Jakob and Jessica

Paintings! These are private commissions for the talented and kind Jakob Westman and his girlfriend, Jessica. I'm particularly proud of these. Jakob specifically wanted to commission me to do this style of painting, from what I call my "Night Life" series. This is what those paintings could have looked like, if I hadn't had to finish them in 1 to 2 days.

Sadly, I don't think there will be any new paintings from me in the near future. I'm shifting into a designer/developer career path, and I won't have time to paint until I'm gainfully employed.

Video game mock-ups

I've been sitting on these for a while. This was some pitch work I did over the summer. A team of local programmers was working on a Rock Band style game that used a real guitar to pitch at E3. Sadly, at E3 Rock band announced that they were going to start using real guitars. Beat to the punch I guess. Still, it was a fun project. This was the beginning of my interest in 3D. It's hard for me to believe now, but I was ecstatic to use Google sketch-up with PS, AE, and AI to make these. Mostly because I didn't have to worry about perspective, which I don't enjoy drawing. If I had known how easy other 3D programs were to use I wouldn't have used sketch-up.

Cthulhu

You know how if someone is missing for 7 days you can legally declare them dead? I believe that if you don't hear from the client for a month, you can declare the project dead. This was supposed to be a record cover. I was timid about working for a band again, as I have had bad experiences with them in the past. I took a chance and accepted a cover job for a small band, and a small fee. At this point, the band is nowhere to be found. ::Sigh:: I will never do that again.

The real shame is that I think this would have been the best CD cover I've ever done. The difference is that this is designed to be eye catching, iconic, and to read well at a small size. I used to try putting epic pieces on those little 5" squares (or whatever they are), but that's really not the way to go. Simplify the message.

This probably would be a good submission for Spectrum, but I don't see the point in entering anymore. I'm not looking for work as an illustrator, and I don't have money to waste on submission fees.

This is mixed media. It's a charcoal, pencil, and white gouache drawing, colored digitally. I think it's a great way to work. It has the speed and flexibility of digital, with the texture and "artist's hand" that makes traditional so nice.

Sorry if this post is a downer, I was burned by another band, rejected for yet another job, and I filed for unemployment today. I've been out of work for over 2 years, and it's getting to me.

Christmas

Some other stuff

Some random stuff nobody has seen. I've been experimenting with video the last few months. Video is just awesome. I'm not very good at it yet, but I'm surprised how generally easy it is to pick up, if you are already familiar with other creative programs. The main problem is how long it takes! Hours and hours of rendering. These videos need a lot of work, mostly on the animation which is not so fluid. I made them just to learn, so I'm not concerned with a high level of finish. The Victorian with the lit sign was going to be part of a new website layout, but I ultimately decided to go another direction. Kinda sad because I put a lot of work into it, but I remember thinking when it was done "Man, I really wish this was a drawing!"


The character sketches were developed for Sunken Castles, and since now they will never be used for anything I guess I can post them. I recolored a couple of them when I was learning to paint digitally.

5 years

Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of my last day of college. That doesn't mean much to most people, but it's a milestone for me. It's said if you don't go anywhere, whether in music, art, acting, or whatever, within 5 years, you need to move on. This is to keep you from needlessly working towards an impossible goal while other opportunities pass you by, especially if you don't have "it." You never know, you might be right next to thing you're meant to do. I had written a long and sad blog about how I was done with illustration because I don't make nearly enough to conceivably make a living from it. And really, I am done with illustration, as a career, but not as an personal activity. I've demoted it from career aspiration, to slightly profitable hobby. It will be something I do for myself from now on, unless there's a monumental shift in demand for illustration someday. Doesn't look likely though. It's sad to have to let go of a lifelong dream.

I'm looking to start a new career. I don't want to be the type of guy who works as a waiter part time, hoping in vain that his dream of being an artist/musician/actor will come true. I know it won't, and to be honest, I'm not sure I would like it anyway. I need health insurance, retirement, stability, vacation, weekends...um, money. All that good stuff. I'm hoping to find a job as an entry level art director, or creative intern. I think I would be good at it because of the diverse subjects I've studied, specifically if I could be an interactive art director, that would be amazing.

So yeah, I know I'm not posting a lot these days, but it's because I'm looking for a new job, and working on a portfolio that can help me find one. Sadly, my artwork isn't a desired skill.

jeremyforson.com V6 live

You might have noticed some changes around here. For a while now I've been working on a new look for my site, and today I applied it across my websites.  I started to feel that the old site had gone TOO far in the direction of minimal design and light weight file sizes. I stripped out everything that was unnecessary, and that left very little. Technically it was good, but it felt cold and detached. I wanted to add some more personality into my website, and make it friendlier. The new site is bigger in file size than the old one, but still small as far as websites go. I added some older work that I still like, and tried to add more content in general. I did not expect to settle on Garamond and gold, but I'm happy with the way it came out. To me, the time I spent studying graphic design recently is apparent, but I don't know if other people can tell.