SF 25 in SF Round Up

Needless to say this passed weekend in San Francisco was amazing!  So now I'm going to talk about the Street fingter Tournament and for those who don't know street Fighter, you might not completely understand my ramblings and for those that do know,  my commentary on the festivities might sound amateurish at best... Let's face it... I never sound anything but like an amateur. :P

As long as I've played and loved Street Fighter, I've never attend any sort of organized competition of the game.  I've always planed to go to an EVO event but have not yet gone to one.  If this past tournament is any indication of EVO is like then I GOTTA GO to the next one.

Challengers from all over the world were there.  And I was able to play against a few of them... I lost to all I played... badly.  But that didn't get me down.  I told myself that the 10 year old I was playing up against was a professional competitor and I had nothing to be ashamed of when I lost two perfects to her. Also I didn't sleep much the night before and my game was off and I didn't want to make a little girl cry... plus I didn't bring my custom joy stick... if I had a custom joystick.

But my day wasn't over.  The art portion of the tournament (set up by my hommie Eric Phan of Tsunami Syndicate) went off really well.  Even though it was in a separate room from the main hall, it still got attention from the attendees.  It wasn't a steady stream by no means but they came in waves.  The first highlight of the art gallery was when Yoshinori Ono (Ono-san) stopped by!  This man is basically the main man of Street Fighter!  He had nothing but kind words and praise for the art that he saw in the gallery.  He even asked if he could buy one of my prints.  I said no... and gave it to him as a gift. :)  The second highlight was getting to sketch with my friends Nate Mitchell, Linda Panda, and Jerome Lu.

The weekend was finished off with an excellent bowl of ramen and a flight back to the LBC!  If you're not sleeping by now you should be... cuz that's about it... go home.  You are home?   That was fast.

KWESTONE says Two-zeez!

SF in SF

Capcom will be holding a Street Fighter Tournament in San Francisco this coming Dec. 8th to celebrate Street Fighters 25th Anniversary.  A bunch of extremely talented artist and  myself were invited to do some art pieces for the event.  Here is what I'll be submitting.
If you're around that area on that date stop on by.

KWESTONE says "Ha-Two-zeez!"

Empire Strikes it Rich

I guess George Lucas didn't want to look to greedy so he sold Lucas Films for only 4 billion to Disney... WHHHUUUUUU!  That's Crazy Money!  I have no hate though.  I love both companies.  They brought me Star Tours and Captain EO.  So we cool.
Here's my lil' tribute to both.  Darth Mickey or Disney Vader or Sith Lord - teer.... Can't think of any more Darth Vader / Mickey Mouse combos...

KWESTONE says "May the four-billion be with you... George"

D-Con 2012... Success!

Thanks to all who stopped by the booth and said "hi"!  And a big thank you to all you who stopped by and bought something!  A great Saturday in my book.  I got to hang out with some awesome ole' friends, got to meet some great new friends and sell some art.  Especially was great having one of my best buds sharing the booth with me (TRACY TUBERA).  If you guys have not seen his art just click on his name and check out his website.  You will not be disappointed.
Tracy and I collaborated on a piece that we sold at DesignerCon 2012.  We booth love our childhood cartoons so we did a Voltron (Golion) piece.  It went over well with the old schoolers.  Thanks everyone for making this D-Con one of the best times I've had. Let's do it again next year!  Woot!

KWESTONE says Two-zeez

Monstoberfest 2012

Awesome sauce!  I'll always love getting invited to do this show, held by Rothick Art Haus for the last 3 years.  Here are the pieces I did this year!  I didn't get to attend... I was off running around a giant hole they call the Grand Canyon!  Hahaha! Actually it was pretty cool see the GC up close.  Pictures do not do it justice.  Well back to the program!  I themed my pieces of the classic movie monsters but sexier =) Once the show is over I'll have prints available for purchase on my online store (KWESTONE Store ) .  So stay tooned for that....

