Robot Bug Sketches

A Halloween Doodle

I have to say, out of the classic Halloween Monsters, I think the werewolf is my favorite. Lol the idea here is that this werewolf, when he's a human, works at a very busy McDonald's. It's a good job, the only issue is there is a high demand for working nights. He's filled out shift requests asking not to be scheduled at night, even medical requests, but his manager isn't buying it. Little does he know . . . :)

Peter Pan Sketches first round

Influence Map

I finally made an influence map! I've wanted to do one of these forever, but could never justify spending the time on it. Then, it was an assignment in Justin Kunz' Concept class! There are a few more to add that have started to influence me since I finished this, ie Craig Mullins, but.

Emulation

This is a speedpainting from yesterday, touched up a bit this morning. The idea was to emulate Craig Mullins, whose work I have admired for a long time now. I've been going for a lot of realism in some of my pieces, but looking at Craig Mullins' work I really liked how much power he obtains in part by simplifying. It was intimidating at first to try to figure out his working methods, especially as he hasn't published any video tutorials to my knowledge, but I think I found some techniques that approximate the look. After being so meticulous with some of my other paintings it felt really nice to be loose; it felt kind of like the creative figure drawing class I took with Ryan Woodward.  I think I will continue to pull influence from him Craig Mullins in the future, especially for concept work.

Robot Silhouettes

Zbrush 4R6 and Photoshop CS5

Jackie Chan

David Preliminary Sketch

David/ My first 3D Print!

The original ZBrush Model of David (his story can be found here).

The MakerBot: Replicator 2, the Harold b. Lee Library's new 3D Printer

David before the removal of his supports

Final cleanup!

The pouch and sling were too thin for this printer; they were reproduced,

but were fragile and came off with the supports. A 3D printer that prints 

with wax supports, like the one in BYU's Crabtree building, might have

more of a chance at preserving those kind of details.

Geeking

You know you're a nerd when . . .

Entirely too excited about a new box of hilighters . . .

Some breakdancers I sketched live outside BYU's Wilkinson Center last spring. Highlighters are my favorite— it's like having conté crayons on the fly, in terms of being able to control line width and sculpt form. Also, they are a much less expensive alternative to copic or prismacolor markers, if you're just wanting a substrate for your line. OK, the 'nuff nerding.

Drone 2

This is a quick piece I did today based on some techniques I learned in a lecture by Scott Robertson on the Youtubes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diMDoFkN73s

It's a levitating surveilance drone, capable of apprehending intruders and neutralizing them with its tranquilizer delivery system. Model kitbash and Photoshop CS 5.5

Liebster Nomination

Hi everybody, it's been a while! Crazy summer and whatnot, but it is what it is. Wait, whatnot is what it is? There's some philosophy for you :)

So, my good friend Tayler Morrell at Our Fairy Tale was kind enough to send me a Liebster, which as I understand it is basically a blogger to blogger award to connect and spread awareness of small blogs.  She nominated this page, and also recently posted about a fun double date she and her husband went on with my wife and I. Her blog is pretty cool, you should check it out: Our Fairy Tale

Along with the Liebster, Tayler gave me 11 questions to answer, which you will find below. I have also uploaded some old sketches to break up my yammering. Don't forget to check out the links at the bottom to my nominations, some of my friends' art blogs.

1) What made you start blogging?

Lol I think I started a blog mainly because of the stigma associated with Deviantart. I wanted a place to post my professional work and track my progress as an artist. The DA is still a great community though, and I frequent it when procrastinating.

2) What is your blogging dream?

Hmmm . . . blogging dream? I suppose firstly that my art is seen by entertainment industry proffessionals and helps me get work. Other than that, I hope that people see it and are entertained, and hopefully touched in a positive way. Lastly, it's a way for me to track my progress, motivate me to grow, and stay in touch with friends and family.

3) What is your dream job, and do you have it/are you working toward it?

Lol as a teenager I wanted to be a Paleo-Artist and I am very blessed to be doing that right now. I will always be involved in dinosaurs, but my ultimate dream is to work as an artist and storyteller in family friendly film, animation, books, and comics.

4) What are you a junkie of?
My wife and I enjoy going on retro-cartoon binges, particularly the Power Rangers (yes, they count as a cartoon). Also Ernest movies :)

5) Since I'm a teacher, what was your favorite subject in school? Why?

