Pied Piper

Last thing I’ll post before the holidays and going to visit family back on the East Coast! This illustration’s for an upcoming Gallery 1988 show based on Fairy Tales after the New Year. I chose to do a version of ‘The Pied Piper’ because, hey, you should always pay the piper (or artist, artisan, etc etc!). This will be a Limited Edition set of 50 signed and numbered prints available at Gallery 1988! 

I’ll post process and sketches later :) 

Happy Holidays - 2013

Here's this year's annual postcard from me to you! Happy Holidays from fat birds in scarves!

Breaking Budget

Here's a lil piece on the darker side of holiday shopping when you're in debt and you can't control your budget.

Labyrinth - Should You Need Us

Phew. Labyrinth illustration as an homage to the 1986 film by Jim Henson starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly.  Finished and also available as a print in my etsy shop!

WIP - Labyrinth

I got a new computer and forgot to get a new cable to go with my Cintiq. SO I am back on an old as hell wacom tablet that’s literally scratched so deep the pen patches in them, and  it was glued back together multiple times.

And I totally promised I’d fill a commission for a Labyrinth illustration for this girl on etsy AND OH MY GOD WILL I MAKE THIS IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS.

Society 6 Free Shipping!

 click the image to get linked to the shop!

Going on all the way through Cyber Monday (...I still hate that term) which is December 1st, in my Society6 Shop!

Art prints, phone cases, throw pillows, ipad skins, laptop skins, or even tote bags can make really great holiday gifts that don't even require you to leave the comfort of your home. Spend more time with your family this way!

Powerpuff Girls 15th Anniversary Show!

Huge thank you to Chogrin for putting together the 15th Anniversary Powerpuff Girls Art Show! I couldn’t reveal it until today.  Here’s my own contributation :) (I really loved HIM as a villain, can you tell?)


You can view all of the awesome illustrations for this show on this blog here!

Batman Brush Pen

I really hate using brush pens so I may as well try practicing with them more often. What started off as moody lady doodles turned into Batman villains because I'd recently finished playing Batman: Arkham Asylum, as well as having BatKid save Gotham City (San Francisco) yesterday!

Sneak Peek

Lil sneak peek sketch of a thing I'm workin' on and can't talk about just yet.

Illustration Friday! topic: Creature

Been quiet around here for awhile, so I worked on this in my free hours over the last two days.  Here's a creepy illustration for Halloween week, if you're not fed up with Halloween-related things yet. This week's topic at Illustration Friday! was Creature so there you have it.

Is it really a creature, or did you forget to knock on a teenager's bedroom door before entering?

Scholastic

Months and months ago, I had done some illustrations for children's educational material, published by Scholastic.

I've had the wonderful opportunity to work on a few children's educational illustrations in my career. But this is thee first time I've received a copy of the printed and published work for them!  It's so, so exciting!   Huge thank you to Kathi Gulotta, whom I worked with at Scholastic!

Autumn - Sketch, sloppy colors, final

San Francisco, where I've resided for four years now, doesn't really have seasons. You're perpetually in what feels like Spring, sometimes just on the tail-end of Winter, or just on the cusp of Summer. But never, ever Autumn.
Corporate places like Starbucks will roll out the Pumpkin Spice on everything, but it's never the same.  You don't get that smell as leaves are turning. You don't get that heightened sense of crispiness in the air. You don't get that deep chill that begins to settle in over everything, including your bones.  You definitely don't get tiny bits of frost on the grass or windows.

I grew up in the Northeast, and I've truly been missing Autumn.

(Also Winter. I totally miss snow, and yeah, they say drive 3 hours to Tahoe for snow. But that's not the same as waking up and finding it outside your window one random morning...)

The Last of Us - Ellie

Here's what I decided to work on for a night, just for funzies -

 I'm about to finish Naughty Dog's latest game, The Last of Us, this weekend and I've just played through the WINTER chapter.  No spoilers, I swear.

