Alex's Long-board Painting Christmas Present

Preliminary mock-up for the real thing. Digital painting over photo.

Rain Forest Final

Rain Forest Digital Painting

This is a digital painting that I am doing for a student friend for his Lode Runner rendition computer game. Only one of the best classic computer games of all time!!

So this is a rain forest setting with some inspiration drawn from Disney's Tarzan. I still have a significant amount of detailing and rendering left. Another hand full of hours are left.

"No Longer A Pretend Artist"

This piece is inspired by a comment that an instructor made during class one day, "When you're a real artist, you'll have to spend money on your supplies." So for now I guess I am just pretend. It started out as a sketch and then a more traditional digital painting in Painter X with the new bristle tracking tech. That just was not working for me and I thought of a street pop artist named Shepard Fairey. So I put my own twist on his style and feel pretty good about how this turned out.

For those of you that do not know, this is one of seven or eight pieces I created for a portfolio series to gain admittance into a higher level degree program. I am currently a Bacheler Arts majors and will be a Bachelor Fine Arts major in painting, drawing and printmaking.

Sign Language Assignment

This is a drawing assignment for my Intermediate Figure Drawing. The assignment was to spell out a word with at least four letters from the sign language alphabet. The painting style is loosely based off a British painter that I have been studying lately, Jenny Saville. I first did a sketch on paper, scan it, and then added color in Painter X. This could still use one or two more passes to sharpen things up.

"Assassination" cool/warm color palette

This is a color palette reference dealing with cool and warm colors, specifically to double check the color palette of red and green. The five step color palette helped in simplifying the steps and breaking it down.

"Assassination" Sketch

This is the line drawing/cartoon sketch for a large oil painting that I am starting on a 30x48" canvas tomorrow. The point of view is from that of the canvas that this man is slashing. A nice long blood red slash mark will be on top of that with blood splatters and all. This piece is for an assignment dealing with bright and dull colors. The color palette will consist of reds and greens.

FINAL PRODUCT

Well I can't believe it. Its finally done! A great thanks to all of you who saw this through and for all of your great feedback and critiques. This would not have come as far without you. A big thanks goes out to Marc Gabbana for his instrumental feedback and encouragement during the progress of this piece.

So since the last post and all of your feedback, minor changes have been made. The moonlight distance fog has been cut in have (thankfully I kept it on a separate layer, got love layers). The flames above the figures have been increased in their brightness and the level of light pollution. The Inventor and the heart was given more detail and texture to pull it forward as the focal point.

I'm off to go get a frame for the 11"x17" print so that it can be showed in the gallery of the Chico Art Center. Thanks again, it means a lot.

Impressionist Lighting Done

Well after another day and a half I'm pretty far along in the coloring. Its a bit impressionistic, but I'm going to take some time off from working on this and come back to it in a few days or a week. Mostly just figuring out how much more detail should be added and using more textures, which will of course mean boasting the resolution.

I'm planning to make a poster size print and possibly even print it on a real canvas for an art show since very few people show digital art. I still got to research the expenses for putting it on a canvas and the turn around.

One of the things that I noticed about my work is that I've done a lot of interior shots and so I've found my next project. An outdoor shot, which I'm in the process of planning and researching exactly what I want to do. Maybe something less dramatic and more on the peaceful and serene feeling. We'll see.

Starting Color (2 hours)

Had some free time tonight to start on the coloring. We'll see how close I can get to realism in the rendering. Paper Textures should really help, they turned out fairly well on the Inventor's wife's robot flesh, a little rough in spray. I'll upres the canvas after I block in the basic coloring for everything. That's when I will be able to really get in there and get every crack in the brickwork and scratch on the egg cannisters.

Thee Final Line Work!!

So here it is. Finally!! This is around maybe 70-75 hours, largely due to working in small increments as opposed to large chunks.

So in this update, I finished the robot boy and his robotic insides. Other than that I polished and added a few more prisoners in the new cells.

