i am kevin luong

Daily Doodle - Let's Get Kraken

2012-01-29T17:13:00.000-08:00

Work doodle on a Post-it note.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Wrapped

2012-01-28T12:53:00.000-08:00

Work doodle on a Post-it note.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Lamp

2012-01-27T07:20:00.001-08:00

Double Daily Doodle, as promised!

Work doodle on a Post-it note.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Padlock

2012-01-27T00:13:00.000-08:00

Work doodle on a Post-it note.Dangit! I missed a day already. I thought I was going to have a decent streak going with all of these saved up. I'll make it up by posting another in the morning (if I don't forget again).

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Hourglass

2012-01-25T18:34:00.000-08:00

Work doodle on a Post-it note.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Firejaw

2012-01-24T22:33:00.000-08:00

Work doodle on a Post-it note. I've been doing 1-2 of these everyday (Got three done today!) so I've got a nice queue lined up for daily doodle posts.

--kevin

Slice And Dice - Tee Of The Day

2012-01-23T21:03:00.000-08:00

My collaboration with my brother, Brian, got Tee Of The Day on Mintees today!
Yay! We did it! TOGETHERRR!! :D

--kevin

Slice And Dice

2012-01-23T05:22:00.000-08:00

I've done a few collaborations with awesome artist, and my brother, Brian Luong, before, but this project marks our first collaboration together since we've started pursuing illustration professionally.

The project started off as a crude sketch I drew up and sent him while I was bored on the job on location. It was something dumb and I never thought to take it any further than a time-killing doodle. Brian found it interesting and we've been talking about collaborating for some time at that point, so he took it on himself to start the project off. We switched the Photoshop file back and forth about four times, not including the couple times we swapped during the digital sketching phase.

I was a little nervous that it was going to turn out as a disaster, seeing that our illustration qualities are so different, but I'm very pleased about the result and can't wait to start another collaboration soon.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Highlighter

2012-01-21T14:35:00.000-08:00

Originally named this post "Hi-liter" but it looked too close to "Hitler" at a glance.

Highlighter doodle full of smoke, fire, zombie skulls, slime, jaw-eyeballs, tongues, veils and a dolphins with see-through heads.
There actually is a fish with a transparent head.

--kevin

Boyce Avenue - Find Me

2012-01-07T21:06:00.001-08:00

I'm particularly stoked about this project because it's the first time I've illustrated professionally for motion graphics/video/film. It all started with me stumbling upon the job listing on one of my frequent Craigslist browses. Among the job details (illustrated stills to be animated for music video, etcetera) there was an example image depicting the style that was sought after.The attached example looked easy enough, but I wanted to be sure I could do it, and get it done quickly, since there were five scenes to be done in that matter. I recreated the example image quickly (in about ten minutes) and attached it to my response:After not hearing anything for a few days, I figured that there was already someone else for the job/I wasn't right for the job and forgot about it. A week later, I get a reply and the director and band want to move along with the project. The brief was discussed and I started knocking out a test scene. After getting an "A-OK" on that, I continued to complete the rest of the scenes. They were taking longer than I predicted, but the process was pretty smooth. I managed to complete three out of the six scenes until I started getting stumped with the compositions. Rather than waste time on scenes that may be rejected, I sent off rough sketches of what I had in mind for approval. The band ended up liking my sketches more than the finished, paper-cut-outty scenes and a project-wide style-change was in order. Not only that, but the video deadline was approaching fast and the only way to ensure that all the scenes were completed to the bands' approval without the wasted time shooting emails back and forth was for me to work on location of the bands' next video shoot. Working primarily digital for the last three years, which make up for all the years of my illustration "career", you'll probably surprise to know that I don't have a laptop. Nope. Don't have one. After seriously considering bringing my entire PC to the shoot, I was able to have one loaned to me. When I got to the shoot, the entire direction of the scenes had been changed, and all of the scenes I've already composed were were scrapped and unusable. The shoot lasted for about fourteen hours, which I felt like I worked for the entire time redoing all the scenes from scratch (all while listening to the same play-back song for the new video over and over, haha). I feel like most of the revisions happened withing the last hour, when the band actually had time from shooting to direct me. Trying to draw with people over your shoulder is probably one of the most horrible things I've ever experienced (not really, but yeah). The scenes were finished and sent to the director via thumb-drive at the end of the night. I felt really bad for the person animating my scenes, since they were no where near as organized as I wanted them to be, but I was way too exhausted to care about something like that.

Here's the final video and my "treated" scenes. The animator did a stellar job making my roughs look decent.

--kevin

Veal - E-zine

2012-01-04T03:45:00.000-08:00

Remember that skull collaboration I did a few months ago? Well, the e-zine just dropped! Check out the awesome interpretations of the provided skull template by the likes of Craig Robson, Drop, my bro, and others. Check it out! (Firstsies!)

--kevin

Savor The Chill - Kong Cone

2011-12-30T01:17:00.000-08:00

Savor The Chill is an up-and-coming vegan ice cream truck based out of Portland, Oregon who specializes in small-batch frozen desserts made from organic, locally available ingredients. They are in need of funds for commercial equipment to get the company off the ground and would greatly appreciate donations. I designed a die-cut sticker as one of the many donation prizes available, which also include button packs, tee shirts, pints of ice cream, and an opportunity to create a flavor that will be featured for an entire season. Donations can be made here!

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Happy Holidays!

2011-12-25T02:13:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!

