Moss Dragon Zbrush WIP (Polypaint Phase 1)

Moss Dragon work in progress. Some various angles of Zbrush work, created with no visual references. Polypainted/3D texture painted various areas. No pupils added, so the dragon features a "possessed look". Some interesting angles for potential illustrations with more characters.

Cloud Dragons (1)

Ephemeral Part One of a new series of dragons. Photoshop WIP. STAY TUNED!

Cloud Dragons

First Zbrush Art of 2015

This started as a demo for a friend who hadn't seen Zbrush yet. I worked it about 2 hours from a Dynamesh sphere, from my imagination. Began last night (Jan 22) and added the lower jaw and tongue tonight from an appended sphere in about 15 minutes. The top portion of the head was brought into Photoshop, and added to the "Dragon Breath" image below this post. The top reminds me of an actual clay dragon head I sculpted around 2002 or 2003 prior to college.

Dragon Sketch (Full Moon)

Digital dragon sketch on Cintiq (for fun).

B&W Version before adding local color.

Zbrush Demo Reel 2014 (BONUS MODE!)

http://youtu.be/MbBwI6_v0x0

Huorn Encounter

Amazon encounters a Huorn. Work in progress, about 4 or 5 hours. Photoshop and Wacom Intuos.

Twin Peaks: The Man From Another Place

This is a Zbrush study of "The Man From Another Place" (played by actor Michael J. Anderson), who appears in Dale Cooper's dreams, as well as in the Lodge scenes from Mark Frost and David Lynch's acclaimed television series, TWIN PEAKS, which aired in the early 1990's).

Created in 1 hour and 5 minutes from a sphere primitive using only the Move, Standard, Damien Standard brushes in Zbrush. This demonstrates my ability to capture a solid likeness (of just about anyone) from limited photo reference or live models. Obviously, there are adjustments to be made to improve on this model, and add far more detail, however it is a solid jumping off point for further development from a fast model.

Stay tuned!

Path Through the Woods

Pen on Bristol Board. 14x18".

Two-Legged Basilisk

Airbrush on Tile.

Angel Face

Holiday Card 2013. Photoshop, InDesign and Zbrush.

Pelicula Sketch

This is a funny sketch I found which I created a few months ago. This was a quick sketch I did with a precision stylus on an Asus iPad imitation, while with friends at a restaurant. The accuracy was nice, not unlike a Cintiq. I love doing impromptu sketches, and the group helps bring it out. Getting the idea out in comic format is one thing I love to do. The idea may then be developed further in various mediums, such as in Zbrush, realistically painted or sculpted. 

PELICULA is a little-known Emperor, notorious in his - or her... its day. Pelicula was integral in bringing about a new golden era of peace, prosperity and sensual divinism in ancient times, according to recently discovered parchments of renown Byzantine scribes. Her/his election to the Senate and rise to power as Emperor remains shrouded in mystery, as the aforementioned ancient parchments are pending decipherment by scholars.

Stay tuned for more Pelicula developments in the future.

Work in Progress: "No Strings Attached"

 

Over the Holidays, I decided it was time to take a stab at some pin-up art with my new Wacom pen. I had somehow lost my Wacom stylus last Autumn and finally replaced it. This is an early pass, and the background under-painting and other elements will be refined. The (not purple) dragon companion was sketched in fast. This is a combo of Zbrush and digital painting Photoshop. I like to experiment with black & white as well as color to get a new perspective, while mid-way through a piece. More on the way! Happy New Year!

Book Cover Rendition

Progress for a digital book cover illustration. Initially the idea was to do a realistic cover, but the client canceled this version for a more cartooned approach, which I illustrated after creating this. The book is forthcoming. Photoshop, Wacom Intuos stylus. I like the white hair version as it gives me even more ideas!

Yes on Prop 522 (Zbrush and Photoshop) (C)

Yes on Prop 522 (Zbrush and Photoshop) (B)

Yes on Prop 522! (Zbrush and Photoshop) (A)

TEDMED 2013 Live Art

I was recently in Orlando, via Ringling College of Art & Design creating visual facilitation (aka live art) for the 2013 TEDMED simulcasts. The TEDMED presentations were simulcast from Washington D.C. to many locations. Working over the course if three days, I created around 50 original compositions on sheets of large Bristol Board onstage at Neumars Children's Hospital in Orlando, to artistically facilitate the TEDMED talks for Orlando participants. While there, I visited the rooms of a few young women with illnesses, and drew some personalized pictures with autographs for them and their families, in order to hopefully boost their healing, and lighten spirits.

