Andy Serkis

Painted with Wacom Intuos 3 and Photoshop.

This one was definitely tricky and went through a few unsightly stages early on. Flipping it horizontally before I finished helped a ton, not just with anatomical and structural issues but also with softening/adjusting values that were jumping out too boldly where they shouldn't. It was a fun process though, and I am happy with how it evolved!

Unfortunately I am stuck with a head cold and staring at the computer screen is uncomfortable :( At least I can get over it now, two weeks before jetting away to two families at the end of the month! Cannot wait to visit Florida - please be warm when I arrive <3

Etsy Shop!

Season's Greetings Everyone! I'd like to welcome you to visit my first ever Etsy Shop! - In the future I hope to have prints of caricatures, illustrations and plenty more card designs to choose from. Take a look below for a preview of the designs you will find this year.

I added a badge on the right column of my blog that links to the shop, but you can also check it by clicking here!

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you all safe and happy holiday adventures!

No Shave November

Hey Everyone! Don't forget that it is "Movember" and to rock your 'staches proud for prostate cancer/men's health awareness! Representing below are three awesome CDI team members who totally look exactly like this...didn't exaggerate any of their facial features whatsoever :)

Here for more info!

Norman Rockwell

I tried something new for this digital painting. For my main reference I chose a black and white photo, and didn't use any color references. I always create my own color palette but in this case I didn't want to have other images influencing me in any one direction. I also did my best to stick to only those colors throughout the entire painting. I have gotten quite comfortable with painting b/w or monochromatic value paintings, probably to the point of it being a crutch. I think it is due to my limited traditional painting experience/mixing colors that intimidates me from starting a painting with a wider range of colors(this is still a limited palette, but a step in that direction). Moving forward I am going to try and be less uptight about color from the get go. Best way to learn is by doing...

Jason Segel

Created this digital painting for another CS3000 challenge a few weeks ago on facebook and won second place! Inspired by the Muppets Movie to be released later this year:)

Canada and Company Avatars

Hey it sure has been a while! Hope everyone is having a great summer so far and drinking lots of fluids!! I keep forgetting we are only in July because I am currently working on some personal projects with winter holiday themes:) That, plus the 55-65 degree San Francisco weather is making me think it is fall already. . .where are my pumpkin lattes at?!

I just got back from a trip to Toronto, Canada where I was able to meet two of my long-time clients! What an awesome city it was - super clean, GREAT food, and probably would not have been as fun without our awesome tour guides:) My boyfriend Chris and I were even able to venture off for a day to Niagara Falls (obligatory poncho photo above.) I can't wait to visit Canada again, and hopefully see the Northern Lights next.

Finally, I wanted to share a little bit of recent client work- "Meet the Team" avatars! They can vary btwn B/W or color and can be more or less realistic/caricatured depending on what you want. These ones were created for the members of Auctionopia.com.

Daniel Day Lewis

This week's topic was Daniel Day Lewis for the fb group - Caricaturama 3000- (now close to reaching 4000 members!!) It is an awesome outlet to meet other artists and share interpretations of the same subject.

I am going to show a somewhat typical breakdown of what happens when I DON'T do a solid sketch before painting - - it is a bit crazy. This is not to say I completely omit thumbnails or preliminary sketches from my process. It happens (100% of the time with client work) - But I find when painting, no matter how long I spend on a sketch, I am constantly re-evaluating and figuring things out during the process. Sometimes it feels like I do six paintings in one before reaching a final.

Given a tight schedule, this would definitely be an idiotic approach - but for now, I think it is helping me develop and understand different techniques, and what interests me the most.

words words words... now to see what I am talking about -

This was the first idea I was messing around with. I was trying to be all funny like, and missed the mark with the likeness completely! Ended up with a crooked nose Kevin Kline wannabe paint sketch (I am in a sharing mood, normally this would not see the light of day):

Okay scrapped that - decided to work full face again, and developed the eyes. I know it is best to really move all around the painting and not get too caught up in one area BUT, for me at least, if I really nail the eyes, I get really inspired about the rest of the painting. Boom, instant life.

