update #20 (sneaky peeky)

Low quality photo. Didn't want to try scanning a18x24 drawing with a 9x12 scanner when I barely just started the design :p

update #19 (tarantula wasp caught?!?! not quite...)

Since yesterday, I've been reluctant to enter/use my bathroom due to a tarantula hawk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantula_hawk) that wandered in through the ripped screen window. In an attempt to reclaim my throne, I devised a complex plan to capture the fiend and safely release it outside where it belongs.

step 1: Get a plastic tube and make some legs to keep it from rolling over (hence the straws taped to the sides of the tube). Dribbles some orange juice near the entrance and make a trail leading to the end of said tube.

Step 2: Carefully place in close proximity of target. Wait.

Step 3: Periodically check from afar to see if the trap has been sprung. If so, slowly cap the end of the tube. The wasp will fly around crazily in the tube and will scare the shart out of you, but whatever you do DO NOT DROP THE TUBE.

Step 4: If you haven't dropped the tube or been stung by now and the tube is securely capped with the target inside, congratulations! You've just caught a ridiculously large wasp!

Step 5: Examine your catch before you decide to release it into the wild. Are the wings rust orange like a tarantula hawk, or are they black like a great black wasp? If you just caught a great black wasp, congratulations! You've just freaked out and screamed like a little girl for nothing.

great black wasp

tarantula hawk

update #18 (Now on Twitter!)

I have lost count of how many times I've said I would never make a twitter account, but as I looked closely at my social outlets, the idea of tweeting became more and more attractive. Instead of just letting my close friends and family know how I am (via Facebook), I feel that I can now communicate to the general public and some random fans about what I'm up to with greater ease. My brother recently made a Myspace account for his art/illustration work and I should start one up once I get a good client list going. Creating a new DeviantArt account would be a good move too.

watch my tweets: http://twitter.com/brianluong

Happy Father's Day!

I've never worked so quickly yet so intricately in such a short amount of time. Started this piece at 4-5am and worked for 1-2 hours, slept, celebrated father's day with the family, then worked a couple more hours around 8pm. Something like this would usually take me a week to complete. I was surprised that I did it in less than a day, and had the time to give it to my dad. Happy father's day! Wouldn't this make a pretty neat Teefury shirt? With the thunder bolt in the eyes and all? haha

I focused a lot on detail and precision for this piece. I've noticed that a lot of my work has been half-assed in some areas, usually because I rush to see the final product and cut corners... not good, especially since this yields in low quality work. I told myself to slow down and take a breath after each line and make sure I knew what I was going to do before the quill touched the paper.

Also, I went out and bought a couple frames and FINALLY framed my dad's birthday gift. I actually presented this to my dad and said it was his father's day gift, but then reminded him that it was his birthday present and that the frame was the actual gift.


SUMMON THE FLEET!!!

update #17 (Plunder Down Under)

At around 4am, it occurred to me that I could rework one of my simple warm ups into an all out shirt design. Pretty neat.


The shirt color I like the most at the moment is hunter green (the one on the left), although olive was the color that came to mind first when I thought up of shirt colors. Actually... the olive shirt might work better... hmmm. I submitted this to Design By Humans and it's up for voting now: http://www.designbyhumans.com/vote/detail/56192


I've tried a lot of shirt colors for this particular design and from what I've tried out, light colors look terrible for this design. The design stands out WAY too much on anything light. to make it work on white, I would have to drop out the drab underbase.

good ol' white shirt.