Drawing Love

Had this sketched out on Valentines Day while contemplating my existence and decided to flesh it out for one of 704G's contests. Who said I can't be a lovey dovey type? I DO! AND MY LOVE...IS VENGEANCE!!! IT'S NEVER FREE!! GUITAR SOLO!!

Sorry for not posting. Delay in product

I apologize for not frequently updating this blog as much as I can. Between work, school and other projects, I couldn't really dedicate some time to scanning all my sketchbooks in high quality. Our other artists are also very busy with their work. I am almost finished with another original piece, so know now we're not sleeping on anything. Just biding our time.

The Butterfly Effect - From Concept to Carnage

During my Illustration Portfolio class at SVA, I was given a few assignments that had thinking outside my comfort zone of fan-art, super heroes and comic books and allowed me to explore other material. Here is an assignment meant to explore the nature of Chaos Theory.

I didn't know a damn thing about Chaos Theory until they mentioned the Butterfly Effect. It is based on the myth that if a butterfly where to flap it's wings in one part of the world, then a catastrophe will occur in another part. The smallest occurrence could change our world in drastic ways. So my idea would take this concept and run with it: a malicious little child smashed a butterfly, thus causing a chain of events that will lead to the destruction of the planet! I figured I draw too much male subjects already, so I made the child a bratty little girl with pigtails and overalls. Her name is Beth.

For the second draft, i wanted to explore my burgeoning inking skills with a brush. I tried to attempt some extreme perspective, having Beth looking down on the butterfly while her shadow cast upon the log to reveal the catastrophe she will rain upon the world. But I failed with the perspective, making it look like she's a tiny fairy with a glowing bat and the shadow thing didn't read well with the log.

the 3rd draft read took the shadow concept and presented a much clearer picture than the log but not clear enough. By then, the whole class had fallen in love with Beth, enough to be a bit peeved when she was lost in her own monstrous shadow. My friend Stephen gave me some tips on how to rectify this.

So after I flipped the subjects, added some color, and rendered the apocalypse with brush and ink wash, the final product was a success. There where requests to do this on a bigger canvas, but for now I'm satisfied with the results. The class was so enamored with Beth, that two of the students decided to pay homage to her through their projects. I was both a bit insulted and proud; I was proud-sulted. Seriously, who can blame them though: Beth is such a wonderful character, the little psychopath.

Conceal: Concept 1 - Hidden in the Shadows

Another entry I made for 704G Illustatration, this deals with the concept of concealment, so i figure i handle the age old cliche of "the ninja hidden in the shadows" and have the guy actually HIDDEN IN SHADOWS. 

I'm going to lay off original digital works for a while to work on some fan art, but you'll be seeing more traditional stuff on the way now that my scanner made it SAFE AND SOUND!!

(c) Carlos Abdu 2012

Sketch Dump - Anatomical and Object renders 1

Just random sketches from my sketchbook to fill in between projects. These sketches where anatomical practice and practice rendering different objects. Sorry it's so low- rez, because it was taken using my iPod. Gotta bump the blog till my scanner gets here.

One track mind

Yep, that pretty much sums up my thought process.
Image and character © Indira Jainanan

Electric Mysticism

Some new art today, this was a recent entry into the 704G Illustration weekly challenge: The topic was "Electronic Mysticism". Here is what I said about the piece -

When I thought of the words "Electronic Mysticism", it had me thinking; how the mythologies and legends of the world is constantly adapting to the flow of time.  Fairy Tales are constantly re-written, stories of lore and moral changed for changing political sensibilities, sometimes they even change it up just for the heck of it. So I figure, if we where to write a 1001 Arabian Nights for the post-21st Century, would it work if a Genie came from a hard drive  rather than a lamp? With a head that resembles a flashdrive and an electric tail? 

Enjoy. More new things to come.

(c) Carlos Abdu 2012