The Drawing Mantis

Updates of old work

2012-01-12T00:11:00.001-08:00

Here are some art that were done when I was working with Doug Chiang and his team over a year ago.

CDA Weapon Design Demo

2011-11-11T17:52:00.000-08:00

Brian Yam- New Online Tutorial Available Now!

2011-10-24T13:52:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

In the past few months, I was fortunate to be asked by the folks at cmiVFX to do a online video tutorial on one aspect of concept design, props. The video is released today. Please be sure to check it out! Thanks for the support!

-Brian

Product link:
http://store.cmivfx.com/tutorials/view/325/Photoshop+Weapon+Prop+Design

Distributor site:
www.cmivfx.com

CDA vehicle demo

2011-10-22T23:57:00.001-07:00

This was a demo from our class based on our project theme theme: Mass Effect. This was an exercise done from line drawing to render

Gouache Landscape Painting with Mike Hernandez

2011-10-18T00:20:00.002-07:00

Mike Hernandez is doing a painting workshop on October 21-23. Mike is an awesome painter and instructor whom I had the pleasure taking a landscape class with during Art Center. He's a funny guy also. If you are interested in taking his class, be sure to sign up soon as spaces will run out fast.

CDA FALL 2011 Vehicles and Props Class

2011-09-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

Hello Bloggers!

I will be teaching class again this fall over at Concept Design Academy in Pasadena. It's going to be a fun class for those of you who want to dive more into designing vehicles and props for entertainment. There are 2 more spots left! If you're interested, please sign up. See you there!

Demos from Career In Concept (4/30/11)

2011-05-10T22:15:00.000-07:00

Here were a couple of demos that were done for the Career In Concept seminar a couple of weekends ago. The top demo was a 40 min sketch. The bottom picture of the bus stop has an interesting abstract pattern which I imagined a composition for a "base or ship" of some sort. I decided to go with the flow on that one. Enjoy!

Film study

2011-04-20T00:49:00.000-07:00

A shot study from 'Alien' from one of my favorite films and director Ridley Scott.

Some Gatchaman concepts

2011-04-06T00:19:00.000-07:00

Some works from past projects.

Another sketch

2011-02-26T21:44:00.000-08:00

Here's a sketch I did a year ago which I forgot about. This was done using mainly texture brushes. Enjoy.

2011 Update

2011-02-23T23:34:00.000-08:00

Hello All,

It's been one crazy journey the past year and I sincerely apologize for not posting anything since the last post. Lots of things happened good and bad. We decided to move back down to LA since things did not quite flow the way we expected. One thing, nobody expected the closure at IMD (bad). Luckily, my family and I were prepared for that ahead of time and planned accordingly. The good thing was spending time with family up north for a year(good). Priceless. I gained a lot of valuable experience in the last couple of years and met a lot of amazing talent. The last job was a great experience and I learned quite a bit in the limited time we had. In the end, Los Angeles was a place we recognized as our home and now we're back.

Here is something to tie you guys over until I cook something up. This was a piece derived from a similar template I used earlier. Enjoy!

Driving back from work today...

2010-07-07T22:43:00.000-07:00

I didn't have a camera in my car so I had t rely on memory. Words nor my paintingcannot describe how beautiful the light was in person. I can only hope this will capture some of the essence of what I saw while driving. Enjoy.

Still here!

2010-06-21T13:10:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts in the last couple of months. Things up here are super busy and crazy at the same time. Here's a piece I did during a short break from the craziness. Thanks for your patience. Now, back the program!

In Memory of Norm Schureman

2010-03-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

It was devastating to have heard that Norm Schureman passed away this weekend. I had the honor of having him for an instructor at Art Center for Vis Comm 6. He was a great instructor and I will always remember him for checking up on me with a few phone calls when my mother was gravely ill during my last term at ACCD. He will always be remembered in my heart as a kind man and a great instructor and designer. My heart goes out to his family. Rest in peace my friend.

Updated

2010-01-22T23:02:00.000-08:00

template

1

2

Here is an image I started before going back to the workforce recently. I took an old landscape painting and tried to interpret what could come out of it. I like to do this every now and then and see where I can take with it. In this case, I didn't manipulate it as much, but just went with it. I actually liked the colors so I used it as a palette to start not so much the shapes as you can see.

As far as other things go, things will keep going until the end of the year so we'll see how it goes.

ImagineFX Issue #52

2010-01-02T22:58:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year folks! Things are starting to settle down here back in the Bay Area after the move. Moving is never fun and it's chaotic.

A few months ago, I was fortunate enough to be asked to do a workshop on ImagineFX Issue 52 which just came out. I've been a huge fan of this magazine since the very first issue and it was a huge treat to contribute something back. If you see this on the shelf, please check it out. Here's an early b/w thumbnail of the final painting featured in the magazine. Cheers!

Farewell and Thank You Los Angeles!!!

2009-12-21T16:54:00.000-08:00

Hello Folks!

