SOTW 277

Mark and Steven have a strong, fulfilling friendship despite one being vastly
better looking than the other.

Since 2007 I've been posting a sketch/doodle/whatever every week on my site. I'll be continuing this trend here on my blog and on my new site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

Anomaly 2012 is this Saturday!

Anomaly 2012 poster by Scott Carmichael

Just a reminder to anyone that's in the Seattle/Vancouver/Pacific Northwest area that the Anomaly Workshop is on Saturday. I'm getting stuff prepared for the demo I'll be doing there. It's not going to be a formal talk about a particular subject, rather I'm going to be on the main floor of the museum drawing and (digitally) painting from 6pm to midnight. Like I mentioned before, I've never done this sort of thing but I think once I get into some sort of rhythm it'll be a lot of fun. (again please don't throw things, kneaded erasers can really hurt)

My plan is to design a character on paper, scan it, and finish off the concept in the computer. Hopefully things go smoothly, and I don't just end up drawing and erasing the same monster head for 6 hours straight. (this is a possibility) If for some reason I'm not at my table drawing, just try and find where Terryl Whitlatch is. I'll probably be fawning all over her like the art-dork I am.

I'll post the work I do at the workshop sometime next week. Stay tuned!

Earth Day 2012

Without thinking to much about it, we actually did some "earthy" things on Earth Day. Helping animals with baking, and appreciating the environment by going on a hike.

Emily and I dropped off more of her amazing baked goods at the vegan bake sale in Seattle's U-District. All the benefits go to the Pigs Peace Sanctuary in Stanwood, WA. They do bake sales a few times a year so stay tuned on their facebook page to see when the next one is happening.

Then, later in the day I went for a little walk/hike near our house. Redmond's not the most exciting place to live but I really can't complain when a 20 min walk gets me here:
 

My camera isn't great for capturing the light in the forest but it still takes
some decent close ups.

The biggest difference from the wilderness areas here in the Pacific Northwest
compared to the Midwest is how wet everything is. Wet and mossy.

Wet.

Mossy.

 

I like stumps with stuff growing off of them. Deep.

 

Self Portrait!

Almost every artist I know loves taking photos. (even with a not so amazing camera). Some do it to collect REF, others do it to build their visual vocabulary. I think it nicely ties into Earth Day as well.  

"Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints. Kill nothing but time."
-attributed to multiple sources

SOTW 276

More misshapen heads drawn in people's sketchbooks...

Since 2007 I've been posting a sketch/doodle/whatever every week on my site. I'll be continuing this trend here on my blog and on my new site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 275

I'm sorry, I really hate to be "that guy", but can I get a sci-fi collar that goes
with my head nodules? My nodules are really important to me and frankly, this
collar just isn't working.

Since 2007 I've been posting a sketch/doodle/whatever every week on my site. I'll be continuing this trend here on my blog and on my new site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 274

"Hi my name is Nerdblum Needlebaum, I'll be doing your taxes today"
Also a bonus bald, wrinkly, alien with a sci-fi collar.

Since 2007 I've been posting a sketch/doodle/whatever every week on my site. I'll be continuing this trend here on my blog and on my new site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 273

More wrinkly aliens with the same expression.
That's why they pay me the big bucks.

Since 2007 I've been posting a sketch/doodle/whatever every week on my site. I'll be continuing this trend here on my blog and on my new site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

Things to click on...

The internet is full of wonderful and horrible things. (mostly horrible) So from time to time I thought I'd share some stuff that's caught my interest.

Really wonderful talk with Jean Giraud at CTN 2009. They go over his life, his work and his philosophy:
http://vimeo.com/channels/ctnanimationexpo#24123610
There's also a moving clip from a documentary where he's talking to his daughter and for some reason it made me sad now that he's passed on.

Continuing on the same theme, a 40 min documentary about Maurice Sendak (it will also make you sad):
http://youtu.be/rCwGcVd_qmI
Sendak is irreverent, self reflective and honest. He also has a way of speaking that really gets to me. You can hear the wisdom and experience of an artist and writer that has truly accepted the good and bad with the life he's led.

Beautiful LOTR concepts by Wes Burt:
http://wesburt.cghub.com/images/lord-of-the-rings-online-turbine-inc/
His rendering skills for all the different armor, fabric and materials is amazing. Like Ian McCaig, Wes's stuff is primarily realistic but he still puts so much character into the faces and gestures that nothing looks stiff or stale.

New trailer for Prometheus:

http://youtu.be/HHcHYisZFLU
Looks good, but I'm still worried we find out way to much about the weird derelict ship and the space jockey from Alien.

Really great talk about gender and the socialization of young girls from author Peggy Orenstein : 
http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=26159


That's all for this edition!

SOTW 272

I have a backlog of sketches from ECCC. You'll be noticing a trend of wrinkly,
bald, aliens. I find them easy to draw especially in a stressful con setting.

Since 2007 I've been posting a sketch/doodle/whatever every week on my site. I'll be continuing this trend here on my blog and on my new site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

ECCC 2012!

Well, ECCC 2012 has come and gone, so here's a brief con wrap-up! 

The con was amazing. We had a great spot this year, sandwiched between Joe Benitez and Peter Steigerwald, and comics legend Erik Larsen! (They were all super cool) 

All the people that came by the table were great. Everyone seemed to like a little fantasy mixed in with their superheroes. Emily's book did really well. It was a big hit with young artists and lovers of creature design. My sketchbooks also sold very well, and I spent most of the con drawing in them. A perk of having a table is that people come to you, and a bunch of my concept art friends from work and other studios came by to say hi and showed me some of the cool stuff they had bought. I picked up a book from "Cheeks" and a set of Michael Yamada's awesome "Zoom Zoo" alphabet flash cards. I think we all need to brush up on our ABC's and having cute animals driving amazingly designed cars is a huge bonus.

Finally here's some photos! Hop over to Emily's blog, she posted some of the other pictures we took, as well as her own write up.

Please exchange your money for our art.

Our table complete with Emily's eye catching Marsh
Nymph banner.

My side of the table. My Vol1 sketchbook is finally sold out and will never be
reprinted again! MUAHAHAHAHA!

The Explorers Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures

Can someone explain what's happening here?

Nightcrawler is confused by the multitude of books written about him.
(one of my modeler friends form work)

"Okay, so if you buy my book, you'll learn some good drawing tips, but more
importantly you will allow me to buy more cute shirts with animals on them."

Harley Quinn has been working out.

Princess Vader orders this post to be shut down.
NOW.

Thanks to all who came by. We had a blast, and we'll be back next year!

I Got Into Spectrum!

Spectrum posted the artist list for their 19th book:
http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/
And I got in! Getting into Spectrum has been a personal goal of mine since art school. I'm completely blown away that my name appears on this list. You might say I'm as happy as someone with two knives:

A while back, I sent some of my friends a self-deprecating e-mail with screen grabs from one of Spectrum's videos about the judging. I noticed in the video a quick shot of one of the judges (Jon Schindehette) looking at some of the art Emily and I entered.

I joked that if you watch the video you can actually see me "not getting in." I may be playing around here, but I truly am honored to be recognized. A big thanks to all the judges that voted for my art by putting the magical paper clips in the divine paper cups.

When I find out what illustration got in I'll be sure to post about it on here!