A Few Updates @ WAM

There are a few updates at the Worcester Art Museum. One is that there is a new gallery open in the Contemporary Gallery called "You Are Here." It holds some artwork that has been displayed at the museum in past exhibits, but there are still quite a few things that I had never seen before, so some of the artwork might have been inn storage for quite some time. It is all abstract.

In the new movie "American Hustle," Christian Bale is in a scene with Bradley Cooper at the Worcester Art Museum. I recall the day they filmed in the gallery where this painting, Saint Bartholomew, is located on the second floor. Unlike other filming projects that had been done, this was quite secretive and the galleries were closed to the public. I forget if that was before the rearrangement of the artwork when it became the Remastered Galleries. I have yet to see the film.

(This image is from http://www.worcesterart.org/Exhibitions/remastered/saint-bartholomew-rembrandt-van-rijn/)

The Worcester Art Museum will not be open on New Year's Eve during First Night Worcester this year due to the fact that it falls on a Tuesday when the museum is normally closed. There will be events for people outside the museum, but the galleries will be closed. Besides, there are three other museums that will be open in the area for people to visit.

There is a new piece of artwork on display in the Jeppson Gallery. I will discuss that when I have a picture.

Happy Holidays everyone!

New Exhibit at the Worcester Art Museum: Works in Process: from Print to Proof

The Worcester Art Museum has a new art exhibit called "Works in Process: from Print to Proof." It is a very interesting exhibit of wood block, metal, and linoleum prints. I highly reccomend checking this exhibit out.

 

In this exhibit, there are some prints that have various layers of colored prints incorperated in them and there are prints of just the single color layers. It is a great example to use when teaching certain aspects of layers in Photoshop to students.

 

There are also some of the orignal print blocks that were used to create the artwork on display.

Page 170 of Zheph Skyre in Black and White

Page 170 of of my webcomic, Zheph Skyre, is out, but it is in black and white.My computer is still on the fritz and I am lucky I was able to even get this page out by now.

Snag in Web-Comic

I was not able to get a new page of my web comic Zheph Skyre done today due to some computer issues. I have transferred files and programs from my old computer to a newer, better computer, but I am having issues with my screen. Hopefully I can get it uploaded tomorrow.

Page 116 Finished and Page 117 of Zheph Skyre on the Way

Page 117 of Zheph Skyre is in black and white right now with no text, but hopefully it should not too long to finish.

Meanwhile, page 116 of Zheph Skyre is done! Man there was a ton of detail on this page!

I wanted to show a variety of unknown characters that live in Corthon, and I wanted to show that their reactions to the dragon's roar. If the dragon's breath looks a little weird, there is an explanation why I made it like that way.

Pag 116 is not Yet Finished

Page 116 of my web comic Zheph Skyre is not yet finished. It is just in black and white so far. Apparently I put a lot of detail in it, and it is taking more time to complete. It should not take too long.

Page 115 of Zheph nSkyre Complete!

 I finished page 115 of my web comic Zheph Skyre. I had to fill in more color, add the action lines, and put in the text of the dragons roar.

Here you can see the original sketch. I wanted to work extra hard on this page because this is my preference for drawing. I decided to scan it, print it enlarged, and then ink it on an extra large sheet of paper.

Here is the finished piece. I made a few changes to the original sketch. I decided to make the armored limbs more detailed, and I had to fix the perspective of the tail. Overall, I'm very pleased with the end results.

Page 115 is Not Quite Finished

I have uploaded page 115 of my web comic Zheph Skyre, but there is still a little work I have to do on it. It should be available soon, since it is a simple page, though looks really awesome! It is the big reveal of the dragon flying towards the city.

Zheph Skyre Page 114 Complete!

I finally managed to finish coloring page 114 of Zheph Skyre! There were a few minor changes I had to make to the design of the dragon as well.

As you can see, this page is quite simple with no speech bubbles. I just wanted to show this terrifying monster flying towards Corthon.

Elio Sonsini's Art Gallery

This past Wednesday November 6th, I went to the Italian American Cultural Center to film an art gallery opening for an Italian artist named Elio Sonsini. Here is his business card:

This artist has quite a few really good pieces of artwork. It is surprising that a lot of his paintings are in acrylic and watercolor as many artists prefer oils. He prefers acrylic over oil because it works better with water.

