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Been working on lots lately. I’m preparing to have some new work ready for Spectrum Art Live in May this year. It’s going to be an exciting convention! If you’re in the Kansas City area, mark your calendars to come out and see some incredible art! I’ll be sharing what I’m bringing here as it gets closer and such.

One project I’m working on in between things is the Flora/Fauna Project. It started with an image I created for Imagine FX magazine a while back – in which I created a creature made from plants. I had so much fun exploring plant-life that I’ve decided to create a mini series out of it. The image above is the first (official) creature from that series. This time I decided to explore Opium – poppies and such. I’ll be exploring other plant groups as I am the Lily beastie below:

Lily (work in progress)

This weekend I created something for a blog I’m part of called Fanartica (finally). I decided to draw and paint one of my favorite comic book characters, Wexter. He was a challenge because I don’t usually get to draw guns too often but he was too much fun to paint!

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He’s from a comic called AxeCop, which if you haven’t read this comic, you NEED to. It’s amazing. The artist that creates it is incredible and the writer (his 6 year-old brother) is awesomely imaginative. This comic has me laughing and cheering non-stop. It’s a favorite among me and my friends. Go read it here: http://www.axecop.com.

More updates to come soon! Work from The Red Valley is on the way with some new environment and creature studies I’m very excited about along with announcements of some upcoming projects due toward this summer! :)

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An image created for a friend as a gift. This was so much fun to put together! I always love drawing animals and putting them in bee costumes made it way too much fun. :)

More work coming soon as well as some really exciting projects!

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The piece featured in the book was created for Imagine FX magazine to illustrated how to paint a elegant but wriggly fish.

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In other news, I’ve been working on laying out my next collection of artwork. Fish Hooks volume 1 has been taken down from being sold online. I’m currently working on volume two to bring to “Spectrum Art Live!” in May. I’m working on finding a good printer I can go through at the moment. I’ll have the finished book available for purchase in my etsy store, with links on my blog. I’ve been working on a few different pieces lately, mostly for myself. Here is a piece of something I started last week:

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Hoping to finish it up soon.

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I have been working on some new images that I really can’t wait to share! Life has been a bit hectic lately with the Holidays coming and work. More updates are on the way for The Red Valley along with a few new images for my portfolio. I have two new images in Imagine FX magazine this month. You can see both of these in Issue 76! Be sure to check it out if you can. I had lots of fun painting that landscape and, of course, the canines as well. It’s always a pleasure working with the Imagine FX team. :)

Stay tuned for more updates!

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Saw these on the stands yesterday in Imagine FX magazine. They were created for issue 75′s Q&A section. Be sure to check them out if you can! This round was particularly challenging but the two creatures feeding on the carcass up top were especially tricky. My goal was to make it look natural – as if the predators have always eaten this way. Nature can be incredibly gruesome and gory at times and I really wanted to show that without exaggerating it. In any case, these were so much fun to paint.

I’m currently visiting the Mojave desert area to see family. I’m also taking the opportunity to take some notes and photos for The Red Valley. I’m very excited to begin posting content for the project. I should begin in early November.

New work to be posted soon!

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Two new images that I’ll post more about later. One has inspired me to create a series of plant/creatures. Should be fun when I get more time! :)

In other news, I’ll be showing and selling a few Limited Edition prints at Rendition Gallery’s “IT’S ALIVE” show. The show is focusing on creepy creatures for Halloween! If you’re in the Fort Collins area, you should check it out! It will be a really great show! I will take some photos of what I will be showing this week once everything is framed.

Working on deadlines today. This weekend is going to be sleepless…

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Finished this up between projects. I am so ready for fall…

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Finished this up the other day and thought I’d post it here too. It served as a warm up for a few mornings. I tend to forget that I need to take about a half hour to warm up before I start working for the day.

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Also working on another image that I think I might make into a promo-poster. This was originally started for COW over on ConceptArt.org. I haven’t participated with COW in so long!

