Recent Pictures by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:c00f2420-f639-be04-e888-eaee6db1ef59Mabel's Run by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:2c78f75d-fd1d-b3f5-b560-f2c87323d5ab2017-01-02T00:50:50-08:00I've been working on this off and on since at least August. It takes me forever to draw stuff.
Inked with Micron pens and colored using new Sanford Prismacolor colored pencils with a mix of older Berol Prismacolor colored pencils, along with Lyra Rembrandt (skin tones), Dixon Colorart (floor tiles), Derwent (some leaves), and Empire Pedigree (Mabel's dress). This drawing has taken me deep into the realm of color pencil brands - and how I really like vintage colored pencils.
I know - I messed up on the perspective. :(
My friend Slug scanned the drawing for me and provided a digitally filled-in background wall. Thanks Sluggy!
Here - Mabel has tripped over Waddles at a Logan's Run convention and landed in a flowerbed. She's okay. Waddles is fine, too. ]]>Wendy_the_jumper_(b&w) by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:f5f76f7b-793d-3fa4-1a68-4004ce182fb02016-02-01T03:10:05-08:00I'm going to be posting two versions of this - this b&w version, and a color version. Many folks encouraged me to color the b&w version, but I hadn't planned on coloring it to begin with, and I admittedly didn't really have my heart in it; so it looks like it was colored by a 4th grader. If I had planned to color it in the first place, I think I would have made up a night setting, with really heavy fog. Coloring would require a lot less detail to begin with, so I made the drawing in daylight so's to fill in the page. Inked with Micron pens.
What's going on here - Wendy, who is attending college in the Bay Area (to be close to her friends, Dipper and Mabel) has gotten low after receiving some bad news about one of her friends, and made the very bad mistake of going to the Golden Gate Bridge while sad.
I've apparently been on a Duran Duran kick as of late... Kinda helped inspire this rather dark piece...]]>Wendy_the_jumper_(color) by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:9222f157-02f6-a2af-7d15-7ab39450e2402016-02-01T03:01:02-08:00I'm going to be posting two versions of this - this color version, and a black and white version. Many folks encouraged me to color the b&w version, but I hadn't planned on coloring it to begin with, and I admittedly didn't really have my heart in it; so it looks like it was colored by a 4th grader. If I had planned to color it in the first place, I think I would have made up a night setting, with really heavy fog. Colored using both Berol and Sanford Prismacolor pencils - on very poor quality copy paper.
What's going on here - Wendy, who is attending college in the Bay Area (to be close to her friends, Dipper and Mabel) has gotten low after receiving some bad news about one of her friends, and made the very bad mistake of going to the Golden Gate Bridge while sad.
I've apparently been on a Duran Duran kick as of late... Kinda helped inspire this rather dark piece...]]>Wendy_the_jumper_(b&w) by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:484c5705-b3e0-1a96-7c7d-6978c4c089a32016-02-01T02:59:03-08:00I'm going to be posting two versions of this - this b&w version, and a color version. Many folks encouraged me to color the b&w version, but I hadn't planned on coloring it to begin with, and I admittedly didn't really have my heart in it; so it looks like it was colored by a 4th grader. If I had planned to color it in the first place, I think I would have made up a night setting, with really heavy fog. Coloring would require a lot less detail to begin with, so I made the drawing in daylight so's to fill in the page. Inked with Micron pens.
What's going on here - Wendy, who is attending college in the Bay Area (to be close to her friends, Dipper and Mabel) has gotten low after receiving some bad news about one of her friends, and made the very bad mistake of going to the Golden Gate Bridge while sad.
I've apparently been on a Duran Duran kick as of late... Kinda helped inspire this rather dark piece...]]>Dipper and Pacifica by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:2c7c1d28-e6ca-549d-8eb5-48528f29603e2015-12-18T13:09:25-08:00Gravity Falls fan art! Set a few years after the show takes place; graced with time off, Dipper takes some time to visit to visit his gruncles in Oregon. With Wendy away at college, Pacifica makes an effort to be friendly with Dipper.
