Doodles by Noodles

Never Delivered

2010-07-22T06:42:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately, one of the downsides to finally being in the industry is never having the time to post new stuff... Mostly because whatever animation I have been working on, I signed an NDA... It's nothing much anyway, just some small work on side projects. Still not an animator at Rhythm, but the outlook for this coming year is promising. I have done some drawing here and there, but up until recently, hadn't had a scanner since I moved. I'll get around to it... maybe. -_-

Baby Step

2009-10-05T21:53:00.000-07:00

Warning, this is a long story, so for those looking for art... well... here's a puppy.

Crazy I haven't updated in almost 6 months. I'd been busy sending out my resumes and reels to companies, only to get months and months of silence. No emails, phone calls, nada. Animation is a tough biz to get into. Sometimes it's about who you know, most of the time it's about being the best of the best, and then there are those who just get lucky. As far as becoming a professional animator, I wasn't any of those.

Meanwhile, I've been working as a Lab Tech at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Helping students learn new programs, troubleshoot software and hardware, facebooking... Well, doing all this the past couple of years started to demotivate me as it wasn't where I had imagined I'd be years after college. I was getting restless and I wanted to see progress on some front.

During eternal search for the mythological "Animation Career", I'd applied to Rhythm & Hues, a special effects movie company known for their work in "The Golden Compass" (which got them an Oscar), "Scooby Doo", "Alvin & the Chipmunks", "The Incredible Hulk", and MANY other films. While my animation reel wasn't enough to score me a job as an animator, I was able to get in contact with a friend who had worked there for a couple years. He was a TD in their render department and said he'd pass my resume along since he knew I was a hard working, trustworthy person. Back in college, we worked on a few projects together, went bar hopping, and had a few memories. He'd recommended back then it'd always be good to know a little bit of UNIX code, as a lot of industries run on Linux based systems. You never know when it might come in handy.

Well, it took months after giving him my resume that it fell into the right hands. I'd nearly given up hope that anyone would ever see it until I got the "phone call". It was the opportunity for an interview at R&H down in LA. Without hesitation I agreed, and drove to LA the following week. By the end of the interview I was cool on the outside, but inside, I was a mess. Just being considered for any position at such a reputable company was an honor, and I was nervous and excited at the same time. I thought the worst was over as I drove back toward gloomy San Francisco, but then there was... The Wait. I didn't realize it'd be another month before I got any type of follow-up (especially when I was told I hear back from someone in 2 weeks or less). The anxiety was killing me.

A month after the interview, I assumed that was my shot and though I did my best, they must have found a "better fit". I carried on with my current job, prepping for another semester of students, animation; the daily grind. One night, however, I got, not a call, no. I got an EMAIL from someone at R&H. Ah, so there is my rejection letter I thought. I mean, if they wanted me for job, they'd called me. But the email was an easy impersonal way of letting someone know they just didn't quite cut it. I opened it up just for closure, and my eyes immediately glazed over a few choice words: "Impressed", "Good Fit", and "Offer". I jumped out of my chair and felt a surge of happiness. They wanted me! They were offering me a position as a Render I/O Coordinator. I start in 2 weeks. =D

So what's the point? I didn't get that animation job I'd been pining for all these years. Yeah, well... I am one step closer to my dreams. The first goal coming out of college was to get a job at a movie company. It could be any position, so long as I got to see my name in the credits on that silver screen. I am well on my way. This is only the first step toward achieving the ultimate goal of animator. I am closer, and I feel progress, momentum, and motivation.

Where you go in your career is decided on 3 things. Skill, Timing, and Luck. If you don't have one, you can always make it up with another. Constantly work on your skills, because those are the foundations of your career, never give up on improving if your dreams require you to be one of the best. Socializing is an important skill. Make friends, stay friends, and respect everyone around you, as one day, you realize how much you all need each other. For some, their calling comes early, for others, it could take much longer. Be patient and continue to thrive. I still have a long road ahead of me, but in time, I know I'll reach where I need to be; where I belong.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me. Once I'm settled, I'm going to pick up caricaturing on my free time again. Just to loosen up. Then continue with my animations.

Now then... off to LA!

Judgement

2009-05-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

It's here! It's finally here! My first official character animation demo reel! These are 6 of my best pieces that I went back and further polished with the help of my boss and her critiques, so a very special thanks to Sherrie Sinclair, Director of 2D animation at the Academy of Art University for helping me out. Comments & Critiques are always welcomed and encouraged!

Animation Demo Reel 2009 HD from Jason Bettinger on Vimeo.

This is my animation demo reel for 2009. Thanks for watching!

I did all the animation, lighting, and some modeling and texturing.

The character in shots 1, 2, 3, and 6 are the Norman Rig provided by the Academy of Art University.
The Great Dane in Shot 4 is modeled by Chris Baker, Rigged by Javier Solsona. The character in shot 5 is MooM v4.0.3 created by Ramtin.

Yet Another Walk Cycle!

2009-04-20T01:08:00.000-07:00

So no time for paintings or drawings... I got to many idea for animations! This is just a peek of what I will be posting later involving a cave man.

Caveman Walk Cycle from Jason Bettinger on Vimeo.

