The Art of Karla Ortiz

Red

2012-01-19T11:07:00.000-08:00

I've been spending some time now doing personal work after work hours, and I must say it's been so refreshing! It's like renewing my vows to art all over again! :)

Yesterday I decided to take one of my sketches a bit further.

Below is the odd looking result.

Oils

2012-01-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

One of the things that I was really happy to get back to this last year was oil painting. I am lucky to be surrounded by the wonderful artists at the safehouse studios who inspire me to do better as an artist, and practice the traditional craft.. Every sunday we go out and do plein air painting which is now one of my favorite things to do.

Below are some of my favorite plein airs , and other random oil paintings I worked on last year.

( an oldie transformed)

Sketches and Drawings

2012-01-09T23:43:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

One of my new year's resolution was to update my blog regularly, so why not start with a sketches and drawings I've been hoarding. Some new, some old, some traditional and one digital.

And happy new years to all of you! May this year be an amazing one! :D

APE and Godfathers

2011-10-02T23:26:00.000-07:00

Today I went to APE to do a short live painting demo at my company's booth!

I took out an old drawing from the depths of my computer, and played around with it for a bit.

Here is the result:

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The Godfather: Five Families

I'm really happy to be able to announce the title I have been working on at Kabam, the Godfather: Five Families.

"It’s 1935: ten years before the events of The Godfather film. New York’s Five Families are engaged in an all-out war for supremacy. The war is heating up and smaller gangs are under pressure to join one of the Families . . . or die. Your father’s brutal injury leaves him unable to lead your family – leaving it up to you. You must take charge and keep your family’s criminal organization alive."

Sounds good? You betcha! And it's gonna look fantastic too! The incredible art team I'm honored to be a part of has made sure of that! The game looks amazing, plays wonderfully and I hope will delight and entertain you all!

For more information check out the Godfather: Five Families at Kabam.com, also our facebook page is up and it's full art goodies from the team!

Once the game is out I'll post all the work right here for all of you to see, just make sure you play the game too! :)

Blood Hunt cover step by step

2011-08-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

I've recently had the opportunity to work with the wonderful Christopher Buecheler on a cover for his second installment of The II AM trilogy, The Blood Hunt.

I was going to post up a step by step on how the cover came to be, but Christopher beat me to it! He did such a wonderful job describing the process, plus him being a great writer, makes it a enjoyable read ( better than any crappy sentences I come up with! :D )

So here it is:

http://writing.cwbuecheler.com/2011/08/26/blood-hunt-cover-the-odyssey/

and if you like vampire fiction check out his books!

http://www.iiamtrilogy.com/

New strains and old drawings.

2011-05-25T22:21:00.001-07:00

I strained my drawing hand's thumb at a theme park recently.

Because of it I haven't been able to do much of anything except relax, read, and take pictures of old drawings! Here are some of my favorites!

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Round 2

So back by demand, the Safehouse is at it AGAIN! Another big show for those of you close to the bay area on June 10th! So if you missed the first one, do NOT miss this one!!See you all there!!

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Gorilla!

BAM! The incredible talent at GorillaArtfare.com and CFSL Ink have joined forces and created one hell of an art book!

Gorilla Artbook Vol. 1 !

It is a huge honor to be in there amongst the BAZILLION other incredible artists who make this book look so damned good! Check it out, but really just buy it, because it honestly may just be one of the best art books of the year!

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Links

Buy the Gorilla Art book here:
http://www.cfsl-ink.com/en/products/gorilla-artbook

Check out the safe house studio website, for show dates and artists galleries here:
http://www.thesafehousestudios.com/

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Latests News.

2011-04-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

Spectrum

I made it to spectrum! I'm ecstatic, excited and honored to be amongst such a wonderful pick of artists!

Here are some incredible videos on the selection process! Being a judge seems like a really tough gig.

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Art Book: Illusions of Reality

I have been on a art book buying craze. I can't stop and it's a problem...sort of :).

So one of my friends asked me my thoughts on my latest buy Illusions of Reality and here is my short review of this must buy.

Illusions of Reality is AMAZING! It speaks extensively on the art and the history of the time in which the art was made. Some of the works where banned and deemed too controversial because they focused on the working man, and awful working conditions of the beginnings of the Industrial Age.

