Simini Blocker

Caught

2012-02-15T20:28:00.001-08:00

Warm-up exercise from work today. We has some really sweet vintage fashion photos as reference. I shall probably need to do some more...

Hazel and Augustus

2012-02-07T13:52:00.001-08:00

In honor of that coming Valentine's holiday... Hazel and Augustus from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, which I read this week.

Terribly lovable characters and beautifully written.

(And in case you're concerned... Augustus doesn't actually smoke. He carries the cigarette around for "metaphorical resonance" incidentally... the book is dripping with metaphorical resonance.)

Chime

2012-02-03T10:27:00.000-08:00

My take on cover art for Chime by Franny Billingsley. It was one of my favorite books I read last year. So I thought I'd take a stab at it.

Without the type treatment:

And a detail:

Started this several months ago after doodling a super rough color study and thinking hey... that might be cool. I've worked on it every once and a while since then. Stretching it out over so much time resulted in lots of repainting and an appreciation of how much my style has shifted in the past few months as a result of my internship. Also of the difficulties of calling something done when there is no deadline...

Yutu and Miki

2012-01-28T17:13:00.000-08:00

I just finished up some illustrations for a an educational text about an Inuit boy and his dog Miki:

The art director requested that I work within this specific color pallet:

I admit, I was a little unsure what I would be able to do with that at the beginning, but I ended up really liking the result. It's amazing the variety you can get just playing with value and saturation! I'm excited to experiment some more with this concept.

Color. It's truly my favorite thing.

Dancin'

2012-01-18T21:29:00.001-08:00

Cuz sometimes you feel like dancin'.

In space.

Shapes

2011-12-20T22:30:00.000-08:00

Warm-up sketch for the day. I"ve been trying some new things with shapes lately... This is largely because I sit by the talented Scott Gwynn at work and he is obsessed with shapes. It seeps into one's brain. I'm not so fantastic at them, but it's fun to experiment.

Heather and Steve

2011-12-15T20:55:00.000-08:00

This is Heather, and her fish purse, Steve. Heather has been one of my best friends since I met her in seventh grade and discovered a mutual love for that great epic, Star Wars (as you can imagine, we were in the minority of middle school girls who could quote Empire Strikes Back and name all the different planets and spaceships... gotta stick together). Among other things, we share a love of beta fish and Gilmore Girls, compulsive cosmetic shopping at Wal-Mart, and a tendency to get lost obsessively in imaginary worlds.

Anyways. Heather is now the queen of Ebay and has a Fahsion Blog to prove it. I thought it would be fun to use has reference. Plus, she has sportingly modeled for quite a number of my illustration projects so I though it about time I do a picture of her.

(Side note: When I'm attempting to draw an expression, I often find myself making that expression. So , yeah... lots of fish face...)

Sketches

2011-12-13T21:21:00.000-08:00

Memory sketch of a girl I saw on TRAX yesterday. Tim Burton tights! Colored hair! Must draw.

And first big snow today (though, in retrospect, non of it really stuck...). This is about how I feel when I have to leave nice comfortable inside for snowy outside:

...But I don't have the puffy coat.

Fanart Friday: Divergent

2011-12-08T21:08:00.000-08:00

Tris (or as she came out here... Dystopic Rapunzel):

And her friend Christina:

From today's audiobook, Divergent by Veronica Roth. Doodles occurred. Seems to be inevitable.

I find girl-fighter stories really entertaining... not sure why... I'm a terribly pacifstic person myself (If you've read Divergent- I'm Amity, no question). Can't say I have any desire to pick up a weapon myself. Except maybe a bow and arrow. Cuz those are cool. And once I won the archery contest at girls camp, so I think I have some latent ability.

Bus Stop

2011-12-05T18:54:00.000-08:00

I really enjoy riding the bus. I'm not sure I can explain it to you... as I"ll admit it is often not terribly convenient. But I still like it. I always feel semi-adventurous.

Cricket

2011-12-03T17:01:00.001-08:00

The boy next door, from Lola and the Boy Next Door.

That book made me want to go back to San Francisco.

Tea Time

2011-11-15T20:44:00.000-08:00

Herbal tea has recently, of necessity, become quite important to me. I like the ritual... sitting down with your cup, and feeling that all is now right with the world.

Also, it smells really good.

Dancing Flamingo

2011-11-06T16:48:00.000-08:00

Warm-up sketch.

Also, I want flamingos on my lawn someday. I think they're classy.

El Gato de Muerte

2011-11-01T10:40:00.001-07:00

Feliz Dia de Los Muertos!

I admit i find this holiday rather cooler than it's US counterpart. At the very least in it's design. So eerily cheerful!

