Simply Seage

Crimson Daggers: Deathline Challenge!

2011-11-18T15:13:00.001-08:00

Oh yeah! I'm back again! And this time doing an insane challenge!! Lets see if I can keep my updates of this blog frequent, because I really need to stop disappearing. Its a bad habit I have, and I intend to fight it! Row row, fight the power!

But ok, First i'll talk about where I am on the internet! I want the word of mouth to help me get to where I want to be! So:

Twitter: @SimplySeage
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Simply-Seage/166716986702342
G+: https://plus.google.com/115851934606941886071/

I'll add more later.
Now onto the challenge.

I found out about this late. Basically, its....go here to find out, lol: Deathline Challenge

So, as for my goals. These may change as time passes, but this is it for now:

1. Improve my art, and finish my professional portfolios in the fields i want, continue writing songs

2. Move to Toronto: Get out the house at least once per week. (I need to do this, as whenever I focus on one thing, I neglect everything else. I NEED to go out and be social or else I will go back into depression, and...no thanks yo!)

3. Become totally self sufficient through my art, off of commissions and freelance work. Also going to add music to this one, so any money from shows as well.

Im going to be busting ass working towards this. Doing a lot of work everyday and staying on top of my social networks too. So, I hope you will all support me in my journey to be the best I can be!

So, some art!

What I've Been Up To (Huge Art Drop)

2011-06-03T10:58:00.000-07:00

Been keeping busy, you know how it is. Welcome to the Art Game, tra la la.

I really need to update more often...this is gonna be a huuuge drop, lol.

But before that, just wanted to talk a little!

I went to a great event yesterday called 'Do's and Don'ts of Portfolios and Interviews'

This was an event hosted and organized by GameArtisans Montreal, and the people telling us these tips were 2 senior members of Ubisoft! I learned a tonnn of information. A lot of which I already knew, but some that were new to me. I took notes the entire session, and I'm in the process of typing up some key points for my friends and anyone interested in the gaming industry who stumbles by my blog, to maybe get some new info they didn't know before. I will be posting that in my next blog post, so please look out for that.

Ok, well, ON TO THE ART!!

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Starting with some finished stuffs:

My first ever pixel art! ( I didn't even know the pencil tool existed!!)

Comic done for a cool little game on Smackjeeves:

Environments, love love love:

Finished Weapons:

Remember those 20 environments? Well, heres a select few from that bunch:

Commission WIP

Drawings/Studies

Toodles yo.

Montreal Keeping Me BUSY

2011-05-02T09:42:00.000-07:00

Oh man, I love it here! Great people, great food, great sights. Jazzfest is coming up, so soon enough; great sounds, haha. Just a wonderful place. To the point that even people who grew up here still love it. Because let me tell you about brampton >.>

On to the art, yo:

Environments:

Weapons! (some more practical than others, haha):

WIPS and Random Play:

Lifedrawing At Gameartisans Studio!:

Till next time.

Stay alert, and stay safe!

lol.

CJ~

Always updating

2011-04-27T16:50:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone for your help with picking the 2 concepts. I'll show the final in this post. Along with some new thumbnails and linework for a few variations of the same concept.

Finally went to a Doctor Sketchy's down here. Was epic. Made some new friends, and even won a contest, haha.

vvvvv Won the contest with this one! :D vvvvvv

Yeeee :D

Lifedrawing session at Dawson! It was a group of students all modelling for each other. Was a fun time!

Anyways, gonna drop another post in here tomorrow. Look forward to that.
Toodles!

Select One from Each

2011-04-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

As the title says! It would help me so much if you could all select your favorite design from each of these images!
You can reply on Facebook, Twitter or here on my Blog, doesn't really matter, as long as I see it! Thanks guys!!

Select 1 from this:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~vvv~And this~vvv~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ps. Please :D!

CJ~

Im Back Again & I Moved!

2011-04-05T22:39:00.000-07:00

Went on hiatus yet again. But i'm back and working hard on a new portfolio. Doing a concept art portfolio right now.

I just recently moved away from home! Moved out to Montreal, Quebec to start my life! I hope to get a concept art job here soon, and finally get to work with a team and learn from some great artists!! Im really excited, but right now, I need to get my portfolio looking tight!!

I want to thank my good friend Nonie (Winona Nelson) for taking time out of her busy busy schedule to be my 'fake' art director! Shes helping me so much right now, and pushing me beyond my limits, not only in terms of concept art, but art and life as a whole!

Anyways, heres some recent stuff.

