The Last Outpost

Pantone: 20th Century in Color

2012-01-13T09:46:00.001-08:00

I found this interesting and newly published book on Pantone Colors of the 20th Century by two very accomplished color trend experts; Leatrice Eiseman and Keith Recker. I did a poor job compositing images together to show how they break down each decade by color palette, but hopefully you get the idea on what the book is. I must confide that this is probably my least favorite collection of images from all my art book reviews that I have ever put together- but this book is one of my favorites for 2011. Dont let my poor designing throw you off!!
Theres some text preceding each section in the book that verbally breaks down the "feeling" of the color world during each of those particular decades that I found really interesting and informative. Brief sections of well thought, concise writing, something I really appreciate in any of my art books.
I would say check this book out at your local bookshop first before blindly buying it to see if it resonates with you- it really resonated with me and I use it a lot to guide my color palettes when Im trying to depict a particular time in the 20th century.

Pantone: The 20th Century in Color
Leatrice Eiseman and Keith Recker
Chronicle books
207 pages HC
ISBN 978-0-8118-7756-5

Available for $26 on Amazon !

Task Want

2011-11-07T16:13:00.000-08:00

My friend @TysonLundbech has another sibling start up for his RentWant project called; TaskWant
Crowd sourcing tasks.

Walt Disney Animation Studios The Archive Series: Layout & Background

2011-11-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

The long awaited and fourth book in the Walt Disney Animation Studios Archive Series; "Layout and Background" is on the bookstore shelves and gives a nice broad retrospective of Background Art from the very first Disney films to present day. There's even backgrounds for Roger Rabbit among many others in here which Ive never seen in any other of my many books. I do notice that a good portion of the reproductions are sadly, not that great- they're good, but Ive seen many of them in other books and there is a definite, noticeable difference in color and value. Also. While at the bookstore I inspected a few of the bindings and many of them were looking a little shaky.
It's too bad. I understand its a challenge to get the many pages to print well, it's a lot of art, but they dont have problems with their other art books- and bindings glue already coming undone on such a brand new copy is one of the worst things to see. A personal pet peeve of mine. The copy I have seems to be ok and holding up, but watch out for those bindings- makes it tough to order from amazon or someone and just hope you get a good one.
With all that said- its still an amazing, fantastic, and easily accessible collection and I would buy it all over again at full price regardless of those two major disappointments.

-@en_b

Disney Animation Studios Archive Series; Layout and Background
Disney Editions
274 pgs (HC)
ISBN-13 978-1423138662

Available Amazon USA or at your better local bookstore

The Art of Brother Bear

2011-10-26T09:48:00.001-07:00

I will be honest, I never saw this movie. But I return to this book all the time. The background previz paintings and especially the on site ones make me drool. Im not sure if Disney still sends the Visual Developers to the actual location of the Feature to capture in real life, the look and feel of the environments the film takes place in- but they did on this one and a lot of those on location sketches and paintings are included in this book. That was the dream, at least for me, an aspiring background artist, to travel with a talented art team and draw and paint on location. Some real zingers in here from Paul Felix, Robh Ruppel, the master; Jay Xiangyuan Jie, and the rest of the team. Theres some good character work in here, but mostly you will find Backgrounds and Layouts. I saw a survey on deviant art (?) about what people like to see in an "art of book" and to my dismay, background paintings and sketches were near to the bottom. To me, although I like good character stuff, the backgrounds and layouts are by far my favorite things to look at and draw inspiration from. Everyones different though thats for sure.
Hard to believe but on amazon you apparently can buy this book used for 0.33 cents, or new for less than $6. This book is definitely worth that small cost, so go get it!

The Art of Brother Bear
H. Clark Wakabayashi
124 pages (HC)
Disney Editions
ISBN 078685420-0

The Art of Bolt

2011-10-11T10:58:00.000-07:00

I think you can get this book for about $8.00 now on Amazon and its really good. I actually thought this movie was super under-rated. Its been a while since I saw it but I remember really enjoying this animated feature from the original SoCal Disney Studio, Disney Pictures. Flipping through this book reminds me how good it was and of course of the extremely talented team that brought it all to life. Nice character work but the background paintings in here really shine- cheers Mr. Paul Felix!
So go ahead and grab this one for the shelf, well worth the price.

