pick a line

my ninja gunslinger

2010-03-04T18:45:00.001-05:00

here's the design for my heroine for my new personal project

warriors of the universe

2010-03-04T18:44:00.002-05:00

This was the series i did for me and my co-workers for SXSW, warriors of the universe.

animation samurai

2010-03-04T18:42:00.002-05:00

I drew this up as an avatar for myself for SXSW this year...representing animation zen baby.

alligator king rough

2010-03-04T18:40:00.003-05:00

Mermaid digital painting

2009-06-02T14:42:00.001-04:00

4 illustrations for PRI

2009-06-02T14:40:00.005-04:00

2nd intro clip for art insight tv

2009-03-19T14:25:00.002-04:00

1st intro clip for art insight tv

2009-03-19T14:20:00.002-04:00

ambush

2009-02-14T17:02:00.001-05:00

my ambush sequence

my venture into 3d animation

2009-02-13T15:04:00.002-05:00

ok so i been usin this 3d package called maya lately in hopes of gettin a job at one of them cool video game companies...preferably "Epic Games" in north carolina! heres one of the action tests i did. I hafta say, animating in 3d is damn liberating!

sc01-04

2009-01-26T23:54:00.002-05:00

musicVidIntro

2009-01-21T09:28:00.002-05:00

sc01-4 finished comp

2008-07-11T03:42:00.002-04:00

sc01-4 comp

2008-07-09T21:54:00.002-04:00

sc03 polished

2008-07-09T05:09:00.002-04:00

scenes 1-3 comp

2008-07-02T03:55:00.002-04:00

so after weeks of experimenting with different files and compressions and exports, i finally figured out the best way to export my animation without any frame lag or choppiness, which im sad to say, has been present in all my clips posted UP TO THIS POINT. from now on you'll be enjoying lag free movie playback not to mention smaller file size. heres a clip of the first 3 shots edited together. the 3rd one is still really rough.

sc03 Rough

2008-07-01T04:46:00.001-04:00

sc02

2008-07-01T00:48:00.003-04:00

gunshot finished

2008-06-26T20:58:00.001-04:00

heres the first shot of my action sequence finished

gunshot in progress

2008-06-19T21:55:00.004-04:00

latest lifedrawings

2008-05-08T21:30:00.003-04:00

scene4 pencil Test

2008-04-28T03:02:00.001-04:00

heres a pencil test for the first seconds of scene 4

spec spot in progress

2008-04-25T03:53:00.004-04:00

ok, so far i've got the first 3 scenes finished, here's a clip so you all can see how it's looking:

British Airways Spec Spot Storyboards

2008-04-22T03:43:00.003-04:00

These are storyboards for a spec spot I'm creating for British Airways. Animation starts tomorrow!

demo reel

2008-04-15T23:47:00.002-04:00

fire mage

2008-03-23T22:52:00.000-04:00

here's my finished version of my little fire mage, enjoy!

wyatt earp mustache

2008-03-23T21:36:00.003-04:00

just a chemist i was eaves dropping on in starbucks. he was totally ripping on college level chemists who didn't clean their test tubes with the right water...i think he needs a badge.

some painting ideas

2008-03-12T23:49:00.005-04:00

latest life drawings

2008-03-12T23:47:00.006-04:00

i think im done

2008-03-11T07:05:00.003-04:00

ok guys, hope you all like the finished piece. im calling it done. i've gotten to the point where i'm happy with it. i think everything is working pretty well. this last stage was just me tightening up some details in the foreground as well as rework some of the shadows, etc...I've learned a lot from creating this and i'm looking forward to starting on my next one. I've already gotten several sketches done of some ideas i have for the second piece. anyways, here she is, enjoy:

stage 8: details

phase 7: background

2008-03-06T09:12:00.002-05:00

ok so i'm almost finished, just laid in the background and worked a little more on the dagger and it's tones. check it:

phase 7: background

phase 6: painted altar and dagger

2008-03-04T07:21:00.002-05:00

ok so here is more progress. i was really happy with the way the altar turned out. it has a nice "uneven" and organic feel to it. sort of like its been used a lot. hehehe. i also painted out the dagger...i feel like the dagger still needs some work, but its getting there. soon i shall be working on the background and in a few days, this project should be complete!

phase 6 : painted altar and dagger

phase 5: opaques

2008-03-02T02:56:00.002-05:00

ok heres phase 5, i have started the actual painting. here i have most of the thief character finished. next up is the altar.

phase 5

phases 3 and 4

2008-02-29T04:35:00.004-05:00

here are the next two phases of my project, first i began fleshing out even more shadows, really trying to wrap my mind around the look and feel i want to create with the lighting. i decided i wanted everything in the very back much lighter and brighter than the foreground so i reworked my background a little. the 4th phase was just adding some tints of warmer colors into the composition to bring just a little unity into the cooler tones. Tomorrow i start laying in my opaques which will really make it start looking like a painting!

phase 3: shadows

phase 4 : tints

stage2

2008-02-27T06:08:00.002-05:00

ok, so heres stage 2, i took my sketch into photoshop and began laying in my basic color ideas for different parts of the composition as well as some lighting considerations. still a lot to do, but coming along nicely i think.

