MSO

Twisting in the Wind

2011-03-24T21:22:00.000-07:00

Royal jellyfish battleflag elephant roar warstaff racetrack

spot & process color examples

2011-02-07T19:08:00.000-08:00

ZebraTech

2011-01-18T20:01:00.000-08:00

Does your zebra [Z] like this?

SN & R hand lettering

2011-01-18T18:19:00.000-08:00

I modified a classic font for these ultra-loose fairy tale letters. I've been experimenting with either loose or tight lines lately, and people seem to prefer the other one. That's just the kind of textual humour we begrudgingly offer here at MSO. Our convenient service charges have 3 easy payment plans that you get to name yourself!

flathead pen practice

2011-01-12T18:39:00.000-08:00

namesake logotype

2011-01-05T17:32:00.001-08:00

VESL logo test print

2011-01-02T01:23:00.000-08:00

United States Constitution booklet design

2010-12-11T22:12:00.000-08:00

Free 2011 Calendar Pages!

2010-12-09T20:56:00.000-08:00

I made these 2 pages for the ARC student art calendar using nib and ink. The goal was to make something different from the typical computer grid look while leaving space to write in the squares. The smears were intentional, and fun to do.

red vs. blue flyer

2010-11-13T00:46:00.000-08:00

band flyer example

2010-11-13T00:44:00.000-08:00

Primary Color Study

2010-11-11T16:26:00.000-08:00

Frogbox Newsstand

2010-09-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

These are photos of a newsstand I painted for Sacramento News & Review:

Frogbox Newsstand in progress

2010-09-16T17:12:00.000-07:00

"Backyard Optical Mixer" painting

2010-08-04T20:42:00.000-07:00

18x24" oil on canvas

"The Ring Bearer" painting

2010-06-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

18x24" Oil on panel

"Forest Mountain Stream" painting

2010-06-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

18x24" Oil on canvas

"Bride of Frankenstein's Monster" painting

2010-06-08T18:55:00.000-07:00

12x12" oil on panel

"Glass Wig Bone Plastic Wood" still life painting

2010-06-07T17:48:00.000-07:00

23x24" oil on panel

"Sunset Mountain" Painting

2010-05-30T09:25:00.000-07:00

18x24" Oil on canvas

"Clamps N' Gourds" Painting

2010-05-28T14:48:00.000-07:00

18x24" O.C.

Photo Collage

2010-04-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

"Le Tigre" painting

2010-02-26T16:06:00.000-08:00

18" x 24" spray paint, Japanese sumi ink, and acrylics on paper.

"Sickness for Sale" painting

2010-02-26T16:03:00.001-08:00

18" x 24" acrylic on canvas

This is the best photo I have so far, I will update one with better lighting soon.

Station Abstract

2010-01-14T01:27:00.000-08:00

18" x 24" Acrylic and spray paint.

Just a Moment

2009-12-28T14:42:00.000-08:00

Self Portrait 2009

2009-12-24T00:50:00.000-08:00

"Cold Shoulder at Sunrise" Painting

2009-12-04T09:18:00.000-08:00

This painting is of a woman named Eve hiding a certain piece of fruit from a strong light source. It will be at the E Street Gallery for show and sale from December 12th to January 9th.

E Street Gallery & Studios

1115 E St.

Sacramento, CA 95814

"Cold Shoulder" Painting Progression

2009-12-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

"Fractured Minds" Painting

2009-12-04T02:01:00.000-08:00

I painted this 3 foot panel on my friends entertainment center.

Self Portrait Concepts

2009-11-24T18:29:00.000-08:00

These are 4 different concepts for a self portrait assignment:

Bring It

2009-11-16T03:20:00.001-08:00

Day of the Dead Bobble-Head

2009-10-28T16:52:00.001-07:00

Here's an extra credit deal for an art history class. Skull head printouts provided by www.skulladay.com .

Orange and Lemon Still Life Photos

2009-10-04T00:22:00.000-07:00

We have a tree that drops oranges, lemons and hybrid ora-mons. I thought someone might be able to use these photos of the harvest.

333

2009-10-02T01:04:00.001-07:00

Neon Lascaux

2009-09-29T00:48:00.000-07:00

"Ravenous Rulebreaker" painting

2009-09-20T16:48:00.001-07:00

18"x 24" Aerosol and acrylic on canvas

Digital Charcoal

2009-09-11T02:01:00.001-07:00

This is my first assignment in my Corel Painter class.