1 More Day Left!!!

I'm pretty pleased with how much work I have done in the last two days. I repositioned the Inventor's wife to better serve the story and composition. Now the good side is mirrored by the bad side. Before she was just a background character and not as integral to the story or taking any action. Now she is trying to stop the Inventor, her husband, from bringing his creation, their son to life, which will be used as a weapon by the evil man on the right. She also has her left hand her pregnant belly in a somewhat protective manner.

I also finally got around to the Robot Boy's heart/battery, which the inventor is grabbing. On my first try the heart looked too human, my second try it looked too much like the venom symbiote from "Spider-Man 3." The heart is rather large for a typical heart, but its not the entire object that goes into the robots for their energy source. As you can see its pretty much like a lava lamp in its form and movement.

In the middle there are the two angels of death, which will be more clear when I finished the lifeless robotic boy. The guard with the battle axe was inspired by a vulture and turned out rather nicely. His eyes are going to be blind and white with no color. I tried to make him as skeletal as possible to make him more like the Grim Reaper. The vulture guard is currently my favorite character in terms of personality and how he factors into the story.





So what I have left, the robot boy. Today I concepted (see above) out the robot boy's mechanics and inner weapon, which will reveal itself in his chest. The rib cage will be opened up like a pair of hands or angel wings if you will. The battery storage area is visually inspired by the biohazard symbol with a red light emitting from inside. The bones will be chrome/metallic. The muscles will be black/dark gray. Lastly the bomb/organs will be white.

I also have a flesh spray gun that I concepted earlier today, which is based off a paint spray gun. It does what its name implies, gives the robot flesh and a more human appearance.

After about two to three hours of drawing in the inner parts of the robot boy I can start coloring.

Sunday Work

Well I got a lot done during about a full day of just working on this, but I also am planning to make a few big changes. So here is what I worked on recently.
-I worked on the Inventor's face, making his lower lip poutier
-adding a more pieta-like pose for the Inventor and his son, which meant redoing the Inventor's L arm and the boy of course.
-I messed around with the Inventor's wife's pose and emotional state, but then realized how to better pull her in to the story.

So here is what I'm going to change
-I'm going to move the Inventor's wife over to the L beside the Inventor, which will also mean I will add on the the L of the canvas. I'll explain more on this when it is done so its easier to understand.
-So now that I have this void in the center of the composition, in front of the door, I'm going to add a henchmen/guard and close the doors. This will get rid of any feeling of hope and choice, which the Inventor's wife will add, the fact that he has a choice.

August 6th Update (still working hard)

Well I finally had some time off to work some more on this today. My deadline is August 24th or so, when classes start up again. But I'm really pleased with how far this has come over the summer. I still wish I had the time to just sit down for a solid day or two.

Today I made a whole bunch of minor changes that would just take to long to list, so see if you can spot them yourself.

So what I have left draw in are a few new ideas that definitely need to be put in. A giant prison guard behind the evil couple. The giant's shoulder will reach the Evil Man's head. He will have a giant battle-axe hung over his shoulders with wrists resting on the handle as he looks over at the entering Robot Wife. I'm also going to put another one of these guards at the bottom of the entrance, with a large battle-axe as well, but using it as a cane to rest his weight on.

I'm planning to basically redo the Robot Boy so that it is more interesting and fits with the sacrificial son/"Pieta" piece. I'm also going to make the Robot Wife's expression very sad to mirror her husband's suffering, which will give her more humanity.

Yeah I know more line work

Well its been a while since I've been able to work on this. Of course once I sat down to look over it again, I found a lot of things that needed improvement. Mainly the ceiling and the rest of the background. The perspective was off and the ceiling was too high. I lower the ceiling to further confine the prisoners and enlarged the chandelier (with some small improvements). Along with this I also addd some more line weight for a better feeling of depth/atmosphere.

