blognaude

Sketches+...

2012-01-15T14:09:00.000-08:00

Hey there!,

Here's a *light* polish pass on a few sketches that I've done over the last year-ish- Might take them a bit further, might not- Either way, most of them include characters that I'm a bit fond of [you MAY even recognize some from sketches past] so expect to see more of them [in some form or other] in the future...

Hopefully I'll be using this mini-project as a launch back into getting more *ME*art done in 2012!! [ps. the various symbols scattered throughout some of the images are all TopSecret notes. MooHooHeeHahHah...].

...This one was my quick take on a piece that my buddy, Junkyard Sam did a while back.

Until next time!,

... PATENAUDE

June's [2011] round of cutouts...

2011-07-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

... Pretty much finalized, here is a round of cutouts I did based on a few of my favorite character designs that I've had floating around for a while- Most of them measure ~12" tall and use a variety of media including gouache, colored pencil, acrylic (tube and liquid), CRAYON (yes), sharpie, and spray primer (the white). Yes- I know- nightmare for "archival-quality" but WTF cares;) + Please excuse the shots= Straight-up IPHONE.

And a few progress shots of the next round underway...

That's it + ENjoy!,
... PATENAUDE

STUDIO INHABITANTS/ TRADE FOR STUMPYCOON!?...

2010-12-26T09:46:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone!,

Sorta random post, but here are the cut out creatures that are currently inhabiting the walls of my studio [aka. the GARAGE]. I've whipped 'em all up over that past couple of years, based on designs that didn't necessarily fit the themes of my kids' rooms, but needed to be made nevertheless.

Karin. This is actually one of thepieces that I had originally earmarked for the trade.

This was the original test piece, using gouache instead of the acrylics that I eventually switched over to for easier opacity + cost.

This one is based off the same design as the one above, but a bit smaller.

This little dude is an enemy character for one of my many game ideas.

Yes- Those are what you think they are;)

LOVE this bumbly creature.

The reason that I'm FINALLY posting them is for an art trade with my buddy, [KARIN YAMAGIWA MADAN] who created this AWESOME stumpy coon stuffed animal for Lily...

KARIN!,
Here they FINALLY are! Again, I really probably owe you the whole lot of 'em based off the amount of work and awesomeness that you poured into the stumpy coon. Just let me know which one[s] you want, and I'll get'em to ya ASAP! THANKS AGAIN

... Patenaude

PROJECT: Willy's Room!

2010-12-11T19:26:00.000-08:00

There's nothing better than a great excuse to get some art done! With the anticipation of our 2nd child, William Bradley Patenaude, I set course to fill his walls with my imagination like I did for our daughter Lily.

One of the creatures that inhabit Lily's room

After a little debate on the theme for our new son's new room decor, Jen & I finally decided on a spacey direction filled with little green men. Because I'm a big fan of the creative freedom and potential for education that a space provides, in addition to wanting to put some existing alien designs to use... space won out!)

So!... After scavenging through a couple of sketch pads from the past few years and reworking the pieces to fit better in to the theme + a couple of new ones from scratch, here are the designs that made the cut...

Next up comes printing the designs to trace down on to the wood. Because I like to keep the designs nice and simple with their initial spontaneity intact, they're scanned, magnified, and printed straight off of the original sketch.

The final sizes that they're printed at are essentially sized just to feel "right", in addition to taking into consideration how the characters look in relation to their neighbors. I do this through a very painful process [made even more painful, if the sizes turn out wrong] starting with printing out small sections of the final image with the cheap printer on 8.5"X11" paper- I make sure that each section of the piece "bleeds" onto the next section, so that I can tape them all together on a large window in my house. After they're all put together , I then trace them on to sheets of plywood with graphite paper.

Next up was the color picking, which was a bit random in the selection and type of paint. Most of the paint consisted of acrylic valspar samples [that didn't make the cut for the main wall colors] we'd bought for the kids' rooms' walls (which were coincidentally colors that we already like;)). + I added yellow & green liquid acrylics left over from previous projects (I LOVE their flat finish], tons of gesso, and a bit of spray primer.

I then cleaned up the lines, in addition to laying in how thick the white "halo" surrounding the characters will be.

Next up to bat, is the scroll saw- I always love firing this sucker up- It brings a few things to the project that I sometimes miss from the art I do @ work: "manliness", "realness", chaos, a pinch of danger, and of course NOISE!

After the edges are sanded and smooth, a couple layers of gesso [just because it's cheaper than acrylic... and white is white;)] go on the halo. For smaller shapes [like the stars], I use spray primer [SOOOooo much easier and even], but because there's a danger of it covering the lines, the more important pieces' halos are all hand painted [BORING!]. Knowing that it's the color that really finishes the pieces [essentially "bringing them to life"], I really like what they look like after this step because of all the potential they have.

... And here comes the color!...

One of the final, and most important steps is applying the outlines. For this I use a brush to lay on Indian ink, sometimes mixing in a bit of black acrylic- ALMOST DONE!

The finishing touches include ~5 coats of sealant before having their mounting pieces [which I prepare before hand using scrap pieces of wood cut into varying-sized squares] attached with wood glue. The mounting process is something that I'm particularly happy with because A] It makes use of scraps that would otherwise be tossed ["green" point;)?], and B] because I prepare the mounting pieces with varying depths of thickness giving the relative flatness of the compositions a little punch of that 3rd dimension.

In an attempt to bring the pieces together, I decided to "sprinkle" stars around the room in the same fashion I used flowers in Lily's room.

One of the many characters that hang out on walls in Lily's room

And finally, here my friends, are the finished pieces mounted in the room [which I'm hoping will come to life even more, once his room is all decked out with more space-themed decor]...

All for this little bugaroo, William "Willy" Bradley Patenaude...

I hope you like it, little buddy! ... And I hope the rest of you like it too!

... Patenaude

UPDATE: NEW JOB, etc!...

2010-02-27T10:48:00.000-08:00

A] Yes. Another non-art update- Well, I suppose it's SORTA art- I landed a new gig @ [Snowblind Studios] as a Senior World Artist! Can't say much about the project yet other than that it's already fun AND beautiful!
As far as [Loose Cannon Studios] is concerned... Might post on that later, when I decide how much of it, if any, I want to rehash. 'Twas quite an interesting ride- I'll leave it @ that for now...

B] Still settling into the new routine, but as marathon training starts winding down I should have a bit more time for art in the next few weeks- Will start by posting a few sketches from the last... HALF YEAR+ before figuring out a new series or some such. Be sure to stay tuned for that!

C] ALSO. Coming up on 35 years old this year [dear lord], so I've finally decided to come up with my 1, 3, 5 and 10 year plan- Assuming that they will all involve art;), I'll be sure to post a bit of that on here too.

D] About to head out to fire up the house hunt again now that prices are settling to within striking distance of where they should be- Hoping to find a new place by winter time, so we figured our future home might be coming onto the market right about now before dropping another 50-100k before we nab it- Fun, fun!

E] Really looking forward to our trip to Los Angeles next month for the [L.A. Marathon]. Jen & I are already working on our itinerary of restaurants, spots, and people to see + really looking forward to Lily being able to finally play on a _real_ beach- Wondering how weird it'll be "vacationing" in a place that we used to live- Can't wait!

That's all,
Patenaude

happy birthday to me...

2009-08-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

SO I decided to start my birthday off my posting a few baby [how appropriate] sketches that I whipped up for jen's pre-mother's day card a few months back...

... celebrating the rest of the day with a nice walk with the family [jen + lily+ hounds], hopefully picking up a much-needed removable HD @ costco [ugh- costco on my birthday!?], then off to woodinville for a bit of wine tasting, followed by a nice dinner @ [the barking frog].

... patenaude

JUMP START!...

2009-08-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

after reading "firefly fred" [the book that i illustrated (poorly) ~a lifetime ago] to lily this morning, i realized that i really should do at least another one. unfortunately every time that idea pops in my head [which happens quite frequently], i get overwhelmed with and stuck on the theme/ idea [which i want to be able to be developed into a series (like i assume all children's book creators are supposed to shoot for)], and fizzle out.

well [hopefully] not this time! i've decided to kill two [actually quite a few] birds with one stone, and use the book[s] as a JUMP START in helping to develop the look and stories for a few game ideas that i've been tinkering with over the years. i have several of them [like most game developers] at various stages of development [yet all quite early], and it seems like this may just may be what it take to nudge them along.

even the simplest games can benefit from a nice little story to guide their development. and because i intend for the artistic style to be a huge part of each of them, i might as well test them out in a book- especially with as easy as they are to print these days!

so there!

... i promise there will be no more talk of this until there are actually IMAGES to post along with the news.

... patenaude

cutouts: round two [in progress]...

