#art center college of design

“Uh…Hello…I’m Elwood!…El-Wooooood! What’s your name? What are you?”

Oh! Guys! I’m gunna be at CTNX. Come swing by table T119 and say hello!

Something has escaped…

And here he is an all his glory. I loved how slinky Hobbes was from those unforgettable Calvin & Hobbes strips so I took inspiration from sloths and ferrets to give him stretchy, elongated proportions.

If you didn’t figure it out by the hints on my instagram stories or my cryptic posts, my personal project is about bigfoot. 

In fact, it’s called Bigfoot.

In my story, Bigfoot was a secret lab project that escaped the clutches of his evil creators. They designed him to be a weapon capable of decimating cities in a heartbeat. What they didn’t expect was their creation’s ability for love and compassion.

Having Bigfoot be a failed science experiment really helped break out of that hairy seven foot Chewbacca stereotype that’s expected. I was thinkin’ stuff like…Wouldn’t it be cool if he still had lab harnesses stuck on him? Or what if he had a metal mask on? Oh, what if he had one of those lab tags on one of his ears? 

And my favorite….

What if he was nuclear? 

Hi everyone!

Some folks asked me to post my processes for these ortho things, so here I go…

—

So the needs are : Something mysterious escaped from a secret lab facility. Design an ortho that not just gives modelers, bg painters, and board artists an idea of the space but also incite a mystery. What kind of people inhabited the space? What was its history? What were the people working on? How and why is this facility now in shambles?

First I quickly doodled ideas on a sketchbook with the needs in mind. It’s always nice to know where I wanna go before I start. I tried to really take my time with this phase. I did research, I explored a butt load of ideas, I designed inside the box then design outside the box.

Next, I made a rough sketchup model. I tried to be as descriptive as possible and focused on creating a path for the eye. I populated the scene with props even if I felt I could draw the prop freehand. It saved time and energy in the long run. And yea, sure I’m a fan of using sketchup for this type of stuff, but I highly recommend to try it freehand with perspective if this is your very first ortho rodeo. The fundamentals you learn building something from nothing without the aid of a 3D program is hella good for you.

I then draw on top of the model as any times as I need to but I didn’t just trace everything willy nilly. I improvised as I traced. It’s like when you’re jamming in a band and your bass player is holding a great grove. I don’t just play the same exact shit he’s playing, I solo on top of it. I let my soul do a little singing here. I believe having a strong foundation works wonders when exaggerating and generating designs with personality.

Alright, so now I have an awesome line drawing. Time to add value. The eye craves this stuff. Highest value contrast is where the eye wants to go to. This is where I played around with lighting and drama. At this point I’m glad I’ve made it through half the battle.

I then roughed in the local colors with a general palette in mind. Everything is subject to change so do your best to cut everything into different layers. I wanted to wanna give myself the option to quickly alter the hue, value, or saturation of any given layer without stressin’ about re-paints.

Lastly, I used my knowledge of painting to finish the piece. I tried to really hone in on the storytelling and to not noodle around. Every time I thought I was done or satisfied, I checked with both my story notes and my old school notes then checked back with my piece. How can I improve it? How can I get from 80% there to 100%? Can I improve the lighting to emphasize the mystery? Is there a prop that needs to be added to improve the storytelling. Is there a prop I need to remove that detracts from the storytelling?

—

I hope this was helpful!

Dr. Crumb is self centered, mad, and loveless creature. Slimy and sweaty. He represents the dark side of blind ambition, recklessness, and disregard for life. He wanted to engineer the ultimate weapon but what he ended up creating was something so much more.

When it comes to mad scientists, there really isn’t a more brilliant character than Herbert West from Re-Animator. (If you haven’t seen it, you absolutely must!)

Jeffrey Combs, who plays West, is the inspiration for Dr. Crumb with just a sprinkle of Willard (Crispin Glover)

Francis is as hip as hip can be. He’s Elwood’s best bro for life. The two bonded over music and would marathon through Twilight Zone re-runs on the tele after school. His favorite thing in the world is his walkman and Michael Jackson’s Thriller. 

If I where to cast him, I’d most definitely choose Caleb McLaughlin, also from Stranger Things. 

I wanted Elwood, the protagonist, to be the embodiment of geeky, boyish charm. He’d be the kind of kid I’d talk to about Star Wars, X-Files, Rambo, time machines, and dinosaurs. The guy is a bit of a loudmouth, and maybe talks too much about the differences between the Jurassic and Cretaceous period, but he’s a loyal friend brimming with imagination.

If I were to cast anyone to voice him, without a doubt it would be Gaten Matarazzo. You know him. Dustin from Stranger Things.

5) Hunt For The Wilderpeople

Hunt for the Wilderpeople is pure fun soaked with genuine heart contained in a hilarious adventure. It’s written with razor sharp wit and director Taika Waititi captures the delightful journey of two unlikely partners thrusted into surviving the wilderness while remaining playfully offbeat. Sam Neill is the best he’s ever been since Jurassic Park. Newbie Julian Dennison lovingly plays a 13 year old hypebeast with a heart of gold without ever feeling insincere or annoying. Waititi has a couple of hits now and hopefully his next picture will continue this trend. It’s a little film that’s my most anticipated Marvel entry of this year ;)

If you haven’t already, go see this it. It’s on Hulu. See? Simple and easy.

Movies are my very favorite thing in the entire world and 2016 had some pretty good ones. With the Oscars literally around the corner, I thought it would be awesome to share with you guys my top 5 absolute favorite pictures of last year. I’ll be rolling out each one day by day until Sunday’s festivities. There’s some big movies and some little ones you probably have never heard of. So if you haven’t seen something on the list, I highly recommend you take the time to celebrate last year’s magnificent treasures.

The Bigfoot hunters are making a move…

Installation View of Concrete Meets Video Meets Painting

I projection mapped a video onto a cement block I made from a mold, and also mapped another video around the cement block that served as a frame for the center piece. The video projection is pointing down to the floor. The idea is I am making a painting through video, and the painting has to do with the materiality of the projection vs. the materiality of what it’s being projected on (the concrete).