DARAF's Daily Doodles : A Sketchbook Diary

Danny Trejo

2012-01-16T21:15:00.000-08:00

Born Dan Trejo in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California,Trejo is the son of Alice Rivera and Dan Trejo, a construction worker. He is of Mexican descent. He is a second cousin of filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, though the two were unaware that they were related until the filming of Desperado. Trejo was raised in the Harriman Historic District neighborhood of the Bristol, Pa. As a youth, he roamed the streets around his home area, committing various petty crimes with his uncle, and eventually became addicted to heroin. He was arrested numerous times as an adolescent.

While on the streets, Trejo developed talent as a boxer and considered taking it up as a profession. That ambition was dashed by a lengthy prison sentence. He served 11 years for drug and robbery charges in the Holmesburg Prison. While in Holmesburg, he became the Pennsylvania state prison champion in both the lightweight and welterweight divisions. During this time Trejo became a member of a twelve-step program which he credits with his success in overcoming drug addiction. He also served time in Folsom State Prison. Trejo was released in 1972.

While speaking at a recovery meeting in Los Angeles Trejo met a young man in the movie business. His newfound friend invited him to the set of Runaway Train where Trejo was offered a job as an extra in the film's prison scenes. Edward Bunker, himself a former convict and well-respected crime author who was writing the screenplay for the film, recognized Trejo, with whom he had done time at San Quentin. It was widely misreported that Trejo was actually serving time in the prison where filming took place. Bunker remembered Trejo's boxing skills, and offered him $320 per day to train Eric Roberts, one of the movie's stars, for a boxing scene. Director Andrei Konchalovsky liked Trejo's work and decided to offer him a prominent role in the film.

Since then, Trejo has become a prolific actor in both films and television, acting alongside some of Hollywood's most famous actors, including Jean-Claude Van Damme, Johnny Depp, Al Pacino, Nicolas Cage, Charles Bronson, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, Val Kilmer, and Antonio Banderas. Trejo has often appeared in five or more movies per year in various genres. Major releases in which he has acted include Machete, Blood in Blood Out, Animal Factory, Bubble Boy, Anaconda, Marked for Death, xXx, Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Heat, From Dusk till Dawn, Con Air, Six Days Seven Nights, Spy Kids, The Replacement Killers, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Predators, Urban Justice, The Devil's Rejects, Valley of Angels, Delta Farce, Grindhouse, Rob Zombie's Halloween and Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror.

Here is my caricature of this very inspiring latino who was able to do a 180 degree turn in life for the better.

Caesar leads a revolt

2012-01-06T13:11:00.000-08:00

I liked The Rise Of The Apes so much I decided to do a quick speed paint of one of the key moments in the movie. This is Caesar and his inner circle leading a revolt against the powers that be.

Bill "The Butcher" Cutting

2012-01-04T19:49:00.000-08:00

This is a caricature of Daniel Day Lewis, playing William "Bill The Butcher" Cutting in Martin Scorsese's Gangs Of New York. Inspiration for the character was drawn from real life Gangster William Poole (July 24, 1821 – March 8, 1855), also known as Bill the Butcher, Poole was a member of the New York City gang the Bowery Boys, a bare-knuckle boxer, and a leader of the Know Nothing political movement.
Daniel Day Lewis is a great actor in my opinion with some stellar performances under his belt (each of which would make for some interesting caricatures). Among my favorite Day Lewis films are:
The last Of The Mohicans,
In The Name Of The Father,
The Boxer,
There Will Be Blood,
And of Course, Gangs Of New York

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T14:40:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all out there in cyber space a very Merry Christmas 2011. Here is a speed paint of a movie still from one of my favorite animated films, Tim Burton's A Nightmare Before Christmas. Enjoy

Character Sketches

2011-12-16T15:20:00.000-08:00

Using Z-brush 4 to come up with some super fast and dirty creature and character concepts. I may later take these to completion but for now, just messing around with the program on my breaks at work.

Robert DeNiro

2011-12-12T16:24:00.000-08:00

Robert De Niro, Jr. (born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973 (My Birth Year, Yaaay). In 1974, he played the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, a role that won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

His critically acclaimed, longtime collaboration with Martin Scorsese began with 1973's Mean Streets, and earned De Niro an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jake LaMotta in the 1980 film Raging Bull. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) and Cape Fear (1991). In addition, he received nominations for his acting in Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978) and Penny Marshall's Awakenings (1990). Also in 1990, his portrayal as Jimmy Conway in Scorsese's Goodfellas earned him a BAFTA nomination.

He has earned four nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: New York, New York (1977), Midnight Run (1988), Analyze This (1999) and Meet the Parents (2000).

De Niro directed A Bronx Tale (1993) and The Good Shepherd (2006). He has received accolades for his esteemed career, including the AFI Life Achievement Award and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award.

Along with Al Pacino, I consider DeNiro to be among the best actors in the industry. Here is a caricature of him , followed by a work in progress shot and some pics from some my favorite DeNiro characters.

Deniro as Bounty Hunter Jack Walsh in Midnight Run:

Max Cady in Cape Fear:

Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver:

Real Life Boxing Champ Jake "Raging Bull" Lamota in raging Bull:

And last but not least, The Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part 2:

Living Creatures of Revelation: Lion

2011-12-04T13:53:00.000-08:00

This is another one of the living Creatures from The Book of Revelation chapter 4 of The holy bible (New Testament)
This is the cherubims with the appearance of a Lion. You can see the Bull or ox a couple of post back.