2009-07-03T10:02:00.000-07:00

now that the game is just about done, and i've had a bit more time for my ART art again, i've been spending a bit of time on another round of cutouts- this time, just making a batch of some of my favorite characters that i've drawn over the last year-ish...

like i mentioned- varying degrees of done-ness...

... a bit more to paint, and of course add those black outlines that i just can't live without;)

i like this green dude so much, that i made two of 'im:)

not sure exactly where they'll end up, since they don't quite jive with the rest of the animals in lily's room & i'm running out of wall space in my office- will probably have to wait until we move into a bigger home for them to take up residence on a nice big wall.

ps. photos courtesy of my iphone [it's just too dang easy not to use].

... patenaude

Update: LILY!

2009-05-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

In lieu of a painted or drawn art update, i'd like to kick a link over to jen and my adventures site, to our [warning: cheesy art metaphors ahead] most beautiful collaboration masterpiece of all: http://theadventuresofjenandbrian.com/

ily Robin Patenaude! born on may 5th @ 8:09 aM, weighing in @ 7lbs. 7 oz. if you don't believe me, just look!

... Life is wonderful.

... patenaude

CUT OUTS II sketches...

2009-04-19T07:07:00.000-07:00

more sketches on their way to becoming wood cut outs- some were originally created for game designs, some for if she was a boy;), but i figured i'd milk a bit more use out of 'em.

starting to introduce a bit of text again- something i've started doing to some of them, is naming them whatever sounds i think they might make.

"uniphant"

"tweeb"

one of my fav.s- starting on him right now.

"jimmy 2 pockets"

"floating harold"

started added carrot noses to a few of my beasties- something i rather liked and decided to rip off [something i _rarely_ do] from my good friend [junkyard samuel].

... figured i might go in the robot direction if she was a boy- only whipped up a couple up before finding out the good news:)

will be posting progress shots of these + the last two i just finished soon!

in other news, we just finished up the alpha deadline on our game, heading towards beta, and finally found out when it'll be on the shelves- SEPTEMBER 15th- yee hoo! will be sure to post when the press release on the game & company [finally;)] is published.

AND!! only ~1 more month 'til the baby arrives- can't wait!!

... patenaude

baby's room part V...

2009-03-25T08:15:00.000-07:00

i'm still planning on adding another handful of flowers- scattering them mostly around the edges, but... for the most part- here it is. walls painted, crib & changing table are put together, the cut outs are _securely_ mounted to the walls... all we need is the baby;)

the "main" wall- again- they're fastened quite securely to the wall:)

here's one that rob retouched in photoshop [thanks!]- quite a bit more accurate ['cept for the lamb is whiter:)]- really makes me want to retouch them all or do a reshoot [possibly after i finish the rest of the flowers]... and figure out the white balance on my camera;)

this little dude _really_ needs some more flowers- i figure i have about 20 more to whip up.

the big pink bunny hangs out alone in the corner- i have NO IDEA what he's up to...

see! lions and elephants CAN get along...

SEE!! lions and elephants CAN get along [yes- the baby is turning me corny]

... and last, but not least, here's where all those diapers that i've been warned about, will be changed.

... all in all, i had a _LOT_ of fun whipping these up. so much so that i'm dying to try this with some of my characters not-so-appropriate for a baby girls room- hopefully jen will let me hang them SOMEWHERE;)

... patenaude

[very loose] game concept sketches?...

2009-02-28T07:40:00.000-08:00

so i'm trying to flesh out a game idea by doing random sketches with the characters, to develop their personalities and see where it leads. so far all i have is that they're called "CATTYwampi" [yeah- really clever, right;)?] and and are trying to "right" various structures [each of the team having their own unique abilities to help with the job] that are "cattywampus", due to being vandalized by hooligans, no-good nicks, and the their ilk. nothing too complicated, as i'm trying to scale back some of my ideas these days in an attempt to lighten them up and make them more "doable". these sketches are a bit old, but i figured i should post them before they disappear into the sketch pad archives, and possibly never heard from again!

... more to come on experiments with the actual look, which i'm hoping will be a combination of line work on top of photo textures and dabbled with in last year's holiday card: http://blognaude.blogspot.com/2008/12/this-years-holidays-cards-new-drafting.html
... and i've been dying to do some wooden cut outs of them as well- just have to find a place to mount them;)

oh! and btw- they're actually all based off this sketch which i did a year or so ago, took quite a liking too, and actually appeared in a handful of pieces in 2008.
... patenaude

"Happy Up Here" video...

2009-02-27T07:45:00.000-08:00

neat little space invaders inspired video, Röyksopp...

Happy Up Here from Röyksopp on Vimeo.

that's all,
patenaude

baby's room part IV...

2009-02-21T16:24:00.000-08:00

long time, no post! luckily it's because i've been so busy WORKING on the project, to POST about it. i've come to a nice break in the process though [waiting to clear the room out, so that i can figure out the composition, attach the various depths of mounts (some will be overlapping others)], to show ya what i've been up to.

after getting a bit more familiar with the scroll saw and cutting out near all of the animals + a ton of flowers...

... it was time for some paint tests. i didn't want to potentially ruin something that was going in her room, so i decided to test out a few characters that jen had banned [too many thonrs;)] + smaller versions of animals that are actually making the cut.

i experimented with goauche, oils, and tube acrylic, before finally settling on CRAFT acrylics [of all things] for the colors, gesso for the white borders, and tried and true windsor newton indian ink for the outlines [applied with both brushes and nibs]. + plenty of glossy sealant to keep it all safe.

because i STILL wasn't ready to wrap up the final pieces, i decided to whip up a blue bee for my good friends chris & angie, who just had their first baby, zachary, and while i was at it i couldn't resist whipping up a second one...

next it was onto the real deal! i ended up watering the paint down a bit and laying on quite a few layers to keep it nice and flat to keep any distracting bush strokes out.

and the flowers- TONS of flowers, which will be sprinkled all over whatever the composition ends up looking like.

here they are, almost done- just a few more paint touch ups + a little more inky clean up work...

to mount them, i'm using long tacks driven thorugh small pieces of scrap wood, gluing the tack head side of the wood to the back of the cut outs- layering more wood in between for ones that will "float" further form the wall. the nice thing is that it's _SUPER_ easy to arrange and rearrange them, because of how easily i'm able to simply push them into the wall.

that's it for now. the next shots will probably be the final product mounted in her room.

... patenaude

baby's room pt. III...

2009-01-24T10:17:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-18T09:36:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-01-17T08:45:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-01-06T21:24:00.000-08:00

... 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?...

2009-01-05T18:43:00.001-08:00

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

OUCH!!

2009-01-04T15:19:00.000-08:00

_HUGE_ PORTFOLIO SITE UPDATE!

2009-01-04T11:41:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-01-02T14:14:00.001-08:00

[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

this year's "holidays" cards + a new drafting table!

2008-12-18T17:16:00.001-08:00

after much internal and external questioning, i finally decided to go with "happy holidays" as the theme for this year's card. most everyone i know celebrates christmas, but figured a more generic holiday greeting is the safest bet.
as far as the subject matter, i decided to kill 2 birds with one stone by including and further developing a family of cattywampi- a new breed of characters i came up with ear marked for a few ideas i have floating around in my head. after tossing the first draft, i then inked this one, scanned, and started dropping in the colors behind a multiply layer of the outlines in photoshop.
the image above wasn't actually used, but instead i customized a bit by laying in a variety of different BG images, to keep them nice and special. below is a pile of the bulk of them, before jen & i wrapped them off like little presents and sent them to the far reaches of the country.

and below are a few of my favorites...in other news... after jen finally gave me the go ahead on acquiring a proper art desk, i scanned craigs list for a drafting table- nice and big like the kind "professional artist folk" use [and similar to the one i used throughout art school]. after a few minutes of searching, i stumbled across this pristine mayline jobby, which best of all, was FREE! after a quick trip to redmond to see if it was legit, rob helped me pick the BEHEMOTH [i shit you not- this thing weighs ~1000 lbs.] up, and get it into the house. i was _extremely_ surprised there were no injuries- nice!

... patenaude

another batch...

2008-12-13T09:29:00.000-08:00

more simple/ compact enemy designs for one of the game ideas.
messing around with some fat body designs.
this one was actually and attempt at a vertical design for a t-shirt contest submission... that never happened;)
why won't he just leave that little bugger alone?
"oh, you... comere for a little pinchy pinch pinch"
another round of q-bert nosed dudes- looks like the guy on the bottom is quite aroused about something;)

ok. that's it... i've been procrastinating enough- time to move onto painting what might turn out to be this years holiday card, if it turns out all right.

... patenaude

even MO' arts!...