Happy Holidays to you all! I have some news to share today. My family and I have decided it's time to return home to the Bay Area to be closer to both our families and to move on to embrace new opportunities. The final move will commence tomorrow.

It's been an awesome journey in Southern California for the past 10 years. I want to thank everyone whom I had met for the past decade for their kindness, generosity, and knowledge passed along the years. My experience here in Southern California has been very fruitful and rewarding. I can't ask for anything more.

It's quite mind boggling to reflect on how much things changed for me through these years and how much growth was acquired as an artist. From the time when I just started Art Center back in 1999-2002 and then working in the field professionally until now really went by in a flash. Frak! Time flies when you're having fun. I certainly enjoyed all the challenges that were given to me. It definitely kept my toes busy.

The list is too long to name, but I would like to thank all my friends, foes, and colleagues for their support which makes my departure even harder. :( For some of you which I did not have a chance to catch up with, my apologies and we'll catch up soon. For all the followers of this blog, thank you for your support so far. This means alot and I extend my appreciation out to all of you.

In the meantime, stay warm for the holidays. Keep in touch!

Brian

Some More....

2009-12-12T21:44:00.001-08:00

Some production design packets from Uncharted 2....

Traditional

2009-11-10T22:03:00.001-08:00

Here are some plein air studies in gouache, acrylic, and oil respectively.

Ratchet and Clank: A Crack In Time Concepts

2009-10-29T14:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some very early blue sky concepts from the game I worked on last year before departing. I don't know if these made it in the final game.

Uncharted 2 stuff

2009-10-22T12:06:00.000-07:00

Uncharted 2 is out so I can show some of the things I worked on. Since I came in late into the project, there's not much stuff worth showing. I did mostly concepts for outsourcing and some small tasks left over. Here are a few things below:

The top image was a pre-visualization on the gate to Shangri-la in the Gompa tunnel and it's animation mechanics below that.

The next two are sketches for one of the dig-temple doorway designs and the SLA crossbow ortho used later in the game.

The last two were most fun to do. These were some of the texture images were mimicking the cheesy Bollywood posters in the Nepal Warzone level. You have to look carefully in the level to find theseI had to make these look really bad in a good way if that makes sense.

(Yes, that is Rodrigo in the poster in case you were wondering)

Enjoy!

Here Kitty Kitty!

2009-10-08T18:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a sketch of something while looking at hairless cats. Enjoy! Don't forget, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves releases on October 13th!

Just for fun...

2009-09-18T22:09:00.001-07:00

Something different from the same 'ole, same 'ole concepty stuff.

September update

2009-09-16T23:11:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been posting since the last month. Things at work are winding down for now. On the sideline, I've been asked to develop a tutorial with a publication and also involved with another art publication in Asia who is doing an article on my work. These things are keeping me busy at the moment, but more things to come my way soon. I also have to thank my buddy Stuart Kim for helping me facelift my website and for making it "visible" on the internet. God bless you Stu!

Two great games and two great companies which I had an honor of contributing on the last year and currently are releasing their games soon. Ratchet and Clank: A Crack In Time and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves will be out this fall. These two games should be good! Please check them out.

In the meantime, thanks for being patient with my slow posts. I'll have something up soon! ;)

Cheers.

Quickie

2009-08-14T19:40:00.001-07:00

Snuck a quick one in before I left work today. I didn't plan to finish it, but left some of the anatomy of how this began. Goodnight!

Stress relief

2009-08-13T20:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. This is something for myself after months of crunch. Enjoy.

Blue Brush

2009-06-04T23:24:00.000-07:00

I had some down time today. Here is a sketch from my desk at Naughty Dog during the lunch hour. (90min)

I had to get this one out of my system before going to bed. (40min)

Reboot...continued

2009-05-16T00:31:00.000-07:00

5/30/09 70%

5/23/o9 60%

slowly working on this when I get a chance.....it'll be a few more posts. I'm spending about 30 min each time I get.

Reboot

2009-05-11T22:58:00.000-07:00

Here is an old demo from one of the classes I taught at CDA. It was a demo on generating thumbnails. I thought the shapes were working in the thumbnail and I decided to take a step further and see how far I can go. This is not at all finished, but I wanted to share how I usually start my processes. My goal is to go for a near photoreal render using custom brushes. I'll try to carry on this later to finish as time allows. Work has been crazy lately since I'm coming home late these days.

Update: In Retrospect

2009-04-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not updating for awhile. After two months of unemployment, I started working again and it has been extremely busy. However, I would like to share my personal experiences of my walk in art and maybe it can help some of you out there who are going through the same thing at this tough economic time.

