The Art of Juno Mendiola

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Jewelry box for her

This is a jewelry box that I wood burned and stained for my wife a couple of years ago. I never posted it before because she had it with her in NY while I was still in Maryland. Now that we are happily married, I can show it off. Looking back I did a lot more projects than I give myself credit, although I could stand to do more...

Blob Monster Sculpt

There is this great comic I've found from an awesome artist and I love his character designs. It's simple but eye-catching. I wish I could read it, but my french is a little non-existent. In any case I decided to sculpt one of his character in sculpey, which I then molded and casted in resin. It's the first time I casted my own toys, which is an indescribably awesome feeling. It was far from perfect, but to think that a person could actually do it from the comfort of their home is mind-blowing. I know, I'm simple...

I still have yet to paint them, so if they don't look like anything at the moment, it's because of that...also it's a blob.

You can find the artist's blog here: http://billotomo.blogspot.com/

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Thoughts on Miyazaki

"In this borderless age, a man who doesn't have a place to put his roots will be looked down upon. A place is the past and also a history. A man without history, or a people that forgot its past will have no choice but to disappear like a shimmer of light or to lay eggs endlessly as a hen and consumed."

- Hayao Miyazaki (The Art of Miyazaki's Spirited Away)

I think the reason why Miyazaki's films are so successful is that his vision is built on the foundation of his history and ancestry. In this way his spirit is linked to those before him.

I think of myself and I see how I have no link to my past or who my ancestors were. My history is unknown and I have always felt lost in this sense, as if a a part of me is missing. There is a wealth of knowledge and ideas buried in my past that my life and art can benefit from. I hope to uncover these things in my lifetime.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Concept sketch

Since getting my new job, I haven't had a lot of time to sketch. Hopefully this will change in the near future because I would go crazy without doing my own work. So, I did a quick sketch in Photoshop also using Alchemy. Alchemy is an interesting program because it's all about random shapes and pulling shapes from that chaos. Cool stuff. In any case, it was nice to sketch again. It's almost like taking a deep breath.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Pure Bang Games - Concept Art

I interned at Pure Bang Games for about 3 months doing concept art. I had a lot of fun working with some really cool people. Be sure to check out their future games: http://www.purebang.com/

Stamp Design

My name in a modern baybayin.
The font is Aklatin Heavy by Frederick Victor Paredes Anana (aklatinheavy.blogspot.com).

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Breaking in to 3D

I've always wondered what it would be like to make my own toy sculptures. I've practiced a couple of times in sculpey, but it takes a lot more time and money to make it, so I decided to give 3D programs another shot. Normally, I don't like to sit in front of a computer all day -- I like tactile processes, but with free programs like blender, how can I complain?

I'm planning on modeling a character that I sketched in my sketchbook. Once I'm done with the model, I'm going to have it 3D printed for the world to see in all it's 3-dimensional glory. Really, I just want something tangible to sit on my shelf. I'm very excited as I go along seeing my 2-dimensional character slowly come to life.

So far, I just have some facial features. It's a long process because I'm new to this as I follow along a very good blender tutorial. Hope you like.