baby's room pt. III...

here are a few progress shots from the pieces i'm creating for the baby's room. i bought a couple sheets of both masonite and basswood, but am really digging the texture & thickness of the basswood more, so i'm going with that.


the monkey and cat [which both measure a little smaller than the final pieces] were both primed with gesso before i laid the gouache on. i don't really like how the paint just sits on tops of the gesso though, so decided to paint straight onto the wood [like i did with the bunny] and let a bit of the wood grain show through.

because i got a little anxious, i ended up painting a few of the pieces before cutting. because of the high likelihood of completely f'ing the piece with the saw though, i've decided to gesso just the halo around the pieces to help nail down the shap before cutting [and again afterwards].

oh! and the lines- i debated between black gouache and indian ink [both using a brush], but i think i'll be going with the ink because of how smoothly it lays down. there are some issue with it bleeding into the wood, but that should end up being solved with a proper sealant [debatin between crystal clear, modge podge (which may yellow:(), and a varnish (which seems to be eating away at the paint a bit)].


with the monkey [which i'm a little disappointed with] i experimented with a spiral blade [because i wasn't afraid of ruining him;)], which ended up being a bit too much control for large pieces, so decided to stick with the straight blade to help control the lines a bit more. although i think the spiral blades might come in handy if i end up doing smaller more intricate work in the future.

oh! and if you're curious, to get the pieces onto the wood, i ended up printing the characters in sections [between 4-6] on 8.5X11" paper [didn't want to waste of of the big paper in the nice printer;)], taping them all together with the help of a light table to line them up *breath*, and then tracing them down onto the wood with graphite paper.

so. with the process "pretty much" figured out, it' time to head to the art store for more graphits paper, and good ol' home depot for a few more sheets of bass wood!

ps. apologies for the scattered nature of the post- hopefully you understood at least some of it... or at least enjoyed the photos;)

... patenaude

baby's room pt. II

here's the next round- a bit more rounding of some of the sharp edges, etc. is needed, but i'm building up quite a collection to pick from.
issue number one is decided on how strong of a theme to follow. i originally started drawing any animal that popped into my head, but with no end in sight [possibly because i'm procrastinating with the cuts & painting] i need to start reigning them in. quite a few of them seem to fit into a jungle theme, but that seems a bit boyish, so who knows- i might just end up picking my favorites, and go with the "animals that i like to draw" theme;)

yep- i convinced jen to let me include one alien;)

need to round out the ears and nose.

um... i was instructed to remove his pants- jen's call;)

the initial painting tests have been a little underwhelming, due to the inconsistency in which the gouache is drying on the gesso [which i used to prep the bass wood].
i'm really curious to see whether the indian ink black lines i'll be laying over the top of them will be enough to pull the pieces together, which will have to wait until the cutting is done... which i'm waiting on some spiral blades [they're supposed to make intricite shapes easier to cut] for. will be sure to post shots as soon as i get a chance.

... patenaude

baby's room!

so here's what i've been up to for the last couple of weeks...
the original plan was to design a buncha weird aliens barely based on any real animals. after a dozen or so concepts though, we received the fantastic news that we were having a girl, and decided that freaky aliens covered in thorns might not be the best way to go;)
we also decided that i should try a teensy bit harder to make them a bit more recognizable as real animals, yet still retaining the style that makes art recognizable as... mine.
below is the first round, of what i hope will end up being a collection of ~10.
i'm planning on blowing them up to between ~1ft. - 2 or 3 ft. in height- still plenty of tests to do before i figure it out, but here's a sampling of a few of the ones that might make the cut...



as far as the color scheme goes, i think we're going to go with a light pink [already have 10 or so swatches picked out] to contrast with some deeper pinks, reds, oranges, and yellows. but again- before figuring it out, i'm sure there will be a lot of trial an error involved- will post shot when they're further along.

oh! and because i really don't like painting directly on walls [too much pressure] and wanted the ability to rearrange them and take them with us upon moving, i've decided to paint on basswood [after preparing it with gesso]. that's where my brand-new ryobi 16" variable speed scroll saw comes in [i can't tell you how out of place i felt during the trip to home depot to pick it up, but i guess i should get used to that "handyman" biz when we end up buiying a house;)?].
i've done a few little test cuts, but am waiting for a spiral blade, before i start doing the more intricate cut with a bit more control/ ease.

... patenaude

a few more random sketches, before...

... i start making more of an attempt to attach PURPOSE to them all...




in other [non-art-related] news...

a] rats chewed jen's 4-runner's engine tubes apart! thankfully jen's insurance is eating most of the 4K$! worth of damage.
b] the refrigerator urinated all of over the ground tonight- thanks!
c] but i'm still in a good mood because we find out junior's [working title] sex on thursday- wee hoo!

... patenaude

remember me?...

a couple of reoccurring characters make their way onto the INTERWEB! the interweb, WOW! that's HOT STUFF!
... patenaude

*OUCH!!*

_HUGE_ PORTFOLIO SITE UPDATE!

still needs a bit of polish, but just finished a _HUGE_ pass on my main portfolio site, with shots from UNCHARTED and a ton of new concepts- check it out: http://www.brianpatenaude.com/

... patenaude

and this is the year that _I_ need to make something happen...

[first draft... i suppose i might need to edit this a bit later]...

with the ease at which projects [whether they be comics, video game, books, animated shorts, etc.] can be seen to fruition these days and make their way into the audience's paws, there's really NO EXCUSE TO NOT MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN... this year.

yes- there is quite a bit of shit out there to wade through and find a gem. but given the fact there IS so much subpar product out there, is all the more evidence that it should be easy to get the good stuff to market.

i'm going to be realistic about the time and energy that junior [our baby-to-be's "working title"], but think that FAR too many people use their kids as an excuse as to why they don't accomplish other wonderful things [professionally & personally]. we are planning on taking it easy on the travel [especially international] for the first year, but i'm setting out to prove that the rest of life does not have to be put on hold.

and the economy i suppose is an excuse for some professions, but knowing how well the entertainment industry does in touch economic times [especially a section of the industry that is such a great bargain when it comes to price per entertainment hour-video games], i won't be using that excuse either. yes- funding is still an issue for some in the industry-- credit being hard to come by and all-- but if a project is run small scale and efficiently enough... there's really not a lot of money that's required.

and if you're wondering what lit this spark besides the old new year's resolution bs, i suppose it had something to do with this series of interviews on a group of awe-inspiring developers: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/43681.html
if they can do it, i should be able to as well. i have far too many ideas for ALL of them to be bad;)

wow... i hope i don't look back on this entry at the end of the year, and have to delete it;)

ps. more art, coming soon!


... patenaude