Creative Outlet

New Blog RGBeefy!

2012-11-30T13:55:00.001-05:00

So I have finally taken it upon myself to create a new blog from scratch. Blogger has been great but I wanted to control more of the design and I thought the best way would be to make my own with Wordpress. I will still leave this blog here in tact but all future posts will be going to the new blog at RGBeefy.com. Please come and check it out and leave me some comment love!

Re-Vuze Movie Review Website

2012-10-24T13:37:00.001-04:00

It's been a long time coming but last night we finally launched Re-Vuze, our movie review website. I am pretty sure we have built out 4 versions of the site over the past year and we finally liked one enough to go live. We only have about 19 reviews up so far but we will be looking to update on a regular basis. It's time for me to see some movies, and it's time for you to check out the site. Click the image bellow to take you to the site. Comment, share, spread the love and i will high five you.

Pencil Drawing of Bryan Cranston as Walter White of Breaking Bad

2012-09-19T10:44:00.000-04:00

I've decided to stick with a theme of television anti-heroes for my latest pencil drawing. Breaking Bad is one of my favorite television shows right now and Bryan Cranston is fantastic in it. The transformation of his character Walter White, from school teacher to meth drug lord, has been so fun to watch. I can't believe we have to wait until next summer to finish the final season. Until then here is my drawing of Walter White.

Pencil drawing of Ian McShane as Al Swearengen of Deadwood

2012-08-21T21:08:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted anything on here in a really long time. I've been out of the game in general. In an attempt to pull myself out of this ditch I decided to put my talents to good use.

One of my favorite shows of all time is Deadwood. I'm still salty that they never got to shoot their last season. For any of you that watched the show, I'm sure you'd agree that the characters are fantastic. My favorite of which is Al Swearengen, played by Ian McShane.

Thus I give to you my portrait of Ian McShane. Probably my first completely pencil drawing in over 5 years.

Divine Intervention

2012-05-31T13:42:00.003-04:00

Two week ago I received a phone call that went something like this:

Me: Hello

Kyle: What are you doing for the next 6 hours?

Me: I dunno why?

Kyle: Do you want to be the god of war?

Me: ....yeah

See, some friends of mine were participating in the 48 hour film project and had an actor bail on the day of shooting, hence the random phone call. I've participated in a couple of these in the past and I know how stressful it gets, so I was glad to step in and help out. The crew was great and filled with very talented people. I'd love to see what they could do without the 48 hour deadline.

Here is the final product, Divine Intervention, by Exit Interview

3-Point Lighting

2012-05-18T14:03:00.001-04:00

The good folks at Film Riot have begun posting video challenges on their Monday episodes. I didn't get a chance to participate in the first couple but my friend Jason and I were able to tackle their latest challenge.

The challenge was pretty straight forward, film as scene with a supplied script and show that you know how to use a 3-point lighting setup. As Wikipedia states, "Three-point lighting is a standard method used in visual media such as video, film, still photography and computer-generated imagery. By using three separate positions, the photographer can illuminate the shot's subject (such as a person) however desired, while also controlling (or eliminating entirely) the shading and shadows produced by direct lighting." The three lights are the key (main light source), fill (secondary light ) and the back light.

We happened to do two versions of scene. Here is the first which was done pretty straight forward:

and here is the hillbilly version...

Hopefully we will be doing these every week. Stay tuned for more of our work.

Photoshop Touch

2012-03-13T20:15:00.001-04:00

I recently purchased Photoshop Touch for my iPad. Just to give it a test drive, I imported a sketch from my sketchbook and began to paint over it. Glad to see I could change the blending modes of layers, as I use the multiple blending mode extensively. The biggest drawback I experienced while working was the inability to create layer masks. When I am coloring a sketch, I like to mask out the different sections and stay a bit more organized. I was still able to paint just fine, I was just forced to stay in the lines. Here is the sketch. It's not much, just something to test out the new app.

Microwave Inferno and Other Wednesday Activities

2012-02-15T23:06:00.001-05:00

I started listening to an audio book version of The Nerdist Way: How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life), by Chris Hardwick and it got me thinking; I am a lazy bastard. I have a lot a great ideas and things I want to accomplish, but that's about as far as I get. In the book Chris talks about setting small goals that lead to a bigger overall goal. Seems pretty generic right? It is but that doesn't make it any less right.

