Dream In Peace

Takashi Yanase
(February 16, 1919 - October 13, 2013)
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Someday

Someday, everything will make sense...
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Comfort Zone

One of the best parts about helping friends out with what I can do with art and design, (other than actually helping friends out), is being challenged with new and different projects that I will otherwise never have done. Part of what I love about art is constantly being reminded at the amazing amount of ways that art can permeate through daily life and culture.

My usual comfort zone doesn’t involve designing for businesses or ads. In fact, I consider myself extremely unqualified to be doing graphic design of that kind, but I do like the challenge. When I do agree to help out, I get to draw and design way out of my comfort zone. I get to stretch my ability, develop my knowledge and help a friend out. That’s a good feeling.

The one drawback about not doing this for profit is I get lined up with more requests than I can handle sometimes. With all this being just a hobby that I can only do when I have spare time, I have to remind myself constantly…I do have a full time non-art related job that takes up the majority of my time.

But I think it’s a good thing that art is a hobby for me and not a job. I really do.

Below is a business card that I designed for a dental hygienist friend. I adapted it from a design off of Vistaprint.

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Grinnn

Tree Hugger Series: Sloth

In the late hours of the night, you never know what you'll end up drawing, you just go with whatever comes to mind...

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Orchard Heroes...RISE!

In preparation of Volume II of Orchard Heroes being released in the near future, I thought I'd re-introduce and launch a brand new website to house all things Orchard Heroes. Many thanks to Johnny Lin from Tailwind Web for helping make this happen. 

Check out the new site here!
Visit the Facebook Page here!
Follow on Twitter here!

Thanks for stopping by! :)
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Balanced

Hand-Drawn Animation and Computer Animation, to me, seemed to always have been at odds with each other. Hand-Drawn having the nostalgic respect and skill of animation while Computer Animation seemed to be the hip, fresh and amazing technology that took the animation world into a new realm. I think most would agree that each has their strengths and weaknesses, but I think the latest animated short, "Paperman," attached to "Wreck It Ralph" did something really special.

A beautiful merging of the two worlds. 
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A Brave New World

Some new opportunities have sprung up recently that have me treading cautiously into the intimidating world of art with a few upcoming business ventures. It is both exciting AND terrifying. Be on the look out for more art related news and updates soon!

If you find my art detestable...then... I apologize in advance :(

PS I wonder what those Orchard Heroes are up to...
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He Said, She Said

I'm usually a good listener and for the most part, if you're speaking with me, you have my full attention in that moment. But once in awhile...I'll find myself distracted with the little details of everything that's around me. A lot of those times its for good reason, because I see a lot of the interesting moments in life when I pay attention to those "little details." Below are two scenes I witnessed in my daily errands. 

I saw this scene below at Pangea Bakery where I like to draw and work on art stuff...

...and I saw this scene here at the local Petco where I shop for crickets...for my frog. Sigh...boys will be boys.

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Its In Her Eyes

I remember reading The Great Gatsby when I was in high school and not really understanding why the characters did what they did. I guess it was just a world that was too far removed from my life as a kid. I read the novel again when I was older and the actions and thought processes of the characters made so much more sense.

I'm slowly at the point where I'm looking for artwork and photography to decorate my blank walls in my house. I wanted to start off with the wet bar area. I've always loved the original painting for The Great Gatsby cover, "Celestial Eyes" by Francis Cugat. It had a haunting quality to it, the eyes in the painting always looked so sad. I thought the original artwork would be cool to have up, but decided to recreate it with my own interpretation in order to have a more personal touch to it. I want all the art and photography in my house to have a personal touch or connection. Below is my own take of Cugat's painting.

I wanted the eyes to have a more confident look and the female figures in the pupils were updated. I added my beloved San Diego skyline at the bottom too. Save, Print, Frame.

Wet Bar Art...done.
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"Celestial Eyes" by Fracis Cugat

Monsters In My Room

Saw a design Maxim Cyr created for a Threadless t-shirt and decided to create my own take on it. Its amazing how easy it is to make monsters horrifying and hideous compared to making them cute. Or maybe that's just a reflection of whats wrong with my own mind...
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