--kevin

Plush Christmas Ornaments

2011-12-24T00:17:00.000-08:00

First set of handmade Christmas ornaments. Crammed to get these done for the Christmas Eve. family festivities, tomorrow.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Wrapping Paper Doodles

2011-12-19T21:34:00.000-08:00

What happens when the box your brother's Christmas present is in is too big for leftover wrapping paper? Put it in a smaller box? No. Cover the top with a sheet of peek-proof butcher paper and cover it in wrapping paperesque doodles.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Tiger Balm

2011-12-14T17:46:00.001-08:00

Holy crap! It's almost been a month since my last daily doodle!

Had a chat with a friend about Tiger Balm and its origination. Concluded that it is made from the tears of tigers that have been arm-wrestled into submission.

--kevin

New Business Cards: Round Two

2011-12-03T22:37:00.000-08:00

I was almost fresh out of the first run of business cards I printed awhile back (I don't recall handing out that many, but I guess I did), so I spent the evening whipping up another batch and trying out a new color. I was a bit skeptical at first, but the red and yellow combo has to be one of my favorites. Stuff's in your face!I also experimented with some paper scrap, trying to make a more wallet-friendly card. I think they came out pretty sweet.

--kevin

Fall '11 Illustration Exhibit

2011-12-02T02:03:00.000-08:00

"Wheelin' & Dealin'" was featured in CSUN's Fall '11 Illustration Exhibit. Unfortunately, I'm a bad blogger and instead of giving you guys a heads up, I'm posting about the show the night before it comes down. It features some rad work from former classmates, friends, and brother. Swing by if you're in the neighborhood, check out some art, and pick up the sweet show postcard my pal Jeromy designed.
--kevin

Daily Doodle - Rose Skully

2011-11-16T01:58:00.000-08:00

Thoughts during drawing: "This is pretty neat."

Thoughts after finishing drawing: "This is pretty dumb."

Kind of looks like a cupcake if you squint.

--kevin

Tee Of The Day - Meanwhile, In The Sky...

2011-11-09T22:03:00.000-08:00

The shirt I did for Road To Ransome got Tee of the Day award today on Mintees! The shirt was printed on a bunch of different shirts on different colors, and you can pick it up from the band's webstore. Can't wait to post the album-art version of this design, in its full-color glory.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Presents On Yo Presents

2011-11-08T18:10:00.000-08:00

I thought I would put my tiling-image craze to some good use. Here's a proposed wrapping paper design I submitted to Chirply, a voting-based site for cards, notebooks, and wrapping paper. If you guys have time, I would really appreciate votes. Thanks!

www.chirply.com/designs/520-presents-on-yo-presents

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Remember, Remember...

2011-11-05T13:52:00.001-07:00

Happy 5th of November, everybody!
--kevin

Shallow Water - Defy Thirst

2011-11-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

Design for Daniel Campbell's new charity clothing company that features a new limited edition shirt and charity, monthly. This month's shirt is limited to forty-seven pieces and benefits the Defy Thirst organization. You can read more about it here: thisisshallowwater.com/index.html
According to Shallow Water's twitter, the shirt sold out in forty-one minutes. Sweet.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Halloween Costume

2011-11-01T22:56:00.001-07:00

My girlfriend and I dressed up as an elderly couple for this year's Halloween. We were pretty adorable the first time we put the costumes on for a party, but we didn't have much time and had to rush the second time for trick-or-treating, so we were more disheveled and creepier/scarier/elder'er.

--kevin

SJC Custom Drums - Burger Wrap

2011-10-27T17:48:00.000-07:00

Custom burger drum wrap done for SJC's artist series drums. The wrap consists of a seamlessly tiling image that continuously scrolls. I initially pitched this idea to be used with Yamaha-style wood hoops with a natural/light brown burst, to act as the buns, but the brass hardware is still tight.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Fuel

2011-10-26T01:19:00.000-07:00

Halloween themed tiling wallpaper for Illustration Friday. This week's theme is "fuel." Gasoline and cars was too obvious, so I revisited my sugar-powered Halloween ghouls concept I originally did for the band, Energy, back in 2009 (dang, that's quite a while ago). These little dudes are going to have all the energy they need to stay up all night scaring children, watching horror movies, throwing up, and whatnot. Instead of doing a slap-together job like my last wallpaper, with simple elements, I wanted to create more detailed, solid characters. I really liked how it came out. Kind of looks like they're chowing down on some guts. Awesome.Some detail shots:
Little vampy is my favorite of the bunch.
Here's the tiling image:
You can also grab a better quality version from my Flickr.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Halloween Tile

2011-10-25T00:37:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make a tiling wallpaper in celebration for Halloween, so here it is! This is the second or third tiling design I've done, but definitely not the last. The spacing of the elements came out tighter than I intended. Need to work on that.Here's are the tiling images:

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Dead Fuzz Skull Collab

2011-10-17T07:48:00.000-07:00

Key-gnawing skull done for James Fenwick's skull collaborative e-zine. Get involved! deadfuzz.blogspot.com/2011/10/big-skull-collab.html

I started a key-hole adorned skull awhile back, but it didn't get too far until I was dissatisfied with it and dropped the project. I rarely do skull-for-the-sake-of-skull drawings, so I thought the collab was a great opportunity to give it another shot. I'm much more satisfied with the process and outcome this time around.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me

2011-10-13T20:57:00.000-07:00

Currently listening to Touché Amoré's Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me. I love the PTSBBAM logo. Nick's, TA's guitarist who designs all of their artwork, concept and execution are pretty inspiring.

