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Post by Oliver on Jun 12, 2014 11:49:24 GMT -5
Your words means so much to me and glad it may have inspired you to write a message. I think a lot of us go around never writing things we feel for one reason or another. It's a good thing! Art is a uniting element we all share. We all are visual people in one way or another even if you aren't labelled that. We see and express things in our lives in different ways. It's unfortunate most of us aren't given the backbone to feel confident about what we think about art. Art is unique for everyone and what you think is art or what you like is all the knowledge you really need. Art is literally everywhere. Everything you see is designed by someone. An artist. The history of art is the history of man, too. I think art offers a place for all of us to come together. I was fortunate to be involved in a series of trading cards (my first exposure to "real" art when I was a kid) that give back to the viewer something great: humor. It's an important ingredient in life and we all try to find that I think on a regular basis. Keeps us all sane from the uninspiring things we see on television and on the internet. People strive for moments of laughter as its evident in what they post in their facebook pages. Life can be cruel and sad and art can be something that lifts people from that. I'm glad I can make a difference in that way. Below is a weird piece from 2005. Missile Head by Luis Diaz Art, on Flickr Well said Mr. Diaz, well said.
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Post by tonyp1492 on Jun 13, 2014 8:07:30 GMT -5
Thanks for the response Luis. It felt a little fanboyish (which I guess it was, because I am a fan)I was hoping it would make you feel good about what you do. I'm sure it's not an easy or secure life and that is why I respect you. I've always opted for security especially financially, but the world needs more people (artists) like you. Best of luck buddy!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2014 13:38:55 GMT -5
Thanks for the response Luis. It felt a little fanboyish (which I guess it was, because I am a fan)I was hoping it would make you feel good about what you do. I'm sure it's not an easy or secure life and that is why I respect you. I've always opted for security especially financially, but the world needs more people (artists) like you. Best of luck buddy! I used to play by the rules for a long time. 10 years to be exact. I had several secure jobs for a while, but in my case I didn't want to get stuck doing graphic design. I worked doing design 2 more times in between the slow times and quit again and again. Then when the economic turmoil drifted in my direction I couldn't pay for my credit cards, student loans and car payments. I was drowning. I missed a few car payments and woke up to someone taking my car away. I thought it was mine. I needed a year and a half left. I missed 3 payments and spoke with someone at the finance place and they said it was okay as long as I paid a payment by tonight. I did. I thought I was going to be okay and then less than two weeks later my car was gone. I had to ride bike to my studio which was 23 miles away. I wrote a whole pieces about it during those time. I ended up selling it to a lawyer from Miami that liked my work. It's hanging in his office. An Illustrator by Luis Diaz Art, on Flickr There are no excuses. It is what it is. Luckily during that time I met someone that together as two artists we could rely on each other and understand each other's passion. Because of her (because I always had to fend for myself) I am now able to work on my own set of projects. She's slowly being more well-known and we help each other with the mess of being artists. I think one day we'll be totally fine, but it's a day to day or year to year thing. I tell people (students mostly) that being an illustrator is about pleasing a person or company and if you hated doing projects in school for the teacher it will be 2x as hard in the real world. Unfortunately I learned too late that I'm not suited for that world of deadlines and other's telling me what to draw or paint. I've always been more independent. I'm an artist with an illustration sensibility. I have to do things on my schedule. If anyone is interested in reading the words from the above piece just follow the arrows (black triangles). An Illustrator
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Post by tonyp1492 on Jun 13, 2014 14:10:46 GMT -5
Wow Luis, That is a very personal statement. I can relate with a lot of it. I think many people do. It's like I said I respect you because what you are doing is hard. I work 6 or 7 days a week generally over 60 hours and have 2 kids under 3 years, but my life is easy compared to yours. I live in Canada, so the health insurance thing is not even an issue. Ironically I ride my bike to work every day, but my trip is 6.5 miles (10Km)each way. 23 miles is nuts. I do it because I like to bike and yes drivers are F'ed up and I have actually been hit twice. Killed both bikes. Miami must be expensive. My family used to visit Miami beach every summer, it is probably my favorite place in the states. I also found it funny that you would choose invisibility as your super power. I always said I would choose invisibility too, but for nefarious reasons like robbing a bank or general mischief. I don't know where you got the idea that GPK fans hate you. From what I read on this forum, that could not be further from the truth, and there will always be haters and trolls, don't let them crush your spirit. You seem like a really good guy, I'm happy things are starting to come around for you. I will continue to support you in any way I can.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2014 22:01:13 GMT -5
