Ivan Moy

EDF!

2011-07-05T21:21:00.000-07:00

So, Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is finally out! Yes, the epic game of defending the Earth from an invasion of aliens, who take our bugs and grow them into gigantic weapons of mass destruction has hit the shelves! I was working on EDF:IA for the better part of last year and had a great time. Concepting weapons, bugs, vehicles, and so much more was a solid learning experience. I even started down the path of UI design, tho, I'm starting to regret that one! Haha. All in all, its a fun arcade game that isn't about some dramatic story of life and death. No, just pick up a gun and blow up New Detroit to save it from giant bugs.... hm, wait...

Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon

I'm updating my website with a few of the pieces from the project. So, look for it soon. Aside from that, I've been working on a small book cover for a friend's book. They're self-publishing digitally, so you won't see it on Barnes&Noble yet. But it was a fun and nice way to start looking into that area of illustration. I'll have to post that and a few figure sketches soon!

Some old photos

2011-06-10T17:55:00.000-07:00

Man! It skipped straight to summer and its so hot here! But the nice thing is that I upgraded my PC finally and as I was transferring files I found some photos of my trip to Seattle this past winter. Its was a great time with Niles and Jenny. Its a great city and the mountains were so close by.... of course we went snowboarding! Great snow and a great time out there. Sadly, Niles had some sweet shots of us on the triple triple black diamonds, but his camera was stolen. So, take my word for it, it was pretty awesome.

... yes. I went all the way to Seattle for a cup of Starbucks.

Some environments

2011-03-03T21:20:00.000-08:00

Wow, its been sometime... So, things are good and I've been busy with and work and all. I'm actually the only concept artist left at Vicious. Kinda scary, yet secure? Been busy on my own work and totally forgot about this blog. Sorry guys... then again, is anyone out there?

Well, here couple of the environments I kicked out a little while back. I'll do my best to update more, but I'm headed to a northwest snow trip soon and I might forget.. Real trails! Real snow! Runs that don't end after 30secs! Yeaaah....

2010-08-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

After a break, the local chapter of Dr. Sketchy's started back up and a very solid showing of local artists popped in. It was really great to meet more people outside of work. This past session was a risqué Alice in Wonderland, the two models were good and it was nice having a stage. Add the drinks, it made for a very good afternoon... hic

End boss challenge

2010-07-23T19:33:00.000-07:00

Everyone at work are always working to improve their skills and some like to join in challenges from various websites. Hoover, a 3D character artist, and I talked about an end boss challenge online. Since characters are my current focus, how could I say no? So, after kicking ideas back and forth, from minotaurs to Street Fighter bosses, we came to one of our favorite games in Left4Dead. After a few iterations, we came up with the Grabber.

Despicable Me the game

2010-07-18T11:17:00.000-07:00

Universal Studios released Despicable Me a little bit ago, and the videogame associated with the film was the latest project over at VCS. It was a fun project to work on, seeing the story and designs from the film was great. I worked on a lot of the environments and some props for the game. I gotta admit, the designers made the levels exceedingly hard. Reminded me of old NES games that I just raged on as a kid. I'm kinda hoping that kids these days have exceptional finger dexterity. Anyway, here are some of the concepts I did...

Lunchtime

2010-03-04T20:41:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd share with you the personal work from lunch time. Since work has been needing us to work overtime, I've had no motivation for personal art afterwards. I haven't even loaded ModernWarfare2 or any other FPS at all! So, my lunchtimes have become a good time to work on it. Different subjects and a good way to quicken my workflow since I've only got an hour, its been good.

First was a hoverbike, inspired by podracing. I've been thinking about buying a motorcyle and thought it would be cool to use one of the engines from a podracer into a hoverbike. Second was a industrial design of the week challenge, "near future tactical bomber". Due to overtime, I didn't finish in time to post for the challenge, but here it is anyway. It was fun to work on without getting scf-fi crazy.

SNOW!

2010-02-03T18:25:00.000-08:00

Yes, I guess having 6 months since my last post isn't a good thing. Yet, I did remember having one, so here is some news! Since January, a few of us were talking about going snowboarding. We pushed the date back and back due to work or school. And its a good thing we did, the weekend we decided to go, a big snow storm that hit the southeast! Whoo hoo! When we planned the trip out, I was told to pull back my expectations from Heavenly, Steamboat, etc because snow out here is horrible. You'd walk on grass to iced runs, there was no need for gondolas... how do you get up the mountain, I thought? Kidding!

