[x] Slowly but surely...

[x] Play with Fire - He's nice... really...

[x] MechaniKal Koi - Construction Ongoing



Here's an updated progress shot of the koi since last entry. I picked a limited high-key palette inspired by a piece from one of the artists I e-Stalk on my tumblr.

Still gots more works to do's... I need to paint my shiet faster... :-/

[x] Pilipino Kaba?

A tribal Filipino that I cooked up and hope to take to finish... w00t!

[x] Art-Hop

Kumo had the perfect idea to spend Labor Day weekend doing an "art hop" - basically, artgallery-coffeeshop-bookstore hopping throughout San Francisco and San Jose to essentially inspire and introduce ourselves to other styles of art. It was extremely motivating, indeed.

Among the stops was Fabric-8 gallery/store in the Mission where we happened upon some of Erik Otto and Martin Hsu's recent work. F*ckin' awesome, I must say. F*ckin' awesome.

Took a couple pics along the way... these two come from Clarion Alley in SF. A collection of some really good street art murals and graffiti. T'was fun. Gotta do this again.

[x] CATCH!

==UPDATE - 18Sept2009==

My part in the project is almost complete... Just need to tweek a few things here and there with the programmers, but I was to do a bunch of action-animation frames for the characters as they ran, threw, caught throughout the game, as well as designing the overall playable area of the game in general.

game screenshot (sans game interface)

==04Aug2009==

Been working steadily with POW Studios, an independent game development company over in New York, who's been contracted to design games for a rather large medical company. The concept is very similar to the Wii Fit but for the purpose of physical therapy, meant to be used in medical facilities in conjunctions with their pre-existing interactive physical therapy games and equipment.

I'm definitely learning a lot when it comes to developing artwork for games and such. Learn-as-you-go, but still quite an educational experience. Fun, too. w00t!

Here's a few of the approved characters I've done so far.

Additionally, they've also asked me to do a UI re-design of their pre-existing equipment interfaces to be a little more streamlined and modern. I did a few mockups and sent them over for their approval. Hopefully, I'll be able to post a couple of those soon.

[x] MechaniKal Koi

Inked it out and hand a grand ol' time erasing the colored pencil sketch lines... this phase is now finished. Now it's on to color comping it and thinking of a painting style that would both enchance and add contrast to the line drawing. W00T!

As far as digital conversion, converting it into vector lines and tweaking the lines to be cleaner and smoother is definitely going to be a bitch. But hey... a fun bitch.

===UPDATE // 27Aug2009===

So, with Kumo's assistance, I've got the damn thing vectorized... and lemme just say that it looked so much cleaner as a sketch. Anchor points, handle bars, and vector paths are my enemy this night... and they have gathered against me en masse.

[x] Test

I've been interviewing here and there for a wide range of companies and I've been issued art tests for a few of them. Unfortunately, I haven't been offered a position, and it can definitely be disheartening and demoralizing at times, but all in all, I really can't let that bog me down. I just gotta keep, what's the phrase... I just gotta keep on 'truckin'... Heh.

Anyway, here's one of the tests that I did for one of the companies I interviewed with up in the City. I was asked to design some furniture game assets in Illustrator to fit a particular type of country cottage feel based on an established style, and such. Anywhoo... thought I'd post it.

Some of my personal projects aren't well developed enough to post progress shots of just yet, and I definitely need to finish up my mechanical koi. I have a couple ideas of completing it, both traditionally and digitally. Should be very fun to finish... just gotta muster up the motivation and dedication to hunker down and do it.

[x] Wear it with Pride

available in black bean sauce (black) or on sweet white rice (white)
black bean sauce // sweet white rice

"Bok Choy Apparel supports the Gay community with its dedicated line of 'Family shirts' in celebration of unique identities and collective strength."

June is national Gay & Lesbian Pride month in the United States and this coming weekend is the Pride Festival in San Francisco. Having done a mini-series of sexual identity designs for Bok Choy Apparel a month ago, I was thrilled to find out BCA selected my shirt as their official 2009 shirt at this year's festivities. (Unfortunately, the lesbian and straight options are not yet available - to make it available, feel free to head over to the apparel page and submit your vote.)

So, if you happen to be gay and would like somethin' to wear with Pride, feel free to click on over to Bok Choy's site and purchase a shirt for yourself to sport proudly; or head on over to the Bok Choy Apparel booth at the Pride Festival in San Francisco's Civic Center plaza this Sunday, June 28th to pick one up in person.

However, if you don't want this particular design, it's all good. I ain't gon' hate. But feel free to head over to the website anyway to see what other designs and themes we have available for voting that appeal to you.

Thanks for all your support, you guys...


==========UPDATE==========

SF's Pride 2009 was pretty fun. It's always an experience to watch the Parade and partake in the festival activities and just be a witness to all the activism and community involvement in addition to all the music, performances, and, well, debauchery. Heh.

I took a group of Shrunkenhead friends to the celebration and we eventually came to the Bok Choy Apparel booth. It was both awesome and surreal to see my design floating about the festival grounds and definitely around the Asian/Pacific Islander alley. :-)

Genius marketing, really...
a t-shirt company... selling t-shirts... by having their t-shirt model... shirtless.

Oh, my...
How, ever, did the logo of the Shrunkenhead make it on to the shirt? :-P
I wonder...

Heehee... a simple shoutout to the Animation/Illustration crew at SJSU. :-)

[x] Wakeup Call

It's been a while since I've been issued a production test, especially one for a fast-paced gaming company, so you can imagine my anxiety and excitement when I received one with less than 24 hour turnaround time.

Suffice it to say it was quite the wakeup call that I need to refresh and definitely refine my speedpainting skills. I found myself spending waaay too much time finessing details that only came out muddy and sloppy when I stepped back from it. I will say this, though... it was fun. I'd almost forgotten the intensity and pressure of quick turn-around times. :-) I both love and hate it.

Ahh, c'est la vie. Definitely need to do some speed painting practice pieces now. Anywhoo.... quick nap... then it's off to be an office rat for the day.



[x] Spartan Film Productions - Superhero Party Clown

I think what also ate up a huge amount of my time was that I scheduled a meeting to go over some possible illustration work for the new student/independent film production at SJSU. In retrospect, had I been more serious about the test, I would have rescheduled the meeting for later in the week after the test was due.

However, I'm still excited about the film project and the work they've asked me to take care of... plus it gives me an opportunity to collaborate with Jake Panian and Nelson Hernandez... two of my peers from the Shrunkenheadman club/cult (heehee) at SJSU whom I admire and respect a great deal. It'll be awesome to work with them and the other artists involved on this film project.

I was told Superhero Party Clown is going to be featured at Cinequest in 2010... Holler.