Brimstone Blue Ver. LOST

10-9 - Character Portraits

2009-01-13T02:26:00.002-05:00

I'm in the process of setting up a Wiki for information on 10-9, mostly my own worldbuilding notes so I can quickly find them.... and because Wikis are highly addictive and fun things. :3

These babies were sketched in Manga Studio EX 4 which I'm starting to get the hang of, printed at full 8.5x11 and inked with a Maru Nib and Brush. I'm rather fond of the result myself. :3

Enjoy~

I Don't Wanna Fall Into Your Gravity

2008-11-23T16:24:00.003-05:00

My drawing hand usually makes these freaky wild gestures when putting things to a page. It takes immense concentration for me to actually give stuff a 'slick' and polished appearance when I'm not a naturally slick person by any stretch of the imagination. So with these doodles, I just took a small sketchbook, took my favorite ballpoint pen, and just drew trying not to lift my hand from the paper to purposely leave those wild flicks and strokes in place. I might try for 'slicked up' versions of these and see how it comes out.

But for now meet Adin, Iris, and Sharon... all three may or may not be sticking around in my little lexicon of universes living in my head.

Join The Impact

2008-11-15T16:31:00.000-05:00

What's That Smell!?

2008-10-21T01:59:00.005-04:00

Quite possibly the most slice of life-ish story I've ever done. :3 Even with my super cartoony look in play. Oddly it seems to work just fine. :o

Wow and check out that clarity holy MACKEREL. :D

Ink Studies

2008-10-21T01:52:00.002-04:00

Ink studies for Visual Storytelling. In the case of the Indy study, once upon a time this quarter I attempted to draw pretty representational of life.

Yeah. Not so much anymore.

Oddly enough it's in a style I thought would never fly but people seem to love it. Only took fifteen years to unlearn what I thought wasn't acceptable.... and five minutes to pick it back up again. Go figure. XD

Enjoy~

Butterflies and Hurricanes

2008-10-21T01:45:00.002-04:00

Long time no update. Oh my poor school blog. How I miss thee. :<

Have the latest Trials of Triple A to get you by along with the slew of other updates following. :3

Enjoy~

Commission: Desant's Question

2008-07-29T23:26:00.002-04:00

I had a last minute, very special commission come across my plate the other day. A good friend of mine came to me needing aid in proposing to my best friend of ten years. The story goes they both met on the online role playing game Final Fantasy XI six years ago, four years later their characters were wed in game, because you can actually do that in the game. So the lucky chap asked me to reproduce his character and the moment he got on bended knee for his lady as a surprise to my best pal. I laughed hysterically because last quarter my Professor and all around great guy Nolan Woodard did a proposal piece for his 'lady' last Spring Quarter.

Well... safe to say the proposal went off without a hitch and while my best friend tried to psych me out by telling me she said NO which I almost had a HEART ATTACK she just laughed and said 'ARE YOU CRAZY? OF COURSE I SAID YES. :D'

Commission: Octavian

2008-07-29T18:57:00.003-04:00

Yet another commission in the can. :3 I actually had to turn to a friend and Grad Student Brenda Lyons for advice on how to do those infernal wings since she's a bit of an authority on the topic. I don't do winged characters often... and it shows... but I think I made it my own. :D

The fact that Octavian here has Heath Ledger's face makes me awkwardly depressed. :'<

10-9 - Your History - Page 1

2008-07-19T17:32:00.003-04:00

So happy to be doing a new short for 10-9. If all goes well and I manage my time this will be a charming little six page jaunt of a psychological thriller. Of course 10-9's one of those books by default is a bit saltier just for the sheer force of nature that is John's biting sarcasm and creative use of expletives. It's a kind of book that pulls punches where it can from being to OVERTLY visually graphic with being a book set against the backdrop of war and all, but it was a long mental debate to keep the harsh language and the f-bombs and whatnot. The latter in the end was decided to be kept... mostly for John's sake since I had toned him down QUITE a bit already from the harsher slurs in his vocabulary and I wanted to make absolutely clear of what a completely abrasive jackass he is in MAJOR need of a punch to his pretty little face.... but still keep him insanely interesting.

Honestly.... out of all of the cast I love John the most. :3

Enjoy~ :3

Commissions: Vasz and Niamh

2008-07-19T16:46:00.004-04:00

A couple of commissions to quite honestly put gas in my car. D: It allowed me to experiment more with the brush and know when to bust out the nib on top of what inks I like best. I really have to say despite being a notorious brush killer I can see the appeal of the Dr. Ph. Martins Black Star and the Bombay line. The cost effectiveness of Bombay is mooooostly what appeals and plus I like the finish when it dries and that it dries FAST.

Anyway. Ink geeking aside... Vasz (top) is a charming fellow from Ghosts by Rose Meloche that I just had lots of fun making him look like the laid back jerk he is with his sloppy salute. Niamh (lower) is an original gaming character created by a friend, because I'm one of the rare artists that like designing people's creations that live in their heads. We'll see how I feel about that AFTER I do the con circuit a few dozen times. XD

Enjoy. :3

10-9 - Your History - Sneak Peek!