My journey as an artist is still very short and I still don't consider myself quite "there" yet. My art career started at Insomniac in 2003 and my experience there was great. But after 5 years, I left to look for something different and most importantly to expand my growth as a concept designer. It was a difficult decision leaving a great place, but it was a necessary one in order to grow. In September 2008, an opportunity came from Imagi to work on Gatchaman (G-Force). Since I was a big fan of the series, I couldn't pass up the opportunity. The short time I was there was amazing! I learned a lot by working with amazing artists Todd Uyeminami, Kevin Chen, Patrick Awa, and Yung-Lo Chang. This was a group of people you can come in and be content about going to work on a Monday morning. Going into 4 months, Imagi laid off the majority of the US staff and left only a small crew. I was out of a job, but I had no regrets on making that move over. Absolutely no regrets.

Two months passed since the layoff from Imagi. With the shaky economy, it seemed that alot of studios were( and still are) going through tough times which resulted in huge layoffs. The animation/film industry seemed to be affected more. During the downtime, I had some nice quality time with our daughter during the day and did small freelance jobs on the side. I also worked on some personal things which I did not have time to work on before. A few opportunities came shortly to interview and tour with some local and Bay Area studios and I met some amazing artists which I long admired since school.

However, a lot of thoughts were buzzing through my mind during the last two months. It was a very uncomfortable and scary feeling going from a busy everyday routine to having so much free time. You start to feel unproductive after some point. It also forced me to deal with what was going on in the world first hand after hearing thousands of people out of work. You never assume it can happen to you. It's ironic because I asked for a challenge and it came in a way that I least expected. Life plays you this way I find. I gained alot of perspective on things. Family and good health are more important than all the money you can make in the world. Being home gave me the opportunity to spend quality time with my daughter. She is a great baby, but it was definitely a challenge caring for her all by myself after my wife went back to work.

Despite the rough couple of months, I was really glad that things happened the way it did. Having two months off helped me reflect on life and look at things from a different perspective. As we all know, it takes a fall to stand taller. There will be a few of those ahead I'm sure.

I returned to the game industry recently. I joined the highly talented team at Naughty Dog as a concept artist under the direction of Robh Ruppel, who is a tremendous inspiration. It's a great blessing to be a part of that team. I'm currently helping to wrap up Uncharted 2. I was hoping to return to teaching at Concept Design Academy this summer, but with so many things going on now, I decided it's best to wait until things settle.

In the end, when things seems really bad, they eventually will work out one way or another if you let it. By sharing this, I hope to let people realize that we're all going through the same hard times together. Stay inspired friends and thanks again for the support on this blog throughout the years.

Exersketch Episode One

2009-03-20T00:13:00.000-07:00

I'm currently working at NoJobo Studios where I spend alot of time doing "random" things. This week, I decided that I needed boot camp to keep my art circulation going. I was looking at alot of architecture references online and I was fascinated by some of the older areas in Hong Kong. I did use references for some of the more complex details. I wanted to savor the drawing aspect and then take it to the painting later on. Here it is so far in progress. The layout took more than a couple of hours. Enjoy! (btw...Nojobo Studios is a joke for No Job:) )

Sketch Medley

2009-03-12T22:05:00.000-07:00

I'm reorganizing some old files lately and ran across some old sketches and ideations for props. A lot of sketches and drawings accumulated over a year. I didn't even remember some of these drawings I worked on honestly. That's how fast a year goes by when you're bombarded by work. I tend to shy away showing these sketches because there are so many great artists out there that do it better than I. Here they are anyways. Enjoy!

something old

2009-02-28T21:38:00.000-08:00

I found this old painting I did during the landscape days. It was painted at the location on Reseda and Nordoff ( I forgot the crosstreet). This was done in acrylic on a 11 x 14 canvas. Good times!

skeetchy

2009-02-27T17:58:00.000-08:00

It didn't turn up exactly how I wanted. It was a good excercise for the day nonetheless. Enjoy.

dug from the files

2009-02-23T01:15:00.001-08:00

I'm finally starting to update my work once more due to the unfortunate event at Imagi. It was a great experience while it lasted and we had a great team. I felt I definitely grew stronger as an artist for the short period I worked and I learned alot from my peers. It's really a shame that things ended up this way because there were so much talent in that studio. I hope things will work out over there for the best.

I posted an old compilation of thumbs from Resistance 2 of some scenes that eventually turned into paintings. Good times. Enjoy!

Whatever comes into mind....

2009-02-18T13:41:00.001-08:00

It's 'whatever comes into mind blog week.' This is loosely based off a dream I had a couple of days ago. I'll update as much as I can while there is some down time.

Downtime sketches

2009-02-17T00:04:00.000-08:00

I had this really bad urge to do environments again for long while now. I think the last time I did a dedicated one was when I was at Insomniac. We're still waiting for the news about Imagi. In the meantime, here are 3 so called speed paintings. I got lazy with the first two. I just changed the themes between them. (Traffic in L.A. is still bad in the future. Sorry! California is still 20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 dollars in debt). Enjoy!