Preston Blair lessons part 2

2009-08-22T04:04:00.001-07:00

Here's some more of my Preston Blair drawings. The Cartoon Fundamentals blog is now open to the public, so if you're interested in getting critiques for lessons like these- check it out.

Cecil sketch

2009-08-21T02:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a sketch I did of Cecil from a Beany & Cecil comic:

comparison to the original:

rough sketch:

Howie Post study

2009-08-20T01:40:00.001-07:00

This is my redrawing of a Howie Post panel from John K's blog.

Here it is side by side with the original:

Overlay:

and here are the earlier sketches:

Union Reservoir Photos

2009-08-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

I just got back from camping, these are photos and video from the trip.

Happy Little Tree

2009-07-28T18:06:00.000-07:00

I made this tree while playing with Corel Painter and practicing hierarchy. Below are the previous steps in reverse:

Post-it sketch

2009-07-23T13:36:00.001-07:00

Thinga-ma-box

2009-07-11T23:00:00.000-07:00

This poor thing started out as inking practice using real brushes and then was colored digitally. Like Old Yeller, I eventually had to put it down but I gained precious chest hairs in the process.

Do you want to work on a cartoon with us?

2009-06-26T08:49:00.000-07:00

In the beginning, there was John K.'s blog.

Then David Omar (Wicks for Candlesticks), asked some of us to join the Cartoon Fundamentals blog-group where we sharpen our pencils and cartoon skills starting with the Preston Blair book.

Then James Mekilo started The Unofficial Bible of Cartooning blog, which is like the after hours hangout where we share cartoon examples, tips, etc.

So a few of us decided to start a cartoon project where we can get experience working on a cartoon as a group. I figured instead of always doing random drawings on our own, we might as well combine our efforts for a cartoon short. This is worked on in our spare time, and no one is getting paid (unless the cartoon makes money). What you would get is your name in the credits, and of course, all artwork you contribute is yours for your own portfolio.

We named the group The Termites (formerly Project Alpha), in honor of the great Termite Terrace cartoons. We are past the storyboard phase, and are currently working on layouts, some rough animation, and still shots. If you are interested: comment here, email me, or contact one of us.

Current Termites:
Patrick
Hammerson
Wicks for Candlesticks
James Mekilo
Noah Dorsey
..and some guy named Caleb

Here's some still shots that Hammerson did:

These are some space backgrounds Patrick did:

Here's a painting on canvas I did, with a digital tentacle in the foreground:

It is a music video, and most of it is cartoony fun and not as scary as the examples I've shown here. That's all I can say for now!

Painting in Progress

2009-06-22T20:27:00.001-07:00

I've been working on this painting, but I keep thinking of new things to add or change as I go (not smart). It's taking some time because each version has to be presented to a council of Druid visionaries, and then licked by a first-born peasant (who is then ritualistically sacrificed to harness the power of their soul). The final version is still being worked out, but here's some of the steps:

I'm learning a helluva lot from my mistakes on this one.
By the way, NEC SPE NEC METU

Dude-el 01

2009-06-15T13:52:00.000-07:00

Color Theory Charts

2009-06-02T22:00:00.000-07:00

I did these color charts in my color theory class, and I thought the info might be useful. They were done with acrylics.

These first charts show the tints and shades for each basic color. Eventually it shows how you only need 12 tubes of paint to make all colors (black, white+1 warm and 1 cool for: Red, Blue,Yellow, Sienna, Umber).

So with the reds above, the bar at top left shows the color out of the tube (labeled with brand and name). The first column is the tints, 2nd the shades, and 3rd the tinted shades (should be able to see traces of black and white with hue).

The yellows on the left (warm) should feel closer than the set on the right (cool). Also, with Yellow certain mixtures of black make a frog green.

These are the secondary color charts showing the mixtures of the 2 primaries in the bars on right and left. The top 3 circles are tints, and the bottom 4 circles are split into shades and tinted shades.

18 segment color wheel with tints

12 segment color wheel with tints (these are made by mixing cool and warm colors together to make a medium hue).

These are the color harmony theories that can help you find magically matching colors.

Complementary colors are across from each other on the wheel (other examples are red+green, or yellow+violet).

These 2 above are triads with equal distances apart on the wheel (R,B, Y is the primary triad). The Magic Snake Oil logo at the top of this page uses medium hues of the Orange, Green, Violet triad.

Analogous colors are neighbors on the wheel.

Split complementary #1 is the complementary of a color, plus one of it's neighbors.

