Alien Invasion Storyboard

Here's my storyboard for an academy project.  It's a thumbnail rough draft to be made into a final storyboard for production.  Though it's an exercise, so unfortunately this won't be made on the big screen^^.  However, I think for a thumbnail draft this turned out very nicely.  One thing that made me laugh was one of the aliens weapons looks like a telephone.  Maybe it is?  You know, if we were on an alien planet, we might be able to hold up a drugstore with a cell phone too.

Sketch Book 5

Just another head study.  I don't really like this one at all.  On the right side of the drawing the eye is too high, but I didn't notice it until it was too late.  This took about an hour, so still it's pretty good for the time.  Not much blending was done in this drawing.

Sketch Book 4

 

Some more head studies from class in charcoal.  These both took me about an hour each.  Which is actually pretty good time for me.  The goal was to do this in about 30 min, but as of yet I'm not that quick.  However, a drawing like this did used to take me like 30 hours, so realistically, I'm improving my time greatly. ^^  That means more time to do other things and draw other pictures than grinding away on one picture for a week.

Storyboarding Practice

 

This is my first storyboard for this semester at the academy.  It's a reverse engineered storyboard from the ending cinematic from the Ice Titan boss fight from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.  It may not be all accurately performed as far as professional storyboarding lingo, but I think for my first project I think it's well done.  

I've always wanted to learn how to storyboard, especially since I really want to master the art of storytelling in entertainment media.  Learning how to storyboard is crucial to expressing yourself with others in a production pipeline in any medium of the entertainment industry.  It helps everyone to have the same idea of what is to be done, and an idea of how the finished product will look like.

Sketch Book 3

I just started making shapes with out an idea of where it would go.  I need to do this more often, and unfortunately I don't.  It's a great way to increase your own creative ability, creating new ideas.  Just sketching making shapes and putting them together is a great creative process.  Here, I came up with a large troll like creature.  It reminds me of the giant monster from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, or even the cave troll from Lord of the Rings.

Sketch Book 2

A little study of Kazu from Air Gear.  One thing I like to do is to study from other contemporary artists.  It's a good way to learn from other pros, practice drawing, and help develop your own style.  This is a good way to learn how to draw and increase your own level by mimicking other artists.  Of course, you need to practice drawing your own characters too.  The top drawing I drew from the manga, the bottom drawing I made up myself based off of the first drawing to see if I can reproduce Kazu in my own mind.  I can tell the quality is not as good as the original, but it's definitely close.

Another Air Gear study.  This is of Ohm, though, I changed her air trecks into normal track shoes, they're obviously not as cool as her original air trecks.  One thing I like about Oh! Great, the man behind Air Gear, is the dynamic poses he uses in his manga.  He is a master of foreshortening and perspective.

Sketch Book 1

I'm going to be starting a new section called Sketch Book, showing some of the sketches I've done from exercises from the academy to my own personal sketching time.

Here is two head studies done in charcoal.  I am learning how to use a blending stump, which is pretty handy as you can see.  It not only blends but smooths the charcoal into the paper.  It's a very handy tool.  I'm not too familiar with it yet, but will soon be a pro :)  I am taking a Heads and Hands class at the academy (AAU), and just started so pretty soon these portraits are going to be very good soon, instead of just pretty good.

1000 Hits!!!!!!

 

This is a little over due, but I'm very happy to present the 1000 Hits picture!  I'm so happy that this little blog is starting to get some recognition and that it's starting to go somewhere.  I have not been feeling well as of late, so sorry things have slowed down.  However, I'm starting to feel much better and am looking forward to many great things to come.  I have just come back from the NDK 2011, the biggest anime convention in Denver at the moment, and I am glad to say that I am inspired to get out there finally.  

Just a little heads up, I am working on a children's book and a web comic.  I have some art commissions to work on at the moment too ^.^!  Unfortunately, I don't know how these will come out or when at the moment, so just keep your eyes peeled but don't hold your breath.  Another school semester has started, and that's going to be taking up some time.  I will also be making some changes to this blog to try and make it a little more awesome.  Thanks! 

Project 1/6 scale USAC Midget RC

One of my hobbies now is RC racing.  I'm a really big fan of racing in general, there's nothing like a good race.  On my travels and exploration through cyber space I've come across 1/4 scale RC racing.  They have Nascar bodies and also open wheel sprint car chassis you can get.  I thought they were increadibly cool since they have more detail being bigger, and the physics of the handling is more realistic carrying more weight.  They usually race on Quarter Midget tracks.  The big draw back is these cars are over $2,000 a piece and will cost more keeping the gas tank full, tires, and repair costs from crashing.  Also, many companies have gone out of business in the 1/4 scale racing racket and some parts are now hard to come by.  Well, I really want to get into this kind of thing, and 1/4 scale - well, is a little big; so I just decided I should just make my own and to my liking.

So, I have decided to make a 1/6 scale RC Midget.  Which, no is not a little rc short guy, but an open wheel race car similar to a Sprint Car.  A 1/6 scale Midget will be about 20-21 inches long and about 9 1/2 inches tall.  It's possible I may bump the scale up to 1/5 making the total length about 24-25 inches long, but I'm not sure about that yet.  The car will be big enough to fit a 12" tall G.I. Joe figure in it.  It will also look more like a diecast car than a toy.  They goal is to make the car realistic, like an actual USAC Beast dirt Midget.  To have enough weight and power to get the car sideways through a turn, so the driver will have to use realistic driving techniques to race the little thing.  I think it's a good size to bring in "realism" and the ability to race it competitively.  It won't be just for show, though I want it to look that way.  First, I'll build this as a model to test the size and weight of the car, then I'll be fitting it with a servo, engine, etc.  This is going to be a long project, so don't expect anything soon, but I'm looking forward to working on this project of mine.

Here are some pics of a diecast midget I got.  It's going to serve as inspiration and a guide to building my version which will have several alterations as I will be using the USAC rule book to help make dimensions.  This is Cory Krusman's #21k Lucas Oil Midget.  A pretty cool diecast I'm proud to own by R&R Enterprises.

I wonder what this will look like when it's about 20 inches long? 

Forget those other open wheel RC cars, I want an RC with this much detail!

It has always been a dream of mine to get behind the wheel of one of these cars.  They're small, light, and have a grip of horse power for it's size.

Change of Plans

I'm still here in Colorado, a beautiful state to live in, but I'm a little sad that my move to San Francisco didn't work out as planned.  Plans don't always work out the way you want them too.  That's life for you, always keeping things interesting.  Well, this is a seemingly big disaster which is working out differently than I expected.  When doors in life close, others open.  Being positive when things go bad is hard, but I have found there are many new opportunities out here in Colorado I can do, all the while still being an online student at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.  I will be working on some side projects of my own here which you will be seeing shortly.  One of the bigger of these side projects is my children's book which will be unveiled shortly.  It's going to take me several months to finish, but I finally have some time to work on this big project finally.  I will also have some time to work on some writing and preparing for the next story project of mine, a western which will most likely become a web comic.  I don't know the time frame for it at the moment, but I'm very excited about this change of events.  I'm deeply sad I'm not in San Fran right now with old friends, but I'm glad that I will be able to take advantage of this time and get some side projects done and hopefully make some money being an artist.

I decided to show the part of the world I live in.  This is around where my family lives, Boulder County and a great view of the Flatirons.  This spot is a couple minutes south of where I live.  There are some great farm land tucked away around here.  Come Fall when the leaves change colors, there are some beautiful spots to take a drive, but you have to know where those back roads are - and, I do ^.^.