The Usher 2009

I wanted to blog about taking an opportunity to create artwork form nothing at all. Last night I was working on some artwork and came across a topic that has been making its way through a Halloween Horror Nights fan forum. And decided that it would be the right time to create something new from the topic that was being discussed.

It is important to stay in tune with your surrounding as an artist, because as an artist you are constantly being influenced. And so if your being influenced then the best course of action is to benefit from it.

As this topic was being thrown around I was reading the threads and ideas would pop into my mind as to how that character would look like. The Character in question is dubbed THE USHER. So several people had in mind a movie theater Usher that would guide people in to a hellish nightmare of horror. I in turn was going with the Usher of Death, which to me held more weight as far as character design goes.

Then I started to envision the theater, the lighting of the environment, and the over all feel of an old movie house with a slightly deranged Usher leading people to their death. And it hit me all at once that perhaps what these people saw in their minds was exactly what I saw.

So I started to create some quick sketches of the Usher, and came up with a neat idea of the lighting, to be from above to give the character its signature sinister look.

So in hind site it turned out really good because I used a method for the lighting that I normally don't use. And so the lesson for today is, no matter what is going on around you. Make sure to keep creating artwork, a lot of the time its things like these that make for really great work.

JAWS Painting for Michael Roddy

Jaws is a 1975 American thriller directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's best-selling novel. The police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant great white shark by closing the beach, only to be overruled by the town council, which wants the beach to remain open to draw a profit from tourists during the summer season. After several attacks, the police chief enlists the help of a marine biologist and a professional shark hunter. Roy Scheider stars as police chief Martin Brody, Richard Dreyfuss as marine biologist Matt Hooper, Robert Shaw as shark hunter Quint, Lorraine Gary as Brody's wife Ellen, and Murray Hamilton as Mayor Larry Vaughn.

Michael Roddy is a fan of my work which is extremely flattering. One would think that it should be the other way around, due to the great work that he does. An industry giant, no pun intended that has the same love for classic horror and Sci-fi films as I do. Not only am I a fan of his works such as The Shark Still Works, and MonsterKIDS, but I consider him a good friend. So upon request I have created a painting of the Cage Scene from Jaws. The Character in the image is ( Quint ) played by Robert Shaw. It's Michael's favorite scene.

I like the climactic death of Quint scene better, but I won't be painting that one anytime soon. Over all the film and book remain one of my favorites.

Tech Notes:

Total sketching/painting 1 Hr.
Native Resolution 14" X 10"
Software CS2 ( Photoshop ) & Graphire3 Tablet
Reference Youtube.com

Howl O Scream Raven Twins ( Inspired Artwork )

The Raven Twin's were the Icons for Howl O Scream 2008. Here I was inspired to create a portrait of the twins in concept format. I used a reference photo from the internet and Photoshop. I then created a line drawing or sketch of the twins and applied the color and detail. This became part of my portfolio for Busch Gardens Howl O Sream.

Quick Render ( Dead Silence - Mary Shaw )

Nothing to exciting here really I was bored and sketched Mary Shaw really fast to get rid of the art jitters. Some people drink, I draw! he he

Bloody Mary HHN18 ( Inspired artwork )

I know it's a bit late but I just started posting on Blogger. But here is a portrait I did in Photoshop of last year's Halloween Horror Nights 18 Icon, Bloody Mary.

As the story goes Mary started out as Mary Agana a coo-koo doctor that was using her patients to treat her fear of death. In the long run a grumpy patient dragged our fair lady through a mirrored glass and thus ending her suffering.

As a result the fine Doctor, become Bloody Mary and now til this day waits for unwilling victims to chant her name in order for her to appear in the mirror and " play " with them.

For this image I used an image that Universal used for the promotion of the annual event. It was a fun project for me and it was my first attempt at "PAINTING" in Photoshop. I am truly happy with the results. I finally nailed the lighting and the emotion of the icon. It was later printed and used in my portfolio that I submitted to Universal for a concept position. Earning me the title of Creative Temp, so I look forward to a bright, and exciting future at Universal and abroad.

Beast

This is my first attempt at making digital artwork for a portrait. I used CS2 Photoshop and my handy dandy Graphire3 tablet.

I used a photo reference from the Internet. My method of creating artwork is the same as it is now. lineart layer, and color layer.

I was never happy with the hair but since then I have studied several tutorials dealing with this and I continue to practice!

Hell Boy

Here is a Hell Boy portrait that I created using CS2 Photoshop and a Graphire3 tablet. I am still having trouble creating portraits and so I will keep practicing. But for now and for this one I am satisfied with.

Done with three layers
1. Lineart ( Sketch )
2. Color ( Main Painting )
3. Overlay layer for smoke effect.

I used the standard hard brush, soft brush, and chalk brush.

I also implemented a cross hatch method which I don't often use and I am happy with the results.

My Method to Digital Paintings

I have been asked by other artist and people in general, how I go about creating concept art. And for me I take a traditional approach to my work. And so I like to help people out and I love to study art! I feel that it benefits everyone including myself. so I have posted a sudo-tutorial of how I work.



