train!

Okay train, I drew you, now go away forever. 

Buena Vista Park

final presentation tomorrow

the final presentation for my vis dev class is tomorrow! dun dun dun.. 

this train is puffing along, no pun intended. I'm learning more from it and determined to finish it even though I have a million things to do right now. I'm swamped with trying to finish up my portfolio for my two classes, not just to finish but to be able to submit to internships, but after it's done I'll probably not even know what to do with all the free time.  (#lifeafterapril6)

So initially I had blocked everything in with blank colors, but I learned that to cover over the train wasn't so effective because I couldn't see underneath. so I have a light layer (opacity %50) underneath for composition reference while I take a full-color version to the side for color reference. I do block out the darker areas first, then midtones and highlights, but I keep checking to see what it looks like with no reference behind it so that I don't accidentally leave too much white space. I'm pretty ADD with certain areas, I have to keep skipping around, so I can't really imagine what this would be like if I traditionally painted it in oil or something. Sooo many brushes! 

Update: I looked at it after I posted it up and you can really see the areas that I did a few days ago and today (basically the top vs bottom half). I'm going to loosen up and start using a bigger brush. 

Im kind of afraid of finishing it or at least blocking in everything, because then I might not go back and go over areas that need another run over. 

Sunrises, streets, and toddlers

Early morning drawing is my new pasttime. I went out to the panhandle this morning to draw from real life. Good thing I did, because the colors are much better perceived by the eye than by a camera. 

Cross street of Page and Central, 8:20 AM. Just as the sun was coming out over the buildings.

I got all these colors and more from real life.... 

 ....and just this from the photo. 

Continued onward to the panhandle...

Fell and Masonic, 9:20 AM

Then I went to go observe children. This filled up about 6 pages of my sketchbook. They are so fun to watch and so full of activity. One kid had a HUGE head. it was like 3 times bigger than his body. Either that or he had very small hands. They also all love to eat sand and run in a very shaky but steadfast little waddle. I find that the B pencils work better for fast sketching, its so loose and quick. 

visual development - paintings

here are the first-final drafts of my development paintings, which I have been trying to make into fruition for the past 10 weeks. I haven't added the characters yet.

experimenting with some lighting... 

Tree studies

Woke up this morning and decided to go to Buena Vista park to go study some lighting on the trees. Totally worth it. I might have been sitting in some homeless guys pee the whole time but whatever. At 10:30 AM the lighting is pretty non dramatic, the sun is about 3/4 of the way to the top so it casts a shadow to the side of the tree as opposed to underneath. I tried to capture this...

(judging by the position by the sun this was taken later in the morning) 

I think I overpainted it a bit. But from 10 AM to 12 PM it was cool to watch the sun rise up in an arc. This is at about 10:30. The sun is the questionable white dot in the upper left hand corner. 

Then as I was getting up to go I spotted some his in the distance that had such fascinating lighting that I had to paint them. I used a different approach, much less detail, just trying to get in shade. I like this one more. 

Might I caress this rusty tea kettle?

Just drawing my tea kettle

random trick to help you draw a straight line in photoshop

so we all know the trick in photoshop to draw a pin-straight line, shift+click. well if you didn't, now you do. But what if you're trying to draw an organic line? A line that is straight by nature, but with a little more personality? Mine always look kind of shaky and unsure, but I discovered a trick that has helped me.

starting with the example I have, you can see my template straight lines in grey. 

When I try to draw over them freehand, It looks like this. Not so good. 

I realized though, that I'm not so terrible at drawing horizontal lines. SO, using this tool, 

you can flip your canvas. 

Much nicer! 

Pretty, pretty lines!

painting exercise

I'm digitally painting an old train just for some practice. So far I've learned: 

tackle certain smaller areas at first - it makes the whole task less daunting. 

3:40 AM

4:27 AM 

I feel like I should stop but I also want to finish really badly 

UPDATE: it's 5:25 am. can not go on any longer. 

Indiana Jones sketches

From Raiders of the Lost Ark. Today I learned that the scene in Pirates of the Caribbean where Barbossa sits Miss Swan down for dinner and gives her a dress to wear is totally stolen from this movie.

