Random Stuff: 063012

This week was pretty crazy... lots of deadlines and tons of good stuff happening right now. But let's start off with something I was able to finish that I can share here:

Valkyrie (BattleTech) fan art

I haven't painted a mech before so when a chance came to try paint one here's what I came up with.

It's a Valkyrie from BattleTech. I wasn't that familiar with the game but when I did a bit of research I found out that the game is closely related to MechWarrior, which was one of the few PC games that I actually got addicted to. It took me longer to finish than I had originally anticipated due to some projects so I decided that I'd lock myself over the weekend last week just to work on this.

I'm quite happy with it but to be honest it wasn't able to capture the essence of BattleTech. I'm very thankful to a more experienced artist who pointed that out to me and shared a lot of pointers on how an illustrator should think. I'm not sure if I can mention his name here so I won't but it is enough to say that in one email he was able to teach me so much about illustration. Plus it made me think about how important it is to have a mentor who will teach you from experience. So thank God for that.

My make-believe Light Box

I'm also going trad again and so far it's been fun! Well... my output isn't great but I'm loving every minute I spend drawing on this piece of hard plastic hehe!

I try to spend as at least 3 hours working on my Marvel samples everyday while listening/watching documentaries or Beast Wars. It's a reward to myself since this is something I really couldn't do when I had a day job.

Last month my cousin and my older brother were cleaning our storage area and they came across this plastic board (I don't know what it's called) and my old drafting board that I used when I was aggressively pursuing comics around 4 years ago. The plastic came from when I was working in animation around seven years ago so it was really nice to see them both and it made me think long and hard about working with pencils again, something that I haven't done in 3 years or so. Sadly all my drawing stuff is gone except these two so I'm in a mode right now where I'm buying again various drawing implements and messing around with different types of paper that I can get my hands on. It's been really fun but I have to relearn all the stuff that I used to do... heck, I don't even know what type of paper to use anymore!

The "printer-scanner-dvd-psp-Bible-camera-vado-hd" rack.

And then there's the scanner... This one's old... like way old. It can't even scan colored images properly now. Kris and I were supposed to go out and buy a scanner about a week ago but decided not to because she found out where her old scanner was. So I took that home and tried to make it work but apparently Windows 7 doesn't support that model anymore so out of frustration I took out one of my old scanners and tried to make it work. It turned out that the only defect it had was that the lock jammed the "scanning light" and that by simply holding it in place the scanner would work. Dang... and to think that I bought another one because of that (that other scanner by the way got damaged by Ondoy). Now it's back albeit it can only scan in grayscale, which is fine because that's all I need at the moment.

It's been raining heavily these part few days and I haven't had the chance to go out and buy hobby paints so my Sandrock will have to sit in the box for a while. My experiment with Nail Polish as hobby paint substitute failed miserably so I really can't do much except get a new kit to work on.

This is the 1/72 Academy A10 Thunderbird 2 aka Warthog. I've lost all the decals so I'm planning on doing a custom scheme for this... probably a Zeon inspired scheme or whatever.

It sucks that Lil's in Trinoma has closed. That was the nearest place for me to get my Tamiya paints. Now I have to go to either Makati or Megamall to get my paints. Bummer.

And to cap off this entry: Grimlock, the only toy in the above 1k range that I actually paid retail for.

Night guys and God bless!

Me Grimlock say, you so small!

The Adventures of Hanuman

The Adventures of Hanuman, please visit
the site :)

Here's something that I finished last week. It's an illustration that my client will be using for a play entitled "The Adventures of Hanuman". I don't know when they'll be performing but please do check out their site and if you can, please watch their show :)

Anyway... I missed Toy Con because I was working on this. I was supposed to go with Kris and meet some friends there... and hopefully snag a toy or two but I wasn't able to come because I was working on this poster.

That's the hard reality of working freelance I guess. While it is true that I have time in my hands in the sense that I can move my schedule around, the reality is that I tend to spend more time working. But that is ok for now.

