A gift for my brother this year.

It's a long story that I actually don't know the story of, but in our garage has sat this plastic viking hat that was my brother's for years and years. On one side his name, and on the other "Go to Hell". It's one of the few remnants of his highschool shenanigans that we still have, along side his old potato gun (read: potato cannon). So this year my parents as a sort of joke gift decided to give him the things back. So I took this opportunity to "viking" him up, and settle up on a birthday promise of a paitning I sort of maybe forgot about until recently.

Note: My brother has both eyes.

The Humble Indie Bundle number 2.

Well, the folks at Wolfire Games have put together another Humble Indie Bundle this year. If you aren't sure what this is, it's a bundle of five games, really good games, for Mac, PC, and Linux. The catch is you pay what you want like Radiohead's In Rainbows album. The really good thing about this, and why I'm bothering to post it on here is that you can choose how what you pay is divvied up.

So, you get the games, and the money can go to two good charities, Child's Play in particular which is a wonderful organization run by the Penny Arcade guys. Child's Play is very relevant right now because this charity sends video games and systems to hospitals to entertain the ill children every Christmas.

So get yourself some games, and give to charity at the same time. Only 7 days left though, so be sure to click below. They've already raised a substantial amount of money for the short amount of time it has been available. Gives me the warm and fuzzies.

CLICK HERE TO BE A GOOD PERSON   

I'll post some art up real soon.

Draw a dog with eyes closed. Make something out of the aftermath.

Wanted to take a break from some other things and saw this activity on a forum today.  Like the topic title the challenge was to close your eyes and draw a dog. Didn't matter what breed or anything, but just a dog. I went for a wiener dog. The funniest and the best of all dogs.

Here was my salvage job. To be fair, I was flashing back to Dave Devries Monster Machine drawings like crazy. Just so many similarities. Not that I would compare my effort to his stuff.

A Jedi. All moody of course.

Well, I think I'm on the mend and the constant aches and headaches have been chased away with after halloween sale chocolate bars. So, a few friends came over to watch the last two episodes of dexter so while we were watching I painted this up after I was prompted by Patrick Butler. So he proposed that we both do something really Star-Wars-ish, and since he wanted to do a Sith, I went ahead and painted up this Jedi on my laptop. This one was incredibly fun. It changed quite a bit as I went along adding and taking away a lot. It was just a really organic painting. Hope you enjoy.

Things I managed to cram in because I like them, big hoods, snow, and a graphic planet/moon. Which in retrospect I should have had more of back there. Feels like every Star Wars planet is rocking two suns or something.

Feeling a bit under the weather today.

I recently had to visit home, and I seemed to have dragged back to my apartment their sick. I painted this... but now I'm convinced my subconscious is telling me something.

These little quick things are great. Faces are that one thing that never gets old painting. Especially strange ugly ones, because I'm sure as heck not gonna use ref when I'm working for fun this way. Just having some fun here since the disease I currently have is trying to ruin my day. Strangely I'm craving cajun food. Not sure how the body is going to respond to that.

Vampires on the brain.

Due to some other projects I have going on, I've been overloaded on vampires. I didn't get to do a halloween post, so this speed paint from tonight should suffice. One of those that took a half hour to paint and another half hour to finish.

In other news I watched shutter for halloween. The Thai version. Bad move. I'm not one for jump scares and this movie reduced me to a hair pulling mess. If you want a great horror flick I can't recommend it enough, since it turned out to be a great movie as well... but holy lord was it unkind to the senses.

In other, other news, Beach House, plugged into pandora radio makes one heck of a good station.

Click this one for full size. Blogger is freaking out over the reds.

Skeletons. They are stupid.

Hopefully by now you've listened to my sound advice and bought Minecraft. And if you have you will understand how stupid skeletons can be. Running into one of these guys unprepared definitely means you are in trouble. Anyway, just wanted to do a quick paint today to take a break from other things.

Edit: Totally forgot to link what these guys look like in-game (LINK)

Cobra Commander is sort of the best. Ever.

This is my extremely late entry to the sketch-2-death activity that me and some friends have been doing for quite awhile now. Here's a link to the blog, definitely worth checking them out, and their respective blogs. Talented folks, indeed. (LINK)

The theme this time was Childhood Memory. I was going to choose something more activity-ish like nerf or losing my shoe in the woods, but every time I thought of the words I just got a mental picture of this guy.

