Botanical Burden

Oily Pirate

Around the time I started this blog (more than 5 years ago, wow) I began exclusively painting digitally. When I started I used lots of layers and digital tricks but as time has gone on I've begun basically painting as one would traditionally, using very few, if any, layers or overlays. Originally I liked digital painting for the ways it was different from traditional but slowly found myself unsatisfied with it for those same reasons. So I decided a few months ago it was time to get back into real painting and decided to go with oil paint. I'd only used acrylics before and thought it was as good a time as any to switch to oils as I'd essentially be relearning how. So this is my first attempt, ever, at an oil painting. It took a while since work has me so busy but I really fell in love with the process and can't wait to paint more, hopefully better, oil paintings. Thanks to Dave Malan and Dave McClellan for answering my endless questions.

Play Ball!

I've been crazy busy at work and have thus had less time for art (at least any art not for the Cars 2 video game).  I did manage to finish this 50's style pinup girl I've been working on for a while.  No, I don't think she'll be able to run the bases very well in high heels.

More Sketchbook

Drizzt

A friend of mine is a big Drizzt fan and asked me ages ago to draw a picture of the heroic dark elf.  He's been doing me a lot of favors lately so I figured I owed him.

New Sketchbook

Around Halloween I got a new sketchbook.  I was desperately needing something different after using essentially the same size and kind of sketchbook for years.  I wanted something wirebound with non-white paper so I could work in both the darker and lighter values.  They didn't seem like unreasonable or obscure expectations for a sketchbook but it took a surprising amount of time and research to find what I was looking for.  I eventually found this book which I've been loving (it's even eco-friendly for all you hippies out there).  The white highlights are done with one of those gel pens and the rest of the sketch is my stalwart Zebra ball point pen.  It feels so good to be sketching again on a regular basis.

Maria Wiegenlied

Merry Christmas!

Simple Nativity

Another one done for my sister.

A Right Jolly Old Elf

A quick painting for my sister.

King's Vineyard

This is another, much less digital, game I did some art for.  Designed by a few of my coworkers, Sandeep Karkhar and Dave Haslam, it features some clever mechanics.  Working with Mayday Games was great, this project was a little different from anything I've done before and they were very patient.  Ultimately I'm quite happy with the final product which you can find out more about here.

Epic Mickey

No, I did not paint this

I've spent the majority of this year working on a video game called Epic Mickey which is out today.  I worked on the environment art for a several levels but spent most of my time on a few of the boss fights.  In some ways it was a dream project for a Disney geek like me to recreate stuff from the movies and parks.  It was fun because the art, for some clever story reasons, was meant to be inspired by the Disney stuff but not exactly match it.  So I was able to help create (with the help of other talented artists both here in Salt Lake City and Austin, TX) a dark, twisted version of Hook's Jolly Roger and a Tron version of Space Mountain.

 

The game includes its own version of the Haunted Mansion (called the Lonesome Manor).  There was no way I was going to not work on that (Haunted Mansion is my favorite Disneyland ride), so I muscled my way into it where I could, ultimately helping to render the ballroom level and even do one of the long paintings for the stretching room. I also worked on an area modeled after New Orleans Square. It was a cool project and I'm excited to see it released,  It's exclusive to the Wii, you can see the trailer here.

Angel

Young Rapunzel

My 2010 Pumpkin

Happy Halloween!

Drac

Wolfy

Mum

Frank

She's Watching You

It's not too early to start Halloween posts, right?

Nilbog! It's Goblin Spelled Backwards!

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do some art from my favorite bad movie for the Avalanche blog topic: Troll.  Troll 2 is a must see!

Watercolor Fairy

No one's EVER painted a fairy with watercolors!

Vigorous Viking

Ever since I saw How to Train your Dragon (awesome!) I've been wanting to paint a viking and I finally found the time this weekend.

Bright Idea

An illustration I did for the May edition of the LDS children's magazine, The Friend.

Redneck Bigfoot

A quick painting for my brother in law.  Sorry for the lack of updates lately, I've got a lot of things coming soon, promise!

