SPJ

Alien world.

2011-12-23T19:32:00.000-08:00

So this is my attempt at painting an alien world (which is something I like to do.) I imagined an exomoon in orbit around a gas giant like Jupiter. This is also one of my first real attempts at painting in Photoshop.

Frog storyboard project.

2011-06-27T00:33:00.000-07:00

Something storyboard related that I've been working on recently.

I live!!!

2011-06-17T23:56:00.001-07:00

Wow so I have not updated this blog in almost 5 months...that's pretty sad. It's not that I have slacked off on my art stuff, I'm still doing art it's just that I don't post stuff as often as I should. In any case here is a sketch I did one day last week when I was watching over some Jr. High school students. For a while now I've found the concept of birds dressed up as important political or religious officials to be kind of appealing. There is just something wacky and fun about it.

Ankylosaurus toy.

2011-01-13T23:57:00.000-08:00

This is a study I did of a toy Ankylosaurus at our local Toys 'R Us. The toy makers didn't realize that Ankylosaurids had boney protrusions coming from above their eyes as well as from their jaw bones, but alas only a paleo nerd like me would notice that.

This was done with Acrylic paint on a flimsy comic book board (the ones they give you with the plastic wrapping.)

Hogwash ebauche.

2010-12-12T21:39:00.000-08:00

This is the underpainting/ebauche stage of the pig painting I am working on.

Sketching more pigs.

2010-12-03T21:12:00.000-08:00

More pig studies from my sketchbook.

2010-11-13T22:46:00.000-08:00

This is a quick acrylic color study/sketch of a toy dinosaur that we have at our house. I'm likely to use this toy as refrence for a project that I'm going to be working on involving dragons. I really want to practice painting reptilian skin.

Happy World Vegan Day.

2010-10-31T19:13:00.000-07:00

In honor of World Vegan Day, which is November 1st, I'm posting these studies that I'm doing for a painting I'm trying to work out.

Sarah H.

2010-10-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

This is a drawing that I did during my last few months at Laafa. This was a class instructed by a wonderful woman named Kate Sammons who I believe I have mentioned before. In any case I also did a painting that was somewhat similar to this (of the same model) but I didn't like it as much.

The painting for my alien landscape.

2010-09-27T00:08:00.000-07:00

This is the painted version of the landscape that I was working on. As you can see I eliminated the space ship and changed some other compositional elements. I feel like I learned alot about harmonizing color and value working on this.

Alien planet with spaceship.

2010-08-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

This is a charcoal study that I did in preperation for a painting I'm working on. I've had an interest in exoplanets since I was young, and ever since I started art school I wanted to create a picture like this. I wanted to address the problem of how someone would light a scene on a planet when there was more than one star in the star system and still give it the sensability of a traditional landscape painting. I decided to set my planet in a trinary star system like the star system next door to ours (the Alpha Centauri system.) The plan is to have one star as big as ( or larger) than our sun providing the main light "off screen" and two, dim red dwarfs in the actual composition also providing a limited amount of light. I've also done a few color compositions.

Head studies.

2010-08-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

These are from earlier this quarter. Hopefully after I'm done at Laafa I'll be updating more.

I'm going to try out this new look for my blog.

2010-07-30T22:59:00.000-07:00

It seemed interesting to me.

I will be trying to update more regularly as I finish my last quarter.

I also wanted to share the website of new friend and teacher Kate Sammons.

Http://www.katesammons.com/

Mermaid project.

2010-06-10T16:13:00.000-07:00

This is something from a project I was working on involving mermaids.

Today is draw the Prophet Muhammad day.

2010-05-20T16:40:00.001-07:00

This is the day that some artist have set aside to show solidarity with the creators of South Park and their attempt to start a dialouge about why Islam is above satirial commentary when other faiths are not.

Wow that was a long sentance.

I personally have mixed feelings about this.
http://www.drawmuhammadday.com/

In any case happy cartooning.

Blackest night 8.

2010-04-09T16:12:00.000-07:00

Recently read this final issue of Blackest night, a DC comics mini-series that has been running for the last 8 months. I haven't enjoyed a comic that much in some time. Thank you DC.

I am so jealous of these kids.

2010-03-23T13:24:00.000-07:00

This would have been the coolest class lecture ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFFrt1V9Cao&feature=related

Acrylic/ color pencil experiment.

2010-03-18T20:27:00.000-07:00

This is a mixed media sketching experiment I was working on.

Two drawings from an elective class that I'm taking.

2010-02-26T14:40:00.000-08:00

With this drawing I was trying to experiment with how dark I could push a graphite pencil. I'm more or less happy with it.

Before this class session I had just gone out on a really nice 1st date with someone. I like to think that it had a positive impact on my drawing that night.

Art of Avatar the Last Airbender.

2010-02-18T21:17:00.000-08:00

Thank you Nickelodeon for releasing this. I can't wait to get my hands on this.

