I've been doing a lot of personal sketching and whatnot, just not posting it anywhere. I thought I'd try out some of those techniques on this week's Illustration Friday topic, "Magic". It's been a long time since I'd participated, but with bowing out of Inktober, I figured I should try to get some art out in October. Feedback is always appreciated.

Labels: brush pen, faerie, Illustration Fridays, ink, Magic, pen and ink

I'm not normally one to do this; I find that I usually have to abandon an idea once I get it to a point, otherwise I'll obsess about it completely. That being said, I was very proud of the ink work done on this piece, and while I liked the colour, something just didn't jive. So I decided to give it another go with the colours and see if I couldn't do it a bit more justice, at least in terms of what I imagined. I like to think I got it a bit closer this time.

Labels: alternative, Illustration Fridays, influence, whisper, witches

I think for me this has to be one of those rare artistic moments when I was sketching something down and could not wait to complete it. There was no trepidation, or concern over screwing something up. I knew what I wanted to draw, the style I wanted it to be in, and just went for it. It's refreshing to have those moments, no matter how few and far between they are.

This was once again an Illustration Friday topic, "Influence". I tend to interpret these very loosely, but I think that may be the point, at least for me. I may wind these down soon. I'm sort of all over the map, and need to get some focus back. We'll see.

Labels: Illustration Fridays, influence, whisper, witches

One thing I try to do with each illustration I make is challenge myself to try something I've either never drawn before, or push myself in an area I feel weak in. For this illustration, I really wanted to challenge myself to use perspective to enhance a mood. I also really wanted to choose a colour scheme I've never work with before, and really try to embrace it.

As for the topic, this one is once again an Illustration Friday topic, this time it's "Swell". I have so many bakers in my life, whether it's my wife or friends, I'm surprised this subject matter hasn't creeped into my subconscious before. I love the idea of a giant pastry baking machine. It's probably only natural that something would go wrong.

Labels: cake, Illustration Fridays, machines, pastry, Swell

I drew this for the topic "Soaked" over at Illustration Friday. While I'm not necessarily working on the topics as they come up, I am using them as motivation when I'm stumped artistically; picking and choosing the ones I like as I see fit. With this piece, I wanted to try and be a bit loose with my inks. I have a tendency to over think the final inks, so they become a bit more rigid than I'd like. I did this using only a brush pen.

I also really tried to simplify the coloring process, as it is the biggest bottleneck for me. This was done with mostly flat colors and the pencil tool. No fancy textures or photoshop tricks. I think it worked out quite nicely.

Labels: cowboy, Illustration Fridays, Monsters, rain, soaked

Quick one for Illustration Friday. Will discuss the motivation and what I was trying to accomplish once I get the colors done.

Labels: bottled, cowboy, Illustration Fridays, ink, Photoshop

In an effort to continue forward, I decided to try my hand at a silent, one page comic. I wanted to see if I could tell a story with minimal narration, and still create an impact. As always with my own work, I have a hard time seeing the forest through the trees, but hopefully I was somewhat successful.

I went with horror as a theme as a challenge. I think this will be the last horror piece from me for a while. It lends itself to a very restricted, gloomy palette, and I think I need to keep pushing my boundaries. I've spent too much time in the dark recently.

I borrowed an Illustration Friday topic from a while back. Here is "Dusty":



On another note, I've revamped my comics section to make room for what I hope will be more wecomics.

Labels: Dusty, Illustration Fridays, ink, Photoshop, webcomics

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