Cindercrow

2011-10-31T08:59:00.001-07:00

And then the clock struck twelve...

Happy Halloween! This is my submission for the studio blog. The theme this week was "Scarecrow." I happened to be working on mine during the trick or treat activity they had, with the cute little girls dressed as princess parading past our office. So... yeah. That's where it came from.

Fish Love

2011-10-27T22:57:00.000-07:00

I may never get tired of drawing these.

(Reference to this, if you haven't been here before...)

Tumblr

2011-10-16T18:01:00.000-07:00

So there's this thing on the internet called Tumblr. And I've decided to join in the party. Mine will be a sketchblog for the most part... because posting keeps me accountable, even if no one sees it.

So this sort of stuff will be HERE now... I've challenged myself to try and post something everyday. Wish me luck!

Pottermore

2011-10-12T20:47:00.001-07:00

If I were a first year at Hogwarts...

I'd be in Ravenclaw, have a cat for a pet, and my favorite classes would be charms, transfiguration, and astronomy.

I'm a nerd.

Estefan's Salon

2011-10-09T22:58:00.001-07:00

I haven't worked on Estefan (the eventually upcoming BYU short film) for a while now... but, here's a color study I did of the environment. Environment design the effort of many.

Can't wait to see how the film comes out!

Tribute

2011-10-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

For Richard Hull, brilliant illustrator and beloved professor, who retired this past semester.

I'm sorry for all you students who won't have the privilege of learning from him... I am much luckier than you.

Thanks for everything, Brother Hull. I hope you enjoy the plein-air painting!

Fanart Friday: Anya Balanchine

2011-10-01T21:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's not Friday, but I meant to post it yesterday... so it counts.

From All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin, Russian mafia princess, New York seventy years in the future.

I thought it was a cool book, an alternative take on the "dystopic" trend so popular in YA lit these days, though it's not itself dystopic. And you know, I always love a good girl power book.

Also... I kinda want to see the movie.

Soundtracks

2011-09-26T20:24:00.000-07:00

I love cities. And I love music. And I especially love them together. I love to put on my headphones and stroll around downtown... makes me feel like I'm in a montage from a movie (riding the bus with headphones has the same effect). Type of movie varies with my mood... quirky indie film, chick flick, action adventure, thoughtful drama...

Today has been mostly Pop Latino. Not sure where that fits, but it was fun.

Unlikely Friends

2011-09-25T20:54:00.000-07:00

For Heather.

And no, he's not going to eat the bird.

Israel Sketches

2011-09-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

I've had big plans of posting these about a month ago (I can't believe it's been a month!), but I kept putting it up because there were a few sketches I wanted to finish... Which of course hasn't happened. Lesson learned: sketch pages are meant to be done the day of. Still, I did manage to sketch more than I have on any other trip.

So... Some pages.

Israel was great. Did I mention that?

And... if ever there's a mysterious benefactor out there reading this, looking for an artist to send around the world for some reason... I'm pretty sure I could make myself available. It's possible that might be my dream job.

Suitcases

2011-09-11T17:00:00.000-07:00

"Have a suitcase heart. Be ready to travel." -Gabrielle Zevin

At risk of sounding melodramatic... I read that line the other day and it kind of got stuck in my head, since I've been living out of suitcases for the last few weeks. And it kind of reminds me of that "rootless" sort of feeling that accompanies transition periods.. I've been apartment hunting. Not my favorite thing in the world, to put it mildly.

On another note, I've always wished I had one of those retro suitcases with stickers all over it. And of course to have gone to all those places on the stickers.

Autumn Hair

2011-09-08T21:18:00.001-07:00

Yesterday the warm-up exercise at work was to create something with hair a la Kevin Keele.. Which was fantastic, since hair is one of my very favorite things to draw. I was enjoying the excercise so much it was hard to move on to my actual assignment. But then I went home and kept working on it.

It was satisfying.

Also, fall is here! And with it my first September in which I do not return to school (well, minus the one where I was in Uruguay) and that is also very satisfying.

A Mural in Nazareth

2011-08-30T21:19:00.000-07:00

I recently returned from a two week trip to Israel with some fellow artists, in which we painted a mural in the St.Vincent Hospital in Nazareth. I posted the plans for it a couple months ago here. It was an amazing experience, a truth I'm never able to adequately express when answering the question: "How was Israel?"

Since the mural went up a stairway, it was a bit difficult to get a picture of it in it's entirety, so I took a video instead.( and I apologize for the quality...)

The other artists who worked and help plan it:Bethanne Andersen (Our fearless leader), Boston Madsen (mastermind behind the fish... love that detailing!), Adam Borgia (Adam did all the tough start up work... there's no way it would have gotten done without him), and Jake Wyatt (responsible for a lot of the composition). I primarily worked on faces. It was the first mural for all of us.

