Wolf-Man

Captain America...

Felt like playing around with Captain America.

Dunno...

It's been a while since I used any digital watercolor techniques, but now I feel as though I can utilize them in a more grounded approach. With this drawing, it just made more sense to use this technique than anything else.

Numero 50

Nobody said otherwise or gave any suggestions, so the entry for my 50th post is...Vader!

One more til' 50...

Blueberry, a character from the old Moebius comics.

Predator...

Some back-story on this. Predator was a movie that dazzled me at a young age. My parents took my brother and I to the drive in theater to see a family-oriented film. My brother would probably remember what it was, but that wasn't what caught my attention. My parents made us dress up in our pajamas so we could go straight to bed when we got home, but we also brought blankets. At the drive-in there was a screen behind us, there were about 5 or so movies going on at the same time. Well, I kept pretending to fall asleep then turn around and watch it without sound until my parents would catch me. When I was in pre-school, my mom was in the hospital at the time. My dad rented movies and made sweet-rolls for my brother and I to keep our minds off of things. He brought home "Predator," and even though at four years old I couldn't comprehend what all was going on, I knew that I loved every minute of it.

The next day at pre-school, my best friend at the time had her grandfather visit and talk about his experience in the military. I asked a bunch of questions and then I went off on a tangent about Predator, and then said "ugly motherfu..." then the teacher quickly shut me up. My dad was told about the incident, and he kind of laughed it off later.

Anyway, still dig the heck out of the character even though Paul W.S. Anderson did his best to try and ruin it for me. But whatever...still cool...

Another X-Men Piece...

Some of my friends suggested that they wanted to see me do a drawing of Emma Frost, the White Queen. So this was what I came up with. I used my P2 process again, which is getting more refined with each illustration.

Nightcrawler

I'm nearing 50 posts. That really seemed to catch up quickly. If anybody actually reads this, give me suggestions on what to do for my 50th post, and I'll do the top two...probably because there will only be two...but whatever!

Cyclops pic...

Bonus pic...Punisher

I'm trying to do this a little more now. For those of you who actually look at the blog, you get to see exclusive pictures. Normally, I'll post all the art that goes up here on other messageboards, the only difference is that I put it up here first. But Lately (as with some of the portraits), you'll only see them posted here. This is a Punisher picture I did this morning.

Basically, what that means is always check the blog first. It's the primary spot to see my artwork.

Batman

I decided on using a more graphic approach to drawing batman today. I started the picture using a standard style and it just wasn't jiving in the least. So I dropped in a blue gray background and started going over the existing lines with the two highlight tones. The resulting piece you see beside this text.

Jack Hawksmoor...

Just felt like drawing a Wildstorm character. It's funny, some people were raised on golden-age comics, others "silver," and me? Well, I was raised on Wildstorm comics. Sure, I've always had a very diverse taste in comics, but some of my favorites came when I was in my middle-to-high school years. So it was fun to draw this character. It was also fun figuring out how to create the door. I don't like to drop in pre-made stuff if I don't have to.

Laci

Another Painter experiment. This time a character from a comic one of my "comic mentors" works on. Brian Stelfreeze has been such an influence on my art in general for the past...Lord even knows how long. I first met him the second semester I was in college. Went down to A&M and met him, spoke with him and listened to him lecture other people while working. 6 hours, and it completely changed my approach to art. The way he talks about color is intense, but it's extremely important. Since then I make my yearly pilgrimage to "Brian." We'll talk techniques and any cool new materials available. It's just great to have that. He does this for everyone.

But anyway, this is a character from the Image/12 Gauge book The Ride. Some of my all time favorite comic artists have worked on this book, and it would really be a dream to do ANYTHING with them. But I just did this in Painter and Photoshop...which henceforth shall be referred to as P2 for the sake of saving me some additional keystrokes. Anyway, lots of fun. I also had my friend Tom Feister give me some pointers on it. I'm really happy with the result.

More portraits...

I'll tell you a funny story, not funny "ha ha," more funny "odd." It's been years since I really did any portraits. I think the last one I really did before this was one of Alan Cummings for a Design I project in college. We had to do a 28X35 ink reproduction of a portrait using a mark of our choosing, mine was a partial "C." Because of poor planning by the professor, we did not get class time for the project, and we had other projects to do outside of class. So, one Thursday before finals, I had two projects to get done, so I cranked out the one for the other class and spent 16 straight hours working on the Alan Cumming piece using microns. By the time it was done, I couldn't see straight, I hadn't eaten, my hand wouldn't come out of a "claw" shape. I went to meet up with my friends, and nearly fell asleep, but didn't, so I felt sick. We walked to class through the tunnel under the highway. My hand was completely numb and cold. When we got to class, there was an indention in my hand from where the handle of my portfolio was. I got a super good grade in the class, but I guess all that last minute work was a put-off. I really shy away from reference. Whatever I need I try to take from the world in mental snap shots. I don't like to give myself too much time or else it stifles creativity. Back in high school I was pretty bull-headed. I would always try and add my own spin to portraits, when all people wanted was a basic portrait. My mind would think that it was just too boring for me to spend time on a simple portrait, why not add a cool background. I guess I've always been like that. With limited time has come the attempt at trying to fit in as much as possible. But as I've been growing up, I've learned that things have their limits. I'm really scaling things back lately with my work, and it's helping a lot. If you can find a point that ties all of this information together, major "Rad" points go to you!

