Happy New Year!!!

Want to wish everyone a Happy and Productive New Year in 2009! The couple of pages that I uploaded are from my Nueva York Sketch, that I am still working on. I have so much ideas in my head that I want to get apply to paper! I still need to finish up on a couple of freelance projects before I jump onto my own stuff! Catch you all later!

Take it easy,
Axel

Scary Teddy Bag

Here's a custom bag I made for BooBooKitty as a Christmas gift. The bag itself is made out of extra canvas which I haven't used for awhile. I had the sides of the bag ran through my mother's sowing machine. Then I cut out the hole for the handles on top of the bag. I then I ran washes of Brown Umber, browns, black and bits of yellow. Lastly I painted the Scary Teddy from the Nightmare Before Christmas. I placed in the bag a Scary Teddy plush doll sold only in the Disneyland park, which I wrapped in a black cloth. Just to let you know that you can Disney no longer sell the Scary Teddy plush in their parks. You can pick one up from places like ebay. Well, catch you all later!
Merry Christmas everyone.

Sketch Theatre

Hey all just wanted to let you all know that the videos of me doing sketches for the good folks over at Sketch Theatre are now up in their site. http://www.sketchtheatre.com/
Let me know what you all think? Also I wanna wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a great New Year!

Here's the link to my profile at Sketch Theatre, http://www.sketchtheatre.com/?page_id=224

-axel

Roaming around

Running around Los Angeles doing some work and then going shopping for Christmas presents...well, stinks. I pretty relieved that I have knocked down one project, but I do have two more to go for the end of the year (well, I would like to get them done before the end of the year). Getting my shopping done has made me feel relieved. Not too long ago, I was running in circles trying to get this one gift, took waaaaaay too long. I even got lost in the process. I know my way around L.A., but I was having trouble. I'm looking forward till this holiday season to be over and moving on to the new year.
The image of this cute furry bear that I attached to this blog is a quick sketch for a buddy of mine. The line art was done using Sketchbook Pro and colored in Painter. Well, I would like to wish everyone a cool Christmas day and hopefully you have all your shopping done.

I'm out.

-axel#13

Santa?

A quick Christmas piece I just did today. The line art was done using Sketchbook Pro and the coloring was done in Painter and Photoshop. Lately, I pretty much feel the way this character looks...shitty. Catch you all later.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Just wanted to wish everyone that stops by this Blog a great Thanksgiving! I only hope that everyone gets to spend time with the friends and family. I do have to say that besides being in a not so great mood for the past few weeks, that I'm thankful for all the great stuff that had come my way this past year! At the moment I have a few projects hanging over my head that need to get done in the following days after Thanksgiving...it's a bit tough, but I really can't complain. What are you thankful for?

The image above is a sample from my digital sketchbook...the sketches were done using done Sketchbook Pro 2, Painter 9.5 and Photoshop CS2.

Take care,
axel#13

Bots

Here's some Robot designs that I did from my sketchbook for a personal project I'm working on. Dang, I have so much going on at the moment with freelance projects, I'm trying to get it all straight. I don't want to seem that I am complaining, I'm not. It's good to be busy, I just need to manage my time a bit better. I feel tired and sad, just need to clear my my head. I know I'll pull through.
For this pieces I laid the roughs in with blue pencils then inked them with a brush pen that I bought from Japan (such nice pens). I added tones to the sketches by using my warm gray TRIA markers. I even used a white Primacolor pencil for the highlights.
I'll catch you all later.

Paid Internship at a Gaming Studio in Los Angeles

Hey everyone!

My producer asked me to spread this around.

I'm working at a game studio called DeepBlue Worlds as the Head BG designer which is working on an exciting MMO (massively multiplayer online) videogame for kids, and we're looking for a few committed artists and/or animators who would be interested in interning for us. We're located in Sherman Oaks. The project is a really awesome one, and the work environment is fun and the employees all get along fantastically.

Basically what we need are people to:
- assist animators and artists to prepare artwork/assets for the game
- production assistance would also be asked for

Core abilities needed:
- need to know/use photoshop
- be articulate
- take direction well
- be very organized/disciplined
- be either familiar with Flash or willing to learn (bonus points for already knowing / working in Flash!)

Responsibilities
- Integrate art and animation into the game
- Work closely with the team, and supervisors as needed.

In terms of hours, you can work around your school schedule. Minimum no of hours per week: 5-10

The pay will be somewhere from $8 to $12 an hour.

Requirements:
A portfolio of work -- What is really helpful is any samples of DIGITAL artwork of any kind (we had a guy come in with nothing but paintings and paper drawings... we just need samples of art that has utilized a computer at some point, whether it was to draw, ink lines, to shade, clean-up images, or what-have-you) . If you have a deviantart or equivalent site that has art samples, please send us your link!

You must be attending college and live in the Los Angeles area.

When internship begins:
The internships will begin around the beginning of December 2008 onwards, so apply now! :D

It's a great opportunity for anyone who likes videogames and wants to get some inside experience! If you're interested, please contact out producer Reza.
You can call him at:
818.788.1005 ext.155

or email him at:
RSadafi@deepblueworlds.com

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask Reza or me. :)

Thanks guys!
-axel#13

aortiz@deepblueworlds.com

The Simpsons Spoof the Mad Men intro

I'm a big fan of the Mad Men show and when I saw this spoof of the Mad Men intro done by the Simpsons, I had to share it!
Happy Halloween to everyone!

