Area 221

Sketching

2012-01-29T23:15:00.000-05:00

Sketching some characters.

More landscape practice

2012-01-29T07:17:00.001-05:00

Study of a few artists found on CGHub (their names escape me, forgive me!)

Crimson Daggers Bloodsport Challenge!

2012-01-24T06:58:00.006-05:00

This is my entry for the Crimson Daggers challenge. It's not completely finished, but it's more or less there.

Check out Crimson Daggers, hosted by Dave Rapoza and Daniel Warren for updates on challenges, crits, livestreams, etc.

Subject 221(Alice)

2012-01-19T14:25:00.002-05:00

This was a random comic cover idea I was playing with this week for an alice in wonderland parody of a bunny girl in a lunatic asylum.

SOPA/PIPA

2012-01-17T02:39:00.004-05:00

Hey guys. Some (and maybe by now most) of you probably don't know me. My name is gj, I am an alumni from NJCU.

I am sure by now you are all aware of what's going regarding SOPA/PIPA.

There's a huge rally that will take place in NYC on Wednesday:

http://www.meetup.com/ny-tech/events/47879702/

and one in Newark on Friday:

https://www.facebook.com/events/262618450470170/

I know it's a little last minute and that the semester just started so it might be difficult to make it to either event but there are other things you can do to let your congressperson know that you are against this legislation:

https://fightfortheftr.wordpress.com/flyers-info-sheets-badges-infographics-for-meeting-with-your-senator/

http://sopastrike.com/

http://www.blackoutsopa.org/

http://sopatrack.com/state/new_jersey - contact them directly via phone/email/twitter

**Apologies for any typos and/or grammatical errors.**

Please spread the word around campus.

Thanks!

[Sorry this isn't an art post but I do believe this is important.]

Silly English Ka-nnnnnnnig-its

2012-01-15T18:50:00.001-05:00

Armor practice.

Mage sketch

2012-01-14T17:08:00.001-05:00

Ork sketch

2012-01-12T00:41:00.001-05:00

WAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH

Red and Wolf

2012-01-10T16:42:00.001-05:00

Landscape practice

2012-01-10T03:01:00.001-05:00

Western. Because yes.

Digital

2012-01-09T16:54:00.001-05:00

Blooooood

2012-01-06T01:12:00.001-05:00

Sketching. Blaaaaaah

downtime doodles...

2011-12-30T08:30:00.003-05:00

Portraits of friends!

2011-12-20T22:55:00.001-05:00

Meet my friends Cris, Jose and Ardis. They are looking quite dapper in their Victorian clothes.

Just a few early Christmas presents :)

Quick.

2011-12-15T23:37:00.001-05:00

Aaaand done!

2011-12-15T01:32:00.001-05:00

Alas, I have finally completed my final project for Illustration class. Knowing me, though, I'll probably go back to it and fix a few things. It was fun, though!

Disco girl!

2011-12-12T09:01:00.001-05:00

No sleeeeeeeeep.

Enviro!

2011-12-11T05:16:00.001-05:00

Getting some more enviro practice in. I need it bad.

Update... again!

2011-12-09T03:04:00.001-05:00

The narrative is slowly coming together. FAIRY...GODPARENTS!

paranormal paparazzi

2011-12-05T10:59:00.002-05:00

Update to class project

2011-12-03T19:16:00.001-05:00

Scenery as an after-thought is usually not the way to go. I'm too indecisive for this process. But it's gotta be done!

Snake Lady

2011-12-03T08:17:00.001-05:00

Head full of thoughts. Stress levels high. I don't sleep anymore. Must paint the night away.

Update

2011-12-01T08:52:00.001-05:00

Toying around with pose/clothes/comp.

Another study for class project (WIP)

2011-11-30T09:38:00.002-05:00

WIP

Photograph by the talented Heather Kurdyla.

Model in photograph is the lovely Karina Mejia.

Heather's portfolio: http://shuttermade.com/heatherkurdyla

U for Umbra

2011-11-26T23:10:00.001-05:00

As seen on Electric Keychain.

www.electrickeychain.com

A Self Portrait

2011-11-26T03:10:00.003-05:00

I'll put together the process for this. Sooner or later.

OK, so, sooner.

Showdown

2011-11-20T02:54:00.001-05:00

Update to my last sketch.

Sketching moooooorrrrreeee

2011-11-18T06:35:00.001-05:00

Value study

2011-11-17T21:27:00.002-05:00

A study of the lovely MissLaurelle from deviantArt. (Click her name)

Had some fun with filters, as well. This one took me about 4-5 hours, including all the tinkering and resizing.

