GINGASHI

blue ribbon bird

2011-03-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

my roommate has been playing Dragon Age II so I felt inspired to draw fantasy stuff.

the Lateness Dragon

2011-02-09T00:12:00.001-08:00

... this is what I have to deal with sometimes.

classic car robo

2011-02-08T17:36:00.001-08:00

it was during one of those starting to wake up but still dreaming moments... I wanted to draw something like this.

I especially wanted to draw this one- but the robo turned out pretty different than what I imagined. I still like the result though. Now that's outta the way. haha.

a unit

2011-01-31T08:28:00.001-08:00

It's Monday and these guys are going to work...

beating up things and scrolling sideways.

rainy monday

2010-11-22T11:33:00.000-08:00

splash!

2010-09-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

cats are hard to draw!

TENANTS pg 47...

2010-09-02T23:19:00.000-07:00

I must post this even though it's a single page update.
Let's try again. Let's push forward again.
Past pages on my deviantart: here!

nonconceptart!

2010-07-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

Here's a new blog that I will be posting on with mostly collabs and random sketches. I do posts like that here, but that blog is with two of my pals, Cef and Pav! I'll keep this blog for more of my personal stuff such as this pic here!

nonconceptart.blogspot.com

Peace!

dual spike head man

2010-03-18T00:47:00.000-07:00

The night started with drawing two hand poses because I really need to work on hands a lot more, but I detoured to filling the page with Robins of varying full body action poses because I also need to practice more gestures and less portraits (my go-to when lacking other inspiration), and then I started to try Batman but this strange bowing pose came out and was rather frustrating so the head shots returned to end things on a less stressful note. Bottom left corner is my own Bruce, gal in the hat is a Pamela Isley, and the rest are straight forward... well, there's that weird lady which started out as a Selena variant (hey maybe she's in disguise?) but it just looks like an older evil Mathilda from "Leon". Still so much to practice, yep yep... so superheroes can help me out since I won't have to worry about designing or complex clothing so much... just focus on gesture and retain some resemblance to the heroes for fun... like my "Robins" turned out to be a pack of spikey haired wannabes... Tim would destroy them.

for bryan

2010-01-11T02:58:00.001-08:00

To my buddy Bryan, who is a Deadpool fan, and just happens to be the source of some of the influence for my character Jeff... just a few things here and there. :)

s'wonderful... marvelous.

2010-01-10T21:46:00.000-08:00

I would like to state that I've seen all 5 "Dirty Harry" movies (marvelous), a free time goal which started when I first moved to Chicago around September, and was inevitably prolonged till about early this month when I finished the last ones (oh Happy New Year ya). In between that time I've also seen "Unforgiven", "The Outlaw Josey Wales", "Pale Rider", "The Rookie", and rewatched "Gran Torino". Some of them showed during a Thanksgiving weekend marathon called, "Feastwood". Indeed. I beat "Read Dead Revolver" during the Christmas holidays while all this was still running through my head during a return trip back to the east coast. Early on in my move to the Windy City, I also watched all the "Lethal Weapons". As for comics, I've been collecting some Darwyn Cooke, Will Eisner, and still continuing my following of Jeff Smith. Somewhere in this collection of entertainment, storytelling, and genres are the things that may help me with "Tenants"...which took a huge blow after the end of November from a busy life. I've begun writing to try and channel my thoughts on "Tenants" when I can. My older bro got me "The Cartoonist: Jeff Smith, Bone and the changing face of comics" DVD which is cool and inspiring, and the "The Contract with God Trilogy" which I asked for, after the recommendation of a "Tenants" commenter (thank you both!). Until I can really gather myself, I won't be uploading new pages, sad to say. I accomplished my early goals, completing a chapter in pencil and never missing an update. Once it hit ink though, I slowly felt the story slipping away from me as I had to continually force my mind back into the project once every other week (due to life schedule changes and the medium and quality change) but only getting one page out at a time which was way too slow. It wasn't healthy for the story. So I will pick up from where I left off and try to get more done but without posting. I know those kinds of words are often the nails in the coffin, I'm not denying it. All I can do is keep persisting and insisting that I get time to work on my own thing, no matter how busy I get, and if all I can do is type out dialogue for now, I'll do what I can.

Despite all I've taken in, you would think I'd be shooting out Callahan sketches or something but my goal of less fanarts, more originals is still with me.

-Eric

Below: warm up beginning late in the night. Process has only begun. I will go out in the 18-feels-like-6 air for something to drink and keep me going.
Above: Drawing from the top of my head, while his likeness is still relatively fresh from last night's viewing of "American in Paris" (s'wonderful).

as of late

2009-12-09T18:15:00.000-08:00

I was reluctant to post new colored art ever since being annoyed at how picasa makes pictures ugly (I could go through a roundabout way and use a photobucket account but rather not), and also have still been thinking that my blog is now very redundant to my Deviantart, but I'll post these up any how. I know some people try the "I'll post stuff on my blog that's not on DA" technique but I don't think it does too well. These are a few of the two last things I drew that are not secrets...

as of late, a large percentage of my art is all art that cannot be shown, from stuff at work, to various projects done at home, and it's been some cool and fun stuff. Sorry for the tease, but just can't show it. So, when I do sit down to work on my own thing, I either work on "Tenants", or try to get another speed paint done, and I hope that can keep my own personal art fire going too. You can check them out on my Deviantart of course.