[link]

Product DescriptionSince its debut in 2005, Avatar: The Last Airbender has been one of Nickelodeon's most talked about and highest-rated animated series. Offering an epic storyline, engaging characters, action, adventure, and a powerful message about the importance of hope in a world besieged by war, it is also beautifully executed, harmonizing Western influences with aesthetic inspiration drawn from a diverse array of cultures, including those of China, Japan, India, and the Inuit. An unprecedented look at the concept, design, and production art behind this smash-hit, award-winning series, Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Art of the Animated Series features hundreds of images, most of which Nickelodeon has never released to the public, and chronicles the show's development - from the very first sketch through to the series finale and beyond! With extensive commentary from series creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino.

Added two new links.

2010-02-11T20:13:00.000-08:00

Really good draftsman, and nice people too.

2010-02-03T19:40:00.000-08:00

Hopefully two posts today will make up for my lack of activity on this blog.

The first painting is a painting of a cast of the Greek storyteller Homer (I think it's Homer) from last Winter/Spring.

The second painting is a still life that I've been working on. I wanted to make a composition rather than just painting one cast. I'm especially interested in getting feedback on this one from people. Do you think it works or not?

Nature.

2010-02-03T19:27:00.000-08:00

A painting from last quarter. It's suppoused to represent a personified Mother nature/Earth. If possible I'd love to get some feedback.

Just started the new quarter.

2010-01-16T16:59:00.000-08:00

I'll be busy for a while, but hopefully I'll be able to update soon.

First post of 2010!!!

2010-01-05T17:36:00.000-08:00

So what are we calling this new decade anyway? The 2010's, the 20 teens? Any suggestions?

Anyway the two pictures.

The first one is a profile from this past year. The head was the only good part of it in my opinion.Still feels to flat though, even for a profile.

The second is called No Eggs served here or Eggs not served here, not sure which one I like more. It is another piece in my Humpty Dumpty conspiracy project.

Some of my favorite things in animation in the 2000’s.

2009-12-16T14:31:00.000-08:00

Well the 2000's are ending, and I've been waiting a long time to do my evaluation of this decade as far as animation goes. The following is just my opinion, it does not represent some universally applicable list that everyone should also agree with.

Favorite Action-Adventure shows.

1.Avatar the Last Airbender (2005-2008): Who knew Nick had it in them to produce a show this dramatic and mature? I mean the characters developed significantly, alliances changed; it even had a conclusive ending...which is incredibly rare for American cartoons. Animation studios would do well to study this show in the future. This is what a good…no great…action cartoon looks like. It’s a testament to the show that most of the people I know who are fans of it, are far beyond the target demographic of the show.

2. Justice League and Justice League Unlimited (2001-2006): If you were a DC comics fanboy than this was all you could ever ask for.

3. Teen Titans (2003-2006): As a fan of both the 80’s Titans comic (from Wolfman and Perez), and Japanese anime I was ready to hate this show. I mean I was really ready to hate this show. Then it came along like a big-eyed, stump-tailed puppy, rubbed up against my leg, and made me love it.

4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2002-2009): This was technically three shows but I group them together into one. Wasn’t keen on the Fast Forward season from what I saw of it, but the rest of the show was pretty consistent. The recent Turtles Forever special was great too.

5. Samurai Jack (2001-2004): The art direction and feel of this show was very unique. It stood apart from pretty much everything else on T.V at the time or since.

Honorable mentions.
Wolverine and the X-men (2008-present): Still going.
Star Wars the Clone Wars (2008-present): Also still going.
The Spectacular Spider-Man (2007-2009): Honestly, this show deserved more than the two seasons it got. It was a wonderful viewing experience for people who have read a lot of Spidey comics over the years. Gargoyles show runner Greg Weisman was the show runner of this one, and it made me an even bigger fan.
Danny Phantom (2004-2007): This was technically a mix of action/comedy. It was a bit uneven, but when it was at it’s best it was a really good Nicktoon (The two specials The Ultimate Enemy and Reign Storm were among the best Nick specials ever.)
Kim Possible (2002-2007): Again, action comedy but this show is unique because it represents a case of fans actually pressuring Disney to reverse its strict 65 episode policy.
Batman Beyond (1999-2001): It could have been horrible but the WB TV animation studio made it work. The direct to video movie was good too.
W.I.T.C.H (2005-2006): This was a very underrated show based on a European comic.

Favorite Comedy.

1. Foster’s Home for Imaginary friends (2004-2009): An amazingly innovative use of flash animation, Foster’s was rarely off of it’s game in my opinion. There were times in the first season where I genuinely thought this show could do no wrong. It was proof positive that Craig McCracken’s success with the Powerpuff Girls wasn’t just a fluke.

2. The Grim adventures of Billy and Mandy (2002-2008): A wonderfully morbid Cartoon Network show. Easily some of Grey Delisle and Richard Horvitz’s best work.

3. Spongebob Squarepants(1999-present): Though it technically started in the last year of the 90’s I think we can all agree that for a while in this decade we were living in a Spongebob world. Love it or hate it, Spongebob may very well be on his way to icon status joining the likes of Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse.