Art of Bolt
Mark Cotta Vaz
160 pages (HC)
Chronicle Books
ISBN 978-0-8118-6531-9

Andrew Loomis and Figure Drawing

2011-10-03T10:07:00.000-07:00

Listen, there are a ton of figure drawing books out there. More than a ton. But you just want one really good one right? Well maybe not but all I want is one and that one used to be a raggedy photocopied stack of papers Lee Ballard ran off for me in the fine arts department office. The book copied was: "Figure Drawing For All Its Worth" by Andrew Loomis, and it had been out of print for years. We were art students and there was no way any of us could afford that book, but check it out! They reprinted it! I think I got mine for $16 on amazon, I think its costs about $26 new now but its still a steal for this super informative volume of figure drawing and figure drawing techniques. Everythings in here, proportions, fore shortening, values, poses, lighting, and more- everything you need to know about figure drawing and more. Still dont believe me? Check out the reviews from artists you might believe, such as Alex Ross or Norman Rockwell. Yes, Norman Rockwell- I told you this book was old! So if you need a figure drawing book this one is the one, way better than Bridgeman or anything else I have ever come across.

Figure Drawing For All It's Worth
Andrew Loomis
204pg (HC)
Titan Books
ISBN 9780857680983

Availability: Amazon USA

Gurney Journey

2011-09-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

Theres only one thing thats better than James Gurney's amazing art blog; Gurney Journey and that one thing is these crazy color illusions, this one courtesy of Mr James Gurney. Those two colors arent two colors at all, theyre actually the same, one color. Amazing.
Do check out Gurney Journey. So much good information and fantastic art.

Mashinen Krieger vol. 2 Chronicle and Encyclopedia

2011-09-13T08:48:00.000-07:00

Here is the second and in my opinion the better of the two Volumes of Ma.K. designs from the very talented and groundbreaking designer Kow Yokoyama. This is one of my top 10 favorite books from my entire collection. Raw, greasy, muddy, and mostly military designs populate this book with some wonderfully lit diorama photographs.
Half a dozen pages in the back contain the pen and ink sketches of his designs. Theres another book that reprints most of these sketches along with a whole bunch more that I will post at a later date. Amazing work, and again, probably my favorite designer of all time. Totally awesome.

Mashinen Krieger vol. 2 Chronicle and Encyclopedia
Kow Yokoyama
Dainipponkaiga
112 pages HC
ISBN4-499-22875-1
Availability; Amazon Japan

RentWant

2011-09-08T14:46:00.000-07:00

This is Charlie- Hes gonna be part time spokesman for my good friends start up: RentWant You have something youre not using you wouldnt mind making some money on it while it sits? You should probably check out RentWant.
Im gonna be doing a handful of Charlies with different rentable accessories for him. So while you wait for those, maybe rent some stuff out and make some money!

Roy SE-DUCK Pants

2011-09-07T16:11:00.000-07:00

I never thought I would want $340.00 pants but I do. Check out all those details! And all on the inside where no one would ever see. Thats the coolest. Each of these are hand sewn by the same person from start to finish! Dude!
Crazy thing is even if I did have $340 I still wouldnt be able to get any of these- they sell out in hours.
Still reading? Well check out selfedge and take a step into the obscure world of clothing production. Theres some japanese companies that bought the old antique looms from levis or whatever and are making cloth to those old specifications... which as you know, are way more stringent and better quality than todays specs and robotic looms. Anyway, definitely a weird niche of denim and cloth fanatics out there. Mostly as I said located in Japan. They totally have my attention.