These two artworks were submissions to chiustream! The snowing pic won me a sketch from Coro, for his topic "homeless fighter"! :D The one with the woman was for the Tim Sale contest with the theme "loneliness", but he didn't get to see it since I did not get enough peer votes to make top 3. Win some and lose some... ya?

bayonetta contest entry

2009-09-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

Hi guys, I entered sega's "bayonetta re-envisioned" contest and it works on a voting system. If you like mine please vote for me in the poll at the bottom of the page:

link

vote "eric huang" :). Thanks in advance for any help to come!
Hope you like this piece.

contests

2009-07-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

Going back to late 2007, these are artworks I created for contests. I think these are all the contests I entered actually from then till now. The top image is my Darkstalkers Tribute book entry which made it in!
The bottom image was for a contest on Deviantart that won me my first ever subscription to DA. In between are entries that didn't win but were still fun to make and take part in.
When I look at these entries, I see an affirmation of the fact that I am constantly growing and experimenting in my art and use of style. In some entries I was more paying homage to the styles I admire (while always adding myself in there) and in others it's more of a reflection of my style development at the time.

I don't really do contests all that much, but there's something about putting oneself out there, on the line, showing what you can do with the given amount of time, waiting to see if you've made it far- that is really awesome. Seeing other entries produced for the same contest is also always a treat and constantly challenges you to do your best. Best of all, getting feedback from peers and the judges is exciting. I'm thinking of entering another one soon just to keep myself sharp.

p.s.- I've never said it before, but it seems like picasa, the image account for us blogspot users, is messing with the image quality. Unfortunately a lot of my artwork here is dampened in quality (by ALOT!). Well, you guys can always venture over to my DA account to get the best view. cheers.

tough

2009-05-28T00:11:00.000-07:00

and some old sketches here

Lil descriptions can be found at deviantart, sorry too tired (lazy...) to copy and paste em here. But what I can do here is actually blog! Things have been really busy these days. First I moved from NY to NJ. It was a smooth move but now I'm house-locked. No way to get around. I'm sorta thinking of getting a bycicle...hmmm. Anyways, for a while now I've been working on multiple projects, lots of stuff to do and so little time. At heart, I know to be very greatful to have work at this time, but mentally I start turning into a zombie... and that's no good! So I gotta keep my own thing going. On my deviantart, I started a webcomic. Despite all the "Moth" stuff I draw, I'm doing a comic called "Tenants" first... it's just in pencil and loose to help me get used to making a story publically, regularly updating at least 1 page a week usually on saturday. It's going well so far, check it out and lemme know what ya think too, I'd appreciate it.

I just found this duo band "Matt & Kim" and I really like their music. Very upbeat and fun. I just want to get up and jump around and play on my keyboard too. Somebody wanna join me and jam? It's ok, I don't have any experience there either. It's not too late to start! ohh, and speaking of music, I recently began making songs on the comp again.

What else... well nothing can beat the nice nature all around me now, and family is here which is great, but I have definitely been missing NY and my friends there a lot.

Time for some shut eye, night!

x-bros

2009-03-20T07:42:00.000-07:00

More "just wait, let me catch my breath" doodles to loosen up and just have fun. The x-men stuff is my repsonse to recently seeing Jean Giruaud a.k.a. "Moebius" comics and artwork which is believed to inspire some of Panzer Dragoon's art direction (that's a series of video games that have this really deep world to it and amazing designs... check it out yo). Was looking at Panzer Dargoon stuff because of my longing to work on my own mech story that is heavily influenced by it. So, with that inspiration I set to trying to do some more abstract ancient and alien looking x-men but only scratched the surface... I like the result but it's far too neon than what I had intended.

A few days before that I'd done a simple bunch of busts from the beloved Venture Bros series after I had seen all of season 3. The characters are very fun to draw.

In other news, I made it into the Udon Darkstalkers Tribute book! So please look for my contribution when it comes out around the end of summer.

just a moment

2009-03-20T07:37:00.000-07:00

After working day by day without doing anything of my own, it gets obviously stiffling... so to catch some fresh air I did these three quick designs all in one day. I'm most happy with the top drawing. You can check out my deviantart for little more info on them since I'm a sucker for making at least a brief line of story for a character design even if they're not encompassed in a developed world.

sketchy squares

2009-03-20T07:32:00.000-07:00

These were done over at a friend's forum... the same series of topics which lead to my new years gifts, and the man with no name drawing. The topics from top to bottom are: Perspective, food you want to eat at the moment (that was my idea :D), big hair.

unused

2009-03-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

These are some artworks I did for different companies and projects. I am happy to share them even though they aren't actually used in the end because I put my all into them and really like how they turned out. Hope you like them!

Our Tradition colored

2009-01-30T14:41:00.001-08:00

Before we reached the end of January 2009, I wanted to finish coloring this one. I made good on my word, see? Although the holiday spirit is faded by now, I hope you will all still enjoy this piece. I wish everyone an awesome 2009 year!

zombie...

