You're a Wizard... Harry??

first off, here's some bonus art for the Forever Famicom bonus content. Forever Famicom DLC is basically 22 tracks - 3 songs that didn't make it onto the original album, and loads of solid instrumentals. so good...
since the original cover art takes place at night, i figured i'd flip it to the day time and eventually even unplugged everything.. or at least that's the concept behind it.



now, for some reason i don't think i've ever put stuff up here from my "real" job (making pretty pictures to go with course content made by BYU Independent Study) but i finally had a good excuse to draw a sword finally, and had to share!! heh..

and here's a super huge version, if you wanna get in and look at stuff a little closer for some reason..

now.. for a little context to set you up for the next thing - i got this task at work for a student development course, which said exactly the following: "I want to try for something that encompasses an Ivy League type prep school in the digital age (near future/online technology fused with traditional East-coast prep school images with a touch of Harry Potter gothic thrown in. I know that's a lot - but I'd like to try for something with that look and feel."

ummmmmmmm.... what?
yeah..
so anyways, here's the course cover - or as we say in the biz, the "splash."
aaaaand some "banners" you'd see going from lesson to lesson..alright. now that you're all caught up, here's where this next picture comes in - one day i came to work with my glasses on, started working on the "harry potter" course... and this girl, i mean.. she who should not be named decided to draw a lightning bolt scar-thing on my forehead.. pictures were taken.. i even pretended to cast a spell at someone with my stylist... ANYWAYS. for some presentation our little art production department did for the rest of the BYU independent study production people, one of the pictures we used as a slide was from that, plus a little photoshop magic on my part...



and while i'm posting stuff about work, just for fun here's some stuff i did for an Aerobics course that i'm sorta proud of.. especially the one with the Nintendo Wii... heh heh..

and that's about it...
i mentioned last post about being in a weird mood, and having 3 songs on repeat literally for about 5 days straight wherever i was able to plug headphones into something..

per request here are the 3 songs:
(couldn't find a good place to get a direct hyperlink.... so if you REALLY want to hear them, you can click here, find them, and download them..)
kind of green - act III, track 14
smooth sun of magma - bonus tracks, track 3
i love this radio - bonus tracks, track 2

i ESPECIALLY had to keep listening to "i love this radio."

all the tracks are from this EPIC ff4 remix album the good people over at OCR did.
no personal work to post yet... haven't had the time to play that much lately..
life goes on, and so will i..
OH!! that reminds me. i've had a song stuck in my head for more than a few days.. really sad yet makes you appreciate life in a positive light kind of thing. love it.

more stuff

done for another random drawing contest.. kind of thought the judging was a little ridiculous, not just because i didn't make the semi-finals, but other cool kids didn't either. whatever - still had lots of fun doing this!


a doodle. i've never considered myself very strong at "sketching" for lots of personal reasons... but DOODLING is insanely fun, and somehow "works" for me. doodling vs. sketching.... is there really a difference? maybe doodling is like super slow-motion sketching.. i dunno.


so... LOTS of stuff piling up that i wanna play with in photoshop.. don't know when i'll get around to it, so this is just a mini sketch dump of some of that stuff.


finally got some of my figure drawing class stuff on the computer. all of these are self-portraits except the last one.


other noteworthy stuff... kind of:
-went to a pretzel making party. apparently some people are really into pretzel making? i'm really into eating freshly baked goods such as pretzels, so that was a relief.
-cant stop listening to an AWESOME Michael Jackson remix by Beatnick & K-Salaam
-had 3 songs on repeat CONSTANTLY, even at work... i guess i was in a weird mood or something and it just seemed to help. finally snapped out of it after about day 5.
-aaaaaaaaaand... yeah.
the end.