The Art of Herge; Inventor of Tintin 1907-1937

2011-09-06T14:06:00.000-07:00

Well you guys should get ready for a full onslaught of Tintin as the new film rolls-out, Im gonna get a couple great Tintin books I have on my shelf posted before people either sour or sweeten to the property.
The book store my parents frequented had all the Tintin trade paperbacks and I spent a lot of time flipping through them as a young boy. Every cover was so compelling and the series so long and deep- it definitely captured my curiosity. They were all in French at the time so I never actually was able to read any of them, luckily Georges Prosper Remi, aka Herge, was for good reasons, a real master draftsman and story teller making for an easy pictographic read. This book has some really great early childhood drawings of his and a nice collection of non-Tintin related graphic and product design. I enjoyed seeing how Remi developed as an artist.
I understand this is a reprint form a previously released Belgium version, although the Belgium one is something like 400 pages and this one just a bit over 200 pages. A nice book to have but Im so interested in getting ahold of one of the original editions so that I could see all that missing content from the recently republished one. Anyone have any info on this?
Hope the film is

"The Art of Herge; Inventor of Tintin 1907-1937 Vol. 1"
Philippe Goddin translated by Michael Farr
Last Gasp
205pages HC
ISBN-13:978-0-86719-706-8

IanScottBerry.com Website

2011-09-05T10:57:00.000-07:00

Ive made some changes to my online presence!
Its always with great reluctance that anyone says their website is done, mine certainly isnt, but I figured out how to get it all uploaded and how to make buttons and such- AND make it all iPad friendly! Theres some pretty extensive archiving of old projects that used to be on a series of sibling art blogs to this Last Outpost blog. Ive removed the links to those and probably wont post to them anymore, so they have all basically retreated to The Last Outpost and here I will be posting art book reviews, sketchbook pages, movie reviews, Nintendo DS paintings, plein air paintings and all of that stuf, all in this one easy to keep track of spot. Did I mention its iPad friendly? I think I might have three loyal people that regularly check on the Last Outpost, (thank you), but hopefully that will start growing again with more consistent, albeit random postings.
Thanks again for stopping by!

Sketchbook

2011-09-04T07:35:00.001-07:00

Pek-a-Book: Ma.K. Chronicles and Encyclopedia Volume 1

2011-09-02T05:28:00.000-07:00

Kow Yokoyama has been wowing me since the early 1980s when I discovered his models in my hometown RPG store. I was probably 9 or 10 years old and was totally mesmerized by his kit-bashed post WW2 military Sci-Fi styles showing scenes of all the mundane aspects of that muddy, alternate universe- such as; fixing the mech, prepping the GEV for flight, tending the farm animals. I seriously loved looking at those kits and the diorama photographs that were included on the box. So you can imagine how excited I was to see a revival of Mr. Kow Yokoyama's work in a handful of nicely printed hardcovered books probably 20 years later. Included inside are kits, sketches and photographs as well as a lot of other bits. If you want to see some ground breaking mech design, and just in general, totally awesome sci-fi, you need to check out these books. Theres 2 Volumes of these and all of his work from the 80's have been reprinted in one form or another. I'll be sure to be posting those other volumes in the coming weeks.

Ma.K. Maschinen Krieger Vol. 1 Chronicle and Encyclopedia
Kow Yokoyama
110 pgs HC
ISBN4-499-22825
Availability: Amazon Japan

Maine

2011-09-01T10:05:00.001-07:00

Maine

2011-08-30T15:14:00.001-07:00

Sketching

2011-08-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

I have a few pages of sketches from a trip I took to Maine last weekend- probably will be also updating the sketchbook blog with a few of em.

Peek-a-Book Mondays!

2011-08-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

Do you guys know Ive been doing a peek into my art book collection every week? Its been called Peek-a-book and Ive been posting them on Twitter- you definitely should just follow the twitter feed, but if you have social media phobia, no bigggeeee!!! You can still look without even being on twitter! Just follow this link .
This week I took a peek into a book that my good friend, super talented artist; Emmanuel Shiu gave to me as I left SF for NYC; "The Art of Ralph McQuarrie". Probably one of the most influential artists of my generation! I admit this book doesnt have everything, but theres still tons and tons of great work in there. His thumbnails are outstanding and this book is Massive!! Close to 400 pages!!!