Anyway, we had to nag and convince people that leaving Friday night would be best. The 4.5hr drive was messy but manageable. In the morning, all the roads were a mess from NC to VA. I don't think we could have made it leaving Sat morning. We drove to the resort on un-plowed roads and our cars couldn't make it up the inclined roads. Luckily, fire chief Curtis was driving by and pulled one of our cars out a small ditch and took us all up to the resort. On the back of his cold cold truck, we passed many a stuck van or SUV trying to make it up!

Wintergreen was a nice resort. Great snow and nice runs, but they were all a little short. Luckily the black runs had much shorter lift lines and everyone had a great time, no matter the skill level. If it wasn't for the great snow, I dunno if it would have been as fun. It been sometime since I've hit any runs and I enjoyed every minute of it... man, I need to head back west of only for Tahoe.

Artwise, just been busy with work. Recently, the 360 game I was working on was released. Which I'll post again about it soon. Hey, I'm on overtime! Also, joined the local Dr.Sketchy's and been enjoying that a lot. I missed figure drawing and its been great to get back into it.

Niles and Ivan

Scott, Drew, Niles and me on top the hill. Yes, a hill.

Summer...

2009-07-20T20:58:00.000-07:00

...is hot! Its been over a year out here and I'm still not liking this heat+humidity thing. How did people survive without AC... Yes, I whine. Cheese, please.

After ignoring my updates for too long, I'm back. The main reason why I haven't even kept up with a monthly update is that I re-worked my website. After finishing up Dominance War, I took a look at my website and realized it needed a new look. Since it was sometime, I had a few concepts from the past few work projects I could show. Also, I had some decent sketches from my figure drawing workshop in Raleigh. Its kinda weird how you look at your old stuff and just cringe... selective deletion! Wheee! >click!<>click!<>click!<>click!<>click!<>click!<

Been exploring more of the area despite the heat. Found the art museum, which is nice for its size. Sure, its not the MET, Chicago Art Institute, or the Philly Art Museum. However, for what space and likely small budget, its a very nice place to have brunch and draw. Once they've done remodeling, I'm sure I'll be a weekly visitor. Along with that, the Carborro farmer's market finally has more produce, which is nice. But now there is a new mad H1T1 tomatoes disease now? Oy.

And trying to keep up with personal artwork, I saw the IDW weekly challenge (Epic Bombarder pre-1900) and it had the option to do a bit of steampunk. I'm sucker for steampunk. I saw it the day it was due, so I didn't post it, but figure you guys might like it. It took only a couple of hours and I think I might be getting the hang of this stuff. Oh, wait. Thats off... and that... and... sigh...

2009-05-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

DW4 is done! Wow, its been fun and crazy, but I liked it a lot. I'm glad I found out about this and entered. Its a good thing there was a deadline, I have to admit. I would love to keep working and rework everything. A couple of times I scrapped hours of work to start over. Sometimes I think we'd work on something forever or find something to fix every time we look again at our projects. I certainly did everytime I opened the file... I still see that.. oh, I that thing too.. ergh.

Its still good this is done, I been skipping the figure drawing workshop and going to the gym to work on DW. Now, I can tackle that website redesign... maybe ;)

Dom War 4

2009-05-11T21:26:00.001-07:00

So, here is my current progress for Dominance War 4 that I mentioned in my last post. Been working on this pretty much when I get time to, I've trashed a few intial ideas and settled to this current work in progress.

Luckily, the deadline was pushed back a few days! I was planning on a packed weekend to get it all done, but with the new deadline, I was able to enjoy my weekend and work on my piece for DW. I've a lot more to do, but in the glory of the new Star Trek movie, maybe I'll add a couple of lens flares???

Speaking of which, go see the new Star Trek movie! Damn good! Yes, from a geek like me, its a dubious recommendation, but I'm promise you won't regret this one. Its fun summer movie! So far, the best summer movies yet is:

1. Star Trek

2. Wolverine

3. Fast and Furious

4. Watchmen

Quick update

2009-04-08T20:56:00.001-07:00

Finally finding some time and pushing past my lazy brain after work, I've been going to a figure drawing workshop in the city. Its a nice setup in a warehouse with smaller studios to rent. The workshop was pretty relaxed with people of all sorts attending. Its been nice and somewhat nostalgic considering I haven't really done figure drawing since finishing up AAU a couple of years ago... Did I say years? Hm, it has been sometime. I'll post more as I shake the rust off... and there is a lot of rust.