Wow Luis, That is a very personal statement. I can relate with a lot of it. I think many people do. It's like I said I respect you because what you are doing is hard. I work 6 or 7 days a week generally over 60 hours and have 2 kids under 3 years, but my life is easy compared to yours. I live in Canada, so the health insurance thing is not even an issue. Ironically I ride my bike to work every day, but my trip is 6.5 miles (10Km)each way. 23 miles is nuts. I do it because I like to bike and yes drivers are F'ed up and I have actually been hit twice. Killed both bikes. Miami must be expensive. My family used to visit Miami beach every summer, it is probably my favorite place in the states. I also found it funny that you would choose invisibility as your super power. I always said I would choose invisibility too, but for nefarious reasons like robbing a bank or general mischief. I don't know where you got the idea that GPK fans hate you. From what I read on this forum, that could not be further from the truth, and there will always be haters and trolls, don't let them crush your spirit. You seem like a really good guy, I'm happy things are starting to come around for you. I will continue to support you in any way I can. Thanks for taking the time to read the art piece. I don't like to hide behind a curtain of the internet or in some other way like a lot of people. Sometimes I say too many things and some things I regret later...but I felt that way at the time and I change my mind later. Somethings I feel I said the right thing. Either way things are tough for everyone sometimes and we share this place whether people like it or not. So here's a piece that says a little too much. My gift to you fathers on Father's Day and a little "love" to some other guys...especially the white guys that wear thousand dollar suits. Concept by Subgenious. Horton Crux - Voldemort by Luis Diaz Art, on Flickr
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Post by ANSestren on Jun 14, 2014 23:35:02 GMT -5
That is such an amazing piece there Luis! I swear, every time I see a piece of art with a GPK look, I wonder how awesome the new GPK releases would be with pieces like these in the sets. I'd be buying them instead of avoiding them. At least your art lives on in ANS and is one of my main driving forces why I fell in love with that GPK line and why I continue to collect them and always will.
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Post by greghoriblue on Jun 15, 2014 4:35:20 GMT -5
I like the colors.
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Post by Smetchlock Smomes on Jun 15, 2014 7:41:28 GMT -5
At least your art lives on in ANS and is one of my main driving forces why I fell in love with that GPK line and why I continue to collect ANS and always will. DITTO
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Post by kohima72 on Jun 15, 2014 9:31:30 GMT -5
Soooo so good Luis. There's so much detail it's ridiculous! The colours are stunning...and I'm digging the Eisner Disney gag! Lol!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2014 10:29:26 GMT -5
Thanks everyone. ANS had some really good stuff going. The direction was all over the place in the art, but Pound did some really interesting stuff with the kids. He took it to another level. A cartoony level that stretched out the faces and made them unique and less CPK inspired. I loved it. It was less restricting. OS is was the bomb, but ANS in some ways was pretty creative. If the s**t and booger gags were taken out it would of been comparable. If they made a Best of ANS then you could see that a little clearer. I was still growing. I think there were a few I was proud of, but they would look very different today. C'est la vie.
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Post by Smetchlock Smomes on Jun 15, 2014 15:45:20 GMT -5
Thanks everyone. ANS had some really good stuff going. All your stuff still stands out to this day. Thanks man, Chopper Chad ftw! Thanks everyone. ANS had some really good stuff going. If they made a Best of ANS then you could see that a little clearer. garbagepailkids.proboards.com/thread/13915/all-new-series-best
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2014 17:58:03 GMT -5
Thanks everyone. ANS had some really good stuff going. All your stuff still stands out to this day. Thanks man, Chopper Chad ftw! Thanks everyone. ANS had some really good stuff going. If they made a Best of ANS then you could see that a little clearer. garbagepailkids.proboards.com/thread/13915/all-new-series-bestI agree with 95% of the ones posted in the thread. There was really good ones. Too bad the 1st Series suffered from bad reproductions on the Pound 16 Series ones. The colored look very brownish and blurry. They would be amazing had they not lost the originals or whatever it was that happened. Either way the newer Pounds were amazing. I still don't know exactly how Pound did some of them. Like the sports fan one. So many heads and the difference in color between the main guy and them is ridiculous. I will have to try that effect one day.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2014 18:01:43 GMT -5
My characters had so much yellow in the color (using cadmium red and orange: doh!) and then Topps printed them even more yellow so most of my artwork looked like they had yellow skin.
Aside from that I think I didn't have a firm grasp on how to use acrylics yet. It wasn't until much later. Also my color schemes were a little off. I just drew and drew heads and bodies until I was able to see them in my head. I could almost make a 3-D image turn in my head with these characters. That's when I started feeling it more.
