3 weirdos.

Hey there!! Man oh man has this last couple of weeks been caraAAazy! I'll be sure to post more new stuff as soon as I can but for now, here's a quick 30 minute sketch I threw together while procrastinating in between projects! I call it "We're Weird"! Ahahahaaa

I've been trying to break away from the same old styles and color pallets so here's to trying new things! CHEERS!!

Voracious Billy Goat!

Hey there! So I was helping a friend out with her banner for her new blog called Voracious Billygoat! The site is dedicated to all the ridiculous things she consumes on a daily basis. It's pretty impressive!
She's a chef who's also an incredible writer, check out her sites: highheelsandfrijoles.com and voraciousbillygoat.com The sangria recipe is unbelievable! Kudos Maria!!

Anyway, which banner do you like better?

ps. Who wants a cupcake background for their computer???? I DO!!! Here you go everyone!! Don't say I never gave you anything ;) xxoo

Cheesecake Cards!

Hello! Here's a little project I've been working on! I like showing process, as you all well know, so here is the card from scanned photo to finished painting! I was going for a sweet, nostalgic, 1950's Coca-Cola look. Of course the picture made it easy since it was already such a vintage shot. So cute! Thank you Hope for all of the fun projects you've been sending my way. <3

Hawaiian Tropic

Aloha summer! :)

Hey everyone! Check out this interview I did with "The Tools Artist's use"! It's long and verbose but what's new? I named a couple artist's I admire and my over all process on how I go about makin' stuff, so If you're into that, or just have a lot of time on your hands, go look! :D
Have a great day!

http://thetoolsartistsuse.com/2009/09/whitney-pollett/

D23!

See you tomorrow! :)

Good morning!
I thought I'd kind of describe my process for these little guys as I often do on this here blog! As you can see, I work off of photographs! I start with a snap shot like the one over there. I then sketch a characature or a "flatterature" as Kali puts it.

With an arsenal of photographs (hair, lips, eyes, noses) I start taking elements of the photos and sort of collage / Frankenstein the pieces together to fit onto the sketch. Sooo... you use the sketch as kind of a guideline. Once all the pieces are in their place, the portrait looks a little bit like if Picasso and some serial killer collaborated with empty white spots, shadows and weird stuff all over! Get rid of that! Start painting and blending (with a big soft brush) on top of the crazy collage and you'll eventually get a photo-real, cartoon version of your original sketch! Anyway, many artists use this method and it's really quite simple once you get the hang of it! From start to finish, it usually takes a solid 5-8 hours. Now get out there and try it for yourself! Eventually you'll hardly have to use the photos at all!



Here's the master of photo collage, Pixeloo! He relies heavily on his photos but the end result is incredible. Enjoy!

Logo Designs

I've been really busy working on some fine art stuff lately. It's been so long since I've used actual paint and canvas, I've forgotten how much fun it is! Digital art is good too, not to mention way cheaper, but it's missing that je ne sais que.
Speaking of je ne sais que...ahahah here are some random logo designs I did a couple months ago for a marketing group looking for a logo makeover. They wanted some regal crest since their company had been around for some 400 years, hence the 1623 ad. It was done with just a mechanical pencil and then flipped, mirrored and touched up in photoshop.

I'll be sure to post my new paintings with REAL paint as soon as they're done! Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!
Adou!

New Pocahontas dresses!

I worked on these with Ryan Astamendi, another talented artist at Disney. All together we came up with about 25 dresses and only about 10 of them were chosen.
I barely recognize the finished versions because of all the different stages they go through!

It starts from a rough sketch, to a cleaned up line drawing - then passed to the digital inking department where hundreds of lines drawings are digitally cleaned up meticulously with Adobe Illustrator (keep up the good work Steve and Sparkles)!- then they're sent out to colorists who then send it off to Disney Online who put them all together for all the little girls and some boys out there! ;)

Nor Cal, Piccolina, and much MUCH more!!!.........No actually, that's about it.

