Speed Painting 65: Ghost of Tsushima

This game is looking mighty hot, and I had to spend 3 hr drawing 1 of my 2 favorite moments during the E3 demo. Even the music I chose is from one of the best anime/mangas Rurouni Kenshin, which fits badass motherfucking samurais going at it. I used a silhouette of a sumurai before drawing the background. Anyways, I hope yall enjoy this video. :) :)

Speed Painting 61.1: Game of Thrones Season 7 - Heroes

A new season of Game of Thrones and a speed painting to follow. Been doing this on an annual basis now since it's one of my favorite shows of all time. Love too much about it.

I saw a wonderful piece by Even Ventrue that was done on this tone of some samurai character. Inspired me to try the same style on this one. I will be doing a Villains variation next to finish it in the next 10 days and upload it, similar tone and feel.

I did have the right and left with backgrounds, however I ran out of time to create them on the same level as these 5 characters so I removed them (for now). I will work on them and upload them on artstation/dev art and link it at the bottom for all to see. I think once I finish that aspect, the series will look even better. :)

The hype is real for season 7, and my body is not ready. Also, I have not seen any of the main trailers so I go in with fresh eyes. I'm so fucking excited.

Speed Painting 60.2: NBA Finals 2017 Part 2/3

New Guardians movie, so I thought I'd go about it and create a poster type of speed painting for it. Hope yall like it. Star Lord's silhouette making the difference between the galaxy and the rest of the squad. Simple enough concept this time around, hope the execution was good though. Enjoy. Prost.

New Android App - Calchist - a calculator with history

I've been working recently on a new android calculator app called Calchist.  I've worked on all the UI/UX of the app as I'm the only designer in the team.  The rest of the team compiles of two programmers.  The goal of this calculator is to make a slick looking app that does the primary jobs of a calculator.  On top of that, it records your history of your previous calculations if you want to use them for future calculations.

This is from a recent company called Reveri, which I am one of the three co-founders.  If you would like to check the app presuming you have an Android phone, you can click on the image below to take you to the google play store page.  You even get to judge my ui/ux design skills.  Prost.

Speed Painting 59: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

New Guardians movie, so I thought I'd go about it and create a poster type of speed painting for it. Hope yall like it. Star Lord's silhouette making the difference between the galaxy and the rest of the squad. Simple enough concept this time around, hope the execution was good though. Enjoy. Prost.

Speed Painting 58: The Get Down

One of my favorite new shows last season was a new show on Netflix called the Get Down. I believe it had 6 episodes in total for season 1 and by the last 5 minutes of episode 1, I was in. Story revolves around a group of kids that are going to make it in the music industries from the 70s, but the characters are what sell the tv show.

Anyways, I focused on the main two characters as the focus, my man Shaolin Fantastic & Ezekiel. Added some supporting characters through some creative means, although I wanted to add a few more.. especially the other guys that are part of the crew! Alas, no time and since no one is paying for this, I added as many as I could without the design itself getting clunky nor obnoxious. I hope you enjoy the video and I would highly suggest checking out the show. S2 comes out in April, and see if you're into it by the end of episode 1.  

American Psycho - Christian Bale illustration

Wanted to mess around in a certain style. thought of doing bale since he my fav <3 actor in one of my fav movies after looking at another artist do a similar illustration style. still took 2 hrs longer than I should have, need to get faster   Enjoy.

Speed Painting 57: Horizon Zero Dawn

Hot new game coming out, which I'm playing after my birthday (because I gotta finish this speed painting first smh).  The concept idea about the game is actually really unique and allows for tons of fun actually drawing it.  They have a ton of unique characters (enemies) on top of a stunningly well thought out looking world. 

I used a similar that I've seen around from Edge's Horizon cover and just made it my own style.  Added one of the bird enemies in the middle of two separate background illustrations.  Also the outline of the entire illustration is of one of the monsters the main character has to take down.  Anyways, this was fun as hell to draw and I hope yall enjoy the video I've created.  

