Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Gladiator Character Gear Variations 1

Working on some ideas for what this guy will be wearing. I don't want to cover too much because I want enough of his ugly face, canines and blotchy skin to show.
My first idea was a traditional jaguar helmet, I moved counter clockwise from that.

Gladiator Character First Round

This is my first ZBrush sculpture, it's for a class I'm taking with Bryan Wynia at the Concept Design Academy.
The assignment was to create a Gladiator, not too many more restrictions, so I decided to make him a Mayan gladiator since I've been wanting to make one for a while!. I know I didn't go with the traditional square chin brute. I wanted to make something more unusual and exotic yet still threatening. This guy would be tall, pretty slender, and muscular. I wanted an animal characteristic, so I did quite a bit of research. My choice was the Xoloitzcuintle to go with the whole theme, and because they have such interesting skin and patterns. I will upload my progress as I move forward.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Viking head sculpt for prop


This is my first sculpture ever (other than a ceramics class in JC), I took a class a couple months ago with Jordu Schell. The workshop was five days long, the first days were demo by Jordu, then we each got a bag of WED clay and went at it. We then took a plaster mold of our sculptures and cast them in latex. The end result was a latex mask which we could paint. I intend to make a 7'6" frame out if PVC to put the head on and make a brute-viking bouncer to put by my door next Halloween. I would like to experiment with hair punching for a beard and the head, and I have parts of a viking costume from a couple years ago with an actual metal helmet (will post pics)... I'm sure our friends and their kids will get a kick out of it..... Now all I need is some spare time!.

Character Design

Here's another sketch I did for a Creature Design class with Jerad Marantz at The Concept Design Academy back in November. I also intend to keep working on this one...

Creature Design

These are rough sketches I did for a Creature Design class I took with Jerad Marantz back in November at The Concept Design Academy. It's not finished, but I intend to keep on working on it. My first round was the creature on the top right, the second creature I did after feedback from Jerad.

Dog Sketches - Animal Anatomy Class

These are sketches that I did in Photoshop for an Animal Anatomy class I'm taking with Joe Weatherly at the Concept Design Academy. I wanted to synthesize the gesture drawings into more abstract shapes I could use later for making characters.

Robby Vient Promo

This is a flyer/file cover/business card I made for myself last year. It's a little tongue-and-cheek, but I wanted to market myself as a household name product. Hence the vintage cereal box/snake oil motif....

Flota Bibi

Flota "Bibi" or "Bibi" fleet is one of Mazatláns original sport fishing fleets since 1946. To me it is synonymous with the golden age of tourism in México and it is run by my friend Tadeo Hernández who is a great promoter of Mazatlán.

Viva México

I made several illustrations with these characters while I was the creative director at Hotel Playa Mazatlán. The characters were based on some vintage carvings used at the hotel for the restrooms dating back from the early 1960's.

Ay mi Mazatlán

More from this series tagged under "Mazatlán".

Fiesta Mexicana


These are promotional/ticket-sale posters I made for La Original Fiesta Mexicana while I was the creative director for the Hotel Playa Mazatlan. La Original Fiesta Mexicana is one of the first and most famous folk variety shows in Mexico with traditional dancing, entertainment and food from the distant corners of Mexico.

Ay mi Mazatlán

This is one from a series I'm making about my hometown Mazatlán, México. These represent my memories of growing up in a simpler place, in simpler times.

Live by Sea, Die by Sea


The title "Live by Sea, Die by Sea" was inspired by an illustration by my friend Teddy Kelly. This image is not finished, but will be part of a series of three illustrations pertaining to life and death, symbols, elements, luck, folklore, and superstition.



Live on Land, Die on Land

Phoenix

The Phoenix legend is really cool, it marks a transition, it symbolizes rebirth. I think our civilization is on the verge of a transition as well and a new era is about to emerge.

Merry Christmas!

My wife Sam (Samantha) or in this case "Samta Claus" and I sent these postcards out last Christmas to friends and family. I'd like to make a series of 1 postcard for each holiday.
Check out what I have made from this series tagged under "holiday".

