Website update

Hello all, well I finally got March sketch of the day scanned and up on the site, April is almost done so I'm slowly 'catching up' :-P . I Also added a few more pieces from some other Old "Wild" show. Not much else to report at this time. Still have a few things in the works and will share more about those in July. In the mean time, there are some great books just out. For a new look into the making of Star Wars, Jonathan Rinzler's new book The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film. This is a great new look into the stories and unreleased photos of making the original Star Wars. Also in that same line is Lorne Peterson's book, Sculpting a Galaxy: Inside the Star Wars Model Shop. this is a book full of great behind the scenes stories and photos of the modelshop's work on the Star Wars movies. (and it doesn't hurt that I'm in it :-P ) On another film, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Art of Pirates of the Caribbean. Is an awesome art book packed full of , well... art and huge full page and even fold out size high quality prints of the great artwork from all 3 films. Aaron McBride, a fellow ILM co-worker is featured heavily in it as well as some Warren Fu, Brian Kalin-Oconnel and Wayne Lo, all ex-ILMer's. And many other great concept artists. Those should keep your eyes busy for a while.

April 12th EVA wip

Well, I've been quite busy lately, and have not had much time to work on my own stuff. But I do have some things in the works, as well as the sketch of the day still going (although behind a bit).
I've had a few questions about how I work, wether all digital or not. I mainly sketch on paper first although i've been trying more lately to start 'on the box'. I'm also looking into a Cintq tablet to help that :-)
Usually I'll start in ballpoint pen or do a small thumbnail and then blow it up as a guide. I'm not big on overlays, but I do at least one depending on how tight it needs to be. I also still do some of the drawing part in blue col-erase pencils and then scan those in and change them to black and clean up the line work to taste. I'll then put the line work on a layer (photoshop) on top and make it in 'multiply' mode. The do the color on a layer below. This keeps the lines from being covered up. Then as the color blocking becomes tighter and more detailed I may erase out some of the lines or make them less aparent. I used to have lots of layers, but have found I work faster if I flatten some layers as i go so I'm only working with 2-3 layers. One layer for black lines, one layer for color, and another on top for highlights. other times I may do all the shading in grayscale, and add the color with an 'overlay' layer so i can easily adjust colors later if needed.
Well, if you have any specific questions, please ask through the comments below or through my email.
In the mean time here is another 'work-in-progress' image I've had on the back burner. Now that Transformers has been made a reality, i can't wait to see what a Evangelion or Macross film would be like!
enjoy!
-Alx

April 8th Happy Easter!

Well, March was a busy month! But everything is going well. Transformers is on track and looking awesome, and I've managed to also secure a few good freelance jobs as well. So my Sketch of the day has taken a bit of neglect already, I think I'm only up to March 24th right now. But I'll get back on track a bit this weekend. Speaking of this weekend I pray you all have a good Easter as we celebrate the biggest holiday (at least for those who know the real menaing of it, and not the holiday about bunny's laying eggs and leaving them all over the place :-)
Yes it's the basically the whole point of Christianity, the sacrifice and resurection of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world. ('the world' is YOU and ME, and yes we ALL sin) In fact I think it's funny that people think that Christians are 'goody two shoes' and that they've got it all together. In fact someone who believes in and accepts Christ as the Son of God is claiming that they are indeed NOT perfect and NEED a SAVIOR. The fact that they choose to take the steps to become 'right' in God's eyes is not really they're doing either. It's like if you're dying, you need a cure. And then you get a package in the mail for free. And there's a letter on the package that says what it is and how amazingly expensive it was, and it's the cure and something you've been looking for your whole life, but yet you leave it sitting on the floor in the entryway. Get up and open it up!
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." -- C.S. Lewis

Well, I'll be updating the Sketch of the day this week, so please check back often!
And don't be shy, leave a comment!
Hope you had a great easter and continue to think above and beyond!
-Alx

March 22....My Birthday!

Whoopie!
I'm getting old-er. But It's all good, and I thank God for each day I get. He's blessed me with so much, that it would be a slap in His face not to. So on this day I'd like to thank my wife, my parents, my lil' bro and big sis and my friends and Co-workers here in California and my friends in other parts of the U.S. as well as my friends overseas, Like Michael, Lucas and Steffi in Germany! Thanks for all your birthday wishes!
So to celebrate, here is some more sneak peaks at the march Sketch of the Day and some other work-in-progress! -Enjoy!

Above is the 'sketch' and below is the Work-in progress painting....

March 20th

Hello again, it's been a busy week. Spent half the weekend doing taxes...yippee! Anyway, I finally finished off a sketch I did when I was testing a WACOM Cintiq tablet a few weeks ago. I gotta get me one of those! It's been around, we tested one a few years ago and I didn't like the lag and the feel of the old ones, but this new one was awesome, even had felt pen tips to simulate the feel of a marker or pen. They aren't cheap, $2500 but it is a monitor and a wacom tablet, and being able to draw right on the screen is the closest to drawing on paper!
I just finished a cool freelance job for a racing team doing the graphics for their cars and their logo. It was a blast :-)
Hope you enjoy this piece and I'll have more soon!
thanks for lookin'
and think above and beyond!
-Alx

I did this in response to the recent release
of the BMW M3 ‘Concept’ car. It was well...
a bit chunky looking. Although in person it looks a bit better. Anyway, I drummed
up this little ditty in about 30 minutes and
posted it it on the M3 forum :-P I felt that
the M3 deserved a bit more sleekness and
like most cars these days, it needed a diet. Although I am
a VW fan, the M3 has always been favorite
of mine.

So this was sketched in pen, scanned and
then tweaked a bit to fix some perspective
issues and then painted in photoshop.
-enjoy! -Alx

OK, well It was a beautiful day here in SF. Pastor Terry at Cornerstone had a great messege this morning about the prayer of Jabez. Please check it out if you have the chance. Also check out the video section there. You'll find more of my non work related efforts in the past video productions.
OK, so artwork, well I've been working pretty consistantly on my sketch of the day for my website and I thought i might share a preview of March here on the blog. Below is March 2nd-4th, these are all raw unretouched sketches, no photoshop. So every line and every stroke are there for you to enjoy, or go 'ew, look at that bad elipse!' :-P They are all done on 3X5 cards with ball point pen and a 30% gray marker on some.
Anyway feel free to comment and enjoy!

ALXART BLOG

Hello and welcome!
to the blog of Concept Designer and Art Director Alex Jaeger!
I just started this blog on 3.11.07 and hope to keep it updated as much as possible.
This is an extention of alxart.com my main website. There you can view my work and credits, but here I'll be able to post daily updates, thoughts and so on, AND you'll be able to participate by making comments, asking questions or just saying hi!

So without further delay, let's blog....or what ever that means :-P