R MONTALVO Studio

Mike the Mechanic

2012-02-13T14:03:00.000-08:00

For some reason, over the years I always gone back to drawing some type of mechanic. Its been a couple of years since the last one. There's definitely a big change in my work since the last one I did. I like being able to see my work keep changing and developing.

Robot Space Boy

2012-01-31T09:07:00.000-08:00

This is another digital sketch. I will be posting more of these as they come along throughout the next coming weeks. Done in Corel Painter.

Digital Sketches

2012-01-28T08:58:00.001-08:00

Here are some digital sketches I did for an illustration that will be in a show in April. I want to re-work the final piece before I post it here. Hopefully soon.

Chicken Licken

2012-01-25T10:26:00.000-08:00

Here is my design for my version of Henny Penny, also known as "Chicken Licken" or "Chicken Little." This was one of the drawings I did before putting together the scene that I drew with all the other characters. The final illustration was done for the SCBWI Tomie dePaola award contest. You can see many of the entries here, including my own.

2011-11-28T18:23:00.000-08:00

Here is a piece I did a while back. I brought it out to add some minor changes to. I think it still needed some work and it does look better than before. This image was made for an ABC book that was created as a class project. I got the letter S. "S" for "Snot my day." I will be posting some new work soon.

SCBWI 40th ANNIVERSITY

2011-08-10T08:08:00.000-07:00

This passed weekend I was able to attend my first Los Angeles SCBWI summer conference. SCBWI was celebrating its 40th year and it did so with a record attendance, more than 1300 attendees. During the weekend we were able to listen to and learn from many of the great writers, illustrators of the children's book industry, like David Small, and Jon Scieska. Being that it was my first time at the summer conference I definitely felt a little overwhelmed at the beginning of the event. But as soon as it started I realized that there were many of my friends from CSUF present, and all the new friends I could ever want to make all around me. Everyone was just there to have a really good time and SCBWI did a really great job making everyone feel right at home.

The portfolio showcase was one of the highlights for me. There were over 180 different portfolios on display, including my own. It was really great being able to see so much work in one room. There was so much good work, and so many great styles that I'm sure the judges had a very hard time deciding on the winners. Though I was not one of the chosen few, I did feel very confident about own work and received a lot positive feed back from a lot of people.

My weekend at SCBWI was truly a great and memorable weekend! I can't wait for next year.

See you there.

Here are some of the new images that I put together for my portfolio.

More Environment Designs

2011-05-19T00:19:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few images that I've produced during my time as an intern for Easley-Dunn Games. My experience as an intern has been really great and has helped a lot in understanding better the job of a concept artist.

Comic Book Art

2011-05-16T16:26:00.000-07:00

These are some images I did a few weeks back. I did a lot of sketches in pencil and in ink before I I actually got these started. The images with the dragons were done to play around with the texture and to practice my brushwork. The third image with the kids was actually done for a class project that I thought would work well in this black and white comic book style.

A Lonely Boat

2011-03-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

This is another painting I did earlier in the year. Though I'm happy with it, I think the work that I will be producing in the coming months will be much, much better. Can't wait to get started.

Watercolor T.V.'s

2011-03-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

This is the first of at least ten small, postcard sized watercolors that I will be part of my second solo show at CSUF. The show will be composed mostly of background art for animation, comic book art, some children's book pieces, and these small watercolors. The show will take place in the last weeks of April. I still have lots to work on, but will post more as I get closer to the show.

Artist Books

2011-02-07T08:44:00.000-08:00

A few semesters ago I was able to be part of the artist books class and learned about book binding. Since then I have been creating some of my own sketchbooks and also put put together these two artist books. I really enjoy the challenge and the craftsmanship needed to build a book out of raw materials while at the same time being able to keep it clean all throughout the process of sowing and binding.

Illustration West 49 at Gallery Nucleus

2011-02-07T07:55:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of pictures that I took at opening night of the show. This year there were about six Cal State Fullerton students that were accepted into the show. It was really good to share the event with some of my classmates and even one of our professors. For a look at all the work that was part of the show follow the link to the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles website.

www.si-la.org

Show at Gallery Nucleus!