Cold

2011-11-16T02:58:00.001-05:00

Been playing Skyrim, lately. Fantastic game.

angry bird

2011-11-10T13:14:00.002-05:00

Merchant King

2011-11-08T19:36:00.002-05:00

Character I have been picking at for a few days.

Warrior girl

2011-11-07T22:41:00.003-05:00

Another character inspired by A Clash of Kings. This book is too damned good!

Learn to Lick the Goitre Laughing 2

2011-11-06T18:59:00.000-05:00

Spot for Instigatorzine, Vol. 14.

Will be colored (for once).

Winter knight

2011-11-06T00:40:00.001-05:00

Been reading A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin lately and had something like this image swimming in my head for a while because of it. Something about heavy armor and thick fur robes in an unforgiving wintery forest screams of bad-assery.

MG42 WIP

2011-10-31T19:58:00.002-05:00

Just a running competition I have with Brittani doing women with machine guns. Still a WIP but coming along it was supposed to be due today.

99%

2011-10-29T12:47:00.002-05:00

Something I should've started with more direction in mind. I think I'll file it under 'unfinished illustrations'

He's Our Hero...

2011-10-27T08:37:00.001-05:00

A request from Instigatorzine's time at New York Comic Con. Decided I wanted a background for this one, so let's see how it comes out.

Blender (pencils)

2011-10-26T22:49:00.001-05:00

Smudgy.

2011-10-26T22:46:00.001-05:00

Study for possible class project

2011-10-21T17:13:00.001-05:00

Having a lot of fun with this one. The subtleties in the shadows are especially awesome to find and render.

James Jean book signing in NYC!

2011-10-19T21:37:00.001-05:00

2011-10-11T14:02:00.003-05:00

Sketch ~1.5 hour

2011-10-08T11:32:00.001-05:00

IZ13: Instigator/Month

2011-10-07T01:12:00.003-05:00

Heavy Metal (WIP?)

2011-10-05T12:04:00.001-05:00

An oldie I decided to dust off and go over some more. Might continue this one.

Poster design

2011-10-05T09:41:00.001-05:00

Project for Communication Design Techniques (class).

Thoughts? Concerns? Complaints? Misgivings? Curses? Sexy messages?

WHERE'S MY OTHER ARM?!

2011-10-03T02:24:00.002-05:00

I'll draw it later, shut up.

Update: More rendering in head. Added human figure for scale.

Mindy

2011-10-02T23:27:00.000-05:00

Taking a break from anatomy and perspective practice. Ahhh.

Nightmare (work for illustration class)

2011-09-22T02:09:00.001-05:00

The assignment was to illustrate a childhood memory. I once had a nightmare when I was very young in which I awoke to a large shadowy figure looming over my bed. The thing had a face with no eyes and an abnormally large grin that seemed to glow in the moonlight. I also used to own a stuffed Sonic the Hedgehog doll. Unfortunately, I've lost it since. I miss him :(

Anyway, I decided to go a bit beyond my memory of the dream and depict the moment right before I awoke to this grinning terror. The reason I chose to paint this moment instead of the moment of encounter was because the fear I felt when I first saw it did not compare to what I felt after thinking more deeply about the dream. There was something stirring in my bedroom. The darkness had gathered and manifested into this horrible thing that hovered over me, mocking and threatening me. The thought that I was in danger of something as intangible as the dark in my very own bedroom, the safest place in the world, terrified me. I think just about anyone would be afraid of this notion. For years, whenever someone shut off the light of a room I would go into a panic.

I can't say what it was that made me have the dream. Maybe it was a primal fear of the dark. Maybe it was some scary movie I had just seen. Or a spooky story I had just heard. Whatever it was, this dream was powerful enough to have left a lasting impression.

meditatin'

2011-09-16T21:15:00.001-05:00

Maya

2011-09-14T07:25:00.004-05:00

Sketches of a character in the process of being 3d modelled for an animation project. A reverse fur coloured gibbon(to compliment the tomboyish-ness of the character decided to give her the male fur colour(black fur white white/cream accents).

Sketch dump!

2011-09-14T04:12:00.001-05:00

Way to Sleeping Child 3

2011-09-13T18:52:00.003-05:00

Read the story in Instigatorzine, Vol. 12 (IZ12)! In stores soon!

RIP Andy Whitfield

2011-09-12T20:06:00.001-05:00

where i'd leave that damn key?!!

