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I know I missed yesterday...it was beyond crazy. Here's something my friend Luan made. Shows where we'll be at this weekend. If you can, stop by, it's always great to see a friendly face! Again, check out the site for Staple! if you need info!

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Not much to say today...

Post 92

Went back and colored this one. I'm getting a handle on some brushes that I got from a post that John Rauch (eraserx) put on the Gaijin Board. If you want them, they're on his Deviantart page. I love them all, but there are a few in particular that really play to my sensibilities as a watercolor artist, as well as a colorist. The one that kind of looks like a rounded triangle is what I used on this, when you don't use too much pressure, it gives the effect of chalk at the ends.

I used Painter IX almost the whole summer, and as with most programs I was determined to teach it to myself. But I had trouble with the oil paints, they were a little too sketchy in terms of pressure and everything. However, the way that these brushes were set up, once you get the hang of them, are really fun!

I started off in comics as a flatter, but in college, when I was doing the flatting, I was doing watercolor and printmaking. It was very expressionistic, and doing color flatting is extremely rigid. Granted, I've gotten more offers for flatting, and colors than doing interiors, but flatting is soul draining work. There are people who have systems for it, and can do it for a living. I'm not one of those people. I was working on a really slow computer at the time that would get bogged down in the middle of flatting a complex area and freeze. It drove me to the brink of insanity. So, I was putting together my portfolio to take to this convention next week in Austin that I'm going with my Space-Gun buddies and I noticed how crazy my colors were. At the time I was doing flatting, when I had any time to color my own stuff, I would go all out. I think it was because I had to hold back so much, and I had very little time to do my own work, that I wanted to make the most of it. Here's a couple examples, and another. Honestly, I blame it on the Printmaking. The building we were in was newly moved into, and there was not proper ventilation. We had to use a huge bath of acetone to clean the plates off since we were using oil based inks. After four hours of working in there it was hard to remember much. I had a class after that and there are evenings I can't remember. I just have papers to show for it, thankfully I got A's. I'm kind of worried those months of printmaking will come back to haunt me in my later years...

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that I've kind of reeled it back. The coloring I do, I try to use the color choices more than the application. The two people that helped me learn the most over the years...WAAAAAAAY more than all my years of college (except my watercolor class) were Brian Stelfreeze and Kelsey Shannon. Years ago I used to post non-stop on the Gaijin Boards, Kelsey always had helpful words for me that would slap some sense into me. Kelsey's always busy now, but when I do hear from him, I usually get a nice little slap...otherwise I'll just check out what he's doing, and that's a slap in itself. Kelsey is brilliant in his art and colors...there's nothing that can be said that would make that statement false.

Then there's Brian, sensei. I bring him my sketchbook every time I see him. I've done that since my first year of college, went down to Texas A&M and stood there, listening to him for 6 hours. He tore into me in his own, passive way. The remarks he made are still popping up in my head when I'm working on things. They're time released nuggets of information that he sneaks in and leaves in your brain. He said I needed to get my own style. At the time I was still trying to draw like Adam Hughes and Tony Harris. I just kept working, and about once a year since then, I've seen Brian...it's like a pilgrimage, and it's helped me immensely. I've seen people half-dismiss what he says, and it makes me sad, because if you embrace his words, they change you.

Either way, I started off college only having attempted computer colors a handful of times, hating it. I left college with a lot of experience coloring and loving it. It's just nice to be able to do almost everything for yourself (I still can't do lettering...yet). When you can't afford to hire or hook up with an inker or colorist willing to work with you, it's best to just learn everything yourself. It all helps you grow, helps you figure out your style, and having colored your own work, it helps you understand what doesn't work. Then other colorists appreciate that.

Post 91

So, I noticed it's getting near my 100th post...by far my longest running blog/online journal of any sorts even dating back to when I was in high school.

I was playing around with brushes in Photoshop, and then checking out blogs and seeing if my favorite artists had anything new. I'll say this, I used to REALLY follow a ton of artists, and I used to try and ape their style. I think for most people that's just natural growth unless you're some sort of savant and you're naturally born with your artistic voice. For the rest of us, we have to work at it.

