Illustration
Starting where it all began. Illustration was the gateway into the career I wanted to pursue. I have been drawing ever since I was younger, and like everyone else my age, my drawings were pretty simple and rudimentary. However, within those basic drawings from my youth, you can see a small bit of my creativity jumping out of them. After pursuing an education in illustration at the Academy, my work can now be envisioned far better than I ever could before. Most of my work within this segment all originated on a sketch pad, and after a lot of effort through the power of digital illustration, I was able to bring the ideas in my head to life.
Phantoms
I enjoy creating stories, and one of the best aspects of stories is the characters. So, I decided to make some early concept designs of a few of the characters in a story I created, called Phantoms. The Phantoms are these supernatural beings that inhabit Earth and are known to be these fearful creatures amongst the humans. Yet this story follows a group of edgy teenage Phantoms that paint the opposite picture of what people believe them to be. All they care about is having fun and going on adventures, but as they get older, they will realize that they will eventually have to become the fearful beings they are known as.
(Click the comic page to view all the pages)
The story of Phantoms took over my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about all the ideas that sprang into my head. I created several pieces of artwork featuring the characters I came up with. This particular poster showcases one of the enemies the Phantoms encounter. The character’s name is Tear’ur (Terror), and he has a very extreme design compared to the others, inspired by heavy metal album covers to give him that edge.
Storyboards
Since we are on the topic of stories, I figured we should dive more into that side of my work. I would say I have a knack for wanting to tell stories. However, when it comes to storytelling, I wasn’t always the best writer. I could draw pictures and convey the stories I was trying to write, though. This is when I stepped into the realm of storyboarding. Giving me much more creative liberties than I could ever imagine.
The Bloody West
This story was based on another idea I had for a comic. It was about a cowboy-like bounty hunter taking place within the Old West during the Civil War. Mildly inspired by the old TV series, The Lone Ranger. However, this depiction is a lot more graphic. This was one of my earlier storyboards I created, and in my opinion it’s a little rough. So, I decided to create a more detailed style frame to better depict what this story would look like.
General Auto Insurance Commercial
This was another of my earlier storyboard projects, where I was tasked with creating a commercial for General Auto Insurance. A very well-known company for its commercials featuring its cartoonish General mascot. Unfortunately, Shaq is not featured in this one, but doing so allowed my creativity to run wild. This storyboard has a more comedic beat to it. Due to the idea of this being broadcast on TV, it should be entertaining to some degree. I depicted a couple accidentally getting into a head-on collision with an older man. The man then takes out a walkie-talkie and radios the military about the accident. As the military secures the perimeter, the man runs for his life in fear. The old man halts him and reveals himself as the General of Auto Insurance, “insuring” that the man will be taken care of for the accident.
Fred’s Big Adventure
This next story was a group project about a little chick named Fred who goes on this big, grand adventure with his brother. I was instructed to handle the last part of this story, in which Fred is separated from his brother, left alone, scared, and utterly traumatized by the so-called adventure he went on. This is Fred at his most vulnerable, not knowing what he is about to experience next. Since I was more experienced at storyboarding when I made this, I was able to add a lot more detail within my frames. This not only helped better depict how the story would be told but also showcased the depth and composition needed to properly convey storytelling through the environment.
The Constellations
“Imagine what it would be like to be forever painted across the sky.”
Let’s take a slight detour out of this world. This is a chart of all the constellations within view from our eyes. There is a total of 88 constellations, and I organized all of them into 6 different categories to view them in a much clearer format.
