santa monica sunset

stylistically i'd say this one is more gouache-like then the "film emulsion" look i have also been experimenting with.

Pasadena Alley

i included a close up too so you can see how abstract these are. pushed a bit of vignetting at the end for more of a “movie frame” look. all the “textures” are hand done, abstract and no photos. just a bunch of colored squares :)

Tron Uprising update

NEW PAINTNG!!!

finally...NEW PAINTING!!!
finally had time for a new graphic LA painting!!!
this one is overdue, haha

Tron Uprising Update

here's a bunch of designs i did for Tron Uprising. one of the most amazing shows on TV and i am so proud to have contributed to its awesomeness. thanks Alberto and Charlie!

Simple Composition

just a quick one. looks pretty real so i added a close up so you can see just how crazy abstract it is. enjoy!

I was so utterly impressed recently with the Edgar Payne show that I had to try a painting on a more grand scale. It's interesting looking at his work with mature eyes. I can remember when I first saw his work and like most newer painters, you think it's about the thick brush work. It's so not. Every mark in his best paintings is a design element. The strokes tell us something about the form. The shapes are carefully designed to be interesting versions of reality. The patterns are thoughtful designed and executed to be brilliant passages of calligraphy that would stand on there own if you were to peel them off the canvas. the subtle color modulation reveals a plane change. His design is deceptive because it comes off as simplistic in that it seems like anyone can make a thick brush stroke BUT that stroke carries with it the weight of strong design, solid drawing, clear separation of light and dark, modulated color and the complete understanding of the 3 dimensional space he's indicating on a flat surface!!
It was fascinating to have my memory of what I used to see in his work and compare it to what I AM able to see now. They're are very few living painters of the landscape who have such control over drawing, design, composition and careful value and color control today. Lack of drawing today I think is robbing us of the understanding of form and composition. Drawing isn't a trick of the wrist, it's a method of understanding form and design.

Memorial Day, Dukemajian Park

I was trying to explain to someone recently why simplified graphic iconography is SO important to good design and this is a good example. The scene in front of me was literally this (A)
But a better design is this (B)
And you can't see that unless you boil it down to the essential parts. All the "details" get in the way and must be striped off to refine the design cause without design we're just human xerox machines. Copying what's in front of us with no thought. Even Ansel Adams knew that you MAKE a photograph not TAKE a photograph.

TRON:UPRISING

Tron Uprising aired last night and i'm glad to be able to share some of the designs i did for the show. i can only share what's been shown so far but what a bold look Alberto and Charlie are pushing! more to come!

la Crescenta

this is one i did over the holidays last year. wasn't sure about it at the time but thought it was looking good enough to post ;)

California Coast

finally! a new one. put my 3 day weekend to use. the challenge on this one was taking something that could have been very flat and horizontal and really exaggerating the z depth. lots of calligraphy was used to show volume and contour.

Graphic Glendale

the latest in the series. still working on doing more with less. meaning, what are the absolute essentials of the scene and still have it represent what's there in front of me. trying to spend more time understanding what's going on and less wrist movement. art is always a translation of reality, always

El Matador

it seemed fitting to end the year with this location. i usually took my class here for the last day when i was teaching at Art Center. simplified shapes but realistic tonality seems to be what i'm trying lately. looking forward to where these take me in the coming year!

Griffith Observatory

this weeks Graphic LA entry. these are getting more abstract in that while the shapes are based on reality, i'm pushing them farther than what's in front of me. the color as well. this approach, i have to say , is a lot of FUN!!

more design based!

Valley View

or near that street anyway. every single shape is altered, pushed and skewed in this one even though it looks somewhat real. had an interesting talk with Robert Valley which lead to this. although my stuff isn't nearly as pushed as his. i really exaggerated the rhythms of the trees, bushes and lawns as well, pushing and distorting them quite a bit while keeping the values and colors on the very real side. the shapes are very simplified and designed. the atmospheric perspective is exaggerated too to enhance the depth of the street. in reality its not nearly as strong.

FALL IN LA

granted it's not as picturesque as Vermont but LA ha it's own unique palate. concrete and orange. lately i've been thinking a lot more about designed shapes versus sight to size/visual impression. this may seem very "real" looking but i changed/altered ever shape in here. i kept the color and tonality true to nature but really pushed the shapes, even though they may have a realistic feel.

More UNCHARTED 3

here's a few more concept deigns from Uncharted 3. i was trying out a little more of my graphic look on these.

SCI FI SNAPSHOT

i say snapshot because it's a very casual composition. almost something you'd see catching your flight to mars or saturn. invented piece inspired by recent travel. going for a retro future, with some Albert Frey influence.

UNCHARTED 3

enough time has passed i thought i'd post a few of the concept designs i did for U3! i waited a beat because i didn't want to give anything away for the hardcore gamers who played to the end already. and thanks to the fans of the series for the awesome sales so far!!!

Graphic...Altoona?

I was in Altoona,PA for Illuxcon last week (thanks again Pat and Jeannie for putting on a great show) and I was exposed to an entirely different set of shapes and lighting conditions. I carried a small sketchbook with me and tried reducing the scenes in front of me to just black or white before working out the actual shapes. i'm still using super simple shapes (line tool, square brush, square marquee) to block out the piece. Keeping to a strong, simple, stark, graphic composition makes for a better image i'm rediscovering. Here's the latest in the series of, but no longer strictly Graphic LA.

HOLLYWOOD

a new Graphic LA painting! it's been too long. Uncharted 3 is safely put to bed and it's time to get back to this thought. an important note (to myself as well) in the very last stages of a painting don't compare it to the subject, look at your mark making and design elements. brushwork, structural thickness, calligraphy...the painting is the final "reality". look at it as such.
blocked it out in as few values as possible in the beginning. added a screen-shot.

Imagine FX Game issue

imagineFX (great magazine btw) has a gaming issue coming out and i've done an in depth tutorial on the creation of THIS concept for Uncharted 3. thanks to Claire Howlett and Naughty Dog for making this happen!

well, it's been TOO long since i posted a n y t h i n g . Uncharted 3 has been a bear to wrestle to the ground but it's looking good. had a spar nano second and needed to do a piece for moi. more exploration into the world of graphic realism. i'm trying for a realistic first look made with the simplest most graphic shapes i can make. similar to my LA paintings but an invented landscape.

Prints for Comic Con

hey all, i've been getting good responses to the Graphic LA images so i'm going to have limited edition prints of 4 of the images. i numbered and bagged them this weekend. these are high end archival giclees on heavy watercolor paper by a professional service (not Epson prints) i'll only have 5 each of the images so stop by early to booth 5555- Tangled Dreams, near hall H if you're at the Con. see you there!

Downtown

finally, a new one! i noticed that these are taking much longer and getting more detailed, which is fine. it's an interesting evolution when you look back over the posts from this series. i added a few close up too. it's really just a bunch of colored squares :)