#inktober - Days 14-17

Playing some catch-up today.  4 new entries, puts me at presently down by 4.  I'm pretty sure I'll make it to 31 on/before the 31st.  Though I think, I might cancel the 30 Characters Challenge in November this year.  We shall see.

These entries show another media swap-up.  I hit up the art supply store this morning and picked up two different sizes of Faber-Castell PITT Artists Brush Pens.  It still uses india ink, but it handles a bit more like a marker... so there's some more control, and less bleeding.  I also bought some better india ink, cuz the stuff I bought earlier this month I feel is not as opaque as it could be... and while that has some advantages, it isn't what I wanted it to be.  So I'll experiment with that later.  I also bought a Sharpie Water-Based White Marker, which I thought I would experiemnt with, but haven't really got the results I was hoping for... again having to do with opaque-ness.  I've had better luck with White-Out in the past (and it was cheaper).

#inktober - Days 12 and 13

Today is the 19th, and I'm on #inktober drawing 13....   That's no bueno.   What's with the lagging?  Actually most of it comes with me trying to bust out a fairly impressive commission.  Which I just finished... I'll probably post it here.  But the point is, I now have a little more "free time" (what's that?) to DRAW!  So hopefully I can catch up before Ol' Hallow's Eve.

The drawings above of Hagrid and Joker are mixed-media ink.  A combination of a pen, and brush work.  I'm beginning to enjoy some of the spontaneity of the brush.  A lot of my "normal work" has become a bit too smooth with the computer ironing out some of my idiosyncrasies, and polishing them.  So it's kinda fun to dip the brush and deal with whatever it gives me once it touches the drawing surface.  I really seem to like it for hair.  *shrug*

#inktober - Days 8-11... ZOMBIES!!!

Once again, found myself falling behind in this challenge.   To be fair though, I've been working on a pretty awesome comission (which may be posted later), and have had little time to squeeze in any other artwork  Anyway, this brings me up to... negative 1.  So, that's better than the negative 5 when I woke up this morning.

Anyway, I wanted to see the premiere of 'The Walking Dead' tonight, but felt guilty about not keeping up with this challenge... so... yeah, decided to combine the two... draw zombies while watching the walking dead.  This is what came out of it.  Again, mostly india ink and brush... though I added some details with a pen.  So mixed media ink?

#inktober - Days 3-7... kinda... (aka, 'Fun with Brushes')

Okay, so... I fell behind a bit on the challenge.  Part of this was "Artist's Block".  The other part was I really wanted to try this challenge with a brush...  And I had to go out and buy some ink and brushes.  I felt like I was kinda cheating using a pen... though there are no actual rules per se, other than "draw in ink".  But I wanted to go old school, with brushes and ink.  The above 5 (which put me back on track with the challenge) are done with brushes.  It was fun... there were some hurdles, and I could have been using better paper... but all and all, I live, I learn.

#inktober - Day 2

#inktober... Day 2!  So far, so good.  Still using a pen.  Still need to play with a brush and ink.  Coming soon!

#inktober

Damn, I really need to update this thing more often.  I also need to branch out into other social media.  But that will come later... what I really need to do, is increase artistic output!  And I've found the best way for me to do that is.... ARTISTIC CHALLENGES!  Like the '30 Characters Challenge' I do in November, or "Ape-ril".  Well, this year, I'm taking up #inktober.

What is #inktober you ask?  Well, you can find out by asking Jake Parker.  In short, back in 2009, Jake Parker decided he needed to work on his inking skills, so he challenged himself to do a drawing a day, in ink.  Other artists decided to take up the challenge, as well, and it's continued to grow with each passing year, with more artists taking up the challenge.

This year, I'm giving it a shot!  The above is a quick doodle I did with a dying micron pen.  I think I might pick up some brushes and India ink after pay day, and experiment a bit.  It'll be a nice break from all the "digital" inking I normally do.  And again, it'll increase artistic output.  Which is what I need.  MORE ART!!!

Free Comic-Book Day Drawings...