Recently, GameArtisans.com started Dominance WarIV. Picking a race and class allowed, you get to create characters in 3D or 2D. Its been fun so far! I started on some sketches and I'll post my progress for you guys to see soon.

Eat Lead

2009-03-07T20:40:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! Just wanted to let you all know that the game I was working on since I started at Vicious Cycle is finally out! Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard for the 360 and PS3. I tried for "Ivan Hazard", but they weren't too keen on the suggestion...

The gist of EL is that videogames are made much like movies, with real people. And our game hero was a 80s-90s mega star of videogames. He was the first to jump, platform, become 3D, etc etc. But our hero's star faded eventually. Suddenly, a billionare Wesley, has brought the rights to the games and is making a new "game" with Matt Hazard. Little does our hero know that Wesley hates Matt and the new game is a trap to kill him! Now, to survive, Matt Hazard to has to play through the game and survive!!! Dun dun duuuunnn!!!

Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard

I'll post some of the concepts I did for this game soon. In fact, this might be a good time to update that old website... nahhh

Stayin' focused!

2009-02-09T20:18:00.000-08:00

Hey guys and gals. Came across the theme Atlantis and it got a couple of ideas in my head. At the same time, one of the guys at work had linked us to a neat lil random sketch program, Alchemy. I figured it was a good reason to experiment with Alchemy and see what it can do for my process. All in all, it was a pretty neat way to start out. It kinda was reminence of cloud images you see. No one else sees it but you.

Oh, I now have a car! Just a couple of weeks ago, I brought a used Toyota 01 Echo. Compact, good gas, and all mine! Yeah, its a good time to buy a brand new car with great deals, but not having a monthly payment was a bit more appealing. It was nice not to have a car in SF, but out here, its a bit of necessity. So far, I found a figure drawing workshop I'm looking forward to checking out. And... I found a burger chain that I daresay equals, if not passes, In N Out? It called Five Guys Burgers. Hmm? A bold statement you say? Why, indeed it is. I think I shall need to consume mass quanities to ensure the validity of my bold statement! Starting right after I hit enter... NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM!

Finally?

2009-01-11T09:31:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! I know its been sometime and I've been bad about updating here. But! With the new year, comes the resolutions. Guess what one of mine is? To draw and paint more!

Anyway, keeping with my resolution, I joined in conceptart.org's weekly event again. I didn't want to just work on props and vehicles, I want to go into an uncomfortable area, characters. So, here is my recent entry into character of the week, a Knight of the Round Table. I picked Sir Gawain and after some after work doodling, my concept of Sir Gawain.

I've been finished concepting for Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard for some time now. The game is due out this Spring, as soon its out, I'll update again. Right now, I moved on to the company's next projects, which I am excited about. But, of course, I just can't say a thing... stoopid NDAs

Visit back...

2008-07-07T16:51:00.001-07:00

As I am in-between little projects, I found the pictures I took while I was back visiting my folks back home. Of course, since my visit wasn't with any major holiday, everyone was at work. So, I took a quick train ride into Chicago to the Art Museum on Michigan Ave. And as luck would have it, most of the American Illustration collection was in storage because of remodeling. I think I maybe cursed in this. But luckily a few pieces were still on display and I got to check them out.

Sadly, I half expected to see Elvis, Marilyn, and Humphrey in this classic...

I had another picture of this one , by Sargent, with me in it; but it didn't turn out too good. Well, I didn't turn out too good...

Strolled down the parks and Michigan Ave...

And found myself here! How about that? What a coincidence! It was one yummy pizza I ate every last crumb. Oooh so full. But, unlike my cheese steak pic, I did not take a pic of my delicious deep dish pizza... why? What would people there think? "Oh, look at the tourist eating his first deep dish!" It was a matter of deep dish pizza principle.

It was a good time back home for a few days before I came out here to Raleigh. I only had a chance to see a few friends, tho I wish I could have seen them all and played a few games of Risk with them. Or, better yet, introduce them to Settlers of Catan! Who would have thought a non-violent game could get as aggressive as Risk? Anyway, it was a good time to see my folks and brother. Its strange how many things didn't change back there; just a bit more empty strip malls, new lights at intersections, and just more overall suburbia... Why I remember youngin' when it was all wheat fields as fer as de eye kin see! No, really. Ah well, I guess you just can't go back unless obligated by the holidays or guilt.

Howdy!

