Last week i found out that I received a DreamWorks Scholarship from Ringling, this will definitely help me to attend this fall. Also here are two recent pieces i did. I decided to use watercolor at figure drawing this week and this is what i got. And the second is from Chiustream contest, topic was Gothic dragon. I think it could've been better if it had more story telling elements.

I also finished the Illusion of Life this week and have move on to reading Drawn to Life.

Just started watching Breaking Bad, its a show about a chem teacher turned meth dealer. The writing is pretty good. So i decided to do a character design of the main character.

Also finishing up The Illusion of Life! Cafe sketching about every other day and still figure drawing once a week.

Also i hate how this blog template clusters my pics, anyone know how to fix?

So today i was sitting at my desk doing some digital work when one of the ninja turtles came to give me the mail, "hey dude, you got a package from that Ringling School," he said.

So none of this actually happened but i did get an acceptance package today! Oh and today is my 19th birthday.

The Days Go On...

As of today i still have not received any admission decisions from any of the schools i applied to. I should have news from SCAD and Ringling within the next 2 or so weeks, and CalArts sometime in March. Ill update as soon as i know.

Ive been trying to keep as busy as possible during this waiting period. Ive been cafe sketching 3-5 times a week, figure drawing once a week, digital painting almost daily, as well as listening to podcasts relating to art and animation, reading, and ChiuStream every Friday.

ChiuStream is a live video stream done by Bobby Chiu of Imaginism Studios. It consists of Bobby Chiu selecting a topic, which participants have one hour to paint/draw. Out of the top three voted entries Chiu selects a winner. Every once in a while Chiu will interview another professional artist and hold a contest for them. The latest is with Imaginism Art director Kei Acedera. These streams normally have a longer deadline (a weekish) and a lot more participants.

The topic for this interview was to redesign the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. I started this challenge off by doing a few sketches of normal every day house cats so i could have something to build on. I then tried drawing my version of the cat in various styles until i found something that i really liked. I then did the pencils (which were a bit more ambitious then the final) scanned in and painted on PS.

Also here are a list of some great podcasts on animation and art:

-The Animation Podcast (Disney)

-Spline Doctors (Pixar)

-Speaking of Animation (DreamWorks)

-Sidebar (Comics/Art)

-Chris Oatley's Artcast (I'm featured in this episode(16:42). The piece was done late last year so forgive my lack of a complete composition)

Few sketches from this month. I should have more finished pieces in the future.

So as of today i have finished applying for both Ringling and Calarts. I should be hearing back from both early March. Im really hoping i can go this year. Ive been spending hours each day searching and applying for scholarships. So if anyone knows of any good ones please let me know.


I have also been working on a few freelance projects. This is an album cover i did for a friend the final with text can be viewed here If anyone is interested in commisioning please shoot me an email at yyates05@ymail.com


And a personal piece.

So lately ive been working more on my portfolio(due 1/15) as well as a few free lance things. But i leave time to work on some personal things.

During my cafe sketching ive been trying to make my drawings more simple and try to grab the essence of the scene instead of just copying it. So here is an evolution of drawings.