Line Drawing for Rose Red; Pre Clothing:

Random Fashion Sketch:

Black Rock Shooter colorist work.

Lines: Tricia Cezair

Color: Seage

Alternate Blue Version:

Warm Up sketches:

Early Inspiration Sketch for Rose Red:

Random:

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Silhouettes!! Love these, doing many everyday! Enjoy :)

Till the next drop. Peace!

CJ~

New Site + WIPS

2010-10-25T03:40:00.000-07:00

Just relaunched my website. Now its actually, well, good. I hated my old design, and the site was totally unprofessional. Hope you guys like this new one. I don't plan on changing it for quite some time, haha.
Check it out (press the image to reach my site):

In other news, i'll be doing an interview with STAMP magazine shortly, which is cool. First time being interviewed. I'll post that here and on my site.
Fashion blog is still being updated, need to hurry on that and start applying to some magazines. Hope things go well: Fashion Blog

And lastly, doing a collaboration with my friend Tricia for the band Disturbed. Not sure exactly what its going to be used for or anything. I know its gonna be on the site. Lets see where that takes us.

Anyways, heres some WIP's for you.

Redoing her face, because the old one was horrendus.

The piece for Disturbed. Now completed yet, lets see what I can do with this.

A long overdue commission I'm working on. This character is so awesome. Im enjoying paining him and being free with my design choices.

Anyways, i'm off. Much love to everyone. Hope you're all doing well. And to all those students around here, have an awesome reading week, you deserve a breather :D

Peace out for now!

CJ~

Stuff and Stuff

2010-09-17T11:17:00.000-07:00

Stuff stuff and more stuff.

Rejected Game Proposal Stuff:

Commission stuff:

WIP Commission Stuff:

You can all go and check out my Conceptart.org sketchbook for quicker updates if you like. Also more rough stuff, WIPs, the likes.

Oh, i'll throw in my CGHub Sketchbook, if that site tickles your fancy and whatnottles.

Take it easy everyone!

Oh, btw. If you are just dying to have me work on your Trading cards or do a book cover or some interior illustrations for your magazine, or even some concept art, shoot me an email at Seageart@gmail.com!

Im not joking....

Seriously you guys....

Guys..

Guys?

CJ~

Cowboys and Rainbows

2010-08-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

Hey yo!
So so so. I got contacted by an old friend/writer Ian Daffern, to do a rush job. Basically, one of his artists had sketched out a char for their book, but I guess didn't have the time to paint it. So thats where I came in. Woot woot! I love tight deadlines. Ian knows this well, haha. So yeah, it was just needed in B&W, so this is how it came out. Oh, and its been published :D! I'll take some pics or scan or something, once thats done, since. Even though it was a collaboration, this is my first time being published :).

In other news, working on an illustration for a clients website. Should be good when its done. Gonna put in some heavy hours tonight. Woooo!! Im pumped up!!! LETS GO!

Also: Still accepting projects. Keep those emails-a-coming.

Toodles and so on!

To the next level

2010-08-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

Made some variations, retouched, played, replayed re....stuff....

Yeah, im outta here.....

Environments Experiments

2010-08-17T14:04:00.000-07:00

Trying new stuff. This isn't finished. The foreground seems too separate from the BG, gonna balance them out.
Back on my schedule and working on some big stuff. Keep your eyes open!! :D Finishing commissions and working on projects. Still open to new freelance though!!

Daily Sketch and LFW

2010-08-13T23:32:00.000-07:00

Hey all.

I'm searching for freelance work right now. Looking to work on bigger projects. You can email me at seageart@gmail.com if you're interested. And if not, if you could pass on the word that i'm looking, it would be greatly appreciated. My portfolio is http://seageart.carbonmade.com

I started up a lil daily sketch challenge with a friend of mine to hone my drawing skills! Its going well so far, only been a few days, but still fun :D

Anyways, to the art:

Sketches, Studies, Finished Work, And wait for it! Krump it out!!

2010-08-06T11:04:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated in a while, I need to stop that. Hi all, how are you?
My life has been waaaaaack!! Right now I don't have any freelance coming in, so if you need some work done, you know who to call! (and no, its not ghost busters).

I recently landed a part time job, to help me pay for all the ridiculous things in my life. Only to have the company shut down after 1 real shift of work...so um...thanks for the $80.... So i'm without work again, go me!!
I think i may have killed orphans in my past life, because this is ridiculous...seriously.

Anyways, on to some art and stuff.