2011-09-09T07:11:00.001-05:00

Curves

2011-09-06T00:57:00.001-05:00

School in 7 hours FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Obligatory bad ass

2011-08-14T00:44:00.000-05:00

MUSCLES AND BLOOD SO COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

Spanish

2011-08-13T12:26:00.004-05:00

Character samples

2011-08-12T18:44:00.001-05:00

BoxHead Studio reddit sketches

2011-08-12T17:48:00.004-05:00

I have been participating in an IAmA on reddit.com hosted by BoxHead Studio as a guest artist. There, we take requests from whoever wants to chime in and draw what they want. We normally spend about 15-20 minutes on each sketch, sometimes longer. It's great fun and it would be awesome if anyone here would like to join us next week as we usually get more requests than we can possibly fill.

Conditions:

- The event is on Fridays from noon to 4pm EST (12:00-4:00pm)

- You have to submit digitally, as we usually move fairly quickly through each request.

- If you have a way to screencapture or record your process for each sketch and submit the video, it would be super awesome.

Let me know if you'd like to join us by emailing me: zapata.james@gmail.com

Here's a list of the videos I've submitted, because I'm selfish (The rest of the videos on the page are by various other artists, including David Kim of BoxHead Studio):

http://vimeo.com/27636374 - Boba Fett and Jayne fist-bumping

http://vimeo.com/27634882 - Flying High with a lightsaber and Red Panda

http://vimeo.com/27633260 - Unicorn eating a dragon

http://vimeo.com/27631299 - BATTLE SLOTHS!

http://vimeo.com/27630103 - Diablo cashing in on Real Money Auction House

http://vimeo.com/27349542 - Bear hugging an owl

http://vimeo.com/27348349 - Billy Young

http://vimeo.com/27346998 - 240sx drifting on the rings of Saturn

http://vimeo.com/27344553 - Viking vs Giant Armored Bear

http://vimeo.com/27343700 - Superman and Bill Nye vs Dinosaurs in NYC

http://vimeo.com/27342663 - Portrait of a girl

batman sketch

2011-08-11T19:35:00.003-05:00

A Goblin's Lament

2011-08-10T14:02:00.001-05:00

I can't decide whether this is finished or not. We'll see after I get the 16 gigs of RAM I ordered :)

A sad goblin

2011-08-08T13:43:00.001-05:00

WIP - working on the narrative next.

Instigatorzine @Kickstarter

2011-08-05T01:33:00.000-05:00

artwork by Ellis Clark

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1895169077/instigatorzine-0

Hello everyone. I haven’t really been active on the web anywhere. Don’t worry. I’ve actually been busy setting up a lot of things.

For example, Instigatorzine has been catching steam and rolling along at a very swift pace. We’re working towards legitimizing the periodical on a professional level. That means getting a LLC, a P.O. Box, appearing at the 2011 New York Comic Con, etc. A lot of major moves.

That said, Instigatorzine needs everyone’s help raising money for expenses towards this professional stage. The link featured will take you to our Kickstarter profile which will enable you to contribute to our cause. We’re nothing without you, and you are our strongest attribute. Without your art and your literature, the ‘zine wouldn’t be where it is right now.

Please help us make our goal by Monday, August 22, 2011! You’ll get neat prizes for your greatly appreciated contribution. :)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1895169077/instigatorzine-0

Color study

2011-07-31T11:19:00.001-05:00

Little something I'm working on.

Reference photo by gestiefeltekatze on deviantARTcan be seen here:

http://gestiefeltekatze.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d3jud9x

Stampede - Final

2011-07-31T01:41:00.002-05:00

Here's the final version of my TMNT villain, Stampede.

Voting starts tomorrow. Go vote for my painting here:http://cghub.com/forum/showthread.php?p=83189&posted=1#post83189

WoW Fan Art Page!

2011-07-29T12:10:00.001-05:00

My orc hunter painting is now featured on Blizzard's World of Warcraft Fan Art site!

This is really exciting for me because ever since I started playing this game , I would spend a good chunk of my time ogling at all the great art being contributed by fans from across the globe. Now, I can say that my own work is on there!

GO CHECK IT OUT WITH YOUR EYES

cosplayer pic

2011-07-27T22:38:00.002-05:00

Sketching some more

2011-07-26T07:59:00.001-05:00

Both of these are from imagination/no reference. I know it's a crappy thing to say, like I'm bragging or something (or crappy to admit that I still have a lot of work to do), but I'm just trying to put all the gesture studying I've been doing to test.