I generally have a problem focusing on one thing at a time, so in the end I get nothing done. To combat this behavior, I took this evening to work on one small project at a time, completing each before I started a new one. The small sense of achievement I received from completing a task was great. It seemed to really boost my moral and confidence.I was able to complete three small tasks and the are as follows:

Photo Manipulation Facebook Cover Image

Young Gas Mask Sketch

Microwave Inferno

So in one night, I was able to do an image manipulation, a sketch and an After Effects test. On top of that I am now blogging about it. This may seem like small stuff to some but damned if I don't feel great. It's good to not be lazy!

My Uncle's Inspiring Model Trains

2012-02-07T20:11:00.002-05:00

Every year we go to my uncle's house on Christmas eve and every year I am blown away by his model trains. There is a room in his basement that has been transformed into a small town in which his trains can travel. Everything is built at chest level so you can comfortably move around the room and explore this highly detailed and lively place It's the attention to detail that draws you in. From people fishing in the local watering hole to a dog peeing on a fire hydrant, this town is filled with character.

I have seen model train displays before but not one as large and detailed as this in someone's home. It's hard not to be taken in by it immediate charm. As a self proclaimed creative person, I walk away from it inspired each time. It just goes to show that if you are passionate about something, you need to explore and not hold back. The results can be amazing.

Clown Face and Gas Mask Webisode 3

2012-02-03T16:37:00.000-05:00

Here is the long awaited third webisode for season 2 of Clown Face and Gas Mask entitled, RIP Gas Mask. There was much delay over the possibility of re-shoots and our leading clown have throat issues. I had the pleasure of trying out several new effects with my trust green screen aiding me all the way. Also vital for several of the effects was the Action Essentials 2 from Video Copilot. Is it strange that I enjoyed creating effects that lead to my onscreen demise? Anyway, I hope you enjoy the episode.

Vector Self-portrait

2011-12-01T14:42:00.001-05:00

It's been a while since I actually posted about art on here. Lately I have been brushing up on my HTML and CSS skills. I've been wanting to redo my portfolio site for a while and I want to steer away from flash. More to come on that later, but for now I did manage to set aside time to do a vector self-portrait. Here I am, sporting my lovely new hat.

The Rat King

2011-11-22T12:39:00.001-05:00

One hobby I partake in is gaming. Not the World of Warcraft type of stuff (I do not have the patience for that) but the first and third person shooter type. A favorite among my friends is Epic's Gears of War trilogy. Over the the years of playing this franchise, one of our players became infamous for being unstoppable with his chainsaw. You rarely see him, and when you do it is far too late. His tactics earned him the nick name, The Rat King.

I thought to myself, "How funny and awesome would it be if we could make this name known throughout the Gears of War community?" Challenge accepted. I present to you phase one of operation "Surrender Your Cheese."

Clown Face and Gas Mask Webisode 2

2011-10-19T13:00:00.000-04:00

Here is the second webisode for season 2 of Clown Face and Gas Mask. This webisode was kind of experimental for us in that it was primarily improvised. The only scripted moments are the beginning and end. I noticed some positives and negatives to this approach.

Positives:
- The material felt fresh and fairly natural.
- We got pretty genuine reactions from our actress because she had no idea what was going to be said.
- It was a lot of fun to mold the scene as it was happening.

Negatives
- We ate up a lot more tape than we would have if the scene was scripted.
- With scripted material I have a sense of pace and timing. That's not as easy with improvisation.
- There were so many variations, which made editing and continuity hell.

Overall I think it was a nice change of pace. Having a loose outline of the scene would help for a second go at this approach. Don't be surprised if we use more improvisation in the future.

p.s. Check out those sweet gun effects lol.

Clown Face and Gas Mask Season 2 Starts Now

2011-09-22T10:30:00.000-04:00

It's been taking up a lot of my time recently, but it's finally here. The second season of Clown Face and Gas Mask has begun with the release of the first episode, Fresh Tactics. We have been shooting on a fairly consistent basis and already have the better part of two more episodes shot. Our plan is to release a new episode every three weeks. Release days should fall on a Wednesday, unless we are running a little behind. Enjoy the episode and share it will all of your friends. Thanks!

