Mask-Fest 2012

Here are some pics from mask-fest last weekend. It was a blast to see everyone, hang out, and see all the new art.

Painting aliens part 2

blocked in the front of the face.

 blocked in the back

 Went in with burnt umber for shadows and veinwork

 Deepened the veins with blue.

 Mottled the front of the face to darken the tone.

 Added white to the front and back to add depth and detail.

 Darkened the red in the face.

 Darkened the back

 Eyes started base yellow

 black pupils

 green veinwork

 blue green veinwork

 white veinwork

 Yellow overcoat

Here are some finished pics of the two aliens.

Painting aliens part 1

Here are two new paint jobs i did on my alien invader piece. These are some steps of how i go about painting my pieces.

started with a flesh base coat, then did a skin mottle with cyan mapping out the front color.

 Did the same for the back with yellow

 Used burnt umber for laying in the veins and darkening the wrinkles and shadow areas. Front and back

 Darkened the veins with red.

 Did an overcoat on the back with yellow to make it brighter and add depth to the veining

 Did a skin mottle with rowney blue for the face and front area.

 Wanted to add more so i did a black pattern on the back of the head

 Eyes were based with yellow and added some texture with purple. Pupil is vertical for more of a predatory feel and painted with black.

 Did more textures with black

 same with white

 Tinted the white with a yellow overcoat.

 Outlined the pupils with white for a glow type effect

Time management

Time management and scheduling is one of the hardest and most important parts of being a successful artist. Here are some tips that i have learned and help me. If you don't schedule the day you will spend too much time figuring out what needs to get done.

• keep a notepad or paper nearby, whenever your in the middle of working on something ideas always seem to strike. Writing it down makes sure you don't forget the idea and doesn't take you away from what you are working on.
• Making time - everyone needs to figure out when their most productive and active times are to work. It doesn't help to make free time when your tired or not in the mood. 
• Try cutting out unnecessary tasks or cutting back. Ex. try only going on the internet for 1hr a day or only checking email once a day.
• depending on what your working on you can leave it out and ready to work on whenever you have a free few minutes. 

Hope some of these help.

Sketching

Sketching is an exercise that not many sculptors do. Every painter and illustrator will sketch in their sketchbooks constantly for fun, trying to work out ideas or concepts, or use it as a learning tool to draw from life.

Now when a sculptor starts a new piece he or she will sometimes jump in or do some sketches on paper, but not many try to figure it out in the round and even fewer use sculpting as a exercise that we can scrap just like a piece of paper. Everyone has this idea that when you start sculpting a piece that you have to work it and finish it like a masterpiece, but i don't believe in this. I think it is very important to work on smaller pieces for the sake of an exercise and know from the beginning it is just a sketch. You should be able to get to a satisfied point of the sculpt and have no problem completely changing the piece or tossing it all together because the knowledge you gained is more important.

What i do is i try to do a warm-up sculpt everyday before i start working on projects, this helps to get me energized and excited and also frees me up to open my mind and work my imagination. I set aside approximately 30 min - 1 hr to do this so that i have time to create something interesting, but dont spend too much time working too much into a piece that i might not like. Its also great to do specific exercises like forcing yourself to work on a piece for 3 hrs or working on likeness, portraits, anatomy etc. When i did the 3hr exercise i started off with a concept i wasn't crazy about and forcing myself to keep at it made me really figure out why i didn't like it and fix it.

Here are some examples of my warm-ups

First two are base forms of a male - female - and child and their different proportions

Next are some of the portraits i did trying to achieve a likeness

and here are some original pieces i did

 

also try out doing expressions, transformations, and this is great for concept maquettes for larger pieces

Hope this helps and inspires,

Thanks for reading

Working with water clay

I just posted a quick video on working with water clay. Whenever i tell people that i do all my sculpts in water clay they always tell me about their issues and problems with it drying out on them too fast. So here are a few tips to help other sculptors out there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD-zfyWY2Kk&list=UUMZVBrBVskn77xIp5LJWJQw&index=1&feature=plcp

Gillman project

Gillman nearly completed, He is foam filled latex, hand painted, w/ resin teeth and a custom base.

Here are two pieces i worked on this week, both are quick concepts and i used as a warm-up.

I recently discovered two artists that i found online that have amazing work, both are sculptors and have a strong style that i was attracted to and decided to learn more about what interested me.

Both sculptures i did a base structure portrait of singer/actress Kelly Chen.

First artist i wanted to learn some techniques from is Jiro. He has a very interesting and original style with a very organic and some stylized pieces. I was drawn to his mechanic geisha style makeups and used it for reference to learn from his style.

Second artist i looked towards is Seb Zar. He has some amazing portrait work that is very expressionistic and stylized. I like the texture he has, but i wanted a more realistic piece and used his art as reference to learn a more stylized and expressive approach.

Check out the links i posted and always keep an eye out for new inspirations. Thanks for looking.

Inspiration and reference

Now that we have established that we must be inspired by our own work, I must include that is also very important to be inspired by your favorite artists and everything else around you. The artists and styles you enjoy and appreciate are what got you interested and will help you to improve. Sometimes doing studies or just learning from your favorite artists will help you learn their techniques and style which you can adapt in your own way. Same goes with nature and the world around us. If making a new original creature or monster, take a look at the creatures that live on this planet, insects, reptiles, and sea life especially carry an enormous amount of weird and strange creatures, very odd and alien.

When I use reference, I use if for inspiration more than duplication. It is very important to make the work your own and not just a copy. Trying to reproduce a masterwork has its benefits, but I much prefer to take pieces and ideas to learn what they are thinking and doing rather than the end product. Creature designer Carlos Huante said that when he is creating a creature he will study different kinds of animals and creatures and then when he creates he pulls all that info from his mind rather than copying.

I will be doing a couple warm-ups in a style inspired by some artists I have recently discovered and been inspired by. Pictures will be posted next post. Hope this blog helps out and inspires you to try new things and push yourself further outside the box.

Personal inspiration

Inspiration is important for any artist and will encourage and motivate us to create our best new works. Although looking towards your favorite artists or beautiful creations from nature are essential, I believe it is important to be just as motivated from your own artwork. Look at your own art and get inspired to stay with it and strive for better. Looking towards other artists will always leave that doubt in your mind saying to yourself that they are more talented or have more years of work under their belt. When you look at your own piece these doubts don’t exist, the inspiration is something that you created and will motivate you in a positive way. Delete the “I can’t do that” term form your mind.

We are also doing our art because we enjoy and love doing it, you should get inspired and excited as the piece starts taking shape.

Stay positive and keep creating.

back on schedule

Trying to get back into a schedule and update regularly. 


I will have new posts up every Mon. - Wed.  - and Fri. ranging more than just my work and progress, but rather more in depth with some how-to pieces and my inspirations. 


I have a few ideas and stories coming up so stay tuned.