monsteregg

Journal 2011

2011-03-06T19:02:00.007-05:00

2011 has proven to be a year of activity. My new employment at Nestle Nespresso and my continuing work at Global Facility Management have kept my days filled, while continuing ed courses at SVA and training for the Stratton Faxon Fairfield Half Marathon have kept my nights packed to the breaking point. Somewhere in between, I've found the time to continue my sketching and incessant journal making. The below are a few images from this year's journal. More scans can be viewed at www.JorgeLuisMendez.com.

Process: Alligator Lunch

2010-11-11T11:18:00.002-05:00

Process for the latest strip in the Hero Twins Web-comic, "Alligator Lunch". Digital paint and photo-collaged textures. See this strip and more at www.HeroTwins.com!

Children Of Midnight

2010-11-10T12:00:00.021-05:00

Character Sketches for a new project in it's infancy

Process: Play Outside, Brother?

2010-11-04T20:49:00.003-04:00

The third strip of my new web-comic, Hero Twins, has gone live at www.HeroTwins.com. The below is a peak into the process utilized for my latest image, "Play Outside, Brother?", which takes advantage of the über amazing Adobe Photoshop CS5 Bristle Brushes for digital painting. I also, of course, use just about any other tools at my digital disposal. The final composition and others can be viewed at: www.HeroTwins.com

Amsterdam

2010-11-03T12:00:00.032-04:00

One of my closest friends recently went on an adventure to Amsterdam, Amazing land of Awesomeness, and picked up the most wonderful hand-made sketchbook for me. The paper has a quality like none other. I've only been able to work up the courage to take photos of it (non-destructive editing) so far and haven't been able to make a single sketch inside yet. I think it's about time I start. Here goes nothing...

New Promo Material

2010-10-27T12:00:00.006-04:00

The postcards and business cards for my new promo packets finally arrived this week. I ordered them over a month ago from Overnight Prints and had a lot of trouble getting exactly what I needed: the first batch had discolored corners, the reprints were sent to New Jersey, and finally, the third set was just right. The cards look great.

Using ONP's ICC Profile: GRACoL2006 on a properly calibrated monitor (won't make that mistake again) made a tremendous difference. They aren't too dark like last year's batch, and look more refined since they are smaller. I went for the 4x6 cards opposed to the 5.5x8.5 ones. BIGGER is certainly not BETTER in this instance. The new mailers look HD compared to the older ones.

Each promo packet will have 10 images and a business card, but i still have to figure out the best way of packaging them. I was thinking small white boxes, but I'm having trouble finding the exact size that I would need. I was also thinking of maybe using patterned wrapping paper... I still have time to figure out a solution since putting together the mailing list is taking some work.

Freelance: Force

2010-10-20T20:53:00.003-04:00

The below are iterations for a trademark design (in order from initial concept to final product). I'm typically a strong proponent of simple typographic logotypes, opposed to brand-marks (a la studies by Jay Doblin), but the project manager's thoughts were that my designs were too mechanical and that the work needed to be much "funkier." The brand-mark is for a women's line of active-wear clothing created with sustainable fabrics. I'm ultimately very happy with all of the designs on an aesthetic level - a bit unsure of the brand-mark use, but very happy overall.

Freelance

2010-10-10T20:36:00.001-04:00

The last month has been filled with some freelance design work. The below are some logos I created for a few different projects.

"Experience," R.A.C., & I.M. Pei

2010-07-17T09:21:00.012-04:00

I received an email from a rep for the Educational Development Program at the State University of New York at Fredonia regarding "Experience": a Spanish-translated publication created to promote the college within the Latino community. Photos were taken of me last semester for the publication and two of them were chosen, one of which will fill quarter of a spread, along with a quote.

The quote I provided referenced the close relationships and personal / educational benefits of attending a small university. While very accurate of my experiences, I wish I had stated something more specific to the school. I began to read the publication, and came across a small blurb about the Michael C. Rockefeller Arts Center. I now regret not writing about the university's inspirational architecture and the magnificent I.M. Pei designed building I had the honor of painting in for the majority of five years.

For whatever reason, all of the photos I could find of the campus are of Maytum, but the R.A.C. can be viewed in the far left of the first photograph above. I'm still in love with that building. It houses my soul. I.M. Pei is also known for redesigning The Grande Louvre with its pyramidal addition.