That's a tough call! I think that rather than a particular subject, my favorite classes had more to do with the teaching approach.  Kids are usually in school because of someone else's goals– their parents' goals to make sure they are raised right, the government's goals to bring educated citizens into the workforce, etc. Those things are important, but rather than thinking of kids in those terms I think it's vital to consider what the kids want.  What are their goals, their hopes and their dreams? Why not gear the classes around that?  I was blessed to have several teachers who thought in this way, though they spanned a variety of subjects. In those classes, I felt a freedom and an exhilaration from pursuing my own dreams that lead to higher commitment to the work and a lasting love of learning.

6) What is your favorite book? Why?

I would have to say the Book of Mormon is my favorite. I learn from it all the time, it seems there is always something new. Besides, it puts The Lord of the Rings to shame for cool battle scenes.

7) Name a country you want to visit from every continent.

North America— Canada. I've always wanted to see the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology.
South America— I would love to see the Inca ruins in Peru, as well as visit the north part of the Amazon Rainforest
Europe—Oh gosh . . . everywhere? Particularly though, I would love to see France.  My wife has spent some time there, and is always telling me cool stories
Africa— Madagascar would be way cool– I've always been curious about the Stone Forest
Asia— China. For lots of reasons. Chiefest among which, though, the Shaolin Temple.
Antarctica— It would be neat to go diving underneath the glaciers, see the wildife there, and explore ice caves :)

8) What are all the languages you speak (real or fake, fluent or not)

When I was a kid, my parents would speak Pig Latin when they wanted to hide something from my sisters and me, it used to make me so mad.  I am proud to say that I eventually cracked the code, though the subsequent use of the language has proved limited. What is the use in speaking like a native when none can direct me to the land of Pig Latin nativity (Pig Latvia? Pig Atlantis)?

Also Spanish. Sort of.

9) What is the most annoying thing people do?

Intolerance for benign behavior. It irks me when good people are excluded and bullied for being eccentric.

10) What are three interesting things in your house?

—A crocodile head on our bookshelf
— An odd tree we found at DI over Christmas, decorated with happy meal toys. We intended it to be our Christmas tree, but it looks to have become a permanent fixture
—My wife's Japanese wooden flute

11) What is your favorite post that you've done in the past year?

Link :)

My 11 random facts:

1. I am a connoisseur of cheesy puns.
2. I have ridden an elephant twice.
3. I like to eat peanut butter straight from the jar with a fork.  Everyone thinks it's weird but my wife, who joins me :}
4. My grandpa is the guy riding the horse on the Wyoming license plates.
5. I take a sketchbook with me everywhere. My friends say it's a horcrux.
6. I can't wait to be old so I can make funny faces in the mirror and draw them.
7. One of my life's ambitions is to create and consume an orange chicken pizza.
8. I hoard books, especially ones with pictures.
9. My favorite bug is a rolli polli.
10. I hate tapioca pudding.
11. Emily and I have an ever-growing playlist of songs with unintelligible lyrics called "The Mumble Mix". If we like it but can't understand a word the singer is saying, it goes in the mix :)

Now for my 5 nominations:
Emily Cotton (my wife) of The Shipyard
Mitch Ellis of The Best Sketch-Blog Ever
Stephen "Stephe" Anderson of WASP-Art
Joy Liberatore of Imaginative Ink
Kiersten Pack of Kiersten's Sketchblog

My 11 Questions:

1. What do you hope to accomplish with your art?
2. Who is your greatest art hero?
3. What is your favorite thing to draw?
4. What is your philosophy about sketchbooking?
5. What do you feel is your greatest strength as an artist?
6. What do you feel is your greatest weakness as an artist?
7. Who is cooler, MacGyver or James Bond?
8. Do you feel physical condition (fitness, sleep, nutrition) impacts your artwork? If so, how?
9. Do you feel spirituality factors into art? If so, how?
10. You have one sentence left to live. What do you want to tell the world?
11. Eleven random facts

Stan Winston Dinosaur Art Contest

Tanystropheus

This was a piece for a young dinosaur scientist friend of mine, and it is with his permission I post it here :)  It's amazing how much kids know about current paleontology research. They come into the museum all the time and tell me about new facts and discoveries I've never heard of before.

The animal pictured here is Tanystropheus, a semi-aquatic marine reptile from the Middle Triassic Period.  Of his total 20 foot length, 10 feet were neck.  He was primarily piscivouros, which is to say, he ate a lot of fish (i guess "fishivore" didn't sound sophisticated enough for zoologists).