Photo Safari

2011-08-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

If you liked those below animations, they are actually from a great project I worked on with the very talented Carolyn Merriman of ShortstackApps She kindly has let me use a handful of the critters here and on my site- but there lots more to be found so go grab the app here and find them all. I think I was able to find at least 27 in the time attack mode. Good luck!

Maine

2011-07-28T20:03:00.001-07:00

Bushwacking up on Mount Desert Island earlier this summer.

Animal Symphony

2011-06-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

Never too early for Christmas

2011-05-23T11:37:00.000-07:00

These are a few samples from some 2011 holiday merchandise I was working on.

Long time

2011-05-17T11:38:00.001-07:00

been a long time of no posting!
holy moly.

Cleopatra

2011-04-12T12:59:00.001-07:00

Burnt on Thanksgiving

2010-12-01T07:57:00.001-08:00

I was killing some time right before Thanksgiving and seeing how, of course, Thanksgiving was a trending topic and people were commenting on our favorite of holidays. Well, besides food, when I think of Thanksgiving fondness, I think about always surfing with my dad before eating. There were always good waves on Thanksgiving when I was a yout. So here's a little Thanksgiving scenery from my many memories of surfing those days.
Notice my dad burning me on that wave- that dirty dog! Hahaha- no you guys- seriously, surfing a wave with your dad is one of the funnest things.
Extra points for anyone who recognizes that surf spot.

Art of District 9

2010-11-08T08:41:00.001-08:00

This weeks Peek-a-Book is a doosey. Art of District 9. Neill Blomkamp had the WETA art dept on fire. Great book.
A full review is upcoming on my Art Book Review blog. Stay tuned.

Sartorialist

2010-11-05T06:07:00.001-07:00

Couldnt sleep this morning so got up and sketched from one of the sartorialists photos. Probably my favorite site for looking at people and style.

Gugges'

2010-10-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

shower and shoes

2010-10-24T06:11:00.000-07:00

boudoir

2010-10-22T06:30:00.001-07:00

out the door

2010-10-21T06:45:00.000-07:00

Story-boarding

2010-10-19T07:08:00.001-07:00

I've been story-boarding and will post some of the unused frames over the next couple weeks.

Peek-a-Book Mondays

2010-10-18T07:05:00.000-07:00

Guys- Know what? Ive been doing a "peek-a-book" every Monday and posting it on my twitter and also into the Last Outpost Book Review blog. These are just quick peeks into a selection of books from my collection- theyre not necessarily a review if its any good or not since you can be completely assured that I wont be posting any books that dont deserve the attention. If youre a visual developer, animator, designer, concept artist or even better, a wannabe of any of those, or just a lover art books, check it out!

Influence Map

2010-10-06T07:33:00.000-07:00

I joined in on the "Influence Map" chorus thats been going around over the past summer- learnt a lot about myself doing it- you all should give one a shot, a super interesting exercise, even if its just jotting down each influence on a scrap of paper.
And it's especially fun looking at everyone elses influence maps- I think most of which can be easily found on twitter?

Congratulations Felice and Adam

2010-08-26T08:37:00.001-07:00

I had the honor to come up with a save the date card for Felice and her fiance Adam who are getting married on lovely Martha's Vineyard next year. Congratulations you guys!

Quick product sketch

2010-08-23T13:58:00.001-07:00

Cleaning off the desktop and finding a few things- Quick toddlers stackable product sketch I did for a friend a little while ago.

Sunday In Central Park

2010-07-20T12:21:00.000-07:00

Me and my red freespirit 3speed met up with the very talented and all around great guy, Mr. Robert Dress @Bethesda Fountain on an extremely lovely Sunday afternoon for a bit of landscape painting and more than a couple beers at the world famous Boathouse. Super great day- one of my more memorable Sundays in fact, a Sunday that extended deep into Willamsburg well late into the evening. Nothing better than Summer in NYC.

montauk point

2010-07-11T07:01:00.001-07:00

Spent a weekend up in Montauk. Fun town. Record temperatures. No waves. Got a couple little paintings in though.

The Thought Percolator

2010-06-24T13:43:00.002-07:00

Did you guys know about the percolator?
I have a Tumblr , http://en-b.tumblr.com/ where Im posting links and random things I like to think about. Thats probably what this Last Outpost blog always should have been for.