2009-01-16T23:15:00.001-08:00

... this week the topic with my friends was "zombies". My favorite zombie has gotta be Zabel Zarock, or Lord Raptor in US... so this was a quick doodle. That eyeball thing is his sidekick so to say. This is a good segway into working on contest pieces for Udon's Darkstalkers Tribute book. I'll try my best and hope for the best.

Manliness

2009-01-11T03:01:00.000-08:00

There was a topic amongst my friends to "draw the most manliest thing you can possibly imagine."

... so I went with "Blondie". Maybe I didn't draw the most manliest thing... but I have no regrets. He is the man. Hope you like it!

New Years Gifts

2008-12-31T19:17:00.001-08:00

These illustrations are gifts for three of my friends for the holidays: Dave, Anca, and Joji. Each person got to request the theme. The first is "kid Goku", the second is a "breakfast wonderland", and the third is "anything from Laputa". I hope they like them, it was a lot of fun to paint each one and try different things. Cheers~ to the last post of 2008!

Our Tradition

2008-12-25T11:12:00.001-08:00

This is based off the Batman episode, "Holiday Knights". Every New Years, the Tavern, two cups of coffee... Batman and Gordon. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years folks. I hope to color this one. Cheers!

Jam: Spidey dad

2008-12-17T19:57:00.000-08:00

My second sketch wednesday with DA pals. Sorry, I didn't have an action pose this time, just a father and his daughter! Where is MJ? She had to go do something, so Peter's gotta take care of things at home for a moment... oh, and he just got back from stopping a bank robbery. Yep!

and by the way... just in case I don't get to say it in time:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years everyone!

bonus mix

2008-12-16T00:20:00.000-08:00

my friend had this cool brush pen he found on the streets of japan... all he had to do was clean and refill it. I tried it out with my "Moth" characters. There are some digital fixes here, since I didn't have my reference sketches with me when I first drew them and I want to make this more like how I intended.

I like Vaitea there... I surprised myself in how I didn't fill her hair all black but instead just drew those lines.

Dec 11th, 2008 - Villainy Mix: PEYTONHARLEY

Bonus mix~ always wanted to draw this one so finally got to do it.

Usually one arm props the dummy up while the other is controlling it from inside, but for this picture I liked the balance both arms crossing created. JOKERFACE must be in "idle" mode... for now...

I really feel there are a lot of connections to make in this mix.

Hope you guys like it!

Jam: Scarlet Spidey

2008-12-11T12:49:00.001-08:00

This was done for a sketch wednesday jam over on deviantart, run by angel-t. This month the theme is spiderman. It is my first time included into that and it was fun. I mixed things up by drawing Ben Reilly for my submission. Hope you like it! Once again, practicing my inking.

collaboration: cliff and joseph

2008-12-05T23:31:00.000-08:00

This was a blast to make, especially since it's a collaboration with my friend Dio (Daniel Irizzari Oquendo)!

Cliff (left) is my character, and Joseph (right) is Dio's. I sketched up Cliff and the basic layout, then Dio drew his character complete with inks and shadows, and finally I added my own inking to Cliff and colored the piece.

I think the combination is a success! Look how cool they look! As to where they are and what they're waiting for... I'm not too certain except that they must be on a secret mission.

Dio- cheers to our first collab!

Cliff and cat

2008-11-24T00:52:00.000-08:00

Took a sketch I liked and practiced doing some digital ink work with it. It's a start. I'm pretty happy with it, and it reminds me that one day I will actually publish this comic... and a surreal feeling falls over me. I hope you guys like it.

What is this story anyways? One day you'll see.

Below is the original sketch.

Thanksgivin'

2008-11-12T23:38:00.000-08:00

While it was crunch time last week at work I managed to do some fun coloring of some older sketches I had from September. The idea in the third picture was to make Nightcrawler look older with grey hair and a beard. Hope it works!

Oct 29th, 2008 - and let's go back in time even further with more sketches.

Though it's not time yet, back on DA I wanted to thank people for their awesome support. I couldn't thank everyone so I went the way of first come first serve for five free sketches. They could request any superhero, and I'd try my hand at it. It's also a good transition into eventually doing some commissions!

Here's the description for that creepy Batman one:

"Now this isn't to be unfair or anything, but I just had to ink this one. She asked me to draw the 1966's tv show Batman. I did a few sketches of his normal Adam West body shape with some goofy poses and expressions, but in the end I just wanted to draw a buff Batman with the 1966 look... and smiling... plus some love handles!

The Batman symbol was totally small and in the middle like that on the show, that's not a mistake- but the hands I drew are horrendous. As for the not shaded cape, it's a compositional thing... I like the balance the picture has with just a few black areas.

p.s.-The black was colored with washable crayola marker..."

It was really fun drawing these, and the recipients liked them!

VILLAINY MIX

2008-11-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

This is an idea I came up with in August, which takes two Batman villains story and design and combines them into one single character. It was a lot of fun to create and got a great response from artists on Deviant Art... that really made me happy! Maybe one day I can officially create a story like this... working in DC... and Marvel... and my own comics... and become a big hit! uhm, in my dreams so far- haha!