The Evolution of a Wine Label

2011-09-14T19:39:00.001-04:00

As you may have read in my previous post, my cousin Johnny recently got married. His design skills were utilized in every part of the wedding preparation, from the save the date to the invitations and programs. I got to be the photographer for the save the date and then also got to help out with a bigger project. Several months ago Johnny sent me a vector sketch for a custom design label for the occasion.

I really loved the simplicity of the design. It really matched the black and white wedding theme. However, i could not resist doing a sketch of my own. When I looked at his design i started to see the shape of a wine glass in the negative space created by the white tuxedo shirt. I expanded on that idea and gave the shape a stem and bass. Other changes I made were minor, opting for a more angular look over some of his more organic elements.

I sent him my version of the sketch and he really liked the wine glass shape that I incorporated. He ended up marrying the two ideas to create a hybrid design that became the final.

At this point, it was still a long way off until we would see this design on an actual wine bottle. That didn't sit well with me, so I decided to brush up on my 3D skills. I created this mock up in Cinema 4D so we could get a better idea of what the real deal would look like.

The actual bottles turned out great. The back label, which was 100% Johnny, cleverly used text to create the shape of a wedding gown.

The whole process was a lot of fun to watch and be a part of. I was just happy to be able to contribute in some way.

Blog Fail

2011-09-07T23:53:00.002-04:00

My life has been so busy lately that my blog has become of ghost town. The souls of forgot projects haunt these pages. Okay, that sounded stupid. Here's an update about what has been going on with me.

life happens

My personal life has been on overdrive lately. A lot of it is not art related but don't worry, I'm not about to spew out a diary about my feelings and issues. One thing that took up a decent amount of my time was the fact that my cousin got married. I was a groomsman so naturally I had to partake in many wedding related events. As far as that kinda thing goes, it was awesome. I am extremely happy for my cousin and his wedding was the best wedding I have ever been to. Where is the art in all of this you ask? The groomsman gifts. The lovely piece of art to the right is a poster of all of the groomsman that hints at some stories and inside jokes. Being that my cousin is a graphic designer, a gift like is 100% him. He commissioned this from a coworker and as you can see, it's pretty great. My only question is why am I the naked guy shielding himself with an iPad?

the mystery project

Speaking of my cousin, him and I have been working on an idea for a book. Currently I am trying to devote at least 4 hours to the project a week. It's very illustration heavy and as of right now, him and I are going it alone. It's still in the early stages or I would talk about it a little more. Hopefully I will have something to share on this in the near future.

clown face and gas mask

Season two of the web series is well underway. We have the better part of 3 episodes shot. Editing and effects work on the first two episodes is in full swing. I just turned in a first draft for episode 4. Our production speed is already much quicker than the first time around. After some changes to the site we should be ready to start pushing out episodes at a much steadier pace than the first season. Please subscribe to our youtube page if you like the show. For now, enjoy this teaser image from episode 1.

re-vuze

This move review site will make it off the ground, I swear. We have ditched our initial design in favor of using Wordpress. I have been building all of the functionality, which is just about complete. It's almost time for styling and then content, content, content.

I think that just about wraps it up for now. Trust me, I have not forgotten about my other projects. I am hoping to finish up my iPad art of Die Antwoord and my acrylic painting of Rembrandt very soon. Here's what they look like currently.

Vector Character: Charlie

2011-08-03T23:10:00.001-04:00

I decided to participate in the Vector tuts+ community project this time around. The assignment was character design. After downloading the generic template, I made this guy, who I am calling Charlie. Charlie is a cyborg just looking for that special someone, someone who can appreciate him for his very visible brains and big heart. It was fun doing some vector work. It's been a while. Enjoy!

The New Look

2011-06-29T22:22:00.001-04:00

You may have noticed I have once again changed the look of my blog. The previous one was too busy and I was not utilizing it to it's full potential. I've chosen to simplify the layout and make sure my art, design and videos are showcased above all else. I promise I won't be making any big changes again for a while, just some font styles/colors and maybe a custom logo. I hope the new look is well received. Happy blogging.

Oh Hey It's Been a While

2011-06-29T22:03:00.005-04:00

So I have been MIA for a while but for good reason. I am in the process of moving in with a buddy of mine. We have already started setting up a studio in his basement. In the process of packing my belongings I came across an old art project I had forgotten about, a sculpture of a shoe. Why a shoe? I have no idea, but it fooled me and I went to kick it out of the way. This resulted in a stubbed toe and a good laugh. Check out the sculpture below.