Buzzing Around Busily

2010-07-16T18:17:00.038-04:00

The last month and a half have consisted of me preparing promo materials and extensively reviewing the content on my website and blog. I have made numerous (but very subtle) changes around the site, such as decreasing the pixel width of each table [for a sleeker look], introducing rollover links for the menu, consolidating the "info" and "contact" pages, renaming every file to a uniform naming convention, and an overall move towards a blue color scheme. I felt the cool colors would recede nicely against the warm tones found in the majority of my work.

I also went ahead and revamped the logotype I had created for myself last year. My original thought process was to convey a whimsical tone with the highly legible Helvetica. After looking at the mark months later, I realized that I was overstating the whimsy with the multiple colors and warped characters. The new logo is very similar, only instead of deforming the xheights and widths of the letters, I opted to alternate between particular fonts in the Helvetica typeface. The letters are more proportioned and the multi colored characters were replaced with a pale blue. An understated, fun, yet elegant mood is established with a few simple changes. I'm fairly happy with the results.

Design Samples

2010-07-07T15:44:00.011-04:00

New webpage exhibiting design samples from past employers has finally been completed. Work can be seen at this link.

T-Shirts

2010-05-24T22:39:00.009-04:00

I was given the opportunity to create the t-shirt design for this summer's orientation program at SUNY Fredonia. The below was the final mockup.

Process: Self Portrait

2010-05-24T21:06:00.003-04:00

Painting in Plain Air

2010-05-24T20:01:00.003-04:00

Paintings created on-location at the Canadaway Creek in Fredonia, NY.

Gallery

2010-05-02T15:02:00.006-04:00

Images from the graduating senior exhibition at SUNY Fredonia, for which I received the President's award for Best in Show.

Process

2010-04-01T22:52:00.020-04:00

Workspaces

2010-01-01T11:28:00.002-05:00

The Demon and the Ants

2009-12-31T13:17:00.004-05:00

Latest image from "Hero Twins" series, which depicts a confrontation between Zapacna and the 4oo boys. I'm currently finishing up the last images for the series and preparing sketches for its follow up. I took a bit of a different approach with this one, opting to use graphite instead of oil paint for the foundation. It was difficult to make the image fall in line with the rest of the series, as it was so different, but I believe that it worked out nicely in the end.

Hero Twins

2009-12-03T01:05:00.016-05:00

^_^ I've been hard at work building on my current series. There are still many more images to make, but the below are the completed images thus far :

Hero Twins

2009-10-01T12:09:00.012-04:00

First image from "Hero Twins,", a new series which attempts to retell segments of the Popol Vuh in a contemporary fashion.

3D Glasses

2009-09-24T22:43:00.004-04:00

I've been hard at work on a new series based on the Popol Vuh and have been attempting to learn digital 3d techniques with Cinema 4D. The below is an early dipping with the software. I'm incredibly excited at all of the new possibilities that the software presents. Images of some of some in-progress paintings will be going up in the next week or so.

Society of Illustrators

2009-08-20T22:43:00.014-04:00

I also came across some photos of an adventure I took to the Society of Illustrators in Manhattan. They were exhibiting 100 Journals that Barron Storey has created since starting his career. Each book told something of a tale, and it was inspiring to see every page filled and exploding with life. It's pretty difficult to describe the work, and photos truly don't do it justice. Loose images ranged in various subjects and were presented in various styles. It was interesting to see the personal documentation of this illustrator's life. While Storey spends much of his time experimenting, he never loses his personal vision; all of the work is unmistakably his.

Creative Garbage

2009-08-20T22:27:00.006-04:00

I was going through some of the images that I shot this past summer and was heartbroken when I came across the below. I had to throw out a large amount of work back in May as a result of water damage... BUMMER. It's a good thing that I'm an obsessive compulsive when it comes to documenting my work. Cheers to psychoneurotic disorders in which the patient is beset with obsessions or compulsions that result in extreme anxiety and repetetive behavior!

Sketchsketchskectch...Sketch...

2009-08-19T02:00:00.005-04:00

I had the chance to scan in more of this (soon to be over with) summer's sketches.

I've posted them below. I've been working hard attempting to loosen up and not over-refine things as much.

Marvel Videos

2009-08-18T20:45:00.014-04:00

I was watching some of the videos I had the opportunity to help with this past summer, over at marvel.com, and thought I'd post some of those here too. They're pretty hilarious and I'm credited in a number of them.

