FROM THE CAVE

EXCLUSIVE PRINT AVAILABLE THIS WEEKEND ONLY

2012-02-09T11:10:00.000-08:00

Reminder, the book release party is this Saturday, Feb. 11, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the

Happy Six store in Los Angeles.

We will be signing the books and if you purchase a book that evening you will get a free sketch from yours truly!

For more info please click on the image below.

Also, available only that evening, we will have an exclusive print for sale to celebrate the launch of our children's book. We have a limited number of the prints so make sure to drop by early so you can take one home with you.

Lastly, just some random sketches. I try to do these weekly just to stay loose and get warmed up for the week of drawing. A lot of these are just practice sketches; I'm just trying out new shapes and color combinations. Practice makes perfect so do not be afraid to make mistakes, it's the only way to improve.

Happy February!

DEMOS AND SKETCHES

2012-02-02T10:44:00.000-08:00

Some of these are demos that I give to my students in class; others are just studies and sketches that I do when I get a chance to flee my cave.

The Journey

2012-01-30T09:53:00.000-08:00

Had an idea for this before the new year so I wanted to knock this out to start off 2012 with a new illustration. Can you find your favorite member of the fellowship?

Here is the initial comp with rough sketches:

I have another idea in mind for these whacky guys but that might need to be put on hold. I have a long list of illustrations I want to do so stay tuned. Also, I will be making "Storytime" available as a print--below is an image of it. Beginning next week it will be available at the Happy Six store and you always have the option of ordering it directly from me. Email me for details.

Thanks! More news to come especially for the Book Release Party coming up next weekend, Feb. 11!

BIG NEWS

2012-01-25T08:47:00.000-08:00

So this is what I have been waiting to share with all of you! After 4 years in the making my buddy, Kevin Staniec, and I are releasing a children's book. Our company name is "TREEHOUSE BANDITS" and here is the cover:

We will be doing a book release party---selling and signing the books for only $10. We will have two posters for sale as well as an exclusive print available only on this day.

Here is the info:
Saturday, February 11, 2012
7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Happy Six, 2115 Sawtelle Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025

RSVP@TreehouseBandits.com

To keep up-to-date with Treehouse Bandits and to preview some pages from the book please visit us at

http://treehousebandits.com/

Many thanks to everyone for all the support, we are very eager to share this with all of you!

SKETCHES AND MORE

2012-01-19T11:11:00.000-08:00

While in London I had the opportunity to visit the Imperial War Museum. One word...WOW! This place was a military nerd's dream come true. It was packed with different military vehicles from WWI and WWII as well as an entire floor dedicated to the uniforms, armament, and memorabilia from that time. Guess what...it was all free too! That's right ladies and gents, no admission fee! If you are in London I highly recommend you visit this place. I spent all day there and it was still not enough time. I wanted to draw everything inside, alas, there are only so many hours in a day.

Here are a few of the sketches I managed to squeeze out. All drawn on site.

Below are a few more sketchbook pages from the trip.

And lastly, this wasn't on the trip (that would have been cool) but it is a creature demo from my last term that I started to render up a little bit just for a change of pace.

Enjoy and thank you for stopping by. Stay tuned for Monday, I will have some exciting news to blog about!

-Patrick

CHALLENGE!

2012-01-13T13:37:00.000-08:00

As we traveled around each city of course I would have my sketchbook handy and be drawing everything in sight or try to that is. My wife is very patient and gives me the time needed to complete these drawings, however, one day she decided to change it up for me.

While in a London coffeeshop hanging out she looks at me and says CHALLENGE. I looked at her and said what challenge. She was calling me out and pointed to an area of the street and said draw it! I looked at her a little confused then said OK. Below is the first challenge.

From city to city she would walk around the sites find a spot and beckon me over and say challenge. This was actually quite liberating because I would just have to sit down and draw. Here are the rest of the challenges. All were drawn on site, no rulers just a lot of patience and a lot of prayers for a good drawing.

Interior of the coffeeshop.

First Church I drew on the trip.

Interior of a tapas bar in Madrid.

Book store in Porto, Portugal that inspired the aesthetics of Harry Potter.

Majestic Cafe, where J.K. wrote Harry Potter, Porto, Portugal.

Church altar detail.

Some exterior sites in Cordoba.

Mezquita.

Tapas bar, I had a few too many canas while drawing this.

Alcazar, holy crap I was cold while drawing this. I wanted to stop but the wifey told me to suck it up.

Alhambra, Granada, Spain.

THe tomb of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel.

Barcelona cafe.

Sagrada in Barcelona.

Detail studies of lamps and tombs in Barcelona.

I will be posting more sketches and images from the trip in the coming weeks. Next post I will show some new art I am working on to shake things up. Enjoy!

SIESTA FOREVER

2012-01-09T20:49:00.000-08:00

Me again, one thing good about jet lag is that it makes you wake up early. Bad thing is that I am hurting for sleep right now. Anyways, while on the trip we had limited internet access and most of the times no T.V. in the room. Some may be bored but it was actually very liberating for me. Made me realize how much time I waste looking at stuff on the net, checking my email, etc... This year I am trying to do less of that and draw more each day. The proof behind this is that in 3 weeks time I went through 4 pens, 4 markers and 2 sketchbooks. This is more drawing than I did in the previous 2-3 months. Well, I scanned all the drawings which took a while and when laid out it looks something like this:

This is a trend I am planning to keep up. So far it's been pretty good but then again I am only 2 days back into the grind at my computer. To get off on another good note the next two images were drawings I did at two different restaurants. The following was done in Lisbon (Portugal) at a restaurant called Decadente. This was done Christmas night, everything was closed the night before so our Christmas eve dinner was McDonalds. The food at Decadente more than made up for that night and the people at the restaurant were so awesome and friendly. It really made our Christmas night away from home special. Shout out to my new friends Alex and Rafaela!

The next sketches I drew in Cordoba (Spain) at a restaurant called Bodegas Mezquita. We took a train for a day trip to visit the Mezquita. This page was done at a tapas bar because I was going mad with hunger. Luckily I had a cerveza and some fried baby squid so I was a happy camper.

Next up I decided to spruce up the drawings with a little touch of color.

Like I said before, good times, great food and great people.

FELIZ ANO

2012-01-08T14:32:00.000-08:00

Well I just got back from what felt like a 3 year trip. My wife and I spent the last 3 weeks in London, Madrid, Lisbon, Porto, Seville, Granada, Cordoba, and Barcelona. I have so many pictures, stories and several drawings to share from my travels. We met a lot of cool people, reunited with old friends and ate a whole lotta food. To get things started this is a drawing I did in the guestbook of a B & B we stayed at in Lisbon, Portugal. The second image was the view I looked at every morning after breakfast.

I love Portugal, great city, friendly people and awesome POLVO!

It's nice to be back home and I can't wait to share more with you all.

Let's get 2012 started right!

-Patrick

Character Studies

2012-01-04T10:30:00.000-08:00

First off HAPPY NEW YEAR.

I will post some more fun stuff a little later on but here are some character studies that I did for a short storyboard sequence that I did just for the heck of it. Like I said I will post that later so keep your pants, boxers, whatever you wear ON. If you go commando TMI ( Too Much Information).

-Patrick

LEGO TEST

2011-12-28T10:30:00.000-08:00

This was an illustrationtest for lego. Not sure what happened with it, so I think I was the kid not picked for dodgeball and have to sit this one out. Ah well, there's always next time!

Thumbnail.

I still like the energy in this one, hate it when it gets lost in the final!

Final Illustration

Leggo my eggo! In my head that's what the human is saying.