Herbie The Love Bug, pixar style

2011-12-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

This week's sketch challenge for the Soulinterface Studio blog was to take a famous car from film or TV and draw them in the style of Pixar's Cars. I decided to go with Disney's Herbie since he is also a racing car.
from wikipedia:
Herbie is an anthropomorphic Volkswagen Beetle, a character that is featured in several Disney motion pictures starting with the 1968 feature film The Love Bug. He has a mind of his own and is capable of driving himself, and is a serious contender in auto racing competitions. Throughout most of the franchise, Herbie is distinguished by red, white and blue racing stripes from front to back bumper, a racing-style number "53" on the front trunk lid, doors, and engine lid, and a yellow-on-black '63 California license plate that says, "OFP 857". One exception to this is his introduction in The Love Bug, where he initially appears as a nondescript white vehicle with a gray colored fabric sunroof (a.k.a. "ragtop"), the style of sunroof offered on VW Beetles made through 1963.

The Real Herbie:

A VW Beetle from Pixar's Cars:

and last but not least Cars main man Lightning McQueen "KACHOW!!!:

Da Draogon vs. DA DEMONS

2011-12-01T11:55:00.000-08:00

Bruce Lee (born Lee Jun-fan; 27 November 1940 – 20 July 1973) was a Chinese American, Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement. He is widely considered by many commentators, critics, media and other martial artists to be the most influential martial artist, and a cultural icon.
He is noted for his roles in five feature-length films: Lo Wei's The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972); Way of the Dragon (1972), directed and written by Lee; Warner Brothers' Enter the Dragon (1973), directed by Robert Clouse; and The Game of Death (1978), directed by Robert Clouse.
I did this piece as a tribute to Bruce Lee ,who is a big influence in my life, for his birthday last Sunday, Nov. 27th. I envision this as a concept for a possible video game. Below are a few close-up shots followed by pics of the man himself.

Jimi Hendrix

2011-11-28T23:13:00.000-08:00

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; (November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is widely considered to be the greatest guitarist in musical history, and one of the most influential musicians of his era across a range of musical genres. I did this caricature in honor of his birth day. I went with a monochromatic color scheme in purple, in homage to his song titled Purple Haze. He really could make that guitar talk.

The Strip Mall in The sky

2011-11-26T16:27:00.000-08:00

Black Friday could be scary in a place like this. I did this for the weekly challenge on the soulinterface studio blog. The challenge was interplanetary advertisement, so the idea was to envision a Nike ad in a far off world. My contribution was inspired by Hayoa Miyazaki and Disney's Treasure Planet. Done in photoshop by painting shapes with custom brushes then using photo collage techniques for texture.

Captain Japan

2011-11-18T19:02:00.000-08:00

This was done for a new Weekly Sketch group started by myself and The owner of Soul Interface Studios, Dylan Brough. Dylan hired me to do some freelance work for his company in the past and recently approached me about starting up the group. We'll have different random topics every week, so it should be fun and interesting to see what everyone comes up with, plus it gives us an excuse to keep learning and growing as artist. You can check out the sketch group's blog @ http://soulinterfacestudios.blogspot.com/
And don't forget to stop by The Soul Interface Studios main site:
http://www.soulinterface.com/
This week's topic was to do a remake of Captain America as if he were from another country. Here is my contribution; Captain Japan. I imagine he would use his conical hat like Captain America's shield. The Kanji stands for (from top to bottom) Honesty and Justice, Heroic Courage, Compassion, right action, courtesy, Truthfulness, Honor and Glory, Duty and loyalty. All things the Captain Japan fights for. lol

Living Creatures of Revelation

2011-11-16T20:06:00.000-08:00

This is one of the four living creatures (Greek: Zoon, Hebrew:Chayot), or Cheribum that suround the throne of GOD in the book of Revelation. This one is supposed to have the appearance of a calf or bull or ox, but I wanted to give it the ole DARAF twist. I may do a version of the other 3 at some point.

And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and [there were] seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
And before the throne [there was] a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, [were] four beasts full of eyes before and behind.
And the first beast [was] like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast [was] like a flying eagle.
And the four beasts had each of them six wings about [him]; and [they were] full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
-Revelation 4:8

Pacquiao Vs. Marquez

2011-11-15T17:52:00.000-08:00

Having fun exploring the different brushes in Corel Painter 12. I decided to do a caricature of two of the baddest fighters of this generation, Manny "Pac-Man Pacquiao and Juan Manuel "Dynamita (Dynamite)" Marquez. This was the third time these two met in the ring, and as always they went to war leaving fans torn as to who actualy won. Personally I felt Marquez pulled off the win even though Pacquiao got the decision. Here is a caricature of the two warriors followed by a process shot and two pics of the real men.

Concepteez Magazine issue 2

2011-11-11T11:31:00.000-08:00

I would like to thank the crew involved in putting this issue together for asking me to display some of my art. I have a double page spread and a few other pieces of art in this issue of Concepteez Magazine. You can download a free issue by clicking on the image below. The first issue is a free dwnload also, there are some great tutorials and inspiring art from artist all over the world, so be sure and check it out.

Concepteez Mag Issue 2 by ~concepteez on deviantART

R.I.P. "Smokin" Joe Frazier

2011-11-09T17:37:00.000-08:00

Form wikipedia:
Joseph William "Joe" Frazier (January 12, 1944 – November 7, 2011), also known as Smokin' Joe, was an Olympic and Undisputed World Heavyweight boxing champion, whose professional career lasted from 1965 to 1976, with a one-fight comeback in 1981.

Frazier emerged as the top contender in the late 1960s, defeating opponents that included Jerry Quarry, Oscar Bonavena, Buster Mathis, Eddie Machen, Doug Jones, George Chuvalo, and Jimmy Ellis en route to becoming undisputed heavyweight champion in 1970, and followed up by defeating Muhammad Ali on points in the highly-anticipated "Fight of the Century" in 1971. Two years later Frazier lost his title when he was knocked out by George Foreman. He fought on, beating Joe Bugner, losing a rematch to Ali, and beating Quarry and Ellis again.