Here are the names of each villain:
POISONCAT
TWOCLAY
MADCROW
BANECROCODILE
FREEZEPENGUIN
JOKERNIGMA

If you're interested in the little bios or comments I wrote for them, please go to my deviant art gallery!
DA Gallery

You know... in keeping a blog, it feels a little redundant posting on DA and on here, but I'll still try posting some sketch work here in the future... development stuff like I did with thesis. I want to continue doing that with Moth, but I'll need to continue working on Moth in the first place... it's been on hold with all the latest artwork I've been doing that's just so much fun and none of the stress. Moth is fun, but man, doing a single page is so daunting and draining, haven't gotten able to work on it in a flow yet. At work, it's crunch time... but just a little longer- I can make it though!!! Then, maybe I'll have time to focus on Moth. :)

-and to anyone who actually reads this thing, thanks for the support on the last entry on the Nicktoons voting!

Fun fun

2008-09-28T18:57:00.000-07:00

Kiga is ready to save something important in the distant space. I had a lot of fun creating this one!

In other news- I think I can finally announce my website officially. It has enough content for now. Please check it out! Lemme know what ya think.

My website!

I already put this up on my news page, but I'll also mention it here:

My thesis "Henshin" has been selected as one of the finalists for the 2008 Nicktoons Network Animation Festival!

"Henshin" is scheduled to be showcased on air and online Oct. 18th at 11pm (ET)*(*subject to change). Viewers can go online and vote for that days short, and the short with the most votes will be this years Viewer’s Choice winner! So if you like mine, please vote for me when the time comes! THANKS!

Go here for Nicktoons site

sketches go!

2008-09-22T20:52:00.001-07:00

This is a new character of mine, based on an old one I also named "Kiga". This one is themed more with space and the future. He looks just about the right age, later on I ended up drawing him older- but I kinda wish to stay in these proportions.

In his hand is a trusy runegun!

Kiga has a gooey plasma gauntlet that works as a shield most of the time, but right now he's charging it up for an offensive attack. HOMING LASERS! Just kidding, but it's something like that.

By the way, I wanted him to have a sort of silly haircut. It's like an old-school prince.

The blade is ready for action!... and so are his pretty hair beads.

This time I wrapped the jacket around the waist.

There is the plasma arm in creature form, and then when it's wrapping on his arm. Once it's settled, it's shaped in a three finger style- like ninja turtles.

I think that's more of a yo yo... but let's pretend it's an ancient top that you need to pull a cord to get it going fast on the ground. Besides entertainment, he also uses it to fight!

random doodle page to warm up.

I was thinking the dad cut his son's hair like his own hair, but on the other hand...
what if the son had cut his hair like that playing with scissors, and so the dad cut his hair like that too to try and make his son feel better?

left: A sharpshooter! Despite what the line work may suggest, she's wearing jeans and a white shirt, not some vinyl thing.

right: Scary switchblade gran... "Melinda". Moth and Vaitea have to talk to her at one point, it's very unnerving.

some fellows and a gal in the Moth world style. Since I want to make sure even the background people are interesting, there really is no end to who can be included! Well, as long as the focus doesn't detract too much from the main characters of course.

bats

2008-09-22T20:47:00.000-07:00

Sept 5th, 2008 - Couldn't sleep without finishing this one. Besides conveying the change I made to his hair style, I wanted to practice more with detailed shading inside a cartoon body. I think I didn't do too well in keeping a consistent style for the body- eh heh heh... but I'm happy with the shading and coloring results.

I hope you like this Robin!... does it work?

p.s.- I did think about the fingerless gloves... but I left them that way in the end. Forgive me, I have no excuse for it!

August 14th, 2008 - been slumped so I sketched- and it looks like someone else is trying his hand at some art too! Just a photo of my current small sketchbook and some art tools... plus a super awesome comic! You should be able to make out which one it is. :)

Alfred looks stunned... what is Bats painting?!

HENSHIN

2008-07-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

This is my 2008 3d animation short film, "Henshin", for those of you who never saw it. My school has posted all the best of Computer Art 2008 senior thesis on Youtube. I hope you enjoy it! I just had to post this here as a nice finish to the Henshin related works that started this blog.

In other news, the "Moth" comic is slowly progressing in the rough draft phase. I completed chapter 2 yesterday- onward to chapter 3! Each chapter is about 22-24 pages like a standard single issue. Thanks to Dave, Yann, and Kenny for the positive feedback on it.

moth trio shot

2008-06-19T01:16:00.001-07:00

After seeing some kick ass artwork I just had to try my hand at a painterly group shot. I started with Herschel and the rest of the image grew from there, with Vaitea and Moth going on top. This one took 4 hours, and was a lot of fun to create.

sunset time

2008-06-17T22:08:00.000-07:00

I just had to get this image down after seeing it one day in the city. I took various artistic liberties, but it reminds me enough of the feeling I had looking at the shadows casting off the Empire State building into peach clouds, the sun setting behind it. I didn't capture the awesomeness of that view in its wholeness- but I tried in the little time this took. I hope you can get a glimpse at what I saw, and felt.

hey there Herschel

2008-06-12T21:39:00.001-07:00

1) standing full-body portrait.

I decided to make his lab coat a lab jacket... ??? (just cut off the sleeves and lower half) Does that defeat the purpose of a lab coat? Ah... well...

he is a quirky guy to begin with.

