Here is the final colored "Chicken" piece. This one fought me quite a bit, and I think it had more to do with my tendency to want to overwork a piece rather than the piece itself. I enjoy the final result, but it was a fight all the way through. I really need to learn to abandon a piece earlier in the process; finding simpler methods to get the mood across. All part of the balacing act that is art I suppose.

Labels: chicken, Illustration Fridays, ink, Photoshop, robots

It's been a bit of a busy week, but I wanted to try to stick with the momentum I've built up thus far this year. The compromise was to concede to not getting this piece colored for this week. I will color it eventually, and perhaps over the weekend, but I did want to get it up before Friday. This was again for Illustration Friday; the topic this week was "Chicken".

Labels: chicken, Illustration Fridays, ink, Photoshop, robots

Not too much to say about this week's illustration. This is for the Illustration Friday topic "Déjà Vu". I went with a literal interpretation, once again featuring the featureless creature from my previous post. I can see this little guy having a few different adventures in this ghost inhabited labyrinth of pointless steam pipes and wires, but we'll see how that plays out.

My day job has been a bit tiring this past week, so no news to report on my graphic novel progress. It can be tough not moving forward when all the characters are vividly running around in your imagination, fighting to get out. I'll see if I can't get some better momentum over the next week.



Illustration Friday

Labels: Déjà Vu, ghosts, Illustration Fridays, ink, Photoshop

Tap tap... *ahem* ... is there anyone still out there? You there, in the back! Quit sleeping!

I realize I've been absent for a bit from the blog, and art in general. I won't bore you with reasons and excuses, but I will say I'm hoping to fix that this year, and what better way than with a piece titled "Resolutions"?



My goal this year is simple: one finished piece a week, by each Friday. This will, if things go well, leave me with 52 finished pieces by this time next year. Not a bad little sum I'd say. I will be trying to follow along with the topics posted at Illustration Friday. That's where the idea came from for the piece above; the first Illustration Friday topic of the New Year.

If a topic stumps me, or just isn't something I'd care to illustrate, I'll complete a piece for what I'm calling "Fanart Fridays", where I'll pick a character I enjoy and render my interpretation of it. I'd like to showcase smaller books/comics/webcomics in these drawings, and maybe introduce people to works they may be missing.

Concurrent to all of this, I'll be working away on my first graphic novel. If work picks up on the graphic novel, perhaps I'll start replacing these finished art Fridays with finished comic pages or pinups, but let's start with baby steps first. My goal for this graphic novel will be to release it digitally: as a webcomic at the bare minimum, and perhaps as a digital release via iPad etc.. Which brings me to my next topic...

I've wrapped up both my Fablewood story, "The Spirits & The Woods", and my Popgun story, "The Last Voyage" as digital downloads. I've included both .pdf and .cbz formats, and their available for free in the comics section. I've tested them in both iBooks and ComicZeal (a great .cbz reader) on the iPad, and both seem to read just fine.

Labels: ghosts, Illustration Fridays, ink, Photoshop, Resolutions