I had some fun with techniques on this one if you couldn't tell, it's still 100% photoshop start to finish, but there is a lot of textures, adjustment layers, and other stuff at work here. Many of the layers just plain got covered up. Just sort of had fun with it.

Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

The most horrific noise I've ever heard in a game. The hiss of a creeper behind me. The noise that beckons the soon to be crater in my tediously crafted shelter. Screw you creepers. You destroy all my nice things, and I hate you for it.

For those who do not understand my pain, this is a creature from a game titled Minecraft (click that after you read). If you do not own this game... you must buy it. There is no argument here, only the exchange of money over paypal. It's an indie pc game that runs on anything, designed by a foreigner named notch, and it is responsible for bringing me childhood-like bliss daily with it's sandbox, lego style, adventuring gameplay. It is simply embarrassing how fun it is. And you look like a complete nerd child playing it.

This is one of the creatures in-game (LINK) that I've painted. The game doesn't look like much, but that's what makes it so charming. And it's only in the alpha stage, and buying it now grandfathers you in to all other versions for 14 bucks USD and it's only going up. Don't be cruel to your inner child. You owe it to yourself. Buy it, then e-mail me about your game. I want to see your castles, forts, and cave homes.

I want to keep talking about it, but I'll refrain for now. That's a lot of text for an art blog.

This is how you dress for the zombie apocalypse.

I feel like a military contractor would stand a good chance during the invasion of the walking dead.

Techno Bounty Hunter WIP

So I've been working like crazy for a bit. Here is a mini paint I did that I'm probably gonna take to finish. I've been wanting to do a Star Wars-ish bounty hunter for awhile now. My first attempt was essentially a failure and I am way happier with this one. It's like I'm learning.

Really trying to not be a greyscale abuser on this one and do some color work. It is taking so much longer than I thought it would so far because of that. I've gotten really used to painting in greyscale first.

Time to dust off the ol' blog.

Dear Blog,

I've neglected you and I am oh so sorry. In return I will have a solid week of updates. I have a surplus of sketches and I would like to share them. I'll start off the week with this fresh mini paint I did in photoshop today.

I've recently been reading my way through Cormac McCarthy's book, Blood Meridian. The main character, although it seems arguable he's just a mere part that loosely ties characters together, is "The Kid". He has no name, and his description is... brief. I know he's a male and has a white shirt. And that he is 14. So far it's one hell of a book though, and possibly one of the most unapologetically violent things I've ever read. If you need a cool book, pick it up.

Sincerely,

Mike Puncekar

Vamp Concept

If I made a vampire film this is what they would look like. Not some pretty boy teenager. They'd have a tail, a belly full of blood, and a face fit for scaring. I'm in a concepting mood, so expect some more of these, especially while I'm currently teaching myself z-brush. Which crashed a lot. So I quickly ended up back in my comfort zone, photoshop.

I've always thought nosferatu type vampires were the best though. To me that romanticism is strange for something that sucks bloods out of human throats. It's irritating how quickly people in the stories can overlook this quality. I think a vampire hunter is up next though.

I tried out some new techniques in this one. Let me know what you think. I'm building a concept portfolio and I need a direction.

More Character Concepts and A Fortune

First set of concepts were for my last Professional Practice assignment. Story behind this is the teacher, Dave Groff, used a random hero generator for us to illustrate. I managed to miss class that day accidentally, so as punishment my hero was a "Ballerina Karate Master". This is in contrast to "Amazon Adventurer", "Warlock Hunter", and annoyingly what I would have got if I had been there "Astronaut Zombie Hunter". Everyone in the class got something that was easily a winner of a character. I deserved it. The irony being that I missed because I was so exhausted from working on the assignment from this very class the entire night before. Lesson learned.

The last thing was from today's Professional Practice class. It was a 3 hour timed challenge where we had to illustrate our fortune from a fortune cookie. After about 2 hours give or take, once you include printing the thing and meeting up to discuss concepts. It was fun. I'd call it a sketch-a-day, but I'm not sure if I feel right using that term anymore with all of these sporadic updates.