2) This is a concept portrait of Moth's boss, Herschel, the lepidopterist and bar owner. As he is a scientist, I stayed along the tradition of making him older and have some kind of facial hair (let's people get him more easily, with the lab coat especially, and the appearance implies experience), but I wanted to add some fun twist with having bright red hair rather than gray, and a mohawk-ish cut (it droops a bit to one side). I hope its neat!

Herschel is a quiet and kind person with a warm smile (although the mustache hides it a lot). He's kind of weird in that when you talk to him, he'll seem distracted and will tend to look past you at other things even though he is listening and responding clearly. Ironically, when he does meet eyes with people, he will gaze intently... making them feel awkward.

p.s.- he has a small bump on his forehead... just a benign skin imperfection. People tend to look at it. He doesn't care though.

the moth bar

2008-06-07T16:52:00.000-07:00

Early in the morning, Cliff wipes off the dust on a mug.

He probably keeps the cleanest down-town bar in the city. It looks kind of classy at this hour, but at night it's just like any other bar with the darkness, the loudness, and the neon and colored lights. Cliff doesn't own the place, but the owner highly prizes him as one of the best bartenders he's got.

The boss is a lepidopterist (biologist specializing in moths and butterflies) which is where the bar name comes from.

spiral bound pad

2008-06-05T16:33:00.000-07:00

These are some of the first sketches during the development of Moth and Vaitea. Moth hasn't changed around much although his facial features waver too much for my liking between drawings (not counting different expressions which call for variation). Vaitea was a tough one for me because I really liked the first sketch I ever made of her (not shown here). I tried to replicate that look in later drawings without having a reference but it didn't look right... usually I'm pretty good with remembering my characters' designs but she eluded me. I finally pulled that first sketch out and made a good enough copy of it in my sketch book... the full body drawing of her next to the heads is that sketch. The heads there are me experimenting with different looks.

I want to stay true to the idea that Vaitea doesn't have a stereo-typical comic-book female body... but she is still pretty. I have to try hard to keep her proportions together in every pose... its tough because its so easy to draw the generic and proportional female when sketching quickly. She has larger hips and legs, but they are short not long and thin. She doesn't have a large chest. She has to have just the right head size- otherwise she'll look like a kid. I'm still getting a feel for her eyes and nose, on how large or small to make them.

Hope you guys liked the drawings. I feel pretty good about their designs but their "souls" need to develop!

MOTH

2008-06-03T22:29:00.001-07:00

This is Moth, the lead character of some amorphous story I'm slowly creating. His real name is Cliff. He constantly carries around a notepad, a pencil, and a pen. He was a bartender but now he's wrapped up in other things... like adventures and stuff.

I believe it's really important to get a personal project going even though my job may encompass most of my weekday hours. Even though I may get less sleep each night... I think it's that important. I talked to an awesome co-worker today, Mike, who has been in the comic industry for years and has also worked in 2d animation, and other graphic design work. He confirmed today my feelings on this so that's really encouraging... my feelings that I really need to just get my work out on the web, a project- I gotta tell my own story. It's amazing how fast business can move through the net, but first I have to create the art for my business which is a slow process. My dear friend Christine has been a big inspiration on this already, as she has made her way creating her own projects, seeing them through to completion. I am truly in the infant stages of my own first story I'm planning to put entirely online, but I will do it! Here on this blog as well as on my deviantart, I'll gradually build it up. Please wish me the best.

In other news, for those of you who are thinking, "We never saw your thesis- where is it?!"

I have a website now! It's very... very... VERY simple and just starting off but you may view my thesis there in the "story" section. Check it out- lemme know what you think!

REDCHIMPANZEE.com <--my website

2008-04-29T17:09:00.000-07:00

I finished putting together a 2d character design portfolio so I'm pretty happy about that, and now on to all the other things I have to do... oh boy. The Earthworm Jim I drew was for one of my instructors who has been super kind and supportive of me. I still think its not much in showing my thanks but I hope he likes it! The other two are just cropped from larger pages with more characters for my portfolio.

I would like to say that Gurihiru is still inspiring and influencing me so much. I don't know where I would be without their great artworks. So, these works were inspired by them as well as others... I have been using blue and red color pencils because of Sasaki, the pencil and ink artist. I know traditional animators have been doing that for a long time, but it's new for me and I love it. Thank you Gurihiru~!

NY Comic Con

OK- so my super late NY comic con report! Time to sound geeky. It was super awesome!!! I enjoyed it a lot and want to go again next year. I definitely got worn out by the second day but everything I did on the first made it more than worth it to me. I got to see a number of artists I admire, for instance I got to meet "Cheeks" in person and even get a Robin head sketch! He is a really friendly guy, it helped me feel less nervous meeting one of my big art-role models, haha.

I also could've gotten an autograph from Jim Lee but I wanted to try getting a sketch and the time I saw him it was autographs only... so I tried for the next day but didn't see him again. :( I even brought my Hush book to sign- ah man!

I bought two artbooks and many cool comic books; some I knew of and others I am new to like "Atomic Robo"! With all the stuff I have to do I haven't gotten to read them yet (for shame!) but I know they will all be great. I want to sit back and enjoy them once all my work is done.

The creators of Avatar were there too! I saw special concept art, preview trailers, and clips of the upcoming episodes, it was crazy... fangirls were screaming there heads off. I now have an Avatar poster on my wall signed by Bryan and Mike!