Die Antwoord Update

2011-06-10T00:08:00.024-04:00

So as an update on this project, I started getting the basic colors and some details down on Yolandi's face. Both her and Ninja are nowhere near finished but things are starting to come together. Maybe if I worked on art more than once a week I would get through projects faster. Anyway here is a progress shot. Let me know what you think of it so far.

The Monolith

2011-05-30T10:26:00.003-04:00

While I was in the DAAP program we did a project in the first year called, the monolith. Essentially it is a form study. We started by creating a shape in clay that we found interesting. After that we sliced the clay sculpt into thin slices and traced there outline on a piece of wood of the same thickness. Using a jigsaw, you cut these pieces out and then glue them together, resulting in a very blocky version of your clay sculpture. Using a sanding table and a dremel tool, you shave off these edges and create the shape of your original clay sculpture. My monolith pictured here has a striped appearance which was achieved by alternating the grain direction in the wood pieces. After all the the sanding was done, an oil was applied to give it a sheen.

I am not sure why but I have been thinking about this project a lot lately and I think i would like to explore it again. I think it would be a fun hobby to make wooden sculptures. Some that are just abstract like my monolith and some that would be more recognizable. I probably won't start a project like this anytime soon for a few reasons, I need tools, I am paying off my last credit card and I am looking to move here soon. When I am able to start one I will be sure to blog about the process. Until then enjoy these images of my original sculpture and if you are interested in a project like this, here are some of the tools you will need.

Die Antwoord Update 5/23/2011

2011-05-23T17:56:00.003-04:00

I worked on this last Thursday as well as over the weekend. The shading on his face has taken a while to get the hang of. When I first started I had way too much contrast. Over the weekend I softened it up a bit and I am starting to like the results. I feel like I have been moving at a snails pace with this project but I am gonna cut myself a little slack for this being the first serious drawing I am doing in my iPad. Anyway here is the progress, let me know what you think.

On a completely separate note, I am about 100 pages in to Rant. I am really enjoying it so far. Chuck Palahniuk writes about the strangest characters and I dig it. I will have to start picking out my next book to read soon.

Where Has My Motivation Gone?

2011-05-19T15:22:00.001-04:00

A problem I experience is that I have way more ideas than I do time to make them a reality. This in effect has killed my motivation. Even though these are all ideas I am excited about, the amount and scale of them is daunting. Currently I am trying to find a illustration style for a book that my cousin and I are working on, starting to write scripts for season two of a web series, brain storming an idea for a graphic novel, and working on two random art projects. Those are just the things I am working on, there are other ideas that are just waiting in line. I think I just need to get a few of these projects complete and have a sense of accomplishment and I will find my motivation again.

In the meantime though, I have been doing some reading online to find tips on how to stay motivated and stay creative. My friend Rick happened to point me to an excellent read HOW TO STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST (AND 9 OTHER THINGS NOBODY TOLD ME). Give it a read if you haven't seen it, some great stuff in there. One suggestion made, was to pick your favorite author and read everything they've got. My friends can tell you I am not much of a reader. I have a collection of graphic novels but I have not read an actual novel since high school, so I decided to take this suggestion as a challenge. The author I chose is Chuck Palahniuk and I am starting with his novel Rant (description below). If you have any tips on staying motivated or creative, or if you have any good book recommendations, post a comment and let me know.

A high school rebel who always wins (and a childhood murderer?), Rant Casey escapes from his small hometown of Middleton for the big city. He becomes the leader of an urban demolition derby called Party Crashing. On appointed nights participants recognize one another by such designated car markings as "Just Married" toothpaste graffiti and then stalk and crash into each other. Rant Casey will die a spectacular highway death, after which his friends gather testimony needed to build an oral history of his short, violent life. Their collected anecdotes explore the possibility that his saliva caused a silent urban plague of rabies and that

he found a way to escape the prison house of linear time...

Die Antwoord Update 5/14/2011

2011-05-14T02:52:00.001-04:00

Here is a quick update on my iPad drawing. I know there isn't much progress here, I have been distracted. I really need to make better use of Art Night. I promise more progress in the near future.

Season Finale of Clown Face and Gas Mask!

2011-05-06T15:25:00.000-04:00

It's been a long time coming but the finale is finally here. You can watch the exciting conclusion in the embedded player after the jump.