Trinquette Challenge

Hey yooo~ I've been gone too long...  I feel like there's a lot to talk about but I'm always too preoccupied with whatever to write it down. I'll try to squeeze in a few posts this week, maybe to talk about some recent art books I got or movies I saw. Anyway, today was a productive night. The very talented Alberto Ruiz has been doing a weekly drawing challenge for the past few months via his facebook page, and tonight I decided to participate for the first time! Basically, he posts a photo and you use it as reference for whatever art piece you'd like to make. It's totally open to your interpretation as long as you use the source material. I had been meaning to start doing these challenges for the longest time, but yeah, you know...

Original image (I do not own this image, it is used for practice purposes only) :

My interpretation:

Nothing very creative, at least not like a lot of the submissions I see with these challenges, but perhaps next time... I just wanted to use this as a study piece :). Added the numbers because why the hell not? What do they mean? No idea. It's all the same woman, so uh.. clones..?

Leyendecker

Lisa got this book for me today. I've been wanting a Leyendecker book for some time now because his work is of some of the few classics that really speak to me. I'd like to study the way he approached his paintings and in the process bring some experimenting with his style into my own art. I just really love how he does both sharp and smooth strokes, which oddly enough speaks to me as being static, but not stiff nor lifeless. His paintings are very much alive and express a lot through movement, style, and technique. One thing that really fascinates me is his use of shading, where he'll use a thick brush to lay down parallel strokes, but just do enough and in the right length and direction, that it doesn't look too busy or wrong. They just fit with everything else and actually help give life to the piece. I'm excited to jump in and see what I learn.

More Leyendecker art can be found here.

Gosu!

My friend, Aaron Oak, is running a project on indiegogo for an eSports lounge called Gosu in Seattle. It's a great idea, and with Seattle's gaming community as big as it is, I think it's much needed. I'm helping Aaron with the rewards, and will be drawing characters from a few of the games which will be playable at Gosu. If you contribute $100 or more to the project you'll get a print of one of the characters :). There are also many other cool goodies you can get by supporting the project, so if you're in the Seattle area and think this would be awesome, please help Aaron out. Or spread the word and get other residents of Seattle aware of the project!

 Example of one of the prints: Keeper of the Light from DOTA2

Art dump time!

A few character sketches I did during lunch at work.

Did these short comic strips for my friends Ana-Maria and Justin for their newsletter that they handed out at their wedding :)

Another wedding related art piece for my friends Robbie and Becca. These were for their thank-you cards.

Sketches from reference.

Legend of Korra fanart.

Gravity Falls fanart. Side note: Gravity Falls is probably the best cartoon on TV right now. Watch it.