Custom Character Designs

Blog is broken! All images lost!

2011-09-26T17:45:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,

It's been an awesome time sharing my work with you here on my blog, but unfortunately, a little while ago, I broke it due to a mishap with Google plus and accidentally deleting my Picasa album. So unfortunately, it looks like all my artwork that I've put up over the years is lost (except for the newest stuff).

I don't believe in coincidence though. And we've recently updated the Full Circle site, so, I invite you to instead head over there to check out all my updates along with all the cool stuff I am doing with Full Circle.

Check it out at www.full0.com

Take care everyone, and thanks for all the support! You are all awesome!

God bless,

Gavin Ball

Sketches on my Asus Slate

2011-07-06T09:47:00.000-07:00

Just for fun

2011-04-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

it's been a little while. I haven't posted or really worked on a whole lot of 2d design stuff in a while so I thought I would try to do something quickly to try to regain my joy for drawing and designing and also to just freshen up a little bit. I've been really swamped with a lot of work lately and sometimes motivation can start to ebb a little bit. Hopefully stuff like this will give me a bit of a kickstart.

Just as an update, I've got a lot cool projects on the go and some of them look very promising. Hopefully will have lots to show soon.

Well, I hope you enjoy! Now to get back to work!

Peace and blessings,

Gavin

Fergie Jenkins poster for Black History Month

2011-03-07T02:14:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

I recently had the opportunity to do another poster for the city of Toronto for Black History Month. This year's poster was honoring the baseball great, Ferguson Jenkins.

I've included a video showing the event on CityTV...they actually interviewed me also, which was pretty cool! It was also really cool to meet Fergie Jenkins and talk to him a bit. He's a really cool and down to earth guy. I found out that he and my dad kind of grew up together which was also pretty neat.

Anyways, here is the poster and video, I hope you like it.

Peace,

Gavin

3D coat start to finish

2011-03-03T01:08:00.000-08:00

Been using 3d coat a lot more in production for a game project, also been practicing some voxel sculpts...

The program is definitely getting better and better. I am very excited about some of the upcoming developments.

Anyways, here is a sculpt I did recently...I also textured it and rendered it in the program.

I did a bit of post processing in Photoshop. Other than that, it's 100% 3D coat.

Take care & God bless,

Gavin

More 3-d coat Voxel sketches

2010-12-05T00:57:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

it's been a while...Been pretty busy of late. In a good way though.

Just thought I'd show some more 3D Coat work that I've done. Just a little creature that I sketched out a few days ago. A friend is going to detail it out some more in Zbrush...so that should be cool... I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with it.

I'd like to hear what you guys think.

Cheers,

Gavin

Another image from Vancouver Animation tutorial

2010-10-22T06:09:00.000-07:00

Another crazy creature...this was for a tutorial I did for Vancouver Animation school.

Character study for Vancouver Animation

2010-10-20T19:39:00.000-07:00

A character I did for Vancouver Animations online school

More 3d-coat work

2010-10-12T05:53:00.001-07:00

My latest 3d-coat sculpture...Comments and Critics welcome

3D-coat sculpt part 7

2010-10-04T06:12:00.001-07:00

More progress started working on his face.

See this Turntable image on 3D-Coat.com

3D-coat sculpt - stomach mouth

2010-10-01T06:37:00.000-07:00

More practice...will get back to big guy later

3D-coat sculpt part 6

2010-09-30T05:25:00.001-07:00

See this Turntable image on 3D-Coat.com

More progress..adding in the details. About 13 million polys at this point. Probably not working as efficiently as possible. I'm trying to learn how to sculpt while at the same time I'm trying to see if I can achieve the same level of detail and quality that I've seen from some of the Zbrush masters. Not saying I'll be able to do what they're doing, but I think it's a good barometer for what 3D-coat is capable of.

Take care,

Gavin

3D-coat sculpt part 5

2010-09-28T06:06:00.000-07:00

See this Turntable image on 3D-Coat.com

Changed proportions again. Added detail to the hands. Thumb still needs some work though.

Playing with the cool shaders in 3D coat.

Peace out,

Gavin

Some sketchbook pages

2010-09-27T21:20:00.000-07:00

just a few sketches from my commute to and from work

3D-coat sculpt part 4

2010-09-26T20:10:00.001-07:00

See this Turntable image on 3D-Coat.com

More progress...new shader

For with God...

