Friday, January 16, 2009

Rejected Society Of Illustrators Student Show Submissions 2009

Been real busy lately as the deadline for the Society of Illustrators was today. I will make this blog short just cause nothing is coming to mind at the moment.

First we have two pieces from the series I've started called Kids With Guns

Painting of a child posing with two NERF guns by Alex Ariza
Johnny Acrylic on 16 x 24 in. Masonite board 2009
Painting of a child posing with NERF gun by Alex Ariza
Justin Acrylic on 16 x 24 in. Masonite board 2009
I also did this piece especially for the show itself within the span of three days. Really happy how it came out. I give credit to my brother Richard for pushing me to get extra detailed, pain in the ass, but totally worth it.

Sleep Paralysis painting by Alex Ariza
A Cowboy's Worst Nightmare Acrylic on 20 x 32 in. watercolor paper 2009
That's all for now folks. New projects coming soon!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Wow Wee! Ride Me Sally, Ride!

Well hello again everyone. During this past semester there were some assignments that I really enjoyed working on. Unfortunately, some assignments were treated and created to make my teachers happy. The good stuff I wanted to make wasn't really produced this year. One interesting project dealt with sleep paralysis. For those of you who don't know what sleep paralysis is:

"...a common condition characterized by transient partial or total paralysis of skeletal muscles and areflexia that occurs upon awakening from sleep or less often while falling asleep. Stimuli such as touch or sound may terminate the episode, which usually has a duration of seconds to minutes. This condition may occur in normal subjects or be associated with narcolepsy, cataplexy, and hypnagogic hallucinations."
Thank you, Wikipedia, for clearing that up.

The following images are the original sketches for the project:

The first sketch was drawn straight out of my head with no reference to help me out with anatomy of the nude woman and horse head. Although there are some mistakes with the anatomy, there is an energy to the piece...something that got lost when I began using reference for the female body as seen in the second image.

Sleep Paralysis Rough Sketch by Alex Ariza 2008
Sleep Paralysis Rough Sketch by Alex Ariza 2008

Drawing depicting sleep paralysis featuring a nude woman with a horse head riding a sleeping man in cowgirl position.

Sleep Paralysis More Refined Sketch - Alex Ariza 2008
Sleep Paralysis More Refined Sketch - Alex Ariza 2008

I had put a lot of time into the final since this was the first assignment of the year, and I wanted to leave a good impression with my professor. It came out decent looking, but, as I said before, it lacks a certain energy I was going for. Also, it lacks any real depth or concept behind it. All I came up with was a guy having a dream about banging some hot chick and it just so happens to have turned into horse headed lady. Big whoop.

Sleep Paralysis Painting by Alex Ariza
Sleep Paralysis Acrylic Paint on Watercolor Paper 8.5 x 22 in. 2008

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Fashion Institute of Technology's School Paper - W27 - Cover Illustration

Digital art of a young couple having trouble ice skating by Alex Ariza
Ice Skating Frustrations Digital 2008

This image was created for FIT's newspaper, W27. It was the cover for their January 2008 issue, which was winter themed. I went for cute, since ladies love cute, and FIT is 90% female.