I'm not always sure where I get my influences from. It's a questions a lot of artists are asked, and it baffles me a bit. Mainly because I can't honestly see how it matters. I do believe a lot of my ideas about anatomy, setting up a scene or scenery come more from animation than they ever would from comics. Mainstream, superhero type comics have nothing to offer me. I'm certainly not suggesting that they're bad or poorly done; the artists are in a class of their own. It's just that none of it appeals to me. I'm always drawn to more animated artwork, things like the Flight anthologies, or more European style art. I'm digressing though.

In creating this piece, I consciously tried to suss out where I get certain ideas about how things are done, and try to do them a little different. In the construction of the characters, in the colours chosen, the shapes used, whatever it may be. I'm just trying to stay on my toes, put a conscious foot forward in bettering my art, and continue to move forward. Hope you enjoy!

Labels: costumes, disguise, Monsters

I tried to get some colour on these sketches honest, but it was fighting me all the way. I'll try again once I'm seeing it a bit clearer. Sometimes I think I get caught up in trying new things and pushing myself forward, and I will forget the things I'm already pretty good at. It is a continuing cycle I suppose.

This first one is an idea I had an absolute blast with. I think it works as a whole, but may have some parts that could have been a big stronger.


This second one was actually my first idea, but I think it was unsuccessful. There's just too much I see wrong with it, and I found myself falling on some old habits I'm trying to break. Warts and all, as they say.

Labels: disguise, Monsters, punks, suits

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

I find myself constantly trying to find a process to a finished product that isn't a culmination of tedious sub steps. Some of my comic work in the past has seen 2-3 near complete drawings (pencils, second pass at pencils, inks). I'd like to ideally get to a stage where I'm roughing in non-photo blue pencil, and simply applying ink. No erasing, no clean up. The problem of course is getting a line quality I enjoy without needing all the sub steps.

After some experimentation, I think I'm finally getting a hang of this Pentel brush pen. These were all done with the brush pen, either as new pieces (the first two), or over older pencils I'd never really done anything with (the last). As always, feedback is appreciated!

Labels: cowboy, ghosts, Monsters, robots, shoot out, soaked

I'm stepping quite a ways out of my comfort zone on this particular piece. I wanted to shed a bit of that moody, deep blacks, glooming light sources work I've been creating lately and try something a little different. This piece needed a bright, daylight vibe. I also really tried to push my poses, my character design and my stylized shapes. I also applied a color hold to every line in this piece, rather than let the black ink stand alone.

I get caught up in this rut of trying to emulate some of the top artists in the big three of comics, when I never stop to realize that while those artists are amazing, I'm never drawn to them when I see their art on the shelves. I'm always drawn to more stylized art, art with more character and whimsy. I'm certainly not suggesting that I've accomplished this precisely how I wanted here, but that's the direction I want to take it.

I think when I think of comics, I think of the big three, and just assume I can't tell an epic or emotional story with whimsical character designs or a more "cartoony" art style. There are enough examples of artists doing exactly that that I should know better.

Labels: bottled, cowboy, Monsters

This week at Drawer Geeks the topic was "Monsters Under the Bed". I kind of just flew through this one, not a lot of time this week.

Labels: bed, colour, Drawer Geeks, Illustrator, Monsters, Photoshop