cheezy art

The Golden Rule

2011-11-28T22:17:00.000-08:00

We all know how well we get to know our coworkers when you work beside them 9 hours a day. That's the basis of this piece. The Golden Rule. This is a guy who likes to emphasize things my exaggeration. If a task will take a long time to do, it will either take 7 years, or 900 years. That's the Golden Rule.

Above Final

Above Rough
It started off as a rough post-it and has been sitting in my sketchbook for almost a year. I laid in a really rough idea of how I wanted him posed. Then went straight to clean up and color.

The Cup and Cakes, the Cupcakes!

2011-11-06T20:24:00.000-08:00

www.urbanfoodcrawl.com
Urban Food Crawl hosted a vegan cupcake baking competition with local bakers on Sunday, November 6th 2011. This event was also an art gallery, of which I submitted two pieces for. Proceeds for all art sales would go to the winning baker's charity of choice. How could I NOT submit art? Here are the pieces I submitted, as well as an abandoned piece. While I was at the event, one did get sold. Not sure if the other did eventually or not. I had fun working on them and it gave me a reason to post art again. ;) I hate that this is all that is "post-worthy" in my 9 month absence. :P

PIECE 1
Title: "Sweet."
-I was heavily influenced by the "Love Is..." art that I used to see in the LA Times newspaper growing up. They were simple drawings, no color, and just pure, cute, innocence. Also an influence was Norman Rockwell. His facial expressions are always so ...expressive. I wanted to mix the two styles and here is what I came up with.

Above Final

Above Rough

Above rough small post-it thumbnail concept :)

PIECE 2
Title: "Math...ish."
-This piece seems like not much thought was put into it. That is only partially true. The old school artist in me wanted to do a piece that was very simple in design, and also a play on words. Both my pieces were essentially a play on the words. I like doing pieces that bring a smile to my face. It's a great feeling when you draw and make yourself smile or laugh. That is the joy of this craft to me. :)

Above Final (and this one was SOLD!)

PIECE 3 (abandoned idea)
Title: No Title
-Another attempt at a play on words...I did not like the end result at all. I was going for somewhat of a surreal look to it. I love Magritte. This was my attempt at it.

Check out www.urbanfoodcrawl.com if you're interested in vegan food tours in downtown los angeles, and now also touring in silverlake! :D

Above Final

The Thank You Look

2011-02-10T21:27:00.000-08:00

My cousin's little boy, Canyon, likes to thank people by tilting his head down, rolling his eyes up a bit in a scary way, and say, "thank you." That's it.

Above Final

Above Rough

The Burtonette!

2011-01-29T10:35:00.000-08:00

A piece I did for my PA, Jen. She's a big Tim Burton fan, so that is where this idea came from. Fun piece to work on. Re-did the dress' line work A LOT to get it where I liked it.

Above Final.

Above Roughs.

The Guns!

2010-09-07T23:25:00.000-07:00

SIGH...Not to be a downer again, but I'm one boring bastard. I keep playing it safe and I don't realize it until I take a step back. And I don't really take a step back until I start applying color. GAH!! Anyways, still had fun with this.

Above Final.

Above Rough.

The Ouchie...

2010-09-06T23:29:00.000-07:00

Ooooo, little Mac-y got an ouchie from hot glue gun. Pfffft.
The final ended up a bit different, and I feel like I took a few steps back and started to draw him how I used to. I think I gradually went safer and safer. May need to revisit and push more...as usual.

Above Final.

Above rough.

The Hrrrr

2010-08-27T00:55:00.000-07:00

Pretty happy with how this turned out. But there is ALWAYS room for improvement. Another thing I struggle with is mouth shapes. I feel like I cheated just a little by adding the little puffs of wind to emphasize him blowing air out of his mouth. But this was a fun one to work on. Definitely felt like I could use much more creative freedom and not be restricted to how he looks in person. Some people just allow for that.

Above Final

Above rough, about 1-inch by 1-inch. LOL!

The Dealio

2010-08-27T00:47:00.000-07:00

Struggled with this one a bit because I feel like I kept focusing on how the hair should fall on his head. I have a really difficult time with hair and the volume. I wanted to simplify the shape of the hair, and ended up simplifying everything else. So it feels very plain. But it is almost fitting because Patrick has a kind of monotone delivery in his voice. He asks for status updates and usually poses the question, "What's goin on?" or "What's the deal with ____?"

Above Final

Rough Sketch (low res is an inside joke)

Definitely feel like revisiting this one and pushing some other characteristics and personality...

The Mouse go Splat!

2010-07-20T00:54:00.000-07:00

A co-worker, and friend, is on his way to bigger and better things at Disney. I worked with him at Nickelodeon for quite some time. I always felt Nickelodeon in his blood, and I still do. I also liked the way my buddy Andrew pronounced his last name "Gartsa". And his last name is Garza. This drawing was easy, but fun. We were both fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender, so I tried to keep things as loose as I could allow myself to be. Putting juuuust a little bit of the show into the drawing.

