#inktober - Days 20 & 21

2 more today... and it's EARLY today... so maybe more will be posted later? Maybe...

Switched back to the PITT pens for these today... I think they're my favorite, cuz they give that brush quality with the control of a marker...  Try them!

#inktober - Days 18 & 19

Still behind... but getting there.  On my next "Day Off" I'm just gonna plow through the rest of the drawings (and maybe even get ahead!)

Anyway, Jack and Hellboy here were done with a brush, and the "better" india ink.  I definitely had a better experience with this ink than the first batch of ink.  So, I think I'll revisit it during this challenge.  Now should I invest in a better brush?

Hellboy was a kind of "peer pressure" entry.  A lot of my fellow artist friends had picked Hellboy as a choice for #inktober.  So I opted to do one too.  I thought I'd try to mimic the "Mignola-style".  I don't think I lived up to the master... but it was fun to do anyway.

#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.