Tibetan ritual dagger

2008-02-26T01:45:00.004-05:00

so i was inspired by this weapon, the Tibetan ritual dagger. i think weapons in general are pretty interesting, and among weapons i find daggers provocative to say the least. i bought a book on weaponry the other day at borders because i realized i don't know anything about weapons. i mean, I've definitely shot my share of guns out on the farm back in the bluegrass, but if i try and sit down to draw a weapon, be it a gun, sword, dagger, canon...i find that I'm rather ignorant of the basic structures and designs. i can draw your basic revolver, but that's boring. the best, most interesting looking weapons come from that time of long ago. spartan swords, medieval maces, and of course, Tibetan ritual daggers. This unique dagger has a pleasing "s" shape and is traditionally adorned with intricate gems and patterns on the sheath. I wanted to illustrate it in a mystical, fantasy setting, in a remote location, sitting on an altar. I decided to do just this and added a "treasure hunter" character discovering this find yet looking over his shoulder almost as if he has heard someone...or something behind him, down the long dark corridor. This is my sketch that i produced today, and i plan on digitally painting it over the next several days. I'll be posting the works in progress so you all can see my process.

quick attempt at a self portrait

2008-02-23T01:16:00.003-05:00

just a quick attempt at a self portrait, i've never been able to do one to my satisfaction. i think perhaps i'll try doing one self portrait a week just to gauge my improvements and what not

my second post

2008-02-21T20:27:00.008-05:00

So my hopes are that i can post new material on here once a day. I want to keep this journal as current as possible so that my readers can count on new stuff every time they check this blog out. I'm hesitant to commit to 1 new sketch a day, but i'm going to give it my best. today was pretty rainy and i found it hard to find some good subjects to study but here at 2 drawings i created which i like. the first one is a still life of a large pot with a small plant growing. i made this primarily a tonal study and i think it is interesting because it was done at night which affected the lighting. the tones are all very close to one another but i think i managed to make a clear seperation of each value. i'm also pleased at how i captured the "hint" of a plant growing by the gestural lines and forms i made on the paper.

this last drawing i did tonight was of an older woman that had this beautiful silvery hair. I find drawing older women is a challenge because its difficult to capture their femininity and also their age. i tried to restrain from creating too man "wrinkles" and focused more on the shapes of her face, but i think her older age still comes across. this is much less of a tonal study and more an excercise of line

one of my readers requested that i post some of my recent paintings up here so i decided to showcase just a few:

this first one is my most recent painting. i almost always paint in oils. so far, this piece i believe is the best example of my ability as a painter

this next one is a still life of a bowl of oranges. while the color is vibrant and i manged to capture some beautiful details on the oranges, it lacks an understanding of tonal relationships. i painted this before i began studying tone as it relates to painting:

here are a few more for your veiwing pleasure:

picking a line

2008-02-20T17:36:00.006-05:00

So welcome to my first entry at pickaline. Just a quick bit about me before we get started on what i hope to be an eventful journey. I am currently residing in Atlanta, GA and i work as a classical animator...which means yes, i still draw everything by hand.I primarily work for Cartoon Network, but my clients range from large corporate entities to small businesses. I have been drawing since i was in 6th grade, which for most children, that is pretty late in the game. And unlike most artists, i sucked at drawing until my second year in college. Once i figured it out, i completely fell in love with drawing. It is the most challenging and most rewarding process i have discovered in my 29 years on this planet. I attended Savannah College of Art and Design from 1996 until 2000 and later in 2000 i was offered an assistant animation position at an Atlanta FX house called Click3x. I have been animating for the last 8 years and I believe i'm just now getting to the point where i'm good at it. Just recently, I have decided to start this blog to sort of document my future process. You see, i'm on the cusp of turning 30 and a great artist once said, you learn in your 20's, you create in your 30s, and you reap the rewards in your 40's. If this is to be my most productive decade of my life, I wish to capture it, so i can look back and perhaps I as well as others can look at my process and learn something.
Why am i calling it pickaline? Van gogh was quoted as saying something along these lines, and keep in mind i'm paraphrasing, but he said "you cannot be at the north pole and the south pole at the same time. You must pick a line, and my line is color." I believe he was trying to say that it is impossible to be a master at everything at once. If van gogh painted for more than 10 years, i would venture to say that eventually his line would change to something else. He mastered color. perhaps if he had lived longer, he would have ventured out to master tone, or line, or any other number of principles. My line was contour, for the longest time. I have yet to really master contour, but i feel as though it is time to pursue another discipline. I am currently focusing my energies on tone. I plan on using this blog to showcase my studies, for entertainment and for study. I encourage all of my readers to check back regularly to see the new work that i post. I may talk about what i was trying to capture, or what went wrong, or perhaps i'll just bitch about how my subject was restless and difficult to study. I'm not exactly sure how this journal will evolve, but i am eagerly awaiting the outcome. So without further ado, i present my daily studies for you all to see. I completed these while sitting in a busy coffee shop today.

this was an elderly woman rocking out to what i could only assume to be beethoven, or perhaps the eagles...it's really impossible to know for sure. she remained quite still and i was able to study her tones at leisure. probably about a 15 minute sketch.

I really love this quick sketch. reminds me of a very quick study by some of the old masters. This gentleman had very striking features and i really wished i could have studied them longer. I was only allowed about a minute or 2 to do this one but i think the limited time really forced me to include only the most important elements. While this was completed in only a minute, i love it more than the 1st drawing i did. it has much more life to it i believe.

this last one was kind of interesting only because I think i discovered an new and interesting way to work. It began as a blind contour. for those of you who are not artists or art students, a blind contour is a drawing created by placing your pencil on the paper and keeping your eyes on the subject the entire time. you never look down at your paper. So i began this drawing that way and liked the way it looked. But what i did afterwards was to take the initial sketch and then rework it by actually studying the subject, refining lines and shapes until it more closely resembles the subject. I'm looking forward to trying this technique again.

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment!