I once read a really great critique of the artistic process that spoke of an artist's tastes versus their sense of their own abilities. The idea is that your taste peaks far before your talent does. So when you look at your own artwork, you do so with great taste, and therefore critique it harshly. The biggest struggle an artist has then is the ability to work through this phase to the point where their own ability reaches this level of taste (or as close as they can come). A lot of artists give up at this point.

For me, I think I'm reaching that point where my tastes have peaked. I know exactly what I enjoy in art, what I don't, and recognize the ins and outs of why I enjoy something. This isn't to say I'm not constantly surprised by art; I'm able to find new artists and artwork more readily by knowing what I'm looking for.

I am of course, not at the point where I believe my ability has peaked. I have a lot to learn, but it can sometimes seem insurmountable. This may be partially due to unrealistic expectations. I of course want my art to be as good as the art I love. I will say though, that I can more readily identify when I feel a piece of my own art has failed.

I will present the following as an example of that. This was originally done for the topic "Scary". For me, it fails. There's aspects I'm pleased with, but the piece as a whole falls short of what I wanted it to be. The biggest thing that stands out to me? It's too much like I'm trying to realistically render it. All the art I love, that gets me really excited, contains an element of whimsy. You can picture the artist with their tongues out to one side, smirking to themselves the whole time they drew it. Just pure joy. That's the type of art I want to make. I think this effort to render it realistically also made me not focus on the composition as much, so it's a bit weak as well. That being said, I think it's not terrible, and that's progress.



Next up is some ink work that's been sitting in my sketchbook for a bit, waiting to be scanned in. I won't say too much, as I think I may still colour some if not all of these pieces, and can speak to them then. Still mostly working with the Pentel Brush Pen, and still mostly enjoying it.

Deciding which plug to pull:

Victorian Zombie Portrait:

Chamber, from the X-Men:

Labels: Chamber, ink, Photoshop, scary, Victorian, X-Men, Zombies

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

At one point I was invited to be part of a charity anthology that for better or worse ended up dissolving. Anthologies are unfortunately notorious for falling apart before they begin. It's a dedicated process to coordinate so many different creative teams to meet deadlines etc., coupled with the fact that most anthologies are in the red financially, so publishers tend to shy away from them unless they're really stellar.

At any rate, these characters were part of my original story idea for that anthology. They were much younger, as the anthology was aimed at children, but the ideas were the same. They sort of morphed into their older counterparts in my mind, and this illustration was the result.

This illustration is also a bit of a personal pat on the back, because it was very challenging for me, and sat sadly taped to my drafting table for far too long. The colors also fought me most of the way, and while I still don't think I successfully captured everything I pictured, as a whole I think it's a solid piece. These characters have since found a place in a larger universe of stories, so hopefully you'll be seeing them again soon.

Labels: character design, ink, Photoshop, Tree Spirit

It made the rounds on twitter a few months back (I believe it was @jessnevins, but I think I got it via retweet by @warrenellis). The term was "Geisterpunk", a purported 1925 German pulp story title. Translated literally, it means "Ghost Punk". Since then, my mind's raced with the possibilities!

I've always had a soft spot for Steampunk as a sub-genre. I can't saw where that comes from, but it's probably been brought more to the forefront recently with games like Bioshock, or the (amazing) novel Boneshaker by Cherie Priest.

At any rate, this idea's been kicking around in my head for a few weeks now, and I thought the site could use a little color after all the black and white ink drawings. I believe this concept (if not perhaps this design -- still not 100% on it) solves a story idea I've held near and dear, but had gaping plot holes. Strange how these things work out. At any rate, enjoy!

Labels: Geisterpunk, Ghost Punk, ghosts, ink, Photoshop, steampunk

After reading Sean Gordon Murphy's journal entry over at deviantArt, this was the first picture that came to mind. The biggest thing I've struggled with, and something I think all artists do, is not getting the pictures I see in my head out on paper. The visual shorthand seems to be then to try and emulate another style (in an effort to at least get some sort of analog to what you're picturing). Lord knows I've done my fair share of riffing on other artists.

I think I am entirely guilty of trying to smash myself into some sort of house style, with middling success. In the past few years, I have felt more confident in my art, but I think I still get very complacent and not willing to try new things. This can make things pretty stale. Going forward, I think I just have to draw the creatures out of my head. Hopefully everything else will fall into place. If not? Well, simply drawing really should be the point anyhow...



deviantArt

Labels: Cave Troll, ink, Photoshop

As promised, here's my guest strip for PC Weenies. Krishna's a great guy, and has been championing webcomics for far longer than most. You should definitely check out his site. Full of solid cartooning and humour.

I chose Facebook as the topic, as I think all the privacy issues that have come to light should force people to really examine what they're willing to share online. I had a Facebook account myself, but found all the reasons I didn't want to join in the first place to be true, and regretted it shortly after. Their privacy woes were the final straw in my closing my account.

This was done with traditional inks, with Photoshop colors. I try to push myself with each piece of art I create, and with this one the idea was perspective. It's a simple concept on paper, but I think a lot of artists (myself included) tend to over think it. Hopefully you enjoy!

