Quick Studies

One of the best things i could of done for my artistic career is take Quick Studies with Craig Nelson. To make a long story short, what used to take me 8 hours, i can now accomplish in a 20-40 minute session. I learned to make decisions and be confident with my paint and brush.

So here's a sampling of the work i did. I really have more like 45-50 paintings, but all the confidence in the world wont make them ALL good paintings!

Still Life's; ranging from 20-40 mins. Some in class and some were assignments

Landscapes; Mmm, comfort zone. I see my self going out and painting plein air for a looong time. The top one is from photo reference from a trip to Cabo, the middle are on location. A windy location. As the sand plastered to the painting will show...

 Figures; ranging from 20-40 minutes

And this painting was an 8.5 hour painting. 18x24 panel.

Color Script

color script

And just for fun, a 40min quick study.

WIP

WIP

Some color roughs. These served as a great learning tool, but i'm ready to redesign and really knock it out.

pushing forward

starting to work out some color on my main character.

First pass. Still feels a little choppy, and not in a good way. But i'm feeling good about it.

progress and updates

Quick Studies

The quick studies continue. And what continues to amaze me is the amount of information i can put down  in about 20 minuets... compared to what i used to do in a 6 hour session. And i have to ask my self, what the hell was i doing for 6 HOURS!?! Yes the canvas may have been a few inches larger...but still.

Any way, here's a new batch of studies, ranging from 30-40 minuets

And this is a personal project i'm trying to pursue. How i find time for a personal project...is beyond me. But here's the beginnings of it.

Oil on 11x14 stained wood panel

WIP: Altar

more dev

For the Family

More development for the story im working on. I want a sort of "storybook" opening. So the first few images we see are old photos of the family. This one bellow, is actually the very first image, and it shows the happy family, living in San Francisco, having immigrated from Mexico. Photo is circa 1960. 

This is a glorified thumbnail, so i plan on going back into and pulling out a few more darks, and adding some warm and cool tones. AFTER painting this I sat back, felt pretty happy, and realized they totally had color photography in 1960...so...i'll work on that. 

quick studies cont...

Quick studies...

I'll have to quote my instructor, Craig Nelson, on this post and say that I'm certainly experiencing the "hills and vallies" of learning

One painting looks awesome, and a 40 min. painting is quite possibly better than anything i can produce in 12 hours. And some paintings... well i'd prefer to vomit...razor blades.

But! I do see some progress and this makes me very happy. Bellow are two paintings from this past week.  I think they're both about 40/45 min

back to thumbnails

Back to working on thumbnails. This first set is for the story im working on. To give you a basic idea, the story, thematically, revolves around Day of the Dead. The Mexican/Latin holiday, not the zombie movie... 

Set in San Francisco, the story follows a young boy and his quest to save his recently passed away grandfather, who's soul has been captured by an trickster skeleton character named Mr. Calaveras. 

More story to come...

And these are thumbnails from the book The Zookeepers Wife. Part of a warm up assignment for drawing for film. 

Quick Studies

And so the semester begins. 

This time around im taking quick studies. I've always wanted to take this class thinking it'll help my painting ability all around. From speed (obviously), color choice, and confidence. And looks like it'll do just that! 

6 painting per session! Sweet christ. If i don't progress after 80 paintings then there's something seriously wrong with me, and my entire art career will be for nothing. I'll just become an accountant or something. 

But luckily! I have high hopes and i know i'll walk away a much stronger artist. But it certainly didn't happen today. The first of todays paintings was a 25 minuet. the second was 35, and the third one was 40.

I'm excited for this class. A great excuse to paint... a LOT. 

Mr. Calaveras

Mr. Calaveras. Or that's what I'll call him for now. The first in a character line up, for a story I'm starting to work on. 

I find my self doing more design work. But i have to say that i really enjoy it. I always knew that I  had a secret passion for graphic design and logos and advertisement, so im glad this little gig found me. 

Here's some logo ideations for a Weave Games project titled Gold Fever. 

 

Weave Games

I was able to get a little side gig designing a logo for Weave Games. I was provided some reference, and here's some of my ideations.

Morning character exploration

No direction in particular, just wanted to explore some character ideas.

Quick Studies

Trying to get back in the habit of doing quick digital studies. So here we go! 

1 hour 15

Command Center

Further exploration of the command center concept. 

I was able to work on a private project recently, which was out of my usual comfort zone in terms of style. It was a futuristic war-time setting. 

Bellow are some initial thumbnails for structures. 

fish designs 

design with color keys

I'll Catch You

Two years ago i worked on a film written and directed by my brother, Miguel Ceja. Last night was the premier of the movie and it couldn't have gone better. My role in the film was minor, but it's still an amazing experience to see the final product of something, that so many creative minds contributed to. I'm happy to one of them.

I made a poster for the movie, and here's two of the proofs. We went with the second design

And anyone's that's interested, here's a link to the trailer. 

I'll Catch You (2011)

fish

More fish concepts. 

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? No one that eats pineapple.

So it's been longer than expected since my last post. Life has taken a surprising turn for the best!... for once.

Wedding planning is in full speed. Summer classes are going as good as can be expected. And i was lucky enough to land an art internship with Punch Entertainment! Putting all that learnin' to the test.

and now, some fish.