Next time I would like to have more energy to do more things, like spend more time in the artist alley~ and to get more autographs I missed! I look forward to next year.

spag het ti

2008-04-10T14:49:00.001-07:00

Today was my first time to the Central Park Zoo. It's pretty neat and I find it very beautiful. It's small but after all it's a zoo within a park, within Manhattan, so it's a fine size. I saw most of the animals and especially liked the tamarin monkeys and polar bears, although no snow monkeys were showing (they were cleaning the area). I also finally saw red pandas in person- finally! The only thing was... they were sleeping. They are mostly nocturnal so its understandable, and they were still super cute... got two sketches of them.

After that, I tossed a frisbee around with Will (the frisbee sensei!) in the park itself. The weather was so awesome.

Then my roomate and I spontaneously made lasagna! Yummeh!

Yesterday, I got "Professor Layton" for DS. The art direction is really charming, and totally my kind of game. I like the little animated cut scenes and the puzzles are fun... I just wish I was smarter.

It's great to be at this stage in senior year... not much time left... I make it sound like summer vacation has broken loose but don't get me wrong, I'm totally anxious about a ton of different things and got a large bundle of work I have to finish which is unsettling (demo reels, polished finalized thesis, gallery exhibit preparations, small concept art stuff... planning my future...).

That term, "THE FUTURE" has never felt closer... truly like a door a few paces ahead waiting to be opened. I gotta get myself in order.

The image above is a random doodle. I wanted to try using a western theme but amping the colors... the result is a spaghetti sauce looking piece.

check point save

2008-04-06T22:50:00.000-07:00

Thesis was outputted to DV tape on Monday and that went well all things considered- a huge hurdle has been made! For those of you who are saying, "outputDVwha?", basically a finished version was handed in that is to be shown to faculty, classmates, and industry reps at the first screening. This is for successful graduation. In the meantime, a second more polished version of thesis will be worked on and then I hope to once and for all really feel done, posting it online and all that jazz. Wooo! I feel bad for not showing you guys any little animation previews or render previews along the way, but I needed to focus 100% on getting done without much distraction... and it worked! Now I can sorta get back to all those internety things- yay! Plus, I just felt I wouldn't do justice to the short film unless I could show it in it's entirety (didn't wanna give anything away ;P ). So, gotta wait a bit longer, and work just that extra bit... then everything will be dandy!

Oh, and the picture above is a doodle I just made since I feel awkward posting only text here. Even robots make art...?!

Have fun!

2008-02-23T15:19:00.000-08:00

This is mainly for you guys who don't know about my personal art. Plus, I thought I would mix it up a bit and post something other than thesis work (but I am still working on that of course, you better believe it!). Here are some artworks I've done in 2007 and some now in 2008. You can find these artworks and others I've done on my deviantart page here: gingashi.deviantart.com

Lemme know what you think~ I hope you guys like it!

...to a theater near you!

2008-02-18T18:47:00.000-08:00

Today was the submission deadline for thesis poster images. You were allowed to submit as many as you wanted for consideration, and even make images for postcards- but I put all my time into this one poster. I hope that it will be selected- if so, there will be a huge glossy poster in the SVA Computer Art building on one of the walls... so wish me luck!

This image makes me really happy, and I'm so pleased with how things came out... it's like, a symbol that I've accomplished something big so far... but of course, I've still got a long ways to go in this short time left. I want to see these guys moving on screen and beyond these still images in their final renders already!

HENSHIN!

Read

2008-02-15T18:38:00.001-08:00

Yay. This is my first test render shot (just this single frame for now) that has this degree of finish with a completed background and completed character with completed animation all here. It's pretty much a shot that could be rendered out completely if not for the constant revisions that can always be made to things. It's just a test after all... doesn't feel super final or concrete but it's getting there.

A note on the books: I don't know who made those beautiful book spines but I give them credit for their wonderfulness... Those are taken from various stock images which I then adjusted as needed to fit my thesis' look and colors, and then applied to the polys... but for the most part they are intact from how the look in the original photos. And there you go- some kind of magic trick revealed... I guess??? (I just needed to say that because I'd feel a bit guilty if people thought I painted those one by one... oh no nooo....)

Keep working hard everyone we can do it. I really hope you like the look of this shot.

Thesis Love

2008-02-01T11:11:00.000-08:00

This is for you guys. Let's work our hardest and our best in these final months. We can do it!

Edit: note this is a picture featuring Will Clark's thesis character "Warren", David Han's alien, and my character "Read".

-Eric!

catch the 3:10

2008-01-26T21:00:00.000-08:00

today's lil' bit of progress. :) I hope the train station makes a cool impression with the graffiti.

ants in pants in rants

2008-01-21T23:50:00.001-08:00

Working better and better as the mind sharpens towards the goal... blurry, but getting clearer. Concentration... need to level up in that. The age old battle between what one feels like doing (drawing cartoons) and what one should be doing (thesis) has been at it again but I will try my best to prioritize. After a better and slightly longer work day than yesterday, I ended it with a doodle (well, I need that outlet right?). The convoluted background is a slightly more updated render with shop signs! Don't mind my doodles all over the picture... I was actually trying out to see what colors and additional models/elements may be needed, like giant satellite dishes!... ???

p.s.- I still think some sort of 2d animation elements would be amazing for this thesis. But that's just a whiff of a thought- gotta focus on my 3d right now!