Lastly, I got a tiny new red moleskine, pocket size. Love a new sketchbook. Nothing beats that feeling.

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

This was my second assignment I cranked out after the last one. Goal on this one initially was to pick a female lead based play and do a poster, as I needed more females in my portfolio. But in the end I leaned on this layout since I felt it was much more striking than the original comp I had planned.

I'm a bit bitter though that I had messed up my due dates on it. It wasn't due and I pushed through the night even though I didn't have to. Started it at about 2 in the morning from scratch, and had an art history class at 11am, the class it was due at 12:30am, and the Annual AOI show immediately after that to help set up. And I put on a suit for the heck of it, that was on from 10 in the morning till 11 at night. My feet hurt from dress shoes. You girls out there that wear heels... I ask you... WHY do you put yourself through that?

I got some really good feedback on this stuff, though. Sure is a nice break from the painterly stuff. As much as I like painting, and the finished product, it just takes so stinking long compared to these. I have a joan of arc inspired wrap-a-round book cover in the works now, so I'm gonna experiment a bit to see if I can merge the two styles happily.

Prohibition - 1920s

This was what I got to do last night. I really love doing this sort of ink work so I figured I'd post it up on the blog. This one was really fun from start to finish, with start being midnight last night, and finish being a little bit ago, with a whole lot of troubles in between.

The concept came from an old photo I had found where the stage was up on top of the bar. I just exaggerated it. If Iget more time to work on it soon I really want to get a subtle band up behind her. For now I have to start work on a Play Poster based on "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-on-the-Moon Marigolds". I picked it because of the awesome title. Unfortunately, it turned out to be quite a screwed up depressing story.

Sagat Redesign

Alright. I really have to start doing some work now. Not a whole lot changed on Sagat from his original design. Mostly just gave him some new shorts and roughed up his appearance more. I consider him an aggressive fighter more than a defensive one, so I smashed up his face pretty bad.

See ya tomorrow.

Chun Li Redesign

Here we have my Chun Li redesign, again from Street Fighter. So when Vega couldn't represent, she was my go to character. She had a gift, and that gift was button mashing kickery. No other character could tear through the bonus stages like her. She's also a girl. And I really need to paint more of these strange creatures. I'm always doing soldiers and knights, and I never remember to get some girls going.

Depending on how far I get on my actual school project I should have been working on, I want to squeeze in at least one more Street Fighter. leaning towards two fellows named E. Honda and Sagat. Guile could be fun, but I can't stand that signature hair. It just looks so freaking terrible.

While working on this I was listening to the new MGMT album. Not thinking I like it very much. On the plus side I discovered the internets virtual keyboard, and I got sucked into attempting video game themes. I at least couldn't stop until the Morrowind theme was perfect.

("We're watching you, scum..."

-every Ordinator in Morrowind)

Vega Redesign/A sketch 2 death event

Over in the Sketch-2-Death camp, a fellow CCADer started this activity, where we are all being a bunch of fanboys, and pretending we work at Capcom, sketching out some Street Fighters.

I took early dibs on Vega. Why? Because he is clearly the most super fantastic, and I mean that in the most arrogant way. While he may be a pretty boy under that mask, he was just so incredibly awesome in street fighter 2, that he just had to be done. He climbed on the cage wall, and slashed his foes to pieces with the only real weapon in the game, and it's an AWESOME weapon to have in a fighting game. No one beats him in sheer amazingness. Which is why they never bothered to change his character in future incarnations, because he is just that perfect.

I did try to make him a bit more matadorish, tone down the muscles, and spruce up that silly arm band though (he's still perfect though!). I also punched some holes in his mask, because that thing has to be hot. So that leaves the only real addition being the claw hand. I was just going to put another claw on him, but he isn't wolverine, and I think it fit's the whole snake tattoo thing resembling the fangs. Plus, just think of the cool in-game moves those could bring in tandem with the claw.

Lastly, I'm on spring break! But I don't have my scanner cord (although I have the scanner) so while I had planned to post a metric crap-ton of art on you to make up for my absence here the last month, I can't unless I get to a scanner. It'll be a busy month or so working up to graduation, so updates will be very sporadic as I get my portfolio together and finish branding, but I'll try to keep updating.

Lastly, lastly... everyone needs to tune in or somehow get their eyes on HBO's The Pacific. It's two episodes in, and it is glorious.