"It’s meant to convey a couple things: a sun and road converging, something being omitted (the common use for an asterisk), as well as physically dividing the space, particularly the initials for ‘brightness’ and ‘me’ being on opposite sides of the implied road" -Nick

I recommend checking out some of TA's physical releases if you're into graphic design, layout, package design (especially the split they released with La Dispute- holy friggin' die-cut wow), and/or if you're into vinyl in general. Top notch work.
--kevin

Daily Doodle - Listen & Forgive

2011-10-11T22:39:00.001-07:00

I got the idea of drawing current records I'm digging from Mr. Fancy Pants Bryant (www.flickr.com/photos/sirwwoods/sets/72157623462062748/wi....). I already know I'll be doing a ton of these in the future, since there's always something spinning, especially when I'm drawing. Today's drawn record is Transit's latest album, Listen & Forgive. It's not as hard as their past releases, but I'm loving every bit of it. Twinkley daddy leads for the win.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Band Buddies II

2011-10-10T00:20:00.001-07:00

I went to a family party the other night to watch my dad's high school band perform and one of the party goers didn't believe that my brother, girlfriend, and I were illustrators/artists, so after a brief introduction to what an illustrator was, we were commissioned to doodle whatever we wanted on the back of a little paper plate. I was at a blank, but then decided it was time for the band buddies to make a comeback. Included a chubby kick drum this time to anchor down those beats.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Common Ground II

2011-10-09T00:07:00.000-07:00

Here's the second attempt at Xerox lithography. It's also a collaboration with my girlfriend, using her sketches, some of my third-eyes from my Wolf Arms logo, and a corrected version of the original Common Ground collage with the text facing the right way. She laid out and printed everything. Two prints were made from the plate; this version and a second ghost-image version.Collage:
Print:

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Common Ground

2011-10-08T00:04:00.000-07:00

This is the first Xerox lithograph I've ever done. Did it today as a collaboration with my girlfriend when we returned to the university campus to take part in a printing workshop. It was really nice to see friends and faculty again and I hope there are more occasions in the future where I can visit.
I came up with this image on the spot, tearing out pages from magazines and borrowing pens and materials to slap it together. I originally thought that the even was going to be a lecture-type deal with some demonstration, so I didn't bring anything. The swirly thing in the background is from a scan of my girlfriend's sketch, so I guess that makes this a collaboration. Cool! I didn't document the actual process, but here are the phases the project went through:

1)Collage2
3) Print

P.S. I forgot that this wasn't a right-reading printing method, so my type came out all backwards. Haha.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Freaking Out

2011-10-06T23:42:00.000-07:00

More CD cover doodles! My "CD covers" are just sheets of plain paper wrapped around discs/objects of choice, which make it super convenient to draw on. I've been using sheets of paper to cover CD's since middle school. Funny thing is that I still remember the friend I saw do it first. I also remember thinking "what the fudge are you doing, man?" I might've said that too. "Fudge" is something I would've said in middle school.

--kevin

New Business Cards

2011-10-05T23:09:00.000-07:00

I was running out of my old business cards, so I took the opportunity to make some new ones. I wanted something more mature and minimalistic, which wasn't too hard, considering my old card had a bright, ramen-eating samurai on it. I also wanted something textural, tangible, with some "feel" too it, so digital printing was out of the question. The last time I tried to silkscreen fine type was less than satisfactory, so I wasn't going to try that again (at least not when it's hot and dry out). I saw some stamped business cards and was impressed with how vintagey and cool they looked (textures!), so I whipped up the designs and sent them out to the stamp-makers at an almost impulsive pace. As quickly as they were ordered, they arrived and I had to start playing around with them. I ended up getting seventy 3"x3" cards printed this evening, and I'm super stoked about them.I think I have five variations: black on kraft, red on kraft, white on black, red on white, and black on white and some other experimental overlapping messes. I printed more white on blacks and black on krafts, though I should've printed less white on blacks because the paper was crappy and the ink didn't lay down as well as I think it could've. Looks super doom though, and I'm digging how the negative space is filled in. I only printed two black on whites only so I could get a good detail shot. I'll print more in the future, since it's definitely the most legible. I have a great cloth texture stamp that I'm also going to experiment with, overlapping with these stamps. Should make for some cool one-off cards/mini-prints. I'm also looking forward to stamping future outgoing packages, stationary, my sketchbooks, and childrens' faces.

--kevin

Foalio Featured Artist

2011-10-05T19:53:00.000-07:00

I'm a featured artist on Foalio, today!

Here's the description of the site, put best by the site developers: "Foalio is a place for designers to showcase their work and a resource to help them find new jobs. On the flip side, Foalio is also a resource for anyone looking for design work, by placing free job posts and browsing artists, projects or categories for personal favorites."Thanks for the feature, dudes! Reminds me that I need to upload more work there.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Halloween Avatar

2011-10-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

Halloween version of my avatar for Mintees. I just swapped my self portrait with a happy jack-o-lantern. This may or not look more like me.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - C & C

2011-10-04T20:56:00.000-07:00

My GF and I caught Toro Y Moi at the El Rey last night. Show was rad and we got the opportunity to meet Chaz afterwards. Super nice dude. Christina regretted making a face in the photo and asked me to draw over it. I think I did a good job capturing the emotions she was feeling at the moment.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Rain Face

2011-10-02T23:59:00.000-07:00

For some odd reason, the process for this design was all ass-backwards. I think the two key-tones and the lack of additional fill colors caught me off guard.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Hibernate

2011-10-01T15:54:00.000-07:00

Did this for Illustration Friday, a topic-based, weekly challenge that begins every Friday. This week's topic is "hibernation." I had no idea what do draw, so I wiki'ed hibernation, and learned that some birds undergo something similar, but less intense, called "torpor." So I drew a bird catching a z.A special thanks goes out to Alex, for recommending the site. Thanks, dude!

