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The last couple of days have been hard. I found out that my hometown is on fire. Southern California is notorious for wildfires. My family is ok for the most part but some of them had to be evacuated from their homes. Needless to say I’m a bit tense and wish I could be down there right now to help.

On a lighter note, The Morae River blog is back up and running. I’m glad I was able to perform some updates on it – it had been neglected for so long. There are still some minor glitches but for the most part it seems to be running smoothly. The image above is the most recent species to be added to Tul. I will be posting the full profile soon.

In other news, a former instructor and friend of mine is having a solo show. If you live in the Bay Area you should come out and see some art! Robert Hunt will be showing his landscapes at Periscope Cellars. This collection is stunning so be sure to stop by if you can. Here is a video of him painting if you’re interested.

Lately, I’ve been trying to come to terms with my sketchbook. I’ve never been to proud of my sketchbook, which is why I rarely post anything from it. So in an effort to become a little more comfortable with it, I need to start posting it here.

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Anyway, as you can see my sketchbook isn’t very exciting but I need to keep working in it. I know that if I begin to post it here I will be more obligated to keep it filled with work.

]]> http://www.fishhookstudio.com/2010/07/fires/feed/ 4 http://www.fishhookstudio.com/2010/07/crashed/ http://www.fishhookstudio.com/2010/07/crashed/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 23:34:52 +0000 Brynn Metheney http://www.fishhookstudio.com/?p=747 Continue reading →]]>

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After a good 4 days of looking through forums, sifting through websites, and pulling my hair out, I have finally been able to get Fish Hook Studio back up and running. Of course, I didn’t do this alone. In fact, I was ready to call it quits and just forget about the blog entirely when an old friend showed up and helped me get through what was wrong. An extremely big thank you goes to Josh Blanton for helping me out. I could not have recovered this blog without you! You’ve made my week!

Anyway, in between worrying about this blog, I have been working hard on things here and there for different projects. I’ll be posting more images soon! I was able to complete an image for The Morae River. Of course it’s of a Mardik (there are four different species on the island) they are my favorite genus. However, new creatures are on the way.

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Lots of projects coming up and lots of updates. These characters are from a private project I’m currently working on. Lots of fun! I love drawing dinosaurs way too much! I’ll show more later as the project progresses and opens up more. I’ll also be posting some work from a book collaboration I’m working on with Opal Palmer Adisa. I’m honored and very excited to work with this author on one of her personal book projects. I can’t wait to get started!

Some other great new is that I will start co-running the Creature Planets over on CGhub.com. My partner in crime is the incredibly talented Mr. Ogi Grujic. We will be working as a team to come up with topics for the community to participate in and lead in critiques and discussion about works being produced for the topics.. I’m very excited and honored to be a leader of this community challenge. I’m able to work with so many talented artists! Hopefully Ogi and I can help carry on what Mike Corriero had started – its a very high bar!

Anyway, I’m off to finish my evening with a bit of reading. I’ve added my good reads widget so you can check out some of the books I’m into.

Good news! I will be participating in a show in St. Louis this July called Drawgasmic. Lots of really talented individuals are part of this exhibition andI’m really glad to be a part of it. You can find out more about the show here. I’ll be displaying the image “…And Then It Got Out” at the show. I will be for sale along with all of the other works. If you live in the St. Louis area come on out and see some awesome artwork!

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Here is a progress shot of a drawing I started yesterday. I’m hoping to get it finished this week along with one other. Trying to get a lot done before I go an vacation. Me and my partner John Mathis are off to The Mission today to do some research for a project he’s working on. Can’t say much about it yet until it goes live.

In other news we’ve also decided to create a small company for our website and graphic design. This is the sketch for the logo but we hope to have it up soon. It says specializing in artists websites but we do other stuff too – this logo will change a bit. Anyway, I’ll post more about Oranda later. I’m off to S.F.

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We lost a legend today. RIP Frank Frazetta…

From the New York Times: “Frank Frazetta, an illustrator whose  vivid colors and striking brushstrokes conjured up fantastic worlds of musclebound heroes fighting with broad swords and battle axes to defend helpless women from horrible beasts, died on Monday in Fort Myers, Fla. He was 82″….Read More

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I’ll be displaying a piece from the Morae River (the image above) in the Baccalaureate Exhibition at CCA in San Francisco. If you’re in the area, you should come check it out. Here is the link to the website for more information. The opening is May 6th at 6pm. The show will then run from the 7th to the 11th. Hope to see you there!

click banner for more info.

]]> http://www.fishhookstudio.com/2010/04/baccalaureate-exhibition/feed/ 2 http://www.fishhookstudio.com/2010/04/culas/ http://www.fishhookstudio.com/2010/04/culas/#comments Sat, 24 Apr 2010 05:03:23 +0000 Brynn Metheney http://www.fishhookstudio.com/?p=622 Continue reading →]]>

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I’m revisiting the Balandic Cula next. I’m working on putting together a large hardcover book to sell at APE this year. Since I’m migrating The Morae River to the computer I thought I’d take the opportunity to revisit the animals and refine their designs a bit. Anyway, I’ll have more to show next week…

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this little guy was my doodle for today. I think he might have been inspired by How to Train Your Dragon…

Go check it out at: http://www.brynnart.com

I’ve been working recently on improving my drawing in the computer and I have been experimenting with The Morae River in this…This image below is of the updated fugamus.