I'm really grateful I got to be a part of this. Israel is a special place, and we met some truly inspiring people. Everyone was so welcoming and kind. I was constantly thinking..."Wow... I need to be a better sort of person." It was a privilege to be able to participate in some small way in the work they're doing.

Check out forpeace.us for more information about the project and pictures of the mural in progress.

Also, sketchbook pages from the trip coming soon..

Gestures!

2011-08-07T22:24:00.000-07:00

This post is brought to you courtesy of THIS SITE. It's an online photo generator, meant to simulate a figure drawing class. This week at work one of our warm up excercises was draw gestures with Force using this tool, and I was reminded of how fun gesture drawing is. Seriously, I went home that day and did this for several hours. These are all around two minutes or so, except for the first few, so you can imagine how many pages I went through (I don't tend to have a whole lot of patience for poses longer than two minutes, a weakness I should probably work on overcoming...).

It's been about a year it think since I've drawn, not painted, from a live model. oops! shameful. Photos aren't really a substitute, but it was good practice... and I think I actually got a little better after awhile (maybe? at least I got brave enough to stop cheating and drawing it first with orange pencil and then pausing the generator to go over it in pen...). And I definitely want to go do some actual figure drawing now.

Anyways, drawing is fun. And somewhat addicting.

(A note: Make sure you specify whether or not you're ok with nude models if that's a concern)

After Hours

2011-08-03T21:40:00.000-07:00

I've been inspired by the amazing Anthony Holden this week to try and keep a better sketchbook. Anthony has some of the funnest "doodles" I've seen in a long time. These are nothing like those. But, my goal is to have more fun when I draw. I've decided to start small and do a memory sketch of someone I see every day.

You might notice that the key criteria of who I choose is largely based on: hair, patterns, and color. All things I enjoy sketch-painting.

The above guy was on my bus this afternoon and had the most spectacular hair I couldn't even do it justice.

For some reason I don't get around to doing these sketches until like 11 at night, which is unfortunate because I then do not want to go to sleep.

(Confession: One of these is not a memory sketch. It's from a book. Yes, I cheated.)

Xyrichtys

2011-07-29T22:47:00.000-07:00

I got a new watercolor sketchbook, and to initiate it I decided to paint my old standby: the betta fish.

This is Xyrichtys, who lives in a bowl on my desk and has kept me company through many an all-nighter.

He was named by my good friends Nikki and Natalie, who gifted him to me after the betta I bought for my birthday passed away, tragically, a mere three days after his purchase. Ric, however, I've kept alive for nearly ten months. He's a survivor.

Did you know? I love painting fish.I was excited to get a betta so I could paint him from life. An idea that works much better in theory than practice, I've found. Every time I'm think, "Hey Ric, I'm going to paint your picture!" He's like, "Umm, no thanks," and swims behind his decorative greek columns. And then I use the internet.

Harry Potter vs. The World

2011-07-22T00:25:00.000-07:00

Can you guess which graphic novels I've been reading this week? In combination with which audiobooks?

The inevitable result:

I owe a lot to Harry Potter. He's one of the reasons I wanted to draw... And most particularly illustrate. Because when I finished reading I didn't want that world to end.

So I drew.

I drew a lot of Harry Potter.

However, I find that when I draw any HP these days, I fall back into old habits. So I decided to ~~shamelessly steal from~~ do an emulation of Bryan Lee O'Malley's work, which I really love. So there you go.

Happy Fanart Friday.

The Pen Evangelist

2011-07-12T20:27:00.000-07:00

A week or so ago I stopped into an art store in Salt Lake on my way to the bus. Just to browse for a few minutes, because you know there's really nothing more exciting than art supplies. As I was testing out the different pens, this man came up to me and asked conspiratorially, "are you looking for a GREAT pen?"

My response: "YES!" (really, who isn't looking for that mythical instrument, that magical pen through which flows not ink, but talent and creativity?)

He then went on to extol the wonders of this pen, with a passion and reverence one might reserve for matters of salvation. When it was determined that the store did not carry the Pilot V Razor Point Extra Fine, he told me he had one out in his car if I wanted to come get it. Which I politely declined as I had to catch the bus in a few minutes, and, well, in case he wasn't just a guy with an extreme passion for pens.

But, as I was checking out (my now much more inferior seeming writing utensil), he ran back in, waving the pen in the air and then putting it into my hand. And then, he was gone, leaving me in possession of the holy grail.

And, while every drawing still doesn't fall golden onto the page, it has made me want to sketch a lot more. So in that sense, I guess it is rather magical.

