Happy Holidays

Storm Riders

Update. Enjoy these pretty colors!



Here is the colored version of, "One For Bringing It Down." I threw some textures on the lower part of the bobots leg, as well as inside the smoke and dust cloud, just to give it a tad bit more detail. I will intensify the light hitting the robots hand. The shine doesn't seem strong enough for how close the hand is to the source.

Finally! Here is the color study for the Founding Fathers image. I went a little further and detailed the four lower characters and played around with the glowing light from Hamilton's arm cannon. Before i get too much further, i need to finish the base colors on the flag, as well as the pole, and work with the smoke clouds coming from the evac-ship above. The colors for that ship need to be played around with, as well. Once all that is done, i can worry about the sky and the massive fleet way up there. Lots and lots of things to do!

A God Turned Foul By The Cruelty Of Man

Firstly... the title. There's not too much to it. Its been a reoccurring story concept that i have been playing around with in my head. When you think of a god, they are beings with the capability to manipulate and influence the things around them, without too much change to themselves. They usually stay pretty constant. But, what if it worked the other way. What if they themselves are susceptible to manipulation and change by other forces than their own, that mold them into into something else. Anyways..... its probably a concept that's already been done, but that wont stop me from playing around with the idea and get a few drawings out of it.

ANYWAYS.... Here are some pictures.

Here is the inked subterranean dragon town. If you couldn't tell, it is related to the Tiny Dragon story that i have been playing around with for quite some time now. Its always nice to work on an image dealing with that story. I find the overall cuteness of the subject matter therapeutic, since most of what i do focus on more metal things.


Here is a fun pencil drawing i did not too long ago. I was filled with an urge to work on a bar scene. And since it was a bar scene it should have a bit of humor in it. Whats more humerus than a skeezy drunk getting hammered in the face after being a little too forward.


Ok, so, I just wanted to draw a chick in armor. That how it started. Than i added in the unburied coffin and the graveyard, and finally i threw in a monk and BAM, she is now a vampire hunter who had arrived just a little too late. For as little forethought that went into this drawing, im a little surprised by how much story came out of it.


Here are a series of character sketches i did for a small story idea. Dont really know if i will peruse it, but it was pretty fun drawing them and coming up with some back stories.

Something about Armour and heels. Dont know why, but its appealing. That and Skulldrons.
This is one of the main characters, She is introduced to the story with a massive boulder crushing her legs. See is rescued by the other main character, the priest below, who had to amputate both of her lower legs in order to get her out. Later she had some prosthetic legs crafted for her, and shortly after that, befriended an awesome hawk named Lex. She than tracks down the priest in order to repay him for saving her life.

This is the other main character. He is a battle priest who diserted his post since he did not approve of the imperialistic ambitions of the kingdom he once served, and believes that the king has manipulated the countries beliefs to justify his actions and ambition. He is lighthearted, open minded, and forgiving. An overall good dude.

All of the primary characters are or become members of the Honor Bound, which is a mercenary contractor. Here is an image with the groups superiors dramatically posing, chilling, on a cliff. I mean, why not?

I Dine With Death

Awesome title right! Anyways..

I do not have much for this update, but i was rummaging through my image folder and found the third page for the comic project i am working on with a couple people from conceptart. I relised that i never posted the finished pencils on my blog. So here it is.

Internet and a Brief Change in Style

After about a month and a half, my new place in Richmond has internet. Sooooo, here is a post!

These past few month have been quite artistically diverse. At my job in Northern Virginia I have been working on the fall advertisement, and am happy to say that its finally done. I have also picked leather working back up. Its quite refreshing to be using my hands for something creative and interactive. At the end of the day, there is an immense sense of accomplishment when i look at the designs and textures stamped on a piece of leather.

Other than the advertisement and leather work, I started on a trio of inks. It is for a very large story that i have been working on in my spare time. Its has all the sweet stuff like action, romance, despair, redemption, as well as a giant serpent and a massive army of the dead. Of course these images will not capture the full scope of the story, but instead the more vital points that affected the two main characters the most .For this, I began working in a different direction. I felt that there must be as much flow through the images as possible, so the concepts became more stylistic.

"I Lace My Dreams In Silver."

" I hide My Heart In Steel"

"Our Spirits Shimmer like Gold"
This last one is not finished yet. I need to work on the small image on the left. So far there is just a sketch, and i will need to get a couple of horse references in order to finish it

Colors, Samurai, Comics, and a Big ol' Robot

I Have a bunch of things to post today.

This first one has been deemed finished for quite some time, but I never had the time to post it. It was a rather enjoyable piece to work on, so i might revisit it later and do some tweaks. It is always nice to work on pieces with a bit of humor, even though its a bit juvenile. O... The title is, 'A Sight For Sore Eyes.'

