Friday, February 26, 2010

Big Sisters!


So, Bioshock is undoubtedly one of my fav games of all time. And with Bioshock 2's release, I, of course was in love all over again. If you've never played the first, I highly suggest you get to doing so. The art direction, design, art deco, music, details, era, game play, etc do it for me every time. I must have played the first (no joke) about 9 times or so. And you know what? I ALWAYS found something new in the game I never noticed or skipped past before. Now that the second is out, it has a multiplayer mode, new plasmids, & a deeper look into the world of Rapture. I loved everything the game had to offer, which is not always the case w/ sequels. I played through the Bioshock 2 once already and am still gunning for more. It took me a bit to warm up to the premise and the Big Sisters but now, the Big Sister is one of my fav video game characters. Her design is incredible. If there is a Bioshock 1 and/or 2 art design book... I need it. I decided to do a piece in inks of the Big Sister. It took about 15 min to do, it was just something fun & sketchy looking. I also included a past piece I did of a guy (who, yes, looks like Shaggy, although that wasn't my intent) running from a Big Daddy done in Photoshop about 2 and a half years ago. I think I might do some more fanart in the near future.. until then, I can't wait to play the game(s) again. :)

All Bioshock characters © 2K :)

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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Heligoland

I haven't heard the whole album yet but I love the cover art so much! It's inspiring me to do a similar piece... we'll see :) Gosh... it's loooove!

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Friday, February 19, 2010

Success!



I have literally been tearing my hair out about this photo for almost 24 hours. No matter what I did, it wasn't coming together. What broke my heart the most was that it was supposed to be my "it" shot. I was just about to throw it out when one of my great photographer friends, Steve, showed me a technique and it completely worked! I LOVE YOU, STEVE! :D So there you go, just had to share. Also, I included the colored one in this post because it was taken exactly a year ago from this shoot. Same model. As I was told:




"you definitely stepped up, in terms of shooting locations"

Yerp. Dead trees own bathrooms. XD

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Photo Revivals

There's a great spot on the side of the 10 fwy where a huge fire took out a bunch of trees and all that's left are a bunch of blackened, charred tree skeletons. I decided to do a two part series photo shoot. Starting with the "dark side" of the project, if you will. During the editing process, most of the shots from this shoot were extremely disappointing and there wasn't much I could do to make them look the way I wanted. So, here are two of the ones that were salvageable. Still not very happy with either but like a photographer friend of mine, Nick, said,

"Do what-ever you can and that's it, nothing else you can do about it. The shoot is over. If they're not what you want them to be, try harder next time".

He's right. So, maybe the second part of this shoot will be better. Makeup, editing, style, hair, blah blah blah done by yours truly. I do like
the sort of "Alice in Wonderland" feel to this. I'm hoping to exploit that more in part 2. My model for part 1 of the shoot is Alicia Haro. Next part I'll be shooting with my best friend in the world, Lori Hammer. I'd like to do more shoots with more friends and family to help get me back in the mode of photographer so if you want to participate... pls, let me know :) I also spent some time at Amoeba in Los Angeles and was able to shoot Justin Townes Earle during his performance on Feb 10. I think the photo came out decent for what it was worth. Great performance too. I have some great ideas for upcoming photo projects with friends and a possible collaboration w/ my friend Carl, as well (when he gets some time ;D ). When I get money to spare, I'd love to invest in some long awaited better equipment but for now, I'll work with what I have. :) Been meaning to update this blog but just been preoccupied with getting out and reading and all that jazz. It's been nice getting back to my roots, though.

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Blackbird

Top lyrics from The Beatles' song, "Blackbird" (obviously). Bottom lyrics are from Lynard Skynard's "Freebird". JUST as I finished this piece, Freebird came on my shuffle so I decided to include it in the piece. This was all impulsive creativity (is creativity really not impulsive?) & I meant for it to have more meaning but I just ended up doing it bc I love the song(s) & wanted to make something new. It coulda been waaay cooler if I took my time & did what I originally planned. Oh well.

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