2010-09-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, if you haven't noticed I've been doing a daily post. I'm trying to learn 3d at the moment and I'd also like to start making images that are a bit more conscious if possible. Anyways, here is something that I did a little while ago.

I'll keep posting stuff. A lot of it will be things that I feel I could grow doing so please bear with me.

Take care and God bless,

Gavin

3D-coat sculpt part 3

2010-09-25T09:24:00.001-07:00

See this Turntable image on 3D-Coat.com

Making him into more of a Basketball player now

Some pigeon concepts

2010-09-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

f
Hey everyone,

here are some pigeon concepts I did for a Full Circle project.

Hope you like.

(sorry for the poor scan quality. My sketchbook is way too big for my scanner!)

-G

3D-coat sculpt part 2

2010-09-24T05:53:00.000-07:00

See this Turntable image on 3D-Coat.com

Added the hands...still needs some tweaking, but its getting there.

-G

3D-coat sculpt

2010-09-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

See this Turntable image on 3D-Coat.com

Hey all,

been practicing digital sculpting using a cool program called 3d coat. here is what I was able to do with it tonight. Needs hands obviously and some work on the head and legs. I'll probably play with the proportions some also. But so far I think it's coming along.

Peace out,

Gavin

Bizzle

2010-09-22T03:15:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

I recently came across a hip hop artist named Bizzle and after listening to his music I felt compelled to do this piece.

I listen to a lot of gospel and worship music, but nothing really like this... He is rough around the edges but his message is very sincere.

I definitely recommend checking out his page and listening to some of his music.

iambizzle.com

God bless,

Gavin

Some game art

2010-05-28T10:02:00.000-07:00

This is an image related to an iphone project that Full Circle has been doing the visuals for.

Coming to Iphone near you!

-Gavin

Paul Robeson Poster unveiling

2010-04-01T21:31:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

just wanted to post up a picture of a poster that I've been working on for quite some time...

It was for the city of Toronto's first 'Contributions to Humanity' series of posters

here are a couple of articles about it

http://finance.alphatrade.com/story/2010-03-25/CNW/201003251715CANADANWCANADAPR_C5267.html

http://www.sharenews.com/local-news/2010/03/31/paul-robeson-poster-first-city-hall-series

The poster celebrates Paul Robeson. He was a great singer, speaker, actor and athlete...he was a lawyer, activist and a representative for oppressed people everywhere.

He spoke and sang fluently in several different languages including Russian, Chinese (not sure which dialect), Spanish and Gaelic as well as many more.

I had never heard of him until I was commissioned to do this poster. With all of his accomplishments I couldn't believe it. I figure a lot of people my age probably haven't heard much about him either. Part of the purpose of this poster was to reintroduce him to the public and to help illuminate some of the things he stood for. Especially Peace, and unity amongst diverse people. He also made a point of speaking up for oppressed people everywhere no matter what their background.

To learn more about Robeson, wikipedia is a good starting point...

http://www.toronto.ca/parks/african_history.htm

There are also several books including a new biography coming out soon...I can't remember the name, but I believe it was written by his son.

Toronto Parks and Recreation is selling the posters on their website for $9 here...

http://www.toronto.ca/parks/african_history.htm

Take care everyone,

Gavin

Portrait session

2010-03-05T06:14:00.000-08:00

The other day at the Behind the Front figure drawing session, we focused on portraits. We did an open call for models on our Facebook page (Drawn Together). And we got a response from Ann from Toronto365.ca. So we did several portrait drawings of her from different angles...this one was about 30-40 minutes if I remember correctly.

Anyways it was a lot of fun, and meeting Ann was really cool. I highly recommend checking out her website...she is doing something different in the city of Toronto every single day of the year and blogging about it. Very cool if you ask me!

Stay tuned for our next portrait session...the way it works is, you come in and pose and in exchange we will give you an one of the portraits that we do...check the Drawn Together page for more details!

Peace out,

Gavin

Lifedrawings from FC lifedrawing session @ Behind the Front

2010-01-26T01:09:00.000-08:00

Life drawing sessions @ Behind the Front with Full Circle

2010-01-21T20:53:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

I'm excited to announce that Full Circle CS is going to be starting a life drawing session next week on Mondays and Saturdays.