Anyway, more work to come along with some exciting announcements in October and November! :)

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Two new images that I’ll post about later. Things have been busy with friends visiting this week! We’ve been having so much fun and we still have until Saturday! :)

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We went to Stinson Beach the other day and explored the coastline around there. It was so incredibly beautiful! Afterward, I felt so inspired. Sometimes I forget that putting your feet in the surf and being in nature can really help take the edge off. I’ve been under a lot of stress lately with work and finding more work. Somehow, standing in the sand and watching the ocean helped me feel grounded. It was just awesome to be with great friends in an awesome place. I will most likely return to this spot to recharge. :)

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John’s dad came to visit last weekend and we took a trip to see the Redwoods. Such an amazing place; especially right now. Because of all of the rains, the forest has exploded with green moss, lichen, saplings and new ferns everywhere! It looks almost prehistoric! It was nice to go and “re charge” for a bit. Sadly, I don’t get to make it up there all too often.

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I’ve been messing around with personal work lately too. Work on The Red Valley is picking up and I’ve begun to to lay out species ideas and thoughts about how the project will flow. I should be posting work on the blog come November this year. I’m very excited about the project and am really looking forward to exploring the concept.

I’ve been working on the illustration section of my website too – trying to round it out with more personal work lately. This is an image a created about a week ago.

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These two images are live now. They were created for Imagine FX’s Q&A section. As always, I have a lot of fun answering the questions and creating work for the magazine. I’m fortunate in that I get to answer questions that tend to relate to creatures and such. :) You can see them in the current issue (in the US now) here –> Imagine Fx – Issue 73

That’s it for now. Fall is looking busy! :)

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Making a an effort to do more animal studies for an upcoming project. Hopefully this is just one of many…

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Here are two new beasties! I’ll post more about them later when I get more info and such.

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I hope everyone (in the states at least) had a happy 4th of July! It was a great weekend for me. I was able to see family and sort of take a break from work. It was a good “re-charge” and I totally needed it. Excited to get back to work though. I have lot’s planned for the next couple months!

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This was sort of an experiment that turned into a finished piece. It’s what I imagined Katniss Everdeen to look like from The Hunger Games series.

Been working on lots lately. Mostly for Sychey Games. We’re working on getting content put up online so I should have more to show and talk about in regards to that soon.

Been working out more about the Red Valley too. I’m hoping it will turn out to be a fun project.

But for now, more ridiculous sketching:

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Note: The cat in the tutu is none other than Luna the Fashion Kitty. It’s become a personal mission to spread word about this cat!

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Here are the books that I own:

Animal Anatomy for Artists: The Elements of Form

I’ve had this book for years and I turn to it almost daily. It’s a very simple guide to bone and muscle structure to most mammalian forms.

The Art of Animal Drawing: Construction, Action Analysis, Caricature

I recently picked this up and I love it! This book is older and the drawings inside are mostly about form and action – drawing animals in motion.

Animals Real and Imagined

By one of my favorite creature artists, Terryl Whitlatch compiles her knowledge into a beautiful book! I’ve turned to this book for all sorts of anatomy questions. Not to mention its very inspiring to look through!

The Wildlife of Star Wars

Same as above, an inspiring collection of creature designs from the Star Wars movies.

The World of Kong

This book is gorgeous. I kept getting comments on The Morae River about how people were reminded of this book after looking through the project (I was incredibly flattered!) An inspiring collection of creature designs from the recent re-make of King Kong.

Creature

This was a gift and I never thought I’d really use it for reference. However, I look through it all the time! Especially for ideas on skin texture and facial expression.

Anatomy for the Artist

Not the traditional creature anatomy book but I love this human anatomy book. The artist handles the body so well and I love the overlays inside. It really helps to see the muscle structure of the animal that is most familiar to us! ;)

Wildlife Fact Files – I got these when I was a kid. I’m not sure if you can still subscribe to them or not. They offer some photos and interesting facts about animals. They aren’t extensive but are good for quick reference.

The Encyclopedia of Animals

An amazing book FULL of images and illustrations! This book helps me so much!

The Audubon Field Guides

These are small quick field guides and while they don’t offer a huge amount of photo reference they offer behavioral traits which is super important when designing creatures!