Above Final

Above Rough
-I really didn't like the shape of the head on the larger drawing. Yet I kept trying to fix it. Then I did a quicker one below and was more satisfied. Funny how that works.

The FangBanger!

2010-07-20T00:47:00.000-07:00

After watching the first 2 episodes of True Blood Season 1 when it first aired...I was not sold on the show. I let the first season wrap, and then caught up with the remaining episodes on DVD. And boy was it worth it. Season 2 was great, and Season 3 is off to a great start. Thanks to my homegirl "Tibo", here's my little homage to her and Merlott's Bar and Grill! (PS: I struggle drawing women, so this took a while and probably is a bit stiffer than I'd like)

Above Final

Above Rough

The Turtle Toon!

2010-07-13T00:31:00.000-07:00

Homeboy Alex "Toon!" Deligiannis. I was on a roll tonight, so knocked this one out pretty fast.

Above Final.

Above Rough.

The Cheeky is Squinty

2010-07-12T22:52:00.000-07:00

Alright, it's time to restart my restart of this blog! I am uploading some art I worked on. For those of you who don't know, Sean "Cheeks" Galloway is a talented character designer and much more. He's taking on the task of doing 500 headshots right now, and I can't help but be inspired by that. I remember a funky photo he took leading up to Heroes con, and I'm using that as the goofy head reference. For me, it's always a challenge to exaggerate proportions. And I hate how I only realize it after I've colored it. I literally go all in, and without taking a step back, I finish it. I'm trying to break free from that.
Check it.

Above is my final piece. Pretty straightforward.

Above, my pencil/pen work with the reference photo.

Above, my revisited quick sketch. Trying to be less stiff.

The Jester and the Mystery Lady

2008-09-06T22:15:00.000-07:00

Two separate drawing sessions. Both had interesting costumed models.

First up is The Jester. Once again, I tried to approach the drawings with focusing on shapes and not the details. I literally had about 4 pages of drawings that were all over the place because I kept starting off with a shape, and then get right back into the details. So I didn't even bother scanning those.

In this first scan, the details are still kinda there, but it is much more simplified than the first pages.

Next up, The Mystery Lady.

She had complicated attire. Stripes on a tight fitting dress, a funky hat, and trench coat with dangling belt. Details, details, details! It was scary to attack this drawing with all that in mind, so I did my best to simplify. You will see more of the simplifications in the second scan.

Well, that is the end of that 6 week drawing course. I may not have much life drawings to post, but will continue to work on some other random drawings.

Cheezy, out!

The Old Life

2008-08-07T23:24:00.000-07:00

Hey folks. Just a few life drawings done here at the studio during lunch. Models come in costume and we draw. Poses range from 2 minutes to 5 minutes. Nothing special, just quick sketches. I try to approach each pose a little differently each time. Just to see if I can find something new.

I like to draw more simplified, cartoony looking people, but when drawing from life, I don't feel like I can use my imagination as well. I tend to want to draw things just as I see them. And I don't do THAT very well. ;)

The Con

2008-07-22T23:18:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving for San Diego Comic Con Thursday morning. I'm quite excited, as I have never made a Thursday trip down there. Seeing how busy it was on Friday AND Saturday of 2007, really made me not want to go this year. But I'm going free as a professional and I got a friend's place to crash at. Going on a Thursday also might mean I will get a full day WITHOUT literally bumping into my fellow geeks. :)

Anyways, I figure I could squeeze in another post of drawing before I'm off to the con. Some of these are just real quick sketches of fellow coworkers.

First up, "Swany Soccer Man"

Next, "The Daily Ritual"

Then, "Before Crazy"

Lastly, "Not To Be Confused With TaeBo"

I tend to not finish things. The goal is to revisit these, as well as my older posts, and color them. I love to just sketch things, but I need to get more familiar with color, which I think will help me draw less "flat" and get into creating my own light sources.

"The Con" title refers to Comic Con, as well as how I feel like this post is a con, or a cheat, in that these are not drawings that took a long time or had much thought. The first one took me like 15 minutes, and the last one with color took about 5 minutes.

Anyways, see you all at San Diego if you're going!

The Inspiration

2008-07-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

Alright, so it's the 4th of July and I'm not out there enjoying nature and stuffing my mouth with freshly grilled burgers. Is that lame? Kinda. But I awoke this morning, felt good about not having to be at work, and just felt this creative boost of energy. So I turned on the fan, hit the light on my drawing desk, powered up my MacBook, and let Pandora play. Today's posts are not today's drawings, but something I worked on this week for a my budd Bert's 50th birthday. Anyone that knows me, knows I'm a huge Laker fan. But Bert is NOT.

First up, some sketches of how I want to capture his excitement. I suck at really exaggerated poses. I always end up sticking to a more "normal" pose, when I should really try to push a drawing to it's limits. It will be a process.

