Arizona Artist Jephyr (aka Jeff Curtis): Concept Art

Showing posts with label Concept Art. Show all posts

Friday, May 10, 2019

May 10, 2019 - Sketchbook Pics and Pixar Behind The Scenes Video

Hi!

Just finished a couple of new sketches I'll include below and will end this post with a "behind the scenes" video of Pixar's "Smash and Grab."

Let's get to da sketches foist:

^ ^ ^ I've spoken with a niece recently and had her three young kids in mind while I worked on this one.

It was a lot of fun to create such a silly, happy sketch—where even the "meal" is having a good time.

: )

^ ^ ^ This one started (as usual) with some light scribbles on the page, and then looking for inspiration in them.

At first I "saw" a very cartoony frog and worked in that direction for a while.

As I've written here in the past—I rely on a "feeling" I get while I work and if that is missing—I know I need to re-group and try something else.

So—lacking that—I erased the page—and with some left over scribbles and a few new ones—I began to "see" Gertie's beautiful face and bod.

; )

At first I tried to put her in a wheel chair—and even printed out a reference of one and stared adding that—but as I worked it slowly began to feel more satisfying to put her in a comfy chair instead—and that lead to adding a couple of furry companions and a bit of her comfy home.

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BTW—I wasn't totally sure about the title for this one—but as I was finishing this one night in a fast-food joint—a young man started talking to me about his interest in art.

After a bit, I showed him several recent sketches—and when I told him the title I had in mind for this one—he heartily laughed out loud—so........

: )

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On to the Pixar video—

Screen Captures From Pixar's Shot 3D Video: Smash And Grab

On my Awesome Stuff Blog I posted an excellent short video from Pixar:

https://perfectusstuffus.blogspot.com/2019/04/pixars-awesome-short-3d-animation-smash.html

As with so much from Pixar Studios—it's really excellent in every way: The characters are charming, the story is engaging—and in the end it's heart-warming and will leave you feelin' pretty durned good.

I found a "behind the scenes" video for it and and you'll find that embedded below.

(They call this cross-promotion in the "Biz"—and since I'm becoming a Big Time Player in the industry—well...then........)

: )

But seriously—if you are into art, character design, and animation—then you'll prob'ly enjoy this too.

So without further ado—here tiz:

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That'll do it for today.

Thanks for takin' a look at my world.

See you again soon.

Monday, February 4, 2019

First Sketches 2019 - Part Two

Hello!

Hopefully you've had a chance to check out Part One of my recent sketchbook drawings.

If not—you'll find that here.

https://artmusicpoliticsfaithhopeandlove.blogspot.com/2019/01/first-sketches-2019-part-one.html

Today I'll share more of my wacky characters and portraits.

^ ^ ^ As noted in my last post I've been creating more complete characters recently.

One afternoon I went out to a coffee house to sketch.

I honestly hadn't planned to make any kind of social commentary with this drawing—but as I was putting the final touches on this smart-phone mesmerized rabbit I looked around me.

Almost EVERYONE was looking at their phones. There were only two exceptions—but otherwise at least eight other people all were bent over and engrossed with their phones.

Just a few tables away from me sat an older couple—both silently staring at their screens. I watched them for several minutes—and neither said one word to the other.

I'm not anti-technology and spend a LOT of time on my computer every day—but think we have lost a lot due to our fascination with cell phones and devices—and wonder sometimes if a plane could literally go down and wouldn't be noticed.

^ ^ ^ I had a blast drawing this character one afternoon in a coffee house.

I had printed out a few photos of wart-hogs I used as references—but obviously went in a more cartoonish route.

I picture this sad, little tough-guy waving goodbye to a barnyard friend who is being taken off to market.

^ ^ ^ A while ago I heard an interview with a woman was a secretary for a famous and well regarded cartoonist/animator.

She said that she would hear him laughing out loud at his own work as she worked in an adjacent room.

I mention that—not to put myself in the same category with him—but because I sat stifling my own laughter at this character while I worked on it one day in a local coffee house.

I wish I always had this much fun when drawing!

Update: I was out sketching yesterday and one of the young men who worked at the joint I was in came over and wanted to see what I was up to. I showed him what I was working on and he seemed very interested so I showed him several other sketches including the one above.

I thought everyone would know the Hans Christian Anderson's "The Emperor's New Clothes" so when I showed him this drawing I mentioned the story and was surprised to hear he'd never hear of it.

Perhaps you know already, it's a morality tale about a king being convinced by swindlers that they had made an elegant outfit for him that was invisible to fools—and no one wanted to admit they were a fool—INCLUDING the emperor—so everyone agreed it was an amazing outfit.