--kevin

Polar Bear Clubs, Zombies in Love, Oppressors, Oh My!

2011-10-01T00:35:00.000-07:00

Tons of goodies showing up in the mail lately. Zombie in Love is a book one of my favorite illustrators, Scott C., illustrated. My brother was giving me crap for ordering a kids' book, but he himself couldn't help shoulder surfing as I flipped through it the first time. My favorite thing about the book is all the little details he's put in that lie outside the radar of the focus of each illustration and spot (if that makes any sense). It definitely reminded me why I dug his work so much and how I've striven (I've never used the pass-tense of "strive" before. I know, it looks weird to me too) to do this very thing since I've started taking illustration "seriously". I can't wait until his artbook shows up this month (supposedly in a couple weeks). Check his work out if you haven't already. You won't be disappointed.

The new Polar Bear Club record finally showed up, a few weeks late due to some pressing mishaps with the bonus 7". Shirt is a bit more "orangey" than mocked, but I'm really digging the texture from not using an under-base (ugh, I miss screenprinting). The gatefold cover isn't a die-cut like I predicted/hoped for, but it's just as awesome/awesomer: spot UV/gloss. The illustrated portions (done by Horsebites and The Black Axe) are glossy while the black and white photographic elements in the background is satin matte. Looks super rad and makes me wonder how a spot UV would look on a toothier stock, like reverse board. The overall design and packaging is inspires me even more to take on a record cover project of my own. Talking multiple folds, die-cuts, spot UV's and all that jazz.
The Oppressors print from Among Villains also showed! Had some dented-tube problems, but those were kindly and swiftly taken care of (Thanks, Jason! ;o). I'm blown away by the design (but I could be a little biased) and the print quality, which was done by Mama's Sauce. My favorite part: metallic red. It's super subtle, but just enough to give me a mini metallic chub. I think are a couple left if anyone is interested.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Sunflower

2011-09-30T22:36:00.000-07:00

Stuff my GF says.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Gelatin Dude

2011-09-29T23:51:00.000-07:00

Why you sweatin' so much? Quick little gelatin dude. I wish I could draw everything as fast as this came out. Kind of looks like a jujube too.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Wooly WIP

2011-09-28T23:03:00.000-07:00

Combing out your ramen? Nah, a work in progress shot of something I'm working on for a collaborative website/blog/internet thingy. Launches in a few days and I'm finally getting around to getting something done because it took me forever to come up with something interesting. I hope some color and additional shading will bring it together.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Chu

2011-09-27T21:58:00.000-07:00

Stuff my GF says. Definitely not the last time I'll be drawing Pikachu for my daily doodle.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - 'Splosion Face Sketch

2011-09-26T23:44:00.000-07:00

I still haven't finished the design from the sketches I posted awhile back. Wanted to draw something with similar elements as the "Rain Face" sketch/design, but wanted it to look more dynamic and violent. I'm on a veil kick lately. No more, I promise. Maybe. We'll, see.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Baby Manta

2011-09-23T22:31:00.001-07:00

My brother is reading a book right now where there are flying manta rays and the main character finds and rescues an abandoned baby. They meow like cats, have fur, and have electrical abilities. Sounded cute, so I wanted to draw one.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Pumpkin Slice

2011-09-22T22:10:00.001-07:00

Stuff my GF says.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Drop

2011-09-21T22:53:00.000-07:00

I used to draw portraits like this a year ago, and haven't done so since. I got inspired today to pick them up again by Thomas, who goes by "Drop" on Emptees/Mintees. Thanks, Thomas. This one's for you!

--kevin

Daily Doodle - KBBQ

2011-09-20T22:15:00.000-07:00

Chowed down on Korean barbecue the other night. Came hungry/starving and left full and burnless. If you never had Korean barbecue, you cook your choice of meats on a grill located at the center of your table. It's tasty and I highly recommend it.
I just cut a bunch of these little cards from leftover sheets of watercolor paper, so I'll be doing more in the future!

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Oots

2011-09-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

No shame.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Sexy Grilled Cheese

2011-09-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

Finally caught up with the Grilled Cheese Truck while it was making local rounds, and it did not disappoint. I got the "Fully Loaded" which was a cheddar grilled cheese with BBQ pork and macaroni and cheese. I got an extra side of mac because the description didn't mention any macaroni, even though it was also called a "Mac & Rib" (hurr durr). The lady got a regular cheddar melt with mac and a full stack of tots, which she was so kind enough to share. Deliciousness, but so full. We took a gander at the Canoga Art Walk right after (where the truck was catering), which was neat, but overall uninspiring. My friends would've melted the faces off of that art walk and the walk-goers. Remembering the sexy grilled cheese from a couple nights before, I did my best to capture its tantalizing lure and seduction.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Mike Shantz

