Randy's Sketchblog

I Miss Summer...

2010-08-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

Morning sketch...where has Summer been hiding???

Angry Beaver

2010-05-11T03:12:00.000-07:00

Inspired by a friend's monthly visitor...

Urban Bird

2010-02-23T10:12:00.000-08:00

-RS!

Because Artichoke's have hearts too...

2010-02-15T14:53:00.001-08:00

-RS!

Lunchtime Sketches

2009-11-19T16:21:00.001-08:00

-RS!

My Co-Workers...

2009-09-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

I did these caricatures of my team that I work with at IBM. They are a good bunch of guys, but most interestingly, they are all so different and made drawing them so much fun! Enjoy!

-RS!

My Website!

2009-09-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

So I have been working hard to teach myself the process of designing a webpage, and it has been going quite well. I had my domain registered for a whole year before I actually put anything up though! But if you trek on over to randysuarez.com, you will see that there is now some hope! I have a basic header and some contact info, until I can finish up designing the thing! Stay Tuned!

-RS!

Portfolio...

2009-09-03T08:58:00.000-07:00

My blog has been lacking updates recently, but to see my most current work, check out my portfolio at:

randysartportfolio.blogspot.com.

Any questions feel free to email me as always, rsuarez_02@yahoo.com.

-RS!

Where Marshmallows' Happiness Ends...

2009-08-25T23:11:00.000-07:00

This was inspired by a a friend of mine who reminded me how much I love toasted Marshmallows! Enjoy!

-RS!

Bella's Birthday!

2009-05-09T04:09:00.001-07:00

A Birthday Card for my God Daughter's 5th Birthday...with and without text!

-RS!

Updated Portfolio

2009-05-06T09:20:00.001-07:00

Its been a wild semester, so there hasn't been much posting going on...However the end is here, and an updated copy of my portfolio has been posted online at my Blog Portfolio. You can see the latest here:

http://www.randysartportfolio.blogspot.com

Happy V-Day!

2009-02-14T03:27:00.000-08:00

-RS!

Lower Case G!

2008-12-29T08:18:00.001-08:00

Some old school holiday art from the 3rd grade... -RS

Sent from my iPhone

Phone Sketch

2008-12-29T03:58:00.000-08:00

A very quick doodle done while on the phone a few days ago.

-RS

2008-12-23T00:30:00.000-08:00

So a group of friends and myself went out this weekend to go on a sketching trip just north of San Francisco. It was meant to be a productive day of drawing and painting, but ended up being a day of getting lost and figuring out directions, with a bit of drawing and painting...a fun day nonetheless. We initially drove to Sausalito, then left to head over to the John Muir Woods National Park, which ended up just being a fun ride in the WRX, because when we got there, it was too cold and dark to even draw anything! We then headed back across the Golden Gate to have some pizza in SF. The night was capped with watching You Tube videos on an iPhone on the way home while driving on 101...real safe!

We all agreed that we will make an attempt to make a day like this regularly, and possibly create a blog for us participating. I will post a link to the blog or any other sketch day work if it becomes a reality. Until then, be sure to check out my Gooood Links to the right, and stop by at Enrique Jacobo and Chris Jacobs art blogs.

Lucy's first ride across the Golden Gate!

Quick sketch off of a pier in Sausalito.

Quick sketch of house across the street from the cafe where we had some brunch. Apparently they dont serve Chai tea there...

A caricature of Mike as a demo for Enrique.

A cool Seagull who was a great model and held this pose for about 30 min. while I drew him!

-RS

X-Mas Card without Text

2008-12-22T08:46:00.001-08:00

A copy of my x-mas card without the cheesy text:)

-RS

Merry Ex-Mas!

2008-12-21T07:40:00.000-08:00

-RS

Storyboarding Assignment #2

2008-12-18T08:58:00.000-08:00

Once again, another late post from earlier this semester. This time we were given character designs, and a background on the story, but were free to edit the dialog any way we liked. I had fun with this one, and got to watch some really cool western movies for reference...

Here are the character designs by Jeff...