2008-12-11T08:11:00.000-08:00

i toldja i had quite the backlog- still trying to post these [while procrastinating on painting the holiday card;)] before moving onto the ~5th sketch pad of the year.
this one started while i was gearing up for the halloween series [which consequently left me quite obsessed with pumpkins ], before adding a nice shape which turned out to be that dragon lizard.

after drawing the guy, i decided to use the remaining space to continue working out the details of the catty wampi [the kitty cat beasties- plural for cattywampus].
i can't wait to use this vehicle [or something like it] in a video game some day- part santa sleigh, part pirate ship.
i've taken to working a few rude comments into some of my sketches [more to come!];)

decided to keep the sketch pad binding in this one, because it was so unbalanced/ empty without it.
hah! one of my most genius weapons ever! spiked vibrating um... "intimate toys"- HILAIOUS!

ok. that's it for now- plenty more to come!

... patenaude

mo' arts...

2008-12-10T07:53:00.001-08:00

planning on starting to add more captions to give the drawings more purpose, if for no other reason to convince myself that this all matters;)...

...i think these two might be keen on each other.

... random guy- testing out the long bow tie as an accessory.

"blee boh bah borp"

"hrmph"

a few sketches of some q-bert-esque baddies for one of my game ideas.

so... that's all- plenty more to come [already scanned even!], but i'm on my way out the door for 5 miles with the hounds!

... patenaude

new batch, hot & fresh outta the oven...

2008-12-04T07:54:00.001-08:00

posting a few not-so-finished pieces so that they can enjoy a brief moment on the web before slipping away into storage. starting to work a bit more text into my sketches, in an attempt to at least hint at what might be going on with these folks.

... patenaude

halloween collection, final?

2008-11-18T07:45:00.000-08:00

a bit late with the final scans for these [photos were posted in august, but scans are necessary for reproduction] considering the paint has been dry for months & we've had our christmas tree up for over two weeks [trying to milk every ounce of holiday spirit out of that bad boy]. but! better late than never?...

enjoy!

... patenaude

the yellow submarine...

2008-11-15T09:32:00.000-08:00

wow! after recommending/ loaning it to a friend to watch, i realized it'd been a while since i'd seen it. so i sat down with my sketch pad and a bit of wine, and popped it on the TV.

it's such a perfect mix of some of the best music ever recorded with some of the most beautiful and imaginative imagery that i've ever seen. every time i watch it, i can't help but be inspired and appreciate what a wonderful EXPERIENCE it is, and how completely i'm drawn into the world that it's created. and, as a video game artist, my thoughts lead naturally to imagine what a _WONDERFUL_ video game it would make, or at least inspire. i know they've created interactive rides based on the movie, but i'm talking about a larger project, that really captures how deep this world actually is. given that, despite my ongoing battle to be too heavily influenced by any one thing, you just might start to see some of the elements of "the yellow submarine" creep into some of my future works.

below is a video i ran across that takes a quick peak into the movie, hopefully enticing you to finally sit down and watch it... or watch it again. enjoy!

... patenaude

better late than never.

2008-11-08T15:18:00.000-08:00

a bit late with this one, but wanted to post it before getting too far away from halloween. it was an early sketch done for the halloween series i did, which i'm planning posting final scans of later in the week.
... patenaude

more sketches...

2008-11-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

a few more random sketches- trying to start working some captions in, if for nothing else, just to coax a few laughs outta myself...

... patenaude

"The World Hopes for Its First President"...

2008-11-03T18:05:00.000-08:00

fantastic newsweek article, that reminds us that the US isn't the only country in the world that needs obama to win... [http://www.newsweek.com/id/166910/page/1]

"Obama went into Election Day with a steady lead in U.S. polls, averaging about 50 percent to 44 percent for McCain, but he was headed for a landslide around the world, topping polls in virtually every nation often by strong margins: 70 percent in Germany, 75 percent in China and so on".

great read!,
patenaude

a few sketches...

2008-10-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

much more to come [in the process of cleaning up ~25 scans that i just did]. also shifting gears from "art for art's sake", to gearing concepts towards story and game ideas- will be sure to note any details on pieces earmarked for those projects.

... patenaude

shoot... i might actually vote for this one...

2008-10-15T13:06:00.001-07:00

i couldn't resist- another non-art update... but i just had to...

... patenaude

quick non-art update...

2008-10-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

documenting this, for future reference & my excuse for not being able to allocate as much time to art these days as i'd like...

wow... boy was that close! jen & i were scheduled to do our final walk through on a brand new ~ half million dollar home last friday, and close on halloween. oddly enough, besides a bit of persuasion from my good buddy rob, it was GEORGE BUSH that really nudged me towards reason- do you want to know how?... he said DON'T WORRY!... so i worried- just in the nick time! i'm not blaming it all on him, but isn't it amazing when ANYBODY [let alone the president of the united states] has ruined what [little] credibilty they had, so much so that you're inclined to DO THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT THEY SUGGEST?

here are a few links that also helped jen & i make up & solidify our minds on the subject...
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/602-Time-Is-Up-Congress-And-America.html

http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/08/real_estate/financial_crisis_pulling_out_of_home_sales/index.htm?postversion=2008101016

http://seattlebubble.com/blog/2007/09/19/who-are-you-going-to-believe-on-the-economy/

http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=arSYa87HCb9U

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/liamhalligan/3023967/A-default-by-the-US-government-is-no-longer-unthinkable.html

... as i post those links, i can't help but wonder how differently this whole mess would be if there were no Internet, no 24-hour news to... let us to know worry... times are crazier than i've even seen- it doesn't even seem to be a good time to buy a new TV these days, let alone a new HOME!! eegads!

we'll begin seriously looking again in the first quarter of next year, more than likely in the same area [capitol hill/ madison valley area], but will hopefully be spending considerably less... for considerably more;)

ps. i promise that the next update will be chocked full with art!

... patenaude

mo' elements!...

2008-09-21T17:05:00.000-07:00

this'll be the last batch for a while- a few action shots for the ADD sidecroller series+ a few enemy concepts to be used in that and upcoming projects- enjoy!

... patenaude

more elements!

2008-09-20T15:44:00.000-07:00

like i promised, here are more of those "elements" i spoke of- these little devils that made their first appearance in the "changing of the guards" piece for the obama fundraiser, and will do an encore in the "ADD sidescroller" series... yep!

more to come soon!

... patenaude

EXTRA, EXTRA, LOOK ALL ABOUT IT!!

2008-09-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

because of the ever-expending size of my pieces recently, it's been taking quite a while to see my pieces to fruition, but... because i never stop drawing, and like to update my blog more than once a month, i've decided to start posting sketches/ elements* to letcha know what i'm up to in the mean time and makes sure they're not condemned only to the pages of my sketch pads. here's a batch from the last few weeks.

[*elements= sketches/ ideas that usually find a home in my finished pieces]

hopefully this will mean that i won't have to dust off any more cob webs before posting, and you can expect much more frequent updates with the addition of more progress shots- more to come late in the week, after a bit of clean up- enjoy!

... patenaude

pikapackage zine aug '08...

2008-09-05T08:10:00.000-07:00

eegads! almost missed it- be sure to check out the august '08 edition of the [pikapackage art zine], complete with a mini interview with yours truly, in addition to a ton of other talented artist, including an extremely entertaining one with my good buddy, [junkyard sam].

oh! and a few more kind words in a little feature: http://pikaland.com/2008/06/11/brian-patenaude

... patenaude

PREVIEW: A.D.D. side scroller, etc. series...

2008-09-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

here are a few shots of the first 3 in the A.D.D side scroller series [@ varying degrees of progress], which i'm planning on painting with gouache on CANVAS canvas @ 30X15 [my largest series yet] + a couple of practice pieces @ 12X12- one on canvas, and the other on gesso board- enjoy!

... a couple of compositions fully traced down-time to peel it off, and see what i missed.

... detailed section of graphite traced onto canvas.

nearly finished photoshop comp. ... almost ready for the ink.

... in need of a bit more inky love.

because of the size of the 30X15, and my refusal to pay and be inconvenienced by kinko's or springing for a projector, after putting the compositions together in photoshop, i've been printing out 6! [2 for the 12X12's] letter-sized B&W images and taping them together on my trusty light table.

after that, i tape graphite paper to the canvas, & the frakenstein-esque compositions on top of that. so that it's easy to tell what lines i've transferred, i use brightly colored prisma colors to trace the composition down, before doing a bit of touch-ups on the actual canvas.

so- at this point, i have the first three traced down- will be sure to post progress shots, as soon as the first coat of paint goes on- wee hoo!

... patenaude

now THIS is a soda add...

2008-08-26T12:07:00.000-07:00

... heheheh... *slurp*

... patenaude

art for change, seattle!...

