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

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