Happy Snowalloween!

Hey everyone, I have some stuff I want to put up, but I'm stuck without power due to that crazy October snow storm. So no scanner/computer/internet. I was lucky enough to be able to update this from another house. So stay warm! I'll be posting updates as soon as I get power and internet back.

New ride

(Digital)

Well the post title is pretty self-explanatory. I got a new car - the Hyundai Genesis Coupe. I'll skip boring you about the car, but I like it enough that I decided to do a quick rendering. Every time I delve back into digital art it makes me want to do more. Of course, every time I get back into traditional art, all I want to do is that. (Conundrum much?) Anyways, for this piece, I sketched out the line-work and then built up the color in layers from there. Nothing too fancy or complicated. Just your average layer filters/layer masks/layer groups and more layers than I should be using haha. The final result (above) is still pretty rough, but it was never intended to be a finished piece. I only spent a couple of hours on it, but I'm happy with it, and it's one thing I wanted to draw checked off the list, so my mind can rest easier. Hmm anyways I think that's all for now. I have some really fun work that I've been doing for a class that I want to post up as soon as I get it returned. Check back soon!

Drooling...

(Image borrowed from wacom.com)

Wacom has an even NEWER Cintiq?! Wow. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy with my current setup, but it's hard not to look at the new shiny things. If you want to drool over the new shiny thing too, check it out on there site here: WACOM 24HD Cintiq

Gears of War 3

(Digital)

Hey all! I know it's been a while since my last post, I've been pretty busy between graduate school and working on my Gears of War 3 submission. I've finally finished it! It was definitely a step outside of my comfort zone. I've worked digitally many times before, but this time I tried something new. With this piece I worked on the entirety of the drawing in black and white and then colored it using various filter layers containing color. It was a learning experiment, and I'm glad to have done it, but I don't think it's a method I'm going to be using again (at least to do an entire drawing). If you look at the previous post, I took a very different turn with how I was going to render this drawing. As I mentioned this was a submission for the Gears of War 3 contest on DeviantART. It features the character - "Anya Stroud" from the game. You can view my entry here: Anya's Stand. This is a desktop background (per the submission guidelines it is 2560 x 1440 pixels). The image above is full resolution, feel free to download it and use it as your desktop background! All the work is copyright me, Victor Preato IV, and the character(s) and logo(s) are copyright Microsoft (I think...they own Gears right?). Enjoy!

GOW work in progress

(quick snapshot of my WIP - working in Photoshop)

Well I don't want to give too much away - and to be honest I don't really like showing my works-in-progress a whole lot...BUT I've been working on this little project for a little while. At least... I've been trying to, I've had some serious Art Block, and I'm pretty excited to be over/under/past/through/done with it. So in my excitement, I just decided to post this up. I know it's not a lot, but no worries, there will be more soon. I'm finally having some fun AND I'm back working in Photoshop on the tablet. Poor thing had been sitting on the table for weeks...

Zombie Brainstorm

(Ink, Marker, and Digital)

Well our facebook group strikes again.  This time the theme was zombies! I decided to start by writing down ideas, ie: brainstorming (I'm sure you can already tell where this was going...) I organized a list of different things about zombies: what they are, what they want, and what they hate.  Well I figured - "Wouldn't zombies enjoy an actual brainstorm?" And thus my idea was born. I sketched out a few thumbnails, chose one, drew it in ink and marker, scanned it, and added some halftone pattern in photoshop. Here's some links to a few other drawings of zombies by group members:

Sarah's Drawing - sarahlouiselovesart.blogspot.com

Jacob's Drawing - jacobandersonart.blogspot.com

Back to the Futura!

(Image borrowed from: artsupply.com) 

Well  I still don't exactly have a studio like I USED TO, but I did get a new drawing desk (and chair) so at the very least I've been able to set up a solid work station.  I'll avoid rambling on about how important I think it is to have a working space to keep you motivated...the fact of the matter is I think it is very important (it helps keep me organized).  So needless to say I'm thrilled to have a new drawing desk.  In case you're curious about what I bought, it's a "Futura Craft Station" (see above image).