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

Sketch File - Bye-Bye Balloon (Low-Rez)

This is one of several drawings I drew upon one of my many sketch books. It's a simple image of a small clown, reaching up to a lost balloon, while his cat/lion just wonders what it's all about. I need to draw more simple things like that, as I tend to overwhelm myself with ambitious projects and details.

Oh and sorry about the low res feeling of the picture. There is a whole mess going on with a scanner  I purchased that I don't want to get into right now. Once everything is fixed up, I'll go back and re-upload this in a better resolution.

Logo Concepts - Florist Hills

These where some of my first jobs as a freelance artist. An associate asked me if I can create some logo concepts for an upcoming florist shop in Queens, hence the name "Florist Hills". Supposedly, since i was a "newbie", the job wasn't for profit but for exposure. Eager to show my stuff, I did two logos for the company and hoped for a reply. In the end, the company never got off the ground and I had no money to show for it. So the lesson there was, even if you're starting out, never work for free.

Character Concepts - Tim Turtleton

A client offered a job as an illustrator for her series of children's books. It was about a turtle who wanted to ride horses. This is my take on the concept, attempting to be as realistic while still cartoony. Unfortunately, I wasn't accepted, but it adds another image to my portfolio list. Here are the sketches that proceeded the final image.

League of Luchador Scientists

One of the many things I tried to sell @ MoccaFest 2010 with my friends. It was a poster of an original concept that I created with my friend Gabe, where luchadors used the power of SCIENCE to wrestle luchadors who practiced PSUEDO-SCIENCES in a war of scientific supremacy. It didn't really took off as well as I hoped. In fact, it didn't took off at all. Still proud of the concept though.

I'll list off all the members and their scientific field:

Professor El Chemico - Chemistry
Tierra Adventura - Geology
Senor Maize - Agriculture
Doktor Usocraz - Biology
Petey Physics - Physics
Ari and Adra - Astrology and Astronomy.

Hey there, welcome to the first post of my second blog, Pantless Comics. This is mostly my second attempt at an art blog, but this time i'm not gonna spend a majority of the blog just posting random thoughts that come out every 2 months. No, this is basically an art dump of my own original ideas fermented from school work or personal projects. This would leave my dA for only my fanstuff. There would be other stuff occasionally from other friends of mine, so that aught keep things interesting. So without further ado, let's bring on the art.