2008-07-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

... oh wait. That's Texan. Nevermind! I just wanted to share with everyone the last two images for conceptart.org's weekly challenge, the DEEP. Along with the previous 3, these last two round out my entry. There is a lot of good work and many more people working hard to be better artists. If you have a bit, check it out here. My final presentation is somewhere in the lower half. I thought I was late, but being on the east coast, I guess I was kinda early! Sweet.

So, the last two are good ol' weapons and a remote drone. Somehow I didn't see an underwater society using much bullets. But my tiny knowledge sound and the water, made the idea sound plausible. The drone came from the idea that there are probably still some limit on how deep this fictional society could go. A drone, like the Mars rover, could.

the monthly blog...?

2008-06-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

I guess nowadays I've become the monthly blog rather than a often updated one. Sorry folks. Moving on! I'm here in Raleigh and basically as settled in as I can be. I'm in a nice place thats a 5min walk to work and I love that part. While most people are commuting home, I'm in the clubhouse gym or swimming laps in the pool. Work is good and I like the people there. Yeah, its nice out here, but... ITS HOT. Oh SF, I miss your cool weather. I haven't had a chance to really explore too much, but without a car, it is a challenge. I've got my trusty road bike, so its good for now.

Of course, while I am at work I don't get to draw or painting anything thats mine. So, I try to draw in-between unpacking and playing Team Fortress 2 and Crysis. Yes, Call of Duty4 is next. Hey, I just got this computer. I... I digress. Sorry. Um, so I've been participating in conceptart.org's weekly event for sometime. Now, that I have settled in enough that I've been working on this new challenge. Its an across the topic involving "the DEEP", ocean, not space. I really like working on these, some come out alright, some pretty good. I like the practice and the chance to be creative and finish what I like. I've got a few more to round out, but here's what I recently did. A floating lantern, breathing helmet, and a underwater suit. The last one, crab/lobster suit, I took some new tricks and hopefully they turned out ok. More to come... 2? 3? We'll see!

Having fun...

2008-05-05T21:51:00.000-07:00

So, as I ready to move and have things setup, I didn't want to get rusty before I start and have some fun. At conceptart.org, I rarely post or participate in their weekly events. These past few weeks I did and had some fun, some I didn't finsh in time, but here are the ones I did.

The first up is idw#68, a timber harvester. Its was put out around Earth Day, so I had to join in! Yar! Have at thee ye overrated trees!

Which was followed up this previous week with a idw#69, a happiness dispenser. My second thought was a 'happy dispenser' using the number 69, but I figure I should keep it G-rated. Going with my first thought was a steampunk aether dispenser. You really don't have to figure out how the physics work in steampunk tech too much, which is always nice. I liked my first sketch and ran with it. Put myself on a short timer and pooped out his lil' piece...

west coast to east coast...

2008-04-11T23:13:00.001-07:00

The time for change is upon me everyone! During GDC, I met some good people from Vicious Cycle, and later contacted them about concept artist positions. Last week, I flew out to Raleigh-Durham and interviewed. And just this week, I accepted a position there! Yay! Its going to be a big change, but I'm really looking forward to it! I've never been to Raleigh, but everything I saw there, it looked like a great place to be. I'm going to miss San Francisco, but I'll be back to visit and soak up everything I'm taking for granted here. Speaking of which, I'm gonna have to eat at all my favorite places before I go!

Its no joke!... its an update!

2008-04-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I've been bad and neglecting my blog, trying hard to keep it up. But getting a few freelance gigs has kept me busy, thanks Ryan! Working on somethings that I can hopefully show soon. Until then, I found time to finish something extra. Some sketches and thumbs for this are under the 'sketchbook' section of my website, but heres the main image!

Busy month!

2008-03-02T10:54:00.001-08:00

Well, its been a busy month and it always seems to be for February. Near the end of January, I got news of a few animation studios seeking artist positions that I know I could fill. Exciting no? But! At the same time, the Gamer's Developer Conference coming to town. I joined up with a startup, Three Little Pigs Studios to provide them with environment concepts. And, WonderCon was right after GDC! So, my busy month started and I never stopped working until now!