Commission:

Two studies from Wu Zhaoming:

Live Stream Sketches Below. Fun fun. Thanks for watching, my prends!!

Toodles for now peoples. I'll try to update more often again. I got slack :(

Cool Story Bro

2010-06-03T19:53:00.000-07:00

Hey...HI YO!!!
Ive got some cool exciting stuff to talk about, but i'll leave that to a later date to announce. Working on some pretty heavy stuff. Hopefully I can show some signs of it soon. Its going to be a total change of pace for me and my art, and I'm very happy and excited about it.

For now WIP's.

First we have my collab cover piece. I just made some random border thing for laughs because I was tired of working on her anymore. Still have some left to do, but it shall be completed shortly.
Lines by Tricia Cezair
Colors by Moi

And here we have the continuation of an old commission that will be completed VERY soon.

And with that, i wish you all toodles and great days, and so forth!

Z-Fever

2010-05-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

Figured I would post 3 of my morning studies. As some of you know, I study under Zhuzhu, so my studies are slightly like his style. STILL ALL SEAGE THOUGH! Cheaahh....ok, im gonna get back to painting now....

Oh, by the way, updated the image in my last post. Fixed the nose.

Nothing to see here!

2010-05-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

Move along lads, move along!!

A commission i finally finished. Lots of stuff learned. Im becoming more and more obsessed with little things that no one will even see. I need to work on my common sense, haha. Good times!!

Woah! Good News + I was Featured?!

2010-05-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

Good news all around lately! Gosh, life has been handing me flowers, and feeding me sweet desserts :D

Okay, so first off, I've met some pretty amazing artists and people lately. I started dropping by Tom Scholes livestream during the evenings, to watch him do his magic, and through that I've had the chance to talk to some great people. One of those people being an artist named Nonie who has been supporting me and helping me towards an old goal, just newly revived! Dropping lots of tips and advice, and just being all around nice, its so awesome, and I thank you dearly for all your help!!
You can find her website here: Winona Nelson aka Nonie
Also, thanks Scott for your help and advice too! You two are seriously too nice, lol.
Scotts site: Scott Altmann

So, I decided to take some of that advice and started my new portfolio for cover work and illustration. Jumped in on the Story Tellers Challenge over on CG Hub extremely late, haha. Had 3 days to make something look good, but I managed to finish in time.

Detail Shot:

If thats not cool enough, somehow I managed to get an Editors Pick for it :O Thanks so much guys! I'm blown away, and really grateful :) This is a sign. And the sign is saying "Don't slack! Go at this harder! Push and improve!!" And I shall listen to that sign ;)

In other news. Got a chance to call up and talk to an artist named Mike Butkus, last week. Super SUPER nice guy who's been working in the industry for over 20 years. He has a wealth of information, and was nice enough to shine some light on my situation. Really started helping me out of a dark spot. Its so nice to know that i'm not alone. I mean, i'm a total stranger to him, and yet he had the kindness to take time out of his busy (BUSY) schedule to talk to me, drop me some advice and listen to my problems? Theres really some good people in this world.
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Super off topic. I was on TV the other day for like 15 seconds (I know, i'm amazing) I was in the season finale of a show called Pure Pwnage. As an extra, by accident! I wasn't even supposed to be there, and somehow I got into a shot with the main character closer to the end of the show, yeeaaah!

Anyways, thats all for now!! I have a bunch of sketches to drop, but i'll save that for another post! I hope you lovely people have a great week :)

Still Alive/ Booklet/Job Interview

2010-04-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, Seage is still breathing. Just wanted to show you something!

BAM! My little booklet/resume thing that Miss Parisa helped me make. I've also gotta thank my sister, Odesia, for helping me organize the pages, I was failing hard. Hopefully next time is easier, and I'll go in with a plan, haha.
I made this for my job interview, so I would have something to leave them with, as suggested by my friend and amazing illustrator Charlene Chua. For those of you who don't know, I had an interview at a small gaming company. I don't know the results yet, maybe yes, maybe no, but the interview process was loads of fun, and just going to a studio was nice! I did my best, so hopefully it heeds good results!!

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As for other updates, I have some rough sketches but i'll post them in my CA Sketchbook.
I did, however, do a sketch of Parisa (thank you for helping me again!!), then played with it in photoshop. And I have the final of a commission collaboration with my friend Tricia Cezair. She did the lines, I painted over em, and tadaaaa.

Anyway, I'll see you all next time with news on whether I got the job or not. Wish me luck :)

My Goals of 2010

2010-03-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

Look ma', its another girl!! (Happy with this one,woo!!)