Forever Famicom!!

so... Forever Famicom drops June 1st!! it was a really fun opportunity to get to do all the art stuff for this project - i mean, nintendo makes up a special part of my childhood... with all the fighting/bonding me and my brothers had, and all the adventures we got through. on top of that, i'm a huge fan of what K-Murdock and Mega-Ran are up to - both in co-op, as well as in their own respective single player games. definitely two guys worth keeping an eye on in the music world.

i figured i'd post all the art without the logo (which logo design i'm actually really proud of.. heh,) the type, and whatever else over here. to check out the more "official" stuff, head over to K-Murdock's, and while you're at it you can even preview the tracks over at Mega-Ran's. if you're really feeling it, you can pre-order the album from either sites, and come June 1st you'll be able to check the whole thing out at their bandcamp page.

the album does not disappoint - i got a piece of the audio action early on, and it does NOT disappoint. literally had the whole thing on repeat for a week.. haha.. seriously. these are just two awesomely creative guys with some really cool friends making great hip hop, with powerful allies of nostalgia, nintendo, and nerd core glory furthering their heroic musical campaign.


while on the subject of nerd core, i discovered "The Chrono Mixtape" a while back, and to my strange surprise.. some dude (DJ Nerd42) took the instrumentals, and FLAWLESSLY puts the vocals from that fort minor album over the top.. it's like........ so weird how well it works.. haha.. Chrono Tied - check it out if you dare.



and lastly, something a little different.


this is "Gob." ...short for Goby. you know, like the desert? but more like the fish with the awesome underbite that forms symbiotic relationships with the tiger pistol shrimp. real, REAL name is "Goblin." ....or Gobble. heh.. more on that later.

anyways. this guy's sort of like, the main character from a story i've had in my head for a while now.. the plan is to get him and all his friends and everything out of my head, on to paper, and watch it all magically transform into a graphic novel.

not much else going on. life is still life, good is still great, bad is still worse, using Wal-Mart's shopping carts like a giant scooter to my car intentionally parked ALL the way at the opposite end of the parking lot (for obvious reasons) is still REALLY fun.. can't complain about anything, really.

PACMAN!

last semester, during an intermediate computer apps class (photoshop/illustrator) our instructor had us try and contact people who were making awesome stuff digitally. the idea was that we'd all come back and share everything in class, exposing each other to awesomeness and learning at the same time - i figured, who else to try and contact and share stuff about than the legendary PACMAN!!

i'm not talking about the yellow dude who's got a penchant for devouring disembodied spirits and little dots around tight corners and mazes, who also recently made a cameo appearance on google.. i mean THIS PACMAN.

this guy has always stood out to me and is one of my favorites, because of his ridiculously awesome and creative sketches, among other mighty abilities he wields in the name of art. check out his website, his blog, or his deviantART. i'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

anyways, the man was awesome enough to get back to me and respond to some interview questions - i tried to refrain from geeking out too hardcore, and smothering the dude with random questions, and keep it oriented towards the class i was taking. here it is for your reading pleasure:

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-How/When did you first get serious about creating art?
I always knew that I wanted to do something with art but it wasn't until high school that I
started to get recognition for what I was doing so I decided to pursue art as a career.

-Do you have any "art heroes" out there at the moment who get you pumped to draw and create? who and why?

Yes, there are a few artists that I "stalk" online all the time. James Jean's skill level and subject matter is amazing and always gets the creative juices flowing. Jeff Soto and Tomer Hanuka are always inspiring as well.

-I love seeing people like MF Doom, Fat Jon, and that really fluid graffiti-esque flow show up in your scribbles and doodles. Would it be safe to assume that the whole Hip Hop movement has a strong affect on your style and/or your subject matter? What are some things that you'd say have the strongest influence on your style, and what you like to doodle in general?

Yes, music has been a very strong influence in my art. I'm usually listening to music whenever I'm drawing something and it's taken from whatever is playing at the moment, from the underground hip hop scene to indie rock. I never really did graffiti but was more into the characters than the actual lettering. I'm usually drawing stuff that appeals to me, from robots to pandas to tattooed girls.

-You seem to have a really good balance between great line quality, and awesome rendering. I see you pushing stuff both ways. From pieces with strong graphic design elements, to a more rendered and modeled look, and also achieving interesting and fun results inbetween from mixing the two. Could you tell me (as much as you want) about your process - getting your line quality, rendering, use of texture?

I begin by sketching something out very rough, then using a light table to trace my lines. Or I scan the rough sketch and draw it digitally. Once I get the line art the way that I want, I start with the colors. I leave a lot of open lines because I like doing a lot of detailing in the coloring stage of the piece. As far as combining graphic design elements, it's just about adding a little extra 'oomph' to the image. If it's too boring, then it needs something that compliments the drawing without overpowering the entire piece.