KWESTONE says Two-zeez!

Fun With Fan Art

Here is a fews piece I've done in the last few months.  I have a bit more but they're all still in sketch form.  I have to admit... I'm really liking doing all this fan art. From Anime to Hanna Barbera.  I do plan to do a the Gatchaman busts and maybe draw up Pebbles Flintstone to finish off my Hanna Barbera Cartoon Crush set of Judy Jetson and Velma from Scooby doo.  Most of these piece you can find on my online store (KWESTONE Store) if you wanna grab a print for yourself :).  Anyhoo, now I'm prepping for DesignerCon 2012 where I'll have more new art for sale.  So I hope to see you guys there too.

KWESTONE says Two-zeez

Life is Hell... Boy

I was watching Hellboy (the movie) a few weeks back.  Just wanted to have some fun with the characters.  Mike Mignola is a genius.  I'd like to draw up the rest of the BPRD when I get a chance but for now,  Hellboy and Abe Sapien... in chibi form.

KWESTONE says Two-zeez

2 Dang Lazy

Woof!  My blog has been getting neglected.  But now I post!  This long weekend was totally a Lazy long weekend.  A lot of sleeping and watching Fringe (Awesome show by the way)!  But I peeled my self out of bed and finished up a commission piece for Ms. Thu Dang!  Thank you for the commission. This was fun.  Going spy themed.  I been wanting to do Robert McGinnis Spy movie poster style art piece.

KWESTONE says 2-Dang 2-zeez!

THE NEW KWESTONE ONLINE STORE IS NOW OPEN!  Just go click on KWESTONE Store and shop away!  I posted most of what I was selling at Anime Expo.  Art Prints, Mini Prints, Buttons and And Art toys!  I’ll be putting something new items and new deals each week.  And since it’s my Grand Opening… If you spend $15 or more, type in (GRANDOPENING) at the check out I’ll give you 20% off your entire order! Woot!  This deal will be good till the end of August.  When you get the chance stop on by the kwestonestore.bigcartel.com! 


And if you're on Instagram... "Follow" me at  kwestone!  I got a special gift for those who follow me on Instagram!  Once you follow me go through my gallery and look for the post of this....

Bat-Fam at AX

Hey Everyone!  Just wanted to let you guys know that I'll be at anime-expo 2012 with my Art Partner, Dou Hong, at Booth J-16 in Artist Alley.  So if you're in the downtown LA area on June 29th - July 2nd, stop on by and say hello and pick up our new colabo art book or some new prints!  Like these lil' buddies!  DUN-NUH-NUH-NUH-NUH-NUH.... BAT-FAM! Yup-Yup! Bruce, Dick, Brabara, Tim and Cassandra! We'll have all sorts of other goodies as well!  Hope to see you there!

KWESTONE say Two-zeez!

Lil' Boy Blue... Beetle

I've been watching and rewatching a lot of Young Justice lately.  I like that the show tries to explore each of the characters backgrounds.  The more recent episode kind of touches on Jaime Reyes aka the Blue Beetle. So I wanted to take a crack at drawing up this hero.  I didn't change too much on the design of his costume but I did want to give him a more helmet look instead of a form fitting mask.  I figure if beetles have hard shells so should Jaime (pronouced Hi-meh) :P.

KWESTONE says Two-zeez... Hermano!

Random Fandom!

This summer of 2012, Dou Hong and I are releasing a book with a compilation of our fan artwork at Anime Expo 2012.  So if you're in the Downtown Los Angeles area during the 4th of July weekend stop by our Artist Alley booth and pick yourself up a copy! We'll also so have other goodies for sale there too.  I'll be updating more info as the date approaches...  we haven't got our booth number yet... Hope to see you guys there!

Kwestone says Two-zeez!

