The Modern Gent

I did this for an upcoming project I'm starting with friends. Lots of things to come!

Practice!

Busy City

I'm just practicing painting everyday right now, trying to get better. Got a lot of mileage from this one. If I were to do this over again, I would have planned out the focal points more, I think as it is, it's a bit flat. 

(critiques are always more than welcome!)

This is hopefully the first of daily paintings, starting today...

Maya's Notebook

Almost forgot about this stuff! This is concept work for one of my last projects in BFA, a few months back, based on the book, “Maya’s Notebook.”

This was an earlier version of the main character, Maya.

Here is the final design of Maya at three different stages of the story...

 I hadn't had much experience drawing cars, so I tried to tackle this design. My big mistake was that I tried to ride the line between realistic and stylized, so I ended up with just a poorly drawn car.

Here are a few story moments...

Study. 9Aug13.

20 min. color study.

A little bit of a tacky photo reference choice, but so what? Huh?? What about it??  Just let me do what I want! (I chose it for the bounce light, okay?)

Study

A quick study of a photo. I tried painting in one layer using a more 'Sargeant' approach, which I've always struggled with, because I get impatient. I'll try to do a lot more this summer.

The Chair

This was one of the first assignments in BFA, back in summer of 2012, which I kind of forgot about. We were given a week to create a 30-second film entitled "The Chair." Those were the only guidelines, so this is the ridiculous thing I came up with...

The Chair from Steven Knudsen on Vimeo.

Business card

New business card. Eh? What do you think?

Quickie before class....

Maya's Notebook - Opening Shot

My BFA class was recently given the assignment to create a trailer for the book, "Maya's Notebook," by Isabel Allende. This is the opening shot I did for my group's trailer..

I wanted to create the illusion that as the image pans, it looks as if the camera is looking upward, rather than just panning up, which is why I used this warped perspective. 

Maya's Notebook Trailer - Shot 1 from Steven Knudsen on Vimeo.

Meowth - Rare Candy Gallery

Done for the "Rare Candy" gallery show/charity, that will open May 3rd, in downtown San Jose.

https://www.facebook.com/events/355490451219846/358589147576643/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity

I think a tumblr with all the art will be released when the show opens, but it's an awesome concept a couple of my classmates came up with, where a 151 different artists each got a different Pokemon to paint however they choose. 

I was assigned Meowth. I didn't watch Pokemon as a kid, so I didn't know any sweet Pokemon jokes to make, so I made my guy kickin' back, smokin' a cig for some reason. Rough day of Pokemon-ing, I guess.. 

This was the first watercolor I've done in a long time, and I had a blast! I'll definitely be doing more this summer.  

Comic

Here's a quick comic I did for a zine we're creating in Barron Storey's class, entitled "Holy Hell Hotel."

Dreamcrits!

I was lucky enough to attend Dreamcrits this past week, featuring Jason Scheier (http://d3capmode.blogspot.com/). 
I filled up 4 pages of notes in the relatively short critique, and learned a ton. Each critique was so packed with information I could hardly keep up.
Here's some goofy doodles I did while we waited for the critique to begin...

City Of the Beasts Reel

Forgot to upload this...
This was the final reel I created for my group, for the City of the Beasts project.
Did the title in After Effects and the rest was done in Premiere.



City of the Beasts Trailer from Steven Knudsen on Vimeo.

Adobe Ebook

For our latest project in BFA, we worked in groups for a competition to create an ebook for the story, "The Husband Who Was to Mind the House."

I did storyboards, layouts, line drawings, values, characters, rigs, animating, and actionscripting.

Here is the first page, used for a poster. The characters are poseable.

This being my first time using Flash, I had to learn how to make characters animatable. Knowing more now, I probably would have done some things differently, but it was a fun trying to improvise and figure things out.

A simple guide I made for my group.

A few of the layouts I did, with values.

Where's my Liver?

Here are the main characters of a project I worked on, called "Where's my Liver?" The story is about a boy who is sent out to pick up some liver, by his mother, but becomes sidetracked and starts fantasizing what could happen to him if he doesn't make it to the store in time. 

Some quick paints...