To arms!

2008-01-18T22:29:00.001-08:00

Are you guys getting tired of my dolled up renders? I kind of am. With not so much as two months still left for thesis I am working on getting shaders and textures done so I can render the front animation portions while still being able to move forward with the animations. Since I am focusing on the environment for the time being I still won't show any animations yet- but I thank you guys who did get to see what I have in the labs and whom all gave kind feedback and constructive input! I am pretty much done with the animation of the civillian side of things (the whole intro being their everyday-sides first)- so it's up to the heroe-sides to finish the job now. Just Keith is left to be finished with blendshapes and weighting then the whole team is golden. And... an egg... one vicious alien-laser-spewing-egg is looming over me. After I complete the environment's textures I'll finish up the characters' textures too... gotta get to some test renders quick to debug if need be.

Anyhow- up there are three more further developed concept/renders to close in on just how exactly I want this intangible-amorphous thing to finally look. But- as we all know, the word "final" is nowhere near these images either, but it's certainly more than the starters I had when I first made this blog! Cheers to progress~ of any kind, big and small! Since these were just mock ups, I just used old renders of the characters and so those are not the latest of the models (sorry). Only the town is updated there.

Winter break was lovely- oh so lovely, but no more. To arms brothers~ let's go slay some monster theses! ("thesis" in plural form, I have just learned from dictionary.com, is "theses"... but I still like to blurt out thesisisiss or thesiIIiiii...)

-later all, lemme know what you think of the LOOK! W.I.P. look mind you~

sam keith & read...

2007-12-02T22:45:00.000-08:00

...are rigged and ready to go~! They've been weighted to the tasks that will be needed of them and so that helped to make things quicker though I did face quite a few obstacles. The blendshapes for their expressions are also completed (I am so happy Read just needs eyebrow movements... that's all there is to it)! Here's just a little snapshot of them in poses. Unfortunately, you can't see from just this that Read has eyebrows (they're completely invisible here... that'll need shaders to help out) and if you notice, Sam's chewin' on a toothpick.

After I complete a rig I usually will show it to Dave and he'll test it out and pose it to see what works well or doesn't work well while having fun with the character. It's really cool being able to get feedback on the rigs like that. The first two neat poses there are actually his playing around with the rig... and then there is my wonderfully uninspired Read pose... haha. Hope you're liking the progress- I will do my best to animate the shots that have these "civilian" versions in them and get those completed.

In other news, thanks to Dae I finally got to see all of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagan! Its such a mind blowing anime and its been a great big help in inspiring me for thesis. I'd really like to use some techniques for explosions, speed lines, backgrounds, and dust clouds that I've seen in the show, and maybe even convey a similar energy the show gives off in my final thesis through the fight scene that will take place. I already wanted to have a lot of dynamic energy in my thesis to begin with, and then there came along Gurren Lagan and it's now challenged me to push everything further!

Hello Earth

2007-11-19T23:59:00.001-08:00

I watched Tekkonkinkreet after I got it and I really love it! What a treat and what a great way to get more inspired. I also watched the extras, and the extras on the Paprika dvd and both have helped a lot in firing me up. So today in response to this positive energy I worked on some tests. I tried out some textures with the buildings, and also had fun experimenting with compositing- to give myself a feel for how the character may look with the painterly background. From the tests I've determined that the painted textures route is a really good route to go. This image isn't a cg painting. The background is a render, and the character is also a render but from a separate scene, and I comped the two together. The only painting that was done was additional clouds and dust, some post lighting and color treatments, and I lightened Keith's mustache a bit. For a test I'm very pleased with the results, and I look forward to getting to the official stuff! Note once again, this is just a w.i.p. test, so things will definitely change~ cool!

2007-11-17T21:23:00.001-08:00

Am I going forwards or backwards? Progress is slow these days. Really all that's going on is UVing... lots of UVing... fixing models up and adding final things... so I don't got any render shots for ya- but I'm looking forward to rigging them, that's what I really want to get to... Also, gotta get to more environment models and further the "set". I want to make the time period more modern (what I had blocked in first was really old western...). I'm thinking of using a lot of patterns and colors if I can to make the world interesting and maybe even bizarre.

Want to know some random news? I recently bought Paprika (just came out recently to DVD here in US!) and Tekkonkinkreet! Weeee! I love the creativity these films exude. It was Mind Game that really helped set me on a new direction for thesis, so I'm excited about Tekkonkinkreet multiplying that inspiration and drive and solidifying the goal for a crazy cool visual style.

The artist Taiyo Matsumoto, whose manga Tekkonkinkreet is based off of, also did a comic called "No.5" which I saw 5 or 6 years ago. I read the first volume and was really immersed and really wanted to know what happened next, but it was only till last year that I saw vol.2. Unfortunately by then I forgot the specifics of vol.1, but that didn't stop me from getting the 2nd one since I didn't want that one to disappear too. The art is really fun and funky. I want to be uninhibited like that art...

action figures!