What I have left in terms of linework is the following:
-finish the brickwork for the prison and its cells
-inmates in several of the cells (with much more detail)
-add the cell bars again
-prison guards
-the robot boy/weapon's heart, which the Inventor is grabbing with his right hand
And then on to the coloring stage (I already have all of the gray scale values and the lightsources figured out in my head, which is why I'm moving onto color). Along with the fact that I'm only running out of more time until classes start up again.

Lately, I've been out of town on family business without my computer (so you know its serious). So I've been studying a lot of artists, particularly Norman Rockwell.

My deadline for this piece is August 24th, around the time that classes start up again. Its going to be a bit of a close call because I work from around 8-4 or 5 weekdays, but I think I can do it (fingers crossed). My big struggle has been working on this in spurts, instead of a whole day at a time, like say 8-4 or 4. Mostly, I just want a really good line drawing to work from with as few errors as possible. So I don't have to hide them or pull out hair trying to fix them too far in the process. Hopefully, if things go as planned, I will be starting the coloring this week around Tuesday or Thursday.

I'm really excited to see how this all turns out and its looking to be one of the better pieces I have yet to do. We'll see.

What I thought was the final line work at the time

Well this is the final linework and now its on to the adding the gray scale values. I'll probably add more detail to the background when I up res. the image in the coloring phase. Mostly to detail out the prisoners in each of their background cells. I'm kind of interested to see how big the final file is going to be.

In this update, I made a few more tweaks and additions. I fixed the Inventor's expression. He was too happy before, so I made him sad and added a few tears. Other than that, I added the brickwork for the prison walls, along with an overhead cage design. The brickwork for the walls was modeled after Frank Lloyd Wright's Circle Gallery. And the overhead cage design was modeled after a manhole cover, which fit the design and purpose that I was going for and some play with scale.

Also just to let you know, the open cell door on the far right is not faulty perspective. The prison walls kind of bow out, so the top row of cell doors tilt upwards, which is why the door looks a little odd. It will all make sense when its rendered out in case you don't see what I'm saying.

I'm hoping to have this done by the 14th, but its looking questionable because I am only doing this in my free time. So we'll see about that.

More Progress (still have a lot left)

Well there were some greatly needed alterations to the background. Before, it felt too typical and ordinary. So I decided to build around the Arabic calligraphy visual style that I utilized for the client/criminal mastermind on the right of the image. The canvas size was a bit too comfortable and I was too concerned with the edge of the canvas, so I added to the top of the canvas to open up the scene and releave the creative block that I was banging my head against.

This aided in the telling of the story and establishing where we are and who is behind everything. The Inventor is imprisoned himself and all around him are other prisoners in these circular/tuna can cells with geometric bar patterns. On the top of the image is a chandelier hanging from the ceiling cage, which has armed guards standing above to overlook the prisoners. Several prisoners are blocked in with different poses and emotional states as well. Some are watching what is going on and others are sick in their despair, ignoring what evil creation is unwilling being made by the inprisoned Inventor.

There will also be a multitude of candles resting on the floor's of their cells (symbolic of hope) to go along with the incense and candled chandalier. I didn't want the situation to feel overly bleak and hopeless, like most prison images. This painting is an allegory painting with much careful planning.

I also added much more detail to the Client/Imprisoner, finished detailing out the storage containers on the lab table, gave the ArmCandy babe with the Client a tigher waist and sexier curves. I also finished the line work for the Inventor's wife, the figure that is walking towards the table. She is also carrying the Inventor's child in her belly (she's a robot creation in case you didn't notice). The unborn child's silhouette will be viewable from beneath her gown, with her belly glowing beneath it.

