Practicing Sculpey

       Recently I got some modeling Sculpey, which, until this point I had never really worked with. Actually I hadn’t really worked with any kind of modeling clay, just a little in High School and never seriously.  But for the last couple of days I’ve been playing with Scupley and have found it to be an insane amount of fun!

Red sculpey fired and unpainted

      Sculpey is a really fun type of sculpting clay that stays soft until you’re happy with what you’re making. You can change it as many times as you like without it hardening until you’re ready. Then, when you’ve finished your piece you can bake it in the oven to make it solid. It's very easy to bake and unlike some other clay, you don't need a kiln only an oven set to 275 degrees. It makes Sculpey perfect for playing with kids with or making nice tiny sculptures without needing expensive equipment.

Blue clay sculpey fired and minimal painting

      At first I was just working with one block Sculpey for  fun but after awhile I was having so much fun I got more and continued creating some more little heads.

Blue clay sculpey fired and minimal painting

      I know I’m just getting the hang of sculpting and have a long way to go, but now that I’ve played with these guys, and had a ball doing so, I want to make more. Hopefully I’ll start selling them soon as magnets, pins and anything else I can think of! I can’t wait to show you guys more as I create them and if you have anything you might want, let me know I could make it for you!


     The photos in this post where taken by my girlfriend, who sells antique clothing and jewelry on her webstore : THEDA VINTAGE,

Fishing Trip, WITH MONSTERS !!!

      A while back I showed a simple of a piece in progress. Here is the finished piece.

finished piece

      This work was done in the mindset of creating s fun landscape to populate with some fun creatures thrown throughout. some early sketches had a lot more monsters in it till I seen that there where so many it completely destroyed the landscape, so I eliminated some to let the area breath more and I feel the image is stronger for it. 

Exaggerated Portrait #5 Mary

Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your teeth grew.

    This week we see Mary, a young girl with a exceptional set of choppers.

Wizard's Brew complete

   
       A while back I showed a sketch for a piece I called Wizard's Brew. The piece is now finished and is looking really good. Also in good news I got the second check for my now finished book project, and it feels really good that in a couple of months from now I will be a published illustrator.

Wizard's Brew finish piece

        This piece was a nice endeavor and it's one of those pieces I feel that I improved overall while doing and I hope i'm right in saying that with my next piece.

Lets Talk TEDTalks

Web site Here


       "TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate ideas worth spreading." I discovered the TED talks about two years ago, and I have been a fan ever since. 

       

      

       Lately, I've been keeping up with Ted talks on their Youtube channel. I love having them on in the background while I'm working. They're very engaging and cover such an amazing range of topics from Dinosaur fossils to new 3D printing to the growth of technology. It's cool to hear some of the amazing people that come to talk, such as Bill Gates. 

Bill Gates TEDtalk

  

        It makes me smile when I get to sound smart when I quote something i found out from TED talk. Thought, mainly I love finding out about all these unknown fields of studies and how technology still in development could potentially (and hopefully) change our world.  

        TED talks are something I would definitely recommend to anyone, and I'm sure you will get hours of entertainment from them because of how truly fascinating they can be.

Fishing with pet creature.

only half of the whole image, you got to wait to see the rest 

      Good news! I am almost finished my first children's book. My first illustration job went smoothly, and I was glad to see that the job came out as good as it did. I have a nice list of contacts coming together and am preparing to send off samples of my work to some prospective jobs.

      

      One of the pieces I plan to send off is the Wizard’s Brew piece I am working on, and the next piece you see above you. It’s a landscape piece with fun plants and creatures throughout the image.

     Also fun little fact : the landscape used as reference is taken from a Bob Ross painting

Landscape by Bob Ross

Exaggerated Portrait #4 Jane

Jane got exactly what she wanted or Valentines day,
A box of chocolates, some flowers and a
 10 hour make-out session with her man. 

   So yesterday was Valentines day, Hope we all had fun with our special someone, and if your single had fun making fun of the holiday with your friends and mocking the whole event. 

   I got to say as someone who still feels Valentines day is silly and pointless that it was nice to be the other side of the fence for once.  

Wizard's Brew, a bit more progress.

Work in progress.

   A small while back in one of my updates I showed this image as a small sketch, it is a piece I can't wait to finish and add to my portfolio.

   I just finished inking it and scanned it in to start working on this in photoshop. Now here for you is the piece so far.

Exaggerated Portraits #3 John

John doesn't like people
and they don't like him.

Fun References : Cover Browser

    I wanted to share a great site I was turned on to. The site is called Cover Browser and is an amazing resource for almost any kind of comic cover. It is just filled with covers from all of comic history. Definitely check it out for a fun time.

A Present for a Friend

A great friend

    I have known my friend Mike for about 9 years now, we first met in our high school  and became friends very quickly. It is fun watching someone's work change and evolve so much before your eyes along with you. So why am I writing about him now?

    A short while ago a friend of mine, Mike Burns wrote a very nice blurb about me on his blog. click here to see it. I was very happy and excited when I seen it and thought it was very moving to see him write that about me. After seeing that I knew I had to do something for him. A while back about a year or so ago I made a piece that I referenced mike in. 

The present monsters

    I really liked the piece back then thought it was cute, but even during the time thought the color was the worst and not thought out well at all. So it wouldn't make a good gift to my friend. That is when I decided to give it a nice redo and color it correctly.

The present monsters 

This is now the new version that I made to give to my friend Mike.

    To Mike, Hope you like it.

Notebook, Sketches and More!!!

    Been getting work done and have a nice amount to report.

    Quick thing to get out of the way, I am still new to blogger and am still setting up the overall look and I think it is going along nice.

new banner on site as of now.

    on the work side :

    I have been trying to break mainly in children's books and I am enjoying my first job in that field now. At the same time I am preparing my images and cover letter and getting ready to send it off to a whole list of book publishers, so that has taken a nice chunk of my time going through all my images and picking out a few and getting set on some new ones. 

A wizard piece that is in the sketch stage for a new portfolio piece.

   I have always been a huge fan of the whole realm of fantasy, yet noticed I somehow ignored it in a lot of my work, which is something I hope to change. This piece is my first of many in this field. I will be very happy to add this piece to my portfolio as it is much more suited for books.

It shows a character at the same time telling a story and is at the same time a simple layout with a lot going on in it at the same time. 

    I will post updates on this piece as it comes.

   a sketch I want to talk about for no reason :

A very messy work station.

    I was visiting my little sister where she lives, and while sitting waiting for her I started sketching this computer station she has. I just for some silly reason got really into it and how sloppy and broken the area is. The main drawer is of its hinge and to the pile of books off to the side, it just called for me to do a normal sketch of it and I wanted to share it with you.

   ideas for the future : 

   While working on projects I took a little time to rush out a quick sketch, see below.

Burgers.... eat one before it EATS YOU !!!

   It was quick to do and still pretty funny, and got me to thinking of doing something more with doing some quick comic like or quick humor images, this is still an idea but just prepare to see more things of this nature in the future.

Exaggerated Portraits #2 Sally

Sally needs glasses for her
top left eye and the bottom right.
needless to say its hard finding glasses for that.

Another funny face, this one comes right out of my sketch book and was  a lot of fun to do.