4. Phineas and Ferb (2008-present): Wonderful musical numbers, and a funny premise. I don’t mind saying that I enjoy the music of this show tremendously.

5. Fillmore! (2002): Another short lived and extremely underrated ABC/Disney cartoon about middle school safety patrollers that had an interesting crime drama edge to it. I was fortunate enough to get to know one of the show runners of this fine program. It deserved a much longer life.

Honorable mentions.

The Weekenders (2000-2001): A short lived ABC/Disney cartoon that was unique because, it focused on what kids did on their weekends rather than during the school week.

The Buzz on Maggie (2005): Disney seemed to have a knack for killing off some of their funnier cartoons this decade. Honestly, I never felt like this show had a down episode. To bad it was dead before anyone even noticed it existed.

Futurama (1999-2001) (2008-present): Less well known than the Simpsons but arguably funnier. Futurama was another show that was resurrected do to fan interest.

Animated Movies.

Pixar pretty much dominated this decade as far as I’m concerned. Though apparently Kung Fu Panda was also really good (I still haven’t seen it.)

1. The Incredibles (2004): Action, adventure, and comedy this movie had it all. I still think it’s probably Pixar’s best movie ever. This was an animated “kids” movie that was just as good for adults as it was for children. It was also great to see Brad Bird get his props after his previous movie 1999’s much underrated Iron Giant.

2. Ratatouille (2007): Another Brad Bird movie, this film about a talking rat that should pretty much resonate with anyone pursuing a job in the art…or anyone with a dream for that matter. Ego’s review at the end of the movie was one of the best “critiques of critics” I’ve ever heard. This movie also holds a special place in my heart because I saw it with a good friend who I had a bad falling out with, and I remember the spirited discussion we had after.

3. Finding Nemo (2003): A wonderful father and son story that cemented my view of Pixar as the 3D studio to beat.

4.Lilo and Stitch (2002): One of the most unique movies Disney has ever produced. This is the kind of movie that’s made when studios leave artists to themselves and let them be creative. I wasn’t to big of a fan of the animated series though.

5. Wall-E (2008): They did it, Pixar pulled off a movie where the two main characters had vocabularies less expansive than a toddler's and they made it great! Who would have thought that was possible?

Honorable mentions.

The Emperor’s New Groove (2000): From every source I’ve read Kingdom of the Sun, the original movie title, was going to be a disaster and was pulled out of the fire by a small dedicated creative team. In the end we got a fun movie that can be enjoyed by everyone. Again, not a big fan of the tv show that came later, but that doesn’t diminish the movie itself.

Treasure Planet (2002): Honestly, I really felt like this movie was better than people give it credit for. Sure it bombed at the box office, but I thought it had some really mature themes.

The Shrek movies (2001, 2004, and 2007): I liked the first two movies, but I’m a little bit concerned about how they will age. I worry that their humor is too grounded in the 2000’s to really endure as classics.

Titan A.E (2000): Another attempt at a more serious animated movie that bombed at the box office. It had flaws but you have to love the guts of a sci-fi movie where the aliens threaten to blow up the Earth, and then actually do it.

The Princess and the Frog (2009): Just saw this one. It was wonderful to see Disney get back to musicals and fairy tales, I missed that.

Anime.

The 2000’s saw an explosion in popularity for anime and manga in the United States. I apologize if many of my choices seem limited to Toonami/Adult Swim. Most of the anime in my collection is from the 80’s and 90’s. That being said I’m going to go by the original broadcast dates in Japan.

1. Full Metal Alchemist (2003-2004): One of the few anime that was apparently able to depart from the manga’s storyline and stay incredibly compelling (though I’ve never read the manga.) Great show, easily one of the best English dubs I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to, and an ending that I felt was incredibly poetic.

2. Naruto (2002-present): Sure is formulaic at points, but I’ve rarely found it boring. Shippuden specifically. If the Akatsuki were real I might join them just to get one of those robes.

3. The Big O Season 2 (2003): One of the rare cases where American interest in an anime has brought it back from the grave. It came back very strong, in my opinion. My brother and I still disagree on the ending. I personally think it was disappointing, he thinks it was appropriate.

4. Zoids Chaotic Century/Guardian Force (late 1999-2000): I’ll group this with the 2000’s even though it started in late 1999. This was a toy commercial…let’s not kid ourselves, but it was also a very fun, exciting story that actually took its concept and made something of it. The last half of Guardian Force had me at the edge of my seat. Unfortunately, the 2nd Zoids series (which wasn’t as good in my opinion) Zoids 0 aired before the original. I think that might have turned some people off, and caused them to miss this interesting show.

5. Deathnote (2006-2007): Very unique concept.

Honorable mentions.

Blood + (2005-2006): Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets shojo meets sci-fi adventure. I’m in!

One Piece late (1999-present): I’m not as big into this as my brother is, but I like how different it looks from other anime/manga.