-RS

Storyboarding Assignment #1

2008-12-18T08:52:00.001-08:00

This was my first assignment for my storyboarding class this semester, my teacher, Jeff Biancalana provided the character designs for the assignment, which I posted a while back. We were to stick to a short script written by Jeff and use the character designs to board a 40 panel scene. I barely figured out how to get all these panels onto a few sheets, but it's up nonetheless!

-RS

BFA Final Work

2008-12-18T01:31:00.001-08:00

So this is the final for my senior seminar class, you can read the story below. Basically, this story is about a starrving artist, living in a post WWII time period, who finds a piece of chalk, and whenever he draws something on the wall, it comes to life. His name is Argon and he lives in San Francisco's Chinatown. The artist's style is John Nevarez, let me know what you think...

-RS

Storyboarding Final

2008-12-18T01:23:00.000-08:00

These 43 panels are my final for my storyboarding class. The final was to create a group of characters and storyboard a 40 panel scene. Let me know what you think.

-RS

BFA Final

2008-12-12T02:43:00.000-08:00

Finals are here, so this is the home stretch! My final for my BFA Senior Seminar class is a short story written by a Japanese Author. The story is about a young man who is poor, and starving. He has sold everything in is apartment except for a chair, just to make some money. One day, on the brink of starvation, he finds a piece of chalk in his pocket. Since the boy is also an artist, he begins to draw food on the walls of his apartment, in an attempt to mentally satisfy his hunger. To his surprise, the items he draws on the walls become real. The items disappear however, when light is let into the room. He begins to create all the things he can use, even some money. He goes through a phase of creating his own world in his apartment, and as long as he keeps light out of the room, it all becomes real. Eventually, the chalk leads him to his demise, and he becomes part of the wall himself.

The story seems a bit hard to fathom to me, so I added a bit of a twist to it. Aside from setting it in San Francisco's Chinatown post WWII, Argon becomes so hungry and desperate, that he becomes psychotic, and the whole chalk thing is just a figment of his imagination, a la Fight Club.

The final concept work is due on Tuesday, but here is a sketch I did of Argon that I really liked, so I thought I'd post for a quick preview, just in case some followers or regular visitors of my blog actually exist! Enjoy!

PS- The work is going to be done in the style of John Nevarez, yet another great artist's style that I will be mimicking this semester.

-RS

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-12-01T04:55:00.000-08:00

-RS

BFA Assignment #2

2008-11-26T10:22:00.000-08:00

So for the second assignment in my senior seminar class this semester, we had to read a poem about the Black Plauge in the 14th Century, and also take a visit to the Leonardo Da Vinci Exhibit currently at the Tech Museum here in San Jose. Our job was to design a world that incorporates both, but we were free to determine a time period, as long as we combined the plague and Da Vinci.

The poem we had to read was about 4 young women and 4 young men, who in an attempt to escape the black plague, flee the city of Florence to a country home, miles away, and secluded from the pestilence. The characters I chose to design were the two middle aged characters, a servant, and the young man's pet Falcon. As for the city shots, I based my story in Venice in the later 16th century, and they escape to a country home up in northern Italy, where Filostrato builds a home that is full of modern day amenities, using technology based on the inventions of the late Leonardo. It was definitely a challenging project, but fun nonetheless.

This is my establishing shot of the plagued city of Venice. The characters on the bridge are the Plague doctors, who dressed in a long cloak, and wore a long bird-like beak-mask. I was attempting to show a city that has lost hope, is in ruins almost, but not sure if I quite nailed that...

Establishing shot of the country home that the characters escape to. The location I chose was above a river, in the middle of the forest. The idea was that the house was equipped with a type of hydraulic lift that could lift it from the ground, making it difficult for intruders to disturb them. Although they have escaped to the country, there is still a fear of the plague catching up to them.

My designs for the country home. Filostrato was highly inspired by Leonardo, and incorporated things like a water tower, an elevator, a cable car that trnsports people from above using a cable, heating and cool, and a drawbridge to name a few. These would all be made possible by engineering a set of gears and pulleys, operated by the main windmill, dipped in the river below the house. Kinda crazy, but fun. I had some trouble getting the perspective right, so I mocked up a 3D model for reference...