2011-09-17T14:30:00.001-07:00

Portraiture of Shantz for the "Draw Each Other Go" thread on Mintees. While doing this portrait, I realized how much likeness I lose when I get nit-picky and forget to just have fun with it. We'll see how my next ones go.
P.S. Check out Michael's art. 'Tis the bee's knees.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Tom Philibeck

2011-09-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

Portraiture of Tom for the "Draw Each Other Go" thread on Mintees.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Headless Floaty

2011-09-15T10:02:00.001-07:00

Playing around with graphite and gouache on found chipboard. His right arm was supposed to go under his thigh, but I guess he's not so good at tucking cannonballs.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Rain Face Sketch

2011-09-14T22:51:00.000-07:00

--kevin

Daily Doodle - New Glasses

2011-09-13T20:19:00.000-07:00

I actually picked these up last week, but finally got around to drawing and posting about them. They're pretty sweet.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Love Muffins

2011-09-12T23:26:00.000-07:00

I was called "love muffin" yesterday, which lead to some art direction and me drawing a chocolate chip muffin biting the crap out of a blueberry muffin. The perspiration and derpness-expression from sheer pain occurs on an almost daily basis.

--kevin

Shinyyyy Buttonssss

2011-09-12T20:26:00.001-07:00

Super stoked on how these came out. Really fast turnaround and shipping (same state as me). I'll definitely be ordering more from these guys again. Check out auxbuttons for you buttonage. Oh yeah, and they're metallic!! Pew pew pew!

--kevin

Tee of the Day - Wolf Arms

2011-09-11T21:35:00.000-07:00

Yay! My Wolf Arms design, done as part of my Daily Doodle project, got Tee of The Day! It's been awhile since my last TOTD, which was over at Emptees (R.I.P.). This marks my very first TOTD at Mintees, and my fourth TOTD overall.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Burger & Fries

2011-09-11T20:45:00.001-07:00

A little anniversary card for the GF. Burgers are one of my favorite things to draw. I like how they have so many different layers that overlap and offer interesting variation. I didn't go too crazy with these burgers, but maybe I'll try painting a crazy-burg soon.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Happy Birthday, Lorenzo!

2011-09-10T08:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a Mario-themed card I painted up for my girlfriend's little brother who just turned ten a few days ago. I like painting and drawing in watercolors very much, even though I don't think I'm very good at it. My favorite part is how work seems to take on a completely different life and feeling. Plus, it's pretty fun.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Band Buddies

2011-09-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

My brother cheated and "won" (okay, okay, "had an unfair advantage") the contest stated in my last post, so I drew him a bunch of band buddies from my sketchbook that he liked. I didn't draw the chubby kick-drum because I didn't want to ruin the composition. Plus I wasn't so confident drawing the drum-claws without laying down pencil first.I can't put my finger on it, but this little illustration feels too much like Scott C.'s work (other than being the same medium). Perhaps it's the noodly arms and legs and cute little faces? I love and admire his work, but I get the feeling that I'm beginning to step on toes.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Bassline

2011-09-08T20:42:00.000-07:00

This is what I drew on a CD for my girlfriend. I will mail you a doodle if you can guess the album. Bonus points if you can guess the song from which I learned the bassline of.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Wolf Arms

2011-09-07T23:29:00.000-07:00

All done! You'll bee seeing this dude again soonish.I just noticed that yesterday's post was my 100th post on this blog. Shame on me. I'll try to do something special when number 200 comes around.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Christina Attacks Europe

2011-09-06T23:27:00.001-07:00

I complied my girlfriend's photos from her vacation in Europe and drew on the cover (a folded piece of paper) and disc. Here's the cover. I really like the texture of the metallic sharpie on the paper and how it looks scanned up. Please excuse the fold-lines.Coming up with a doodle per day is a lot easier than I initially expected. Cool beans.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Wolf Arms Sketch

2011-09-05T03:12:00.000-07:00

I've been drawing this character all over my sketchbook for the last year and have tried a few times to finalize it into some sort of logo/branding/personal project, but it never came out the way I wanted. The proportions were always off and the right feel was never achieved. I started playing around with it on a whim and it's finally coming around. Here's a the rough sketch before I start inking.

Whoa, two daily doodle posts in a row? Lets see how long this lasts.

--kevin

Daily Doodle - Lumberjerks

2011-09-04T00:35:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try to do quick daily doodles to keep myself busy, and most importantly, drawing. They won't really be daily, but hopefully I can get the ball rolling and make the posts pretty frequent. These will consist of experiments, rough sketches, little finished gems, papier-mâché monstrosities, and whatever else I can scrounge up.

The them of lumberjacks was suggested and here's what I came up with. I wanted to experiment with using forms versus predominantly using lines like I usually do. I used to hate gradients, but I've noticed I've been using them a lot more due to the interest and fascination with split fountains in silkscreening. There's actually more to the illustration, but I cropped it off since there wasn't much going on and it made the doodle look even less finished than it is. The plaid was fun.

--kevin

Chado Tea House

2011-08-25T02:25:00.001-07:00

Had tea time with the lady the other afternoon at Chado Tea Room. It was quite delicious and the atmosphere was nice and comfy. I'm a big tea fan and drink it often, since I'm always up late at night and don't drink coffee. I ordered a chicken tikka panini with fries (the side of ranch I got is probably the best I've ever had), and Christina got the grilled chicken panini with carrot and ginger soup, which was pretty tasty. I'm not sure what kind of ice tea we got, but the potted tea we got was Island Mauritius, which was a strongish black tea that had a rich vanilla aroma and full-bodied taste. Super good. If you ever find yourself in Old Pasadena (or any of the other locations) I highly recommend swinging by.