Pink Elephants

2010-05-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

Vehicle warmups

2010-04-14T15:54:00.001-07:00

Warm ups- Drawing vehicles this week- rad!

Kettenhund

2010-03-31T15:56:00.001-07:00

here kette kette kette...

Lil Tug

2010-03-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

aww litl tug!

Secret of Kells screening

2010-03-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

Late last week I went to a screening of "The Secret of Kells" (trailer), the latest animated feature from director Tomm Moore. The film has won a handful of awards including the audience choice award at the 2009 Annecy, as well as a nomination for best animated feature for the 82nd Academy Awards. It has also been selling out all of its shows here in New York and apparently has made the highest weekend gross ever at the IFC Theater in the West Village. Not bad for an animated film!!
I must say I really liked this movie! It had a marvelous, unusual visual style, lots of flat graphic shapes, lots of textures.
It takes place near by and within the walls of the medieval abbey of Kells. The Abbot's nephew, Bendan, longs to work in the scriptorium with the rest of the monks illustrating illuminations for the abbey's manuscripts, and when a mysterious and talented monk arrives, Brendan attempts to uncover the ancient pagan secrets of Cromm Crúaich that lie outside the walls of the city and ultimately becoming a gifted illuminator himself. Even if it means breaking the wishes of his Uncle the Abbot, who is continually obsessed with the completion of the city walls and the threat of the approaching Northern invaders.
I thought the animations were very fitting, and that the feel and uniqueness of old Ireland really shown through the entire production, which im sure was one of many a goal of the Irish team that developed it.
I really cant recommend this film enough.
The director and comic book illustrator, Tomm Moore kept a really nice blog/journal throughout the entire process called the blog of Kells
Also, here is a nice interview of Tomm on GhibliWorld
I believe there will be a theater release of this movie in the US early March.
This is clearly the best film Ive seen so far the 2010 NYICFF

Sentry sketch

2010-03-08T13:17:00.000-08:00

sneak peak of an item from some panels im dabbling in.

Hottarake no Shima – Haruka to Maho no Kagami

2010-03-01T17:39:00.000-08:00

Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror (trailer)
Last weekend I went and saw the screening the New York International Childrens Film Festival had for Oblivion island, the latest from Japan's legendary Production I.G studio. Although they say its an all 3D movie, its actually a nicely combined 3D props and characters, with a combination of 2D and 3D backgrounds. Its a tricky thing to combine and I think they were really successful in executing it. The main character, Haruka has a nice, luscious Range Murata feel to her, (youve probably seen a lot of his characters on the covers of Udon publishings "Robot" magazine.) She's a feisty, really cute, typical seeming Japanese teen age heroine. She looked a little doll like in the eyes, but for me they really nailed the lips. Its an odd critique for sure, me focusing on the lips, but the attention to detail in the way they looked and were rigged made a huge impression on me- a lot of 3D animated characters lips are neglected, so bravo to you Production I.G for nailing the lips on that character. Her side kick companion Teo was fine, and all the typical villains and thugs, although very formulaic, didnt bother me as much as the mad rush and frantic pace the story took in the last 20 minutes- so much to resolve! So right, could of been edited, but all in all, I really enjoyed this film. I and the mass of very young viewers probably would have enjoyed it even more if it were 20 minutes shorter- an hour and half is a long time for a little kid, and a long time for a not so little kid as well!

Ill be attending quite a few more films at this festival and look forward posting a few of my impressions from each film- next up, the Secret Of Kells.

the Last Outpost

2010-02-26T08:38:00.000-08:00

More morning meandering

2010-02-19T12:33:00.000-08:00

good morning sketches!

2010-02-18T11:19:00.000-08:00

warming up before going into the lab.

Global Warming

2010-02-06T11:53:00.001-08:00

non sense sketching

2010-02-05T08:17:00.000-08:00

I have no idea what this is beyond a water wheel- just a bit of late night sketching between projects.

New Year, New Box; Alla Prima Pochade!

