Lion Oil

painting continues. and my love grows.

so i have this fantasy that one day i'll be a painter. a professional one. a masterful one. and i'll travel and paint, and i'll just call it life. this is what art does to me, and it's how i know i've chosen the right path. and so that's enough emotion for now.

here's what i've been working on.

paint

this week was glass. i think i pulled it off. there's some things to work out, such as ellipses, and some crisper lines. in time. i tried to stay loose with this one anyway. (no really, it's not an excuse)

and here's the homework that i've been working. we just had to create some kind of interesting still life and work on it for a couple of weeks. it's coming together.

i love progress photos. also. taking photos on my phone helps me check things like balance, value and contrast. which show up very well on a little photo.


and then there's heads and hands class... it's alright.

  not to self: learn how to organize photos on blog...

Oil and Water

so it's week three of school and i already feel like time is running out. There's a lot to be done in a short amount of time. But I'll manage, as i usually seem to do. But even at this point in the semester i feel like I've got a lot to show for, and i always feel good about my self when i can see progress in my work and i really think I've made a big jump this semester. There's plenty of room to grow but I've got a solid start.




and this of course

Untitled from Adam Ceja on Vimeo.

the spacing is a little bit off, but i feel that i achieved the movement i wanted. im going to go back into this and ad a few more in-betweens' and should also help the timing

lion oil

so my oil painting virginity has been lost. and it's been amazing.

i have a still life painting class at the academy, and i've never painted with oils before but i've always wanted to. as much as i love animation and film, i know im a fine artist at heart. and i always love my studio classes.

painting with oils is like no other medium i used before. painting wet on wet defently takes some getting used to. but once you get a basic understanding of how the paint works and how to apply it, the painting pretty much paints it self.

but more painting to come, and other class work! I'll post some videos later today.

another semester

so i officially started school yesterday. it's going to be a very time intensive semester i predict. but i'm ready to do the work and put the time in. here's my very first oil painting, ever... in the history of the world.

not tooooo bad. it's pretty good if you just look at it really quick. and don't pay much attention to the detail.

cool SF graffiti to come.

I'll be getting some of my OWN work up here soon...

So this past week I took a long needed vacation with Sydney. The two of us went to Hawaii. We stayed on the island of Oahu at her parents place. Which is bad ass. And let me just list a couple of perks that come with Hawaii, at no additional charge or fee.

1. It’s always about 85 outside.


2. EVERYTHING and everyone is relaxed. From the people, to the radio, to the freeway. (which can get annoying if you’re used to, oh I don’t know, normal freeway speeds)


3. Food is more delicious


4. Everything is slightly cheaper, due to a lower tax


5. And most importantly, you can sleep till 1pm our time (CA), at its only 11 am there. Which is amazing

And so while we were exploring the island (in the ugliest dam rental car ever) I couldn’t help but notice some of the local writers and painters. But I think what stood out to us more was the efforts made to paint over and cover up graffiti. It’s was like a where’s Waldo’s graffiti, but all you saw was mute paint swatches. Every freeway, center divider, over pass, sides of buildings where just covered with blobs of gray paint. And I think I after seeing that I was able to slip into a different perspective. It was almost like a feeling of guilt to see a beautiful place brought down like that. But how could it not? It’s an island. There’s going to be graffiti and they’re going to run out of space. It’s not like San Francisco, where we have this big city, with a ton of graffiti artist, but there not confined to the city. They’ve got north or south. Endless freeways and overpasses. If there were massive walls holding in the city and all the people (in addition to a lot of other crazy shit) we’d see a lot more graffiti, just everywhere.

But either way, I saw some cool work and here are a couple of photos. I'm sure it's not the best the island has to offer, but good stuff either way. I'm a particular fan of Clit.

at last

well well well. who do we have here?

as i was driving through the city i managed to catch a shot of two of favorite bay area writers. pork and phaze. phaze has really developed in style over the last couple of years. i remember the first phaze throwie i saw was off of 92 in San Mateo about two years back. i know he still hits that spot every now and then cause he'll paint over his own piece. it's like he's updating.

and pork is just awesome. i've mostly seen little tags here and there around SF, and one or two etchings. but i've also seen him getting some ups with some larger graffiti like this one. i think what i admire most about pork is the name. hah. but in all seriousness, i love finding writers with cleaver ass names that make you go "dam, that's a good name. why didn't i think of that?!?"

