jvolz. illustrator.

Nato Coles

2011-05-28T19:52:00.001-07:00

Poster for Nato Coles and The Blue Diamond Band

Moonbot came to town

2011-04-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

So, things have been nuts finishing up on the tail end of thesis, riding the wave to shore. I've been feeling stuck in my own bubble lately and cranking away. But doing that sometimes with out fail can really burn you out quick. This past week I had to pleasure of participating in a visiting studio Workshop put up by the phenomenal Moonbot Studios. We got a chance to participate with other majors (Computer Animation, Illustration, Digital Film and Game Art and Design) in taking a classic story and revamping it, coming up with a pitch at the end of two days. We were lucky enough to have the great story of The Wizard of Oz. Thoughts blew up, and we started cranking away, mind bullets rickashaying off the walls. All the groups that participated in this came up with amazing fleshed out concepts, especially within a two day span. This work shop really just turned things around for me, I feel completely revived in a a sense, and ready to get back to the drawing board.

Here are some of the Character concepts that I came up with for the workshop:

-- ScareCrow --

-- Dorthy --

Also:

We got to see a premiere of their new animated short film "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore". To say the least, the account of detail that they put into this feature is insane. It's a must see in my book if you ever get the chance.

scrap painting experiments // 01

2011-04-04T23:50:00.001-07:00

up and coming

2011-04-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a little test piece for something bigger I'm working on. I love painting on scrap board, no pressure.

dear me,

2011-01-31T20:23:00.000-08:00

Test piece for my thesis

as well as a gift for my good friend and talented photographer Chelsea Muller

Two birds. One stone.

lost in sauce

2011-01-12T20:54:00.000-08:00

Been wanting to do some hand drawn type for a while. My buddy Chris Golden has been rocking the illustration/graphic design combo pack.

Also side note: It was originally going to be lost in space, but I inked "Sa" before I even realized it….so I went with it.

---

hand drawn type experiment 01,02.

phathom // 2

2010-12-30T20:03:00.001-08:00

fathoms // 1

2010-12-30T19:41:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays to everyone first off all.

Figured it was about time to post some of the sketchbooks I've been filling up. It's been a crazy past few weeks and finally have a chance to sit down and take a breather. More sketches to come!

Expurgate

2010-12-09T09:59:00.000-08:00

This was an editorial topic I found very interesting because it dealt with many view points. The fact that China wanted google to take out anything that was against it on google, so that it didn't look like it actually was. I decided to focus more on the side of China hiring out freelance "Political Hackers" to hack into Google and delete what they didn't want. See the article here: (NY Times)

----

Mixed Media

Crimson

2010-12-04T17:32:00.000-08:00

Another figure study, experimenting with some new color schemes. Really fun playing with edge quality in pastels.

Omens.

2010-11-01T08:29:00.000-07:00

This is one of those strange happen-stances I wanted to a piece that was dark then it presents it self to align with times, which just so happened Halloween! So after accepting that, here is my tribute to the dark side. I had a lot of fun working out the kinks of this piece, usually i try and keep a focus and everything else around simple, but this time around I thought I would do just the opposite.

Bad Omens

Ink, Gouache & Digital

Blew

2010-10-31T18:22:00.000-07:00

This figure study is done on Academy Paper with Nupastels. This is the sort of thing I really love getting into, just trying to find an interesting image within a time limit, with a live model.

-- more to come soon --

Tata Gala 2010

2010-10-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

This is my submission for organization called tatagala, which you should be able to tell has to do with the admiration of female assets. Not only that, but it's all for a great cause in the fight against breast cancer.

"Indian Giver"

Mixed Media

Horizons

2010-10-26T05:48:00.000-07:00

I've been doing some experimenting lately in things I don't normally go into, such as environment concept. Just trying some new things I suppose. Expand those horizons.

Environment Concept

Digital

white lies

2010-09-28T22:51:00.000-07:00

Folklore

2010-09-03T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hello, Got some new work on the way. This piece here is part 1 of 2. This is part of a Japanese Folklore story called "Demon Spittle".

"The Exorcism" -- Ink, Acrylic, & Gouache

Enjoy.

vinettes

2010-08-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

graphos -- round I

white and black.

2010-07-15T10:37:00.000-07:00

I am finally working in ink again, I feel like it's been a while. But I must say, boy does it feel good to get my hands dirty.

Here are some fun ones, with more to come:

chancho!

dalek.

interpretations.

2010-06-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

well i'll be damned.

2010-06-02T12:42:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since I last updated so I figured it was about time to share things: Back to the pencil and the life drawing. More to come soon! (real soon. promise)

Gouachein'

2010-03-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

Media experiment in gouache of my dear friend Keyla. First time really playing with gouache. It's a very very tricky medium to play around with, But has a lot of potential I think.

+ + + +

-- experiment 01 --

-- detail --

-- experiment 02 --

-- detail --

enjoy,

j.volz

The Poet & His Omen....

2010-02-01T21:52:00.001-08:00

First Ink Piece I've done in a while. Feels really good to get back into the power shapes.

+ + + +

-- detail --

The Legendary Cowboy

2010-01-24T21:39:00.001-08:00

Hello friends,

I have two movie poster concepts of classic movies:

First up is John Wayne's "The Cowboys":

+ + + +

-- Final --

-- Details --

More to come soon,

2009-12-19T21:20:00.000-08:00

One crazy year its been. I'll hopefully be posting more frequently now that I've got some time on my hands. This year I've really been trying to focus on media experimentation. I wanted to try to achieve a look with mixed media solutions. Sometimes it worked other times it blew up in my face, but I always learned something to put to the next piece. With a new year coming into the mix hopefully I can continue experimenting and come up with some work worthy of showing you guys.

+ + + +

La Musica Poster

mixed media 11x17

special thanks to

MonicaGonzalezRomero

for the type guidance

water based eye-wear

Editorial Piece

digital

Oil Experiments

2009-11-24T20:03:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a lot of wet on wet painting using Clove Oil to keep my paints just the way they came out of the tube. Which in turn keeps the paintings wet as well on the surface, though hard to manage I'd rather work into a wet painting then on top of a dry one.

Hope you enjoy:

Detail:

Tata Gala Sneak Peek

2009-11-10T02:17:00.000-08:00

Well after a few extremely long nights, here is a detail shot of my entry for The Tata Gala run by Erik Jones...the show is going down this Saturday.

Enjoy!

Doots

2009-11-02T06:35:00.001-08:00

A slight update: (more to come soon)

Portrait Experiments

2009-10-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

Here it is, day after "Hell Week" aka midterms. I feel like I can actually get things done at a normal human pace, but we'll have to see how long that lasts. But for now here are some media experiments that I enjoyed hopefully I will apply some of these techniques to future Illustration/Personal Works.

Here are some of the ones I really enjoyed:

Figure Paintings

2009-09-16T18:13:00.001-07:00

//Sketchies//

2009-08-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

With the summer coming to an abrupt end with school starting in the next week I thought I would post the last few bits of my sketchbook. With a new school year coming in to play there should be a plethora of work popping up here. But till then, I hope these can hold you over.

:::::::

Centerfold

R2----D2

Jaffa

Starbucks 101

Tears & Ties

One time I thought I was...

Mario & friends in Real Life.

:::::

J.D.V

Time will tell

2009-07-08T12:12:00.000-07:00

Well, its been yet another eventful week with a few pages filled. Work has been scarce, but on the bright side of things I've had that time to work on personal work. Got a couple of larger works on the way so keep an eye out.

Sketchies:

Remember to remember to forget you forgot

2009-06-29T18:31:00.000-07:00

This summer has been very interesting.

Work has been hard to find, but I try and make the free time worthy with working on personal work. I've got a couple of paintings in the works at the moment. I'll try and put some sneak peeks of those.

BUT for now, more Sketchbook:

Also a work in progress. just playing around with acrylic. First was a fierce warrior but slowly turning into a Bakery GOD. Muffins. Yum.

Been a While.

2009-06-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

Yea, I feel like I've been neglecting my blog a bit. But I swear I'll be better at updating! But for now here is some sketches in the new cracked-open moleskin:

Castro

Captain Mario

Enjoy.

Designer Visions

2009-05-04T23:35:00.000-07:00

Thought I would show this to complement my poster design.
We just had an assignment to redo a 6 page magazine spread + cover mock-up.
Graphic Design isn't my niche, yet, I do feel quite comfortable doing the work.
Thoughts & feedback appreciated.

To Start a New...

2009-05-04T22:33:00.000-07:00

Well finished yet another sketchbook. Thought I would post some pages I found interesting. With the school year coming to an end I can finally go back to my casual sketchbook time that I enjoy OH so much. So hopefully there's more to come soon.

REPTAR!

2009-04-27T00:09:00.001-07:00

Thought I would share the goodies from my pocket sketchbook:

Enjoy!

lé pastels

2009-04-20T07:25:00.000-07:00

Thought I would put up some recent figure work:

Pastel on toned paper about 20mins

Enjoy

shirts & skirts

2009-04-13T19:57:00.003-07:00

just something I found in my other sketchbook

Enjoy..

gotta hand it to ya

2009-04-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

Thought I would do a little sketch dump. more to come!

