Summer '13, Part 2

So it's like the middle of summer right? It's already over half gone? That's cool I guess. I'm pretty much working/arting every day so time flies but at least I'm getting something done. Half of which I can't show because of NDA and the other half because I am ashamed. ASHAAAAMMMED. But here we are: 

Massive Summer Blog Update Number 2: CDA Edition!

CDA is suuuuper sweet. My teachers are next level and I'm learning a ton from James Paick, Joshua James Shaw, and Dan Cooper (and his assistant, also named Dan) Here's some work from those classes:

Key Frame Illustration

Working on this little number, chosen from the following thumbnails. We were assigned to use an existing IP and create a key frame/storytelling image. Here we see Tajic come across Varolz while running the maze. In this scenario, Varolz may have the home turf advantage. Next step: color!

Environment:

We've mostly been playing around with thumbnails/quick comps. Here are some of the rare few that aren't completely terrible haha

Painting, these are all approximately 2 hrs (apologies for the terrible photos):

should've subdued the chin on this one so the temple could be the brightest part...

the lovely and talented MJ

our roommate, Jarrad

I'm afraid my iphone isn't much good for these color paintings, although this one wasn't very good anyway :P

Summer '13

So...long time no blog...

Lots of stuff has happened lately, good stuff too. Time to share that with you guys :)

So, this summer I'm still working on Heroes' Tale. A lot of it is under NDA, but today, one of my cards/illos got spoiled. Behold the Rot Beast:

This guy was super fun to work on. Who doesn't like painting gnarly, slimey, sinewy monsters? Here's some of the sketches I sent Chris, drawn in my toned sketchbook:

SPECTRUM

I went to Spectrum Fantastic Art Live this year! I wish I had blogged about it when it was fresh on my mind, but even now, almost a month later, I can say that it was probably one of the singular most inspiring, fun, and fulfilling experiences of my young life. I got to stay with the ever gracious Eli Allen, who was an extremely generous host. My friends Evan Monteiro, Cameron Asao, Sishir Bommakanti, Danny Samuels, and Vincent Nappi were also in town. It was great seeing everyone again and hanging out for an art-packed weekend. 

Needless to say, there were some unforgettable moments...

Not even going to pretend I didn't rush to this guy's booth first thing when the doors opened....cheesing waaaaay too hard next to Chris Rahn, my favorite MTG artist (ok ok tied with Kev Walker). Really nice guy and totally chill. 

Allen Williams, Concept Art Gold Award Winner, Personal Hero, and Teddy Bear of a Man

This guy is second to none with a pencil in hand, check him out.

rk post, picked up a sweet Lightning Angel print from him :)

Phil Hale-ing with Cameron

Sushi with the boys after the first day

the awards ceremony was held in the scenic Midland Theatre

pooped after a longweekend of Spectruming, chillin in the Aladdin

I also got to sit and chat with Steven Belledin, Tyler Jacobson, Dave Dorman, Craig Elliot & Armand Balthazar (two industry veterans and straight up bosses), Jon Foster, Dan Dos Santos, Irene Gallo, Donato Giancola, and Justin Gerrard, as well as meeting countless others. Everyone was really courteous and helpful, and gave out great pointers for future portfolio-building and art-life-living. I would like to personally thank each and every one of them for making my weekend a memorable one! Definitely inspired to submit to next year's Spectrum, too. 

I took the time to link all those guys, so check em out!

oh yeah, and now I'm in California attending the Concept Art Academy with MJ, Carla, Allie, and Kyle. My teachers are killlller (James Paick, Joshua Shaw, Dan Cooper) and I'm having a blast and Pasadena is perfect and I want to move there. Here's a shitty iphone photo of my first painting of the summer :->

Promise I'll break my posts up into more bite-sized portions from now on 

<3 Vic

Mog, the Nightmare

New card from Heroes' Tale, I like how this one turned out :)
Which reminds me, Heroes' Tale has reached it's Kickstarter goal and will officially go into production! Congrats to Christopher Merlino, Andrew Theophilopolous, and the HT team.
I'm going to be a printed card artists, a dream come true :)))

Pretty much jumped in directly from the thumbnail, took about 6 hours.