Many of his pieces are based on areas outside of the United States.

There was also a large assortment of really good food served for everyone who attended the gallery opening. There was pizza, bacon wrapped scallops, vegetables and dip, punch with sorbet in it, and various other tastey treats.

I filmed this for WCCA TV13. I am not sure when this will be aired, but when it is, I will show it in a blog post. I still have to edit the footage.

I got an interview with the artist, and I was able to film his artwork. His gallery will be open for a short while, so check it out!

Page 114 is Up, But Not Finished

I have uploaded page 114 of my web comic Zheph Skyre, but it is not quite finished.It has some color right now, but it needs more.

Page 113 of Zheph Skyre is Done!

I finally managed to get this page finished! It had taken a while because I have because I had been working on the next two pages as well.

Here we see a bell ringing as the flying creature approaches the city. Our heroes are confused as the bell rings as it has never done before. Vanessa has a bad feeling. We also can see some figures approaching the city wall as the knights scramble to prepare for battle. The tops of these figures look awfully familiar...

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope everyone had a good holiday like I did. I went to a friend's party which was really fun. It was also my friend Steve's 27th Birthday.

Man, this was a really simple costume for me. Since my facial hair was cut the same way and my head is shaved, I was suggested to dress up as Walter White from "Breaking Bad". I also had a zip lock bag of sea salt and a gas mask/ski goggles to help identify the character. I look odd with glasses...

There Goes The Bride at Stageloft Theater

This past Friday I went to see my coworker Sonya Richards perform at Stageloft Theater in the English play "There Goes The Bride." Out of all the performances Sonya has been in, I enjoyed this one the most.

(This image is from http://www.brightonbarntheatre.ca/shows/show-archive/2006-season-archive-table/2006-there-goes-the-bride)

This play was a comedy, and Sonya had one of the lead roles. In fact, she was partly what made the story!

This play was about a father who is trying to get everything ready for his daughter on his wedding day, but all sorts of things get in the way. The biggest thing that gets in the way is a hallucination he has of this attractive yet silly woman due to numerous prescription drugs he takes and getting bumped on the head. The fact that my coworker was this hallucination was hilarious because she acted cooky, yet the majority of the cast had to act as if they couldn't see her. It was a very well done performance all around.

I'm also uploading the next page of my web comic, but it is not finished yet. I need to color it in more.

Page 112 of Zheph Skyre is Finished and Both Web Pages are Finished

Here is page 112 of Zheph Skyre and my web pages are both back up. It took some time talking to technical support, but I finally got things settled.

We now take a look at some knights on the wall. They are all bored as they are ordered to stay watching out for the city, but what does the king expect them to have to defend against? Well, there is definitely something coming now that they will have to defend against, but will they really be able to?

Web Comic and Portfolio Site Issues

Currently I am in the process of transferring my websites to a single account yet keeping two domains on Godaddy.com, but it seems to be tougher than I thought. Hopefully I will get this sorted out as soon as possible. The next page of my web comic will be posted in time though.

Page 112 of Zheph Skyre is Up in Black and White

Hello, page 112 of Zheph Skyre has been uploaded, but it is currently in black and white. It will be in color soon.

Page 111 of Zheph Skyre, and 24 Hour Game Jam at Becker College

This past weekend I finished page 111 of my web comic Zheph Skyre. Also this past weekend I went to the 24 Hour Becker Jam. I recorded some footage of that and it will be up on WCCA TV13 shortly. I don't know if I will be allowed to post it on my Youtube channel or not.

I think Jahovac's reaction to this fight quite amusing. He's this toughened warrior and a goth princess outshines him in combat. I decided not to have Jahovac just to have a problem with the fact that a girl has outshone him, but someone who has been raised in royalty and has never been allowed out of her castle.

Zheph and Vanessa are now having a conversation as they now appear to have the situation under their control now. They talk about how Zheph has been through a lot and required her assistance. They also agree that Vanessa's dreams could possibly be predictions. They both agree that the more dreadful part of her dream is outrageous and could never happen...

