It’s been a while, hasn’t it? It sure has been hard the past year, but that’s fine, I’m back and I’m good!
So, two real big news. First and very briefly, my dear friends at Gadget-Bot welcomed me into their team over the previous summer, and it has been a great time working with them! Second, this Spring is going to mark my final undergrad semester at ArtCenter. It’s been a real long time coming - my indoctrination into ACCD began all the way back in 2007. In the middle of my drop-out years, I feared never going back and finishing at all. I’m 30 now and still struggling, but I know it, I’m nearly over this next hurdle
For tonight, enjoy this small sample of work I’ve done since the quarantine. For the next few months, expect some big changes and additional content here as I prepare myself and this site for graduation!
Hope you’re all off to a great start this new year! Talk to you again real soon. :]
Wk 10/14: Some 6th Term Art Dump
Hey all! Just wanted to make a quick post and update about some of the work I have going on in my current classes. It’s nearing the end of another semester. Hang around ‘til the end for a nifty surprise!
On top of the normal workload, I’ve been prepping for my 6th Term Review under ACCD’s Ent. Design track. For those of you outside of ArtCenter, our semesters operate in a trimester ‘term’ system - what this means for me is that this is essentially my junior grade review, before I tackle the larger senior project and classes. To pass, I’ve compiled a complete body of all of the schoolwork I’ve done since re-entering ACCD in Spring of 2019 - a collection of over 400 pages, some of which isn’t even publicly shown or available on here yet! And it’s only going to be up for your viewership for a limited time. Here’s the link - if you are so inclined to scroll near-perpetually through this large library of art and design. And give me your thoughts down below in the comments if you did look through it, I need that engagement from you! :D
Take care, see you guys again soon!
Taking Flight / Dreams of Design / Designs from A Dream
First assignment/project from Originality in Design with Shannon Jeffries last semester! I had a really strong (and emotional) start here - the goal was to pull as many cues from a dream together into a collage and visual structure to drive designing for abstract experiences with strong correlating elements. The gist of it is that images can communicate specific emotions or contexts, and that they need to be the anchors for the narrative and visuals.
The dream? It was the one my mom had under anxiety and heavy medication the night my sister passed - Vivian showed Mom the world before departing from it. Some of the images I collected to communicate certain motifs come from Vivian's own personal library of photography as well. Also, never tried doing a color script before - so that was new and interesting to wrap my head around. Reflecting on that time and working on this over a year later served to be really cathartic for me.
In other news, I’m dying here (as usual)! Worse off this term than the previous three. Sorry sorry about the lack of posts (as usual). I’ve got a lot of heavy projects due near immediately (as usual) so I’m getting right on that now! On top of the upcoming 6th term review - yikes!
Week 5 - VR Concepts Project 1
Hey all, hope you’re hanging in there! I’m gonna be sorry forever for being MIA all the time - it’s already the 5th week into this Spring term and I’m getting CRUSHED. To be honest I had originally planned on making a deep post about the wonders of exploring and using VIRTUAL REALITY weeks ago: I’ve resigned to show just one of the projects I wrapped up recently.
Cool, more spaceships. I’ve done a few iterations of “3d models into concept painting” ships before. What’s special this time? This is the first time I tried that initial step in VR - using Gravity Sketch with the Oculus Rift. This semester I hopped onboard a recently added VR CONCEPTS class taught by Patrick Hanenberger, and as was allowed to borrow a headset from school to fulfill this ‘educational need’ of mine. I’m reworking the previous post I mentioned with more details and explanations, but the gist of it was that it was a big investment and troubleshooting quest to get my setup workable with VR.
These above images were grabbed from within the headset while using Gravity Sketch.
Importing the model into Blender for some lighting set up before painting.
I was going pretty stir crazy and demotivated with regards to schooling, especially now that we’re nearly at the year mark from when that mess began. I was desperately looking for some kind of change in environment, and thankfully VR technology has shown me a pretty unique experience so far.
Happy Lunar New Year and Happy Valentine’s everyone! You’ll hear from me again soon!
Winter Break
All I can think of to do post-term as I finish up these final projects is being a vegetable.
Vehicles and Props Autonomous Covert Drone
I’m so worn out! last night as I was toiling away into 4am my hand began to cramp something major, and I just couldn’t rest my Wacom stylus on my middle finger to draw anymore.
Color Theory Deep Stone Crypt Color Key
Last spring I literally broke my back from overworking - so as soon as my hand started acting up I started questioning how long I could keep working like I am. I haven’t been taking care of myself - neglecting to work out, let alone limber up and stretch. And I’m supposed to keep drawing for the rest of my life
Stylization 2 Austrian Village Illustration
Snowballing happens regardless of whether you have snow or not. It’s like with each passing day of 2020 I’m left with just enough energy to do little more than my bare minimum. I’m really going to take use of this winter break to freshen up and to start 2021 nice and refreshed!
