Nick Arcidy BLOG - StudioAngelo

Kanye West

2011-12-23T09:33:00.000-08:00

Doing some Kanye West pieces recently, ended up exploring some different techniques.

This piece actually started out as a sketch for another client. This was the original sketch, which I like in its own merit as a square composition.

So then I wanted to try exploring a more playful style.

And then I went out of control.

Hulk Process

2011-11-26T13:05:00.000-08:00

Had fun working with the Hulk in that quick Deadpool tribute I did last time so I decided to do something a bit more fleshed out. Here's my process leading through to the finish.

So, step one isn't shown here, but it's important. I created a moodboard which serves as a collection of reference images / inspirational images to contribute to the piece. Needless to say, there were a lot of body builders. From there I started doing some sketches and chose the one shown on the left. I thought it was the most dynamic and interesting of the bunch. From there, I did the pencils on a piece of bristol, inked them, and then scanned and started filling in flat colors. After that, I filled in a rough and basic value structure without going crazy on detailing some areas (as tempting as it can be). The final step shows everything smoothed out and detailed with some textures added. Done!

Deadpool cover (spec)

2011-11-14T19:09:00.001-08:00

Quick tribute to one of my favorite comics.

Oil painting from summer

2011-11-14T17:44:00.001-08:00

I think I like the sketch better.

Graphic and Gouache

2011-09-22T06:54:00.001-07:00

Been working lately on some gouache paintings. Keeping the color count to 3 colors per painting, and focusing on play between background and foreground.

Vice Jeans

2011-09-03T08:44:00.001-07:00

In my studio over the last year or so, I've been exploring women in media, commercialsm, excess, objectification, sexualization, branding, beauty, and high fashion, and the connection between all of those. I'm not taking a profound stance against any of the things I mentioned, because I'm not at all against or offended by any of them. They all actually fascinate me in different ways. My Vice brand pieces are an exploration of these ideas. My most recent painting, 'Vice Jeans' was an idea I had when out on a jog. I was thinking of advertisements and how beautiful people are used to sell things. The joke being told, the song played, or the beautiful people modeling in advertisements are what stick with me. I'm not sure if it's just me, but I actually rarely even notice what's being sold. So I thought it would be interesting to create a parody of all these ideas; I thought it would be funny to create a jeans ad that barely shows the jeans at all.

Let me back up a step. Around 100 years ago, artists like J.C. Leyendecker and Mucha were creating beautiful paintings to promote clothing, theater and other such things. Their works, while very different from each other, emanated style, class, and beauty. They poured days to weeks at a time into laboring over one painting. This type of work doesn't exist as it did back then. For the most part, these paintings have been replaced by photography, typography, or less commonly, simple digital illustrations (all of these I find beautiful in their own regard). These people (J.C. Leyendecker, Mucha, etc.), and their modern counterparts, who I believe to be the likes of David Downton, Rene Gruau, and even at times James Jean, truly inspire my work. So on top of my original concept, I wanted to combine modern design idea with a semi-classic illustration aesthetic.

That being said, here's the final product:

As an artist, I think it's important to be able to have a voice. Artists are known for their recognizable styles and techniques. I think, however, it's important also to be able to break free from this mold when necessary. When conveying different subjects that have different meanings and different emotional packages associated with them, an artist will create a composition and drawing that suits this subject matter. However, there's also an additional tool set to further push these ideas that lies within the way the image itself is presented, both in style and technique. When this is successfully achieved, the technique and style used will push the piece further in the right direction. A painting that is tightly rendered will covey a very elegant and classical beauty, while a loosely rendered image with drips and splatters will associate with chaos and turmoil. These are two very simple examples out of an infinite selection of different techniques and styles to implement. I think, too, that even when different techniques are used, it is still very possible (and important) for the artist's recognizable voice to show through. This is something I'm exploring a lot in my work.

To make things more interesting, (and to use the two examples of beauty and chaos I mentioned previously), techniques and subject matter do not have to match. Gentileschi's 'Judith beheading Holofernes' is a beautifully rendered image with an incredibly chaotic subject. Call it subjective, but this image is a thing of beauty. The same applies to Caravaggio's painting of the same name. This idea is pretty simple and is really interesting to me to work with.

Anyway, these are some of the things I've been thinking about in my work over the past year. At this point, I'm actually not creating work with the idea of knowing something, but I'm creating work with the idea of thinking about something.