 

 

 

 Free Comic Book Day was back on May 3rd.  And here's a bunch of artwork I did that day (or... week...).  I had wanted to do SOMETHING for FCBD, but I couldn't figure out what.  My local comic shops already booked their resident artists, and I'm not popular enough to be "requested" by an out-of-town shop, so... I was like "What should I do?"

I decided I'd open myself up to some free comissions from my Facebook friends.  I posted a status, that said if they LIKED or COMMENTED on the status, I'd do them up a drawing.  Originally I was planning on keeping it quick and simple like a Con sketch, or if I had landed a comic-book store post for the day.  But, as i started doing them, I decided to fall more and more on my traditional style of coloring and what-not in Photoshop.  I still tried to keep the actual drawings themselves quick and free flowing... but... yeah, didn't quite happen on all of them.

Some of them turned out really well, others... not so much.  My idea was to do it as a "test run" for if I got an Artist Alley table at SDCC this year (Update: I did NOT get a table).  TO see how quickly I could draw "on demand".  I learned a ton going through the process... and even surprised myself a couple times.  So despite some major flaws on some of them, the things I learned will be of great help!

Comic-Con 2014 Souvenir Book SubmissionS

It's that time of the year again... When I submit my entry for the San Diego Comic-Con International Souvenir Book.  This year, I decided to go with THREE submissions.  That was a first.  I might have done more, but these 3 took more than enough time to do.  There were too many good themes to choose form this year.  I knew the 75th Anniversary of Batman was gonna be one of them.  But the 30th Anniversary of the Ninja Turtles, and the 20th Anniversary of Hellboy came as a surprise.

This is the 4th consecutive year, I've submitted for the book.  I had previously submitted for the 2013, 2012, and 2011 books, and each year I got published.  This is the first year that I didn't slap the "Anniversary Year" on the image.  Previous years I had "50 Years" or what not... this year, I just went with a stand-alone image.  This was 2-fold.  One, in past years, it felt... forced, and it was awkward sometimes to put years on the image.  Also, I keep convincing myself that one of these days, the fine folks at SDCC will give me an Artist Alley table.  As I haven't heard from them yet, and it's getting too close to the actual event for me to produce some "original" work, I figured I'd just save these, and run them off as "prints" to sell at the Con.  At least then I'd have 'something' to sell.  We shall see...

Another thing of interest, this was the first time I allowed myself to make some rather drastic changes between what I had drawn on paper, and what eventually came out in Photoshop.  Almost all the art was tweaked a little (some cases a LOT) in Photoshop.  Fixing proportion issues, or some cropping, and just various things.  The most drastic of changes, was what I did in the Batman piece.  Once I had finally settled on my design, I drew it out.  I knew I wanted the murder in Crime Alley depicted, cuz that's when Batman is actually "born".  So I drew the murder, and took it into Photoshop.  I got as far as placing my "flat" colors when I realized... I did not like Martha Wayne AT ALL in the original drawing.  I kept trying to convince myself that it wouldn't matter as Batman was the focus of the image... but Martha Wayne just kept bugging me.  So I bit the bullet, and decided... I'd completely redraw her, insert her in via Photoshop, re-ink, and then color as if she'd been there the whole time.  It was the first time I'd ever make such a drastic change between the paper and the digital.  But, in the end, it was the right decision.

Here is the before and after of Martha Wayne.  Seriously, what the hell was I thinking with that first image?  I mean, SERIOUSLY!  I'm glad I convinced myself to take another stab at her.

Now, I sit back and wait to see how many (if any) of this years submissions make the cut... c'mon July!!!

UPDATE:  Only the Turtles made the cut.  Bummer, because I REALLY LOVED the Batman.  Ah well, I can sell it as prints. Maybe.

Tiger / Ferret / Elephant Mash-Up... a belated birthday gift.

So, at my day job, I work with this girl.  Usually around your birthday she'll come to you and ask you list off 3-5 animals that you like.  Later, she'll come back with a drawing of those animals all mixed up and mashed together.  The quality of her drawing is pretty equivalent to a pre-schooler's drawing, that any mother would put on the fridge.  It's kinda her thing.

Anyways, her birthday was rolling around and rather than give her a giftcard or something else equally lame and uninspired... I decided to ask her to list off 3-5 animals that she likes...  and informed her that I would draw something for her.... using my "professional" drawing skills.