I still think that the Inventor's face and expression could also use some work. It doesn't seem like he is as unwilling or reluctant or in pain at having to create something that will solely be used for evil. Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

All I have left is finishing the prison details, which will be a very intricate brick design. Then its on to the black and white values, then adding color and getting this bad boy done!

more linework

I'm pretty much done with the final line work (except for the in coming woman) and the brick on the left wall look off perspectively. I don't know if I told you, but the inventor is imprisoned by the man on the right and making weapons for him. And the woman to the right of him is wearing a translucent burka, which is what that mask around her eyes is for. I redesigned the couple's costumes because they weren't original enough. I thought it would be better to have a more menacing/creepy man and a temptresses.

Wednesday Night Progress

Some serious revamping and retooling of the original idea. There wasn't a main focus or great composition to name a few of the major problems. This line drawing is roughly halfway done. I still have to finish the egg-shaped storage containers and their engravings, clothing patterns on the figures and a few other aspects/facets of the piece before I move on to coloring. Currently I've got around 30+ hours on this project so far. I'm thinking its going to be just under 100 hours total. I'm going to get as close to realism as I possibly can, which is why this is taking so long, but that's a good thing. I'm really excited about this project, which is what's keeping me going and I can't wait to show off the final product. Anyhow, feel free to give your two cents or anything that you might like to see more of. Thanks for looking.

Live or Phase (Gray Wash)

Today I added gray values with a wash to the sketch. Next I will add the white highlights. The tops of the tables will underlight the scene, along with the overhead light. The lighting will be yellow/yellow-green. The shadows wil be blue/blue-green. Oh yeah and the robots will be highly reflective and metallic, which should take a lot of time to render out.

3D Modeling Project

This is my final student project for a beginning 3D modeling class. Your typical electric chair with the guard and the next victim at the door. The lightrays were added in post production to save render time.

Live or Phase (line sketch)

This is just the early sketch and start of a digital painting. Its basically about a slightly crazed robot scientist who has a bunch robots as his servants and everything (kind of like Dr. Moroe to some degree). I mostly just got the idea looking at an outlet and thinking how that might be an interesting face for a robot and then thought of her lover have a plug face to complete the circuit. My favorite part is the robot couple at the bottom and the robot babies being breastfed.

For those of you that know or would like to know, the fembots are inspired by Hijime Sorayama's Robots/Gynoids. The working title is "Live or Phase," which is from the electrical term live, which means live contact, phase, hot or active alternating current from the power source to the equipment.

Anyhow, any feedback or criticism what be much appreciated. I'll post the progress as I work on it. I'm hoping to have it finished in the next two or three weeks.

Viathan Textures

This post contains textures that I have made this last semester for the "Viathan" game project. There is more concept art below this post and more of my traditional art as well. Enjoy and feel free to post some comments. Thanks for checking out my work.

The textures are my own, but he models were done by other students on the project. However, I did the concept art for these pieces before they were modeled.

Some of my other art

This is a quick study from a photograph in Graphite.


This is a charcoal study of the female torso from a photograph.


This is a charcoal study of the male torso from a model.


This is a conte pencil study from a model.


This is an acyrilics painting from my senior year of high school (2004). The style was inspired by Alberto Giacometti, a French painter and sculptor (most well-known for his sculpting).


This is another acrylics painting from the same series.


This is yet another acrylic painting from the same series.


This is a 2 page comic book that I made in the Summer of 2005. I was reading a lot of Frank Miller comics at the time and thought I should give this a try. This was done in pencil first and then I went over it with Sharpies.




Horse skull study. I took some artistic license on the back of the left horse skull to make it more interesting. This was done with blue Charcoal I believe.


A Red Devil painting for a Chico State Grad to decorate his office in a Red Devil theme. This was produced in Corel Painter IX.5.


A quick study from a photo done in Mirage.


This is a digital painting produced in Bauhaus' Mirage 2D animation program. Not exactly the most efficient way to paint something.

Viathan Video Game Concept Art

The following are a few peices of concept art from a student made video game project that I have been working on for the past year. Its a 1st person adventure game that takes place inside the body of an alien creature (space whale).