Kare Kano (2002): The one anime in my DVD collection from the 2000’s and that didn’t air on Cartoon Network. I loved the introspection and humor of this series. Gainax never seems to fail when it comes to showing off well developed psychologically complex characters. For me the show lost some its steam later on, but the first half of the show was great.

I would have a video game category, but during the middle and end of the 2000’s I wasn’t as involved with gaming as I should have been. That’s a shame really because I can see that videogames have come a long way in the last 10 years.

Anyway those are my favorite animated things from this decade. It was the best of times and the worst of times. Generally, I think that the 2000’s were a time where the sophistication of writing in T.V animation advanced greatly. The trend of creators having greater control (which started in the 90’s) continued which I can only cheer on. I can’t say the same thing about features though.
I plan to enter and be an active participant in the animation industry in the coming decade. I’m curious to see how my attitude towards animation in 2019 will differ from my attitude now. I’m very interested in seeing if the kids of today will look back at the 2000’s with nostalgia while lampooning the stuff that we’re going to be creating. Hopefully, their criticisms will strictly be the result of biased nostalgia and not a truthful evaluation of the animation industry in the coming years.

Anyway, onward into the new decade.

Stephen James.

Update soon.

2009-12-08T17:35:00.000-08:00

I will be listing my top animated things of the 2000's.

An eggalitarian movement.

2009-11-30T20:10:00.000-08:00

This is for an illustration project I've been doing over the last 9 weeks. Basically we took nursery rhymes and tweaked them into new stories. I did Humpty Dumpty. My theory is that Humpty was either shot off of or pushed off of the wall for protesting unfair treatment of eggs....

Those in power would like you to believe that he "had a great fall."

One day pose.

2009-11-14T13:41:00.000-08:00

Last quarter I took an academic figure drawing class as my elective. I rather enjoyed the one day poses that we were doing. This was one of the drawings I enjoyed the most.

Folds and still life.

2009-11-07T13:26:00.000-08:00

The first picture is a cloth that I hung up on a wall and drew for a couple of weeks. It was for a drapery and folds class. The intent of the class was for the students to practice painting folds, but I decided that I wanted to work on my drawing instead. Recently I've started to believe that values, drawing and edges are pretty much 4/5ths of the painting process with color being the icing on the cake. Color is just the thing that people tend to notice first.

One of my teachers put it in a way that I really liked.

"Color gets all of the attention, but value does all the work."

In other words color is the pretty sister that can get by on looks, and value is the smarter, less popular one that she has to cheat off of to get a passing grade.

The second picture is from my color and composition class. The idea was to balance two elements that by themselves tend to garner attention in picture making. In this one I decided on contrasting a relatively detailed, but vauge object with a simplified representation of a human face. Strangely enough some people thought that the vaugely defined object was a hunk of meat and that I was making some kind of anti-meat statement. Truth be told it was a lump of sculpting clay. I can see why some people would think it was meat though.

Lucasarts.

2009-10-31T13:35:00.001-07:00

I've been reading this interesting book lately. It's fascinating to see the transformation of the world of concept art over the last few decades. Truth be told, I was really amazed by how much cool stuff gets tossed in the final games. Though there was some fond nostalgia in these pages, remembering things like Rebel Assault and the Sam and Max franchise (I remember watching the show on Fox Kids when it was still around in the late 90's.)

Still life.

2009-10-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

A still life of a busted clay pot from earlier this year.

Still having problems with my computer.

2009-10-13T17:28:00.003-07:00

When I don't have to resort to using public ones anymore I will post some more recent art.

R.I.P Richard Lack.

2009-09-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

http://www.artrenewal.org/2009/09/richard-lack-obituary.asp

A great advocate for traditional draftsmanship when it had become less popular in the 20th century.

Will update shortly.

2009-09-26T00:11:00.001-07:00

Having a few problems with my computer. I'll try to update soon.

Chess Board.

2009-09-25T22:21:00.000-07:00

A chess board study from class.

Thought I'd post something, while pondering the little bit of egg that made it's way into what I was hoping would be a totally animal free meal. Upset my stomcach a bit.

Still life drawing.

2009-09-18T17:49:00.000-07:00

The idea was to make two attention grabing elements balance eachother out.

Plus I needed to post something, my last post stunk.

Some stuff from the last few weeks.

2009-09-15T11:51:00.000-07:00

These are some thumbnail studies I've done recently. I figured I should post something, even though I'm not 100% happy with anything I've done recently.

Naruto Shippuden going to Disney XD (Formerly Toon Disney)

2009-09-11T00:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3if44ebfb31be090b578cf16fc7080704f
Ummm...well....this should be interesting. Can't wait to see how they handle the Akautski member Hidan. I mean these are the people who edited the Gargoyles episode "Deadly Force" right( a very positive, responsible gun violence story)? How are they going to handle the violence in some of the major battles?

First Marvel now this. This has been a very interesting month for Disney. Grabbing things that you never thought they would. Let's just hope that things work out for the best. I just hope that I can continue to watch the show uncut on Viz's website.

So Disney owns Marvel now.

