GeorgeJurard

Just add Black

2012-02-11T23:52:00.001-06:00

This still needs a little bit more methinks but it's getting there... I also REALLY REALLY REALLY want to color this bad boy for print and wish someone would drop a few grand in my bank account so this could happen.

If you're feeling kind and want to dump the above mentioned in my bank account I'll bestow upon you a rather intimidating title, like "______ the Brick Flipper" or "_______ the Dope Chopper".

If you want something less intimidating I can do that too.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for more work!!!

Lines... Just Lines

2012-02-10T23:36:00.002-06:00

It's cool to see what panels look like sometimes with absolutely no black spotted and I thought this one was especially interesting.

Check back tomorrow for more work!!!

Little bit o' Lettering

2012-02-09T23:56:00.000-06:00

I took a bit of a detour today and started to work on lettering for the comic.

What you see above is not final mind you. I hand-letter using a lightbox after mocking things up in Illustrator.

Tiered

2012-02-08T23:18:00.003-06:00

I inked another page that I'm especially happy with this afternoon and this is a two panel tier is from said page (as always, letters still to come).

Check back tomorrow for my pencils from today!

Inking for color vs. inking for B&W

2012-02-07T23:44:00.006-06:00

As I mentioned earlier, I'm a bit on the fence as to whether or not I'm going to color this comic.

Part of me really wants to as I think it's what the comic needs and it would provide me with a challenge. The other part of me thinks not I'd be punking out on an even greater challenge; that of making the thing read in just black and white.

Above is the same panel inked for both color and black and white re-production respecitively. Until I make up my mind, I'm going to scan the pages twice as I've done above and we'll see how things go.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for more work!!!

Thumbin'

2012-02-06T23:43:00.006-06:00

Thumbnail-ing (is that the right place to put the hyphen?) is one of my favorite parts of the creative process. I'd put my thumbnails up all the time but I don't think they're usually interesting to anyone besides me.

That being said, I think there's something else going on in today's batch o' scribbles and I'm throwing it up!

Check back tomorrow for more o' that inky goodness... I might be feeling especially generous and post up a whole tier instead of just a panel.

Coming Together...

2012-02-05T23:56:00.002-06:00

After 24 long years, things begin to coalesce...

Check back tomorrow for another panel!!!

Gut Check

2012-02-04T23:43:00.001-06:00

New day, new panel.

Check back tomorrow for some inks!!!

Second Time's the Charm

2012-02-03T20:02:00.002-06:00

Re-pencilled page one today... This panel turned out especially well I think.

Inking FAIL!!!

2012-02-02T20:21:00.004-06:00

There's a reason why Sci-fi comics aren't inked with dead-lines and messy blacks.

I learned that reason the hard way tonight.

I'll be changing up my approach for tomorrow and hopefully it yields better results.

It begins...

2012-02-01T21:57:00.003-06:00

Anyone know about this?!/!/1/

Gotta love a good non-sequitor.

What you see above is the first of 122 pages that I'll be pencilling this calendar year. I'm come up with eight short stories which I'll beging serializing online in July and then hopefully collect (PRINT) at the beginning of 2013.

As I said in my previous post, I'm not going to be posting up finished pages. I put up finished pencils today because I'm really happy with how these turned out but I'm going to stick mostly with thumbnails and single inked panels.

I'll be updating every day (REALLY) so be sure to check back frequently!!!

Change O' Format

2012-01-30T10:43:00.003-06:00

Hi all,

Wednesday sees me begin comicking (yes, I know that's not a word) again and this blog is going to change.

I'll be posting EVERY day (meaning probably four-five times a week) and what I put up will be process only. I won't start debuting finished pages in full until July, and those will be found on a dedicated site for the comic itself.

I'll also be updating my tumblr EVERY day (in this case that really means every day) and you can check out what I'm doing here.

Be sure to check back tomorrow!!!

Observing (But Not Really) (Day 8)

2012-01-26T23:28:00.002-06:00

I got a request for a tattoo design today and what you see above is what I came up with.

I was given this image as reference so I can't say this is a 100% original creation but I'm still REALLY happy with what I came up.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for more!!!

Just Started a Tumblr...

2012-01-24T22:32:00.002-06:00

I do warm-ups with my brush every day before drawing, and I've started a tumblr that will be dedicated to them. You can access it here.

Check back tomorrow for some new observational drawings!!!

Observing (Day 6 and 7 Remix)

2012-01-23T22:50:00.002-06:00

It took me a little longer than I would have liked to get these done, but here they are nonetheless.

I might go back into those figure drawings tomorrow and add a little something to the couch in a couple of those shots...

I'll definitely have new drawings up though so be sure to check back!!!

The Taurian Matador (Created for Frank Santoro's Online Correspondence Course)

2012-01-23T19:28:00.004-06:00

At the end of October, I was selected from a pool of applicants to participate in an online correspondence course taught by Frank Santoro. The class lasted for just over two months and during it, I created a comic.

I'm not sure if I can open up the blog that I created for Frank showing all of my process over the course of the class as he's going to teach it again, but I CAN show the comic itself.