This is a level design for one of the first levels of the game. This level is supposed to reveal to the player that they are inside of something living.


This is a level design for one of the larger levels of the game, Overworld. Its the stomach of the creature. Its the central level of the game and where many of the doors to other levels are available.


These are few of the many weapons designs that we have gone through in the course of this project.


This is yet another weapon design, called "the Wheeler." I based the main circular shape off of a wagon wheel. You see there are 3 energy beams on the top and bottom that create the wagon wheel shape. Those energy beams meet in the center and are catapulted down the barrel of gun by a shock blast valve. The Wheeler has this triangular funnel shape that narrows down the energy beam, which is kind of like a rail gun.
This weapon also has a special attack, which is an unfiltered blast. As you can see in the upper right corner, there is a bolted hinge that allows the triangular funnel to move out of the way. This results in a giant unfiltered energy blast to exit the gun.


This is a health replenisher. Its supposed to be a tumor or growth of some sort inside the creature. By bathing in the sprayed enzymes the player is able to replenish their health and get back to harassing the alien creatures.


This is the Lightning obstruction. One of the key components of the game play is that you have this weapon that carries 4 different types of ammo: lightning, acid, sticky and fire glob. The gun is like a big Swiss Army knife that you use to solve puzzles like the one above. This lightning obstruction is a large sore in the creature that has become infected. You must use your lightning ammo to contract the muscles/tissue of this sore and force out the sore fluid so that you can pass.


This is the exit to the CIA level, which is modeled after the brain. It has a lot of bone materials and lightning moving around it. So I decided to build on the bone look and made the exit door a spinal column that comes out of the skull wall. As you can see the lightning obstruction is blocking the exit and you must use your newly attained lightning ammo to exit the leve.


These are some of the plant designs for the game. A light tree on the far left. One of the first passes at the large organ in the center of "Its Alive" Level. And lastly some small lightbulb bushes.


This is what I call a puddle jumper for the Overwold level. Its like a giant lilypad so that you can cross the liquid areas.


This is one of my favorite creatures for this game. Its called the Flapparay because it is a mixture of a manta ray, a bat and a scorpion. This creature is one of the first aggressive creatures that we introduced to the game to help bump up the intensity of the game. Its supposed to bum rush you by harpooning its tail into the player's stomach and wraps it's wings around the player's head so that the player's view is obstructed while it gnaws on the back of the player's neck. The only way to get the creature off of you is through a melee attack or shooting it off of you.


These are the Globbies. They are tiny little creatures that are easily killed and travel in packs. They are docile unless provokes, which results in the entire pack ganging up on you. The AI turned out great for these guys and they have a really funny personality, which allows them to get into fights with the other alien creatures, but not each other.

I came up with the idea for these creatures from a slinky. I liked the cylindrical shape and even more so, the movement. As you can see, the Globbies have no real top or bottom, which was something that really worked with the slinky movements. This creature also has a spiraling buzz saw of teeth for attacking the player to give them some intensity.


This is the Lasso Door. It is basically a mondo sized Globbie with a lasso tongue. This creature functions as a door to reach another area/level of the game. The player comes across this creature to find it sleeping and like any normal person, will eventually open fire on it. The sleeping giant Lasso Door then awakens and shoots his tongue out like a frog. The player is then quckly pulled inside the Lasso Door, with a major case of wiplash, and now finds themself inside a new environment.

Anyhow, as you can also see there are some crazy shaped objects. These are some of the spawn points that they come out of. My favorite one is the spotted pod shaped one. The Globbies are supposed to be moving around inside, kind of like microwaving a bag of popcorn, they then pop out the top and land on the ground. Its a nice visual, but didn't happen to make its way into the game or at least not yet.


This is another doorway for the lungs level, which was modeled after a human heart valve. THis is one of my favorite doors just due to the color scheme. It is supposed to open and close to show the breathing nature of the level it represents.