Anthrocon 2013

Of all my conventions I attend, Anthrocon may be the biggest and most exciting celebration of character designs. The only commonality found is having something to do with animals. While I'll have a presence in the art show and other nuances, head on over to Dealer's Den table N-03 to say hello!

I'll also be sharing a table with the pocket art-rocket Taí, so be ready for the best table on the floor!

In The Details

Welcome back, friends! It's been some time since my last post. While at the tail end of recovering from a chronic illness I am pleased to show some more current work on my blog. My standard for work has become faster and more detailed since working in the gaming pipeline, an experience I am very grateful for! See for yourself:

In case you are interested in my creative process, please view this animated gif showing the entire construction of the last image.

Game In The Works

If you follow me on my Facebook page, you'll already know I've been the art director and lead artist on an MMO start-up. It sports some exciting classes, some of the coolest races I've seen to date, and even an engrossing story! Most of the new art is non-disclosure, so you'll not be getting many related updates in some time. Until then, things to whet your appetite!

A diverse line-up of playable races 

Token Human-race, specializing in light-melee and time-manipulation

It's hard to remember to update a blog when you're busy on commissions. On the bright side, I'll soon be uploading those here, as well! 

Chaotic Figures

Following the portraits, I decided to offer figurative commissions in a slightly different style. The focus was on keeping dynamic strokes and gestural quality through to the finish (something I try to do normally). Below is the collection of finished sketches:

Next up is are ink drop portraits. Hope this example encourages more people to try this style:

--\-

The dash-dash-slash-dash ( --\- ) is a signature I started using over a year ago. You'll usually see that symbol hidden somewhere within my images, but what you probably don't know is why I use it.

The symbol came about when I was eating a cookie. I looked at the shape my bottom teeth made when I bit—turned out one tooth was crooked. I liked that pattern enough to use it. But sometimes I forget how to  do my signature and have to bite something as a reminder.

Search the symbol in Google and see what happens.


Not very many results at all, huh? It's far more exclusive than "Jonathan Duncan", or even "Jonathan Vair".  Eventually, it will only post to my work. My goal of having an unobtrusive and effective signature will then be realized.

It will eventually come in handy when someone posts your work on Tumblr, it gets famous, and the original poster never credits you. And to all the folks on Tumblr, it's graphite, not charcoal. :)

Life Never Gets Less-Crazy

One of my favourite things about my life—besides having the greatest friends in the world—is being constantly entertained. I literally cannot remember the last time I was bored. This is due to being an artist constantly trying to see my world objectively, but also comes from being thrown into situations bigger than myself on a regular basis. 

For example, in the middle of creating new work for this contest via ImagineFX, I had to apply for a last-minute passport after winning a contest to SIGGRAPH, a convention I wanted to return to this year, but couldn't afford. Now that my new images are done, I have to finish a cohesive concept portfolio as fast as possible. After that's done, I'll be finishing an EP package for one of my favourite hip-hop artists. From there I'll be completing two more designs for a snowboard company. From there, I'll probably hound Arenanet the rest of the year until they blacklist me or hire me. 

If I'm lucky, somewhere along the line I'll get paid! 

Here are the three images I completed in the last seven days. New record!

The Start of Summer

I apologize for my absence. In my defense, many things have happened! I visited Old San Juan, I moved to Columbus, and I've been sketching. 

Here's an update for the Guild Wars folio, just to prove I've been working. Each of these sketches will help actualize my goal for a Guild Wars class that revisits good aesthetic choices from earlier in the franchise, enhances the culture of the world, and offers more exciting real-time combat opportunities. My website will have the finished versions, including descriptions of each.

Now that I've graduated college, my desire to work in-house has never been stronger.  Wish me luck as I make that last push!

Guild Wars Post 1

Working on several images to develop a new class for Guild Wars 2.

Bad Time Zoo, 1 of 2

Gift for SIMS and the Doomtree crew

My 3D Paintings

Now that my Senior Show has launched, I don't mind publishing my stereo paintings. 

Click the image to be sent to the 3D Portfolio!

Armor Study #1

I've been studying armour plating to understand better how one would concept warriors. If I'm going to be more than just talk when it comes to focusing my sights on Arenanet, I'll have a handful of studies to upload by the end of the semester. 

The Underground Railroad: Eros

An image on human trafficking—the emphasis on the external.

Yet another preview for the Senior Show. Hope the nudity gets approved. From my point of view, emphasizing the sensual over the sexual should be permitted.

Sculpture

Here's a preview of a sculpture I'll be creating in wax, ultimately ending in a bronzing. I may incorporate ammonia to give it a cool, blue marbling. We'll see.

He'll be holding a hammer, not a cardboard tube.

Make Believe

Another image that will be finished and added to my Senior Show

When I was little I used to pretend I was a monster. This memory came back to me in the middle of this sketch. When I pursued the monster from a long time ago I was surprised to find that the monster himself had gotten older. His design changed (just like mine) and his visual aesthetic had different needs now than it did when I was younger. 

I'm reminded with this image that art (for me) is not a one-way project—it is an exchange. There are things I've forgotten that haven't forgotten me, and I learn about these things (and inevitably myself) the more time I spend in an artistic state of mind. 

Ego Trip

That image I planned on finishing is mostly completed. I'm new to this whole "finished image" business, but in doing this image, I'm appreciating the importance of a visible brush stroke. The less strokes there are, the more important the strokes become. A simple concept, yes, but I had to learn it the hard way.

Left to right: Id, Ego, Superego

I have more images to work on for my Senior Show. If you're in the area of IWU, it'll be on April 4th.

Spectrum + Bats

Thanks to all recent visitors. Your attention has been appreciated!

I have been diligently working on an image for Spectrum, and hope to make it in this year. This year's entry represents me far more sincerely than the last one, and hopefully the end result will show. 

From left to right: Ego, Id, and Superego 

I also spent last evening studying the anatomy of bats. Here's a doodle from the end of that session. Little artist bat has a lot on his mind, doesn't he? (From the sketch it would appear he's thinking of Jon Foster.)

From Christmas Break

Another tradition I carry over Christmas break: studies off of Native American subject matters. I found most of the images on Old-Picture, FFFFOUND, or Shorpy, or deviantArt.

As a bonus, something I drew when I was looking at Diablo characters:

Late Night Adventures

"But Mo-ooooom, I don't wanna wake up for Church!"

(Photoshop over Colors! on the Nintendo DS)

Blame New Years for screwing up my sleep schedule. Here I am, way past my bedtime, working on some more gift art. For whatever reason, redoing other people's characters gets me completely pumped, even more so than creating my own stories. 

Looks like I'm suited for the commercial art world after all.  

Artist Spotlight: Adam Law

(Photoshop over Colors! on the Nintendo DS)

Even without the bounty hunter name, Adam Law has been an inspiration of mine. I used to frequent his old webcomic forum back in the day, but since then he's moved on to bigger and better things. Over the last three years I've made it a habit of doing sketches of his characters during my Christmas Break.

Check out Adam's work on his website and sketchblog.

More Gift Art

Sneak peek of some more gift art, some refs.

 I'll post the finished wallpaper sometime soon (if I get my way!).