I drove up North for a visit to Pixar and long overdue reunion with my estranged smelly drunk cousin of a home town, Santa Rosa.
While I was there I did some more sketches for Piccolina with storyboards, dialogue and a little bit of a plot! At this rate, I predict the feature film will release at the beginning of 2094. Don't hold your breath kiddies!
DuViole has a double personality.... but what great artist doesn't?
This drawing of Piccolina was inspired by a little girl in an antique shop quietly reading while her 70 year old mother (bravo lady) was belligerently yelling at the woman behind the counter for a different pair of American flag clip on earrings. Somehow this sweet little girl did not bare even the slightest resemblance to her mother. She was a special kid!.... I really hope she wasn't stolen. hyeeeerm....

And here are some sketches from my sketchbook I threw in the old portfolio.
TADAA!! New post complete!

New banner!

Robo Geisha prt. II

I have so much more pre-vis stuff for this character. It's funny how once a client sees your interpretation of their idea, they come up with 10,000 new ideas stemming from what you gave them. Rarely has anyone ever said "I want this" and are then content with what you gave them on the 1st round. HAha oooooooh.
SO, It started out as a human girl talent show host! Simple enough, but then when they saw that this girl had clothes and features they realized how complicated animating this little lady would be! So they came up with this genius thought! Make her a robot! No mouth, no clothes, just blinky lights and some liquid "dark matter" that comes out of her chest that forms instruments and other crap. COOL! So here she is........in all her glory prt. II!!!

Robo Geisha!!

I did this for a Japanese game show, go figure!

She's supposed to be the CG Ryan Seacrest. I never found out if they used her or not, but here she is in all her glory!

Here are the regional robo-girls: Thailand, China and Japan.

Experiment 626 Project - Complete

UPDATE! She looks a lot lighter in the studio.... hhhhrmmmmm

I swear, this is the last revision.
I call her, Goddess Hi'iaka.

Goddes Hi'iaka is the Hawaiin goddess of the Hula. She is the daughter of the Goddess of life and death. She's a guardian and a healer who has complete control over the ferns and flowers of Hawaii.

They say that she was a cosmic egg that grew to be a young beauty! :)
HAHahh I don't know if she's a "beauty" here, but I think she came out pretty cute! Notice the Stitch teeth... hahah she's my "little angeeeel"!!

okay, good night. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Secret Stitch

Sleeping quietly under layers upon layers of paint, lies this little lady.

The pointy chin just wasn't doing it for me so after many attempts, I promptly painted my Stitch back to it's original state which eventually led to the Hawaiian flower themed Stitch you see below.

Experiment 626!!! She liiiives!!!!

3. Pearlescent spray paint + high gloss finish

2. Primed and painted

1. Super Sculpy and Gesso Spray

What a roller coaster of emotion this project was. Never having worked with any of these vinyl toys before, I blindly went into it not really knowing what to expect. Honestly, I thought it was going to be easy....but I was very wrong!

After so much trial and error, I started talking with some other artists who have encountered the same problems. They gave me some great advice, so I thought I'd share it with who ever is out there facing the same obstacles!

Alright, so first and foremost:
• Prime you vinyl toy. They have spray gesso out there which makes things really easy.
• If you're sculpting, use Super Sculpy or Resin (Resin is harder to work with, so I've heard, because it hardens quickly, but the final product is strong and lightweight) - Super Sculpy is what I used and I liked it very much. Just sculpt and bake for 15 minutes, 275 degrees.
• Paints are up to you. Some people have used ink and then rubbed it around, I used acrylic paint and spray paint. The best spray paint I've found is called Montana. It has a matte finish and it dries in seconds! They have an amazing array of colors to choose from too. Anything with a high gloss finish is going to take a lot longer to dry. Don't layer glossy spray paint until it's completely dry, otherwise you'll get unsightly drips and you'll feel inclined to drop kick your vinyl out the window out of sheer frustration/blind rage.
• If/when you do get a stray drip here and there, you'll need some super fine sand paper... talking about nail file/nail buffer fine. Anything harder will tear large sections of your paint off...which is what happened to me...siiigh. So I bought some gel medium and lightly spread a thin layer over the holes to make it smooth again.
• When gluing, use a hot glue gun....the glue I bought was good, but when it got hot in my car, the flowers started shifting which means that the glue was melting...not good. (my glue was called Elmer's Craft Bond - Ultra Stix All, and it SUCKED! MLAH, Patooey!!)
• A dremel comes in handy too if you're adding resin or clay.
• To achieve a really tight/clean line, most artists sketch their design out with pencil and then tape off the lines to ensure the paint is crisp.
• And finally, buy a matte finish or a high gloss varnish to seal and give your model an all around unified, finished look.