A line up of my four main characters.

As I mentioned before, Filostrato was highly inspired by Leonardo's genius inventions, and attempted to build upon them by incorporating them into his own home creations. He is also a bit of a clutz, a la Tim the Toolman Taylor, and has an overall optimistic view of the plague,.

Filomena is a bit of an alcoholic, as she is always seen with her goblet, always topped with a fine wine. She does not believe they will be able to evade the plague much longer, and has become a bit of a depressing person to be around. A woman who takes advantage of her royalty status among the household, Filomena is not the most liked in the country home, but also can care less about what the others say or think.

Licisa is Filomena's servant, and hates everyone and everything. She hates her life, and is even more depressing than Filomena. I picture her as an Eeyore character, just waiting to be noticed someday, or even cared about...

Ettore is Filostrato's best friend, his right hand man. Confident, and very strong, Ettore is the lookout for the household, making sure to spot all invaders from an aerial view.

New Sketchbook!

2008-11-11T09:11:00.000-08:00

A page from my new sketchbook I started last night during storyboarding class. The characters are for my final assignment in my storyboarding class, I will post more details soon.

Election Day sketches

2008-11-05T04:05:00.000-08:00

This is my first time really paying attention to politics and the election. I have to admit that I normally don't care enough to watch or research, but I promise from now on I will! Considering the magnitude of this election, I think I chose a good time to start, no?

BTW, here are some sketches I did while watching Obama Barack 'n Roll all over McCain!

Obama '08

2008-11-04T05:25:00.000-08:00

I couldn't go to bed without adding my contribution to the campaign...Hope everyone makes it out to vote!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2008-11-04T05:23:00.000-08:00

I know its November 4th already, but I just didnt have time to finish it before Halloween, and I didnt want it to sit until next year. Enjoy!

Storyboarding Weekly #7

2008-10-22T00:44:00.000-07:00

The digital paint is still wet on this one!

Water for Elephants - Character Designs

2008-10-20T16:46:00.001-07:00

I am very happy with the overall outcome of these designs, and I had a blast doing them! They still need some work, and then they will have a nice spot waiting for them in my portfolio!

Jacob, the main character.

Marlena, love interest.

Rosie, another main character of the book.

Uncle Al, the ringmaster of the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth!

Storyboarding Weekly #6

2008-10-20T16:43:00.001-07:00

Storyboarding Weekly#5

2008-10-02T08:03:00.000-07:00

Hot off the presses!

Water For Elephants Designs - 1st Pass

2008-10-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

This is Rosie, the Elephant. She becomes the Benzini Brothers' biggest attraction, and also a main character of the story, she was one of my favorite!

Uncle Al is the ringmaster and the person responsible for running the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth
. He immediately got my imagination running with a physical description, so a design of him was a must.

BFA Assignment #1

2008-10-01T15:08:00.001-07:00

Since I have been neglecting this blog, I will get you up to speed on my progress of my BFA senior seminar class. We were given the book, Water For Elephants, to read. Our goal was to use this book as a visual companion to our first project. The story in a nutshell revolves around the Benzini Brother Most Spectacular Show on Earth, a traveling circus during the great depression. Behind the wonderful facade of the circus, the story takes you on a journey that involves a love triangle, murder, and deception. A must read!

The class is separated into 4 groups: 3D Modeling, Animation, Story, and Visual Development. Since my focus this semester will be character design, I belong to the Visual Development crowd. Unfortunately, this also means that I am in the group with the biggest workload. My next post will be some first passes of a couple of the character designs. We were given a list of artist's styles to mimic, and I chose the style of Sean Galloway (gotcheeks.blogspot.com). A great artist with a nice clean drawing style rich with flowing lines and beautiful shapes. I will try my best to make my character designs even come close to his! I will post more as soon as I have them ready...peace!

Storyboarding Assignment #1

2008-10-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

In addition to our weekly assignments, we were given a script, a set of character designs, and a limit of 40 panels. The objective was to storyboard the script with a limit of 40 panels, and sticking as close as possible to the script. Below are the character designs. I will post my finished version as soon as I figure out the best way to post 40 panels on this blog...stay tuned!

