Christmas card for Trent

So I made Trent an awesome Christmas card...well, I love it (and I think he did too :) ) Here are some pictures of it. It opens to show presents in his belly and then opens again to the actual card. Don't try to read what I wrote on it and be all snoopy though because that was for Trent's eyes only so you won't be able to see anything anyways :)

Round 3

Here a few paintings from the final round for my head painting class. I had to do 18 for this round but only a couple are here:

3 bears

This was an assignment for Digital Painting. We had to do something with the '3 bears'. Because it was getting close to Christmas I wanted to do something in the spirit of the season.

End of School

The semester is finally over! There was a lot of work this semester so I am so glad for the Christmas Break. Anyways, here's some stuff I've done this semester. Most of my classes were study classes so we spent the entire semester practicing. Here you go:
Head Painting:
These are all speed painting except for the self portrait

This was from the first 1/3 of the semester

  

 Final Project:

Some practices from Round 2 the 2/3:

History of Illustration:
      Our assignment in this class was to choose an artist and create a piece of art copying that artists style and method. I chose to do Carl Spitzweg. Spitzweg is a romantic German artist who creates pieces showing everyday life with charming characters. Here's is my project:

Presidential Campaign 2012

My latest digital painting assignment was to create a piece representing something about the then upcoming election in one of about 5 different styles. I chose to depict the debt of our economy in Surrealism. It seems like we're always looking for a candidate who can pull our nation out of debt, but we're always using so much money that it never stacks up, we just keep losing money. 

Scccrroooogggeee!!1

It's mid October--and what's after Halloween? Thanksgiving. And what's after Thanksgiving???Christmas!!!!

Yeah, yeah I know it's way too early for Christmas stuff, but...in my digital painting class we are illustrating the Christmas Carol which we are going to compile and put on ibooks for free! So anyone who wants a free ibook of the Christmas Carol with super awesome illustrations can have it--for FREE! Anyway, we have to do the work early so there's time for it to go through the whole process of being published. I'm not 100% sure how it works but I think it might not be ready until next Christmas...oh well, that gives you something to look forward to for an entire year. So...yes, you are welcome for making your dreams come true.

The scene I illustrated for the Christmas Carol is of the third Spirit.

The Last of The Spirits

The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached. When it came, Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which this Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery.

It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand. But for this it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night, and separate it from the darkness by which it was surrounded.

He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that its mysterious presence filled him with a solemn dread. He knew no more, for the Spirit neither spoke nor moved.

"I am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come?' said Scrooge.

The Spirit answered not, but pointed onward with its hand.

'You are about to show me shadows of the things that have not happened, but will happen in the time before us,' Scrooge pursued. 'Is that so, Spirit?'

The upper portion of the garment was contracted for an instant in its folds, as if the Spirit had inclined its head. That was the only answer he received.

--Charles Dickens

So...drum roll please.....

Gallery of Terror

Uvu is doing a gallery of terror show on the 5th floor of the library. This piece is done in photoshop.

Villians

This is the first assignment from my digital painting class. We had to choose a villian and illustrate them in Photoshop, Illustrator, or Corel Painter. Since I've never really painted much with any, I chose photoshop. My villian is Andrea Yates. She is a mother who drowned her 5 children in the bathtub. It's a tragic story so if you're too kind hearted don't read on. Otherwise....
Andrea suffered from post pardum depression (depression after having a baby). She tried to commit suicide a ton! and finally was told by her doctor to quit having children. Andrea and her husband new this preacher that told them to live in a bus for awhile (which would not help the depression). I don't know what religion they were a part of, but she got pretty intense about it. Family and friends had said it was scary how tightly she'd clung to each of the preachers words.  Her husband convinced her to have their 5th child which pushed her over the edge. The doctors instructed the husband not to leave Andrea alone with the kids. She was unstable and it was unsafe, but her husband believed that a person in depression just needed a kick in the pants to get out of it. So he started leaving her alone an hour a day. He'd leave an hour before her mom (or his mom...i can't remember) came over to watch her. It was then, one day, that Andrea drowned her five children. She was taught by her preacher that a 'bad mother who's going to hell will bear bad children who will go to hell". Personally, I think Andrea was a victim to her psychosis, but it doesn't change what was done. After she drowned her children she tucked them all into bed.

This painting is done from the point of the view of the bed as Andrea brings in the last child from the bathroom. 

Bride

I did this drawing probably a year ago. I loved the idea of her mascara dripping from her eyelashes (that's how I feel, if not every girl, when they cry and are wearing makeup ). When I did the original sketch I had the proportions to her body all wrong! And her dress was tattered:

Original Sketch

So I used the same idea with her face and makeup but gave her a real wedding dress. It's pretty fun playing around with Photoshop! Lemme know what you think! :)

Carnival

This is the first painting I've ever done in photoshop. It was fun to do, but a problem I noticed with digital painting: Because I can zoom in I do a ton of detail only to find out when I zoom out that you can't even see it. That was good to learn though since this painting was just for practice and now I know for all the other digital paintings I do.