Pet Project Part 1

2009-02-14T17:44:00.000-08:00

These are just a few ideas scribbled on post-it notes based on Pepper's (my other cat) personality and a dream I had about my cats driving vehicles. The design is based off litterboxes since Pepper love to ****. I wanted to get this down in some form before I forget. This wasn't what I had in mind for vehicles mentioned earlier, but this could turn out to be fun so I'll continue with this. I might proceed with turn arounds at some point if it's successful. I'll post more later if I get a break from babysitting. Cheers.

To Infinity and Beyond!!

2008-11-30T22:38:00.000-08:00

I started this piece a couple of weeks in piecemeal knowing that my daughter Alison will be born this week. Knowing what many parents go through with their first child (no sleep), my time for personal art will be cut in half if none at all. I'll sneak in a few vehicles like I promised (when baby is asleep). There will probably be a blackout for a few weeks after this posting. Enjoy!

This is a tribute to one of my all time heroes, Stephan Martiniere. His work is truly inspiring and perhaps influenced alot of my own work up to now. I had alot of fun attending his workshop a few weeks ago.

My Website and R2 Artwork

2008-11-13T22:33:00.000-08:00

I've recently updated my website highlighting some of the concept art I did in the past three years for Ratchet and Clank Future as well as Resistance 1 and 2. Please feel free to check it out. There are still some things I need to update, but I'll get to that later. In the meantime, here are some images from Resistance 2.

If you haven't played R2 (Resistance 2) please check it out and support the team at Insomniac. These guys are great people with great talent and they worked their butts of to make a great game. It was an amazing feat to pull something like this in a year, but this is what Insomniac's reputation is known for.

I'm hoping to post some more personal stuff soon of my own based off the stuff I'm learning at work relating to vehicle design. I've been getting hooked on drawing mechanical stuff and such. On a side note, it's been a very educational and humbling month at the new job since I'm getting my arse grilled and working closely with some phenomenal talent. It feels like first term at Art Center all over again. Love it!! Ok, maybe that's stretching it a bit. :)

A big thanks to Kevin, Patrick, and Todd( the enforcer) for keeping me in check everyday. I'm going to grow alot more because of you guys. Gatchaman Go!

In the meantime enjoy if you haven't seen the site already!

Website:

http://www.drawingmantis.com/

doodles

2008-10-17T23:59:00.000-07:00

I consider myself a big car nut, but motorcycles are really fun to doodle around as well. I did these thumbs to help familarize myself with the language of motorcycles. These are great to do when you suffer by watching a long love story. :P

The New Adventure

2008-10-10T23:25:00.000-07:00

I am currently working on Gatchaman (G-Force in the US) as a visual development artist at Imagi Animation Studios. It is very exciting for me to work on this project since I grew up watching this show. I am very fortunate to be working with a talented team of artists which is extremely inspiring. I'll try to update every now and then since it will be crazy for the next few months.

Concept Design Academy Fall 2008

2008-09-08T23:14:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I just wanted to announce that Concept Design Academy will be starting up again this fall for another great round of classes. Don't forget to sign up early since classes fill up fast. Cheers.

Stay tuned on the previous update. Work has been tremendously busy. :)

in progress

2008-08-23T01:31:00.000-07:00

After doing in game maps and fixing bugs for 3 weeks, I had to get this done to keep myself from going insane. Sorry it took so long. Here it is.

I don't think I posted any production sketches of any type since my blog was up. This is 60% of stuff I do most of the time at work which I don't reveal too much on my blog. Since this is the "drawingmantis" blog it would make sense to post some drawings for once. I felt like drawing a weapon tonight since I haven't done it for awhile. I'll take this to full render next time.

Thumbnails

2008-06-21T22:15:00.001-07:00

Initial thumbnails for class project....

Midnight snack

2008-05-30T00:07:00.001-07:00

One color study before hitting the sack.....

Dominance War 3

2008-05-04T21:09:00.001-07:00

I was honored to be invited this year to be a judge on Dominance War 3. This is a game art competition where artists from all over the world are invited to wage their skills against one another. Please check it out. Lots of fun stuff to see! Cheers!

http://www.gameartisans.org/dominancewar/en/index.htm

color sketches

2008-04-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

Just for fun.....

Class Demo

2008-03-25T15:01:00.001-07:00

So here is a breakdown of what we went over last night in class.

Example 1:

A. I lightly laid in a perspective grid to establish the space to guide my shapes. Starting with a midtone background, loose sketches are drawn in with a midvalue. I chose a angled composition for this comp. Quickly determine where light falls and shadow falls. At this stage, think of using graphic shapes rather than "render". We're more concerned about designing the page first.

B. By adding darker shapes, I establish shapes that are closer to the viewer. The focal point is off to the left so keeping focus on design, I try to relate foreground structures to it by "helping" point the direction into the payoff view. I'm being less subtle with these to illustrate the idea. Start adding the darkest value and the lightest value to achieve contrast.
Don't think about rendering at this stage, it's more about organizing your shapes within the space to read. Also, Flipping your images or looking at them upside down will tell you if the comps are balanced.