Split complementary #2 is a color and the 2 neighbors of its complement. Tints and shades should also look good with these color harmonies. If you have any color theory info, put a link in the comments. Here's some blank charts if you want to paint your own:

Ranger Smith Ink 01

2009-05-30T01:22:00.000-07:00

John K. posted a great new story for Ranger Smith here, and I tried inking one of the sketches:

Original Sketch:

Here is a quick color version, with some of the lines getting eaten up by the color in Photoshop:

Shadowboxing

2009-05-22T14:22:00.000-07:00

This is a shadow box I made in 2000, thus the not-at-all-funny title of this post:

Mostly Nature Photos

2009-05-15T17:04:00.000-07:00

These are some photos I've taken, although I'm not sure what you did to deserve this sort of punishment:

Don't have exact change? Recycle!

Icarus Draft

2009-04-10T11:54:00.000-07:00

This is the first draft of an illustration I'm working on for the story of Icarus.

Stimpy Whale by Jim Smith

2009-04-10T09:41:00.001-07:00

I picked up this Stimpy-whale drawing from Jim Smith and framed it.

Marvel at the floating image amongst floating mats. Check out Jim's Chestaclese comic, too.

"It's Both" Painting

2009-03-26T17:00:00.001-07:00

18 x 24" acrylic on canvas

2 Illustrations

2009-03-11T00:22:00.003-07:00

This one above was to illustrate an article about how large amounts of cow emissions are affecting the atmosphere.

Constructing Bugs

2009-02-19T07:22:00.000-08:00

I've been working on reconstructing this Bugs Bunny picture from John K.'s blog:

First I drew the line of action, then the cranium sphere and lined the proportions. My line of action may have been off a little.

black n' white version:

I want to ink this when I get a chance, and have thicker line weights than the original.

Comic #2

2009-02-14T01:45:00.001-08:00

A Moment with Man-Baby

2009-02-13T16:22:00.000-08:00

I recently colored this:

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(ink & paper 18" x 24")

These are idea sketches:

Bomber Duck

2009-01-30T08:19:00.001-08:00

I sketched this after watching a documentary on the innovative Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. The movie (it's a talkie too) reminded me of the bomber ducks (variations of Daffy) that used to be hand painted on the sides of cars and planes. So I drew mine with a bit of an angle and some throttled tears.

The Larry Bowen Gallery

2009-01-23T11:01:00.000-08:00

I started an online gallery for my dad, who was a California outsider artist known mostly for his chainsaw wood-carvings. Eventually, I hope to have photos of the hundreds of pieces he did during his 40+ year career online (for free). He had a very unique, flowing style with influences from hot rods to mythology that I think is worth checking out. Here's the link and some preview pictures:

http://larrybowen.blogspot.com/

Store owner standing next to Larry's largest, 5 story piece in Kyburz,CA.

Larry had many vehicles over the years, and there will be photos of those too.

Little LB says, "more later."

4 Sale 1 Bdrm

2009-01-08T14:16:00.001-08:00

This is my take on the 1902 film, Voyage to the Moon. Within a month I should be moving out of this cozy 1 bdrm and into a house with a drawing room. Didn't we leave a bunch of stuff on the moon the last time we were there? Has Selene found any of it, yet?

My High School Senior Project

2008-12-30T00:24:00.000-08:00

This clip I did way back in 1995 for my H.S. senior project. Since then I added one of my newer songs to it. The walk cycle was drawn, then cut out and filmed as stop motion. It was recorded at 4 frames per second without using computers.

End of Semester

2008-12-19T08:50:00.001-08:00

This is obviously your standard floating, gaseous predator; cruising the desert of its home planet.

This was a fun assignment, to make your own face cards.

Still Lifes from School

2008-12-16T10:16:00.001-08:00

Y do you ask?

These lines above were drawn with erasers.

Man loves to decorate landscapes with his rigid and clunky objects (and Frank Lloyd Wright wept).

These last 2 were inked with nib pens and colored with an ink wash.

Caleb's Color Wheel (of Fortuitous Fortune)

2008-12-13T01:09:00.000-08:00

Pssst...ey, Kid. ka'mere. Need a color wheel? First one's free. Just remember where ya got it.

Earl the Water-Chicken

2008-11-25T23:50:00.000-08:00

Snake = Value

2008-11-21T09:40:00.000-08:00

Here we see a pure-bred Black Mamba by which we extract our wonderful oil (the magic is added later in a factory). We (I) give you value while keeping the simultaneous contrast to a non-toxic level (varying amounts of rat feces may affect results).