Speed Painting 56: Trump & The Last Supper

I've been following the US elections these last few months on spurts. I can't fully concentrate on them full time because of so much bullshit from either side, that it turns it into more of a burden then entertainment. Then again, I'm much more jaded when it comes to politics than most people. There was a national-level incident back in my home when I was a little kid that directly affected my dad and then my entire family, and lets just say it took more than a decade to completely get over it.

Rather than just promises I heard from the left & right (and.. those other 2), it was interesting to see how the population reacted to the entire political process. Trump whether you like or dislike him, is this enigma that has many tuning in to see what he says next. It's almost like he was a tv personality that went into politics and knows how to sell a crowd.

What I noticed which kinda creeped me out more than anything, is this huge distaste and alienation between one another or many groups. Family members no longer speaking to one another because of their political affiliations. People putting themselves in groups and pushing other groups away, sometimes without noticing, instead of all getting together and focusing on making change by putting pressure on the government and the politicians instead.

Speed Painting 41: Halo 5 Guardians

As usual during this time of the year, a couple of massive games coming out.  Even though I'm a Playstation gamer, this looked like a good opportunity to draw Halo due to the color palette and because it felt right.  I started Tomb Raider initially but wasn't feeling it.  As soon as I started making a mock up for the Halo however, I felt inspired and got some ideas.

This idea I may have come up subconsciously being inspired by the cover of Hancock a couple of years back.  The idea here is that you see through Chief's eyes what he's looking at.  One one side, it's the single player, the other side it's the multiplayer red vs blue.  Initial helmet was based off a cool Master Chief concept art someone had created, and I used different images from the game to create the other segments that are in the glass part of his helmet.  Hope you guys like it.  The OST for Halo as usual is Godlike by the way, I had to use Kazuma's work for this.

Speed Painting 40: The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is coming out soon for season 6, so I decided to make this month's illustration about it.  I'm hoping the hype is real and comic book readers have been hyping up some of the bigger villains that are coming soon.  Hopefully that means we get to see them and it doesn't get padded with filler.

This is a simple illustration of Rick and Daryl chilling with a zombie.  All of them getting along for once instead of trying to kill each other.  Rick's beard continues to grow (that season 5 episode does not exist).  Hope you all enjoy it! 

Speed Painting 55: Star Wars Rogue One

New Star Wars speed painting.  Hope yall like it.

Speed Painting 39: Metal Gear Solid V Phantom Pain

With Metal Gear V coming out, I had to make this month's speed painting about the game.  Kojima's last Konami masterpiece.  I put some of the main characters in this piece and chose at the time the ones from the trailers.  I went on vacation for over two weeks and missed out on this game, but now I'm back and it's time to jump in and experience the greatness. 

Developing for Mobile, on Everyone's Website but Yours

I know it's not everyone ok?  Calm you normal developers that are scoffing at the idea, and rolling your eyes atop the high horse.  That insult was very unnecessary and a defensive mechanism.  I like many others have developed a website and left mobile on the to do later list.  However due to freelance and other projects I've been working on, I haven't prioritized and left it.  This is a bad look, especially if you are looking for some kind of development work and the client visits your website.  They don't know that every other website you work on is cellphone and tablet friendly.  They will look at your website and possibly you can't do it, or at least be skeptical about your capabilities.

This past year and a half in particular, I have been busier than any time in my life.  I will be coming back mid September from a 14 day vacation, and my time will free up significantly.  I will likely look to improve several other aspects of my website, in the last post listing another dumb mistake of leaving the website 720px wide.  So if you don't have the mobile version of your website, get on it.  Don't be me.  Many people use their cellphones and tablet to visit websites.  If the website looks like shit on those platforms, they will quickly move on to something else, making all your hard work of making a website fruitless.

Websites - 720px Width .. Don't Do It.