This is when he is covered with spiderwebs after getting out of the cave/temple with the golden statue. 

I think I made it look worse. When I drew black outlines over the watercolor. Lesson learned: lines first, color after :( 

Two part action sequence when he's fighting an Arab. The wind up and then the two-fist punch. I loved the way the guy went down. 

Stanford Daily

Found these old drawings I made for the Stanford Daily. The articles are still up but the images have all been taken down from the site.

Condi Controversy on Youtube

US Lags Behind in Advanced Math Scores

'Don't Ask' Repeal Jumpstarts ROTC Debate

Website Gets Voters Caught Up on Election Info

I couldn't find this article on the site but it was about cigarettes... 

Groups Fight Geek Factor to Promote Helmets

Fishes

Pretty happy with this. Just some fishes and crabs at the market. I used my reeves watercolor pencils for the drawing and used a piece of ice from the fish tray for water. How meta. Special shout out to Haight St Market for letting me draw there.

ET story boarding scene

This is from the second opening scene where we meet the boys/ Elliott. There are several strategic camera angles, highlighting Elliot. He is a small figure literally but also plays into that by being ignored and put into the background. I especially liked the part where he has to wrangle the telephone cord over his head in order to get their attention. Steve, the "game master", only looks up at him for a about a second, and to tell him he can play with them if he gets the pizza. In fact the only time he only gets any kind of response from them when he is about to go pick up their pizza.


Overall the scene is pretty well composed and I liked drawing the different angles and alignments of each of the five boys. Each one gets some placement as the main focus of the shot.
Thanks to Emma Coats for the inspiration.

Quote about icons/objectifying people

"To make someone an icon is to make him an abstraction, and abstractions are incapable of vital communication with living people. One has only to spend a term trying to teach college literature to realize that the quickest way to kill an author's vitality for potential readers is to present the author ahead of time as'great' or 'classic'. Because then the author becomes for students like medicine or vegetables, something that authorities have declared 'good for them' that they 'ought to like,' at which point the students' nictitating membranes come down, and everyone just goes through the requisite motions of criticism and paper-writing without feeling one real or relevant thing. It's like removing all oxygen from the room before trying to start a fire." 

Life Lessons

my mom sent me this and its very true.

Life Lessons

(by Byron Wien, Blackstone Vice-Chairman)

2. Network intensely. Luck plays a big role in life and there is no better way to increase your luck than by knowing as many people as possible. Nurture your network by sending articles, books and emails to people to show you’re thinking about them. Write op-eds and thought pieces for major publications. Organize discussion groups to bring your thoughtful friends together.

3. When you meet someone new, treat that person as a friend. Assume he or she is a winner and will become a positive force in your life. Most people wait for others to prove their value. Give them the benefit of the doubt from the start. Occasionally you will be disappointed, but your network will broaden rapidly if you follow this path.

4. Read all the time. Don’t just do it because you’re curious about something, read actively. Have a point of view before you start a book or article and see if what you think is confirmed or refuted by the author. If you do that, you will read faster and comprehend more.

6. Evolve. Try to think of your life in phases so you can avoid a burn-out. Do the numbers crunching in the early phase of your career. Try developing concepts later on. Stay at risk throughout the process.

7. Travel extensively. Try to get everywhere before you wear out. Attempt to meet local interesting people where you travel and keep in contact with them throughout your life. See them when you return to a place.

8. When meeting someone new, try to find out what formative experience occurred in their lives before they were seventeen. It is my belief that some important event in everyone’s youth has an influence on everything that occurs afterwards.

10. Younger people are naturally insecure and tend to overplay their accomplishments. Most people don’t become comfortable with who they are until they’re in their 40’s. By that time they can underplay their achievements and become a nicer, more likeable person. Try to get to that point as soon as you can.

11. Take the time to give those who work for you a pat on the back when they do good work. Most people are so focused on the next challenge that they fail to thank the people who support them. It is important to do this. It motivates and inspires people and encourages them to perform at a higher level.

12. When someone extends a kindness to you write them a handwritten note, not an e-mail. Handwritten notes make an impact and are not quickly forgotten.

13. At the beginning of every year think of ways you can do your job better than you have ever done it before. Write them down and look at what you have set out for yourself when the year is over.