Observations- Tanuki

It's been an incredibly busy past few days so I don't have so much as a quick sketch to post, but I thought I'd share some interesting findings in my explorations for inspiration on the internet.

This is a Tanuki, the Japanese Raccoon-Dog:

In Japanese culture, you'll often see them interpreted like this:

And yes, those are his gigantic naughty bits.

Japanese lore depicts Tanuki as a shapeshifting and wily spirit with a very unique and disturbing habit of morphing its scrotum into disquises, tools, weapons, blankets, and so forth.

One image series struck me with familiarity. They are a Kage-e (Japanese shadow picture), the picture on the left seeming to be a silhouette of a Goldfish while on the right it is revealed as a tanuki crushing a man with his scrotum.

Two Pokemon references come to mind:

1.) This is most likely where the concept for the commercial break indicator "Who's that Pokemon?" originated.

2.) This was undoubtedly (in my mind) the direct inspiration for the second generation Pokemon Sentret.

Separated at Birth?

What can I say.. Inspiration is everywhere, I guess? I think it's pretty amazing that someone took a cultural item that was totally indigestible by Western culture and morphed it into something suitable for five year olds.

Ken Bailey stylistic study

I'm feeling a little disconnected from the flow of having your own style, so I've decided to take a stab at other artist's styles: today is something Ken Bailey-esque:

There's this adorable black Chow Chow mix I've had my eye on at the local pound for the last couple weeks. She ties is beautifully with the hokey culinary innuendos, no?

I'm still not sure If I'm gonna get the dog, but the thought of her made for some worthwhile inspiration =) (You can't tell from this picture, but in real life she has a purple tongue almost as dark as her fur!)

Kitsune

The beginnings of a character design "Kitsune". I will update more later.

Old Sketchbook Found

This is a little 2" x 7" sketchbook I made back in 2007. There weren't too many drawings in there, but here's the cover and two of the better pages:

I'm particularly fond of the desert scene.

San Francisco MUNI sketches

Here are a series of observations I made on a 6 hour tour through the bay area on the metro:

You can tell here that it's been a while since I've taken a stab at life drawing.

Gaining a bit of confidence in this one.

Composing several observations and differentiating faces (The guy reading was taking peeks into a comic book called "Girls Girls Girls" while glancing around to make sure he wasn't watched. He failed to notice me >=))

Getting comfortable with environment/architectural elements.

People doing things and more character in the faces. The shifty-eyed girl in this one was sitting about thirty feet away from me in the next car. I thought she hadn't noticed me, but she walked up to me at the last stop and asked to see my sketchbook. I felt like a kid caught with his hand in a cookie jar, I was so embarrassed!

Here are some sketches while waiting at a clinic in Long Beach, CA. Leg poses, baby faces, heavier details, light shadowing.

Compiled half a page from SF and half a page from LB. I'm particularly pleased with the composition at the top and with the robot concept I started.

Now that I'm back in LA, I need to find some lowcost venues for drawing people and places. It would be nice if the metro system here was an option, but I may have to suffice with a trip to the local mall =P

SpeedPaint #2

My first environment speedpaint. About an hour. Meh.

Morning SpeedPaint #3

Hmm.. This one was a bit complicated.. I need to work more of my process. I really like this picture, so I might take a stab at it again some other time.

One hour.

Get It While You Can!

Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials has gone out of print recently, so I'd suggest buying it off Amazon at the advertised 14 cents before it turns into $80.

I got mine in the mail this morning (which was a nice surprise considering I'd completely forgotten I'd bought it). Basically, it illustrates alien species (I'm assuming all sentient) described in many great works of science fiction. The book was originally printed in 1979, so the style is a bit reminiscent of '80s creature and monster design. I am a little disappointed that many of the creatures are humanoid or hybrid in nature, but there are many that deviate from this extraterrestrial norm, and some are just downright bizarre/inspiring.

I don't think I would settle with any of the final concepts in this book as one of my own, but it's filled with creative fodder to stretch your imagination for aliens a bit beyond the Star Wars level.

So.. go buy it. Like, NOW!

SpeedPaint #1

25 minute speedpaint.

Game Developers Conference

I'm heading to the GDC tomorrow. Unless a spot opens on the volunteer roster I probably won't be attending until the Saturday Career Fair, so I'm going to spend a lot of time exploring the city . It's going to be my first time in San Francisco and my first time travelling in a long while.. This is going to be an interesting experiment of life.