Frazier's last world title challenge came in 1975, but he was beaten by Ali in their brutal rubbermatch. He retired in 1976 following a second loss to Foreman. He made a comeback in 1981, fighting just once, before retiring for good. The International Boxing Research Organization (IBRO) rates Frazier among the ten greatest heavyweights of all time. He is an inductee of both the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame.

Frazier's style was often compared to that of Henry Armstrong and occasionally Rocky Marciano. He was dependent on bobbing, weaving, grunting, snorting as he grimaced with all out aggression wearing down his opponents with relentless pressure. His best known punch was a powerful left hook, which accounted for most of his knockouts.

After retiring, Frazier made cameo appearances in several Hollywood movies, and two episodes of The Simpsons. His son Marvis became a boxer — trained by Frazier himself — although was unable to emulate his father's success. Frazier continued to train fighters in his gym in Philadelphia. His later years saw the continuation of his bitter rivalry with Ali, in which the two periodically exchanged insults, interspersed with brief reconciliations.

Frazier was diagnosed with liver cancer in late September 2011 and admitted to hospice care. He died November 7, 2011.
Rest Easy Champ, You'll be missed.
Below is a caricature I did of Mr. Frazier ( I hope I captured his spirit somewhat), along with two shots of him with long time rival "The Greatest" Ali.

R.I.P. Heavy D

2011-11-09T00:07:00.000-08:00

Dwight Arrington Myers (May 24, 1967 – November 8, 2011, better known as Heavy D, was a Jamaican-born American actor, rapper, record producer, singer and former leader of Heavy D & the Boyz. Here is an homage I did today for this Hip Hop legend.

Caricature demo

2011-11-05T19:16:00.000-07:00

Quick caricature demo I did for my artist friend, Ricky Ranson at work today. Not paying attention to proportions, but showing him my techniques. This took about 30-40 minutes in photoshop using nothing but a soft air brush. From here I would fix all the proprtions, tighten things up and maybe texture. It was enough for now to give the artist the basic starting point to working this way.

Wormwood

2011-11-03T17:27:00.000-07:00

I asked my wife to help me name this one and she said "falling star". So that inspired my title "Wormwood Descending". In the New Testament, in the Book of Revelation it says: "And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon a third of the rivers, and upon the springs of water; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and a third of the waters became Bitter; and many people had died of the waters, because they were made bitter." (Revelation 8:10, 11 - KJB). Some Bible dictionaries and commentaries view the term as a reference to a celestial being. A Dictionary of The Holy Bible states, "the star called Wormwood seems to denote a mighty prince, or power of the air, the instrument, in its fall". Here is my version of this Fallen Star that was more than it appeared to be upon closer inspection, but brings on mass destruction none the less.

This started out as a small thumbnail from a previous post using the shape tool in Photoshop, then later some corel painter, then back into photoshop for final details and textures.

Nosferatu 2011

2011-10-27T18:23:00.000-07:00

Here is my version of Nosferatu the Vampire. Nosferatu is a 1922 silent German Expressionist film by F. W. Murnau, starring Max Schreck as the vampire Count Orlok. This was a quick z-brush sculpt that I used as a base to paint over and texture.

Baba Yaga

2011-10-27T14:25:00.000-07:00

according to wikipedia: Baba Yaga or Baba Roga known by various other names, is a haggish or witchlike character in Slavic folklore. She flies around on a giant pestle, kidnaps (and presumably eats) small children, and lives in a hut that stands on chicken legs. In most Slavic folk tales, she is portrayed as an antagonist; however, some characters in other mythological folk stories have been known to seek her out for her wisdom, and she has been known on rare occasions to offer guidance to lost souls. According to Propp, she often fulfills the function of donor; that is, her role is in supplying the hero (sometimes unwillingly) with something necessary for the further quest.

Here rather than paint this witch with her traditional chicken legged house, I envision her transforming into a nasty demon with chicken like features. This would happen before she eats the children no doubt. Right on time for a Halloween treat.

More enviro thumbnails

2011-10-22T20:20:00.001-07:00

Some more quick ideas for later development.

Enviro Thumbnails

2011-10-20T23:26:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of quick Enviro thumbnails before bedtime. Working small and using nothing but the shape and clone stamp tool and very little brushes. This allows me to generate ideas quicklyand with little thought or effort. I can take these to completion at a later date.

Loch Ness Monster

2011-10-13T15:56:00.000-07:00

The Loch Ness Monster (Scottish Gaelic Niseag) or Nessie is a cryptid that is reputed to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. The most frequent speculation is that the creature represents a line of long-surviving plesiosaurs. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the next. Here is my version of what this beestie might look like. I wanted to do a painting that had a bit of an impressionism look to it, so this was as good an excuse as any. I think the poor fisherman could have used more life and action, but then again he may just be frozen stiff from fear. lol Below is the finished piece, followed by a shot with a Fibonacci Spiral which I used to aid me in guiding the viewers eye through the composition. And lastly a close-up of the main subjects.

Tony Montana-Process Tutorial

2011-10-11T15:36:00.000-07:00

Al Pacino is one of my favorite actors, I have been wanting to do a caricature of him for awhile now. I went with a Scarface because it is one of my favorite roles he has played and I figured with the new enhanced Scarface bluray that is out now, it would be fun to do. I have alot of Pacino pen doodles floating around my sketchbooks. Here is one of Tony Montana.

This is a picture of a collector toy my wife got me for my birthday a few years back. I guess I'm kind of a fan:)

And a picture of my subject, Al Pacino in character as Tony Montana, "your never gonna see another bad guy like me, let me tell you."

