Nicky's Sketchbook

poster

2012-01-24T17:05:00.000-08:00

A poster for my film! I feel so... cinematic or something!

_______________________

EDIT: Here's a replay! A "making of" if you will c:

a sad winter story

2011-12-22T04:11:00.000-08:00

i think today's the solstice, the longest night of the year c:

my room

2011-11-27T17:32:00.001-08:00

or it would be, if it were *just a pinch* cooler

Hope everyone's enjoying the season c:

dragonsdragonsdragoooonnnsss

2011-11-21T17:26:00.001-08:00

I've been really into dragons lately, god knows why. It's the nerd in me, I'm sure.

This is my character War!

I'm deciding on his colors right now.

This one might be the winner!

sick

2011-11-19T15:28:00.001-08:00

been feeling sick all week

i hate it hate it hate it soosososo much!!

does this look like me at all?

LOVE POWER

2011-11-10T13:45:00.000-08:00

First pass animatic for my second year film! Definitely gonna have plenty of changes by the time the semester is over. Wish me luck! c:

(Ehhh, sorry for the weird double-layered sound, my program did something weird....)

PS! I've uploaded some tasty (unfinished) animation treats onto my deviantart!

back in the jungle

2011-09-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

It's so great to be back at CalArts!

Here are some roughs for one of the first assignments of the year.

As you can see, I have no idea how to draw a panther.

Research helped me out a whole lot!

I wanted the panther to interact with a small animal, and I chose a bird of paradise.

All finished!

(This one has the underdrawings in it!)

Kissy fish!

2011-04-19T01:30:00.000-07:00

Today I had two hours to come up with and animate a super tiny one-shot story (approx 3-5 seconds long) involving two characters, Kissy Fish and Ugly Fish!

(vimeo link)

Film work!

2011-03-06T22:35:00.000-08:00

It's the middle of my second semester at CalArts, and I've been well on my way to making my very first film! I've worked through about six different versions of my story, and I think I've got a pretty good thing going on--with time permitting--if I do say so myself! Also I've been working with my good friend Nicky Azama, who's composing music for my film, and that's going really well too. So exciting, I can hardly contain myself!
So right now I'm working on my favorite part of the film making process: animation!

Just a little peek for now!! <3

Quick update - Walk Cycle!

2010-12-05T20:34:00.000-08:00

More to come!

If I knew that you were coming, I'd have baked a cake!

2010-11-16T03:25:00.000-08:00

How does one explain the enigma that is CalArts? It's everything I've dreamed of and so much more. To think that I'll only be here for three or four years... Let's just say I try not to think about that. It's already been about two months. Time here has its own rules. You'd think that you only had time for this and that in a day, but I've come to learn very quickly that you can easily do these, those, and that thing over there, too. But even when you've squeezed everything into your schedule and made so much out of little time, it flies that much faster in some sort of sick, twisted irony.

People of great minds reside here. Talent is seething and bubbling out of every crevice. Constantly, artists of every school are shining with their brightest peacock feathers, putting on shows, exhibits, performances... and films!

For now, I'm but a fledgling. Here are some of the things I've done so far.

Character Design:

Inspired by Neuromancer's Molly and one of the super computers! Such a crazy read.

For Halloween, we were put to follow Tim Burton's style. Fun!

The assignment: draw someone young with someone old. I couldn't help but succumb to the idea of an adorable witch grandma!

Life Drawing:

For more life drawings, click here!

...And some updates to Anise and Ricotta!

Oh, no, I'm not finished yet! I've got some animation and special drawings to show really soon! Stay tuned <3

I'm BACK! A Non-Dinosaur Story

2010-07-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

Well hello my wonderful (two or three) readers! I am back on blogspot to share more of my life and doodles! So what has happened to me in a year?? A-heckuva-lot--BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY:

I have been admitted into CALARTS CHARACTER ANIMATION FOR FALL OF 2010

YEEESSSSSS.

So I will be blogging about my exciting adventures there for the next four years!

It comes to no surprise that there have been many connections made on Facebook since everyone's acceptance letters came in. I even sent my acceptance story over to CalArts Admissions, and they posted it! The excitement is so saturated, it feels like as soon as school starts it's already a schoolwide party. I feel so privileged to have been accepted into such a prestigious art school, and I'm sure everyone else feels likewise. Already there have been plans for LA excursions, coffee shop visits, and group Ikea dorm shopping!