In light of this walk cycle, I went back and made some slight changes in my previous generic walk, noticed some abnormalities with his pacing, and altered the presentation so that your eye isn't leading off the screen but toward the center. I'll be working a lot on some personal animations over the Summer, and I'm very excited about it. Expect good things. All comments, crits, and hugs are appreciated.

Where Are The Wild Things?

2009-03-28T23:46:00.000-07:00

Soooo I saw the new trailer for "Where the Wild Things Are" and it looked awesome. I decided to make a few drawings inspired from the book. I tried drawing them in a little different style in each one...I wanna take one of them to refine and color it, which one do you think?

'Bats' Love!

2009-02-14T00:27:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Or for the singles, Singles Awareness Day, otherwise known as S.A.D. I figure I'd post up the gift I made for my g/f. She's in love with the twilight series, which was what started this idea. Anyway, hope you all have a great weekend!

Reprogrammed

2009-02-11T20:51:00.000-08:00

So I just thought I'd mention that while my updates are sparse and not often, it doesn't mean I'm not animating! I'm currently volunteering on a production called "Reprogrammed" by Charter Road Productions Inc. They are a non-profit organization promoting the "good word"... Well, those that know me, I'm not super keen on religion and all, but hey, it's a way for me to dip my toes in a real production and to put some experience behind my belt. I've already worked on a few shots for them and will continue to do so until production is done or I find a more demanding job. Hopefully I'll have chunks of time where I can work on some of my own stuff to post up here as I'm not allowed to post any of my current work on the film until it's been completed. Shucks.

Good news though, is a couple of my shots will be shown at the Academy of Art booth at WonderCon! Someone out of the hundreds that will be there may or may not see the 5-10 seconds I worked on, yay!

I digress. Here is a screen shot of the production. Who knows... it may one day be on television.

There is also a website, it's a little barren, but a trailer should be up around the same time as WonderCon (February 28th). http://www.reprogrammed.org

Total runtime of this film is around 40 minutes so there is still a lot of work to be done... I'm guesstimating it'll be done in around a year or two. Here's hoping!

Do the Whirlwind

2009-02-01T11:14:00.000-08:00

So I started working on this jump back in September or October, but got caught up with other projects and was never quite please with the end result. I went back this past week and fixed any issues I had with it and I think it turned out fairly well. As usual comments and critiques are appreciated.

Kung Fu Jump from Jason Bettinger on Vimeo.

R.I.P. Michael Sandborn

2009-01-14T02:10:00.000-08:00

I recently found out a former classmate and friend of mine, Michael Sandborn, suffered an aneurism and passed away yesterday. He was an amazing artist, and a great person. He was a big guy, and fit that stereotype of being "Jolly". I can't ever remember not enjoying his company, whether it be watching him sketch awesomeness onto paper, or listen to his rants and raves over video games and anime, Mike always managed to put a smile on my face, even during finals! I am deeply saddened by this news, but feel the best way to keep someone alive is to keep them remembered.

If anybody would like to see his artwork, please do so, you can find it here:

http://www.thesandbot.com/index.html

My condolences go out to his friends, family, and fiance. Mike, I hope wherever you are, you are at peace.

Natural Feeling

2008-12-19T03:46:00.000-08:00

I finally finished my first two person dialogue. It's a long one as well. I had a fun time doing this piece, there were also times where I wanted to throw my computer (or myself) out the window... Mainly due to the bugs and crashes of Maya. But at least you know you can always do it better the second time around, yah? Enough with the chit chat and preamble. Critiques, raves, rants, massages, etc, are always welcome!

Two Person Dialogue - "Natural To Be Naked" from Jason Bettinger on Vimeo.

Good boy!

2008-11-13T11:46:00.000-08:00

I've been working on quite a few things lately, but wanted to put at least one thing up. So here is my dog running to catch a frisbee.

Quadruped Frisbee Catch from Jason Bettinger on Vimeo.

Look Ma! No Hands!

2008-10-12T23:09:00.001-07:00

Just paws...

Dog_Walk_Cycle from Jason Bettinger on Vimeo

Ideas Come From Your Thumbs, Not Your Head!

2008-09-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

So I had a little project where I had to create captions and have my character fit those captions. I am posting just a few of the ones I did to show how drawing out thumbnails on paper really help your poses because you may have the idea in your head, but unless you see it, you are just guessing where everything should go when you put it together in 3d or a more detailed 2d drawing.

Thumbs are a quick way of getting your idea out and you don't even have to be neat with it. As long as you or whoever they are meant for can read them, they can be almost chicken scratches like the ones I have.

If I had not drawn these out first, my poses may not have come out as strong as they did. You can see I also tweaked some of them for the better.

Your poses don't have to match your thumbs 100%, because the thumbs were just rough ideas. You need not waste your time rendering every shadow or every detail, the drawing or render should be the polished final.

Walk With Me

2008-09-16T16:33:00.000-07:00

So I've been wanting to go back to the basics with my animation, because I didn't like any of the stuff I produced back in college. I was still learning a lot and don't quite think I did my old assignments with "A" quality in mind. So now I'm back, mature, more "learn-ed". Behold, my neutral walk cycle!

Walk_Cycle_Generic from Jason Bettinger on Vimeo.

And on another note, I have volunteered to work on a production called "Reprogrammed". It is a pilot episode that hopefully may go to TV, its being produced by a company called Charter Road Productions, a very Christian company. While I can't go into too much details, I hope to learn a bit about production pipeline and such from this, and get my name in some credits =D.