This a quick breakdown of my process along with the process shots. I did this all in photoshop. First I start with a loose sketch and blocking in tones.

Next I make a new layer and fill it with a medium grey to tone the canvas. I lower the opacity so that my original sketch shows through, and on a new layer I proceed to clean up the sketch adding details to the face and background, all in greyscale.

more of the same, getting the tonal values right and trying to keep all the attention on his face, which I want to be the main focus of the piece.

Now I start to think about color, so I glaze the canvas with a brown and contrasting blue hue.

Here I continue to make adjustments and add colors, separating the character from the scenery. I also continue to refine the drawing along the way, which has still remained pretty loose.

All that is left is the details and finally the textures, and what would a Scarface caricature be without all of the cocaine.

I hope you enjoyed reading my process as much as I enjoyed Painting it and that you may have learned something that will benefit and motivate you in your own creations.

Machine World

2011-10-07T19:15:00.000-07:00

It appears the Machines are just as stupid as us after all. They are bound to self destruct as well:) As it is written, "A house divided among itself, can not stand".

Starring Sonya Devereaux issue #2 is a wrap

2011-10-06T19:29:00.000-07:00

I just handed in the final colored pages of the comic Starring Sonya Devereaux #2 titled " Vampire Academy 4" Follow the face book page by the same name to keep up to date on the upcoming news of this extremely funny comic series. written by my good friend Todd livingston and Nick Capetanakis, illustrated by talented twin team: Brenden and Brian Fraim, and colored by me: Rafael Rivera a.k.a. DARAF

Amy Winehouse

2011-09-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Her 2006 follow-up album, Back to Black, led to six Grammy Award nominations and five wins, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night, and made Winehouse the first British female to win five Grammys, including three of the "Big Four": Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

On 14 February 2007, she won a BRIT Award for Best British Female Artist; she had also been nominated for Best British Album. She won the Ivor Novello Award three times, one in 2004 for Best Contemporary Song (musically and lyrically) for "Stronger Than Me", one in 2007 for Best Contemporary Song for "Rehab", and one in 2008 for Best Song Musically and Lyrically for "Love Is a Losing Game", among other distinctions. The album is the biggest seller of the 2000s in the United Kingdom. Winehouse is credited as an influence in the rise in popularity of female musicians and soul music, and also for revitalising British music.

Winehouse was found dead on 23 July 2011, at her home in London. Police have said that the cause of her death is "as yet unexplained" and that the death was "non-suspicious". Winehouse's family and friends attended her funeral on 26 July 2011. In August 2011 her album Back to Black became the UK's best selling album of the 21st century.

Here is my attempt at paying homage to this very talented person. R.I.P. Amy Winehouse

and here is the photo I used as reference:

Battle Mechs

2011-09-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

These are a couple of battle mechs I did for a studio in Jordan called Vexel Studios. These were not taken to completion but rather serves as concepts to establish 2 different style variations. The first one was done using the shape tool in photoshop to generate an interesting silhouette that I then painted over. The second mech was started as a random chaotic shape in a program called alchemy with the mirror option turned on. It was then carried into photoshop for a paint over. Both are obviously inspired by japanese style robots and mech.

For Our Troops

2011-09-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

A little pin-up Sketch with all the armed forces in mind (even though she has an army brat t-shirt on). I truly Thank them all for serving our country.

and the original sketch page , that I promised to a friend.

Rise Of The undead

2011-09-15T19:03:00.000-07:00

A Zombie Invasion in a deserted infected city. I gotta imagine they would run out of food eventually. Done in photoshop and Corel painter, 90% painted and some photo textures. The city was outlined on paper and scanned in.

Paging Doctor Zombie

2011-09-06T00:29:00.000-07:00

If this is what health care will get me nowadays, I think I am better off with out insurance. This is a character concept done for Sam Kozel of Moving Pictures and the guys over at Shoreline Entertainment for a story called The Zombie Cure. I drew inspiration from the old school horror classic "Zombie".
Ain't he cute though:)

Custom Tat

2011-09-03T16:59:00.000-07:00

custom tat I did today for a friend/ client who works in the the music industry with a lot of famous bands. She sits like a rock and never complains. LOL

Future Environment

2011-09-02T19:16:00.000-07:00

A future Environmnet Design. I think I'll just leave it up to the viewer to make sense out of it all.

Creating a race of Giants

2011-09-01T16:58:00.000-07:00

These Ideations were done from a single Z-brush model. I was able to quickly get a dozen or so different quick ideations in photoshop by paint over and photo texturing.

Mermaid

2011-08-25T09:05:00.000-07:00

Your eyes start to play tricks on you when your out at sea for too long, and it's magic hour. Be warned: Never trust a big butt and a smile :) I have always loved the whole Mermaid mythos, I may do an evil version to show what she really looks like once she lures you in. I was glad that they included some mermaids in Pirates Of The Caribbean 4. It was my favorite part of the film.

Very Disturbing

2011-08-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

This guy is all messed up. This was a revisit of an older piece I did while doing some "spring cleaning" on my website. It also landed me a job, character designing some zombies. Some older pieces are worth resurrecting.

Military Vehicle

2011-08-17T20:13:00.000-07:00

A quick speed paint of a military transport vehicle concept. Done using a crude Google Sketch up model as a base, then paint over in Photoshop.