2010-02-02T13:09:00.000-08:00

My Alla Prima Pochade came in the mail the other day- Ben Hagget, an avid plein air painter himself, builds these in his shop, and I must say it's suuper nice. Lots of clever design solutions. The palette setup is a little different than what Im used to, but hopefully having my raw paint and my mixing paint in completely different areas will make my colors at least a little less muddy. The thing I like best is the wet canvas storage in the lid- not that I ever could paint so much, but I think I could store up to 8 wet panels in there if I needed to. Awesome!
Got to the painting workshop really late the other night, but I think the new box setup is gonna work out well.
Check out Ben's site http://allaprimapochade.com
I got the bigger Yellowstone model because I need as much palette space as possible- but all three sizes are amazing bits of craftsmanship. Thanks to JimmyG for referring me to Ben's Alla Prima Pochades!

Same tree, different day

2010-01-13T14:55:00.001-08:00

Always better the second time around...!

Story Builders in this months Family Fun

2009-12-04T21:42:00.000-08:00

Press! The old mac set is in this months Family Fun.

Kingdom Opener

2009-11-23T10:51:00.000-08:00

Here's the title page with sample text for an iphone project Ive been working on with the gang at Imagineers. Excited to see it come together!

Map published in MSW Destinations

2009-11-19T06:04:00.001-08:00

My map was picked up and featured with quite a few other lovely maps in this months MSW Destinations.

SW Central Park

2009-11-18T07:27:00.000-08:00

Got a quick one in the other night with my painting buddy bajel. I recall it was a mild Fall late afternoon (which is "evening" out here since it gets dark at around 4). Im guessing all these leaves are totally gone by now... :(

Plein Air or Yankees Parade?

2009-11-11T06:18:00.000-08:00

Met up with NatelBagel and went and painted the firehouse down the street. Yankees victory parade was close by and lots of revelers were on hand.

SE Corner C Park

2009-11-10T05:30:00.000-08:00

Was getting dark and bumped into a painting group at this spot and set up a few trees behind them to try and get a quick one in- they stopped over and said hello- even though I was rushing as fast as possible to get something on my board, I think I showed them all my bad painting habits- not scraping my palette every night, using a brush to mix my colors instead of the knife, etc etc. Slightly embarrassing, but I admit it- I have some horrible habits when it comes to painting, as you can see from my muddy colors...

Not so sunny set

2009-11-09T05:42:00.000-08:00

This is officially my 3rd Fall on the East Coast and by far its the longest and most colorful of the past three. Still lots of leaves left...

Genesis Climber Mospeda

2009-11-06T16:28:00.000-08:00

"Mospeda Complete Artworks" has been enthusiastically added to the Last Outpost art book review-
...which can easily be found by clicking here.

I found the book I never knew I had always wanted the other day.
Packed full of character sheets, mechanical and interior designs, concepts and backgrounds for both Earth and Invid forces. So much stuff I had never seen before!!!
Awesome book.

Fall magnificence

2009-10-25T18:06:00.000-07:00

No shortage of scenes to paint this month...

My 2009 Crush

2009-10-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

Its getting towards the end of the year and I figured its time for me to reveal my 2009 crush. And there she is, my rig, the red, sometimes three speed, free spirit. I have been loving this bike all year. Here is the set up along with a detailed shot of my custom, tech, security system. I just lock the whole thing up down on the street no problem.

Im sitting in a car

2009-10-20T08:15:00.001-07:00

...through the tues morning parking restriction. There is the Hudson- theres gonna be ice floating by out there soon...

Barn Side

2009-09-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

This is the barn sides. Kids! Print this out and fold the paper in half for a taste of story builders. We actually had to cut the roof portion due to some logistic issues, which were actually kind of interesting if your into die cuts and manufacturing.

Story Builders Art

2009-09-17T18:52:00.001-07:00

One of two pages of Story Builder art I will post- Just like two sides of a coin- each diecut panle has a different bit of art on each side.

Story Builders!!

2009-09-08T11:00:00.001-07:00

Super excited to announce that the Story Builders line of playsets I worked on with the great guys over at Sprig Toys has been released and is out on store shelves! The packaging looks really great and I'm honored to be associated with such a fantastic, smart company like Sprig, "Where kids power the fun!"

