Annual Holiday Party 2016

Every year we get older and fewer.  Had a blast last night.  X Disney folks:  the incredible Charles Pickens, the crazy Alex Topete, me, Cynthia French,

and long lost Matt Haber, who was merely 19 yrs old when we worked on Tarzan.  Little brother who has come home.

Shoten Zenjin

Shoten Zenjin:  The strength and confidence you build from within will flow through out.  Meaning that protection from the environment comes from how strong your beliefs are within yourself.

I'm call this done!  Now I can get back to my life!

Still have some problems, but I need to move on.

This year I will be doing exercises in:

Establishing better color harmonies
Working in better cohesive lighting and shadows
Some special effects; blurring, etc.
Being aware of edges and how to better tell the story with soft and crisp edges and where their use is best appropriate for the story

Gorgeous painting from Art Director and traditional fine art painter Sergio Lobato.  Sergio was one of my first art directors in Marin County.  Back in my early thirties he was head of a fantasy role playing game called Stronghold which was an EA title.  It was my first commercial art job and it was a time when computer games were being birthed, startup game companies literally multiplied overnight, and  energy exploded onto the never before seen digital realm; employing many artists in an otherwise dead industry.  It was so much fun.  We'd have these hilarious art parties at Sergio and Sarah's place in Marin, dancing and some drinking (I can't drink but I loved to dance!), hang out in the city to connect with some of the Art Academy crowd, have meals in North Beach.  No kids, no mortgages, many of us on the cusp of committed relationships and hanging out to draw the figure and explore museums.  It was the first time I felt I belonged anywhere and had finally found my tribe.  I saw many changes in the four years I was there.  We quickly went from low rez to high rez games in a matter of months.  First person shooter game in which people could play against each other was a break out low rez game called Doom.  The programmers rigged it up so that we could play against each other.  This game revolutionized the gaming industry and was the model for the quick actioned first person perspective~soon after that, the Star Wars game came out.  The breath taking game Myst was being played all over the office.  Lara Croft, Tomb Raider made her first appearance.  I had never seen a female for a lead character in a game before.  One of my first games at Stormfront Studios was Eagle Eye Detectives, art directed by Sergio, which was a terrific educational game and too bad it is no longer available; as it was fun to play and well written (by Sarah Stocker, who married Serge, and co written with Ken Eklund).  Sergio was, and still is, one of my favorite people to work with.  He has no ego.  He can effortlessly lead a team and encourage the best out of the artists and has one of the greatest senses of humor of anyone I've known.  Stormfront Studios hired some of the best talent in the Bay Area at the time; and I just got off the phone with Serge and we laughed about the nuts that we worked with.  Great artists, wacky people; it goes hand in hand.  Here is his link:  http://thebadgersholt.blogspot.com/

HOMESTRETCH!  Gonna try to finish this up by the weekend~

Pencil sketches, traditional Blackwing

Morning quick sketches.  Been doing so much digital, need to move a real pencil.  This is the best time for me, first thing in the morning after breakfast and a little coffee-pencil springs energetically with confidence.  It fades as the day gets longer and I get older, ha ha.  Listening to George.  Ezra, that is

Update on Shoten Zenjin:  Correction on face.  Mo better.  The shadow shapes and face now better match the drawing.  This is what I struggle with:  keeping the painting faithful to the pencil~esp. the face.  It's here that's the money maker.  Other elements can be a bit loose, but the face is the center of the illustration and be the first thing that reads.  I do have to come back and adjust the values since it is much too light for the over all painting.

Burbank Equestrian Center:  Tried to get to Griffith Park Observatory but there was just too much traffic.  Opted for the horses instead.  The Clydesdales were in the "show" stable, fresh from the Rose Bowl, I'm assuming and caught them in the 4 o:clock shadow.  Acrylic in sketchbook; extreme limited palette: maybe five colors and white.

Equestrian Center