In the middle of preparations, Carolina got me back for my birthday. Ooohh.. so evil. For her bday, I got her up Sunday early (8am, hey... its the weekend) to a BART station to surprise her with all our friends I could get into a van. I had a longer list, but dam vans only fit so many people. Anyway, it worked and we all had a great day in wine country. I guess it went so well, Carolina had to surprise me too. Ooohh.. so evil. As she took me out south to Santa Cruz boardwalk for the day, we had a great time. Beaches, seafood, rides, and arcade Mario Kart. Cool time. After the long drive back, I got a big surprise at home! When I first walked in, I swore I sniffed a pizza. An odd smell for our place and I saw the door to our bedroom closed. With that info, the thought entered my mind. There are people in the dark waiting to surprise me. Yay! Now mind you, I figured this out like I figure out Bruce Willis was dead in 6th Sense, a second before the wedding rings dropped. Some psychic powers I have eh? Anyway, it was a great time to see to many great friends. Thanks for stopping by everyone!

So, I finished my portfolio in time for GDC and hit the conference the first day open at the job pavilion. All of which turned out really solid leads. Sadly, they were mostly all out of town. And, I mean waaaay out of town. Seattle, Vegas, east coast, Canada, and Iceland. Yes, Iceland, which I think would be really cool. <--- no pun intended It was an good experience, there I was really able to gauge my skill level and I found myself at a good spot. I was surprised at the amount of awkward job seekers as well. So many people dress too casually, had poorly laid out their portfolios, and a bit short on their personal/social skills. But I guess thats why we're into gaming. A social hobby without being truly social? Nevertheless, things are looking brighter.

After GDC that same week, we hit WonderCon and enjoyed ourselves there. We saw the previews for 10,000BC movie. Ah... no. Also, we saw Get Smart preview. Which I was unsold on until I saw Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway there. Both really cool people and funny. From what I saw, they really will do the show justice and make it their own. Oddly enough, there was more attention to Steve Carell than to the beautiful, Anne Hathaway. Only at comic-con eh? We also saw previews for the new Clone Wars... AWESOME! Except, I'm not too into the character style. I think I'll get used to it. And finally we saw Wall*E clips. Oh so cool and pretty, up there with Ratatouille, Finding Nemo, and Incredibles.

And... to finish the month off, I was able to finish send work into the animation studios and finish quite a few sketches for Three Little Pigs. And then I was surprised to get some really cool freelance work for MOLI! Thanks Ryan! Sweet news! Its been a busy month and looking to be steadily that way for a while. Whoo hooo! Oh oh... here are some of the sketches for Three Little Pigs. Enjoy!

New work....

2008-01-18T11:10:00.000-08:00

Been working like a busy bee these days. Its been good and I've been enjoying it a lot. Staying focused isn't so hard when its something you really love to do. Here is the work I recently finished up and I have to admit, it was a lot of fun to do!

So, what I did was a overall illustration. The idea was a creature in New York. After doing some research, I decided to do something away from Times Square and Central Park. I originally wanted to make it cutting across the Washington Bridge, but I didn't want to hide half of the creature in water. Thus, a compromise near the pier...

First I needed to figure out a creature. I know I didn't want a dinosaur or anything "Godzilla" like...

So, I decided on a "cthulhu" type beast from HP Lovecraft's work. Sure, its been done before, but there are so many variants to work on and its fun. Next, I worked on some comps...

After a little bit of work, I settled on no2 comp, the upper right one with a little bit of tweaking. I started on the final a couple a of days ago and here is the finish! So, thats it for now folks, more to come!!

Finishing tech

2008-01-03T00:52:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! I hope yours was a good one, mine was... painful. All I can say is thank you to Johnny and Glenn's most generious and kind hospitality, and to Caro's kind and loving nurturing ways. I love you guys.

Here is some new pieces to round off the tech-ish theme I've been working on. A set of environment shots of a underground base. I really liked doing things like this, tech and tech associated enviroments, but, of course, not every project is tech based. So, look for more fantasy based work to come! Meanwhile, enjoy!

More tech...

2007-12-28T20:08:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year and Merry post-Christmas!

I've been keeping busy working and making new pieces for my portfolio during the holidays. One of the things I've started to do is participate in 'Industrial Design of the Week' over at conceptart.org. The past week's theme was main battle tank, so I figure now was a good a time as any to start up. I barely made the deadline, but after getting some very good critques from the other artists, I took more time to rework it into something thats MAIN BATTLE TANK! HUH!

This time around I dropped in my process from quick thumbnails, to exploration passes in three-quarter views into the final render.

KOOZA!

2007-12-05T21:24:00.000-08:00

Continuing the night life excursions that we set before knowing our current unemployment dilemma, Cirque Du Soleil's Kooza has come to town! And, of course, Carolina and I have tickets. Not just nose bleeds mind you, oh no. But Carolina was able to score second row! Sweet huh? I think so!

