Juan In A Million

I need to finish some drawings so I actually have something new to upload

2009-08-22T13:19:00.000-07:00

This last one was a treat. I found it while going through my pile of old work; it's a cel and background assignment from my freshman year. Spidey's in markers and cel paint and the background in colored pencil. Good memories here, I have to say.

School hath begun

2009-08-19T16:49:00.001-07:00

So here's some more old work.

A little life-drawing thrown in this time

2009-08-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

Just to prove I'm not dead...

2009-08-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

Here's a sampling of some work from the past year. I'm working on some film development right now, but I want to hold off on that until I have a better idea of where I'm going. Forgive me for some odd color correction here and there.

Gesture time!

2009-07-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

Like I've said, it's hard to find a good figure drawing session at a convenient time or place, so I'll admit I've gotten rather rusty.

Off to LA

2009-07-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

Some practice drawings

2009-07-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

CSSSA Alumni Day is in a week. I can't wait to be back on campus.

A few exercises with vine charcoal.

Some portraits

2009-07-10T20:14:00.000-07:00

Cripes, I'm terrible about updating this.

I've taken the last few days to work on some portraits to work on faces looking not only good, but similar to the person they depict. My original intention was to use different celebrities so that the person viewing could guess at the subject, but this pool comes from a somewhat limited range. I'll probably be going out of my way for more variety in my reference in the future.

It was also an exercise in working with vine charcoal. You can see a slight change in techniques from high contrast to something a little more traditional as the series continues.

Portfolio: Work-in-Progress

2009-05-23T19:01:00.001-07:00

Here's my work-in-progress life drawing portfolio. In anticipation of me not knowing what are good/bad qualities in a drawing, I've uploaded more than one would usually see in a 25~ piece portfolio. A majority of these are already on my blog, but I added them again for the sake of convenient numbering in a single post.

A few notes I've heard in the past:
-More color. This is only vaguely seen here, and will be addressed over the summer.
-Tightness/looseness. I have quite a problem with going too tight, so feel free to point out which of these fall under that category.
-Too traditional. I haven't done a lot of abstraction here, and I will also address that.

Thanks in advance to anyone who skims/critiques.

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Zzzzz

2009-05-16T13:32:00.000-07:00

I'm exhausted right now, but I'll touch on a few goings-on before I dive into work:

-Lost Season 5 Finale: I must say, that was the single most poignant closing title card I believe I've ever seen on television. Also, good to know what lies in the shadow of the statue (or at least, lives inside its foot).

-Pirats: Crunchtime! I'll likely be staying at the studio until seven for the coming weeks.

-AP Testing: Done! Not going to worry about it until I get my scores.

-Star Trek: Win. Elaborate thoughts on that later

-Figure drawing: Final on Monday, so I suppose it would be nice to get advice concerning which drawings I should include to show my teacher (we're showing him 4-5 examples of our best work for him to critique).

Got stuff to do...

2009-05-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

...But here's a quick update.

More drawings

2009-04-25T10:58:00.000-07:00

More of the older drawings I've recently photographed.

crunch

2009-04-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

This was drawn with a foot-long string dipped in ink.

It's one thing when you're in crunch time for a project. Quite another when everything is in crunch at once.

I haven't studied for the AP English test in ages, and, with fourteen school days left, my class has another 80 years to cover in AP US History. AP Studio Art is in a similar situation; I have three pieces to finish, but would like to redo two or more.

"Bye Bye Birdie" opens in a week (go if you're in the area!), and rehearsals are going to be lasting until ten or so for the next week.

Most importantly, "PiRats" has got to get done. We're in full swing for production, and after a week of going to bed past midnight, voice acting has been organized and recorded with a cast I was very happy with. Luckily, when the show's over, I'll be able to spend more time cranking out footage.

Obviously, the most important thing to do in this situation is to take everything one step at a time, but that ges difficult when everything overlaps (I've risked missing many a cue by running across campus to grab something from the animation room). Figure drawing's probably the only remaining time where I have the comfort of not only focusing on the present. So! Enough rambling, here are some of the older drawings I've just shot.

Aw, heck

2009-04-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

Might as well throw a few more up while I'm online.

I really should also talk to a couple of my old instructors, as well as get some color into my drawings. The reason for the lacking in that department is that when I started this figure drawing class, I decided it would be a foundation course. I wanted to relearn what I thought I knew about drawing (considering how poor a draftsman I found myself to be in the past few months), so I tried to avoid complicating that with color. However, with portfolios due in 8 months (!), I can't afford to wait any longer.

Then again, if that doesn't work out, a career as a burger flipper is also honorable.

Shameful, just shameful

2009-04-10T19:06:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's been over a month. Even with figure drawing classes weekly (with Dennis and Lauren from CSSSA, no less), AP Studio Art, and animating for K9's class film (8 weeks to deadline!), my art posting here has been sadly mediocre. However, until I do some digital clean up on some drawings, here are a few samplings.

Well, that's that! I still have a shot for animation to finish (the learning curve with digital clean-up is killing me) and a project for art to complete, so it's back to work for me.

So I'm still really behind with updates...