Later the king took off his clothes and put on the new outfit and then paraded around in front of his people "wearing it"—and of course no one wanted to admit they couldn't see his new clothes for fear of being considered a fool.

Then at last a small boy stated the obvious—THE KING WASN'T WEARING ANYTHING AT ALL.

With that—everyone suddenly agreed—the Emperor wasn't wearing ANYTHING—and even though the emperor suspected they were right—he continued parading around in front of them with his noblemen holding his imaginary train high.

: )

http://andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheEmperorsNewClothes_e.html

^ ^ ^ Just a silly sketch that started out as a scribble.

I'd done some large looping lines on the page that led me to "see" the large diving helmet and filled in the rest as I went along.

^ ^ ^ This is another example of the kind of wacky portraits created from my imagination I've been doing for ages—and was drawn before I started creating more complete characters recently.

^ ^ ^ I'll close things out with this forlorn-looking "beastie" character—which goes back the furthest because it was the first drawing completed out of all the recent work I've posted in Part One and Two.

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Well—that'll do it for my most recent sketchbook efforts of 2019—so far.....

Thanks as always for looking in on my corner of the world.

See you again soon!

God Bless!

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

First Sketches 2019 - Part One

Hi!

I'm happy to be able to post my first sketchbook drawings of the new year.

There are eleven in all so I'll break this up into two posts.

In no particular order—and without further ado.....

^ ^ ^ More frequent visitors to this blog will know that I love creating wacky portraits—and have been focusing on those for quite awhile.

You'll find recent examples of them in Part One and Two—but you'll also see that I've been feeling like drawing more complete characters lately as well.

Although I've done a lot of them over the years—this was one of the first of several recent drawings that opened up that door again.

I've also allowed myself to embrace more of a straight cartooning approach over the last month or so—and have enjoyed that a lot too.

It's been a very refreshing change of pace.

^ ^ ^ This was the drawing I created right after the one above—again going with more complete character design and a cartooning approach.

^ ^ ^ I still begin a LOT of my sketches by lighting scribbling on the page and looking for ideas to spring from those unconscious lines.

After beginning this sketch using that method—I saw the face on this guy jump out on me from those scribbles—and thought it looked like a whale.

After that—the rest of this po' character in a precarious position began to take shape.

^ ^ ^ John Willy Bob is the kind of "portrait" I've been enjoying creating for ages—and is one of the older drawings in this group—before the more complete characters of late.

Although it wasn't intentional on my part—this character reminds me of older rockers like Neil Young or David Lindley.

^ ^ ^ In Part Two I'll post several more complete characters—but I'll close out today's update with another screwy "portrait."

Begun as a scribble sketch—I initially saw the lines that led me to creating this character's head.

Later I used an art anatomy book as a reference to add the cartoonish neck and shoulder bones.

The title, "Do You Feel Lucky, Punk?" came from thinking his expression resembled the face Clint Eastwood made while saying (nearly) the same line in a Dirty Harry movie:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Harry

"I know what you're thinking: 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do you, punk?"

: )

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Thanks for stopping by.

This handy link will take you to First Sketches 2019 - Part Two:

https://artmusicpoliticsfaithhopeandlove.blogspot.com/2019/02/first-sketches-2019-part-two.html

See you again soon!

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Lotza New Doodles

Hi!

Today I'll be posting some newish sketches for your perusal — mostly from the last few months — and one from last summer.

Let's get to it!

^ ^ ^ One morning I got up early and went to a local greasy spoon to sketch and came up with this other-worldly guy "photo bombing" an alien dood in the background.

While he doesn't seem to pleased about it — this sketch makes me happy — and it was the first in a new sketchbook — so a good way to begin.

: )

^ ^ ^ As I've mentioned in numerous posts through-out this blog — I start a lot — if not most — of my "just for fun" sketches by lightly scribbling on the page and looking for shapes and ideas to jump out at me from those lines.

This cows head was the first thing I "saw" — and I added his body and other details to him as I went along.

The background "logo" and the milk carton and glass were some ideas I came up with towards the end of this sketch.

I imagined our determined looking friend the "Cow King" — negotiating a new contract for his herd with the Milk Council.

: )

^ ^ ^ Last summer my artist friend Chad had some serious on-going health issues and passed away after a long battle.

Although this might seem like a very dark tribute — I thought about him as I worked on this.

^ ^ ^ I went to a local coffee house to sketch and of course started with some scribbles. Pretty quickly I "saw" this guy's monkey-like head and tried to add a matching monkey-like body.

Later at home — I looked on-line for monkey reference photos to help me finish this off — and printed out a bunch. <banana humor)

But when I tried and tried to make something like that work it just wasn't happening — so at one point I erased everything except his head — and the lines that were left on the page led me to putting this costume on him instead.