SKETCHES AND STUFF

2011-12-20T10:30:00.000-08:00

The first image is a page of some digital sketches I did at a coffee shop. Some of these people I actually saw with a little embellishment here and there. I would like to say I am very diligent and do this everyday but then I would be lying and my catholic mom would smack me with a spoon for such an offense. When I can sketching these little studies are very fun and liberating but damn is it hard to draw cute chicks.

This next one was a submission for an ArtOrder challenge run by Jon Schindehette. It;s a great sight with a lot of insight, interviews, competitions and opportunities. I met him briefly at the San Diego Comicon and he was a real genuine guy. Anyways, the brief for the challenge was to create an illustration from a provided character reference image in the style that was designated. Think anime-ish with robots and creatures in armor.

Below is the comp as well as the finished illustration. It wasn't chosen but there's always a next time! Gotta keep your head up!

-Patrick

THE TURN

2011-12-16T10:30:00.000-08:00

Doing turnarounds is a real pain in the butt, however, it is part of the production process wether it be for animation or gaming. Everyone I know hates doing them and most teachers I have met hate teaching it. As a teacher I always try to pass things down to my students that I wish I had been told in school so instead of avoiding it I integrate it into my class curriculum. Every term I ask the students to take one of their characters and do a 5-point turnaround. Nowadays for games and animation most orthographies (turnarounds) can be pretty simple because of how good the 3D artists have become.

Nevertheless, what I tell my students is that if you can visualize your character in ever angle possible and are able to communicate that idea clearly to the next person in production, that makes you a more effective designer. Also, if you can do a 5-point turnaround a 3-point is cakewalk.

Below are turnaround demos from my class, the second one has some notes that I gave my students and hopefully will benefit some of you out there.

Best of luck.

By the way, I demo the turnaround 4 times a year and I still don't like doing it....lol.

Zombo Process Part 1

2011-12-12T21:06:00.000-08:00

OK for those of you looking for some insight into how I work I'll break it down for you as much as I can with this one.

The topic was pretty open ended, just El Zombo. For me it was obvious that I do zombies. Usually you see me do all this fun kid stuff which I totally love doing, however, as most of my close friends know zombies are by far my most favorite genre.

I started sketching around with Photoshop and this was the first composition that came to mind.

Nothing beats a scary bus stop in the middle of the night, right? I think I was watching thriller on YouTube when doing this so I would not have been surprised if a zombie with a red, thrashed jacket appeared in the final iteration. This version was looking OK so I went to bed with the feeling of accomplishment and in the morning would rock out a cool piece.

Next morning hits, I sit down at my computer and start to do some studies and break down the scene. I do this to establish a visual vocabulary so that when I get to the final drawing I have already choreographed the shapes and visual language that I want to put down. This helps to maintain a fresh, loose feel to my line work.

As I was about to begin the lineart I stopped and said to myself, "I really do not like this." To me it felt flat, no suspense and it was hard to read the 2 characters at the bus stop. I took a break from it and I started hashing out ideas for a new piece. What I usually do is a few rough sketches and show my wife. If she goes meh I pass it up but if she looks at me with a thumbs up I start to flesh it out more. She knows what my style is a little more than I do at times so I am fortunate to have that second pair of eyes. Anyways, this is the first thumbnail, not much there at all but I just have the basic shapes in place. Think of this as the gesture of my illustration.

I scan it into Photoshop and I start doing some quick lineart figuring out the layout and flow of the piece. Now I am adding a skeleton or framework to it.

Now is the next stage of cleanup, I started with the focal point, El Zombo and the girl, and I worked my way around them. I did this because it helped me to create a path for the viewer from every corner of the image to them. Controlling the viewer's eye is very crucial in illustration. I have seen very strong draftsman detail out every single corner of their drawing. Technically it is flawless, however, emotionally it is flat and boring. Be very careful not to detail everything, only detail areas of importance that you want the viewer to stop and look at.

On a separate layer I start working on all the zombie kids in the arcade. I kept them on another layer so I could move them around. Again, thinking about flow and spacing I was designing the zombie kids to lead your eye around the page.

This is just a rough perspective grid that I would turn on and off during my process.

Lastly, I print it out, tape it to a lightbox and redraw the final lineart you see below.

Hope that gave you some insight into my process to this point, if you have any questions please let me know in the comments section.

-Patrick

EL ZOMBO

2011-12-08T15:45:00.001-08:00

During the San Diego Comicon I met some truly inspiring artists and all around great guys. One such person is the big boss man Dave Wilkins. A great artist and cool cat, he is one of the creators of the awesome title El Zombo. This year he released a book of El Zombo containing short stories and pinup art.

Here is a link to the Facebook page with more info.

Anyways, I was extremely honored when he asked me to contribute a piece to his next El Zombo book project. After a few months I finally had a chance to sit down and crank it out. I just wrapped on it this week and thought I would share it with you all. It;s a little darker than my usual stuff but still retains some of my signature stuff.

Hope you all dig. I will do a future post showing more process stuff and an alternative pinup that I scratched at the last minute. Thanks for looking and make sure to check out the El Zombo page, so much awesome in one link!

FOX SPORTS GIG

2011-11-28T21:56:00.001-08:00

I did illustrations for the spot below. It aired this past Sunday during the NCAA preview of the upcoming college bowl games. I was responsible for all of the art related elements except for the animation and movement. It was a lot of time, a lot of sweat and a lot of players to complete in a short period of time. The final product turned out great, shout out to the Fox editing crew who did a bang up job!

Wait for the 51 second mark and then you will see my work. Enjoy!

<a href='http://multimedia.foxsports.com/m/video/49041211/cfb-on-fox-allen-s-all-americans.htm?videoId=d9611584-e367-43ea-b09a-df50003dd3af#&src=v5:embed::' target='_new' title='CFB on FOX: Allen's All-Americans' >Video: CFB on FOX: Allen's All-Americans</a>

JUJU

2011-11-22T11:30:00.000-08:00

Playing around with more composition on this one.

The Octagon

2011-11-18T12:05:00.001-08:00

So not only did I grow up on 80's cartoons, but a lot of kung fu movies as well. When I was a kid we lived in Korea for 2 years. Now this was back in the day, which meant no Internet and not too many places to buy bootlegs. Basically, we had to survive on what we brought with us from the states. Thankfully, my uncle from Texas would record a lot of Saturday morning cartoons and whatever TV shows my parents wanted to watch and shipped them over in monthly care packages for the family. Usually that consisted of a lot Smurfs, Dungeons and Dragons, Pole Position, Mr. T and a lot of Three's Company and Miami Vice.

Now I guess my uncle would let the 4 hour tape just run on Saturdays and in the afternoons was something called Shaolin Kung Fu Theater. Not very PC but I didn't care. This was a god send and it introduced me to many of the all time great kung far martial artists and just badass fighting. I was totally hooked and could not get enough of it.

Thankfully, one of the movies of the week happened to star some dude named Bruce Lee. Man, seeing this guy on screen was pure awesomeness. It was like he drank a can of badass every morning that's how cool I thought he was. Needless to say I was an instant fan and in seeing this my father thought I was big enough to show me his collection of Bruce Lee movies. Man, it was like Christmas in July and I tore though those bad movies, watched and re-watched them every day for a month or so. I even enrolled in Tae Kwon Do classes, which I later dropped in about 2 months because all the smaller Korean kids half my size kept kicking my butt. That's another story.

Anyways, long story short I am a big fan of the man and this is my small tribute to him and his can of badass! Hopefully I can market the can of badass some day and make millions so I can take Tae Kwon Do again and hunt down all those kids that kicked my butt. That's the plan for now.

This will be available as a print next week at The Happy Six Store in Los Angeles. You can also contact me if you are interested. Thanks again everyone and enjoy!