Redux

2008-08-21T21:11:00.001-07:00

So here is an updated version of my emotion change scene. I improved the animation to make it flow a lot better, as well as rendered the scene and added sound.

Emotion_Change_Final from Jason Bettinger on Vimeo.

I've also rendered out my dialogue piece as well. The animation was very slightly tweaked, but practically unnoticeable from its last incarnation.

"My Son Has a Gift"_Final from Jason Bettinger on Vimeo.

Speak Up

2008-08-04T00:03:00.000-07:00

So this is the first attempt at animating with dialogue in over a year, and I feel I have done a better job with this that any of my previous dialogue animation, and maybe any animation for that matter than ever before. I'm very proud of myself for getting it done within only a week and a half after having recovered for a neck injury. I still feel like I can improve some aspects, but don't all artists? I'm going to be fixing some of the previous animations I posted, and rendering all them out a higher quality for my anticipated demo reel. I have given myself a september deadline to have at least 5 finished and polished animations that I am proud of. I am 2 and a half way done. =D

Dialogue - "My Son Has a Gift" from Jason Bettinger on Vimeo.

Hunger for more?

2008-07-21T23:12:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest animation. Norman has a problem with eating healthy. Will he make the right choice?

Problem Solving from Jason Bettinger on Vimeo.

Boring Entertainment

2008-06-28T18:27:00.001-07:00

Okay, this whole regular updating thing... I guess it's just not me. But I will try to post as often as I can.

Anyway, I have decided to take a class this summer at the Academy of Art, because, since I work there, I can take a free course every semester. I figure it'd be good in giving me projects and deadlines I will have to abide by. This whole self motivation stuff just isn't me. I'm trying to focus back on 3d animation, the whole reason I went to school in the first place. So here is the first project I did for the class, the topic for this is "emotion change". Let me know what you guys think. It's only a playblast, its not rendered or fancied up. Strictly concetrated on getting the animation right. Thanks!

Emotion Change from Jason Bettinger on Vimeo.

Happy Feet

2008-04-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

My g/f came back from a vacation in Central America last week and brought me back some aztec statues. It inspired me to draw this dancer. Enjoy!

With Love From RGB

2008-04-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed the sketches I did for these pieces, but I think the blue didnt come out as strong as I intended, her pose feels weak... *sigh*. This was my first time working with water colors... Hell, its my first time using traditional methods to color other than pencil. I hope to do more. They are also in frames matching their color. Gave them away as a gift. I have a few other drawings I plan on posting this week... so lets hope I don't have another dry spell. I need to update more!

A Process

2008-02-02T22:16:00.000-08:00

So I decided to try a new technique, and I believe it is the proper way to paint, regardless, it's a pretty good way to learn tone. Basically I color my drawing monochromatic then go over it with an overlay of the colors i want. All the tones are laid in black and white so I dont have to worry about finding different colors. Here is how i went about it.

Did a sketch in my notebook.

Painted it monochromatically.

Went over in color.

Added background. Took about 3 hours.

Can't Beat the Heat

2008-01-27T15:44:00.000-08:00

So I've moved back to good old California, where I belong. I haven't had much time to draw fun stuff because I've been looking for work. Luckily it didn't take me long once I got back to find a job at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. I get some free time to work on my own stuff here and there, so expect to seem some more drawings in the near future. In the meantime, here's two drawings I did in photoshop.

and to shake things up a little, I've been working on graphic design as well. done in illustrator.

Trick or Treat?

2007-10-26T00:56:00.001-07:00

So here is a another big ol sketch dump. I did most of these in California while i was back visiting friends and family, thus giving me the opportunity to be a coffee troll yet again. Anyway, onwards.

Here are some drawings I inked and colored in Illustrator CS3. Basically all i did was go to google, type in halloween costumes, and looked at the first few images that came up of people posed in halloween costumes, sketched out a cartoon version of them on paper, threw them into CS3, and here is end result.

Naughty.

Nice.

Wicked.

And here are some sketches out of my sketch book

My friend, Anne Bush. She wants to color well.

First real attempt at a celebirty. I captured likeness... but where the hell is there any exageration? I failed.

And lastly, some of my last caricatures I did of the workers at my favorite coffee shop in California, Barefoot Coffee Roasters. Check em out if u haven't tried it =D.

This is the wall where the awesome workers at the coffee shop post my drawings of them. Some of them are downright terrible because they from when i first started early this year... so u if u look hard enough u can see my progression in no particular order. 4 of the drawings on the wall were done by my friend Marika, who also worked at Great America with me. Her drawings are marked by red dots in case you are wonder which are hers. This wall is flattering at the same time it is embarassing. I think all my work sucks... just the newer stuff sucks less than the older stuff. But it's nice to know they really appreciate my work enough to display it for everyone to see. The drawings have withstood wind, spilt coffee, people brushing against em in line, and even (yes this a true) a fire that broke out in the coffee shop. I swear I thought they would be taken down by now!

What It's Worth

2007-10-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

First off, normally I don't add my personal life into this blog, but what has been going on in my life has been very important to me and thought i'd share. I apologize for the lack of updates, but due to my current situation I haven't had much time for leisure.

