About Me

My photo
Santa Clarita, California, United States
Jonathan Payne is a freelance artist residing in Santa Clarita, California. His sculptures and paintings focus primarily on creature and character design . He has studied under Jordu Schell (Men In Black, Edward Scissorhands, Avatar), concept sculptor Simon Lee and fine art sculptor John Brown. He prefers to sculpt in oil, polymer and WED clays. Recently he has become consumed with creating an original line of tumorous balls of flesh known as the Fleshlettes. In addition to his macabre "babies" he also enjoys composing fine art sculptures depicting both wildlife and the human form. Jonathan is available for hire as a freelance artist and for individual commissions.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Macro Mouth






Macro Mouth. Approx 2.5 inches x 2inches. Super Sculpey, flocking and a bit of clear acrylic medium. This sculpture was created as a private commission.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Mr. Grey - face study




This is a small scale sculpture done for practice. Super Sculpey firm and regular 50/50 mix. Approximately 1 3/4 inches tall.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Super Sculpey mini-mouth



This is a test using the techniques Jordu Schell has showed us in his advanced maquette building class. My only regret is that I did not do an entire face (or at least a nose as well). 1 inch high, made of super sculpey, red flocking, and some clear acrylic on the tongue.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Thursday, June 24, 2010

testing the ipad!




While on vacation in Salt Lake Mary Runolfson graciously lent me her ipad for the weekend. I tried Sketchbook Pro and Brushes and so far I have found Brushes easiest to use and most 'to-the-point'. Here are three paintings I created in Brushes using my pogo sketch stylus. The first is the venerable value ball. The 2nd a candle of Lacie's back lit at dusk and the 3rd is a painting of "Black Pool" in Yellowstone Park. For the last painting I did use photo reference but did not copy the photo. It is still very loose and took a frustratingly long time when compared to what it would have taken to arrive at the same result in photoshop. That said I love the freedom and sometimes speed of ipad painting. I would love to experiment more with painting outside and in places laptops or desktops dare not go. Finally the pogo stylus was great but I wish it was a little thicker in the handle, thinner at the tip and that the tip was more robust. Mine flaked off in places and is generally scrunched now. One more quick note: These all have slight levels and colors adjustments to better match how they looked on the screen. When viewed on a desktop the images seem slightly more washed out and desaturated than they did on the ipad itself.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Quick value study



While getting my oil changed. A warm up sphere and a bush across the street.

Thursday, May 06, 2010

Neutral paper value steady from William Maughan


Just from the very begging of his guide to drawing the head book. CarbOthello pencils and some general neutral paper. Still looking for the exact type of paper he recommends.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

(WIP) Vault Door - Hard Surface Modeling



Created in Maya 2010 almost entirely out of Nurbs surfaces. Work in progress.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Elephant Eye study


Gouache on cardboard. From photo reference on google image search.

Saturday, March 06, 2010

Lil' Sparky!


4x6 Gouache still life of one of those hyper-tasty Lil Cuties. It got a little flattened in my lunch but it was oh so good! I am really loving this gouache painting. It's like the perfect combo of watercolor and oils.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Random Portraits 1&2 (from found photos)



After doing some talking with Tyler Jacobson it's becoming apparent how far I still have to go to feel competent as someone who draws and paints. Specifically I am l focusing on learning how to paint people. So I am going to start painting from photos so as Tyler put it, I can start to build a visual language of how people should look. Up first are post card sized gouache paintings from random portraits found on the internet.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Skull Guy - an experiment with WED clay





This was a semi-successful experiment for using WED clay on a maquette. The biggest problem was my on-the-fly armature and my lack of a clear idea for the body design. This led to some wire sticking out where I didn't want it, cracking due to drying and the body being a simple anatomy study rather than anything else. Lessons learned: WED is fast until you lose control of the drying time. Doing smaller details such as teeth or fingers takes longer with WED clay but blocking in forms and redoing large surface areas takes much less time.

Monday, February 08, 2010

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Glacier thumbnail


Photoshop. Used pictures for concept and color reference but the forms and lines are all original.