Digital Sketch—Game Environment II

Digital tonal concept sketch for a gaming company depicting a cityscape with forground elements. The emotional beat in this series remains consistant with the nature of the dark world depicted. This idea was painted with no preliminay drawings. My aim was just to capture the raw emotion I felt about the subject and the energy of the man on a mission.

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Digital Sketch—Game Environment I

This is a rough digital sketch I painted of a city environment for a gaming company. I love doing this sort of design work using broad strokes and alternating forms to create movement and drama. All of the artists at the studio are top notch so I was a bit apprehensive at first, but the art took over and it was fun seeing this new world emerge as the strokes of digital paint came together.

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Digital Sketch—Game Environment III

This gaming environment leads us inside a maze of steel beams and catwalks lined with tubular pipes, gas lines and cables. Painted in CS2, this quick sketch conveys the over all emotional dynamic of danger, hidden mysteries and pulsating directional lights. In this case, since it was just an idea sketch, I made it up as I went along feeling my way through the many possible design solutions. I had a lot of fun playing light against dark and exploring the raw emotion of the scene.

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Marooned

My digital painting "Marooned" depicts a space trooper stranded on an alien planet illuminated by the moon behind him. Wreckage of his ship in the background along with distant planets hint to his long journey from home. His mission completed, so it seems, is now behind him as the lone survivor is forced to ponder his fate. The vast expanse of this desert planet is formidable, but nothing compares to facing the dark enemy he has hated for years—himself.

I was inspired by the great artist, Howard Pyle, who painted a pirate stranded on an island. The emotions of isolation and abandonment touched a cord in me and served well to set the tone for this space environment.


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Naruto

I recently worked on product development designs for Naruto which is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. These are the only design sketches I'm allowed to show. It's funny how I finished illustrating a book project that was inspired by manga styling and then I get handed the opportunity to work on such a classic.

Nartuto is an amazingly successful brand and ongoing series. The artists on the project were just as amazing and fun to work with. Anyway, this is my basic film and product development sketching style for ideation and bluesky concepting. Michael Spooner was my artistic mentor in this technique and I still see his influence in my drawings and artistic vision.


The Doppleganger Chronicles


This is the first book in the ongoing series—The Doppleganger Chronicles by G.P. Taylor. I art directed the first book setting the style template with designers and artists from Markosia Enterprises in London and the USA based Tyndale House Publishers. I included the artist bio page to honor the London based artists Daniel Boultwood and Tony Lee—both amazingly talented and extremely humble guys. You can check out www.dopplegangerchronicles.com to see my video discussing the art direction.






Deadeye

I really enjoyed painting this character study of a cowboy who's eyes give a hint to the condition of his soul. Years of living in the old west has hardened him and his youth faded away along with his dreams. He's found someone he has been looking for making this is a dangerous moment—payback for something everyone else forgot about. He hasn't forgotten. It's as though it happened yesterday.

I wanted his face to be the primary focal point. The shadow color under his eyes is darkened and void of color to give a clearer vision of his nature and intent. This oil was painted on a double primed linen canvas using a lead primer. Very slick to paint on but easy to wipe off when a mistake is made. I allowed the canvas to show through in spots and had a blast playing around with the brush strokes.

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Marvel

Copyright © 2009 Marvel Entertainment

More from Marvel. This was one of several sketches for a the animated television series. The character design incorporated a strong anatomical structure that had it's own look and feel. The hardest part, for me, was roughing the poses out trying several ways to express the action with the strongest sense of movement and form. It taught me a great deal about the line of action and posing the figure the Marvel way. I learned a lot from the artists working on this project. An amazing group.

Forever Friends

I painted this oil depicting a little girl who found a friend. The story in the painting depicts a lovely girl with the simple surroundings of a bare orphanage. The girl seems a bit out of place standing in the corner. There is comfort, however, in holding a doll that she found along the way. Their special relationship allows the little girl a friend wherever she goes.

The model for the girl was my daughter, Sarah, who my wife and I adopted from South Korea when she was a baby. I remember when Sarah got older she wanted a doll to play with. We went to the store and she finally chose the one she wanted. She smiled and gave it a big hug. At that moment, I saw in her the first hints of being a mother. A mentor. A woman.

It amazes me how many people define themselves by the job they fill or the talents they currently have. To me, being a dad is everything. When it's all said and done Sarah will remember me most—not for my art or design—but for being her dad. Her memories, as well as my son's, define me. Our relationship makes me the man I am. It also grows me into the man I want to be.

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