I could have sworn I posted these up. But if so, well, repost!!

I have achieved goal #1, which ties into goal #3, so yay me!!

1. Okay, so first, I want to finally get a freaking job. That would be awesome. Then I could stop stressing (over money issues, and start stressing over over-working issues!)
2. I want to drop a thread in the Finally Finished section. I am petrified of that place, but I really wanna do it. And not just to get 1 comment and 50 crits, then get my thread moved to the crit section of the boards! I want to actually do a good job.
3. Move to Shanghai. This is a personal goal of course, and not too art related. But I first need that job. I'm sure I can learn a lot about art over there too. I'll just look for the right people (like zhuzhu /drool)
4. Smoke everyone i'm currently on par with. I've always been one to love the feeling of advancement, too bad that feeling has become a faint taste on the back of my tongue. I slowed down soooo much and kind of fell into this stylistic comfort zone, which is probably the worst thing that could have happened to me. Although, it stopped me from jumping TOO much, i've realized that, no matter how I approach my stuff, it always ends up looking like i did it...meaning its my natural style...I don't need to force it. Its just up to me how far I want to take it or if I want to limit myself, for an extra stylistic look and blah de blah. Im learning that I cant use this 'style' thing as a shortcut to getting out of rendering things that may intimidate me and so on.

About 'smoking people' I'm getting tired of being looked down on by some people who are around my level of work, as if they're somehow better than me. Its strange like that... Its like, the better artists (that I know, or have emailed) have been VERY humble, and very nice in giving me advice, reviews and whatnot. So are some of the artists around my level, but theres also a lot that seem to have this attitude about them. They treat the better artists so nice and respectfully, but then it comes to me, and it's like 'oh, skip that guy' lol. I figure its because i'm in direct competition with them, and anyone who thinks in that competitive way would see me as a threat...so i guess I can kind of understand, but forget that crap. I want to surpass them, and when they need me later, we'll see what happens. Depending on if i'm still Man-PMSing or not, lol.
5. I plan to make it in art. Its as simple as that. I plan to become better, become KNOWN, and get rid of this soft, pathetic attitude i've been tugging around recently. I just need to get my shit back in gear, and I figured by writing this down, it would help motivate me, so lets do this shit. We're gonna see some big things in 2010, I don't have time to waste (my parents patience is running thin, lol).

New

2010-03-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

I have training for my new job today. I wonder what that will be like. I'm just saving money for my goals. I have things that need replacing, paying off and whatnot, so I'm excited at the idea of finally getting that odd my plate. My ultimate goal seems so near, how great is that...just gotta keep my head up, stop being a bitch, and do the job that I've been lucky enough to get. I know though, that the harder I work, the more money I will make, meaning, I can work less, so thats a good incentive. Lets do the best I can...I guess thats always the final plan, right?

Thursday Mursday

2010-03-11T06:51:00.000-08:00

Ow, updater. Im gonna finish this today. I'll try not to waste time, just be efficient, damn it!

I found some pictures of me as a child, i'll upload those later for a laugh, haha.

More Painting with Peeling!

2010-03-05T12:09:00.000-08:00

Some stuffs for a movie thing I may be working on

Fun fun.

Paint wit' Peeling!

2010-02-26T21:18:00.000-08:00

Yeahhhhhhhh, so talked to some amazing people, got some great inspiration, and a new direction. I'll do a write up about that later, but im happier now, hopefully my work will show a deeper story, and be more than just a pretty shell. :)

Did my Imagination Pack up and Leave?

2010-02-22T16:08:00.000-08:00

I've been feeling down lately... Not so much art blocked, as creatively blocked.

Ive been having a few conversations on msn about it, so I figured I would drop some sections from my conversations. All things that I have said. This will be a little confusing to read, but...yeah, here goes.

(Italics' are responses from different friends to what I said)

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Seage says:

i feel like i lost my imagination

i have no stories to tell anymore

i remember when i was young

i could sit on the floor with my fingers, or a toy car, come up with this amazing story in my head and just play for hours and hours alone

having so much fun

because there was a whole world that i could see

but now, its like nothing...i sit here and get no fun ideas...

maybe i need toys again to stimulate my imagination?

maybe trying to write a book?

what the hell!!

Seage, it's because you have grown up. Everyone grows up and loses their stories.