Space is very limited and the price is definitely right. 10 people max per session and $100 for a book of ten tickets. $15 for a drop-ins (space allowing). For more details please have a look at the flyer.

You'll have the opportunity to draw with industry pros and overall very talented artists.

This is something I've been looking to do for quite some time, the timing now seems to be right.

Hope to see you guys there...please confirm before hand if you are interested in coming. You can call the number on the flyer or confirm on our the Drawn 2gether Facebook page here

Azania

2009-12-21T07:45:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

It's been a while since I've updated...been really busy of late. The webcomic Azania will be launching shortly.

So stay tuned for details!

-Gavin

More portriats

2009-10-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

Cesar Chavez
Michelle Obama
Sidney Poitier
Thurgood Marshall

Here are a few more portraits that I did for a different version of the poster.

Take care,

Gavin

Full Circle Nuit Blanche Mural!

2009-10-05T17:35:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, Full Circle did a mural down at Distillery District for Nuit Blanche...here it is...the size is about 15' by 7' ...it was lots of fun to work on. You can see some progress on the Full Circle blog here.

Take care,

Gavin

2009-09-20T00:50:00.000-07:00

Here is a character design I've been working on for Full Circle...you can see some of the progress work on the Full Circle Blog

I'd like to hear what people think of the concept. I'm probably going to make a few changes to it, but I'd like to see what people say first.

Take care everyone,

Gavin

Some new figure drawings

2009-07-16T22:44:00.001-07:00

I attended life drawing class at Seneca college a couple of weeks ago. We had a really great model that day. Here are a couple of drawings that I was happy with.

I hope you like it.

-Gavin

p.s. More Azania updates coming soon!

Azania concept

2009-06-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

Some more Azania stuff. This is from a tribe living below ground in caves, they have developed an affinity with insects and have found a mysterious way to drastically increase their size. The previous image of a guy riding a giant insect is from the same tribe.

Also, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes, it was greatly appreciated.

More to come!

-Gavin

Project Maas: New title - Azania

2009-06-18T23:17:00.000-07:00

Here are some more concepts for Project Maas. They are a couple of older images, one which I did some more work on (the young lady). I mainly wanted to show the name and logo. We finally came up with a title that we liked. Azania, it is a very fitting name for this project. Thanks for the suggestion Emily!

Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Still have a lot more concepts to post. Lots of characters, creatures and environments.

I hope you like it!

Regards,

Gavin Ball

Back to drawing

2009-06-10T11:16:00.000-07:00

I've been drawing a lot more lately, which has been really nice...didn't realize how much I missed it. I've never really stopped. But lately I've been practicing a lot more and trying new things...especially drawing more environments and backgrounds...

I've also been brushing up on my perspective and placing characters within an envrionment in a way that looks believable. It's been a lot of fun. It's always cool when you feel like you still have a lot of room for improvement on something. It makes you feel excited about what you might be able to do tomorrow.

That's one of the things I like so much about art, you can really continue to hone your craft for your whole life almost. The road doesn't stop, even if you feel like you've made some progress, there are still so many more things that you can continue to work on.

Anyways, I just wanted to share some of the doodles I've done recently...I thought it was pretty cool, so I figured why not share it, instead of keeping it to myself.

Take care,

Gavin

Project Maas

2009-06-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

This is another character design for the story. His name is Fudu as you can probably see. He is a friend of the main character...they come from the same village and they are around the same age.

Comments and crits welcome.

I hope you enjoy!

More to come.

-Gavin

Project Maas

2009-06-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some more concepts of the characters in the story. Feedback is more than welcome. I am working on this with a friend of mine, Anthony Lynch.

Again, there's a lot more to come so stay tuned!

-Gavin

Project Maas

2009-06-04T20:49:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

There is much more to come, but here is some more preliminary work on my big project. This is just some early concept work, I will be posting a lot more in the days ahead...

The project will be released as an online webcomic...completely free of course. I will post more details here shortly...so please stay tuned.

I haven't updated in a while but hopefully I will be able to make up for that in the coming weeks and months ahead.

Take care and God bless!

-Gavin

Portraits.

