Been a while...

Yo! Empty audience, been a while. So, instead of study for a Forestry exam, I decided to post some recent work of mine. I think I am becoming better and better at drawing animals. It helps that my brother is a paleontologist and that he gives me projects to hone my skills. I am also somewhat commissioned to draw a whale poster for the lab he works for.

I'm somewhat happy with the lemur. I need some more practice with hyper-realism and anatomy. Coloring could have been better as well. 

The next few are digital "pencils" (thanks to my awesome cintiq: Cintiq companion hybrid is out! but, more on that later). These will be colored sometime soon.

Amynodon

(a hippo-rhino thing according to my brother. The hands look humanoid...eh..)

Boa of some kind

(things with scales are tiresome so, I didn't really put much effort into this one honestly)

Brontothere

(I was happy with this one. I like using perspective. Plus, it was the first one of the set I drew. Those are usually the best sketches)

Protoreodon

(some of these are a bit "cartoonie" I wanted a good action pose. I also find it hard to make haired mammals look realistic. Something in need to practice)

Protylopus

(this one looks a bit strange to me, I wasn't able to get the look I was going for)

This semesters pretty busy, but for once I don't feel stressed at all. Tired, but not stressed. I might have gotten used to the workload..... And I might have just jinxed myself. But, I doing pretty okay at the moment. B+ on a music history test, of which I thought I would do so much worse. Senior recital repertoire somewhat on schedule and it's only rained 3-4 days so far. Good start for the year.

New Toy!!!

Well empty audience, my Cintiq 13 HD came in today. This is probably one of the best things an artist could own. From the first test I already knew that I would disappear this summer. The feel of this thing is amazing. For once, my digital drawing didn't look like a digital drawing. It responds so well. My mind is blown.

So here are some pics.

Aminals. Probably some of the best creature sketches I've done.

 These are actually the beginnings of drawings my brother asked me to do. They will end up having him and his friends riding on the backs of these animals.

This Cintiq really changes everything.

Smile.

Back in tha Day: HIT'D

Here's something to look at. A short film done for Film Studies at Cerritos High waaay back in 2008.


A group of unqualified hit men are hired by an asian pimp to take out "El-mo".
(I know, I know... we were a bunch of kids having fun. Don't take it seriously. Seriously.)



2 days, one camera and a great group of friends.

I thought it was a pretty good project for a bunch of hoodlums with no money. We used a couple of old school tricks to get what we wanted. Some were hilariously bad but awesome. We had a lot of fun. Maybe too much haha. Watching it now, I noticed how extremely stereotyped the characters are and added to that, our poor language skills didn't help much. It was the only fun I had in the 4 years at that school.

I haven't done any film projects since, but would like to do another one.

Hopefully, the copyright police doesn't take the audio.

Smile

Squappledapple (Squalodon)

Yo,
     Isomnia hasn't gone away so, here is the Squalodon I did for my brother.

 

I'm not much of a colorist, but I feel like I'm getting better.

 

 

Peace.

Neumann KM (Kick-ass Mic's) 184.

       Whoa. Empty audience, I am...whoa.
Today, I finally gained the confidence to try out my new KM-184's and they are "OVER 9,000!!!". I have been recording live with my amateur MXL mics for years before the KM's; they are actually very functional for the price. But WOW... It's almost as if I have seen the light. I've only had a small chance to work with high-end mics way back while attending Fullerton College. Now owning a pair, I am able to experience the hardware in detail and actually listen to them. I tell ya, It's a whole different experience. At one point I even began to laugh in enjoyment. I demo'd the mic's in stereo; performing a short Legnani Caprice I played this semester. At the first listen, I was amazed with it's detail. Every noise while performing was captured yet, it didn't make the recording sound like crap. In person an instrument makes noise but at a level that makes it pleasing to the ear. However, that doesn't mean you should play sloppy. Low-end mics tend to bring out instrument noise and ruin a recording. The recording was very balanced, no frequency was over powered and simultaneously keeping unwanted frequencies out. I was very happy with the lows. And man, does this thing have range. There is a lot of room for dynamics. I would even go as far to say you can beat the shit out of these mic's... it's an expression... don't beat the shit out of these mic's. You will be sad.
      What I love most about the guitar is it's versatility; not only in genre but in articulation and sound. The intrument has multiple personality disorder. These mics will capture them.