I have been wanting to do this piece for so long! but I kept having problems transferring it and then I'd get too busy with school, but here it finally is. It's a painting of my nephew that I did for my sister. 2 years ago she knew I wanted to work on it, but it's been so long that she'd forgotten. So, I painted it in secret and made a print for her. Now I think I'm going to have to do one of all her kids so no one's left out ;)

Contest

Check it out! Great artist!  http://mrtoastedtoast.blogspot.com/2012/08/win-poster.

Grandmas Lilac Tree

So, my grandma tells me one day that she would LOVE to have a painting done of her new fence--which she loves. She also loves this lilac bush in her backyard and wanted a painting of that. So I painted her this piece--mixed up some plants because technically a dead tree actually sits where the lilac bush has been placed--and gave it to her. She loved it--and said so thousands of times. Everyone that comes to her house, even her home teachers, she has made look at it and marvel at it. I'm usually not a huge fan of landscapes and buildings, but since I've been doing more they're kind of getting more fun...

Bird Egg

I wanted to do something quick before going to St. George this last weekend so I painted one of the sketches I'd done for a class last semester. I think it turned out kind of cool

Salt Lake Temple

This was a commissioned piece of the Salt Lake Temple. It's oil on canvas. When I was first asked to do this piece I didn't think it would take as much time as it did. The Salt Lake Temple is so intricate and beautiful and detailed. There are so many pieces to it that I had never realized before working on this painting.

Sunflower Garden

Acrylic on Illustration board.

For one of my finals this semester we were supposed to do 3 of something. There were no rules we could choose what to do, but the subject matter should relate. I have been wanting to do something with the circus for a long time now and as soon as this assignment was given to us at the beginning of the semester I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to do A Circus Sideshow! At first my ideas were really out there and honestly, a little morbid. I was going to do the Bearded Lady hanging by her beard but then I went and met the REAL BEARDED LADY at a lecture she was giving at UVU! She was so boisterous and happy, not sad or self conscious at all like I would have thought a woman with a beard would be. After seeing her I wasn't happy with my ideas. So I changed them. After lots of thumbnails and thinking and composing here is what I came up with...what do you think?

The Illustrated Man

The Fortune Teller

The Two Headed Twins

Turtles

This is a series I did for my Painting 2 class. We are supposed to mimic different styles of art through out the paintings. Each one is the same subject matter--the same photo reference. I have never painted like this before but I have to try everything at least once. The first one is Impressionistic

This one is the same turtle but a little more abstracted

And finally this one is so abstract you cannot even tell what the subject matter is...can you tell?

Copyright Infringement (c)

This was an assignment for one of my classes at UVU. It's ballpoint pen on illustration board. We could choose our subject matter between a car, a closet, or a refrigerator and anything/everything inside of them. With this kind of power to choose of course I chose the sweetest, most sugary, most delicious food in our refrigerator. This is the first time I've done ballpoint pen, but I really wanted it to turn out super well! I think I succeeded...for the most part :)

Here is the finished piece. The edges are cropped in some and there are still tweaks that I know need tweaking, but all in all it's pretty much done. I entered this piece into the UVU Student Show at the Woodbury Museum of Art, but I have yet to have heard whether the piece made it into the show or not. Fingers crossed!

Diamonds anyone?

If you've ever looked at a diamond or tried drawing one you can imagine I got a little over my head on this assignment. Diamonds! Diamonds! Diamonds are a girls best friend! It was so hard studying each facet on each individual diamond trying to understand how they reflect on each other. It's going to take a lot more studying to learn how to really make a diamond look like a diamond. I used white charcoal on black paper putting in only the highlights.

The Key

This is an in progress oil painting I am working on. It is a trompe l'oeil painting, meaning a 'fool the eye'. A trompe l'oeil painting is supposed look tangible, deceiving the eye. That was my goal here. The key is only a piece of the actual painting which also includes a melting candle, gold candle stick, and a reflective antique metal plate. I submitted this piece as a part of a portfolio for a scholarship. Now that that deadlines past I still need to render the key a bit more and then finish the entire piece. Surprisingly I have really liked working on this project, with the exception that I can only do it during class times and at school on the weekends, but hey that's what I've got to give in order to have this composition achieved.

Digital Painting

So I realize this is SO late for Christmas, but I got a Wacom Intuos 3 Tablet for Christmas so I had to try it out immediately. This is the first time I've ever attempted any sort of digital painting, but I think it actually is turning out kind of awesome!