Page XVI

So I've been painting a few hands lately, in an attempt to try and be more of a realistic artist. Hands are very evocative, there are a lot of little nuances to hands, where the joins meet, how they bend and the way the skin on your fingers and palm fold and wrinkle. Theres a LOT of detail in hands. So for the first entry of my hand paintings, I present the Key.

There are a few mistakes that I didn't bother fixing and I'm sure the painting itself could use some more work in regards to touch ups and additional detail work, but this is a while ago, and I've gone ahead with some other paintings, though it hasn't been varnished yet so it's not too late to go back if the mood makes me.

Page XV

So it was a week until comic-con 2010, and I had begun piecing together my new shiny portfolio only to realize that OMD! It sucks! Not really, but it didn't have the kind of cohesion that I wanted, the pictures didn't quite flow together well enough. I had been in this kick of painting in a new way and I only had two or three paintings to showcase that style. I wanted so much to have another week maybe another month so I can paint a piece or two to make my portfolio seem more put together. Alas, I only had one week and I had to make it count. So I looked through my sketch book and decided that I was going to try and finish a painting... in a week.

Since I dabble in acrylic, this isn't really a big feat, I just had to keep the oils at a minimum to reduce drying time. And so I set off to paint this beautiful angelic goddess, with flaming hair and a flaming sword and a flaming ball. She would have beautiful jewels and pendants and she would be exotic. Unfortunately, I ended up being pressed for time and had to quit before all the beautiful details could be painted. I ended up with what you have before you :P

This lady is from a little game me and my friends play, called Pathfinder, her name is Sarenrae, the dawn flower and my characters patron goddess. I had wanted to paint an angel for some time now, and I am completely enamored by Pathfinder, so I decided that she would be a good candidate. I also needed something more "energetic' for my portfolio so I decided that painting fire would be a good practice. In the end I did like how she ended up.

She was supposed to have a golden breastplate with gold medallions swirling about her, but... Comic-con had come and gone and my desire to paint said breastplate and medallions went with it.

Page XIV

So in an attempt to try and be more realistic, I've been doing a lot of portraits of people I know or real people and hands. I heard once that painting a realistic human hand is one of the challenges a true artist has to face. So in keeping with that, I've decided that I would try and do a self portrait, more like a tronie really, since I used a picture of my face then just altered the position of the body. The initial sketch was pretty good (I wished I had scanned the sketches so I can post them up here too...) but when it came down to actually painting it, I might have lost some of the likeness. Either way, me or not me, I think it came out pretty good. The one gripe I have with the piece is the shock of color where a portion of my Mermaid painting shows. The colors really upset the balance of the piece, other than that it would've been tolerable lol! 

Page XIII

So heres another post where I show my new work. I've been painting like crazy for the past month or so trying to refine my craft, really getting to know my limitations as an artist and trying to break past those limitations. I'm quite fond of my new style, fond of my new way of painting. I think I've grown leaps and bounds since my earlier works. This painting was a study of body textures using mostly oil paints with an acrylic base. I wanted to try a new style of painting (i.e. brush strokes and other techniques) with a new medium and I figured that a simple nude study would be a good starter place. It turned out better than I expected and I'm quite impressed with it. :D

Page XII

Alright! So the weekend is over and so is Comic Con! It's been a crazy two months painting my ass off and getting my portfolio together, not to mention all the preparations that go along with it (i.e. business cards, resumes, what have you) I was really proud of myself and the new stuff I've done! Let's hope I get some sort of feedback from the publishers I met with, even if it doesn't mean work, I was happy enough to just get some advice from people in the industry, I even got a kudos for my progress in the time between last year and this year (my style has matured I guess ;D ) I still get the whole "find your niche" speech, which is getting tiresome to hear. 

ANYWAYS... The first one I'm gonna put up this week is a redo of an old piece, I think a few months back I had made a painting named Knight of Naime. It was pretty enough but never had that UMPH! that I liked, so I decided to redo it. I think it's a lot better than the original one!

Page XI

Okay I've been crazy lax with updating this blog, I noticed that the last update was in March! Crap! Summer has been crazy, and while there have been new pieces of art that needs to be put up, I have yet to actually scan them into the computer...Anyways, I should probably get into the habit of blogging more often since a majority of professionals blog about something or another. Granted I'm not quite there yet, but I will be some day damn it! I do know the value of a blog as I keep a personal one hidden somewhere in the interwebs, but I guess theres just something about blogging in general that I don't quite get used to.

I've also been busy preparing my portfolio for Comic-Con this October as well as showing it to a few schools in the area to hopefully get something going. I've also been neglecting hunting down publishers to show my portfolio, I guess the tons and tons of No's have resounded and took their toll on me. Lol! I shant give up though, I just need a break...

Well regardless, I've decided to at least update the blog every week, and though there aren't any new pieces of work being put up, I figured I'll put up some older ones I've done! Here we go!

Page X

This is the most recent piece that I was working with on Photoshop. It might need some other augments but for now it's pretty much the same as the finished product. I don't know what to actually do to it so I'm leaving it plain for now. For Now.

This one is titled Knight of Naime.

Page IX

This piece is one of my all time favorites despite the crazy color fusion of the clouds in the background. There really isn't much to say about this I guess other than the fact that I meant to paint her eyes, but whatever I seemed to paint just didn't fit in... So I left her eyes blank. A friend of mine said "Her eyes are blank because shes holding an egg." I guess I kind of agree with him :D

This one is simply called Mermaid.

Page VIII

This is the next one I'm uploading. It was an attempt at painting something with a more aggressive energy that what I usually paint. I'm still not that great at painting fire and the painting really didn't capture the original sketch at all! This painting took a year to finish cuz I was REALLY REALLY lazy and not feeling up to finishing it.

This one is called Terminate. Named after the MTG card. I wanted to recreate the original art for Terminate with Darigaaz being immolated by the volcano. I really wish I had the desire to give this painting the "OMPH" that it needed/deserved but it ended up being a desire to finish it and be done with it instead. Oh well maybe next time.

Page VII

So this is one of my newer works. I've decided that I'm going to post up the things I've finished as I finish them, I guess as a way to chronicle my progress. This was the study piece I was working on. I'm a little happy with the way it looks, then again I'm never really happy with how my art work looks :D

This one is entitled Persephone's Door.

Page VI

So I've recently gotten a hold of a full-spectrum lamp from the Taratuns and let me tell you it's super cool!! I've been meaning to get one, or at least a full spectrum bulb but I've been really lax about it. Usually I paint using normal northern sunlight, which during the winter months, is a really REALLY short amount of time! This lamp is amazing! It allows me to paint for long stretches of time which cuts down the time it takes to finish a painting and actually lets me paint and detail whenever I want. Back then I used to have to wait if the mood hits me lets say at 9 PM to paint or to add some details. By the next day I would've lost the mood or lost the idea. It really does feel like I've been living in the dark ages without this awesome lamp!!

Page V

WOW A double post! Hah this one is really just for fun. A checklist that I should come to now and again for when I start painting. Below is a list of various techniques that I have come to love from artists that I love. Basically it's something I can look to when I'm painting in order to prevent brain farts from happening. Sometimes I'm so engrossed in painting LIKE a certain artist that I forget to use the older techniques I've learned.

1. Light effects on metals - Rahn and Baga
2. Oxidized copper - Giancola
3. Marble - Giancola
4. Drapery - Bernini and Baga
5. Hands - Baga
6. Clouds and Skylines - Rahn
7. Flow of hair - Guay
8. Musculature - Giancola
9. Skin Tint - Giancola
10. Cloth - Baga
11. Face - Various
12. Natural Stone - Rahn

I really have to make sure that I remember these techniques when I paint next. It's a little vexing when you look at a finished painting and say to yourself "Oh Damn...Why did I paint the hands like that? I totally KNOW better!!"

Page IV

Okay it's been forever since I've updated this blog, but I figure if I have a blog for my feeling that I update more often, it REALLY shouldn't be TOO hard keeping up with this one. I guess this is one of my New Years Resolutions?

Well the main reason I really wanted to post something is for my reference and to rant about the limitations of my body against my boundless imagination.

It's really frustrating when you can TECHNICALLY see something in your mind. You can rehash and rehash the steps over and over and over again and in the end you realize that you missed a few steps, or you just aren't capable of making it happen. Why? My body, my physical ability to do something seems to be limited somehow.

It's this painting thing that I do, I look at old masters works, I look at new masters works, I see their technique, see their styles and I examine it, scrutinize it. See all the little hidden shadings here and there, the change of colors, the highlights, the low-lights, the play of light. My mind can comprehend them and dissect them, my mind says "Hey! That shouldn't be too hard right? If I follow the steps I can do it!" Then when it comes to putting my abilities on canvas/paper/masonite it seems to look fine until BAM I finish the painting and there it is, a failure.

Well not a REAL failure by any means. Just a failure to mimic a specific style or look. Which then is where I come to my next grievance, my lack of style.

Personal artistic style is an important part of the art business. You have to have your own unique look, your own unique way of doing things. Something that makes you stand out in the dirge of other artists out there. A unique way of using brush strokes, a unique way of texturizing, a unique way of doing light effects, cloth effects, skin effects, SOMETHING. Something that other people can pick out and say "HEY! I know that artist!"

Guay has her dreamlike watercolor styles. Baga and Giancola are old-school masters, that's their style. Ross has his photo-realistic style. Rahn, Post, Swanland, Waters, etc. I use newer fantasy artists as examples because it's their world that I'm currently entrenched in. I am an artist during a period of time where everyone and their mom is an artist. With the millions of people out there as artists, these people's works stand out amongst the rest. These amazing folks are pillars in a sea of other striving artists and all I wanna do is forge my own.

Where to start though? How does one make their own style? How does one find their own style? I have yet to find mine, I started my artistic endeavors mimicking Guay and Mucha. A lot of my early works are HEAVILY influenced by them and I was proud of it. Now as I move on from watercolors to acrylics and oils I have shifted my eyes to mimic other artists. I started out with Baga and Giancola which ended up in a half assed looking attempt. I did a little bit of Fischer but didn't really follow through. My recent idol is Chris Rahn but even that isn't working out so well. A lot of the time I end up disliking my work (which does a number of fun little things to my ego as an artist btw) because I'm putting them up against the work of well seasoned professionals.

I really want to find my niche. A signature style that is inherently mine or at least a unique style that is uncommon in the art world. I spend all my time trying to be like other artists that I can't really be me. It's like an identity crisis isn't it? The good thing about all this is that I learn various techniques from all the artists that I try to emulate. Is that then my style? A melange of everyone's style? Sound's a bit insincere doesn't it?

...sigh...