HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

After receiving my new tablet, here's what I came up with :) .Enjoy and be Merry!

Bamboo Arrives

Yay. This morning my Bamboo tablet arrived by FedEx. It's very portable looking and it's a perfect accessory for my laptop. I now own 3 Wacom tablets and I've decided to give one of them to my younger sister as a present. She's already making use of it, in fact she's drawing on her computer right now as I'm writing this, haha. Cute. Below is my rendition of the 'Wild Bamboo Baboon'.


And oh...a big thank to Graffiti and Wacom for the prize! ;) . Now what I need next is a 21" Cintiq tablet, haha.

Graffiti Slideshow

A gallery slide show of my latest digital sketches. Enjoy!

Reconnect

Wow what a gathering. My former mates and I had a get together last Friday. The pic was taken at Boston pizza. Unfortunately four other guys couldn't make it that night but there's still plenty opportunities for that. This was the tight group of friends I really vibe with when it came to art and creating ideas. I just find it interesting and amusing how everybody is being reconnected this year. It's been 10 years since I had some good laughs together with these guys (some of them I met a couple of years after).

2008 is around the corner and I'm so looking forward to it.

Making a difference

Dave Watkins. Wow, haha. I know this guy! From wayyy back at 'Shockstudios'. In fact he's in the picture from my previous postings. I think this news is cool and worthy of noting. I just found out that he received the Governor General's Award for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History last month. Big props and congrats Dave. Good for him. The man has 'delivered', haha.

On another awesome note. Wacom sponsored a drawing contest called 'Graffiti Monster Contest' on Facebook and guess who won?? :D hehe. From what I took as my daily digital sketches, turned into something fun ;).

There were 6 categories and the rules were that only one artist can win in any set. A lot of people entered and I think they said over five thousand or ten thousand entries. Yikes. Over 500,000+ voters. 4 of my pieces made it to the top 150. Afterwards the judges then picked the final winners and posted it on the site. When I found the results that two of my entries won..(that meant I was going to receive 2 Wacom tablets?!), haha, it was just too good to be true. And indeed it was :(, Booo, lol. Well they made a mistake with the voting, haha, dang. I'm still getting my prize and it was nice of them to add a direct link to my piece.
Check here and view the gallery page and see the whole story.

Talent and Brains

I've been hearing this song all over the place, 'No One' by Alicia Keyes. My youngest sister has been singing and lovin' that song at home and I think it diggin' it too...big time. Actually I love this song! I had to check out the video on Youtube. Wow, after watching it I've become a bigger fan of hers than ever. Keep it flowin' Miss Keyes.

Currys and spice and everything nice

Hahaha. Something made my day today...actually this whole week! (Combattler V Unite! ) Anywho...

It's been a hectic week (my cold/allergy is gone, wohoo!) but here's some recent graff doodles.

I went to the Curry's art supply today and bought new materials for my airbrushing and painting. Man I love that store. It always feels like Christmas every time I'm in there, hehe. I couldn't resist buying a new sketchbook. This time I got one for my lil sister. :) She loves to draw as well so I just had to get her one. I was proud of her when she told me she's the best artist in her class. Sweet! Well, as the older brother I do my best to pass on what I know.

GOW - Band of brothers

Speaking of brothers, here's a fun pic of my three siblings and I in the Gears of War universe, lol.

Camaraderie

I found this old gem this morning in my computer. 'Shockstudios'. It was an art studio I belonged to about 11 years ago. Those were fun great times. I was young, naive and so eager back then. I wanted a career as an artist and so I dedicated my whole summer coming to the studio pretty much everyday drawing, and painting. I loved the vibe and made some really cool friends. There's an energy that gets filled with creative ideas and unlimited brainstorming sessions. We all inspired and have great respects for each individual.

Fast forward a decade later, I'm doing what I love doing and still in touch with the guys. In fact I had a get together with them last weekend. So much time has passed and a lot of things have happened. Like a band of brothers that went to war, the trials and tribulations we all went through, we never lost that common thing: Working as a team and staying true to our goals. No man was any better and ego's was set aside. A 'camaraderie' we all know that's always present.

Monster Exercise

Thanks to Facebook's Graffiti Application, I've been doing a lot more digital sketches lately. This exercise is great. My favourite feature on it is the cool 'Replay' button where you can review the drawing process from start to finish. You can even adjust the speed of the animation, either in slow motion or time lapse manner.
Also applying my new speed painting techniques, I'm trying it out on some concept vehicles as well. Guys like Alex Jaeger, Sparth and most of the artists at Gnomon Workshop have been very inspirational. I think by the end of the year I'll have plenty of materials to put an art book together, hehe :D. But importantly my goal is to put several films and television projects under my belt...hmm. Visual Effects Art Director, that would be sweet.

Bringing things to life.

I love collaborating with cool, passionate people. And one of them is director/writer and actor Peter McGennis, Jr. I mean just look at that picture below. Too cool. haha.


It was nice of him and his son to visit my shop on the weekend. They were both very impressed with my custom works. At the end of the day I airbrushed a shirt for his son.

For the past few months I've been very fortunate to be working with Peter on storyboarding and illustrating the comic book materials for his film Buffalo Bushido. (www.buffalobushido.com) He's shown me the rough cuts and man it looks sweet. It was just cool to watch because he's also in the movie portraying the lead character along side with the stunning actress Leila Arcieri.

The film is slated for 2008 release and will be hitting up the film festival circuit throughout the year. I'm just hyped!