(A note from the future: See those little dates at the bottom of the last two pages? I've recently been really good at remembering to date all my pages... however for the entire month of July I have incorrectly believed that July was the sixth month. *facepalm*)

Hope

2011-06-28T01:08:00.000-07:00

"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all..."
Emily Dickinson

So it's two am and I can't sleep. I have to get up in three and a half hours. I was lying in bed thinking of this poem i read the other day, and had the idea for this doodle/sketch. I don't think I really did it justice, so maybe I'll try again another day, not in the middle of the night. But for now, here's this.

Oh, Owl.

2011-06-23T23:17:00.000-07:00

So, at Avalanche, some days we do exercise/challenge to "warm-up" for 30/40 minutes (Yes, as you do in sports. But more... sedentary). This week one of the exercise was to choose a piece of provided reference and design a character based on that animal. I chose and the barn owl.

P.S. In case you were wondering, I'm loving my internship. I still can't really believe they let me go in and work there everyday.

For Great Star

2011-06-19T20:05:00.000-07:00

In the 90's the YMCA had a Daddy-Daughter program known as "Indian Princesses" (later discontinued for its umm... questionable political correctness). Every couple weeks, the Dads and daughters would meet together in their local chapters to participate in various activities. And every few months you'd get together with other groups for big camp outs. You also got and indian name and a special leather necklace that you decorated with your symbol and worked towards earning beads to string on it.

My dad, a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan, was Great Star. I was Bright Star. We had corresponding necklaces decorated with puff paint, and every few weeks we'd go to the meeting with the other girls and dads from my neighborhood. When it was our turn to host, he'd help me make and deliver themed invitations. We camped. We earned beads. We designed the most aerodynamic, hot-pink pinewood derby car to ever hit the track. It was a great time.

I don't remember a lot of the specific activities, what I do remember is doing them with him.

Thank you Dad, for that. To me you will always be more than great.

Happy Father's Day, all you fathers.

Hurrah for Israel!

2011-06-12T21:28:00.001-07:00

This summer I'm privileged to be part of a group of artist going to Nazareth to paint a mural in a children's hospital there with the service organization forPEACE. The trip actual trip will take place in August, but we've been working together for the past month on the planning stages. I thought I'd post for you our sketch for the mural, still very rough line work and pieced together from bits we all worked on, but it will give us the basics for what we need to get started.

And some rough color studies:

We wanted to do something with a sense of fantasy about it, and we liked the idea of glowing lantern like elements. And of course, you know what a huge fan I ma of fish.

The other artists in the group are Bethanne Andersen, Boston Madsen, Adam Borgia, and Jake Wyatt. It's been wonderful to work with such talented artists and excellent friends. And I can't wait to see how the mural turns out come August.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T22:55:00.000-07:00

... Late. This took me a bit longer than I thought. Oops.

As a little girl I was really into bunnies. Really really into bunnies. I'm told I had a veritable posse of imaginary pals which I referred to as "My Bunny Friends."

For Halloween when I was four, five? I was, you guessed it, a bunny. So I had this costume. One day, not halloween, I came downstair ready for kindergarten dressed in said costume (along with my favorite pair of cowboy boots) and announced to my mother "Some days I just feel like bein' a bunny."

My mom shrugged and said "Ok" and let me go. The teacher took me around to show the other teachers and principle and everyone. I felt like a rockstar. Or the five-year-old equivalent.

My mom recently posted a picture of me in this costume on facebook, which brought this memory to mind, and made me appreciative of the kind of mother I was blessed with. Also I thought it might be fun to draw.

I am so grateful for my mother. She is the greatest example of love and service that I have ever known. She filled our house with music and pets and art and fun when I was growing up. She's always supported me in whatever I chose to do, chose to be. Be it bunny... or pony rider... or veterinarian... or artist.

I love you Mom. Thank you for everything.

Stranger Danger

2011-05-07T21:43:00.000-07:00

I've always found the bean-seller in Jack and the Beanstalk to be a bit of a shady character. So I guess that's why my depiction of this story moment came out like this...

Run away, Jack. Run away.

I only had time to do a rough value study on this one. Now that the class is over, I'm not sure when I'll get back to it, if ever, so I'm posting it as is. I'll add it to the list of things to do... someday.

Holy Cow

2011-04-25T21:05:00.001-07:00

I chose to design the cow, Milky White, as one of my assignments for Jack and the Beanstalk. I thought it would be quite simple. After all, how different can a cow be from a horse? And I'm quite familiar with drawing those, from all my training as a ten-year-old girl. Alas. Cows are like horses the same way bunnies are like cats. And much more difficult. Here is my attempt.