Here are also a few books that are on my “To Get” List:

Art Anatomy of Animals

Animal Drawing: Anatomy and Action for Artists

Prehistoric Life

Color and Light

When it comes to referencing animals, I also like to watch Nature Documentaries. Nothing really beats seeing the animal move around in it’s natural habitat doing what it does. Here is a quick list of some documentaries that I find particularly helpful and have watched too many times:

Life of Mammals – available on NetFlix Instant Watch

The Blue Planet- available on NetFlix Instant Watch

YellowStone – available on NetFlix Instant Watch

Planet Earth

Life

Life of Birds – available on NetFlix Instant Watch

Human Planet

Of course, going to the zoo and museums helps tremendously! It’s something I know I need to do more of too. In any case, I hope this list is informative for those of you who might be interested in creature design and animal illustration. If you know of any books that you like to reference or share, please comment! :)

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Two new pieces. I’ll be posting more about them later. I had a lot of fun painting these!

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I feel like I learned a lot working through these. I’m finding that the more I slow down while drawing and painting, the better results I get. I know, that seems obvious. I think it can be hard to remember that when painting digitally though. It’s simple to lay down one color and move on but I’m finding that I need to stay and really add to the color to make it look more textured and rich. I’m also learning more about textures lately. I’m hoping I’ll keep improving my technique. Lately, I feel like I’m actually understanding how to paint in the computer (what, two years after I really started!) I know I have SO much more to learn.

I also ordered a few postcards and business cards to send and hand out. I mostly wanted to try out Moo.com and get in on the small business offer they had going. I got a square card reader for free! Looking forward to being able to take credit cards at conventions and such. Hopefully I’ll actually get a touch phone by then! haha!

Anyway, working lots on game stuff this month. Hopefully I’ll be able to share some updates about that later this summer. More work coming soon!

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Starting the first image from The Red Valley project. Still very much in progress…

trying to squeeze personal work in between client projects :P

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Here are the two illustrations I created:

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Been working on lots lately. I was also recently asked to do an interview about my work for a different magazine – I’ll share more details on that later when I get the go ahead. Gearing up to start my new personal project soon as well. Really looking forward to focusing on some personal work. I’ve been working to round out the fantasy side of my portfolio lately too.

But for now, tea time! :)

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A new personal piece. More work coming soon!

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Some quick creature concept sketches for the current CGhub Creature Planets challenge.

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A new personal piece I finished up. I’ll be updating my website with some new work soon but for now you can see new work here and on my facebook page – Brynn Metheney – Concept Art & Illustration on Facebook.

I also wanted to give a shout out to Chris Koehler! Chris is a freelance illustrator  and instructor who I met through college. I never had the joy of taking his website class but he is an awesome and inspiring dude! You can check out his work here: Chris Koehler Art and Illustration.

He recently featured me on his awesome blog along with some other incredibly talented people:

http://chriskoehler.com/blog/artist-spotlight-books/

The post is about books and FishHooks was featured. Check out the rest of the post to see some awesome work from the other artists! Big thanks Chris! :D

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Been working away lately and the year is going by so fast! I can’t believe it’s already May. Where is 2011 going? So far this year has been full of surprising opportunities and good things.  Just finished two new pieces. I’ll post more about them later when they go live and such. These were super fun to create! I always enjoy painting Gnolls and weird alien creatures.

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This critter above was actually inspired by an older sketch I did. You can find him in one of the sketchbook pages of this post.

Trying to fit in personal work lately. Finding it harder to find time for things of the sort though. However, it is a must so I’ll be posting some progress here soon to stay on top of it more. I have a new project I’ve just become a part of. I’ll be working as lead artist for a new start-up in Seattle, WA. I’m very excited about the project (as it involves a huge amount of creatures) and I can’t wait to start sharing work. I’ll be posting news and such as we release content online. Of course, this is a freelance gig so I’ll be staying here in Oakland for the time being. :)

Here is something I’m currently working on:

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Obviously still a work in progress. I’ve warmed up to the image in the process of creating it but I’m not sure if I’ll keep it around. I’m wanting to update my website with some new work and this image was the beginning of that…

I’d also like to post a reminder about my book “FishHooks”. May is my birthday month so if you buy FishHooks during this month you can save 15%! I had a lot of fun putting together this book and have started plans for my second volume. Of course, that means that I will probably discontinue this book once I release volume 2 this fall. You can view more images of the book here: http://www.fishhookstudio.com/2010/09/fish-hooks/

You can buy FishHooks on Lulu.com, here: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/fish-hooks/12917022

Anyway, I suppose that’s it for now. I’ll be posting more news soon!