Next, I kind of decide on what I'm looking for in his pose. So I add the stars of the Boston Celtics. I took maybe 2 passes on them once I got the heads locked down the way I wanted. Used a lot of photo reference, doodles (most were too light to scan), and advice from fellow artist Kelly Matten. Thanks Kelly! :)

Here is the final piece with color. There was more added, like text bubbles, but that is something a little more personal that was framed for Bert. An inside joke. But as you can see, I wanted to break up the negative space around the players. They were all too evenly spread apart. Also wanted to vary their poses.

So, this is a fitting title for this post. The Celtics obviously had an incredibly inspirational win this season. Garnett finally got his ring, and I couldn't be happier for the guy. Pierce is also very deserving. Bert's 50th birthday is a big milestone for him, his wife, and his daughter. His party was a lot of fun. And on this day, we celebrate our day of independence.

WOW. I really never fail to be cheezy. I almost made myself throw up just now.

Oh, and as for TODAY'S actual drawings, they will probably go on my MySpace page. I use MySpace to post drawings of my fellow CSUF alum group, which is what I worked on today. So if you're on my MySpace friends list, check it out. I may still post it here as well.

The Lovely Break

2008-06-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

Who's that co-worker? I'm planning a series of little drawings of my fellow co-workers here at the studio. I want to capture them at certain moments that not necessarily show the kind of person they are, but show just one aspect of them that sticks out to me. I guess I won't name them for sake of letting this be a mystery and not embarrass anyone. Unless I think it won't be a problem. :) With that, here is my next piece.

-This is the original sketch. I peered down from the third floor of the "condos" as they call the building I'm in. There are some couches, chairs, tables, table hockey table, and a round, red/orange circular couch. This friend of mine was just laying there taking a break on the circular couch as the sun shined down near noon. I thought the pose just really showed a great hour-glass form. In hindsight, I could've exaggerated the pose much more...but it is what it is. I drew it based on memory, roughly 2 weeks later.

-The finished piece. The great thing about her outfit, is the green against the red/orange couch was very "Nickelodeon". The couch is really more of a red, but with the sun on it, I took a little liberty with the color. I am still very new to coloring my pieces. I don't like the end results very much, but I feel like posting this will give me more chances at looking at it multiple times. I'm on the internet often and occasionally find myself on my own blog again, revisiting my art. I love how wild her hair looked that day!

The Idle Quickies

2008-06-07T14:27:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted since my big rebirth of creativity. BUT, that's not to say I haven't been drawing! I have since, did a lot of little thumbnail "studies", posted 3 or so pieces on my MySpace page as part of my little group of CSUF Alums monthly drawing assignments, and I had 2 pieces of art shown at the Nickelodeon University Gallery which just ended I believe.

Title - Rediscovery: Baby Steps
This basically reminded me of my early years in drawing. It also gave me this visual association of a baby going from crawling, to taking small steps, to fully walking. The famous images of evolution was also an inspiration for the title.

Title - Rediscovery: Confidence
Personally, it was confidence in myself as an artist, getting back into form. The model also struck a number of poses displaying confidence. Sound cheesy, I know. Welcome to my blog.

And now, the actual Idle Quickies. The following 4 quickies are all from the same day. This was done roughly a month ago.

-This was the first incident of the morning on my way to the studio. Driving along Magnolia, I saw a rather big African American guy standing outside Walgreens. He had a plastic bag in his left hand and he was violently pointing and saying something to two employees who were positioned as if blocking both entrances. I tried to hear what he was saying, but I will never know.

-Just after the Walgreens, I saw this old couple at a bus stop. The man was obviously tired of the nagging.

-On my way home, this really skinny kid was wearing a over-sized t-shirt and baggy jeans. But he had this musical aura around him as he had his white headphones on, with an iPod shuffle clipped onto his shirt.

-And at the end of the day, I come back to the apartment. My roommate is in the kitchen with a glass of water. We always end up talking about movies and superheroes, and this night was no different. I remember him striking a pose as he was talking about Wolverine. I kept noticing the water in his glass about to spill. I also noticed his belly button. But at the same time, I was listening to everything he was saying. He was talking about the adamantium.

So, eventually I will clean these up and/or color them. Maybe a week at a time, or sporadically. Enojoy!

INCOMING!!!!

2008-04-12T14:41:00.000-07:00

As you can see from my first post down there, I lack discipline. (that makes me giggle because of a celebrity prank call using Arnold Schwarzenegger's movie clips audio to fool people) Anyways, it's true. We all know how quickly life can just pass you by. I've come to sort of a new awakening in terms of finding my creativity again. Various things in life and work have pushed me back in the direction I've always wanted to go. So, without further ado, the first of many art postings! This is just a goofy thing I've always had in mind when I got around to posting on here.

This is my first shot at really using my Wacom Tablet...which is only 3.5in X 5in! But hey, I'm getting used to it. I'm very jealous at everyone using a Cintique at work. I've snuck in a quick doodle or two when people are away from their desks. :)

2006-02-21T15:02:00.000-08:00

testing the waters.

get ready for some cheeze.