About 2 months ago my aunt was diagnosed with Stage IV liver cancer. It had spread throughout her body and she had no idea until she was diagnosed. The disease attacked her quickly and very aggressively. Knowing how severe the situation was, i quit my job and moved to Arizona where they lived to take care of their 3 kids while my uncle took care of my aunt. Unfortunately the worst happened and she passed away a little over a week ago. She fought hard to live, the doctors were amazed to see how long she stayed with us because they originally only estimated she had not more than a week to live, but she fought for 2 months. She was a great person, one of the most easy to get along with people I've ever met, I'm not just saying that. anyone who has ever heard me talk about her knows how highly I thought of her and I love her dearly. My uncle is still trying to get back on his feet after this ordeal and still has his 3 children, Catelyn (3), Cassidy (5), and Chandler (6), to take of.

Christina Park
3/29/1971 - 9/19/2007
I plan to stay here in Arizona to take care of the kids til at least the end of the year and see where things go from there, which means 1. being out in the middle of nowhere, Maricopa, AZ, I dont have much places to get out and draw, and 2. taking care of 3 young kids is no easy task so my time is severely limited. My updates may be far apart or sparatic the next couple of months, all depends on what comes next. However, next week I will be in California where my aunt will be buried and plan to stay a few extra days to get one last drawing week in at my favorite Coffee Shop (Barefoot Coffee Roasters) and maybe some zoo and drawing salon sketches.

**end personal life**

So since I've been here, I have only a handful of sketches, and have the last bit of carictures I had done at work a little over a month ago. As usual nothing amazing, but comparing to the very start of my season, i have improved immensely I think. I only wish I could've worked more, but just cause my season is over doesn't mean i'll stop, I'll manage to squeeze out a caricature here and there.

These guys were pretty awesome from what i remember, the girl on the left was a lifeguard at our park and was treating her bro and sis to a day out at the park. I like the way this came out because they all have their individual look and for me it it's a pretty clean sketch. wish i left more room for the brother though.

These next two guys were just demos so i played a little bit with uglying them up a bit.

This guy was pretty cool too, he had a Transformers shirt on and I love that series, so i asked if I could draw a demo of him as one and he ended up buying it. I'm disappointed though because i accidentally drew his chin line in forgetting he had a beard so it's overlapping... *sniff*

These two were fun to draw together because I got to add a bit of contrast between them. The guy on the left is a nice clean sketch up until i did his shoulders and shirt. the one on the right is a little sloppy.

Could've done her hair a bit better... I think it looks like her though.

Some family came by my booth earlier on in the day and watched me draw a few people. They came back later telling me they visited all our booths and wanted their kids to be drawn by me and only me cuz they though i was the best in the park. I think they must've been staring at the sun all day but I really appreciated the compliment and drew their kids all cutesy.

So these have been more recent. The sketches of the people were from about 2 weeks ago, and the zoo sketches were from last week.

As usual, thanks a lot for taking a look at my stuff, let's hope I don't slack too much on my practice. Everybody have a wonderful day!

Everybody Wang Chung

2007-08-17T01:53:00.000-07:00

Greetings Star Gazers, I'm here to update you with my latests. I have noticed a dramatic change as of late in the quality of my work, but at the same time, I feel I am going through some of the hardest hurdles of the season and I have had several days of hit or miss. Once you find that comfortable cute salable sketch, it's hard to fall out of it. Of course you can just get really good and make it even cuter, and improve its overall quality. but it will still be that same face, the same eyes, the same every little cute that it is with slight variation to appease that of the customer. I feel i found that cute sketch, and I sometimes feel it is right and or needed for the sake of sale, but when i feel that is not the case, it is hard to take your drawing hand off "auto-sketch" and draw what you really see. The ugly.

So I'm trying to break from auto-sketch and it sometimes makes my drawings rather wonky or just plain bad. It's about experimenting new lines, and learning some of them just dont work well with others i'm currently using. At least I can say I'm trying, with some minor successes here and there. Anyway, enough about my feelings on my journey towards drawing better, onward to the park sketches!

These are all so you can see my current ability at likeness and then a close-up of the sketch.

These dudes were awesome, but drunk too. They were all about 26 or 27 and acted like they were 6 or 7. But the got a kick out of the drawing and I got a kick out of drawing it for them. They wanted that guy in the middle to be drawn like a baby and they be drawn normal, but I couldnt just draw them normal. I had figure if the guy was to be a baby the other two were to be a gay couple or men with bodies of a god holding the golden child. i went with the latter.

Clearly the greatest drawing I have done this season. I mean, look at their physique, their glory, their thongs. Okay, well it ain't perfect, the guy on the left's right arm (your left) is all weird outstretched the way i drew it, the babies middle toe on the right (his left) is longer than the rest... o_O and I like the guy on the left's face the least compared to the other two. But overall, i find this drawing funny and one of my better ones this season. btw, thats a bottle of kettle one floating on that their cloud.

This chick paints her face every time she visits great America. every time.
my only wish, the green band behind her was more level... that and better coloring of the hair.
As you can see by her smile, she really enjoyed this drawing. but alas too poor to buy it.
line quality could be better, but I'm glad I tried something new.

I like how I i didnt really give him much of a pupil, just little dots. Something new, something blue.He didn't seem happy with it. Too bad, you didn't pay for it anyway!

