Perfect Chemistry

A piece done for the cover of the 2010 Directory of Illustration brochure. This year's brochure theme was "Perfect Chemistry." The large gold central atom was meant to be cut out to reveal the 28 on the next page, or for the 28 to be printed 0vertop with some sort of special ink. You might notice the composition is somewhat odd because the right half will be the front cover and the left half will be the back cover.

This was a lot of fun to do. The challenging part was getting the lighting to feel believable even though it's coming from everywhere.

detail

Lovecraft

A small piece I did to promote an upcoming group show at the Nucleus Gallery in LA. The show is a tribute to the horror writer, H.P. Lovecraft. Cthulu is Lovecraft's most well known character, and I thought he would be the perfect iconic image to introduce the show. Apart from this, I will be doing another, more substantial piece for the show as well. More details here.

acrylic on paper, 11 x 14

progress shots

Tribal Tech

Growing up, I used to draw nothing but fantasy themed art. Not elves or unicorns, mind you, but monsters, warriors, tribal cultures that don't exist, etc. This week, I thought I'd have a go at nerding it up a bit, and getting in touch with my fantasy roots. It's been quite a while since I've gone anywhere near this subject matter. Hope you like it!

some details

Mario Gomez

Three pieces I did recently for the July issue of Men's Health Germany on an article about German soccer star Mario Gomez and his workouts and training regimen. They wanted the images to depict Gomez being tackled and pulled by six defenders from other teams. Those defenders are Rafael Marquez of Mexico, Rio Ferdinand of England, Fabio Cannavaro of Italy, Lucio of Brazil, Pepe of Portugal, and Carles Puyol of Spain. To anyone from those aforementioned countries who read this blog, please don't hate me!

I felt that painting the defenders' skin red would keep their presence in these images from being too literal. I wanted it to imply that he's sort of fighting through his inner demons and interacting with figments of his imagination as he trains.

Joanna Silvestri

Here is a piece I did for the July issue of Playboy magazine. It's for the short fiction "Joanna Silvestri." The story had very soft imagery, with an almost nostalgic feel to it, following an aging porn star as she revisits her past. This was a lot of fun to do, and probably the most pleasant art direction I've ever experienced.

I am super excited to be a part of this magazine. It seems nearly all of my illustration heroes have been supported by Playboy at some point in their career. Artists like Frank Frazetta, Yuko Shimizu, Phil Hale, James Jean, Sam Weber, Tomer Hanuka, Marcos Chin, Gary Kelley, Kent Williams, Robert Mcginnis ... all artists I attribute to greatly influencing my artistic development. It kind of feels like joining a club. The big boys club (plus Yuko)

detail

A few of the preliminary sketches

A Mute of Hounds

A small piece I did for a show at Gallery Meltdown in L.A. to benefit the dogs of Downtown Dog Rescue. A majority of the dogs they rescue are pitbulls or pit mixes, so needless to say, I jumped at the opportunity to help out. The markings on this dog are modeled after my own pitbull.

Acrylic and colored pencil on watercolor paper

Uglies

Thought I'd put these up on the blog today. While the rest of my fellow man was watching LOST, I was working on a piece for the show "A Mute of Hounds" at Gallery Meltdown in LA. Busted out the acrylics, completely skipping the watercolors. I decided to mess around in my sketchbook while waiting for paint to dry (I really need a blow dryer). I think they look funny.

Real updates coming soon.