Quick Sketches

Moleskines are tha shiznets!!!!

Snoopy

I got off to a good start this semester but not good enough. The drawing is tight and the values are somewhat there. But the piece could have used some good color studies. That is something that I will be focused on for the next 'automobile' assignment. By the way, for those who don't know, this is the Snoop Dogg piece.

The assignment was to create a portrait of a celeb without putting them in the picture. The assignment was a conceptual challenge. It helped me to be more creative and conceptual as an artist.

Special thanks to my ex for helping me out with the photo reference. muahzz

NOTORIOUS

I'm really excited about the Biggie movie coming out. He's the man that got me into Hip-Hop. Or rather, the controversy over his death is what got me into Hi-Hop. Kinda weird how that played out.

Well I'll be in Miami when it comes out which is great cuz then I can enjoy it with mah boyz. I've been away from home for like 3 days and I miss it already. Can't wait to go back this friday and go back home for the long weekend, hug the new kitten that we got, and watch Notorious the way it was meant to...with maniggaz!!!

Ladder of Success

This is my promo piece that I did for Computer Illustration. Basically the concept behind this is to show myself climbing the so called ladder of success as I hand copies of my Portfolio to potential clients. It was done in Corel Painter. I was trying to get it as traditional looking as possible. I used the wet oily impasto look to get that thick paint effect.

There wasn't any bad feedback. The instructor was impressed. I'm somewhat happy with it. I always tend to envision how a piece is going to look. And I work hard to meet that vision but it falls short. Anywho, it came out good. Best illustration this semester oddly enough since it wasn't illustration class.

Cameos by Jessalyn Graham and Stephen Philips.

T.I.P. My first assignment with Painter. Not bad for my first time. I took a picture of myself with the pose. And then just used a picture of T.I. for reference. Ain't got that much to say. It was just an exercise. Peace.

1800

I got an assignment to make an ad for any product. I chose 1800 Tequila since they are having that contest anyway. I was having trouble with the preliminary process. I kept changing my idea and my teacher was going crazy.

In the critique he just hated it. He said it wasn't rendered well which I wasn't buying. I thought I did pretty good in rendering. My first one in Corel Painter. I love the program. Can't wait to experiment with it further. And it's economical. Fuck Art and Frames and the campus Bookstore. Well, I ain't mad at Art and Frames so much. There on that hustle just like me.

So yeah, it's a cocktail waitress. Don't know what else to say about it.

Rockport Bummer

Wassup my peoples. This was the design I did for the Rockport Design Challenge. Four schools were involved and unfortunately for me, I was not the Grand Prize Winner. I was kinda upset about that cuz I really could of used the money. Someone else from Ringling did win though. His design was pretty impressive. Nothing like what I've seen in department stores. I didn't want to get too crazy with it cuz the contest rules did mention dimension and cost restraints. But it was a good effort on my part. I don't even think I was one of the runner ups. But dude looked like he put more time into it so congrats to the winner.

I'm in a worldwide illustration competition for 1800 Tequila now. So maybe my luck will improve with that. And It'll give me an opportunity to beef up my portfolio a bit.

Esperanza is finally Here!!!

Yes!!! I was in Miami last weekend and I linked up with my dawg Orion. He's a very talented underground Hip-Hop artist. He just finished releasing his debut album entitled after his mother, "Esperanza" which means 'hope'. He worked hard on it. And so did I as far as the cover and jewel case design.

He was very picky throughout the whole design process. We would just battle each other and argue about certain things here and there. But without his suggestions and my artistic input going head to head with each other, the piece wouldn't have had the impressive look that it has. I mean everybody that has seen the jewel case or the piece has said that 'it looks professional'. That's including Orion himself AND Mr. Bad Ass critic Joe Theil. And many others. So that says alot.

The piece is about everybody waiting in line for some sort of shot. Primarily it was suppose to be the tetanus shot that every immigrant has to get when entering the U.S. But it became 'up to the viewer' kinda thing where each person interprets their own analysis of what is really going on in this picture.

I used reference for the people. My roommate Steve was the doctor administering the shot. I was the guy receiving the shot. I was also the female doctor and the first guy waiting in line. My dawg David was the second guy in line and I believe the woman and the little girl were David's family members. It was done with graphite on Rives BFK (James Jean Style), bebe. Then I scanned it in through Photoshop CS3 and finished it up there. Blocking in the colors took the longest time. For the textures on the floor and walls I just applied a layer mask.



This would be the second successful illustration that I've done.

The Gal Takes the Boys to School

Wassup yall. We were assigned a political illustration by my instructor Joe Theil. Everybody in the class were obviously taking cracks at McCain and Palin being the libs that they are. So I was the only brave conservative that dared charge against the liberal horde.

Originally, Joe Biden was suppose to be sitting next to Palin's desk with a Dunce Cone on his head, but Theil hated the idea and told me to take Biden out and to add Bush as the Dunce if that. He went on some liberal Biden worshiping rant about how Biden was more qualified to be President. Anyways, Biden as the Dunce would've made for a stronger and funnier piece. When he asked what will go on the board, I kinda hesitated cuz I figured he would of shot those ideas down as well. So I acted dumb and stalled.

As far as composition, I feel it's kinda strong. Theil didn't like the colors at all. I was going for a muddy, earth toned classroom feel. I mean, I like it. Theil said it looked rushed. And he was right. I learned a lesson on this assignment. I have to get away from the Lisa French approach of being process work heavy and devote more time on the execution of the piece instead. Cuz in the end, you can have a strong concept like this one, but if the final piece sucks, the whole thing falls apart.

I got it published on AmericanThinker.com in the political cartoons section.

Overall, good concept, weak execution, it's aiight it's aiight. I don't know guys. What do you think?

First Figure Painting

We finally started to paint in figure painting class. I must say that my first attempt kicked everybody Else's azz. In my opinion of course. This was a 3 hour with breaks in between. The instructor (Carl Johnson) just wanted a monochromatic piece. That would explain the lack of color. It was done in the typical technique. First I drew it out with black paint on top of a burnt sienna acrylic underpainting. Then I blocked in the darks and worked from dark to light. And Da Daaaa. Well not bad for my first one. The second one came out kinda wack. But it still held a second place ranking in my opinion.