Mike Malaska Illustration and Design RSS feed

Welcome to the new mikemalaska.com!

Well, I just updated my web presence with this neeto carpet and rough paper theme! I spent about 4 hours designing it last night, and about 8 trying to get it all uploaded. The godaddy is not happy with me apparently, every FTP client I tried was throwing me errors (including the 2 goddady provides). So needless to say it was a frustrating process.

There are still a few things that need fleshed out, so expect some more small updates to the site. The big one is my portfolio, probably my least favorite project. I think the blank metallic expressions of my robot friends (seen to the left) pretty much match what the tiny art guy inside my brain is doing every time I try to gather some good work... I hope I'm not missing something... I know I have done something worthy to put online...

Myla

Sorry about the lack of posts. Work has a knack for keeping me insanely busy. I am going to begin creating tutorials again soon. Digital painting will likely be a focus for a while, and I might consider Flash and Actionscript 3.0 tutorials.

For now I hope my latest project will serve as a reminder that I am still trying to keep the skills going. This painting is my oldest daughter, Myla. It's a hybrid of sorts, part painting part drawing, but thanks to Myla it's all cute. OK, enough girly talk. Really though I am happy with how this came out. I am going to be painting similar candid portraits of Payton and Danielle. It's tough to get good candid photos for reference though...

Apples

It has been a while since I have had time to sit and do a digital painting, or any art for that matter. Recently I hosted a quick workshop on color. We mainly discussed the color wheel and how to use it to create color schemes. The fun part of course was the hands on! For anyone who needs a fun project find some way of getting a red or green light. As you can see from my quick painting, the shadows cast when using a colored light have color as well! It's of no coincidence that the cast shadow appears to be the complimentary color of the light source. In fact, a blue light will produce an orange shadow, green light produces a red shadow and so on.

For anyone testing this experiment, make sure your room isn't too dark or else your green shadows are apt to still look black (even though they will actually be dark green). But I hope anyone with the time will give the experiment a try. Not only is it interesting, but it provides a great opportunity to observe light and colors. Being forced into an unnatural light situation really makes it easy to observe what is actually happening. And next time you are outside and see some nice shadows, don't let your mind fool you, those shadows have color!

Building a Game in Flash CS4

I have recently spent some time building small pieces of code I can use to build a game in Flash CS4. I had actually started this several months ago using Actionscript 2. Now, however, I am re-building everything using Actionscript 3. Not only do I hope things will run smoother, but I have been able to really clean up my code, and get more out of less.

I have built a small level that the player can run around in. I went with a top down isometric view, and built a control system that relies only on the mouse. The character will run to whatever location you place the mouse, run faster if it is farther away, and even make it's way around obstacles. Of course right now my character is an orange box... but you get the idea. I did add some blue arrows to indicate direction, and that must count for something.

I will continue to post my progress as I add more to the code. I have already built a save system that saves data to the users local files (sorry, gotta play on the same PC) and I plan to integrate it soon. Check it out:

My Game

Ideas

I have recently been spending time studying ideas, how we come up with them and what we can do to improve our ability to develop good ideas. I read a small book on the subject: "A Technique for Producing Ideas" by James Young. I recommend picking it up if you can, it's a quick read, but only costs around $5-6.

Several other books and resources have given a similar method to "producing" ideas, and they all share the same basic steps. The first step I have adopted (although it isn't a step in every process outlined) is to narrow your goal down to one simple question. Assuming we are trying to create an ad for a hot sauce, we would want to narrow down our goal to a question like "how can I show that this hot sauce is the hottest on the market?"

Once we have a single goal in mind it is time to generate ideas (no matter how silly or generic) and research the subject. Part of this step is to look at the hot sauce from any possible perspective. How does the hot sauce appear to a child, or a dog. How would a rock or a tree see the hot sauce? There should never be guidelines to what we relate to the subject. It is also important to be scientific about it. How does it work? What is it made of (ingredients)? These kind of questions will help us learn as much as we can about the subject while we develop ideas. As we think of ideas we can never block ourselves by setting up blocks like "this idea is to simple," or "this idea has been done before." Limiting your mind in this way is extremely counter productive, so don't do it!

The next step in the process is to take a break! Everyone has experienced the idea that seems to come out of nowhere, like remembering someones name hours after you needed to. Our brains don't stop thinking about something when we do. So taking a break, sleeping, doing something you enjoy all allow our brains to rest and "digest" the ideas we have come up with. It is during this stage that we are likely to get a bigger idea. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, or while watching a movie an idea will pop into our minds. This is the last step, and it happens on it's own. If we try to force it it likely won't happen, or not with the results we expect.

The above process contains ideas I have studied and practiced, and generally seem to work without fail. Never think it sounds too simple! Creativity may very well be a reflection of our ability to allow our minds to accept ideas that may seem silly or trivial and allow them to germinate in our minds, mix with our other thoughts and grow into something new and unique.