PS. I sort of graduated this weekend! I have pictures if not a diploma to prove it. And I was offered an internship for the summer at Disney Interactive/ Avalanche studios here in Salt Lake. I'm pretty excited.

Self-Portrait

2011-04-16T15:01:00.000-07:00

Final assignment for head painting. I painted it in photoshop, but from a mirror, not a photo. It's amazing how much more effective painting from life is, though less convenient. I'd done another digital study earlier in the day, but from a photo. It was a fight the whole way and the results were not so great.

So I guess my professors really know what they're talking about.

Wanna buy some... magic beans?

2011-04-14T19:53:00.000-07:00

You've come to the right spot.

Props are surprisingly fun to design. I would really love to do more of it.

Jack's House

2011-04-11T18:47:00.000-07:00

I think it's done? Sometimes I have a hard time letting go.

Jack and the Beanstalk

2011-04-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

I've been taking a class this semester from the amazing Jake Parker. In it we've been doing visual development for Jack in the Beanstalk, aiming for a classic Disney style.

Here's my Jack:

And some development sketches for his face:

I painted an entire version of the painting above to completion before stepping back and realizing that I had neglected to think about the personality of the character throughout the process. I had gotten so caught up in thinking about the technical aspects, I forgot to make story my first priority. Upon realizing this, I scrapped the other image and re-painted the above. I am a thousand times happier with this one.

I'm learning more and more how necessary it is to be willing to sacrifice a painting. If it isn't right, it isn't right, no matter how much time I've spent on it. If it doesn't solve the problem that's been given me, it's not a successful piece. I can't be afraid to start over or sacrifice parts of an image I might like in order to make it stronger as a whole. This has been a frustrating lesson to learn. But always more satisfying in the long run.

And while I cursed myself at the time for not correcting my mistake earlier on, I learned a lot in painting the first version. So I guess I can't say it was useless time spent.

It's a learning process, this art thing. There aren't any secret answers or shortcuts... or magic beans. Just a lot of working at it.

Head Painting

2011-04-04T18:59:00.001-07:00

I've really enjoyed my head-painitng class this semester. No surprise, you know how I feel about painting. Here are some of my favorite studies. Each was done from life, in under three hours.

You will not see the earliest attempts up here, but I think I've really improved. Though... I should probably paint some guys at some point.

Lu'au Fanart

2011-03-28T23:07:00.001-07:00

Last week was the BYU Lu'au. I danced in the Hawaii and New Zealand sections. I am not a very good dancer... lack of coordination and consistent stage fright do not combine favorably. But I had a lot of fun anyways. Even if I can't do it well, I really enjoy hula. It's just so... pretty. And actually quite spiritual, the way it tells a story. It makes me happy in my heart, to watch or dance. Or draw, in this case. I mean, can you find better material for gestures anywhere?

So today after a frustrating battle with the perspective monster, I decided to do some sketches of our dance, which I have been meaning to do since last week. And then a watercolor. I love watercolor.

It was a pretty good afternoon, all in all.

Señora Clara

2011-03-20T16:43:00.001-07:00

Here she is in all her glory... A fairly finalized design (for now) of the lady, Señora Clara, in our film.

I did several turnaround on different aspects of the design for the modelers, and I was particularly satisfied with the design of the feet/shoes.

She's changed quite a bit from the designs I posted here, but so it goes. So it goes.

Stowaway Magazine

2011-03-18T01:02:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I did some spot illustrations for the winter issue of BYU's travel magazine Stowaway.

Mmm. I love travel. Possibly one of my favorite topics.

You can read the articles online here and here, or flip through the magazine in it's entirety here. My friend Karen has some excellent illustrations in there as well.

Pandora again

2011-03-09T23:35:00.001-08:00

I needed to do something besides assignments, so here's Pandora again. She rides a scooter.

Color!

2011-03-05T21:59:00.000-08:00

For the past three days I've been at a color workshop with Bill Perkins, an art director from Disney. It was awesome. I love painting. I love painting so much. Because you get to play with color. And color is.. kind of miraculous. And Bill is quite insightful.

Anyways, at the workshop we painted a bunch of different model setup with different lighting conditions emphasizing different principles in color theory. We usually spent about thirty minutes to an hour and each pose, and we weren't supposed to focus so much on the drawing, just on color and value relationships.

Here are some of my studies from yesterday and today... The first day's batch didn't turn out so great...

I loved working with colored lights. I have some new ideas on how to design and execute a picture. I'm excited to try them out.

Italy

2011-02-27T22:01:00.000-08:00

I really want to travel... but I have to pretend instead. I listen to French music and sketch from my page-a-day desk calendar.