Inked with micron pens, and colored using Berol and Sanford Prismacolor pencils. I don't like my works in color. They never look as well on the computer screen as they do on paper, and the colors seem to dilute a lot of the detail I try to put into my drawings. I need to learn how to use Photoshop.
A couple of other items worth mentioning, I based some of Pacifica's bling on real items - her wristwatch is based on the Shinola Birdie, her earrings are based on earrings by Na Hoku - honu with koa wood inlay, her car is based on the Lincoln Continental concept that will be released in a couple of years. The Oregon State Parks badge is about as realistic as I can draw it in about 3/8" of space.
I've hidden the Amtrak corporate logo on the drawing. Can you find it?]]>Office doodle 1 by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:345bc663-b7c1-58de-1579-e03cd90f83cc2013-08-06T20:20:22-07:00My own take on Dan Kent's Neobaka characters. ]]>Office doodle 2 by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:2766c6fa-bb86-26bf-913a-181779baecc82013-08-05T08:24:59-07:00Just a doodle I did in the office. Shhh - don't tell my boss. The background is the Maui Sheraton based on an online photo from the 1960's. The car is a 1956-57 Continental Mark II by Lincoln. The character is loosely based on an Australian actress I think is really cute.]]>Shave Ice by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:a83a4bba-1303-8de2-cb73-c85ac269b1302011-11-24T21:34:07-08:00A gift to a dear friend. I figured I'd post it here since I draw so seldomly nowadays. I'm not really familliar with the RinNe series except that the main character is broke all the time. Here - the main character has purchased a shave ice for his friend Sakura; that is - once he scrounges up the money.
Colored with Berol/Sanford Prismacolor colored pencils with a hint of Photoshop - which I'm completely rubbish at.]]>kittycat256 Contest Entry by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:af65a975-39a3-4fa1-44a9-d081111ac4b42009-03-05T01:10:30-08:00Well kittycat256 - here is the future you, sans top hat and goggles. I used coloured pencils, my friend put in the bg for me because Photoshop poofed from my own computer. Otherwise the illustration program I used was (you're gonna love this) MS Paint! Mainly to clean up the drawing, the white stripes on the flag were all red after scanning, and I messed up those stripes too - very embarassed. The stars were all blue. The stripes on the shoulder patch were also muddled, and all needed fixing with MS Paint. Also I needed to finish the mission patch which I forgot to color in the first place. So that patch on your chest is all MS Paint. Anyways - I hope you enjoy it. The future is your oyster. Make us proud! Reach for the stars, girl!]]>Grandis' Snoochy Boochies by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:de13b445-7652-9344-970a-d2883cab400d2007-02-22T17:41:53-08:00In which Grandis, feeling just a little, um, woozy, is helped by her henchmen, whom the Nautilus picked up when it docked somewhere on the Jersey Shore.]]>Alice Hoffman by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:e769ac38-cec2-4b0c-2347-8262b79d78e12007-01-21T11:36:17-08:00This is a very old (circa 2001) piece of fanart I did for Jason Thompson's The Stiff. Jason worked as an editor for Viz comics in San Francisco for many years and last year quit his job and is now writing a book for Del Rey Publishing. My artwork does not do Jasons artwork any justice at all, so I implore you to see Jasons work for yourself at www.sonic.net/~jason
I told him I'd pimp his comic if he'd let me post this old pic in my FAC gallery.
The pic - Alice Hoffman is a leading character from The Stiff. I drew this when I first started working for Amtrak. I know there are gobs of errors - Alice's hands are tiny, her feet are a smigeon too small, the electric cart is small, her head is too round... I could go on and on, but why take all the fun out of finding the errors for yourself?
The locomotive is indeed a General Motors pf59 commonly used on the United State's west coast including Amtraks Capitol Corridor, Cascades, and Pacific Surfliners, as well as the San Diego Northern Railways COASTER trains. Probably many other railroads use use the same type of locomotive too, I'm just too lazy to look them up and write them down here.