BUYBUILD.COM

I recently had the pleasure of working with Noah at Structure Studios on a logo project for a new venture the company is developing. Buybuild.com is an e-commerce site the company is launching to provide simple shopping solutions for their clients. Pool builders and landscapers often have a hard time finding the right vendors for the things they buy, and buybuild.com will make it easy to find any product found in the Pool Studio and VizTerra design packages.

My role in the project was to design a logo that would be suitable for the website. They wanted a simple logo that would work well as a symbol, and communicate the idea that they could easily buy things directly through the site. I submitted several initial ideas (seen below) that combined some of the brainstorm items I initially came up with Noah's requests and ideas.

Noah and I both liked the box concept, and after presenting the idea to others in the company they decided to move forward. Since this idea was already a polished item we tried a few variations with adding the letter "b" and seeing if we could incorporate the name in any other way. The final product however was basically our original box idea.

Overall this was an easy going project. The process is usually a little more painful, but Noah had some great initial ideas, and we were able to hit the nail on the head early.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I know what most of you looking at this entry are thinking ... If a robot flying through space at the speed of light fires his proton gun, does anything happen?

In other news, the new quarter has begun and I am busy teaching XHTML, CSS, and all that digital fun stuff. I am giving the students a crash course in the basics before I let them touch Dreamweaver in hopes that they will better understand what is going on.

I am fortunate enough to have a wife who loves me enough to get me a Cintiq tablet from Wacom. It is a smooth little tablet, and I will be posting some sketches and other finished pieces as I finish them.

Pong!

So, as Shawn Hayden and I have been working on the Chinook award invitations we were playing with the theme of "1979." It is really broad, so we brainstormed some ideas of things we identified with the 70's. Well, as folk who never really lived during the 70's, we had different ideas then some might.

Pong was one thing that we loved, so I slapped this little baby together. What a better way to bring the spirit of the 70's then with the video game that marked the pinnacle of electronic prowess in the mid 70's. All modern technological advancements pale in comparison to Pong and it's simple, yet addicting game play... I guess.

Happy mid holiday season, I hope to get this blog thing back to full steam before I get back to classes in January.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are in Sutherlin Oregon visiting family for Thanksgiving. It's strange to be back in the rain, but I love the green. Be checking back in next week.

Creative Advertising II - Final Project

Last week marked the end of my first 6 weeks teaching at Perry! Wow, it seems like it's only been 2 or 3 weeks. At the end of the 6 week section I gave my students a final project for the Creative Advertising II course. The project was to create a poster promoting the VCG Program. What made it interesting was that they had to take 4 photographs of graphic design related tools or objects and use those in an abstract way to create the poster, either by using the objects to create something new, or combining them or altering them in some way.

I went ahead and did the project with my students (I am surprised I found time) and the image you see was my result. Some of the students came up with some really unique images, and I hope I can show them sometime as well.

Getting Settled

Well, I know it's been a while. I am just starting to feel comfortable in my new job. I am teaching Digital Design III right now, and the students are getting their first taste (and last for some I think :P) of Flash CS4 and Actionscript 3.0.

I have enjoyed most of it. There is alot of red tape type stuff to deal with on a daily basis, and I am starting to doubt that I will ever feel like I am fully prepared for class each day. At least I enjoy what I am teaching!

Soon I hope to get back to some of my projects, and if not I will post some older work that has yet to be released on the WWW. Happy October!

New Job!

Well, I haven't updated my blog for a while now. I finally have some big news! My family and I are moving (back) to Yakima, WA. I accepted a position as Instructor/Department Head in the Visual Communications and Graphic Design program.

I am super excited to start, but I might not update my blog or post any new tutorials for a few more weeks.

Mathew's Blog

Thought I would put a plug out for my friend Mathew Stowell's blog. Mathew and I have worked together at Structure Studios for about 16 months now. He is a 3D artist and animator, and does really great work. I am not sure what he plans to put on his blog (cool stuff he works on of course) but anybody interested in 3D should check it out!

Mathew's Blog

Digital Painting: Terran Marine

OK! I know it took a little bit more than I said it would, but here is the step-by-step tutorial on how I made my Startcraft themed digital paining. I will be adding more digital painting tutorials in the near future as well, so if you feel like you need more basics don't worry, they are coming.

Digital Painting: Terran Marine

StarCraft Digital Painting

So here is the project I have been working on this week. I will be putting together a tutorial of sorts, showing my process to paint the image.

There are still some details that I never really finished, but I just don't have the attention span to keep with the same project for too long. In other Starcraft II related news, Blizzard is showing the game in South Korea tomorrow, and some of the pro players will be battling it out! I will post a link if I can find any matches to watch.

Hard at work on a new project!

