Save BC Film - Final Stamp for approval

Barring any changes that occur because of our crit tomorrow, here is the final piece.

Save BC Film - getting close :)

Ok, I wanted to be able to use this after this project, so I extended the canvas to make it more "filmic" and did some more work on it.

Never be afraid to do *more* work than an art director requires, if it gives you something you can use better later!

Here's the crop of just the part for the stamp.

Here's the stampsheet:

Save BC Film Stamp - Sketch Paintover

At this stage I've removed the sketch lines and am working on building up form through tone and value.

Stamp for Save BC Film

Here's the tight pencils and first blocking of color.  Tomorrow I'll go back in and render and remove the sketch lines.

Finished - Maddy and the Critter

I always hate to say "finished", because I seem to immediately find something awful that needs to be fixed....but, here it is :)

Maddy and the Critter - update

VAST painting update

VAST first painting

Working on the first painting for my project for senior studio/VAST.

Started with thumbs:

Moved from there to a tight sketch (12"x5") on bristol board:

That was scanned and toned in photoshop:

From there I started using "color" layers to add basic hue and saturation.

Next steps will be to begin using opaque layers on top to add form and make things look more painterly....that's tomorrow's task!

Drawing for a vis dev painting

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About me?

I had to create an "About me and my work." presentation for my senior studio tomorrow.  Thought you might enjoy seeing it.

My Presentation

100 things I'd like to draw/paint

Based on a blog post I found the other day here, my list of 100 things I like to draw/paint.

1. Forests
2. otters
3. owls
4. pinups
5. strong women
6. goblins
7. fairies
8. dramatic moments
9. establishing shots
10. fascist military uniforms
11. propaganda posters
12. cute things being violent
13. ruins
14. aztec temples
15. modern fantasy
16. smart-ass children
17. thoughtless oppression
18. art deco architecture
19. art nouveau architecture
20. mushrooms
21. dystopian cityscapes
22. jungles
23. bats
24. crash landings
25. space marines
26. glowing plants
27. vast mountains
28. cities hidden in plain sight
29. claustrophobic canyons
30. samurai
31. dead bodies
32. trench warfare
33. hopeless situations
34. hyper-kinetic characters
35. african masks
36. polynesian statues
37. explosions
38. lighthouses
39. outposts in the wilderness
40. people flying
41. tentacles
42. pulp covers
43. spartans
44. bleak landscapes
45. medieval peasants
46. sunsets
47. innocent sexuality
48. evil overlords
49. moss-covered boulders
50. orcs
51. elves
52. people transforming into beings of power
53. ghosts
54. caves
55. “Road Warrior” style punks
56. factories
57. the eye of a storm
58. gods
59. robes
60. trenchcoats
61. cartoon people with big heads
62. creepy victorian mansions
63. wizards
64. angels
65. dark angels
66. bodysuits
67. ferns
68. anglo-saxon designs
69. abandoned high tech alien cities
70. gnomes
71. tiny houses made of discarded objects
72. Lovecraftian monsters
73. neon signs
74. energy blasts
75. religious fanatics
76. film noir lighting
77. waterfalls
78. cyberpunk gun slingers
79. urban primitives
80. really long legs
81. silhouettes
82. undersea civilizations
83. fog
84. gothic arches
85. belly dancers
86. swords
87. kirby crackle
88. flying islands
89. bridges
90. swamps
91. witch huts
92. jump kicks
93. parkour
94. wannabe hip-hop thugs
95. ornate helmets
96. long hair
97. military installations
98. fairy tales
99. lemurs
100. glowing fireflies

Artist statement

Here's my artist statement for my Senior Studio class.  It's a fine-artsy way of saying I want to work in vis-dev for cartoons.

My art deals with inspiring stories in other people.  Rather than directly feeding narratives to my audience, I use visual imagery to help others engage directly with the subject matter and to create their own content that builds on top of what I have shown.

I prefer to show “moment in time” illustrations that beg the questions either “What just happened?” or “What is about to happen?”  In this way people are drawn into my worlds, and given the liberty to take ownership of these imaginary places and make them their own.

I take a cinematic approach to this, although not necessarily a realistic one.  In many ways, cartoons and idealized views of a world create an easier path of entry than realistic or  more fully realized visuals.

Whether the world is happy, scary, bleak or utopic, I want to tap into the inner child of the viewer, engaging their imaginations and introducing them to entirely new playgrounds within their minds.

Scud

Truth and Justice!

Here's the postcard for my show, the opening is at 8:00pm.

Fear is the Mind-killer.

"I must not fear.Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

Only I will remain."


Oh Frank Herbert, how right you were. Fear has been my constant companion since I started down this artistic path, and it has done more to hamper my growth than any bad teacher, class or missed opportunity.


You can't be creative when you are afraid....or at least, I can't. When I am afraid, I fall back on the same solutions as I have used in the path - Which, in a setting where you are trying to learn NEW things, is not usually very effective!