2009-09-05T16:40:00.001-07:00

As I told my brother I can't wait for the Winnie the pooh MAX title...or the punisher crossover.

Spheres under various lighting conditions.

2009-08-25T11:22:00.000-07:00

Homework from Nathan Fowkes color and composition class.

Portrait from earlier this quarter.

2009-08-23T18:34:00.000-07:00

I feel like it's to "illustratory" which I'm trying to fight in my painting (to a certain extent.)

How do we keep this fun?

2009-08-07T21:56:00.000-07:00

So recently I've been going through a bit of a funk about my drawing and painting. Not the drawing itself per say, the classes at Laafa have been very educational, and I'm blessed to be learning from such talented teachers.
What has been getting me down is the fact that I feel like I'm not having fun anymore. I do my drawing, my painting etc, and it's all very systematic. My craftsmanship has become stronger but I find that I'm not having as much fun anymore. It even got to the point recently where I had to consciously tell myself to have fun doodling in my sketchbook. I never used to have that problem before, but now I do. When I get home from school, and I'm done with homework I'm finding it harder and harder to just enjoy drawing. I'm pooped, I'm exhausted, I feel like I've fallen into a very robotic routine that's sucked much of the life out of my creative drive.

A few friends have given me some good advice on how to enjoy drawing, and I'm taking it to heart. If anyone has any more fun suggestions on what to do to beat the sketching blues I'd love to read them.

Anime and the recession.

2009-07-31T12:24:00.001-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/07/30/japan.animation.recession/index.html

How these troubled financial times are hurting the anime industry.

Interesting...and sad.

Projects from last quarter.

2009-07-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

Malosak again and the final of the three head image I posted a while back. Our class had a really good critique on some of these paintings from some of the LAAFA teachers.

Finished version of Alien general.

2009-07-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

Here's the final painted version.

Busy with school.

2009-07-14T11:09:00.001-07:00

Sorry about not updating in two weeks. I'll make sure to post something later this week.

Using graphite and charcoal together.

2009-06-30T16:12:00.000-07:00

One of my teachers (Richard Morris who's listed in my blog list) recently told some of us that he did a drawing in charcoal and graphite. I thought this wasn't possible but then I realized what he was doing. He was rendering with charcoal in the shadows and graphite in the lights. That way none of his values in his light patterns could ever get as dark as anything in his shadow patterns. When he was done you couldn't tell where one medium started and the other one stopped. It was a brilliant drawing!

So I tried it out as an experiment. Using a form modeling exercise that one of our other teachers showed us how to do. Basically modeling value patterns on round shapes.

Very interesting.

Some very talented (and helpful) teachers I had this quarter.

2009-06-23T23:57:00.000-07:00

They're now all on my blog list.

Maurice Carmeli.
http://mauricecarmeli.com/index.html

Vadim Zang.
http://www.vadimfineart.com/

Sang Bang.
http://paulaesthete.blogspot.com/

Joseph Todorovitch
http://www.onejoseph.com/index.html

Alien general.

2009-06-18T16:59:00.001-07:00

This is a study for the last project I did in my painting for illustration class.

Dwarf with axe.

2009-06-02T11:31:00.000-07:00

Finally got this sketch scanned in. What a hassel!!!

Oh well enough griping.

Truth be told I think his left foot needed to be darker.

Engaging in deviant behavior.

2009-05-29T17:40:00.000-07:00

I have a Deviant Art page now. I don't think I'll be updating it as much as I do here, but at least I can network with more people (fingers crossed.)

http://spjames.deviantart.com/

(My scanner is being dumb today, sorry about the image quality)

Naruto Shippuden.

2009-05-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

So I've taken to watching Naruto Shippuden on Viz's website (which uses Hulu.) They have episodes of the series ready for viewing, and they update it frequently.

Wow...that's all I can say. I'd read some of the manga but I didn't realize it was this good. I did like the original Naruto series but I think I'm starting to like this even more.

Check it out.

http://naruto.viz.com/

P.S As soon as I can get the kinks out of my scanner I will update soon.

Self portraits from class.

2009-05-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately one of the drawings got a paint stain on it before I could scan it.

Manfredi and the Allegory of the 4 seasons.

2009-05-09T00:21:00.000-07:00

A very cool painting created by an early Baroque artist named Manfredi. One of the projects we had to do last year was take an old painting and modernize it. I used this one as my basis.

A Tapir.

2009-04-26T19:40:00.000-07:00

Tapir from the LA zoo.

Will update soon.

2009-04-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

I'll try to anyway.

Drawing and monochromatic or grisaille painting.

2009-04-07T16:09:00.000-07:00

Not sure I liked these to much, but at least I was happier with them than with the last grisaille I attempted.

Copy of an old National Geographic cover.

2009-03-30T00:21:00.001-07:00

Found this drawing I did some time ago and decided to touch it up a bit. It's based on the cover of the October 1998 cover of National Geographic magazine, which always has good stuff. The story was about the growing human population of the planet and issues related to migration.

Brick study.

