mingjue helen chen

Game of Thrones!

2011-12-10T12:11:00.000-08:00

Just two quick referenced paintings. I really liked the GOT adaptation of Martin's works!

Frankenweenie and more!

2011-11-23T17:12:00.000-08:00

This blog sucks. So I am currently working on making it UN-SUCK. It will happen someday, but apparently not today, because all I have to show in 6 months are some small thumbnails.

In other news, I recently went to go see the Frankenweenie sets in London. This movie is going to blow people's socks off! It is magnificent. I can't believe I had the luck of working on it, and to see how far its come in a year with the hard work of so many talented artists... it is totally mind boggling.

Out Oct. 15, 2012!

Recent stuff

2011-04-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

So since I don't normally post personal work (read: lazyness) Here are some recent sketches... and an update on some of the projects I've been on.

If you look around real hard, you can find some beautiful Frankenweenie artwork Dennis Greco, a coworker of mine, did while we were on the project! It kind of gives you a general feeling of the movie. For now the film is slated for 2012, and hopefully I can get clearance to post some stuff after its released.

Some production images came up on Del Toro's production Pinocchio as well, I worked only very briefly for a couple of months on the pitch for the stop motion animation as a painter. It was a very collaborative process, where I did a few paintings in tandem with several other artists who were responsible for layout and character design, etc. Check it out here (I only did finishing paint on the very last image shown, so I am not responsible for the maquette awesomeness nor any part of the first image):

http://geektyrant.com/news/2011/2/17/guillermo-del-toro-developing-stop-motion-pinocchio-with-the.html

Blah, guy

2010-12-23T00:43:00.000-08:00

3:10 to Yuma

2010-10-28T17:16:00.001-07:00

Just some quick studies...

John Singer Sargent study

2010-08-26T16:13:00.001-07:00

Its one of those days...

New Story

2010-06-11T18:15:00.001-07:00

This is part of my new vis dev project! I'll post the story once I get some beats figured out.

Not Dead!

2010-01-26T19:50:00.000-08:00

So I'm not dead, but I really don't have a lot to show either... so here's just a sorolla master copy, Rusty with colors!!!

Earthsea and Quickstudies

2009-11-14T21:35:00.000-08:00

My version of Ged, and Master Patterner. I know Ryan already did a character design for ged, but I wanted to take a stab at it, even if its not as good.

And certain Quick Studies! 25 min.

And my last assignment for Sci fi ill. Probably the worst one I've tried to do so far... Fuck crystals!!!!

Quick Studies and SCi FI Assignment 2

2009-10-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

No particular order for these, some in class, some homework.

The Sere is an abandoned alien ship caught in Mercury's gravitational pull... And I googled Mercury and the Sun, and when you are near Mercury, the sun by comparison is smaller. :) You learn something new everyday!

Sci Fi/Fantasy Ill, and A wizard of Earthsea

2009-09-15T10:16:00.000-07:00

Didn't feel like I needed to create a new post :)

Sci-Fi Illustration Homework #1

My meager contribution to the cause!

The Lost City of Iram

2009-06-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

For my "Iram" project.

Also!!! Check out our group project blog, "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Lost pages

2009-04-10T22:12:00.001-07:00

This stuff I've had since last semester, but never posted. :)

Time for my Bi-annual blog post!

2009-03-24T13:10:00.001-07:00

I've been super unproductive, only studies for me.:(

Some limited palette figures (white, blue, and terra rosa) from Joe Weatherly's gesture painting class. It goes 7 min, 15 min, 25 min, and 40 minutes.

Gouache and watercolor studies, mostly from photorefs. there's a Nathan Fowkes study and a Sorolla study mixed in. They should be labeled...

Digital paintings from movie ref and a Zorn master copy.

Landscapes

2008-11-23T14:02:00.001-08:00

Really trying to learn more about color and landscape painting (since I am not able to regularly go out and actually landscape paint, this will have to do for now). The first 4 are all rough speed paints from references. The last 2 are trying to be cool, but aren't really... For my Inspirational Art for Animation class.

Big Post

2008-11-16T14:01:00.000-08:00

Sketches

2008-08-26T11:25:00.000-07:00

MORE sketches. I realized, as a Chinese woman, that I have never drawn the Monkey King. This is inexcusable.

Summer Sketches!

2008-07-15T19:28:00.000-07:00

These are sketches from my trip to China, Fisherman's Wharf, and BART. I've been drawing and painting a lot, but I can't post them here. So sketches are as good as its gonna get.