2008-08-20T20:04:00.000-07:00

well- here it is! my piece for [art for change] seattle- a fundraiser geared to raise 7500$ [150$ per piece X 50] for the obama campaign.
i was torn as to whether to get political or not with the piece, so i kept it kinda light- hopefully not too cliche- it's called, "changing of the guards", and is supposed to represent our man obama running those _devils_ out of office. after a few sketches, i composited the characters in photoshop, traced onto canvas, painted it up with gouache, then ink, sealed, and framed it.
it was kinda tough, because the target price we were shooting for was 150$ per piece- _SO_ tough to judge exactly how much art is worth- will letch'all know how it goes.
the show is tomorrow night [august 21st] over in the lower queen anne neighborhood of seattle- will letcha know how it goes!

ps. apologies for the crumby photo- i'll figure it all out some day;)

UPDATE!! although i kinda dug my piece, i don't think it was bold enough to stand out in a wall of so much greatness, so i ducked out a bit early wtih my tail tucked. dangit!

... patenaude

a handful of elements for the "ADD side scroller" series...

2008-08-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

plenty more to go- it truly will end up being a bizarre mix of juxtapozed elements, when i'm done- nice and chaotic. quite a few more character action poses and man made structures to go, but here's a sampling of some of what i'll be using so far...

they'll likely look considerably different, when composed in the final pieces, but i thought it might be nice to show what i'm starting with- enjoy!

... patenaude

"I MET THE WALRUS"...

2008-08-12T13:14:00.000-07:00

gorgeous animation based on a conversation with [the genius] john lennon in 1969...

... WATCH IT!

... patenaude

pikapackage: AUGUST...

2008-08-12T07:41:00.000-07:00

so! the first batch of the august pikapackage from pikaland.com is ready...

i sent in a batch of smurf color remixes + a few other small prints as my contribution- head on over to pikaland, and check it out!

... patenaude

a few new sketches/ pieces...

2008-08-08T23:21:00.000-07:00

might turn these into something more, might not- but here's what they're looking like so far...

enjoy! ... patenaude

HALLOWEEN SERIES PROGRESS SHOTS... FINALLY!

2008-08-06T23:00:00.000-07:00

wow! an actual ART update on an ART blog!? what a novel idea! so! here they are. i initially set off with the intention of doing them 90% monochromatic with splashed of color here and there, but... who was i kidding? it just about brought me to tears as i'd glimpse over at that wonderfully colorful palette that was off limits, so... i buckled, and decided to go in the opposite direction, applying any and every color i wanted- the "anti" color scheme. despite the lack of planning with the color, i'm actually quite digging 'em.

a bit more paint to fill in [this canvas isn't grabbing on to the translucent washes the way i'd like, so i'm having to reapply colors 2-3+ times, but ah well- serves me right for being so stingy with the gouache;)].

"untitled a"

"untitled b"

"untitled c"

after a bit more paint touch ups and another layer of outline, i think these will just about be done. and just in time! i have a TON of sketches scanned, and ready to start compositing for the next series, which will be loosely based on side scroller platform game action- weeeeeeeee!

ps. apologies for the crappy photos- once they're finished, i'll post proper scans.

... patenaude

"surfwise", the move...

2008-08-02T21:47:00.000-07:00

highly recommended- more about family than surfing- you _need_ to watch this:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479547/

now more review [i'll keep it a surprise]- that's all- just watch it.

... patenaude

HAH!

2008-08-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

not turning this into a political site, but i just couldn't resist posting this one...
McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c

EEGADS!

that's all,
patenaude

"hiyuh-watha" [working title]...

2008-08-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

it's close, but i think still "in progress"- not quite sure... i think i may darken up the deer/ moose beast a bit, and possibly add a bit more rendering [a touch of highlights/ shadows] to the piece.

if i don't end up liking the piece i'm doing for [artforchangeseattle], i might end up using this one in its place. "theme" wise i don't suppose it makes as much sense. unless i go the "why can't we all just get along" angle for this one;)

hope ya dig!

... patenaude

excuses/ updates...

2008-07-31T07:43:00.000-07:00

apologies for the lack of updates, but there has been quite a bit going on- last week i started 2 new pieces, "hiyuh-watha", and "good vs. evil", which is a piece i'm creating for http://www.artforchangeseattle.com/ to help supportour new president, barrack obama. and last but not least, i've included a quick little painting/ card i created for my beautiful wife, jen for our 2-year anniversary [pictured below].

after all that, we spent 3 glorious days [and 1.5 very ill ones] in beautiful Zihuatanejo, mexico. just getting over said nasty illness now- more updates very soon!!

... patenaude

"i am baby cakes"= HILARIOUS!...

2008-07-18T10:11:00.000-07:00

http://www.superdeluxe.com/sd/series/baby_cakes

haven't watched them all yet, but so far, so hilarious/ genius.

... patenaude

HALLOWEEN collection PROGRESS pt. 01...

2008-07-15T10:13:00.000-07:00

so... although these pieces won't be ready in time for the show i was originally planning them for, i was quite inspired by the theme, "HALLOWEEN" [what artist isn't;)?]. + much like my putting the christmas tree up 2-3 months early to "milk more christmas excitement out of the holiday", it's almost like i'm starting the HALLOWEEN festivities 3+ month early!!

i immediately got to sketching, and after 20+ sketches [of the elements that will live in the pieces], there was quite a bit of scanning to be done, followed by a little weeding [out the ideas that i wasn't "feeling"]. and although i'm quite aware of the rule to incorporate elements for the viewers to recognize/ associate with, i found myself straying a bit from the more stereotypical HALLOWEEN elements [besides the TONS of pumpkins & a few more tombstones i'll be adding;)], and sticking more to the fun stuff: BEASTIES!

after that i opened up 3 new 8X24" images, and started experimenting with where each ELEMENT fit in best [and i'll letcha in on a little secret: sometimes they're duplicated;)]. after that i printed them all out [breaking them up into 3 letter-sized pages] on the crappy printer [i save my top-end pigment ink for the prints], taped them all together. i then traced them up onto the canvas, got a feel for what areas need a bit of help, drew up some filler type BG elements, and traced those onto the canvas as well, and now [although not reflected in the images below]... they're ready to paint!!

in progress, "untitled_a"

in progress, "untitled_b"

in progress, "untitled_c"

so! plenty left to go, but i'm quite excited about their potential! i'll be taking a bit of a break to work on a piece for an upcoming show, but will be sure to post more progress shots, as soon as paint finds it's way to the canvas.

... patenaude

Gary Baseman on Culture Catch! (Part 1)

2008-07-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

wow. check out [THIS] interview with gary baseman. very inspirational.

and that got me thinking a bit today... i'd say he and one of my other favorites [doug tennepal] are [dare i say] about as close to the modern-day michelangelo as you can get- books, movies, cartoons, toys, video games... very impressive. sure, possibly on a bit of a low-brow? level, but these are modern times! THIS is the level i want my art to reach.

ps. yes, i could list a few more artists with that sort of saturation, but these are two of my favorite examples.

... patenaude

the SUBMERGED SERIES!!!

2008-07-09T23:06:00.000-07:00

well... i'd call this 95% done. possibly a few more color saturation and value passes in photoshop + i'll probably tweak out the outline color a bit depending on the piece with a few artists proofs.

BUT! these are basiclly it! and although they look a bit different after the photoshop pass, imo the original paintings turned out quite nicely- will probably end up selling those as well.

"SUBMERGED_A"

"SUBMERGED_B"

"SUBMERGED_C"

"SUBMERGED_D"

"SUBMERGED_E"

having had such a fun experience with this series, getting back into larger compositions, and looking to be taken seriously in galleries, i think my pieces will start getting a big bigger from here on out. these measure ~15"X7.5". i'm looking to go up to at least 7X21" on the halloween collage series, that i've already begun sketches on- wee hoo!

night night!

... patenaude

print making like there's no tomorrow!

2008-07-08T16:50:00.001-07:00

old bertha [my HP photosmart pro b9180] has really been earning her keep lately. here's the batch i sent i sent down to [pikaland] (all the way down in malaysia!], for NEXT month's pikapackage- a mix of the smurf color remix series, the box collection, and mr. octopus from series SEALIFE...

and below is the first batch of exclusive prints i shipped out to [the shiny squirrel] last week.

after wrapping up the photoshop work in the SUBMERGED series this week, and move onto a series for halloween, along with various other projects that i'm sure will creep in along the way. oh boy!

... patenaude

JULY '08 #2 PIKA PACKAGE ZINE!!

2008-07-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

EXTRA, EXTRA, read all about it!! the july '08 pika package zine is now avalable, and includes mini interviews with a variety of artists, including yours truly! click on the image below to pop on over to her site and check it out!

... patenaude

update: the adventures of jen & brian...

2008-07-07T13:06:00.000-07:00

if ya haven't been paying attention, i finally got around to updating jen and my main "adventures" site with a back log of some of the goings on this year: http://theadventuresofjenandbrian.com/ far from complete, but it'll do for now.
i was also able to update my portfolio site, with a few new piece, that you can find in the [gallery].
i also finished inking the SUBMERGED series, which will be posted later in the day, along with getting the SEALIFE series in printing order. woo hoo!