Digital portraits...

I felt like working on some faces when drawing in painter, so I did some portraits of some of my friends. Cully and Tony. It's been a long long time since I a)used reference, and b)drew anything that resembled something. I kept the ref to as much of a minimum as possible. I'm pretty happy with the results.

Also, I must profess my love of my wacom Intuos 3 and Painter.

More sketching...

Just having some more fun with the wacom tablet.

New sketch...

I just finished an 8 page story completely using Painter for the lines and photoshop for colors. It was a different experience, but the finished product looks pretty good. I found out a lot of what works and what doesn't. Here's a sketch I finished after the story. Meryl from MGS.

Surfer and Iron Fist

Hulk

This has been purely digital so far with these past few pictures. I'm going to try a picture today where I sketch in pencil and then use this technique to finish it. If I do that I might be able to do full pages this way. I really like the effect.

Long time, new post...

So, I'm fresh off of a 10 page anthology story that I did with some friends. I haven't done that much sequential work. However, each time I do a story, right after I finish I will usually have some new techniques to test out. I like to really experiment and test my limits. I did these tonight. Used painter for the lines, photoshop for the colors. Some of you may be relieved that I didn't add any glow. This style really doesn't need it. I'm super happy with it and I'll see if I can use it for a story. More experimentation to come.

Also, sorry for the lapse in postings...life happens sometimes.

Some new art...

I got to do some art over the weekend. First weekend in a while that I haven't been completely swamped.

Team Achilles

More Turtle fun...

I've been playing some more with lighting, and just having fun with this stuff. I'm also figuring out ways to get cleaner pencils and finishes. Not inking is really working to my advantage I think.

TMNT...

I think it explains itself!

Starman for the people...

I started reading Starman when I was in high school. My family used to go to the Borders down by the mall, and I would sit and read graphic novels while I waited for my parents shopping. One time I picked up Starman...the art, the writing, that's when things clicked together. I used to buy books primarily for the art, but everything about the book was beyond great. It's always going to have a special place in my heart, and that's why I'm always going to be drawing pictures based on it.

Friday fun!

I'm still working on the whole pencil to color thing, and I have to say, it's getting easier to do. It's crazy, because for years I've been working on trying to gain an identity with my art using thin pen lines and relying primarily on color. With pencil I'm getting more line variation and it's pretty easy to clean up at this point. I just keep erasing any extra lines as I go.

Psylocke

This was a lot of fun. I'm continuing to work on the pencils, and I think my pieces overall are becoming much more successful.

A couple new ones!

I'm really trying to push working with just pencils. For years I've been struggling with finding a decent way of inking. By doing all my own work, I've had to become a jack of all trades so to speak, although I've never really enjoyed inking. I love coloring, and of course pencilling, but the finality of inking is such a put-off to me. For the longest time I would do relatively loose pencils and go straight to inking so I could get to coloring. I spent a lot of time finishing forms in ink, thus loosing volume and line quality as well as movement of form in the inking process. I'm really feeling connected again by using just pencil in these recent pictures. Experimentation is a fantastic thing, particularly when it works out.

That's Strange...hmmm ;)

I think it pretty much explains itself. Dr. Strange goes on a date...

Been busy....

Things have been crazy, but I'm still trying to find time to get some drawing time in.

Wolvie...

I was looking through the storeroom this morning trying to find some white sulphite paper for kids and ran into this stuff. So I did this during the couple moments I was free.

BTW, bringing out white paint at the time wasn't an option, so I did the white areas digitally.

New pics...

Here are a couple new pics I did this weekend.

More robo pics...

More new pics...

I don't know what it is, I'm tired every night, but I'm feeling inspired again. I'm feeling flow in my work, and I'm feeling some major growth. It's a great feeling...

Something odd...

This was what I saw yesterday when I was taking a test. A crazy dust storm caused by heavy winds, but there was this weird bit of light that peaked through and caused this hazy bluish/purplish light on the car windows in front of me. Kind of scary...

Here's a couple other pieces I've done lately...

Starship Troopers

Just felt like doing a picture inspired by Starship Troopers...more the novel than anything. My father and I are huge fans, and really dug the heck out of the animated series. My friend Chris DiBari is doing a mini-series of the book right now, and it's going to be awesome. So, if anything, I guess his pictures have inspired me to do one. I've gone back to a much more comfortable style, and I think it shows in this piece!

P.S. Happy Valentine's day...and for once, I mean it. Usually this time of year is depressing for me, but today, it was actually pretty good. Still don't have a special lady to share it with, but I've found there are alternative ways to find meaning in this otherwise commercial holiday.