I wish we took more photos, but here's one of the better ones. Looks like we'll have to make another visit for more pics.

Check out that awesome cat drip-catcher.

--kevin

Sketchbook Doodles

2011-08-17T21:23:00.000-07:00

I started doing random journal-entry-like doodles in my sketchbook yesterday. I haven't been drawing as often as I should and I think doing a few of these everyday will kind of make up for it. I was thinking of redrawing these digitally to get a more finished result, spontaneity of the original scans won me over. I'll continue to post the better looking ones when they come along so my blog doesn't get filled up and potential clients don't get mislead by all these childish scribbles.

--kevin

Polar Bear Club - The View. The Life

2011-08-12T00:44:00.000-07:00

My copies of Polar Bear Club 's The View. The Life arrived in the post today and it's just like I expected: pure awesomeness. Rocking it all day, 'errday. It's gotten me even more anticipated for the full-length due in October, whose art and design was also slayed by The Black Axe and Horsebites. Crossing my fingers for a die-cut gatefold.

--kevin

Mr. Hipp Strikes!

2011-08-05T16:19:00.000-07:00

This lovely package was waiting for me when I returned from Yosemite. I've been wanting to get my mitts on a Dan Hipp art book for some time now and was stoked to see that this one was part of a signed and numbered edition. If that wasn't cool enough, the package was embellished with a couple skully doodles, which made my night. These are the type of little things I enjoy and appreciate and I'm always trying to do the same by throwing in a random doodle and/or print for the fine folks who order goods from me.

Be sure to check out Dan's awesome work and pick up the book (which, by the way, is beautifully printed) if you dig it!

--kevin

I'm Back!!

2011-08-01T01:12:00.000-07:00

I've returned from a week in the beautiful Yosemite. Many a hike was hiked, and many a mosquito bite was bitten, but unfortunately no photo-bombing marmots. There were marmots of the regular variety though!

More photos soonish.

--kevin

Threadskull

2011-07-14T16:52:00.000-07:00

Man VS Zombie's Bloodbath design was featured over at Threadskull. Coolbeans!

--kevin

YES.

2011-07-06T23:24:00.000-07:00

Don't even ask how I got my folks to let me plop a 46"x 35" flat file in the middle of their living room, because I don't even know.

--kevin

A Loss For Words - Medieval

2011-07-01T00:50:00.000-07:00

Having some single-color fun for A Loss For Words. I wish more clients would ask for one-color work- okay, okay, these guys didn't ask for it, but you know what I mean.P.S. I think this is the worst type-job I've ever done. Should've just arched some serif'ed type over the top. I already have an "est. 2000" on there, so that would've been graaaaaand.

--kevin

Man VS Zombie

2011-06-05T19:43:00.001-07:00

I did these designs for zombie-apocalypse-themed clothing company, Man VS Zombie a while back. There was probably a span of six months between the designs and despite only drawing zombies twice during that period, I'm really surprised how different each of them came out. I blame that completely on The Walking Dead.
Though I'm a fan of how the entrails came out in the first design, I'm a bigger fan of the second design because I feel that the zombie-faces had so much more personality. Plus I like the various stages of decay and eyeball'lessness/jawlessness/gumlessness.
Shirts are available at http://www.manvszombie.com/

One of my favorite things to check out on blog posts are sketches and processes, but I don't think I've ever posted my sketches, so here they are! These are a few that were done for the following designs. Things start off really rough!

--kevin

I Did It!

2011-05-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

I graduated from California State University of Northridge and received a Bachelors of Art with honors today! It's been a great experience and I'm entirely grateful for all the wonderful people I've met and all the knowledge I've attained over the last three years. This marks the end of my (planned) schooling, but maybe I'll return one day to earn my Masters Degree.
--kevin

Dead Bunny Promos

2011-04-18T22:11:00.000-07:00

Just finished printing the fronts of some promotional prints. I used three screens, two color with a layer of gloss spot UV for some ghostly swirls or stink lines. Just need to print the backs and these babies will be ready to hit the cutting mat.
These were done for a class assignment where the concept was "loving ugly". Instead of following the given assignment requirements, I proposed my own and strayed from the required format in favor of getting some promotional material printed. The concept I revolved this illustration around is the "ugly" image of death, contrasted with the "loved" and beautiful aspect of the life cycle and returning back to the multiple cycles taken in during an organism's life after death.

--kevin

Little Ones (Part 2)

2011-04-05T01:13:00.000-07:00

These were real fun!

These little prints were originally done for a class assignment, which I chose to base around the hit-and-run incident that occurred at the Critical Mass bike run in Brazil. Perfect timing, because I was really itching to draw something with bikes. Here's the video of what went down at the bike ride (heads up: it's pretty graphic):

It's the smallest print I've done so far (clocking in at 6"x6" and 4"x6"), and probably the smallest I'll ever go. It was interesting setting the whole print up in a way that the split fountain ran in the proper direction and multiple prints were made at once and then divided up later. This is the second time I've used the Xerox and oil method for films and the first time I experienced fine details blowing out during the exposure process. I didn't notice until after I signed and editioned the prints, so I guess it wasn't a big deal.

Here's the normal edition:
Signed and numbered edition of 24
A mix-up added a little special bonus to these prints.