Somehow, it's not quite the same thing.

Danielle

2011-02-23T21:46:00.001-08:00

My housemate Danielle. Painted in photoshop.

I live with some awesome people.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-13T22:17:00.000-08:00

In honor of my mom, who is amazing, and loves turtles. And my dad, who is wonderful, and doesn't mind living with said reptiles.

I love you guys.

La Señora Calva

2011-02-02T22:05:00.000-08:00

Another member of the Estefan cast. I have been drawing this lady for the past several weeks and my floor is littered with her face. Here is but a small sampling. None of these are the final design.

Her younger days...

and many years later...

Real Paint!

2011-01-19T21:22:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I paint from life.

3 hour head study. I accidentally toned my canvas with neon orange... but I kinda liked the effect, in the end.

And some Provo trees.

Estefan!

2011-01-12T22:48:00.001-08:00

We've started work on the new BYU Animation short film! It takes place in a salon in Spain. And I think that's all I'm going to tell you about it. But be ready for awesomeness, come 2012.

Some of my concept sketches for the main character:

This weekend my friend, Jake Wyatt, comic artist extraordinaire, was kind enough to teach me how to use photoshop brushes more effectively. It was a revelation. Turns out, painting in Photoshop does not have to be a headache producing ordeal. These were actually quite fun. So, thanks Jake.

Pandora's Box

2010-12-20T13:10:00.001-08:00

I would love to do a re-telling of this myth. I find it quite interesting. One day, one day.

Art Bot

2010-12-12T18:09:00.000-08:00

"I can't even draw a stick figure..."

Yum

2010-12-11T10:03:00.001-08:00

Quick photoshop sketch done for an Illustration Friday exercise at work. The topic was "Savor" and we had to make it Christmas-y.

Yes... Here she is again.

In the box...

2010-12-06T17:13:00.001-08:00

I painted this as a cover for my portfolio. I'm becoming rather attached to this character (you might notice...). She's based loosely on a little girl I knew in Uruguay.

I commandeered a Scrabble box to hold my artwork. It was a fun project, plus we can now experience the joys of scrabble anytime we want. I think I might do more...

Monopoly anyone?

Goldfish...

2010-12-02T18:23:00.000-08:00

...make great pets.

THE HORROR

2010-11-12T14:34:00.000-08:00

Checkers

2010-11-03T14:18:00.001-07:00

Quick concept sketch for a story by my friend Jeff Call. Perhaps more of this to come...

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T15:35:00.001-07:00

Soviet

2010-10-23T16:28:00.001-07:00

The theme for our midterm in my Drawing for Animation class was "Soviet," and we had to create something in the style of an urban vinyl toy and base it on a previous assignment we had done. My previous assignment featured a lion and boy. So yes. Here it is. And the research:

Weird subject matter for me... but I still kinda like how it turned out.

On the bus

2010-10-02T20:18:00.001-07:00

In Uruguay, I was once on a very crowded bus when this rather creepy looking man got on and began pushing his way down the aisle, announcing loudly, "CAREFUL! CAREFUL! There's an alligator in this box! It'll bite your hand off!" These declarations continued as he moved towards the back of the bus. In his hands he held a poorly taped up cardboard box. People cleared for him. He sat down only a seat behind and to the side of me, and I was privileged to listen as he expounded on the dangers of his toothed friend to his lucky neighbor for the entire trip.

I should ride the bus more.

Also, I've been obsessed with goldfish lately.

Digital Paint

2010-09-25T10:20:00.001-07:00

I'm taking a hard-core digital painting class. It's great. Yay learning!

First assignment, done entirely in one hue. Line art is courtesy of my teacher, Sam Nielson. Check him out.

Tree Crabs of the Lonely Forest

2010-09-11T21:29:00.001-07:00

The prompt for our first assignment in Drawing for Animation was "Tree Crabs of the Lonely Forest"... result seen above. I found the idea of tree dwelling crabs quite horrifying... and even more so when I found out they are not fictional. There are actually quite a few varieties. eek.

The assignment was mostly meant as an exercise in research... Here are the sketches:

Nature, I've decided, is creepy weird.

Super Stylin'

2010-08-16T21:55:00.000-07:00

Some doodles for a story about a posh hair salon...

In other news... I was notified recently that the complete seasons of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, a 90's classic, is up on Netflix instant play. And now, I CAN'T STOP WATCHING IT. Oh man. Glorious. I can't decide which is my favorite part... the forced acting, the cheese-ball writing, the stunning special effects, the awesome 90's styling, the epic theme music... Or the fact that Lois is actually played by a young desperate housewife.