This dude wanted to be drawn playing guitar Hero.
I was trying new lines, but nothing really flows right in this picture... I wasn't gonna post this originally, but it's Guitar Hero... come on!
This kid gave me most likely the oddest request I've had to do and will do all season. He wanted to be drawn with four arms, playing two guitars, standing on two goat legs in the pits of hell, fighting chuck norris. I told him i'd do it all, but chuck norris. We negotiated and came to a compromise of a sillouette of satan in the background.

So some lady came up to me saying that the drawing she got early made her look too much like a man and was wondering if I could redraw it. I hate redrawing peoples sketches, especially when i feel that artist is a lot better than me, because if they rejected them, what the hell would they think of mine?! I tried my best to stay the cute route and be safe. I dont like this sketch.
This is Fabian's version. Clearly the better sketch, but the chick was right, she does look like a dude in the picture. Funny though, I didnt really look at his sketch til later, but our mermaids are basically in the same pose, just on opposite sides.

A mix of good and bad here... This was the first time I ever put 6 faces on one page (a mighty expensive drawing btw). I'd have to say the likeness of the sketch to the people was okay by my standards except for the little girl in the bottom middle. that was just... she was the first one i drew and i screwed up bad, i was thinking too hard to try it make it look cute (as to not lose the sale) it ended up totally not looking like her. the two ont he left and right on the bottom were twins... so i don't feel so bad they look a lot a like. The quality on the girl in the upper right I think is best. Not much detail went into this drawing, but i didnt have much room for it, it was an overall okay sketch, but I'm not terrible happy with it nor would i call it a failure.
I actually don't like this sketch at all. Only thing I do like is face variation, but the overall quality is terrible.
This father seemed pretty cool, he seemed to deem his son as his favorite though by reminding me he wanted to be draw with his son next to him and his daughter could be anywhere else. =*(
But notice how the son and daughter look a lot alike? no folks, thats not cuz they are related, its just cuz I drew them using the same lines, just gave em different hair. Bad Sketch!

I really like the way this came out at the time, it felt less like an in park sketch and more like my coffee shop caricatures.

I like the generous use of freckles i did here, but the hair is terribly messy.
I really like the way this came out, it resembled the guy a lot. I could have pushed things a little further as always though...

Aside from the terrible background coloring, I realy liked this sketch. I find it humorous, and the quality of the face one of my finest. It looked like the guy a lot and doesn't look like any of my other sketches.

This is a cute sketch. I wanted it to be cute, and i feel I succeeded. couple issues in line quality, but i like the way i did the soccer ball, he looks hurted. =)

I've been reading a couple comic books lately and wanted to draw iron man. I drew iron man.

egh... it's okay...

This is a bad drawing, but i thought i'd throw it in because the mother of this child came back to me after sending her boy off, to tell me how insensitive i was to make his ears so large and what I did was a terrible thing. I could honestly care less, and found her reaction funny cuz he didnt seem to care (though he wasnt thrilled about it either). Thanks to Edgar for pointing out the fact that his knee looks like the kid has a boner. Thats what your buds their there for, to let you know ur cartoons got wood.

That's all for now. Until then, keep watching the Stars!

Just Your Salesman, Your Pet, Nothing More

2007-07-23T22:26:00.000-07:00

Haven't done an illustration in a while, I'm quite rusty... but here is the latest, "Wild Child".

So other than that sketch, I haven't been able to do much fun stuff lately... Just work work work... my sketches, well the line quality is getting better, but I'm falling into a formula. I guess I have achieved what i mentioned earlier, of a salable sketch, these are made to please.

Prepare for the cuteness...

This was just a demonstration. at first. yea, I knew this would sell, hehe.

My first attempt at a hockey body. I like what i did with the puck, but i could make the background a little more interesting, and the body could be cleaned up a bit more... but I'm okay with it...

My first attempt a Silver Surfer body, I am pleased with the outcome...

I was sad, this chick looked awesome, had a frohawk, facial piercings, and punk eyeliner. But i never got to finish it fully because of willing, paying customers wanted to get drawn while i was doing this. This was also originally just a demonstration. She ended up buying it later.

I should have drawn her teeth... His body looks all funky too... grrr...

I drew a co-worker of mine... She didn't like it... =*(

Read a Book

2007-07-14T02:41:00.000-07:00

This Dakota Fanning look alike has been draw by me before (in face it you scroll down, you'll see a black and white sketch i did of her). and she liked it so much, she came back to get it done and color and actually buy it this time. She's awesome!

This guy really played for the Phillies... His son was never really spiderman...
I love emos. yea, that's a dude on the left.

I dunno what it was specifically i liked about this drawing when i did it, but i think I my line quality significantly improved after doing this sketch. Hair still sucks though.
This kid reminds me of Jordan from the Bernie Mac Show.
Playing with some exaggeration... funny, but sloppy.

I think i got likeness really well on these guys.
Grape Soda + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious
I just like the line quality i did on this guy, most of it feels clean and smooth.

I think this one came out funny. I like it.

I like this cuz to me it doesn't feel like one of my generic sketches, there is more variation in its shapes, compared to my quick sketch.

Alright, that was just a small lot of park sketches i've been doing lately. So tired now... I update with better stuff next week.