C. After refining the shapes a bit more, these will be sufficient enough at this stage to get an idea of how the environment will play out.
The following examples are done with similar steps, but I went with a less sketchy start with this one and kept it clean. One thing to stress at this stage is that I'm not concerned with establishing atmoshpere yet. Just design.

Enjoy!

San Marino Sketch

2008-03-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

This is a watercolor study I did today while I was waiting for my wife to finish up her work. 5x7 Fabriano cold press

Cats In Spaaccceeee!

2008-03-03T21:39:00.001-08:00

Ink and watercolor. Switching gears away from the sci-fi techy stuff and going back to traditional. I've always been inspired by Gary Larson's drawings so here's my take based on my two cats. Enjoy!

Pepper

2008-02-26T00:33:00.000-08:00

I found an old watercolor brush and Higgins ink in the garage. I decided to have some fun with traditional painting since I miss it so much. It took a few tries to get back into painting with wash, but this one came out alright I thought. The cat just won't sit still for me. Well, that's what cats do.

Game Informer - February Issue

2008-02-15T09:57:00.001-08:00

I had to repost this one due to technical difficulties. :) I apologize for the comments that were lost. Thanks for those who commented earlier though. These are some concepts from the GI February issue. The cover page was done by Rodrigo Ribeiro.

"Blah" 10 step breakdown

2007-11-22T15:49:00.001-08:00

10 step tutorial

1. Layin a rough compostion to begin with.

2. Establish a general light source and direction early on because everything in the scene will be based off of that. At this stage, you want to nail your values well. Don't worry about color for now. Solid value grouping will enhance your color later on.

3. I decided that the composition will be more effective vertical because I want to show the tower and the vertical structure more so the canvas was expanded using the crop tool.

4. Using a stock sky photo, proceed to place it in. I used Multiply since it seems to work best for this piece because of the mood.

5. Continue to block in the major details. I used a stock photo of a rock for the foreground and used curves to correct the lighting. Using color balance, I proceeded to match the rocks to the palette of the painting. When using photo textures, it's a good habit to try to make the photo consistent with the "paint" in the scene. Usually in my tighter paintings, I end up painting it and variating a lot that there's no photo left. However, don't let the textures do your work, you still need to apply the fundamentals of painting. :)

6. The tower was detailed a bit more as well as the rest of the scene. Keep in mind to have the canvas in its entire view when painting the general area. This will keep you from getting "tunnel vision" and neglecting the entire composition. Make a habit to flip your canvas often to check for compositional balance.

7. In this step, it's time to add a bit of "drama" by placing high key values in key areas to make the scene pop.

8. Using soft light I added some warm and cool colors for the light. On another blending layer,
color dodge was used to add "light" to the scene. The clouds were painted over a bit for variation. Creatures were indicated for scale. Color was then further adjusted.

9. Flip the canvas again to check for balance. Continue refining.

10.For the second to last step, I wanted to achieve a feel of an old classical painting so a texture was overlaid on the painting to give it some "tooth", but it is very subtle.

In the final painting, the support column of the bridge looked too simple so it was beefed up. See previous post. This painting can be tightened to your heart's content, but for the purpose of this image, it should suffice.

Enjoy!

Blah..

2007-11-22T15:49:00.000-08:00

Another demo for a class on texture application which came out decent. I'm getting tired of doing science fiction and war stuff and I always wanted to do medieval stuff for a change so here it is. I'll probably tweak more on this when I get time. Happy Thanksgiving! I'll post a breakdown on how I did this later. Stay tuned.

Fokker Fun

2007-10-21T22:58:00.000-07:00

This was a speed painting demonstration done this weekend for a friend who is attending Art Center. His concept involves Fokkers battling it out in a distant future setting. This piece came out better than I hoped for a demo so I'll post it up. Sorry for not posting anything for awhile. Things are even more busy now since I've taken on a job teaching on Saturdays. I hope to post more things periodically. Cheers.

Fighting with Heat and Plastic

2007-09-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

Painted over at Montecito Park today and fought against the heat and paint. I didn't finish, but I'll put this one up anyways. No pain no gain. This was done in acrylic. I think I'll try watercolor on the next one. :)

By the Rose Bowl

2007-09-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

Acylic on 4x6 wood panel

Since I'm on vacation this week, I decided to drag my lazy ass out into the heat to get back into painting the hard way...in the LA heat. I gave myself about 30-45 min per painting. Let's just say the other two are being prepped for another painitng venture.

After this session, I decided to go up to Art Center and I ran into Gary Meyer. He remembered my face, but forgot my name. He asked what I was doing there. I told him I was finishing my 4th term. :P

cat play

2007-08-06T09:44:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics I took recently of our bundles of joy playing. Hazel is the one sitting on top of the sink and Pepper pretending to be a sneaky ninja. Apparently, she forgot to pack her tail at home.