Kate Spade Showroom

2009-09-02T05:12:00.000-07:00

For the second season in a row, the very lovely and charming ladies at the Kate Spade office asked me to return to paint the latest graphic theme on their showroom wall. I snapped a couple pics of the showroom before all the dress forms and displays were installed. Hopefully I can get a hold of some shots of the completed room and post them soon. I thought their concept of roller coasters and Coney Island fun was very timely.

Kingdom Teaser

2009-08-13T06:44:00.001-07:00

I've had the unique opportunity to contribute backgrounds to the fine folks at Imagineer Games on their upcoming iphone project, "Kingdom". Hope to share these on my blog in the near future.

Map of Home

2009-07-30T20:56:00.000-07:00

Gads! its been a longtime since I last posted and even longer since Ive been home to SC.
Sigh.

NYC Highline!

2009-06-12T09:26:00.001-07:00

Im really excited the highline park is finally open. Lots to see up there-

Wave running

2009-06-09T08:53:00.001-07:00

Surf Nazi 2

2009-06-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

Surf Nazis

2009-06-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

one day it got too crowded and it was never the same again.

Farewell Kwai Chang Caine

2009-06-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

Besides fly in the Tiger Squandron of Cosmo Zero fighters with Derek Wildstar, what I wanted most when I was a little kid was to get to grow up in a Shaolin Monastary like Kwai Kai Chang. It was with some sadness to hear David Carradine passed away, farewell Kwai Chang Caine.

project 11:52

2009-05-31T07:50:00.000-07:00

I participated in Kyle Cameron's 11:52 project the other morning.
What were you doing at exactly 11:52 am?
I was sketching- actually I was sketching while baby sitting my car from the NYPT (New York Police Parking Police). One of the most exceptionally ruthless city departments I have ever encountered.

Happy Birthday Last Outpost Art Blog!

2009-05-27T15:09:00.000-07:00

Today marks the 3rd year of posts to the Last Outpost! Happy Birthday! This third year, one of my favorite numbers, will be commemorated with a repost of my very first post- looks like I was just getting back from an amazing trip to Italy! The little town of Treviso we stayed in remaining one of my favorite places in the entire world.

Memorial day at the beach

2009-05-26T13:07:00.001-07:00

Spent a lovely Memorial Day Weekend at an equally lovely beach. Found some time to break out the DS for a quick color sketch of one of the many coves we lazily spent our mornings and afternoons at.

Warm Wednesday Night Long Pose

2009-05-21T08:13:00.001-07:00

Oil on a 9x12 board and a couple hours
For all you workshop/figure painting junkies, I made yet another gallery where these quickstudies can all live. Eventually I will make a button for the right hand column, but for now you can access it by clicking here. Happy Spring!

My early brush with Fame: Bianca Majorie

2009-05-11T09:33:00.000-07:00

Im not sure what brought up this long lost memory, but the other morning it all popped into my head. I couldnt of been any older than 7, and I recall this woman named Bianca who lived down the street from us that my parents had become friends with. I clearly remember her face, her little house in Santa Cruz, and a handful of paintings propped against the wall. I also remember hearing how she had worked at Disney and with what I recall as some bitterness, she had developed the character Dumbo.
I was having a hard time sleeping that morning so I got up and did a little research, and yup, there she was, Bianca Majorie, the first woman to be hired by Walt to the Story department at Disney in the '30's. All of you in the business understand what a monumental achievement it is to make it into the story department, and for a woman in the 1930s to be brought into such a male dominated industry should clearly indicate what a Titan she must have been. Im happy that I was able to find out about her, but still its disappointing nothing what so ever is mentioned about her in my Disney Animation Studios "Story" Archive Book or much at all anywhere, even though she seems to be truly a monumental and historical figure of the Animation industry. One touching and profound quote of hers does remain though in regards to the Elmer the Elephant story; "that usefulness is more important than beauty ... that things that are not decorative may be extremely useful and should be cherished for that reason."

David Lyle Show

2009-04-29T14:44:00.001-07:00

My talented friend Dave Lyle is having an art opening tomorrow April 30th at the George Billis Gallery 511 W 25th Street NYC.
His show runs till May 23.
Check it out!

Easy reference

2009-04-22T12:15:00.001-07:00

Been busy finalizing some work for the good kids at Sprig Toys, and had to run uptown for some interior reference at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. So lucky to have that resource close at hand!

Welcome!

2009-04-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

dillon marie tung was born under the very auspicious sign of the ox earlier this year.
welcome!

I Miss My S4

2009-03-31T11:03:00.000-07:00

I sure do miss my S4.
So much fun to have a really fast car...

Grand Tetons DS

2009-03-12T15:06:00.000-07:00

Its been a long while since I sketched with the DS Lite. Still a really fun tool.

Guitar rough

2009-03-08T15:36:00.000-07:00

Rough guitar player. I absolutely cant wait to see this band all together in one place.

Friday Beers

2009-03-06T15:39:00.001-08:00

beeer.

Rodent Preview

2009-02-28T15:04:00.000-08:00

Sneak peak.
This was a test/practice run for a rodent band Im managing.
6x8 oil on paper

Toy Fair

2009-02-22T12:52:00.000-08:00

I've been working on some playset prototypes for the fine folks of Sprig Toys and they were kind enough to give me a guest pass to this years Toy Fair. Had a really great time- my favorite booths being; TWH Collectibles, who make scale nearly functioning diecast models of some really really large mining and excavating cranes, shovels, draglines, loaders and a variety of other bits of large equipment. Amazing stuff. My other three favorites were the Bruder booth, Playmobile (the jaques cousteau looking marine playsets made me want to get in the bathtub again), and of course, Sprig Toys.
Had a great time and met some fantastic people. Quite a different vibe than the comic show I had gone to the week earlier. Heres an image of one of the twh toys. The nice lady at he booth left me with the impression that since these are scale replicas, its what companies like P&H Mining, La Tourneau, Bucyrus etc use to sell the actual product. The toys/models were really impressive, I can see how those buyers and execs for the actual mining companies would be salivating and ready to drop millions for this stuff. Sign me up!

Cafe Colombe Characters

2009-02-10T11:03:00.001-08:00

a page of Cafe Colombe customers. small tables, great coffee.

sketchbook

2009-01-29T07:45:00.000-08:00

spent an evening with new friends and their sketchbooks, and I promised myself to do more sketchbook work. There are also some new sketches from my monday night quickstudies group here or via the fancy link to the right.

New gallery

2009-01-27T16:43:00.000-08:00

Ive opened up access to some art I did for the Madagascar 2 project in my madagascar2 gallery which can be found to the right- or by clicking here

neglect

2009-01-26T07:28:00.001-08:00

An old friend reminded me how Ive neglected my plein aire gallery this year. I will start to fill it back up.

While were at it

2009-01-23T06:41:00.001-08:00

while Im digging around in my archives I have a few more things to post... for posterity- these are a few more old minigolf ideas from a past project-

Old goodies

2009-01-20T07:00:00.000-08:00

Its 2009 and Im pretty sure its safe to post a few of these mini golf concepts from a past project- Mostly I would get a render of the fairway and the hole from the game designer and then I would paint in the setting according to what environment it belonged to- and pass the concept off to the modeler.

Monday night quick poses

2009-01-12T19:51:00.000-08:00

found a nice quickstudies group and gave the modbook a go.

christmas eve

2008-12-29T12:02:00.001-08:00

broke out the nintendo ds for a christmas eve quick study out the back window.
probably my very first 'white christmas'.
hope everyones having a lovely holiday.
cheers!

Clarinetist

2008-12-17T02:49:00.001-08:00

Christmas Clarinetist.
Oils on board 9x5

More rats

2008-12-09T13:18:00.000-08:00

almost there.
were approaching the big finale of the year of the rat.

A Day Later

2008-12-06T17:25:00.001-08:00

ahh, whata difference a day makes- these guys were a little more like what I was imagining yesterday.