A couple days ago I came to a realization that I have never seriously drawn a samurai. I felt a bit ashamed and began to come up with some concepts and situations for this samurai picture. Somehow a robot squeezed its way into the picture and became an important part of the concept I was fine tuning. Eventually, the robot became a much more massive part of the idea and began to take the focus away from the samurai. In the end though, I believe the outcome is satisfactory. The samurai may not be the only focus of attention, but he still is one and in the end that was my goal. Well ....kind of stretching it a bit, but it works.

I title the piece, 'One For Taking It Down.' When i get to coloring this picture the magical arrow about to be fired will be much more apparent.


Feeling sorry for Samurai Phil having to share his spotlight, i inked a closer more detailed picture of him. He even has some awesome facial scars and a snarling mask. He looks like someone who could throw down with a giant robot.

A good friend of mine Invited me to work on a comic with him and a few other people. I will be working on the pencils and and my friend will color over top of it. I am interested to see how the final pages will come out. This is what i have come up with so far.

Sketches, Busts, and Inks

I have the day of today. That means i can update this blog. It certainly in need of some more updating. There are a bunch of things here, although most of them are only sketches. I have a few colored pieces in the works but don't want to show them off yet.

Here are some character inks for the Silent Guardian story. This past weekend I enjoyed a nice long car ride to and back from West Virginia. Both of these where done in the car, which got quite frustrating on bumpy highway. This was the only moment that i can remember where traffic was considered a blessing. The lower one was mostly a practice in foreshortening and speed. Looks ok.

Here are some random character busts. Only one of which has a bust.

While spending the night in West Virginia. I had an idea for a sub-story, or situation, for the Tiny Dragon story. Grimlock, the more intellectual and creative of the two, Is looking for a way to interact with his human companions. Eventually, he decided that shrinking them was the answer. While rummaging through his collection of gadgets, he came a cross a "shrink ray" that has never been used. Trusting the label, he put it to use only to find out that it was not a "shrink ray," but a "youth ray." Now he must find a way to put things right. The point of the story is to keep your rays properly labeled. Anyways, here are some of the sketches.

Some Color

The colors are pretty much done for this picture, although there are a few more things that I feel must be done before it is finished. I need to go through the the line work and tone down the black outline so it is not as restrictive to areas to high movement areas as well as distant areas. Hopefully that will add more depth and movement.

Here is another color study. The title is, "A Sight For Sore Eyes." O me and my juvenile sense of humor.

A Quick Little Story For A Quick Little Sketch

While on a lunch break last week, i started scribbling a spirit (genie). I pretty much had a picture in my head of what i wanted it to look like. One big aspect of it is that it appeared to be made partially of stone with carvings of the contract to its owner inscribed on those parts. From there, i came up with a spur of the moment story summary. If you are interested in the story, and do not mind a gratuitous amount of spelling errors, feel free to read the story on the image above. I see it as a light hearted and fun story that will not take itself too seriously. And if anything comes from it, it will probably be in the form of a series of short comics. Anyways, I think it turned out pretty well for only being done on a lunch break. Way to go me.

Lastly, here is a color study for an image that i did a couple months ago. Well see what happens from here.

Final Colors

So here are the final colors. I wanted to keep the color scheme cool, mainly relying on blues and purples. I used a bit of green in her hair to throw it off a bit, as well as some red on the necks and the head she is chowing down on. The original layout had some empty space for text, but as I kept working on it, I became accustomed to the empty sky space. It worked really well with the mood. So im debating on including the text or not. O decisions decisions.

Busy Busy Busy

Work has been taking up a lot of my time as of late. My boss promised me that the my hours will return to normal in a week. I will miss all that extra money flowing into my pocket, but the surplus in art time will be welcomed. Here are some of the things I have been working on.

I went back into my pile of Inks and found this picture that i was meaning to color. So, to set the pace on achieving the goal, I laid out a color study. Its pretty basic, but the details in the skull pile should really make it interesting when that point is reached.

Here are the finished inks for Murder Parade. I was thinking of putting some party banners on the upper empty area. Just a thought though. I really want to color this one, so im hoping my boss is right about my work schedule chilling out a little.

I was feeling a little blue this morning so I started sketching a happy picture. The subject is stemming off of the Dragon story started a while back. In this picture, the two main ladies where brought to the tiny dragons "tiny" Capital city deep underground. The city is quite adorable and the market is filled with pie shops and candy stores.

I Guess This Is It

This is Pretty much it. There are probably a few nit picky parts left, so if any of you see anything that might need some attention let me know.
Now I am going to work on my new business cards!!

A Bunch Of Things Going On

OK. SO its been a while since i posted anything. In my defense a week of it was because I was on vacation. I visited a friend in Portland for a pretty awesome, wet, week. It was pretty neat being on the west coast. I saw an incredibly clean and green city, saw some some really big trees as well as Haystack rock, which is not only very big, but was also in the Goonies. I further developed my addiction to sushi and wasabi, saw a short mummy, watched some chickens cross a road, saw an amazing animated movie called The Illusionist, and witnessed a homeless couple break up with copious amount of spit flying. Than there was all the inking and drawing.