For some mind bottling, earth shattering examples of some super baller vinyls, please check out these links below, and good luck everyone!!

• Eric Tan's Tiki Stitch • Camilla D'Errico • Mind Style • Project Vinyl

Special thanks to Eric Tan, Eric Hutchison and Craig Mackay for all your advice and positive reinforcement, even though looking at your finished pieces made me want to set my Stitch aflame! Ahahah Thanks so much you guys.
And thanks mom for the sand paper advice! Worked like a charm ;)

Stitch Concept_v500

Ok ok so I've probably drawn out 500 of these things but I think I've finally found THE ONE!!

What do you all think?? 

I mean, what's more Chris Sanders than a hot chick, right!!??

ps. Go here..... don't say I never gave you anything.

He's a dancin fool, he doesn't go to school, he's Pickle Boy! (Yeah) That's me!!
(that's the theme song) Maaahahaha
I just started a character animation class in Flash today and the first assignment is to create a character so here he is! I shall call it, "The Silent Monologues of Pickle Boy".
Stay tuned for the epic final animation in 10 weeks........it's gonna be big.

The poof-o dogs here were just some poof-o dogs I saw walking down the street by Dreamworks the other day! So cute!! I like to think that they're adorable little dogs by day, and ass-mauling ninja K-9's by night!! WAAAAAAAH!!!! ::Bruce Lee sounds::

And here we have some quick gestures from Rainbow Skate Night at the local roller-rink. If I could illustrate the 3 hours of Cher's Greatest Hits, I would have.

Of course, Rich Tuzon and his amoeba feet.

And the lovely Tanya!! Whatta beauty lady!!

Ok, that's all for now!
I hope you enjoyed viewing my sketchbook!
Adou!!

Lou Romano-Up

Probably one of the best references for color, mood, landscapes, 

depth, all around awesomeness.... you name it.

This guy is the balls.

http://louromano.blogspot.com/

Sunset in Eden

I plan on placing characters in here at some point but my eye balls are about to bleed staring at the most saturated landscape in the history of paintings.

I don't think I'll ever feel like this one is finished since I've been working on it for 3 days straight tweaking little things here and there, but here it is!

Landscapes have never come naturally to me, but I'm learning.

And knowledge is power, right kids?....Yeaaaah.

Software: ArtRage 2.0 and Photoshop

ps. Art Rage is the best paint simulation software out there, and it's only $25!
Download it here...do it.
http://artrage.com/

Here's the original sketch for the landscape above.
See! Adam and Eve!

Some Piccolina pre-vis

SIDE PROJECT #626

Ok, so only 20 artists were given this little guy and I was one of them!! Lucky me!! I can't wait to get started!

The finished Stitch's will be exhibited at the 1st ever D23 Expo from September 10-13th, 2009 at the Anaheim Convention Center. From what I've heard, the Expo is going to be pretty spectacular with artist signings and presentations from John Lasseter and Bob Iger with Disney/Pixar's upcoming projects. Talkin' about some Rapunzel, maybe a little bit of Tron...

Hey check out these links or else!!

doo it, doo iiiiit!!!!

Blocks Cubes and Stuff

Perspective Drawing

Sloth in a box

MOBA

Piccolina!!