Now, I have never been to any Cirque Du Soleil show. I have heard of it, but it wasn't something I really wanted to see. My parents took me to various circuses when I was younger. But, nothing too fancy, Ringing Brothers? I don't remember, but I guess says why I never got into it. However, I do love the idea of circuses. Trapeze, cannons, high wire acts, and a ringmaster. Big tents, popcorn, and acrobatics! What more could you ask for?

The show is a visual and exciting experience. It takes everything you expect from circuses, but adding in wonderfully eccentric costumes and momentous set designs. When we sat down, we took time to look around and take in what was already there. Soon, clowns (not the scary kind) entered the audience and kept us entertained with silly skits and acts. Leaf blowers into people's popcorn boxes and audience members wearing a tutu on stage. And as these acts started to wear thin, the show started when the The Trickster/ringmaster popping out from a box opened from our endearing actor, The Innocent. With the Tricksters magical wand he started all the acts:

The contortion act with three young ladies was simply amazing. They twisted and moved with grace on a small stage rotating around, which gave everyone a great view of the contortionists movements. Seeing this on 'Ripley's Believe or Not' is one thing, but live is another. Watching them twist and contort their bodies was... shocking, but beautiful. The poses they would hold was pure performance art at its best.

The trapeze act, by 17 year old Darya Vintilova was very cool to see, amazing solo act in the air. It was just fun to see and immediately surpassed what you expect from a trapeze performance.

The high wire act was excellent, considering we watched everything from a very unique perspective in our second row seats. Four men walked with ease 30-35 feet up in the air on a wire. Leaping over one another and landing was a feat without safety wire hooked on. Once, the performer almost fell off, but caught himself on the wire and pulls himself up. While you could say it was intentional to build tension, to me, it only made for a better act. Something about not being perfect in your performance adds to the performance?

The juggling act is a shiny high energy performance that comes at your a little bit silly at first, but the way the juggler goes on and on, you forget how silly it seems and just enjoy how skilled his is with pins, balls, and rings. You get to see a rhythm in a flurry of spinning objects flipping all over the stage. Its quite an act I loved watching.

My favorite act was the Wheel of Death. Yes, the Wheel of Death. Two circular cages attached by a set of bars rotating in the air with two men running and jumping with confidence and swagger. Our great seats, again, gave us a greater appreciation of the act. Watching their jumps from inside and outside the cages was scary but amazing too. I flinched every time it seemed they would fall unto the hard stage below. The best part was their attitude that nothing will go wrong. It made it all the more fun to see.

The remaining show was great to see too. The troupe of acrobats, jumpers, and dancers were highly entertaining. They carried themselves so well and smiled at everything, they seemed to really enjoy their jobs. The only scary part was when a dancing pair didn't catch the other during a series of flips. The woman cracked hard on the floor, I wonder if the man survived the night, for she could have killed with her eyes the moment she got back up! The teeterboard was a great way to end the acts with high energy and fun. Everything winded down with the Trickster and troupe waving goodbye to the Innocent and us. Cirque Du Soleil is certainly worth your time and money if you have the opportunity to go.

KOOZA!!

Keep on truckin'...

2007-11-30T20:12:00.000-08:00

Well, the job search continues, some down times in looking, but I won't let that stop me! So, I cranked out a new concept of a armored personnel carrier. Just keeping up with the genres I do well, tech designs. I plan for couple of more tech pieces then moving on to some more background work. Hopefully, I'll round out my environment portfolio soon enough.

Too bad I didn't do this when I played Cyberpunk or something, I think it would have been fun making art for the games I played with my high school friends. Ah well, too bad everyone has to grow up.

Happy turkey!

2007-11-22T13:46:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

My website is finally been redesigned and reworked. Its been long overdue, since I barely worked on it since I graduated, but here it is! www.ivanmoy.com!

Also, in between figuring out code, here's my latest doodle, a steampunk inspired tank. Boom! Boom! Boom! Hope you enjoy!