RICO

2011-11-17T11:29:00.001-08:00

Just plugging away having fun with this stuff. Mainly I am just experimenting with shapes and silhouettes on these character designs, I will probably try a scene just to really test out composition.

Quick Sketch

2011-11-16T08:30:00.001-08:00

Was asked to do a particular style for a client, pretty film noirish and Mike Mignola-esque. Had so much fun with it I just started sketching some random stuff before I knocked out last night. Here is one of them.

I plan on doing more of these, I can just be on auto pilot and play areound with lines and shapes. This was very gratifying and a whole lotta fun to do. Enjoy!

WHOA, ENVIRONMENTS

2011-11-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

Some environments I have been working on. Premise is an abandoned oil rig type factory that produced anti zombie weapons and mechs for the military. Unfortunately, the plague reached the factory, mistakes were made and well, everything went to crap.

This is the story of a salvage team going in to inspect and retrieve data essential to starting the program again at a different facility. Let's hope they succeed.

Rough exterior shot

Interior thumbnails

Perspective Lay-in for interior shot

Lineart Drawing

Value Lay-in

Thanks for looking!

GHOSTBUSTERS WINSTON TAKE 2

2011-10-19T12:46:00.000-07:00

So this is a demo I did for my students on costume design.

I did a version in class but wasn't feeling it so I went home and redid the costume after putting a little bit more thought to it. I also had some time to put some reference together for it here:

The above images were taken from Air and Space Museum in D.C. The main feel I was going for this guy was blue collared worker on break from a long shift. Most of my reference was from pilot jumpsuits and I added in another mix of cut lines from some Scandinavian outfits. When getting reference I try not to jump around too much because then my designs start to feel too piecy and not cohesive. So this design was about 80% flight suits with 20% Scandinavian costume design.

FINAL IMAGE

NOTES FOR MY STUDENTS

I will most likely do another costume pass on this, still not fully satisfied with it but artists never are...picky buggers!

-Patrick

NEW PRINT NOW AVAILABLE

2011-10-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

What started out as a conversation with a friend last Wednesday turned into a spark which ignited a whole process. At the end of it the result was what you see below.

Just in time for Halloween I have completed this print which brought me nothing but joy to create. Every once in a while an artist will sit down and create something from start to finish without any hassles and everything just seems to fall into place. You get in an awesome rhythm and you just keep plucking away. I would like to say this happens with everything I do but it does not. Actually, I am glad it does not happen all the time cause if it did I would not enjoy these moments as much. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the print, it measure 18 inches long by 5 inches tall and is printed on premium lustre paper. If you want to purchase it I will be accepting online orders here:

patrickballesteros@gmail.com

Also, if you live in the L.A. area these will be made available at the Happy Six Store located here:

2115 Sawtelle Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90025-6200
(310) 479-5363

In case you are interested, here are the sketches, comps and final line art that lead to the final piece.

First up, a few sketches from the old sketchbook. I normally do pages of sketches, but I had such a clear idea in my head of what I wanted to do I just needed a few notes to get me on my way. On the first page you can see the composition I was leaning towards as well as some preliminary sketches for the characters.

This page was just figuring out who I wanted to draw and depict in the image. I had a list which changed. I am thinking of doing this yearly, but we'll see.

This was the rough composition and layout done in Photoshop. I usually do this in Photoshop cause I can get quick and dirty with the lay in. I just add a subtle value scheme to it to give me a big sense of the picture. After this phase I print it out and do 1 final line art drawing you see below. After that I can it back in the computer and wrap up with colors in Photoshop.

I hope you enjoy and thanks for stopping by! Stay tuned because I am working on something new for Christmas.

Trick or treat friends!

SOME NEW WORK

2011-09-13T10:01:00.000-07:00

Been doing some new stuff recently, a little different from my stylized stuff. Here are some mechs that I have finally been able to color up.

Lineart (this was done in ball point pen) and Color version.

Thumbnails (all done in ballpoint pen with PS value added in post) for the previous design.

Interior cockpit details for previous design (ballpoint pen).

Another mech in studio and in an environment.

More to come. Enjoy and thanks for looking!

I AINT AFRAID OF NO........

2011-08-29T21:59:00.000-07:00

Character exploration for a new portfolio project.

WARM UPS

2011-08-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

Just a few warm up sketches to start the day, nothing fancy.

Happy weekend!

COLORED UP

2011-08-03T23:18:00.001-07:00

My entry for the ImagineFX Bobby Chiu challenge.

This original tale by Hans Christian Anderson revolved around the relationship between a toy tin soldier and paper ballerina in a child's room. The soldier, who is tossed out a window must undergo many adventures to get back to his beloved. One of these adventures involves the tin soldier on paper boat, having to pay a toll to a rat for safe passage through a storm drain.

My take on this is a little different. The relationship is still about love but more about family and protection. I updated the tin soldier to more of a mech/robot and made the ballerina more of an adventurous child. The rats, well, as you can see they have multiplied are are trying to stop our two heros from escaping their domain.

I will post some studies and process shots later. Time for sleep!

ON THE DRAWING BOARD

2011-08-02T09:34:00.000-07:00

What I am working on right now. Will post progress shots and some studies in a bit.

MECHS

2011-08-01T09:28:00.000-07:00

These mechs are iterations of the same design. So in the world I was creating here zombies have overrun the planet, fortunately, the tides are turning and we are slowly getting back our cities and towns. In an effort to avoid dropping nuclear bombs and causing more damage or killing innocents still in hiding the military has developed the Zombie Extermination Unit or Z.E.D. for short. This unit is specially trained and equipped to hand the zombie plague.

The mech above is basically a bait mech. It squirts out fresh blood and plays loud music to draw out any zombies. The cockpit has small openings to allow for the scent of a human to travel through the air. Zombies have gotten a little smaller and do not respond to corpses. As the zombies come out and the surround the mech net guns shoot and capture some of them for experimentation, the others it just saws through or deploys thermite bombs and walks away for remote detonation.

I will post some of the iterations later as well as the vehicle that accompanies this unit. Hope you like!

-Patrick

COMICON 2011

2011-07-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

I will post some pics from the week, but its a wrap, survived another Comicon. Great seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Can't wait until next year, looking forward to it already!

Sketch of the Day

2011-07-19T09:14:00.000-07:00

At a Starbucks working right now, had the urge to start this up again so we'll see how it goes.

Saw a guy waiting in line on crutches so that inspired me to do this drawing.

Enjoy and hopefully I will see some of you at Comicon!

MEGAMAN TRIBUTE BOOK

2011-07-13T14:14:00.001-07:00

I posted this a while back, but it is now official. The above piece will be in this year's Udon Megaman Tribute Art book making its debut at the San Diego Comicon next week.

Here is more info on it:

MEGA MAN TRIBUTE LIMITED EDITION HARDCOVER

-the book is premiering at the San Diego Comic-con at the UDON booth (#5037), July 20-24

-for fans not attending the show, you can preorder the book at UDONstore.com (http://www.udonstore.com/Mega-Man-Tribute-HC-Udon-Store-Exclusive-p/mega-man-tribute-exclusive-hc.htm )

MEGA MAN TRIBUTE SOFTCOVER

- The standard softcover edition is also available for preorder on amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/dp/1926778308?tag=udoent-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=1926778308&adid=0DS0GBZB0YWZK4H62YZM& )

Make sure to check it out! Also, I will be selling prints of this piece but it will be a limited run so contact me early if you are interested in purchasing one!

RECAP OF AMERICAN NOSTALGIA ART SHOW

2011-07-11T13:09:00.000-07:00

Long time no post, I have a lot of new stuff to show you but I will first start off with the pieces that are still on display at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton, CA.