2009-04-20T12:14:00.000-07:00

Martin Luthur King, Jr.
Tupac Shakur
Sistah Soulja
Shirly Chisholm
Rosa Parks
Oprah Winfrey
Muhammed Ali
Nelson Mandela
Maya Angelou
Marcus Garvey
Malcom X
Abraham Lincoln
Kwame Ture
John Lennon
JFK
Harriet Tubman
Mahatma Ghandi
Fredrick Douglas
Booker T. Washington
Bob Marly

Here are the pictures of the people I painted for the Obama poster I did with Afrentine publishing. The concept was to show some of the many many people who have contributed in some way, shape or form to the possibility of an african-american - Barack Obama winning the US presidential election. Which is still pretty amazing all things considered.

I've been wrestling with the idea of posting up an image of the poster I did...I know I said I would. I guess, I feel weird about it being an Obama poster...I'm still not sure how I feel about the guy. I don't really follow politics too much, or watch all that much t.v. unless I happen to be home to catch a Raptors game. So I can't say that I'm completely up to date on what he's been doing of late.

He seems like a great guy by all accounts and I pray for him because he certainly has a difficult task ahead of him...When you are in a position like that who do you turn to for guidance? Who do you put your faith in when so many are putting their faith in you? I believe only God can give you true guidance when you are in a position such as that, or at any other time for that matter.

So my dilemma comes because I don't know how I feel about Obama...I don't blindly put my faith in him to solve every ones problems. Unfortunately, I think some do....I think that can be problematic because some of us might then absolve ourselves of personal responsibility and wait for others to solve our problems for us. No matter how great a man or woman may be, they are still only human...flesh and blood. Not perfect, but flawed...

We all have our shortcomings...as Jesus said, '...let he who is without sin throw the first stone...' With our 'sins' being us wandering off the beaten path in our walk with God (if you are trying to walk with God), and in 'throwing the first stone'... our condemnation of another for their shortcomings.

To get back to the post though, these are all individuals who have made sacrifices and contributions to society, often times, calling upon us to question what we believe is right and wrong...many have paid a very high price, in many cases, their very lives.

So I guess what I am trying to say here is that only time will tell whether Obama will be remembered with the Martin Luthor King, Jrs and the Mahatma Ghandis...I'm praying that he will be.

God Bless,

Gavin Ball

Oddly Studios and upcoming comic book

2009-03-02T06:37:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,
It's been a while since I posted, I've been pretty busy finishing up that Obama poster. I'll post that soon. We just printed it out this past Friday and it's getting cut today. So I should have some in my hands shortly. It's very exciting. Overall, this has probably been the most involved single painting I've ever done. It was a great honor to have had the opportunity to work on it. Thanks to J.D. and Afrentine publishing for the opportunity! Thanks to God for the series of unlikely events which resulted in the crossing of our paths.

On another note, I've recently had the great opportunity to spend the week in a Flash development studio here in Toronto called Oddly Studios. I am honoured to say that I was the first participant of their in house artist program where they bring in an artist for a week and show them how to get their work online for the world to see. I have to say, the stuff those guys are able to do with Flash is nothing short of incredible. I came away very impressed with the work they do and also with the versatility and power of Flash. Thanks to Tim for that opportunity and again to God for placing me there. To see more about their studio, you can check here ---> http://www.oddlystudios.com/

The images attached in this post are concepts related to a web comic which I'll be launching later this year. I did the drawings quite some time ago. I used my time at Oddly Studios to flesh some of it out a bit more. So stay tuned, it should be good!

Peace out everyone.

Your friend,

Gavin Ball

Martin Luther King Jr.

2009-01-25T23:50:00.001-08:00

As many of you know black history month is coming up pretty soon. I've been fortunate to have been comissioned to do a poster for it. Overall the poster is pretty ambitious so I've been working away at it pretty diligently for the past week or so. I hope the result will be special and memorable.

This is one of my personal heroes Martin Luthor King Jr. ;the famous civil rights advocate. It's funny becuase being black, I realize that many of the oppourtunities I've been blessed with in my lifetime wouldn't have been possible if not for people like MLK. He was brave enough to stand up for what he believed in and he ultimately lost his life as a result. Thankfully, it was not in vain and I believe his dream is slowly becoming reality.

Thank you Martin Luther King for sharing your dreams with us. As a result of your work and sacrifices, I feel that I too will be able to realize my dreams.

Anyone who would like to learn a bit more about Mr. King, can go here

---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.

God bless everyone!