Before the Bull

So this is what I had to paint up last night for the CCAD Illustration Workshop Class. It was completed on a very tight timeframe, and at this point I swear it's the only way I can get my brain in gear. I've come to the conclusion, that I enjoy tight deadlines. Bit masochistic I guess, but I just like the silence of the night and the 4:00 am Mcdonald's breakfast trips. Working on something during the regular daylight hours just feels... wrong.

And I have an excuse to drink an unhealthy amount of coffee.

Story on this one was that we had to take our character concept we had done previously, and relate it to the Haiti Disaster. It was an odd one, very odd. I kept it simple though, since my character is placed in time quite a bit after the disaster. Not to mention I didn't feel quite right putting my character there in a mocking way. I tend to live in a box, and check the news every long once in awhile with no tv, and any reading time going to books or fun stuff like cracked and science/tech, not counting the infinite loop of wikipedia. So when I finally did see photos, it was the day before he gave the "twist" of the assignment, since when we designed the characters we didn't know the second part of it, and they weren't the easiest photos to look at to say the least. This was my solution. I wouldn't mind getting some more arena equipment in there and solve some outstanding issues, but for now it's off of the queue and on to something else.

FARRGOO

So here is a recent assignment for school that I finished up last night. We had a list of column A movies, and a list of column B movies, and then we had to pick one from each category and combine them. So I chose Peter Yate's "Bullitt", and the Coen Brothers' Fargo. In other words, 1968 in snow. I had also been looking at some minimal french 1970 movie posters, so that crept in as well.

This one was really a challenge, since I can't remember I took a legitimate stab at a car. Pretty happy with how it all turned out on the short time frame I gave myself due to a start over last night at midnight.

So I haven't really slept yet, and I'm feeling pretty darn sleepy, but if all goes to plan I may have another piece for you by midnight.

The Hound of Kings

Recently I was contacted to do a quick sketch for a silent auction in alabama. The subject was weimaraners. More specifically for a an event to raise money for a rescue foundation for weimaraner's in Alabama, Mississippi, parts of Tennessee, Georgia and Louisiana. The event is march 6th in Homewood, AL. Looks like a good time, so if you live around there check it out, and bid on my drawing, please. Thanks to Vanessa for giving me the chance to contribute. The idea behind the drawing was that Weimaraner's are considered the dogs of king's since their breeding came about as a result of the king's wanted decent hunting dogs to accompany them. They did their job so well, that it was among one of the first breeds to be accepted in the home to live with their owners, so in a sense, they have a royal bloodline, as well as one of the most historic.

More information on the event by clicking here.

In other news this place has been a bit quiet since I have a lot of projects going right now, but I'll be updating soon enough. Want to thank everyone for the support lately. Gives me the ol' warm and fuzzies in the heart regions.

Society of Illustrators - Student Competition

Edit: Thanks for all the kind words all. What a great few days. Coincidentally, at the time I made this post I hadn't known that Irene Gallo had posted the Undertaker on her blog in the image attached to the post about the competition. Which really made this something special for me, just being on the same page as posts with Tor Books artists. So exciting.

Here's the images that made it in for those that asked.

Groff: This cloud is pretty comfy. We will see.

Thanks again everyone

Let me start off with a WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

....and compose myself....

When I came to CCAD I only had one goal after freshman year, and that was to get something into this student competition for Society of Illustrators. Man, is it a good feeling to have gotten two pieces in, The Undertaker and Lincoln's Secret Letters. I understand that judging is more of a matter of taste on the judges panel, and the best piece that I may think will get out in the first round, but as a general feeling towards this, I feel like I've been assured at least a shot in the illustration world.

Holy hell I'm excited right now. Have to get back to work on an assignment I'm way behind on, but be sure to check out everything that made it into the show this year.

Society of Illustrators Student Competition

A Space Rodeo

This was a fun one. This one was for Thom Glick's half of the Illustration Workshop at CCAD. Everyone had to concept out a few characters based on the theme "rodeo". I eventually landed on this rodeo rider that essentially rides a multi-rocketed platform with bull riding rules. I devised a ruleset for it, and arena type atmosphere that I'll be using when I take this concept further.