5x7 moleskin ink & watercolor

Poster Design

2009-04-03T12:42:00.000-07:00

The Poster assignment was to do it all in text.

I'm pretty happy with it, hopefully you all are as well.

ink-ink

2009-03-06T03:39:00.000-08:00

Playing with some ink for some business card ideas.

more figure workkkkk

2009-02-24T17:24:00.001-08:00

experimenting figure.

2009-02-09T15:20:00.000-08:00

I've been playing recently with variety of mediums this semester. Especially in figure class. This is a sneak peek of more to come.

about 50 mins Pastels on toned paper.

about 40-45 mins Pastel on toned paper.

-sketch dump-

2009-01-20T22:52:00.001-08:00

Well I finally got these to scan in nicely. Most of these are done over the Holiday Break. Hopefully I will have more to post in a week or two. I've been trying to get myself to post at least once a week. ( key word "try". lol).
Also, my new years resolution is while I'm dealing with school, to do at least one personal piece every two weeks. It's a challenge but I feel up to it!

Kippo--

Kel&Ro--

Grimstone--
The.lil.bros--
The.unaware.man--

Master Chief?

2008-12-16T07:17:00.000-08:00

update update update.
well here is three more pieces that I finally managed to scan in for your viewing pleasure.
haha

Master Chief: (I'm thinking about making it more of a flying head but we'll see...)
Watercolor piece from earlier this year:

and the creepy little Taiser for the "Every hair on the dog":

Coming to an End

2008-12-12T00:49:00.000-08:00

Well, with Finals over, I finally get to attempt to change my sleep patterns back to normal. Which means I sleep at night...which I haven't been doing.

Thought it all paid off with the work we put out.
Here is the final for my Illustration:

and a crop out of my sketchbook:

Busy | Busy

2008-11-05T22:11:00.000-08:00

Well, like it says, things have been very hectic. BUT, enough excuses.
Classes this year have been amazing and so has progress.
here is some figure work in Charcoal
Obama looking man:

& ghost woman:

I don't know, mid-length poses. plus our teacher likes to take a lot of breaks and talk to us. WHICH takes up most of my time to draw. so really can't say how long I spent on this.
I'll post up my next illustration when it gets closer to the finished product.
or maybe I'll give you a sneak peek. We'll see...

Also some experimenting with some scratch board. Fun:

Oh. Also random post from my sketchbook.

late nights and plenty of coffee.

sketchup

2008-10-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

eh, this is some old and fairly new things just thought I would post something for now
I'll post everything else as soon as I'm finished my entry for Illest of Ill then its back to a normal, overly stressed day at Ringling. That doesn't sound as good as it should... but It'll have to do!

sketchies

2008-08-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

though I would take some quick pics of the sketchbook I finished a few weeks ago. SO, here's a preview!

studystudy

2008-07-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

alright well this is one of the few studies I did today to warm up so I can work on the real stuff. Plus I felt like doing it. So here we go, I don't really know what to think of it. I've been trying some new techniques. plus I've been doing a lot of traditional lately too, which might be paying off. but who knows cause I haven't showed them to anyone. haha.
hopefully posting more soon when I find some time.

Spare Time

2008-07-11T21:54:00.000-07:00

Finally had a second this week to where I had time to play with something. This is just a sketch I started tonight, started off more as a study than anything. But, I thought I would post it since I haven't posted anything in a while..

speed sketch of the day

2008-05-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

just a portrait study last night. 15 mins + Revisions.

some WIPS

2008-05-23T16:19:00.001-07:00

this is an idea I had yet I only thought it out so far. I wanted to do something really cool with the BG. but can't decide on something so I think i'm going to do a few comps and see which I like better. Tell me if you got any ideas!

long and over due

2008-05-21T00:16:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted as much as I've been wanting to. But better now then never.

Here is something I was working on just something done is my sketchbook that I wanted to paint. Tell me what you think? I'm going to be working ont his and a couple more ideas that I've got. :D

doodles last night

2008-05-14T08:50:00.001-07:00

I've know I haven't posted in a while. But here's something I did during the late hours of the night. the colored mech is mine, the other is Chaz's.

More coming soon!!

Rambo Chicken Angel

2008-03-27T21:55:00.001-07:00

Illustration for a short story:

back to value studies

2008-03-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking I feel that I've hit a point that I can say I've made some progress.

Tell me what you think.