Greetings Program

Did anyone catch the pilot episode of TRON: UPRISING ?  I gotta say that is one of the more prettier  looking shows out there.  The character art and the vehicle design are quite stunning to look at.  Simple with a hard edge look.  The style reminds me of The Beatles Rock Band Intro .  Needless to say, I wanted to quickly draw one of the antagonist characters.
Paige!  Voiced by the equally stunning Emmanuelle Chriqui and the newest of the female bad a$$es in my book.  I plan to draw a full body version later but for now here's quick render.  Which I did most of in Illustrator CS5 then Photoshop for the glow effect.
If I were to comment on anything about the show would be the story pacing... a lil quick for my taste... but that's just IMHO.

KWESTONE says End of Line...

Quarter Century Forward

Wow!  Street Fighter has been around for 25 years!  That's Banay-nay!  That means I've been playing some form of Street fighter for a quarter of a century.  

I remembered when I was younger and thinking that I'd love to, one day, draw something for Capcom.  I never thought I was ever good enough to be draw any of the characters. It's only been in the last few year did I feel confident enough to take a stab at it... but barely.  

Capcom has made a call for artist to contribute to their 25th Anniversary Art book.  I'm submitting an Akuma piece this time. 

So here's how I usually work...  Start with a super rough sketch.... Render in Illustrator.... finish with some glowy effects on Photoshop!  Bam!  Ready to submit!  Hopefully I get in.  *crosses fingers

KWESTONE says Happy 25th Anniversary Street Fighter!

To Bat-finity and Beyond!

Ahhh... Good ole Terry McGinnis! Actually he's from the future soooo.. Good ole young Terry McGinnis? Anyhoo, I really liked the Batman Beyond series... Kindda sad it ended. The design work on the show was amazing. Not much to improve on but I wanted to slightly redesign the suit with some "Kingdom Come" styling and a hint of "Tron Legacy". This is what I came up with.

KWESTONE says Two-zeez!

Toad-uh-lee Samurai

Wow! Ca-ray-zee! I've been a sketchin' fool lately! So here's the story on this piece... After Seeing my Princess Peach Sketch, Vivian Nguyen asked if I could draw a hot version of "Toad" (Princess Peach's servant). But the thing is I don't draw Pin Up guys.... sooooo.... Samurais are cool... There! Samurai Toad it is!

KWESTONE says Toad-zeez!

Peaches Pin Up!

I've been drawing a lot of fan art lately and I wanted to get back to doing some pin up art. But why not do both! Bullseye! Here's a WIP of my version of Princess Peach. While I'm working on finishing all my WIPs... why don't you all come visit my pin up store at Peaches pin ups and take a look around. Pick up some art if you like. New prints will be availible this Friday. So stay tooned for that!

KWESTONE says Two-zeez

Back to the Drawing Club

It's been awhile since I've gone to The Drawing Club but tonight I was determined to keep up with my sketching... So in two and half hours, I got... two sketches done. Boo. I know. Tonight's theme was "Pris" from Blade Runner. Awesome! Another reason why I wanted to go. I missed out on the "Tank Girl" theme so I wasn't about to miss this. Anyhoo, here it is! Enjoy...or not.

KWESTONE says Two-zeez!

That Girl is Pooooiiiisooooonn... Ivy

Did a lil' sketching last night on the ole Cintiq. I've been on a DC kick so I thought I'd draw up Poison Ivy. I'm still rendering the McQurrie Tribute piece but I had to knock this one out before it left my brain... knowing me I would have forgotten that I wanted to draw Ivy... Then a year from now, I'd be like "Oh Snap! Poison Ivy!" No lazy brain for KWESTONE this year... maybe Laser Brains... okay rambling must stop.

KWESTONE says Two-zeez

Golden Dragon 10-Doh! Release at Wonder Con!

Sweet! It's WonderCon 2012 weekend in Anaheim, Ca and Squid Kids Ink is releasing my Golden Dragon... uh... That sounded bad and not in a Michael Jackson kind of way... Anyhoo, if you have some free time, come to WonderCon 2012 and stop by booth#375! Pick up some new art toys, plushies and art prints. I'll be there with the Squid Kids Ink gang, signing stuff and stuffing signs??? Hope to see you there!

