User Interface

Here are some examples of my UI art and design. Shown bellow are some menu screens, pause screens and other samples from work Ive done over the years. Also included is a short demonstration of my personal project Monster Cubs!

Christmas Magic

This was a sketch I had done in my sketchbook and initially it was a little boy peeking in the bag. However my lovely wife and I just found out we're having a baby GIRL! Sooooooo I scanned it in and colored it digitally and obviously made the switch from boy to girl to accommodate my lovely daughter Zoe who will be with us in a few short months.

One pixel at a time

My love for video games and art is one and the same. My main goal is to cram these two passion into one flaming ball of glory! What I really mean is that my ultimate goal is to be making art that is used in video games. Pixel art is a great way to blend my two loves. Great art that comes out looking like some of the Nintendo and Super Nintendo games of yesterday that fill my heart with gaming goodness.

Using minimal colors while doing pixel art is key, usually trying to keep your file size as small as possible. I've included my color pallet here so you can see the colors I've used, 11 total.

The force is strong with this one

My cousin got married about a week ago and I had to do a special gift for the wedding. This particular cousin is responsible for getting me into a lot of things in the sci fi world including Star Wars. It is well known within my family that I love Star Wars but ask any of my relatives and my cousin Brian would definitley be voted the Star Wars aficionado of the family. 

Here is my homage to Star Wars and my cousin Brian who found his lovely princess in Lisa! My new cousin : ) 

The Process

For me watching the evolution of a drawing is a interesting and insightful look at the piece. I feel like you are allowed to see what the person was thinking and are included in how they sculpted the drawing. Here is a simple example of this. I really like doing these and will be doing more and more from now on.

 

Prisma Goodness!

A few months back I got an amazing PRISMACOLOR marker set from my lovely wife. Using markers and pens has always been one of my favorite ways of coloring, I feel they capture really strong moods and retain their hand drawn feel very well. This was sort of a test sketch that I did, just getting comfortable with my new awesome set of markers!

Skate Video Project

My wife's been shooting a little series of skateboarding photography for a project at work and it inspired me to make this short little video for fun...

Explore a little

I was able to tag along to the Exploratorium where my lovely wife is photographer. She was shooting an event and I was there with my sketch book walking around drawing various exhibits and fellow explorers. I drew fast that day and only came out with these two images that were finished enough for my likes. I did get a lot onto paper though and many of these quick sketches have sparked mt imagination for future drawings!

 There were a series of these things all various sizes. They were part of an exhibit where you try to bounce a small ball through these various hoops.

This was just as it seems. There was a giant blue nose at one exhibit. I'm not sure what the exhibit was for but its always good to draw human anatomy and I had a huge nose right in front of me to practice!

Christmas Panda

Happy Halloween!

Where it all started...

I've recently had a bit of a creative block. Not really a shortage of ideas but rather motivation and focus. This must be broken!

I decided to go back to a very dear subject to me. This small series is a homage to the original Super Mario Brothers. Think of it as if this is how I recall the game and my many adventures through this classic. I have many fond memories of this game, for now I have about 5 or 6 of these planned but I hope I can eventually have tons of them all splayed out next to each other, creating my own spin on the game that inspired my love for games and art together! Here are the first two with more to come

 The original. I did this a while ago and have been sitting on this idea. I'm very happy I'm working with this idea again.

The second I've done. Really fun. I always felt like the squid was one of the worst bad guys in the Mario series. You were already thrown off because you were swimming and then you had this guy with his unpredictable movements zooming around the screen.

Daily sketch

It's really hard to draw something some days. I have many ideas and projects going on right now so sometimes I'm just feeling burnt out and I don't want to worry or work on any current stuff. When this happens I find it comforting to fall back on what I naturally enjoy and what comes easy to me. I don't have to focus on pushing myself or making sure I try something new, I want to avoid making it frustrating and just go with what's natural.

While I really like graphic detailed drawings, I must say that cute, round stuff has always been my favorite stuff to draw. For some reason I have no shortage of ideas when it comes to making something cute. This one is a little robot, I imagine him to be about 4 inches big. I thought it would be cool if you plugged him in and he just hovered around your desk or work space hanging you pencils and different tools that you needed. Maybe he would tell you the time or be a little alarm for you as well!

Anyways, the moral of the story is, if you REALLY don't feel like drawing just relax and do what comes naturally. Ignore all the stress of ongoing projects or whatever may be bothering you and go back to the basics. Just have fun!

Doggy Walk

I recently finished an art test for a job that I'm going for. This was great, I had to create a dog, draw it at a few different angles and create a looping walk cycle. Here's the result!

Check me out!

I've been working in collaboration with Orange Moon Studios to put together these "how to" videos for a new product. The product is for tennis players who want to improve their serve technique. This first video is the initial commercial  and I'm currently finishing some animation in the actual tutorial video. Check it out! My animation is used about half way through, all the little lasers and gizmos!

http://www.thetotalserve.com/

ALWAYS time to sketch!

Here are a few sketches I've done while at work! Working at Whole Foods brings many types of people through your life, I'm never short of inspiration while working. These were done on lunch breaks and any other time I was able to duck behind my cash register and jot something down!

Urban Godz concept

Tada! Here are my initial ideas and sketches for the first of my Urban Godz, Hermes. I started with him because he will be the one who is most like me! For those who dont know Hermes was the god of thieves, travelers, and merchants. He was also the messenger of the gods and is best known for his sandals and helmet that have wings on them.




I like the glasses and the laid back hoodie style here. Not sure about his headphones and overall "happy" attitude though.


Some hairstyles. One thing I want to maintain is their "Godly" feeling. I feel as if a couple of things like strange hairstyles and having pure white eyes will help this. I'm probably going with the fauxhawk one in the middle.


I'm liking this one. Not so sure about some details like his nose and mouth but this is the one I will take to my digital sketches for reference.




I actually did this wing first before any actual drawing of Hermes. I wanted this to be what I pulled from. In the end I'm going for a more cartoon feeling, I went a bit further with this so I can edit down and take what I like. This will be the wings on his shoes. He will be wearing some godly Chuck Taylor's!

Conceptual Ideas

Over the years I've thought of many different ideas, ranging from comic books to 3 part epic films. All of these ideas are written down in my "idea journal". For me it's always been a bit nerve wracking to go to the idea journal. This is simply because these are my most cherished concepts and I would hate to rush them or feel as if I did not fully achieve the idea I first set out for. With my idea book growing daily and the feeling to up my game and really push myself I've decided to dive into my idea journal head first and get to work on one of my brilliant ideas!

As of late I have felt the need to refocus myself as an artist and start producing work that will get me noticed. So without further ado I give you my "Urban Godz" concept. Growing up I was always interested in the Greek Gods and their unique stories and relationships with each other. This is spin on a handful of these Gods. If you don't know me then I'll have to tell you that I'm a bit of a hip hop head, I truly enjoy all types of music but I have always enjoyed hip hop and the awesome culture that it has produced. Simply put these are the Greek Gods with an urban, hip hop twist.