Interestingly, there was a "twist" second half to the assignment and we have to base an illustration on the character. Unfortunately for me, it has to include the character, and be based on the Haiti Disaster. Gonna be a tough one to pull together tastefully. Excited to see where it goes though. If you want to see what some of the others in the class came up with click here: CCAD Illustration Workshop.

Also on the table this week is a borderline children's illustration with some bird creatures. I got a bit ambitious and the scenery is very... perspective...y. A friend suggested I use sketch up to eliminate a bunch of the complicated perspective work. I have to really recommend this software. Absolutely great, if you haven't tried it. It's incredibly intuitive. Download it, it's awesome.

Also, also, I found a early leak of Massive Attack's new album. Just couldn't wait, so I nabbed it and I gotta say, definitely a return to form to the likes of Mezzanine. It's called Heglioland, and if you can get it, not sure on the actual release date, you have to check it out. Good stuff.

Sketch-a-day Vol 2 011

Here's my new sketch-2-death submission. The words this week were "Flying" and "Slave", so I responded with a butler making his escape.

This one was great becuase I finally found out how to properly color my lines instead of using me horribly convoluted method of masks and selective colors.

Also got featured on a major blog today thanks to Faye + Co. I'm really grateful for the feature, Diane. Made my day, bigtime. She even managed to pick my favorite piece, the undertaker, as the thumb people see on the front page of the blog.

Mom approved as well. I'm embarrassed in that normal son way, but I definitely appreciate that too haha

Sketch-a-day Vol 2 010

This was a quick in-class exercise from today. About 2 hours from beginning to end. We had to conceive a new reality show and make an illustration with 2 or more characters in it. So, I created a show where 8 contestants enter the house under the impression that it will be a big brother type situation, but every once in awhile a siren goes off, the lights dim and something goes awry, ranging from a toilet overflowing to bee swarms, to a full on minotaur slaughtering a house member. Good times.

I really love these assignments, there's jsut no time to think, and in that there just isn't really any pressure. Also fun to do with the whole entire class at once, and to really see what people can do on a true time frame. Although I did lose the original file due to the ridiculous amounts of virtual memory that photoshop gobbles up, had fun.

Sketch-a-day Vol 2 009

Here is a quick color test for what I have in store for an upcoming conquistador illustration. This is maybe 30-45 minutes in class today with some limited reference. The goal of this illustration is just to use color more adventurously, and so far Im having some fun with it.

Sketch-a-day Vol. 2 008

Stewart - Age 10

In the town of Goosebury lives Stewart Appleton, a small boy whose misadventures in sailing his miniature boat changed him into a hideous remnant of a human being. On a pond positioned in front of a chemical overflow pipe from the Lexico Lead Stripper plant, little Stewart Appleton sailed his boat, and unfortunately for him this was the day that a bird flew through and open window and into the vat, clogging a very special pipe. In an emergency they flushed the vats to keep the cleaner from turning flammable as machines sparked and workers scattered. So Stewart sailed his boat unaware, when suddenly he was nearly drowned by 10 tons of Lexico Lead Stripper chemicals. He awoke blurry eyed, and severely disfigured. His boat was lost.

Stewart is still making his way in the world many years after losing his boat as a high school janitor, where his appearance has never once been questioned. Although, it is suspected that he is currently building a ray gun that can shrink boats down to petite sizes, he lives happily in the attic of his grandparent's house where he can often be seen peeking out from behind a small curtain in a small window.

(My entry to the now alive again Sketch-to-death blog)

Sketch-a-day Vol. 2 007

Possible pirate piece in the pipeline. I did this sketch as a sort of warm-up to get excited for it. I may come back and paint this one up like yesterday's. Not sure if I want to make it a lighting study, or just to move on.

I said possible though, because I also want to do a conquistador piece. It has to be a brighter looking piece, but i can't get away from the burial of a conquistador with his gold.

Sketch-a-day Vol. 2 006

Oh man, I am super behind. While I have done a good 10 or so new sketchbook pages, it's all a bit crap. It's not terrible, but in trying to get my drawings more dynamic and correct, I've been experimenting, so while there may be success on a page, right next to it will be a drawing I wouldn't show to the blind.

But I feel like I'm so close to clearing that next checkpoint drawing and really being able to knock these things out 10 times easier and really being able to push it.