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Marvel

2009-08-17T21:37:00.005-04:00

Today was the last day of my internship and while sad, I'm excited for classes to resume. I went through some of the banners I created this summer for Marvel.com and thought I'd post a couple of the better ones below:

Sketchsketchsketch

2009-08-04T01:35:00.002-04:00

Woooah Still BUSY

2009-07-19T22:08:00.009-04:00

I'm glad to say that things have been incredibly busy the past couple of weeks. Preparation for Comicon San Diego has kept things at marvel moving fast, and work at Global has been hectic as usual. I haven't had the chance to start any new paintings, but I have many ideas for my next series.

It's been difficult, but I've been trying to sketch away during any ounce of free time that I come across. Some drawings have been better than others, but the only one that I've had a chance to scan in thus far is this weird one below. It's simple, but something about it made it pop from the other ones. I don't think that it's better than the other drawings, but I found it kind of bizarre, so I thought I'd post it.

WOAHBUSY

2009-06-21T21:31:00.003-04:00

There haven't been many updates recently as I've been busy interning at Marvel Comics, while still trying to crack away at my day-job during the leftover days of the week. I've had the opportunity to help out on some cool projects over at marvel, including the trailer for Captain America: Reborn and the Weekly Watcher. I've been learning tons from my supervisors and I'm hoping to get started on some new artwork in the coming weeks. I've made some minor changes around my website, most notably the format for which images are viewed. Images no longer open in their own window, but through a java script viewer, which I think makes things a bit neater.

At Glogal, I received the opportunity to create a poster image for Lululemon Athletica. The image concerns itself with informing store personnel of ways to keep their wood floors spic and span. I'm under the impression the poster will be hanging in each and every one of the stores. Not as interesting as captain america, but still kind of neat...

More updates to come soon!

Posters

2009-05-24T23:28:00.001-04:00

New set of self portraits made to resemble personal motivational posters.

Promo Material

2009-04-12T12:30:00.003-04:00

New Painting

2009-04-10T03:00:00.001-04:00

Far Away IV

2009-03-15T16:18:00.002-04:00

Far Away Artist's Statement

2009-03-03T15:07:00.001-05:00

“Far Away” is a series of Illustrations based on the play of the same name by Caryl Churchill. The Play, whose plot is concerned with a “world at war with itself”, demonstrates to its readers the absurd fear that can be created by war and those who participate in it. By the end of the play, its characters are afraid of not only other nations, but of other species and elements of nature. After reading Churchill’s chillingly sublime story, I became aware of a certain relevance to the world that I see and live in today. I felt inspired to paint frightened characters terrified of their surroundings, the ridiculous situations that they find themselves in, and the ominous atmospheres suggested by Churchill’s powerfully ambiguous dialogue.

War is something that is unnecessary and detrimental to the psyches of its victims. It creates a circus of our lives, and constructs uneasy tensions within typically mundane relationships. A fear of the everyday is experienced by everyone affected. The theme of absurd trepidation is what I wished to focus on most. I believe that the images required intense lighting and rich color to communicate the idea I had chosen to illustrate. Repeating patterns were drawn to suggest circus-like situations and over the top emotion. I wished to include within the illustrations, animals that towards the end of the play were considered to be the enemy. This repeating motif was used to suggest the growing concern that anything could be the adversary; that it is impossible to know who is ally and who is foe.

Three images were created as character studies for each of the acts of the play. I felt that the emotions experienced by these characters were enough to communicate the plot of each chapter, and the growing concerns that are seen throughout the book. The compositions for the chapter illustrations were kept simple as to not distract from the characters. I wished for them to be the main vehicle of communication for each image. Two other paintings were created: one as a cover image, another as a rectal piece. These images were to be more encompassing of the story in its entirety, and its compositions were somewhat more intricate as a result. I chose oil paint as a starting medium, as I believe its color vibrancy to be unmatched by any other. Digital compositing and editing was also done to prepare the images for print and to add final touchups to the paintings. Lighting and shadow was added digitally, as were patterns and textures I thought appropriate for each picture.

Far Away III

2009-02-24T02:32:00.001-05:00

Far Away II

2009-02-16T22:16:00.002-05:00

Far Away

2009-02-11T21:39:00.002-05:00

First of Five planned illustrations based on the play "Far Away" by Carol Churchill

Valentine

2009-01-27T06:46:00.002-05:00

Sketches

2009-01-27T06:35:00.001-05:00

Aliens!

2009-01-15T23:31:00.001-05:00

PHAT!