Starring Sonya Devereaux

2011-08-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

So Starting with issue #2,I will be doing the coloring on the comic series Starring Sonya Devereax.
A spin-off from the comic America Jr.
STARRING SONYA DEVEREAUX adapts, in comic book form, each film in the career of fictional B-movie actress and scream queen Sonya Devereaux. No budget is too low, no dialog too cheesy and no plotline too thin to keep Sonya from appearing in these straight to DVD flicks. From horror -- to action -- to erotic thriller, each issue is a laugh-filled send up of a different genre and movie -- but they all have one thing in common: Sonya Devereaux and FUN! Okay, that's two things. But just like gravy on mashed potatoes is delicious, Sonya in a crappy movie is hilarious!
Created and written by Nick Capetanakis and Todd Livingston, Art, lettering and cover by Brendon Fraim and Brian Fraim, and colors by yours Truly:)

These guys are way too fun to work with, The script is funny as heck and the artwork I have to color is gorgeous to say the least. Click on the blog post title above to check out our Facebook page. Here is a page that I got to color recently.

Orangus Fingeroe

2011-08-05T16:50:00.000-07:00

I call this guy Orangus Fingeroe. He's usually pretty cool, but he gets awfully mad when he's playing his favorite online games, even when he's winning. Still though, isn't he cute.
I created Orangus by taking a webcam pic of my hand holding an orange, I then mirrored the image and carried into photoshop for a paint over. Nice way to come up with various Alien portraits.

Z-brush experiment

2011-07-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

This started out as a sketch where I used some Graffiti inspired shapes for the arm of this Goblin/ Orc character. I decided to explore further using some techniques from a z-brush tutorial from the talented Andrew Jones of Conceptart.org and Massive Black fame and also a custom brush tutorial by Alex Ruiz of Concept Monster.com Lots of happy accidents occurred playing around with a combination of the two techniques and a mix between having some direction and complete chaos style painting.

Faces

2011-07-27T09:33:00.000-07:00

Last nights warm-up sketches. Looking through my wife's hair style magazines and sketching away.

The Princess and The Frog

2011-07-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

A cartoon portrait of me and my wife Vicky inspired by old fairy tales and Disney movies like Beauty and The Beast and Princess and The Frog. Hopefully I turned out to be my wife's Prince and not just a bigger frog. LOL
I drew this years ago and started to paint it but it kind of got put on the back burner. I decided to revisit it since I always liked the drawing and idea behind it and I can paint better now than a few years ago. This was drawn with ball point pen in my sketchbook, scanned in, then painted in photoshop cs5 and Corel Painter 12. Here is the finished piece followed by a few close-up detail shots.

Roc' em Soc'em Robot

2011-07-15T16:56:00.000-07:00

This is an assignment I did for Ryan Woods Corel Painter course at Schoolism.com. I wanted to do a cartoony boxing robot inspired by Blue sky studio's Robots. The Assignment called for a grey scaled textured version and a painted colored version of the character. I think this old guy still has some punch left in him...

They should run

2011-07-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

Inspired by John Carpenter's The Thing and Aliens. If I were these guys, I would turn around.

Food Of The GODS

2011-07-12T23:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick color sketch/ experiment before bedtime. Inspired by old school B movie Food Of The Gods written by the great H.G. Wells and directed by Bert I. Gordon. Gotta love a giant Rat attack flick lol

Unidentified Hidden Things

2011-07-12T14:33:00.000-07:00

some explorers coming across an interesting find.

Alien Invasion

2011-07-06T23:46:00.000-07:00

I did these two while watching Skyline and Close Encounters Of the Third Kind.

5 Deadly Venoms

2011-07-06T14:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a speed paint/ color sketch of The poison Clan's number 1 assasin, The Centipede from one of my favorite Old school Kung-Fu flicks, The Five Deadly Venoms.

Five Deadly Venoms is a cult 1978 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Chang Cheh, starring the Venom Mob, and produced by the Shaw Brothers Studio, about five kung-fu fighters with unique animal styles: The Centipede, The Snake, The Scorpion, The Lizard and The Toad.

Number 1: Centipede Wriggly and quick, this style is a nice blend of defensive and offensive posturing. The strikes are so fast that it is almost as if he has a hundred arms and legs. The weakness of this style is to attack both the opponent's upper and lower body in a simultaneous assault.

Predators

2011-07-05T22:44:00.000-07:00

This is a speed painting I did while watching Predators Directed by
Nimród Antal. I know what your thinking... He is one ugly Mutha F@#$*er

Happy Fourth Of July Weekend

2011-07-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

I hope everybody has a fun and safe Independence Day. Here is a Pin-up sketch I did for My friend and fellow co-worker Robert "Bubba" Hoffman. Bubba happens to be a very talented piercer that I have the privilege of working with. I decided to do a quick paint over since we're kind of slow at the tattoo shop today. The colored version is followed by the original pencil sketch. Enjoy:

Mech_Beast

2011-07-02T14:39:00.000-07:00

I created this one using Z-brush to digitally sculpt then carried it into Photoshop for a paint over.

Rebel Hideout

2011-07-01T16:17:00.000-07:00

Environment concept.

Daily Warm-Ups

2011-07-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterdays sketchbook session.

Another Enviro

2011-06-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

Another enviro painting.

Warrior of the Deep

2011-06-28T12:01:00.000-07:00

I see this guy as probably a warrior from a race of mermaids and mermen. or maybe an advisary from the Aquaman universe. This was done in Photoshop using the techniques of movie creature designer Aaron Simms along with some other tricks I picked up throughout the years.

Here is a screen grab showing the art and some of my references...

Zombie Sketches

2011-06-25T19:09:00.001-07:00

A couple of quick zombie ideations, that will be explored more later.

Sci_Fi Speed painting

2011-06-24T17:13:00.001-07:00

Another warm up enviro speedy.

Speedpainting from the movies

2011-06-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple of quick Speed Paintings Using Movie Stills as reference. It's good practice for getting composition and lighting ideas. The first one is from reign of fire and the other two are loosely based on The Day After Tomorrow.