Happy Halloween!

Trick or treat!... Hope everybody has a wonderfully gross, spooky, fun, and memorable Halloween!

Salvaged live figure drawing from Art Center circa 1999





Salvaged live Portrait Paintings III from Art Center circa 1999




Monday, February 28, 2011

Salvaged live Portrait Paintings II from Art Center circa 1999





Salvaged Live Portrait Paintings I from Art Center circa 1999





Sketches for an educational brochure circa 2001




























































































Improvised Viking costume 2009


I had the helmet, and the wig, I went out Halloween day, bought some shin-pads at the 99c store and some left over fabrics at Joann's, wrapped them around me and voilá!.. had a costume!. That's me with mini-Mike (a random kid in Downtown Huntington that wanted a picture with me! :-)
My lovely wife Sam.
This is the helmet and armor (shin pads) I will probably use for my Viking bouncer prop. With more time, I would actually like to make a leather armor and build up the dummy's body to look burly. Been acquiring lot's of reference material with the classes I'm taking!.

Animal Anatomy Bull Dog Skull Sketch

This is a sketch I'm working on for my Animal Anatomy class with Joe Weatherly at the Concept Design Academy. I intend to keep building up the layers (next layer muscles) to learn more about how and where the muscles in a dog's face connect and react with each other.

My very first photoshop sketches ever!

These were from my first assignment for the Creature Design class I took last term. I had never used Photoshop for anything other than cloning and cutting parts out of pictures. It has been a challenge to learn to use Photoshop and learn to use the new Wacom Intuos 4 Pen Tablet I just got, but I love it!. Every day I feel more comfortable sketching and painting and I feel like I am making much progress. I haven't made the jump from value sketches to color, but after the Digital Illustration class I'm taking with Robert Mckinnon, I'm sure I'm going to be cruising!.

Creature Design Preliminary Sketches

These are preliminary sketches for another character design based on the movie plot for "Pumpkinhead".

Creature Design Preliminary Sketches

Some initial sketches for a creature that was based on "The Thing" movie plot for my Creature Design Class.

Alain Vient Wakeboarding


This is my younger brother Alain Vient wakeboarding.... I'm so proud!. The video was shot by our friend Mark Kronemeyer who also made the "Rumors" surf video.

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis "Going up the Country" Music Video

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis


Kitty Daisy & Lewis / BBC Real Britain Documentary

KITTY DAISY & LEWIS | Myspace Video

This guy ROCKS!!


This is Sean Stephenson, he's truly inspirational, I love his message, I love his attitude, no doubt good things come in small packages.

Grizzly Bear "Ready, Able" Music Video by Allison Schulnik


This video is not new, but "these are a few of my favorite things". Awesome work by artist Allison Schulnik.

Naco

In 1998 I was still studying Illustration at Art Center, one afternoon a friend and I were joking around and we decided to make some T-shirts with funny slang expressions in spanish and "mexicanized" english terms such as "Estar Güars" (the latin american phonetic expression of Star Wars). Both of us grew up coming and going to and from the U.S. and Mexico, both of us were bicultural and bilingual and we both had a sense of humor...
... What started as a joke started getting a lot of attention, and interest from people like Diego Luna, and Juanes. With the backing of some investors and the endorsement of some cool celebrities, the joke eventually became a full-time business. By 2002 we had been featured in GQ magazine and in 2007 on CNN. We got a chance to work with some heavy-hitters making everything from commercials, and consulting for films, to album covers, and merchandise.
It was an incredible experience, I learned many things about business and things outside my comfort zone of illustration and design. I will always carry the Naco days with me... it was because of Naco that I even use a computer, and thanks to Naco I've made great contacts and clients. I'm very fortunate to have had the opportunities that I had, but now I want to return to doing what I dreamed of doing since I was a kid, illustration. I'm pretty rusty since I haven't held a brush in over a decade, and digital painting wasn't even in the picture when I was studying. But I'm having a blast going to classes on weekends at The Concept Design Academy in Pasadena, learning to use the new wonderful tools available, and regaining my skills a little bit at a time.....