The process he had us use to create our comics was unique and challenging. It has forever changed the way that I'll go about creating in the future and I'm thankful for everything he showed us.

This work is something that I'm planning on re-visiting at a later point (I'd like to touch up both the drawings and the dialogue) but I'm very proud of what I put into this.

The cover and my pages are below, I hope you enjoy it.

Observing (Day 6.1 Remix)

2012-01-22T22:13:00.002-06:00

Took FAR too long to ink this but it turned out well!!!

Observing (Day 7)

2012-01-20T23:06:00.002-06:00

I took a break from objects today and did some figure work instead.

I have to say, it's great drawing people who are watching TV as they don't fidget too much...

Look for inks over Day 6 and today's pencils Sunday!!!

Observing (Day 6)

2012-01-19T23:19:00.002-06:00

No inks tonight as I'm attempting to get to sleep at a (semi) reasonable hour and hopefully fight off what's feeling like a cold coming on...

Look for a DOUBLE-WHAMMY tomorrow (hopefully) and enjoy the beginning of your weekend!

Observing (Day 5)

2012-01-18T23:26:00.003-06:00

There's a wee bit o' wonk present here, but I'm pretty satisfied with these as a whole.

ALSO, for the record, I don't drink that swamp water known as Old Thompson... my roommates are all about it though and Young Soap aka Scrub Deez aka TEH Scrubbbbbbbla wrote me a little note commenting on said drink's (if you can call it that) potency.

Additionally, my illustration that I did for Chi-Grind Magazine saw print and you can order your copy here (I'm in issue #2).

Be sure to check back tomorrow for more!

Observing (But not Really) (Day 4)

2012-01-17T23:22:00.002-06:00

This is a cheat and I probably won't ink these tomorrow as that's the case.

HOWEVER!!!

There has been a LOT of Star Wars on in the apartment and sometimes you just have to get stuff out of your system...

Observing (Day 3)

2012-01-17T00:30:00.002-06:00

Every now and then, you have a day where you absolutely and COMPLETELY re-discover your joy.

Today was one of those days.

While not all of these drawings are 100% perfect, I'm very happy with most of them, and I learned something while creating all of them.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for more!!!

Observing (Day 2)

2012-01-15T23:33:00.001-06:00

Got a little behind this weekend unfortunately but I'm hoping to right things come Monday!!!

I got a new brush and strangely enough, I found it more difficult to draw with than my "bad" one at times-- Probably just a matter of breaking it in.

Be sure to check back for more tomorrow!

Observing (Day 1)

2012-01-13T22:59:00.004-06:00

As an artist, one thing that I've always struggled with to some degree is observational drawing. It's funny too because whenever I talk non-artists or people who claim that they, "can't really draw", they almost always add that they can draw from life.

In an attempt to correct my shortcoming, I'm only going to update with observational drawings for the next couple of weeks. In February, I start drawing comics (!!!!!!!!) again (for real this time too) so at that point, I'll start posting up a panel or a sequence a day to tease what I'm working on.

In the mean time, enjoy these pencil drawings (whilst excusing the bad photo-merging) and be sure to check back tomorrow for some more pencils that will be inked on Sunday!!!

Dark KNIGHT Rises Again?

2012-01-12T23:47:00.001-06:00

I finished inking up my Batman drawings from yesterday and it was a lot of fun.

I deviated in technique a little bit today-- used a (gasp) PEN to do my line work and then my poor poor (and now very useless) Raphael no. 2 brush to fill in blacks.

It was kind of sad using my Raphael tonight towards the end... I swear up and down by their brushes and this one was just as good as all the others, but nothing lasts forever. It'll become my "chopper" now and I'll be breaking in my new brush for line-work tomorrow.

I tried to take a more impressionistic approach with my inking again here... Don't think I'll be taking said approach much more though as I think the end results are a little too sloppy for even me.

Not sure if I'll have a whole lot to post tomorrow, but I'll have SOMETHING up for sure.

Be sure to check back!

Dark KNIGHT Rises

2012-01-11T23:52:00.002-06:00

This is Batman?

Yeah, I think so...

This is a little rougher than stuff I usually do in my sketchbook, but I bought a new brush the other day and this is one of my last hurrahs with my old brush.

I've got a few more drawings of the Caped Crusader that I didn't get around to inking (I'm tired) so be sure to check back tomorrow!

Also, I'm going to be doing my darndest (spelled wrong?) to start doing daily posts again, so be on the lookout!!!

Fire Rises

2012-01-01T13:12:00.002-06:00

This is Bane.

If you've been living under a rock these last couple of weeks and haven't seen the new Batman trailer, see it here.

The 33 Best Songs I Heard in 2011

2011-12-28T07:27:00.004-06:00

As this blog has been devoted exclusively to my art for the past year and a half, I'm sure it's a bit odd seeing a, "Best of 2011" list on here.

While I SHOULD be able to get to a scanner and at the very least throw up some sketches I've been doing before the end of December, I'm not positive that this is going to happen so I'm doing this because A) I want to and B) because it'll guarantee that December is not a post-less month!