     If only my laptop AC didn't cause interference. I guess I'll have to buy a power conditioner. haha.

                                 (comes in a fancy wood case, two windscreens and two clips)

     As of now, I am perfecting my Repertoire so that I can finally begin to record it. Tis gonna be a fun summer. I love toys.

COLOR?

Waddup. Here's the nude Droid wit cuhlla. I don't color often.

It's a little on the rough side, but I'm done with it. This is my love for Music, SciFi and Women.

 

Went a bit gear crazy and bought a Cintiq 13HD.....that will be mailed in hopefully soon.

 

My friend asked me as I was coloring this, "How do you draw legs?". I responded "Look at a lot of legs." I look at a lot of legs...haha

 

Smile,

 

-Justin

Home

Well empty audience, I'm back home and feeling pretty good. Anxiety levels are at an all time low and I haven't touched a guitar assignment in a little over a week. I think I'm just about ready to get back to work...maybe...

At the ol'set up coloring a Squalodon (an ancient dolphin whale of some kind... I'm no paleontologist) for my brother, listening to music at the volume you should listen at, and finally catalogging my artwork.
                                                                     The Ol' Set up

                                                       Where I work.... Sometimes...

I just purchased my kick ass mics and they should be here by saturday. Then its playtime. Out of nowhere, I also bought the new Moog Sub Phatty. Sadly it's on backorder till june but, I'm pretty damn exited. It's Moog's new analog synth that features a sub Oscillator in addition to 2 Osc's. Basically 2 oscillators and a quarter. An enormous sound generator with the notorious Moog sound. I love toys.

Here's a few sketches from this year.

                                           Spider-man and my love for extreme perspective

                           Character Design for a story I'm thinking up. Alien anatomy is fun.

                                                        Me during finals week haha

                             A random fight scene, possibly done after watching Ghost in the Shell.

          A mythical creature of the Philippines called Kapre. Another character concept for a story.

 

 

                A movement study. Frank Quitely (a favorite artist of mine) does this quite well



And finally, An android playing a violin. A Laser Violin. Nude. Haha

 

 

Well that's it for now. Time to meet up with the Goonies. Audio coming soon. Promise. 

Fo Yo Info.

High Low,

     So, this is a paper that I forgot to do and turned in last minute. "Why?" You ask. It contains some pretty interesting info and basically shows the way I experience music in a two page, double spaced paper. The info at the beginning is the classical guitar music and performers I've been listening to throughout this semester. (I suck at writing. Deal with it.)

Justin Santos

Studio Guitar

Recording Report

Luigi Rinaldo Legnani: 36 Capricci, Op.20

Lucio Matarazzo

The Best of Classical Guitar Vol.1: Suite Castellana

Federico Manuel Torroba

Scott Tennant

Gran Jota Aragonesa: Gran Jota Aragonesa

Francisco Tarrega

Manuel Gonzales

David Russell Plays Bach: Partita for Lute in E Major, BWV 1006a

David Russell

Anthology: S.L. Weiss, Passacaille

Chris Carelli

The Fall of Birds – Russian Guitar Music: The Porcelain Tower

Nikita Koshkin, Stephan Rak, John Duarte

Evgeni Finkelstein

The Legnani Caprices were quite new to me and It was clear why. The works were overshadowed by works of Giuliani and other guitar method composers of that time. The individual caprices were very short yet very difficult and each with their own uniqueness. The performer, Matarazzo, was definitely skilled enough to take on each caprice. Even the simplest of caprices were played to a degree where it sounded like a complex and virtuosic piece of music, as most professionals do. Which is the reason why I like the simple, “short and sweet” pieces. There is more to them than meets the eye. Cliché.