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I am very happy to announce that I’ve found out that “Elegant Hunters” has made it into Spectrum this year! I got the letter in the mail yesterday. I am so incredibly happy and honored to be a part of this amazing publication! A big thank you to the judges for accepting me into this awesome book! I really can’t wait to see it.

“Elegant Hunters” was created for Imagine FX magazine. You can see the magazine article here.

Anyway, I’ve been working on updating my current portfolio. This is a study I did for my concept art section – Mother and offspring. I’m wanting to try and expand on some other subjects and show them in alternate views more. I don’t think I will expand this species though. I’m also working out some new environments and such too. I’m excited to start posting some new work! I haven’t been able to much in the way of personal work lately so I’m excited to actually have some time. I’ll be posting some progress on a few new images for my illustration section later this weekend. I’m also working on lots of new work for Sychey Games. It’s a very exciting project to be a part of! I’ll be posting lots more on it as we release content online.

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I don’t have much to post in the realm of personal work. Adjusting to my work load has caused some of my personal stuff to become neglected. I do manage to sketch here and there though. This is something I like doing – just sort of sketching lots of body-forms quickly in pen. I have a tendency to want to get everything right and so this helps me to loosen up and try to let go of making the drawing perfect.

Here are more doodles:

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I’ve also recently made a facebook page for my artwork. I was sort of opposed to the idea for a while – only because I already update a million things on the internet already so one more thing seemed like a bit much. However, it sort of needed to happen. If you’d like to keep up with my work on facebook you can here:

Brynn Metheney – Concept Art and Illustration on Facebook!

I know a very talented lady by the name of Laura Guill – we went to school together and had studios almost next to each other in thesis. Recently I commissioned a small illustration from her and just had to share it!

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This tiny tapir is literally the most adorable thing in the world. Laura’s work involves her painting subjects in acrylic and then cutting them out and pasting them to a background to created a three dimensional effect. I love my tapir so much! Thanks Laura! :D You can see more of Laura’s tiny animals on her blog, here: http://crown-of-laurel.blogspot.com/

Anyway, I’m off to work on some developmental work. I do have a about 10 card illustrations I’m hoping will be released so I can show those as well.

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This was an old sketch I stumbled across and I thought I’d post it. I was reminded of it by my recent “Daily Deviation” feature over on DeviantArt.com. “Dinner With Gnolls” was part of an idea I had to explore gnoll customs and physiology as a way to boost my portfolio with more fantasy/concept work. The piece was sort of a turning point for me as I began to experiment with light-source a bit more than I was used to. While I’m not really fond of the piece now it was a nice surprise to have it featured as it was to stop and remember it for a minute. In any case, I’d like to explore gnolls a bit more as I usually think they are overlooked in fantasy and such. Most times they a written off as bloodthirsty and dangerous – which I suppose could be the case. However, I always have fun taking something like this and putting a naturalist twist on the subject. ;)

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This is a more recent piece. Another one for Imagine FX magazine. This one should be out in stores soon. I have a few other Q&A’s that will be out sooner that this one but I felt as if I should post about it now since it hadn’t been put up anywhere else before now.

Work on personal projects is slow as I am busy with other projects – I feel like I’ve been saying this a lot. :P  Either way I’m beginning to adjust to the work load so I’m hoping to get some personal work done soon. I have some ideas for a new project I’d like to start. The Morae River has been halted for now. I think the project has been exhausted. I think there were too many restrictions with the way it was set up. In any case, I’m excited to start exploring a new world.

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Just got this in today – a piece I did for Imagine FX’s Q&A section. These have been so much fun to work on! This was one of my favorite questions to answer: “How do I give my creature a human personality?” You can view the article here and the step by step I did here:

It’s available in this month’s Imagine FX magazine, (USA) which by the way, had a really great cover featuring Catwoman by Adam Hughes. It’s always such a pleasure working with this magazine. I’m very excited and honored to be a part of their Q&A panel! :)

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This was a quick warm up from this morning. Nothing too special – just trying to wake up and get things going.

