Art'd Me

So we started this fun new project that has both helped me study the various styles of the human form, as well as made me grow immensely as an illustration artist.
The idea behind the project, is to do a self portrait every week in the style of a famous artist. When we started off, we would release the topic on a Monday, and have until that Sunday to complete it. Due to work getting busy, we've extended that deadline to a fortnightly piece. We seem to have gotten a lot of interest from a large group of very talented artists who join us every week to have some fun with the topic. This is an ongoing process, but since we've now done around seven entries, I feel like I can start to post them here. I will post both my own pieces, paired with the grouped Art'd pieces, in case you are curious as to how everyone contributed :)

Jin Kim Style (modern Disney - Tangled/Frozen)

Our very first project was to do a self portrait in the Style of Jin Kim, a modern Disney designer who was involved in the character creation of films such as Tangled and Frozen. Still finding our footing here, we don't have a group one for this. But this is my self portrait in that style.

16-bit Street Fighter Style

Our second week included 16-bit characters in a fighting stance. At this stage, the group images began, creating a really fun group dynamic. The cool part was, all the images were kept secret from everyone, and then compiled and revealed to all at the same time.

Laika Style - Paranorman.

The third week included conceptual design styles from Laika, specifically concentrating on Paranorman. The instructions were to draw ourselves in a terrified pose, as if we were looking at a monster.

Katsuhiro Otomo Style - Akira.

Week number four was a tribute to Katsuhiro Otomo, best known for Akira. This was one of my favourites, with everyone seeming to hit some badass streak, the group photo looked epic in the end. We were instructed that we were in some neo-80s Tokyo gang.

Jamie Hewlett Style - Gorillaz

Week 5 brought a cool style: Jamie Hewlett's Gorillaz. Instructed only that we were waiting on a concert, people really nailed this style.

How To Train Your Dragon concept art style

Week 6: How to Train your Dragon concept art. It was fun to see everyone include some form of pet dragon, which is nothing that was asked of the artists, but seemed to be a fun inclusion done by everyone individually. Our instruction was that we were all running from right to left.

Genndy Tartakovsky Style - Clone Wars with an Aliens theme

And finally that brings us to the present: Week 7 - Genndy Tartakovsky Style, best known for his art on Clone Wars, Samurai Jack and Dexter. We were out to see what it would look like if we drew ourselves in the Aliens universe, using this style. Needless to say, this was amazing from everyone, and one of my favourite ones to draw.

And that's all of them so far. I'll send through another update once we've gone through another 7 of them. Hopefully this exercise will last longer, and help me grow more.

X-wing model kits

Here's a fun way to pass the time with some nerdy friends. 3 of us decided to buy 1/48th scale Fine Mold x-wing model kits and build them together every Tuesday night at our place. Where my friend, Derrick, and I chose to go more traditional design, Mo tried out a new x-wing paint design (which you might see cropped up in some of these photos).
But here are some progress photos of our little project. Ending off with a video which contains more detailed footage of the x-wing progress.

Progress photos. Top: Fully built kits (no paint). Bottom: an undercoat of silver for future weathering.

The first steps pretty much involved 2 sessions of building the model. and then we laid down a coat of primer, and then silver. The idea is that once you've painted the colours on, you can scratch away the top paint to reveal the silver underneath, giving the impression of metal.

First coat of paint and decals. xwing is still clean at this point.

We then proceeded to paint on the first coat of off-white. The model kit comes with some decals which we placed on. This gives you a clean version of the model. But we wanted to go one step further from this and weather it.

Finished Model.

This thing got scraped, hit with lasers and weathered by smoke and dust. I wanted it to look like it had seen adventure in space on many an occasion. This is the finished product.

Finished product out in the sun.

Lastly, if you're interested, we did a little video tracking the progress of these models in motion. Take a look if you'd like to see a little more detail :)


Making X-wing Fighter models from Moragot Bodharamik on Vimeo.