Signed and numbered edition of 8 Here's the variant, which I'm really fond of:
Signed and numbered edition of 9

Now up in the store!

--kevin

CSUN Illustration Exhibition 2011

2011-03-25T10:07:00.001-07:00

I got the opportunity to design a postcard for California State University's 2011 Illustration Exhibition, along with my brother and a couple pals, Jeromy and Sarahe. I also designed the text in the back, which I'm beginning to dislike (should of kept it in graphite). The show goes up today in the Art and Design Center's West Gallery and will be up until April 1st. The opening reception is on Monday at 12am-3pm. Swing by if you're in the neighborhood.

--kevin

Little Ones

2011-03-17T13:23:00.000-07:00

I just finished signing and editioning a run of small art prints. It was a nice change from printing relatively larger poster prints. Being able to cut them all on a medium-sized rotary paper-cutter was wonderful, and it felt awesome having a nice little stack of prints I could easily wrap up and throw into my bag instead of a huge clumsy pile that I have to pack into a box and drag from the shop to my car.
I'll show the prints as well as put them up for sale in my store sometime next week. Hopefully. We'll see.

--kevin

Supersonic Electronic

2011-03-08T19:25:00.001-08:00

I (as well as my brother, Brian) had some work featured on Supersonic Electronic today. I was going to say that I'm super stoked about this, but "super stoked" doesn't even come close to how I feel about it. I was introduce to the blog Fall of last year by my good friend, Christina, and it easily earned its way onto my daily inspirational websites list. Check it out if you're into art and/or need to get your fix of your daily does of inspiration.

Here are the featured works:
TWY Tiki
Cephalopod Chaos
Courage Wolf

--kevin

Poltergeist Annoyance Print

2011-03-06T20:04:00.000-08:00

It's my pleasure to present to you my "Poltergeist Annoyance" print, which I've been working on for the last few weeks and documenting my progress here. It comes from my Illustration III course's first assignment, where I drew two slips of paper from a hat/bucket which contained words that I must incorporate into my concept. The words I selected were "poltergeist" and "annoyance". At first, my idea was to depict a person possessed by a ghost, for such a position would be quite an annoyance. After a few brainstorming sessions, I decided to go with a less obvious approach and focus around my second word more, "annoyance". I wanted to revolve around an individuals threshold for annoyance and how much one could take before that irritation overwhelmed them and began to affect the way they conduct themselves and their routine habits. I treated the "annoyance" part as a physical, smokey and ghostly manifestation, to incorporate the "poltergeist" term.
I tried a lot of new techniques this time around, from working my separations traditionally to exposing with an oiled Xerox printout as my film, and paying close attention to trapping my fill colors with my key linework. I'm very pleased with the amount of texture that made it into the final print and I can't wait to try more textural work in the future, versus my usual clean, digital work.

The print is a two-colored, hand-pulled silkscreen (by yours truly) on French Paper's Speckletone Starch White #100 paper, measures at an easy-to-frame 18"x24", is signed and numbered at a small edition of 21, and is $20. Shoot me an email if you're interested!

--kevin

SJC Custom Drums X Four Year Strong

2011-03-01T19:13:00.000-08:00

I was already stoked when I was first approached to do Jake's new drum badges, thinking it was going to just be a die-cut, laser-etched wood badge, but the finished result was pure facial-annihilation of awesomeness (probably the only and last time I'll ever describe anything like that, ever), which shouldn't have came as such a surprise. I've been following SJC since I started playing drums in high school. Even though I don't play as often as I used to, I still browse their site regularly to check out the amazing kits they're constantly knocking out. I'm so thankful and appreciative to be given the opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful project. I hope to get work with them again soon.

Here's what SJC had to say about the kit: SJC/Four Year Strong New Kit*
(*Jake is wearing the hoodie I designed for The Wonder Years in the third pic of the slideshow.)

--kevin

The Wonder Years

2011-02-26T02:52:00.000-08:00

These were real fun to work on. I'm glad I got the opportunity to work with another one of my favorite bands and to do a crest design for them. This was the first time I was asked to incorporate an existing element (their pigeon logo, done by James Heimer) into a design. It was also the first time a client has contacted me by phone for design work. If you've ever spoken to me on the phone you already know that I'm terrible at it. I feel so dissociated when communicating verbally without eye-contact and body language. Because of this, most of the time I can't comprehend what the person on the other line is saying and I just get all awkward.This second design I did for them was also pretty enjoyable. I think my favorite part about getting commissions is getting to draw things I've never drawn before because I didn't care much or never thought of drawing them. I can honestly say that I have never drawn or thought to draw a tiki head, ever. Here is the first one. I think he came out pretty sweet-looking.
Both of these designs are available now at their merch store, printed on shirts and/or hoodies.

--kevin

Print Progress/Sneaky Peeky (Part 4)

2011-02-24T19:53:00.000-08:00

Cropped down the prints today. Maybe I'll be finishing them up sometime this weekend with a signing and editioning sesh.

--kevin

Painter's Guild Exhibit

2011-02-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

I recently had some work up in CSUN's Shed Gallery for the Painter's Guild show. My works were among the few that were accepted last minute that weren't paintings, but the Guild was cool enough to still accept it and show it. Cool beansies.

I've shown this first silkscreen before. It was shown in the Illustration Club Exhibition last semester.

This second piece was the last silkscreen I did last semester about the mass whale pod-killings. It was the first time I experimented with split-fountain printing, and I decided to do a two-way, head-on collision split-fountain. I think it came out pretty neat.