2008-07-12T03:12:00.002-04:00

Panels 5-7 of Page 1 of the new 6 Page Mini I'm working on. :3 I decided to try something a little new with my inking and add a little... okay a LOT of dry brushing to my repertoire in trying to find the look I like and my voice as an artist. I realize waaaaay back in Life Drawing good ol' Larry found I had an insane obsession for textures and pattern and he had commented it was something with enough development would make me stand out.

Of course in Sequential Art use too many patterns and textures and it's the Kiss of Death. All I knew really in me trying to go straight up graphic with my work I was getting quickly unsatisfied, and honestly I had that craving to be different which of course is my freaking MO.

These three panels are more of a test run than anything. I have to see if I like it by morning. I adore Maya's hair and just how it looks like hair and I think I'm good to go with doing it like that from now on. I maintain I draw John's hair differently every time. @_@ That buzzcut will end me. D: Also I need to work out if I'm ever going to do feathering on my figures. I'd like to try it eventually now that my hand is getting steadier with a brush and I'm getting bolder about things... I'm just afraid I won't like the look too much. :/ Never know till I try!

Enjoy. :3

Salvation At Last!

2008-06-26T23:33:00.003-04:00

The first print run of the Salvation Zine is hot off the press and assembled. :D Fifty-six put together in two hours, out of a thousand or so. Man I have a long way to go till the full order is ready by August. D:

The specs of this project was definitely different for me. It had to be a ten page 'zine, palm sized, in Portuguese, be produced seriously cheap, and be completely disposable. Not only that it really challenged me to think of images of of faith for the interior that were universal and not be accidentally offensive to a foreign culture.

The cover is 4-color and then each page on the interior is toned the color of the bead of the witness bracelet it represents. It was thanks to taking Computer Coloring last quarter with Nolan I used my new skillset to make the coloring process go so much faster and know not to over render and use the color style appropriate to the lineart. :3 Also thanks to Shawn and Cara's advice here and there I've finally spent some time with inking with a brush. :3 While it isn't completely perfect yet it's TONS better than what I spit out last quarter. I've been experimenting with what a brush can and can't do an I learned in inking the interiors for Salvation that once you try applying the brush to something rather small it get's veeeeeeeery tricky and often times turns into a mess.

Man I've been so turned off to my Copic Multiliners now. Inking is so much faster with a brush it's amaaaaaazing. :O Sadly I might have to order some Holbien Special Black online somewhere because I'm running low and I'm trying to get by with Dr. Martin's Black Star which I found here in P'cola locally. Yeah... It's pretty black... but it's also pretty thin. If you have too much water in the brush it goes a grey purple reaaaaaaaaaallly quick. I should photograph my small ink collection I'm slowly amassing on my desk. It's crazy. You'd think an artist lives here. XD

This Is The End: Terminus Est

2008-06-24T17:25:00.002-04:00

Thought I'd totally make my blog layout into something snazzy. I'm such a fan of old tattered and grungy things. Now I just have to remember to keep my thumbnails small in image uploading. Doh. D:

Hope you like the new digs. Till the next time I blow it up. :3

Can't A Boy Get Some Love?

2008-06-24T13:13:00.002-04:00

The Trials of Triple A is back in action with odd couple hilarity, gender ambiguous hijinks, and a good dose of tender drama to top it all off. Not only that! It has it's own site now! Amazing! :D Now gone independent from The Connector the content is no longer appropriate for all ages, and as also gone color! :D

Hope to see ya around.

The Trials of Triple A @ Nomad Chronicle

Salvation

2008-06-24T13:03:00.002-04:00

New project in the works soon to see completion. :3 An 8 Page 'Zine of sorts to be distributed in Brazil spreading the Word of God, and will also be completely in Portuguese. Bound to be interesting. And this would mark the first time I busted out with inking with a brush. I swear once I sat down and spent some time with the brush at my own speed it's now my inking tool of choice. :D

10-9 - Out Of My Depth - Complete And In The Can!

2008-06-24T12:54:00.004-04:00

Heya kids~ School's out for the summer and this blog kinda fell by the wayside with it. Here's hoping to fix that with a little peace offering of the final letters to the 10-9 one shot 'Out Of My Depth'.

While I finished it and it was a hell of a trip I think this marks the last time I do digital for a long time. :3 Stay tuned for more~

10-9 Oneshot Now In TECHNICOLOR~

2008-05-24T03:07:00.002-04:00

Hot off the press and distributed through the intertubes~ This oneshot is one step closer to being in the can! Monday is lettering day and I already know I have a couple panels that are going to need some editing magic.

But at least the coloring is done! :D My theory behind was the story would start out with muted tones save the red of Ahimsa's hair, then reach it's climax into high saturation and then end with muted tones again. Page four with the monochrome effect in those panels I used specifically for psychological/cinematic effect but still I'm a bit unsure if it'll fly since it's four panels of it. I like it. But we'll see how the critique goes. :D

The kitten is still The Best Thing Ever. XD She's a very curious baby!