VICE

2011-08-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

La Moda VICE. Hand painted, touched up in Photoshop.

Grifter: Making a game (cover)

2011-08-12T17:23:00.000-07:00

I'm sick of covers on books, movies, and video games. It seems like the popular and easy way out is to paint floating heads of the characters from the story in a cheesy montage. These images, conceptually, have absolutely nothing to do with the game / movie / book they're supposed to be representing. When I get cover projects, I take pride in creating images with significance and good concept on top of aesthetics. So in between jobs, I thought it would be good practice to create a video game cover that doesn't fall under the floating head stigma. I didn't want to make a cover based off of an existing game, so I decided I'd start from the beginning.

So, I came up with an idea for a game that I'd want to play, a game that isn't the typical FPS or whatever. I did some browsing of photographs for inspiration and ended up thinking up this story about a con-artist. So I got to work. Here was the result.

Right off the bat, I didn't want to make a busty stereotypical video game chick who serves little more purpose than to please the forever-alone demographic (no offense to the neckbeards, much love). So anyway, thanks to Wikipedia, I learned that con-artists are also called 'grifters'. Game title, check. According to Wikipedia, 'The perpetrator of a confidence trick is often referred to as a confidence man/woman, con man/woman, con artist or grifter.'

So I crack open photoshop and paint this woman who would be the anti-hero of the game, the grifter. But again, I wanted to avoid just presenting her in a way that just shows off her likeness. I wanted to show off what she was about, and what the game was about. She's holding up her fake badge to show that she's FBI. She's mid-job, and busting (conning) someone for their loot. Under the title, though, all of her other badges are lying in a pile, letting you know that FBI isn't her only get-up (some choice badges being aviation, doctor, sheriff etc). To ice the cake, I threw in a barely noticeable tattoo of a snake on her right arm just to hint at the type of person she is. Cover finished.

Game companies, feel free to rip off my idea as long as you hire me to make a non-shit cover for it.

Syzygy

2011-06-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

Studio Angelo Update

2011-05-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

Officially done with RISD classes. With this bit of time before graduation, the portfolio gets an update.

Check out the new content!

Bonus: Here's part of a Nike piece I did. The real thing as actually smaller than the digital image.

UPDATE FOR IVY.

2011-05-02T18:49:00.000-07:00

Big update coming soon - in the meantime, here are some previews and some insight to what I've been working on.

First off is a competition for Lucasfilm. The deadline was today, and I can't show my work until the judging has finished.

Next, I've been working on a series of paintings, both applicable for fine arts settings and commercial industry. Some are more oriented towards either representing a real or made-up brands in a faux-advert way, others are wholly based on cultural significance and are to be viewed as paintings.

On top of this, I've completely renovated my graphic design portfolio and will post samples of this, as well as everything else, after the ever impending graduation.

RISD has been an absolute blast, and I will certainly miss it (both the schooling and the community). However, I really feel lucky enough to say that I've taken just about all I can from RISD and am certainly ready to take on the 'real world'. Being a student at RISD has not only helped me to develop my technical and conceptual skills, but I've grown a lot as a person since I've been here. To anyone considering RISD for their future, I highly recommend it. It's definitely been one of the most important experiences of my life.

While my RISD comrades and the sleepless nights of compulsive working will be missed, a bright future with a somewhat more reasonable amount of sleep is on the much welcomed horizon.

On a closing note, here's a piece I did for Chris Buzelli's Contemporary Illustration class. It's a poster for Daft Punk that is supposed to represent their album 'Discovery' combined with a childhood memory of mine.

I like turtles.

T-Shirt Design

2011-04-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

During the winter, I got some screens and got to work making some T-shirts for 'The Two-Legged Print'. I designed four shirt graphics and produced about 40 shirts and several more prints. The rest of the Two-Legged Print group and I had a 'Shirt Show', and I was able to sell a good amount of my shirts. Here's the work!

Studio Angelo 5.0 Online!

2010-09-04T21:45:00.000-07:00

New site! Flash free and iPhone / iPad ready. Check it out!

Also, my animation, 'Good Fuckin Morning' was recently accepted into the SPX Animation show. Anyone in MD on September 11th / 12th should definitely check it out! Here's the website for details:

http://www.spxpo.com/animation

Good Morning...

2010-05-31T06:37:00.000-07:00

Absolutely massive 3D CGI final project right after the jump. Many sleepless, foodless, and showerless nights / days have gone into the creation of this project.