The thing is I've just gotten back to digital painting and it's been quite a struggle to relearn all the stuff that I've forgotten. I'm praying that this poster sets me in the proper groove to take in more painting commissions. It's been fun however and working on multiple characters are always a challenge.

In other news: I'm off to get myself a scanner tomorrow hehe... I'm going back to pencils when I work on my comics. But before that, an update on what I'm working on right now:

Mechs, I love them to the core!

Beast Mode!

Optimus Primal, monkey!

Remember Beast Wars? I've been kept company by this show while I was working on a painting for a client and I must say I am surprised by how less I know about it. I don't know, I've been a big fan since I was in high school and I used to think I know a lot but rewatching it again made me feel like everything about it is new. I mean, Optimus Primal still looks horrible in the CG but the story is very interesting even by today's standards (well, for me at least).

Anyway, I've been pretty busy working on a poster for a client and I've asked him for permission to post my work... am still waiting for his feedback so there's not much art to post just yet.

So I took a break after submitting the final art for the project yesterday, missed ToyCon and wasn't able to meet up with friends. Good thin I was able to spend the remainder of the evening watching movies with my older brother and cousin or else I'd really be down. Spent my Sunday celebrating Father's Day plus another movie before deciding to watch some more Beast Wars sketch just to cap the night.

Here's Sunny! Hope to paint him real soon.

Making Time

Two hours a day at most for now... client is waiting hehe...

Things are pretty hectic with me right now, what with me working on a painting for a client and doing the samples for Marvel at the same time. To further complicate things, I find it hard to concentrate on working without doing other things on the side. It's just me, I'm a full-time hobbyist.

Don't get me wrong though, I do not mean that I multi-task. That's not good, specially for the brain. What I do mean is that I need to take time to do other stuff even if that's just 30 minutes a day. Specially on days when I need to work on some major stuff for my career.

Sunstreaker... all dusted and ready to go back 

the shelf.

To keep my sanity I build kits for at least 30 minutes a day. I also occasionally take one of my Transformers and do the ritualistic "clean with a toothbrush, transform one or twice" routine, watch an anime episode and when I can, play guitar.

This has now been part of a typical work day  for me and I integrate them well into my system. According to Bryan Tracey, you need to carve out at least one to two hours for significant tasks and that's what I try to do with the projects and portfolio building stuff.  The hobbies I insert between those hours and do them when I'm really burned up.

Funny how I can set time to do these hobbies and let go of the most important thing that I should be doing.

Sandrock, a gift that Manay gave me way back

in college and has only tasted  primer paint 
this year.

I've recently come across a recent challenge in my spiritual life and I believe that the Lord used this to remind me of what I've been missing out.

You see, when I started getting serious about working freelance I let go of a lot of things. I moved to a Church that was nearer our place but I wasn't able to integrate myself yet as much as I was in my parent church. Before, I used to lead a Bible Study group and I was teaching in the afternoons at Kid's Church and was also doing art for our congregation. These things however, I believed, took time that I should have been spending with my art and so that's what I did: I practically removed myself from church work except to go there to attend service. I know that during that time trimming down tasks was needed but I think I overstayed in that place for far too long and went overboard and it's time to go return.

After I felt the Lord telling me to go back I went to my sister and her husband to get counsel and to ask for prayers. I'm really really thankful for having them in my life and for being the people to introduce me to Christ and I knew that should I get lost they were the ones I could go to for help and guidance. We prayed together and they laid hands on me and my sister told me that perhaps I should make time for the Lord.

Make time. That was what I needed to do all along. I've been trapped in pursuing this goal of freelancing for far too long that I have forgotten the blessings that I've received from God along the way. I know there are a lot of skeptics out there who would say that the good stuff that's happened to me happened because I worked for them but the truth is no matter how hard I worked if God hadn't given me the opportunities then all the stuff I've been doing would be laid to waste. It's quite a long story and one day I'll write them down and when I do I'm sure you'll see how God has been working in helping me pursue my dreams (and even my gf's too.).