Because I’ve switched to a digital pencil I am able to work much larger than I was able to before. This drawing here is 16X12 and will make a nice print one day. No to mention the detail is very, very clean. The effect is basically the same, minus the step of scanning it into the computer. While I do still draw with an analogue pencil for myself, I imagine The Morae River and my concept art work will all be digital very soon. I’m finding I make better choices in the computer and I am more willing to push things. I was at first apprehensive of moving into the computer, especially for work pertaining to The Morae River. I’m finding that I had way too much fun drawing this male fugamus out…

I’m giving a talk tonight at California College of the Arts for Bob’s Ciano’s class. If you were in the class you can retrieve your goodies at this link: Goodies for Students

Its a small package containing some photoshop brushes I found from Cghub and filters from Flaming Pear’s webpage.

The image has nothing to do with the demo. I just thought it was funny that someone tagged mudblood on some building in Oakland.

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This is Peaches, the Brachiolopette that represents “Science Sort Of…” – the folks that interviewed me about The Morae River. You can listen to my interview about the project –> here.

More work coming soon along with a new (and late) website for The Morae River.

So here is the final for my re-take on Snarf. This was done for CG hub’s Creature Planet Contest. I’ve been experimenting with starting and finishing pieces in the computer. I’m really pushing to keep my “penciled look” though all of it.

I’ll also be exploring some prehistoric work for a bit. I started with the Raptor and dropped the subject but am interested to pick it back up again.

Here is a sketch for a saber toothed tiger. Also coming soon in the prehistoric section: a brachiolope. – for some friends.

Snarf is © to Warner Bros.

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In progress post of the new species of Mardik that will show up on the blog soon!

Here is some info on the species:

“The black mardik is the second largest tree climber in Yabun forest as well as the second largest mardik. These mardiks are social and live in large troops of up to 30 members. The whole of the troop is made up of smaller family troops, each governed by a dominant male and female. Dominance is decided through some intimidation but is mostly carried through bloodlines and offspring. This species is the most numerous species of mardik in Yabun Forest. While each female only has one cub at a time, she can give birth up to 6 times a year. Black mardiks are great mothers and even better babysitters. The entire troop collectively looks after the young that is produced over the year. Because there is so much help with looking after young, breeding females can focus their attention on feeding and having more young.”

December is finally here and I’m officially finished with college! It seemed like forever and no time at all. I’ll miss seeing everyone in the program all the time. I really did have an amazing time but Im glad to be done with it…

On to other things.

I’ve begun more writing on the Morae River recently. I’m really wanting to dive deeper into families and explore different species and how they are evolving in the area. I’m starting with the mardiks and will be introducing three new species on the blog hopefully later this month. I’ll also be generating family tree graphics for the families I’m exploring. For right now I’m exploring Pernixids – the family that mardiks and balas belong to. Most of the species on the blog now will be getting makeovers and adjustments as I move deeper into Solturna. I’m hoping to generate more plant species as well and start to put them into families as well. Plants seem to get neglected…

The project has become a lot bigger and I’m hoping to shed some light on where Orcura sits in relation to us. Many viewers have been asking about it but I am a bit reluctant to give it all away at once. Either way, Im glad to be working on it again. It really is where my head is most of the day but I did need a small break to think about where I wanted to carry the project.

Expect new dinosaur work on brynnart.com soon as well as some other projects in January.

the photo above is one I took going over the golden gate not too long ago…I’ve only been over it twice in the 4 years I’ve lived in the bay area.

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As you might have noticed, my blog has been moved here, to FishHook Studio. FishHook Studio wasn’t really being used so I decided to keep my sketches here. Most of my conceptart work as well as random sketches will be housed here. You can also stay updated on whatever I’m doing via twitter, if that interests you.

]]> http://www.fishhookstudio.com/2009/12/moved/feed/ 0 http://www.fishhookstudio.com/2009/12/raptor/ http://www.fishhookstudio.com/2009/12/raptor/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:22:42 +0000 Brynn Metheney http://www.brynnart.com/blog/?p=344

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I’ll be posting the finish of this along with others on the new and improved brynnart.com soon!

APE has come and gone. It was quite the event for us and I’m sad it’s over. Four of us shared a table: myslef, John Mathis, Annika Green and Jonathan Zajdman – all incredibly talented. Needless to say we had a blast and sold a good amount of work. I was surprised to learn that most people who came up to my table knew what the Morae River was. Thanks to all of you who came out to see me, it was great to meet some of you! It was great to know that the blog is being read by a few people out there!

Im currently working on getting things done for my show next week. Things seem to be moving smoothly so far and I’m lucky to have great support from friends and family in getting everything organized. Once this show is over the Morae River will be put on the shelf for a good month so I can take a break. I really want to work on some solid illustration work until next year. I’ve been itching to do some painting down in the studio.

APE is around the corner and Im getting excited to be around an amazing collection of people this weekend. The Morae River book won’t be ready for APE but It will be here for the show at the end of this month. Its really starting to look finished now and Im excited to hold it in my hands. I will have prints and a few smaller items for sale at my table this weekend. If you like comics and art, I recommend you come out and see whats up. It’s going to be a really great event!

The Morae River exhibition will also be hosting a donation which goes to RiverNetwork.org, an organization that helps restore rivers in America. Im hoping it all works out, I should be receiving all the paperwork soon to make it “official”.

Midterms are almost over but are taking up more time than I’d like. Im ready for this semester to be over…