I love to sketch

2011-07-25T05:27:00.001-05:00

And here is a small update to Stampede.

TMNT Villain - Stampede

2011-07-24T00:26:00.002-05:00

Here's a sketch for my entry to that TMNT villain contest.

http://cghub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7322

Teenage mutant ninja villains

2011-07-22T01:30:00.003-05:00

For anyone intereste CGhub is having a challenge I think some might be interested in. Basically creating a mutant villain such as bebop and rocksteady that could be used in the TMNT universe.

Can find the Thread here: http://cghub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7322&page=100#post82192

Dwarf King of Unicorns! [UPDATED]

2011-07-21T13:59:00.001-05:00

Wanted to flesh this concept out a bit more. I liked the way the character was turning out so I thought he deserved a little more polish :D

another rabbit study

2011-07-21T10:56:00.004-05:00

colour study of the character. I'm going to make the texture maps for the 3d model this weekend and extend the neck etc....

Space Suit Concept

2011-07-20T07:11:00.001-05:00

Character bust/sketch

2011-07-18T22:30:00.005-05:00

So I've taken up learning 3DS Max as it's more of an industry standard than Blender(though blender is still effective) and choose to make my first model based off a character I'm working on for my "Dead Rabbit" story.

Dwarf King of Unicorns!

2011-07-17T05:46:00.003-05:00

About 3 hour concept I cooked up tonight (this morning). Yet another sleepless night, yes.

I put together the process for this WIP. I hate photoshop collages:

[DIRECT LINK TO THE PROCESS OMG CLICK]

Sacrifice Unto Sebek

2011-07-13T08:10:00.001-05:00

Idea I had while listening to a song of the same title by the band Nile. \m/

more sketching...

2011-07-12T22:48:00.003-05:00

Repelling the ambush

2011-07-12T03:01:00.001-05:00

I bit God of War inspired. I love those games!

And another morning sketch...

2011-07-11T07:58:00.001-05:00

UPDATE: More interesting gun shape as well as some more rendering.

Nights are melting into days...

A little extra traffic

2011-07-05T16:22:00.001-05:00

Hey James I was testing out an app on my iPhone and I happened to take a shot of your batman illustration so I put a link to your web page so you may get a little more exposure.

Morning sketch!

2011-07-05T07:37:00.001-05:00

Lighting study. Wanted a cinematic angle.

Insomnia

2011-07-02T04:39:00.002-05:00

This started off as some kind of lame vampire...

2011-06-30T03:51:00.001-05:00

Late nights are terrible... WIP

Ded Rabit

2011-06-22T09:22:00.000-05:00

main character for a personal project...

Ember Goblins

2011-06-22T00:48:00.002-05:00

That's a spicey meatball!
A quick colour study for a creature I'm working on.

Sketching is fun

2011-06-21T23:46:00.001-05:00

I have the most fun when I'm sketching. When it comes to finishing a painting, all the discovery and wonder is gone. No magic :(

I like bull terriers...

2011-06-21T00:14:00.002-05:00

Photoshop

2011-06-16T12:46:00.000-05:00

WIP

2011-06-16T11:30:00.001-05:00

WoW Orc Finished!

2011-06-15T03:01:00.001-05:00

Alien!! baaaaaahhhh!

2011-06-14T18:46:00.001-05:00

Blarrahghghhegg

Worm monster concept!

2011-06-09T23:00:00.001-05:00

Taking a break from that WoW illustration. Here is a giant friendly worm monster.

WoW

2011-06-01T03:51:00.005-05:00

Working on a portrait of my friend's World of Warcraft character. This is a lot harder than I imagined considering I have low-polygon models with stretched, highly compressed textures as reference. Still, it's a lot of fun seeing this come to fruition. I may do more (provided I finish this, first).

Update: Shifting colors around, trying to find the right mood. Added detail to wolf.

Update: LAVA

Narc: SaDiM 26

2011-05-29T18:44:00.000-05:00

I love the people I work with. They make the grind go easier.

Narc: SaDiM 25

2011-05-29T18:43:00.002-05:00

I tend to draw lecturers while I take notes from them.

Narc: SaDiM 24

2011-05-29T18:43:00.001-05:00

Second day of UCDA Conference.

Narc: SaDiM 23

2011-05-29T18:40:00.003-05:00

Around a dozen sketches while idle at the first day of the UCDA Design Education Conference last Thursday.