Tuesday night I was invited to speak to two classes at my former college, CCAC. Robert Hunt and Bob Ciano had me share my work with their students and talk about life after school. I focused mainly on self promotion and the act of working on something creative everyday. Something I knew right out of college was that I’d need to keep up my momentum. Having a blog like this and joining online communities helped me stay on top of deadlines I had set for myself because I felt like I had an audience to please somewhere – even if that was never the case. I also covered online promotion and the power of social networks like blogs, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. I’ve had a good amount of success reaching people through the internet. Of course I also talked about physical promotion, networking and meeting people. Sending out books and prints to potential clients and such. I also covered how long it takes to get things moving when it comes to freelancing. Graduating in the midst of a economic crisis was hard enough. December 2009 was tough, real tough. No jobs anywhere. Yet somehow, I made it work. It took lots of willpower. There were plenty of days where I wanted to give up and go back to school for something – anything at that point. Something to take me out of the recession. However, I think sticking with my art through that time really made me realize how much I love doing it. Of course, I’m busy with lots of deadlines and projects but I’ll never be busy enough. I think that was the thing I really wanted to talk to them about. To never be satisfied. To try everything. To constantly move forward. This is what really got me working at what I love – never giving up, never giving in and always being thirsty for the next project. Overall it was a lot of fun to talk to the students. A friend of mine and fellow illustrator, Brianna Harden shared a quote on her blog a while back that I thought was inspriring to anyone starting out and anyone who has been in this for a while. I shared it with the classes later through email:

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.” -Ira Glass

While I’m no expert and I’ve only been at this for a couple of years, I do know that: working as hard as you can and being nice to your peers can get you places. It’s not easy and it will never be easy but if you have others there with you who are as inspiring and motivated as you are, it can be awesome.

Anyway, those were some of my thoughts. Today I’m working on more stuff I can’t share for a while. I do have another spot in Imagine FX coming to the States soon and some cards done for Fantasy Flight Games that I should be able to post in the coming days.

Otherwise, I’m working on the project I’ve always wanted to work on and its awesome. ;) I really can’t wait to share it.

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Fact: Honey Badgers don’t make good Valentines.

Happy Valentines Day everyone! Hope your day is super romantic!

Working on lots of projects lately – all of which are on the “down-low” for the time being. Posts about them are coming soon!

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Lately I’ve been working with Imagine FX magazine on their Q and A section, answering art and illustration questions. The experience has been fun and exciting as most of them have been on the subject of creatures! The magazine is incredibly inspiring and I’m really excited to be pat of it.

This is the first (of a few) Q and A’s I’ve done for the magazine. It can be found in the current issue of Imagine FX – issue 66. I’ll be posting others as they appear in future issues. More posts for other work I’ve done for clients soon.

Meanwhile I’ve been pinching myself about some opportunities that have presented themselves… Life is good.

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Been trying to do more sketching in the sketchbook lately. Here are some recent doodles. Really liking the blue pencil. It sort of takes me back to when I was studying game design and animation in L.A. I’m hoping to dig a little deeper into more traditional media soon.

I’m leaving for L.A. 6 hours from now. I’m not very sleepy but I am exhausted. It’s a weird in between feeling. This last week has been full of work and surprises. I’ve been keeping up a steady flow of Q&A articles for Imagine FX magazine for the last couple of months. Mostly to do with creature questions. I’ve been having so much fun creating and showing process for the magazine. I’m really excited to see them in print soon and show them here on the blog.

Mostly nervous about L.A. I guess. Some exciting things are taking place lately. Things are looking up…way up.

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(this one was posted earlier):

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Happy New year! I’m so excited to start a new year. 2011 has some exciting promises! I’ve been busy this last month so I don’t have much in the way of personal work. Here are some pages from the sketchie book. (I’ve been loving my blue pencil lately) The top image is of a few doodles for an upcoming assignment. The others were probably done while I was watching some sort of nature documentary.

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I’m looking forward to the end of this month. I’ll be finishing up a project I’m excited to share!  I’ll also be sharing some work I did for Future Publishing – Creature fun!

Pixar Animation - click for info!