Land of Nostalgia

This piece is an homage to Rockwell's "Land of Enchantment" where he had famous fairytale characters littering the forest behind a couple of kids. I updated mine a bit with some of the characters I grew up watching on T.V. and reading in comics.

Storytime

Another homage to the piece "Norman Rockwell visits a Country School." I have always loved this piece of his so decided to update it with a few of my characters and friends. This is one of my favorite pieces to date. The show is up until September so make sure to check it out, so much good art on display there!

If you are interested in prints of these please shoot me an email.

Here are some images from the show.
Good times!

I will be updating more art as well as the release of my new Megaman print which will be available this month.

SLACKING

2011-05-30T21:23:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to let you all know I will be in a group art show in Fullerton on July 7th. It is a tribute and contemporary take on Norman Rockwell classics. Here is the info:

Thursday, July 7 . 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Muckenthaler Cultural Center
1201 West Malvern Avenue, Fullerton, CA 92833

AMERICAN NOSTALGIA
Contemporary Artists and Illustrators Reinterpret the Traditional Themes of Norman Rockwell.

More than thirty years after his death, iconic American artist Norman Rockwell’s art is still enormously popular. This invitational group exhibition examines the enduring themes represented in the art of Norman Rockwell–patriotism, family and the American ideal–through the works of 40 contemporary artists and illustrators.

For more information please visit www.ismcommunity.org/americannostalgia

Here is a sneak peak at one of the pieces I will have in the show:

Sorry I can;t show more, but if you want to see the whole thing come to the show and not only will you see mine but a ton of other wonderful art!

Lastly, here is a mini art dump of some sketches and demos this term.

Long Beach Aquarium

Travel Town

Creature demo for class-underwater creature that patrols Atlantis

Initial phase of character demo-Don Quijote redesign.
I plan on taking another pass on these before color.

Hopefully that makes up for the absence enjoy and come to the show!
Remember to RSVP on the link above!

Sketch Group

2011-04-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

Dropped by the sketch group today after teaching class, was really burnt from working all day but I managed to knock out this sketch in about 1/2 an hour. Pretty happy with how it turned out and I might flesh it out more this week.

UNUSED IDEAS

2011-04-27T15:26:00.001-07:00

Every artist has worked for a company where they were super excited at the project and then it either gets canceled or goes in a totally different direction. This has happened to me numerous times so I am not a stranger to it. Here is such a case, below are some cover comps that I did a few years ago for ZOOM comics for their Disney line. Unfortunately, I did not get any further than the stages you see below.

Finally, the good thing about having an annual zoo pass is being able to go anytime of the week. Today while doing errands I decided to stop by and do some sketching, maybe for just an hour. I was fortunate that I went today because the rhino was actual out and about. I took some shots and got in some really good study time. It was rather warm today but like the animals I stuck to the shade and tried to stay cool while drawing. Good times.

First hour of sketching.

I was about to head out, but decided to turn around and look for the rhino, thankfully listening to my gut proved rewarding. Second hour of drawing.

Also, the dang hippo wasn't in the water for the first time...amazing!

STUDY TIME

2011-04-22T22:04:00.000-07:00

I went to the Page Museum today with some students. It was an impromptu field trip but a lot of fun. I forgot how liberating and satisfying it is to draw from life. Getting away from the computer screen is something we tend to forget to do but so vital. I was happy to see a lot of my students drawing on paper instead of staring at a computer screen which is something we all do day in and day out.

I cannot wait to do this again and hope my students start to venture out more, part of art is experiencing life and getting out there but with technology these days we end up chained to a computer desk. Rise up and fight the chains, go out and draw, have fun, get some sunlight and hang out with friends. You need this balance in your artistic life so you do not burn out.

Anyways, enough ranting, here are my sketches from the day, all from life on location.

HARRY LOVES LISA

2011-04-19T13:45:00.001-07:00

Last year I worked on character designs and storyboards for a pitch project. The project was TVLAND's Harry Loves Lisa. and the pitch was for the show intro. It was going to be animated similar to the old Bewitched or I Dream of Genie intros. Unfortunately, the company I worked for didn't get the project, not to be biased but I think it would have rocked.

Anyways, here are the sketches and final designs and boards I knocked out during my 4 days of work at the company.

Here are the initial sketches showing my first take on Harry Hamlin and Lisa Rinna. I started looking at clips from the show to get their different expressions, I then took screen caps and started to do quick studies.

This is a size comparison chart, I was working on them separately so I had to make sure I was understanding the right scale between them.

These are the final character sheets showing size comparison and expressions all completed in Photoshop. They wanted a night and day shot so I did a quick background behind the characters just to add some mood.

Lastly, these were the boards for the intro showing Harry, Lisa, their kids and dog. I always enjoy working on these projects, its different and it is a blast working on Hollywood types!

Thanks for looking.

SPIKE DEADLIEST WARRIOR PROMO 1

2011-04-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

Last year I was asked to do some storyboarding for a series of promotional commercials for Spike TV's Deadliest Warrior. Here are my storyboards for the 1st promo. I did a ton of drawings for this spot and there are 2 more sequences I will put together and post later on. For now, you can check out the boards I did below.

And here is the actual promo that aired on TV. They stuck pretty close to my boards which is always cool.

There was one sequence where the German guy had a flame thrower and shot flame towards camera but to safety issues it was scrapped...bummer.

VAMPIRE ILLUSTRATIONS

2011-04-09T17:42:00.000-07:00

So before my trip to China last year I was asked to do some illustrations with a super fast turnaround. I basically had about 3 days for 2 full color illustrations. These types of jobs are the most stressful to do but they are also fun because of that time challenge. The genre was also another challenge, Vampires. Now if you have visited my blog regularly you will notice how most of my art work is very lighthearted and whimsical so stepping into a darker genre is always a welcomed experienced.

As an artist, you have your voice, your own art that you love to do and it keeps that passion alive so that you keep pushing forward year after year wanting to make new and better art. However, there are also bills to pay and to be successful in that world you almost have to be a chameleon and have the ability to change for the needs of a client.

Anyways, without further adieu here are the 2 illustrations I did for the Role Playing Book: Danse Macabre for White Wolf Publishing.

Images below copyright 2011 White Wolf Publishing

First one is titled Atrocity:

This one was titled Apocolypse:

Thanks for looking, more to come!

MEGA MAN TRIBUTE AND PROCESS SHOTS

2011-04-06T20:49:00.000-07:00

EDIT*****

Piece was chosen and will be in the Tribute Book that will be on sale at the San Diego Comicon this summer.

This was my submission for the Mega Man Tribute art book that is coming out at this year's Comicon. Unfortunately, my piece was not chosen for the book which is cool because that means I can finally post it on my blog. I completed this piece back in January and it took me about 3 days from concept to finish.

\Here are some process shots below, on the left is the basic positive and negative shape breakup for my composition. As you can see I am not detailing anything in this phase just trying to create a frenetic feeling.

I scan it into Photoshop and then as you can see on the right I work on the design elements in Photoshop.

Next I print it out and to a final pencil lineart drawing.

Next, I do a quick value block in mainly as a mask to isolate areas to apply different effects to.
Afterward, I do some glazes of color on the image, similar to traditional media. Once I have the local colors in place I figure out where out my major light sources are coming from so I can be consistent with my lighting scenarios.

This is followed by some finer rendering. I started with traces 0f Mega Man and worked my way down to the other characters.

Enjoy, Ill post more soon.

-Patrick

COLOR DEMOS

2011-03-08T01:08:00.000-08:00

Been super busy with work and freelance, managed to do a quick character concept tonight, its actually a paintover for one of my students but I just really pushed it closer to something more finished. In these color demos the main thing I am trying to do is create colors that support the design and feel I am trying to communicate to the viewers. Hopefully it worked.