Storyboarding Weekly #5

2008-10-01T14:59:00.000-07:00

Enjoy!

Storyboarding Weekly #3

2008-10-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

Storyboarding Weekly #2

2008-10-01T14:55:00.000-07:00

Sooooo stupid...I know.

Storyboarding Weekly #1

2008-10-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

So its been a while since I've last posted, but I plan to stay up to date this semester. I am taking a class on Storyboarding this semester, and it has been a blast so far. Here is our first weekly assignment. This is an all-goes assignment, meaning there doesnt have to be a solid plot or any plot that makes sense. The purpose is purely to get you thinking and coming up with new ideas, while also learning the process of storyboarding. My instructor will give us the assignment with the first panel drawn out, and it is us to me, the student, to complete the story in 9 panels, no more, no less. He we go...

BFA Intro Video

2008-09-07T22:12:00.000-07:00

This video was the request of Rex Grignon in my BFA senior Seminar class. The intent was to make a 90 second video of yourself, with the only limitation being the time constraint and to make it creative and entertaining. I had a lot of fun and I am very pleased with end result. Enjoy!

Elvis with white background

2008-05-23T01:38:00.001-07:00

Some more 3d Elvis stills...

2008-05-21T23:09:00.001-07:00

Elvis Has Left the Building!

2008-05-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the cheesy title...my last final of the semester, a 3d character design done in Maya.

Here is the link for a bigger size,

http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b253/oddballzz1966/?action=view¤t=ElvisTurnLow1.flv

One Down, One to Go!!!

2008-05-21T12:14:00.000-07:00

Our final for Flash was to create an eCard, let me know what you think...

Here is a link for a bigger size,

http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b253/oddballzz1966/?action=view¤t=ElviseCard.flv

Preview of final Maya Elvis Character

2008-05-06T20:41:00.000-07:00

A quick preview of what my final posed Elvis character will look like in Maya...I can't wait to be done with this project!

Character Cleanup in Flash

2008-04-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

These are some of the characters I designed earlier this semester. One version is with an outline, and one without.

Updated 3D Elvis

2008-04-15T15:57:00.001-07:00

So Elvis has officially consumed my life, and I dont even listen to his music...cool guy though!

The Elvis Madness Continues...

2008-04-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

Here is my cleanup of my Elvis character design for my Flash class. This is a totally different Elvis design compared to my previous, but same idea nonetheless...

Maya, Maya, and more Maya

2008-04-07T22:43:00.000-07:00

Just some rendered images of what has been occupying my life lately. This is about 50%, with a color map, and about 10% of a bump map. It is an ongoing process, so I will post some more pics as soon as I can make some more progress...

Mexicans Are Stealing Our Jobs!!!

2008-02-27T04:15:00.001-08:00

This image was for our class magazine, themed "Truth and Lies." I chose to do this piece based on the immigration laws and their justification.

Tao Fly Through

2008-02-27T02:57:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of the fly through of my 3D environment...

Tao in 3D

2008-02-27T02:21:00.001-08:00

Our final for Maya was to take an image from a magazine, and create the image in 3D, as close to the image as possible. The image I chose was from an article about the nightclub TAO, inside the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. I was able to get pretty close, but it was such a massive project that there are a lot of things missing.

Ball Bounce in 3D!!!

2008-02-27T01:47:00.000-08:00

Our midterm for Intro to Maya last semester was a soccer ball bounce. The project was designed to give beginners a taste of animating in Maya. I thought that the project turned out well, but with a project like this, there are an infinite amount of tweaks that can be done. I know it has issues, but just like my helmet, it's going to have to wait to be completed.

Object Modeling in 3D

2008-02-27T01:37:00.000-08:00

Last semester I decided to retake beginning 3D, as I did not feel confident enough to move to the next level. One of our first assignments was to model an object of our choice. I chose my old high school football helmet. It was the first time I have done texture mapping and laying out UVs. I have to say that the project was painstakingly difficult when it came to laying out UVs. After the dust has settled, I am glad I know how to do it, and I was happy with how it turned out. The project is not done by any means, it will just be added to the long list of projects waiting to be completed someday...

