O.I.L. Web Animation

Here are some production stills from an animated project I'm currently working on. I'm creating a 60 second spot for a client's website. More on this soon...

La Banda Del Carro Rojo

This one is based on a Tex/Mex song called La Banda Del Carro Rojo (The Red Car Gang). My father used to listen to it all the time when I was growing up. Tex/Mex and Rancheras are a big part of my Nicaraguan heritage...at least in my household it was.

Anyway, the song is about 4 gang members involved in a high speed chase, driving up north... trying to make it accross the border in a red car with 100 kilos of cocaine. They get in a gun fight with the police and all 4 gang members end up dead. The lyrics always amused me

I thought of the song as I was archiving some sketches. I used this same car design in the past as part of a larger piece for a contest. Well I liked the design enough to want to give it a new treatment and make it the focus of the piece this time around, aging it and adding the gang members..

Hope you guys digg it.

-Jose S.

Magic, Doctor, Fireman, & Chef

We do a lot of in-house presentations/pitches at work. Here is a cover I did for a presentation featuring a new theme park concept of ours. The idea for the cover was eventually left on the cutting room floor (happens a lot). I still like the design though and so I thought I'd share it.

-Jose S.

Cantame

I don't know if it's all the reading I've been doing lately on Cuban history and architecture, the countless hours of listening to Buena Vista Social Club, or the beauty of another of my friends, Daniela, but this piece quickly took a life of its own as I found myself drawing inspiration from various sources. Actually I had a sketch of the girl (or a version of) stashed away for awhile. It wasn't until recently that I got the urge to do something with it. What's funny is how long you can hold on to something as insignificant as a square sample of floral texture and how it can come to life much later. I've had the texture for the girl's dress for about a year now. It's actually a sample of wallpaper from the 60s that I found online. I fell in love with it immediately, cleaned it up and cloned it to a functional larger size. I told myself that I would one day use it. I was waiting for the right opportunity...and the drawing of Daniela was the spark I needed, a drawing which by the way, does her no justice.

Like I mentioned, I've been doing lots of reading on Cuban history, music, and architecture. Perhaps it's my exposure to Cuban culture over the many years that I was raised in Miami, but I am completely captivated by it. I'm fascinated by the island. It's like a time capsule in many ways. It's a decaying, yet remarkable relic. Each chip of paint that peels away from the walls of the Spanish and art deco inspired buildings is a reminder of a Cuba that once was. This piece is far from exemplifying the richness of that deteriorating beauty, but in its own subtle way, I was definitely inspired by it and tried to inject some hints of that within this piece by adding elements like the textured wall and art nouveau tiles to go along with the characters' personalities. Hopefully I can explore the theme in more depth and detail in the near future.


-Jose S.

L' Elephanteu Blanc

Here is the first piece of the year. It's a birthday present for my closest friend (and creative director). She turns 28 today. She's been asking me to do something for her for a very long time now. She requested something "French looking" to put up in her kitchen. I had it printed out at 24 x 36. Hehe, ...should add a lot of color to her house.

As with a lot of my illustration work, the girl in the piece is based on someone. In this case it's the birthday girl. She loves elephants, so I just had to do a caricature of my friend interacting with a baby elephant. Although I attempted to keep it contemporary, I was definitely influenced by 192o's art nouveau.


-Jose S.

Cavemen

(Note: click image to enlarge)

Elephants and the Belly Dancer

(Note: Click image to enlarge)











Here's a personal piece inspired by my fiance. It's not meant to have an exact likeness to her, but certainly inspired by her amazing belly dancing, beautiful exotic eyes, and wild hair.

Anniversary Invitation Design

Here's an illustration I did last year for an anniversary party we had at work.

Blankita Chiquita

Here's a drawing of my friend and co-worker, Blanca Sanchez. As you can see it's not hard to get inspired by her. She's not only a great designer, but standing at just over five feet, she's a Venezuelan bombshell. Because she's so short, we've affectionately started calling her "Blankita Chiquita" (Spanish for little) around the office, which then of course eventually evolved to "Blankita Chiquita Banana". She seems to have really taken a liking to the name because she's covered her MAC with little blue and yellow Chiquita Banana stickers, which is where I got my inspiration for my color palette. I'm pleased with the results and hope you all are too. Enjoy!

Myspace Inspired Drawing

A drawing I did this morning inspired by a Myspace friend's profile picture...

By the way, you can find me on Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/josesaenz

Color Me 80s

The 80's gets a bad rap sometimes for being "tacky". Being an 80's child myself, I have my fare share of embarrassing family pictures...a lot of hair, tight pants, and striped tube sweat socks that reached just below the knees still haunt me to this day. Having said that, I think there is a wealth of color palettes, textures, and patterns to be rediscovered from this shipwrecked decade. There is something to be said of 80's fashion. Bold saturated hues ran rampant as people tried to break away from disco and the 70's, struggling to reinvent themselves and leave their stamp in time. This piece is my attempt at uncovering and exploring some of that discarded treasure.

The Martini Scientist

This one is sort of an experiment. I took a very graphic drawing and attempted to give it depth and make it look three dimensional...much like was done for The Incredibles. I wanted it to be dramatic though and reminiscent of my favorite black and white photographer, Helmut Newton. I wanted it to have the same feel as his photographs,...provocative, sexy, mysterious, and maybe even a bit scary all in one. I've included my initial digital layout sketch as well as the cleaned up graphite version so that you can all see the progression.

