 'polar'.

I'll explain more about the subject matter later. For now, just check out the roughs, let me know if you like it, if you hate it, whatever. Thanks!

If You're Not Making Mistakes, You're Not Making ANYTHING

Thank you Grant! His comment on my last post was exactly what I needed to hear! He reminded me of Tony Christov's 1-2-3 principle. Quite simply, it's the idea of first read-second read-third read. In a good illustration, you want three main elements, each with distinct levels of importance. My problem with my previous post is you couldn't tell what was most important. So with that in mind, here's the original.


And here it is again after I was reminded of the 1-2-3 rule.


See the difference? On the first attempt, you couldn't clearly see the rider's silhouette, thus destroying the readability. The main culprit was the combination of the dragon's body being far too dark and contrasting considering how far away it was and the ambient darkness. By reducing the amount of darks everywhere except the dragon's head, the samurai and the dragon's neck (the 1-2-3 elements), suddenly everything makes more sense.

I hope this post clearly demonstrates the importance of design and composition. All the draftsmanship and detailing in the world can mean nothing if your painting is a big muddy mess.

The other thing it teaches me is that I've been doing too much in a vacuum. I will cut myself some slack since I've moved away from San Francisco (and my community of artists) and returning to New York (where I have yet to reestablish a community). Doing all my work on my own with practically no feedback until after I've finished results in frustration and needless work. From this point on, I'll be sure to start posting thumbnails, etc. more often.

The image of the artist as a lonely, tragic (and mentally questionable) recluse is romantic and all, but for our purposes, useless and self-defeating. Art is not just a profession, it's community.

The Proper Way to Kill the Dragon, Save the Princess and Still Come Out Alive

Yay, finally something to post! I've been so busy with animation tests along with my website. The annoying thing about animation tests is that you work so hard for no compensation, and on top of that, you can't even post the work you did because said work is now property of the studio you're applying to. The really kicker is that the company said thanks but no thanks. Well, back to square one.

Anyway, this was a piece I started a while ago, but finally just finished.


I think it came out okay. I'm worried it has issues of readability. I'll probably continue to touch up on it, but I really wanted to just post it already. Let me know what you think.