Something for you East Bay folks : If you live anywhere near Oakland, Ca. you need to make a stop by the Oakland Museum and see the Pixar: 25 Years of Animation Exhibit. It’s only up until January 9th so be sure to see it before it closes. I’ve never been so inspired. It really is a remarkable show. Here is where you can find: Information.

In other news my sister is getting married at the end of this month! I’ll be making the journey to Southern California, yet again, to celebrate with her and our families. I’m looking forward to seeing family and friends that I haven’t seen for some time. :)

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! Looking forward to the new year!

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some recent sketches in the sketchie book.

I’ve been getting ready for Christmas lately by making all of my gifts. Being an artist in this point in time doesn’t make for lavish spending on gifts so I’ve gotten a little creative and crafted some fun accessories. I’ll post pictures and such after all of of my gifts have been given so as not to ruin the surprise!

Finished and more exciting work coming soon!

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I think this is done for now. She’s part of a collaborative project I’m working on with two other very talented ladies.

… been busy with other stuff I can’t really post.

More work coming soon.

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My take on the Lovecraft beastie, Tsathoggua. Work in progress…

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For A.P.E. this year I decided to put together a book promotional and personal work from the past year or so. I thought I’d take a few pictures of the book to give a feel for what it will look like. I’m really excited to have finally done this and I feel like it came out really well.

The book is 40 pages of full color drawings, sketches, and illustrations. It measures 8.5 x 11 (vertical) and is perfect bound. It will cost $22.00 usd. You can buy the book at from me at A.P.E. and it will also be available for purchase online a few days before A.P.E. weekend – I’ll make an announcement here and on twitter.

Its is available on Lulu here – http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/fish-hooks/12917022

Here are a few photos of what is inside:

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Anyway, This was so much fun to put together! I hope you come out and see me at A.P.E. The convention is full of amazingly talented people showing off and selling all sorts of stuff! Be sure to drop by if your in the area!

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Two works in progress. The first is a study of the Southern Shore of Tul. It’s still in the “awful looking” stage but hopefully that will change the more I work into it.

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This is a page of studies of a new organism in the works… More on her coming soon.

Lately I’ve been trying to get ready for APE. I’ve put together a sketchbook though Lulu.com. I’ve sent out for the first draft and I’ll be posting pictures of it here on my blog. It will be available at my table as well as online through lulu. Look out for it soon!

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This was an experiment I started the other night in pencil, watercolor and oil – a method I used to work in constantly. It requires lots of layering with fixatives, and matte mediums. The end result is usually a more layered looking effect than this. I kept the technique up for a while until I started to get sick from the chemicals in the fixative – the back of label read: causes nausea, vomiting, headaches and dizziness. I endured a year of these symptoms before I realized what was happening.  I was careful to spray things outside, wear a mask or cloth around my face and let the piece dry for a day or so. However, with tight deadlines in school I’d have to breathe in the fumes while I was working on the final product almost inevitably. The fixative would linger around the piece for a week or so.

I recently tried the method again without the fixative, with this drawing of a dodo, but found that turpenoid has the same effect. I’m not sure if it’s association now or if it is something in the thinner but I can’t use the stuff without getting dizzy spells and headaches for a few days. I hate writing about this because I feel like its my fault. I feel like I’m less. In any case, I’m trying to find new methods to replicate the way in which I used to work.

When I couldn’t produce work the way I wanted to, I learned how to paint in the computer. I knew I needed to learn because of the field I had decided I wanted to be a part of but was always reluctant – I think it had something to do with the environment I was in at the time. I had one instructor who always told me to learn it but it didn’t hit me until I went to “Revelations” – an art convention put on by Massive Black. I saw digital painting in a way I hadn’t ever seen it before – in the process of being done. I understood that it wasn’t so different from what I was doing on paper, in fact, it was structured exactly the same. I was excited about art-making in a way I hadn’t been in a long time. I came home, bought a wacom tablet and photoshop and began to teach myself…slowly. I didn’t have too many resources in college in the digital department. There was one class that covered everything briefly, but nothing that taught painting or anything that would be necessary to create a digital illustration from scratch. I taught myself almost everything I know now with class assignments and personal work when I could. Needless to say, most of my attempts were pretty awful in the beginning. I’ve since deleted a lot of my student work except for the work I did for The Morae River my last semester.