The art featured is so wonderful and rare. A lot of the artists hardly have any pictures on the internet, you can't even find them on the Art Renewal archives. Throughout the book they have small detail shots to accompany the writing and at the end of the book they feature full pages of the paintings as a whole. It's a really wonderful art book and everyone should absolutely get it!

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Big Win on Safehouse Show

The Safehouse Show One was a big BIG success!

If you went to the show many thanks for making it the incredible event it was! And if you signed up for our studio #4 mailing list worry not! Emails with news, art and events are on the way!

In the meanwhile why not check out the Safehouse Studio website? It has a couple pictures of the show, links to all the studio artists and the Safehouse School!

web: http://www.thesafehousestudios.com/

See you all on the next one!

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Where is all the art?

I've been mega busy with the job, the freelance, teaching and finding time to work on my own stuff! But works are on the way! I am gathering all the sketches and work I've done in the past couple months! It will be posted soon, so come on by!

Safe House Show 1

2011-03-24T09:50:00.000-07:00

For those of you that are in the bay area and have nothing going on tomorrow night, come on down by the Safehouse and be a part of our first show!

The line up is incredible and it's promising to be one heck of a night! (free drinks too!)

Hope to see you all there!

More details here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=194876207212822

Finish

2011-01-08T19:38:00.001-08:00

Here is an update with a couple of paintings I finished recently.

It's nice to go back and just finish something that's been put off for a while.

in other news I wanted to let you guys know that CGhub.com has some great weekly and monthly activities! They are a great way to get your work out there, but more importantly to make art for yourself and have fun!

Work in progress II

2010-10-28T23:48:00.000-07:00

A lot of different artists have little rituals on how to begin the painting process. Some artists begin with line and others with shape. I usually have an easier time figuring things out with a line drawing first.

Right after I am relatively happy with my line drawing, that's when my "little ritual" begins and I set up my "digital surface" for painting.

I duplicate the drawing layer I made earlier( duplicate shortcut: ctrl+j). One drawing layer is set to "overlay" with a burnt sienna tint, I make sure this layer is at the top. The second drawing layer is set to normal but I lower the opacity to about 30% to 40%. I keep this layer underneath the overlay layer.

After this process I go back to the background layer and give it a basic tone , so as not to start from a white canvas.

I make another layer and begin to block in the local color of the piece. Once I'm happy with the overall relationship of colors, I then add my basic shadows.

(example of layer organization)

I use this method because it's reminiscent of the initial steps I used to take when preparing a painting in oils. Working from a drawing, then transferring the drawing to the canvas and giving it a basic wash . :)

There are many challenges to this painting right now, I'm indifferent to the composition, and perhaps the answer lies in adding more contrast to emphasize lighting, or establishing a stronger perspective. I'll have to figure it out this out before I go any further.

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On Demand!

I've begun to record my process whenever possible on livestream.com !

Now mind you some of the sessions are short ( about a minute or so) and others can be very long (3 hours!)! It's all unedited , so expect slow brushstrokes, moments of pause, and maybe the occasional bathroom break!

My painting times are a bit sporadic but I hope to be able to make it easier for people to know when I will be painting live through twitter, facebook and this blog. So drop by and say hello, or check it out at your convenience!

Link: http://www.livestream.com/iconart

Many thanks Daniel C. For pushing me to do these sessions!

previous post

Work in progress.

2010-10-12T00:18:00.000-07:00

Progress shot of a new personal painting I'm working on. This is only a small detail of the bigger painting. I always find it very useful when artists post up close ups of their under drawings. I like to look at the construction lines, and the approach an artist takes to constructing a painting.

In this particular image, I started playing around with composition and placement of elements, using wide brush strokes that keep me thinking about the big picture and how each element affects one another. Once I'm happy with the overall placement of the objects, I make a new layer, and then fill it with white and lower the opacity to 30%. Think of this new layer as a tracing paper. Afterwards I create yet another layer, and begin to draw all the elements a bit more carefully now. I'm thinking heavily on proportion, anatomy and gesture at this point.

Hopefully this will be useful to someone else as well!

I will be working on this piece in the next following days. I'll be posting progress shots as I go so stay tuned!

Olden Times

2010-10-05T23:07:00.000-07:00

I was looking around at old files and works today and was happy to find this old man.

It was way back when I was still in school and was working with my team on our mock game project. That was about a year and a half ago.

fun times :P

derp.