2007-11-02T18:46:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks. I've been working on blocking in the environment and doing texture + lighting tests with it. I also finished UVing Keith and tried seeing what giving him a painted texture look would be like (thank you Will for the link to Ben Fiquet which inspired the painterly style... although mine isn't on his level haha). I tried out this "SSS fake" as well and the results are pretty neat although I haven't played with it much.

There in the middle is all the characters just thrown in together so I could take this pic. There's Read (the girl). Yay. This reminds me of looking at a shelf of toys. Oh, and Sam's poncho is up like that cuz it's the default pose before it gets nClothed.

Last weekend I reworked the fight scene so I'll have to storyboard out the newer and better version. Much thanks to Dave for helping me out with the choreography and camera shot ideas, brainstorming with me and helping me make sure the fight becomes more polished. Reworking the fight scene also has cut down on some of the scary tough animations I would have had to do... whew!

Well that's all for now~ hope you like the new shots!

Let's enjoy cake!

2007-10-24T06:41:00.001-07:00

Went back and touched up the previous models I've worked on for thesis... although, I'll need to do some final-ok-stop-now-its-just-right things before I can rest easy about them... and then the new stuff: Sam (the lanky emo kid) and Keith (construction worker...). I made Keith first and then with his topology being way better than his hero form, I adjusted the hero too. Today's work was Sam... still got things to tweak as well but this is it for now. I'm pretty happy with the way they've come out... but I'm also very sleepy right now. G'morning...

Also, Thank you Team Fortress 2 for being a great inspiration and an awesome visual reference... and a really super crazy fun game! Now I have a glowing orange-box sitting there screaming at me... but no-! I musn't!... must resist for the moment! Got much too much work to do~!

p.p.s - Portal is so way trippy cool. :O

TENANTS

2007-10-11T14:47:00.001-07:00

So a while ago I came up with a lil story called "Tenants" after I was doodling some random characters. Here's three that I made at once, and I hope to keep making more sometime. It's a really nice way to get some busy mental energy focused into something fun and not work related- haha. I imagine this could be a comic of some sort. I have the basic plot outlined but I won't bog ya down with it here- ask me about it sometime if you're interested. ;) Or, maybe as more developments come up I'll go more into detail... but this is all stuff that can only be done in the little spare time there is after thesis takes up most of it (or... should... uhm).

Salute!

2007-10-10T20:52:00.000-07:00

Finished making the leader character, Sam, in his hero form on Tuesday. It's really exciting to see the characters transform from 2D to 3D. Like the librarian, there are still things to be tweaked and done, but here is a preview shot! Also, he's not rigged yet, I just did a quick temp one for posing for the pictures. Dave played around with it and made that cool reclining pose, tanks man! Then I used a set from an old homework assignment to place him in. Looks like Sam is taking a long needed break from fighting villains and monsters.

Hope he looks cool to ya'll~ later!

Librarian Henshin

2007-10-06T21:34:00.000-07:00

Yatta~! My first model is on its way. Still have to do some final touches, and then get to UVing. I dunno if I'll be painting many atlas map textures or relying more on shaders, and I'd also like to mudbox this for some cloth wrinkles and all those extra lil' details to polish it off. I still have so much to learn about things like that...

Even so, I couldn't help but do some quick test renders with some freeware shaders and make some fun comps. Oh yeah, and I just tried out nCloth for the first time today (just a tip of the iceberg play), that's how I got the scarf flowing! I didn't paint those folds into the scarf, they just came out naturally in maya. I'm so amazed at the awsome-ness of this vast program of which I am an ant.

Well, Hope you like 'em!
...I need to learn more!!!

Coloring heroes

2007-10-01T23:20:00.001-07:00

I colored two illustrations today for some relaxation and concentration. It's fun to draw these guys as if I was doing fanart or something... but- they're my own super heroes! In the thesis itself, I need to concentrate on the specific story + action there... but when it comes to these drawings, I can just have fun and play with the characters and their personalities come out even more... let's just hope all that character will really show through in the thesis!

What's that blue thing? Well- you'll see soon! Enjoy!

Heroes GO !

2007-09-28T21:51:00.000-07:00

So I wanted my thesis to be composed of action and comedy. Action for the fast shots, dynamic camera angles, and character animations; comedy for a fun atmosphere and for any humor that will hopefully stick in viewers' minds better than action which is harder to remember. On top of that I really would like to experiment, having interesting and diverse visual styles and effects for this thesis. With all that in mind I decided I'd go for the good ol' super hero genre- specifically the super sentai type. "Henshin a go go baby!" ~ Viewtiful Joe.

The main characters are a construction worker, a skinny emo guy, and a librarian. Just wanted to go the other way than have all fit youngsters. Below are their hero forms! These are all concept arts, so colors and designs may adjust, but they are for the most part the final designs as I already went through a thorough conceptual phase (I may post some of the past sketches sometime). Hope ya like 'em! I've grown quite fond of these guys!

Press Start !

2007-09-26T23:37:00.000-07:00

Hi all! I'm looking forward to posting thesis progress and art stuff here. Hope you folks enjoy what you see- so leave a comment now and then if ya like, I'd really appreciate it. So for a first post, we begin with some heart warmin' oekaki drawings I did of some of my characters this past summer. The last image is a single colored still of a small 2d animation project I was working on just for fun.