The future is bright, and summer time has been moving so sluggishly simply because I'm waiting for it to END! But I must bask in this beautiful SoCal weather while it's summer, and enjoy all the opportunities summer present! So I've been trying to keep up with life drawing practice before I move up in September. To my delight, I've found that Perspective life drawing sessions are also back in full force in Hillcrest!!

Here is Eliza, a gorgeous multi-talented performing artist.

(Poses from 1-3 minutes, then 10, then 20-30)

^This one is my favorite!

Crow quill pen madness! June 2009

2009-06-21T00:46:00.000-07:00

Hello, and welcome to another fun compilation of sketch drawings coming straight from my brain, to discounted paper, to your computer!
These, my friends, are crow quill pens. (And that, behind them, is my mug and the chaos that is my room. ...Yes, that is a Squirtle pillow. And a night light. Anyway--)
To my relief, crow quill pens are not at all feathers torn from the fellows, but rather metal nibs on plastic handles!
And boy, are these magical. Below you can see the difference between using my former favorite, and these bad boys!

Anise! And she's got a super cool gyroplane to take everywhere! <333
(This was done with my pilot pen, so you can see overall that they're very uniform lines. I love practicing my fast lines with these.)

Anise taking a ride! Whoo!! This was done with my now beloved crow quill pen! Very first attempt in history, so it's a tad messy. Look at how I can make such itty bitty lines on the same size paper!! /geekout.
I'm very set on coloring this sometime soon.

Anise havin' a drink with Daal. I was trying to figure out what kind of clothes bats would wear, but it just doesn't work! I guess bats will generally walk around naked :0

I had a story in mind for a couple years now, but that story is becoming Anise's... So I gotta figure something out for these two! I'm still pretty attached to 'em, you know?

Turnaround of the girl. Her name's Ioneta! It's a funky mix of a Greek name and the word violet. I like it for her, don't you? :D

It's tough digging through the colors to see what she'll wear, but I think I definitely got her eyes and hair.

She's gonna kick you in the behind!

Drew her in semi-realism for fun.

And finally, a layout for my portfolio website! I love sweets too much :B

May 19, 2009: More life drawings!

2009-05-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

I was carousing through the deviantART forums ( D: gasp!) and to my delighted surprise, someone was trying to set up a San Diego meet! I saw that it was in the Golden Hill area, which is what I've been hearing is the new hipster place to go, lolz. But I do not judge! So I read on. He posted the address and a Myspace for a program called Perspective, where artists get together at an old renovated church to draw and have some fun! By the time I've scanned through the whole Myspace, I'm very excited. It's an opportunity for the local artist community to get to know each other, and be friends and stuff! How cool is that!?

I barely made it on time on the 17th, stumbling through the old church door with Ricky by my side. I meet the man in charge, named Geoffrey (sp? pronounced "joffree"). Music is playing through the echo-y venue, and there's a lady sitting on a couch on the stage named Mindy in a trench coat, fishnet stockings, and knee-high boots. I look around at all the artwork that's hung up, chat with Ricky (basically "omg this is f*ing cool"), and nervously give Geoffrey my $5 for the figure drawing session. Really friendly guy.
Ricky leaves once the posing has begun.

I met a nice lot of people, and they all seem to be within 5 years of my age, save for one or two who are older.

Needless to say, I will be heading over to Golden Hill every sunday evening :3

Mi abuela Uva's birthday party!

2009-05-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

It gets pretty darn loud at family parties. Well, it's more like a pachanga than anything.
My grandma especially loves the typical mariachi and rancheras, so it was this kind of music set at ear-splittingly loud. Everyone's sitting outside at tables snacking on chips and (VERY) spicy salsa, and trying to talk into one-another's ears. Makeshift sign language makes it into the mix. Some people dance, a lot of people are just relieved the heat has taken a break for the night and are just relaxing with a few beers (somehow finding peace amongst the ruckus of it all).
So with the struggle for oral communication getting the best of me, I do the next best thing and start drawing. I had some really great opportunities to sketch family members.