Quickie

2007-06-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

O wow, an update with no park sketches! huzzah! but that means just 3 pics... busy busy busy.

This girl was just chillin' listening to her iPod and i imagined her jammin to it...

Oooooo, Rated PG-13 for adult content and mature situations...
Wanted to try a little different sort of style. Kinda like it. =)

Have a great day people!

All Work

2007-06-10T02:34:00.000-07:00

So I was told I do cute sketches and don't exaggerate enough... so I experimented a little...

There was a lot of potential to jack this kid up... I did a terrible job.

I quickly learned that these sketches don't sell. Hehe. I will continue to work on jacking up demos though and work on making big sales cuter.

This is probably the best body i've done... but i cheated... there was a mermaid body above my head, so i kept looking at it for reference.

I learned something about head size and proportion here...

How do you make an emo happy? Draw them emo.

I like the way this one came out, and the kid liked it too. It was a demo but he ended up searching the park for dollars and quarters for an half hour or so so he could buy it. thanks kid.

This girl reminds me of Dakota Fanning...

Sigh... Seems the only time I can draw now is at work... I want to do more personal stuff damnit!

Spazmaticals

2007-06-04T01:26:00.001-07:00

Yea... I know. i post a lot of pics... Lotta stuff from the past couple weeks. On average though, it seems i post about once a week or so. I'll try to keep that constant. I've been trying out new lines with my drawings, kinda like learning new letters. I think i'm starting to exaggerate on some people... mostly the ears it seems... I like people with big ears, it's easy to draw. Anywho... onward.

Sketch book stuff...

K so... the person on the left is a woman... dunno if you can tell... most elderly women have short hair.

I like this drawing... i think it looks pretty.

people in the lunch room at work...
coworker of mine

I want to draw more bodies, i don't want to limit myself to just shoulder up. I think this looked a lot better before i inked it in though, and it looks pretty flat...

sketches from Barefoot Coffee...

Haha, her hair was so big i had to turn my paper landscape style!
She didn't smile that big when i was drawing her...
I drew a whole group of teenagers and this was the one i liked the most, it was also the most exaggerated (well... that i can do...)
I really think i captured his love for his DS...
If you look closely... the two have matching tattoos!

Here are some of my better park sketches...

Hehe, so one of my buddies from my school showed up at the park, and gladly sat for a demo
Can u guess that this is his brother? haha, looks like i traced the same sketch... not intentional.

I like this one, it's nothing great, but it's one of my more exaggerated park sketches...
as usual the guy came out better than the girl... but they liked it.

ehhhhh... im trying! really, i am!

I think i got this guy pretty well.

I don't really like this sketch at all... but i had to post it because the child's smile is so adorable!

I could've pushed it further i think... i didnt really capture his eyes...

So this kid sat for a demo, and when i drew his ears all pointy, one of friends said he looks like Link from "The Legend of Zelda"... so for kicks i added a body... snagged me a sale at the same time =D

I think this one is one of my better black and whites...
i like how i handled his hair... dunno if i can repeat it.
last one... i swear

K, so there yah go... Lets hope the next batch is better.

Noodles, out. o_O

iWork

2007-05-21T12:44:00.001-07:00

Thanks everybody for the comments, it's encouraging. Feel free to continue checking back as I will be posting often. I hope. So hear are some more colored drawings from my sketchbook and a good amount of my park sketches. I'm starting to get a lot faster in my black and white sketches, but still need to work on getting my faces bigger, the color darker, and color faster and more confidently. Bodies are one of my weakest points at the moment, they often come out wonky with lines going over lines, the two that im posting are the best ones that came out this week, you don't want to see the bad ones. =D Sorry for the hard shadows in some of the pics, i can't control the position of the sun... yet.

I drew this woman several times, but this was the only one I colored and inked.

Lips need more dimension...

One handin' the burger. Skillz...

these next two are what i like to call "The Brothers Timmerman". hehe my friend told her brothers who were visiting that I did these so they came to get some done.

I really liked the way these two came out. If i could've exaggerated more, i would have thrown the girls teeth everywhere. she had a good smile, but her teeth kinda went over each other. i just twisted her front one a little.. I really like the likeness of the guy. The girls eyes don't give off enough personality though...

the guy reminds me of Kurt from Gilmore Girls. i may have stretched out his head too much though and I gave the girl a little too much forehead. They were a really nice couple though, probably my favorite customers for the entire day. Putting me in a good mood makes my sketches better and faster too. =D

I really like the way i did this one. The background looks fluffy and cartoony, she looks cute and adorable, and there aren't any crazy wonky lines. No real exaggeration, been doing "safe" sketches still. I think the halo and harp could have been done better though.

Likeness is off and i could have gone darker on color, very generic face. But this was the cleanest spiderman body i've drawn so far... dunno if i got this costume colored quite right yet though, i don't remember whats red or blue or webbed...

I like this one, i just would've cleaned up the hair a little more and gone darker if i could go back.

I know he should have a half beard but they didnt want him to have facial hair... i think i should have given him a smaller mouth too... I really dont like his sketch, but I like the girls, it's one of the cleaner non-child female drawings I've done.

So overall I think I'm starting to notice the smaller features in people that help add likeness... sometimes i don't realize it til it's too late, but that's fine... one day it'll just come natural. Again, still doing relatively safe sketches, not going crazy exaggeration on any of them. So that's it for now. off to draw more.