A Note to all potential clients

2011-06-12T22:07:00.000-07:00

This is a repost from an article written by Artist Mike Corriero on facebook. If your not familiar with Mike's work you can check this talented man out on his website http://WWW.MIKECORRIERO.COM

Ethics & Guidelines: Contacting a Freelance Artist for work or information..

by Mike Corriero on Wednesday, April 6, 2011 at 7:31pm
.

This is meant to be a bit of a joke as well as some serious ethics and topics if you decide to contact an artist, regardless of their reputation or experience though that usually plays a big factor into what the response may be based on your initial request. - In no particular order:

■In order to capture their attention, be sure that your e-mail subject line is directed to the artist' name and that you summarize within 5-10 words what you're contacting them about. IE; Interested in hiring you for a job, Paid work for a video game job, inquiring about commissioning you for paid work, inquiring about art for an unpaid request.
■It's imperative to be upfront and to the point concerning whether this is an unpaid request or a paid job. Don't waste the artist' time by explaining your project and ideas in a 3 page long story to only mention at the very end it's an unpaid job. Your detailed explanation isn't going to win them over once they read the last line telling them that unfortunately you can't afford to pay for the work now. (Unpaid; anything regarding a request where the artist will make no profit. This can include spec work; work done upon speculation that the artist will be paid an amount or a percentage of profit once the project is picked up by investors. Spec work is NOT paid work, it is not a guarantee.)
■If you have no mutual friends on facebook, include a personal message before adding the artist out of courtesy. Facebook is a very shady place to try and become a "friend". If you're a fan, mention you're a fan..and or add the artist' fan page on facebook.
■Always be willing to sign a contract and or invoice: if you don't have one, ask the artist for one. If you're looking to get work done without signing anything, it's going to throw up red flags and you'll most likely scare the artist away from producing work whether it's paid or unpaid. It helps if you pay in phases of work completed.
■If you're looking for a cute cartoon character and the artist you're contacting has a portfolio made up of 100% environment work, don't expect a reply.
■If you're a family friend, a distant relative, or an acquaintance who hardly talks to the artist..treat them with enough respect to offer at least a small sum of money. Don't assume they know you, or will work for free because you know someone they went to college with.
■Don't add an artist on facebook and begin to hit them up with question after question...after question. The artist has gathered knowledge and experience over a long period of time, through experience, on art forums, reading and being respectful of others. Asking one or two questions is fine, but don't push it.
■If you don't know the artist, don't act like you're best friends with them because you've exchanged a conversation or two. In addition to this, don't expect your new best friend is willing to hook you up with contacts, jobs, company info, art director e-mails etc..
■Do not expect that an artist will be happy to oblige you with a drawing, a doodle, a quick concept because it's easy for them and it won't take long since this is what they love to do for fun. A quick sketch is still a piece of work worthy of being paid for. "It's not the 20 minutes it takes the artist to produce the drawing that you're paying for...it's the 20 years it took them to learn how to do it".
■Allow at least 2 weeks before you send a follow up e-mail as most often artist get bombarded by similar request. The artist has most likely read your e-mail and will get back to you in their own time, or they meant to reply and simply became preoccupied. This is fairly common. You need to Realize they have lives, family, pain, bills etc.
■ Do not expect that an artist is going to jump up and down when you tell them how great the exposure and experience will be for them. If you're trying to get quality work done for free, don't think that you can persuade an artist by telling them it's going to be bigger than Lord of the Rings or Avatar, if there is no money involved then you probably don't believe in it enough to front the money out of your own pocket. In addtion, this most likely means YOU need the artist, the ARTIST doesn't need you.
■Telling an artist you'll credit their name wherever the work is posted is only telling them as much as they already know and what is expected. No artist is going to provide you with work without making sure you credit their name, or they sign the work or label it themselves clear enough so people know who created it. You're not offering them anything unique or of worth by mentioning it like it's a privilege to have their name credited next to the work they created. Stop being stupid ;)
■Do NOT tag an artist on Facebook to grab their attention. In doing this, you're only accomplishing the opposite and if the artist has little patience, they will simply remove you from their list. The same goes for e-mails or any other form of contacting them. Do not constantly push, push, push them expecting they owe you anything. In the end you'll have your e-mails ignored or blocked.
■Do not ask an artist "How to draw better". If you have questions, make sure they are relevant to what the artist specializes in and make sure to have already researched the content online before asking them. An artist is not your personal dictionary, thesaurus or encyclopedia. This information is privileged and will be given out by the artist to those who have earned it out of respect, friendship (not facebook friendship).
■Lastly: Always ask for permission if you plan to use their work for a personal project or game. Even if the project is non-profit it's always polite to try your best to get in contact with them and ask for permission or at the very least to credit their name.

____________________________________________________________________________

I'm sure I missed a few things but this is common knowledge or at least it should be if you plan to contact an artist for a request, commission, paid job, unpaid job, permission, question etc..

Mike - ;)

Pin-Up Sketch

2011-06-11T17:35:00.000-07:00

A quick pin-up sketch for my friend ,tattoo artist Chuck Atkins.

Corel Painter 12

2011-06-09T12:53:00.000-07:00

Messing around with painter 12 for my Painter class with Ryan Wood at schoolism.com. the first one is a practice with a furry creature and the second one was to colorize a blk and white piece I posted a few posts back.

Enviro W.I.P.

2011-06-01T23:22:00.000-07:00

I been busy with lots of stuff that I can't share yet, but here is a practice environment based off of a Alex Ruiz tutorial for now.

Face Expression

2011-05-19T22:17:00.000-07:00

Here is a face expression page for my Hyde character and a greyscale practice painting using some new brushes in Corel painter. i am still not that confident with this program, but I'm determined to get better at it.