Enjoy. :3

Feeding The Fire

2008-05-18T18:26:00.002-04:00

I'm so happy I finally got some time to sit down and work on my Firebreather piece for the Quarter long Temple Challenge! Considering I must have thumbnailed it back in oh? Early March I think I kinda looked at my scribbles all 'What was this squiggle again? D:' I had to do a few tweaks, nail down some bits in the face construction. From the start I had planned to do this digitally since I can turn it out quickly and be satisfied with the result. Luckly for doing those 10-9 pages in taking what I learned from those and funneled it down into these MAN am I pleased. :D However there's the teeniest of tangents waiting to happen between Duncan's thigh and his BFF's knuckle. MUST FIX. >E I love that tree like crazy. @_@ I fiddled a bit to make a crunchy brush for the leaves and it TOTALLY looks dry brushed. That? Is awesome. :D

Enjoy. :3

Out Of My Depth: A 10-9 Oneshot

2008-05-11T05:17:00.003-04:00

I can't believe I pretty much penciled all these babies in two days flat after struggling with it for WEEKS. I actually went backwards with it. Starting with Page Five and the final panel and working my way up on all the pages. :3 I feel it kept the style over all FAR more consistent. And glory be it was done 100% digital. Once I accepted my cartoony inclinations and focused on being speedy I'm super pleased with the results. :D In the end I found a completely new way of doing eyes and my own certain iconography for noses. The fact that I treat the mouths like rubber works much better in this look then my feeble attempt at being super realistic.

And yes. Ahimsa totally talks with his hips. For seriously. *dies*

The kitten is the best part in the history of ever. The End.

The lettering won't happen until the 26th, so for now I hope the story's clear enough. :3

Enjoy. :3

Triple A Bonanza!

2008-05-03T22:48:00.003-04:00

I realized I hadn't stuck any Trials of Triple A up here in a long time. And since I know quite a few out there that forget to grab the Connector from week to week I give you the whole enchilada to date. :D The last strip actually hits stands this Friday but when has anyone been against a sneak peek? :3 A Hint: It's actually a three part story in the works~

Irony out of doing this babies all quarter from switching up ways I do them from digital, to hand drawn, to inking with nibs and brush, to technical pens looking for just the right line quality... In the end hand drawn on Copic Multiliners are the way to go. It's almost like coming full circle since that's how they started. Oh irony. :D

Enjoy. :3

The Sun King

2008-05-02T01:29:00.003-04:00

Take Two on my Temple submission for this week. Nolan I suggested I draw something Authority flavored and my brain went three places instantly: Apollo, Midnighter, or Jack Hawksmoor. Only because I was determined to get some better sense of anatomy in and Middy and Jack are both wearing too many clothes at any given time. :/

At the cumulative advice/kicks in the head this week from Shawn and Nolan which lead me to raid the school library for every Bridgeman and Loomis book on the shelf, as well as let go of these hard ideals that I need to draw super naturalistic and beat myself up every time when it doesn't look right.

Personally I will confess male torsos at a certain angle have always been a weak point for me, I thought I'd give it a go again but I'm fairly certain I'm missing a muscle group or two in there. Just gotta keep trying! :D

Enjoy. :3

Failure To Communicate

2008-04-28T02:42:00.002-04:00

Second Page of the 10-9 Oneshot 'Out Of My Depth'. Trying out some different things and making my way! :D Noel Sickles' inking style has been a BIG inspiration for me for this project and while this page doesn't look like it has a direct influence I'm still working on getting similar marks. Done with a Kolinsky brush to carve out my blacks and a Nikko School Nib which is crazy stiff and can easily scratch the paper I'm begining to get some flex out of it. :3 Also more and more I'm really loving on the Bombay ink I've been using. Dare I say I might like it more than the Holbien. :O

There's actually three errors on this page that I'll need to edit. Likewise beef up that lining of the balloons. :3

Enjoy. :3

The Slave That Became A Gladiator

2008-04-28T02:34:00.002-04:00

The Temple challenge this week was to draw a character from a comic we're currently reading. A staffer of mine on the Connector learned of my fondness for a certain terribly lame Liefield creation and loaned me the comics where he first appeared. So yes. I tried to draw Shatterstar. I tried to make him look somewhat cool only to think... nope... nope... there's no way ANYONE can salvage ol' Opie the Hun. I just instead concentrated on making him awfully purty. XD

Enjoy. :3

Growing Up

2008-04-27T04:40:00.003-04:00

Next story beat for Materials and Techniques. This time rendered completely in dry brush. While I'm iffy on how Iris himself came out over all I think this is a FAR CRY better than what I had been stumbling around in the dark doing. I used the same brush for every single mark, using the quality of the mark describe the surfaces and textures of the environment. Even if in some places it almost looks like your own monitor is blurry. *laughs*

I hope it's clear this time what's being depicted. :3 Enjoy.

One Tin Soldier

2008-04-26T05:17:00.002-04:00

Finally the first page to Out Of My Depth is OUT OF THE GATE. After all of my fussing with Digital versus Traditional the only thing that WAS Digital in the end was the page sketch. I tried to ink this baby three different ways and finally settled on this one with a quite Noel Sickles but still me flavor. I love me some Sickles something fierce. I'm so deserate to get my hands on the new compilation book of his work.