-Gavin

Character anatomy

2009-01-05T23:07:00.001-08:00

I always thought it would be cool to work out the skeleton and muscle system of a character design. To me it just brings them a little bit more to life. The first time I really ever saw this done to a high degree was in Disney's Tarzan. Which is one of my favorite Disney movies of all time.

I also had a really good teacher when I was a Seneca college who taught us a lot about anatomy. More than that though, he instilled in me a real passion for digging a bit deeper into the physical aspect of a character. By doing this I think we are able to enhance, to a degree the illusion of life, thereby creating a more convincing, believable character (thanks Werner). Of course, that doesn't get into personality and the story behind every character which is a whole other ball of wax.

Anyways, like I said, I always thought it would be cool to do an accurate skeletal system of an otherwise unbelievable character (I guess that is what appeals to me the most, taking something unbelievable and arranging all the little details in a way that makes it believable) which in theory, should render it a bit more believable, because it is based on things that makes sense.

So here are a couple of designs I did, you can see the initial sketch and then what I was able to do using Photoshop.

I hope you find it interesting!

Take care,

Gavin

Cat drawings

2009-01-05T01:39:00.001-08:00

These are some drawings of a cat that I did a while ago. I was teaching a portfolio development class for students who were trying to get into animation school. One of the student's was nice enough to bring in her cat for everyone to draw. The cat was really cute, but it was terrified and wouldn't move at all. So we just rotated around the table and drew it from different angles.

I was just looking through some of my older drawings and I came across this so I decided to post it. More to come!

Take care,

Gavin

Silly monster

2008-12-18T20:39:00.001-08:00

here is another image for my friends short film idea...I'd like to hear what you guys think. This is the big guy who is supposed to chase down and try to eat the little blue guy from an earlier post.

Peace,

Gavin

whohub

2008-11-23T01:02:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

I just did an interview on this cool site called whohub you can see my interview here. It's basically an interview template and anyone can answer the questions, but I think it's a pretty cool concept and it's a good way to get a glimpse inside a person's mind.

So yeah, I did it and I took it pretty seriously, so if you were ever wondering about some of my philosophies about art, check out my interview.

Thanks everyone!

Take care,

Gavin

p.s. more art will be coming soon (I'm just deciding what to post next!)

The Prom Date

2008-10-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

These are two illustrations I did to commemorate prom time. They can be viewed separately or together...It is my way of paying tribute to that beautiful time of year when high school seniors all over the world go to prom...

On the right, you have the excited young couple...and on the left, the young ladies parents...As you can see the young man is very impressed by how beautiful his date is looking, but he can't be too effusive in his praise or her overprotective dad (and Vietnam vet.) will not be impressed (I would be the same way of course)...so he's got to play it cool and make sure that he is a perfect gentleman or else he wont make it to date number two.

Mom is so proud to see her little girl all grown up, and the lovely young lady is looking forward to going out and having a good time dancing with all her friends...but mainly, she's just glad that school is finally finished!

I hope you enjoy!

Best wishes,

Gavin Ball

Cute Little Alien

2008-10-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

Orthographic views...I was trying to get it so that modeling it in 3d would be very straight forward...I had a little bit of trouble visualizing the top views though.

I anyone sees anything I could correct, I'm all ears...I hope you like it!

-Gavin

Cute aliens

2008-10-18T15:59:00.000-07:00

here is something I'm helping a friend out with...please let me know what you think!

Take care,

Gavin

Inspiration

2008-10-09T01:15:00.000-07:00

This is some early development work for a new project I am working on. The final project probably wont have this kind of look, I'll probably go for something a bit more realistic. This character could exist in the world I want to create.

Hopefully that was very vague! This idea is top secret right now, but you will all see much more about it in the future.

Take care,

Gavin

Flight!

2008-10-06T23:31:00.000-07:00

Lifedrawing - Marjanka

2008-09-28T03:24:00.001-07:00

Scalp Masseuse

2008-09-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

Here is the painted version of the doodle I post a while ago...

Take care,

Gavin

Oops revised final

2008-09-17T19:51:00.001-07:00

Thanks for the critics Bobby and Louis,

I went back in and fixed the hand, also adjusted the colours a little bit, and softened up the smoke coming out of the big guy's ears. I also cropped the image a little bit to get a composition that was tighter on the two characters.