then i also got a shot of this one right off the Vermont street exit. aparently... some one is not to cool with Sick and his buddies. crossed out... that's cold man...

chile

i just remembered that i took this picture back in '07. me and Sydney went down to Chile to visit the various land marks and homes of her (and now mine) favorite poet, Pablo Neruda. we flew into Santiago and spent a day or two there before we jumped on a bus and toured around Chile's coastal towns. but while walking around beautiful Santiago i couldn't help but take pictures of all the awesome graffiti. i have a ton of pictures but for now i'll just post this one.

this wall of stickers and wheat paste caught my eye. the thing i appreciate most about stickers and wheat paste is...you can't mess it up! you make that shit at home! there's no excuse. or as my cousin likes to say "there aint no wack shit!"

this is going to take take a while...

so i had some things to take car of in the city today and i was driving through harrison and 17/16th ish. i ALWAYS find some cool stuff around there. and i realized a couple of things.

thing #1. it's really hard to take a photo on your phone and drive at the same time.
thing #2. this project will be totally bitchn' cause san francisco graffiti is something that will never be depleted.  

thing #3. there's a s-ton of classic graffiti in san francisco that has survived being demo'd, pinted over, torn down and so on. so i'm going to make an extra effort to take some photos of that.

the first thing i was able to snap a shot of today was this top to bottom box truck fill. i know in the past i've seen that type of tree thing used, but i can't remember if it was this same person. either way. i like.

i know some of these a little tough to see. lousy zoom... and not having it... but here's some heaven hits. sweet spots.

and here's something from downtown san mateo. i was walking back to my car and i had to take a picture of this tag. what a sweet spot. this door was clean, with bad ass lighting and just asking to be hit.

 and i have some good news. im charging my camera finally! i can keep it in my car and take actual photos. with zo0om and about 10 more mp.

the new thing

so, here's the thing, i want to blog more, but i have very little to say. or i guess i have a lot to say, but other than my own work i have nothing that's worth reading or writing about. but i have an idea. i've always wanted to somehow document the kick ass street/guerilla art that i see around the city and in my travels. so that's what i'm going to do. there's just so many artists/painter/writers that really inspire  and impress the hell out of me with their styles and ideas. and i also like to fantasize and live vicariously through someone else's graffiti life style...

AND SO

to kick start this new thing of mine. i bring you "chan". usually, no matter where you are in the city there's sure to be a chan throwie somewhere. he's got this distinct style of these tall letters. this photo was taken almost a year ago, but i continue to see him all over the place. keep an eye out next time your in the city. no doubt you'll see him popping up somewhere. street signs, roof tops. most of the time i'll see his stuff along side "phaze" of something, but a little throwie like this can be appreciated all on it's own.

cont. Donkey cowboy

So now I’ve fully developed this idea of a donkey cowboy. But now he’s a sheriff. And the coyote is still just a bad guy. I really like how this is coming along, it’s nice to work on something different. And I think that’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned from this. When I was in class listening to all the other ideas for this project I realized, “man, I always do stuff JUST like that, do I always do typical shit like everyone else?!?” and I dooo… it’s always some post-apocalyptic war torn city blah blah. I mean that stuff is really cool, and it IS a really common element in movies and crap. But what i realize that I need to set my self apart. So why not a sheriff donkey and robbing coyote? And let me tell you, NO ONE had anything even close to the same idea.

Any way. This is my new goal. “Don’t do the crap that you always do!”

I KNOW! i know. it's been a while

So... hey blog... what’s up? I...uh... I know it's been a while. Hope we're still cool. We’re cool right?

