That's Aud

Illustration Academy: Week 2 with Sterling Hundley

2011-11-01T00:31:00.000-07:00

"Possession" Acrylic and pastel on board

The second week of the academy, I was delighted the make the acquaintance of Sterling Hundley. Sterling's work is driven by ideas and synthesizing them to come up with totally unique images. He taught us his process of ideation and put us to work with this assignment.

We were required to take a ghost story from our home state and fuse them with the environment that surrounded us at that moment – the Kansas City West Bottoms. The story I chose comes from Key West, Florida and it is about a doll named Robert. The doll supposedly had a mind of its own and would control the boy who owned it. The boy grew to be an old man and kept the doll his entire life. The aspect of the story that really intrigued me was that this old man was still clinging on to something that is supposed to symbolize youth and happiness and the doll was in turn clinging to the man. I thought the title "Possession" was appropriate for this piece.

The Illustration Academy: week 1

2011-10-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

This summer, I was extremely lucky to be able to attend the Illustration Academy in Kansas City, Missouri. I spent 4 weeks there plus an extra week for the TAD workshop working amongst a group of amazing artists and leading professionals in the industry. Each week, new guest artists would arrive to give lectures and assign us a project which would then be critiqued the following week by the next guest artist.

Mark English, John English, Brent Watkinson and George Pratt introduced us to the program and started us off with our first assignment. It involved doing a lot of research of the area surrounding the studio. The place consisted of old run down brick buildings, many of which were condemned. From the 6th floor studio, you could see trains roaring down their tracks and hear them blare their horns. We were not allowed to use more than two values per object. The above illustration is the end result!

Figure paintings

2011-10-19T15:21:00.000-07:00

These are some of my first figure paintings done at the end of last year.

Sophomore figure work

2011-09-19T16:24:00.000-07:00

Digital

Conte

Charcoal

Conte

Gouache

Here's a smattering of some work I did in figure drawing with Hodges Soileau last semester. I like to vary the media that I used in this class so that my hand would not every get too used to one thing and become lazy. I had tons of fun experimenting with new things and trying to increase my speed and accuracy while painting.

Japan Tsunami and The Pokemon Show

2011-08-27T23:58:00.000-07:00

Japan is facing a true tragedy after the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. While this has been out of the news for a while now, the subject continues to be relevant as people are still trying to piece together their lives.

In April, I put together a small show which celebrates one of my generation's favorite things to come out of Japan. That is, of course, Pokemon.

We were able to raise funds to aid the people of Japan while maintaining a lighthearted and cheerful outlook for the future. We had an amazing turnout opening night and lots of great student art on the walls!

Ender's Game

2011-02-26T21:20:00.000-08:00

These are some illustrations I did to go along with the novel Ender's Game. If you haven't read it, you probably should. Or even better: listen to the audio book. I re-listened to it while working on these and it was a ton of fun and kept me going through the wee hours of the morning.

The first image is an interior illustration showing Ender in the battle room as a scuffle is breaking out while the one on the bottom is a spot showing the Bugger queen's egg. I also have a cover which I'm working on and will hopefully finish up sometime over spring break. All of them are done in watercolor.

It's Business Time

2011-02-11T21:40:00.000-08:00

Flight of the Conchords! Done in gouache.

Another digital study

2011-02-10T17:03:00.000-08:00

I'm having a lot of fun with these! Took about 2 hours in photoshop.

FEWS!

2011-02-04T18:22:00.000-08:00

Did me some figure drawing today with my trusty tablet and laptop. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it! This took roughly two hours and a half.

Aaaaand a detail...

Moon Worshippers

2011-02-04T18:11:00.000-08:00

My Illustration teacher asked us to illustrate the word "mysterious." The first things that come to mind (mine, at least) are dark and foreboding images. I purposefully strayed away from those thoughts and went in the opposite direction to see if I could still convey the same word.

My other selves

2011-02-04T18:05:00.000-08:00

Here are two self portraits that are fundamentally the same. The second was inspired by the first and the first was inspired by the fact that I always seem to put off a haircut until I can no longer see.

The former was done with Sumi-e ink and brushes, the latter with acrylics and Sumi-e ink.

Japanese characters supplied by the all-knowing internet. And for all I know, I just called myself a dung beetle.

Retro Zombie

2011-02-04T17:48:00.000-08:00

Something I did at Dipsy (my school's digital painting club) this past semester. Didn't do too badly—it tied for second place! Got a sweet book as a prize to boot! This took 1 intense hour in photoshop.

