Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Pixel Art

Thanks to a generous gift from my brother, I've been learning to do game graphics in pixels on Udemy.  Here are some samples of what I've done:



  
I'm still learning the basics but I'm already got the hang of shading still graphics. This is much like stippling dots in ink but combine with strokes.   The course is also to teach me to do animations too.  I could start offering up to do pixel works on a professional level soon.

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Timing Illustrative Styles

With my temp job with L'Oreal is now done (and some other expenses), I'll looking for more work, closer to home hopefully or without a lot of commuting time.  Also I"m experimenting with how long it takes to do an illustrative style from a sketch.  For today I did 2 versions in Photoshop on 1 of my old SDC sketches from last year.
Original Sketch
Estimate Time: 6 hours

Estimate Time: 4 hours
I was seeing if there was a professional style I could go with for my freelancing online.  Style 1 with purely shape and no contours and Style 2 with contours.  I had before obsess with having thick 'n' thin lines done perfectly which had contributed to having spent more hours on a piece than maybe necessary.  When you get to experiment like this, you definitely get to explore what works better for yourself and your work.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Owl bears at a Salmon Run


Salmon Run Owlbear

This one took a lonnnnnnnng time to complete (about 4 months on my spare time), plus in a poster format with over 650MB in Photoshop.  For those following from Spring this year, I've made a day trip on my bike, getting some exercise, fresh air and inspiration for new works.  Some of those sketches I've made while cycling are down below.  It wouldn't be the first time than I've used the Salmon Run Fountain of Bobbie Rosenfeld Park for a project and I was wanting to do some fantasy works. I've also took photos and videos of running rivers and rapids with my iPad's camera while riding across the bike paths of Taylor Creek and Don River Valley. With those sketches, I've started to do a poster work for a fantasied salmon run.  Most of the time working on this went into the salmons and owlbears and the rock wall of the river.

Overall. I liked the final look of the piece.  Usually I don't like how long some pieces might take to do those sharp and highly-detailed markings with but it had come out all right in the long run, literally.
Refined Rough for Salmon Run Owlbear

Original sketches while on day trip in Spring 2015

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Smiley Candy

Here's another quick piece.

Harem Girls

It's been a while since I've last posted anything.  Been busy working on temp jobs, both in Toronto and online.  Like these below and for L'Oreal and Postmedia.  I need to start finalizing more child-friendly works after I finish off another piece that's been on the back burner for a while.





Monday, April 13, 2015

Double-Sided Easels

Double-Sided Easels
Now with having some available time, I've been getting some projects at home done.  One of them being with some wooden tabletop samples I found before last summer.  They had good shelving quality so with brass hinges and some mahogany stain-sealer, I've made them into double-sided display easels.  I figured these would come in handy for displaying works, whenever I get around to doing an art showing.

With Spring having arrived, I'm now going on day trips again.  I'm also taking time while out and about to sketch for any inspirations for my artwork.  Here's some sketches from this weekend.


Sunday, March 22, 2015

Sketch a Day Challenge Video Series

Just uploaded up my complete series of the Sketch a Day Challenge now on Youtube.  Oddly, I found some of my earlier videos to be missing, including my channel art.  Then I remembered that I have 2 channels on Youtube, one being for my artwork alone. I've simply uploaded them to both and just in case, changed my password. My video editing isn't the best but I've included soundtracks to listen to with watching the slideshows of my year's worth of sketches.

So, here's the links: www.youtube.com/user/CrystaliumJMC / www.youtube.com/channel/UCYtg6Gsg6plCMiqahOzS7mA

Haven't done much sketching lately since taking a full-time temp job currently, 2-hour commutes via local transit and all.  There's only 2 more weeks of it left and then I'll be job-hunting again (unless my  temp agency has another job for me soon after).  I got a few things to keep busy with if I don't get anything right away, especially with the Spring rolling in now.  Looking forward to riding on my bike again.

Friday, March 6, 2015

SDC: Day 365 (FINAL DAY!!!)

Pip the Pirate Genie, Un-Bandanaed (From Jake and the Neverland Pirates)

Well, this is the final day of the yearly challenge I've gave myself one year ago today.  Since the beginning of the challenge, I had considerably made a regular practice to draw more things than normal.  That's part of the reason why I've started this challenge, the other was to show that I could do this for a living.  Some of my family had thought that I wasn't getting anywhere with this.  That's was for the most part because I had been trying to get a steady permanent job as a fallback in case that I couldn't get much income from my artistic experience.  Since discovering Ontario Works and taking on more temp jobs instead of permanent ones, I found myself thinking that I should just go into finding jobs with my art skills now.  I've actually did a book illustration job recently in January; the deadline was crazy for the work that was asked of me but I enjoyed it more or less.

The challenge had gave me some insight about what you can go drawing or doodling about.  Some days I had found myself stumped, not from having nothing to draw but from picking what was worth drawing about.  Sometimes it took a few light scribbles on the paper to make them resemble something to spark some inspiration to draw.  Sometimes it took some reading from a newspaper, a book or an online site to make your creative juices flow.  It isn't so much about capturing the objects' likeness but the story about it.  You can draw stick figures to narrate a story and it can still be a good work because it can tell the idea/concept behind it or at least get people to think about what new revelations it introduces to others.  Art in the most part is about conveying an idea or a notion of a concept to others through various media, actions  and materials around us.  Again, check out the book, "Steal Like An Artist" by Austin Kleon; it's a good book to help you work through "creative blocks" and get some perspectives.

While I loved having my creative juices flowing, I did eventually wanted to do more finalized works than just filling in a quota of drawings.  I got some of my earlier sketches turned into finals, but it would be better to make things more in-depth than simple pieces that look more novelty.   So why this is the end of the Sketch a Day Challenge, it won't be the last of sketches that I'll post up here.  I guess every week or three, if I make a drawing that really something, I'll share it with you.  For now, I'm focusing more on artist jobs and employment in general, especially since I need to start supporting myself more than with social services.  Come Spring this year, I work on my overall health too.  Many positive changes to come this year I hoping for.

Lastly for those who haven't check it out yet, I've assembled a montage of slideshow videos on my Sketch a Day Challenge.  You can view them in quarterly sections on my Youtube Channel: CrystaliumJMC.  I'll be trying to include more of my artwork to the channel in the future somehow.

This was a good challenge for me to do.  In fact, if any artists out there who would like to take on this challenge or might had done so already,  please leave a comment or message.  A link to the work or tell me your experience during/after the challenge.  I would love to hear what kind of impact it had on you.

Thanks to everyone who visited year-round.  Please continue to drop-by once in a while.


Sunday, February 15, 2015

For my Brother, Red Ant Software

To help out my older brother Jason, I'm spreading this news by posting up these images that he gave me.  The front and back of a business card, I believe.  I've helped in creating the logo image used on the card actually.

He is starting a freelancing service as well for software programming.  He's always been the family's computer whiz and been practicing this for many years since his teenage days.  Aside from working on programming projects in his spare time, he had started up online communities like Pascal Gamer Development and Red Ant Games.

I can say he's professional and is no non-sense when he commits to a job.  If anyone out there who could use his expertise, please give him a try. I'm certain that you won't be disappointed with his quality of work.

SDC: Day 346

Saro's Auxiliary Limbs