Happy Accidents

New illustrations

2011-09-08T01:43:00.000-07:00

I've just finished painting six posters for the SF Olympians Festival, a twelve-night festival of plays inspired by Greek deities. Here are the pieces, accompanied by the brief summaries I based the images upon.

ICARUS

In this tale of two Icaruses-one mythical, on actual-the sky is (quite literally) the limit. Written by Jeremy Cole.

HESPERUS

A cease fire holds, but only nearly, between heaven and hell. Hesperus and Phosphorus, representatives of the God and the Devil sit across from each other and discuss the neutral zone between good and evil. One wrong word could bring an end to the cease fire. Written by Claire Rice.

PHAETON

Tortured by talent, the reality of time passing, and the need to be forever remembered, steer this story of Phaeton; a one act about a boy trying to find his place among the stars. Written by Ashley Cowan.

ZEPHYRUS

A love triangle and sibling rivalry lurk the halls of a 1920's British university with dangerous results, in a story of unrequited love, taboo homosexuality, scheming and revenge. Written by Neil Higgins.

EOSPHOSPHOROUS

You’re a god that lives on Venus, a scientist. You’re banished to Venus and confined your lab. And the one thing that gets you, that incessantly tweaks your dental nerves, is that the damn plant won’t grow.

But it’s not a plant, it’s a whole planet.

Written by Sean Kelly

BOREAS

In Hard Pack, the rivalry between partners of a snowplow dealership in the snowy Northeast reaches epic proportions. Written by Lise Catherine Miller.

Website's finally up at Gintah.com

2009-11-05T22:00:00.001-08:00

http://gintah.com

Aliens!!

2009-10-30T02:55:00.001-07:00

Here's an alien chestburster I sculpted for my Halloween costume. I used CelluClay, which comes in a block of fiber/powder that you mix with water until it becomes clay. When dry, it's lightweight and feels like papier-mache, and you can paint directly on top of it. Thanks to the guy at Pearl for recommending it. Pretty neat stuff! I finished this little fella off with acrylic.

Siren comic anthology

2009-10-29T01:16:00.001-07:00

My comic is finally out! I've written and illustrated "river" a 17 page story for Siren, a comics anthology which debuted at the Alternative Press Expo this year. It features15 stories, by different artists in varying genres and styles, all dealing with the themes of luring and capturing.

I've posted a sample page. You can see more and order at www.sirencomic.com

Please check it out!

Character Designs for Papaya Restaurant

2009-04-21T00:40:00.000-07:00

These were done for a Vietnamese pho restaurant called Papaya, located at the Renton Highlands center in Renton, Washington. They wanted something to set them apart and hired me to develop a fun concept and company brand.

They had no ideas in terms of a concept, other than the story be whimsical and cute. Our first meeting was in a Chinese noodle house near San Francisco. As we were leaving, I said "how about two little girls and their grandfather, who own a magic pho stand? The grandfather could be a powerful wizard who got tired of the wizardly existence and decided to fulfill his life's dream of becoming a cook. But his grandaughters, curious and entranced by his erstwhile profession, end up getting into all sorts of magic related mischief.

This way, the story was cute, fun, and fit thematically with the restaurant. They loved the concept and later I added three little sidekick characters-a hot tempered chilli sauce bottle, a sweet and loving Hoisin sauce bottle, and a flying sticky bun with a top hat.

Here is the art in the restaurant, which just opened last month:

This is one of the owners' daughters, whom the character is named after. Her mom says she requests her hair in pigtails every day, to match her cartoon counterpart. Cute!

Whew, that was exhausting!

2009-01-30T02:36:00.000-08:00

So my little sister is organizing a hip hop dance competition at her University. They're planning to sell t-shirts at the event and she's unhappy with the designs provided by the printing company. So she calls me up and asks if I could design one for her, and if I could finish it by ummm....oh tomorrow at 9 AM.

So here it is. Nothing fantastic. Concept, sketches, revisions, and final done in about a day. Whew. I better be getting a really good birthday gift this year!

Back to blogging

2008-11-17T22:06:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not updating in so long. I've been working on a project that I'm not allowed to show yet, but I'll post it once I get the O.K. In the meantime, here's a quick little illustration for Ben's weekly challenge. The prompt: a creative use for animals.

The Tumor!

2008-07-15T00:56:00.000-07:00

So, my friend Ben Jelter has completed his first graphic novel, The Tumor. It's a surprisingly heart-felt story about a man and his...um...well, his tumor. I can't really explain it, except to say it's not quite like anything I've seen. And it's quite good. There are some preview pages up on his site. So go check it out and give him some support.

www.The Tumor.net

2008-05-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

Noah's Ark, part deux

2008-05-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

This is another Noah's Ark piece i did for Joko's class, but never got around to scanning and posting. I'm trying to finish painting this one too, so that will hopefully be up in the next few days.

Sea Priestess

2008-05-04T16:02:00.000-07:00

The original concept and pencil drawing...

which I abandoned in favor of this:

Woops...

2008-03-22T18:39:00.000-07:00

Apparently, I'm terrible at this blogging business. Anyhoo, here are two new pieces. Some sort of zombie thing in digital and a portrait of Tom Waits, Acrylic and collage on wood.

Adv Perspective

2007-12-19T22:47:00.000-08:00

Inked comic pages

2007-11-27T21:50:00.000-08:00

The first six pages of my comic, inked. Color will soon follow. Not too sure it makes much sense without the text.

2007-11-07T01:24:00.001-08:00

Buffy comic cover

2007-10-30T21:45:00.001-07:00

For Kloepfer's class.

Advanced perspective

2007-10-30T20:39:00.001-07:00

Queen Hatshepsut, gettin' freaky.

Geisha

She love you long time

Noah's Ark

new old stuff

2007-10-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

More old artwork I found. An assignment from Comics 1, and a sketch that Monico colored.

Hipster Ninjas

2007-10-10T19:34:00.001-07:00

A hipster ninja and his token, Asian girlfriend.

Digital Illustration Final

2007-10-10T19:11:00.000-07:00

Did this one using Painter also. It's the first in a series of three illustrations, each featuring a different woman in front of a a mechanical animal. The characters are for another comic book I'm developing.

I've got the other two sketched out already, but haven't gotten around to painting them yet. Hope to do that soon-ish. I think the three final pieces will look cool when viewed together, as they were intended.

Digital Illustration Book Cover

2007-10-10T18:39:00.001-07:00

The first piece I did using Painter. It's alright. It's also my first illustration featuring the characters of the comic book I'm working on, so that was exciting.

I was having trouble calculating all the shadows, so I sculpted a little model for reference:

Then a tight, final pencil drawing:

and the final painted illustration was done in Painter.

Leda and the Swan

2007-10-10T17:22:00.001-07:00

An old sketchbook page I found, painted with a little kiddie watercolor set.

Some quick life sketches

2007-10-10T16:01:00.001-07:00

An old painting.

2007-10-10T15:39:00.001-07:00

Ink and Brush doodles

2007-10-10T15:35:00.001-07:00

New Blog, Old Art

2007-10-10T14:58:00.000-07:00