I think it was for the better.

Cheers,

Gavin

'OOPS' finished

2008-09-04T08:06:00.000-07:00

This is the piece I've working at off and on for a while now, people who come to my blog from time to time might recognize parts of it.

I finally finished it and it's also the first thing I've ever posted on CG Society.
You can check out the thread here --> http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=133&t=670777

Take care,

Gavin

Portrait Painting (digital)

2008-08-18T10:21:00.001-07:00

I brought my laptop to figure drawing again on Friday. This one took about 2.5 hrs.

Hope you like it!

-Gavin

Different angle

2008-07-12T20:26:00.000-07:00

I did another pose this week...I like some of what I did...mainly the elbow and feet, I also think I was able to capture some of the weight in her chest and stomach, but I was too heavy handed when I was drawing her face...way too many dark lines...it's a bit distracting. Next week, I should get into some colour...I'll choose between these two poses when I do.

Take care,

Gavin

Lifedrawing

2008-07-06T23:21:00.000-07:00

This is from lifedrawing this past Friday at Basic Inquiry (www.lifedrawing.org).

I monitor the sessions there every Friday, it's a really cool place and well run for anyone who wants to do some lifedrawing in Vancouver.

They have sessions pretty much everyday of the week, ranging from gestures, to long poses (12 hours), depending on which day you go. This is from the long pose session, which we do on Friday nights....This is the first three hours. for the last 9 hours, I'll try colouring it in on my computer. So, I'll scan this and then use it as the foundation for some digital painting.

I also bought some Oil paints, which I plan to learn how to use at some point very soon. Thats something I've wanted to do for a very long time, so now is my chance.

I figure painting from life using the computer is probably a cheaper way to learn initially. But at some point I'll have to tackle mixing paints the traditional way. I am looking forward to the challenge though.

Anyways,

I hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for all the feedback and support.

Take care,

Gavin

Spiritual being

2008-06-08T02:01:00.000-07:00

This started off as a doodle, but then I started colouring it and I let the concept develop organically...this is how it turned out....a bit strange, but I think it's pretty cool.

I have an idea of what the story is but I won't write it...I figure it will be different for everyone.

Take care,

Gball

Couldn't resist

2008-05-27T01:16:00.001-07:00

I couldn't resist colouring this guy in

cheers,

Gavin

It's been a long time...time for a new post

2008-05-23T01:09:00.001-07:00

Where to start, it's been a long time....

I've finished a couple of the things I've been working on, so I have a little bit more free time...I also got up to date on watching all of Avatar and Naruto, both from the beginning...even got up to date on the Naruto manga...pretty nerdy of me, but it's all good. I'd highly recommend them both, especially Naruto, that show really blew me away.

I also finished that caricature I've been working on as you can see here.

I've been doing tons and tons of random doodles that I really like and want to post, but there are soooo many. I posted a couple of them here, one is a self portrait of how I think I must look when I really get into drawing...the stuff pouring out of my head is supposed to symbolize my ideas flowing onto the page. The other is just a random creature I drew, When I needed to figure out something for him to be standing on, I figured it would be cool if he was like a head massager or something...so there you go!

Did some work on the animated painting, and I'm realizing that my animation skills need some serious work! I'm not giving up yet though, it should be cool when it comes together.

Work is going great, learning tons of stuff everyday...right now I'm learning how to do vehicles, which is pretty cool. Soon I'll be working on my big achilles heel, Environments, so that should be a cool challenge, I'm definitely looking forward to it though.

I'll definitely start posting more frequently, at least once a week.

Thanks,

Take care everyone,

Gavin

Ebony, my girlfriend's crazy cat

2008-03-27T00:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick update, I've been pretty busy lately...Work, freelancing and some personal stuff...things are looking pretty good though...

When my schedule clears a bit I will resume updating more regularly.

Take care everyone!

Best wishes,

Gavin

Day 43

2008-03-20T00:00:00.001-07:00

Right now I am doing some work on stuff that I cannot show ATM, but it's pretty cool, I look forward to posting it in the future...for now though here is some more progress on another peice I've been working on.

