Here's the thing about my job. I say 'day job' but frankly it's my 'all day job' and any personal or commission work is 'the rest of my evening/night/weekend' job and only then when my 'all day job' doesn't bleed into that time.

I work at a small studio, and when I started I was the only digital painter. As such, I learned to do a lot of different types of work, and now that I'm not the only painter (THANK GOODNESS), I am the painter that works on the huge project paintings (confidential) of the other painters and also everything else. Our studio is growing fast, and we have lots of exciting work coming in. None of which I can show and probably can't until 2014/15 sometime. I'll keep in touch.

It's unclear how much longer I can accept commissions. Despite my excitement at opening sample slots, I may never open properly at this point, because I want/need/can't live without making art of my own for an ongoing portfolio. But more on that further down the line.

Here's a sampling of things I've done.

Snow and Ice added to 'A Fairly Odd Christmas' logo. Stressful, since it was one of my first jobs! I closed out the studio a lot on this one.

http://www.nick.com/nick-assets/video/images/mobile/podcasts/FOM\_XMAS\_PODCAST.jpg

Ballistiks; this is where I learned to path in earnest. It started when my boss said 'Can you path?' (in Photoshop, for the clean look, not yet in Illustrator... that came later and I can't show anything yet) and I said 'yep!'. Then I learned to do that. I had linework from my partner in crime at the studio, and we worked together on shadows. The character illustrations on the following packs were all ones I inked and colored (I did several batches, here are a few).

http://img.jateknet.hu/images/large/hw\_hot\_wheels\_ballistiks\_jarmu\_invader\_kisauto\_0027\_LRG.jpg

http://www.toymania.com.br/arquivos/ids/864704\_10/Hot-Wheels-Ballistiks-Veiculos-X-Blade.jpg

http://static.toysrus.co.uk//medias/sys\_master/h4c/h81/8818652479518.jpg

http://img.jateknet.hu/images/large/hw\_hot\_wheels\_ballistiks\_jarmu\_sea\_speeder\_kisauto\_0029\_LRG.jpg

http://img.jateknet.hu/images/large/hw\_hot\_wheels\_ballistiks\_jarmu\_jet\_threat\_kisauto\_0026\_LRG.jpg

Skipping ahead...

Star Wars Angry Birds toy packaging! Let me be clear about what I did and did not do on this one. I did the scene with the Star Destroyer, slingshot, and birds/pigs. I did not do the top art of Fett/Maul/Vader, and the graphic design/branding is all the designers' work at my studio. Things were also moved and edited after it was out of my hands (looking at you, speed trails and bursts...), and didn't do the planet/space BG. OKAY! So the deal here is we had some photos of the toys, and using those I worked out a composition to suit the needs of Hasbro (ie, really simple and clear). After that we were lucky enough to get the model files for the toys. I made them illustration ready and painted them, again with precision paths so it matched the product closely as possible. Same w/the Destroyer, crafted the lighting etc. And since it's never as simple as adding Color and Multiply layers to a gray model... took a while.

http://starwars.gamona.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/AngryBirdsTelepods.jpg

And my most recently released piece!

(and OH SHIT I just saw that my second one was released!! I need to buy and drink it!!)

OOPS I forgot to mention... STAR WARS STUFF. Yeah.

Star Wars Black Series. 6" figure portraits.

Okay, the first wave(s) of these were done by my boss, but the ones I inked are now coming to light. Once again, I worked with our penciler; took his stuff and in many cases altered them to obtain a better likeness at the very very small scale these were printed at (also removing details/refining details etc). THIS is where I pathed both in PS and Illustrator. whew. The following are a few of mine:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zP1zaEJgt-Q/UhBr3H\_ymUI/AAAAAAAAVw8/-Aa15xgh\_jc/s1600/HASBRO\_STAR\_WARS\_THE\_BLACK\_SERIES\_6\_INCH\_SERIES\_2\_HAN\_SOLO\_01.jpg

http://news.toyark.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2013/08/Star-Wars-Black-Series-3.75-Inch-Mace-Windu.jpg

https://sphotos-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/p480x480/1170959\_519300188147201\_1402420731\_n.jpg

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/PbDMY68Tl7I/maxresdefault.jpg

http://getsomegrapesoda.com/wp-content/gallery/star-wars-the-black-series-wave-2-images/star-wars-the-black-series-wave-2-greedo-pkg.jpg

Angry Orchard Hard Cider. Cinnful and Green Apple.

My coworker does all the awesome faces/expression work. He'll submit batches for approval. I come in when the final drawing is done, then paint it onto the existing tree template! It's a lot of style matching and preservation of the expression and feel of the piece. These are so fun and I LOVE the cider! It's very very yummy. :)

Cinnful: http://throughthedrinkingglass.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/photo-1\_\_1378233470\_66-80-123-2.jpg?w=604

http://cdn.foodbeast.com.s3.amazonaws.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/appleorchard.jpg

Green Apple: (still Just Released status, so I can only find one small image of her)

http://lh4.ggpht.com/-IkZ2fv3leRY/UkGsqWXJGxI/AAAAAAACNuc/J0GWNbcY0Ds/s1600-h/image%25255B2%25255D.png

Thanks for looking, everyone.

Of these four separate projects I posted, there are a bajillion more I can't post... either because they have not yet been released or won't be.

Basically, I never thought I'd be working in the packaging art industry... I never really thought about who paints or makes the art on toy stuff (the Hard Cider is a nice departure from that, since I actually buy it), but here I am!

But even so, I still like to paint animal people in my spare time. :)

Cheers!