2009-03-22T16:36:00.000-07:00

My friend James says it looks kind of like meat. Ironic considering my dietary habits over the last year or so.

Today Battlestar Galactica ends.

2009-03-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

One of the best Sci-fi dramas I think I've ever seen. Very topical and very relevant.

"So say we all!!!"

Hand studies in pen.

2009-03-15T01:29:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to draw more hands and feet. Also trying to get better at drawing in pen.

Not directly related to my artwork but...

2009-03-08T00:19:00.000-08:00

As anyone who knows me well can tell you one of the issues I'm really passionate about it raising awareness of the ongoing genocide in Darfur.
http://stephenpjames.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-drawing-and-word-about-genocide.html
http://stephenpjames.blogspot.com/2007/10/one-of-things-thats-really-bugged-me-in.html

Well the international criminal court has just issued an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan. This is potentially a huge step towards ending this crime against humanity. Read more about it here.
http://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/exeres/0EF62173-05ED-403A-80C8-F15EE1D25BB3.htm

Zoo sketches.

2009-03-03T11:41:00.001-08:00

Animal sketches from my trip to the zoo on Saturday.

P.S Also trying a new watermark.

Zoo trip.

2009-03-01T09:44:00.000-08:00

I had a productive sketching trip to the zoo this weekend.

Truth be told, as I delve deeper into Vegetarian/vegan thinking I'm having more and more mixed feelings about zoos. Animal shows like the circus I totally disagree with, but I really feel like zoo's do some good. Yet you can argue that they exploit their residents. Anyway, got some thinking to do.

From the last day of color theory.

2009-02-22T14:06:00.001-08:00

I actually kind of liked this study, to much warmth in the shadows though.

Good news.

2009-02-15T17:51:00.000-08:00

Donated my Darfur drawing to the Museum of tolerance. Hopefully, they'll put it up.

Sarah drawing and grisaille painting.

2009-02-05T19:28:00.000-08:00

From last quarters academic figure drawing/painting class with Bill Rodgers.

I was really disapointed with the painting, and actually felt that the drawing was much stronger.

The problem with making your own shadow box.

2009-02-05T14:48:00.000-08:00

This might be a problem for cast drawing! It seems like I have a choice to make. Uninteresting shadow shapes or half a cast. Hah.

Some work from last quarter.

2009-01-30T18:55:00.000-08:00

One of our models and a copy of a master drawing.

Study of a lego block.

2009-01-23T16:54:00.000-08:00

Finally updated. This is from my still life/color theory classes a while back ago.

Finished with 5th quarter.

2009-01-18T22:30:00.000-08:00

Will post updates soon.

Head Drawing.

2009-01-09T19:20:00.000-08:00

Frank, a model we had at school.

More apes.

2008-12-31T19:31:00.000-08:00

From our animal drawing class.

Head of a woman.

2008-12-24T23:45:00.000-08:00

Another cast. This one is the head of a woman.

National Geographic: The Art of exploration.

2008-12-20T23:15:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bur_Se9J2Ao

Very interesting.

David Coleman.

2008-12-19T15:28:00.001-08:00

Just giving a shout out to one of my teachers.

http://davidcolman.blogspot.com/

Apple with peanut shells.

2008-12-12T20:28:00.000-08:00

My teacher Bill Perkins scared us all with tales of the Orphan Works Bill and people stealing artwork off of the internet. So I'm going to try putting an ugly signature/mark on my pieces.

Or I could just sign them...hah!

This is a still life from class I did with an assist from one of our teachers William Rodgers.

Cast paintings.

2008-12-07T13:09:00.000-08:00

Foot and ear.

Diffrent types of onlookers.

2008-12-06T22:50:00.000-08:00

Drawing at the zoo today reminded me of a thread I did at the DrawingBoard.org a couple years ago.

I sketch in public alot so I've gotten kind of use to having people stare over my shoulder. You get alot of diffrent kind of people and reactions. There are.....

- Mr/Miss look and run: People who only take a passing look at your drawing, shrug and then go on your way. These people are interesting because they kind of objectify you as an odd anomaly, diffrent than what they're use to.

- Mr/Miss superspy: This is the person who really, really tries to be sneaky about their watching you work. They don't make a peep, they don't even breathe to hard. They get right up to you and just stare for a while. It's almost like they don't think you can see them perfectly. My reaction is to either let them continue to assume that they're getting away with it, or if they show particular interest let them know that I can actually see them.

- Mr./Miss "wow I want to talk to that artist": These are the people who are the bravest of the bunch, they realize that you probably won't bite them, and will actually start up a conversation with you. Often times their parents with kids who are amazed that there are adults who don't grow out of drawing. I find that the conversations consistantly go in any one of several directions.

A.While you're holding your pencil and drawing filled sketchbook in hand they ask with total ernerst "Wow! Are you an aritst?" Obvious question? Yes, but you might be suprised at how much it's asked. I usually answer with either "yes" or "Yeah, I'm an art student." I guess to the person asking it doesn't seem as obvious.