2011-01-11T16:55:00.000-08:00

Recently I was informed with the good news that one of my ink drawings was accepted into the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles and will be part of a group show at Gallery Nucleus. It is my first time being accepted into the competition and I am very exited to be able to participate in a show at Gallery Nucleus. I've been to many of the fantastic shows at the gallery and I know there will be lots of great art in the show, I can't wait to see it. The opening reception is on January 21st from 7pm to 10pm, and will only be on display for about ten days. Check out Gallery Nucleus and the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles online for more details.

www.gallerynucleus.com

www.si-la.org

Two more backgrounds

2011-01-11T16:23:00.000-08:00

So here is the finished version of the piece in my previous post. There are always small things that I would like to change but I think I was able to reach a place in that painting where it felt like it was time to move on to the next one. And there is the next one. It is just a simple composition where I tried to create some mystery with simple every day things, grass, the sky, some trees, and some rocks.

Roots in a car

2010-12-09T09:21:00.000-08:00

This is a piece I'm currently working on. Here are a few of the stages that the image has been going through. I will be posting he final version soon.

Leopard King!

2010-12-03T08:42:00.000-08:00

This was one of the pieces produced last semester in my digital painting class. As you can probably tell, the work of N.C. Wyeth was a big influence on the overall design.

Painted Backgrounds

2010-12-03T08:25:00.001-08:00

Here are more backgrounds done for one of my classes. I have more that I'm working on and will post some of them while in the process of completion.

More Thumbnails

2010-12-02T17:54:00.000-08:00

The black and white ones where done with markers and a black technical pen. The colored one is actually a color key for a composition that was later changed.

Black and White Layouts

2010-12-02T17:34:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of drawings created for for my background painting class. I've been doing a lot of drawings that have to do with trains and train rails, one of them was started from a thumbnail from the previous post.

Thumbnails for Background art

2010-12-02T17:04:00.000-08:00

Many times I create a lot of thumbnail drawings to figure out different compositions, but sometimes I also like to go a little further in the tiny drawings and and begin to add value to give the drawings some form. Here are some examples. Eventually some of these move on to become fully painted compositions.

Pen and Ink

2010-08-22T21:55:00.000-07:00

These two drawings were inspired by watching French New Wave films and looking at the art of Edward Gorey. I have a few other compositions in mind for these characters that I would like to push through completion. This is one of a few story ideas that I am currently working on.

Pages From My Sketchbooks

2010-07-13T09:48:00.001-07:00

These are pages from the last three sketchbooks that I've been working on. The group of six pencil drawings below are the only ones that were done as preliminary work for for a poster assignment at CSUF. The rest of the images are are works that started and ended on that page. The only only one that I will probably use and take further will be the last image on the yellow paper, I would like to expand on it on Adobe Illustrator.

Photoshop Eyes

2009-12-10T16:09:00.000-08:00

Here is the last batch of eyes for digital illustration. Some of these took a while to finish but they were all fun to do. It was really exciting to replicate all those different painting styles and to discover some of the things one can do with photoshop.

SketchUp Pics

2009-10-26T13:39:00.000-07:00

Here are some models created for the technical illustration project. These were fun to make, but it was also a little frustrating getting used to the program. (these aren't in any type of sequence)

2009-10-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

Pieces for Society of Illustrators

2009-10-09T08:41:00.000-07:00

I love all types of Sci-fi and fantasy type illustrations, and I've always been interested in the giant robot genre. I submitted these two to the Society of Illustrators.

2009-09-10T15:28:00.000-07:00

2009-09-10T14:28:00.000-07:00

A few months back, a friend of mine decided to have a screening of some of the short films he made with his friends when they were kids. The films were made sometime in the late 70's or in the 80's and they covered all types of genres, like sci-fi, mafia assassinations, and even some stop motion animation. Since these were recorded on film they did not have any sound, but the imagery alone was more than enough to keep everyone entertained. But we put some of our favorite music to play in the background and a lot of times the films and the music fused together pretty well.

At the same time I was watching the films I was also sketching and in some of my drawings I began to also fuse some of the images from my friend's films and the images of my friends sitting around watching the films. The drawing above is one that I liked a lot and later decided to go further with it. I decided to treat it the way I have done with some of my bigger works, which is using mixed media to create collage. There were other drawings that helped me figure out the final composition, but as you can see I really tried to keep it as close to my original drawing as possible. One of the things that I enjoy the most about making art is being able to see the work change in front of my eyes and in this case being able to see the beginning and the end. Ted, thanks for sharing your films with the gang, they're awesome.