The Phone Call

2008-02-27T01:22:00.000-08:00

For my visual development class back in Spring 07, our final was an excerpt from a short story from a Russian author. In a nutshell, the story is about a Soviet diplomat who has learned that the Soviets are going to be given plans for the atomic bomb by spies in the US. He is going to attempt to warn the US by calling the US embassy in Moscow from a confidential location, where his identity will be kept a secret. He decides to call from a pay phone in a Moscow Metro station. He knows that all calls into the embassy are being tapped, but must hurry before his location is traced. The story ends when the one of the Soviets tracing the call trips on the cord, thus ending the phone call.
Complicated, I know, but interesting nonetheless. This scene shows our Soviet diplomat entering the Metro station to make the dreadful phone call. I have some more pieces from the story, but I felt that this was the strongest and most post-worthy. Cheers!

The Happiest Place On Earth!

2008-02-27T01:17:00.000-08:00

This summer I was able to take some time off and go down to Disneyland and Disney California, as a mini-vacation. It was nice to be surrounded by the same world that has inspired me to pursue a career in animation. Here are some pics from the trip.

Best letter of the alphabet...

My Heroes!

DRAPERIES!!!

2008-02-23T01:05:00.000-08:00

It may look like a piece of cloth, but if you look closely, you will see that it is actually the anatomy of the human figure! Ha!

Some Short and Long Poses

2008-02-23T01:01:00.000-08:00

These were done a while ago, and some reside in my current portfolio...not sure if that is a good or bad thing...

Im Back!

2008-02-23T00:57:00.000-08:00

If there is anyone out there who actually reads this blog besides me, then you will be delighted to know that I have vowed to continue posting work as I did for about a solid week or so almost year ago! what can I say? Things get crazy, especially with school, girlfriend, family, and two jobs (at one point...)!!! Anyways, i plan on posting the work that has been absent from this blog for a while, so the next several posts will be catching up and showing what has been keeping me busy over the past year!

Jack Johnson Mash up

2007-08-23T12:21:00.001-07:00

Here is some easy listening of a JJ mash up I heard today...

The Ordinary Kitchen

2007-05-15T15:26:00.000-07:00

This was the first piece I did for my Visual Development class this semester. Given the opportunity to revisit the piece for the end of the semester, I applied all that I have learned this semester and finished with something that I am actually happy with. I am still getting the hang of painting in Photoshop, so I know there are some painting issues going on. The story for this piece is that of a family of geniuses. The father works for NASA, and is really into his work. The mother is a sort of rebelious woman traveling the country and speaking and organizing rallies, etc...the main character's siblings are also geniuses, but the genius gene somehow skipped the main character, who is just a normal boy. He accepts the cards he is dealt and finds his own niche in the world, and finds ways to satisfy himself and make himself happy, without having to rely on a genius gene, or having a super brain like the rest of his family. Our assignment was to design the kitchen of this family who live a chaotic and work-heavy lifestyle. No one in the house cooks, cleans, or even buys groceries. Anyways, I hope this all comes across in this piece!

Bear Drawings

2007-05-10T15:27:00.000-07:00

Animal drawings have been an ongoing assignment every week in my intermediate animation class. This semester I chose to draw Grizzly Bears and Polar Bears, because their shape is slightly more complex than that of an Elephant, in terms of visible anatomy and gestures (besides, I drew Elephants all last semester!) Feel free to drop a comment and let me know what you think.

Some old figure drawings...

2007-05-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

These are some of my favorite drawings of naked people from last semester. Enjoy!

Welcome All!

2007-05-08T15:55:00.000-07:00

Hello, and welcome to the grand opening of my sketch blog! I hope you all enjoy your stay. Please feel free to leave me any comments on my work, or just just to say HI! I will try my best to keep current on posts, but we all get a little busy sometimes! Anyways, stay a while and have a poke around. Thanks for stopping by!