Crystal Cove Car Show

Every Saturday morning a group of car buffs get together and show their cars. I drive my 62 Cooper down and park it next to some really nice high end cars once in a while. I love gorgeous designs. This weekend an original Jaguar E-Type racer was on hand, along with a really nice Cortina, an Alfa Romeo GTV, a Fiat Abarth 750 GT Double Bubble and another favorite of mine, the Dino. It's a great gathering each week at Crystal Cove, you can see something new every time you show up. The nice thing about this show is that it's free and that the cars show up at 6:45 and are out by 9:00 which leaves the rest of the day to get chores done.

Female Pirates, ARRRR!

Mini Run Redo

I repainted this image using only the Sargent Brush in Painter.

Light Demo

One Eyed Pete

Back to Pirates

Almost Done

Added a bit more detail

Another Small update

I'm trying to squeeze this in amongst the 52 illustrations that I have done in the past 19 days. I think 2 out of the four projects are now complete. I worked mainly on the red car and the ground. The pespective had gotten a bit wonky on old red. I think this works better.

Update

More ARRRGH!

Fish

The Great Race

This is another competition piece that I'm working on when I find the time.

Another Pirate

Pirate King

I'm also working on the art for Pirate King, a board game put out by Temple Games.

Jayne

I'm currently working on some Jayne Mansfield DVD covers.

Tamiya Con 2006

My buddy works at Tamiya America. Each year they have a convention in which modelers come from all over the country to display their craft. The winners get a trip to Japan to visit the manufacturing plant. My buddy enlists some of us in the historical group to bring out our stuff. We play on tanks for two while the modelers take pictures of authentic equipment, weapons and vehicles. I brought my mini out this year too. Marines that are stationed in 29 Palms also come out. I got to talk with several of them that have served two tours in Iraq. They are great young men. I look forward to talking with them tomorrow. Many of them were amazed at all the historic stuff we bring out.

My mini, next to a halftrack.

1942 M-4 Sherman

M-5 Stuart

Abrams

When Demos go Average

Well, today I struggled. My demo was very average. Though i told them that I would post it anyway.

Good News

I recently took an honorable mention in the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrator competition with the image below. The theme was discovery.

Finished

I finished my Journey Begins Image way before the scheduled deadline. Here it is. I think I'll start another.

Good Bye

My son comes home and sees me working on the image below that I have posted in previous stages. It's still not finished. He asks why the mice are leaving their mommy and daddy. I told him that all young ones leave their mommy and daddy when they get older. Wow was that a mistake. He thought he would have to leave us some time soon and he repeated over and over that he will never leave us. After some time explaining without him understanding, I just said, Jared, you're going to live with daddy forever. It's quiet now. And here I thought this was a cute painting so far.

Another Marilyn

Update

CGTALK WIP

CGTalk recently announced their new Work in Progress Competition. The theme is, the journey begins. Here is my initial comped up image. The foreground and the BG have not yet been developed. i will post more development on this as I have time.

Scary Guy

A sketch during a faculty meeting. What was I thinking?

The Hit

Marilyn Project

Wow, that was fast. I turned it in and within two days it's on Amazon
I had the fun opportunity to work with an old friend from school. She is one of the best entertainment designers I know. Psst - she did the Star Wars boxed set, among many other things. She's also a KeyArt award winner. Cheryl recently opened her own studio Menagerie Creative. I get to repaint some old movie standards or make new paintings that look like old movie posters for her. There are four more Marilyn titles coming soon. Cheryl does all the great layout and design work, then tells me what to paint.

Another Arrgh

New San Fran

Just a sketch that I doodle up, not sure if I'll finish it.

Victory

We have victory. Got the little 62 up and running. Just about a whole clutch replacement and several other items, now maybe I'll get my weekends free again. Drove it all over and boy was it fun.

Bad Guys

Mini Run

I just finished a bunch of paintings for work and wanted to just paint a little something for me this evening.

The Discovery

I had a small bit of time to take this image a bit farther

St Angeles Run

Beautiful day despite the rain. Only about twelve Minis showed up for this one. I think the rain kept the big crowd away.

Block-in Demo

This weeks Block-n Demo. I think I may finish this one.

Painting Process

I get asked now and again about my digital painting process. The following image is from a competition on cgtalk. Done in Painter

1. I develop a rough sketch to set the composition.
2. I block in my darks in Painter using digital watercolor (simple water brush). When I'm done in digital watercolor, I make sure I dry it, (under the layers menu). I'm working out my general shapes and then I'll get more specific. This is quick.
3. I start to bring back some light to set the mood. Starting to paint opaquely with digital airbrush.
4. Playing with contrast, lights vs. darks, warms vs. cools Adding more props for story. I get a natural painting look by using digital acrylic and or digital oil with my special custom brushes.
5. Finally the detail, this is where I slow down a bit. I DO NOT work in layers. I paint it on one digital layer, just like I paint traditionally.
6. Close-up

Give Them Sugar

On Sunday evening my wife was talking with several of the neighborhood moms. Their kids go to the public school in our area. The moms were discussing how wonderful it was that the district was promoting a sugar-free Valentine’s Day. When she told me about the conversation, I laughed. Being in education, I’m amazed at what PC has done to children. I say, give them sugar.

I spent part of yesterday helping out in my son’s class for their Valentine’s party. He goes to a private school. They had a great time passing out candy to each other and having giant, and I mean giant, Ice Cream Sundays. So what if we ran about a bit more when we got home. At least he wasn’t running to the bathroom every few minutes because he got granola bars instead.

Marilyn

Help Me!!

In my last post I revealed that I have become a third-person talker like Jimmy on Seinfeld. Now I'm turning into Clark W. Griswald. I've been working on a lot of free-lance lately. While waiting to hear back from a client on some concepts, I decided to go on Ebay and look for stuff. I found the exact slot car set that I had when I was a kid. I bought it for my boys. Okay, for me too. Have I mentioned that they are into cars. So then I proceeded to design a T-shirt for me and my boys for next weeks Mini Run and for when we race in our own living room with our newly purchased treasure. We'll have to force my wife to wear one. I used to be cool, well maybe on the dorky side of cool. Now I'm an absolute Geek. At least it's not apparent to my boys yet. My wife on the other hand...

sideache@sideache.net

The Invisible Transformation

It took three short, consecutive sentences to confirm the transformation. I vowed to resist it, but to no avail. I saw it on a Seinfeld episode and commented that people that do that are hilarious, but not in the funny way.

I dropped my son off for school this morning. It was then that the reality set in. He likes for me to wait with him in line before he goes into class. As we waited, I leaned into him and said, Daddy’s cold. Daddy’s going to stand in the sun. Daddy was silly to not wear his jacket.” Then it hit me. I smiled and tried to remember when the transformation had occurred. It must have been gradual because I could not pin-point a particular incident when it began. Today it was confirmed however, I have become a third-person talker. That's what happens when you become a parent. Daddy is smiling right now.

2-9-2006 Demo

ARRGH!

Hoe Hum

Some days, work is a grind. Actually, I enjoy my job tremendously. I get to draw and paint and make money. I teach at the university now, but I still do what I used to before that. It allows my wife to stay home with the kids. I've noticed several examples of when artists go into education, they cease producing art. That‘s not going to happen to me. I enjoy illustrating way too much. Though my wife is concerned that I may be enjoying my latest project more than usual.

I can’t show you the context of this project at this time, but I will be painting Marilyn several more times over the next week. Bummer!

sideache@sideache.net

Ship Sketch

WW1 battle sketch

Pumpkin Head

Todays Demo

A quick painter demo for todays class.