Loosening Up

Today in class Chris Thornock had us do an exercise inspired by the thoughts of Jillian Tamaki, who believes that one of the best ways to improve professional work is to use personal time to experiment with art. She believes sketchbooks and personal work should be a safe place to experiment and make mistakes. If you don't worry about who's going to see your work, your mind is freed up to try out ideas and take risks it wouldn't under pressure.  Now every week we have an hour to experiment and just make what we will, with no expectations to meet.  Afterward, we can apply the new ideas we found through experimentation to higher pressure projects.

The image above was my experiment for today.  I forgot my paints so instead I played in photoshop lol :)   For our last assignment I had scanned some paintstrokes and textures, so I mixed those in new ways and pulled in some old reference photography I had shot for intro to 3d Animation a couple of years ago.  It was kind of fun, so I spent some time afterward as well.  I'm excited to see what future sessions bring, though I may or may not post them here.

Saint Patrick A La Secret of Kells

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Yesterday! Lol Hulu had "Secret of Kells" up for the occasion and I thought it would be a good excuse for doodling/ an emulation exercise :)  Saint Patrick is actually a very interesting character, I recommend the Wikipedia Article.

I've been trying to learn lately about flattening a space.  It's odd after years of figure drawing class where you're using every bit of mental RAM you've got to add depth and volume to a figure to turn around and intentionally smoosh it.  Kind of fun to do, though.  I've been gaining new respect for artists like Lane Smith (illustrator of the ever-classy "Stinky Cheese Man" :}).

Saint Patrick's day was the fun, I didn't get pinched even though I totally forgot to wear green.  My wife eventually let me borrow a Vegggie Tales tie with Larry the cucumber on it. Because that's how we roll.

Valentines , and if "Marxist" meant Glasses and 'Staches

Valentine's shoppin' at our local grocery store :)

A proposal my wife and I witnessed at the Wilk food court on Monday. It made us smile

Our romantic Valentine's dinner :}  Cyrano De Bergerac (hence the Groucho Marx noses), candy, and completos. I love you Emily <3<3

Kids are the best

Some quick gestures taken having dinner at our cousins' the other night. Kids are the best! They are always exploring and having adventures, and they don't care whether anybody is watching or what anybody thinks- they just be. Which I think is what makes them so fun to draw :)

A goofy drawing from Adult Session of Stake Conference yesterday.  Because I'm an adult :}

Costume

I've always struggled with costume, largely because of a lack of knowledge/ visual library to pull from.  However, this semester I'm taking a history of costume class at BYU, and it's helping a ton. It's amazing how, while technique is important, so much of art and creativity is just about having something in your imagination to pull from. I'm a big advocate of not only educating your hands and technical skills, but educating your imagination. Study outside fields and dabble constantly in new visual material, so that you always have fresh ideas.

These characters are intended to be Nephites from the Book of Mormon.  As we don't know exactly where they lived or what their clothes looked like, I've based their clothes on a combination of Greek, Middle-Eastern, and Argentinian ideas. Not that these cultures would have had a particular influence on the Nephites, it just felt like a believable look.

President Uchtdorf Sketch

A digital sketch of tonight's CES fireside :) President Dieter F. Uchtdorf (modern apostle) spoke, and it was the fun :) Watch the full video @: http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/watch/ces-devotionals/2013/01?lang=eng

(I wanted to noodle it more, but my wife said to "Stop it". She was right ;) )

*Note— my apologies, the codec washed out the image pretty bad up until about 50 seconds :/

Twu Wuv

I can't think of a better way to do a 100th post . . . :)

On the 27th of December my sweetheart and I were married, sealed for eternity in the Manti, Utah LDS Temple! I feel so blessed to know I will be spending this life and the next with my very best friend.  It's been a blast so far— meeting each others' families, creating our new home, Power Rangers and Avatar marathons, sugar, sugar, sugar, and it turns out she has more Strongbad memorized than I do :)  I love you Emily <3

PWNED: Gamer Bully

More sketches for the aforementioned geek bully for BYU's upcoming animated short

PWNED: Kid

Some concept sketches for the upcoming BYU animated short, PWNED :)

Dino sketch (Ceratosaurus nasicornis)

Sometimes I leak dinosaurs . . .