But first, here's a quick lip-syncing project I did before-hand, as mentioned in an earlier post.

http://www.vimeo.com/11245419

Now here's the final! (NSFW) Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBe3mN9Xjm4

New character concepts in the works

2010-04-15T11:51:00.001-07:00

Fresh out of the oven. Some pages from my sketchbook with some new character / costume designs and a spankin new testosterone-juiced concept with a touch of color.

3D Lip Syncing

2010-04-10T10:47:00.000-07:00

Got some more 3D (Maya) work on the way, here's a quick sample of a work in progress. Going to attempt to rig this guy to do some lip-syncing.

EDIT: Here's a shot of a fish creature I designed, rigged, and animated in Maya. Animation coming soon!

3D Animation Work (Maya)

2010-03-22T17:39:00.000-07:00

Some 3D animation work. Mostly experimental, these are some works I've done recently while learning Maya.

And also this:

Apologies for the crap render, I realize you can barely see anything. Unfortunately Blogger is really pissed off at me and won't let me upload a nicer render. Come over, bring chocolate, and I'll show you the real version while we sip on mojitos.

2010-03-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

Quick update with a character jam from the past few days. Heavy metal.

StudioAngelo 4.0

2010-02-10T21:26:00.000-08:00

Updates! I just finished my mini-semester, winter session, at RISD. I took 'Type in Motion' and worked in Flash quite a bit.

Here's an animation I made to a song packed with class, 'Plus Size Model'. Nothing but love intended.

http://www.studioangelo.com/PlusSizeModel.swf

Also, my final was to do a Flash website, which was great to know because I just finished completely re-doing my website about a month ago. So...version 3.0 lasted about a month.

So there's an all new shiny website WITH some new work that I've been cooking up on the side for practice. I'm hungry for illustration. HUNGRY.

So check it out babies, www.StudioAngelo.com

PS. If you have an iPhone, no worries, 3.0 is now the non-flash version of StudioAngelo you can defer to if you want. You can find that at http://studioangelo.com/lite.html

Design.StudioAngelo.com

2009-12-21T10:12:00.001-08:00

Yeah, had a few bugs to work out last night. The site should be up at some point today.

Launching right now is the new Design branch of StudioAngelo, you can hit that up at http://www.design.studioangelo.com

Here are a few things that I've worked on for various design jobs that you won't see on the site.

StudioAngelo V3.0 is OUT

2009-12-20T20:11:00.001-08:00

Should be online later on tonight, but StudioAngelo 3.0 is DONE. Along with that is a bunch of new work getting posted online. Had a chance recently to talk with some legit artists, some RISD alumni and other indie comic artists from abroad. Sick work.

Anyway, this post also marks the end of the semester, so it's back to work on my own side projects until RISD kicks in again. Got some portraits to paint!

What I've been doing this summer

2009-09-09T18:59:00.000-07:00

I've been working at a design agency this summer, doing some logos, websites, illustrations, flash interfaces, etc. I also did a re-design of the company website (mostly just the Flash work, which is a huge part of the site, as well as some illustrations for the non-flash portions). While the new site hasn't launched yet, here's a quick preview of some of the non-flash page illustrations.

I also just updated StudioAngelo with some other projects I've been working on both this summer and last summer. Check them out!

And then...it looks like I'm headed back to RISD this weekend to begin classes for the fall. I'll update over the year as I get more work done!

A few studies

2009-08-02T18:37:00.000-07:00

These won't be going up on StudioAngelo, but they're some studies that I've done (a few from April and May, and then some from June / July) for practice. (All of these are oils)

Sketches from the Winter / Updates on StudioAngelo.com

2009-05-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

Here are a few drawings I did for a book I self-published back in the winter. The idea behind the compilation was to be a fashion magazine from some point in the future, when what's most attractive about people is not their clothing but their robotic additions. I had a lot of fun working with figure for this one.

Also, check up on StudioAngelo.com, I've added a few pieces to my gallery (Sketch and Digital).

Updates

2009-03-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

NEW NEWS SECTION FOR STUDIO ANGELO. TELL A FRIEND (seriously).

Just finished finals and I'm back for the summer, which means, between design jobs, I'm going to keep those academics going, crack some canvases out, and get painting. Also sketching. Also fighting crime.

Check back every now and then, I'm going to have updates regularly, just for you.*

*And all your friends / everyone you've ever known.