Across films, books, and games, I think it's safe to say the supporting character, Ellie, is one of my favorite characters of all time, especially because she actually supports you and isn't useless as a 14 year-old. It doesn't feel like the usual escort mission with someone utterly helpless that you can't stray two feet from. She's just so great!  I especially love her horrible puns and jokes (and the joke books she keeps in her backpacks that she'll read from!).

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Revolutionary Girl Utena.

I don’t think I would have survived my adolescence without this series; and it’s not the most popular thing out there so it’s okay if you've never heard of it. It’s 50/50 - you either absolutely love it or completely loathe it.  The show constantly tests the audience and covers a wide range of topics/themes from gender roles, sexuality, that awkward transition between childhood to adulthood, loss of innocence, idealized notions of friendship/love, identity…etc etc etc.

 From that, there aren't many characters out there that are as tragically beautiful as Arisugawa Juri. I think the majority of teenagers have experienced unrequited love at one point, and can easily relate to her. She’s an individual who acts serious and confident, and yet is easily one of the most vulnerable individuals as you get to know her. It’s one thing to have an unrequited love; it’s another issue entirely when that love takes advantage of you, manipulates you, and enjoys your suffering. …But being young, and foolish, you don’t know any better and so, so desperately want to help save this person you love for all of the wrong reasons… 

Asuka

Aiya, forgot to upload this one.  Asuka, from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Hel of Helheim

Hel of Helheim will be available for sale at the opening/launch party of Claw Claw Design in Brooklyn, NY, October 12th (the same weekend of NY Comic-Con!) If you live in the area, check out their show, there will be tons of awesome illustrators in it!

Mockingjay Armor

When I first read Mockingjay, part 3 of the Hunger Games, and came across the part of Katniss's mockingjay armor... I'll be honest. In my mind I thought it was the dumbest thing. Ever. Don't get me wrong, I love Katniss and the concept of it all but my mind couldn't get over the lil description.

 'It had well placed body armor,' 'totally utilitarian' and 'the swoop of the helmet' 'the curve of the breastplate' blah blah blah. The thing only came to the elbows, and had loose fabric to show off white stripes under the arms that was reminiscent of the namesake bird.

I just imagined some horrific cosplay gone wrong.

So when I did an image search for her armor, I was genuinely surprised to find barely anyone had done a take on it. Also not a single one had the helmet described (that I found, anyhow).  So I decided to sketch up not only what was roughly detailed in the book, but also something that I didn't find too silly looking and would enjoy.

This was a stupidly difficult task.

Work In Progress - Hela

The sketches I did a few weeks ago reminded me of the Norse goddess of death. Figured I'd take her to completion.

The F'ing Water Temple - Legend of Zelda

Final piece for Bottleneck Gallery's 3NES Show, which premieres Sept 6th, in Brooklyn, NY.

Fun fact: I’d never played all of the way through Ocarina of Time until about two weeks ago. As a child, a) my family didn’t own an N64, and b) when I tried playing it at a friend’s house, my friend would tell me I was ‘doing the puzzle wrong’ or ‘this game’s too hard for you,’ yanked the controller out of my hands, and proceeded to beat the game a second time. I sort of had wrongful disdain against Ocarina of Time as a result. So upon playing it through, all grown-up now, I had everyone and their mom tell me the Water Temple was just godawful and was their least favorite temple.

I FREAKIN LOVED THAT TEMPLE. WHO THE HELL CARES IF YOU HAVE TO KEEP CLANKIN YER IRON BOOTS ON EVERY 2 SECONDS? GIMME THAT OVER LENS OF TRUTHIN’ EVERYTHING.

Illustration Friday! - Robots

Had some time this week to doodle for Illustration Friday! topic - Robots.

Snake Skin

Free Shipping until this Sunday, July 28th, in my Society 6 Shop!

Plus a new phone skin design featuring my Year of the Snake illustration! For iPhones, Samsung Galaxy S4s, and iPods! Click the image to get linked to the shop!

Ice Beam & Missiles

My Metroid piece for Bottleneck Gallery's 3NES show which will be premiering in Brooklyn, NY, September 6th!