I gather that Scott Tennant likes Suite Castellana. I see a couple videos and recordings of him performing this suite floating around the interweb. Tennant is one of the greatest guitar teachers of today and you can definitely hear it. His technique is well tuned and he has amazing musicality. He has his own methods as well as his own book. As a student who has gone through his book; listening to him play, you realize you probably should go through it again. The 3rd movement, Danza, really shows its difficulty. Performers usually slow it down at the ornaments so that they can hit it properly or they augment the note value. Tennant was no exception. Maybe it's a part of the music that is truly difficult for a guitarist. After all, It was Torroba's first guitar piece.

This Gran Jota is a piece that I will be learning in the near future. It's a beast of a piece and I am getting anxious already. However, the contents are also egging me on to learn it. The Performer was unknown to me but he played it quite well. I have also listened to and seen other performers on the youtubes and found that many of them play it differently. Either adding a few fancy revisions or creating a unique way to perform some of the sections. Definitely a new favorite of mine. That said, I should also listen to classical guitar recordings more. Again, this was another occurrence of myself hearing a masterpiece of the guitar world for the first time. However, I gots ta have my R&B.

David Russell is another one among the greats and like many of them, he decides to record a plethora of Bach to spur jealousy amongst the guitar community. I listened to the Partita for Lute in E major. A suite that I will also be learning and possibly regretting in the near future. There isn't much to be said about Mr. Russell's performance, its always amazing. Though, there was an instance where he made a large noticeable mistake during a live performance. I remember having the expression of “WOAH” in my mind. Which actually helped me with my performance issues. You realize guitar gods are human too. Not sure about John Williams though. He might actually be a machine.

I added this for fun.

Never really knowing about Weiss's lute works....yea... I had to do some listening. Passacaille was at the top of the list, for I had performed it for my junior recital. Carelli performs it straight and honestly, it was a little boring. However, that is really to the preference of the performer and a concept that I find helps me. That is, if Carelli does have this concept in mind. It's the mentality of “forget the audience and the music snobs, I'm gonna play”.

The Porcelain Tower is indeed a porcelain tower of a piece. Just as the title expresses, the music in this work is like glass. It is a theme and variation work created by 3 of the most awesome contemporary guitar composers. Nikita Koshkin, Stephan Rak and John Duarte. It consists of 8 movements, the first being the statement of the theme. Then up the tower you go experiencing these amazing and highly visual levels. I really want to learn this work, as I am a completely visual person. Though, it might put a damper on my already assigned rep for the summer. I haven't looked into the creation of this composition but, just reading the titles and listening to each distinct movement, you know it is painting a picture. I haven't seen the score but, I suspect its quite difficult. Finkelstein plays. Nuff said. This album will be on the playlist on the way back home this summer. I'll buy the score...just incase.

 

Das it.

Danks.

Welp...

... All of my stuff is pretty much packed...4 days early. What now?

 

 

No high fidelity speakers, HDTV, video games, Netfix. All my books are gone... it's not like I read but, who knows. All I have is my guitar, of which I've grown quite tired of at the moment, a box of things, 4 days worth of clothes and my laptop to write blogs... I guess.

 

 

Tonight is my first choir performance... and I'm terrified. Singing in public is something I rarely do. I would even sing softer in my car as another one passes. However, choir was also an extremely fun learning experience. I am part of the Humboldt Chorale, a community and student choir. We are performing John Rutter's Mass of the Children. A really beautiful piece that is no ordinary Mass. It's full of colors and tones, dark and light, lively and menacing. It contains the usual soprano, alto, tenor bass coupled with a childrens choir. There are also amazing solos throughout the piece that I could listen to for days. Definitely listen to this one.

Also, my mother is in town to witness my hilarious singing expressions. It will be a good mothers day gift.

 

4 more finals and I'm outta here. I actually miss the grumpy  people of southern California. They have a special place in my heart haha.

 

I understand the importance, don't get me wrong... But I need a break!

I'm spent. I can't do much on reserve. I did my work. I know what this could do for me, but damn... I'm going to rest for once.