Some good ol' wholesome still lives

2011-02-04T17:14:00.000-08:00

For my first update of 2011, I will cling on mercilessly to 2010! Here are some small oil studies I did last semester

Into the Ocean

2010-12-08T15:33:00.000-08:00

This piece is probably the one I'm most proud of this semester overall. Not only was it fun to experiment with a new process, but the end result was surprisingly cool. The assignment called for a CD cover illustration based on a song. It's based off "Into the Ocean" by Blue October.

Steps I took on this one will be posted at a later time. For now, I leave you with this as finals week nears its end.

Digital figure studies

2010-12-04T18:36:00.000-08:00

More watercolor!

2010-12-04T18:13:00.000-08:00

20 minute acrylic portraits

2010-11-24T17:07:00.000-08:00

The Fox

2010-11-14T14:32:00.000-08:00

Oil Rub on Illustration Board

You know, I've come to the realization that Zorro is a lot like Batman. Both are masked vigilantes who dress in black and primarily come out at night. Both men come from a wealthy family and fund all of their expeditions by themselves. Both have trusty manservant sidekicks... The only real difference is the accent.

And maybe the whole parents being murdered and seeking vengeance thing.

Watercolor

2010-11-11T19:48:00.000-08:00

Watercolor used to scare me. If you take a look at my very first post on this blog, you can see one of my first attempts at Don Brandes' technique back when I was at precollege. I remember that out of all of the assignments that I got that summer, that is the one I had the most trouble with.

Now I have a better grasp on the techniques and have grown infinitely more confident with the medium. I'm pretty happy with some of my results.

The Beard

2010-11-09T17:55:00.000-08:00

Paper cutout can be a tedious medium to work with, particularly when the subject's face is being engulfed by a ferocious fur monster of epic proportions. You may simply refer to it as a beard.

Thanks to my friend Scott Prather for loaning me his mug. Thanks also to his beard for not murdering me in my sleep.

Have you heard??

2010-11-07T14:31:00.000-08:00

Everybody's heard about the bird.

Digital Portrait Study

2010-10-15T12:46:00.000-07:00

Roughly 2.5 hours in class using Photoshop.

Before New York

2010-10-14T23:52:00.000-07:00

Before New York, there were landscapes filled with maple trees and pink deer (my jokes are cheesy, I suggest that you get used to this). Here is an editorial illustration about what might have been Manhattan before it was an industrial jungle.

I began with thumbnails in my process book. I like using brush pens to lay out quick ideas and basic value studies. Ultimately, I went with number 21.

After that, I did a tight line drawing to really begin fleshing out what the final product will include. I did this one in blue col-erase pencil.

Next is my favorite part and probably the part I spent the most time on: color studies. For the first one on the top left, I just chose random colors in order to get the flats down. After that, I just used color, saturation and brightness adjustments in order to create all the schemes you see here.

Some more minor tweaking to the overall color scheme that I finally chose...

After finalizing color, I added a textured overlay layer over the whole thing and used a layer mask to select the areas where I wanted the texture to show through.

And voila! That's really all there is to it.

Figure Drawings

2010-10-14T22:02:00.000-07:00

Figure drawing has to be one of my favorite classes this semester. These are some drawings that I've done in class. Most of them are conté on paper.

20 minute study - conté on toned paper

marker on drawing paper

tan·gi·ble

2010-05-29T21:23:00.000-07:00

(click image for full view!)

–adjective

1.capable of being touched; discernible by the touch; material or substantial.

2.real or actual, rather than imaginary or visionary

Now that my freshman year of college has come to an end, I feel a step closer to achieving my dreams. It's almost as if I can reach out and feel them. I know that I still have a lot to learn before they become truly tangible, but I've gained more confidence in my abilities. I am sure that I'm headed in the right direction.

/cheesy speech

The Owl and the Pussycat

2010-05-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

This here is my final project for Intro to Ill. Our assignment was to illustrate a nursery rhyme and I chose one called The Owl and the Pussycat.
For those of you unfamiliar with it, here's a video of a grown man on a guitar singing the rhyme. Warning, excessive use of the "p" word ahead.

Flowah Powaaaah

2010-05-07T19:43:00.000-07:00

Acrylics on canvas board. Took about 5 hours in class.

Color Studies

2010-05-07T19:40:00.000-07:00

Here is a series of studies that I did in Intro to Illustration class. In order, they are black and white, analgous, split complimentary and triadic schemes.