I am in no way an expert in digital media either. I only know about 10% of what I should probably know. I’m learning new things every day and I hope to be for a while. The illustration above has digital enhancements added to it. I couldn’t finish it in oil due to the headache. I’m wanting to figure out my process again, in a more health-friendly way because I like to work in watercolor and pencil.

I’m not sure why I felt the need to type all of this….I guess that’s what blogs are for? haha…

edit* …And since you’ve endured my rambling on, you should watch this as a reward. (if you skip ahead to watch it I wont blame you either, hehe)

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- My work always starts out with a crappy sketch (above) Just to get an idea of what I want to put in the image.

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- With this piece, I flipped the image and worked out the pose a bit more until I liked it.

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- Then its on with the pencil drawing. I work with an irregular shaped brush on a normal setting with opacity at 100%. The brush works with the pressure sensitivity on my tablet so I can get dark and light without having to adjust anything. (the fact that I don’t know how to “talk” photoshop is showing…) I keep my sketch layer on a lower opacity than the final pencil layer so I can see my sketch while I’m drawing.

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- Now its time to add in some color. I’ve set my pencil layer to multiply (for now) and I have created layers for color – one for the rocks, one for BattleCat’s fur, and one for his armor. I like to use as few layers as possible when I work but in this case I needed to be able to edit the fur and armor separately. I’m adding in some modeling but not too much – just enough to get an idea of where I want my light-source to be.

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- If I were painting this traditionally I would have layed in the background first. However, with the magic of “layers” I can add in a background after I’ve painted most of BattleCat. For the background I used my “go-to” brush as well as a soft edges brush to make the clouds look softened here and there.

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-I’ve added in BattleCat’s stripes as well as add in some more shadows to his fur. I’ve done this on a layer above the fur but underneath the armor so I don’t have to worry about erasing too much.

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- Adding in some more shadows – this time to the armor.

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- Now I’m starting to add in some darker shadows over everything I’ve painted so far. These shadows are on their own layer and are a deep purple – as opposed to the darker greens and reds I was using for the armor and fur. I’ve also added in some whiskers at this point.

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- Highlights come in at this point as well as some cool reflective light to counteract the warmth in the piece. The highlights on BattleCat are a warmer, gold tone. While I’m painting all of this I will go back and forth in-between steps. I don’t paint the image completely step by step like this but this will give you an idea of how it all come together more easily.

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- Now I’m adding in some “ultra highlights”. Almost stark-white to give BattleCat some pop in his darker areas. I’ve also pushed back some of his limbs and his tail using a bit of atmosphere. This helps in giving the image a bit of depth.

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- Finally I’ve warmed up the piece by adding in a layer of gold tones on multiply. I set it to around 20% opacity. I’ve also added in some flecks of golds, reds and whites to the background along with some flags and things of the sort – keeping those on a lower opacity as well to keep them pushed back. At the end of the painting I’ll switch my pencil layer from “Multiply” to “Ghost”. “Ghost” is a filter by flaming pear that turns a line transparent. What I like about it is, that the line will become a darker version of whatever color is underneath it. The change is very slight, however if you scan in pencil drawings it will really come in handy. You can find that filter: Here. (It’s the download at the top titled: “Free Plugins”.

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All of the fur and texture on the saddle is created by my brush traveling back and froth on the wacom. I don’t use fur brushes or imported textures. This isn’t to say that they won’t save you lots of time and can’t look great – I just don’t know enough about them to use them confidently and I enjoy painting like I would be drawing in marker. Its just a preference for my personal work. For this image I used these brushes:

which you can download : Here. (That last brush, by the way, is my “go to” brush. I like the bristles and the slight texture it creates.

I also created a color palette to help with keeping the basic colors consistent. I don’t normally do this but it helps with something like this where color has to remain very vivid.

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Anyway, if you still have questions, you can contact me via the contact page or comment on this post. :)

Thanks for reading!

I should also add that BattleCat is © Mattel

]]> http://www.fishhookstudio.com/2010/08/mean-kitty/feed/ 12 http://www.fishhookstudio.com/2010/08/battlecat/ http://www.fishhookstudio.com/2010/08/battlecat/#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 06:29:10 +0000 Brynn Metheney http://www.fishhookstudio.com/?p=892 Continue reading →]]>

battlecat

Here is a work in progress of my take on Battlecat for CGHUB’s Creature Planets current challenge.

