Characters for "The Land of Creativity"

These were character designs for a group project I had to do for my Senior Projects class. We decided to make a children's book that would teach children about some of the broad career categories a person can take as an artist. The demographic was 4th and 5th graders, but the character designs were made to have appeal to older audiences along with jokes and implied meaning only older readers would catch.

Bear on a Motorcycle

Bears are fun. Happy bears are better.

Conspiracy

From top to bottom; Unease, Suspicion and Alert.

J. Greyson

Greyson is a character I made up for a story who got used in some later assignments. He comes from a fictionalized version of America in the early 50's and returns home a nearly broken man after fighting in WWII (with an abundance of scars to show for it). When using him in my the assignment I decided to draw him without his scars as it's so loaded with meaning it could detract from the focus of the pictures.

Roar of the Sea Serpent

"Roar of the Sea Serpent" was made for Kevin Luong and created with consideration to his own artistic tastes like "The Desert Android" was for his brother, Brian. Kevin creates great bold imagery in limited color palettes that look sharp on shirts, poster and practically anything graphic. In this picture violent waves thrash about under a lightning torn sky as the sea serpents body arcs powerfully before rearing its feathered head at the viewer.

This image is also the current banner for this blog, which shows the image in stages of its creation from pencil to color.

If you would like to check out Kevin's blog follow this link, i am kevin luong

The Desert Android

This image was a gift for one of my peers, Brian Luong. In theme of one of his own story's the familiar android from my past art is bathed in the radiant, glow of the blue relic while desert sands swirl and whip into a figure eight behind him. While I can't replicate Brian's highly rendered digital painting style, I labored on a higher than regular level of value (for me) and brought into play some themes he favorites in homage to his work.

If you want to see Brian's blog follow this link, The Art of Brian Luong

The Future of Space Travel

This was an exercise where I made a magazine cover illustration for an article based on NASA's 100-year Starship Project. With the speculative nature of the 100-year Starship Project, I didn't want to present a design of a fantastic space shuttle (that would have been too easy.) Instead I focused on the human element and what the idea of space exploration means to our species. Space has always been a frontier that captures people's imagination and fuels the dreams and aspirations of the future. The act of leaving our planet and setting foot on another rock outside our atmosphere was an act we would heave never been able to achieve naturally.

Portrait of Brothers

With a deep appreciation for the masterfully rendered portraiture by the likes of the early American painter John Singleton Copley or the iconic Normal Rockwell I made a pass at digital portraiture with some humor thrown in. In the style of old Olan Mills or Sears Portrait studio photos, Mario and Luigi pose in tasteful knitted sweaters and neck wear while their ghost heads look knowingly at the viewer.

Android Solidarity

 

The consumer android model from the sketch later appeared in this silk screen design where it was being aided by a human laborer. As seen in the laborer's outfit, this poster was inspired by propaganda posters from the WWII and the Cold War. Still going on the idea from the sketch of a society torn over the use of intelligent androids and the fears of humanity becoming inferior, the poster encourages the human viewer to show solidarity with their mechanical co-worker.

The Android

Very rarely do I just sit down and draw something without purpose. Even if something starts out as a doodle I think looks cool it quickly develops into a concept driven by story or theme. The Consumer Android evolved into the idea of a refugee unit who tries to integrate into society gripped by a prejudice toward robots.

Its not uncommon for characters and ideas to find themselves into other art that they weren't originally intended for but still work for the purpose of the image.

Identity Theft

This was an editorial exercise for an article about identity theft. I really dig how the colors came out, especially the background.

Zombie Personal Ad

Grabbed a personal ad from Craigslist around Halloween time last year. This was the picture I made for it.