About 3-4 years ago, I did something really idiotic when making my website.  I made it 720px wide so even people using prehistoric computers wouldn't have issues once they visited my website.  I knew then that would be a small amount of people and that wouldn't last for long.  Now years later, I need to change that.  Either a full 100% width with some padding or a 1080px min width is a must.  It's going to take some time.  For the people who know they're doing something stupid but do it regardless like myself, don't be one of us.  Be better.  Don't fucking code with 720px width.  For the people who can't see it because they have such old computers, your grandma will be allright.  Code it right.

Speed Painting 38: True Detective

Last year, I was introduced to one of the best shows on TV in 2014, with Rust being one of the most interesting characters.  Season 2 brought an entire new cast, story and setting.  Very excited, and I decided to make a speed painting about it.

I focused mostly on Ray and Ani, my two favorite characters from season 2.  Even though I'm not quite good at it, I chose to use the same style that both s1 and s2 intros use for the character.  Weird abstract figures showing characters which I love.  I don't want to spoil the black background encompassing Ray, but you will know what it's about if you're far enough into the story.  Ani appears in the smoke and the town of Vinci is shown through her outline.  Enjoy. :)

Also, thanks HBO (or music corp) for taking down the intro songs of True Detective s1/2 openings from the original video, despite me never monetizing a single video.

I normally use real life pictures for nearly every speed painting but in this case, I used an illustration of an artist for ani's face only.  This is the reference due in a reddit link:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueDetective/comments/3dhqka/fan_art_i_warm_up_for_work_days_by_digital/

European Trip: What do you need?

I know, I know. What does this have to do with my blog? No much (anything). I'm going to Europe at the end of September. I wanted to do a quick help guide for what I do in case any people from North America plan to go. It's not as expensive if you take some time to look. I'll make this post slightly different compared to previous ones. Now this is mostly off the top of my head and not planned, so I'm certain I'll miss several things.

Essentials:
- backpack for.. backpacking. Get a proper one you would use for hiking, preferably with some zippers for some decent organizing.
- storing cubes. I believe that's the name. They're small bags for organizing your things. Trust me, things get messy as I found out. My buddy had several of these in his bag, and all of his things were in order. My backpack looked like pigs lived inside after a few days.
- Towel is optional. You have to pay for it if you go to a hostel, but then do you really want a sweaty towel to carry with you so you can save 2 euros per hostel?
- 2-3 main clothes, and a few more socks, underwear, possibly a jacket depending on location/time of year, etc.
 - A bit of extra space in the bag because you're a tourist and you have to buy dumb shit you won't care about other than place it somewhere at the house to tell your neighbors/family members that you were there.
- Personally if you can, I'd recommend something simple you can wear Necklace, ring, bracelet, or something unique that doesn't look like they make for millions of tourists.

Hostels:
- I recommend you take them unless you're going as a couple. I still recommend it, just stay a couple of nights at a hostel and 1-2 nights per city/country in a private hotel if you need the privacy.
- Go to hostelbookers.com to find the right hostel. They will tell you the address, how far away it is from the center of the town, photos, cost and most importantly reviews to hear from other people's experiences. Picking a place where the people there are very helpful and knowledgeable is a huge plus in my opinion.
- Once you find the right hostel, do not book it at the website. They charge far too much. I'm going to Ireland and found their actual email and contacted them. Hostelbookers was selling it for 34$ I believe, and the pub was selling it for 25$ if you contact them directly.
- Be careful of taxi drivers trying to hustle you. Hostelbookers sometimes tells you how much taxi drivers should charge from the airport to hostel and you confront them if they bullshit you.