2009-01-11T13:04:00.001-05:00

Website 3.0 (coming soon)

2009-01-11T13:01:00.001-05:00

Title Sequence

2009-01-07T21:29:00.001-05:00

The Below is a tile sequence intended to accompany the Cycles animation I had posted earlier in the month. It loops through and syncs with the accompanying animation, so that the background environments transition together in both pieces.

Head of a White Woman Winking

2009-01-04T02:17:00.002-05:00

She has one good bumblebee
which she leads about town
on a leash of clover.
It's as big as a Saint Bernard
but also extremely fragile.
People want to pet its long, shaggy coat.
These would be mostly whirling dervishes
out shopping for accessories.
When Lily winks they understand everything,
right down to the particle
of a butterfly's wing lodged
in her last good eye,
so the situation is avoided,
the potential for a cataclysm
is narrowly averted,
and the bumblebee lugs
its little bundle of shaved nerves
forward, on a mission
from some sick, young godhead.
- James Tate

Sketches: The Good

2008-12-21T23:34:00.002-05:00

Sketch Illustration based on a short story written by my housemate, Don Boody.

Tuppy and Gaia

2008-12-21T03:28:00.001-05:00

Cycles

2008-12-16T23:54:00.001-05:00

"Cycles" is an animated short that I have been preparing for my 2d animation and composting class. It illustrates my thoughts on the fluidity of Identity and the tediousness of everyday life. The animation is intended to repeat indefinitely; unfortunately, Blogger does not currently have looping capabilities. It will be on display at the SUNY Fredonia Select Art Gallery in February.

Nutshells

2008-11-04T01:26:00.000-05:00

So, the last couple of months have been filled with all kinds of kookiness. Mold destroyed half of my art work. A relatively traumatizing car accident left me with a crap back and left a friend of mine with a purple face. Slumber work parties in the art studio left me sleepless and with raccoon eyes, and nights at the bar left me feeling ashamed and regretful. I've been hard at work on an animated piece, and have unfortunately, not had the time to create paintings or any new body of work. The only place I've had to truly reflect and meditate has been my Journal/Sketchbook. The below are some of the better sketches from the past two months.

Bears and Feesh

2008-08-11T00:11:00.001-04:00

This past weekend was a very hectic one, but I was able to devote a lot of time to painting the long board deck that I was making sketches for earlier in the Month. It took the majority of two days to complete, but I'm fairly happy with the end result and It was nice to see my work on something with practical use. It will be interesting to see how the wheels affect the composition once they are screwed in. The bottom wheels will be covering the bear's lower face, but I'm confident that most of it will still be visible. I really enjoyed working on such a lenthy composition. It was challenging to make the elements relate to each other, but it forced me to throw out my usual conventions for spacial organization.

TACOFISH!

2008-07-28T22:12:00.002-04:00

God's gift to mankind, San Diego Comicon, closed this past weekend and all sorts of announcements were made by top comic book publishers and entertainment companies. Marvel previewed the new trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, they announced a new Stephen Kin g Motion comic, and announced the new mega event War of Kings. A special Weekly Watcher was made for SDCC attendees to watch at the Marvel Booth. The script for the video included a fish taco joke and I was given the opportunity to create some images for the short. The below are what I was able to come up with. you can check the video out here or visit The Marvel YouTube page for more videos.

Ying & Yang Bear Deck

2008-07-13T17:52:00.002-04:00

My friend Jake requested that I design a reskin for his long board deck. I'm still in the thumbnail/sketching stages, but I jumped at the chance to test some of my design and illustration skills on something other than a painting. making an image for a 55" x 11" composition should be pretty fun too. The yin-yang idea was fully Jake's and he was specific in requesting that the symbol be made of bears. He wanted something to reflect his strong bond with nature and his sense of balance. The rest of the design was up to me. I'd like to accentuate the yin yang composition and I'm thinking a lot of organic shapes might help in that aspect... more to come soon.

Process: Eloko Egg

2008-07-09T23:47:00.002-04:00

So the below image is my first official illustration for this Blog. I based the blog title and logo off of the Eloko, as I believed it would be a good representation of the imagery that might be seen here in the future. I've always liked the idea (and my body of work is reflective of this) of surprising things coming in small packages, and here you go: a man eating child-dwarf thing coming out of an egg! - Pen and Ink/ Digital Coloring (Adobe CS3) -

ALIENS!

2008-07-09T21:49:00.001-04:00

Image actually from a story board about kids who freak out when aliens come to town.

Eloko Egg

2008-07-06T17:17:00.001-04:00

Welcome to my new blog. I hope to post artwork regulary, in addition to some random thoughts and concerns.