Monday, February 22, 2010

I need it bad....

Art is truly an addiction.  Earlier today,  I underwent some intense oral surgery.  I had 2 impacted wisdom teeth that simply had to be removed and complication after complication arose during the procedure; one of the teeth cracks, another is fused to the jawbone, not enough novocaine et etc.  What at all does this have to do with art, you ask? 

Well, throughout the harrowing experience, I remained fairly calm and relaxed, much to the surprise of the doctor.  He later commented on this,  to which I responded "Just thinking good thoughts Doc".   What I was actually thinking of was a painting I'm working on, and how much fun I'm having with it, and how I can't wait to get home and start working on it some more.    It's an image of Cthulhu, High Priest of the Old Ones from H.P. Lovecraft's mythos.  

I've decided to post one of the abandoned, unfinished versions.  The image itself has given me no small amount of frustration, and the current version I'm working on is the third attempt.   But I love the character,  I love the lore behind it and most of all, I love love love art.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Cleanup, Aisle 3!

Doing some much needed maintenance on my various image files.  A little editing, but mostly arranging, deleting extraneous reference and interim saves which are no longer needed.  Painting digitally is no different from traditionally in this sense.  When I used to paint in oils, after each painting, there was always the cleaning of the work space, the clearing away of the dreck that inevitably builds up around you while you're in 'the zone' and can't be bothered to toss that empty chicken nuggets box so it actually goes into the garbage instead of the floor.  Or the crumpled rolls of masking tape stuck to your taboret etc.
      The cleanup is important though...even digitally.  It frees up memory and space on your drive, sure.  But it also preps you mentally for the next image...refreshes your perspective, as it were.  On a side note, I admit it...I got lazy with the cityscape behind my original Dragon King image, and it's been haunting my dreams ever since.  So today I buckled down and revised it.  Still not 100%, as non-organic forms are kryptonite for me, but I'm determined to change that by and by.  Original's on the right.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

I put a spell on you...

A Warlock from the World of Warcraft mmorpg.   A bit of a problem getting started with this image, as I was struggling to keep it faithful to the game design.  But the color scheme as depicted in the game just wasn't working for me.  In the end, I tossed out Blizzard's version, and went with a color scheme of my own.  A bit un-professional, I know...but in the end, it looks better and I'm happy with the results. 

Monday, February 1, 2010

Island Pride...

My sister's opened up her very own shop on the web, which features merchandise centered on Puerto Rico and Boricua pride.  What's this to do with me, you ask?  Well, I'm working on a few images that will be showcased on her merchandise and if you're so inclined, head over to Islawear  where you can buy a T-Shirt, Mugs, Print, Mousepad etc with my artwork on it, and display your Boricua pride!