I’ve been reviewing last semester in my head and saying, man, WHEN will I find time to post all the work I’ve been doing?!? And, I quickly realize that I really don’t have much to show for… which sucks pretty hard. But I do have one or two things I can post. Which will hopefully follow shortly


But on the other hand! This years summer session I feel that I’ve been doing pretty well. I’m taking color and design and below you will find the exploration of my latest assignment. This project was major specific, so since im visual development, which falls into the illustration category, my project is heavily based on some kind of story. And with the help of my beautiful creative girlfriend, and a growing interest in cowboys, we came up with the idea of a donkey cowboy as the main character. And now that I have a character in mind, I need a setting. At this stage I just need roughs, but by tomorrow afternoon I’ll need to finalize the composition. Still working out the kinks of the story… such as what IS the story. Haha. Anyway. Here’s progress for now.

ok, it's not all donkey, there's a little bit of serpent mixed in too.

enviorment

fresh environment.

i have another week to work on it so i'm going to use that time wisely.

sometimes, figures aren't enough

here's a robot idea i've been playing around with. i found some time tonight to get out a rough sketch in photo shop. rendering the metal was pretty easy with a textured brush, but i think next time i'll really push to refine it, and make the metal more convincing. i could of pushed the wheel and mechanism a little more, but at least i laid down my idea.

Nash out with your Cack out

The Get Up Kids... in a holy reunion of awesome music...and there are tickets in my hands...

April 2, 2009.

-Nash out.

voila, 

here's a more polished off version of this guy. i still have some regrets. like in the shading of the hat, and the bullets around his chest. but all in all, i feel pretty good about it. i think it'll make a decent portfolio piece for now. 

juevos V 3.0

Here’s my third draft of this character, but I still get the feeling that I should pump out a couple more. Either way, I’m SO much happier with this version. The one major upgrade is the face, now he has one. But now I’m left with other decisions to make.

I’m not committed to this color scheme in any way. But it's growing on me. I think I’m going to try and work out some real thick texture for the vest.


And I’m on the fence with the gun going between the legs. I like it and I don't. I think it's an improvement from just straight up and down, but like I said, I’m back and forth on it.


Also, I’m going to work some more detail into the gun.

Here are some ideas I’m playing with. Simple but I feel like they add a certain quality. I added a shoulder holster and two pouches on his belt. The pouches are place holders really, for when I figure out how he carries bullets for his pistol. And I guess that mostly depends on the time period. Because I automatically assumed he didn't have clips. So I says, a pouch!




And from a silhouette stand point... I don't think the pouch on the left will read well...

tienes juevos?

so, here's my progress with this guy. started painting it today. it's going well. and other than totally getting my ass handed to me by other students work, it's going well. but seriously, there's a lot of talented people in this class doing out of this world work.

but future plans for this guy, re-design the face. it's my major weak point and it SHOULD be one of my selling points....

todays class

in todays class i learned that i freaking love umbrellas. the shape is just perfect for story telling. i love how ominous it can be, and how it can represent safety and protection. anyway, here's the best one's of the day.

It's a tough life in Mexico

this is my first character design and im pretty excited about it. here's some sletches i did, and the refined, inked drawing.

this week we're going to toss them in photoshop and start painting them. very exciting. i still feel like i could have pushed the details a lot more, but i kept telling my self i can do it in photoshop. we'll see what kind of feed back i get.

status reports to come!

working out the kinks

so here's this composite i'm working on. luckily im pretty much done, all that's left is the hard part, and that's making all the values work together. i know i need to brightest and darkest in the foreground. muted for the middle ground and really wash it out for the background. but somethings off. can't put my finger on it. maybe i pushed it to much. i usually tend to not push enough.

in addition i feel like it's totally static. mostly cause there's no action. it's really just an environment study. which is ok. i guess you don't always have to go for the glory shots.

going to get the class feed back in like two second...

will report

but in the mean time

take a look.

oh yea, i can paint...

i just did this in class. and it makes me happy. cause im learning how to paint digitally which im quickly becoming addicted to. and i post this cause i have no good work from Clothed Figure... so...yea :(

clothed figure two: week two

here's round two of this class. i feel like i did pretty good this week. what im most happy about is that i know that i've seen a progression with my work.

in clothed figure 1, i felt like i was stuck in my habits and wasn't learning much, especially towards the end of the semester. but for some reason when i walked into clothed figure 2, i was like, " whoa, who is this?" and suddenly i had jumped that hurtle. but i think it's just an artist phase thing. sometimes you progress every day you practice, and others you just have to keep working through all the crap that you produce.

but anyway, no more crap for now, and i'll try to keep it that way

this last one i'm particularly proud of, even though that hat looks really funny and the light patterns are not what they should be. but after this drawing the instructor took a second to say that he really enjoys my style, and that i'm doing very well. 

and he spit in my face the whole time... cause he's from new york.