... patenaude

[art] TO DO list [week of 07.06.08]...

2008-07-06T08:53:00.000-07:00

so. most people that know me, know that i can be quite obsessed with "to do" lists, and quite frequently write the most important bits on my hand- with sharpie marker of course [NO! it says their NON toxic].
anyway- because i usually end up writing several throughout the week, revamping, prettying up the lettering, etc. it might make more sense just to post them up here- this might also help me follow through on actually getting them all done [the more people you tell, the more people there are to hold you accountable].
so here goes [art only btw- decided not to bore ya with the rest of it;)]...

01] start using lunch time to get some drawing in [night time is usually set aside for painting, printing, and packaging]- possibly for this week's ill. friday: sour
02] gather together prints for next month pikapackage, sign, seal, and pack
03] finish photoshop work on SUBMERGED series- decide whether to do prints, or just offer the originals for sale [possibly based on test prints]
04] send said prints to pikaland
05] post SEALIFE series on etsy shop [photoshop work done on sunday night]
06] continue on halloween sketches for an upcoming series of either 3 or 5 [depending on how many "elements" i whip of for them]- i think i might handle this series like a straight-up collage- tracing them straight onto the canvas from the sketch pads- cutting out the scan/ composite/ print process
06] send a few pieces into fecalface.com for a review?

... patenaude

sealife series!!

2008-07-01T18:45:00.000-07:00

well- here they are- final shots [courtesy of my buddy rob adams] of the sealife series that i painted as a gift for elliot's birthday. i plan on tweaking the border/ sizing a bit for the limited edition prints, which i'll be posting later this week, but as far as the originals go- you can't get much more final than this- in the frame and on the wall!

a group photo of them all together... how cute is that!?

"lobster"

"sea turtle"

"octopus"

be on the look out for the prints- available [to the public;)] later this week!

... patenaude

illustration firday: FIERCE!

2008-07-01T10:05:00.000-07:00

i'm a bit early this week, 'cause i was conveniently working on pretty fierce looking piece already. ingredients= gouache + windsor newton ink + prisma color...

... patenaude

the shiny squirrel!!

2008-07-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

so! like i mentioned, i have a little more help distributing my limited edition prints now. [the shiny squirrel] has chosen two of the floating beastie pieces ["floating parligan" & "floating dooleeg"] that i created to sell exclusively @ their online gallery. pop on over and check them out!! http://www.theshinysquirrel.com/

"floating parligan"

"floating dooleeg"

have a fantastic week, and stay tuned for this week's illustration friday piece, "fierce".

... patenaude

something to tide YOU over...

2008-06-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

wow. it's been nuts lately. unfortunately, because of all the time i've been spending on art, i haven't been writing/ posting about art as much. so!! here's what i've been up to...

a] i finished the sealife series, a while back and gave it to elliot adams [rob & nicole's kiddo] as a gift for his first birthday. and the appreciation was well worth it all + i'll be offering the prints to boot! waiting to post final shots of those- hung up in the house and all.

b] had a couple of the floating beastie pieces accepted @ [the shiny online squirrel]! and turned those into exclusives- look for 'em any day now! the submerged series is just about done, but not yet ready to post. just finished the ink pass on 95% of 'em all, but plan on a few more tweaks before all is said and done.

c] meanwhile, being the pack rat that i am- not wanting anything to go to waste [especially art], i "salvaged" a few random pieces pieces that were sentenced to the "LEFT OUT" series that i'm not so fond of, dusted them off, and repainted them all on their own. AND HERE THEY ARE!! the SALVAGED series...

"whatchoo been eatin'?"

"coochi coo"

"baby's daddies"

... might throw a few more tweaks on there, before offering prints of them on the etsy shop [5X7" what a convenient size!]

d] aside from various other bits, including convincing more galleries to open their eyes, next up is a trio of halloween pieces- very exciting. and i figured i'd better start now in order to hang them nice and early for one of my favorite holidays of the year.

e] wow... listening to the beatles "love" soundtrack from the cirque du soleil show in vagas... _BY_FAR_ one fo the best shows i've seen _EVER!_ worth a trip to vegas just for that.

i hope you enjoy! and as always, i look forward to your comments!

... patenaude

illustration friday: HOARD

2008-06-25T20:36:00.000-07:00

well... here ya go- this week's topic: HOARD! it went a lot more quickly than i'd thought- originally i was going to polish one of my old concepts [HOARD is coincidentally the name of one of my pet project game designs, that's been collecting dust the last 5 years or so], but... during one of the little drawing breaks i take during the day at work to rest my weary eyes, i sketched up these little guys.

and because i was digging each of them equally, i figured i'd do a horizontal piece to incorporate both to 'em fighting over that pile of... ? so! i traced them straight onto the canvas, painted 'em up with a some gouache, threw the outlines back over it, and WHAM!

... enjoy!

... patenaude

series SUBMERGED progress...

2008-06-24T12:29:00.000-07:00

these will probably be the last "progress" shots you see of series SUBMERGED.

aside from a bit more cleanup, once i get them scanned [especially on a few of the background washes ended up having a bit more "character;)" than i'd like], for the most part, the majority of the work will just involve inking them up, which will combat a lot of the unclarity that is going on in a few of them.

i'm planning on having these puppies wrapped up within the week, despite nibbling on a few other misc. projects simultaneously.

ps. yes- HARSH palettes, but... they were a lotta fun! ... enjoy!

... patenaude

PROMO WALL!

2008-06-20T10:06:00.000-07:00

in an effort to really get a feel of what the final products will look like [art + frames], and to fill a little empty wall space in our guest bedroom, i've started printing out a few pieces, just for jen & me...

i'm calling it the "promo wall", with the intention that i'll use shots of it to "promote" the final products & show how the different pieces can work together. i think before i'm done, i'll add at least a few more pieces to the composition.

enjoy!

... patenaude

various PROGRESS!

2008-06-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

a shot of series SEALIFE [very near done- might thicken the exterior lines a bit + misc. tweaks based on what they look like in the frames + trim it down a bit to 7X7"] + another pieces, "unihorn", that i just extracted from a sketch, and painted up this weekend [75% done].

that's about it for now. next up is series SUBMERGED + i'm sure i'll go a.d.d. and stray off with a few random pieces along the way.

... patenaude

J.K. Rowling's commencement address to Harvard...

2008-06-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

wow! although i'm on board with what rowling's potter books, i have yet to read a one. regardless- she gave quite an inspirational commencement speech at at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association: http://harvardmagazine.com/go/jkrowling.html

pass it on!

... patenaude

pikaland promo!

2008-06-11T10:33:00.001-07:00

wee hoo! in an effort to wrangle up a few fans, i sent some prints down to [pikaland], for inclusion in their "pikapackage": a monthly collection of goodies from illustrators and artists who sell their wares online, resulting in ONE or TWO free monthly pikapackage giveaway to readers and the rest to be sold as a lucky dip package to spread the word about their fantastic art.

check out the rest of the images and write-up over at [pikaland]!

... patenaude

getting closer...

2008-06-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

i'm not far off from nailing down final designs for the SEALIFE series- i'm actually going make the few last tweaks tonight, as i trace them onto the canvas. my biggest issue is with the turtle's belly at this point- hopefully i'll find the right shell design tonight...

loosing the tie + hat, adding hair, but he's pretty set.

... i dare you to find another image of a fat elvis turtle. might switch the shell belly back to the original.

mmm... lollipops. just need to tweak out their swirls & stretch his head.

... patenaude

SEALIFE series...

2008-06-07T08:28:00.000-07:00

so... interesting challenge... i'm doing a set of sealife pieces [in the same direction as the floating beasties pieces i did a month or so ago] for a my buddy rob adam's son elliot's room [did that sound right?].

after countless reference googling & sketches, to get the anatomy/ parts down i still wasn't there... there not looking "patenaude" enough... heh... kinda funny to be challenged to make your drawings look more like your drawings. but it's tough... usually what i draw, comes straight outta my head, and there it is- spontaneous and all. taking a given and crafting your own version, is proving to be a little tougher than i'd thought, but... I'M UP FOR THE CHALLENGE! here's what they're looking like presently- i figure ~65-75% of the way "there"...

you might recognize the octopus- he's the closest i got on the first round, but i still need to tweak him out a bit + add some silly props to them all + work on their eyes. will post more progress as i go.

... patenaude

promo, promo, PROMO!