A homage to my old high school doodles. A way to get my thoughts out, without being too direct. Enjoy.

I'll upload the ones I did in high school too.

Homeward Bound. (since april 6)...

Welp.... I got about a week and a half left. What will I do when I get home? I gots a couplah projects.

I had this idea in my head about documenting my family. A project for filmaking and audio work as well as a way to know more about them. It could turn out to be a summer project or something that I'd continue for some time. However, the project is still an idea with no real direction. I will try to work on that until then. Family and friends, be ready to answer some questions heheh...

Possibly do some short films with what remains of my hometown buddies. Combine that with some composition work for practice.

I have my senior recital coming up next spring. Of which will be an hours worth of music to learn and have ready by then. My repertoire assigned has become rather difficult so, to avoid the perils experienced this semester with only 30 minutes of material, I will need to gain the upper hand this summer. But, I am also rather excited about it. I will be working my way up to an entire Bach suite, BWV 1006a. A violin partita arranged for Lute. The prelude of this suite was actually THE piece that got me into this whole classical guitar thing. It will be an interesting way to complete my studies. The Gran Jota Aragonesa by Tarrega is a long, crazy ass piece that I embarrassingly just discovered. There's a interesting guitar effect used near the end which mimics the sound of a snare drum that im really looking forward to getting to. The last of my assigned rep is the Vivaldi Guitar Concerto in D major. This is supposed to be for a competition for Fall but, I don't really want to compete. It's a piece for small orchestra and it's not very flashy. I would enjoy it better if it were for my Recital.

I had some interesting rep this semester that I would definitely like to record. My family has recordings of my Junior recital but I feel that I could do a better job with it. I plan on buying a stereo pair of AKG c414's or the cheaper option Neumann's I've been looking at. Those would cost me some dough but if you're recording instruments, especially a classical guitar, your mics gotta kick ass.  However, there is a small problem... Wacom has just released their new models for the Cintiq pen displays and the 13hd looks quite tasty. I've been really into the Cintiq ever since I tried it wayy back at Comic-con ('11?) and have always been back and fourth about buying one.

If I had one of these babies....

...It wouldn't have taken a fuzzillion hours to draw this, ink and scan. It could have been in color too.

I wanted to do some gigs as well. I got a good amount of repertoire under my belt and could actually see myself doing things with it. I had some gigs out in Arcata and got some good responses. Even got a 5 dolla tip in a total 9...ooo... last Thursday.

 I've noticed that Jeepney Grill back in Cerritos has live music and Filipinos. Filipinos like Filipino music and Filipino music I do have.
Filipino + Filipino Music + Filipino Food = Yes.

Staying on top of my studies should be a good idea, considering how much I suck at it. Sight reading and intelligent playing and pratice is at the top of the list. Then, it's get Phaat. Eat. Eat what i've been missing and losing sleep over. Albertacos, BBQ, greasy stuff.

I already know that there is a small chance that I will actually do these things but, I can dream. Can't I?

I am getting closer to opening a soundcloud account for my recordings and compositions. I will upload those when that happens. Until then, nada.

Welcome.

Hello empty audience,

     My name is Justin Santos. With no Facebook to gloat about my successessess...ess... I have decided to start a blog to get some online presence without all the filler. Anime filler...eeww.

    The point of this blog was to get some things I've been working on into light and maybe get some work out of it. Also, to satisfy my family and friends needs to know what I'm up to. I will try my best to upload some media for yous to look and listen to. Feel free to comment, bash, critic, advise and insert internet lingo that I don't understand. If you like what I do and have a project for me, please let me know. 

Give me some time to catalog my portfolio and i'll be posting very soon.

Until then here's a couple things that I do have.

Desmostylia for Gabriel Santos. Sketch and Color. Photoshop cs6

HSU Guitar Ensemble Poster. Sketch and Color. Photoshop cs6

 

B&W Sketch of Waldo Skull for Gabriel Santos

 

Compositions, recordings and other media coming soon. Thanks.