Other:
 - Be careful of robbers. Be wary of others and aware of your surroundings. Most people are really laid back and great to talk to, but always be on point when it comes to observing others. A German friend I met at Barcelona told me that he had his backpack there near a coffee shop being held by the chair. Someone went and stole the backpack while he was sitting down. He lost most of his things on the first day. Don't be like him. I have a feeling now that I gave this tip, someone is going to rob over a month from now...
- Use airplanes. They're cheap as hell provided you don't look last minute and saves a ton of time. In Europe, the prices are a joke.
- European Flights. Keep in mind a lot of them give good prices, but there is an extra charge for your bag that isn't put up for consideration unless you add. This further bumps up the price. Just something to keep in mind, not a big issue.
- Call your bank beforehand and let them know you're traveling international so they don't freeze our VISA/Mastercard.
- If you rent a car, I've been told to put a limit on the card you use to borrow the card with, once again talking to the bank. A friend of mine suggested this, as he said they can overcharge because you're a tourist and why not take advantage of that? Not with my amazing guidance, they're not.

It's not everything, but that's all I remember for now.

Speed Painting 37: Final Fantasy VII & XV

If you are a gamer and haven't been living under a rock far, far beneath the Earth, you know about Sony's E3 conference.  They announced that Square Enix is remaking the most popular jRPG of all time, Final Fantasy VII.  This time around, Shinji Hashimoto is not trolling us with a PC port as was shown half a year ago, but the real remake.

Now I have been waiting for Final Fantasy XV (known as Versus previously) since 2006, when initially revealed.  It's looking like a 2016 release, and there a chance the FFVII Remake might be a 2017 release coinciding with their 20th year anniversary.  FFVII ironically enough, is the only mainline Final Fantasy that I have not played (other than XI and XIV, but those are MMOs).  Somehow, this game has always alluded me.  I've always wanted this game to be remade rather than my favorite FF which is IX for this reason.  I also created both games in this illustration because I will very likely make them as their speed painting on their months of release.  

Work that You can't Show

I've been thinking about this lately.  This has yet to happen to me in terms of freelance, but in my current job I am unable to show any of my work to the public.  I generally upload some of my work to my website, which you can find on the top, right side where the information goes called My Personal Website.  No, I have 0 shame for that plug.  This is a bit frustrating for me, especially since I have some pieces I'd love to show others in terms of design.  I also have been working on two websites, one that consists of over 60,000 products and another that has over 100,000 products.  It's a little hard to explain to clients that I work on this but can't show them.

Now this hasn't happened to me yet, but I take the advice of someone who is far more accomplished in this business in terms of what to do in that regard when it comes to freelance work that you can't show to the public.  If this were to happen, it's been suggested to charge anywhere between 2 to 3 times the final amount that you would originally charge them.  Some of you might have spit your drink onto your computer and are trying to quickly wipe it off thinking I'm crazy.  Think about it.  The work you do becomes your portfolio.  This shows your accomplishments, and allows you to get better work from clients, more work from clients and gives credibility to your quality of work. 

Working at an Office or at Home?

Big question.  Most of the time, it isn't your choice.  But in the creative business, there's some leeway in this regard.  I have three years of experience working since I've graduated, and I have worked at two different jobs.  One was at home for over a year, and another is currently working at an office for nearly two years.  Both had had their good and bad.. also mind you, this is my preference.  So unless you have the exact same type of personality, do not take my view on it as the word of law.  That I'm arrogant enough to think anyone would is also pretty incredible in a sad way.

I personally enjoy working from home a bit more than at an office.  I can start work at 7:00AM or 9:30AM, convenience is a huge bonus.  Certain important and human necessities, emergencies even.. such as a Champions League game where Bayern plays are events I don't have to miss unless I have a meeting.  I also have one hell of an office (for me anyways) made for freelance, so this works out well.  Get the work done and all is well.  However there are good aspects for working at an office.  Talking to people instead of being a creepy, social hermit who only speaks via skype or cellphones is supposed to be healthy for your social skills.  Also if you are a designer working with other designers and people in advertisement, you can bounce ideas off one another producing some potentially fantastic work.  I recently decided to make this blog post because a friend of mine suggested that there might be something opening for his company, but it is working from home.  Maybe another day I will get into a more extensive explanation, but for now I gotta go eat.