Facebook Graffiti

Graffiti is a really cool drawing application on Facebook where anyone can post just about anything. Recently they've added a Public Gallery section and wow there are a lot of entries. I'm somehow hooked on this cute lil program. I think my fav feature on it is the 'Replay' button where you get to see an animated time-lapse of the work from start to finish. (with adjustable speed) You can only view it though through a flash program or as a member.

Anyways, here's just some of my sketches. Enjoy!

Life Drawing - Day 6

Well the life drawing sessions are finally over. I decided to showcase most of the sketches I've done from today which ain't too bad. I feel that my skills drawing with the tablet has improved a lot. It's time to apply this to my painting sessions and concept designs.


Here's something I'm having fun with.

A new month

Hello November. Time seems to fly by so quickly, I can't believe we're down to two more months and then bam it's 2008. I'm not looking forward to Winter.

Well as usual the kids had a lot of fun on Halloween. My lil sis came back with two bags full of treats. I've put away my share of the sweet goods for those long late night working hours, lol.




Here's Tuesday's life drawing sketches. Enjoy the rest of the pics.

Evil Pumpkins

Well Halloween is around the corner..actually it's tomorrow! My mom bought two pumpkins for me to carve. I had some fun doing these and it's been years since I've done them. The seeds were later roasted with some salt and spices. Damm they're so addictive, I'm eating some of them now as I write this, lol.



It's Tuesday and time for another round of life drawing class. I didn't get the chance to upload last week's sketches so here it is.

Hulking out

Day 3 of Life drawing class. Today was alright. I was hoping for a female model though, instead we had another male to pose for the class. I just had to make this a little bit more interesting.I couldn't help but have some fun sketching a Marvel character, lol. Speaking of which let's hope the sequel for 'Hulk' goes well. Enjoy!

Mural Memories

I found some old pics of my early airbrushing gigs online while I was Googling for stuff on murals and graffiti. It's been a while since I last visited the place where we did these murals over a decade ago. It was during this summer that I got my first hands on an airbrush tool. It was sunny and hot, but man I had fun and learned a lot.

I've always wondered what the condition of the artwork looks like now. I was shocked to find out that most of that artwork have deteriorated. Some have started flaking and have peeled off the walls. I just learned that it may have been due to the poor base that was done prior to the work. When I first started working, the walls have already been primed. The images on the large areas were drawn and laid out. After completion the whole mural was supposed to be sprayed with a sealant or 'graffiti-proofed'. Man, I'm not sure how long that lasted, lol.

For a while the project program helped revitalized the neighborhood and made it more welcoming for family and kids. Now after looking at some of these recent pics, I don't know. Just too bad and sad really.

Anyways here's to some great memories.

Digital sketching

Took some time to do some sketching today and did up some personal concepts. I've posted up last Tuesdays life drawing work as well. I just mainly focused on the light and shadows area with this plus I was tinkering with the brush settings on Photoshop. It was pretty fun.


My art teacher made a comment on how I barely looked down on my tablet while drawing. (Wait 'till I get my hands on a Cintiq! ;)) She gave it a try and was just amazed how far technology has come. I saved her sketched here, hehe :P.. She's awesome though because I learned a lot about art from her.


She's old school and still loves the traditional medium. But hey I do too that's why airbrush and paint during weekends. Besides, I love both mediums. I'm itching to do some oil paintings and that is something I haven't done in a long while.

Life drawing at CCAA - Day 1

I decided to attend Life Drawing classes today at my old high school. My former art teacher actually does these sessions about twice a year. Today was fun although there was less attendance from the previous class. Before leaving from home I contemplated whether to bring my sketch book, pencils and markers. Then it dawned on me; why not bring my laptop and Wacom tablet instead and do it all digitally. The result was very interesting and surprised everyone in class, hehe. Hey after all we are in the Digital Era.

Well I'm looking forward to the next class. Maybe I'll experiment with the different brush modes and add colors while at it ;)

Cousins Wedding #3

*Whew..what a weekend. I took the day off from Taats on Sunday to attend my cousins wedding. To simply put, it was fun and awesome. The ceremony, and reception locations were great specially the picture perfect weather. Well here are the pics. Enjoy.

Wedding #3

Well another member of our family is getting married this year. Gonna be putting on the suit I bought way back in January from Houston. The only thing different will be the color of the tie. The couples theme this time is Burnt Orange. Can't wait for Sunday ;)

Without spoiling things too much here's a sneak of what I've been working on as well as recent projects I've done recently. Enjoy!

TAATS - Toronto Tattoo School!

Well the day has finally arrived! At exactly 6:30pm (EST), our tattoo school officially began with its first day of class. I simply observed and listened while my cousin and one of our hired artists went on to introduce to the class the principle basics of tattooing and safety methods. As well as giving the general course outline. Of course I had to take digital videos/pictures of this momentous day ;)

From what sounded like pipe dreams just over a couple of years ago, to now having a fully realized vision. I think we've come a long way considering what we've started out as. From doing temporary tattoos at the flea market, to providing custom airbrush art service, permanent tattoos, to an actual school/parlor shop in the downtown location... It's just sweet!

A major task I have to do is finish up those mural canvases to spice up the workshop space (the pics below is just the class room). I've started sketching out the ideas and I can't wait to do this one huge wall on our main lounge area. It's going to be one crazy gallery and I hope and my goal is for people, when they visit, to be inspired and have a good vibe about our place.



Well, here are the pics for you to enjoy! Sorry it's not much. Luckily one of our students managed to take some cool shots at the end of the lovely Taated grapefruits!, Haha. I've got several video clips as well but I'll post those up later on Youtube ;) Alllrights!

-Marv-