As the title says I have been working on something new. I will be posting the finished piece probably by the weeks end. Not only that but I will be putting together a tutorial on the piece, to show my digital painting process. Yes, that means I am ready to start adding to my tutorials page again, this time digital painting related tutorials.

Itching to know what I am working on? Well, all I will say is this: If you like Starcraft, you will be very pleased.

It's Summer!

well, it's summer, and I have been really lazy with my blog. But that doesn't mean I have been lazy! I am busy on my third freelance project for the month of July, and Danielle and I have been out house hunting every chance we get.

As for the picture, that is Jake Awesome, a fun little character concept I thought of with the guys at work. Also, I hope you like the new "summer" colors I have on the page. If it still looks black then you need to refresh the cache in your browser (just press Ctrl + F5). Enjoy your summer!

I Wish It Were Friday!

Yes... I wish it were Friday, Thursdays are just no fun. Although I did paint this quick little guy... not sure what it is. You could say it was a planet eating itself. Or it could be alien popcorn... Either way it was fun to paint.

StarCraft II

I wish I painted that sucker! Even if you aren't excited about Starcraft II, you should check out the artwork Blizzard is showing. It's no question that Blizzard is home to some of the most creative minds in the gaming industry, and the Artists are no exception.

Starcraft II Concept Artwork

E3: Darksiders

Well, I spent a long day at the Staples Center in Las Angeles, CA at E3. You would be amazed at the variety of nerd that show up in attendance at these kind of events. I saw nerds ranging from "never cut my hair" nerd, to "gigantor" nerd, to "jap/ninja" nerds. Pretty entertaining stuff.

And the show wasn't half bad either. One of the games I was looking forward to seeing was "Darksiders" by THQ. I was at first attracted to the game because it is based on the art and characters designed by Joe Madureira, a pretty famous comic book artist (he worked on X-Men among many others). I had a chance to sit and play the game for a good 20 minutes or so, and it was looking really good. It was almost like a more action oriented/mature Zelda game, which was definitely a good thing.

As for the art, check out the gallery of concepts up on IGN (these are older, but not irrelevant).

IGN - Joe Madureira on Darksiders: Wrath of War

New Tutorial: Drawing the Head

I have finally found time to get back to making tutorials. To follow up with my tutorial on drawing people I made a tutorial to go into a little more detail about the head, and the face. So go check it out!

Tutorial 05: Drawing the Head

Infamous: IGN's Review

Anyone who likes video games and super heroes needs to check out Infamous, a new game for the Playstation 3. In other news, I should be posting my latest tutorial, Drawing the head and face, tonight.

Concept Art: Uncharted 2

I have been looking forward to Uncharted 2 since I first played the original.The first game was one of my favorites in a long time, and was full of very artistically crafted areas.

IGN has an article up talking to the artists and looking at the concept art for Uncharted 2. It is certainly worth a look see, and full of inspirational work.

See the article HERE.

Been a little busy...

No fancy image today, but I do have a brand spankin new tutorial for you! You should definitely check it out! It's not like you have anything better to do, I mean you are looking at this silly blog. So here it is again, in case you have enough self control to keep from finding it on your own:

04: Drawing People

On a sad note, I noticed today that one of my google ads was showing an "EMO chat" site. I am sorry to everyone who has to look at my emo blog, but do know that I am growing out my hair, have stolen Danielle's mascara and jeans, and I never look at more than half of what I see because it is so depressing.

If that didn't make sense, it was a joke (emo's are traditionally very depressed kids who wear girls jeans in spite of their gender, and cover half their face with their hair). Well I think I will go have a cookie now.

Perspecitve Drawing

I am still hard at work making tutorials. As promised here is my perspective drawing tutorial. I am home sick right now, so maybe I can pound out another one soon.

Drawing 03: Perspective

Another Tutorial!

So I have finished my second basic tutorial. It's a quick and simple lesson on lines, and how to use them. Don't worry I am building up to the fun stuff. Next I will go over basic perspective drawing.

See the tutorial here: 02: Lines

First Tutorial: Drawing With Shapes!

Well hello,

Only one day after finishing me blog I have posted my first tutorial! I have started a series of drawing tutorials to start off. The first is Drawing With Shapes. This first tutorial is intended for new artists, and covers how to use shapes when drawing.

My next tutorial will be on basic drawing techniques and will cover gestural sketches, defining form with lines, and basic shading (hatching and cross hatching). I am building up the tutorials for basic skills, and will grow on that later.
Feel free to let me know what you think, either comment on one of my entries, or submit a message on the "about" page. Thanks!

First Blog Entry

I have finally finished this project, but it will be on-going. You can look forward to really rad stuff like:

Weekly Projects
Free Art and Design Tutorials
Stunning Views of the Various Jelly-Filled Corners of My Mind!

Now, if that doesn't excite you, you might as well be cataloging carpet smells...