Ultimately I was way more satisfied with that.

By the way — the banana the Prime Minister is pondering — began life as a few lines I hadn't erased from my initial scribble.

Life is good sometimes!

Oh...and the caption in the sketch is just one of the MANY ways I entertain myself.

: )

^ ^ ^ Towards the end of last summer and through September I began a routine of going out to various places to sketch — and one day drew the basic idea for this one after lunch in a local dive.

When I was a kid my mom had a Christian book with amazing illustrations in it called Sermons by the Devil — I still have that old book published in 1904 and find myself going through it from time to time.

It's written from the perspective of the Devil laying traps for the unwary — and beguiling people with his words and charm — and contrasts those dark "sermons" with life in the light as a Christian.

This drawing would fit in well with a lot of the illustrations found in it.

BTW: This is the way many people see Satan — as a scary tough guy — but I always think about the verse from the Bible and what it says about him — Isaiah 14:15-17:

12
How you have fallen from heaven,
    morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
    you who once laid low the nations!
13
You said in your heart,
    “I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
    above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
    on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
14
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
    I will make myself like the Most High.”
15
But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
    to the depths of the pit.

16
Those who see you stare at you,
    they ponder your fate:
“Is this the man who shook the earth
    and made kingdoms tremble,
17
the man who made the world a wilderness,
    who overthrew its cities
    and would not let his captives go home?”

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v v v That equally applies to this somewhat more cartoony — but sad creature with a tear in his eye — whose home is also in the "lake of fire":

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^ ^ ^ Someone on the Concept Art Sketchbook Forum recommended I do more backgrounds and so I put this Native American looking guy in a village scene.

The name I came up for him makes me laugh.

^ ^ ^ I've been going through old sketchbooks and realize how much I used to LOVE to draw figures — but have been doing mostly portraits for quite a while now.

This one of a few recent attempts at doing an entire body — and I'm obviously very rusty at it....

: /

^ ^ ^ This cranky old pup started as another scribble.

I really love drawing all kinds of creatures and critters!!

^ ^ ^ This one also started out as a scribble.

I "saw" both the bird and this guys nose as I went along.

At first I wondered how I could make both of them work together in a final drawing — and initially thought — maybe the bird was something like a coon-skin cap.

But as its proud expression emerged — I decided that Pigeon-Head Jones was allowing it to nestle down on his aging noggin'.

: )

^ ^ ^ Just another wacky character concept that started life as a scribble

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^ ^ ^ This character concept started eons ago.

I was really never happy with that original sketch and decided to rework it one day more recently — and eventually came up with this — which I'm much happier with.

While it wasn't what I intended to do when I started out — this sketch reminds me of something Marvel Comics might do as a concept for a creature that is part man — part sea-creature.

: ?

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v v v Last one:

^ ^ ^ This guy may look a bit intimidating — but he's actually quite good with kids and teaches Sunday School at St. Troll's under the old bridge down on Main Street .

: D

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Thanks as always for stopping by!

See you again soon!

Monday, June 12, 2017

Character Sketches (And A Few Words On Creativity)

Hi-yo!

: )

Sometimes as an artist we work on the craft of our technique—trying to get values and volume looking right—and understanding anatomy, movement and and design so that what we draw appears natural and convincing.

But there is something equally important: Simply being able to create something unique and interesting from our own imaginations.

Thankfully I'm finding that it can be developed and strengthened just like any other artistic "muscle" we have.

Recently—I've felt like I'm enjoying the "creative" side more than ever—and am feeling like my designs and characters are consistently more satisfactory to me.

If this sounds like me patting my own back—please understand—as much or more than anyone I'm WELL aware of my limitations and realize how much yet I have to learn and how far I need to go to get even close to the artists I admire like Frazetta, Carlos Huante, Dali (during his return to classicism during the 1950's on), Maxfield Parrish, Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth, Howard Pyle, Paul Bonner—and MANY, MANY more!!

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Anyway—I thought I'd share those thoughts because sometimes people will come up to me while I'm sketching in public and say that they like to draw too—but can't come up with anything from their own imagination.

I've said for a long time—by way of encouragement to them (and maybe as much to myself)—that creativity just needs to be worked on and developed like any skill that we humanoids do—(but sometimes wondered if what I was saying was REALLY true.)

But now after many years of effort—I can say with a LOT more confidence that it is absolutely true—and more than ever I enjoy tapping into my own imagination—and how what comes out satisfies and even surprises me.

: )

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Thought I'd share some recent sketchbook pencils today.