Sketch-a-day Vol. 2 005

New sketch a day thanks to Melisa Des Rosiers who threw out the idea of basing a sketch-a-day on a television, a tree, and desperation. Thanks.

So last night I finally got to watch Inglorious Basterds. I'm not sure if I'll be all that excited to see the next Tarantino movie. I mean, talk about packing a movie so full of references to other movies and an era of filmmaking that your own film loses it's way. It had a few story lines, but literally none of them had the chance to be complex. It was just a bunch of static characters all around, talking far too much. He had that tense feel he always is able to get, but at this point it's so expected from him, he needs to learn a new trick, or at least ditch a few "trademarks" to make more room for story.

But, it's still full of inspiring wwII imagery, and now I feel like I need to draw some.

Sketch-a-day Vol. 2 004

Just a super quick head study tonight before going to bed. 15-2o minutes

Sketch-a-day Vol. 2 003

Well...

... about that resolution. I was hoping for another strong start to the year with these sketch-a-days like last year. I couldn't figure out why it was such a chore to do this time. I mean, I love to draw, always have a decent sketch book, including a beautiful new 8.5x11 moleskine courtesy of my super talented girlfriend (her blog here), and I have quite a few sitting here right in front of me. I have a few reasons why I failed so miserably at this task: The free time I usually use to do a sketch-a-day has been competing with some heavy hitters such as all of "lost" on hulu, a new computer that can run s.t.a.l.k.e.r. in all it's beauty, and a morning coffee addiction where I get sucked into hours of news and tech articles. That last one has to be my favorite. Nothing like a cup of coffee in the morning that is just hot enough to lightly scald your mouth and force you into sipping, and some entertaining reads. I'm living the good life right now. The best life I could have really, and this winter break is so hard to fight.

I guess that is what I should be doing before embarking on my last hectic semester at CCAD. What I'm trying to say here, is I got ahead of myself, because I was really excited about getting back into this and getting some motivation. I'm not quitting though. Gonna stick to my resolution of 3-4- updates a week. Just can't believe I slipped up so early. Cause once you are behind on sketch-a-day... man, does that guilt and pressure build up everyday you miss.

I did a few sketches today, on paper, and a few digital ones. This one was my favorite. I'm in a bit of an artist slump right now, so I'm gladly taking requests from people on here as far as stuff you want. Keep em fun and I may wind up doing you a custom sketch. Cause I'm getting rusty and I gotta keep up the work.

Sketch-a-day Vol. 2 002

Well, I didn't make midnight because I had a full day at my girlfriend's house, and I spent a vast majority of the day on a wii fit. Man, I will never ever make fun of yoga again.

So, this is a eyeball spider thing. It came about because when I went over to her house her little sister was doing a project for a contest and she had to draw some eyes. And she made the comment that some of them were just looking hairy once the eyelashes were em. So I made a hairy eyeball, and added legs for good measure in a quick pen sketch while I was sitting with them. Color job is a bit rushed but eh, I still like it.

A New Year, A New Sketch-a-day

It's time to start the new year. As far as new years go, this is sort of a big one I would think. School will officially end and I'm gonna have to grow up or some such nonsense, and hopefully, I'll be able to make something out of this hobby turned career called "Illustration". But that's not a for a few months. So besides that, and realizing that all the little kids I knew have entered high school which weirds me out, things are gonna be normal for a bit. So I thought, this is the perfect time to revamp sketch-a-day.

I used to be pretty on the ball about sketch-a-day. If you check out my back logs over there you can see I was doing alright. Then once last summer hit it's been spiraling downward. So I made a resolution this year: to update this blog four or more times a week. I have some ideas ranging from using it to develop a universe of sorts, or to turn it into an ongoing comic for at least an "issue". But my hopes are high that this is one resolution I won't break.

2009 was a good year though.I made a bunch of break throughs as far as art goes, and met a lot of artists I've always respected. Got in my first book, won my first art contest, and made a few pictures I actually like quite a bit.

In 2010, look forward to a limited offerings of prints, and I'm hoping to do some sketch trades or something with a few people on here if they will have it.

To kick it off I'm going to update everyday for two weeks straight. Keep on checking back.

Sketch-a-day Vol. 2 001