B. There is the "can you draw me or my friend" request. I'm reluctant about that one because I'm not a spectacular charecterist/portrait artist and I'm just as likely to offend them as wow them. Another one I often get is "How long have you been drawing for?" Pretty straight forward one, and you just tell them. A variation of the first two categories of people though are the ones who whisper behind your back.

C. "My cousin/brother/child/parent/random relative is an artist": I find that alot of people will tell you about their artist relatives. Which can be pretty cool, as you can learn something that you didn't know before.

D. "You're a good artist." It's a pretty straight forward compliment, and I usually just respond with thank you. I think that anyone who's been on the spot drawing for even a brief amount of time will seem amazing to a non-artist.

-There is the parent who is morbidly afraid that their kid is going to break your concentration. I guess it goes along with the stereotype that we're all tempremental and will fly off the handle, or that we loose our concentration easily. Usually I just tell the person that it's okay if they want to look at the animal or my drawing.

Stephen Silver has an interesting practice of wearing dark glasses in public so that when people see that he's drawing them he can move his head and pretend he isn't. I think that's hillarious.

If any of you who read my blog have similar stories, or "types" of onlookers feel free to leave a comment.

Two great portrait artist.

2008-11-28T12:14:00.000-08:00

John and Elisabeth Sanden.

Check them out.

http://www.elizabethsanden.com/

http://www.johnhowardsanden.com/

Bear.

2008-11-27T13:51:00.000-08:00

Old study of a stuffed bear I dug up.

Some artist I saw in galleries in Hawaii...

2008-11-23T16:06:00.000-08:00

There was some interesting stuff there.

http://www.pino-artist.com/

http://www.artbrokerage.com/art/hoffman/

http://www.lucelle-raad.com/gallery.html

Sketches for animal drawing class.

2008-11-15T23:17:00.000-08:00

Hopefully my teacher will say those are some "great apes" when I show them to him.

That was a lame joke I know.

Head drawing.

2008-11-09T17:57:00.000-08:00

Guy named Leslie (cool guy.)

Nucleus show.

2008-11-07T18:37:00.001-08:00

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=70781314&albumId=2396097

Photos of the event are available at me Myspace.

Update.

2008-11-02T17:11:00.000-08:00

The gallery show went well (today was the last day!) I'll have photos up sometime soon.

A new drawing (and a word about genocide)

2008-10-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

Just finished drawing this piece which was a "redo" of a drawing I did in 2007 about the current situation in Western Sudan. In the last year or so I've learned so much more about drawing that I felt I could finally do this subject, which I feel so strongly about, justice. In reality this is an issue that our media hasn't payed attention to like it should.

The original drawing and info about the conflict can be found here. http://stephenpjames.blogspot.com/2007/10/one-of-things-thats-really-bugged-me-in.htmlThe new drawing will be exhibited at the Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra California from Oct. 25 to Nov 2 as a part of the Laafa Atelier student show.

All my pieces together.

2008-10-24T15:23:00.000-07:00

All of my pieces for the LAAFA Atelier Nucleus Gallery show. A reminder that show will be up from Oct. 25-Nov 2nd.

Come join the fun.

210 East Main St

Alhambra CA

91801

Laafa Atelier student show.

2008-10-19T17:16:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to alert everyone to the fact that our class is going to have a show at the Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra on Saturday the 25th starting at 7 pm.

Here's a link.http://www. gallerynucleus. com/gallery/exhibition/168

Hope to see people there.

Malo laying down.

2008-10-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

5 week pose.

Socrates.

2008-10-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

I think it's Socrates anyway. Here's the finished drawing from class (and yes I'm aware of the tape on the side, my photo editing program stinks.)

Break.

2008-10-10T14:38:00.000-07:00

Yay free time!

Working on some pieces. Will post soon.

Art School opinions.

2008-10-04T19:03:00.001-07:00

Somebody posted this at Conceptart.org. I thought I'd copy and paste it here. Not saying I agree with it all but it's certainly interesting.

1. Where you choose to go to art school is less important than bringing an attitude of "doing whatever it takes" to learn about art to where you are studying.

2. If you go to a big name school and just do the assignments, you will leave school with very little of value.

3. If you go to a little bitty school that anyone could afford and no one ever heard of but work your ass off, you will end up miles ahead of the brats at the art schools who are only doing their assignments and the normal minimal workload art schools require.

4. The schools will not hand feed you the information. You will have to take it from them. If one instructor doesnt know the answers, go find another one and get the answers from them. My best biz advice came from my illustration teacher and from the teacher who helped me to learn color theory. You never know who will have the answers...but you must push to find the questions that need to be asked. Dont expect it to be given to you with a silver spoon. It does not work that way.

5. What you do outside of school (outside of the student assignments and on top of the student assignments) is what will get you where you need to be. After school you will work four times harder than you did in art school so you might as well pick up the pace your freshman year and push as hard as you can.

6. One does not have to spend 100,000 dollars (which is what most end up spending after their loans are paid off) in order to get a great education.

