Commission Successful!

So I shipped out my commissioned piece today.  The board warped a little with the watercolor so the lines aren't totally straight in the picture but here it is anyway.

Here are close-ups of the side panels.

Overall this has been an awesome experience, and I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out!  Meanwhile I've been working hard learning ZBrush and sketching quite a bit.  I'll hopefully be posting some images of some models soon!

DAY 3ish

So this is my progress so far.  I've been working on it little by little when I can find time.  The inking took WAY longer than I had initially anticipated.  I guess working at such a large format will do that (and dry up pens!).  The watercolor, on the other hand went rather quickly.  I had some problems with color...  I think the car is less white than I'd like and more baby-blue.  I think the red came out pretty well though.  Anyway this is only part of the piece.  There will be smaller panels on the right side that will feature different parts of the car and a close-up of the boy, who incidentally looks like THIS!

So adorable!

Speed Racer Inspired Commission

So good news!  A wonderful couple out in Florida stumbled across my blog searching for Speed Racer images and have decided to commission a Speed Racer inspired piece  for their son's room.  

Anyway, it's day one and I've sketched out what will be my Mach 5 knock-off.  Also pictured is my trusty sketchbook and some thumbnails.  The finished piece will include the car as a centerpiece and 4 panels to the side depicting other aspects of the race and a close-up shot of the boy.

I actually took quite a few cues from a 70's Hot Wheel car called "Second Wind."  Apparently Mattel was interested in releasing a Mach 5 at the height of the Speed Racer cartoon's popularity but couldn't secure the rights.  They re-released the car in 1997 (pictured below).  The Mach 5 stylings are clear.

All in all I'm pretty happy and excited about everything so far.  More updates will be coming!

HALLOWEEEEN part 2. & Brer Fox

GO SPEED GO!  I love it.  Here's a sketch I did today...  it's KIND OF a throwback to A.B. Frost...  yeah I'm still obsessed with Song of the South...  or maybe just Brer Fox.

"You all dressed up for dinnah!  For MY dinnah!  Cause I'm 'bout to bobbycue you up this very minute!  On dat fire!"

Gotta love how such a cute and charming character can become so sinister...  what a film!

WALKER

Chuck Norris?  More like Chuck GLORIOUS.

HALLOWEEEEN!

So here are some in progress shots of what I'm doing for halloween.  A lot less grandiose than The Dark Knight but it's still been quite a pain!  It'll be worth it in the end!

So this is how the helmet came, I just ordered it from Amazon for a killer price, masked it off and painted it...  then masked it again to touch it up...  then masked and touched it up again...
Are you really surprised?

More Batman!

I've been kind of addicted to watching old Batman: TAS on Toon Disney lately, BUT in my defense, what a great show!  The animation is a little bit dated compared to more modern incarnations such as The Batman or Batman: Gotham Knight, but neither of these compare in the writing/storytelling department.  I did grow up on this show, so watching it MIGHT just be nostalgic for me...  

Nope, it's just awesome.

THE DARK KNIGHT

July was quite a month!  First, I attended comic-con, which was super fun as always.  The coming attractions are always great to see, I went to some portfolio reviews and got some good feedback, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, I wore a Dark Knight costume that I spent a month making myself (I even took a life cast of my head and sculpted the mask etc!)  Here's a pic of me with Wolverine.

I'm really happy with how it came out, BUT could it be better?!  We'll see by halloween!  (The answer is yes it can)

I've also FINALLY started doing sketches on the toned paper I bought months ago at Pearl.  Nothing too serious, mainly just light studies of toys and various objects around my room, but I hope to do some finished pieces soon.  Here, in keeping with this post's Dark Knight theme, is one I did of Batman, first the sketch itself and then the colored version I did real quick in painter.

I'm pretty happy with the effects I can get with this technique and really look forward to doing more work like this in the future.

All that being said...  The Dark Knight was SO good.  The End.

MORE SPEED MORE!

So I was at the airport and I had some time to kill...  I know I have work to do.

GO SPEED GO!

It's been a very long time since I last posted anything, I know.  I guess I've just been continuing with the job-hunt and spending time with my family.  This past weekend I went through the Commencement ceremony and all that jazz back at CSUF.  It was good to see everyone but boy was it HOT!

Anyway, to my point.  I've been kind of upset with critics and box office performance lately.  I'm sure most everyone saw and loved Iron Man, which I must admit was a damn good movie but I'm sure very few people saw Speed Racer.  Personally, I loved Speed Racer much much more than Iron man.  "Why?" you might ask...

The Mach 5...  I rest my case.

Now I can understand people saying it was too long, it was a bit lengthy, but I honestly can't think of anything that could have been left out.  I thoroughly enjoyed the story, the characters were FAR more lovable and interesting than Robert Downey Jr. playing his usual coked up lovable douchebag self and the action scenes were astonishing.  The colors were a little overbearing at first, but it was easy to get used to them, and emerging from the theatre and into the drab real world was a little heart-wrenching.  First and foremost though, the cars were SO RAD!

Now, I'm not saying Speed should have beaten out Iron Man in the box office, because Iron man WAS good, but it should have at LEAST beat out What Happens in Vegas...  come on people!

it starts...

Hey everyone.  I decided to start a blog for my art.  I graduated from CSUF last December with a bachelor's in Illustration and am now looking for work...  so it's time to update the website (http://www.jaymachado.com) and all that jazz.  Here's what I've been working on lately...  it's the layout of the new site but I like it on its own also.  Those of you who know me will recognize M there.  I'm planning on posting a PDF of what I turned in for my honors project on my website for anyone who's interested in having a look at it.  Anyway expect more from me soon!  Hope everyones' new year is going well!