Tis the season...for pumpkins!!

Recently, my siblings and I have made it somewhat of a tradition to do pumpkin carvings for Halloween.  Over the years, the level of detail and success has definitely progressed.  The ideas behind our designs are usually related, or fit some type of theme.  For instance in 2008, in honor of the election, we decided to do each of the presidential candidates.  Check it out, here.  Then in 2010, my brother did Manny Pacquiao, and I carved Floyd Mayweather, Jr.  Lately, however, our designs have been somewhat random.  Although, I think it's kinda cool that some people in my neighborhood actually make it a point to come to my house, just to check out our pumpkin carvings!  (it warms my heart, hahaha).  These are our pumpkins from last year.

from left to right:
Brian Wilson of the SF Giants (me)
the former Apple CEO, the late Steve Jobs (sister)
Linda Blair from The Exorcist (brother)

With this year's Halloween now over, I just thought I'd post the recent pics of the pumpkins that my siblings and I carved.

Mine was inspired by a recent Google banner commemorating the 70th birthday of Bob Ross.

Happy little pumpkin!

My sister actually had the time to carve 2 pumpkins....

And finally, my brother did Al Pacino as Scarface.

 Definitely had fun with this.  I'm already gathering ideas and looking forward to next year!!
**side note**   The presidential election is tomorrow....go out and VOTE!!

"I am Gotham's Reckoning."

So this halloween I decided to do something a bit different and actually try to make my costume.  It seemed a bit ambitious, but I decided to be Bane from The Dark Knight Rises. Although I didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked, I managed to get a few pictures of my process.

Initially, I had some help getting the right size to fit my head.  So my girlfriend actually helped by taking measurements and eventually created a template out of some spare cloth.

The cloth was then used to trace the pattern onto a soft foam fabric.  And with some good photo references, I was able to capture and incorporate some of the details.  The "coils" are made from plastic wire covers, that I got from an automotive store, which were cut in half length-wise.  For the details, I didn't want to make it too elaborate.  Instead, I just wanted to get the "likeness," so I focused more on just the general shapes, and correct placement.

The mouthpiece was created from a dust mask.  I cut a square-shaped hole in the middle of the dust mask and patched the hole with a thin foam sheet.  This was just so it didn't protude so much, and it also provided a flatter surface to glue the tubes onto.  Later, I drilled in some tiny air holes. As for the tubes on the mouth......I had several ideas for the material.  I eventually decided to use a combination of rolled foam sheets, tapioca/milk tea straws, and a few bendy straws from the dollar store.  Based on the photo references, the tubes have various textures, and there are actually supposed to be two more tubes on the bottom half that extend below the chin/jaw-line, but I chose to leave those off for functional purposes.  Again, I was just focusing on capturing the likeness and not getting too caught up in the details.

Then it was a matter of attaching the two together.  I made it so that it basically wraps over/around my head, and attaches/detaches with velcro glued to the sides of the mask, and along the inside of the mouthpiece.  I later found out that the velcro wasn't really necessary, as the foam fabric was able to stretch a bit, making it easy to slide on/off my head.

Finally, it was time to paint.  Basically, I just spray painted the mouthpiece black.  Then, with some acrylic, I dry-brushed the tubes, along with the details on the sides/back.

The vest was created using a regular t-shirt.  I cut off the sleeves and the collar in the shape of a vest.  From there I used a synthetic "leather" material for the armor.  The straps are made from strips of fabric and some cheap belts.

Final Bane costume

And now...."you have my permission to die."  Happy Halloween!

YOU ESS AYE!!

 Something from my sketchbook.  With the Olympics over, I just thought I'd share.

The most decorated Olympic Athlete, with 22 medals total, including 18 gold.

"MP"

 

#zombieclique!

This whole zombie thing kinda started out as an inside joke amongst some friends.  Every so often, when I had an opportunity, I'd do a little quick zombie sketch/doodle.  Eventually, one of my friends actually liked one of my quick doodles, and he soon asked if I could actually come up with a zombie design.

That's how the drawing in the previous post came about.  As I mentioned, that drawing was rejected and it was back to the drawing board...or in this case, the drawing pad/sketchbook.  Fast-forward to the present...

This is the updated (approved) version that I finished a while ago, but just never got around to posting.

very different from the first initial concept

     

Something a Bit Different...part 2

I've been working on another t-shirt design for the same friend mentioned in the previous post.  There were a few requirements, but for the most part, it was pretty open-ended.  Yay for artistic freedom!  This was the initial concept.  I had a lot of fun with this and I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Brrraaiiiiinss

Unfortunately, this concept was rejected, due to it being a bit excessive.(Dangit!)  My friend was looking for something more simple as the image would essentially be turned into vectors.  I'll still probably end up finishing this one for myself, just because I like it so much. 

Something a Bit Different

So I was recently asked, by a friend, to do a t-shirt design for a youth dance team based out of Daly City.  Even though I've never done any kind of t-shirt design, let alone, any kind of graphic design for that matter, I still happily obliged.  My friend  used the Paramount logo as his basis for inspiration, but also wanted to include a ribbon along with the stars.  So these are my initial concepts.

thumbnails

1st color pass

2nd color pass

final design

I initially had a few issues with Illustrator because I haven't used it in so long and I'm so used to Photoshop.  But overall, I'm happy with it.  I even managed to get it submitted on time despite a few personal obligations.  I'll try to throw in a picture of the actual shirt, once I get it.