Now I just need to color this brat of a page. And the four pages following. D: Editor's Day here I come! >E

A Dame To Kill For

2008-04-23T04:45:00.003-04:00

An exercise in dry brush. Can I just say I've NEVER tried dry brush before? I'm highly impressed at myself and I'm trying not to come off as an arrogant jerk on the subject. D: I dunno... ever get that 'magic feeling' when you KNOW you've done a damn fine job? :3

Here's hoping it goes over well in the crit tomorrow. :D

Wish me luck! :D

Learn To Grow

2008-04-23T04:16:00.002-04:00

Presenting the first three panels for my Materials and Techniques Class based (Loosely I may add) around a prose novel of mine in the works called 'Grow'. The concept of Grow in 25 words or less is one boy's coming of age from a meek prude to world changing revolutionist. And his name is Iris.

Yes. XD

If the crazy vegitation hasn't given it away Grow is based in a nature type setting and everyone is a literal and a metaphorical representation of a flower. It's a weird little thing I do. :3

As for the art here:

Panel 1 at the top is a study done in Copic Multiliners. I discovered I love Copics a little too much. About ten hours of work went into that baby where I pretended I was a wannabe Berni Wrightson and.... kinda pulled it off.

Panel 2 was done with a G Pen nib and Dr. Martin's Bombay India Ink. I took what I learned from the OMG overload of Panel 1 and tried to pair it down in Panel 2. This is also a reattempt at from what I handed in last week and even if Shawn didn't tell me to redo the old one yet I thought I'd beat him to it. Also a reason for the Bombay ink is I happened to find I had some sitting around from at LEAST two years ago and I collect bottles of ink like people collect teacups y'know? I mentioned it to Roy today that I had some-- TWO bottles in fact! And he positively gushed at how awesome that stuff is so I thought I'd give it a go. :D It did not dissappoint! *O*

Panel 3 was done with a Kolinsky brush and more Bombay. I am seriously dissapointed in this one because ONCE I got my brush trained enough it decided it wasn't going to do all the things I learned to do with it anymore. D: Shawn has a really slick ink style that I really like. Annnnnnnnnnnnd obviously that didn't happen here. D: Though.... I kinda do like the composition. I think looking at the hardcopy in front of me I see the gallon of whiteout I spilled on this thing to fix it and it.... kinda scanned pretty nice. :o I'm impressed at the superpowers of my scanner. :o

Enjoy. :3

Letters From The Front!

2008-04-21T05:19:00.004-04:00

More progress on my Editor's Day/Comp Color Final the 10-9 short 'Out Of My Depth'.... Irony is I never realized how somewhat autobiographical such a title would become with this thing. @_@ I seriously feel almost out of my depth with pushing new things.

Up at the top check out the VAST difference between the Ahimsa on Bristol and the Ahimsa done in straight Photoshop. Welcome to my madness. @_@ A good friend actually nailed my problem between the two mediums on the head: The tools. A stylus is made to go any number of directions with a flick of the wrist. A pen and brush can only go one way and you pull your arm. I keep treating traditional tools like they're meant for a digital media when they don't do that. EUREKA. I hope this is the 'switch' I needed to flip in my brain. @_@

Below is the sketch of Page 1 which as giving me pure caniptions forever. Once I figured out what I needed to do and employed the Work Smarter Not Harder attitude from Dianna and Brent I realized that many of the shots on this page called for the same angle, or the same composition. So TAH-DAH. Cut and paste time and just redraw the proper parts! I hope I can have this baby at final digital pencil tomorrow. >E

Oh and pretend there are pinetrees in that first panel. I had actually painted them in and deleted the layer because I didn't need them at the time. XD

Give It Up For The Apocalipstix!

2008-04-21T05:07:00.004-04:00

Colored to demonstrate first the proper method to use, then emotional content, and last the passage of time. I experimented a bit with the 'Crunchy Brush' thing Nolan told us about but used it extremely sparingly. Even had to track down Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome screencaps to make swatches. Now all I can think of was how awesome Tina Turner was in chainmail. Oh my childhood I miss you. T_T

Enjoy. :3

How Crazy Is This?!

2008-04-18T02:27:00.004-04:00

Context: For Editor's Day here in ATL and in Savannah I'm doing a five page flashback story to 10-9 of Ahimsa's days as a fresh faced private before he became the royal badass captain of his own task force with emotional constipation.

Futher Context: It's also my final project to Computer Coloring.

NO PRESSURE.

Considering this pretty much is the quater I have to do things three times over before getting it right and I have 20 days to get this baby done give or take a day or two it's time to kick it into high gear.

As you can see the top was a study I spit out today that was completely digital the bottom being three panels I attempted to draw and ink by hand. Isn't the style deviation rediculous? @_@ It's just something I do completely naturally. Put a stylus in my hand and I rock out, put a pencil in my hand and I'm like a five year old with crayolas. It even befuddled Nolan a bit when I showed him the side by side comparison.

Unless I'm mimicing a simple style you can pretty much kiss anything uber complicated goodbye when I'm using traditional media. It's been explained to me that my hand 'gets shy' on paper and the second I screw up that's the end of it, however when I work digital it's only a matter of deleting the layer and going again. Likewise the difference is time. Traditionally easily takes me four times as long to do anything, Digitally on the other hand is a fraction of that. The speed between the two is rediculous.

Obviously I'm going to need to get advice on how to make the Uber Pretty on my paper and not be shy about it.

Is it considered somewhat creepy if I mention how awesomely hot Ahimsa came out in the digital study? The poor lamb and his shorn noggin. XD Rock that uniform Private!