Labels: Facebook, failbook, giant robots, ink, Photoshop, webcomics

Stepping way out of the comfort zone here. Never really spent a lot of time on super heroes. Personally I find anatomy to be one of my biggest weaknesses.

Also tried to walk a finer line between quality and time spent. Unfortunately I think this one suffered a bit, but I've got to keep at it and see if I can't come up with a speedier workflow.

Labels: Batman, pen and ink, Photoshop

The new web site design is finally up! I've been plugging away at this one here and there for a while, so it's nice to finally get it going. I'm hoping this is more accessible, with a bit more leeway to make changes in the future. I've added links to my deviantART, and Twitter accounts. For some reason, I've never thought to link to these here before. I've got some more things I want to get up on the site, as well as revamp how I handle mobile traffic, but for now this should do. If you're reading this on the RSS feed, please stop by and poke around.

In other news, it looks like my involvement in "Don't Get Sucked Under the Escalator!" has come to a close. No need to get into the specifics, but it does look like the project will be completed with an entirely new artist. As for what my next project is, I have a few ideas, but I'll post more when I have more to say. In the mean time, I thought I'd post some of the finer moments from my work on Escalator. These are just snippets of pages, character designs and ideas I was rather proud of. Enjoy!

Labels: comics, Escalator, Illustrator, Photoshop, Web Site Design

I really tried to avoid all the Evil Genius cliches for this Drawer Geeks entry, but I'm sure I hit on at least a few. I love the idea of a tiny little man piloting a giant robot, very fitting.

I haven't had too much in the way of free time this year so far, but I'm hoping to at least develop some sort of steady art output. To be continued...

Labels: Drawer Geeks, Evil Genius, giant robots, ink, Photoshop

I ran into some technical snafu's in the past month or so that made getting art completed and posted a bit of a challenge. Hopefully that's behind me now, so I'm posting some things that were completed recently. I'm also brainstorming on ways to add more content to this blog with or without new art to show, but I'll have to iron that out a bit more first.

First up is this week's Drawer Geeks, "Frankenstein":

I wanted to show a bit more of the messy business of stitching someone together of disparate parts. My Frankenstein is falling apart at the seams, literally.

Next up is another Drawer Geeks from the previous round, in honour of the film and book "Where The Wild Things Are".

Played with a whole new palette for me, as well as colouring directly on the pencils and skipping inks all together. Relatively happy with how this turned out, even if it wasn't anything like I pictured initially.

Finally, this is a pencil drawing of a duo that figure into a larger story brewing in my head at the moment. Not ready to talk about it yet, but I like the design enough to show it around.

Labels: Drawer Geeks, Frankenstein, Illustrator, pencils, Photoshop, Tree Spirit, Where The WIld Things Are

...does whatever a spider can! Not my usual thing, but a fun departure. Broke out some of the stronger crayons in the color palette as well for this one. Just trying new things all around. This was for Drawer Geeks.

Labels: comics, Drawer Geeks, pen and ink, Photoshop, Spider-Man

This is a character design I did for the "Design A Deity" blog. The idea is to throw a bunch of deities at each other, and see who would be left standing. Mine is named Akamushi, which means blood worm in Japanese. Here's my description: There's some great talents with more deities on the way, so check it out!

Labels: character design, Deity, pen and ink, Photoshop

This week for Drawer Geeks the topic was "Monkeys", so I decided to draw Sun Wukong, The Monkey King. I've been so heavily focused on inking these days, it was nice to dust off the coloring side of my brain. Enjoy!

Labels: Drawer Geeks, ink, King, Monkey, Photoshop

Man oh man, I have had a roller coaster of a time these past weeks! I've been working on art, just not anything I can show. So what can I show? Well, for you technophiles out there, you'll now be able to hit this site on your phones and get a nifty little mobile version. It relies on some fancy javascript though, so for now it will probably only work on iPhones, or any other webkit enabled smart phone. I'll have to address that in the future, but it'll do for now.

Here's some art while I'm at it. These were all Drawer Geeks entries, some of which I didn't even get a chance to finish and submit on time. Thems the breaks as they say.

Labels: 8-Bit, Drawer Geeks, Pac-man, pen and ink, Photoshop, Troll

The topic this week at Drawer Geeks was "Classic Video Games", or anything that came out before 1985. I actually did 3 pictures for this one (one isn't scanned, and I'm not too happy with it). There was a big break over the holidays so I sort of chipped away at it here and there. I have always been a big video game fan, ever since I first played Super Mario Bros. on display at a K-Mart when it first came out.

First up is a re-design for Mario from Super Mario Bros. Sort of a grounded in reality, practical design. Not 100% sold on this one, but a good learning experience.

Next is just sort of an homage to the NES in general. I wanted to put a positive spin on the act of blowing dust out of the NES cartridges every kid who had one is probably more than familiar with.

Labels: Drawer Geeks, Excitebike, Illustrator, Metroid, Photoshop, Super Mario Bros., video games, Zelda