Mostly, I just can't stop wondering... when is Lois going realize all Clark does is take of his glasses and put on a blue spandex suit!!!! AHHHHHH!!! COME ON!!

You're killing me.

Gatos

2010-08-12T18:51:00.001-07:00

Sketchbookin'

2010-07-21T21:25:00.001-07:00

Various things...

VAMOS URUGUAY!!

2010-07-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

Uruguay advances to the semifinals!!! I have been avidly following the World Cup this year... Let me tell you, soccer is quite intense. Love the World Cup. And I am so excited that Uruguay has made it into the top four teams! The game yesterday was AMAZING!! Fa. So awesome.

VIVA LA CELESTE!!!

Hula

2010-06-02T21:03:00.001-07:00

If you know me, you might know of my fascination with Polynesian dance... springing I think from the opening sequence of Lilo and Stitch, a beautiful piece of animation. And perhaps from when I used to pretend that I had Maori ancestors, instead of just Scottish New Zealanders... Anyways, I'm taking a polynesian dance class for the second time this spring. I like it. So. Some doodles:

On the Job

2010-05-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

I just finished a job illustrating books to teach elementary school kids Chinese. The last few books I worked on were explaining different biomes, and I decided to do them all in watercolor. So much fun!

I'm in watercolor love.

At the Zoo

2010-05-16T20:59:00.000-07:00

We went sketching at the zoo yesterday. It was awesome! Such a beautiful day... I enjoyed it immensely.

Thoughts

2010-05-11T20:38:00.001-07:00

Sometimes my head feels like this:

Alien Doodles

2010-05-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

Sketches from a couple weeks ago. I was inspired by Will Strong to draw aliens. Turns out it's a lot of fun.

So much watercoloring lately. woosh.

Dragon

2010-04-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

Sketchbook doodle inspired by How to Train Your Dragon. Man I loved that movie.

The Little Door

2010-04-15T20:51:00.001-07:00

Environment study of the little door ALice finds down the rabbit hole, leading out to the queen's garden. This is perhaps the last of the Alice stuff. There's one more environment, but it's on hold, so... maybe one day.

Spring is here. Que felicidad!

The Rose Garden

2010-04-08T22:41:00.001-07:00

The Queen of Hearts and the White Rabbit

2010-03-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

Next set of characters! The environments are taking a bit longer...

And the sketches:

Final design for Alice

2010-03-07T20:41:00.001-08:00

"I could tell you my adventures- beginning from this morning," said Alice a little timidly; " but it's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then." - Lewis Carrol

Some studies:

I have an environment for the week as well... but it's not quite finished... so, coming soon...

Monsieur Caterpillar

2010-02-27T22:38:00.000-08:00

Here's the frst installment of a series of characters and environments from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It's Monsieur Caterpillar and the mushroom where he hangs out.

and the studies:

Red Fish... Blue Fish...

2010-02-07T19:59:00.001-08:00

Perhaps this is my new "Thing" now...

I did these for a friend'd birthday card... It took a couple tries to decide if I've gotten one I like... Watercolor is kind of like that.

Fly By Night

2010-02-01T14:15:00.000-08:00

My latest assignment was to design a book cover. I chose the book Fly By Night which I am also using to work environment design.

I had a lot of fun experimenting on this peice... I sacrificed my dictionary and thesaurus to create the texture, and I decided to use acrylic paint... which I thought I would never use again after the epic Christmas Card Disaster several years ago... But. It turns out I LOVE acrylic paint. All the best parts of oil, all the best parts of gouache. ah. Love.

I was told I should document some of the "process" that goes into illustration.... Basically I start out with pages and pages and pages of stuff like this:

Until I can do a final drawing and eventual painting. It's kind of a lot more wok than one might think.

Anyways. Here's some environment studies for the other project I'm doing with FLy By Night:

Some Sketchbook

2010-01-28T22:18:00.001-08:00

RIP

2010-01-13T21:10:00.001-08:00

After many happy years of relaxing on his heat rock and eating hand-delivered crickets, my little brother's leopard gecko, Thunderbolt, has passed away. Landen bought Thunderbolt with birthday money when he turned four... He will turn 20 in February. Who knew geckos lived so long? Certainly not my mother, when she authorized the purchase...

Because of Thunderbolt, I believe I will always find crickets to be one of the more frightening insects. His food supply was inexplicably adept at escaping, and inevitably found their way into my bedroom. Even after we moved. Creepy things.

Hmm. We have a lot of pets.

Well. One less now.

Sketchbook!

2010-01-11T17:22:00.000-08:00

I have really enjoyed sketchbooking this past week. Thank you animation class for making me do it.