Painting 101

2007-07-23T00:37:00.000-07:00

Back to the basics.....with real paint! It's been several years since I painted traditionally. Shame on me! So today I decided to go to an art store to buy a few tubes of paint. Prices on art supplies really went up! More reason to paint digitally....haha :P

This was painted at night from my deck. It was quite a feat considering getting back into it after a long time, but nothing is more rewarding than true painting. And yes...my car magically transformed into an Toyota Echo at midnight, really! This was painted with acrylic on a 4x6 panel. I'll be doing more of these life studies frequently. Enjoy!

"Houston, we have a problem...."

2007-06-29T18:11:00.000-07:00

I did this one at work for fun for an hour or so before I went home. It was a good break from work stuff. Enjoy!

Friend or Foe...I don't know

2007-06-29T00:45:00.000-07:00

I wanted to sketch a ninja tonight to make myself feel good, but it somehow became a swat guy, and then it went to a samurai. I didn't know what i wanted, but to paint a character. Here's what I ended it up with.

Harry, Larry, Chad, and Norm

2007-06-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a very long while since I drew character related stuff. There are a couple of reasons for this: one is that I'm not very good at it and secondly I should stick to environments for my own good. ;) That's not to say I won't post some up in the near future! Well, you have to start somewhere. Practice makes perfect.

Anyways, these quick sketches were inspired from playing Gears of War and angler fish. Also, I decided to use a pencil! No offense, but the pencil rules anyday. BTW, this is not the "rad" image I promised earlier. That's still brewing right now. Enjoy!

Fine Art

2007-06-13T23:09:00.000-07:00

My buddy Stuart challenged me or should I say "dared" me to place a fine art piece on my blog. Specifically, a nice orange dot placed on a page. Well, knock yourself out bud! Enjoy! :) BTW, I ran out of orange markers.

I will post something soon. I'll come up with something really rad. Promise! Or you can call me Matilda. My apologies for not updating regularly. Work has grabbed me by the balls lately. :(

Pan's Labyrinth

2007-06-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

Wow, this is an amazing film on all levels especially on the visual side. Definitely worth checking out if you're a visual artist.

Getting it out of my system

2007-05-01T23:02:00.000-07:00

I've been having a bad slump this week at work so I wanted to get it out of my system. Not really happy with this one, then again I didn't spend much time on this(thanks a lot xbox 360!) :P I'm going to put it up anyway. Only round brushes were used for this excercise.

doodles

2007-04-17T22:21:00.000-07:00

Since it's been really busy at work, I didn't have time to draw a nice picture so I did a sketch of my family with my right hand for fun. Brings me back to when I was 3 ft tall.

ship doodles

2007-04-11T23:05:00.000-07:00

Got bored watching a movie and ships floated into my brain.

Resistance: Fall of Man - Concept Art

2007-04-07T20:29:00.000-07:00

Here are paintings that have been done for Resistance: Fall of Man. It was fun working on these paintings along with an amazing environment concept team. Kudos to Kinman Chan, Rolf Mohr, Darren Quach, Roland Tamayo, and John Wu for inspiration.

Back from the dead.....

2007-04-07T19:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am back after three months of "sabbatical". It has been so busy at work that I had no energy to keep up the blog. However, this week sparked something in me to start it up again. Thanks Stu for kicking my arse back into this.

Since Resistance has been out for awhile, I've always wanted to show one of the myriad matte plates I worked on for the in-game cinematics before post effects were added in.

Mr. Ed bought the farm

2007-01-15T22:54:00.000-08:00

A sketch piece I did awhile back which never saw the day of light.

It was a great vacation, but my Wii can't be found!

2007-01-04T23:14:00.000-08:00

Hello friends,

I apologize for not updating the blog for a couple of weeks. We had just returned from vacation and no computer was to be found on our trip. During the vacation, I had started a Wii-quest which ended in absolute failure. The Nintendo Wii is nearly impossible to find! Although, a few of PS3's were seen at several locations. This has been driving me nuts, but life goes on. I don't want it...it's just a console...mmmm..hmm (denial sets in).

Blogging will continue next week once I get my head back into work mode. 2007 will be a busy year! I have been posting some past work on CGtalk and other sites as well and have been very well received so far. This year will be a full push ahead for my goals as a professional artist both inside and outside of work. I will post future works here as well. Stayed tuned. Thanks for your support.

Track Day at Buttonwillow Raceway

2006-12-20T20:42:00.000-08:00

Driving fast and doing it legally is one of the favorite things I love to do when I'm not painting or drawing. Last weekend, my buddy John and I went to Buttonwillow Raceway to attend a racing school. The weather was overcast but it didn't rain as forcasted. Overall, it was a really fun day. We were really tired after a whole day of intense driving. It finally did rain when we drove home.
There was a photographer that took some really nice shots of the event. I used a sample that he took of my car turning a corner in the first photo above. The rest of the crappy ones were from my camera. His photos are really good and his website can be found here:

www.caliphotography.com

Enjoy!