2009-03-07T21:57:00.000-08:00

But I just wanted to take an opportunity to give a big congrats to everyone who's gotten their acceptance letters. =]

Recovery

2009-02-07T15:39:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a long month, so an update is certainly due. My artwork is currently in folders or at school, but scans and photos should be coming soon.

At K9 Studios, Mr. Sullivan has gotten us started on the chase film he's been planning since last year. The original idea is based around two concepts: Pirates and rats (or "Pi-rats" as we've taken to calling them). I'm very excited with the way the responsibilities have been split up; we've got a lot of great people doing what they do best.

Heavy production on that, however, is going to have to wait until after Clayton and I have finished our "Three Little Pigs" project. There's animation to be inbetweened and polished, as well as some staging and editing. In the meantime, Kyler has been pounding away at some great gag drawings.

I also have started my figure drawing course at Sac City in the past month. The instruction's great, and though the commute can be a nightmare, it's much more convenient than running down to S & 12 downtown on Saturdays.

On a more academic note, I recently filled out some paperwork filled out for next year's class schedule. Hopefully I'll be able to take care of some general ed with the AP courses I'm taking.

And just last night, I helped out my friend Tyler by taking some photographs at the school's winter homecoming basketball game last night. I'll be posting up some of those if I ever get a copy.

Though winter homecoming's tonight, I'll probably just stay home and spend some time with the family. What's good about a busy schedule is that it gets you to appreciate the quiet time you get together.

I won't bore anyone reading with more ramblings, so it's off to lunch for me.

The Art of Warner Bros. Cartoons

2009-01-18T15:22:00.000-08:00

I just got back from the "Art of Warner Bros. Cartoons" exhibit at the Crocker Art Museum. It was a brilliant exhibit, featuring everything from model sheets to background paintings, all of which was original (the oldest work I saw was a . Some featured works included model sheets for "Feed the Kitty" and concept paintings for "What's Opera, Doc?" You can imagine how much I geeked out upon reaching some of Chuck Jones' sketches; it's always fascinating to look at drawings up close and try to find out where the artist started and how he or she built up the drawing from there. As much as I'd love to have pictures to post, photography was (naturally) not allowed inside the museum.

Something I was surprised by was how often my parents would point out cartoons and characters they remembered from their childhood; just goes to show the memories that surround the cartoons are probably the greatest testaments to the craft of the Warner Bros. artists.

Fans of Monsters, Inc. will recognize this scenario.

P.S. Sammy Jo says "hi."

Deadlines

2009-01-10T13:48:00.000-08:00

This is the weekend I finish animation on our group project in K9 Studios, "The Three Little Pigs." The other guys have really shelled out material, and Clayton especially has done some great work, so I can only hope my stuff will be up to par.

I'm heading up the Big Bad Wolf. I thought it might be a fun idea to reference Disney's 1932 version, but our story's so wildly different it'd be difficult to splice them in any way.

But I'll see if there's a way we can subliminally sneak in "Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" somehow. =P

Anyhow, here's an early concept sketch. It's since been streamlined quite a bit, but it gives the basic idea.

5 Hours, 20 Minutes Left

2008-12-31T18:40:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year, all. =)

A happy late Christmas

2008-12-29T16:16:00.001-08:00

I'll be sure to get some holiday sketches up here soon.

One of our assignments; again, sorry for the cell phone camera quality.

Happy Festivus!

2008-12-23T20:00:00.000-08:00

Self-portrait done for my art class. Taken with my cell phone, unfortunately, so not the best quality.

Happy festivus!

More art

2008-12-20T10:16:00.000-08:00

One of the pieces for my art class.

Paint on blackboard I did as a Secret Santa present this past week.

I'd upload more, but my cell phone camera is awfully stubborn.

My my my

2008-12-17T17:53:00.000-08:00

Wow. Almost another month without an update. My bad.

Well, I guess I have a few drawings to show.

I know some artists consider fan art silly, but goshdarnit, Toa Kopaka's awesome! =D Of course, credit to the LEGO Company for the character.

A few drawings

2008-11-26T15:32:00.000-08:00

I don't have much to show, but here are a few figure drawings from CSSSA.

This last one was originally combined with a few others, but I can't seem to find them right now.

Back from off the face of the earth

2008-11-26T09:54:00.000-08:00

Dear Lord.

This blog needs an update.

Nom nom.

I'll be sure to write up a thoughtful post sometime in the coming week. =P Hope everyone's enjoying Thanksgiving break.

Today this blog, tomorrow the world!

2008-08-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

Well, after getting home from CSSSA, I felt it would be as good a time as any to set up a blog. I'll try to post pretty frequently with artwork and such, both from my own projects and school (Long live K9 Studios!).

I've got to say, it's almost unreal that three weeks ago today, I left CSSSA. After about a week of recovery, it came down to summer work crunch time (reading "1984," selected passages of the Old Testament, an essay on Doublespeak in political language, and flashcards on the first 200 years of U.S. history). And of course, getting back into shape for cross country after six weeks of minimal/no exercise. The first week of school is over now though, so it's time to get back into an artistic groove.

Cheers!
-JL Bravo