Wicked Witch

Disgruntled Knight.

Time for sleep but more to come.

And dang it is super windy today in California!

Evil Step Mother

2011-02-26T12:05:00.000-08:00

Or something like that, this was classroom demo on lighting and setting up your value patterns. I will probably add color to it next but I just wanted to make sure my values work first. I do not always do a black and white render first, but this approach helps me to resolve my design before I add the finishing touches of color.

In case you were wondering, so far I have spent about of 2-3 hours on this. That includes the lineart phase of it as well.

I will try and post more soon, however, I have been really busy with a lot of freelance as of late. As they say when it rains it pours. Takes away time from posting but its good so I can pay bills and have internet!

Tito Batman

2011-02-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid I always wondered why there was a lack of Pilipino superheros. Watching my favorite shows after school and waking up at 7am for the Saturday morning cartoons were always the highlights of my week--huddled underneath my blanket while waiting for the new Super Friends to start followed by Mr T. and Shirt Tales--it didn't get any better than that!

Thinking back to those days it would have been cool if I had a relative who was a superhero. I would bring him or her to show & tell day and brag to all my friends. But when I really think about it and factor in how my relatives are...reality smacks me on the face. If I did have an uncle who was a superhero, he would probably be the epitome of a true Pilipino uncle. Below is my interpretation of this realization. If Batman were my uncle, he would probably be something like this:

Sketches and Stuff

2011-02-04T15:52:00.000-08:00

Been sketching a bunch lately, below are a few pages.

1) Meet up with some old and new friends in L.A. for a sketch group. Just drawing whatever came to my head and some of the locals.

2) Recently had to attend jury duty, so to pass time I documented some of the interesting characters that were on scene.

THE PILIPINO HITMAN

2011-02-01T00:51:00.000-08:00

The Philippines is known for many things, jeepneys, lumpia, the infamous barrel man, entertainment singers, and Manny Pacquiao. Well I always wondered why we never had any notable hit man. This post seeks to find the reason behind this fact. Below is a typical Pilipino hit man.

HERE ARE SOME FACTS THAT ARE BASED ON DOCUMENTED RECORDS

1) Weaponry--Pilipino hit men are usually armed to the teeth; a lot of 80's Rambo movies and all of the missing in action films has glorified the M60, which has become a favorite weapon of choice for most. Although very imposing, the draw back is that it makes the hit man easy to spot from afar leading to their untimely demise by security and police forces.

2) Flip-flops--Unfortunately theses make a lot of noise so stealth missions are out of the picture.

3) Cigarette smoking--Although he does a very good Chow Yun Fat, the cigarette is a dead give away to his position especially if he's trying to stay hidden in the shadows.

4) Bright red shirt supporting Manny--Again not at all very inconspicuous especially because red is one of those colors that catches the eye; the cover of darkness would not help at all.

These are some of the facts I have collected and I still have to sort through more but I hope these help to shed some light on the subject.

Just for Fun

2011-01-30T12:54:00.000-08:00

Working on a few things I can't post just yet, so just felt like a quick doodle.

What's the New Year without a gratuitous Wolverine drawing.

VEHICLE DESIGN

2011-01-20T18:26:00.000-08:00

I did this drawing a while back in the summer. Never got around to doing a good painting atop so I figure I take a stab at it tonight. By no means would I call this totally done, this was more a test for me and a start.

Messing around with some colors, I was looking at reference of an old WW2 plane I took photos of. Popped in a background and viola. The Egg drop carrier comes to life.

Something a little different from me, but I plan on experimenting with more vehicles and mechs just to start tackling more of the hard surface stuff.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

2011-01-20T00:17:00.000-08:00

Phew,

Wow, its already 2011 can you believe it. Sorry I haven't posted in quite some time. I was traveling the last few weeks seeing some great places and meeting some new friends. Needless to say I am back and re-energized for the new year. Traveling was great, I got to see the Great Wall and the Terra Cotta soldiers. So much inspiration and the trip made me realize what was really important to me and to my art. I am pumped and what to get back to doing my own illustrations and projects.

On that note, here is something I worked on tonight to start of this year right, enjoy and I will be posting more sooner than later!

ELF

2010-12-03T09:02:00.000-08:00

My take on a mystical elf. Started out as a quick doodle at the coffee shop. Spent a couple more hours on it and viola! Just experimenting and broadening my range of design a little more. Also just prepping myself for a class I plan to teach in a few terms. I'll talk more about the design of this one later or in a new character doodle next week. Thanks for looking!

THANKSGIVING DOODLES

2010-11-28T21:52:00.000-08:00

Some studies and just plain old having fun in Photoshop over the break. Haven't done this in a while so it was nice getting back into the groove. These ranged from 45 minutes to an hour.

ZOO

2010-11-18T15:29:00.001-08:00

Every week I try to go to the zoo to improve my animal drawing skills. It's been a journey and for every page I want to tear out of my sketchbook and discard, there are days when you find your stride. Luckily, today was that day for me and I had a blast drawing this guy from the zoo.

Too bad the rest of the day didn't go so hot with the other animals, but there's always next week!

WOOHOO ANOTHER POST

2010-11-14T11:18:00.000-08:00

2 posts in 3 days, I know what an amazing feat. Anyways, this was from a sketch night in Pasadena with some old and new friends. Fun times, hopefully I'll get to go to more of these.

WINSTON

2010-11-12T21:06:00.000-08:00

Man, too long since I last posted. I might start doing the sketch of the days again so I won't be so lazy posting. Anyways, I've just been busy teaching, the occasional freelance and some personal projects and classes. Here's a sneak peak at what I'm working on now. Don't want to say too much just yet but I am really excited to start knocking these character designs out.

Thanks for being patient and for visiting!

-Patrick

Koda

2010-10-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

Here is the final color version of the Koda. Koda is a rare giant forest bat found in the treetops of the forest. An extinct species many have not seen Koda but have only heard rumors of an evil spirit that lives in the trees and feeds at night. Koda is actually vegetarian and is rather docile but gets a bad wrap due to his size and fangs.

BATMAN!

2010-10-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

No not really, but this is another in my portfolio series. This little critter is another sidekick creature for Gingko. Next up some color and personality exploration sketches.

Coffee Shop Sketches

2010-09-28T16:23:00.000-07:00

I love coffee shops because 1) I get out of the house 2) I don't like coffee too much but I do love the blended drinks and 3)Studying characters from life is more fun than looking at photos.

I have pages and pages of these doodles. Sketchbooks are so important because it is where you can have fun and experiment. No one is judging you, its just you, your pen and a blank piece of paper which can be daunting in itself. One thing I tell my students is just draw, don't treat these sketches as something ultra precious and that you have to put on a show for someone to look at. By doing that you are already limiting yourself to what you can do, adding even more pressure to the art of sketching.

I love looking at other people's sketchbooks because it is such an honest look into their art, no frills just a lot of imagination and exploration. A lot of times you just see finished work that has been polished off in post or edited to take out all the bad sketches which is a shame. Everyone has bad sketching days, even the big boys. So here are some pages straight out of my sketchbook with no alterations.

NEW ART

2010-09-25T10:57:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the delay, been working on some new artwork to update my portfolio, here are the pieces I have completed thus far. I plan on adding a few more to complete the story. It's my take on Hansel and Gretel with a slight twist. These started out as demos for class but I had so much fun with them I figured why not take them to a finish. I 'll post some process images later so enjoy!

Also, every once in a while I get questions on my process and such, if you have such questions please feel free to drop a comment or email me and I will try to respond to the best of my ability and as my schedule permits. Have a great rest of September all! As always, more to come!