R.I.P. Jeffrey Catherine Jones (January 10, 1944 – May 19, 2011)

2011-05-19T11:07:00.000-07:00

I was sad to hear the news of the passing of an old friend and master illustrator/painter Jeffrey jones today. The art world has suffered a tremendous loss.
In the early 1970s when National Lampoon began publication, Jones had a strip in it for a while called Idyl. (A strip by Jones, taken from Idyl, was used to illustrate the Sonic Arts Network CD publication Otherness, curated by David Cotner in 2007.) From 1975 to 1979 he shared workspace in Manhattan’s Chelsea district, with Bernie Wrightson, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Michael William Kaluta, collectively named The Studio; Dragon’s Dream produced a volume of their work in 1979. By the early 1980s he had a recurring strip in Heavy Metal titled I'm Age. Frank Frazetta was stated that Jeffrey Jones was the grteatest modern painter of our time, no small compliment coming from a master like Frazetta.
Jeffrey passed away today, Thursday May 19, 2011 at 4:00 am. Jeffrey suffered from severe emphysema and bronchitis as well as hardening of the arteries around the heart. Here is a cover by Jeff and one of his best friends Comic art guru Vaughn Bode. I spoke to Vaughn's son Mark Bode this morning (we go way back), and he shared this quote from Jeffrey with me. He said, " Jeff once told me the maple trees know when it's going to rain cause they flip their leaves in the wind. the leaves are flipped today across the globe." Amen Mark

Here are a few of Jeffrey's pieces just to show you how amazingly talented this person was and what a blessing he was to the art community;

The Artist:

My prayers go out to the family. Thank you Jeff for all the kind words and inspiration, You will be greatly missed.

Mr. Hyde Colorized

2011-05-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a color version of the last post.

Redesigning Mr. Hyde

2011-05-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

Here is a clean-up and redesign of my Hyde character from an earlier post. I like this version a lot better than the initial sketch. These were done for my character design class at schoolism .com taught by Stephen Silver.

The original sketch:

And my references:

Random Sketches

2011-05-13T10:48:00.001-07:00

Random Sketches for warming up:

Practice, Practice, Practice

2011-05-04T16:48:00.000-07:00

This is an assignment from my class of character design with Stephen Silver. He had us do a portrait of a man from a photo he supplied, then take the same picture and create some cartoons of the face utilizing different shapes.

The second part of the assignment was to do a rough design of Jeckyl and Hyde Characters. My Jeckyl was inspired by Matthew McConaughey from the movie Amistad and Hyde was inspired by Anthony Hopkins from the same movie.
They have a long way to go, but these are the initial sketches and idea. I'll be fleshing them out further in the next couple of weeks.

And lastly here are some practice sketches of animal character designs and various hands ,feet, eyes, lips etc. (I need to make a point to do more hands).

Portrait Study

2011-04-29T21:24:00.003-07:00

A Work In Progress Study in Tonal Values.

Vector Backgrounds and Props

2011-04-21T21:13:00.000-07:00

A couple of props and quick concept sketches for a test for the guys over at Reel FX Creative Studios.

Character Design with Stephen Silver

2011-04-20T16:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a design of a charcter named Jerry Loomy based on a description provided by cartoonist Stephen Silver, for an assignment in his Character Design course (which I am currently taking).

These are the process shots. First the thumbnails and ideation sketches not shown here, then the cooncept sketch with notes on the character:

Then comes the construction Lines to help proprtion the character and give him form:

next a clean up sketch followed by the ink outline:

My main inspirations for the character based on the character brief were actors Danny Devito and George C. Scott. Hope you enjoyed it, thanks for stopping by.

Biggie Smalls

2011-04-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

I can see sweat trickling down ya cheek,
Your heartbeat sounds like Sasquash feet,
Thundering, Shaking the Concrete.
-Notorious B.I.G.

FInished Graf

2011-04-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

Put the final touches on it, hope you like it Thanks for stopping by. I'll make it available soon on my website's store as a print or poster soon.

Another W.I.P.

2011-04-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

It's got a way to go, but it's getting there.

Notorious B.I.G

2011-04-13T22:51:00.000-07:00

A W.I.P of Notorious B.I.G

Vectors and Finals

2011-04-12T23:32:00.000-07:00

I wrapped up my digital painting course with Bobby Chiu today. Here are the last three assignments.
This first one was a lecture on drawing in vectors and using photoshop's pen tool.

Next was a quick lesson on sketching a rough in color, that will later serve as a foundation sketch for a finished piece.

Then the final illustration, which is a copy of an original piece by Bobby Chiu.

Some more Schoolism Assignments

2011-04-07T16:07:00.000-07:00

Here are two more assignments I handed in this week to Schoolism.com
This first one was a Photoshop Smudge tool technique (Drawing by Bobby Chiu):

Then some custom brushes made to render quick hair. (Face painting by Bobby Chiu)

Digital painting

2011-04-05T10:41:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the assignments I comleted so far for Bobby Chiu's digital painting course at Schoolism.
This first one called for me to colorize Bobby's greyscale image. I love this painting of his, it was used as the cover for Bobby Chiu's Guy sketches book.

Next two were both texture assignments. Bobby provided the sketch and painting that I had to texturize using the techniques taught.

These were fun to do and I said in an earlier post I highly recommend the course to anyone regardless of experience.

exploring shapes

2011-04-04T09:35:00.000-07:00

Some more stylized female sketches. Of course the anatomy police are gonna be out handing out fines, but what the heck.

Happy April Fool's day

2011-04-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

Random Doodles from the sketchbook

Sneak Peak

2011-03-28T23:44:00.000-07:00

A behind the scenes shot for you, written by Scott Madden, Illustrated by your truly;

Zombies and Zombie killers

2011-03-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

Zombies and a Viking, why not? Sometimes I do these things in a coma.