My whole life I internalized the message that fear was a sign of weakness, and must be stamped out and overcome - usually by getting angry.


It hasn't worked. Herbert was right, for me to conquer fear, first I have to let it pass *through me* as well as over me. When I can acknowledge that I'm feeling anxious about a project, or my skills, or my future, only then can I grow and move on. Fear is not vanquished by repressing it or masking it with anger. Fear must be faced, it must be accepted and watched, and when that happens, it tends to go away.


I'm starting a new career in my mid-30s, and I want to work as a Vis-Dev artist for one of the top animation houses. THAT IS SCARY. I need to remember that, because it doen't make me a failure or a bad artist to be anxious when I try new things or try to put my stuff out there for the public.

Genosha Redux.

My Genosha poster was one of the first ones I did, and I wanted to give it an update to reflect some of the things I've learned since September.

ok, another text post

Maybe I'll expand this from just my art posts to where I talk about my experiences as a student. I figure I'll start with something I've seen a lot of lately:

"My school wasn't tailored for the industry I want to get into."

Between IlluxCon, CTN-Expo and various Facebook posts, I've heard this a lot lately. I'm not picking on anyone, I get the frustration, I feel like my school has the exact same problem....BUT:

Your education is your responsibility. You can't blame your school when you don't know something. That's like blaming your driving instructor because you drive badly.

If you know you have a weakness, you know enough to fix it. Pros don't care why you don't know something, they just care that you get better.

If you want to work in the video game industry, it's UP TO YOU to learn what a AAA Title is, and what the roles of a concept artist/3d artist are. If you find that you need to learn 3D, go to the bookstore and pick up a book. Maya is FREE for students, you have no excuse.

If you want to work in cartoons, do the same thing. Figure out what studios want what skills. Find your weaknesses and fix them, don't blame someone else. The world doesn't need your excuses.

Google is your friend. Blogs are your friend. Go do some research, don't wait until you are a senior/recent graduate and then cry "Poor Me" because you don't feel like your school gave you what you needed. That may be true, but it just means you were an idiot for not getting it yourself or changing schools.

Only you are responsible for making you an employable artist.


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a new year....

Hmmm...I don't normally type much on my blog, it's pretty much a spot for dumping pictures, but I've been spending some time recently thinking about my artistic goals, and I don't think I've been narcissistic enough lately,I need to share!

Last year was amazing for me and my growth. I really felt like I started on the path to being the creator I want to be. I did a ton of photoshop painting, and solidified my goals to be an environment concept artist/vis-dev artist of some kind.

The biggest thing I got out of the entire year was that I had been trying to be someone else for entirely too long. I started wanting to be Dylan Cole, then moved on to Jim Lee, then Mike Mignola and Arthur Rackham, Frank Stockton and Tomer Hanuka.

It was all a waste of time. I make a very poor version of any of those guys. I'm just beginning to realize that I make a much better Seth Rutledge than I do anyone else. There's a part of me that loves to paint fantastic landscapes, and that's great! There's another part of me that is having a great time drawing sketchy cartoon characters, and that's fine too :)

The other thing that is starting to penetrate my thick skull is that medium isn't really that important. I like using Photoshop. I also like watercolour, gouache, pencil, ink, sculpy and china marker! Sure, I need to be good enough with one or more of those that I can work "professionally", whatever that means, but the idea and the core principles of design are far more important than how tight I can render a character's arm (at least for me.)

Anatomy is important. Rules are important. Perspective is important.

They just aren't as important to me as the story I want to tell, and the mood I want to convey. In many respects, I have the online class I took with Chris Oatley to thank for helping me think about these things and come to this conclusion. If your piece evokes a mood, people will overlook incredible amounts of technical imperfections. If your piece doesn't have a mood, you had better be PERFECT technically, because it's all people will judge your work on. That's the trap of technique, it's very seductive to think you just need to learn this one more *thing*,and then you'll be better. You don't. You have to be able to help the viewer feel something when they look at your work, and that's both much easier, and much harder than knowing the exact colour your bounce-light should be.

Maybe for some people, that level of realism is important. I certainly don't mean to negate the need for study, observation and improvement. I picked this career because I wanted something that I could never learn all there was to learn. For me though, I want to tell stories with pictures. I don't want to show reality, if that were enough for me, I'd have stayed with photography!

As I move into 2013 and my last year of school at Emily Carr, there are a couple of things I want to remind myself every day:

1: I am an artist, and a storyteller, I'm not faking it.

2: My way of seeing things has value, even if it doesn't quite work yet.

3: My teachers exist to help *me* achieve *my* goals. They should be listened to but not necessarily agreed with simply because they draw a paycheque.

4: I want to remember what Pascal Campion told me at CTN-Expo "You need to decide how to apply them, but you clearly have the skills."

5: It is within my grasp to work in the industry I love for the companies I think are doing amazing things.

6: It's still going to take a lot of hard work and discovery, but that's what I love in the first place!

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Curb Stomp the Foot

An Army of One

Poison Ivy

Sandman

Skrulls