For those of you interested, here is the brief, the thumbnails, and the process. Enjoy :)

Mog, the Nightmare:
Mog the Dreamer was one of the strongest guardians in the forest second only to Nallafrax. As Mog slept his dreams would make the forest grow lush and beautiful. Whenever great danger would threaten the forest it was he who would be on the front lines of the defense, and so he was, when Ulek made his move… Now Mog is a prisoner in his own body. He is no longer known as Mog the Dreamer instead he is now known as Mog the Nightmare, one that destroys everything in his path. Some say that Mog weeps for the damage he causes, as rain clouds follow in the wake of his destructive path.

Chris liked these but wanted the Mog #2 to be viewed from the angle of Mog #1, and he wanted it to be set at night with a bluish palette. I made the changed and sent in this one:

and then, I painted

3 Little Pigs

HI!

If you think words and process are dumb, you can check out just the images at my new portfolio site, woah cool, far out!

This is some work I did on our end of the year assignment, the "Three Little Pigs" Pitch. We had to reinterpret/reinvent/incorporate the story of the three little pigs and pitch it as a film, video game, tv series, franchise, etc etc. Trevor and I pretty quickly jumped to the idea of a samurai flick for some reason. I was in charge of character concepts, so, there ya go. Also, not to make excuses or anything, but most of these were done the day it was due -____-

#teamprocrastination

poster by Ryan Peters

At the very beginning I was inspired by art books by Disney/Pixar to develop a strong shape language for the film. The designs would be immediately distinguishable from each other, and hopefully reinforce the characteristics of the pigs. Large & boisterous, tall & stern, stout & balanced

costume research for the main protagonist, codename "Wolf" 

upon Trevor's recommendation, I had fun scouring the work of Yoshitoshi for inspiration 

(we have a great book on his collected works in the library)

"Wolf" a peasant farmer in feudal Japan. He was an ex-soldier in the Imperial army, from where he retained his armor. He has since become rusty at fighting, but his soul burns for vengeance

Wolf Battle-scarred (aka DBZ Wolf)

Pig of Straw

Story: Violent, stupid, corrupt, gluttonous, powerful, the first pig is a dangerous foe. The youngest of the Brothers Pig, he has inherited his Imperial power and abuses it to no end. Money, women, food, all are his to do with what he pleases, as he rules through sheer brute force and terror. While he brings shame to the Imperial name, he is royal by blood, and so his two brothers turn a blind eye to his blatant disregard for law and order. The Pig of straw is the one who burns down Wolf's village and murders his family, a crime that will not go unpunished this time.

Design: I wanted this guy to be massive, a force of nature. At his belt are two beautifully crafted imperial swords, which look ridiculous on him and which he obviously never uses (they're more of a status symbol, like a corrupt off-duty cop waving his badge around). His weapon of choice is the haymaker he lugs over his shoulder. He is never apart from it and never at a loss for reasons to swing it wildly at any who anger him, or even those who do nothing at all. The kanji on his knee pads, as far as I can tell, say "Gluttony"(I'm still not sure about this choice since I don't think he would self-identify as such. He's a pig but thinks himself a noble) The gourd at his side is presumably filled with large amounts of sake

The Pig of Wood

Story: The middle brother of the Brothers Pig, he is the official commander of the Imperial Army. Ever since his older brother went into exile, he has ruled the land with a firm and disciplined hand. He values  strict adherence to law above all else. He trains equally with the sword as with the brush, incessantly seeking to improve his skill. His dogmatic reverence to ancient texts and customs will ultimately be his downfall, when the Wolf uses underhanded tactics to surprise and overcome him. The idea is that he is strong but ultimately too rigid, and what cannot bend will inevitably break.

