Soap Bottle

hello everybody!

i finished another little project recently - friend of mine wanted a soap bottle decorated. i don't have much experience painting glass (much less glass objects that will have frequent contact with water) but after getting advice from a pro i was able to paint and bake this:


the friend i painted it for used to live in the netherlands, so i went with a delft blue theme







anyway that's all - next project: getting read to go to china!!!!

hello friends!

my apologies for another delayed entry, although i suppose that is to be expected with this blog....

anyway i went to chicago recently to attend my sister's graduation and help her move back home! congratulations sister! of course while i was there i had to take advantage of the opportunity to visit the wade center (brief recap: the wade center is a research center/library/museum at wheaton college that celebrates 7 british authors including j.r.r tolkien and c.s. lewis, and my eustace painting was displayed in an exhibit this past semester)

to get there i had to go through a magical wardrobe.... (on a side note, this is the very wardrobe that inspired c.s. lewis ooOOOOoooo)




found the wade center! look how cute it is :P




checking out the area by the lamppost à la lucy pevensie




and last but not least, the painting:




it was quite an adventure :) up next: painted soap bottle, stay tuned..........

greetings friends~

i'm back....surprise!!!! once again i apologize for dropping off the face of the planet. the fact is i haven't been drawing much lately (or actually i've been doing drawings of a different kind - using autocad to make diagrams for patents). unfortunately i've had to put the illustrating on hold for a bit - at least until the author finds a publisher - there have been some complications there. in the meantime i'm doing odd jobs (need a chinese tutor, anyone?) and trying to save up money. my hope is to go back to china this summer, and.....it's official, i will be attending a&m starting this fall to get my masters in visualization! for those who look at that and still have no idea what i will be studying, i will be working with digital media to create art (including computer animation and such). i'm excited but kind of nervous at the prospect of starting school again. we'll see how it goes!

on a side note - i will be turning in my updated eustace painting (which has been printed on gorgeous brushed aluminum btw) this weekend. it's not for anything prestigious - i'm just entering it in an exhibit called "new life in christ" at my church. i thought the scene in "voyage of the dawn treader" where eustace is "reborn" as a human was a perfect, if somewhat graphic, metaphor for that process. it may be a little different from the other entries, but hopefully the viewers will be able to get the message :P

opposites: big and small

"opposites circus"

beginning of the next book :)

FINAL final eustace painting

alright, for your viewing pleasure......



this is it, i'm not going to work on it anymore haha. i finalized aslan's fadeout (he is supposed to fade - makes him feel more otherworldly - plus if i remember correctly he did magically transport to that location in the book). i also changed the surface of the water a bit, and.........i adjusted the boy's skin color. if anyone else tells me it's still too purple i just might cry -_-

just joshin' - but i don't think i will change the skin anymore. i like the way the added orange contrasts with the dragon skin, but i don't want to make him blend too much with the background. so.....there you go :)

3 things.....

1. correction: here is a revised copy of the first image in the story "peep." see the difference? look harder......haha i'm just joshing, i'll tell you - i gave the duck a head and a second leg. my original idea had been for the duck to be sleeping on one leg (which they do) with its head under its wing, but apparently it didn't translate too well. so now it's fixed, and to use a quote from a friend it doesn't look like "half a duck" anymore



2. i drew this while subbing (don't worry, it was an art class and the students were all peacefully working on their own projects). it's an elephant mouse:



and 3. it's official - my "eustace" painting is going to be displayed in the wade center at wheaton college in chicago! (for more information on the wade center go to http://www.wheaton.edu/wadecenter/) in their own words "The Marion E. Wade Center of Wheaton College, Illinois is a major research collection of materials by and about seven British authors: Owen Barfield, G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald, Dorothy L. Sayers, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams." (from this link http://www.wheaton.edu/wadecenter/welcome/welcome.html). i'm told the painting will be placed in a c.s. lewis exhibit in their museum :) so exciting! if any of you are in the area, go check it out! the final version of "updated eustace" to be finished and posted online soon.........

peeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

howdy folks!

well i'm still on break from the eustace painting. sorry i haven't posted in a while, but not posting does NOT mean i haven't been busy, so.....for your viewing pleasure: illustrations for book #4!

it's a story about a baby chick finally growing up to have his own farm call. i'm assuming the story is meant to teach children about some different farm animals (and the noises they make). anyway, i'm loving painting the animals :P

oops, so it looks like my posting the updated eustace might have been a bit premature XD after taking into account some helpful criticism and having a chance to look at it a bit more, i still want to make some revisions (for example in regards to his unusually purple skin). as i still have a while until the exhibit however, i'm not going to work on/think about/or even look at (if possible) this piece until two weeks from this coming monday. i hope to be able to come back to it with new eyes :P until then....i'll work on other things.

new and improved eustace

so....after hours of intensive labor and a computer meltdown i have finished revising my "eustace" piece! although the original will always have a special place in my heart, i do think this one is much improved. i'm so excited! (especially about the wings and "shiny aslan"). the exhibit is still a while away, so i'll have plenty of time to get it printed. enjoy.......
(made with oils and photoshop for those who are curious)

heads up!

hello everybody!

so, i've had to put my monster drawing on hold - but the good news is i'm working really hard revamping my "eustace" painting in photoshop. it's going to be quite different - be excited - because i'm essentially repainting most of it and making a few major additions. i'm planning to make a print and enter it in an art exhibit (i'll explain more details when it gets closer to that time). why make a print instead of working on the original you ask? well, that would be because......dun dun dun.....the original painting is currently with my sister up at wheaton with the POSSIBILITY (discussions are still underway) of having it exhibited in a c.s. lewis exhibit in the campus museum! that's right folks, wheaton college, which has a major c.s. lewis center, may be showing my painting. it's not definite yet, but here's hoping :P

all right, folks,

here is the tshirt design mock-up #3 :P

another t-shirt design

hey folks~

well, my client has decided to go in a different direction, but i wanted to post band t-shirt design #2!

hi friends!

i'm taking a short break and working on another fun piece! i know i should probably be patient and wait until it's finished, but i was too excited and wanted to go ahead and post - so, here's part of the work in progress.