Amtrak does not run a "Silicon Chief" but I thought it'd be a cool train name.]]>Nanashi by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:5f194fc6-bb29-c6c2-2158-334041ed34932006-12-09T23:45:12-08:00This is Nanashi, a recently introduced character from Ninja High School. Her name means No Name (or so the comic says). As far as what she''s doing in this setting, well... I have no explanation. It came to me in segments. I was originally going to have only everything behind the barbed wire in colour, with the exception of the no trespassing sign, but in a conversation with a friend we decided that the organic elements (living things) would be in colour, but then we argue that things like fence posts aren''t organic, cotton-based clothing is, etc... so behind the barbed wire got colour, in front would be black and white unless it was organic. That still doesn''t explain the sign being in colour.]]>Looking For Her Seat by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:b561cef6-54f0-a104-1e1c-27d287a026092006-09-12T13:10:37-07:00What started off as just a drawing exercise became this monstrosity. Ahh, I love it when the drugs kick in. Very little of this pic is "original". The elf girl is really a character from Louie The Rune Soldier, and that illustration ended around waist level. I had to make up the rest of her, with influence from another illustration to make up her skirt. The crowd consists of pieces of several photographs all mish-mashed together, but some folks are based on illustrations, like the Sikh papa (a nod to an old Sikh buddy of mine), because very little good stock imagery was available on Google. The daughter was based on a photograph of an adult Indian woman. The background is from AT&T Park in San Francisco, but to accomodate the drawing, I reversed it. I was too lazy to draw the gigantic glove atop the fanlot.
Some of you might recognize Professor Steamhead of Ninja Hight Scool fame. He's enjoying a corndog.
As for being really hastily coloured, I apologize. I'm leaving for Hawaii tomorrow at 8am. I don't get off work until 1am, so I'm a bit pressed for time all over. Speaking of which - I'm late.]]>Crocs Rule! by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:1ec3162a-0314-75cd-42b9-e4d898cd9dc52006-09-07T17:58:28-07:00Here's a tribute to the late Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, who recently passed away after being stung in the chest by a stingray. Crikey! Rest in peace, muchacho.]]>Tron Elf by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:78617df6-2a37-5538-7d27-e00e96b748802006-08-03T23:30:19-07:00Eh, I still need to colour it.
Originally to be a gift, I'm only kind-of happy with it at this point and when I colour it, I'm only going to make it worse. I don't even have a clue as what to put in the background.]]>Brudda Iz by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:e7bc5755-9f33-d9f5-50d2-cc45ec67a5962006-08-03T23:18:03-07:00I've been wanting to draw a better version of Isreal Kamakawiwo'ole for a while, but my "better" version is far far worse than my first attempt. Despite many "corrections" I still wasn't able to capture to capture Iz the way I wanted to. Iz was a man who was as big as an island volcano, and here he looks... well, "pretty and plump".
I'm sorry Brudda Iz, I'll do better next time.]]>Bureaucratic Red Tape chibi by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:b947f94c-67fc-a7b1-ead3-d92fb2f438662006-05-14T00:16:11-07:00Sometimes, despite my lack of artistic talent I like to try to turn garbage into a canvas. It has been forever since I have posted so I brain-crapped this out one night at work on a piece of scratch paper. I think the chibi looks bored by the report above her head. I wonder how much money was wasted on that report?]]>Flight 93 Memorial by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:f1d18b00-61c3-ef75-2401-105d4c9060aa2005-08-17T17:07:36-07:00This is just an idea I had for a memorial to those on board United fligth 93 to San Francisco. Flight 93 was the plane in which the passengers fought back against the hijackers, forcing the hijackers to abort their mission, slamming the plane nose first into the ground at some 500 miles per hour in Shanksville PA. What seperates this particular plane and flight from the others is that this is a true American battlefield. Those of you who have ever visited a civil war memorial will understand why and how I came up with this idea. This memorial displays the heros of Flight 93, plus a statue of the now non-existant battleground, a Boeing 757 in United livery.<br />
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Well gang, should I continue to develope this drawing or shall I give up now because it lacks taste or just not a good idea in the first place?]]>flooded by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:f0908e19-471e-c826-1dcb-e08c69350e1d2005-07-17T00:11:09-07:00Eh, this isn't exactly 100% original. There is a drawing in existance where the people in the drawing are standing and posing exactly as you see here. However I changed the characters and their clothes and changed the environment they're in, mainly to give up on drawing the rest of their legs. I had a hard time drawing fire so the caption at the end of the torch sez "Flame goes here". I would eventually go on (after I scanned it) to add a background based on the interior of the maintanence building of the Oakland railyard, but it would eventually go on to serve as a shopping list, and thus later disposed of.]]>POG by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:8ec6aa4b-1de4-effe-a9c5-aad266ee21532005-06-20T12:02:59-07:00Juan can't taste the rum in his Pog. That's because Angie-chan, accidentally grabbed his glass. She didn't taste the rum in his Pog either.
