la Crescenta

this is one i did over the holidays last year. wasn't sure about it at the time but thought it was looking good enough to post ;)

California Coast

finally! a new one. put my 3 day weekend to use. the challenge on this one was taking something that could have been very flat and horizontal and really exaggerating the z depth. lots of calligraphy was used to show volume and contour.

Graphic Glendale

the latest in the series. still working on doing more with less. meaning, what are the absolute essentials of the scene and still have it represent what's there in front of me. trying to spend more time understanding what's going on and less wrist movement. art is always a translation of reality, always

El Matador

it seemed fitting to end the year with this location. i usually took my class here for the last day when i was teaching at Art Center. simplified shapes but realistic tonality seems to be what i'm trying lately. looking forward to where these take me in the coming year!

Griffith Observatory

this weeks Graphic LA entry. these are getting more abstract in that while the shapes are based on reality, i'm pushing them farther than what's in front of me. the color as well. this approach, i have to say , is a lot of FUN!!

more design based!

Valley View

or near that street anyway. every single shape is altered, pushed and skewed in this one even though it looks somewhat real. had an interesting talk with Robert Valley which lead to this. although my stuff isn't nearly as pushed as his. i really exaggerated the rhythms of the trees, bushes and lawns as well, pushing and distorting them quite a bit while keeping the values and colors on the very real side. the shapes are very simplified and designed. the atmospheric perspective is exaggerated too to enhance the depth of the street. in reality its not nearly as strong.

FALL IN LA

granted it's not as picturesque as Vermont but LA ha it's own unique palate. concrete and orange. lately i've been thinking a lot more about designed shapes versus sight to size/visual impression. this may seem very "real" looking but i changed/altered ever shape in here. i kept the color and tonality true to nature but really pushed the shapes, even though they may have a realistic feel.

More UNCHARTED 3

here's a few more concept deigns from Uncharted 3. i was trying out a little more of my graphic look on these.

SCI FI SNAPSHOT

i say snapshot because it's a very casual composition. almost something you'd see catching your flight to mars or saturn. invented piece inspired by recent travel. going for a retro future, with some Albert Frey influence.

UNCHARTED 3

enough time has passed i thought i'd post a few of the concept designs i did for U3! i waited a beat because i didn't want to give anything away for the hardcore gamers who played to the end already. and thanks to the fans of the series for the awesome sales so far!!!

Graphic...Altoona?

I was in Altoona,PA for Illuxcon last week (thanks again Pat and Jeannie for putting on a great show) and I was exposed to an entirely different set of shapes and lighting conditions. I carried a small sketchbook with me and tried reducing the scenes in front of me to just black or white before working out the actual shapes. i'm still using super simple shapes (line tool, square brush, square marquee) to block out the piece. Keeping to a strong, simple, stark, graphic composition makes for a better image i'm rediscovering. Here's the latest in the series of, but no longer strictly Graphic LA.

HOLLYWOOD

a new Graphic LA painting! it's been too long. Uncharted 3 is safely put to bed and it's time to get back to this thought. an important note (to myself as well) in the very last stages of a painting don't compare it to the subject, look at your mark making and design elements. brushwork, structural thickness, calligraphy...the painting is the final "reality". look at it as such.
blocked it out in as few values as possible in the beginning. added a screen-shot.

Imagine FX Game issue

imagineFX (great magazine btw) has a gaming issue coming out and i've done an in depth tutorial on the creation of THIS concept for Uncharted 3. thanks to Claire Howlett and Naughty Dog for making this happen!

well, it's been TOO long since i posted a n y t h i n g . Uncharted 3 has been a bear to wrestle to the ground but it's looking good. had a spar nano second and needed to do a piece for moi. more exploration into the world of graphic realism. i'm trying for a realistic first look made with the simplest most graphic shapes i can make. similar to my LA paintings but an invented landscape.

Prints for Comic Con

hey all, i've been getting good responses to the Graphic LA images so i'm going to have limited edition prints of 4 of the images. i numbered and bagged them this weekend. these are high end archival giclees on heavy watercolor paper by a professional service (not Epson prints) i'll only have 5 each of the images so stop by early to booth 5555- Tangled Dreams, near hall H if you're at the Con. see you there!

Downtown

finally, a new one! i noticed that these are taking much longer and getting more detailed, which is fine. it's an interesting evolution when you look back over the posts from this series. i added a few close up too. it's really just a bunch of colored squares :)

the airport

one crashed hard drive, a corrupt file and one false start later, i finally was able to get to another in my series of Graphic LA paintings. this one was 90% rectangle and line tool. i make a square, adjust the color value and use transform to alter it's shape. working big to small, broad to detail, just like the traditional painting process. i can't wait to do more!

Colorado Blvd, Pasadena

plus my block in and a close up

Santa Monica Apartments

the latest in the series of graphic interpretations of LA. i saved out a few steps along the way and added those too.

Gamble House

it's interesting to see my own evolution as this series develops.

Touch of Evil opening shot location

i've been curious about this for awhile so..... i did a little reconstruction by watching the film, making a map and looking for landmarks. here's my result !

Downtown

view from Chinatown

LAX

Olympic and Beverly

still working on realistic yet stylized look/process

texture as depth cue

in this quick 45 minute painting i primarily used the receding texture to give the sense of receding distance, much like Moebius does with his details in this profoundly simple but accurate pen drawing. there are hardly any "details" in my painting but the color/value is right and the few depth cues i've added really push the far plane away from us.

CTN this weekend

stop on by. i'll be demoing painting on the iPad and talking about vis dev, as well as having books for sale. info here

iPad on the plane

flew back from Illuxcon last night. best con ever :) painted this to keep myself occupied.

A is for Artist

a cool collection of artists compiled by Kurt and Zelda on the Tor site. (click on the word TOR)

lovely overcast

this weekends iPad painting. it was completely overcast for Saturdays class which gives you very consistent light. i tried out a new app called Inspire Pro. very painterly. good comparative color picker, good brushes, nice cross-hair for stylus. 95% painted in Inspire and the other 5% in sketchbook pro for some scatter brush effect.

latest painting and book review

latest iPad painting AND my book got reviewed