Also... I gave blood today. I like how they tell you your exact time afterward. Makes it kind of competitive. I came in under five minutes. The guy next to me was over seven. So... Talent.

Provo

2010-01-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

A forgotten study from last last semester... I didn't end up using this one for an illustration, but I like it. It's my first plein-air cityscape! Downtown Provo, I think it's an old car dealership.

Ah. I want to go plein-air painting again. Anyone else?

It's winter.

2010-01-04T21:10:00.000-08:00

These are the last assignment from landscape class last semester. For the illustration this time we were allowed to use for reference anything from pictures we took on a trip up Provo Canyon. I chose a snowy path... and I happened to be listening to The Witch of Blackbird Pond on CD that week, so...

And the in-class plein-air painting of Mt. Nebo:

And now it's winter semester. I am not a fan of the first week of class. Too many decisions. It was really nice to go home.

ah.

100th post, by the way. exciting.

Tala

2009-12-18T15:58:00.000-08:00

Provo River

2009-11-14T10:56:00.000-08:00

Plein-air painting from landscape class down at Provo river... we've been working on painting trees (yay!).

Take Two

2009-11-11T10:46:00.000-08:00

A hero and a villain return.... now with more personality.

I need to learn how to paint in photoshop. Like for real.

Trees again

2009-11-05T18:48:00.001-08:00

I heart fall.

Terminé

2009-10-05T21:01:00.000-07:00

We finished the silhouette project! Here are the finalists:

Space Robot

Construction Girl

Witch

Butler

I really enjoyed this project... It made me think a lot more than I normally would have. And I never attempt mechanics or guns or skulls... so it was good for me.

At the Lake

2009-09-30T21:58:00.001-07:00

We've spent the past month out at Utah Lake for one of my classes. Then we had to take that plein-air study and turn it into an illustration.

Maid and Hillbilly

2009-09-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

These are from my first week in character design. The assignment was a french maid and a hillbilly with a gun.

Silhouettes

2009-09-22T00:21:00.001-07:00

For our current project in character design we are following the "Skillful Huntsman" process of design... which means... silhouettes. This is the first stage of an assignment that will last a couple of weeks. We had to come up with 8 silhouette designs for each of the four characters. Today in the critique, the Ryan chose the one that's going to be developed over the next two weeks.

These are some that I liked but weren't chosen. It was a cool assignment. Very stress free. I have like 20 pages of these guys littering my bedroom... but it was fun.

Spaceman

Female Construction Worker

Butler

Witch

It's late. I'm still up because I just watched Coraline , and while a super cool movie... umm.. I was rather afraid for that little girl. CREEPY villain. I liked the movie. I just don't want to dream about button eyes.

Comfortable like trees

2009-09-09T20:52:00.000-07:00

For my dad, who loves pine trees:

It's weird, but I think in nearly every one of my art classes, we have discussed the effect of fear on art within this first week... for example, how being self-conscious or afraid of producing crappy artwork stunts your progress as an artist. Today in character design we talked about how we all have sketchbook "crutches" that we resort to because we know they are safe. Perhaps the thing we draw in order to avoid doing anything we think might fail..

Can you guess what mine is?

A Fish Called Zephyr

2009-08-14T19:09:00.000-07:00

I have three brothers. They are all salt-water aquarium enthusiasts. Landen joined the other two as a true hobbyist this week by purchasing his own salt water tank (Cameron already has one upstairs, and Dalton, the trail-blazer, has one up in Idaho). As it turns out... it's very complicated to keep a little piece of the ocean in a glass cube in your bedroom. So many things i have learned these week, listening to conversations about water cycling and different lighting systems, salinity and rock to water ratios... I helped him set up his rock formation, something slightly reminiscent of pride rock, which I'm quite proud of.

A virgin tank has to sit and "cycle" for a while (from a week to a month) to get the water to the right composition. For the past couple days we've been staring at a tank of live rocks growing algae. It's strangely interesting. But today Landen couldn't stand the anticipation any longer, and we went to get a tester fish... A $6 zebra damsel... the most disposable of all salt water dwellers. Pobrecito. I'm praying he survives the night.

It does make the tank staring more interesting.

UPDATE: A week later. Still swimming. I think we're out of the danger zone. He's going to make it. And at least he's not lonely anymore.... He's been joined by a shrimp, 7 snails, 5 hermit crabs, some zoas, and a suicidal blue-spotted jawfish (a species notorious for jumping out of tanks... No lie, the first night he jumped into the filter... just like in Finding Nemo... and he costs about 21 damsel fishes...). A veritable ecosystem.

Magic

2009-07-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

I went with my little brother and sister to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last night at midnight.

I will always love Harry Potter.