So it's time to "Make Time" for Him. I know that even if I don't do this God will continue to bless me out of love. That's what He's been doing all this time. But I feel the need to go back and work in church again. I want to meet new Christian friends and meet the old ones that I've left behind. I also want to get involved in a Bible Study Group again although this time not in a lead position as I feel the need to renew myself. Doing these things won't earn me salvation, he's given that already but doing so will help me strengthen my spiritual life and help me get to enjoy His presence in my life more.

So God bless guys and be safe :)

Art Jamming

Holy Crap!

I have been busy working on a poster project for a client in Texas these past few days and I haven't been able to work as much on my Marvel samples. As much as I'd love to spend all my time working them I have decided to start taking in projects this June.

Vacation's over hehe :)

This was a long time coming. I don't know how long I have been planning on going freelance since I've been thinking about it for so long. What I do know is that I started taking concrete steps towards that goal around almost a year ago when I started doing digital paintings for our art jam.

I remember staying up late every day and being happy with 4 hours of sleep since August last year. I've given up all my other activities save those that I do with my family and some time with church so that I can work on my digital paintings. I did not attend our company outing because I needed to finish the Transformers samples I was working on so I could move on to studying painting, not going out on weekends and the countless hours Kris and I spent talking about art and how we would want our careers to progress. I also cut back on my spending so that I'd have a money to go around with while I rest and practice.

The most important thing I did however, that has had the most impact so far, was the art jam. Every two weeks Kris and I promised to each other that we would come up with a new digital painting. Soon we had officemates join us until eventually people got busy again and we eventually stopped doing them. I had to quit when I started having those illustration gigs that ate up all my free time. It did however serve it's purpose, and I got around 8 digital paintings from those jams that I show to prospective clients.

Last Wednesday Kris and I talked about having our own art jam again because we both knew we needed to do some massive portfolio building. I know we both are terribly busy right now with work but I really do hope we get to do some more art just for ourselves. That got us started on this path and I'm hoping that doing so again would open up more opportunities for both of us.

Lines Oh My!

Beast: Kabagal mo na man kasi magdrawing...

I have just started tightening the pencils on my second submission to Marvel and I do feel a bit guilty for myself because it feels like I'm taking my time on this way too much.

But I think that is what I need to do right now.

There are a lot of things that I know I need to fix with my art and majority of those came from a lack of applying the basics that I know. I guess I got carried away with the excitement of drawing my first set of samples that I focused too much on making my work look like it was a comic book instead of focusing on the basics. This time around, I'm going to take their advice and focus on my fundamentals. This means making my art more stripped down, no flashy shading, just lineart.

This might look like it's a step backward but really, it isn't. I believe my weaknesses came from the fact that I lacked a thorough understanding of the basics: form, anatomy and storytelling. Doing lineart for now will help expose the areas that I need to work on, plus without the help of blacks I will be forced to make sure that all the elements that I draw are in their proper places.

So yeah... for my friends who've known me for since college they'll know that I'm happy with this approach and that's because I love doing lineart! If given a choice I'd stay away from shading for now because that's something I'm still working on plus as it turned out, my basics still need improving.

Time to study them animation books hehe!

Leprechaun!

Here's something I did for a client last week.  Hope you guys like it :)

I also just received an email from Marvel giving me pointers on the areas that I need to work on. This means that my first submission didn't make the cut but it also means that I'm still in the program so a big YES, I AM HAPPY RIGHT NOW!

I miss the days when I went to comic book conventions here in the Philippines and showed my work to potential employers. The reason I haven't been doing that recently was because I felt my current portfolio is in dire need of an update. I don't have a lot of superheroes there and that is the main market for the projects that I am gunning for.

I really don't know. Right now I have to admit that after taking a very long break from drawing comics I'm in a bit of a struggle. But hey, God has taken me this far, I don't think he's just going to leave me hanging.


Please do check out my DA at www.bryansevilla.deviantart.com

God bless!

Yup! Just a mish-mash of some random bits and pieces of sketches that I did this week. Some of the stuff I can't post just yet.

I did a lot of documentation today... that's one of the stuff that takes me away from my Wacom but hey... we do what needs to get done :)