Here is the first cut of an animation I made using Cheetah 3D and Photoshop. Most of the work was done in Cheetah 3d with finishing touches and additional animations done in Photoshop. There are some trouble areas that I would like to fix up at a later date. Great re-learning experience. Some of the things you would think would be so easy were the most time consuming and difficult. I'm sure with time and additional tools it will become easier.
This was done in order to provide promotional content for our companies new line, Big Sport Gifts. Additionally some of the product renderings used throughout the website were also done with Cheetah 3d. For the price it is a pretty robust and useful program.
This very early college piece is very nostalgic to me. Alex Bostic taught us several techniques. One being a quick technique to illustrate skin tones. There a lot of problems with this piece but I like seeing moments of learning captured. After this piece I was hooked with that technique and tried to use it as much as possible when doing skin tones. Still use elements of it today when working digitally.
Found gem. This found it's way to me by way of an old print my father kept. It was a printed promo piece for Pencil Pushers. Our first mailers/handouts were black and white since that was all we could do cheaply. We tried to showcase a variety of techniques with stipple being one. This was a concept for the Reach toothbrush and I used my self for the model. The stipple alone brought back so many memories of working with rapidograph pens and constantly cleaning the clogged tips. Fingers tips covered in india ink. We did get some stipple work from this and other pieces, so at least it worked. Not the strongest stipple piece but it was definitely an representation of my work at that time.
This was for an Editorial Class Assignment back in College. Course was taught by Chuck Scalin. Very fun class. The end illustrations were required to be placed into the layout of the article. The floppy disks and serial cord plug on the side of his neck show how dated this illustration is. Pep posed for this picture. I was going for a pure concept of computer and human interaction. Becoming one with your computer. Funny how true that is today. Seems like people cannot live without their computers. This was one of the first techniques I learned at school from Alex Bostic. Pencil under drawing with a medium wash of Paynes Grey. You would think use black to make the shadows and white to build the highlights. He mainly used acrylic and brush, but I preferred using colored pencil for most of my sharp detail work they allowed me more control.
This was a piece done back in school. I was working on technique taught by Alex Bostic. It involved putting Gesso down in a slightly heavy fashion. Allowing brush strokes to be seen. You would then do your under drawing. The next step would be to seal your pencil drawing with matte medium and then glaze a almost opaque wash of Gouache over the drawing. The objective was to use a darker color that would ultimately serve as your shadow color. The next part was the most fun. You would just use your brush, sponge or paper towel with just plain water and pick out the highlights. Sort of like erasing the paint. The final parts would be adding color using color pencil and airbrush. It gave a really unique effect and I was totally into it for everything after I learned it. I have included a close up to show how the surface took the color pencil and the effect it gave everything.
This was an illustration done in school for a class called Children's Book Illustration, taught by Chuck Scalin. Acrylic and Colored Pencil. We showed all the pieces at Narnia Books. This was one of the pictures that ended up being shown in the local paper that cover the exhibit. Fun piece to illustrate.
This is sort of a follow up to the oil and chocolate illustration. As mentioned one of my instructors at VCU was Alex Bostic and he had us practice illustrating things like, metal, chocolate, clouds, feathers, rocks, etc. This was the result of the Chrome assignment. I remember going to the Library and finding a book on cars and they had hood ornaments. I don't know for certain but it appears to be a hood ornament from a 1950s Cadillac. Of course when I found the reference I found it in a book, much easier to find online current day. This was mainly an airbrush piece with the final parts being done with Acrylic paint and colored pencil. The scan is not that great but it helps hide some of the rougher spots. Some parts I feel succeeded very well. There are many areas that I would change today, but it truly reflects the level I was at during that time of college.
This was my first attempt at trying to really meld several different media types. I remember going into a panic when I sprayed it with matte varnish and it the guache started to speckle up. That is what gave me the idea to pick off the paint around the figure. I would just use a brush with water and brush around the figure or put droplets and pick them off with a paper towel. This picture took a very long time. It was submitted to the Richmond Arts Contest unfinished and won best of show. When I found out, I told the jurors that I was not finished with it and asked to have it back to finish it. They were reluctant, for worry that I would alter it too much. I had to clear how I was going to finish it before the would let me have it back. Years later it was repurposed for magazine cover as well as a local magazine.