KWESTONE says Two-zeez

World's Fiercest Finally!

I was going to start rendering the Ralph McQuarrie Tirbute piece but I thought that I oughta finish some of my other art projects I've been putting off. So here it is! I finished the WORLD FIERCEST piece. I'm a huge fan of DC Comics and I've always loved all the Batman/Superman team ups called "World's Finest".... So I wanted to make a Batman/Superman team up that I've never seen and Bullseye.... Azreal and the Eradicator. It'd be awesome to see this team up in the comics... So if you see this DC, hook a brotha up! :)

KWESTONE says Tow-zeez!

Ralph McQuarrie... Tribute.

I thought I'd pay my respects to one of my heroes who passed away on March 3 2012. I had done a post-it note sketch earlier today and I wanted to expand on it. So I did another tribute sketch of one of my favorite (and I'm sure many people's favorite) McQuarrie piece. I'll render it in the following days. So stay tooned for that.

KWESTONE says a respectful Long Two-zeez to Ralph McQuarrie.

Asuka Kazama! Complete!

Okay! It took a couple of sleepless nights but I got it done, mounted and framed. Next stop Street Fighter X Tekken: Release Party! Woot! And if anyone is willing to try and get in to the Party, stop on by where the art is and get yourself a Limited signed print of Cammy and Auska! Where is this soirée being held? Here is the addy....

MAJESTIC HALLS

W. 7th street at

Harlem place in

Downtown LA

Hope to see you there!

KWESTONE say HA-DOO-ZEEZ!

SNEAK PEEK SF X TEKKEN Piece 2: Asuka Kazama

The weekend is here but the work don't stop... can't stop. Neh-eh! Neh-eh! Here's a look quick look at my process. I've been doing most of my sketching on the Cyntiq lately and I still do most of the rendering in Illustrator. I like using a lot of gradients as a base before I start on the shading. I also build the charters in sections. Making them like paper dolls. That way if I don't like the position that a body part is in I can easily move it around. Well I think that I'll rest for tonight and start up again first thing in the morning. Have a great weekend everyone!

KWESTONE says Two-zeez!

Cammy All Up On Yo FACE!

Bam! Cammy is finally rendered! I also did a Vector version to sell as prints at the release party. If anyone is lucky enough to get in, stop on by say "hi" and snatch up a limited run print. I'll post what the print will look like soon.

Next up... Asuka Kazama from Tekken!

KWESTONE says Round Two-zeez!

Runnin' Wild!

I got to work on a fun project a few months ago. Here are some concepts from that project. Got to brake out some anthropomorphic styles. I hope that I get to work on some more projects where man and beast combine... but not in a dirty way!

KWESTONE say Zoo-zeez?

Destroy! Blast! Bite! Punch!

Violence is best served Cute :P Yet another sneak peek of projects coming up.

KWESTONE says 2-cute-zeez!

SNEAK PEEK SF X TEKKEN Piece

Hey All! Great News! I've been invited to do the Street Fighter X Tekken art show for the game's Release Party. So I spent the day trying to figure out who I was going to draw... I gotta go with one of my faves... Cammy! Here's the rough sketch. I'll be working on finishing it the rest of this week. I'll keep you guys posted on the progress.

KWESTONE say Two-zeez!

G1 for 2012!

Ha! It's been ages! Told you guys that I was terrible at updating! Woot! 2012 is here! And were still here! Take that Mayan Calendar! Just kiddin'... don't want to temp fate and all! So here it is My first piece for the new year! It's a little Transformers Chibi action and I thought "Ratchet" would be great just incase the Apocalypse decides to come late to the party. He can be there to patch peoples and robots alike... Can't we just all get analog? Anyhoo, HAPPY NEW YEAR, FOLKS!

KWESTONE says Two-zeez and 12