I used to hesitate about putting certain pieces of art into the world. I’ve put off comics projects because I didn’t want people to pigeonhole me. I didn’t want to do this genre or that, or this style or that, lest people thought I was a writer or artist of that one thing. I’ve hesitated to use color more often because my ego wants me to be known as a pen-and-ink, black-and-white guy. It’s all stupid. … Read More
AKA: Be Smarter I just completed a fairly small but substantial project. It was for a book illustration contest held by The House Of Illustration and The Folio Society, both in England, which I found out about at the beginning of October 2017. This year’s contest involved three different Sherlock Holmes stories. Entrants were to draw a single illustration for each story, plus design a book binding. The contest deadline was Wednesday, January 17, 2018. October … Read More
I’ve been thinking about a few tweets I read a couple days ago that politely detracted Inktober, and why I think Inktober is a good idea. Inktober 2014: I spent 31 days reacquainting myself with my pen nibs and getting back into the habit of drawing regularly again. Inktober 2015: I decided to do 31 finished, simple illustrations and use the best ones in my portfolio. This year, Inktober 2016: I decided to improve my familiarity … Read More
I try to draw something, anything, every day. Unfortunately, there are times when I just don’t get to. Everyone has things get in the way. Even if they’re minor. Maybe it’s hobby, a class you’re taking, a meeting, or a friend’s birthday. Sometimes you’ve got a bunch of errands and chores to do. Family obligations. Other times, you’re just way, way, way too tired to physically do anything. I mean, you could make yourself get up … Read More
A good representational artist (one who illustrations something that represents something in real life, despite whatever style it is drawn in) is always looking to improve their craft, whether by improving their fundamentals, studying new techniques, exploring different mediums, etc. Figure drawing is a basic fundamental that illustrators are always trying to improve upon. We study proportion, structure of the form, and anatomy. But ultimately, drawing a live, human body posing right in front of us … Read More
Finally, after many years of wanting to, I attended a comic convention not as an attendee, but as a guest and vendor. Andrew Leung, owner of Toy Fusion and ToyWorth was nice enough to have me as a guest artist at his booth at Sac-Con on the weekend of March 12th and 13th, 2016. I wasn’t expecting to do much really, other than draw, pass out business cards and postcard samples, and see if anyone would … Read More
On 2-26-2016, I took a last-minute trip to Yosemite National Park with a couple of friends. I took some pens, a sketchbook, and my iPhone. Yosemite. I had never been there before. And it was great. I love cliffs, and I love trees. The only thing missing was the ocean, cliff-side, but that’s okay: there were plenty of rivers, creeks, and waterfalls. I was sketching with my new Pentel Pocketbrush brushpen. It’s pretty nice, but it … Read More
Just a short one today. I missed last Friday’s blog post because I took a day trip to Yosemite (which I’ll write about later, complete with sketches!), and I just didn’t finish the post earlier in the week. Since then, I’ve wanted to write about a number of things. I love black and white illustration. To me, it’s powerful, raw, and visceral, even when the content is “even” or serene. Despite however complex the illustration might … Read More
This past Monday night (the 15th), I had a portfolio consultation with Penguin Books Art Director, Giuseppe Castellano, via his online school, The Illustration Department. I’ve learned there are other art education sites that offer similar consultations, such as Society Of Visual Storytelling (group setting) and Schoolism (one-on-one, limited spots). I went with Mr. Castellano for a few different reasons: 1) the consultation was very affordable; 2) it’s a one-on-one consultation, so it was going to … Read More
Know what I like about the Internet? Access. Having access to a ton of information may seem like such an obvious answer, but, as an artist, there’s one thing in particular that I very much enjoy: Access to other artists. And I’m not talking, necessarily, about Twitter and Facebook. Of course, those platforms are nice, too. Twitter and Facebook can be fun ways to waste time. And, yes, they’re a means interact with others, but they’re … Read More
I recently needed to put together a double-page spread advertisement for a local film festival I volunteer for, the Sacramento Asian Pacific Film Festival. Since I was doing this for a group, and other people needed to approve the design, I did thumbnails. For myself, I only do thumbnails when I need to solve problems. Usually I know what I want. This time, I needed everyone who had a say in the final messaging to approve … Read More
What I thought I was going to write about for today’s post got pre-empted by another subject. Thanks to Twitter. I went to high school with a few guys that liked to draw. A couple of them, one or two years younger than me, were obviously very, very good. You could see they had talent, and these were the guys I “competed” with, making sure my stuff was better than theirs. Looking back with an objective … Read More
Just a short post today. For the past two years, I’ve been training in Wing Chun kung fu. I really love it because it fulfills different needs: I’m doing something that connects me to my Chinese heritage; it fulfills the analytical part of my brain; there are many lessons that can be applied to everyday life; I’m learning how to defend myself; I’m learning to relax and go with the flow – this last bit is … Read More
It’s really easy to get distracted. I’m not talking about letting video games, girls, booze, and unwatched episodes of The West Wing lure you away from doing art (yes, I have yet to get through The West Wing Give me a break. I’ve been busy for the past 15+ years). Those things are all minor distractions that are essentially entertainment and a break away from work. No, I’m talking about the temptation to take an entirely … Read More
This is a “warm-up” sketch I did on 1-13-2015: The goal was to limit the time spent doing the sketch. This time I chose to work on larger paper. My sketch from the previous day was done in a 5×7 sketchbook, which somehow made me want to work meticulously. It’s probably due to the page space being small enough to sketch fairly freely, but not so small that I was forced to go into “thumbnail mode”, … Read More
I have very rarely done warm-up sketches. I understand the value of warm-up sketches. I admit, when I was younger, I thought, “Why do I need to warm up my drawing muscles? Why can’t I just draw?” Of course it helps to loosen up the fingers, the hand, and the arm before doing any drawing that is meant to end up as a finished piece. But when you have a limited amount of time to spend … Read More
As I get back into the practice of drawing all the time, I am, of course, adding new stuff to my website’s portfolio. Some new stuff has been added to both the illustration and design sections. I will, of course, be adding and removing stuff as I see fit to represent the best of myself. However, my Tumblr site will be a more of a timeline, featuring concepts to sketches to finished works, so if I … Read More