Self Portraits and Such

2008-11-19T16:07:00.000-08:00

I recently did this text self portrait for my Adobe Illustrator class, and it reminded me how much I dislike self portraits (even some of the great artists'). I tried to make it somewhat interesting by using a kid photo of me. To me, self portraits always feel sort of ego-maniacal or self-serving. On that note, here's more shards of me:

(WTF u lookin' at?)
Like many white people, I yearn for the blonde hair of my youth.

I did this "selfie" in 1993 in my high school drawing class. As usual, my first instinct was to think of something other people wouldn't do: hence the war paint and disgusted scowl. My constant rebellion with my art teachers assignments finally paid off when I won a Bank of America scholastic art award thing my senior year.

Renderings of Nature: The Water Chicken

2008-11-17T00:27:00.001-08:00

Here we see a field sketch of the elusive, featherless water chicken. This species is endangered, so please only buy rubber chickens made from 100% real rubber.

Design Emphasis

2008-11-13T16:17:00.000-08:00

This project was to show how color and contrast can change the point of focus.

I like you, thanks for stopping by.

Gestalt, Graphite and Mace

2008-11-06T13:29:00.000-08:00

I've been working on this Gestalt image for my drawing class. It's a tile drawing in pencil where we only look at one square at a time, not trying to match to other squares. I think it looks interesting like this picture above, upside down.

(Graphite on paper, 24" x 18")

The original photo:

In case you're wondering, the man near the ground has been maced by the police during a protest and the masked avenger is splashing water in his eyes.

Symmetry designs

2008-11-03T15:51:00.001-08:00

Here's some examples of abstract balance I did for my design class using only primary colors plus black and white:

The 2 above are symmetrical, 2 below are asymmetrical.

Snake Oil Salesman

2008-10-22T16:33:00.001-07:00

I did this sketch, and now I'm inking it and fixing it. His belt buckle should point in the same direction as his (ahem) unicycle seat.

Buster Keaton

2008-10-13T17:20:00.000-07:00

My final ink (above)

"Enhanced" for digital:

original photo:

"Death Can Wait"

2008-10-07T15:31:00.000-07:00

(acrylic on canvas, 18" x 24")

Here is a painting I did, to be used in the animation short I am working on.

Preston Blair eggs

2008-10-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my Preston Blair egg heads, with a little Halloween inspired fake blood. Preston Lessons here

Miscellaneous

2008-09-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

Here's some digital scrap I did from over 5 years ago:

(2 way logo for the band Tool)

The next 3 aren't digital:

(photographed that way near SF)

(drawing from high school)

How to put links in your Blogger comments

2008-09-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

In case you want to use your brain memory for other things besides remembering strings of code, here is what you need to make an html link for comments or whatever:

Everything inside the quotes is the site to link. The 'click here' area between the "> <" are the words that will be linked to.

Inking: George Liquor 2

2008-08-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

Inking: Slab n' Ernie part 2

2008-08-29T15:55:00.000-07:00

Here's Slab and Ernie with some shape fixes such as the nostrils.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original Post:
This is my first draft for inking this Slab N' Ernie pic.
I know it's not perfect, and I'm trying to improve- so if you have any tips, observations, or gripes please comment.

Top Cat sketch

2008-08-26T21:55:00.000-07:00

Here is a sketch of the Top Cat toy.

John K Stuff: Top Cat Turnaround Toy Construction Exercise

Swamp background

2008-08-24T23:27:00.001-07:00

I wanted to experiment with brush strokes painted on real canvas mixed with computer paint. Better results than I expected. It seems cluttered though, next time I'll plan out the composition better.

Video quality settings for YouTube and other streaming sites

2008-08-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

In a blatant attempt to attract more people to this page, I want to help you get your streaming internet videos looking better. Ever wonder why some people's movies look clear, while yours is hazy and has new floating artifacts littered on the picture? Then this post is for you.

