My Watercolor Wings

Page XIX

2011-10-25T07:43:00.002-04:00

This piece I've actually done a while back, just been truant in posting it up on my blog. I wanted to do some painting studies on cloth and rock, strange combination I know, but it ended up working well. The jagged cliffs behind the "Explorer" turned out a lot better than I thought it would be, it's actually how I decided to paint rocks from now on. The negative space looking out to the sea is my only regret.

Page XVIII

2011-01-11T15:44:00.002-05:00

This week I'm posting a picture that was MEANT to be more action-y than it ended up being. I was sketching one day, hoping to inspire myself to paint something more, energetic. Something with a lot of action, a lot of hard lines, a lot of UMPH! So, sketch sketch sketch, and I ended up with a rough draft of some guy shunting away a jet of water. It was nice, in theory, and up till the initial sketch on the block, but, as I painted and painted and painted, I think it lost a lot of the energy I meant to put into it (as things go). SO, heres the finished painting, till the next "energetic" painting I guess? :P

Page XVII

2011-01-05T13:51:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year one and all!! I start the new year with another addition to my hand paintings (and a TERRIBLE FLU!). It's an auracite from the Final Fantasy Tactics series. They're these stones representing each zodiac, each with their own type of jewel, that hold unimaginable power. This one here is the 13th stone, bearing the constellation Ophiuchus, or Serpentarius. This constellation was once accepted as one of the houses of the zodiac, having the smallest amount of days the sun travels through its sign. It's located between Scorpio and Sagittarius. The snakes in the background tie the whole theme together and they also become useful placeholders for the gems, which represent the stars of the constellation itself. :)

Page XVI

2010-12-14T00:57:00.002-05:00

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

2010-11-23T18:25:00.003-05:00

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

2010-11-17T15:18:00.002-05:00

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

2010-10-19T20:59:00.005-04:00

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

2010-10-10T22:18:00.004-04:00

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

2010-09-09T22:47:00.002-04:00

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

2010-03-14T17:00:00.003-04:00

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

2010-03-07T15:09:00.003-05:00

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

2010-03-04T18:37:00.003-05:00

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

2010-03-03T01:01:00.003-05:00

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

2010-02-21T20:13:00.002-05:00

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

2010-02-16T13:25:00.002-05:00

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

2010-02-16T12:54:00.003-05:00

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...

Page III

2009-06-08T20:27:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I have one more publisher to send a packet to this week, the rest of them will be getting follow up emails sometime later in the week. I have to go and look up some magazines, maybe some childrens magazines? and see which ones I can send some of my work to. I'm starting to think that maybe getting represented by an Art Rep would be a good idea, but, most of them won't even think twice about you unless you've had several years professional business :( Granted I understand their hesitation with signing up new and raw talent, art is a business afterall! I guess aside from entering national contests, it would be really hard for me to get my name out there. Where would I even start looking for local art shows/fairs? It's come to the point where unless I don't get some face time or recognition what's the point of updating my portfolio constantly?

Speaking of portfolio updating, I've been working on a new piece that I will hopefully be finished with by the end of this week or early next week. It's been a while since I picked up a brush and painted, and working on it today was insane! I just couldn't get into the flow!!! After battling between throwing it out or burning it in a cleansing fire (I have this urge to destroy artwork that I don't consider up to my standards) I decided to put it away and ease on out of that situation. After a few hours I looked it over and realized that it wasn't so bad. I have the urge now to work on it again, but it might behoove me not to. I'll work on it some more tomorrow, godwilling I get back into my groove and really make that sucker awesome!

Page II

2009-06-02T11:27:00.002-04:00

Okay, so today I've decided that joining an illustrators guild would help benefit my budding career. Turns out that NYC only has one guild posted online, and though it seems like a very nice and helpful place, it's geared towards more professional artists. Professional meaning a majority of their income derives from their art. Oh to be one of those people :( Anyways, I guess joining that guild, though in the long run, fruitful, doesn't seem like the right move for me at the moment.

I've also sent out two more print packets to publishers this morning. Fingers crossed I get something back, a yes or even a no would suffice. I think I really need to go to the bookstore again and find out how many more publishers I can send my art to. Did you know that some publishing companies have smaller branches that cater to specific genres but are pretty much the same company anyway? Yeah I found that out too when I sent three packets for submission to three "different" print companies, and it turns out to each be headed by Simon and Schuster! Bleh, the Submissions Manager or Art Director will have a field day with all three of my packages :P Sorry about that!

Page I

2009-06-01T12:41:00.002-04:00

Well, this is my first blog so I guess I should start by introducing myself:

I am a 23 year young individual based in NJ with the passion for all things beautiful. I've always dreamed about becoming an artist ever since I was little. I knew I had a knack for it. Anything and everything I could get my hands on could be turned into art. Over the years I've learned and worked to better my skills and better my portfolio. Every step I've taken in life was to get myself closer to my goal of becoming an artist, and now, with years of training and experience under my belt, I realized that I have no idea how to go about achieving my dream.

It's confusing, it's hard, it's a challenge. After schooling and training, you know nothing on how to deal with the realities of the art world. I've networked, I've sent out portfolios, I've sent out emails, and nothing yet. It doesn't help that the economy isn't as stable as I would like it to be. This journey is harder than I thought it would be! The trials and tribulations, as taxing as they may be, won't deter me from my quest, nor will it weaken my resolve. This is my dream, a dream I have worked hard for and I will get there, in time.

Each day, each email, each print, painting, publisher and post, are things that help me build my watercolor wings.