Thursday, February 26, 2009

Portraiture

This was my first chalk pastel portrait ever. It was a new medium for me so I was getting used to it on this portrait. It was so nice to get away from the computer generated images I produce daily and get dirty with chalk and paper. While I was living in Boulder, Colorado my friend Angela was brave enough to pose for me. It is rather awkward for me to ask others to pose for me for artistic purposes. For some reason, I feel like a bother to them or that I may be boring them to death. Thank you, Angela! I hope it wasn't too painful for you.
This is my second chalk pastel portrait. It is of my sweet mom, Cheryl, the most beautiful woman in the world. She'd kill me if I noted here what her age is. I hope to look this good when I am her age. I have the youngest looking parents!
The photo I used to do the portrait from was from a photo assignment I did for a portrait photography class I took with my friend Jen at Ventura College a few years back. The lighting was bounced light through a window in our kitchen. It gave great definition to her face in the photo and it worked for this portrait as well.
My computer monitor went out and had to be in the shop for a week a few months back. So I took the time to try my hand at portraiture in charcoal. This American Indian Chief caught my eye on the cover of a book.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Product Designs and Production Design

Product designs for Holiday ceramic tableware. All were done in Photoshop or Illustrator except for the poinsettia mug; the poinsettias were drawn with soft pastel on Canson paper.
These tags were designed to be displayed with a higher end bath towel.
These were a series of pet mugs I painted in Photoshop.
This was a digital painting I did for a friend who wrote the screenplay for a World War I Christmas truce movie and wanted an image to show to potential producers.

3D Maya stuff


The work depicted in the two images above was done in my college days while working for the Center for Instructional Design-a design firm that produced all of the semester online courses Brigham Young University offered. I worked there for 3 years mainly on the Virtual ChemLab as a graphic designer, modeler, and animator. ChemLab is an interactive science software that allowed students to conduct real life experiments(as well as imagined) in a safe environment and have these experiments react in real-life ways; beakers would bubble over or explode, chemicals would change colors when mixed, light spectrum read-outs were displayed on screen and many more things were possible. Prentice Hall Publishers now distributes the program with their college level science textbooks. I actually learned more about science while working on this project than I ever did in class! I hope that doesn't get back to my professors.

These are a few of the models I created while studying computer animation in college. All were done in Maya in NURBS. Yes, that's right, NURBS. Our professor didn't tell us about sub division surfaces and polygons until late in the semester stating that if we understood NURBS that we could easily transition to polys. We all thank him for the semester of headaches.

More Product Design

In-store headers I designed for product tie-ins. I replaced the original quarterbacks face with a photograph I took of my colleague, Ryan's, face. One day when this header was on display in a local Albertson's grocery store where we lived, Ryan and his 2 year old son walked into the store and both noticed the sign. His little son pointed up at the sign exclaimed "D'as Daddy!" I guess I should take that as a compositing job well done!
Halloween acrylic candy bowl illustrations.
T-shirt designs for an apparel company a neighbor friend of mine started.
Reuasble "green" shopping bag designs for the Dollar Tree Company. They were looking for a 1950's and 1960's retro look.

This was a for fun project I did inspired by the chip company my father recently began working for as their facilities manager. One of their brands of chip is called "Earthquake Chips" having received its name after an earthquake had hit near their factory in California and knocked all of the bags of different powder flavoring onto the floor of the flavor room, mixing them. When workers arrived hours later to inspect the damage, they found the "mess" in the flavor room. After they considered it a total waste of flavorings, they decided to experiment with the "mess" and shoveled it into the machine anyway. What came out became an instant hit and they began manufacturing it regularly. It is still one of thier best sellers.
I tried to tie in the California feel with an illustration I did of the San Fransisco earthquake of 1906 that distroyed the city. I put a huge crack up the middle of the street leading up to a derailed trolley car and a lonely citizen looking over the fire consuming the city. Okay, so it's not a happy design, but hopefully an eye catcher.

Product Design

These designs were for a NASCAR-esque acrylic and vinyl dinnerware set aimed at appealing to the younger racing fan crowd.
Tag designs for a variety of housewares products.
I was driving down the street one day in Boulder, Colorado when a song came on the radio and it made me think "I wonder what Coca-Nut-Cola tastes like." So I went out and bought some Coke, a bottle of coconut extract and mixed up a delightfully refreshing beverage. I highly recommend it! This design was a project I did for fun in my free time. It needs more work, but that's for a later day.

Designs for a Holiday applique' towel set.

These tags were designed in Photoshop/Illustrator for a line of beach towels.