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This was for a prior challenge for a prompt called “WarBeast”. This was as far as I got on the concept and then I had to drop it. I like the drawing though.

“While most think genetic engineering didn’t get it’s start until the early 1970′s, the science’s beginning can be traced back to World War 2 with the introduction of the Q.E.D. -Quadrupedal Explosive Device (Pronounced “Ked”) Created by The Allies, the animal was a chimera of sorts, bred to chase flairs into battle with explosives attached to their bodies. They were bred without ears to keep the animal from being startled on it’s course. Because of it’s origination in the lab, the Q.E.D. was not considered an animal, but rather a tool of war and was used until they were outlawed and destroyed after the war. With the emergence of the animal rights movement, it was in fact, found to have animal-like qualities. Some argue the Q.E.D. played a pivotal role in defeating the Nazis, however it is still considered to be one of the best examples of how horrific war can become.”

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Finished this, more coming later…

Pakasuchus kapilimai – the cat croc.

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Finished this one. I’m off to work on more. Although, this will be my only Tapir illustration for a while – sadly. They are awesome creatures. This little guy is next:

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Learn more about him, Here.

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This was done for Creature Planet’s Dead Flat-Footed Drizzler Topic over on CGHUB. This particular entry was late due to a very complicated day I had yesterday.No matter though, here is the final…

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Some monster fun. Trying to round out my portfolio a bit. I’d like to have three samples of the types of work I do and can do. Anyway, hopefully more of these guys to come. I do have other more pressing projects I need to be working on but these are fun to draw!

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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.

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Something new. Expect more of these two in the weeks to come…

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Finished up the Pygmy Esorifleu for CGHUB’s creature planets. These were lots of fun to do. I’m currently working on the next species for topic # 15 – Viscinian Scavenger. These are just some rough sketches of the overall form that I want the organism to have – following the guidelines provided in the prompt.

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This forum activity has been really good for me. It a lot of fun to help run but its also pushing me to try new things with creature design and even graphics. I’ve been producing the banners for the activity with direction from Shane Watson – CGHUB’s community director.

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In case you’re wondering, I did not paint the actual planet. I use Flaming Pear’s “LunarCell” to produce it. Creating a banner along with stats and a creature for the activity each week can be a lot fo work and so any shortcuts are vital to get things done on time. I did, however, paint the galaxy and produced all of the other graphics on the banners (except for the little icons on the top banner, those are winning entries) Anyway, This has been loads of fun for me and my partner in crime (co-runner of creature planets) - Ogi Grujic. As the activity progresses, I’d like to re-work the layouts of the planet banners and such but for now these seem to be working ok.

Like I mentioned in my post before, I’m wanting to share things that inspire me, things I find funny, and things that I think others should watch. This was a short that brought tears to my eyes. I love how animation is able to span gaps and make you care about lumps of dirt on the moon. Enjoy…

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Something I forgot about and finished up.

I’d like to start using this blog for the other word that is listed in its description: “inspirations”. I’m on the internet way too much. One of the characteristics (and vices) of being a digital artist is that you have the entirety of the internet at your finger tips at all times. In any case, I see lots of weird, touching, fascinating and just plain hilarious videos, pictures, blogs and profiles scattered about the web. So I’d like to start sharing some of those things that I find inspiring and that end up touching in me in some way or another. Ill start with this: My Milk Toof.

Ickle and Lardee from: My Milk Toof

This adorable and endearing web-comic brightens my day every time I look through it. Inhae, creator, artist, and author has transformed her milk teeth (or baby teeth) into unforgettable characters, Ickle and Lardee. The two teeth embark on epic adventures and hilarious skits around the house and out in the yard. Its a beautiful combination of sculpture, photography, and comics. These are some of my favorite strips but be sure to look through all of them.

Heavy for the Holidays . Up and Away . Bed Buddies

enjoy!

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Something I’m working on for Creature Planets – the weekly activity I help run over on CGHUB.

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Sketchie fun…

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