Pollutopia Ark - Pollutopia and Emma's Owl, water-colour

From Top to Bottom:
1. Pollutopia Ark - Pollutopia, water colour, 2011
2. Framed
3. Concept Sketch 1
4. Concept Sketch 2
5. Emma's Owl, water colour, 2011
6. Sketch
7. Concept

Pollutopia Ark - Pollutopia,
I wasn't sure what to call this one so I just decided to leave it as 'Pollutopia'. Part of the on-going series, I'm trying to develop the kind of scenes you will see in Pollutopia and I'm still working on colour-schemes. These characters are all related being that they were all born on the same page of my sketch pad. Bacchus makes a little appearance in the top right corner and I didn't add too much colour to him to separate him from the rest. He is the observer. I don't have names for any of the rest of them except the Pollutopian Floating Mine which is the Earth-like orb in the botton-right corner with tentacles sticking out.

Emma's Owl,
I made this for my sister's birthday. She mentioned she likes owls so this was my best shot in one attempt. Hadn't used water colour for a while but I enjoyed it a lot and I have begun making more.

Studio Tapu Sculpture - Hruby Flame Memorial, Bone

This is my first real sculpture and I made it to commemorate my father-in-law who recently passed away. He had actually commissioned this piece about a year ago after seeing the above concept sketch and suggested with a few changes it would make a nice sculpture. I wanted to document the process to show the family how the sculpture came to be. I couldn't find the sketch that he made over my design but it looked more like what I created than the original concept. Mark was a huge loss to our family and he will be missed. I like the idea that this flame will stand as a reminder of the light that he brought into our family and the lives of many others.

Photgraphy/Video - JUNE-BUG-TAPU

Last year around this time there were a bunch of June-bugs flying around. I found a couple wings and brought them home facinated by the rich green colors. I guess it is that time of year again and a couple days ago I heard this loud buzzing sound coming from my studio. I found this guy clumsily flying around banging into the walls over and over. It had gotten into some cob-web and was having trouble. I snapped a couple shots and got the above video then attempted to catch it with a couple BK cups. At first I had no trouble catching it in the cups but when I released it over the gate the stupid thing flew immediately back in. It bumped into my dog Giblets a couple times and he seemed amazingly ok with its presence (usually he would try to eat anything like that or at least stomp out it's existence). I caught and released it two more times before it finally got the message it wasn't supposed to be hanging around. I had considered creating a June-bug logo for Studio Tapu so I am taking this encounter as some kind of mystical June-bug sign or blessing for Studio Tapu!

Photography - Creatures and things of Omaha

Most of these images were taken at a reserve in Omaha around mid-August. There were many little critters running/hoping/flying around and some I had never seen in real life before (including the praying mantis and the creepy spider). We are looking at upgrading cameras so that I can get more out of images like these.

Illustration - Reaper Bandana Developments/Final, AI

This series of images should give some insight into how I might construct a specific vector image using various resources to pull it all together. Inspired by a really old illustration I saw of the Grim Reaper sitting on a gravestone with an hourglass in his hand. The client wanted a unique design that was very dark with a contemporary look that still seemed authentic to motorcyclists.

Graphic Design - Logo Design, AI

Very simple logo design for a local real estate agent.

Illustration - More Dagon Concepts, pencil sketches

A couple more Dagon concepts. Still trying to figure out where to go with this project (Illustrating Lovecraft's Dagon short story) as I want to create an accurate rendering of the story while really letting loose with my own style. The man is the protagonist from the story, a sailor from back in the day. I want his beard to resemble the island and possibly the creatures. The monster is a more loose rendering of the creature from the story. I want it to be at the same time alien, hideous and almost human but still something that could live in the ocean.

Pollutopia Arc - Mantra 01 (PEBBLES), Acrylic on Canvas

While flicking through some of my wife's science books I discovered the outline of this image and felt compelled to fill in some of the circles with Pollutopian colors. I think it was a biology book and I forget what the diagram was actually of. Because I am still developing the color scheme for Pollutopia, it was nice to create a very simple painting with the main colors I have been using all together.