a clumsy conspiracy

Illustrator Work

2014-10-29T23:27:00.000-07:00

I've been coming up with some designs of a bunny and a bear as a fun side project. I wanted to use this as a way to get back into Illustrator.

At first I tried keeping it simple using just the pen tool. For my day job, I spend most of my time working with curves and tangents. Drawing vector paths is pretty similar, the difference being animation is curves over time that no one ever sees.

First drawings with the pen tool

I like the fine detail you can achieve but curves can get tedious. I thought these drawings were too stiff as well. The pencil, paint brush, and blob brush are more intuitive and makes it easy for sketching. Here are some quick tests. I started to play with textures to keep the drawings from looking too clean.

Here are a few process steps. I brought the drawing into PS and adjusted it using transform and liquify tools. Then I cleaned up the lines and blocked in the colors and lighting. It's really easy to soften edges and smudge in Photoshop. While it's possible in Illustrator, it can really slow down your files. I'll be using this drawing to get better at rendering shiny materials in Illustrator.

Another sketching process. This illustration is going used to create a 2x2"rubber stamp. I have to make sure the lines are clear and not too rough to limit bleeding and smudging.

Sometimes I sketch out directly in Illustrator. I use the pencil and change the settings to be a little more natural (Fidelity - 2px, Smoothness - 2%, Keep Selected, Edit selected lines within 9px). It can get messy sometimes so I still have to go back and adjust the tangents on a fine level.

This uses a chalk texture for the shadows and a watercolor brush for the light, playing with the opacity and blending modes. This drawing still feels a little too sharp and basic to me but it has a decent blend of clean lines and rough textures.

Before I committed to a style, I wanted to try one illustration with clean shapes to experiment with lighting. People are usually split between this clean flat style and the sketchy textured ones.

And one with much sloppier shapes.

I'm feeling pretty confident about the technique in this illustration. It's just about finished. I'll play around with erasing out some of the line work and tightening up the shadows.

Now that I've explored different styles and techniques in Illustrator, I'm going to go back and polish all the illustrations to a consistent style. Next test - I'm going to use these characters to learn ZBrush and 3D printing. Should be fun!

Caricature - Brittany Stankovic

2011-02-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

A caricature for Brittany's goodbye card.

Digital. February 24, 2011.

Caricature - Paul Chung

2011-02-11T10:44:00.000-08:00

A caricature I drew for Paul's going away card.

Digital. February 10, 2011.

Illustration - Ron Magic Card

2011-01-31T08:00:00.000-08:00

It was Ron's birthday yesterday. I made him a custom Magic: The Gathering card.

Digital. January 28, 2011

Caricature - Sally Lee

2011-01-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

Digital. January 4, 2011.

Caricature - Kevan Shorey

2011-01-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

I made this for Kev's birthday last Friday. I tried something new by using only the selection tool for the shapes. It wasn't any faster, but it was fun.

Digital. Jan 07, 2011.

Caricature - Nara Youn

2010-12-10T15:29:00.000-08:00

Here's a caricature I made for Nara's going away card.

Digital. December 9, 2010.

Sketches - Caricature Rejects 2

2010-12-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

Bert Chung

Nara Youn

Julie Nelson

Lou Dellarosa

Sue Erokan

Carlos Rosas

Andrea Spediacci

Melanie Cordan

Cameron Fielding

April Henley

Sketches - Caricature Rejects 1

2010-12-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

These drawings fall in between "proudly pinned on the wall" and "trashed without hesistation." I'll try to name who they were supposed to be.

Josiah Larson

Rani Naamani

Guillermo Careaga

Carlos Puertolas

Sketch - Emil Lime

2010-11-19T08:30:00.001-08:00

I built up a whole story about this kid named Emil Lime. I only remember his name and that he has a lime on his shirt.

Acrylic on paper. 6x10". ~2006

Landscape Paintings - San Francisco 2007

2010-11-18T08:30:00.000-08:00

Half Moon Bay beach
Oil on canvas board. 8x10". ~2007

Crystal Springs Reservoir
Oil on canvas board. 4x6". ~2007

Landscape Paintings - Los Angeles 2007

2010-11-17T08:30:00.000-08:00

I have little experience landscape painting and tend to avoid it. Here are some attempts.

Griffith Park Carousel
Oil on paper. 4x6". ~2007

View from Glendale hills.
Oil on paper. 4x6". ~2007

Caricature - Ben Rush

2010-11-16T08:30:00.000-08:00

A painting of my dolphin blood brother, Ben Rush!

Acrylic on paper. 7x10". ~2007ish

Figure Paintings - 2008

2010-11-15T08:30:00.000-08:00

Oil on canvas. 12x9". July 11, 2008.

Acrylic on paper. 14x12". July 01, 2008

Figure Paintings - 2007

2010-11-12T08:30:00.000-08:00

Oil on canvas board. 8x10". May 29, 2007.

Oil on paper. 6x4". June 20, 2007.

Figure Paintings - 2007

2010-11-11T08:30:00.000-08:00

Oil on canvas board. 8x10". 2007

Oil on canvas board. 8x10". August 15, 2007

Figure Paintings - 2006, 2007

2010-11-10T08:30:00.000-08:00

Oil on Paper. 8x6". June 6, 2007

Oil on canvas board. 8x10". June 27, 2007

Oil on canvas board. 9x12". December 6, 2006

Figure Painting - Nicole

2010-11-09T08:30:00.000-08:00

Oil. July 18, 2007

Figure Painting - Woman with Cloak and Sword

2010-11-08T08:30:00.000-08:00

Acrylic on canvas board. 5x7". June 17, 2010

Illustration - Running

2010-11-05T08:30:00.001-07:00

I ran a marathon last Sunday. I started this painting before the race to insure that I finished. I finished so effin' hard that my shoe got jammed under the finish line and I almost plowed into a volunteer.

Digital. November 3, 2010.

Here are some sketches and process pics.

Doodles - random digital sketches

2010-11-04T08:30:00.001-07:00

Some rough digital sketches I found on a backup drive.

An intense woman. October 16, 2009

Jump-roping girl. November 3, 2009

A short pirate. October 17, 2009.
I actually really like this one. Maybe I'll rework it later.

Figure Painting - Karate Guy

2010-11-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

A painting from a figure class at work and quick compositional sketches. The photo turned out blurry, but you're not missing anything.

Acrylic on canvas board. 11x14". May 2010

Sculpture - Snail Pen Holder

2010-11-02T08:30:00.000-07:00

After the hand sculpture, I carved this snail to hold my wacom pen. The idea is supposed to be this pen has cracked into the snail's shell. I actually really like snails and don't try to stab them.

The snails in California are GIANTS compared to the tiny ones in Florida. The first time I saw one out here, I jumped and shrieked like an elephant spotting a mouse.

Sculpture - Pencil Holder Hand

2010-11-01T08:30:00.001-07:00

I sculpted this to hold my wacom pen at work, but I was just guessing about the size. I was wrong. It can still hold a regular pen though.

The clay was for pottery and was kiln baked. I didn't have the patience for real pottery throwing.

Clay and pottery glaze. December 2008.

Figure Painting - Woman with Pink Sheet

2010-10-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

Oil on canvas. 6x8". August 2007 probably.