"Kip" - Copyright 2017 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ One afternoon recently I went to a little Mexican restaurant near me and after I ate got out my sketchbook to draw.

There was a family at a table next to me—and although they were engrossed in their own conversations and I don't they weren't paying attention to me—I felt inhibited by sitting so close to them and I wasn't able to come up with anything I liked.

As soon as they cleared out—I erased what I had on the page to that point—and the brute above came pouring out. : )

"Jeanine's First Kiss" - Copyright 2017 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ I started this character sketch long ago but stopped working on it as I got busy with other things.

Each time I'd see it in my sketchbook though, I'd think about finishing it and finally got around to it recently.

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Well—that'll do it for this time.

Thanks as always for taking a peek.

See you again soon!

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Jephyr Posts Latest Digital Painting: "It Came From The U.N."

Hello!

Hope you had a great Christmas!

It's so hard to believe we are almost into a new year...and 2013 at that!!!

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Life has been keeping me very busy. Earlier this month I finished another semester at Mesa Community College...and took an Art History class where I learned a ton.

And speaking of that...if you are in the East Valley of Phoenix I would definitely recommend taking a class from Lindsey Pedersen, an Art History instructor at MCC. She is excellent!!

It's clear I'm not the only one who thinks so...because she has an extremely high rating on ratemyprofessor.com too.

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The Background Story For My Latest Digital Painting

Jephyr Art - Digital Painting Process Steps - It Came From The U.N. (Adobe Photoshop / Wacom Tablet)

Click to Enlarge
See A Larger View Of The Final Image Below

I've still been drawing a lot and digitally painting as time allowed...and after the semester ended finally found the time to finish a digital painting I'd begun long ago.

Started in December of 2011, I worked on the concept a bit using Adobe Photoshop and my Wacom Intuos Tablet and then fairly quickly lost interest and moved on to other things.

As seen in the "process steps" to the left...I just got as far as the weird, green "alien" head last year (top left).

After classes ended this fall I decided to look through my old files and when I saw it, decided to do some work on it again.

I was feeling most dissatisfied with the color choices last year...so this time around the first thing I began to do was mess around with that and experiment with color layers.

And finally something I was more happy with began to emerge.

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So....Why Is It Such A "Creepy / Scary" Image?

I've been interested in creating a graphic novel about the current state of the world and the "end times".

Meister The Construction of the Ark of Noah

According to the Bible, in the time of Noah before the Biblical flood, fallen angels had mated with human women and created an evil hybrid race which God detested. (Genesis 6:1-8)

And apparently the fallen angels also messed with the DNA of animals.

All this created evil and fearsome, soul-less creatures. These human hybrids were much larger and stronger than man and are called Nephilim (along with other ancient names).

God used the flood to purge the world of this evil.

Unfortunately, afterwards the fallen angels continued their ways and produced more of these creatures.

For example, long after the flood, the Jews were told to take possession of "the Promised Land" and Numbers 13:32-33 gives a report of what they found:

"The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."

Much Later, around the time of Jesus (2,000 years ago) it was recorded in Matthew 24:37-39 (KJV) that "as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." (the return of Jesus and the end of our present world)

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Public Domain Image

Fast forward to today, when there are many Biblical prophecies and signs indicating the end of the world, such as wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, the "roaring of the seas" and more.

http://alltheangelsshoutedforjoy.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-words-of-jesus-on-signs-of-times.html

Many point to current research being done with human cloning and trans-humanism: the combination of human and animal DNA.

Others point to our popular culture and that movies and TV shows use human evolution as a regular theme.

Still others suggest that "they" are preparing humans for the appearance of these creatures by planting the notion in our minds that these beings will be extra-terrestrial...ALIENS.

The "they" most often mentioned are the powerful elites: The Illuminati, and secret societies...pulling the strings behind the scenes...assassinating leaders and toppling governments...causing wars...dumbing societies down so that they can keep everyone else in a servant class...obedient, uneducated worker drones...who are kept in slavery to drugs, porn, alcohol, video games, etc etc etc.

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So all these themes were in my mind as I worked on this image.

I know many of my Christian friends might recoil at this image...and might think of scripture that tells us to think about what-ever is good, pure and lovely. (Philippians 4:8)

And I have no defense against that...except to say that I have been praying for guidance about what to work on.

And this is something that came from my efforts after those prayers.

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Anyway...that explains my thought process behind this image...and FINALLY...here is the large version of it.

Jephyr Art - Digital Painting - It Came From The U.N. (Adobe Photoshop / Wacom Tablet)

Click To Enlarge - Jephyr Art - Digital Painting - It Came From The U.N.

Thank you for stopping by!

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Please visit Jephyr.com to see many more examples of my artwork and photography!

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