The Doubt

2008-04-17T02:13:00.002-04:00

Either it's due to all the pollen in the air making my head feel like it was stuffed with gym socks or because today is the fourteen year Anniversary of something Really Bad happening to me I'm pretty emotionally fragile right now.

Basically I'm doubting myself yet again. X_X UGH. Now is NOT the time to be a tard. I think it's getting to the point that I'm surrounded by so many mega talents and that I'm not pushing myself as hard as I can. Which is ironic because about four nights a week I'm pulling all nighters to get things done and still coming in second place. D: Maybe it's my diet change, could be I'm drinking WAY too much caffeine as I pretty much consume half a box of Crystal Light drink mix A DAY. It could be that even if I walk to class every day I'm not getting enough exercise, I'm losing weight by lack of not eating as much and not eating the proper things, not by sweating it out on the treadmill.

I think I really need to study harder. D: I was working on my 10-9 Final today and ideally I'd like Page 1 in the can by tomorrow night, it's also the hardest fucking page in the story. But I found in pencilling and inking it today of which I only got as far as two panels in two hours something's not right here. And they were TINY. Sides the anatomy was wonky, I was making up details as I went, and I seriously need to sit down with reference and work this shit out. Like what the uniforms would look like from head to toe -- Thankfully I have an excellent book on the subject. What each of the characters would look like. Character acting which is such a weak point for me because I can bounce around my room all I want but from seeing it in my minds eye to put to page is bitch ass hard. I even have trouble seeing hands in my head as I'm constantly putting thumbs on backwards or making characters left handed. Not kidding! @_@

That second story beat of my Materials and Techniques assignment was due today and Shawn walked by asking 'That's not Beat Two is it?' which little by little the voice in my head started screeching 'That means you're going to redo it yes? -.-' Which I think I'm going to beat him to the punch and do so since thankfully class is cancelled on Monday. I still need to figure out how to make sense of the ending because that's coming up fast. @_@

I just think it's again just like how it was back in PJC. I hit a plateau and got too scared to take the next step. I was at the top of my game but got so comfortable I gave up trying until the younger kids caught up to me then I started stressing out. The fact that I'm going to a school with folks that already had professional work before they even enrolled, and here I feel I'm starting to get past my shelf life.

This was to be the quarter that I broke through what we call around here 'The Awkward Phase' and I feel like I'm still behind the curve.

So I'm going to quit my bitching and DO something about it.

The Plan:

Get back to keeping more thorough track of my day planner. This is manditory.

Buy a new water bottle. A BIG ONE. A 64 ouncer if at all possible. Carry it everywhere.
Walk two miles every day. Thankfully I have a 15 Minute Mile DVD.

Do warm ups for drawing every day. Incorperate it into classwork. Shawn is teaching us techniques like inking with nibs and brush and such so if I need to practice my anatomy good god do it with a nib. Need to draw rifles? Draw them with a brush. Uniform design? Ballpoint pen. SCAN the results no matter what.

Even if all nighters are manditory be responsible. Manage time. Plot a chart of when I'm going to work on what when.

Be strong with people that say they wanna chat that I can't chat because it's getting to be a major problem to the point that I just may have to start ignoring pages or not logging in.

Show up an hour early to school every day. If there's a class in session in my classroom, go somewhere and work. Stop wandering around to socialize. And stop sleeping in until the last possible second.

Start on assignments the second they're assigned. Go to the Temple every Friday for extra help. Stay the whole time.

Do Connector Assignments on time. This hasn't been a problem but I'm starting to push my luck here.

What a way to break my radio silence here but it's time to get back into action. >_<9

Trials Of Triple A #4

2008-03-17T02:40:00.002-04:00

And now we're back to our regularly scheduled lunacy for dear little Triple A and his long suffering best friend John. One day John will make a man out of the Boy Princess.... it just won't be today.

Again I get to sneak My Little Ponies into something. I know, there's a special ring of hell waiting just for me. *laughs* Still figuring out how to block in the shadow shapes on Triple A's jacket, it's still not there yet for me, but I'm figuring out his hair more and more. This was done digitally again as there's zilch workspace and terrible lighting here at the folk's place. I really don't like the digital inking on these and think I'm going to set up in the kitchen and bust out the Holbien and the G-Pen.

Enjoy. :3

The Trials of.... Rapunzel?!

2008-03-16T04:46:00.003-04:00

Let's just say we have too much fun on over in The Connector office, for April Fools we're pulling a little switcheroo where everyone switches out on everyone else's comics. I won't tell you who's doing what as that would spoil the surprise, but as you can see here the strip I picked to spoof was Rapunzel by Angela Sasser using the Trials of Triple A Cast and Triple A himself as the..... not quite fair damsel.

I tried to stay true to some elements of Rapunzel, such as being done all digital, and echoing the 'scratchboard' like shading from it in Triple A's jacket. However Rapunzel constantly uses a single Meta-panel in a homage to Dave McKean's Sandman days and very rarely do I have a gift for them. I'm still trying to work out being more careful of my accidental tangents! I'll kill my tangenting tendencies yet!

Enjoy. :3

10-9 Sickles Style!