Genesis Fund Raiser 2013

I went to the Genesis Club's 25th Year Fund Raiser tonight. I got a ton of video footage that will air on WCCA TV13 including a few interviews, had some really tasty food, and had my artwork on display. I don't know if my particular piece sold, but I at least handed out a few business cards. All in all, I had a good time.

This was the piece I had on display, my water dragons, in metal and in a frame. I know a lot of people looked at it, but I don't think anyone bought it. The only artwork that was sold were photographs that were much cheaper. I might have to consider something along those lines if I do this again.

Page 111 of Zheph Skyre Unfinished

I was not able to finish page 111 of Zheph Skyre, but it was still uploaded. I will upload it again once I am finished. I am hoping to get the files from my web comic and my portfolio transferred to this one account on GoDaddy.com yet each would still have separate domain names, so that it will be cheaper for me. So far it has been a little difficult.

Genesis Fundraiser Event

I'm going to be attending the Genesis Club's fundraiser event at Mechanics Hall this Thursday. There I will have an art piece on display that will also be for sale, I will have artwork on a group sculpture. I will also be video taping the event for WCCA TV13. For everyone else, this event will cost $100 to attend.

Zheph Skyre Page 110 Complete!

Here is page 110 of Zheph Skyre complete. Sorry it took a little while to finish it, but I am glad I have finished this page.

Here we see Vanessa fighting off both Jacques and Sir Luther. Originally I was just going to have the fight scene play out, but then it occurred to me that both have these men have armed followers. So I decided to show them coming up with excuses not to get involved. Pretty much they all think their leaders are being stupid right now as they attack a member of the royal family! They are correct, but only because Vanessa is quite the sword fighter! I was going to have Vanessa say something witty as she holds a sword right to Jacques's only eye left, but I think the image speaks for itself.

Page 110 of Zheph Skyre

I have started to color in page 110 of Zheph Skyre, but I was not able to finish coloring it in completely. I'll show the finished page soon, and hopefully I can just get each page done in time at the rate I'm working now.

Soon I will also have my video footage of Connecticon available soon on Youtube.

Master Mage & Aprentice Submission to Anime Boston

Here is my latest submission to Anime Boston. It contains characters that will appear in my web comic Zheph Skyre. This image was made with acrylic paint, than oil, and after that it was scanned where I could then work on it in Photoshop. Yesterday was the last day to submit artwork for this Anime Boston Contest, so I had to submit it now. There is more work I feel like there needs to be done, but I had to submit this yesterday. I might have been able to to work on it more lately, but unfortunately I was not able to due to some recent computer problems.

I do intend to work on this image more up until Anime Boston, but for now I do really like how this turned out, especially the masked figure in the sky.

This was the original image before I started to work on it on my computer. From this original scan, you can tell that I had to bring up the contrast in certain areas.

Page 109 of Zheph Skyre is Finished

I finally finished page 109 of Zheph Skyre. Unfortunately I couldn't finish page 110 because I am trying to finish this piece of artwork for the Anime Boston Contest in order to get an Artists' Alley Table. I just posted a link to my video of the past Anime Boston.

I am truly having a good time making this web comic right now! I really like how Vanessa is becoming an empowering female character, and this is where it truly comes forth. For a long time, I was trying to make this character more interesting in my concepts. I am glad I have been giving her much more depth, and making her much more capable!

Arisia 2014

I just got an email from Arisia again. They invited me to participate in the Student Art Show again for next Year's convention taking place January 17-20. I signed up for it again!

For those of you who don't know, I had taken part in this Science-Fiction/Fantasy convention in Boston last year. I brought 4 pieces of artwork and numerous prints to be sold. This year I might have more artwork, but I am going to simplify things for myself. I will get them printed and matted in a cheaper/easily transportable format so that I am not driven insane. That may also go for the prints to be sold separately as well.

Anime Boston 2013 Video

I have finally managed to finish this video about Anime Boston 2013! I have also pretty much finished the three Connecticon videos, but those won't be available until next week.

As you can see, the video explains itself. I couldn't get as much footage as I would have liked because I had a vendor's table and I didn't have a press badge. However, I got quite a bit as it is. I managed to include a lot of information about this convention with the help of the program guide.

Zheph Skyre: Page 108 Finished, Page 109 Uploaded in Black & White

I uploaded both pages 108 and 109 of my web comic Zheph Skyre. Page 109 still requires text and color, but page 108 is fully finished. I have been busier than I thought I would be these days.