Back to Philly and then to CA

2007-11-22T12:34:00.000-08:00

New York was pretty exhausting. So, it was good that we didn't have any other places we had to see in NY, I'm sure there is much more. But for our first trip, it was enough. So, we headed back into Philly and decided to see the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In contrast of the Met, Philly's was wonderfully relaxing and peaceful to just take our time and walk around. The American Collection was laid out well and given the space the paintings deserved for these great American Illustrators. Great pieces from Sargent and Homer's collection was great and sizable, but Thomas Eakins piece, the Agnew Clinic was the most impressive there. Wow. There was so much story, such execution, and size. A great painting to see in person. I used to think a person could enjoy great work from the internet or a well printed book, but now, I'm going to be on a mission to see all artwork I can in person. I wonder when the low season is for Paris?

We also saw more medieval armory pieces, journeyed through impressive mock sets of a variety of cultures, and viewed some great European painters. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is a excellent museum. I really enjoyed my time there and would love to go back there as much as I would to the Met. And the topping of it all was when I finally found the statue of Rocky. Yeah, I like the movies and heard there was a real statue at the museum. I wasn't sure if the city still had it out there, but out there it was!

Our third trip back in Philly we went all the way from the Italian market (having another Philly cheese steak), back through South St, all the way back to City Hall. It was a perfect way to wind our trip down. Saw some great neighborhoods, wonderful historical buildings, and great shops all over. Its a great place to consider moving to. If only there were a good opportunities for us in Philly, but, ah well...

Finally the week was up and it was time to go home. It was a great time, but eventually home called and we were happy to go back. Linda gave us a ride to the airport after our goodbyes and we headed back home to the Bay Area. It was a great time that we needed to reset everything and take time for us.

New York pt.2

2007-11-22T11:08:00.000-08:00

Back to New York we headed and our the Met was our goal. The Met. What can you say but to say its one of the most impressive places to see incredible collections of art in the US. An overwhelming amount of collections from every period that you can think of. Megan warned us a day wouldn't be enough, after we got there, I question if a week would be! We started in the Greek/Roman collection admiring the great collection of sculptures. In fact, we weren't the only artists there, many art students were there using that incredible resource. Soon, we wandered through the Egyptian collections to the Medieval collections. I loved seeing the armor and weapon masterworks there, we took many photos for future reference. Eventually wandering through the maze like Met with its many reconstruction projects, we got to the American Collection. Sadly, much of the work was in storage within these reflective and poorly lit glass cases. Not the most ideal setup to view them, but the paintings were still great to view. The Sargeants, Eakins, and Cassatts were beautiful. It made the hassle of wandering through the Met really worth it to see such great paintings.

Afterwards, we headed to see the Guggenheim building. I've read a lot about Franklin Lloyd Wright and his architecture, not the biggest fan, but the Guggenheim certainly merits a visit. Well, that was NOT to be. The damn thing was all shrouded in catwalks, safety nets , and "come back soon" signs. Yeah, thanks.

So, spending so long in the Met, hunger set in once again. We took the subway and surfaced near the Chrysler Building look for restaurants. Before the trip I wanted to somehow fit in some authentic NY thin pizza. Much is to be made of this vaunted pizza that somehow, however unlikely, to be better than Chicago deep dish. Many an debate I've been a part of concerning this, which always comes down to... "Sure, you've had NY thin pizza, but have you had it in NY?" A point I would use for Chicago deep dish, the best IS in Chicago. So as we looked for a place to eat, I kept an eye out for a place. None smelled or looked any good. Eventually we came to the area where we had dinner the last time. The place of excellent Chilean cuisine, Pomaire. Then it dawned upon me, who cares about thin flaky NY pizza? I rather have delicious Chilean food. So, once again, we ate as kings did. Steak, wine, and pisco sours!

Unfortunately, I think I angered the pizza gods or something, because we missed the train in New Jersey that would bring us to John and Linda's. Thus, we had to take the owl service bus back. And let me tell you that a night right through Trenton isn't fun, but the NJ Transit driver was extremely helpful and we got to our stop 2hours later. We then a very very long walk back to the house. Now, as a walker in San Francisco, I can say this was a long walk. The worse was when we got to the long unlit driveway, we realized this is the part of the horror movie were we should turn around and not walk that dark path to the dark house with no lights on Halloween night.

Was this our trick or treat?

New York pt.1

2007-11-14T12:44:00.001-08:00

The next leg of our trip was in New York City. Now, I have never been to NY, just like most people, I've seen a pretty good share of it in TV, movies, comics, etc. A typical New Yorker will probably tell me that I have no idea... and they would be right.

Caro and I headed in on the train from Jersey and got to Penn Station. The moment I headed up the stairs, it was pretty cool to see the sheer mass of buildings in NY, the busy streets, and flow of the city. It is a fast paced city that I'd love to live in, despite the initial overwhelming power NY has.