2010-09-10T17:24:00.001-07:00

Did a quick little 10 minute sketch after work. I need to post more of these quick imagination sketches, I have tons, but I never think of posting them. Anyway, "derp."

Protoman

2010-08-09T03:26:00.000-07:00

I took part of CGHub's CharacterFORGE challenge, the theme was to redesign any character from the Mega Man franchise, but dark ages style. This is my entry for the challege.

Check out the rest of the entries, and while you are there make sure to vote too! :)

Frank Frazetta 1928-2010

2010-05-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

Frank Frazetta died yesterday at age 82. Frazetta was an extraordinary individual. His images captured the hearts of many, and allowed their imaginations to go wild in his fantastic worlds, wolrds with vivid colors, heroic figures and iconic compositions. When I was a child my father showed me a couple of his comic book covers, and I remember being so in shock that a painter could do what he does. To this day I still feel the same.

In a way every artist owes him a little, I know I do. My first exposure was a cover for Imagine FX, an omage to Frazetta on his 80th Birthday. An honor I will hold dear for ages to come.

omage to Frazetta, Imagine FX Vol. 28, 2008

May he rest in peace. His legend will go on forever.

Blast from the past! Two Nike of Samothrace!

2010-02-24T23:13:00.000-08:00

I realized I hadn't posted any of these in my blog, so I figured I'd post them side by side. They are about four months apart and they were both very challenging , but i learned a LOT from them.

good times with the nike, in pencil and oils :).

edit: Oh and I added a couple extra artists and art website links!The Art Renewal Center link is incredible, one of the best online archives of classical art...EVER! CG Hub is also a wonderful resource for more contemporary artists. Find a new artist to love, past or present! Have fun!!

Graffiti Beach day 1

2010-02-20T23:49:00.000-08:00

Costa Mesa is a nice place, it was warm and sunny, and a nice change from sf...just for a little bit.

I met a lot of very lovely people and got to paint people all day.

one of them is an extremely talented individual, the eclectic Mr. Lee

and the lovely Giselle lent me her good looks for this piece

cannot wait for another day full of lovely people, lovely weather and more live painting.

Atelier week, well. wasn't very exciting, was it? lol I'm planning on making a huuge Atelier homage post on CA.org very soon, so let's think of that as the fireworks after the celebration, eh? ;p Thank you for tuning in, everyone!

Good Bye Atelier II

2010-02-17T22:18:00.000-08:00

I got pictures by the elusive Josh Godin of my little atelier corner.

:) spent a lot of good times here.

Goodbye Atelier I

2010-02-12T09:17:00.001-08:00

So it's been about three weeks now, since I started at Paragon Studios. My life changed completely in less than a month and a half, and although I miss the Atelier and it's lovely people, it's incredible to be working alongside such talented individuals, and even more so, that I paint professionally for a living now.

It's a year of changes, and it's exciting!

I thought i'd kick it with two life drawings that I made a while ago at the Atelier.

It's goodbye Atelier week, so I'll update later, with more pictures of my time there. :)

Tuesday Night portrait. Round 2.

2009-12-09T17:02:00.001-08:00

We had our last portrait painting session last night. Digital portraits are extremely useful when you have a fidgety model, you can alter the image drastically, for example, constant motion of hands or a completely different shirt from the week before!

Tuesday night portrait

2009-12-01T21:06:00.001-08:00

Digital portrait. The first week out of a two week session.

Time flies by.

2009-11-29T00:13:00.001-08:00

My goodness! A whole month passed already?!

It's incredible how quickly time passes when you keep yourself extra busy! I'm working on a lot of different projects right now,and cannot wait until I'm allowed to share the work with all of you! Also I'll be working on a couple entries for Spectrum. Let's see if I can get in this year! What an excitingly busy end of the year.

Until all the new stuff is completed and can be shown, let's update with some works from school! One is a digital quick study of our school in the middle of a gesture session, and two oil portraits.

Sunday post

2009-10-18T11:21:00.001-07:00

I'm excited this morning because in a couple hours I will see one of my favorite bands live. Beirut.

Here is my latest addiction from their amazing repertoire of songs.

Also, we have been drawing a lot in the Atelier. Here is my morning pose, and one tuesday night portrait session. I usually used to use B lead but now I have rediscovered the beauty of HB lead. Such a beautiful variety of tones achieved with one tiny little lead. love it!