The TEDMED sessions were very enjoyable and an opportunity to create some "fast (but thoughful) artworks", which are a bit different from some of my more highly rendered art. Creating art at this velocity creates a situation where I am constantly challenging myself to innovate in push myself to new levels in visual communication. It all boils down to fast cognating, and mostly speedy cartooning.

It is always interesting to witness the variety of responses folks attending the sessions have to the art, all of which has been overwhelmingly positive, and sometimes hilarious. More often than not, attendees of the sessions call "dibs" on art they like, so they can take the originals home, or to put in their respective offices or workplaces. I take pride in facilitating greater understanding and helping people to learn, think and creatively process new concepts they may not be familiar with, or providing new perspective on familiar topics! Special Thanks to Ringling College of Art & Design for making this year's TEDMED Florida live art elements possible. Art featured here is a bit orange due to low lighting and poor camera quality. The art is based on concepts and topics in the TEDMED simulcast presentations. Art via Ringling College, created by your truly. 

Update: Corexit

The corexit oil spill mural was officially painted over recently on Orange Ave. The building it was painted on apparently changed hands. It lasted quite a while on the wall (around  months), far longer than many of the participating artists murals painted during Going Vertical - Part of the Sarasota Chalk Fest. Some of the other murals only lasted a week or so, being immediately painted over inside the Burns Court district right after the Chalk Fest ended. Alas! Why be attached to such things! More works are yet to manifest! Yet still it is important to note the resistance to murals in Sarasota, as a thriving art-community, in comparison to other places. If we limit ourselves to Flamingos and Palm Tree Art, aren't we missing valuable perspectives, the diversity of which is a noted hallmark of arts cities in general?

SRQ Herald Tribune

Eric DeBarros, Van Jazmin and I appeared in the March 18th, 2013 edition Business Weekly in Sarasota. Our respective art was featured on the front cover of the print edition, as well as photos of Van and myself inside the article. The article, by Justine Griffin, discussed many of the aspects of Florida's Creativity Conversations, for which Van, Eric and I have been the primary artists - aka visual facilitators.

The print edition local to SRQ featured excellent photos of Van and I creating artwork at the Westfield Mall session, and also featured my art on the cover. At the link below, Eric and Van's art are featured for the web version. It is an interesting article.

SRQ Herald Tribune > Business Weekly Article

Red Falcon

Here is a bit of fan art from the "vault". Photoshop. Red Falcon rears some of its ugly heads! Hopefully the commando has the Spreader. Contra is property of Konami, one of my all-time favorite game developers.

I have often reflected on the obvious influence H.R. Giger's artwork had on the game artists who developed Contra back in the 80's. Obvious examples are chubby babies with gas masks lodged in walls and platforms in certain levels, and the close resemblance to xenomorphs and face-hugger egg sacs.

It is interesting to look at what artists and mediums influenced my own influences (who our influences were influenced by). This is not an Abbott and Costello skit. Those artists styles which influenced my influences often align very much with my own taste, and discovering them leads to further inspiration and realizations.

Spock

One recent evening, I decided to unwind and attempt replicating Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in Zbrush. This a 3-D mesh created in Zbrush. Around 700,000 vertexes. I created this from a sphere primitive using mostly the Move, Standard, Damien Standard and Clay Buildup brushes. One session, a work in progress, the focus of the working session was to portray a decent likeness as the basis for further fine tuning. Therefore I focused on the face mostly, and the ear, hair and neck are quickly "roughed in" to delineate basic dimensions with very fast preliminary texture. "Fascinating!" 

Hawk Sketch

 

Another Sketch from the archives. 

Solarnaut

Another sketch from "The Vault", a female 'Solarnaut'.

Sai - Zbrush

A sai in Zbrush. Perfect accessory for a character. This began as a sword, modified in a matter of moments. No textures added in this image, simple material.

Florida’s Imagination Conversation - Ringling College

I have recently been creatively collaborating with Ringling College of Art & Design's Center for Innovation and Creativity. The "Imagination Conversation" is a concept 'spearheaded' by Ringling President Larry Thompson and Gina Ribeiro, Ringling College Manager of Creative Projects, which involves local Suncoast regional leader's conferences in many categories and vocations.

I am pleased to be a part of this creative collaboration as a visual facilitator, creating live art based on conference and also retreat topics, with central themes of innovation, collaboration, creativity and leadership!