2008-03-15T03:12:00.001-04:00

The assignment was we had to study a cartoonist from the past and draw an image in their style. There's that history thing again that's like my wonderdrug. XD This time I chose to mimic Noel Sickles who's an artist from the 1930's most famous for ghosting for Milton Caniff on Terry and the Pirates and then ghosting on Scorchy Smith, which after the artist's death became his own baby.

The composition is all me, and somewhat looking almost something that came from Steve Ditko, but the inks, pasteups and screen tones are all Sickles. I've become really obsessed with the guy in these last two months, a lot of what he was doing as an artist is a lot of the direction I want to go in.

Enjoy. :3

10-9 Character Bible

2008-03-15T02:29:00.002-04:00

Finally getting around to posting the finished product. :3 Ahimsa, John, Meghan, and Vulcan, my little gaggle of babies. The theory behind the designs besides Bruce Timm on Crackrock was to base each of them off a single simple geometric shape. Ahimsa being a triangle, John being a top, Meghan being the circle, and Vulcan a square. My inspriation for it was of all things as usual for me Historical in the case of Russian Suprematist Art where it was just geometric shapes on canvases. I can't seem to count a single thing I've drawn that hasn't linked back to an artist or movement in history. I'm such a complete history nerd. XD

Hope you like. :3

A Double Dose Of Triple A!

2008-02-27T01:20:00.002-05:00

A twofer tonight! Here's the colors for the Ahimsa action sheet which I got it down to such a science took only seventy minutes, I timed myself by watching a disc of Band of Brothers while working and finished twenty minutes into the second episode on the disc. Let's hope I can stay that speedy! :D Only the..... Ahimsa minus his uniform has any complicated cuts on him because I wanted to bring out his muscle tone and that's the only one that took any amount of time to do. :3

The second is the latest Trials Of Triple A strip which won't be seeing print until next week. But here's a sneak peek. :>

N-Joi. :3

The Trials of Triple A

2008-02-24T20:43:00.006-05:00

Since my previous concept for my Character Design Final tanked, which was just as well since it wasn't my first idea anyway, my Editor in Chief of the Connector was really taken by it and she had been really on my case to start submitting a strip again regularly.

I was watching History of the Joke on History Channel and one comedian explained that he found his material by making fun of his life. So I thought about it and thought about it and what better way of the true story in my own life of the constant running gag of how it seemed my straight friends were magnets for gay waiters. XD Also more of a play with black and white shapes, forground, middleground, and background, as well as what I've been learning in character design all rolled into one. There's a couple tangents here and there that aren't going to kill me but I just know to be more mindful of them in the future. Also Memo To Me: Don't hand ink elipses. Just DON'T. I think I'm going to experiment with Chibi Ahimsa's hair more because I'm unsure if I like that halo around the sections of it. I mean it's done with a purpose but I can hear Shawn screaming in my head of 'AUGH. HALO HALO HALO. YOU FAIL.' D:

Enjoy and look forward to more. :3

10-9 Character Design Progress

2008-02-24T20:12:00.002-05:00

And here we have the distinguished badass Captain Siven and his constant thorn in his side the intreptid war correspondent Saint John Burroughs.

The colors for Ahimsa gave me the most grief considering 10-9 is a black and white book I had to really use my noodle for what colors would his uniform have. I really love the combination of muted cools with the intense cools and makes the red of his hair really pop. He's going to make an interesting maquette that's for sure. I just hope he doesn't break in baking. D: His waist is a concern of mine. I might have to bake his hair tail and bang seperate and glue them on because those are seriously too delicate.

John's design was a lot of fun and I'm picking up a lot of time saving tricks from my classmates such as the case of his arms in the front and back veiws. They're doing the exact same thing so why draw both arms when you can just dupe and flip it. XD Also John's coloring went really quickly considering he has such boad flat planes like in the case of his coat. I really went crazy with the lapels and collar because I was making the subtle suggestion of royal arrogance as well as maybe a little flamboyantness. :> Also he's completely constructed of the same top-like shape his face. I just squash and stretch it where needed. While his hair seems a bit on the 80's emo look I thought it was a happy medium to portray spikyness as well as give that flame suggestion again. :3

And at the very end we have sketches for the pose sheet of the Captain. He's a lot of fun to get down into drawing. And I can not count the number of times I ran around my room slinging my Swifer and broom around like billy clubs in order to get the feel for the poses. I'm lucky I didn't break any lights! :O

Atteeeennnn-TION! Captain Present!

2008-02-23T01:43:00.003-05:00

Needless to say here's my now third take on my Character Design final. Of course now I've made it that much harder for myself but this is what I'm most rediculously pleased with. And here we have Ahimsa again, only in his thirtysomething hardened adult version from 10-9. I kept every single girly thing about him but figured out a way to still make him read as very much a male. This was actually a really different approach for me with him, considering his lines are usually all curved and not a single hard angle to be seen from toe to head but I decided to go the opposite and everywhere there was a curve to put in an angle. Inspired by the contrast panels on his uniform, I decided to constuct him completely in triangles with the exception of his rectangular face.