Blown Away

2007-05-11T00:49:00.000-07:00

Okay guys... this is gonna be a BIG update. Stuff from my Sketchbook; Caricatures from the park, coffee shop, AND the awesome C4 (california caricature and cartoon convention) i went to in San Diego; a digital painting, and 2 animated clips! So uh... prepared to be dazzled! ... not really.

So uh... first attempt at putting some real color into my sketches... I would like to do many more like this

Started working with smearing marker with a blender pen. Not to happy with the guy in red, he kinda popped into the scene last second for less than a minute so it wasn't well studied and i have terrible memory.

Trying to get back into digital painting... really rusty. This guy has a creepy aura about him... like he's the watcher! always watching. and waiting. Watching. And Waiting!

My Animal Drawing Final, if you can't tell what it's supposed to be I have failed...

3d Animation of a run to stop

Caricatures from the Park and Coffee Shop

One of my better couples sketches...

I really liked this one... cept for this wierd bump i seemed to have put on his forehead... damn.
One of my friends, Marika. First time i managed to exaggerate and capture her likeness. i think.

I saw so much potential in this baby's face... But it ended up a little generic... I am dissapointed.This had to be my favorite sketch of the night.
This was the last sketch I did that night... i was tired and my pen tip was broken so I don't feel like i pushed it like i could have, this one had just so much wierdness going for it... really... a dude in shackles, with nails, and a dress.
I like this one because it came out fairly cute. Sloppy hair though...

AND FINALLY i give you the sketches from C4. These were all of other Caricaturist, check out my links to those who have blogs

Nate Kapnicky
Sam
I think this guy was Eric Evenson

Mystery man... Experimenting with markers...
my buddy Fabian Molina
Stephanie Burrows
Mark Magpusao
Marlo. She had such awesome hair. it was everywhere! i heard people quoting "the Little Mermaid" as they passed by it. More experimenting with markers... kinda messy.

K guys. There you have it. Big update. Hope there is some improvement in my drawings. Hope you all enjoyed them. On to more progress! i think. =D

Playing It Safe

2007-05-06T02:03:00.000-07:00

Not gonna really get heavy on my critiques this time around, none of them are great... or even good, but i do notice improvement from last weeks as far as likeness goes. My bodies continue to come out sloppy... Not trying to much to exaggerate like crazy because i want to work on making salable sketches before i jack peoples faces. Drawing teenage boys is much easier than anything else in my opinion... they actually prefer to be drawn ugly!

Bleah... The guy came out flat and well... just bad. the girl's neck is too long, i was trying to make her look "pretty" by not fattening her up like i should have.

Haven't Woke In Daze

2007-04-19T23:04:00.000-07:00

So I went to the coffee shop and realized I had left the sketchbook I'd been working in at home... So rather than go back home and then come back, I had remembered packing a tiny one in my backpack a while back and it had a tint to the paper. I was saving it for when i felt I had a little more experience but was kind of forced into utilizing it's beauty. Anything that comes out of this book will have more color to it than what comes out of my normal sketchbook. So here is what I got done on the first two pages.

I really like the sketch of girl in the upper left corner.
These peeps were playing their Nintendo DS s..ss...s? Funny, more girls playing games than guys. This coffee shop rocks. =D

Not much, but I'm happy with it. If you don't like it... go ride a scooter or something... yea.

Walking Backwards

2007-04-17T23:10:00.000-07:00

Okay... So I will post the first set of my park sketches starting from earlier last week up til now... I do this in shame. I was happy with some of them when i first completed them, but now that i look at them... my god... I apologize for these.

So this one was a demo, she thought it was cute, I was happy that it didn't come out as bad as the ones i was doing earlier, but the coloring and line work is poor. very little if any exaggeration.

This was the first double color body I had to do for a couple. They wanted to be a mermaid and fisherman... I never really looked at the samples we had, and guessed what it would look like... The chick was done terribly, guys are so much easier to draw in comparison...

This one i was decently happy with, until i colored the eyes... They looked crazy afterward... i think i shouldve outline the iris or something... *sigh*

... The parents liked this one so much they wanted their other daughter drawn too... got them both framed too. Why they liked this one is beyond me, it's hideous.
The little sister came out better, but kinda looks like an alien...

This one came out cute, she really liked it.

Likeliness isn't there at all... But i like the way i colored her scarf! so uh... yea...

I think the likeliness of the guy is one of my better ones. The woman is okay... better than how I've been drawing all the other females, but boring.

This girl would not stay still or even look at me. I pretty much guessed her face the entire time, she purposely looked away every time i tried to sneak a glance. The parents wanted me to draw her like Dora the Explorer... I think i drew Boots the Monkey better.

Okay... So let's pray my park sketches get better... SOON. I hope by the end of the season i can be at least 1/4th as good as the people I look up too.

So here are some randoms out of my sketchbook.

K, yea... need more practice.

For the Sake of Selling Records

2007-04-05T22:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, so here are some more coffee sessions over a period of 3 days. I'm noticing a good amount of improvement each day i draw, not that its a lot, but i at least can see and feel it.