I wasnt able to work on this until i got back from Portland. Sometimes i really wish my Labtop didnt torch its insides. But when i got back, i was able to put a few hours into it. I still have to work on the robo-bear's other arm, and do some things with the background. Other than that, probably a few touch ups.

There where plenty of drawing to do without my computer. On the flight over, I started to work on some more Inks. Although, most of the flight I was a bit distracted by my seat neighbor and the interesting conversations we had. The top picture is titled "Bitches Be Crazy." The ultimate goal was to come up with a comic cover concept. I took it further than expected by inking it but o well. There is a little graphite work i would like to do in the background and some more details in the foreground. Other than that, it will be colored if i still have interest in it.

This is the other one I started on the flight over, but worked on it much more than the picture above while in Portland. It is titled, "Murder Parade." I have been juggling this concept around for a while and finally got to it. As you can see, it is only half inked and barely entirely drawn out. I have been noticing that things dont have to have be as drawn out before i ink them anymore. Most of the details and pretty much everything else comes in the inking phase. I feel that I have become quite comfortable and confident with inks. If anything catastrophic happens, there is always white out. Anyways..... i really want to see this picture to the end. Something about it is comically relaxing to me. Its all their cute little faces.

This is an inking in my sketchbook that was revisited over and over during the flight there and back. This started as four separate drawings before i got bored and mashed them together. Try and find the four original sketches. You will get a reward. SATISFACTION!!!

A tad bit further

Not too much is different from the color study posted earlier. I just spent some more time on Mr. Roosevelt's colors. There are some shadow parts that can be made darker, but i am trying to avoid having him too dark altogether.

Teddybear Color Study

I have a surprise day off of work today thanks to the rain so why not spend the day off coloring one of my inks. Here is the color study for my second teddy picture. I decided that a menacing color scheme was best so i focused in using reds and purples. Of course teddy will be in his usual attire, but a lot less yellow will be present once all the grime is added on. I added some yellow on the claws and metal bits to see if the colors distribution could be spread out more through the image instead of having just teddy as the only source of yellow. The metal yellow might have to be toned down a little.

Founding Fathers

Here is the inked image of the Founding Fathers picture I have been working on. It features Washington, Hamilton, Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson. This is one of a series of revamped historical political figures. For a while I had no idea what to put in the sky. First it was going to be a military helicopter hoovering above, than it was an alien invasion. That didn't quite fit in with the setting that was already there, but i did like the idea of having some sort of futuristic crafts in the sky. Later I decided to full the sky with transport ships evacuating the inhabitant of earth.

Here is a summery: Far into the future, Earth has been overrun by a mutant plague and the remains of humanity if forced to evacuate the planet. A few years before the plague a few of the Founding Fathers returned from the dead to protect and serve. Outfitted with state of the art technology not only to restore themselves but also to improve their capabilities, The Founding Fathers have become an unmatchable force. During the evacuation of Earth, they chose to stay behind and hold off the hordes of mutants until the last ship has taken off. From there they plan to travel the globe and extinguish the mutant threat so that one day humanity might be able to return home.

Its been a bit.

Sorry for the absence. I have been busy on a couple graphic advertising jobs for work. I received a bit of a job redefinition with me focusing on more of the visual advertising for the company. I am, perfectly all right with that. Beats what i used to do.

Here are a few things i have been working on on the side.

Villain hanging out with her friends

Here are some new character concepts for my Silent Guardian story. I added much more to Clair's character, incorporating more of the tech she would add to her arsenal as she progressed through the story. The main feature is the Leg Supplement Armour which greatly improves the strength of that area, improving running ad jumping, allowing increadable maneuverability on the rooftop system in the city.

For Nicks character, the suit was redesigned into something a little simpler since it is not made for appearances and for getting in the way of a hurling truck or train or building. I figured that it would gather alot of wear and tear rather fast so a simpler but effective design would make it easier to repair and replace.


Here are some concepts for a picture I am working on featuring the some of the founding fathers fighting mutants in the future.

George Washington

Ben Franklin and Alexander Hamilton

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson

BULLY 2: The Most Dangerous Game, Cyborg Bear Punching

A college chum commented on my other Teddy Roosevelt picture and mentioned another "metal" situation that the former President would find himself in. Here it is.

I usually dont use speed lines, but figured that since this is already a cartoonish situation why not.

Pencils

Pies and inks

Here is the color for the pie picture. I feel like it turned out pretty good. In the end, she ended up redder than originally planned, but it feels good. Also, i have the inked flying picture. Hopefully it can get colored soon. That might have to be pushed back since i got a graphics comission for a landscaping company. I get to design a doorknob hanger add. Hopefully it will turn out well and pretty fast.

BULLY GOOD

I finally got around to coloring the Teddy Roosevelt picture. Its still got some work to it. Teddy needs some more color, he is looking a little pale. A raptor needs to be colored in, and than I need to go in with some more highlights. The text behind him needs to be reworked. It looks a little odd the way it is cut out around him.