In the end I feel like his hands still aren't quite large enough, but they're okay with his huge feet. And even not in color he still reads like being a big guy due to the proportion distortion. What makes me even more happy is he seriously looks like he could ruin someone's day. Kinda a far cry from the pretty femmy young thing he used to be. :3

The Beauty and The Beast

2008-02-21T02:50:00.002-05:00

Here we have the complete model sheets for Ahimsa and John for my final project in Character Design as well as another addition to the Yearbook: Momentary Thing mythos which I'm calling this installment 'Yearbook: Health Class Hell'. To define Yearbook: Momentary Thing in 25 words or less it's a prequel story to my current brainchild of 10-9 of Ahimsa and John as teens in high school and their adventures, misadventures, coming of age, and saving the world a handful of times. 10-9 takes place ten years after the end of Yearbook where a very different and hardened military captain Ahimsa is reluctantly reunited with his best friend and now rock star journalist John as they have one last bloody adventure in a world gone to hell.

Yearbook and 10-9 are literally like night and day in several aspects, whereas 10-9 is one continuous story and one set look, Yearbook is a series of stories, scenes, or snippets with a variety of looks much like an anthology only with a recurring cast. In the case of Yearbook it's almost like a puzzle in realtions to 10-9. Some stories are very upbeat, others very serious, some purely comedic, and a few tragically romantic, all of them offer clues into where it all went wrong for the boys and their friendship as well as the world they live in-- however it also works in the way of you can read one story and just appreciate it for what it is and leave it, or you can read them all to get the complete map of the 10-9/Yearbook Mythos.

In the case of Health Class Hell, it's being treated like almost a Direct to DVD or like a late night Cartoon Network special, the animation's a little higher quality, not quite feature film but not as simple either (If the colors on Ahimsa alone is enough to indicate.) But plot wise while it has some straight up canon aspects from the story it also a bold faced parody that pokes fun at a few anime shows of my youth and how things were censored and changed for American sensibilities due to the fact that characters that ONLY appear in 10-9 will be showing up and will be rewritten as 'cousins' or 'uncles' as well as poking fun at the true nature of John and Ahimsa's friendship as cleverly alluding to they're a bit on the more than just friends side. Besides if you can't tell just by looking at his model sheet that Ahimsa is more flaming than the fires of Pele then I didn't do my job right. C'mon he's traipsing for crying out loud.

In the past two days I've redone each model sheet twice because they didn't look quite right at the time. In Ahimsa's case I didn't like his pose and a classmate advised that if they're going to be standing there have them show a little attitude.

I did the first version of John's sheet last night, proceeded to hate it because his pose was a little to swishy for a cantankerous jerk like him, so I ended up today with what you see here. Despite the technique I'm using to color these being something immensely simple and fast I got John's first figure done in 30 minutes and the other two took way too much time that I care to think about it due to stupid things of technical glitches and my hand twitching involuntarily while trying to make selections with the polygonal lasso. The cuts on John aren't as well rounded off where they should be like in the case of Ahimsa. I might have to go back in and round them off before I hand them in. Though I am rather pleased with the colors between the two of them since Ahimsa's all about the bright and HAPPY colors even if his jacket's dark and he has some cools on him they're either very intense or have contrasting warm and bright colors. John on the other hand is all darks and earth tones, the only thing bright about him is his hair which I can only describe as cross between Bart Simpson and a buzzsaw. I love how it all goes in the same direction no matter what angle he turns and looks vaugely like fire which fits him perfectly in firey temperament and powers base. I might do an alternate version of the sheet where he's summoning fire in his palms since that's what I did his pose like that for. He's also the King of Offensive Tee-Shirts but I didn't want to be so overtly offensive despite a favorite shirt design he has which I love is that of a stripper dancing the pole and the text reading 'I Support Single Moms'. I'd figure 'God's Gift' was a suitable replacement still indicating his arrogance without being completely raunchy.

Man.... my longest post yet. Hope all that text was worth the read. :3

Hips That Don't Lie!

2008-02-18T23:54:00.001-05:00

Part One of my Epic Final Project for Character Design class. Still mostly a WIP but pretty much Ahimsa here is getting two model sheets, one for his figure (top) and one for his maquette design (middle), plus his pose and emotion study sheet. This is as far as I've gotten in the past five and a half hours timed by watching the first two discs of Lost Season 3. I'll more that likely start sketching out his emotions before bed and pick the ones I like best.

Of course I'm going to break Nolan's brain again just because the best way to to indicate Ahimsa's prettiness as a chibi is to amp up his femininity to the max with his crazy girl hips and JLo rear. Of course it doesn't help that he's in pink. But of course his whole thing is bright fun colors, bold graphic patterns, and a hearty dose of Eurotrash. Mostly his point is when people see him walk by they go 'AUGH MY EYES!!!' because of all the clashing colors and his neuclear levels of estrogen that just radiate for ten miles. This is the sort of fun I get to have with him is the contrast and antithesis of the man he grows up to be who's all rules, regulations, nursing a deeply broken heart, and more issues than the Wall Street Journal, however as a teen he's absolutely a Pretty Pretty Princess. :3

Scrappings and Trappings

2008-02-14T22:13:00.003-05:00

Couple of quickies from today that I rather liked. The top one being a concept/gesture of Polly, a girl from my baby 10-9. I was just really taken by the cut of the garment of a stewardess for Singapore Air as well as the very neatly kept twist in her hair which I thought would be reminiscient of Polly's heritage, considering she's Korean, as well as suit her purpose in the story.