Blackbook Session

2011-03-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

Some more figure drawings and faces:

Schoolism

2011-03-23T15:31:00.000-07:00

So I enrolled in a digital painting course at Schoolism.com with instructor Bobby Chiu of Imaginism Studios (concept artist on Tim Burton's alice In wonderland). Bobby is a very good instructor, and when I am done with this course I plan to enroll in some of the other courses that are available. Here is my first assignment which consisted of painting over Bobby"s pencil drawing using his techniques.

I then used the same technique to grey scale one of my own cartoons. I'm not done with the black and grey yet, but when I am I will colorize it with the techniques from next weeks assignment. I am trying to discipline myself to use Bobby's technique and none of the techniques that I have picked up throughout the years.

Lastly, here is a more realistic caricature done in photoshop and Painter of a younger Elvis Presley.

I won't be posting all the assignments as I don't want to ruin the course for anyone, but I highly recommend the classes to anyone interested in Bobby's workflow.

Cartoon Girls

2011-03-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

Exploring a slight variation in styles by altering shapes. Inspired by Shane Giles over at Cartoon Retro.

DA King and I

2011-03-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

A cartoon/ caricature of The King, Elvis Presley and a color sketch of some graf from my last nights blackbook session.

Some more craziness floating through my head

2011-03-11T20:51:00.000-08:00

Another sketchbook page. I took some of the loose ballpoint pen sketches that I drew at the zoo last year, and added some characterization to them...

and there's nothing like some sci-fi fishes to make a sketchbook pop...

In Da Laboratory

2011-03-09T21:52:00.000-08:00

A sneak peek at me getting busy , with some beer and rum, in the Lab working on a graphic novel/film of the sequel to Scott Madden's The Kiss. The Kiss was written and directed by my partner in crime Scott Madden.

A quick synopsis:
Young Jeremy's life is a daily slog through teenage hell -- his only shields are his iPod and his sour attitude. He doesn't even know that change is possible, let alone that it is coming... that it is inevitable, that it is... his fate. He's about to stumble into an ancient feud between two warring vampyre clans... Santa Maria, the forgotten Queen of the Clan of the Snake has been imprisoned and left for dead in a shallow grave in the desert of Hell. It has taken centuries, but She has finally mustered enough strength to plead loud enough for the right ear to hear... And as Jeremy's love resurrects Santa Maria's corpse from from the wasteland of death, Santa Maria's love for Jeremy raises him from the numbing death of his teenage life. But when Santa Maria needs to move up the food chain to keep her returning strength growing, Jeremy's love is tested... did he really fall in love with a ferocious, predatory monster? Did she ever love him? Is he next on her banquet table? Can love ever really last forever? All it takes is the kiss.

We are now working on the backstory and it is one sexy hell of a ride!!! Stay tuned.

Character Design

2011-03-08T11:44:00.000-08:00

Here's a few cartoon face studies done using a technique I mentioned in an earlier post. I just throw down a bunch of random flat shapes and then try to fit a face into it. The black around the figure is just placed there to allow me to see the designs silhouette better.

More sketches

2011-03-04T10:32:00.001-08:00

Some more sketchbook pages. With an emphasis on Character design.

Today's Warm-ups

2011-03-02T20:45:00.000-08:00

some of todays warm-up doodles while watching Poltergeist, and Legend starring Tom cruise. I love that Darkness character (Tim Curry).
Very quick and sloppy, just wanted to keep the marker moving. They are not pretty but always a learning process.

Fashion Models

2011-03-01T08:55:00.000-08:00

Some practice figure drawing from fashion magazines. These were done with Tombow brush markers. They have a felt tip on one side that's good for quick gesture sketch and the other end has a brush tip.

Sexy Shapes

2011-02-25T10:47:00.000-08:00

Some more sketchbook scribbles. trying to practice unusual compositions by drawing random panel shapes and trying to fill it with sexy images. And some more graffiti, which is always a great way to train the brain to see things graphically.

Purgatory Comics

2011-02-18T14:26:00.000-08:00

Here's a banner design I did for Writer/Director Ralph Suarez of Warm Milk Productions. He's planning to rework the website for his film, Purgatory Comics and thought it would be cool if we did some cartoon versions of the cast. I did art for the film a few years ago, so it was alot of fun to work with Ralph again, and I hope to work with him on future projects as well. If you are interested in purchasing the film you can goto: http://www.filmbaby.com/films/4503 It's available on DVD or digi download.

About the Film
A young woman hides from her complicated life in a small comic
book store, but finds she can't escape her past forever!

Purgatory Comics tells the story of Cola (Angela Benedict), a girl
who arrives at a crossroad in her life. Instead of facing the
challenges that come with adulthood, she takes refuge in a dwindling comic book store.
She finds new friends in storeowner Evan (Tim Kelly) and customer
Berner (Jonathan Zungre), but when her old life calls her back, it
becomes clear that she can't hide between comic books and action
figures forever. Also Starring Bob Socci, April Simpson, Vinny Bove, and adult film star Bree Olson!

this is the initial sketch concept that I send Ralph Suarez followed by the inked version before colors and graphics are added.

Assassin Girl

2011-02-15T20:25:00.000-08:00

Today's Warm up sketches. Red Prismacolor Col-Erase on Newsprint. Assassins are hot. LOL

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T10:20:00.000-08:00

A quick ball point pen sketch. Have a Happy Valentine's Day Everyone.

another sketchbook page

2011-02-13T10:39:00.000-08:00

another page out of the blackbook.

Sketchbook log

2011-02-10T20:19:00.000-08:00

more doodles....

Sketchbook log

2011-02-08T10:29:00.000-08:00

Some days you just can't warm up. But do it anyway.