Painting 3 Sewing-Machine Spaceship Illustration
2020 had more than its fair share of upsets - but my biggest takeaway from the year is how much digital painting I’ve been practicing. It’s always something I struggled with (and still do) but I faced it as one of my largest challenges for the year and I’m content with how much progress I made on that front. I can only push that and my other skills farther and better.
Be sure to check out the newly populated pages in Coursework - it’s still going through some structuring resolutions but you’ll find plenty of new work in there. I hope everyone has taken something from 2020 that they can be grateful for.
Cheers, and warmest holiday wishes to you!
One More Month Left to 2020
Good morning. Or good evening!
To whoever may be catching up with me here, near 3 in the morning. It’s WEEK 13 of my 10th term at ArtCenter. I have to admit, it’s been exacerbatingly difficult. I’ll likely take another light semester, then take a break from school and maybe find some studio work the following summer. I’m already having a huge problem with the engagement/motivation drops that come from the learning environment shifting (and hiding) online. But sometimes, there are things that just take the cake and push over the tip. I’ll elaborate back on that later, but for now, I have some good news to share.
Sample work from Originality in Design and Adv. 3D
This site of mine has been online for about three years now, and I always struggled with posting and announcing in a way that felt appropriate. I’ve finally come to terms with just populating as many pages as I can, as often as I can, and leave some clues (perhaps a VIEW MORE button) to guide you to more content. This site is growing as I do, and so everything will almost always be a work in progress. You’ll find some of my taken courses have been updated, and in the future I’ll definitely be including text to deliver the process and experience better. All you need is that same password, and if you don’t have it, you can always get in touch with me. Wink. Oh, I’ve also uploaded things from the beginning of my industrial design career in high school. See me there as a sweet and unassuming boy. :]
My sweet, long-gone teenage years during ArtCenter Saturday High
I finished my first final - it was a group project for a class I REALLY liked. Unfortunately, everyone stayed unaccountable until the very end when I had to pull a presentation together. I did it up as best I could, but Saturday morning at the beginning of class I shared it with the group and wished them luck, sent the instructor an email, and DIPPED. For the next hour and a half anyway. No presenting from me: I was too tired from the last 48 hours, too flustered by the audacity that someone else showed the eve of. Thankfully the instructor and I were extremely transparent with each other, and she diffused the whole situation gracefully. You might stumble on it here - I’m a little ashamed to show it, but I do recognize that I made an ass-pull out of nothing. Like anything, time will pass and maybe I’d reconsider revisiting the exercise. This was a big passage for me to write tonight despite the impending finals. But my last class taught me that all I can do in the end is count on myself, and to just make the best of everything.
And so, I hope you do too. 2020 has been rough, but there’s just one month left, and we are hopefully due for some drastic, positive changes. Make the best of what’s around you, and take care of the people around you. Make sure to come back around to look for the new work - I’ll post and see you again soon. If you’re seeing this in the first week of this post, leave me your best in the comments.
Cheers, and happy holidays!
Per Audacia Ad Astra
I think this is my first time making a blog post here with work-in-progress material! Finessed (and even raw) linework is by far my favorite part of the process in any piece.
A WIP sketch from a few months ago of my Titan as I had him armored in Destiny 2’s Season of Arrivals. I love where this is going, but it’s an understatement to say that the leg armor has some complex geometry.
Ah, it’s so crazy to think that I’ve invested myself into the Destiny franchise for 6 years. Tomorrow morning Beyond Light, the newest expansion comes out tomorrow. I’ve had so many gripes through the years with Destiny that every time an installment comes around I’ve almost always been on the fence about forking over my dollars, The Taken King and Forsaken being the only exceptions to this - and even then, I paid for them expecting for fixes just as much as new content. In terms of gameplay (and systems), I’m still neutral - as the supers and abilities introduced in Forsaken still leave me with a stronger impression than the new Stasis powers, and the design choices with progression, economy, and customization still leave a bit of wanting. This 11th season of Destiny 2 however marks the first time I am actually genuinely interested in seeing what the narrative threads will be doing: the return of the Exo Stranger, the resurrection of the Forsaken Prince, adopting the antithesis of the Light as a power and its implications… I’m getting rambly. Ultimately, I’m intimately familiar with Destiny (don’t ask me how many h̶o̶u̶r̶s̶ total days I’ve spent playing) and I can’t wait to see what story beats are being pounded this time. Earlier tonight I sat with just one of my longtime Guardian friends, watching the Traveler heal and paving the way for a new chapter, a brief moment of elation before the Dark horrors release with Beyond Light.
Unfortunately for me, it’s also the 9th week at ArtCenter as well, meaning I have less than five weeks before I’m expecting to complete a number of final projects. Some of you more eagle-eyed visitors notice I have already added new sections for the courses I had last semester and currently. There’s no content within just yet, but all of the preliminary projects are done with - those of you with password access can expect to see some more stuff added here and there in the coming week. :]
Hope you are all still staying well and safe. Until next time -
”Per Audacia ad Astra. I’ll see you starside.”
2020 (above) vs 2018 (below).
New sections being added!