Take care,

Gavin

Day 42 Turning a New Leaf

2008-03-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

Hello,

sorry for the lack of updates recently. I've been at a bit of a loss as to whether or not I should continue updating everyday...I feel as though in some ways it is good (practice, getting better) in other ways it is not so good (preventing me from spending time on some of my personal projects)

The reason I started doing this everyday is because I had the goal of getting so good at digital painting that it was like second nature to me....while I don't think I am quite there, I have progressed much faster than I anticipated.

The reason I wanted painting to be second nature is because I have a goal of doing animated paintings. To be able to do that I felt like my painting skills and speed needed a lot of work.

I could continue honing my painting skills for the rest of my life, however I wouldn't get to some of the things that are really important to me.

Since I came out of animation school, I've focused primarily on developing my illustration skills. putting animation on the back burner for the time being.

I guess to make a long story short I decided that from now on I'll continue to update on an (ideally) daily basis...the only difference is that now I'll start using a more focused approach...

So that means, I'll start posting images that will tell a story or process work on bigger peices and most importantly animated paintings.

Thanks everyone.

Take care,

Gavin

Day 41

2008-03-12T21:31:00.000-07:00

Basketball...my favorite sport!

-G

Day 40

2008-03-11T19:03:00.000-07:00

Another doodle trying out a new style inspired by Shiyoon Kim's designs

Day 39

2008-03-11T02:13:00.000-07:00

I am still working out some of the details here...mainly just going through and using tone to tighten and properly define unclear areas...The figure is by far the most important part so I take my time to ensure that I get it right.

Once the tonal image is finished, its not that hard to lay down the colours.

-G

Day 38

2008-03-10T02:03:00.000-07:00

More progress on Caricature,

just tightening up some areas here and there

Day 37

2008-03-06T23:30:00.000-08:00

Speedpainting I did today.

-G

Day 36

2008-03-06T12:21:00.000-08:00

A sketch of an older man I saw on the bus.

I did this a few months ago, but I never posted it and I like how it turned out.

Thanks,

Gavin

Day 35

2008-03-05T08:19:00.001-08:00

This is an old drawing I did, just decided to colour it today.

Peace,

Gavin

Day 34

2008-03-03T22:45:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

A lot of the time I like to draw people flying so today I figured I paint one of my flying people doodles up and see what happened.

peace,

Gavin

Day 33

2008-03-02T08:18:00.000-08:00

Some cafe sketches I did at Metrotown mall, apparently, from what I heard, it is the second biggest mall in Canada after West Edmonton Mall, not so sure anymore now since Vaugn Mills was built in Ontario.

Actually, I just checked and it is second biggest, but not a close second, Vaugn mills is way down the list and Eatons Centre (Toronto) is a very close third...

you can see the list here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada's_largest_shopping_malls

The internet is such a beautiful thing, you never have to wonder about anything anymore. Not for long at least.

My apologies for the poor picture quality, I'm moving and I had to use my camera instead of the scanner.

Take care,

Gavin

Day 32

2008-03-01T02:16:00.000-08:00

Some more progress on the caricature, apologies for not posting this yesterday, after rereading my previous post, it said I would, oh well here it is...Still needs a lot of work, moving forward though.

Thanks!

take care,

Gavin

Day 31

2008-02-29T00:06:00.001-08:00

An old man!

Day 30

2008-02-28T00:53:00.000-08:00

Here is the initial thumbnail which I did to get a feel for the composition of the scene, nothing is really set in stone at this point. To be honest, I didn't really want to post this because it is so rough and it doesn't really look good, however it serves a purpose and it gets across what I intended, and it provides enough indication for me to proceed. So while it is a little embarrassing, the important thing is that it gives me good starting point.

Since I already had a likeness, I just used Photoshop to paste the head into the scene and I drew in some parts that were unresolved or unclear.

The next step will be to clarify the composition and try to get all the elements working together...For that I will do it in Photoshop in black and white. I will post that tomorrow.

Take care,

Gavin Ball

Day 29

2008-02-27T00:36:00.000-08:00

This the caricature I mentioned in my post yesterday, The client was nice enough to say it's okay for me to post my progress. This is a quick sketchup I did to get the likeness. I'll continue to post progress as I go along.

-Gavin

Day 28

2008-02-26T01:26:00.000-08:00

Some more practice, this is from a few weeks ago, It's not what I worked on tonight, I'm still trying to finish up a different peice, it's getting there, it will be ready soon...and I also am doing some work on a caricature for a client...I think it would be cool to post some of the process work here on my blog, but I must first ask if it's okay.

