12/26/10

There's definitely not less pages.

Hi all, I've been busy updating my blog with new artwork. So just in case you haven't yet noticed, there's a bunch of new stuff up. Take a look above at the top of the page, there's quite a few new tabs, each is a new page with some newly posted artwork. Right now I have posted some figure drawings, paintings, prints, other drawings, and soon I'll get an illustration tab up there as well. I'll put up new stuff as I get it scanned or photographed.

12/23/10

Less of a punching motion.

(Watercolor, Ink, and Whiteout)

I've been on a painting kick as of late, and I know I have a few other things I would like to share in the upcoming future, but because my mind is on it, and I've been painting practically non-stop... I thought I would share a piece I did recently.

12/22/10

I miss my studio.

Well I'm home for the break and it makes me miss having a studio space to do my work. I'm still getting some work done, but it's just not the same. But here's a glimpse into the studio space I had last semester...(and some work I was doing.)




12/14/10

More interesting than a usual trip.

(Digital Media)

Well I just finished up this album cover work for the band, The Keystone Effect. This is their debut album, "Unusual Trip" and will out shortly so keep an eye out for it! Here's a link to the band's facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Keystone-Effect/270474140962

The piece was inspired by a sketch I had done for a quote, "Our sickness is between our ears". The original sketch involved the boy holding his brain, with the top of his head placed on the ground. I enjoyed taking that sketch to the next level and doing this cover.

12/10/10

Victor Preato Inc.

Well not actually incorporated, but I do have some "inc." related news. In passing I might have mentioned a graphic novel project that I'm working on. Well I've moved onto the next stage...INKING! After I get a few pages done I'll post some images up. Until then, keep on keepin' on.

12/6/10

Who knew he could dance?

(Digital Media)

Here is an illustration for the quote:

"There is nothing more notable in Socrates than that he found time, when he was an old man, to learn music and dancing, and thought it time well spent."
- as written by Michel de Montaigne in 1598

Well, here we are, the last "Free-Text-Friday" assignment. My immediate thought was to make a ballerina-esque Socrates, but it almost seemed TOO obvious, so I went with some break dancing. Who wouldn't want to watch Socrates break dance? Anyways, here's experimenting with some more halftones and textures. I think they are a nice subtle touch that help pull the image together, especially when working digitally. Sometimes digital images seem to come out just a little too crisp and clean for my taste.

12/3/10

Don't fall over!

(Digital Media)

Here is an illustration for the quote:

"Unless you take big risks you are not going to learn a lot... the interesting things that happen in life involve precipices."
- Robert Storr, 11/19/10, Austin, Texas

I'm starting to really let some of the work I've been doing in my spare time take a life of it's own. I've usually started out with a pretty solid idea only to watch it evolve into something completely different than I envisioned, this piece included. Perhaps it's because I've been playing around digitally a lot recently and the ease of changing things around. Anyways, as the quote says, sometimes you've just gotta go for it even if it appears too difficult.

11/29/10

Hope you don't mind clowns.


Hey all, it's been a little while since I posted anything, I've got a couple things on the burners. Up and coming is an album cover, a Peace Corps poster, and long in progress all this semester is my graphic novel project (though I'm going to wait a little while before I show any of that...) Coming soon is another "Free Text Friday" for my illustration class, but until then, here's a scary jack-in-the-box.

(Sharpie and Digital Media)

11/18/10

Time to go home.

(Digital Media)

Here is an illustration for this fact:

World War I ends on this day, in 1918. "At the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, of the eleventh month..."

Just having some fun doing different mark making in a pseudo-attempt to mimic print-like qualities of say wood or linoleum. Wanted to keep it simple as to not differentiate between which nation this soldier necessarily belongs to. I'm sure everyone, on both sides were relieved to put an end to World War I.

11/16/10

Does anything a spider can...

(Digital Media)

...and maybe a little more than that. I mean I haven't exactly seen any regular ordinary spiders fighting crime or anything like that. This is just a quick sketch I did in photoshop, playing around with a scratchy rough look with some halftone.

11/14/10

At the Semi-Summit.

(Ink)

Just a little more work with the brush pen. I went on a hiking trip today at Mt. Monadnock, and brought my sketchbook along. After climbing back down from the summit our group sat down and I took about five minutes to sketch out a dead tree and some brush. Maybe I'll come back to it and color it sometime.

11/13/10

Wish I had bought one of these sooner.

(Ink)

So I just bought a brush pen, more specifically, the Prestel Pocket Brush Pen. This is the first brush pen I've owned or worked with, and I've got to say, it's really nice and a lot of fun to work with. I'm not big on brushes themselves, but this brush pen is easy to work with and easy to carry around. Above is a scan from my sketchbook, I wanted an excuse to play around with my new toy, so I combined it with a little anatomy practice. Plus...skulls are cool right?

11/11/10

C'monnnn we gotta go!

(Digital Media)

Here is an illustration for the quote:

"Putting on fierce boots is an instant pick-me-up."
-Nina Garcia, Fashion Editor of Marie Claire as quoted in the New York Times

I didn't really want to draw anything along the lines of fashion, so I decided this was a good excuse to draw some Super Heroes. I had a lot of fun drawing this one.

11/10/10

How exactly do we get oil from the olives?

(Digital Media)

Here is an illustration for the quote:

"Olive oil has been more than mere food to the peoples of the Mediterranean: it has been medicinal, magical, an endless source of fascination and wonder and the fountain of great wealth and power. The olive tree, symbol of abundance, glory and peace, gave its leafy branches to crown the victorious in friendly games and bloody war, and the oil of its fruit has anointed the noblest of heads throughout history."

I wonder if we would have to trick olives into giving us olive oil if they were living, breathing, free thinking creatures.

11/9/10

Disturbing Tunnel

(Digital Media)

Uconn Illustration club met tonight, and as part of a our new practice, devoted some of our meeting time to doing some drawing, that is, we drew during our discussion. Out of a cup we picked a random adjective (disturbing) and out of another cup we picked a random noun (tunnel). As president, I spent a majority of the meeting going over important topics of discussion and spent very little time drawing. In fact my drawing resembled something along the lines of a half circle, cut through by a horizontal line. There was a sign on the side that said "stay away" and the word "graduation" in the middle of the semi circle (my makeshift tunnel), this drawing took the whole of 10 seconds, but it inspired me to create a drawing based on my initial sketch. Which is what you see here. This one is the result of about 2 hours of work and describes my feelings towards graduating this coming May.

You mean I'm drinking Lincoln's bathwater?

(Pencil and Digital Media)

Here is an illustration for the quote:

"A Portion of the water you drink has already been drunk by someone else, maybe several times over"
-The University of Texas School of Public Health

It's sort of strange when you think about it that way. Ya know that water evaporates and goes right back into the atmosphere, and comes right back down again. Granted its a cycle we all learned about in elementary school, but you never know where that water has been...

11/8/10

Money isn't what it's all about.

(Digital Media)

Here is an illustration for the quote:

"Nothing measurable matters."
-E.E. Cummings

Money is a concern for any person and the driving force behind some of the greatest innovations and worst atrocities. Unfortunately it is a necessity in today's society and people place way too much importance on it.

Well it's about time I started something like this.

Welcome to my blog! It's a long time needed, but better late than never right? I suppose I'll start by retroactively adding some spot illustrations for "Free Text Friday." These drawings are based on quotes or text assigned to our illustration class every Friday by our professor.