The day job is a retail job, and her birthday was right before the big holiday rush, so the birthday present fell to the sidelines for a bit... but I decided to clear off the drawing table and tackle this assignment.  Her animals were a tiger, a ferret and an elephant.  Initially this presented a quandary because... how does one mix these 3 together?  The sheer size difference alone and the difference in body shapes would not make this easy.  So, I struggled with that a bit.  I knew I wanted the tiger to be the main body... but wasn't sure where to put in the ferret or elephant.  I finally landed on ferret supplying the face and tail, with the elephant being the ears and feet.  Then it all kinda came together.

I later regretted the tiger body cuz all the lines of the body were kinda a bitch...  But, as a whole, I liked the end result... and it was good to draw some animals instead of humanoid things (like I usually do).

(Re-)Coloring the classics...

So I wanted to update my Facebook profile picture for the holiday season.  And I love me some Batman, so I did an image search of "Batman, Christmas".  Very little came up... but one image that kept coming up over and over again was the cover to Batman #27 that was released to public back on December 8, 1944.  Yes, the image is 69 years old... hehe... 69...

Anyway, I liked the image... but it had elements that were not so good.  First of all, the bright solid yellow background.  And Robin acting like an idiot.  Stupid Robin.  Dick Grayson became so much cooler when he became Nightwing, but in the 30s and 40s... he was a complete tool.  But I was like, the main part of the image... Batman and Santa... that could work.

Enter Photoshop.  I pulled a very high rez image of the Batman #27 cover off the Internet and took it into Photoshop.  I then went about altering the image.  I cropped the image down to just Batman and Santa, cutting Robin out entirely.  Cuz... screw Robin.  I then touched up and re-did the black linework of the image.  Once I had cleaned up line work on it's own seperate layer, I took out the color... and proceded to re-color the whole thing.  I updated the blue and grey of Batman to the more current shades of blue and grey used in the comics.  Everything else, i took cues from the original cover as for the base colors... and I then went in and shaded everything.  I replaced the glaring yellow background color of the original comic book cover with a blue to white gradiant, and then I added some snow, to help solidify the winter season.  You can view the process here:

After all was said and done, I was really pleased with the end result, and I wanted to "sign" it.  But... I'm not the guy who drew the image.  I just touched up the original image done by "Bob Kane".  Except, after some Internet research... Bob Kane did NOT draw this image, either.  In fact, although Bob Kane is credited as being the creator of Batman, He did very little artwork (or writing?) on the Batman comic books back in the day... though he was credited for it well into the mid 1960s.  Apparently, back in the day, DC Comics would hire "ghost artists" to work on their books.  But the creator of the character would get all the credit.  So although Batman #27, is credited to Bob Kane, it was in fact... drawn by... JACK BURNLEY.

Jack Burnley apparently did a lot of sports illustrations back in the 30s and 40s, but also worked for a period at DC Comics drawing Superman, and of course, the Batman.  He retired from art just before I was even born, and died about 7 years ago, at the age of 95.

Anyway, since I wanted to throw my scribble on the end result, I felt Jack Burnley should get his credit, too.  Since he wasn't given the credit back in 1944, he might as well get some now.  It was hard finding a useable signature for Burnley.  Being a "ghost artist" means your name doesn't show up anywhere.  I eventually found it on a basketball illustration.  So I lifted it off that, slapped it on there, and threw my (much smaller) scribble under it.

30 Characters Challenge - 2013

So in addition to not shaving the manly beard I can sprout from my face, the month of Novemeber also brings the "30 Characters" challenge.  Hosted by Tyler James of Comix-Tribe.  I participated back in 2011, but I was having some computer issues in 2012 and could not compete.  So this year, I had a newer computer that wasn't giving me issues, and I figured I could give it another go.

My first time around was just to try it.  And it was fun.  This time around I wanted to deliver a certain level of "Quality" with the output.  So, I made sure that every entry was created using the same techniques and tools, which I think kind of unified all the characters, even though they're quite different from one another.

If you want to check out my characters, check out my author page here.

I've got some ideas if I do it again in 2014.