The feedback has been amazing regarding the collective artworks Van Jazmin, Eric DeBarros and I have been bringing forth during each creative session! Jazmin and DeBarros were featured at the recent TEDx talk at the historic Asolo Theatre in Sarasota. The work-group conversations, and creative collaborative/artistic feedback have harbored phenomenal results within the greater creative discussions! It is a rewarding opportunity to help the many Creative Conversation participants to think, imagine, visualize, and "think outside the box" in myriad creative ways!

More to come!

SRQ Daily Interview

Hot off the presses: new article in SRQ's Daily "Weekend" Edition, by Jake Coleman, who interviewed me recently.

http://www.srqmagazine.com/JMailer/showMassMail.cfm?masID=3069

"9527" Mural 2012 Sarasota Chalk Festival

A new mural in Sarasota, FL, created by artist Erin Johnson as part of the 2012 Sarasota Chalk Festival’s “Going Vertical” art. During the Sarasota Chalk Festival from Oct. through Nov. , Erin painted the mural on the back of the Chalk Fest headquarters on Orange Ave in Sarasota, by historic Burns Square.

“I was happy to have been approached in Spring 2012 by leadership of the Chalk Fest, who loved the 'Corexit' digital piece I created (in Zbrush and Photoshop) in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster,” Erin said. “I was asked to create a mural based on the piece, which I reasoned would be an excellent way to cultivate greater public awareness regarding the Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill/dispersant issues.”

During the Chalk Fest, which highlights the art of numerous famed artists from around the globe, Erin was constantly asked by artists, fans and festival-goers, “What does the mural mean?”

“It somehow slips people’s minds that circa 2005-6, the Sarasota area’s gulf waters were affected by severe red tide. With the Gulf of Mexico marine ecosystem already being damaged by decades of chemical runoff from needless fertilizers, phosphates, etc, and other types of man-made pollution, with massive sea-bottom “dead zones” being researched by scientists, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 only worsened the situation. The dispersant effectively blindfolds the public to the extent of the disaster by diluting the oil into the water column, thus reducing direct observer visibility, but the public is also in the dark regarding the toxicity of the dispersant itself. It is known that the chemicals in the dispersants, such as Corexit, contain cancer causing agents, endocrine disruptors, respiratory, skin, eye and kidney toxins. The effects of millions of gallons of toxic dispersant chemicals on gulf marine life, on all levels of the marine food chain, and particularly on the smaller creatures, which build the support system for our larger underwater friends, is largely ignored, the effects unknown (pending further research by scientists).

“Siesta Beach in Sarasota became the #1 beach in the USA after the gulf spill, but tourists and locals alike appear to oblivious to the disaster. It’s business as usual. We need to take a much closer look at what is really in the water. We also need to take a look at the sources of these contaminants, particularly the manufacturers and how they make billions peddling toxic chemical variants which are disruptive to Mother Earth’s life-forms.”

9527

I thought the original version of this piece seemed a bit sparse, so I added some elements to enhance the piece. Zbrush, Photoshop.

Rainbow Goddess 2012

 

Photoshop.

Portrait of a Lady

This is a digital painting I have been working on in Photoshop. I began with a black & white piece of photo reference, painted in grayscale and moved on to colorize the piece. These are some cropped versions of the whole image. I love playing with cropping, as well as color and saturation experiments! In the topmost images, I imagine painting in the edge of an ancient Macedonian or Egyptian column, which this woman is peering around.

Rosemary Rising Bodypaint Show

Some photos from the vault. In Spring 2010 I tried my skills at bodypainting for the first time with my Peak C-50 airbrush. The theme for the evening was "Movie Monsters", at "Rosemary Rising" event in Sarasota, FL. An ode to HR Giger, I painted a xenomorph on my model, an acrobat, who was very enthusiastic about the theme.

Zbrush Creature Design - Upland Basilisk - One Session

One night session, about 2 hours maximum. Minimal Polypainting (underpaint), default Zbrush lights. Three Dynamesh spheres (including eyes). Body to be added...coming soon!

Zbrush Character Design

 

A reptilian swordsman. This character was created in one session (excluding the sword

which was created in another quick session previously), using primarily the standard and

move, move elastic brushes, transpose and extract. The character is fleshed out, and can use more details, such as weathering of garments, embroidery, and further transposition of the limbs. 

This example shows a basic material applied (oxide), with zero poly-painting/texture mapping. 

I started with the head of the character, and continued to make the entire body in one session.

Quick Zbrush 3-D work (Click to zoom for higher res)