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Post by Smetchlock Smomes on Jun 15, 2014 18:08:06 GMT -5
My characters had so much yellow in the color (using cadmium red and orange: doh!) and then Topps printed them even more yellow so most of my artwork looked like they had yellow skin. Aside from that I think I didn't have a firm grasp on how to use acrylics yet. It wasn't until much later. Also my color schemes were a little off. I just drew and drew heads and bodies until I was able to see them in my head. I could almost make a 3-D image turn in my head with these characters. That's when I started feeling it more. Which ones would you redo if you had the opportunity?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2014 19:49:24 GMT -5
All of them. A few just a few things I'd change (the later ones), but I didn't feel like any of them were 100%. I feel most of my last 2-3 years are a lot closer to what I wanted to do then. What you see mostly in ANS is my growth.
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Post by gpkgirl on Jun 16, 2014 1:13:01 GMT -5
All of them. A few just a few things I'd change (the later ones), but I didn't feel like any of them were 100%. I feel most of my last 2-3 years are a lot closer to what I wanted to do then. What you see mostly in ANS is my growth. I like reading your current perspectives on your art because I started to get really into GPK (moreso) when I became acquainted with your art (as well as with our interactions, here on the board, years ago). Art history is one of my favorite subjects!...I wonder how many of the greats wish they could edit their previous works. I think many artists feel that way about their art because sometimes it is difficult to express our inner feelings and ideas on paper/computer or in sculptural form, etc. And even if we feel, at the time, we have reached our intended "picture", our own ideas of what we like or dislike (or the methods we choose to enact) are constantly changing with the times and our personal growth. I appreciate your honesty. I was actually just thinking today, about how the TOPPS artists feel about creating GPK (with so many corporate/creative limitations and fan opinions). It must get tiring drawing gpk after gpk. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE GPK...but there is way more to life, as we all know. thanks luis!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2014 2:56:36 GMT -5
I appreciate your honesty. I was actually just thinking today, about how the TOPPS artists feel about creating GPK (with so many corporate/creative limitations and fan opinions). It must get tiring drawing gpk after gpk. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE GPK...but there is way more to life, as we all know. thanks luis! Well take the great Frazetta. Sometime in the 80's when I guess his work was not so demanding as it once was, he decided to paint over or retouch a lot of his work. That I think is not so common. He went back to most of his masterpieces and refined them. A handful of them got complete make-overs. As far as GPKs are concerned. I have about 25 "new drawings" (in the last couple of years) I wish I could paint, but I also want to do so many other things. One of the reasons I was getting bored of GPKs was the endless suffocation I got from Topps. I don't think it was necessarily my art director, but the guys pulling the strings (many of whom don't know s**t what a GPK should look like). I imagine it may have been more fun for the OS guys. I almost quit after my first GPK because I knew it was going to be a struggle. I do think in the beginning there was a huge learning curve. Topps was also one of my first clients at the time which included a comic book company and several other smaller ones. I almost killed myself driving to the post office dozens of times just getting it in on time. It was crazy. I would never do that again and I hope nobody ever does that. f**cking crazy. So I have a few more left and I will have to put a hold on these for a while. I do want to move on to other mediums. Comics and more fantasy painting. The funny thing I've learned is most fans of one thing don't migrate to the other things the artists do. Just the facts. I'm sure no one is really caring about Pound's random comics he makes. Pretty interesting stuff, but most GPK people love his paintings. Other people who like his comics probably don't care for his paintings. Oh well.