-Could you walk me through the basics of what you do to take something from an idea to a finished product? (I feel like this question seems sort of repetitive of the previous one, but I mean, just an overview of how you work from start to finish - without going into the specific details of the linework, etc, if that makes sense.)

If I hear a song that I think would make a cool drawing, I start sketching something out in my head. Once I get a nice composition and subject matter, I try putting that down on paper and
take it from there. It's a lot of trial and error and sometimes the final image ends up looking completely different than what I had first imagined.

-How much would you say your traditional foundation plays a part in what you're able to do digitally?

It helps a lot. Working digitally is just a tool. Many people think that just because it was done on a computer, it must be easier. It's not as easy as it seems, it's taken me years to learn how to fully take advantage of what you can do digitally.

-Are there any weaknesses you see to doing things digitally, or things that you try not lose from your traditional work?

Definitely. There are certain strokes in your line art that won't ever mimic what a pencil can do. I also think that pencil drawings are a lot easier to manipulate than drawing digitally. The 'undo' option is the best thing from a digital standpoint as I'm sure there are many artists who say, "Where's my undo button?" while working in traditional media.

-Since you've started working digitally, have you seen your style change progressively in any ways?

Yes, while I'm drawing something I'm already thinking of how I'm going to color it. So there are certain things I leave out which I wouldn't have left out before. It's as if my line art has gotten simpler but at the same time my coloring has gotten stronger.

-What advice would you like to pass on to anyone at novice or intermediate

levels attempting to strenghten their digital craft?
Practice as much as you can. I started using Photoshop when I was 13 years old. Just playing around getting to know the program. Once you know what the program can do, the possibilities are endless. There are even different ways to get the same result. Look for online tutorials if you're stuck, as you'll learn something new that would then develop into your own personal technique.

-Any advice you'd like to pass on to somebody just trying to "get themselves out there" more, for freelance opportunities, comics, toys, ANYTHING, from your experience - I just want to help create and promote all things awesome and positive through any creative powers I happen to possess!

I started an online gallery on deviantart.com around 7 years ago while looking for an art community to post my drawings. Through other artists on that site, I found out about art forums and art battles. I took part in that for years and people started taking notice of me. Once you've posted enough around these art circles, other artists will start recognizing your stuff. It's a great feeling. Go to comic book conventions and rent a table to sell your art. It's great exposure. Open your own website as well, as it will show whoever is looking for an artist that you have your own portfolio and it speaks volumes to the client.

-Finally, are there any shout outs, current/future projects out there you're working on you can talk about, or anything else that you recommend us keep an eye out for?
There will be a few of my tutorials published on a couple of issues of Digital Artist magazine coming out in the next couple of months. And if you ever fly on Virgin America Airlines, take a look at my illustrations on the safety manual :]
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i actually got a lot out of this - there was some good stuff in there that i hadn't really thought about or tried before.. plus it was awesome to actually interact with one of my idols on a more personal level. heh.

Dealing with Friends

"Dealing with Friends"

remember "Tim" ??? i do. originally, this comic started about 6 or 7 years ago when i was on newspaperstaff in highschool. the idea behind his name was to have something generic, but unique enough to almost stand out. if your name happens to be Tim, i'll never apologize to you. ever. him and his best friend Ikkabod (nickname "Ikk") were bascially just weird kids that did strange things, or had strange things happen to them. good times.. heh.

special shout-out to Craig who was also another notable creative writing power behind 'Tim," though i've forgotten the specifics of all your contributions - however undeniably important and good they were.

dug one of my favs outta the closet and finally got it onto the computer. may digitally remaster it just for fun. may even find the others and put 'em up.

LOTS more STUFF

finals are OVER. that = YES!

been stockpiling LOADS of little sketches, pictures, and paintings i did whilst a-schooling and being ridiculously busy in general. HERE WE GO. time to drop a LOT more STUFF on you.

sketches.."Cockfighter"

underground fighter-type dude evolved from a random scribble i did in my sketchbook.

