Photo Realistic Cat Painting! (digital... timelapsed)

SciFi preproduction art- 3 hr digital paint...

This one is a pretty much a preproduction painting for my own animation. It is my own little "bad guy" character I made up for my Star Wars fanfilm experiment that I play around with when time permits. It's very fascinating for me to do pieces like this since there is absolutely NO reference, and barely any time to devote to it.. So once again,--as my average works seem to be-- it was around 3 hours to complete this and it is indeed time-lapsed for quick viewing.. It is a pretty good challenge since it has it's own little built in deadline, even though it is not for anyone but myself... I am trying to learn how to improve my speed art for projects like this since I will never be able to work on things like this for more than 3 hours. (usually I need to get up extra early like 4:30 am to get something like this done inside of my typical days.)

Anyway--

Photoshop CS on a Mac
with Wacom INtuos 3

Digital Painting Photo-Realism Again

Art Scene...

Sometime within the next month or so, this magazine hits the stands at stores like Borders, Barnes and Noble, etc. There's a pretty good dose of material from me in it including a "how to" section and a story about my escapades as an artist. I hadn't really pursued getting myself into publications like this, until now. As some of you know, I have a 10 yr old daughter with autism and my wife and I are quite involved in the autism community.

I recently made up my mind that if I am going to make any difference for this cause, I need to try a little harder about making a name for myself as an artist... Then, maybe I can have a stronger voice in helping the cause for awareness and making the world a better place for autistics. We are almost finished completing our non-profit official organization "Creative Alliance for Autism" as I continue to push to get some recognition to draw eyes and ears toward that organization. So spread the word! Spread the sites!
http://www.chrisscalf.com/
and
http://www.youtube.com/user/cgsbgs

I want to make a difference... Thanks!

Lots of new stuff on the way....

I'm on a creative binge... On a mission. I have determined that my website is stale. It needs more NEW material on it. And so, as always-- I have found several pieces of art that are 80% finished sitting on my hard drive as well as several OTHER traditional art paintings in the same status that I just need to finish and get em up here!

In addition to that, I went ahead and started on a new digital painting today (pictured here with this post.). I put a few hours into it already, and it's almost done. You can be looking for it on youtube tomorrow, as a time-lapse vid of the art being created. You can see by the small image here how close to being done it is right now-- but I want to tighten the realism even more. Unfortunately, I have a nasty headache, I'll just finish it in the morning.

More to come, tomorrow!

I Need To Wake Up...

I'm very tired. I haven't had a decent night's sleep in at least a few years... Or so I am told. I thought I was diabetic or something, when I went in to see the doctor a couple of months ago. I expected some kind of bad news... Everyday, for the last 2 years, I grew more tired, to he point where I felt like 5pm was 3 am. All I feel like doing ever, is sleeping. Turns out that I have what a condition that is more common than I realized... Sleep apnea. Severe sleep apnea. I used to be so full of energy--- so creative. So fast at doing the creations I love. But lately, I am just so BLAH.

Well, I have the necessary treatments under way, so hopefully I can return to some feeling of usefulness as an artist (let alone a human being) in this world soon... It sure does mess a person up when he/she doesn't get the sleep and rest they need. For those who don't know- sleep apnea is when the air passage you breathe though while you sleep closes up while you are completely relaxed-- in other words, you stop breathing for up to several seconds. Then, you open your mouth and literally gasp for air, to breathe again. Apparently, I do this in the area of 315 times a night. That's like, every few minutes. No wonder I feel like crap...

Anyhow-- the relevance of me posting this here on my blog is basically an explanation-- even to myself--- why I haven't been keeping up on stuff on my site lately. But I guess we should be seeing some progress very soon... I hope.

On the better side of things, my animation work is coming along very well. As some know, I have been pursuing the concept of "paintings that move" animation... It's really interesting, and you will be seeing a lot of it here very soon. Today's pic is a screen grab from one of the latest clips.

Eventually I'll Find My Groove...

I am the most disorganized person I know. I'm a slob... I'm undisciplined. I am also a procrastinator who wants to give in to laziness. And at the same time while all of the above is true-- People like my art... Which causes a terrible conflict in and of itself... I'm horrible at keeping up with the web communications. Take this blog for example: Last dated entry; JULY. And then I also have a deviantart account which I also need to update.

Don't get me wrong--- I read everything on these things when people post, and check them on a regular basis--- It's just that I become overwhelmed with all of it and end up procrastinating it. I say tomyself, "I'll respond to that later.." And then forget about it.

On youtube, I have hundreds of unanswered messages that I just didn't get around to answering. It's not that I don't find these people important enough, but I think it is the other way around. On this end, I'm just a regular guy who has stumbled into something where people think I am more than I actually am. I have a pretty modest status as a regular person, and as an artist-- I really am nobody. Professionally, I make a good living as a "ghost" creative, being paid to illustrate and bring to life other people's ideas without ever getting any name recognition for it. But it doesn't bother me...

And I think that is my main problem. It's too easy. I'm a wimp. Instead of trying to make a name for myself, and attempting to BE somebody, I hide like a coward in the everyday anonymous routine of commercial art.

AS sort of a side thing, I found youtube a while back and noticed the "speed painting" thing artists were doing. I thought I'd try it out, for fun and to stimulate that artistic part of me that never gets free reign in my "day job" work... Well, here it is almost 2 years later, and that thing has really taken off. I'm a bit overwhelmed by it, because of the pouring in of respect and recognition I get from people, and the insane spike of hits my website gets because of it. But as a procrastinator, I'm afraid I'm constantly letting people down by not responding to them. The thought of that kills me... And I am sorry. If you are reading this, and you are one of those students who are in high school who write me with big hopes and dreams of becoming an artist tomorrow-- I apologize if I have not written back yet. Feel free to give me another nudge. I am working real hard to get my life in order as an artist.

Eventually I'll find that groove.. I'll find a routine. I have to. I'm getting close to 40, just had a third kid, and have a daughter with autism. I need to take this God given gift of art, and make it mean something. So it's time for me to come out of hiding... Time to stop being a coward, and move forward...

And to all who have stopped by to write me kind words of praise-- thank you. You over estimate me in your praise, but thanks. And to those who write questions, please be patient. I'll get to them... I promise.

(Oh, and the pic that I have with this message is just a side thing I did recently... An airbrush painting of my son. Check out my youtube channel to see a timelapse vid of it.)