Here is page 108 of Zheph Skyre. Our hero, Zheph, is now surrounded by the gang he has been dodging for quite some time. Unlike before, Zheph is now out of means of escaping without possibly killing someone, and as stated before, Zheph will not resort to that. Jacques makes his appearance, and the two of them share some banter back and forth. Then Luther makes the scene with his knights, but Jacques is hardly intimidated as his men carry better weapons and he has Jahovac though his eyesight is currently lost at the moment. Then another makes the scene...

"Measure For Measure"at Hovey Players

Last Saturday I went with some friends who I work with to watch one of our other friends in the performance Measure for Measure at the Hovey Players Theater in Waltham. It is a Shakespearean comedy about a young man being condemned to be hanged for impregnating a certain woman, his sister who is a devote nun that tries to get the deputy to free him, and the duke who goes in disguise as a monk. Our friend had only a few lines, but she did her part very well nonetheless.

(This image is from http://www.wickedlocal.com/waltham/news/x574271945/Review-Walthams-Hovey-Players-tackle-Measure-for-Measure)

The play was funny and everyone did enjoy it. The actors wore more modern day clothes which helps the audience relate to them more, but it sometimes seems a bit odd that they are speaking Shakespearean in such outfits. The theater is also quite nice.

Before we went to the play, we went to a sushi restaurant called Sake Hana along the way in Westborough. I had a Groupon, and it was a Groupon well spent! The food was delicious and the Groupon helped us get quite a meal. The atmosphere was also quite nice.

[remastered] Opening Party at WAM

(This image was from http://www.worcesterart.org/)

 

Tonight was the opening party for the reopened galleries at the Worcester Art Museum. I went to it with friends and family after I played Magic the Gathering.

 

For the most part, the artwork that is hanging in these galleries has been rearranged into a more interesting way. Instead of hanging the artwork flat on the walls, the artwork is now leaning forward from the wall, and some of it is now located higher so that viewers look up at the artwork. I like it, and as a guard it gives me some relief to know people won't be able to touch half the artwork in these galleries. I would complain that there are open spaces on the walls where artwork used to be, but it might just be cluttered in certain cases.

 

There was a lot of good live music playing tonight. In the galleries there were violin players, outside there was a one man band playing with a instrument made out of a soup box. and in the Renaissance Court there was a band playing music with old fashianed type writers which my dad thought was a riot.

 

I didn't try any of the food that was being sold outside, but I did have a drink inside, and dispite the high prices at the bar, it was a good drink.

 

I had a good time tonight, and I highly reccomend checking out these galleries.

Pacific Rim

I finally saw the movie Pacific Rim today. It is still showing at West Boylston Cinemas for a low price of $4, which is awesome, but it is only showing at 4:00 each day.

 The movie itself was quite an enjoyable action movie. Even though most of the action was computer animated, it was really awesome to watch. Numerous giant monsters fighting numerous giant robots, and each one has unique abilities was a cool concept. Everything looked awesome. I thought is seemed weird when I saw the trailers that the fight scenes took place at night in rain storms mostly and that there were glowing lights everywhere, including from the monsters themselves, but it actually really helped to show what we were looking at. The dialogue sometimes was predictable, but there were some humorous parts that I didn't predict. All in all, this reminds me of some Godzilla movies and Anime shows that I have scene, but they couldn't ever get the funds to make something like this!

How it Should Have Ended brought up some funny things about the movie, just as usual...

Blog Post 400: Page 107 of Zheph Skyre in Color and 108 in Black and White

I have finished page 107 of Zheph Skyre in color. Page 108 has no color or text yet, but hopefully I can get that done soon.

On page 107, Zheph manages to spray Jahovac in the face with his own invented version of mace. Of coarse he has to use his tail, which manages to surprise and distract Jahovac. Zheph then uses this opportunity to trip Jahovac. Unfortunately, it seems the Scar have managed to find him. How will Zheph deal with this situation?

In a World

I hadn't heard of this movie until my friends brought it up to me after we tried to get together to see the movie "Museum Hours," which I was unsure about seeing. So when they told me they wanted to see this movie, I decided to watch the trailer. I thought the trailer was funny, so I was hyped up to see "In a World."

