The Road

Anyone miss me? Nah. ha ha. I've been MIA the last couple of months, I was fortunate enough to land a new gig in Burlingame. I'm working as a Production Artist/ Technical Artist. The role is new for me, but I'm getting to play in a very important and active roll for the studio. It's kept me busy to say the least.

So busy, my art has halted. And I feel terrible. I've seriously been having trouble trying not to beat myself up over this. I feel like I need to post this and explain something as well. I've had a lot of comments about what a website should be. And I've come to the conclusion that for me my site will not be a site you come to for incredible artwork. Post after post, nothing but f**king awesome art. I hope to post the best art I can, but I'm also going to write.

Because I feel, for some reason, someone out there might be able to relate to my struggles and can see they aren't the only one going through the same crap.

As much as I would like to post beautiful artwork all the time, the bottom line is I'm just not there yet. And over the last couple weeks I've been learning to accept that, and accept that my road is different than others and it's going to take me longer to do what I want to do.

My new job has brought new hurdles, the largest being my commute and the feeling I've lost all control of time. I spend almost 4 hrs every day going to and from work. I try and make sure I use that time as wisely as I can, practicing good habits is key. Unfortunately my art for my classes has slowed way, WAY down like I mentioned and I've felt worthless really. So much progress and it's stopped.

However, if I take a step back and reflect for a moment, has it stopped? Am I terrible? Just a year ago, I was laid off, I made the decision to change my focus and do whatever I could to start learning from the best. For the last 6 years I spent my time and energy on learning everything I could on running a business, becoming a better leader, finding financial backers, and stressing about not being able to pay my team. During that time I never really pushed my art.

Well that has changed, and compared to 2011 I've come a long way! I'm proud to say I made 3 new portfolios, each better than the last. Did I get the dream job? No, not yet, but I will. My road is longer than others and I'll get there when I get there.

I've also been coming to the realization that maybe what I wanted for so long isn't exactly what I want now.

Next post "The Journey."

-tc

Left Hand Doodles

Since injuring my right hand and not properly taking care of myself since moving I've been forcing myself to draw with my left hand. Resting my right has been nice, as I'm able to jump back and forth a little now.

Here are some scribbles from my left hand.

I started to practice drawing with both hands at the same time.

I've been studying old masters and one of the masters I've enjoyed is Augustus John's work. 

I struggle with that nice loose flow I have with my right hand, so shading and drawing things like hair are hard, so I cheat a little and just my right hand for some of those things.

Practicing contour drawing has been such a huge help for me to break away from my cliché habits for drawing certain things. And for the first time I feel like I'm "seeing". Again I need to start pushing more story elements into my work, but that will come in time. 

If you would like to see more, I have a "Art of" on Facebook where I have been dumping loads of my bad drawings. 

Double Fine Adventure!

Watch this video! 

I had the pleasure of interviewing with Double Fine a couple times late last year but unfortunately everything was put on hold. I would still love to work along side the talented folks at Double Fine one day. I love their passion and persistence to create fun projects, that they are passionate about. 

It's hard to find that in studios, and within the people working at those studios. My buddy said it best, "To create in an a collaborative and positive environment you're going to get real innovation." I couldn't agree more, it's a world of difference working along side people who are passionate about what they do, helping everyone on the team grow. 

Double Fine achieved their $400,000 goal in less than a day. I love the idea of what they are doing,  taking control of their future, not depending on someone else.

Good luck Double Fine and keep kicking ass! 

Japantown SketchCrawl #10

I'm still getting use to "winter" here in San Francisco, and by winter I mean spring time. As much as I miss CO; I don't miss scraping ice off my windshield, or letting my car warmup for 30 mins, or having my nose hair freeze, or driving / playing bumper cars on an icy road with a bunch of idiots.

Out here, I try to take advantage of the nice weather. This weekend was the 10th sketchcrawl I've been organizing. It started with students from AnimC but now we have people from different schools, studios and professions. We had a really nice turn out today, 17 artists and growing. :D

And of course we ended the day with some delicious ramen. :)

TellTale Cinematic Test

I finished this right before Christmas and can finally post it. I feel good about the test, I enjoyed working on it and finished the test under 20 hrs.

Sam & Max Cinematic Test from Toby Cochran on Vimeo.

I'm excited to take what I learned and apply it to my next project. And for those who have asked, yes, that's my voice for the sounds :D