2008-06-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

so... now that i've got a respectable [?] amount of art on my hands, it's time to GET IT OUT THERE into the world. as far as i can tell, this is the hard part- initially getting people to at least _look_ at your work, maybe even respond to an email, developing relationships with galleries, etc.

up until now, i've sent a bit of work to pikaland.com & fecalface.com for online promotion, but i'm just sending them to my etsy shop, which seems to be a bust for the most part- it kinda forces you to set uncomfortably low prices for your work & it's just not as NEAT as a brick & mortar gallery- that's the dream, right- actual honest-to-god ART SHOWS!

so! because the majority of galleries take some sort of a significant cut of the sales [30-50% or so], that means, yep- you guessed it- prices are going up! i'm not going to get nutty with the prices, as i feel i still have to pay my dues, but the prices will be rising slightly less severely than the price of gas.

inspired by ol' junkyard sam's idea, first off, i'll be sending a package to [eric nakamura]- publisher and co-editor of giant robot & as far as i can tell, owner of the GIANT ROBOT stores.

edit: + i put [this] together, and sent it off to the suite 100 gallery in seattle & blueflipart.com. so... we'll see- keep your finger crossed for me!

SO much to do, so little time!

oh! and a [crappy] progress shot of the submerged series [trust me- they don't look like much now, but i have high hopes for thise series]...

a few composition tweaks left, before i lay some ink down and start painting. because the next couple weekend are quite filled the series probably won't be ready until the end of the month, but be on the look out for progress shots!

ps. in non-art news, i got into the new york marathon lottery! i may end up putting it on hold though, because i'm planning on running it with jen [who didn't make it in, but might go the charity route, which allows you entrance if you're able to raise 2500$ for one of their specified charities].- we'll see.

... patenaude

new series: SUBMERGED!

2008-06-01T09:53:00.000-07:00

after a couple of commission sorta pieces, ive decided to start another one without rules. making use of a few random pieces i'd drawn up for a sealife series that i won't be using + some random characters & ideas that i didn't want to see go to waste, hopefully they'll all get along together in this series: submerged.

they're a bit rough at this point- need quite a bit of finishing, but for the most part, i'll stick with 'em for the basic composition- need to add a bit more substance to a few of 'em though. i'm also going to work a bit larger for this series @ 15X75 [was shooting for 10X20, but it seemed a tad big].

... will be sure to post more, as it progresses. it may be slow going, as i'm also planning on working on another series of 3 @ 5X7", in an attempt to salvage a few composition that seemed lost in the business of the LEFT OUT series. it might seem i'm reusing more than i should [i.e. the SMURF COLOR REMIX series], but i really want to see a few of these pieces relize the potential that i think they have.

... patenaude

kim's birthday invite!?

2008-05-29T08:04:00.001-07:00

so i think it's about done...

i started out without much information: come up with an image for my wife's sister-in-law's birthday [does that make her my sister-in-law too?] & not much else, other than that i was sure there'd be drinking;) it was hot that day at the time so i assumed it'd be hot in another few weeks [don't quite have a gauge on seattle summers yet], so i started drawing folks @ the beach [probably because it's where i wished i was;)]... heh.

so without much luck fishing for a theme, jen and i thought that "mojitos" would work, so...

i added a cuban hat [simple, eh;)?] to the center guy, drew up a flaming cake that i threw that in front of him [he wasn't wearing pants in the original image;)],a nd then composited him, with a buncha beach-goers to widen the aspect ratio to something that would work as an invite header.
i decided to tone down the flame and enlarge the cake before dropping some gouache on it this is also the point at which i realized that i'd been painting on the wrong side of the canvas paper, which btw. makes it hard as hell to get ink and paint on there;)

and the final-ish... cleaned up the border + added a layer of outline burn on in photoshop. now hopefully all i have left is the info + possibly a bit more color adjustment + clean up the wording on the cake, etc.

enjoy!

... patenaude

while i'm off topic...

2008-05-27T18:58:00.000-07:00

i know, i know- this is supposed to be an art blog, but... i just can't help but share. check out [this place] ,jen and i will be celebrating our 2-year anniversary @. it's called the tides hotel, way down in Zihuatanejo, mexico [the place morgan freeman met up with tim robbins @ in "shawshank redemption]- CAN't WAIT!

will post some phortos, just in case ya don't feel like clicking the link;)

... patenaude

A Very Special Uncle Muscles Christmas: funny? yes. disturbing? definitely...

2008-05-23T21:33:00.000-07:00

you probably don't think [uncle muscles] is funny, but... i do. and after searching for it countless time for my cheap laughs, i've finally buckled down and posted it in a most convenient place... here.

this might become a habit.

... patenaude

illustration friday:WIDE

2008-05-22T07:35:00.000-07:00

this week's topic for illustration Friday is WIDE. i immediately thought of a "wide-bodied" perso- flawed folk are always more fun to draw than the pretty ones;)... and of course flawed beasts are even more fun!

after the initial sketch, it was looking rather empty, so i gathered up a few old sketches from here and there [i think the bats are from ~2000], scanned them, and arranged 'em in photoshop. the printed it out, traced it up onto some fredrix 100% cotton watercolor canvas [first time using it- quite a joy- much more "fabric-like" than most of the canvas paper i've used]. i then laid the gouache on + colored pencil, and ink from both uniball vision elites + sharpie [was rough going getting the ink to cut through/ lay on the paint and pencil wax]. then scanned it back in and added a bit more photoshop. anyway- enough rambling- here it is...

i might do a bit more tinkering with it, after staring at it for a while, but i wanted to post it before the illustration friday cut off tomorrow.

btw. for those of you not familiar with "illustration friday", here's the write-up...

"Illustration Friday is a weekly creative outlet/participatory art exhibit for illustrators and artists of all skill levels. It was designed to challenge participants creatively. We believe that every person has a little creative bone in their body. Illustration Friday just gives a no-pressure, fun excuse to use it. No clients looking for a particular thing. No one judging the outcome of the work. It's a chance to experiment and explore and play with visual art. So welcome, novices and pros alike." -penelope dullaghan and brianna privett

i hope ya dig it!

... patenaude

illustration friday: WIDE, progress...

2008-05-19T22:01:00.000-07:00

i might spend a few days on this, so i figured i'd post a preview of the layout. after a sketch of the main character, decided to fill it up a bit with a few old sketches- i love having these on hand, to add a bit more substance to my compositions.

i just traced it onto some canvas, and will hopefully have it painted all up by wednesday or thursday night!

... patenaude

GIVEAWAY: full batch o' BEASTIE minis!

2008-05-13T12:40:00.001-07:00

i was just dying for a reason to print out the entire set of beastie minis, make use of my new "custom" packaging, and spread a little color throughout the world;).

and what better excuse is there, that to hand them out as prizes to the deserving young whippersnappers. lucky for me, my mother-in-law, jani just happens to have a room full of them in her class up @ Custer Elementary School, where she hands out prizes from the treasure box to kids "getting caught being good".

i'm quite happy with how they turned out- those 5X5" little bags add quite a nice touch!

if ya want one of your own, head over to my [etsy shop] ,where i've just discounted them to a minuscule 7$- collect them all!

... patenaude

illustration friday: electricity

2008-05-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

so this week's topic for [illustration friday] is "electricity". i have a few very specific [subject wise] pieces in progress right now, so i took this as an opportunity to turn my brain down to low[er;)], and throw something down in my sketch pad.

after growing the piece into a few different compositions, i settled on this one, laid down some color with gouache, and colored pencil, then took it into photoshop, and... this is what i got!

i'm calling him "electric bill" [yeah- real original;)]. might do a bit more tinkering with the piece later, before throwing him up on my [etsy shop].

... patenaude

SMURFS COLOR REMIX... DONE!?

2008-05-06T10:04:00.000-07:00

here's the story...

after completing the smurf pieces for the saturday morning cartoon show back in march, there were chocked full of elements that i really wasn't liking [the more pieces there are in a composition= the more potential for there to be at least one, thatchoo don't like (that's why Hieronymus Bosch is so impressive- it's all fantastic!)].

still wanting to make use of the elements i did like in the smurf pieces, i decided to divide the smurf [remixes;)] into their own smaller pieces- easier to narrow focus on smaller pieces, although my art will be getting busier again in the not-too-distant future.

so. here's a sampling of my favorite three...

and the process: seperate drawings of the smurfs/ foreground and background [actually had to ctop a lot of the background out]- composited in photoshop, printed out on canvas paper, inks, gouached & sealed wtih workable fixative. after that, came the ink- windsor newton applied with a nib for the characters, and , and a uniball vision elite for the bg [to help set it back a bit further]. i then scanned it all in, pumped the saturation a bit, to where it should be, then layed the outline back over with multiply and burn layers... and done!

you can check out the rest in my [SHOP!] where you can actually buy one of your very own!