Update May 13 2009!

2009-05-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

Yay for new batch!

Person in my life drawing class making a funny pose.

My raccoon and bat people have names now! The raccoon is Anise...

And the bat is Daal! ^___^ Yaaaaaaaayyy~

My fluffpup Teddy :3 He's sleepin' in his doghouse on a warm day.

My sister got stung by a bee for the fourth time! Her hand swelled up like mad crazy o_o So naturally, I HAD to draw it. xD
Turns out every time you get stung, the reaction to the sting gets worse.

My sis lazing around. God, she's so myspace. :P

So this is someone new. He's a baby male chick who's escaped what would have been an ill fate, experienced by many of his kind. For reals. My friends liked the word REFUGEE and unanimously agreed that be the name for him, and I'm kinda warming up to that idea :)

Woo! I shared my new crayons with my classmate Katie (sp?) and we got to lotsa chatting :D
She imagines herself as a wolfy raccoon, and requested I draw a quick sketch of her as a wolf!

Some more refined designs, and I thought the name Kombu would be fitting!

So there you have it! Tune in next time! I will most likely be uploading part of my official portfolio, for which I will create another blog ^^
Bye bye! <3

Update (More creative stuff.)

2009-05-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

Here are some more select pages from my sketchbook! These are rather brainstormy...

A random duck, who likes to wear a wetsuit!

These are some of the first concepts for my raccoon girl. She's a feisty one! But she still has no name :(

...And suddenly she knows karate. *sigh* Why am I not surprised?
Here I'm trying to find out her colors, now that I know somewhat what I want her to look like. Yay, hats and stuff!

Before I had her in a more golden color, I was imagining her and Ricotta making (vegan) brownies. Yeah.... Ricotta is like, completely symmetrical except for his left leg! What's with that!? I don't know. *Shrugs*

And now I want to make a bat person! I'm not satisfied until I get her right!
She's an erratic individual, as you can probably tell.

Look at her! What a show off. She's a lover of theatrics. By the way, she told me she's purple. How fitting.

Some height comparisons between the three. (This is also where she told me she's purple.)

I wanna give my raccoon girl some clothes! Ouuuch--Did she just sit on pins!? Who did that?

Here's my witch lady friend, putting some things away in her Mary Poppins bag. She's not very careful with her things, is she?

Theatrical bat girl trying to get some shut-eye at home. Just can't put down that iPod. That's her grandma on the right, barely able to shriek: "You're going to ruin your EARS, young lady."

Ricotta being Ricotta. Oh and some hipster chicken talking to a hipster worm. (And that's a classmate up on the left.)

Life Drawings

2009-05-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

Some life drawings I really liked, so I'm posting them!

All of these, with the exception of this drawing (18" x 24"), were done in my 8 1/2" x 11" sketch. We were doing hand studies and I wanted to experiment with pastels. Got your fingerrr!

This is one of my favorites. I usually don't use such few lines to lay down a gesture, but this one just kinda.... came out!

One-minute head gestures.

From here on out it's all one-minute's, save for the last one. (Digitally enhanced to show lines.)

A shaded/hatched contour with an ink pen. Took about 30-35 min. I was really taking my time on this one!

A little picto, or maybe a whole lot!

2009-03-10T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hello there! I thought it would be fun to post select pages from my sketchbook.
My current one is about half-full right now, so there's lots of catching up to do!

This is a witch type of character I made up. Bunch of things inspired this one, but most of all it was an artist who painted a girl with a posture very much like the one you see in black lines to the left! I'll edit this part when I remember who it was...
Anyway, I was trying to come up with a costume for her here. I think I decided on a quirky dress.

I have a name for this one! His name is Ricotta. Up on the top left are earlier designs I had remembered, and I continuously modified him until I was satisfied down on the right. Along the way, I wanted to show him with different expressions. Someone in my color theory class added the poor little french toast!

Here's my fashionista lion. His shirt says P.Y.T. He looks nervous, huh? The cheery little fellow next to him is yet another rabbit character I have still to name!

Yeah, I know.. It's incomplete! But this is one of my favs of the fashionista lion, anyway~ <3

And here's my mama! :)