graphicvectors: April 2007

Illustration Friday: Remember

This is an original design I created as a greeting card. If you like it, they can be purchased here:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=88920

Otherwise, enjoy!

Sidney Padua Portrait

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Earlier this week, my wife's family dog of almost 14 years passed away. For the past year my mother-in-law who has been out of the country, so she asked us to watch her two dogs, Abbey and Sidney.

I, myself, have only known Sid for about 9 years. She was always there, lending a watchful eye. She witnessed the beginning of my relationship with my wife and thankfully she was also there for our wedding.

My wife and I often randomly trade memories whenever they occur to us during the course of the day. We also find faint little reminders of Sidney all around the house that always causes us to pause and take a moment.

The thing about training dogs is that they take comfort in routine. Its in their blood. But routines also make lasting impressions on humans too. Whenever we leave the house, we always give cookies to the all the girls. How many days later, I have to make a conscious effort to take one less cookie. And when we come home, we still find our eyes going to that one spot we knew Sidney would be, anxiously waiting our arrival.

Its hard, having a dog. I don't suggest it to everyone, especially those weak of heart. I have always regarded myself as a dog person, which is why dogs can always be found in my artwork. In reality, Sidney was my first dog. I am still unable to fathom how something so small and sweet can take and reciprocate so much of your time, love and attention. But it is worth it.

Sidney was and will forever be in my eyes, the greatest dog. We love you and miss you Sid.

Cardboard Art Series:

"Lucha: Jungle Rules"

On a side note, I now have representation for some my works as rights managed. So you can now find my art at...

Illustration Friday Catchup!

"polar"

"fortune"

I AM 8BIT ART SHOW PICTURES

I originally planned on going to this show the night it was opening but then I heard how many people were expected to show up. So I decided to go the next day instead, which I am glad I did. The gallery is physically small, but they did a great job of spreading everyone's work out so it didn't seem crowed. It was great seeing other people's take on the childhood games I grew up on. So be prepared to feel nostalgic after attending, or better yet, feel old at home and check out my pictures!

I didn't catch all the artists names but I truly appreciated all the pieces. The only reason I knew the name of this artist, "Blooboy", is because we correspond with each other on the net. I really dig his stuff.

I don't know how they did it, but its impressive. I am not sure if its intentional, but to me, Donkey Kong looks an awful like one of the pieces from barrel of monkeys, except on steroids.

This piece really blew me away because I didn't recognize the characters right away. I had to read the title to realize it was Princess Peach and Yoshi. It just goes to show there are really different strokes for different folks.

I had to take a picture of this one for two reasons:
1) My wife and I pride ourselves on being pretty crafty, but this was pretty damn cool.
2) An old friend of mine is a BurgerTime addict. He apparently still has it on the Nintendo console and plays it. Cheers SC!

Not the biggest fan of Joust, but if an updated game was done, this would be some awesome concept art for it. Imagine a polygon first-person p.o.v. version of the game?

Steve Lamb is an amazing artist that I stumbled upon while doing my rounds on the blogs. He did a phenomenal job on his piece and totally justifies the dismantling of a Golden Book for its spine.

I really liked the simplified nature of the Donkey Kong. So what are you gonna do 'bout it? Thats what I thought.

This piece actually made me chuckle. Q*Bert always kinda struck me as an unstable character. I mean, he is probably the first video game character that I can remember actually cussing.

I wish I could post more, but unfortunately the pictures didn't quite turn out. So if you want to see more, you will just have to get off you duff and see it for yerself. Another plus is that there is a Golden Apple next door, so you can let your inner comicbook/videogame geek cry out in glee. Enjoy!