If you'll notice, the final painting is a bit different from its layout sketch. I used the drawing as more of a road map and allowed myself to deviate from my reference. I wanted to keep the essence of my initial idea without restricting myself from inventing along the way. I decided to leave out the scientist's remote to keep the piece cleaner, although admittedly I do miss it and might put it back in. I also added little bits like the skull cufflinks as well as the martini pin that the scientist is wearing.

Overall I'm pleased with it. I'm not sure I'll try this same type of experiment again, but it was interesting none-the-less. What do you guys think?

-Jose

Hi everyone!

So it's that time of year again, where I get asked at work to do the Anniversary Party Invitation. This is by far the funnest project I have all year because I usually have free reign. I'm not restricted by the company's "look" or brand identity because it's an internal party...for employees only. This year it was 70's themed! I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. The first thing that came to mind was doing a record. Let me know what you all think.

Note: The logo was created by my co-workers, two talented graphic designers.

I'm On Myspace!

For those of you on Myspace, you can now add me as a friend!

Check me out at:

Jose Saenz On Myspace

My Online Portfolio!!

Just a reminder to anyone who hasn't seen my online portfolio in a while,...make sure to check it out. I'll be adding some new pieces on there very soon!

Click Here To See My Portfolio

'Tis The Season To Bee Jolly

(FRONT)


(BACK)

Here's the front and back of a Christmas card that I designed for my dearest friend, Cristina. She's been asking me to draw her bees for some time now and so I thought that this would be the perfect occasion. The two bees on the right are suppose to be my fiance and I giving Cristina her Christmas present this year. I can't take credit for the sun design though..it's something she draws all the time at work and so I decided to incorporate it into the piece.

My inspiration was 50's modern style design. I really wanted it to have that vintage feel too. It was painted in Photoshop using traditional medium brushes like charcoal and graphite among others. I really enjoyed doing this one...because I love the feel and style, but mostly because it was for Cristina.

Evil Fashionista

Alrighty, sorry for the delay, folks. I'm up to my elbows in freelance...so I can't post as often. I managed to squeeze this one in today though. Dig it?

Punk Sketch

Bring It On

(click on the pic above to see larger image)

Sorry for being M.I.A. Here's what I've been working on in my spare time for the past 2 weeks. I'm not a real big fan of baseball in particular, but I had a sketch that was just itching to be painted. I thought of all the baseball movies that I had seen and really wanted to convey some of that drama that you always get at the climax. I chose to do a sepia tone piece because I do still consider this painting as a tonal study more than anything and I didn't want to get too caught up with color. I felt that I needed to work with a limited palette.....plus, sepia's cool. For my next painting I plan on tackling textures...this should be interesting. So far all of my digital pieces have stayed away from that, mostly because the brushes in Photoshop still freak me out a little. I hope you guys enjoyed this one. See you soon.

More Sketchbook Pro

...I'll try and get more up later this weekend.

Bronco Logo

Here’s what I’ve been busy with this past week…a logo for a minor league team in Laredo Texas. I had a lot of help in the graphic design dept. (color scheme and text) from my partner in crime (and girlyfriend), Marybel. I’m really happy with the way it turned out. I think it accomplishes everything it’s supposed to.

Baby & Plane Part Two

Here are some tweaks on that plane....the eyes on the plane were added and colors adjusted (colors will probably be tweaked some more depending on how light/dark it prints) to fit the rest of the invitation that the illustration will be applied to. There will no longer be a background...we figured it didn't really need it...but maybe just a couple of scattered, small clouds to push the airplane/sky look (right now, at first glance, the plane is reading a bit like a fish...clouds will help). I'll post the final invitation design sometime next week.

Baby & Plane Part One

Alrighty here's a painting that I'm working on. It's going to be the cover to a baby shower invitation that I'm doing for my cousin. Her husband's a pilot and so everyone thought it would be cute to have an airplane deliver the baby instead of a stork. It still needs a lot to go. For starters, there's no background yet...the airplane needs more work too...the eye is still flat, need to add some more reflecctions, yadi, yadi, yadi. Anyway I'll keep updating it. I'm still VERY new at this whole digital painting thing, but it's a lot of fun...hope you guys dig it so far :)

Would You Like Me To Seduce You

...my contribution to the World Wide Sketchbook Sessions...of course I had Mrs. Robinson from 'The Graduate' in mind when I drew it. I only hope that my wife ages as graciously as this.

Window Thoughts

Here's one that I sketched out on Sketchbook Pro....awesome sketching program. I'm digging the character and his pose. It looks like it can be the start to an interesting painting. I have to redo the environment to something more visually stimulating though.

Planes

I'm doing a painting for a family member. It's going to feature a plane character. Here are some doodles...trying to come up with a final design.

Character Design Test 2

Here's another initial concept for the mime that I designed recently.

Character Design Test

...and the final modelsheet submission...

...some costume ideas...


...some doodling to explore personality and style...

Here are some samples of a character design test that I took for a studio. I wish I could say more about the test and show you all the really cool reference material they sent me, but I don't know how much I'm allowed to talk about. The only thing I can say is that these were a blast to work on!

Alrighty here it is!...my weekly doodling blog. If you aren't already familiar with my other blog, the current official home to my online portfolio, you can visit it at www.mojodesign.blog.com ...but while you're here sit back, enjoy, and feel free to leave questions and/or comments.