Currently on the drawing board

2010-09-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

Vehicle design for a set of characters I am working on. Set in Feudal Japan this is our antagonist's (Lord Watanabe) main method of transportation. I will be posting the characters and model sheets for these as I finish them up. Later I will also post the thumbnails so you can see where the idea originated from.

Coffee Shop Sketches

2010-08-27T17:01:00.000-07:00

Some random folks, working on skin varyng up my skin tones so drawing from life today helped out a lot.

STUDIES FROM LIFE

2010-08-26T09:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent studies from my sketchbook over the past couple of months. All were pen and marker on toned paper and a little digital white on top to pop some highlights in.

UPDATE IN FOREVER

2010-08-19T12:57:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack of posts the last couple of months. I have been drawing everyday and working on my portfolio diligently, as proof here are a couple new characters I have just wrapped up on. Learned a lot from these and its going in a direction that I really like and will keep pushing.

A little different than what you are used to seeing from me, but its another tool for me to use and I am really happy with the end product. I'll post some thumbnails and progress shots later but Ihope you like these for now. Thanks again for dropping by.

COACH PROCESS

2010-06-23T20:44:00.000-07:00

This was a character design I did for a Summer Outreach program where I teach. The brief was: futuristic high school for gifted skate boarders. My character is basically the P.E. coach for the school. I had a particular feeling in mind for this character; cocky, old school and very egotistical.

Here are my initial sketches trying to find some pose and body shape ideas.

Next up were some refinements and head iterations for my character.

Finally, the finished color design.

This was a lot of fun, really exploring more of my character's personality and trying to push it through from top to bottom and through his clothing especially.

NEW CHARACTER DESIGNS

2010-06-04T22:16:00.000-07:00

These character just started out as demos for my class but I decided to take them to a full finish. Still some things I would want to tweak here and there but all in all I was pretty with how the lineup turned out. The theme was treasure hunters and mine revolved around the Crusades.

Overall lineup of characters.

Ghassan-Warrior and weapons/gadget expert

Pops-veteran crusader and mentor/protector to Michele

Princess Michele-Leader to the band of treasure hunters

Lord Samson-advisor to the Princess and traitor

Study and Word of the Day

2010-06-02T09:16:00.000-07:00

Demo done for class today talking about values and lighting forms.

Topic of the Day:
Alien Power Generator
Quick concept behind piece, alien race highly industrial but savage uses the life energy of another species to help fuel their tech and weaponry. Good vs Evil basically.

Word of the Days

2010-05-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

More design exercises, all done within a 1 hour time limit. The time limit forces us to really focus on the truly essential parts of the picture and design. Having a lot of fun with these and trying to push myself out of my usual comfort zone. As creatures of habits its hard for artists to do this but in order to grow you have to jump out of your normal routine to make those "happy" accidents as you further enhance your craft.

Here are the following words of the day:

Hunter

Healer

Blacksmith

More Word of the Days

2010-05-25T23:03:00.000-07:00

Working on my portfolio, have a few characters I am finishing up in color and will post those once I have the whole lineup complete. In the meanwhile, here are a couple more digital speed studies that I do daily with a couple buddies. The following are open to any topic and are based on the following words:

Knight

Wizard

MORE DIGITAL STUDIES

2010-05-19T21:24:00.000-07:00

All of these are quick speed paints, about an hour or less. Some of these are daily exercises I do with a few buddies of man, a way to shake the rust off and study different things each week. Others are word of the days that my wife gives me and I just paint. Regardless, I am primarily working on my shape design, grouping of values and lighting.

SPEED PAINTS

2010-05-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

Just messing around with composition and lighting on these. These are a departure from what I normally do, more shape based and less linework.

We'll see how these go.

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH

2010-05-05T18:02:00.000-07:00

Every term at AI I tell my students a few key things to remember for the term: 1) I am a hard ass but I am fair 2) If you want to make it out there you better be prepared to work your ass off and 3) You need to be a better draftsman which means more drawing from life!

So not to be a hypocrite the next few images are some studies from life that I have done. The purpose of these types of drawings is not only to hone my drawing skills but to increase my knowledge of different personality and shape types. In each drawing, whether it be exaggerated or not I always try to inject story into it to capture the gesture and life of each character.

The first few pages are from a gesture class at AI. The ones with the blue arrows were an exercise in finding the rhythm in the pose after your draw the initial gesture.

This page was done quickly because the kid was moving around so much. I did not have much time to capture any detail so I was mainly going for the "feel" of each pose. Each one was probably about 45 secs or so so I had to capture what was important and forget about all the little details. A great exercise for those who have problems with stiff drawings.

Next page is from a class I sat in on with my friend at CSULB. Mainly 1-3-5 minute poses. Super fast so again getting only what was necessary was key to these poses. Usually I have to inject story into the pose, but the model was awesome, she had swords and the costume from Kill Bill so we were drawing Uma Thurman from Kill Bill. So cool and she even had the soundtrack from the movie playing as we drew.

Lastly, a page from my sketchbook at one of my famous coffee shop days. Coffee shops are always great to see a wide cast of characters without having to go too far.

Enjoy!

Creature Feature

2010-04-30T14:07:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, back again I am still working in and out of this art funk, however, having some freelance projects on deck really helps out a lot. So, as I mentioned in my last post I was hitting the art wall, to update that I am getting over it slowly. What exactly have I done to help that out? Well one thing I started doing is reestablishing what my goals are for the year. This is something I recommend not to rush but really think about it. Once you have done this it will really help you to focus on your day ot day activities.

After that I write down my daily goals of things I need to do and want to finish. It's kind of like grocery shopping, you slowly cross out all the things you need to get and eventually your list is all checked off. First, when you make your list for your daily goals be realistic. I put down maybe 3 or 4 things and write down how much time I want to spend for each. I have even allotted time for my blog post so I do not waste time writing banter (which I think I'm doing right now) or wandering off to other blogs and getting side tracked form my work.

As I type this I am at a coffee shop, that is the second thing I did, get out of my comfort zone. Being surrounded by people makes you concentrate on your work for 2 reasons 1) it simulates a work environment with others and 2) you work so you do not listen to some really stupid conversations going on...AHHHH! Today has been one of my more productive days and psychologically as I check off my daily goals it really makes me feel more productive and creates a sense of artistic accomplishment. I know this may sound silly but honestly you have to trick your brain sometimes so that perfectionist mentality of not doing enough doesn't dominant your thinking.

I hope me writing this stuff helps other artists and even non-artists who seem to hit their own wall. You are not alone, there are others....hmm, that sounds hokie.

Anyway, on to some art, the following are some creature speed paints I have been doing with a few of my buddies. Each week we study something different and this week was creature design. Spent about 45min-1 hour on each really focusing on shape pushing myself out of a comfort zone.

Topic: Volcanic Hound

Topic: Creature from the Black Lagoon (more creature less anthropomorphic)

Topic: Sabre-tooth Arachnid

Thanks for looking all, I'll be back with a new post with a ton of gesture drawings from the past week.

-Pat

Back and Ready for action

2010-04-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

Apologies for being MIA for so long without a post, I have been drawing everyday but for the past couple of weeks I had hit the "artists wall." Every artist goes through this no matter how late or early in their career they are in. It is usually different for each artist but a lot of times it is usually about the following:

1) How one has progressed?
2) Where's the motivation?
3) Why is my friend getting it and I'm not?
4) Damn, how am I going to get that good?
5) What do I want to do?

Now, I wish I had a magic filter on Photoshop to give you and BAM all this would be solved, believe me if I had one I would so cash in on that puppy. All I can say is to take a step back every once in a while and evaluate your priorities and give yourself time. I am lucky to be surrounded by people who support and give me a kick in the ass when I need it. For me, I think the main thing was setting my goals, something which I haven't done in about a month, hence, the WALL.

