KICKIN' IT

Here is a new panel I did for a project I'm working on. Trying to get a good balance of patterns, texture, and positive/negative space. Fun times.

NEW BLOG!!!

Haven't posted in a loonng time, and the new blog is why! I designed a new website and had my blog incorporated into it. So, feel free to browse the new blog as well as my website. My professor, Nolan Woodard, is the man who made it happen. I have never really used Dreamwever, but he guided us on publishing the design to make it live. Oh, and when I mean us, I mean Olu, the other student in the class. Check out his website as well. He says I talk too much, so I guess I'll end it now.

INK AND GUINNESS

Okay, so last night I was drinking a Guinness and looking at samples online of Alberto Breccia's gorgeous art for the graphic novel Mort Cinder (which is impossible to find, trust me, tears and Guinness are my witnesses). Three things always jump out to me when looking at his art... the man can render great expressions, he is the king of textures, and lastly, he has great balance between heavy blacks and delicate lines. I don't know if it was the beer or the fact I don't have the book, but was really inspired. So I rubbed the tears off my face and walked (with the Guinness) over to my drawing table to just draw any face, but really focus on the balance of small lines with large black shapes. I need to study light more, so I found a great photo that had a strong light source from above that I could apply to my drawn head. Man, this was fun! I am really liking the real brush. Brush pens are great, but for what I was always trying to go for, I really feel like they were holding me back. I planned to add textures, but when I was done with the brush, I really felt like it didn't need it. I am loving the act of inking right now.

LAYING IT DOWN...

I have been getting into textures lately and playing around with different materials that give those various looks. So, I really wanted to do an ink study that would let me just go crazy with them. I used a brush, quill, sponge, my thumbprint, screentone, and white gouache. It was probably the most free I ever felt doing inks. If I messed up, I didn't care, I could just cover it with gouache. I was just constantly layering until it felt right. It is the closest I have felt to painting with ink.

TANK GIRL

Okay, I think I may be done with the brush pens. Don't get me wrong, they are great (especially the Pentels), but they were not giving me the control or mark making that I was looking for. I couldn't find an ink that had a consistency that would flow well enough and would break up my lines, which I love. So, this weekend I picked up an Escoda series 1212 size 4 brush with the incredible Holbein ink. So much more control! I didn't have to consistently try to find that spot where the ink was appropriate enough to draw, like with the brush pen. Just dip, wipe two or three times and BAM! (BAM! is good). On the Tank Girl piece, I was going back and forth between the regular black and the special black. Most of it was done in the special, but I think the regular is the way to go. It is thin enough to get some fine line work, but will also do dry brush without a problem. The drawing itself was fun. I really wanted to exaggerate with the look (at least exaggerated for me). It doesn't have the realistic quality that I usually go for, but it was fun to do something different. Anyways, I can't wait to do some work with the real brush.

New Character

Alright, this was a quickie. I spent at the most ten minutes designing this character before I had to take off earlier today. I feel like I am starting to get a realism with my characters now, something that has always been a goal of mine. Also, each character is starting to have their own visual identity, instead of all having the same generic look (this was a huge struggle for me). By no means am I completely happy, but it is kinda cool to see stuff starting to pay off.

TESTING... TESTING...

Sorry, I have been away for a while. I have been pretty busy lately. This quarter I am breaking down my entire next project (all 191 pages of it, more on that later ;) So breathing, and eating are the only two other things that I have had time to do. Overall, I have been pretty happy with the looseness I have been getting with my images. However, one thing I have been lacking is texture. So I did a quick test sketch that is about 3.5 x 2.5 inches. With this character's facial and head hair, as well as the pull strings, I went in with a small x-acto knife to give some white highlights. I kind of like it. I was fun, and even better it was easy. More texture playing to come...