... patenaude!

illustration friday: seed

2008-05-04T09:37:00.000-07:00

so this week's topic for [illustration friday] is "seed". after a little brainstorming, i figured what better example of seed is there, that the ones most fun to spit at your friends- WATERMELLON!

as always, i started off with a quick sketch in my 5.5" X 8.5" skech pad [i love this size- perfect for carrying around anywhere- i have at least 50 of these filled from as far back as high school],
i laid on a bit of ink to "formalize" the lines.

then, as is becoming habit lately, i traced it onto bristol board [to extend my canvas, and get it on a more durable surface] with my ever-useful light table.... laid some gouache on + colored pencil for some of the tighter areas [his shirt text, pants tie, etc.].

then scanned it, bumped the saturation, and brought out the outlines again in photoshop, and that's whatcha get!

... patenaude

fecal face fridayz topic: FIVE!!

2008-05-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

in an attempt to get my art & name out there a bit more [not just on all MY web sites;)], i'll be posting on more sites with weekly topics, etc. this piece is for a site called "fecal face.com". no- it's not THAT kind of site- it's an art site with weekly art topics [it's nice to have forced direction sometimes:)], interviews, giveaways, gallery schedules, etc.

unfortunately, i think i mighta screwed up on this one- i "think" the topic "might" be "fives", but got a bit confused when i checked out this [link] which lists this week's theme as "first love", but also that last week's winner was "first love"... anyway- here's my submission [hopefully it'll make it onto the site:)]...

and the process: quick sketch in the pad + inked, traced onto bristol board again [to have a more durable surface + expand the canvas area], inked, laid on some gouache, re-inked [to bring the outlines back up that were covered with the gouache], added a bit of prisma color for a tiny bit of highlights/ shadows, then a few inky finishing touches, and signed it. shizam!

planning on jumping back onto my smurf color remix pieces this weekend. will hopefully knock all those out, then onto whatever else!

... patenaude

illustration friday: WRINKLES

2008-04-28T19:39:00.000-07:00

so. i missed last week, because the topic changed on friday [the day i was going to post it], but all the well, 'cause i wasn't really "feeling" the piece anyway.

anyway- after a few attempts at a wrinkly face, i was getting bored, so shot off into bulldog/ pug territory for inspiration [my boston mixes don't have enough wrinkles], ever careful not to get too generic. after a few hours, a couple glasses of wine, and plenty of scans [to cover my ass] later, here's what i got...

the process: drawing + tracing onto bristol board [to expand the canvas], scan, print out, gouache, scan [for a backup just in case the next step didn't work], then i laid some colored pencil on [it's been a while since i've used that medium, but boy do i dig it- _so_ much control], then scanned it back in, a bit of photoshop work [including saturation bumps, level shifting, a teensy bit of artistic filters + laid the outline back over the colored version with both multiply and color burn], and... that's about it.

might do some more tinkering with it, but this is it for now! enjoy!

... patenaude

isn't it great, when things are easy...

2008-04-26T09:29:00.000-07:00

so i'm working on an animated gif for my banner on pikaland. having not made one in ~13 years [jeez!], i need a little refresher course.

within a few seconds after typing the search into google, i had this video up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z93Z1v5dypE, and found that adobe image ready [which i happen to have] is the way to go. and a few minutes after, watching. done!

i still need to work on the title screen, and might work a bit more variety of images in there [although i don't want to get too busy], but here's how it's looking...

i scaled it here x2 to will the space, but the final will be @ 160pixels squared. now... back to more art!!

... patenaude

!!WOW!! look what i found in the vault!

2008-04-24T08:15:00.001-07:00

hey there, firends!,

so! i _finally_ got around to going through some old art work from _WAY_ back when, that i'd burned and forgot about. some of them are on my portfolio site, but need a bit of polish and love to get them ready for my etsy shop.

yes- i'm obsessed with "printmaking" now, but you know... it's because it seems they' finally being "brought to life" after sitting on old hard drives, CD back-ups, and the darkest corners of the internet. when they're actually PRINTED, they exist PHYSICALLY, and that, my friends, is a great feeling!

here are a few, that i dug up the full-resolution versions of [no- these images are _not_ full rez] from the box collection, that i created _WAY_ back in 2001!!

i hope you enjoy, and be on the look out for more "golden oldies";)

... patenaude

wednesday UPDATE: TALES of BERTHA!

2008-04-22T09:07:00.000-07:00

so as you may know, if you've been following the site, bertha is my new HP photosmart pro B9180.

after a few runs on the hahnemuhle smooth fine art paper, that i ordered with the printer, i was looking for something thicker and more substantial.

i ordered a batch of hahnemuhle 308gsm from atlex.com [along with a sampler pack that was on back order and _still_ hasn't arrived] and ~10 [ugh] days later, it finally arrived. unfortunately it was not the paper i had in mind [which turned out is crane's fine art 100% cotton rag fine art paper- gorgeous stuff], but i decided to give it a go regardless, because i was chomping at the bit for something new.

jeez. i'm even boring myself, so i'll cut to the chase: HP photosmart pro B9180 + HP tech. support= _frustration!_

during countless attempts, much cursing was involved while i tried in vain to coax her into earning her keep. following each attempt, i felt as i was being mocked by it's clicking & shaking that can be most closely compared to a celebratory touchdown dance]. there was more that one occasion where i contemplated her death- fantasizing about finding the perfect sledge hammer to teach her who's boss.

poring over the manual for the 10th time, i _FINALLY_ figured out the reason the printer was being inconsistently finicky about whether it wanted the sacrifices/ paper that i had to offer it- after a few days of cursing and second guessing whether i should have bought the printer, i _finally_ opened the top hatch, and noticed that after the paper was entering bertha's mouth, it was slanting up and over the rollers, and getting caught [the manual only mentioned this problem occurring with canvas paper, but i suppose it's a universal issue with all thick papers].

so. after a gentle nudge down and under the rollers, she's finally giving me what i want- beautiful, crisp, color-filled prints [personally, i think they're looking great!], that fill me with anticipation every time i send her a job.

... hallelujah!!

ps. yes- posts with no images suck- i promise to snap a few shots of the printer and prints, as soon as i get a chance!

... patenaude

illustration friday topic: fail

2008-04-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

after hearing about www.illustrationfriday.com the other night, i decided to give it a try [anything to get more of my art "out there":)]. because of learning about it so late in the week though, i decided to dig up an existing concept that i think nails the topic quite nicely: fail.

really looking forward to creating a brand-new piece for next week's topic already!!

... patenaude

ETSY SHOWCASE!

2008-04-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

to celebrate tax day [ugh]?, i set up a showcase on ETSY today [for those of you that might have actually gotten a little spendable income back this year;)]. if you visit the art section in the showcase [click ART in the tab on the top right, one of my pieces is featured (see if you can tell which one it is;))].

and to inject a little art into the update, here's the latest in the beastly floating portraits series: AUGUST...

... there should end up being 12 in all, if none of them get cut.

... patenaude

BEASTLY FLOATING PORTRAITS PREVIEW...

2008-04-13T17:54:00.000-07:00

so... i think this is the direction i'm going with them [all... 11 of them (not sure what i'm going to cut)]- a bit simpler than some of the last paintings i've done- trying to reign it in a bit, and experiment a bit more with different formulas/ processes, before i expand back into larger compositions [although with my attention span- who knows].

this particular piece, "FLOATING BEASTLY PORTRAIT: june" [the month is primarily a way to keep track of which beast it is] is a product of the following process...

a nice spontaneous sketch (it's funny how something i strive so hard to keep "spontaneous, involves so much work;)) with very little line work, scanning, resizing to a specific image size [the final product will be a 7X7" print], printing it out (on the cheap printer;)), tracing it onto canvas paper with my favorite lead holder (graphite), then nailing the lines (not line width) with sharpie.

after that comes the gouache- nothing complicated- just washes with a bit of character, then onto the final [although this may be a step i vary for future pieces] outlines, with windsor newton ink + various uniball pens for smaller line weights.

then comes the scan [i'm thinking i might scan a separate outline (the original usually ends up differing enough from the painting so that i'm not able to lay THAT over the top for the outline) to composite over the top separately, like i've done int he past], which is taken into photoshop to pump back in, the saturation that the scanner drops out. after that, there's a bit of color balance, to pull it back to the original colors. i then select the color range (@ ~100 tolerance), and fill it with black for a layer of multiply, and a layer of color burn [both set to the specific piece].

and here's what i got...

ps. i applaud all of you that have the endurance to get all the way through any of these ADD-riddled posts of mine, and are able to make even a bit of sense out of any of it;)

... patenaude

FRIST PRINT SOLD!!

2008-04-11T08:11:00.001-07:00

WOO HOO! at the request of a few people, i've finally added a few simpler/ cleaner works to my etsy shop, and WHADDA YA KNOW!? i _finally_ SOLD MY FIRST PRINT within minutes of posting it, to the extremely talented, supportive, and ever helpful, junkyard sam! here's an image of the piece, "little frenchy"...

THANKS!,

patenaude

[late] WEDNESDAY UPDATE...