Other times you may just need to not draw for a bit and chill out. Do some physical activities, hang out with friends, or go to a coffee shop. I need to practice what I preach more but I think these things will help. I hope reading this is of some benefit to you who "the wall" does happen to everyone and that its not just you.

Alright, enough of that you are here to see some drawings so drawings you shall see. Here are a few pages from my sketchbook. Really trying to focus more on personality and shapes that exist in life. A really good teacher once told me ".....you cannot even begin to design out of your head the shapes that exist in real life, you just have to learn to see them." I actually think this is a hybrid of a few things that teachers have told me, regardless, I now see what they mean.

Enjoy, more work to come this week!

Slum Marketplace

2010-04-14T18:14:00.000-07:00

Just trying some things out in Photoshop, doing some daily exercises. Concentrating more on the big shapes, suggestion and lighting for this environment. This one came out OK but I got a long way to go.

Sketches and old stuff

2010-04-13T23:19:00.000-07:00

Freelance I did about 3 years ago. Not sure if it was used but it was for some Fantastic Four game.

Next is a page of gesture studies I did tonight after my class. This was a 20-25 minute session in my friend's classroom, I got into a pretty good zone and was able to manipulate more shapes to really push the personality and story of his students and of him teaching. Good times!

SOTD 04/09/10

2010-04-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

Been working on some side projects here and there. I am still doing daily studies but those are kinda boring to post. But here is a sketch for my buddy John that he will be getting in the mail along with his print. Thanks for your patience and support man!

Sorry for the watermark, gotta do what you gotta do to protect your art nowadays!

SOTD 4/25/10

2010-04-05T18:48:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up at 530 AM to go to Orange County to sub for one of my buddie's 730 AM class. Good lord that is waay to early to have a class, who makes up these class times? Anyways, hope you were all driving safely out there cause there were a lot of jakasses when I was driving.

So for part of the class I decided to do a quick character design digital demo. I spent about an hour on this from concept to finish. As I was designing this guy I spoke mostly about personality and story and how it helps to evolve your design into something believable. For this guy, my story was that he was a coffee shop guy, waiting in line to talk to the pretty cashier. Unfortunately, his soft spoken voice and social awkwardness make him not too much of aladies ma'n. I gave him a pale complexion to add to the idea that he might play a little to much World of Warcraft and should get out in the sun more.

Quicky about my process: first is the line drawing, next I added colors to give it a little depth but still retaining my linework and finally, the closeup of the head shows how I would take things more to a finish, adding softness to the hair and reflectivity in the glasses. Fun design to do and it unfolded naturally, I wish all my drawings could go this smooth.

UPDATED WEBSITE

2010-04-02T22:22:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, pretty self explanatory from the title, I update my site with new content to the concept, illustration and storyboard categories. I added a lot of the concepts I did for Jak and Daxter, my illustrations from my Cereal Killer show and storyboards for some TV commercials I did last year. So please stop on by and check it out when you get a chance!

Below is an image I showed some progress shots of in a previous post, but here is the finished image that I am now using for my homepage.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

One from the Vault

2010-03-30T22:27:00.000-07:00

I did this one a couple years ago for a game company. Don't think anything became of this project but it was fun to work on it. I am mostly a character guy, but here is the layout for one of the environments I did for this project. It was a magical forest that separated our world from their world, I don't know who "their" is but I will post the color of this one later on.

Update: I have 6 preorders so only 4 more orders for a free sketches guys. I just picked up the test print today and I am excited to start mailing these bad boys out!

SOTD 03/29/10

2010-03-29T12:22:00.001-07:00

Here is the finished reinterpretation of one of the classics I grew up with entitled, " HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER". I have been wanting to do this piece for a few months now and finally knocked it out last week. Hopefully it will bring back the good ole days to all you other oldies out there.

I will have prints of these available in a week but I will be taking preorders and the first 10 to preorder will get a free sketch from me along with their purchase. The size will be 13 inches x 10 inches and will be $20 plus shipping and handling. For more details please shoot me an email at:

patrick.ballesteros@gmail.com

Lastly, this is a page of studies form my sketchbook. I am doing a redesign of the Phantom of the Opera for a character design competition so I am just going through iterations of head shape, proportions and mask variation. Most people these days use Photoshop to do all this. This will end up in the computer but I still like to search for the shapes by hand, it still feels more organic to me and I do not have the crutch of command + Z at my fingertips. Makes for a few more happy accidents I think.

Enjoy!

****Update, I already have 3 orders so 7 more to go for a free sketch!******

SOTD 03/26/10

2010-03-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I spent quite some time at the coffees shop while my wife was in a meeting. Thank goodness I had the trusty old sketchbook to keep me sane. A lot of students ask me how do I come up with different shapes and what do I look at. I do the following: 1) studying old masters to see what they have done in the past helps and 2) look at nature. Now when I say nature its basically studying life, people in reality have different shapes to their bodies and heads which aids in showing a bit of their personality. Before I would just sit in a coffee shop and draw out of my imagination which is fun and really important to do as well. However, now I spend the first half hour or so studying people and shapes to add to my vocabulary and creature variety in my drawings from imagination. A rule my teacher once explained to me was that its quite difficult to make up what you do not understand.

Now here are my sketches from imagination. Combining shapes from my studies with my imagination I started to do some thumbnails and character designs for a new illustration I am working on. This one was supposed to be for a CG Society Challenge, unfortunately, I missed the deadline but I am still going to continue with my Zombie School Kid piece. Here are some studies for the kids and for some of the scenes I plan to use.

For complex illustrations I really after establishing the overall thumbnail I move around and do studies of the the characters and main action areas to keep the rhythm and flow moving. This is where I really figure out the shapes I want to use as well. I will be posting more progress of this in future posts.

SOTD 03/23/10

2010-03-23T09:40:00.001-07:00

So a while back I posted a progress shot of the ogre I was working on for my sculpture class. Recently, we made plaster molds of them and sadly, it was destroyed in that process. But to remember it in all its glory I was able to snap a quick pic before its timely demise. I put in quite a few hours into this, there are still some problems with it but out of this whole process I was able to see what I did not know in regards to the human form.

Here are my prep sketches for the sculpture, doing these really helped in the beginning and preplanning pays dividends.

Lastly, here is another sneak peak at the piece I am 99 percent done with and will have prints available once it is completed. I'm excited for this one and can't wait to show all of you the whole thing!

SOTD 03/22/10

2010-03-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

So I have one more week in more sculpture class left, its been a real blast learning from such a passionate artist like Jordu. Well, this past weekend we started on our maquettes and I am hoping to get a lot done on it this week. Here are my comp sketches for the character design, I pray it comes out close to what I drew.

And here is the start of the maquette before I start adding more sculpey to the armature. Hope this works out ok, cross my fingers!

SOTD 03/19/10

2010-03-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

Here's another shape exercise. This one was pretty random, while checking Facebook I noticed an ad on the side of my homepage. I only saw it from the corner of my so I did not see any details. At first I thought it was an ad for a sumo wrestler, but upon further inspection it was a cupcake with chocolate chips on it. Well, I did not draw a cupcake but this is what I saw when I just looked at the overall shape of it.

Here is the actual ad next to my rendition. Again, I broke it up into parts so you can see what I was thinking. Mainly, get the overall big shape working, then sculpt smaller forms into it and add secondary forms atop of that for more specifics about the character. Sometimes people ask I how I come up with these characters or is there anything specific in mind when you do these shape exercises. Here's a short answer, the whole creative process is very spontaneous at times regarding what I see and my interpretation of them. This is something artists continually work at and for some it comes easier than others. However, once you open this door of creativity it is very hard to shut it off.