Here are few iterations and sketches I went through before saying screw it, lets go with the original composition.

Player 2

Super Mario Bros. illustration for Bottleneck Gallery's Nintendo Show in September. Brooklyn, NY!

If you were the younger sibling in the 80s, you are very familiar with Luigi. Sometimes your older sibling would almost beat the entire goddamn game of the original Mario Bros before you'd get your damn turn to finally play as Player 2. 

 If that's not resentment speaking, I don't know what that is. 

National Lampoon's Commission

If anyone grew up in the 80s, you'll easily remember the National Lampoon's film posters by Boris Vallejo; if you didn't grow up in the 80s, he also did the epic poster for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force film. Well, I had a commission a few weeks ago from a friend who wanted something in that style. This is hilarious as I just... don't paint remotely in a style like Boris Vallejo, and he's basically up there with Frank Frazetta. It's just ridiculously daunting.

But I like a challenge and my friend had yet to get one of his best buddies a wedding gift. This became a belated Congratulations-you're-married-and-now-you're-having-your-first-child, gift.  So here's my take on attempting to paint like Boris Vallejo. Some quota to fill: Make it a National Lampoon's film poster with bad ass stuff like lightning, something involving San Francisco, video games etc.

Reference Material

I didn't even complete the film, but I just took over one hundred screen captures from the original 2d Star Wars: The Clone Wars for reference material. I am completely floored by how amazing these backgrounds are! Some of them are on screen for just a second too.  I'm so excited to study all of the compositions and colors from these guys.  Here are a few samples.

1? or 2?

Samus vs. Mother Brain as the last piece to Bottleneck Gallery's Nintendo Gallery show at the end of summer. So... 1 or 2?  Decisions, decisions...

Sneak Peek

Sneak peek of the progress made on my Super Mario piece. Only 2 more to go after this one... aiya.

3NES Show

Nintendo illustrations for an upcoming Bottleneck Gallery show are coming, end of summer! Wee!

Dogs First

Today, many of my friends were laid off from their jobs. It's extremely frustrating and unfortunate.

What's worse is it reminded me of a quote from Office Space. We used to say it, and laugh nervously afterwards because of the dark truth behind it.

"For five years now, you've worked your ass off at Initech, hoping for a promotion or some kind of profit sharing or something. Five years of your mid-20s now, gone. And you're gonna go in tomorrow and they're gonna throw you out into the street. You know why? So Bill Lumbergh's stock will go up a quarter of a point."

Regret

I think one of life's greatest regrets is when you're unable to help a friend in need.

 Seeing someone suffer from something such as depression and no matter what you say or do, the person won't let you in. They constantly push you away, possibly to a point where it's too late. We blame ourselves for things that are so vastly out of our own control.

WIP - thorny

Here's hoping I decide on a color scheme (A/D, right? I always use too much green, guess it's time to do something else).

 Currently working on inks! Hoping the final gets posted up soon enough.

2dots book!

An enormous thank you to Aaron Yeboah of 2dots who put together a curated book full of creative work, and I had the lucky opportunity to be included.  The book looks gorgeous and is chocked full of gorgeous imagery from graphic design, photography, illustration, and more!

 my pages! woo!

The book is also available for purchase here! 
 An added bonus is Blurb has a sale going on so there's 15% off everything until May 31st, with the promo code: ROCKSTARS

Have at it!

Archer Commission

I've been doing a lot of wedding commissions lately that are all parodies! Guess that's the popular trend at the moment.

Had a lot of fun with this one that's obviously based on an Archer poster.  Some of the quota to be filled: Halo's Master Chief as a 'hidden easter-egg' found somewhere in the back, and the commissioner himself is punching a raptor in the face.  

Hope the happy couple likes it when they receive the print!

Iphone/Galaxy Cases!

I have free shipping going on in my Society 6 Store 

until May 12th, Midnight PST!  

Clicking the link will give you the promo. Now's your chance to grab some new items like this Sailor Moon iPhone/Samsung Galaxy case from one of my illustrations!