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Post by Smetchlock Smomes on Jun 16, 2014 4:57:04 GMT -5
I appreciate your honesty. I was actually just thinking today, about how the TOPPS artists feel about creating GPK (with so many corporate/creative limitations and fan opinions). It must get tiring drawing gpk after gpk. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE GPK...but there is way more to life, as we all know. thanks luis! Well take the great Frazetta. Sometime in the 80's when I guess his work was not so demanding as it once was, he decided to paint over or retouch a lot of his work. That I think is not so common. He went back to most of his masterpieces and refined them. A handful of them got complete make-overs. As far as GPKs are concerned. I have about 25 "new drawings" (in the last couple of years) I wish I could paint, but I also want to do so many other things. One of the reasons I was getting bored of GPKs was the endless suffocation I got from Topps. I don't think it was necessarily my art director, but the guys pulling the strings (many of whom don't know s**t what a GPK should look like). I imagine it may have been more fun for the OS guys. I almost quit after my first GPK because I knew it was going to be a struggle. I do think in the beginning there was a huge learning curve. Topps was also one of my first clients at the time which included a comic book company and several other smaller ones. I almost killed myself driving to the post office dozens of times just getting it in on time. It was crazy. I would never do that again and I hope nobody ever does that. f**cking crazy. So I have a few more left and I will have to put a hold on these for a while. I do want to move on to other mediums. Comics and more fantasy painting. The funny thing I've learned is most fans of one thing don't migrate to the other things the artists do. Just the facts. I'm sure no one is really caring about Pound's random comics he makes. Pretty interesting stuff, but most GPK people love his paintings. Other people who like his comics probably don't care for his paintings. Oh well. You will get your fair share of fans following you into your next venture. Pounds digital work doesn´´t impress me, which is sad because id love to continue to support his new stuff. But thats just me having made a number of those kinds of pieces for school in illustrator. I personally think your work continues to improve and there is, in my eyes, no stopping your potential. I see you as the next Borris valejo or Don Lawrence as far as fantasy art is concerned. I love your craftmanship and your attention to detail. You´re a perfectionist like myself, and i appreciate that. Deadlines aren´t my best friend either but i know, if given room to breathe, that i can acomplish some great things. This is what i see in your stuff as well. I cant wait to meet up again when our last piece is done and see it full circle as a snapshot of my life. Keep up the good work Luis! p.s: your honesty is a breath of fresh air around here. Thank you. It helps put things into perspective and gives us an inside look at how Topps operates behind closed doors.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2014 12:08:49 GMT -5
You will get your fair share of fans following you into your next venture. Pounds digital work doesn´´t impress me, which is sad because id love to continue to support his new stuff. But thats just me having made a number of those kinds of pieces for school in illustrator. I personally think your work continues to improve and there is, in my eyes, no stopping your potential. I see you as the next Borris valejo or Don Lawrence as far as fantasy art is concerned. I love your craftmanship and your attention to detail. You´re a perfectionist like myself, and i appreciate that. Deadlines aren´t my best friend either but i know, if given room to breathe, that i can acomplish some great things. This is what i see in your stuff as well. I cant wait to meet up again when our last piece is done and see it full circle as a snapshot of my life. Keep up the good work Luis! p.s: your honesty is a breath of fresh air around here. Thank you. It helps put things into perspective and gives us an inside look at how Topps operates behind closed doors. That would be great and thanks for the vote of confidence. I think "that piece" will be an important piece for me to complete. Here is the next 1 of 2. Concept by Subgenius. Buzz & Woody by Luis Diaz Art, on Flickr
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2014 16:37:16 GMT -5
...and I'll form the head. Almost two hours! I used a different brand for the skin and it was a little tough to get used to it, but I think I'll keep using it. Buzz Head by Luis Diaz Art, on Flickr
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Post by Simon on Jun 17, 2014 7:17:38 GMT -5
...and I'll form the head. Almost two hours! I used a different brand for the skin and it was a little tough to get used to it, but I think I'll keep using it. Buzz Head by Luis Diaz Art, on Flickr I'm curious. What brand had you been using and what have you switched to?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2014 22:10:43 GMT -5
I just got a different Naples yellow heavy body from M. Graham & Co. I normally use the soft body (fluid) version by Golden. It was too rich, but now I got the Liquitex and it's somewhat in between. The fluid or soft body ones were turning to water on my palette. I'm trying to not buy any more soft body (fluid) paints from any brands anymore. It used to make sense and it was mostly because I could make the surface have less texture for multiple applications, but that was because I was too heavy with heavy body paints. I paint more translucent these days and I can make the colors pretty thin and as soft as I like with a little water. I'm going to try more mediums and see if they do anything I like.
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Post by greghoriblue on Jun 17, 2014 23:26:11 GMT -5
...and I'll form the head. Almost two hours! I used a different brand for the skin and it was a little tough to get used to it, but I think I'll keep using it. Buzz Head by Luis Diaz Art, on Flickr It looks very good. I like it
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2014 17:55:58 GMT -5
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Post by robslob on Jun 18, 2014 19:39:25 GMT -5
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Post by Smetchlock Smomes on Jun 18, 2014 19:42:53 GMT -5
Nice work Luis! Love the new signature too
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Post by greghoriblue on Jun 19, 2014 0:55:50 GMT -5
I like the art. Great work.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2014 15:28:31 GMT -5
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Post by El-Jefe on Jun 26, 2014 17:10:56 GMT -5
Robocop...love it!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2014 21:40:54 GMT -5
Hey man, hope all is well. How's the piece going? I found out this week the Trap Jaw one I personally did for someone got sold on ebay. Yours is way more personal since it's you on the gecko.
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