We headed to Fifth Ave to meet a good friend, Megan, for lunch. We chatted about life and work and she gave us the low down on the places we wanted to see. Like the Met, MoMa, and such. Afterwards we all went to the MoMa to see the latest and greatest modern art. Before I journeyed to NY's MoMa, I went to San Francisco's. I didn't like much of the work there, now seeing major works that I've studied in school, I can say for certain, I don't like modern art.

We started off to the Neue Gallery to see the Klimt work that came back from tour. During our hike, we went through Central Park. And that was a nice and relaxing walk. Its a welcoming beautiful park with paths all over. We stopped by a cafe for a cup of caffeine and to slow down enough to enjoy our vacation. So many people rush according to a time table for all the sights, but you're on vacation! There is no schedule! Thus, relax and enjoy we did. Central Park is a beautiful place that so starkly contrasts the stone and steel of the city. Golden Gate Park is so different from Central Park. When you leave Golden Gate, you're in smaller residential homes, where Central Park is directly next to the skyscrapers of NY.

Later, we made it to the Neue gallery and walked around all the Klimt work. It was great to see so much of his finished work, but whats amazing was his sketches. His figures drawings are loose and shows off his talent. We spend a good amount of time there admiring his work and we brought a book of his drawings.

Soon, Carolina took me down to Times Square and it was a sensory wave of lights and more lights there. It was a tad stunning at first, but after a moment it was very interesting to look around. We wandered to Broadway and all the plays. Making it to Broadway as an actor certainly makes more sense to me now. Then, for dinner we found Pomaire, a restaurant on 46th street. Having eaten everything in Chile I could when I was there, this place was authentic Chilean food and it was delicious! The best meal I had in the east coast! The ribs... mm mmm!

And, like Philly we ended our first day in NY with our tummy's full waddling back to the train to Jersey. But, one day sure isn't enough, so we were determined to come back.

Back from the east coast

2007-11-13T19:31:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone and thanks for checking out my blog and first post! I'm planning to relaunch my website with some new work, removing old ones, and working out a better layout. But more on that later...

The main news is I'm back home after a week on the east coast. Carolina and I headed out after a week getting laid off from the videogame company, Secret Level. It was bit of a letdown considering it was my first full time job as a concept artist, but what can you do but pick yourself up and move on huh? So, Caro and I still headed out to the east coast for a long deserved vacation to reset and clear our heads.

We had decided on Philadelphia because of the great memories that Caro had from a previous visit years ago. Since I had never been there, so it sounded like a great idea. We flew into Philadelphia and headed over to Caro's ex-parents in-law in New Jersey to stay... hm, I wonder which is weirder, staying with my girlfriend's ex in-laws or Jersey? I'm happy to say neither is as bad as it appears to be. John and Linda's farm is a wonderful spot of land right next to the Delaware River. Scenic, rustic, and extremely charming. I loved my stay there. the air was cold and crisp. Sadly, the season I miss most is the change to Fall.

We first checked out Philadelphia starting with the Old Town, the historial area. Being a bit of a history geek, it was great to be in the area where Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights was written over 200 years ago. Seeing the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall was truly amazing for me. It was interesting finding out the history of the bell, attempts to fix it, and its symbolic meaning for people outside of the US. The architecture of the area had so much history.

Afterwards we headed to South St and checked out Isaiah Zagar's work that dotted all over the walls of Philadelphia. His work covers entire sides of buildings in found materials all over the city. Random places you might look, you do find a wall he adorned sometime ago. One wall of his work is fantastic, but when we got to his building where he worked for the past 20 years on, absolutely staggering. All the floors had every inch of the walls covered in his mosaic designs. He even moved his work into an abandoned building next door and covered that too. Its a multi-level maze of mosaic designs and patterns. This gallery is one of the highlights of Philadelphia.

Eventually hunger set in and we headed out for real Philly cheese steaks. I had these cheese steaks before elsewhere and was never saw the appeal. Like the one in North Beach on Columbus St, Busters was... meh. But on our way back Caro lead me to Jim's on South St. This place had a line that wrapped around the corner and took us 20 min to even get our order in. Was it worth that? The locals had spoken, that cheese steak was damn good, really good. I was ready for another, but a second one would have exploded mah belly! Makes you wonder how the hell people get it wrong elsewhere?

It was a good way to end our first trip into Philly as we waddled back to Jersey.