Quick painting studies

2010-05-07T01:23:00.000-07:00

Pick Your Poison

2010-04-09T22:51:00.000-07:00

This is a triptych done for Communication Design class last semester. The assignment was to take on the style of a 20th century artist (in my case, Mucha) and create a triptych including a sign, symbol and metaphor. Done in ink and watercolor.

Happy Little Bottles

2010-04-08T23:18:00.000-07:00

So I've learned that I don't hate acrylic paint as much as I thought I did. I do, however, hate painting bottles. Bread I like.

First Semester Drawlins!

2010-04-08T23:14:00.000-07:00

Oil Rub

2009-10-20T22:34:00.000-07:00

I sat in on a sophomore illustration media class last week and learned how to do an oil rub. I really enjoyed the process. I'm definitely going to experiment further.

F.E.W.S., Portrait Night, and sleeping friends

2009-10-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

Rather than sleeping in...

2009-09-29T19:11:00.000-07:00

on my day off, I head over to another classroom to get some practice in.

That's dedication.

Portrait Night

2009-09-18T22:49:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, I partook in what is known 'round these parts as "Portrait Night." Students sit for each other for 10-15 minutes each. It's a good way to get practice (and to get homework done, haha). Here are some things that I did in my sketchbooks.

While I was away...

2009-09-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since my last update at the beginning of the summer. I have now started my freshman year at Ringling and I am having a blast so far. I've learned a lot in a few short weeks.

Here are some sketchbook pages that I have done since we saw each other last.

Parting at Morning

2009-06-18T14:41:00.001-07:00

Photo courtesy of James Ford

2009-05-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

Two of my most recent works. The first was an ink drawing which I scanned in and then painted in photoshop and the second is a mixed media piece done in colored pencils, oils and acrylics.

Work in progress

2009-05-02T18:24:00.000-07:00

2009-04-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some studies of feet and hands. Standard stuff.

More Figures

2009-02-03T17:38:00.000-08:00

Scholastics Art Awards

2009-01-25T20:04:00.000-08:00

Today I attended the Scholastic Art Awards ceremony and was presented with a Gold Key for my portfolio. I am a portfolio finalist so that means that my work is going to be sent to New York in order to be judged on a national level! Right now, my work is on display at the Miami Art Museum until February 15th alongside some other extremely gifted young artists. If you're in the Miami area, it's certainly worth taking a peak at!

Some figure drawings

2009-01-22T22:13:00.000-08:00

These were done over the summer during my time at Ringling - just now took the time to photograph them. I really enjoyed figure drawing and I'm looking forward to devoting more time to the study of the human form. It's so wonderfully expressive.

After a long absence...

2009-01-10T17:42:00.000-08:00

This is what I looked like after the events of this week. First week back from vacation and a whole portfolio due downtown by the end of it. My art teacher was concerned but understandably amused.

I went with my friends Raquel and Noel to drop off our portfolios to be judged for the Scholastics competition (quite a mission, especially with our large/heavy/awkwardly-shaped paintings).

Then we hit the Freedom Tower for "The Divine Comedy" - a Salvador Dali exhibit. It features many of Dali's small watercolor sketches... he was definitely an odd fellow. I admire his vision and his mustache, though not necessarily all of his works.

In other news, I've fallen in love with "Gray or Blue" by Jaymay. It's a really pretty, light-hearted tune. Perfect for my current, considerably more serene mood.

Art Force 6!

2008-12-10T17:46:00.000-08:00

I collaborated with my peers to put together an exhibition in November called Art Force 6 - named because it showcased the artwork of 6 different students. Opening night of the show was a lot of fun; the gallery was filled with people. We're definitely going to be putting on another show before the school year's end.

youngArts: Mission Complete

2008-11-03T14:20:00.000-08:00

Oil and collage. Diptych, each panel 9"X17"

Oil on canvas. 26"X81"

Oil on canvas. Diptych, 22"X37" - 22"X18"

Oil on canvas. 18"X33"

Oil and collage on canvas. 26"X54"

Graphite and graphite wash. 18"X24"

The deadline for the NFAA youngArts competition passed a little under an hour ago. These are 6 new pieces which I submitted in my portfolio. Most of these could still use a ton of work, but this is what I ended up uploading to their site. I'm so relieved that it's finally over!

Edit (1/10): I've replaced the old pictures with some updated ones of the completed (or near-completed) pieces that I just turned in for the Scholastics competition.