I'm writing a story!
I wanted to make a new portfolio with a theme so here she is!
The story is about a little hyperactive girl with a thirst for ADVENTCHAAAAH!! It's sort of an autobiography.

And here are some props!
Much more to come... And now, DANCING SANTA CLOCK!! Take it away!!

Portfolio do's and donuts!

Sorry for the late post! I came down with some kind of flu that I'm not calling Swine, but it was pretty bad, which left me a lot of time to start thinking about what to put in a new portfolio! So I started compiling a list of ideas...criteria/themes/subjects that I think are portfolio essentials but feel free to jump in with any of your own ideas and input!

Who knows, maybe this will help others out there too!!
Alriiight ~

Visual Development - Concept Art Portfolio:
Breakdown - characters, creatures, animals, props, environments, and storyboards

My personal problem/confusion has been with continuity. How broad should a portfolio be?
Is it better to have a variety of different styles and subject matter as apposed to one very specific style and over-all theme?

Example: A portfolio of a person's story they wrote with storyboards, character development, layout, color keys...the whole shabang?

OR - a portfolio where each page is completely different from the last, showing a wide range of skill and style.

Personally, I think I like the story idea a little bit more. Getting the reader engaged might be easier if the portfolio has a little bit of a plot. Am I wrong?

Comments, questions, suggestions??
Lemme know what you all...ya'll think. ^__^

Oh and the geisha girl was a request from my cousin yesterday....why the heart on the fan?? Your guess is as good as mine!!

OTIS SENIOR SHOW- Friday, May 8th. '09 6-9pm

"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana"

-Groucho Marx

CONGRATULATIONS SENIORS!!!

You can finally say goodbye to napping on 3 rolly chairs after a strain of 4 day all-nighters and Funyun dinners!! It's nothing but rainbows and sunny skies from here on out!!

Here are some flash backs from my own class' senior show, not but one year ago....


Special thanks to Erik San Juan and Cecil Kim for these pictures and kind words.
God of War would be nothing without you guys. ^__^

Happy Friday xxoo

DCPeeps

We had a characature night with the DCP team last week which was hilarious!! I can't say I've ever worked with a more inspiring, kind, and talented group of people.

Crazy Eyes

I was studying the model with the utmost precision only to find that I drew one eye when she was looking one direction and the other while she was looking in another so BEHOLD!!! The laziest of eyes!! 

Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Wendy Park

MINI-WENDY!
For Wendy's surprise 23rd birthday, we all decided to make Mini-Wendys! All together, there were probably 20 little Wendy's!
Meeeeep!! So cyuuut!
For those of you who don't have the privilege of knowing sweet little Wendy Park...she's the most adorable little lady who's tiny and feisty! She paints landscapes and yells at old men who take her parking spot! She's sweet as anything and a genuine friend. We're all very lucky to have the real, life-sized Wendy Park ^____^
xxoo Happy Birthday Wendaaay!

http://thomasyamaoka.blogspot.com/

http://belibutton.blogspot.com/

Favourite Anime Character

...hmm...I think I'm going to start spelling things English Style.... I'm taking it back!!

Anyways....Sailor Moon is the breast!!!!

I can't say any other anime, show, person, food, hot air balloon ride... has ever made me sprint home after school just to catch the beginning.

Crazy Sailor Moon Kid Things I would do on the Regular:

1. Storyboard Sailor Moon fight sequences to Backstreet Boy's hit "I'll Be the One".

2. Meticulously organize hundreds of Sailor Moon Trading cards into tiny binders

3. Make a Sailor Moon mailing list under the name, KawaiiPikaMars

4. Drew new Sailor Scouts that oddly looked a lot like myself....coincidence?

5. Collected every comic, and VHS the web and Cooper's Town Comics had to offer.

Was I a lonely child?

AHAhaha...yes.

To drag this on even further,
I drew sailor moon stuff like crazy and I really think that's what shaped me into the artist I am today.
Thanks Naoko Takeuchi.