Batman

Here's a quick sketch of Batman I did last night. Used F Tombo pencil for the line work on Strathmore tracing paper, highlighted with White Prismacolor pencil. Scanned this piece with a cardboard background. Colored the piece using Photoshop.
He seems a bit old, but I really had fun with the line work. I wanted to just go with a funky looking Batman. Hopefully, it worked. What do you think?
I will be teaching class tonight over at Gnomon. I have invited Naomi Baker http://naomiful.blogspot.com/ to come by my class to talk to the kids. All I have to say is she's an awesome concept artist and she's only going to get better as the years go on. Feel free to check out her blog....let me know what you all think?
Catch you all later and have a safe and fun Halloween weekend!

-axel#13

Sarris Head inked

Here's the Sarris head shot, inked using a Winsor Newton series 7 Watercolor brush size 0 and with a Copic pen size .03/.05. I did this as an inking demo for my class last night.
When I get a chance next week, I'll lay in some colors.
I'm really happy with the designs the kids are coming up with for this class project. Some of them are stressing a bit with their other classes but I feel they'll do fine in the end. Looking forward to how the designs will develop further.
I gave them an in-class assignment, based on an old freelance assignment that I did sometime ago for Nick. I gave them the whole class time to design the two main characters and one supporting character. I do have to say that they came up with some interesting characters. They're a great bunch of kids! But I'll crack the whip if I need to.
Late

Katsu

A sketch of a character I have done for a new series I am developing with BooBooKittyFuck. Done in pencils (HB) and used cool grey Tria markers on Canson water color paper (140lb).
Off to teach class tonight. :)

Sarris

Here's a pencil drawing of Sarris, from the movie Galaxy Quest. I did this as a demo for my class last Thursday. even though this design is my take...I do like the Stan Winston design used for the movie. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to color....one of these days.
I've been pretty busy lately. I've taken a lot of freelance work in the past week and half...I'm hoping I didn't bite more that I can chew. But sometimes I do have a hard time saying "no" to clients that have call me up that I like working with. I don't man to do this...but I can't help it. I do have to learn to say "No". Well, let me know what you all think of the design.

Sarris

Here's a head drawing of Sarris the main bad guy for the Galaxy Quest project I did as a demo for my class. I took this drawing and lightboxed it and did a more simple version and another one with more details...just to show the different ways one can take one design (drawing) and push it to go different directions. It's good practice for them to do this in the future to speed up the creative process a bit. I'll be posting more up later on.

More Sketches...

Hey all, just wanted to upload my latest sketches that I have done for my class, for the Galaxy Quest project and also sketches of Batman.
I do have to say that I am really happy with what the students in my class are producing so far. I have a talented group of kids. Just need to make sure to crack the whip on them to make sure they don't go off course. I'm really looking forward with what they'll be bringing in next week!

Batman and sketches

Here's a page of quick sketches with Batman in the bottom.

Tuna Carpaccio P.I.

Hey all, just wanted to make sure that you guys and gals out there check out Tuna Carpaccio P.I. a awesome web comic brought to you by my good buddies Tony "I'm gonna kick your teeth in" Chavira and Josh "I got something in my pants for ya" Dunlap. Here's the link, http://www.tunacarpacciopi.com/
Please, when you get a chance give them two some love and check out their comic and let them know them know it too. Please let me know what you all think of Tuna? Good? Bad? What? I'll check you all later!

-axel#13

A Galaxy Quest

Hey all just got back from New York about a week ago to attend my cousin's wedding, which was very cool. My sweetie BooBooKitty went with me as well to run around Soho, Brooklyn and Time Square. Stayed with my cousin Danny over in Staten Island. I do have to say that I saw some cool art hanging by artists trying to sell their work there on the streets. Of course I took a bunch of pictures. I do have to say that New York drivers are NUTS! I had my life flash before my eyes on two occasions.
This past Thursday I started my new term teaching the Character Design class at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects. I have 7 kids that signed up for my class this time around. I am having them redesign the characters to the movie "Galaxy Quest" I'm so looking forward in seeing what they come up with....it should be a lot of fun. I know it's not a great movie but I do like that flick a lot it's one of those guilty pleasures. I have attached my sketches that I did a demo for the class. i wanted to show the students that I wanted them to keep their drawings very loose...all I care about is getting some interesting shapes for this first round of character sketches. I'll post more in the future as the term moves along.

Spidey and friends!

Here's a few piece I did in the past week...let me know what you all think?

San Diego Comic-Con 2008

Well, here are some pics from my time over at Comic-Con this year. I really enjoyed my time there at the Image booth pushing copies of Krash Bastards and Backspace. I ended up doing quite a few sketches for $20, which was really cool. I also enjoyed talking with people that stopped by my table to check out my stuff.
I do have to say that the floor was crowded all four and half days, it was insane! Mothers pushing strollers and folks on wheel chairs were stuck between walls of geekdom, which was pretty scary and sad at the same time. Something has to be done about that. We're there to enjoy ourselves not to hurt others. Let's see how it goes next year and how the folks that run the Comic Con handle the crowds.


Mike Mignola and myself.

for $24,ooo all this can be yours.

Trip 2 JAPAN!

Here's a few pics out of 1,000 plus that I took while over in Japan. BooBoo and I mainly stayed around Tokyo, taking the train to get around. There's so much to see and do. Didn't have one bad meal while we were there. It was a blast, that's all I have to say. I'm hoping to go back sometime in the future.






BooBoo with a local.