"CityScape III"
3rd ever attempt in a LONG time at doing a more... serious city thing. no reference. just all mental practice. like a lot of things, i don't do enough of this.

"Outlaw"
had this in my head for some reason.. felt really good to get it on paper. might draw more of this guy..

"Knight"
duh. haha.. anyways, another random scribble i turned into something. guess i was in the mood for some clunky armor, heroes, and all that.

"Toned Beard the Pirate"
love pirates. don't draw enough of them.

"Blade"
was sketching while the tv was on one night.. half way through, Blade: Trinity came on, so everything started getting a blade/vampire twist to it.

"Sensei Stuff"
dunno. was drawing kids in my class while we were on a field trip at Jim Christensen's place. this is what came out of it. (been forEVER since i've been on a field trip.. i should've called my Mom up and asked her to pack me a lunch with a caprisun just to make it that much more legit.. heh.)

digital stuff..."Tea Party"
got an assignment to redo Alice in Wonderland, 16 rough pages. my take was sort of about this girl trying to fit in with all the weird "genres" of people in Wonderland. i'll post all the pages up sometime, but for now you only get the one page that's colored. oh, and the Mad Hatter is supposed to be Ozzy Osbourne.

"Haïti"
assignment - do something in photoshop for Haïti (back when it was only them who had been rocked by serious seismic activity). the idea was to sell all our Haïti posters through the internet, and donate all the skrilla to charity for the Haïti peeps.

"up here..."
assigment - do an environmental design for anything. finally forced myself to go more speed-painty on this one, and try techniques out i don't normally use in photosohp. actually really pleased with the result.

assignment - illustrate a fortune cookie, all in adobe illustrator.
my fortune was, "An Important Person Will Come to Your Aid"
not gonna lie though - i did some slight tweaking in photoshop.

"William Noe Livingston, 1835-1909"
got lots of leeway in a family history class i was taking, for a final project. decided to draw an ancestor. this guy here is my grandma's great great grandpa. all i found for a physical description to go off of was that he had blue eyes and wavy brown hair.

random side story: two years before he got married - his wife and her family were all eating breakfast one morning, when suddenly her dad (who apparently had been acting a little strange for the past couple days) just gets up from the table without saying a word, goes into the next room, and blasts himself in the face with a rifle. apparently your family history can be pretty intense.. heh.

acrylic paints...assignment - use cliché images (like the heart shape, or fluffy clouds, or whatever) and do/say/create something different or new or creative or whatever with them... or something like that.

assignment - redesign a fruit, pasta, or cupcake.

assignment - take an abstract word (from a list they handed out) and do something conceptual with it. i picked "invisible."

assignment - pick and illustrate an article (from a bunch that they gave us to choose from.)
mine was on hitmen acting as informants to the FBI, who were trying to get after the Mafia - and in turn, cops would look the other way while these guys started stealing/killing/taking over Mafia guys' stuff.

assignment - another article illustration like the last one, except this one was about "nintendo thumbs" from people playing videogames "too much". they don't know what they're talking about - my thumbs are just fine, and i've played WAAAAAY too much.

assignmment - another article thing. this one was about a study that was done on how good smells influence you to be a good person, while nasty smells make you more negative.

WOW... that was a lot.
gotta be a record post for me or something.

and now here's where i go off into an unrelated part of my life that has recently ocurred that i feel like sharing for no particular reason:

i HATE cops. okay... not really(skip to 5:43,) but i hate unreasonable laws being enforced unreasonably.
i was off skateboarding last week just to relax... might've only done like 4 miles or something like that, and i'm almost back to my apartment. there's this HUGE empty parking lot with only a few cars on both ends, and i start cutting through, since the road to my house is on the other side. not even halfway through, some cop sticks his head out of his green non-cop-esque secret covert-op camo-cop car and motions for me to come over.
tells me there's no skating on campus. well, i'm not ON campus. apparently campus consists of anything the university owns, including this effing huge/effing EMPTY parking lot almost right next to where i live. i tell him i'm aware there's no skating OR biking on campus, and ask him what would happen if i decided to cut through the parking lot on a bike - and not to sound like i'm just giving him crap, i let him know i'm just trying to understand, because it's true.
apparently this issue has gone through the legal system for years, because some junior high kids were on the university's campus (real campus, not weird stuff they own from afar) one night, and one kid got a serious head injury from being stupid. i think there was an attempted lawsuit, and cop guy says somehow if somebody's injured on campus, the university can be liable - so a bunch of, i'm assuming spiteful people, decided that skateboards, rollerblades, "razors" (now my cop buddy starts bringin' in the "street terms." heh heh..) and anything else that doesn't have a break (even though all these things actually do) isn't allowed because of control issues and potential liabilty that this can cause the university due to accidents.
dood let me off with a warning, but if i was caught again he said he'd have to shoot me in my left knee cap or something. we had a good laugh.... and then i killed him and tried to hide the body underneath my wheels, again.... and again.... and again. hahaha.... yeah.
but seriously, got me thinking later that day - i saw some ten year old kids off a-scootering in the direction of the now foreboding parking lot. is a cop gonna stop KIDS from scootering through? give them tickets? oh, and what if i'm in a car and accidentally or intentionally run somebody over in the parking lot. this thing has breaks, PERFECT balance. all i have to do is sit down, and no worries about the thing falling over - who's liable then?? i don't know if it's just me, but if i run somebody over, or i eat concrete with my face off a bike or a skateboard, or get my neck tangled around my scooter, i'm pretty sure it's my own fault - especially if it's in a huge empty flat space where almost zero cars park.
i'm not complainin' - i'm just sayin'
here's an idea - let me sign a WAIVER or something. problem solved.
no big deal.

on a more positive note, i went on a really long walk the next day, and discovered some kid playing Lord of the Rings music with an accordion on his porch. it was awesome. day was totally transformed into awesome, instantly.

anywho, first day of spring semester starts tomorrow?!
i'm expecting really exciting stuff to happen this summer, but somehow i don't foresee this as being part of that. should be fun though.

The Bear and the Two Travelers

"Two men were traveling together, when a Bear suddenly met them on their path. One of them climbed up quickly into a tree and concealed himself in the branches. The other, seeing that he must be attacked, fell flat on the ground, and when the Bear came up and felt him with his snout, and smelt him all over, he held his breath, and feigned the appearance of death as much as he could. The Bear soon left him, for it is said he will not touch a dead body. When he was quite gone, the other Traveler descended from the tree, and jocularly inquired of his friend what it was the Bear had whispered in his ear. "He gave me this advice," his companion replied. "Never travel with a friend who deserts you at the approach of danger."

got to do one of Aesop's fables for a school assignment. for those of you who are within walking distance of BYU's library, you can see it hanging up on the same floor as the family history place. so down one floor, take a right, go straight til you hit a wall - and go right again, only make sure to watch out for the wall this time. and it's that hallway. this monster is 11x17, all matted, framed and all that.

for those of you who are unsuccessful at reading/following directions, aren't within walking distance, or just don't care - there's a little plaque next to my picture that is supposed to read as follows:

"In the beginning of this fable, Aesop doesn't use the word "friend" to describe the two guys who are traveling together. We don't know where they're traveling, or why. We don't even care. . . or at least I don't. What I do care about is how their relationship is defined after the bear encounter. They didn't have any weapons, anti-bear devices of any kind, or any Chuck Norris that we're aware of. The only thing we know they did have was each other.

Everybody's got a friend. Maybe you've got a friend who just so happens to be a BEAR who likes to mess with people, and at the same time possesses the unnatural ability to communicate perfectly with humans through speech. Maybe your friends just suck. No matter what happens, they're your friend. Deal with it." - my interpretation of what the moral to the fable is.

that's about it for now. got lots of other random stuff coming, once i'm no longer busy fending off the icy grip of suck known as school.

finally saw sherlock holmes. t'was indeed EFFIN' AWESOME.
lastly, OC Remix came out with another album not too long ago i've had on repeat for a few weeks straight. it's called Serious Monkey Business. DONKEY KONG COUNTRY 2!!!!!!!!!!! already one of the best soundtracks ever, and now we've got some seriously rad remixes (i tried to avoid the aliteration there... but i didn't, and i'm coming off to myself as really corny, but whateva.) Bramble Reprise is probably my favorite. ATLEAST top 5. check it out.