Horse Study c/o Terryl Whitlatch

This is a horse study I did tonight, while watching the Gnomon Workshop DVD: Creature Design with Terryl Whitlatch, Volume 3. In this DVD Terryl goes over the techniques she uses for drawing horses... Obviously. Haha.

The reason I jumped ahead and started this DVD instead of finishing up Volume 2 is because I need to paint the Appaloosa painting for Selma, Jamie's grandmother. I met her during my trip to Utah a couple of weeks ago. The lady is a sweet woman who is sadly living in a home for the elderly. She is suffering from Alzheimer's and can hardly remember anything. I remember being in her room and looking around. Her room mate, another elderly woman, had a shelf with a bunch of photographs of her family; Selma had none. Not even a single framed picture. This broke my heart and when the topic of my art came up she asked if I could paint her a horse. I promised her that I would.

So here's a study to get the ball rolling. I can already envision the finished painting. I see an Appaloosa running free in front of a house as Selma and Walter, her late husband, watch. I also plan on painting in Selma's beloved Miniature Schnauzer dogs running along with the horse.

My first impression of The Bourne Legacy

For those of you that haven't seen the trailer yet.... Follow this link:

THE BOURNE LEGACY c/o IMDB

So I just found out about this film through SourceFed, a great new YouTube channel that I absolutely love. Any of you that watch Phillip Defranco will know it, for those of you that don't know it; Check it out HERE. This blog is actually in response to that specific YouTube video. I didn't have enough room in the comments to type a true comment so here it is:

@ SourceFed: I completely agree that Bourne is the American Bond. It's a fact that is clear when you watch Quantum of Solace and Casino Royal; both of those films moved away from the classic Bond formula and more closely resembled the Bourne movies as far as pacing and combat are considered.

That being said... I still think it's too early to tell if this upcoming Bourne film will be great or not. I've always been a fan of the story and the "resourceful agent" concept. Something that I was introduced to with MacGyver. I'm completely fine with a different actor playing a fictional character. It's the natural course of the entertainment industry and will persist until CG technology can completely replicate a human. I love Robert Downy Jr. as Tony Stark, but I'm a realist and as much as I'd love to see him reprise that role; doing so, for him as an actor, could cause him to become type-cast. So yeah. Jeremy Renner in a Bourne film works for me, the character he plays is called Aaron Cross, so it's not even him as Jason Bourne.

I'm hopeful for the film. I really hope it's as exciting as the preview makes it look.

Estro Salius

Estro Salius is one of the Major Protagonists in the book I'm working on. This piece was created in February 2012.

Estro is a brilliant scientist in the field of Archeo-Repurposing, the study of ancient cultures and recycling of ancient technology. He and his wife, Anaya Salius, were pioneers in this field, considered by their colleagues as grand master Archeo-Repurpose Engineers.

Estro is now a paranoid, reclusive, albeit brilliant man; he still continues his work as he values the potential it has to help the world at large, but he does so with much caution. This is largely due to the fact that his beloved Anaya vanished on a "dig," never to be seen or heard from again. This loss is also the reason he is usually never seen outdoors without donning his robotic, protective, exo-suit.

Necromantic Goddess

I can't believe I completely forgot to upload this piece. Oops. I created this one in January of 2012. The subject is a female antagonist; wholly evil and beautiful. She is a seductress who preys on the soul of men. Once she has a man in her sights, he is already dead. Her feeding process is lustful and horrifying; she consumes her prey's soul at the peak of sexual climax. Only then are the men unable to mentally defend against her attack. Her victims are condemned to serve her for all eternity, she has amassed and army of souls that she calls upon to aid her in battle. Her most powerful servants include past kings and heroes of legend, lost to the currents of time.

I haven't come up with a name for her yet. This painting is the first in a series of three. Since creating this I have become motivated to write a fictional book based in this universe. I am actively practicing world building techniques and literary exercises to try and craft a story I feel would be worthy of reading. I have high standards.

Echoes

I've settled on a starting point for my fictional world, the one vaguely hinted at in the painting I titled "Necromantic Goddess."

Some of you are probably wondering why I haven't updated recently. It's because I literally haven't created anything truly original in the past couple months. That time has been mostly spent doing study after study; complimented with some step by step process analysis thanks to the Gnomon Workshop DVD's I won recently. I'm trying to digest the information as best I can and it's becoming painfully apparent how this affects my creativity at large. Not to mention I have a 6 month old baby girl that is finally starting to realize how awesome her daddy is and she absolutely loves to hang out with me... Oh yeah, I'm playing the Diablo 3 Beta too! WTF? How am I supposed to get anything done?! Haha.

Truth be told I feel as though I'm accomplishing much even without the "tangible" artwork to show. Granted, my portfolio hasn't grown very much recently; in the end the work I'm putting in now; the time I'm investing into reinforcing my skills will pay off more than just dredging away in the same old fashion.


ANYWAY... Echoes. So the plan has shifted somewhat. I still plan on creating the 3 paintings though I am taking a more round about approach. It will be a while longer before I finish them. This is because I am actively building the world they depict. I am writing notes in my journal about the terrain, the creatures, the cultures, etc. I'm sketching little doodles here and there and brainstorming about possible "main story" scenarios. The idea is moving in a more "child friendly direction". Necromantic Goddess isn't a very child friendly painting, but I'm ok with that. In fact the remaining two paintings will possibly be equally as inappropriate for children; that's not to say the final work of fiction won't be packaged and presented in a manner more suited to the youth.

My fiance's little boy is 7 years old and I am always encouraging him to read more. He hates reading and it breaks my heart as I know what fantastic places he could visit within his mind; if only he understood. I decided I want to write a children's book or a series of them because of him. I want to help create something that children can enjoy.

The reason for this is that the three paintings are meant for ME. As a means to inspire myself and help root my creativity with a sense of focus. The story/books will more than likely be chapter books with some illustrations peppered around here and there.