--kevin

Print Progress/Sneaky Peeky (Part 3)

2011-02-19T21:23:00.000-08:00

Finished printing today. Just need to remove registration tabs, crop down, and sign and edition. Very pleased with how they came out. Ended up exactly, if not pretty close, to what I was shooting for.

--kevin

Print Progress/Sneaky Peeky (Part 2)

2011-02-14T23:08:00.000-08:00

Prepped and shot the screens today. I tried out an oil and Xerox-print technique for the first time, instead of using laser or ink-jet prints on transparencies for positive films, which I've been doing up until now. They came out great. Totally beats paying for an expensive oversized transparency print that you'll only use once. I'll definitely be using Xerox and oil for future prints.

--kevin

Print Progress/Sneaky Peeky

2011-02-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

Completed pencils for a silkscreened print I'm working on. This is the first time I'm using traditional mediums for separations. It's going well so far, and I hope it comes out sweet. Fingers crossed! I usually don't post in-progress shots this early or as I work on the project because I don't know how it's going to come out or if I'll ever finish. Got a good feeling about this one, though.

--kevin

Yay! Paper!

2011-02-05T02:59:00.000-08:00

My shipment from French Paper arrived today. I never thought I'd be this excited about paper, ever. I chose a nice Starch White (as well as a creamish color) from the Speckletone line for the versatility as an all purpose paper for various projects. It's got recycled flecks of paper in it, so it visually has a nice texture and I figured it'll stand out more than if I used boring plain-white paper. The flecks and speckles look so much better in person and I can't wait to print on these.

Inside Out - Art & Design Journal

2011-01-27T19:30:00.000-08:00

I've just found out recently that I have a piece featured in CSUN's Department of Art's publication, Inside Out. The booklet showcases various work that has been produced by students through courses offered by the university's art department. I guess it's been out since last year but I didn't know I was included in the booklet until I saw a fellow classmate thumbing through it. Surprise surprise! I'm totally stoked/honored, just wish I was asked/told about it.

--kevin

Turn The Sea Red Shirts Now Available

2011-01-11T14:26:00.001-08:00

My Turn The Sea Red shirts are now available in my webstore!
Snag one if ya dig!

--kevin

Courage Wolf Print

2011-01-08T01:00:00.000-08:00

It's done! Well, it's actually been done for awhile now. I just wanted to get a few shipping tubes before posting just in case any of you creepers wanted dibs before I put them up in the webstore. They are five-color silkscreens printed on Poptone Lemon Drop French Paper, an easy-to-frame 18"x24", signed and numbered edition of 49. They cost $18 + shipping. I ordered thicker tubes, so they weigh a tad more, so I still have to figure out how much it costs to ship these suckers. Feel free to shoot me an email if your fancy has been tickled.

I'm overall pleased with the results. My crappy registration lead to some of the paper color coming through, which grew to like a lot. I wished I treated it more like a shirt design and used more of the paper color. Mentally noted for the next few prints I attempt. I still can't believe I tried to print 75 of these dudes, especially being one of the first silkscreen projects I've ever taken on and not working on an actual press. A nice edition size of 49 were deemed passable out of the entire run, which was expected, not including the variant run which has an edition of 11. As tiring as the entire process was, I enjoyed every bit of it. From drawing the artwork, burning screens, mixing colors, registering (ughhhhh), printing, trimming down sheets, to signing/editioning. It was a wonderful learning experience and I can't wait to print up more work.

--kevin

Four Year Strong - Holiday Ornament

2010-12-05T15:05:00.001-08:00

Stoked.

--kevin

Four Year Strong - Holiday Crest

2010-11-26T02:50:00.001-08:00

Is it too early for a holiday-themed design?
The shirt is now available in their webstore in a holiday-bundle that comes with a matching pewter ornament. So cool!

--kevin

Printing Run Is Finished

2010-11-22T21:42:00.000-08:00

Finally! I've been chipping away at this bad boy for the last month and a half and my wrists are killing me. I'm not 100% pleased with the result, but it was a great learning experience. Now to pick out out the bad apples (there are a lot), cut them down, and edition the run. Almost there!

--kevin

CSUN Illustration Club Exhibition

2010-11-07T18:54:00.000-08:00

My piece was selected to be showcased among friends and other students at CSUN's Illustration Club Exhibition. Pretty cool considering that I don't remember signing up for such a club and this being the first time having any sort of work in an environment referred to as a "gallery". Well, technically speaking my piece isn't in the gallery, but outside to the left of the entrance. Would that be like a cover-page or something? I also have a few sketchbook pages being shown as well.

The piece being showcased is a single-color silkscreen print I did for my drawing composition course to meet the requirements of the serpentine-themed assignment. It's about how marine animals love all the garbage in the ocean, or the opposite. I don't remember. May be the latter.

--kevin

Poster Sneaky Peeky

2010-11-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a sneak peek of my first foray into screen printing. Should've made it a smaller run, but I got too excited and now I have to follow through. In the photo (please excuse the phone shot), taken about two weeks ago, the run is only one color in (you could also see my brother's in-progress prints in the background). I'm currently at three colors but can't really give sneakies of those without giving away the image. Hopefully I'll be knocking out the last two colors tomorrow if there are no complications like my arms falling off or something.

Updates and more sneak peeks soon regarding progress, variants, edition info, pricing, etcetera.

--kevin