This movie is pretty much about a woman who is trying to get into the business of narrating for movie trailers. It has at least three of the actors and actresses from the live action show on Cartoon Network "Children's Hospital." Demetri Martin is also in this movie and I really loved his stand up performances.

This movie was funny, not nearly as funny as other comedies I have seen, but it had some cute humor. This movie did also have some good drama, and it had some realistic aspects within it like how certain characters treat each other and why certain things in life play out the way they do.

Skadi, a Web Comic

I have been recently reading a web comic I found through Twitter called Skadi. It is a comedic web comic series by Katie Rice and Luke Cormican about a female barbarian who is on a quest to eat the meat of every single animal.

(This image is from http://skadicomic.com/2008/05/07/ballad-of-skadi-pt-1-2/)

I am really enjoying this web comic, even though I am only on the third year in the archives. It is a simple story with two main characters and a few other minor characters that appear here and there. The artistic style and the humor remind me of Ren and Stimpy, which is awesome! I could totally see this becoming a cartoon series on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. It would be far better than quite a few shows they have on as it is.

September 11th Drawing Club Sketch at WAM

It has been a while since I saw the Free Drawing Club at the Worcester Art Museum. Today I was working in the Mid 20th to 21th Century Gallery, and the table was there. Unfortunately, there weren't that many participants in the club today. I however took part in sketching a piece of artwork.

Here, you can see my sketch of one of the oil paintings from that gallery. It is an untitled piece by Alexander Ross. I believe he sculpted these figures out of clay before painting them.

Zheph Skyre, Page 106 is Finished and 107 is in Black and White

I have uploaded both page 106 and 107 of Zheph Skyre. Page 106 is in color and page 107 is still in black and white.

Here on page 106, Zheph finds out how much of a better fighter Jahovac is. Jahovac can swing this lighter sword faster than Zheph can swing his weapon.

This is what I was talking about last time. Characters in Anime don't require humungous swords comparable to the size of the person wielding it. There have been large swords used where the wielder can grip a section of the blade past the cross guard. It allows the wielder the ability to swing the weapon faster and more easily at close range. With this type of sword, both the blade and the pommel can be used to inflict damage. The pommel may only be capable of inflicting bludgeoning damage, but it is still effective.

Zheph now faces a more capable foe, and he knew this by examining the sword and recalling the events with this foe in their previous encounter.

New things at WAM

Here are some new things at the Worcester Art Museum that have appeared recently.

 (This image is from http://www.worcesterart.org/Exhibitions/winogrands-women-are-beautiful/)

There is the new exhibit of photographs in the P.D.P. gallery. It is called "Winogrand's Women Are Beautiful." It is a gallery of photographs of women from Garry Winogrand's published Women Are Beautiful.

There is also some new items in the center display case in the Chinese Jades and pottery gallery. One is a tiger hat for a boy, and the other is a pin with a phoenix and a bat on it.

There is also going to be a party on the 20th for the reopening of three galleries on the second floor in the European galleries. It is called [remastered], and the party will be free to attend.

The faculty's artwork is also on display currently in the education wing. There are quite a few very well done oil paintings.

 These are two pieces below are done by a good friend of mine, Elizabeth Swallow. She works as a gallery attendant and as a teacher in the education department teaching fashion design. She is a very creative and hard-working individual who I am proud to know.

I was amazed at the quality of these latex heads. Honestly, this person should compete on the Sci-fi Channel's Face-Off.

Here is a mixed media painting done by illustrator and teacher, Andy Fish.

I highly recommend checking out the rest of the artwork in that area!

Page 105 of Zheph Skyre in Black & White and Internship!

I have uploaded page 105 of Zheph Skyre in black and white. As much as I would have liked to get this in color in time, I just couldn't manage with my really busy schedule. I just hope at some point I can speed up this process. Unfortunately, my schedule seems to be staying quite busy.

I have started an internship at WCCA 13. I am still volunteering at HCTV 11 though now it won't be as much. I am hoping that both of these experiences will lead somewhere for me.

Page 105 of Zheph Skyre is Finished

I have finished coloring page 105 of my web comic Zheph Skyre. The next page seems to be a bit detailed, but it is still coming along. It helped that it was a rainy Labor Day today!