7. 95 percent of what can be found at the big art schools can be found at the state and community college level and the other five percent (specific connections and work experience) can be found in places like conceptart.org (see employment section) and cgsociety amongst others. Of course one's major area of study will dictate where they must go to find the information. If any information is lacking from the less expensive education route it can be supplimented with great programs like the Illustration Academy and or the ConceptArt.Org workshops.

8. Degrees mean jack squat to an artist unless they plan on working overseas (required for the visa) or teaching full time at the university level. No one in my entire career has ever asked if I graduated from college. I didn't...but I did do six successive years in art school. I did not even graduate from high school. Now I own two international art companies which lead in their respective fields. However, my education was valuable. But, one can be educated away from a degree system and end up just fine. Degrees in art are mostly for pleasing your parents.

9. Art school is a blast. Don't let it distract you from being as great as you can be. Becoming a professional artist takes nose to the grindstone work. Art school can distract from that (oh it is so tempting to go to those all night parties where all sorts of debauchery is happening) but limit yourself there...if you are going to art school..spend the time doing art.

10. Art school recruiters will say anything they think you want to hear in order to get you to go. The best way to find out the truth about where you are going to study is to visit the school.

11. Ask to see the faculty work of those whom you will study under. If you blindly attend because of reputation you may find that you have instructors who cannot do anything of the sort that you wish to learn yourself. ie if your instructor is a fine artist who makes everything out of balls of rice, you are going to have a very hard time learning composition and color theory from them. Find out who you are studying under before you spend six figures on an education...that even applies to the more affordable solutions at the state or community level.

The original thread can be read here.
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=102315&highlight=Laafa

Drawing with charcoal powder

2008-09-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

An illustrator I know recently asked me about what drawing with charcoal powder is like. I tried my best to explain it but I'm not sure I did it justice. So here are some pictures I took of my set up in class. I feel like they do a better job of explaining it than I would verbally. Anyway, it’s a far more tone based approach than drawing with a stick of charcoal or a charcoal pencil.

Comparing the two ways of applying charcoal to cast drawing that we've learned I think I kind of like this one better. Both methods have their strength (and I've kind of tried to use a hybrid of the two as you can see in the tops two pictures), but the brush and powder really helps you think in terms of tonal arrangements.

I spy with my little eye...

2008-09-12T15:48:00.000-07:00

Something white.

Here's another picture from my cast drawing class.

Cartoony sketch.

2008-09-07T22:59:00.000-07:00

So I did something really cathartic this weekend. I sketched a cartoony character, from a story I came up with years ago, on a sheet of ugly, wrinkled, old paper. This may not seem like much of a big deal but to me it was. You see most of my creative energy is being poured into school work and the upcoming show our class is putting on. Sadly I have very little time for things like this. It was so cool to sketch something that was just for fun with no strings attached. It wasn't for school, or a big project or anything just a way to kill time.It's also great to be able to sketch something cartoony again. It's what I want to do in life (as a career.) I have a natural inclination towards cartooning, and though I've been trying to fight it for the better part of a year I love being able to explore that side of my art again.

Johnsibbick.com

2008-08-31T23:49:00.001-07:00

http://www.johnsibbick.com/

Just found the website of a book illustrator who I really enjoyed back when I was younger (though I didn't know his name.) Check out John Sibbick's stuff, especially his art illustrating the myths and stories of various cultures.

So...

2008-08-24T17:23:00.000-07:00

It's the start of week 5 of the quarter and I'm feeling the stress of trying to balance my output at school, my personal creativity and the other aspects of my life (church, family, social stuff.) We're half way through, and I sometimes wonder how I'm going to make it through these next few weeks.
I love my school and I love the growth that stems from the intense nature of the full time program, but it's draining at some points. It demands a tremendous amount of investment in regards to time, money, and soul. I sometimes feel guilty whenever I'm working on something that's not directly or indirectly related to school work.
When I was at CSUN I had a teacher who constantly drilled the idea of maintaing our personal artistic projects while we were working at a studio, or on work for others (like school assignments.) At the time I thought it was an odd thing to say. How could any creative person not devote time to their personal creativity? For artist it's suppouse to be as natural as breathing right?
During my first quarter at Laafa I finally understood why he would feel it was so relevant to tell us that. Four days a week of 7 to 10 hour days, and many, many nights when homework assignments would take me well into the early morning (I remember staying up until 4 AM finishing perspective homework.) It scared me at some points because I began to seriously question whether it would be possible in the future to work in the animation/illustration industry and do independent work. Could a person devote an equal amount of energy and passion to both without burning out?
Laafa's made me think about that alot. Of course again, I love the place and all the Atelier students can see the incredible progress we've made, but it can be so mentally and physically exhausting.....

The irony of course is that I feel guilty about typing this instead of doing more studying and classwork.

Somethings a foot.

2008-08-19T09:51:00.000-07:00

Yes I missed my update, and all I got was this awful pun. Anyway, here's a foot cast I've been working on.