i cAll gOliAth

With the chaos of another film post production subsiding, I finally had a chance to finish off a concept of an older idea I had from the Oz days. I had a bunch of concepts done for this idea when I was working in Sydney but I haven’t touched it for a few years. It was a post apocalyptic idea named ‘i cAll gOliAth’ with a focus around the woman in the image.

This piece started and ended digitally. It was also a test bed to start adding more texture into certain works as well as delivering an emotional response. I also had a chance to start using some new Photoshop brushes that I had made along with using a few new textures as overlays. And surprise, surprise the vivid light layer finally came in handy for the final texture over the piece. It was a great image of an old broken down leather suitcase that I adjusted and painted over to make work.

It was nice to have some fun again…

Finding some peace in a chaotic world.

As you can see, I haven’t had much of a chance to post anything new lately as the film work has taken up most of my time. Luckily, I’ve still been able to escape the rigors of the daily grind and find a wave to surf when something comes through.  This photo was taken by Dave Lintott (http://davelintott.photoshelter.com) at local spot Houghton Bay. A couple of weeks back, Houghton was working pretty nicely for a time and a few of us managed to get some good lunch time sessions in. I also picked up a great new short board (thanks Ed!) that I’m riding in the photo. Man, I love that freaking board….

Art is where you find it.

Free the mind from the shackles of stress and let the inspiration flow.

Fire from the Fairy’s head

I had a chance over the last little bit to get a couple of graphics out for potential surf deck designs. You could say that this is a continuation of the post below, to bring my art to surfing or surfing to my art. There are so many great surfboards out there but unfortunately not enough art on them. I wanted these designs to do the potential surfboard justice while playing a bit with the shape. Even though both of these graphics are for short boards, I am looking to get at least another piece done for both a fish and a long board.

Both of these designs started with ink on paper and then were scanned in and finished in Photoshop. The surfboard template was also done in Photoshop, with paths. Once I have a chance, I will be redoing the templates for all potential surfboards in Illustrator.

The first piece named “Fire from the Fairy’s head” was my ode to the Green Fairy of Absinthe fame. I have always had a crush on her and wanted to create a stronger female fairy than the dainty depictions of yore. On the front top of the board is the Absinthe spoon holding a sugar cube containing the third eye.

The second piece is plainly named “Octo”. The front of the surfboard is the main octopus graphic with some of the tentacles wrapping around underneath.

I also added an image of me riding at the local break, in a section named “the wall”. It’s usually too packed for me to want to ride but some days you get lucky and have a fun little wave to yourself. The picture was taken by Anton Ognyev, a fellow Weta-tonian.

signet for a New World Samurai

Over the holidays I started delving back into some graphic symbol work. I found it to be a nice break from the other work that I do in film and on my personal time. I also forgot how relaxing it can be to let the mind go without being concerned about painting, texture, lighting, etc.

While creating the signet, all that matters is shape, flow and connection. The mystery of how it will form into something tangible while remaining open to the change. I find this carries through into another huge passion of mine… surfing.

The long and short of it is, surfing changed my life at a fundamental level. It brought such a sense of simplicity as well as helping bridge the gap of art and physicality. Now art takes shape and manifests whether it be pencil to paper, paint to canvas, lens to eye or board to water.

There is nothing quite like riding pure energy. Always changing and never the same. It’s the mystery that keeps us coming back for more. The potential of what may be. The same is with all aspects of art. I am never more excited or hopeful than in that moment of absolute potential and creation.

I have been trying to find a way to bring my art to surfing and decided to start off with this signet. I wanted to create something that represents the ‘New World Samurai’ mentality of surfing as well as a graphic I would actually like to have on my board.

The signet below, entitled ‘Absolve’ was done in pencil and then finished in Photoshop. I still need to bring it into Illustrator, to turn it into a vector based graphic, if I decide to take it further. There is also an image below of myself catching a fun little wave at the local break.  The conditions are not always ideal but I can’t really complain as the surf spot is under a 5 minute drive from work. A great place for some lunch time sessions. The pic was taken by friend and fellow surfer Ale Bonora. I love the vibrancy of color in the image he took.

Shorpy is my friend.

Like the title says, Shorpy is my friend. This is a great site of archival historic photos that always have something cool and wondrous to look at.

Lately, when I have spare ‘art’ time between work and my Children’s book, I like to take a look through the site and find interesting images that might suit particular characters that I’m thinking about.

Below is one of the images from Shorpy that I thought would work with this little fellow. The top image is the final render and the bottom image is the original plate. I find using real photos, especially old plates, are a great way to work on adding elements and lighting to an already interesting premise. All I had to do was remove the people and motion blurred ropes as well as transformation and level adjustments. Then just a bit of color correction while softening the overall feel and adding some subtle lighting to draw in the eye.

I added the Shorpy site to my links, so make sure to head over there and take a look. Like the site says, “Always something interesting”.

a process piece

This is an older piece that was a stepping stone for me to start using Painter for more of my pieces. Seeing how this web-log is about the process, I thought I should add something that shows the stages I take toward a final render.

I started off with graphite on Letraset paper and then did a rubbing alcohol wash over top. It was then painted in Painter, with colour adjustments in Photoshop.

A return to Oz.

A couple of weeks ago, I took a weekend concept design workshop put on by a couple of the Weta Workshop guys. We were given an old movie idea to work from and we had to pick one of the characters or environments to re-invent. The film was “Return to Oz”, which of course was not a great film but the premise does have heaps of potential.

I decided to take the character “Tik-Tok” and move him back into the Tin Man of old. First off, I wanted him to be a father figure for Dorthy. I also thought he would suit a mechanic, with the feel of a Civil War retired colonel.  I did a few variations and finally decided on the third version.

Paul and Warren, who ran the workshop, were great. They had plenty of tricks and tidbits of info to bring the idea forward and sell it to a potential director.  After talking with them on the setup of the final render, Dorthy needed to be in it. So I decided to stick with the Civil War feel and give her a “Huck Finn look”.

I wasn’t able to finish the final render on that weekend but I finally had the chance to finish it off over the last couple of days, after work.  The initial concepts were done in Photoshop and the final render was done with Photoshop and Painter.