Imaginary Spaces Art

2006-12-17T17:58:00.000-08:00

Here are three images from the Imaginary Spaces show.

Sketch Tutorial

2006-12-12T23:47:00.000-08:00

Hello again. Here's a sketch I did in value for fun and practice. I actually feel more comfortable sketching in black and white because you can really pick out subtle changes in tone. This is a favorite excercise I like to do. I should really do more of these after looking at Robh Ruppel's blog. Damn he's inspiring!

Above are images of various stages of how I usually start a sketch. The idea here is to block in the the big shapes initially (A). In PhotoShop, I usually do everything in a single layer. Don't worry about getting everything perfect. Just keep it loose. "Loose as a goose" is a good thing to tell yourself I guess. However, you're still in control with where you place things except with wider scope if that makes sense. The important thing at this stage is to establish composition and perspective if you're dealing with a complex scene. Like Mr. Mullins put it, "it's a controlled fall."

Once you're happy with the composition, you want to establish the light source. In this example, I established it early on from the left. (B) From here on details will gradually come in, but make sure to keep your comp in check. One thing I like to do is to flip it horizontally often to see if anything is off. Comp D places more detail into the scene and refining some areas. At some point, the comp will have to be readjusted (in my case) because I painted over too much in an area or I needed to fix the composition.
A good analogy to getting a sketch like this down to the end(subjective) is like fishing. You want to keep the line loose when you get the initial bite and then reel it in slowly into the net. Better yet, it's like waiting for a polaroid photo to come into focus. Nonetheless, take your time to observe the details and relax.

Japanese Tea Garden

2006-12-11T00:38:00.000-08:00

I started making stuff up not remembering the exact details. I think it'll hold up though. Perhaps I'll do more with those trees on the left later. This is a fun excercise for the night. Got to sleep now. Nighty night

Imaginary Spaces at Gallery Nucleus

2006-12-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

Gallery Nucleus wil be hosting another show from December 16- January 8, 2007 hosting a myriad lineup of artists. The subject matter will be involving environments.

A few of my friends and I have been invited to participate in this show. It's definitely an honor to be part of this show. Please come by on December 16th and see what's in store. See you there!

Stow Lake - Golden Gate Park

2006-11-28T23:30:00.000-08:00

Color Study of Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park using various brushes( 1 hr).

The New De Young Museum

2006-11-26T23:23:00.000-08:00

This is a sketch from behind the De Young Museum. This was quick and dirty (30 min). I'm experimenting with different brushes this time around.

Here is some more info on the museum: http://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/de_young/

Blogs of San Francisco

2006-11-26T23:06:00.000-08:00

Hello, I'm back again from 9 hours of driving in traffic from my hometown San Francisco. I can't believe how amazing this city is everytime I go back home. The city has new renovations which I recently discovered this weekend. I definitely want to move back when the time is right. There is something about the Bay Area that has "soul".

Well, I couldn't wait to sketch this first piece because I thought this building was something out of those concept paintings that Sparth drew out. It's the new De Young Museum. The building is a sculpture itself which I think sticks out in the Golden Gate Park area.

I will be doing blogs based off my trip up there last weekend. Some will be from memory and some will be re-interpretations from reference. Enjoy.

Teaser

2006-11-21T01:16:00.000-08:00

Here are a few candidate images for an upcoming show.
I will not be posting this week since it's Thanksgiving. Posting will resume next week. Have a good one.

Identity Crisis

2006-11-17T21:30:00.000-08:00

This photo deserves its own post( no compositing was done to this photo). It speaks for itself. Ummm...it's a Geo Prism BMW or wait...BMW Geo Prism! We caught this during the rush hour home...classic!

Fishing Trip Photos

2006-11-17T21:26:00.000-08:00

These photos were taken at Lake Irvine this morning around 6am on our fishing trip. These pictures cannot justify the beauty of the early morning light. Unbelievable!

Sketches from observation

2006-11-15T22:36:00.000-08:00

I went to downtown L.A. Warehouse District to do some quick sketches today around 4:30pm when the sun was about to go down. I also took a whole bunch of reference photography for future projects. Being in a scary area near the warehouses, I didn't take my time to do these sketches, but spent like 10min. to do them. I went home to finish them out in color. After visiting Mike Hernandez's site, I was inspired to do these. Very inspiring.

Another Fun Sketch in Progress

2006-11-14T19:17:00.000-08:00

Here's another sketch that I've been doodling around with today. It still needs some work here and there, but this is one of the few sketches I'm satisfied with this week. I'll keep you posted on this one.

Sketch in progress

2006-11-13T17:47:00.000-08:00

Here's another image I'm starting on. It's still an early block in, but I think I have it down to the direction I want. It'll probably change significantly when I'm close to finish.