The biggest problem to deal with when uploading video to a site like YouTube is that it will be compressed by the site a final time before posting. This is why I've had the best results uploading a large picture size, like 960 x 720. If you upload a movie that is 480 x 360 or less, it will most likely look bad after re-compression and horrible at full screen. Here's some examples of good and bad quality:

(960 x 720 using settings noted below, file size: 254 mb)

(960 x 720 exact same file playing at Youtube's standard quality)

(480 x 360, Frame reorder off, Deinterlace off, Preserve aspect off, file size: 51 mb)

(480 x 360, this file has heavy compression[file size 10mb], but looks normal before uploading. This is what it looks like after re-compression)

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Here are some semi-technical notes I took for exporting a movie out of Flash as a Quicktime file:
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Step 1: Flash exporting

-Export uncompressed .mov out of Flash at [custom:960x720] (better to leave the flash window size as default [720x540?] and change in QT settings, because jpgs will get resized and jagg)(this happens when QT captures the flash swf, I've personally had better results this way than trying to convert a swf file to video in seperate software)

-Frame rate: [29.97i] Even if your Flash movie has a different frame rate, it's best to change it here in the QT settings for the internet since Quicktime captures it from a swf that plays at your movie frame rate.

-Maintain and preserve aspect ratio, using letterbox (if you use ‘current’ size it may jagg)

-Deinterlace (optional; may cause ghosty frames)

-only choose ignore stage color if you want to overlay your movie on some kind of background elsewhere.

-Don’t bother selecting streaming or transcoding yet, since they degrade quality with each time you compress. (the idea here is to have the best uncompressed, giant GB version since Flash isn't ideal for compressing video)

Step 2: Quicktime pro or other video compression software:

Open .mov in Quicktime, and export as h264 Quicktime file movie (if your computer doesn't have this codec, another will work- just keep the picture size big and the file size small enough to upload)

-Multi pass

-Scale: custom, letterbox

-Audio: apple lossless 16kHz mono

-Frame reordering: yes

-Key frame rate: 150

-Prepare for streaming: fast start compressed header

(the audio track can be tweaked depending on dynamic range, less for just talking- more for music)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The file should be ready to upload as long as there is some minor compression to keep the size down to less than 1 GB or whatever the site allows.

I hope this helps, I spent a lot of time tinkering with this mind-numbing info. Let me know if I should make any changes or if it works for you.

Paintings 1

2008-08-16T12:02:00.000-07:00

This is me in 2005 with a commissioned painting I did. Mixed media on canvas 18" x 24".

I am also available to pose awkwardly at parties or get-togethers with facial expressions such as 'the blank'(shown) and 'Icy hot'.

Construction part 1

2008-07-28T17:01:00.000-07:00

Here are a few floating creatures I did for the Preston Blair animation school lesson 1. My computer tablet died, so I'm working on construction until the new one arrives and I can get back to inking.
I'll be doing more of lesson 1 for practice before moving on to
lesson 2.

graphic design examples 1

2008-07-26T23:39:00.000-07:00

These are vinyl labels I designed for Evolution music:

Inking George 1

2008-07-25T11:05:00.001-07:00

Here is a George Liquor inking attempt done in Illustrator. I have hidden the extra lines that are in the next pic.

And this is the separate layers colored. Because of the pose, I figured his head and the left side of the coat would be the only visible parts if he moved. I also tried to keep in mind the strong line of action happening with the right arm.

Jimmy cleanup

2008-07-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a hand drawn cleanup I did of Jimmy. Original by Jim Smith, from John K.'s blog.
His hand originally looked more like a squid, but I couldn't resist Jimmy getting better traction with a football grip. He has other problems like the hair n' feet, but this is only the second time I've tried to draw him.

George Liquor cleanups 2

2008-07-20T01:51:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt at a light table cleanup for George n' Mabel done with black pencil:

Some things in the pic seem solid enough to me, except the right arm of the chair. It also looks more like a skinny cousin of George Liquor. The lines still aren't as cartoony as I'm trying to get.
The next 2 were done in Flash:

I had a lot of fun with this one, it reminded me of old cartoons and art I grew up with. I love how the one picture tells the whole story, I tried to add to that by giving the toaster an unsettled expression. My regret here is using straight thin lines for the more solid objects, they seem too cold and uninviting.

Now I see that George should have a night cap on here instead of a fez. I also gave him a tear, which I'm not sure is in character but I hoped would be funny rolling off a wide cheek. I was going for almost a Flintstones look with the lines, but still not as cartoonish as I intended.

I really learned a lot working on these. In case you don't know, the originals are from John K.'s blog done by Jim Smith.

Constructon part 2

2008-07-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

Sketchy part 2

2008-06-23T15:34:00.000-07:00

A Lawyer You Can Trust

2008-06-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

These shots are from my animated short I'm working on now:

Sketchy 1

2008-06-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

Here's some of my sketches, a few inspired by John K.'s posts

Xod Logo and Graffiti

2008-06-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

Here's some of my pre-2000 stuff, first 2 are spray paint:

This is a double logo I designed my music group Xod: