Carnivale and Chaos in the City

Angels of War

2009-02-11T17:39:00.004-05:00

So I found myself a new Monday night hustle. Now adding to the list of skills, live painter. While it's still progressing and evolving, the new environment is teeming with growth and opportunity. The Collective, as Hannah the organizer calls it, is the monday night art and music event where I get a chance to work with other artists and have people take a gander at my work. It's a step in the right direction. Like the right battle plan, I'm going to work this and take all advantage of it.

Like a good general, I need good soldiers. So I created two in order to start my own brand of propaganda. The first one was created in Photoshop, I then made some stickers of it, and the second one is about letter sized and charcoal. I actually drew that one at the event and it was sold to a fellow by the name of Alex. It only reinforced my initial idea that this is the place I need to be right now.

Now a little about these soldiers of mine. Fighting fire with fire, they are the fallen angels of war, coming out of their night shift of the corporate oil rig. I've been meaning to bring to life minions of the evil empire in my work for some time now and I believe that this is a good start. I have another in the works, being my guinea pig for my Corel Painter X exploits. More of that to come when it does.

Next time, party girl is coming back...

New Website

2006-12-05T00:47:00.000-05:00

Check out the site. And don't worry, SantiKlaws here is harmless.

The Candyman Cometh

2006-12-06T18:27:00.000-05:00

I know it's a little late, but I gotta finish this drawing. Candyman is a metaphor for the way we treat eachother sometimes. In a world where everything's a shade of grey...this is the candyman.

Religión de Amor 1

2006-12-23T13:20:00.000-05:00

I was presented with the idea of doing a single page story for an friend of mine. It's a charming tale of two people, some cybernetic rabbis, and a slightly painful procedure. I'm gonna show you the basic steps in the process. Of course, there were many details that changed along the way, but thats normal when you create.

Here's the first sketch, done in Adobe Illustrator. In the city of Satelite, Mexico, two people are under the towers. They're in love, but are separated by cybernetic rabbis, who are not happy that he, a Mexican, is together with her, a Jewish girl. I wanted to setup the scene simply, I did only have one page for this tale. The two lovebirds are under the Towers of Satelite when tthe rabbi flies in and kidnaps the guy's (we'll call him Fedo) girl (she's Vivian).
I really wanted to put the main movement in the kidnapping of the girl, so I made the the Rabbi come in with a jetpack. In the sketch, you don't see too much, but that changes when you moved on to the tight drawings.

The first drawing I showed him. I wasn't to excited about that last row, I felt like it dragged a little, and the middle panel was also a little off. I gave Fedo a chance to look at it and give me some feedback.

Here's the revised final drawing. It went back and forth, but I'm fine with that as long as it comes out good. Here the title is added to the top middle frame. It's a little mix of Catholic and Hebrew influence. The Hebrew on the bottom is actually a prayer given to me by Fedo to use. He's got alot of great ideas when it comes to adding those little details, which is something I like to do as well when it comes to my own work.
There are plenty of differences in the two drawings. In the end, it worked out for the best. I'll let you look at them for yourselves.

Now we can move on and do some color.

Religión de Amor 2

2006-12-23T17:22:00.000-05:00

Now we're getting to some of the nitty-gritty. Yup, that's color. Actually, dealing with the color was not that much of a task. Simply put, I wanted to keep things light until the kidnapping, dark and gloomy while the hero finds his strength, and back to light once the two lovers are re-united.

In this first page, we have flat color.

In this second page, now there is lighting and some details have been added, like the shine on the scissors. Snip, snip.

Religión de Amor 3

2006-12-26T12:10:00.000-05:00

Here's the final version, along with the copy that Fedo gave me. He was happy with the product, and so was I.

Again, what makes this personal are all the small details Fedo added. Of course, these are details that only he and his wife can really notice, but they're important.

The Candyman (P-Poppin' on a handstand)

2007-01-11T15:16:00.000-05:00

So here's the Candyman. I orginally got the idea for these two just after Haloween. It seems to me that Haloween happens more than once a year for many people, not just in Miami. I want to go ahead and say that I'm trying to criticize what I see, but make into something more surreal.
It's a lot of fun to go all out, be spontaneous, and to break out of your shell. Most people have their own way of doing this. Look at the drawing and you can see how these two are breaking through their inhibitions.
I start the Candyman with a pencil sketch on recycled paper thats in my sketchbook. The tone and natural texture of this paper is a great surface to draw on. There is also a thicker stock you can find in Scrapbooks in craft stores that is excellent for watercoloring, and light gouache.
After the sketch I decided to give the drawing some dramatic tones, knowing that I'm going to take this into Photoshop and try and match the color to the dramatic effect in the pencil.

Candyman2

2007-01-11T15:34:00.000-05:00

Candycorn is one of the least liked candies of all the treats children receive during the night. I don't know what they're exactly made of, but I don't trust them either.
These "candycorn" on the other hand, are really, really good. Yeah, really good.
I wanted these two to sport masks because they're not being themselves. CandyMan is actually the person responsible for the debauchery that they partake in. He has the magic bag with all the goodies for the night. It's not always like this, CandyGirl can be the one with the bag, but it usually happens this way. So she sits anxiously and ready to have some candy.
The image on the left is how I began the coloring process. I thought about watercolors and how I used to layer them down in order to get the colors and tones I wanted. I would like to thank Photoshop for making this possible. I never would have done this shit in highschool. you just couldn't.
At this point I almost decided to call it quits. I was happy with it, but then I quickly realized
it just wasn't what felt right.
I continued and then used some good color for the mids and highs in the skin. Changing the layer effect from Multiply back to Normal is important because the new brighter colors also took away the texture of the paper, allowing the figures to rise up out of the page somewhat.

JP

Candyman: In the House of Flies

2007-01-11T15:51:00.000-05:00

This is the end result of the Candyman. It's a moment in time where something magical is about to happen. A flash of light follows the movement, follows the energy and gives the two a glow.
Ancient peoples used to eat poisonious herbs and fungus in order to hallucinate and communicate with the Great Spirits that commanded the Earth and other natural forces.
Many methods have been developed in order for people to transcend their mortal shells and the ascend into another plain of consciousness. Over time the philosophy of these methods may have been erased, disproved, or assimilated into popular knowledge as a sort of matter of fact.
All that remains is the feeling. Then even that fades and you have to step it up in order to get that same feeling. It's the feeling addicts always talk about, that first hit.
When you grow old, many wish to be like children again. Maybe that's what that feeling is.

JP

Cedar

2007-01-25T23:57:00.000-05:00

Before I go into the artwork, let me start with Cedar. I had the pleasure of meeting her through my friend Sarah one night on the beach. Cedar and her friend Monty came to visit Sarah and go to a wedding. I met up later with them for some drink and jazz fusion sounds at Jazid in South Beach. Cedar is an amazing storyteller and quite a character in her own right. I've been lucky enough to have known many character's in my life. Their worlds and lives, from chaotic to peaceful, aggressive to docile, exciting and dull, have all gone under my scrutinizing eye, down to the last detail. The people I know are what inspire me to what I do.
I haven't seen Cedar again since that night, which was just a bunch of drinks, excellent stories, and Monty and Sarah passing out on the floor. However, Cedar does have the MySpace (yup myspace isn't all that bad), so we've kept in touch.
Cedar decided to began a blog for the month of January telling her stories, so I subscribed.
Cedar's stories are great, but this one was excellent. It's not what you expect of a Cedar story if you know her, which gave it some extra appeal to me.
So this is the drawing of Cedar's story, "The Throat Tumor":

I had to get this one done quickly, because I had the image branded in my mind throughout the afternoon after I read the story. So after I took care of all my other priorities for the day, I sketched this out, leaving it ready to be scanned the next day.
Just in case Cedar reads this, which I hope you do (I'm pointing my finger at you girl) it's not suppossed to be a direct portrait. If I did that I would get too hung up on details like your nose or eyes for a couple of days. I was going for more of the essence that you projected as a 19 year old University of Florida student.

Cedar: Canonization

2007-01-26T00:22:00.000-05:00

To make Cedar's story really short, I'm going to give the Cliff Note version. Cedar please forgive me.
1. Cedar is 19 years old, a UF student, a smoker and begins to start coughing blood.
2. The doctor's say it's probably not cancer. She should have seen this coming because she's a dirty smoker. It can't be that bad, she's fucking 19 years old.
3. The doctor looks down her throat, tells her not to freak out, but she has bloody lesions all over her throat. She has to go to the hospital yesterday in Minneapolis and drop out of the semester. Dirty smoker went ahead and caught something real bad.
4.Doctor's remove the tumor, she can't talk for two weeks (which is unbelievable to me).
5. TWIST! The tumor was genetic, it wasn't because she was a dirty smoker. She does her research and finds her calling, litigation.
6. Cedar is now a big shot lawyer working for Big Tobacco, and yes she still smokes.
Enough talk, here's more art:
So let's talk shop. I wanted to show Cedar in a seat of power. After all she was invincible at a throat tumor wasn't going to stop her. So there she sits, almost snobbish in attitude, smoking her cigarette and holding her cup. The cup was actually a spittoon she used because her throat was bleeding so much. The wings behind her double as the view the doctor had when he looked down her throat, telling her not to freak out. I used the wings because the whole story had an air of divinity, or of some force from maybe the dark side. It also gives her power because she's in front of what is supposed to be crippling her.
I wanted to be soft with the lighting and color of the piece. By keeping her light and giving that darkness to the wings, it separates them symbolically. They are her wings, but they are also the antagonist in the story. That's also why there is a red tint in the wings and a cooler feel to Cedar.

Saint Cedar

2007-01-26T00:52:00.000-05:00

And here she is. I almost forgot about adding that blood drip, which was crucial to giving those wings that chilling feeling. I hope people see them and say, "Those are wings, that's nice...wait are they bleeding?"
I also went ahead and warmed up her face and body, just adding some rouge here and there. I also added the smoke coming from her mouth, because that was a necessary detail.
The stack of magazines and papers under her are another little side detail. Cedar kept a stack of porn under her bed and in her truck. I said her truck, I know. She did mention that they were found by her grandparents and her mom during this whole ordeal, so I decided to throw them in as an extra.
Lastly, I wanna just say that I haven't finished a piece in a week since I was in college. Sad to say, that fire has dwindled a little, though it does liven up from time to time. Cedar, thanks for helping out. The people I know give me inspiration, and give me insight into what this world is. We all shape it to our own models based on how we live our life. I know it's become my job to translate that view into something others can see. Visual translation.
I canonized my first Saint today. Saint Cedar: Patron Saint of Big Tobacco.

Vanishing

2007-02-21T01:02:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time, to long since my last post. I'm really disappointed in myself. I've been pretty busy doing artwork, so I can't be that disappointed. Once I get the new pieces polished and finished, I'll do my best to update the site. In the meatime, I found this sketch that I did a WHILE back, about July 2006.
So I thought about the drawing, and here's what I got out of it. I'll bring it down to several words. Anxiety, indentity, tension, and frustation. There's plenty of movement, but the figure is still, the trouble comes from within.
I'm really pleased with this drawing because it makes me feel unsettled when I look at it. It directly reflects on how I felt, and how I don't want to feel like that. Art therapy 101.

Dopeboy Magik

2007-03-14T08:32:00.000-05:00

Rule No. 1 - Niggas die, daily. - 2Pac.

This piece came through quickly, like a storm. And it was very clear. Big jacket, big watch, cool shades, all very dominating in its presence. Inside, it's all blown away. I did use white in a direct reference to cocaine because of its obvious affects on today's society. Red for blood in the back, repeating the blown away sequence.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, we're all dead.

Advice from a Caterpillar

2007-03-19T00:40:00.000-05:00

This is the drawing for my interpretation of this chapter in Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland". The colors are coming...

Alice 2

2007-03-26T16:15:00.000-05:00

The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: at last the Caterpillar . . . . addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice.

`Who are YOU?' said the Caterpillar...

...Alice felt a little irritated at the Caterpillar's making such VERY short remarks, and she drew herself up and said, very gravely,

`I think, you ought to tell me who YOU are, first.'

`Why?' said the Caterpillar.

Here was another puzzling question; and as Alice could not think of any good reason, and as the Caterpillar seemed to be in a VERY unpleasant state of mind, she turned away...

And we're almost there...

Alice: Part 3

2007-04-13T15:55:00.000-05:00

Finally, Alice figures out who she is. Last thing I needed to do for this was to heighten the volume of the caterpillar and throw in the smoke. I'm happy that it didn't take long to do, but thinking it out sure did. Enjoy!

Long time coming.

2007-07-03T08:40:00.000-05:00

It's been a while.

Wasting Time

2007-07-30T10:07:00.000-05:00

This one is about not having sight of what is, or what might not be in front of you.

AHAA - Latino Character-Email Blasts

2007-08-30T16:17:00.000-05:00

Here are all the materials I created for the AHAA Conference and Awards show in Miami, September 2006. They included e-mail blasts, program covers, and awards show support materials. I basically had one month and a half to complete everything.

AHAA - Latino Character-Conference Materials

2007-08-30T16:23:00.001-05:00

AHAA - Latino Character-Judges

2007-08-30T16:29:00.000-05:00

These were portraits of the judges for the Award's show.

McDonald's U.S. Marketing Leadership Conference

2007-08-30T16:33:00.000-05:00

Here I created the materials for the agency booth and represented the agency together with a team of 5 to owner operators and McDonald's corporate. There was a poster highlighting Hispanic facts, a postcard, a T-Shirt, and a new agency logo for the conference.

del Rivero Messianu DDB - Recipe Book

2007-08-30T16:39:00.000-05:00

Here is the cover of the recipe book we did as an agency holiday gift. Everyone loved it, and I'm sure it's still sitting on someone's kitchen counter. Nothing beats Latin American cuisine!

Activision - Call of Duty 4

2007-08-30T16:47:00.000-05:00

Here are some of my favorite materials from the pitch for Call of Duty 4. I created the imagery for outdoor campaigns and created the merchandising.