The bottom are from a job I'm doing for the boys at Blue Devil Games. Kind of exciting work and they're very accomidating joes. Not really a whole lot I can talk about save that judging by the watermark I slapped all over it these elfin boys and girls of high Victoriana are the Eladrin.

Enjoy. :3

Caught In The Act

2008-02-04T10:08:00.000-05:00

An older piece of mine, that'll be three years to the day on this coming Christmas Eve. This was done long before I came to SCAD-Atlanta and upon seeing all of the prolific digital painters out there I said to myself 'I can do that! :o' What resulted was almost an agonizing crash course in teaching myself Color Theory when I had never had any formal training in the subject, as well as becoming more intimately aware of how Painter works. This project, actual measurements being 18x22 at 300 DPI, took such a rediculous amount of hours that if I were paid for it in the end it wouldn't even be worth it, but what I learned was worth it's weight in gold. Despite the snails pace I worked at this piece, spanning two day jobs and three versions of Painter (gives you an idea of how long it took), I think I've learned a few tricks to be more expedient at the process. Like custom brushes. I'm laughing at that I never learned custom brushes earlier.

Also enclosed are full res detail shots where notably the girl's eyes are ten different shades of green and his are nine different colors. The beadwork on her dress is also nine different colors. :>

Work Sets You Free

2008-02-02T22:41:00.000-05:00

Thought I should change it up a little today instead of going on ad nauseum about my Gender Study work to post this piece from Life Drawing last quarter. Likewise the content is something I'm equally fascincated by being History and specifically the WWII Period. Don't ask me why I'm so drawn to it since it's such a dark time of mankind, but something about it I just can't get enough of. Not only were there tales of immese evil and tragedy but there were also romantic tales of hope and light. Power in the Ashes as it were.

This piece 'Work Sets You Free' is of course the English translation of the famous German phrase that appeared on the gates of the work camps, the rendering I had done here representative of famous gates of Aschwitz. The woman depicted was based from a photography in a documentary book I was always drawn to of a Czech woman that weeps hysterically while she hails Hitler. The story goes (and may or may not be true) but after the Nazi forces had claimed the Czech nation they marched through the streets in one of their ostentatious displays of power and this woman powerlessly wept while she saluted yet knowing full well the next day she was being sent to a work camp. The story ended up being the premise with this image which on the surface looks offensive, but when you discect it there's definitely a deeper meaning. Generally people see the unmistakable gesture and turn their brains off which saddens me.

This piece measures 18x24 on Bristol in various ink washes, this is also where my explorations of pattern and textures began in full force and I hope to keep exploring.

10-9 Designs: Round Two (Really The Millionth)

2008-01-31T23:57:00.000-05:00

Did these over Christmas to practice my character designing and playing with body shapes some more as well as nail down quite possibly a more definitive look for the dynamic duo of 10-9. The top we have Ahimsa, who I never tire of drawing in odd ways, and bottom we have John, whom despite my absolute fear of writing him because he's one of those folks that's smarter than me, in the end has become a joy to put to paper. :3

Ahimsa being my flagship into exploring the Archetype of the Maternal Male, I describe him with a male stucture and proportion, yet make the lines all curved and softer indicating femininity. Not to mention his waspy waist and child bearing hips, which started out as an accident in early designs has very much become his trademark that all of his pants need to be pretty much custom made to suit his strange measurements. It's because of his borderline female hips I've worked other aspects commonly found in female characters into his look such as larger eyes, fuller lips, an upturned nose, and not to mention his muscle structure, particularly his pectorals are more rounded and curvy. Perhaps he is the 'Extreme Case' of the Maternal Male but I don't think him that terribly shocking or extreme in comparison to others of the archetype that have crossed my mind.

John on the other hand constrasts Ahimsa in every way from coloring to structure to temperament, he's short for a male, barely 5'10", and all compact harsh angles. Lean and in a well defined wiry way in an attempt to convey how he as a character is a very small but intense kind of fellow. I suppose in a way I'm reinventing the 'Hero' archetype as well with him since he's very much an anti-hero in attitude and actions, but he's also not the typical cliched vision of a hero being basically the Superman/Batman body type of tall and musclebound Adonises with strong square chins. My ideas for John was basically I think of him as a bulldog. Little But Fierce. People in 10-9 are typical to pass him by or treat him like a bungling idiot of no importance because he has no physical presence until he shows he's possibly the worst thing they've ever seen. Ironic that I have such a strong personality built for him considering I draw inspiration for his look from Chad Michael Murray, quite possibly the biggest tool in Hollywood ever.

Hope you enjoy. :3

New Kid In Town

2008-01-31T00:29:00.000-05:00

Introducing the boys that occupy my brain and nearly get drawn each and every day. I'd figure I'd make it official and post a Little Bit O' Pretty before there's a mad rush of Not So Pretty.

With this piece, in 25 words or less is my grand scheme of playing with gender roles by exploring the archetypes I'm developing of the Maternal Male and the Paternal Female. Neither concept is particularly new when you consider human development. However it is new in comics. Breaking new ground with this and charting my own course. I could be the next best thing since sliced bread, or I could fall flat on my face.

Let's break some stereotypes, Ladies and Gentlemen.