Thanks!

Take care everyone,

Gavin

Day 27

2008-02-25T09:52:00.001-08:00

Another sample from a WIP

Day 26

2008-02-24T05:03:00.000-08:00

More progress and some practice

Day 25

2008-02-23T09:17:00.000-08:00

Hello,

I've been working on a peice for a while now and I was hoping I'd be able to post it today, unfortunately it's still not quite finished. Instead I am going to post up some doodles I did and then painted over. Some of the drawings go nowhere, but some turn out pretty interesting. I noticed a lot of times, whatever I am reading at the time will influence what my subconscious mind will draw. I've been watching a lot of Avatar lately and that came through in the one sketch.

Anyways, it's been a long day, I'll try to post something more finished soon.

Take care,

Gavin

Day 24

2008-02-21T21:30:00.000-08:00

A change of pace for today....

Take care,

Gavin

Day 23

2008-02-21T00:46:00.000-08:00

Still more progress on Fire Vixen...I'll finish it eventually!

take care,

Gavin

Day 22

2008-02-19T22:25:00.000-08:00

Some more work on The zombie guy, I like where it's going. I'm going to get back to the Fire Vixen piece later tonight.

Take care,

Gavin

Day 21

2008-02-19T01:59:00.000-08:00

More Progress on 'Fire Vixen'

-Gavin

Day 20

2008-02-18T01:48:00.000-08:00

More progress for Fire Vixen

Day 19

2008-02-17T04:49:00.001-08:00

This a WIP of a piece I am doing for my drawing jam, the theme is "Fire Vixens" this is just a part of what the final will be.

peace,

Gavin

Day 18

2008-02-15T21:58:00.000-08:00

Memory sketch of my Girlfriend Emily, it could some work here and there...I think I'll try some more in the future.

Take care,

Gavin

Day 17- Stomach mouth Finished

2008-02-15T01:14:00.000-08:00

Just went ahead and finished it up, I'm going to be pretty busy for the next few days, so I figured I'll just get itout of the way.

Comments and Crits welcome.

Thanks,

Gavin

Day 16- Stomach mouth

2008-02-14T22:41:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

I didn't quite finish it up as I had a lot of work to do tonight...but I like where it's going and I'll post the final in the next few days.

Also, I'm open to ideas and suggestions on how to improve it before I'm done.

peace,

Gavin

Day 15

2008-02-13T23:07:00.001-08:00

This is a drawing i did today, I'll try to post the coloured version tomorrow.

-Gavin

Day 14

2008-02-12T21:23:00.000-08:00

Some landscape practice...

G

Day 13

2008-02-12T06:09:00.000-08:00

Hello again, here is my post for today. I started this one a while ago, finally got around to finishing it.

It is a cool gargoyle.

peace,

Gavin

Day 12

2008-02-11T02:02:00.000-08:00

This weeks drawing jam was characters that could be in the movie Labrynth...so this is some of what I came up with, it's a bit of a stretch, but i think it's close enough.

Take care,

Gavin

Day 11

2008-02-09T21:13:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Thank you for all the comments and taking the time out to stop by my blog...I'm a bit disappointed in myself that I don't have a bigger update today...but I have done a little work on a piece I posted earlier and I've also got something that I wasn't going to really pursue any further.

Thanks again!

peace and blessings,

Gavin Ball

Day 10 - Salma Hayek

2008-02-08T07:24:00.000-08:00

Exaggerated portait of Salma Hayek

-Gavin

Day 9

2008-02-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

These are some cafe drawings I did last night.

peace,

Gavin

Day 8 Post

2008-02-06T12:22:00.000-08:00

Another washing machine drawing, this was a pretty fun topic

Day 7

2008-02-04T23:52:00.000-08:00

Some more tonal studies of heads I doodled out the other day.

-Gavin

Day 6 Post

2008-02-04T08:06:00.000-08:00

day5

2008-02-03T01:54:00.000-08:00

This image was a bit of mission to get scanned in and everything...wasn't able to even edit it in photoshop...oh well, here it is...straight out of my sketchbook...

I hope you like it!

-Gavin

More sketches of washing machines

2008-02-01T22:56:00.000-08:00

Day 4

These are some more ideas I had for washing machines.

-G