My home made samurai Armor art project impressed everybody!

I grew up doing martial arts, and I've done them pretty much my whole life...particularly Bujinkan Ninjutsu, kickboxing and BJJ, and as such have developed a deep passion for the Japanese culture. I once went to a wealthy man's office where he had 3 suits of Samurai armor dimly lit from an over head light, snugly displayed in 3 nooks of his office wall...ever since then I've wanted my own...but I'm not about to fork over 20K for one,...so why not build one..it took over 900 hours to make, but it sure as heck makes my studio feel awesome. There is some thing about it...the symbol of a warrior that I love.

Watch Video 1 of the Build

Watch Video 2 of the Build

My comic background and what it taught me!

When I was but a wee lad, drawing was my passion..but I never seemed to get over this 'hump' that all the adults wanted me to. I loved drawing comics and fantastical stuff. It's just soooo much more interesting to make up a world and characters and whimsical stories than painting a bowl of fruit. Though, I did do plenty of fruit paintings I always came back to comic art.

What it taught me...

• Lines- Line weights are critical in explaining surfaces, materials, and depth.
• Visual Library- You have to be able to draw EVERYTHING, buildings, people, cars etc. I had the chance to research and build a massive visual library.
• Composition- Each and every frame is an individual image and needs to flow with the others, so readability is critical.
• Story telling- This is probably the most prized possession I gained from the industry. Being narrative with an image requires a lot of nuances. An image that doesn't need words, tells a story, but allows the viewer to fill in the gaps is a fun and successful image.
• And many more things
• 
  

Art Tip: No matter what background you come from, weather it's comic art, playing the guitar, skateboarding or doing genealogy, there are going to be elements that you can apply to art! Composition, balance, rhythm, mystery, a good story or any other skills will make your art absolutely unique. Capitalize on that friend.

FINE ART is pretty fun when it's not so stuffy

See some of my traditional medium / fine art pieces. I don't do a ton of this stuff any more just because i'm so busy, but it's good to see it now and again to remind me of some of those essential and timeless design rules. I've recently been studying a lot of John Singer Sargent's work...what an incredible great american Painter...WOW.

ART TIP: Which brings me to a point that I wanted to make to aspiring artists. I see a lot of people studying anime, manga and various illustration artists as their soul source of reference material. I wanted to rant about this for a minute.

When we see a great illustrator manipulating anatomy, lighting, lines or anything, it is based on good design / visual language. In so many words, 'they do it for a good reason'. 'Learning' to draw from these can be really fun. Don't get me wrong, I used to draw ninja turtles and he-man all-the-time. But it can be dangerous without knowing why they made the choices they did, our visual library becomes skewed.

It's important to start from the right place. 'What place is that' you ask?! It's life, life is the right place to start. Drawing people from life, not photos, cartoons, or illustrations. Getting see the way light reacts, what true anatomy looks like in the real world, and studying these things in your sketchbook is the best use of time to become visually literate. 

Knowing how to draw correctly will aid you exponentially when it comes time for you to experiment with your own style. You'll have reasons for your design choices...it'll be not only your own style, but it will be an expression of the way you view the world around you. Once you understand the basics, manipulate away, at that point you'll know what to change in order to communicate your design.

So go have some fun and dig that nose into your sketchbook!