Leo Burnett: When to Take my Name Off the Door.


Ah, this reminds me of when I was an AD in advertising... I get a kick out of this guy. The beauty of this is that the principles can be adapted to any artistic or creative endeavour. Found on Drawn

sketch3003

sketch3003.jpg, originally uploaded by PepitaP.

hmm....working on a storyboard, I just suddenly had an urge to do a doodle...so here it is. Not a bad style for fashion!

The Cherminator

TheCherminator, originally uploaded by PepitaP.

Our next training stop was San Diego to learn in-depth Painter X with the authority on this amazing software, Cher Threinen-Pendarvis. She's the author of the Painter WOW books... she's been part of the development of this software since the very beginning. She was great to work with, and to top it all off, she's a seasoned surfer, having been one of the first women in the Pro Surfing Circuit. She took us surfing to a couple of her favourite spots. It was an honour and an amazing experience, which I will never forget.

the Chad

the Chad, originally uploaded by PepitaP.

Me and business partner Niki took a trip to America to get some intensive software training. We learned After Effects with wiz Chad Perkins, who's an authority on Adobe Software and an author on Lynda.com.
We learned about the latest features on After Effects CS3, which we will be putting to use on future animatics.

Answers for Freelancers

Just a quick note to put a plug here for the "Answers for Freelancers" podcast. It might grate on industry old hands but it is a wonderful insight for those entering the world of freelance. I wish these guys were around when I was starting out. For example, there's an episode on "Building your Personal Brand". Now that sounds like a bit of a wank, and the guy whom they are interviewing is a bit like one of those motivational speaker types, but the fact is that most of us don't think of ourselves as a 'brand' and therefore haven't thought about how to market ourselves. I know I am terrible at it - I don't really know how I would like clients to perceive me. I like to sit at my computer and do my job and get nice feedback, and I do. But are storyboards all that I am good at? take a look at some of the work on this blog... I think I can do other stuff. I would occasionally like to get prestigious illustration jobs and win an award or something, you know? I would like to illustrate my own children's book (I have an idea for one, but I need to pursue it). I would like to produce a graphic novel.(I also have an idea for one). The other day I went to a website and there was an interactive section which would have been a great illustration gig, right up my alley. Why did some other guy get that job? nobody called ME to do it. Sounds like I need to 'brand' myself as an versatile illustrator and creator, right? yeah. So that's why I am starting to post more on this blog... because I need to think about this stuff and all this because I listened to a cool little podcast done by freelance illustrators.
Do yourself a favour and have a listen...you might learn a thing or two!
http://www.answers-for-freelancers.com/

Drill Sergeant vs young punk

This is just a doodle that came out of my last storyboard job. I thought the style would be quite useful for spot illustrations. I am not some right wing whacko who loves to see young punks harassed by military types...it just came out like that.

I've in fact been thinking about the old Jan Michael Vincent telemovie called "Tribes" about a hippy that gets drafted into the military and copes with the grueling training by meditating and imagining himself in another place (namely a beach, with a beautiful California babe). In the end, when he's about to make it, something happens and he goes awol (no I don't remember).
It was one of those movies you see when you are young and leave a lasting impression. I am sure there were lessons I took from it that helped me through tough times....

Digital Oils self

Digital Oils self, originally uploaded by PepitaP.

There are people out there who make a living out of this...retouching photos to make them look like paintings. There's an art to it, but it seems like such a cheat. I don't know. It would be cool I guess, to sell this skill...

The Goddaddy

The Goddaddy, originally uploaded by PepitaP.

An older, butch gangster woman. The blurb goes:

She's a ruthless gangster, but her biggest claim to fame is as a lover... she's rumored to have mantained many a conquest in the throes of ecstasy for up to 37 hours straight ...she puts it down to pure stamina and determination.

sketch 29 03 07

sketch 29 03 07, originally uploaded by PepitaP.

Laser eyed assassin.

sketch28 03 07

sketch28 03 07, originally uploaded by PepitaP.

I'm gonna try to sketch more often... I'm gonna come up with characters for comix, no matter how silly. This is pretty tame, but there'll be more...

Astonishing Tales

Astonishing Tales, originally uploaded by PepitaP.

I did this illustration for Joel Kohn & Ben Esler, who are directing a short film called 'Gravediggers' which starts shooting tomorrow. I have so far contributed with storyboards, logo illustration, and some other graphics for their website which btw features a webseries on the filming process.
the address is http://gravediggersthemovie.com.
At some point they took some footage of me getting the brief for the storyboards and drawing roughs... I don't know if I'm in there yet although on that day I had a touch of the pinkeye and my hair was a disaster (one thinks of these things sometimes...). So in a way I hope the footage is not there.
By the way, all the work I've done so far has been for no money, just for fun.
This illustration was done on Corel Painter 9.5, with the scratchboard tool for the black line and digital watercolour for the colour. Then I imported it to Illustrator to put the circular type on the little circle... I was going to put in "Pep comics" but I thought "Gravedigger Comics" would be cooler. And I also dated my signature on the illustration MPena '52 which I thought was funny. Another thing to note are the names on the gravestones, namely the directors' and my own.
I had so much fun doing this today... damn!
I also have a version of the illustration with more subdued blues and purples but changing the sky colour to red totally changed the feel of it...now it really kicks ass. (if I may say so myself)

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.