This dude didnt even know i was drawing him, i wasn't even expecting it to come out the way I envisioned it, but it did! this is probably my most favorite sketch i've done yet... and i did it on crappy 8x11 printer paper. i still need to get darker and more confident with my coloring though, im too slow with it. and his hair is bleah. but overall, im happy with it.

I would consider this to be my second best to date. again, bleah hair, need to go darker with the skin tones. His cheek bone seems a little too high or to far out and line work is still mediocre at best. but i think i got a good likeliness overall. speed was wayyyyy too slow on this one though.I were to change just one thing on this one, it would be the eyes. next would be the face shape. The face shape makes her look like a baby, but the eyes just look plain boring to me. her nose should be wider too, but still, you can tell it's her.Now these were just... well... i failed in my opinion. everyone liked them both, and i'd say i like the one where she is playing the DS more, but likeliness is way down. I know what i want to look for but i couldn't translate it to drawing. the one on the right was my first attempt and what totally blew it was the face shape. her face isn't long or angular, its more oval with a boxy top. her nose is what really sticks out, like it reminds me of a whistle... i dunno why. What i DO like about the 2nd attempt (left one) was how cartoony and fun i tried to make it look. It shows some character and has exaggeration going on. I need to incorporate more personality into my drawings, so they don't look so plain and generic.
Likeliness is there, unfortunately he never smiled until AFTER i gave him the drawing... i wanted to draw his braces. color is crap (need to go darker), and so is the line work.

I like this one as far as giving it some character. The cross eyes make it look funnier. the hair is bad though, and so is teh coloring on it. but i started to go darker with the color on his face, just need to push it a little more. line work is so so... the dad liked it so much, he tipped me 9 bucks when it was free to begin with!

i was hoping to post some figure stuff but honestly... the drawings were 2 steps backwards from what i've been doing lately, thats what i get for missing a drawing salon session. alright... back to attempting to progress forward.

Barefoot Mountain

2007-04-03T10:51:00.001-07:00

Here are some sketches from a coffee shop i frequent... actually its where most of my sketches will be coming from if they involve peoples...

And here are some more futile attempts at caricaturing random peoples. Some of the workers I've sketched are starting to post their pictures on their wall at the coffee shop... it's flattering, but embarassing because I don't feel I'm quite there yet... okay, well, i'm FAR from there.

You can't see it in the pic, but this girl has an awesome sense of fashion and cute to boot. I think i got some decent likeliness going on, but I never really pushed anything, her nose could have come out more or her cheeks. the smile i put was kind of generic too...

I think I got this guys face shape alright, but his hair is sloppy and his eyes are too misproportioned. I think I could have made it look much better if i fixed those two things.

This is one of those workers that posted her pic on the wall. Again, sloppy on the hair... in fact it's lop sided, one side is too long compared to the other.

I was almost happy with this... then i added a terrible body to her. should had a thinner neck and better shoulders, chest is too low... and what's with those wings?! I like the baby, from the get go, when he was wrapped in his blanket I thought he was a glo-worm. Remember those? I would have made his larva like body less skewed though and his head a little rounder if i could go back though...

So there you have the latest batch of "progress". I'm gonna be hard on myself and list as many faults as I can, so I can look out and think again next time.

I've been working at the park for 2 weekends now, line work has been getting better, and some drawings actually came out decent, but i forgot to get pictures of those ones... *sniff*. Next time though, and hopefully I'll have some figures stuff!

It Begins...

2007-03-23T01:25:00.000-07:00

Okay folks... My first day as an actual caricature artist starts this Saturday... Supposedly by the end of training we are supposed to be able to draw a salable drawing. I don't think I'm quite there yet. So I decided to go out to the public armed with a marker, a pack of color sticks, and a sign that read "ask me to draw you". These are the results.

It's gonna be a LONG road towards salable...

Wild Things

2007-03-17T00:23:00.000-07:00

Trying some new stuff, going for stylized figures. These were really fun to do, i think I'm going to do a lot more, but start playing with different body types too.

These are quick gestures of some animals from the zoo. If you can tell what they are, I did them right.

Straight to the Curves

2007-03-16T02:07:00.000-07:00

This sketch blog, to me, is meant to be an evolutionary experience. The growth of my ability to draw living sketches. So the stuff I post won't necessarily always be my best work, but more of when I learn something new from a sketch, it will go here.

Trying out new colors...

This was quick and dirty, but i like the direction and how i pushed the curve

Again, playing with new colors, and not being able to erase, working on line economy, still sketchy though...

Working new concepts into my montages, imagining the bodies underneath the clothed people i draw. Sounds creepy huh? Trust me, not to get my rocks off...

I feel like I'm starting to understand force and overlap a bit more, need to speed up my drawing time though, these are 5 min sketches.

Aside from the drawing on the right, I really felt I made a jump in getting likeliness and character out of the people I drew.

Working on drawing fully bodies with clothing folds. Never really tried a study like this before.

I was playing with a brush pen over poorly drawn sketches. I think I improved on them.

Week 1 of Caricature Training

Week 2 of Caricature Training

Hello World

2007-03-09T23:08:00.000-08:00

So just because its the "trendy" thing to do these days, I'm starting my own art blog. I'll post some random and not so random art pieces from time to time. And since this is my first post and I really don't have much to work to "show off", here is just the stuff I did this past winter. Enjoy.