Cool so I'm all happy with the eyes. Hours go by... what is going on, I CANNOT get the rest of this face to look like anything but a Billy Crudup, Kevin Kline, and Christian Bale love child. I don't know if this happens to other artists, but routinely my reference and painting start resembling other people in my brain. . .

One way to make it more difficult for yourself to nail the likeness: Lean too heavily on a reference that does not "look" like the subject(wise words from J. Seiler's class). How is this possible? It is a photo of them... so it IS them, how does it not look like them?? What if it is a shot of them mid sentence, chewing food, or a windy day and their hair is all funky making their head shape look unfamiliar, or they are made-up differently for a photo shoot... In my case, I realized I am most familiar with this actor in one movie - Gangs of New York - and if you have seen him in GNY, he has an oddball bangs, a crazy mustache covering a third of his face, and the expressions he delivers make him look like a different person entirely!

So once again it was back to the drawing board. I put on some youtube clips of him in that movie, and reworked(and in some areas overworked=/) the painting. I was sad because I liked the broad strokes, spark, and texture happening in the older version above - and by painting on top I lost a lot of that quality(it is hard for me to get that kind of effect later on, it ends up looking contrived). I did try to keep the focus in the central facial expression through higher contrast and detail in those areas, and balanced it with loose and more atmospheric lighting around his hair, clothes and chin. I feel like his chin area gets a bit wonky, and would have liked it a little less soft in some areas, but I do like the highlight intensity, because he seemed a bit oily/sweaty as that character=)

On a final note, don't be a chicken; share your work in progress to anyone who is willing to take a peek. They do not have to be an artist. When it comes to likeness, especially where well-known subjects are concerned, a fresh set of eyes can be a great help - Or, you can also get the same "fresh-eyes" effect by flipping your image in a different direction. And if working traditionally, holding your canvas in front of a mirror... Flaws will appear to you instantly.

I'd say "more soon" but that always makes me a liar, so "until next time..." =)

Tilda Swinton

Kotton Kandii

Gurrrl just loves getting her hair did! Kotton Kandii(as I like to call her) is a fierce bald headed character who can werk any style wig, in any color. Most of all, Kotton enjoys putting her own spin on iconic styles -- the platinum princess leia(above middle) is a personal favorite. I did this design last year and although I only showed a few possibilities above, I also painted curls, dreads, long straight hair, braids and more! Kotton's hair pieces are totally customizable to fit any occasion. One can only wonder, what will she do next??

In Memory of Tristan

At the end of last year I was commissioned by a friend to do a very special and memorable portrait. Tristan Hunter was a young man who passed unexpectedly, and sadly I probably would have met him the following week as he was packing for a trip to San Francisco to visit my close friends at that time. Though I did not get the chance to know him personally, it was clear he touched many lives. After looking through tons of photos of him, reading stories and comments on facebook, I felt connected enough to capture the thoughtful, down-to-earth, generous friend he was to many.

This was a very intimidating commission for me as I felt a great weight and responsibility to do the best possible job. After much searching, I found the perfect photo reference; the back lighting felt magical, and his downward gaze and warm smile was a nice reminder that he is still a part of everyones' lives.

As with every project, there were challenges throughout. Trying to to recreate the ambient/diffuse environment lighting was particularly difficult since I am used to working with references of a bit more contrast. Additionally, in the beginning I was also limited to incredibly low-res photos, so many thanks to everyone who helped obtain the higher-res references. Initial trials aside, I am really happy with how the painting turned out, and could not have been more honored that I was chosen as the one to work on it.

Photo credit: David Craver @ Courtney Craver Photography

Merry Happy!

Wishing Everyone a Joyous Holiday Season and a Happy, Prosperous, and Creative New Year!

"Sneaky"

Watch where you're headed, you never know what you might run into this time of year! Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Turkey Mantra

Watch your weight - stay off the plate.

great client, greatly missed.