Here we see Jahovac's preferable sword. If you look closely, it is indeed a long sword, but there is a section on the blade where it is not as sharp. This was a common design among swords in years past as it allows the weapon to be swung for wide swings that would generally take down a rider's horse by the legs, yet it would also allow the weapon to have some closer combative uses as well. I just wanted to make that a clear point as to one of the reasons why a huge sword doesn't need to be really bulky! There are some practical designs, and you might see how on the next page, and Zheph scenes something bad even as he gets out his own weapon...

One of the down points of inventing a retractable, folding weapon that generates large amounts of heat to create burning blades is that it takes a while for the heat to build up, and Zheph knows that!

Oil Painting

I was always forced to paint with acrylic in college, but my professors always told me to learn to use oil paint instead because it has better results.

This is a painting I started to paint with acrylic, but then I went back into it with oil paint. It looks more dynamic so far, but there is still some more detail I want to add to it. It is a dragon and a phoenix, though it won't have too much detail in the end.

This painting will be used for the sculpture the Genesis Art Committee is planning to make and the whole piece will be displayed at the Genesis 2013 Annual Fund Raiser. I might be going there myself if one of my pieces are chosen.

Page 105 Late and in Black and White & Anime Boston's Artists' Alley Contest

Sorry, but page 105 of Zheph Skyre had been uploaded today instead of yesterday due to my internet connection going out before I could upload it. It also isn't in color yet due to certain circumstances.

Also, I checked Anime Boston's website recently, and they have a new art contest up. This year's art contest is Magic themed, and so I have already submitted a few images for the contest! The winner will get to have an Artist's Alley Table for free and will have their work displayed. I am still working on more artwork for this contest!

Page 104 in Color

I have finished coloring page 104 of Zheph Skyre. I am hoping to at least get a little of page 105 done in color tomorrow.

On this page Zheph speaks to his assailant. The ninja reveals himself to be Jahovac, but Zheph appears to have already figured that out. Zheph tries to talk Jahovac out of continuing this fight, but Jahovac is bent on payback for his humiliating defeat. What sort of sword does Jahovac wield now?

Page 104 in Black and White and CafePress Deathnote Design

I have uploaded page 104 of Zheph Skyre, but it is in black and white for now. I will be coloring it as quickly as possible.

It is unfortunate, but I can not use this design on my store page. I had to replace the image I drew of Ryuk with images CafePress had given me. I will use this image when I go to conventions and other places where I can sell my artwork.

Zheph Skyre Page 103 in Color

I managed to get page 103 of Zheph Skyre colored. I believe one of the reasons why I have been late with my pages is that the summer classes at WAM have been taking up my time. However, that does not mean I will have a lot more time to spend on this web comic. I will be starting an internship soon at Worcester's local television station, and I have no idea how often I will be working there.

Here on page 103, Zheph seems to have managed to make his way to the fishing sector. It would seem that the ninja that was following him is going to make things difficult for him. Apparently being shot in the leg and falling off his steam powered bike was not enough. Now he gets hit on the back of the neck, falls into the water, and then gets thrown into what looks like a crate of fish.

Attack on Titan

I really love what I have seen of the manga and the anime show "Attack on Titan." It is becoming quite the popular series, and I think I know why. On the back of the graphic novels, one of the quotes describe this series as "Japan's The Walking Dead," which I completely agree with. Like many good zombie apocalypse stories, in this series many people die, and it doesn't matter how well trained they are. However, unlike the zombie scenario, this story doesn't have reanimated corpses trying to eat people. It is far worse situation with humanoid giants with frighteningly quick regenerating powers. These giants maybe mostly dim-witted like zombies, but unlike zombies, there are various kinds of various heights. There are even some abnormal ones that move faster than the others. This series has some variety to it!

 (This image is from http://www.crunchyroll.com/attack-on-titan)

The manga maybe drawn in a very rough style, but it is still very engaging. Certain characters and titans have weird body proportions at times in the manga, though the titans are supposed to have different measurements compared to humans in order to make them much more creepy and inhuman. I do like how it is much more cleaner in the Anime series, how the episodes are ordered compared to the manga, and I also like the music choices for the Anime. All in all, I highly recommend either reading the manga series or watching the Anime!