Sneak peak 2.

2009-10-15T23:40:00.001-07:00

Here's a detail progress shot of my Illustration. I'm approaching things differently this time around, bu just working out the values before the addition of any color. It's definitely made me more aware of the wide range of values that can be used in any section.

Illustration Class!

2009-09-30T23:52:00.000-07:00

At the atelier we have a new class taught by the incredible artist Mike Bierek. I'm very excited to see what the group accomplishes, and what my own work will look like. It's been a long time since I attempted an illustration,so I'm ecstatic to apply all the things I have learned in the atelier for the past year.

Here's a little sneak peak!

And also here's another finished character concept.

Also, my roommate and I have created a wondrous blog, in which we depict our epic lives through finely crafted sketches. hilarity ensues! check it out!

Team Chow!

2009-08-26T23:39:00.000-07:00

In concept art.org they hold monthly ch.o.w ( character of the week) activities. Unlike the weekly versions this is a larger project with another team member. Mr. Ryan Lee and myself have joined forces, to participate in this contest. There are other wonderfully talented teams to look out for ( another atelier team too! :p ) so check it out!!!

Chow teams

Atelier Team

The theme is good and evil. A good an evil version of the same character in a fantasy setting. Our team was very heavily influenced by the wonderful art of the orientalists, specifically Jean Leon-Gerome.

Character designs

Process shots

Another digital

2009-08-19T16:19:00.001-07:00

Did this in today's gesture class. It's been nice to do digital paintings of live models, since I get to go directly into the painting aspect of it and deal with colors and values. I think next week I'll try oils.

Character: Charlie

2009-08-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

So in our school we get mock concept projects and here is one of the characters I've done for it. We begin the character development by submitting a variety of line drawings of the character. From the batch of line drawings our teachers choose the one they would rather see finalized. They give us corrections along the way, until we're done and end up with a very detailed character painting.

and a pose from our gesture class :)

See ya later Kei.

2009-07-31T16:01:00.000-07:00

Today was James Kei's last day in the atelier. All the following works where created in his class. We learned a lot from him and he's a lucky ass for leaving to where he's going. we love ya kei! <3

2009-06-11T23:04:00.000-07:00

after a long week of non stop work i finally have the time to post a couple of these scans up.

they are all studies of shape... and trying to look at something or someone as an abstract with the use of its light and shadow shapes.

it's an interesting way of approaching a subject. try it sometime :p

Master copy and art dumpage.

2009-05-27T14:47:00.000-07:00

Been extra busy lately.

The item of today are master copies. I can't stress them enough! I have learned so much from them, and it's fascinating to see how the masters portrayed what they saw. Emulating their brush strokes and aesthetic choices really opened my eyes to different ways of approaching a subject, what to emphasize on, and what to skimp on.

The following is a very tiny oils on a Van Dyck painting.

The original

The copy
Don't be fooled, the original's colors are way more vibrant than that!

Sweet fun! Anyway here's some extra stuff, unfinished illustrations,sketches, life drawings,portrait paintings and concepts.

Creative Night Owls

2009-03-01T23:41:00.000-08:00

It's interesting to see how in the late hours of the night that creative "Eureka" hits many of us.

On 2006 the discovery channel news released an article about creativity and it's biological hours.

Discovery Channel News on Nightowls and creativity

I'd love to hear from anyone about this subject and if anyone has any current information on this fascinating research. Maybe shed a bit more understanding on why people feel so creative at night.

Anyway here's a bit of a random art update.

Digital Life Drawing

2009-02-01T02:13:00.000-08:00

Every friday afternoon, we have digital life drawing with the incredibly talented, James Kei.

Most of these are done in twenty minutes, although lately we've been doing longer poses from 40 minutes to 3 hours.

These are always fun to do, you learn a lot by prioritizing shapes and form to help render the figure the fastest way possible.

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.

2009-01-06T21:40:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Welcome to my online portfolio/blog. My name is Karla Ortiz, and I am an artist, currently residing in San Francisco, CA. It's a new year and what better way to start than to join the artistic blog community. :)

Here is a quick sample of my illustration work (click on the image to see the larger version) :

What to expect from this blog? Illustrations, concept art, sketches, oil paintings, digital paintings and anything art related!

So hope to see you soon!