Coloured using a combination on Berol and Sanford Prismacolor pencils, Crayola watercolour paint, and Photoshop.
POG is an acronym for a popular Hawaiian beverage that is made of Passionfruit, Orange, and Guava juices. My brother introduced me to the idea of adding rum. You can also add 7up to the mixture for a very tasty drink. Don't drink and drive.
]]>Abandoned Drawing (part C) by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:48515df1-c775-25c0-a7d0-c9dcb77dcd0d2005-06-17T01:21:30-07:00I damaged the paper on this part to the point where I could no longer draw on that spot (erased too hard). You can see "bleed through images" from the other pieces of the drawing folded over on each other in the scanner. I'm afraid I STILL cannot draw lips. I need lip lessons.]]>Abandoned Drawing (part B) by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:34fb2c83-a5a9-7f26-edbd-2ff11db255592005-06-17T01:17:14-07:00This was the portion that started it all. I added paper to either side of the pic. Any guesses as to what kind of SUV that's supposed to be? What you see is my fourth attempt at drawing that vehicle. I could've used a 5th attempt I think. My dragon looks kinda.... silly. I drew him long before I drew the dragon in "Dragons Playtoy" in which I based off of this one.]]>Abandoned Drawing (part A) by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:4cb1da99-a31d-3d88-2bb4-5ed73b0b23712005-06-17T00:46:50-07:00This is the first part of a three part drawing I started on some time ago either last year or the year before. A mistake made that damaged the paper on part c brought this drawing to a halt. The three parts consist of regular printer paper that have been taped together side by side. In this part, prominantly featured is the Pacific Park Plaza, a highrise residential building visible from a train station I used to work at. In fact, this is the view from that train station. I think it's a very beautiful building and I wouldn't mind living there myself. Of course the real thing is far more impressive than how I've drawn it. I was toying with the ideas of some medievil style construction in the background and I never did finish deciding what exactly I was going to put there.]]>Jason Schmidt by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:473b59ef-b8f2-577c-05df-af7903b791462005-04-05T00:55:27-07:00For those of you who even halfway care as to what may have happened to me, the truth is, I bought MVP 2005 and haven't touched my sketchpad for weeks. I am going to the Giants season opener tomorrow against the Los Angeles Dodgers at SBC park, so I thought I'd give a shot at drawing one of the players. I couldn't get the hat detail to save my life, so I left it out. He kinda turned out a little funky. :(<br />
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To my Bostonian friends- Kudos to the Sox, after 86 years, they deserve a Series championship; I'm a little sick of Manny Ramirez, but I'll get over it.I think come 1:15p tomorrow. :)<br />
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Comments, questions, criticisms, and even baseball talk is welcomed here. :)]]>Catania Nem by SmilinJuanValdezurn:uuid:fafe54df-6239-682d-96be-64e8433539ea2005-03-09T01:34:49-08:00A character I thought up many years ago for a fantasy story I wrote and lost when my old boss decided she wanted the computer it was written on. Just a little sumpin sumpin I drew after dinner earlier tonight. This was more or less practice for "something that at least looks decent", and yeah... This is what happened. Oh well, I'll do better next time.]]>