Eye Update: One Year After My First Cornea Transplant

One year ago, I underwent my first cornea transplant (lefteye). Four months later, I went in for my second transplant (right eye). I really hoped that by now I would be enjoying crisp, clear vision. That hasn’t quite happened – but there has been real progress.

On the bright side, the thick fog is gone. My vision is dramatically better – especially when viewing things close up: fine details, textures, small print, all things that eluded me a year ago. Distance vision, however, is still a problem: street signs, grocery store isle markers, café menu boards remain difficult to read. I still see strong halos around lights, and there is a persistent double vision effect (especially in my right eye).

At my last doctor visit, my cornea transplants were healthy and working perfectly (no problems there). However, cataracts have developed in each eye at a faster pace than my doctor anticipated. The doctor recommends holding off on cataract surgery for at least a year or more following the cornea transplants. Also, my doctor believes another issue may be impacting my vision: dry eyes (i.e.: when the surface of the eye not properly hydrated, it can cause a scuffed, hazy effect). Actually this is good news, since the solution is non-surgical; the doctor recommends artificial tears for now, and these do seem to help.

Despite the ups and downs, I am feeling grateful. Of all the eye problems one could have, Fuchs dystrophy and cataracts are more manageable, especially compared to more serious issues like glaucoma or retinal detachment. Still, it does feel like I am living in a holding pattern: my vision is currently hovering around 20/40 in my left eye, and worse in my right eye; good enough to pass an eye exam at the DMV, but not quite good enough for me to catch the subtleties of someone’s facial expression across a coffee shop. I was hoping to resume my practice of café sketching, but alas… the café sketches will probably have to wait until after cataract surgery. 

In the meanwhile, I am happy to be drawing with pencil on paper again (in previous posts, I noted that my vision had deteriorated to the point where I couldn’t even see well enough to draw in a sketchbook). Here below is my most recent sketchbook page. I used the Blackwing 602 as well as the Tombow pencils (both are favorite pencils of mine), plus blending stumps and kneaded eraser. For the airbrushed version at the top of this post, I scanned my drawing and painted it in Photoshop. For the future, I am thinking of doing a lager, airbrushed version of this drawing, maybe using it as the basis for a finished painting.

Memories of the "Amazon Project"

Recently I put together a short video featuring some of my background work for the "Amazon Project" (actually, we called it "Amazonia" or something back when we were developing it, but for some reason, I kept referring to it as the "Amazon Project", and the name has stuck in my head).  

I've written about the Amazon project on my website here. Basically, it was to be an animated film featuring the character designs and animation of my good friend, the insanely talented Sandro Cleuzo. And it would have been an opportunity for me to develop a bunch of backgrounds loosely inspired by the art direction of Disney's Jungle Book (a film which Sandro and I both love). As happens all too often in the animated film business, too many great projects end up getting shelved.

On my website, I also wrote about The Last Days of Traditional Background Painting. By the time we were working on Amazonia, the animation industry had pretty much moved away from acrylics or gouache paints to all digital painting. I was one of the lone hold outs trying to work in traditional media. Here is a photo of me working on an Amazon background from way back (circa 2012 or so). Since this was a dev/dev piece rather than a production BG, I could use any media. I actually used oils on canvas for this one. 

And since I recently found these old photos, here is a look into my working process. For this next background, I started with a graphite drawing. After rendering out everything in graphite to establish the composition and value pattern, I airbrushed over my drawing with acrylic ink to darken the darks.

In this next step, I begin airbrushing thin layers of color over the black and white rendering. I like to work with a solid drawing under my painting - since I have already resolved the lighting and atmosphere, now I can focus on color. 

Slowly and patiently, I build up the layers of color so they become more intense, while trying not to lose the feeling of atmosphere established in the drawing.

Here the painting is coming along, but still a ways to go towards the finish. At the bottom of the photo, you can see paints laid out on my palette. I used a damp paper towel under the paints to keep the acrylics from drying out too fast. A spritzer bottle also helps to keep the paints moist. I still have the old butcher tray which I used as a palette in art school. With the painting progressing this far, I've put away the big brushes and brought out the small brushes for detail work. 

The finished painting is displayed on my website, as well as in the video above. Even though the film was never made, I am forever grateful to Sandro for the opportunity to collaborate on his film. And it did provide me with the opportunity to make some great portfolio pieces which helped me to land a number of jobs later on down the road.