Brandon Jones

This is a personal piece based on news articles I found about my grandfather "Smitty". He was left behind in the Philippine Islands after the Japanese pushed the U.S. out and there he fought alongside the Philippine Resistance Army. They used guerilla warfare tactics, remaining in the hills unless they had superiority in numbers and then would strike Japanese units. He was awarded the Legion of Merit for these actions.

I did this intro video for Wasteland Empires to set the scene for the game. Thanks to Tu Bui for painting those hands at the end, and thanks to Chip Harris for the audio.

This weekend in the city was wonderfully sunny and warm. The family went to the San Francisco Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park and got some picnic and nap time in. Last weekend was our dear friends wedding in Puerta Vallarta and I took a little time to get a beachside watercolor in. I think the next step is to get a bit cleaner and more well planned. It is fun though just mixing the colors into each other.

Just working on imbuing character into my characters. I thought it would be a good idea to take some famous literature which I have read but never seen a film adaptation of and try some of the main characters out. Its been a couple of years, but that was a great book, you really feel that the characters exist somewhere.

Went downtown SF with Emery Miller and sketched some of the windswept alleyways on this chilly but clear day.

Here is a Mural I did for my son Arthur's room. It was painted at around 8000 pixels wide at 150 dpi, and the end result was a 4'X12' vinyl wall print. It was a fun project that I hacked away at over a period of months, mostly because of the large size. Soon he will look much older than that toddler I painted him as.

Here is Speargirl!

Sketching before bed. About 1 hour.

These are a couple of studies I knocked out this afternoon. The first is a portrait photo study from a photo in the Atlantic In Focus section of the Atlantic online publication. The second is a study of the late afternoon lighting in my living room, which changed rapidly as the sun went down. I will have to try another later with the artificial light to get a bit more accurate and detailed.

A Quick Sketch before bed.

Here is an illustration of one of our main baddies in Wasteland Empires. I have been lead artist on this project since it started almost a year ago. It is currently live on Facebook, check it out.
I tried working in an approximation of Jana Schirmer's workflow for rendering the image in Photoshop. Of course, her level of skill and talent seem almost unreachably distant at this point. It was terrific to see her demo at the Workshop, as well as hear Marko Djurdjevic discuss the team dynamics and pipeline at Six More Vodka.

This year I had the opportunity to go to Massive Black's Workshop in San Francisco. It was something I had wanted to do for years now. It was very inspiring to watch some of the people whom I considered to be modern day masters of realism and fantasy art working their craft. I picked up a copy of Coro's Transient, which is a testament to his talk on making work for yourself, the importance of having a project you control entirely for the commercial artist.

    There were several great demonstrations from Kekai, Wes Burt, Mathias Verhasselt, Nox, Kemp Remillard... the list goes on, it was definitely the best way to spend a few days to develop some of the artist in you. I recommend this to anyone who wishes to get inspired, surround themselves with the most passionate artists of our genre and time, learn a few technical tips, and get sage advice. Keep drawing!

    Throughout the workshop, there were some terrific live models doing long poses (up to 4 hours!) and 2 minute gestures, head studies, action poses, nudes, costume, it was terrific.

Here is the view from La Crossiant, in Burlingame, Calvin and his sister Kate are some of the best examples of local business owners who always great you with a smile and make this town warm and friendly. Good place to take Arthur so he can nap and daddy can sketch.

Our family took a relaxing trip to Kailua, Oahu and I had a chance to do some watercolor sketches. It was my first time to the islands, and it was Arthur's first trip too. Masha has been there several times and was the one who located this wonderful town to stay in. Here, unlike on the Honolulu side, you can live in a small surf community and feel more like a local. Its a slow pace of life, with friendly people and delicious food. Our favorite pancakes were in Kailua, anyone who goes there must go to Boots and Kimo's and have the Macadamia nut pancake sauce. Mmmm!

Arthur sleeping at Boots and Kimos.  The patio of our cottage (i-pad). Paradise Cove Resort.

Here is a quick study of Adrian Lamb's portrait of Admiral Chester Nimitz. Total time is around 25 minutes.

A 1 hour study of a master painter.

The Warming Hut in San Francisco is one of my favorite places on earth. Today was an example of what I love most about it. Thousands of visitors were enjoying the park with a spectacular view of the Golden Gate Bridge, and the city itself in the opposite direction. A rare day like this, must have been 80 degrees with a nice breeze blowing, brought out every type of person to exercise, stroll, walk their dogs, go on a date, play with the kids, fish on the pier, we saw any activity you could think of.

Luckily I had my watercolor kit and a handbook sketchpad to try to quickly sketch the brilliant colors of the day. There were no clouds at all, the sky just looks washed out because I didn't have a big enough brush to lay down a proper blue sky. It was very relaxing.

Quick study done from a still on Netflix. Too bad he came out a bit wonky.