Tashi was born in England in the year of the water tiger, for the past 30 years he has studied an eclectic range of artistic disciplines within both the Eastern and Western traditions in his journey as a painter and calligrapher.

Part of Tashi’s monastic training was in 1988 to enter a closed four year Buddhist retreat, which also gave a sensitive environment to meticulously copy ancient Tibetan texts, furthering his training as a scribe in the highly disciplined, and multiple forms of Tibetan calligraphy.

In 2000 Tashi Travelled to India, where in Dharamsala he was privileged to study under a master of ancient Sanskrit: Lama Pema Lodrup, These artistic forms of Sanskrit called Lanza and Wartu, are preserved by only a handful of practitioners in the world today….

More > www.tashimannox.com
Video > A short film about Tashi’s work

Transformation
This painting shows three rare blue lotus flowers representing the ‘past, present and future’ the passing of time.

Laughing in the face of Pride

Laughing in the face of Stupidity

Homage to Mahakala

Probably my favorite graphic novel to date.

Perfectly illustrated and written by Charles Burn, the story is set in the 70’s and deals with the aftermath of a sexually transmitted disease called “The Bug” which causes grotesque mutations in teenagers.

… Burns explains to journalist Steve Appleford that he “thinks of adolescence as a disease one has to live through,” but to regard Black Hole merely as an allegory of the difficulty of teenage identity mutes how the narrative resonates with two crises of public culture: the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the rash of school shootings that became a mainstream media concern in the United States with the events at Columbine High School in 1999…

Highly recommed you check it out if you into graphic novels. I never get tierd of lookign at the beautifully crafted panels and meticulous illustration and ink work.

BUY

Been meaning to blog this for ages now, stunning work , great style and beautifully executed

Sanjay is an animator and storyboard artist for Pixar Animation Studios, where he has worked on features that include Monsters, Inc., A Bugs Life; Toy Story 2; and The Incredibles. He has also worked on The Simpsons for Fox and with legendary cartoonist John K., creator of Ren and Stimpy.

Heres some of his most recent work:

Ramayana: Divine Loophole – BUY

The Little Book of Hindu Deities – BUY

An an interview: This Week: Sanjay Patel

> www.gheehappy.com

I’ve started going back to basics and doing some figure drawing via Frank J. Reilly’s method . I feel it works well for me in getting the right proportion and technique.

While searching for more resources i came across ProcessJunkie and the sexy/busty work of Lucio Alberto. Samples below.

His put up a fine posts with some figure drawing downloadable books. 
> The Best Figure Drawing Books Eve
Check each book to form your own opinions on which technique works for you.

His blog has got a selection of his own work, wide selection of other illustrators by and a ton of books. All in a wide variety of styles.

2 artists that blew me away with their character work were:

JOSE LOPEZ

Image from BrandStudio

> More from this book

Award winning character design for clients such as Google, DC comics, Activision, TMNT, Warner Bros. (The Batman), Cartoon Network…

> Buy Mariachi Samurai Book
> Buy 4:00 AM Book

BRANDON RAGNAR JOHNSON

These images are from Big City

> Buy Big City Book

After the fall of Virgin Comics and India’s Gotham Entertainment ,
Vimanika Comics is set to do a much better job with strong stories and stunning artwork. Can’t wait to check more of they stuff out.

Times interview with Karan Vir Arora, editor-in-chief of Vimanika Comics
Also check out Selling Books vs Promoting Indian Culture

Karna Statue crafted for the winner of the  Sketch Karna contest winner

12″ vinyl sleeve design for foward thinking dubstep label Deepmedi Records
I was asked to design the sleeve featuring a sadhu in a transcending meditative pose for this double vinyl EP from V.I.V.E.K

The tracks are dark & subtle with deep base, space and texture laced all over.

Heres how the cover artwork developed:

Initial sadhu sketch

Edited and digitally painted + devi lamps

Stars / Cosmic background detail

Spine aged texture

Recommended typography and layout – Click image to view larger or cilc here

Labels 1 and 2 of 4
The labels were eventually changed to the generic Deepmedi labels to keep inline with the record label.

