Rufusmantra: All Things Rufus

This little teaser is part of one of my most current projects under development entitled Anthromorph , centered around three unusual characters whose paths intersect across time and space.

One of the other shows in USU's season is Legally Blonde: the Musical .  The director reached me about a week before opening with an idea to project caricatures of certain actors for the "where are they now" segment near the end.  I took on this project to hone more of my proficiency in Photoshop, I also considered this great practice for meeting an illustration deadline.  The director and I were going for more of a cheery, Bewitched  or I Dream of Jeannie  style.  Here's what I was able to crank out: I have learned even more about Photoshop from this project, and yet there remains so much more to discover, explore, and master...

From the Agua Chica project I had reached a turning point in regards to digital media, and I decided to primarily render in Photoshop for the costume design of Mauritius , a play USU's theatre department put on this fall.

Here are some of the panels for the Agua Chica school project I did this past summer.  It was one of those big strides in Photoshop for yours truly where I discovered how much I loved this new medium.

This is a painting/drawing done for a drawing class, entitled Tom Saves Tink .  It's more of an homage to one of my heroes, Frank Frazetta.  Rest in peace, master.

These are some doodles from my sketchbook, one of the creepy things running across the page I tweaked in Photoshop.  

I'll be updating this blog as I go, so be forewarned, things will probably get switched around over time.  This is some recent work I've done over my time at USU: This work is from one of an original story entitled after the character above, Agua Chica , set in the Gulf of Mexico.  These renderings were part of a series of assignments for my very first class in digital illustration.  This class helped me make considerable strides in Photoshop (up till then I've been more familiar with traditional mediums like gouache, oils, and acrylic).  For the final project I came up with some panels from a climactic scene of this story.

This study from a photograph is one of the first oils I've ever done while in a painting class this past spring.  Here's another (study from an online source): And another: I have learned to love the dynamic qualities of working in oil and I can see why so many artists choose to work in this medium.  However I have recently found myself drawn more into digital art, primarily Photoshop. One of the earliest works I did in Photoshop was a poster for the play, The Woman in Black  by Susan Hill.  Even in my novice experiences with digital art I appreciated the potential for versatility and desired to master this software. This one, entitled American, Inc. , was done for a 2-D art class.  Pop art has always fascinated me in its exploration of our multi-faceted culture through symbolism, appropriation, and ironic juxtaposition.  This piece primarily centers around two iconic representations of our American collective consciousness: Marilyn and good ol'