The thing is, when you're trying out those things, at least in my case, it's helping you realize your own style, picking out the things that feel natural, that work for you, and then you're deleting the rest from your brain. For me, I think that my natural style has always been peeking out, but it's only in the last year that I've really embraced it. I'm thinking less about HOW I'm drawing as much as WHAT and WHY I'm drawing. I'm lucky from the standpoint that I get to view a lot of artists at different stages of artistic progression. It helps me think about my own work. So most of the day, I'm living in my head, I'm making art in my brain before pencil touches paper. So, in a lot of ways I'm becoming more and more 'spacey.'

I look to a lot of places for inspiration, movies, music, walking around places, watching people's mannerisms helps a lot. But there are still people that I really appreciate, and respect. Besides the Gaijin guys, there's Eric Canete. I don't know if people understand or respect just how brilliant he is. I look at his work, and it makes me feel warm inside, and that feeling drives me to do more work, because of what he's doing. There's also people like Benoit Springer, Bengal, Sean Murphy, Raphael Albuquerque, Kristian Donaldson, Connor Willumsen, and a bunch of others. I love seeing their work on a regular basis, it makes me happy. I suggest you all check out their work if you haven't. For any of my you guys that I didn't list, you know I'm looking at your blogs and work, but I actually get the chance to tell you on a regular basis, most of these guys I've never been able to talk to, or meet in person.

I think only a handful of people actually view this blog, and even less probably read the words I throw down, but I'm really thankful for you all viewing my progress through this crazy unending journey we call "Art." I better get back to the drawing table...or mish-mash of laptop tables as is my case.

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So, I was talking to a friend this evening/morning, and was talking about my having fun approach to comic art. If I'm not having fun, I'm not doing it. He likened it to a Ringo Starr approach to art. I thought about it for a second, and this is how I'd describe my approach to art: I'd like to say that my art is like a high school kid wearing a cape and no pants playing a whistle pop on a tricycle down a crowded highway holding up traffic for hours while shooting the bird at everyone...all the while smiling.

That's pretty much how I see it. I've been let down by comics time and time again, I just have to have fun with the art. It's all I've got, otherwise I'd quit pursuing comics entirely. It sure isn't for the money. I'll tell you that much.

More art to come hopefully tomorrow.

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Did this during my lunch break.

Post 85

I haven't just been sitting around. After my last convention I felt I needed to get a few things together to be a bit more professional. Here's the swag I've gotten during and since the con.

1. New business card, overnight prints, put the two sides together and it makes one big image.
2. Postcard front, glossy, nightcrawler with black borders on side.
2a. Postcard back, mock postcard set-up, with my contact info.
3. Card case, came with number 4 for free.
4. My other business card, not as high quality for the print, which is why I did number 1. But the overall design of it was good in my opinion.
4a. Back of the card, went for a classy black and white design.
5. Cully commission...over 5 years of waiting...EXTREMELY WORTH IT!!!
6. Dana's sketchbook-chock full of awesomeness. Dana really has a lot of great sketches and needs to start on some sequentials soon, with inks, colors, the whole nine yards. It'd be a shame to waste that talent.

Post 84

I felt like designing a higher grade business card. This is not the final version, you have to run into me for that, but this is what the sides look like joined together. I did a business card a couple weeks ago, but the print job was only 'okay.' Granted, I got a TON for my money, but I wanted some to give to fellow professionals. The others will be great for giving to con-goers and such. For this batch, I went with overnight prints because I love the results I've seen from friends (Sam, Jake, and Luan).

Anyways, hope you like it, and the next cons I'm attending are Staple! in Austin, TX, and NYC Con.

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Last of the 2007 images, to be colored later...

Post 79

I should have one last image up for 2007 by the end of the day! Otherwise, if all else goes wrong...Happy New Year!

Post 78

Merry Christmas everybody!!!