Final edited sleeve 

You can here the rest of the tracks > Here

If you into your dubstep then also check out the beautiful Natural Mystic previously featured on the Cabein Blog.

> www.myspace.com/vivek321
> www.deepmedi.com

Art House is based in Brooklyn, NY and builds international art projects tie thousands of artists together –and anyone can participate.

Dopeness!

Each artist is sent the same blank Moleskine sketchbook. We’ve only got two rules: first, the book must be used in some way – no sending us back an empty book or a completely different book! Second, the sketchbook must stay within its original dimensions (because we don’t want to have to provide an extra suitcase just for your book while we’re touring the country).

Each book will be given a barcode so we can easily catalog it into The Brooklyn Art Library system. Once we catalog it, artists will be able to track where on the tour their book is viewed and how many times someone pulled it from the shelf – we want to make sure you can stay connected with your sketchbook!

A brilliant idea set-up by Steven Peterman & Shane Zucker 3 yrs ago. 
> Read More

Seems like the online payment system is only allowing people with a US billing address to enter at the moment, while Art House sorts out they funds. But got a friend to purchase mine and post it out to me. Should arrive in a few weeks. I choose the title “Where i live” for my sketchbook, there are a few other options to choose from check the site.

> http://arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject

Born and raised in Toba, Japan, Yoskay Yamamoto moved to the United States at the age of 15. A self-trained illustrator, Yamamoto’s artistic tastes expanded as he fell in love with the urban culture of the West coast. Yamamoto discovered a way to fuse the two different cultural backgrounds together into his work. Yamamoto nostalgically blends pop iconic characters from his new Western home with traditional and mythical Japanese elements, balancing his Asian heritage with urban pop art.

I particularly like his carvings and sculpture work. Wonderful little characters which lend themselves to illustration rather well.

> http://yoskay.com

The International Network for Training, Education and Research in Burns is a non-profit, independent organisation with collaborating centres currently in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Wales.

Interburns was founded informally in 2006 by three Surgeons. Tom Potokar (Wales, UK), Shobha Chamania (Indore, India) and Shariq Ali (Karachi , Pakistan). In 2007, they decided to formalise their passion for the cause of burn injuries worldwide and in January 2008, Interburns was incorporated as a UK registered charity, which led to an active partnership between the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery, UK, Choithram Surgical Research Burns Centre, Indore, India, and Dow University Medical College Burn Unit, Karachi, Pakistan. This core group quickly inspired other international health-care professionals to become involved in the vision.

I designed Interburns first annual report, a 27 page document with the aim to help Interburns raise awareness and funds through donations and as an internal guide to chart the charities progress.

Written and complied by Ruthann Fanstone
Photography by Nathan West & Junaed Rahman

You can view a PDF version of the document 
> Here

Bang Bang Films is a Bombay-based commercials production company that is dedicated to the internationalization of the Indian media & entertainment sectors. With a global pool of directorial, artistic and technical resources, both exclusive and freelance, Bang Bang is India’s international production company, servicing top-tier agencies and blue chip clients in markets across the world.

You can view some of their work here
> Bang Bang Films – Production Showreel

I was asked to design the front-end of the companies new flash website. The initial concept was developed by Bang Bang Films with the site starting with a game and flowing into the main site. I provided screen-grabs and elements for animation while Bang Bang Films built and animated the final site.

Initial development

A few research images for the cityscape. A mixture of Bombay Gothic, contemporary architecture and the newly built Worli Sea Link

Vehicle designs

Full cityscape – Click image to view full size

Screen-grabs :
Opening load page  for the game

Dodging traffic

Game Over

After the game the rickshaw drives into the city toward the Bang Bang Films offices …

Navigation and content

The site is not 100% what i spec’ed, as the animation and build appears to have been done by blinksolution
A shame really, as it could have been much slicker.

> http://www.bangbang-films.com