I plan to keep this loose as possible.

quick sketch

2006-11-12T22:29:00.000-08:00

This sketch took about 30min to finish. Since I'm on a long vacation, I constantly have images popping in my head when I'm driving, sleeping, eating, etc. I'm trying to make a habit of sketching these ideas down ASAP so I won't forget. I'll have more of these soon. Enjoy.

Color Study from Memory

2006-11-11T22:36:00.000-08:00

My wife and I celebrated our second year anniversary tonight at Koi Restaurant. My friend Roland suggested this place to me and the man has good taste(no pun intended).

The restaurant is a piece of art in itself. The interior was tastefully decorated with warm overtones in the deep reds and oranges. We were sitting at the end of the sushi bar and a beautiful bamboo set piece was lit directly in front of me. In the back was the private dining room with its deep burgundy wall that perfectly complimented this bamboo setpiece lit in a deep yellow-orange light. I took a mental snapshot and quickly did this as soon as I got home. This took about an hour to do. The colors are probably more exaggerated since my memory is poor. Bon Appetite!

Oomasa Sushi Downtown L.A.

2006-11-11T00:51:00.000-08:00

My wife and I went to Little Tokyo for dinner tonight at Oomasa Restaurant. It's a great place for sushi. I was looking at the sushi bar and noticed the ornamentation of the overhang. The lighting exploited the beauty of the laquer finish of the wood. I couldn't pass this one up with a sketch. Woop here it is!

'Spirited Away' Palette Study

2006-11-10T22:45:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in the last post, I personally find that the environments created in the film, 'Spirited Away' was rich in color and choice in palette was very well used without being oversaturated. To help me become better in color, I did a study on a color plate from the film which grabbed me. This study kicked my ass and I most likely did not get all the colors right. However, I learned a lot from doing it.
One thing I love about the environments in Miyazaki's films is they evoke emotion and the environments retain a tasteful charm which makes you want to be in it.

Hazel Color Study

2006-11-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

Here is another cat sketch I came up with today. This was a good study because Hazel is a mix of many colors within the yellow-orange- brownish red hues. As far as capturing Hazel's persona, I think it failed because she looks a bit bloated. This study got out of hand as my cruel sense of humor kicked in.

The story here is that Hazel perches on the window sill everyday on the lookout for other cats, particularly that black and white one on the previous post. Unfortunately, she gets excited and scratches up our screen. In an ideal world, they should make laser screens to prevent us from replacing one everytime. Of course, the animal rights will come after me for frying the cat. Anyways, here it is.

The Cat Sketch

2006-11-10T01:48:00.000-08:00

This cat has been coming around to visit my two cats, Pepper and Hazel. I'm not sure if it's a male or female, but Hazel gets really ticked off when she sees this cat. I caught an opportunity to take a snapshot from my backyard today. This study was sketched from a photo. It took about an hour since there were lots of subtle colors that the camera caught. There are lots of nice subtle blues eminating from the cat's coat.

Environment Painting

2006-11-09T23:37:00.000-08:00

So here's where I'm going with this one so far from the previous sketches. A derelict factory sitting in the middle of a harbor on a hazy day. A big thanks to those who gave me feedback and suggestions on this.

Following Through

2006-11-09T23:12:00.000-08:00

The comp from the previous post were derived from these 2 early sketches. These were done for a personal project to improve my painting skills. Also, as I have more time now, I am going to improve my colors as well. I usually tend to paint in the mid-grays with accents of color, but little of bright saturated color. That will be another lesson for me. A great example which I came across for "tasteful colors" is the 'Art of Spirited Away'. The background environment colors are saturated, but very controlled and looks naturalistic without looking gaudy. I'm not a too fond of using oversaturated colors, however, I think it's good to experiment with it to learn what and what not to do. I'll come up with some studies in future posts.

food for thought

2006-11-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

This is one of the few comps I've been messing around with that has potential for a final piece. It is inspired by our trip to Hong Kong. I'm still experimenting at this point naturalistic lighting and hues out of my head.

charcoal studies from school

2006-11-07T23:05:00.000-08:00

Charcoal was the medium of choice back in the day for me at school. It was messy though. This was for an Alice in Wonderland entertaiment design project.

Humble beginnings

2006-11-07T22:50:00.000-08:00

I found these old paintings I did in school about four years ago. Looking back at these, I really miss the feel of plein air painting. Also, I like to document my old stuff just to see where I've grown. It's painful to look at your old stuff at times.

I do most of my stuff in digital these days. Ironically, I was very much against digital painting coming out of Art Center because I felt it robbed the spirit of painting (not true). Second, I didn't know jack about painting in Photoshop nor the many uses of it. Now I'm a convert. Currently, I am spoiled by digital painting because you take mistakes for granted with a touch of a keystroke. I will get back into analog, but for now, digital is king.

Hazel and Yam

2006-11-07T22:28:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of my cat Hazel and a puppet that one of my coworkers made for a Kris Kringle present. I must say that the puppet has an uncanny resemblance to me.