Work in the works

2008-09-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

This is what I'm working on now at school. It's the piece on memory loss. Why jellyfish? That will all be explained in due time! I stood next to the painting to give an idea of the scale of this thing. I give it a nubs up.

A spoonful of irony!

2008-09-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

List of things you can't do with a messed up thumb:
-Write.
-Play the piano.
-Open jars.
-Draw (normally, at least)
-Type(dammit!)without(mother-!)cursing(holy-!) every(ugh!)time(son of a-!)you(hijo del diablo!)insert(shiiiiittttttaki mushrooms!!)a(fuuuuuuuunions)space.
-Juggle.
-Etc.

I feel the need to vent just a tiny bit about this. I nearly sliced off the end of my thumb with glass on Sunday and had to get it stitched down. It's alright - it only hurts badly if I apply pressure to it (BAH!). However, it's a real hindrance because I cut the thumb on my right hand which is my dominant hand. Don't fret too much; I'm already laughing about it. I mean, how ironic is this?! I have a deadline which is swiftly approaching with many paintings to complete and I have to do so without the full mobility and precision that I'm used to.
And the concept behind my concentration... "a study of human pain and anguish that is caused by a physical loss" Yeah. If that doesn't smell like irony, then I don't know the meaning of the word. It's really disheartening to try and create art only to find out that it just isn't going to go the way you want it to...

But! this just makes me feel all that much more connected to my concept and I think that my fifth piece will be directly related to this incident. I can twist anything around to my advantage. OPTIMISM! My art teacher also suggested that I make TWO portfolios: a right-handed one and a left-handed one. Maybe I will do that.

And look at this amazing get well card that I found stapled to my spot in the studio this morning!

I hope I don't resemble a thumbless bum.. Haha, Tati. ILY too.

Aaaalso: I have been WASTING MY TIME with acrylics. I'm going to go smother myself in oil paint now. Toodles!

"The spirit of the thing."

2008-09-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

This is a color study for a painting I'll be starting tomorrow! that is about 5' x 2'? I think? It's going to be on two separate canvases. This piece is about losing sight. The braille on the side of the page says "blinded help me".

My art teacher wanted us to define the word "paradigm" and then explain what our personal paradigms were. I really just enjoy the little caricature I did of him.

Legs in gouache. So much fun. Nuff said.
This piece is giving me quite a lot of trouble. It started off as a sketch in my sbook, but I'm going to turn it into another massive painting. Why massive? Because I'm a masochist. I'm still not certain about the composition or whether I should include legs or not... I think that the painting will be stronger if I don't fully render the legs. It would lend itself to the subject of the piece.

The basic idea behind the series that I'm working on now is a study of human pain and anguish that is caused by a physical loss (sight, fertility, movement, memory, etc.). The painting on memory loss (approx. 7' x 2' DX I told you I was a masochist!) is currently in the works. I have to have at least 5 paintings from this series done by the end of October to enter into the NFAA scholarship competition.

...I can do it. I hope.

A couple of older works

2008-08-17T23:19:00.001-07:00

Acrylic and gouache (collage)

Acrylic on Bristol board

There aren't too many older works that I'm very fond of, but I still like these pieces because they represented a couple of breakthroughs for me. The first is a collage assembled from individually cut and painted pieces that were then glued back together. It was a tedious endevour but the end result was exactly what I was hoping for.
The second is a painting that is based off of the story of Persephone from Greek mythology. I was able to complete it in two nights-- a feat I did not know I was capable of, haha!

Scavenger hunt!

2008-08-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

Find the face!
My friend Chottip came over to my place a few days ago so that I could show her some things in Photoshop. While she was here, we started flipping through my figure drawings from Ringling and she pointed this out to me.

"Face? What face? Oh. Woah, what the hell?"

Apparently, I had drawn a woman's face in the model's torso. Now I can't look at this drawing without seeing it. Just goes to show you that you should always get another person to look at your drawings. You'll see things with new eyes, so to speak - haha.

Ringling Pre-College: Summer 2008

2008-07-31T16:31:00.000-07:00

Hello world.

Ink on tagboard

Digital media-Illustrator CS3

Watercolor on ivory paper

Digital media-Corel Painter X

Watercolor

Digital media-Corel Painter X

These works are the result of spending a month at Ringling's Pre-College Perspective. It seems almost cliche to say it, but I have grown both as an artist and a person by going there. I feel privileged to have been able to learn from some of the finest illustration instructors in the nation. Hopefully, I'll be able to receive their full instruction one day. This is where I am now, but I still have a year to go before graduating high school and entering college.

It's a start.