Cleaning Up...

Not only have I been cleaning up my house, but I've also been cleaning up artwork for some shows. Here are some examples:



"Dora the Explorer" and "Go Diego Go!"


Mighty Bee


*Note: All materials of this post copyright Nickelodeon and/or Nick Jr. *

May 9th - Nick University Art Show Gallery Opening

This piece is titled "Orchids in the Spring." Mind you there is only one orchid, I know. And the reason being is that I framed the backup version. The one I had originally intended to put up - the one with the plural "orchids" (2) - did not fit the frame I bought for the show. I ended up giving that piece to a friend and then framed this one instead. Hopefully this weeds out any confusion on your part.

A lot of fellow employees/classmates displayed their work in the art gallery last Friday. It was the most crowded gallery ever. They served a lot of kid-friendly treats like mini-cheeseburgers, chicken strips, mac and cheese, and root beer floats. The usual was also there: veggie, fruit, and cheese plates accompanied with beer.

Thank you to all those who came! If you wanted to and didn't have a chance, it will remain on the walls until the end of the month.

Nickelodeon Art Gallery

This Friday is the Nick University Art Gallery, where all of us who have taken art or craft classes have the opportunity to put out work up. Stop by if you can make it. There will be free food and drinks, and an opportunity to come inside the orange gates and into the playground we refer to as our working space.

I will post my piece soon. (The sister of the bamboo piece.)

My First Painting Sold!

So Nick offers classes of various sorts in what they call "Nickelodeon University." One of these classes was Chinese Brush Painting, which I took in the Fall of 2007. Fortunately it was a one-day class (it's tough to commit to a class more than two weeks, but at least they're economical and fun.) We started with the masculine "bamboo" painting, then moved to the feminine "orchids." Painting in this style soothed me from a stressful day. I was immediately sold on this medium and wanted to go out and spend all my money on supplies so I could paint more. What's so great about this is that it's like poetry. It's emoting through the brush versus the pen. So zen!

Anyway, the next day I tell my art director about the class. I was quite proud of my orchid and since most people at the studio hadn't taken me as an artist at the time, they humored me. And although I favored the orchid, one of my artist friends took a liking to the bamboo painting instead. First he asked for a photo copy. I was caught off guard, wondering why he'd want it. (This was my first brush painting ever and I was just warming up with this piece.) But after lunch, he asked me how much I would sell it for. He said to be reasonable. Was $5 reasonable? I wondered. He said he'd buy it for $100! and asked for my signature and a receipt. SOLD!

... It's since inspired me to paint more of these. Maybe do a whole show in this style. Who knows?

As an intern... continued

I went around to other productions at Nickelodeon and asked several artists to give me artwork with which I could practice my skills. To tell you the truth, these tests forced me to learn how to paint digitally, as well as cleanup rough sketches.

These are a few digitally painted BGs from cartoon called "Johnny Test" which aired on Kids WB for a season or so. These were my first BGs I've painted in Adobe Photoshop (CS2). My portfolio teacher from Woodbury suggested I do some light studies with these. So not only did I practice with a variety of fun photoshop brushes, but I learned how important it was that the color modes for both the monitor and the print job be in sync. Too technical for my liking.



Study of day and night for an Interior setting.



Study of day and dusk for an Exterior setting.


Study of the four seasons on one Exterior setting.

As an intern...

My first internship was at Nickelodeon, on a production called the "X's." It was a cool-looking show with a lot of very talented artists, many with whom I still keep in contact. Here are just a couple of the BGs I used as practice. The BG style was very monochromatic, much like Ragnar's style. These two were my first BGs I ever cleaned up using Adobe Illustrator (CS2). Now that I look at these, I notice where I can improve. But I guess it just shows how important practice is.

Inspiration

While a lot of people back in school were inspired by Ragnar, I was inspired one day by Michel Gagne (I have a link on the side to his page.) Gagne had released a book called Insanely Twisted Rabbits, which I had picked up in college one day. Because I wanted to practice my design skills and amp up my Illustrator skills, I produced these two twisted monsters.

Eyes Meet Tongue. Tongue Meet Eyes.



While in junior high and high school, besides all the Lisa Frank stickers I collected, I was also a huge fan of Mary Engelbreit. Here's something I made for my mom one year for Mother's Day:



Then, in college, I took another Art Appreciation Class, this time learning about Renaissance to Modern Artwork. So many pieces on the Maesta that I had to do one of my own. This one I also gave to my mother on Mother's Day one year.

Pumpkin Patch

Since I love watercolors and I love digital painting, here is a comparison between the two. I designed and painted these years ago... back in college. The assignment was to create a design for a napkin.

I guess I veered away from the traditional and into the digital because there is just more of a demand for painting in Photoshop or Illustrator nowadays. However, I feel like I need to learn about painting in Maya because so many jobs now are turning CG. But for now, the Creative Suite still overrides the traditional ways.

Another practice session

Yet another one I did in my college years. Oliver did the line art because he was practicing bg layout. He gave it to me to color for him. This one was meant as another study of the seasons: Snowy vs. Sunny.

I only finished the snowy version.

My First Pitch

Back during my internship years, I met a lot of fellow artists who were pitching to Frederator. They're the ones who produce the Oh Yeah! cartoons, now Random cartoons. Such toons that got famous from their short cartoons were Fairly Oddparents, Teenage Robot, Chalkzone, and now Fanboy. Yes, it was at this time I worked with Eric Robles on the X's. He was a character designer at the time. He was pitching Fanboy, and just seeing his artwork and hearing his premise inspired me to pitch my own. So I teamed up with Oliver and pitched a story called "My Pet Peeve." I pitched it two times, both pretty much completely different stories, but keeping the same style and characters. Oliver did such an awesome job with the pitch boards. Maybe it was my delivery that needed work. But it was my first time, I was still a student and didn't know much professionally, so it was a great, if daunting, experience. You know how on Mario Party they have the computer difficulty level as being easy, medium, hard, and brutal? Well, I think they were on Brutal-mode.

Anyway, here is a sample of the artwork. I should include some character designs Oliver did. This is just the exterior of Pauline's house, day. Oliver did the black and white sketch. I cleaned it up and colored it.

Maybe I'll return to this one day.