Freelance art is never just about the art. All too often I read about one artist or another's "horror" story when it comes to dealing with a client. Some don't pay on time, some don't pay at all, some are too overbearing, while some give too little feedback and then suddenly need ten changes in the final stage. We've all experienced one or all of these situations at one time or another, and sometimes it leaves us asking - what the hell are we doing in this field? This is a different kind of story though - so if you are not already too jaded, read on.

For the past 7 months, I have been working closely with a client on a personal venture of his, one planned to be released publicly in the near future. Even though it was only my second big freelance gig, any initial skepticism I may have had about this job was immediately put to rest. First assignment: great feedback, and paid immediately. Second assignment: great feedback, paid immediately... and so on with each assignment. As our business relationship grew, he gave me more freedom to design characters on my own, and he trusted me to invoice him fairly when I was done, all the while continuing to give prompt feedback, and prompt payment. And, unlike a lot of clients and contractors tend to be in this digital age, we were in the same state, about an hour or two away, and planned to get coffee and meet in person sometime.

He has lived in California way longer than I, and would share places of interest and stories. He told me about his daughter, and how she wanted to be an artist, just like me.

About two weeks ago I sent him an email with some progress to critque. I did not hear back in that week..very unlike him. I thought he must be busy getting this business rolling, he was very passionate about what he did. I sent him a new email earlier this week with further progress, and still no reply. I knew something was wrong. One might think it is radical to jump to a tragic conclusion, but I did, because he was always interested, always prompt. I decided we should call him last night. No pick up. This morning there was a voicemail from his wife, he passed away two weeks ago.

I wish that this was just another case of a client bailing on a project, or not prioritizing, or just plain forgetting like I have read others complain about time and again...but it is not so. I hope that I can continue to be a part of his project if and when it gets going again early next year. I hope that I can assist his daughter with what little I know about art, and I hope that she knows how great an example he was for me starting out - - of what a client/contractor relationship could be.

Thank you for trusting me as a designer, thank you for sharing your stories, thank you for being a great client. I hope we can get that coffee sometime.

Purrcasso 2010

Here is my submission to the 5th annual Purrcasso art auction! It is a fantastic cause where all proceeds go towards helping the animals at the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society. This is my second year submitting and I hope to do so each coming year that the fundraiser is held. Be sure to stop by the art auction and sale on Saturday evening, or the craft show on Sunday afternoon if you are in the area.

For more information visit Purrcasso.org - Hope to see you there!

Faces

These cuties were designed for a client. If there was one more row of 3 the Brady Bunch would find themselves with some serious competition for the title of "grooviest family of 9." I'm not sure if they can sing though. . .

Ears

Not So "Spooky" Monsters

This blue fellow enjoys people watching. . .both tall and short ones at the same time. His jagged teeth make it very difficult to close his mouth. In fact, he cannot. . .and as a result quite convincingly blames his weight on all the unwelcome bugs that make their way through the giant gaps all day. He is rarely found without that expression on his face, except for when he is sad, in which case he hangs upside down from a tree.

This one is just special. He HAS the ability to close his mouth all the way, but he chooses to leave it like this instead. His closest ancestors are the hippo, vulture and dinosaur. He spends his days churning butter so that he will have superior arm strength when making his television debut on "Wheel of Fortune."

Jack Black

This painting of Jack Black was done in a bit of free time as an entry for a weekly caricature challenge group on facebook. All levels can join and everyone is super friendly! Check out "Caricaturama Showdown 3000" to join the fun or to look at all the hilarious entries each week.

Eyes

Lately I've had the privilege of working on a really fun freelance project involving the creation of amusing versions of facial features - here are a few examples of eyes I worked on. The heavily made-up ones at the bottom were especially fun ...The far left of which was actually painted using my boyfriend's eye for reference(doesn't it just look beautiful with the sparkly drag queen makeup?)



Now that I have the permission, I will be posting some more of my freelance work, in addition to some recent personal work. I finally made the decision to get a cintiq21ux and it certainly has been a great experience so far. Sketching with it is a blast and I am looking forward to including some quicker line drawings in future posts as well.

I hope everyone is having a great summer ~