CTNX 2013 – Game Prep!

This will be my third CTN eXpo and they just keep getting better and better! : D

This year I will have the opportunity to see the Getty Art Museum with the incredible Oatley Academy crew. If anything like the DAM trip that accompanied this year's Denver ComicCon, it will prove both fun and educational. Post Getty, I have tickets for the screening of Ernest and Celestine - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ1rmOYLr2U - a gorgeous French animation that will be shown in English here for the first time. (Normally I don't like dubs, but I don't understand French at all so this time is okay) At the convention I will make rounds to visit all the super awesome peoples I've been meeting/keeping tabs on and make my purchases – got a pretty tight budget this year so while I want to buy everyone's sketchbooks – I probably will only get a max of 3-5. : / I have applications in to two studios at the moment, so I plan on following up with their recruiters. And I also plan on getting feedback from my artist friends! I didn't sign up for any workshops this year because most of my time is going to be dedicated to the Oatley Academy booth #B51. I have my official Academy Tshirt packed and I'm stoked to represent this amazing school and the Magic Box course!! Some of the students will also be selling their work, but I think I'm going to just take orders this year – that is if anyone is interested. I'm easing myself into more and more booth activity so next year I might have my own CTN New Talent Table. ; ) I will do a full write up (Hopefully with pictures) the Monday when I get back – to encourage everybody who couldn't make it this year to come next year and to share any big announcements that might be coming up – so stay tuned for that!

A BIG THANK YOU to Matt and Brittany, who volunteered to drop off/pick up Raul and I from the airport in Denver, and to our hotel roomies Katherine and Owen. You guys are the BEST. : )

Yang Guifei

Still feeling bad about the lapse in posts, so here's another quick one before I call it a night!
The last of the Four Beauties - Yang Guifei - so beautiful that flowers would wither in jealousy.
So yeah, that's it for these guys...or not. I may decide to do one last piece with them. For kicks and giggles. Generally pleased with how they all came out this round. Has been very interesting pushing things here and there, trying out a mix of different references.

For the other three Beauties: Diaochan, Wang Zhaojun, and Xi Shi.

And another shout out to she who inspired this redesign with her own artistic awesomeness: Liana Hee. She is so sweet and so talented. Please check out her blog!!

Xi Shi

 

The next Ancient Beauty of the series - Xi Shi with imitation coy (since she was so beautiful that fish would forget how to swim and sink ;p). Might take a break before I finish the last two - to work on another portfolio piece since a workable composition finally came to me while at work today. Thank goodness it was truck day so I had ALL the cigarette boxes to break down and sketch thumbnails on...hey, it's better than drawing all over the receipt tape. lol...sigh -_- 

Wang Zhaojun

AhHa! Another update!! This is a revamp of Wang Zhaojun and a fanciful bird of paradise (since she was so beautiful that birds dropped dead from shame ;p). Stylistically I wanted it to be recognizable as something I would do and find visually appealing - but I more heavily referenced a different set of artists than I normally do in an attempt to start experimenting a bit more, pushing those style boundaries, etc.

Honestly I was most influenced by a set of prints that I purchased at CTN this year by Liana Hee of four geisha. I was drawn to them for several reasons, but most importantly because they are ATTRACTIVE. When I say they are attractive I mean that their simple shape language reads clearly, tells four individual stories that are cohesive as a set and they possess a certain charm that makes smiling irresistible. I hope that as I revamp the other three Beauties of China that I can also make them as attractive as Liana's geisha are. : )