Now execution is another thing, it is more deliberate and this is where the artist's training kicks in. The more training in anatomy, perspective, figure drawing, color, etc... a person has, the more their ideas will come to life, closer to what they see in their head. Does that make sense?
I sure hope so.

Lastly, here is a quick screen shot of my desktop as I work on this samurai with sprinkles. Enjoy!

SOTD 03/18/10

2010-03-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posts, its tax season and I've been trying to handle all of that so I can get down to some drawing business dang-nabbit. Anyways, below is a character study for an illustration I am planning for a CGSociety Challenge. His name is George and he will be one of my protagonists in my zombie illustration I plan to do...yes my friends, I said zombie.

Next up is a little step by step process for my new web page splash page. I am about 80% done with it but here it is thus far.

Step 1: Clean lineart, worked out the design and incorporated a lot of my past character designs from several personal illustrations.

Step 2: Using Photoshop I color my drawing, I usually lay in flat colors at first and then build the forms with light and shadow atop.

Step 3: Redefining shapes and introducing a light source. I use a few layers, nothing too fancy though.

Step 4: This is the finish but as you can see it is not yet done, so I will be posting this step at a later phase.

Finally here is a sneak peak at the newest piece I am trying to finish up next week, can you guess?

So proof I have been productive, I will get back on the SOTD ban wagon and have some more stuff to show in the future. Thanks for stopping bay all!

SOTD 3/11/10

2010-03-11T13:11:00.000-08:00

So I know I said I would draw more female but I couldn't help it with this one. A little change of pace from my normal sketches of the day. While I was at a sushi place with Kay, I sketch as I usually do, but while I was looking around the restaurant I saw a soy sauce bottle and never realized what a cool shape it was. That soy sauce bottle was the inspiration for this little astronaut sketch below for the shape and color language. Also, below the astronaut are some color comps for a my new website header that I am working on.

Next is what I was thinking and how I approached my Astro-Kikomanaut. As you can see, when I saw the bottle I broke it down into two major shapes, 1 for the head (the main focal area) and 2 for the body which I will carve and add onto it. For the head you can see how I used the nozzle for the nose and hair shape of my character.

3-I carve the legs into the big body shape because I need my character to have weight and balance. 4-I add the arms to finish off the character design and 5-I add the helmet shape to finish off the design as a whole.

For the colors I used the green cap of the bottle as my main color palette and just added a cool background with warms in the face and on his iron-man-esque chest plate.

Hope that gives some of you some insight into how my brain works.

SOTD 03/10/10

2010-03-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

Just having some fun with shapes, I think I need to draw more females, too much machismo on here. So I think the next few will be some female characters, maybe an environment? Who knows, its March and Comicon is fast approaching...woohooo! Random thoughts I know but on to the sketch!

NEW PIECE

2010-03-09T07:59:00.001-08:00

Here is a new piece I have been working on, I just finished the lineart yesterday which was a beast in itself. I have had this piece in mind for a few months but freelance and the artshow last year kind of wiped me out and since this turned out to be such a complex layout I wanted to sneak up. But now that I look at it, man, that's a lot.

I plan on doing some color comps this week and hopefully wrap up with the whole piece within the next couple of weeks. Wish me luck!

And here is a quick color test I did on a study last week.

SOTD 03/02/10

2010-03-02T08:57:00.000-08:00

SOTD AND OTHER STUFF

2010-03-01T09:11:00.000-08:00

Been watching more zombie movies as I work, guess it helps my work flow cause I have seen these movies a thousand times but it never gets old to me and its not a distraction...until a big zombie scene hits then I take my 5 minute break of course.

Hey, when the zombie epidemic hits you will be knocking on my door for advice so don't hate.

Also, I have started taking a sculpture class with Jordu Schell, if you guy's do not know him he was the lead creature designer for Avatar and he's worked on countless creature designs in film over the years. Total badass and funny as hell.

Here is my attempt at sculpture, just a regular old ogre. This stage is mainly finding the forms and I wanted to start out simple to get used to the medium and make something at least descent looking. In the next few weeks I will be posting my progress along this journey. Thanks for joining me!

Sketch of the Day

2010-02-23T09:51:00.000-08:00

Working in house again doing some character designs for a pitch for an intro credit sequence. That's all I can really say about that for now. Other than that I am doing some character designs with some buddies in Singapore for an animated short that we want to enter in film festivals this year, trying to wrap up the finishing touches on the kid's book and working on a Street Fighter piece.

So, all in all not too busy. I always feel like I need to be doing more.

Sketch of the Day

SOTD 02/19/10

2010-02-19T11:45:00.000-08:00

Sketch of the Day, inspired by Aliens and Predator.

Next is my version of a Mangalore from the 5th Element. My version revolves around the idea that the Mangalores were actually organisms that fuse with a human host. Some are more evolved and have intelligence and reason. On the other, there are those that do not evolve fully and become quite grotesque and deformed.

I call this one THE DECOY. You see the the human head and silhouette of the upper body in the shadows so recognize it as safe. However, as you approach it the creature gets a jump on you and well.....messes you up royally and makes a filet-o-fish out of you.

I will probably do another iteration fo this creature because there are some things I want to push a little differently.

Sketches and Studies

2010-02-17T08:46:00.000-08:00

Sketch of the Day

Went up to SF this past weekend for a much needed mini-vacation. I love that city, so much character not only in the people but in the buildings.

Anyways, first time in a while I just sketched to sketch. Here are a few of the pages from the trip.

Lastly, here is a page of studies for a future piece I am currently working on...can you tell what it is?

Back for more tomorrow.

SOTD 2/10/09

2010-02-10T10:39:00.000-08:00

Crazy work schedule but its starting to clear up a little. Here's the latest street fighter study.

Another sketch, was running on fumes last night and messing around with the markers and picked out a funny face. This face grew into the sketch below, Mr. Jeeves armed to the teeth.

Lastly, on the way to a Mongolian hot pot restaurant, I saw this person crossing the street. The large hat was covering their face and neck but this is what I imagined them to look like as they crossed the street anxiously.

I will try to post my versions of Leeloo and the Mangalore next week.

SOTD 02/03/10

2010-02-03T22:10:00.000-08:00

Been working a lot this week. Freelance at night plus working in house this week doing some storyboards for TV spot. Got some free time to squeeze another study in for a larger piece.

Also, my take on Korben Dallas' taxi. I normally do not design vehicles, but have been having fun with these designs.

Enjoy!

SOTD 01/29/10

2010-01-29T11:10:00.000-08:00

YOGAAAA!

SOTD 01/28/10

2010-01-28T22:29:00.000-08:00

FINISH HIM...ooops, wrong game.

In the next few posts I will be posting this little sketches studies for a larger piece I am working on, stay tuned for more goodies.

SOTD 01/27/10

2010-01-27T15:12:00.000-08:00

BAAAANE!

And a couple of studies. Still have a few issues with these studies, but practice makes perfect.

SOTD 01/25/10

2010-01-25T17:14:00.000-08:00

For Zaphir, this one and your prints are on their way to you.

SOTD 01/22/10

2010-01-22T14:09:00.000-08:00

Mario Pisano the explorer.

Redesign of Korben Dallas from the 5th element.

SOTD 01/21/10

2010-01-21T14:12:00.000-08:00

Again, one of my all time favs.

SOTD IS BACK AND ALIVE

2010-01-20T12:55:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, sorry for the hiatus but I am back into the swing of things for these sketches. I think I just needed a short break to recharge and start the new year right. Anyways, here are the sketches.

First off, I still think this is one of the best animation films ever!

Next, this was done as a Christmas gift for some family.

Enjoy and I will be back tomorrow with more!