Design: as the middle brother, tremendous responsibility has fallen on the Pig of Wood. His elder brother in exile, his younger a gross blemish on the family name, he has had to carry the burden of the Three Pigs Empire alone. In order to escape what would otherwise be a crippling dysfunctional relationship to his siblings, he has forsaken his brothers and dedicated his life to the sword and the rule of law. He has surrounded himself in customs ancient and hallowed, seeking meaning and purpose in tradition. To this end, I gave him a noble's kimono, with imposing shoulder pads and rich fabrics. I gave him only one sword, presumably of the highest quality, perfectly crafted and blessed in every way known to his culture. Somewhere down the line, his costumes got more and more elaborate, and now he has lost mobility and utility in favor of decorum and status.

The Pig of Stone

Story: the Pig of Stone, Wolf's final adversary, is a monk who lives in self-imposed exile. Though he seems unassuming, he is extremely wise and powerful, a sort of Yoda-esque figure. He defeats Wolf in combat but spares his life, even though Wolf has taken the life of his brothers, setting Wolf down the path to redemption. "Hate begets more hate", says the Pig of Stone. "The cycle must be broken."

Design: Pretty much Yoda meets Gandalf meets Buddha...meets pig. Not the most groundbreaking design but a good foil to the two other brothers.

If you get a chance, check out Trevor Williams' environment designs on this project, killer work.

Jessica made a sweet sculpture of the first pig too, pretty awesome.

Figure with Fiore!

Here are all of my figures from the second half of the semester. We finally got to do longer poses, most of these are 45min-2hr, some more successful than others. I feel like I grew tremendously in this class, and I really (finally) clicked with charcoal and especially chalks. I'll try to make little notes about these and what I learned along the way. Enjoy!

This one is the shortest pose, probably 20min, and the most inaccurate/stylized. Still, I felt like it captured the essence of the pose and the model so I included it.

should have probably drawn in the stick he was holding so he doesn't have that awkward floating hand...

Ink gesture

Obviously not the most appealing use of inks, as I was too impatient/inexperienced to layer properly, yet I like the noise/texture that the ink lent this piece

Not enough time to bring this to a cohesive finish, so the whole suffers. Spent the most time on the chest, and left the whole head for the last 15 minutes, a bad habit I need to kick. This piece also brings to light my lack of understanding in the anatomy of knees and legs in general.

Probably my favorite figure of the semester, the model and lighting were really fun to capture.

Got to feel like Sargent for a second on this one when I made the necklace ;)

This piece was a breakthrough for me in unifying values, restricting the value range of the skin, pants, hair, etc

besides the awkward "man arm" thing going on here, I rather like this one

knees.........how do they work?

drew this one with my glasses off, tremendously helpful in simplifying/seeing the big shapes, kind of a fun exercise for anyone out there who's myopic 

and here's a portrait I made of my figure instructor: Patrick Fiore

Oil Painting: Semester 1 Part 2

Hey guys, here are my paintings from the second part of the first semester (and a better pic of my first ever painting, the white still life). Thanks to Anna for helping me photograph/crop them. They feel a little vivid but I think they're fairly true to the originals. I don't have them in front of me so I can't calibrate them properly...

Regardless, I think I can say this has been the most useful and enjoyable class I have ever taken at Ringling. I loved waking up in the morning and calmly setting up my paints, either downtown or in the studio, and just focusing super hard for three hours, getting lost in the painting. Sometimes class would end and my brow would hurt because I had been squinting or focusing so hard, haha. I can't wait to keep going next semester with the illustrious Hodges Soileau!

 Vic <3

Heroes' Tale

Hey guys, as some of you may know, I was fortunate enough to work on a really cool project these past few months: A Heroes' Tale. I was asked not only to illustrate the final card art to present during the kickstarter, but also to conceptualize and design the characters, environments, and props that would appear in said cards.

I probably had the most fun designing the staves and painting the sword. Looking back I'd change quite a few things, definitely learned a lot on the way. It was interesting balancing freelance and schoolwork, and it taught me that I still have dubious time management. I'm thankful to have been able to work on this under my good friend and art director Andrew Theo, and director Chris Merlino. If the project gets off the ground I'll hopefully be doing more of these so if you're interested, you can contribute here.

Thanks for looking :)