Seage says:

not everyone
the greatest artists keep their stories
I think society tells us to forget about imagination, to let other things do it for us, like tv, or games or whatever. They sell imagination to us, in a way
its not really nurtured
when you are little, your parents enjoy your stories
and urge you to make more
as you get older, people dont want to hear it anymore
they think its not a real skill
because there are more important things like maths and sciences
i think, while focusing on the academic side, we lose our creative side...

yeah ...
because we have grown up. We need to make money so we don't make the time to use our imagination

Seage says:
thats probably why people are so miserable
and why creative people are happier
look at the world of harry potter for instance
JK Rowling created that
all in her head
now shes one of the richest people in the world
she used creativity to make that money

yeah
But not everyone can do that. Even if he/she is also creative

Seage says:
of course
BUT
the fact that she did it shows that it IS POSSIBLE
not everyone can ride a bike
not everyone can swim
but some people, can, right?

yeah

As impossible as it feels right now, I think there is a way to get it back, but i'm so lost as to how to do it. In my work, I want to tell a story, Im tired of creating empty shells. Doing art based on nothing or extremely shallow feelings. I noticed that some of the greats arent there because of their fantastic rendering (although that helps) but its because of their interesting story telling. They create something new and tie in meaning. They truely paint with their heart. They convey emotion and express themselves. Why am I not like this?

I need some advice...maybe someone out there has gone through this and overcome it, or maybe some of you are going through the same thing. I love to hear from you all. Maybe figure this whole thing out.

Thanks for reading.

CJ~

Just a Sketch Drop

2010-02-17T12:25:00.001-08:00

As the title says. Just a bunch of sketches I've been doing.

Loving the Assignments

2010-01-24T07:56:00.001-08:00

Gahhh, this is my favorite homework yet. I kinda knew what I was doing on the first one, but the second is where i let my creative juices splash of the faces of many willing viewers.... Ok, thats disgusting, I apologize.

Z-Class Homework 2

2010-01-20T10:56:00.000-08:00

Study from Daniel Gerhartz painting. Done in Painter. Fun fun!! Learned a lot this class!

Zhuzhu is an amazing teacher.

Faaaaaahhhh

2010-01-19T07:47:00.000-08:00

Woooo. Productivity is back on lock, or something. Lol... Heres a sketch I did with the members of the z-group (zhuzhu's group on qq messenger). And here is Teloka finished!

Z-Class Homework

2010-01-18T10:35:00.000-08:00

Yeahhhhhhhhhh, im in Z-Class! Zhuzhu is teachin meh! But yeah, this is the picture we had to do today. Done in painter 11. So exciting, ive never been able to use painter before!!

Check it out homies :)

Weekend fun

2010-01-17T14:10:00.000-08:00

I spent the weekend at a motorcycle show. Working there. It was fun, but tiring! There were many people there, so I decided, rather than be bored, I would draw people! I couldn't draw the bikes, because i was working at the doors, where I couldn't see them . But I took many photos!
Anyways, heres some of the people I drew, and some random sketch.

Keep on Truckin'

2010-01-14T19:15:00.000-08:00

Small update. Finished one commission, working on another, tra la la.

Almost There!

2010-01-07T14:24:00.000-08:00

So Im starting to get into the habit of making a daily plan, with times I should work on stuff and whatnot, and today was the first day. It was to get me past my strange artblock that I had. I would explain it all here, but I have to get to work on the Rune Angel comic that i'm coloring, haha. I was totally wasting my time before, but I think im gonna get back on track. Im gonna be going back to my old mindset. Art is a competition to me, and its a fun one that I want to win. I also have stuff to prove to some people, so lets get this train moving!!

Im like 98% done with this now. Gonna let it sit, and then come back and add the finishing touches tomorrow.

All comments are greatly appreciated!

Marker Fun

2009-12-30T17:20:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. No finished stuff to show today, but was just playing with my OLLLD markers, and figured I would throw these sketched up for you all to see. I know theres some anatomy mistakes in there, but, thats my reason for drawing these. To improve, right? Hope you like them :)

Enjoy~

Nanessa

2009-12-16T07:08:00.001-08:00

Woah, okay. So I guess its time to actually drop a first post.
I'll just put up my WIP rather than my old pieces. Maybe i'll throw up those in a later post, as I get used to this thang.

Was gonna keep her upside down, but figured she looked better the other way... Still working!

I want to submit this to Expose, so wish me luck, and so on.

Thanks for checking my blog :)!

Earlier WIPS

Sweet

2008-12-30T12:56:00.000-08:00

Finally joined this place. Will upload some stuffs soon. Uh..yeah. ok, bye.