Tuesday, February 14, 2012

El Oso Luchador

Wrestling Bear Luchador
El Oso Luchador Climbs Into the Ring!
Oil paint, I would use you more if you didn't take so damn long to set up and work with. Maybe when I move out of New York and have more time to myself I will once again use you. Wrestling bears...how god damn original. The painting has a very soft children's book feel to it, since I wanted to be a children's book illustrator at one point at FIT. Maybe I'll do more of these style of paintings down the line to build a solid portfolio.

Finding More Stuff in the Back

ha, wordplay.


Monday, February 13, 2012

Another Batch

Bear Fishing Painting Illustration
Bear taking a dip in the river
 Back when I was learning to paint with oils in college, I did a whole bunch of stupid little practice paintings on surfaces not intended for oil paint. This one was done on foam core. 
Pablo the Heron Children's Book Illustration 
Children's book character that never took off, Pablo the Heron.
 I started this painting of Pablo the Heron back in 2009. I worked on it some more in 2011, and then never finished it cause I'm a lazy mother fucker. I should start a new painting for this guy. The story is about Pablo the Heron who goes through people's kitchens in the middle of the night and starts making a racket. He then flies away when people come to see whats making all the noise. Pablo is such a jerk face heron.
Mars Volta Poster Concept by Alex Ariza
Preliminary sketch for a poster I never even made.
One of my projects from school was to create a series of posters for a concert or band. I chose the Mars Volta. This piece is supposed to show children as sheep and the two major forces that control them, religion and politics.

Some Old Shit

Found a few things that hasn't gotten much viewing or fresh air since college. Decided to scan them and put them up.

ink and oils on watercolor paper

Mayan Inspired Paintings by Alex Ariza
little baby preliminary paintings, acrylic on crappy canvas paper

Abstract Ink Drawing by Alex Ariza
ink with red gouache...just playing with them lines and shapes

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Billy the Goat

My spacing/composition sucks so damn much. Need to give more head space to this little guy. I guess it's back to drawing frames for me. Perspective was kinda fun, but a total pain in the ass as well. If you look real close you can find some discrepancies here and there, but I'm still pretty happy with how it turned out. My humor is equivalent to a boring school teacher from elementary school as you can clearly tell from the text. Whatever, I thought it was cute. 

I read this funny article from CNN about art.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year

My sister and I sat down again to come up with these drawings. We got into an argument about something stupid just now, until we resolve our differences, our collaborations will come to a short halt. Sad.



Wednesday, December 28, 2011

SCANNER!

Got my Epson Perfection V30 scanner today...this is a HUGE upgrade from what I had before.

Here's a cute little drawing of the Brooklyn Bridge I did a few days ago that would have looked like poop if I used the old scanner. Shit is CRISP!

Brooklyn Bridge Drawing Children's Book Illustration

My sister and I sat down together and came up with these characters...

Total Rip-Off of Plank from Ed, Edd, and Eddy. I know.
Saps could use some bees flying around him...

This guy is boring...

This one is just lousy and half-assed.

Maybe I should start making more detailed background scenes since this scanner can capture EVERYTHING.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

FRED the Shark

When I was at my previous job doing internet marketing, I had these cool co-workers that I bonded with pretty early on. I met them tonight after not seeing them for while and made them these FRED the Shark watercolor paintings. FRED was our personal mascot (our champion through dark times) who happened to be a rubber toy shark. I brought him to life with a voice that was sort of raspy and southern sounding (I don't know its just something that came up naturally). I ended up making a bunch of drawings of FRED for my co-workers. They enjoyed them immensely, and I decided that I would make an extra special reunion edition for them.

Here is FRED in all his glory:

Fred the Shark Watercolor Painting by Alex Ariza
FRED based off of the 1931  classic Fritz Lang film, M.

Fred the Shark Watercolor Painting by Alex Ariza
FRED as a Roman Emperor, who could ask for a better dictatorship?

Friday, November 11, 2011

We Need A Costume Designer...

...who dresses up our action heroes in this sort of garb. I'm tired of the "bad-ass" look in films, it just breathes douchey lameness all over the screen.

But imagine a ridiculous gun fight with a man dressed in this:

Now that would be cool....

I know some of you can't visualize this sort of awesomeness, so I took the liberty of add some extra effects for you:



Yeah, way more "bad-ass."


ORIGINAL PHOTO FROM HERE





Sunday, November 6, 2011

Halloween Costume Process: Papier Mache Chestburster from Alien!

This year for Halloween I decided to make my own papier mache prop inspired by the classic Ridley Scott movie, Alien.

I'm sure everyone is familiar with this iconic scene.



Still creeps me out today as it did watching it as a kid.

This project was one of those rare occasions in which I enjoyed the artistic process from start to finish.

I constructed the frame of the chestburster with cardboard from a Cheerios cereal box.



The tools I used to construct this cardboard frame were:

an Xacto Knife


a cutting board with measurements

and some masking tape


It's always good to have a picture to refer to when constructing this little bad boy.


Then I papier mache the exterior giving the general mold of the creature using Claycrete.

All you do is add water! Super simple and great quality.

This is still a really messy process, so make sure you have some disposable surface to cover your table when working with this stuff! It took about a day for it to harden and dry completely. It'll probably take longer if the weather is humid, try to keep it in a dry warm place.





I used AMACO Sculptamold after the Claycrete paper mache finished drying to give it a smoother finish.


The cool thing about Sculptamold is that once it dries and hardens you could actually sand it down. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to sand down for a smooth surface since I only thought of making my costume three days before Halloween.

Damn it Giger, stop making things that looks like a penis!


Nathalie, my wonderful costume designing girlfriend, helped me with the shirt. She's very very good with details, particularly on the logo patch and blood.


I whipped out my Iwata Eclipse air brush to give the creature it's first coat of paint.


The airbrush is very efficient in getting into all the nooks and crannies than with your typical paint brush. I mixed some fluid acrylics that were designed for airbrushes to get a fleshy color. I mixed white, red, yellow, and a drop of blue. It didn't have to be perfect, since the finishing layers were going to be with regular paint brushes and heavy body acrylic paint.

Looks like a freshly baked loaf of bread.
This is how it looked after mixing and painting with a paint brush.


I painted the teeth on a separate piece of cardboard and later installed it from the inside of the cardboard frame.

I forget the last time I've been to the dentist.
Mixing all different kinds of flesh colors helps this papier mache chestburster come to life. Looks absolutely gross!


But something is missing...
I feel like I'm missing something...
Oh yeah!
Blood. Lots and lots of blood.

Paper Mache Chest Burster Costume Prop

Alien Costume Prop

This is how it looked like when assembled. It took a lot of duct tape, and a piece of string to keep that papier mache prop supported on my chest.

Alien Costume Prop
MY RIBS!!

It was a hit at the Halloween parade, particularly with African American and Hispanic women... there is something about large phallic symbols that just get 'em going, they're so weird...