Me!

I've been wanting to do a self-portrait for a long time to put on my website in the "about" section, and I finally got the motivation to do it! I'm so excited about this distorted oil-paint thing that I just started doing. After some though from the way "Sage Man" turned out, I decided that I didn't like the way a borrowed color palette looked on my work. (although I do think that the academic purposes of using a master painting's color palette are extremely valid). Maybe I'll experiment with that some more. Who knows.

Quick Study

Here's a new study that I did to see what it would be like to take the color palette from a painting that I liked and apply it towards a completely new subject. I think that next time I'll be more careful about the color palette that I borrow, because it seems too dark for the subject matter. I used the same brush at different sizes for this whole piece, and it's a brush that I haven't used before. I like it--very oily.

Because Teal Girl just wasn't cool enough.

So yeah, I need to work on her hands yet, but I'm really excited to have taken another step forward. This time I used photo reference, however I used it only for lighting situation and created the pose and character entirely on my own. I also distorted the figure without much trouble which is something I haven't really done successfully anytime in my recent memory.

The direction that I'm going in with this is towards a much different style than anything I've been working on, but I think that it is also a direction that I've wanted to go in for a couple years, but just didn't know how. I'm glad to be exploring, but at the same time a little scared to be opening yet another door, when I already have so many open.

Something different.

I was playing around tonight and I came up with this. There's more on the canvas, and I might finish it sometime soon. The distortion and rendering in the piece are two things that I've been wanting to do for a while. I also made this all up with no reference (which I suppose is a third thing). I want to give her a hand, though, and I think I might need a photo for that...

Flying Rhino!

The entry for the Kid Kreatures Art Challenge. View the rest of the challenge here!

My new Wacom Tablet

I've been working hard at my day job and with my freelance work and decided to reward myself with a new Intuos 3 Wacom Tablet. I have been using a Graphire for about 6 years now and didn't really think that upgrading was going to do anything for me, but I was wrong! I think the bigger tablet and extra sensitivity is going to change my life, and I'm really excited about computer art again. (and to think I just about went back to painting in acrylic) I did a quick little fashion sketch that would have been impossible on the Graphire with the limited space for stroke. It's not terribly impressive, but I think it bears a remarkable resemblence to traditional sketch without me trying really hard with layers and masks and overlays to get it to look traditional.

Dick Tracy

Here's my final piece for the MIAD 2006 Challenge: Movie Poster. Check out the other entries!