Step 1. ( THE SKETCH ) I usually create a sketch or mock up drawing using whatever is near me at the time be it a sketch pad, or Photoshop. I am constantly on Photoshop so I find that it is easy for me to create a sketch there, and it helps me get used to my tablet. I create a layer so that it is separate from the " BACKGROUND " layer. It comes in handy later.

The sketch should be lose and free of any kind of traditional training. Don't worry too much about anatomy and size, just lay down the basic idea! This is the time to get whats in your head and translate it to paper or in this case to a digital file. So for me I sketch freely, a lot of the time my sketches look very rudimentary. But again it's ok with me.



Step 2. ( COLOR ) Basic color. Basic color is exactly that a solid color that is applied underneath your sketch layer. So to do this I create a another layer, on this layer I start to think about how I will LIGHT the subject. From the top, side, under, it varies. I play around with this later on, but for now I just always use top light.

Step 3. ( LIGHTING ) So I use the DODGE, and BURN tool in Photoshop to do this. I set the OPACITY at 20-40% and FLOW to 50% this gives me a very nice set of dynamics, and it doesn't blow out my lighting. At this point you don't want to focus on anything else but getting your subject to have the correct source of light and cast the shadows in the right direction as well. And so here we have the subject being lit from the top meaning that all the light is hitting the subjects Head, Back For arms, etc. and the shadows should be the opposite of what you light. This is real important to nail down, it's the difference between a life like subject and a cartoon type subject. I have struggled very much with this in the past. So to help me I practice sketching objects in different lighting situations.



Step 4. ( COLOR AND TEXTURE ) Is simply that on the same COLOR layer that I previously applied the lighting on, I start applying color. At this point I select a Charcoal type brush set the OPACITY to 10-20% FLOW at 50% and start applying color. I like to blend different colors to give the illusion of texture on Flesh. This varies from subject to subject as do the brushes, but I always use the standard Photoshop brushes. I have played around with custom brushes but that is for another Tutorial. Once the color is down we can start thinking about detail. At this point you need to decide is this a concept or a finished piece.

For the sake of this tutorial, I am treating this as a concept sketch. So I will keep it lose and the level of detail will be minimal, as to save time I will produce about 20 of these little sketches in a few hours. So the goal here is to remember your training and produce a comprehensible concept(s) in a short amount of time.



Step 5. ( CLEAN UP ) This part is a no " brainer " it is time to clean up the sketch. I set my standard solid round ERASER tool at 60% OPACITY and 50% FLOW this is simply preference. For me the settings above are a bit of my style, I like to have them look like sketches on paper even tho they were digitally created. So its up to you.




And here you can see the final sketch with COLOR, LIGHTING, DETAIL, and CLEAN UP. And at this point I save out the PSD file and start on another one. Usually when I sketch in black and white I tend to do several so I have about 20 different versions of this monster so the process is easy.

I hope this tutorial has been helpful and you have learned from it. Good luck and remember if it isn't fun then your in the wrong profession!

Good day all.

Movie Maniacs

Jason Voorhees is a fictional character from the Friday the 13th series of slasher films. He first appeared in Friday the 13th (1980), as the son of camp cook-turned-murderer Mrs. Voorhees, in which he was portrayed by Ari Lehman. Created in combination by Victor Miller, Ron Kurz, Sean S. Cunningham and Tom Savini, he was not originally intended to carry the series as the main villain. Jason Voorhees has also been represented in numerous novels, comic books, and a cross-over film with another horror legend, Freddy Krueger.

Freddy Krueger is a fictional supernatural serial killer from the A Nightmare on Elm Street series of films. He is the only character to have appeared in every film in the series.

Created by Wes Craven and portrayed by actor Robert Englund in eight films and a TV series between 1984 and 2003, he is an undead serial killer, who can attack his victims from within their own dreams. Freddy is commonly identified by his burned, disfigured face, red and dark green striped sweater, brown fedora hat, and trademark metal-clawed brown leather glove. Wizard magazine rated him the 14th greatest villain,[1] the British television channel Sky2 listed him 8th, and the American Film Institute ranked him 40th on its "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains" list.

Wes Craven claims his inspiration for the basis of Krueger's power stemmed from several stories in the Los Angeles Times about a series of mysterious deaths: All the victims had reported recurring nightmares beforehand, and died in their sleep. Physically, Craven's inspirations for Freddy included a homeless man who had frightened Craven as a youth and a bully at his school. The 1970s pop song "Dream Weaver" by Gary Wright sealed the story for Craven, giving him not only a creative springboard, but the synthesizer riff from the Elm Street soundtrack.

Leatherface is a fictional character and main antagonist in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre horror-film series. One of the first slasher film villains, he has appeared in all six of the series' films since the release of the original, in 1974. The character wears masks made of human skin (a practice which led to his name) and engages in cannibalism.

The series portrays Leatherface as "severely mentally retarded and mentally disturbed"[cite this quote]. He often uses a chainsaw and sledgehammer to slaughter his victims. He lives with a family of fellow-cannibals, who are often abusive and violent towards him. The character was loosely inspired by serial killer Ed Gein, who also wore the skin of his victims.

These 3 Characters are what I like to call " The 3 Kings " were part of Halloween Horror Nights 17 The Carnival Of Carnage. I love to attend HHN and so I was inspired to create the Kings in concept art Format.