Watercolor Weekend

I found some time over the weekend to do another painting using real paint. Revolutionary!

Happy God of War III Day!

I picked up my copy of the Ultimate Edition last night at midnight and played until 3 am. Between this and Final Fantasy XIII coming out last week I'm a very happy gamer. KRATOS!

Love, Love

A goofy cupid I painted for my wife for Valentine's day. Happily, she likes it.

The Girl Who has Everything

What? Actual Paper? Real Paint?

I got an awesome set of Watercolor paints for Christmas (thanks in-laws!) which I finally used to paint something. It's been far too long since I've painted with anything other than digital paint and I had a lot of fun. I think this turned out moderately well and I'm excited to try more.

New Year

Hello 2010, year of Greek Mythology! In the first 3 months we'll have 2 new films based greek myths and 1 new video game (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the Lightning Thief, the remake of Clash of the Titans, and God of War III). So I've decided to ring in 2010 with a piece of the god of sky and thunder himself.

As for 2009, it was okay I guess. At least it brought us one truly magnificent film (Drag me to Hell) and one spectacular game (Uncharted 2).

Christmas Presents

My wife has been asking me for a while for a few pieces of art and I guessed she ultimately deduced that the only way to get me to do them was to ask for them for Christmas. So above is the portrait of our son, Max, and a personalized bookplate. She seems pleased with them.

Palate Cleanser

As promised, I've done something more appealling to male sensibilities after all the Twilight stuff. I hope you enjoy viewing my sexy, bikini clad, jungle inhabiting, panther riding woman as much as I enjoyed painting it.

For the Ladies part 2: Team Jacob

The females in my family requested this and I wanted another Twilighty piece for the Avalanche blog. I did not paint it of my own volition. I think I'm going to do something tough and testosterone filled next. I need to cleanse my palate.

Kratos

The God of War Collection ships today and I've been playing the God of War 3 demo over and over so I've been in an angry greek mythology kind of mood. I have a hard time pinning down what I like so much about the games. The main character is a horrible person. The fighting system is fun, but not incredible. The narrative is frequently cheesy but always feels appropriate for the subject matter. The rush of pure testosterone laced adrenaline the game provides is nice. I also really appreciate any franchise in any form willing to tell an epic fantasy story without just feebly copying Tolkien.

I also recently had a Final Fantasy 7 marathon. I played Crisis Core, Final Fantasy 7, (watched) Advent Children, and Dirge of Cerberus, all back to back which was quite an experience.

Currently Playing:

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - Game of the year! I'm just a few trophies away from platinum (I finished it on Crushing the other day). Phenominal in every way.

Metroid Prime Trilogy - I like the Wii controls and all the games are great so I'm loving this.

Recently Finished:

Batman: Arkham Asylum - So much better than any other Super Hero game I've played. Finally someone got it right. Incredible game.

Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus - The great production values and fondness felt for the characters by FFVII fans isn't quite enough to make up for the uninspired gameplay.

That's it for me, pretty dry until my birthday/Christmas next month and I get all the great games that have and are coming out this holiday season. I really want to play through the campaign of Modern Warfare 2, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii looks awesome. Anything else good out there?

For the Ladies...

Not a big fan (like I'd admit it if I was), but I think the two main characters have interesting faces. So I painted them. You're welcome.

Halloween Pumpkin '09

This year I entered the Lehi City pumpkin carving contest and won the grand prize, a year membership at the Lehi Legacy Center (which is our city's pool/track/gym place). I also won a game at a Halloween party we went to wherein one eats crackers attached to a sheet of plexiglass while wearing a blindfold with goofy eyes on it. My finest hour. So generally a great Halloween with one exception: Trunk or Treating. I hate, hate, HATE Trunk or Treat. I loathe everything about it, the practice, the name, everything. It is ruining Halloween and slowly destroying society. In the future when civilization has collapsed and we live in a post apocalyptic wasteland and people wonder where it all went wrong, I'll be there to answer, "Trunk or Treat." If you were someone who engaged in this practice over the weekend then you should be ashamed. Classic Trick or Treating forever!