Finals

2008-05-10T22:38:00.001-07:00

Illustration 3:

Visual Development:

Wow, busy busy busy.

2008-05-02T08:28:00.000-07:00

It's about that time in the semester where I'm so burnt out, it changes even how I react to everyday life. I want the laughter back. :(

EDIT: The Project Seed thing was done for a video game company's hiring test, where I applied for an internship. They gave me a concept and specific assignments, and I created work around that. The Cloverfield inspired look... in part its because the person who gave me the test actually referenced it, and also I'd seen one of the concepts for the monster in that movie floating around. I never actually saw the movie, though I really wanted to. :(

Visual Development #2

2008-03-15T10:50:00.001-07:00

Thanks for everyone who voted for me at Tokyopop! I didn't win, but it was still worth it. :D

My Visual Develpment Midterm, from beginning thumbs to finish. I think I'm going to paint a couple more of my beats, for some extra credit. :P

Visual Development

2008-02-19T20:50:00.000-08:00

Little Red Riding hood project (actually I'm combining 2 different projects into one, so I can work on both simultaneously):

Ref + sketches, and 3 thumbnail pages. The class is sick, I'm so lucky to be taking it this semester, even if it will end up killing me a little.

Stuff from break.

2008-01-15T23:24:00.000-08:00

A tibetan girl. Not sure how historically accurate this is, but oh well. And a quick portrait.

Some environments. which I'm pretty bad at, so i decided to put in some extra practice.

An Actual Update!

2007-12-18T23:16:00.000-08:00

Last drawing in Henry Yan's workshop! Good times though... and I know this dude is missing a little something... I forgot ;P

We had a legioneer come in Barbara's class! Lotsa fun drawing him. Great model.

Digital Portfolio stuff.

I needed a more or less finished piece for Digital Portfolio, so I took the easy route and did a character portrait, in the story, she was a princess cursed as a snake until the hero saved her.

Digital Portfolio #... something.

2007-11-13T22:12:00.001-08:00

Ryan helped with textures, and Clive Barker's tortured souls served as inspiration. A continuation of that Man in Chains character. Next I need to focus on model packeting this character.

Stuff.

2007-11-10T19:55:00.000-08:00

Pen stuff.

A painting for my digital portfolio class. I need to redo/tighten up everything I've done for that class. :(

Digital Portfolio #2

2007-11-02T23:56:00.001-07:00

I wish I had more/better stuff but...

Lots o' Shit

2007-10-14T15:39:00.000-07:00

I wasn't going to post these, but I was otherwise persuaded.

2 Sketchbook pages

Glass still life

Digital Portfolio Class Homework

2007-09-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

Adv. Persp. work

2007-09-03T01:04:00.000-07:00

Some other Adv. Persp. work.

Finals

2007-08-22T15:28:00.001-07:00

Part of my final for Adv Persp.

Looks ghetto, huh? The images are pretty craptastic, but then again, so was my presentation. Man, this semester was not a shining part of my life.

Finals are OVER.

2007-08-13T02:12:00.001-07:00

So that means I get to breath, a little before school starts again.

Damn I need a job.

Workshops

2007-08-01T02:33:00.000-07:00

Horribly presented, but can't be arsed to change anything. Newest->oldest

2007-07-08T21:27:00.000-07:00

I might as well post some stuff from my classes... and other random junk...

From last semester's Drawing for Film class.

Advanced Perspective

Older stuff... Just ps paintings for fun.

hm

2007-06-18T00:47:00.000-07:00

Went to a Deftones concert. I admit, I was there for Dir en grey, but it was still fucking awesome. Deftones managed to play every one of my favorite songs of theirs. neat.

oh right. on an artistic note, this is a tentative entry for ballistics new exotique 3 book. the great thing about it is that the picture can be extremely superficial, and it can still be published. Talk about low standards.

Photoshop, but I have to refine such things as the hands, the anatomy... just... everything. The sparklies will probably become more subtle too...

Other stuff

2007-05-28T01:03:00.000-07:00

Figure studies.

And somehow I got the "Howard Brodie" Award. I'm not sure how that happened, or exactly what it entails, but I'll find out once I'm back in the city.

New Blog!

2007-05-03T00:45:00.000-07:00

So I decided to start one of these things, however quickly I may end up forgetting about them. I guess this will be sketches that won't end up anywhere else... not often anyway.