2008-04-10T08:17:00.000-07:00

major headway on the BEASTLY FLOATING PORTRAITS series last night- after tracing sized and printed sketches, onto canvas paper, i'm doing quick washes for the color, then will end up laying a couple of outline layers over in photoshop, and DONE! a main purpose for this series is to get some nice simple smaller pieces out, and gauge response as to whether extra time= extra better, or is a bit of a waste- we'll see...

... patenaude

BERTHA HATH ARRIVED!!

2008-04-08T23:14:00.000-07:00

... and if you've been attention, you know what that means: my brand-new & BAD_ASS HP photosmart PRO B91850 arrived today. after fighting with the install disc for hours, i was finally able to run a couple test prints, and feel confident injecting a _BOAT_LOAD_ of new art [that up until now, been existing only in the darkest recesses of the Internet and my hard drive] into http://www.brianpatenaude.etsy.com/!!

the image below, "polly's picnic", A psychedelic tribute to one of my dogs, is one of my favorites from the RESUSCITATION series, which i've brought back from the dead exclusively for sale @ http://www.brianpatenaude.etsy.com/!!

the LEFT_OUT series has also _FINALLY_ wrapped up, and the entire collection can also be purchased on http://www.brianpatenaude.etsy.com/. here's one of my favorites of the series, LEFT OUT: OF THE BABY SITTING DUTIES"...

next up! a 7X7" series of 15 called, "BEASTLY FLOATING PORTRAITS" and "SMURFS: REMIX", a small series of just 3. NOT ENOUGH TIME IN THE DAY!!

... patenaude

art takes a back seat this weekend...

2008-04-07T12:32:00.001-07:00

yes, my friends- every once in a while something comes up that and really puts everything into perspective. despite the fact that my life revolves around art, i realized this weekend that there are indeed things... or "people" that are more important...

after a test on his heart last Thursday, my dad was scheduled for an emergency triple bypass, early saturday morning. my wife, being the loving, caring person that she is, helped me realize that i needed to be down there for such a serious event, and a few minutes later i was booked on the red eye to dallas.

arriving @ 5:30AM, i was there in time to wish him luck, and send him off with a hug. as always, my dad pulled through with flying colors, and is recovering beautifully @ medical city in dallas, with the support of my wonderful family. and with a month or so, it sounds like he'll even be "new-and-improved"!

so. apologies for wandering so off-topic in this "art-centric" blog, but i couldn't help but share an event so heavy that shakes everything into perspective. hopefully it may inspire you to pause and reflect on your priorities as well:)

... patenaude

TUESDAY update...

2008-04-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

aside from the new banner up there, there's been quite a bit going on lately. spent most of last night getting a few pieces on the main site [from last last year] into printable order for- wait... wait... BERTHA! [might change her name, if she doesn't look like a "bertha" when it arrives]! my brand-new [HP Photosmart Pro B9180 Photo Printer]!

as soon as that arrives, i'm planning on stuffing my etsy shop to the gills with all sorts of art! STAY TUNED!

... patenaude

at your request [JYS]...

2008-03-28T07:55:00.000-07:00

ok- at sam's request, and because i'm actually sorta digging the way they're looking ['cept for a few color issues that need to be addressed]- here's the latest on the LEFT_OUT series...

they should be done this weekend... FINALLY!

... patenaude

wednesday/ thursday update!...

2008-03-27T09:54:00.000-07:00

_SO_ close to finishing the LEFT_OUT series, so i'm going in order to get a bang for the buck, i'm going to withhold the posting [like anybody cares;)] until they're ready to go. should be ready by saturday morning... FINALLY!

ps. in order to justify all the endless rambling going on here, i'm chalking it up to documentation of my processes to reference in determing timelines for futre works- ta dah!

... patenaude

ETSY SHOP FINALLY UP!!

2008-03-25T22:48:00.000-07:00

so yeah!! my etsy shop, "patenaude mart" [clever, yeah;)?] is finally up [see the tab over there -> on the right?]. here are a few progress shots of the quick-and-dirty 1st pass banner i made for it...

now's your chance- these images are limited edition 1/1*- speak now, or forever hold your peace!

... patenaude

* another edition of 25 will be printed @ 10X10" of the same pieces.

print test results...

2008-03-23T18:28:00.001-07:00

so- just got the prints back yesterday from [seattle chroma works]. they turned out beautifully aside from minor color issues, and a DPI issue that cause the 10X10" images to be stretched to 11X11" [apparently the jpeg didn't retain the dpi/ image size settings]. they held up well tot he scaling though [might run some future tests to check how enlargeable my art is], and after a few inky touch ups, are ready to go...

above: the originals are pictured next to their giclée brethren.

the test was also to determine which paper i'll be using to print this first series. the enhanced matte turned out nicely, but the canvas and rag papers just seemed more "special" & "substantial"- like a "piece of art" instead of a piece of "paper with art printed on it". i'm currenlty debating which of those two to use for future prints. will be sure to post here, when i have anything ready for purchase:)

... patenaude

new mission statement?...

2008-03-22T16:05:00.000-07:00

i hope this isn't too pretentious... because anybody that i really talk to art with, in any great detail, knows this is what i feel. with that, i present my new mission statement [do people even need those any more;)?]...

aside from various bits that everybody share in common: to love our family's, leave the world a better place than they found it, feed ourselves, stay alive, etc... i exist to create art... with an original style [one who's creator can be easily distinguished from _all_ that is out there], and might possibly even enjoy... with most of the emphasis of course being on the originality.

when i see a great idea in art [whether it be in a movie, video game, or on canvas], i can appreciate it, but ultimately i see it that's one less idea that i can bring to life.

that all being said, artists that i would consider "influential" towards my style, i'd say are more because they seem to place the same emphasis on originality and personal style over traditional and technical skill, which seems to exist in a greater abundance [there's a _TON_ of great looking stuff out there these days]... although i don't seem the latter characteristics seem to hurt, to me... they're just not as _important!_

in other news... quite a bit of progress made on the SMURFS_REMIX series today- nice stuff [i think]... applying quite a bit that i learned on the original SMURF and last couple series towards what will hopefully be, my most entertaining set to date. yeah, yeah... i know... less talk, and more art. heading off to draw a bit more... now!

... patenaude

blognaude

Sketches+...

June's [2011] round of cutouts...

STUDIO INHABITANTS/ TRADE FOR STUMPYCOON!?...

PROJECT: Willy's Room!

UPDATE: NEW JOB, etc!...

happy birthday to me...

JUMP START!...

cutouts: round two [in progress]...

Update: LILY!

CUT OUTS II sketches...

baby's room part V...

[very loose] game concept sketches?...

"Happy Up Here" video...

baby's room part IV...

baby's room pt. III...

baby's room pt. II

baby's room!

a few more random sketches, before...

remember me?...

*OUCH!!*

_HUGE_ PORTFOLIO SITE UPDATE!

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

this year's "holidays" cards + a new drafting table!

another batch...

even MO' arts!...

mo' arts...

new batch, hot & fresh outta the oven...

halloween collection, final?

the yellow submarine...

better late than never.

more sketches...

"The World Hopes for Its First President"...

a few sketches...

shoot... i might actually vote for this one...

quick non-art update...

mo' elements!...

more elements!

EXTRA, EXTRA, LOOK ALL ABOUT IT!!

pikapackage zine aug '08...

PREVIEW: A.D.D. side scroller, etc. series...

now THIS is a soda add...

art for change, seattle!...

a handful of elements for the "ADD side scroller" series...

"I MET THE WALRUS"...

pikapackage: AUGUST...

a few new sketches/ pieces...

HALLOWEEN SERIES PROGRESS SHOTS... FINALLY!

"surfwise", the move...

HAH!

"hiyuh-watha" [working title]...

excuses/ updates...

"i am baby cakes"= HILARIOUS!...

HALLOWEEN collection PROGRESS pt. 01...

Gary Baseman on Culture Catch! (Part 1)

the SUBMERGED SERIES!!!

print making like there's no tomorrow!

JULY '08 #2 PIKA PACKAGE ZINE!!

update: the adventures of jen & brian...

[art] TO DO list [week of 07.06.08]...

sealife series!!

illustration firday: FIERCE!

the shiny squirrel!!

something to tide YOU over...

illustration friday: HOARD

series SUBMERGED progress...

PROMO WALL!

various PROGRESS!

J.K. Rowling's commencement address to Harvard...

pikaland promo!

getting closer...

SEALIFE series...

promo, promo, PROMO!

new series: SUBMERGED!

kim's birthday invite!?

while i'm off topic...

A Very Special Uncle Muscles Christmas: funny? yes. disturbing? definitely...

illustration friday:WIDE

illustration friday: WIDE, progress...

GIVEAWAY: full batch o' BEASTIE minis!

OUCH!!