For the past two years, I've made a playlist each month featuring songs that I deem both significant and/or enjoyable. Mind you, these songs do not have to have come out in 2011, I simply have to have heard them during the calendar year. The song's from the list are usually ones that have popped up in my iTunes while drawing, but sometimes they're ones that I hear on the street blasting from someone's car or at a bar/friend's house/etc. I try to arrange these songs into a cohesive order and only allow myself to select as many songs as would fit on one CD (also allowing any given artist one entry for a given month). I look forward to doing this every month and also to subsequently narrowing things down for the end of the year as you see below.

As this is the end of the year, I've selected enough music to fit on TWO CDs. I've included in parentheses the month from which the song was pulled.

BEST OF 2011

Disc 1

1. Woods- Bon Iver (December)

2. Mujer Hermosa- Los Incomparables (March)

3. Swans- Camera Obscura (August)

4. I Can't Let my Heaven Walk Away- Stevie Wonder (October)

5. My Man's Gone Now- Nina Simone (January)

6. Adore- Prince (January)

7. McFearless- King of Leon (April)

8. Rock of Billy- Dave Douglas (September)

9. All Along the Watchtower- Dave Matthews Band Featuring Carlos Santana (January)

10. Moving Targets- Van Hunt (December)

11. Anniversary of an Uninteresting Event- Deftones (May)

12. Incesto O Pasion- Omar-Rodriguez Lopez (December)

13. Se Me Hazo Facil- Concha Buika (November)

14. Prayer- Miles Davis (October)

15. When You Were Young- The Noisettes (August)

16. Sounds of Your Lovers- Dozens (December)

DISC 2

1. New Cannonball Blues- TV on the Radio (June)

2. With You Friends- Skrillex (August)

3. Pop Culture- Madeon (November)

4. You Hand in Mine- Explosions in the Sky (August)

5. Slum Beautiful- Outkast (December)

6. Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants- Dillinger Escape Plan (October)

7. Carolyn's Fingers- Cocteau Twins (February)

8. Say You'll Go- Janelle Monae (May)

9. Pandemonium- Meek Mill featuring Rick Ross and Wale (July)

10. Track C- Group Dancers- Charles Mingus (June)

11. For Love I Come- Thundercat (May)

12. Glass- Bats for Lashes (August)

13. Kiss Me- Tom Waits (November)

14. Cruel Bloom- Converge (June)

15. Soul Machines- Northern Primitive (August)

16. Sunflower- Low (April)

17. Snake Pond- Raekwon (March)

Monthly Breakdown

January- 3

February- 1

March- 2

April- 2

May- 3

June- 3

July- 1

August- 6

September- 1

October- 3

November- 3

December- 5

T-U-R-T-L-E Power REDUX (Now 100% Joshmo Powered)

2011-11-29T14:47:00.003-06:00

A few months ago, my friend Josh and I collaborated on a Turtles drawing that saw him giving me pencils to ink and eventually finish in color.

The original collaboration progressed something like this...

Josh's Pencils

My Inks over his pencils

My colors over my inks and his pencils

Josh has gone back into the original drawing recently and done his own coloring and as you can see, the results are very inspired.

WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY back in the day when the turtles were having color injected into their comics for the first time, they didn't have the four different colored headbands that we all associate with them today.

Originally, their head bands were all red.

Josh decided to flip the script a little bit coloring their bodies the color of their headbands and having all of the latter be green.

There's a lot to like here, a green April O'Neil is just... kind of... AWESOME and Raph foaming at the mouth (whether it be because he's rabid or just REALLY hungry for some pizza I'm not sure) is equally great.

Also, Josh just launched his website recently and you should DEFINITELY go check it out!!!

Flipping the Script

2011-11-25T22:36:00.003-06:00

I had to do up this comic page for something that hopefully I'll be able to talk about more in the near future and it was quite the experience.

Working in the style was HARD. It's nowhere NEAR my area of expertise but I think the resulting piece turned out pretty well and I'm excited to hopefully continue to work in this vein.

The pencils came together pretty quickly for this but as I sat down to ink it, I realized that the way I draw naturally is not really what's up for this particular story. As this is so, I threw myself into the deep end of the pool that Jose Munoz and Sean Phillips like to swim in and tried my best to stay afloat.

This kind of inking is... Bliss. I can't even begin to talk about it, it's like carving light into your page or something. Either way, had a blast and hopefully I'll have more to share soon!

Back For the Very First Time...

2011-11-21T22:38:00.008-06:00

The first friend that I made at MCAD, Adina Weinand, is about to embark on an AWESOME journey that will see her work on a farm in Hawaii for two months and then teach children for a year in Korea.

Over the course of the five some odd years that I've know her, Adina has been a very good friend and I felt inclined to make some art for her as a way of sending her off.

Creating this piece, I was thinking that I'd do my usual ligne-claire routine with a brush and then throw in some crazy texture on her dog before adding lighting/color in Photoshop. Instead, I decided to ante up FOR REAL and address the lighting in pure black and white.

I'm sometimes intimidated of doing the above mentioned thing because to be able to do so and to do so WELL can be very difficult.

However, I trusted myself, and things turned out very nicely.

I haven't posted up extensive process on a given piece for awhile so I'll go into that below...

Above is the first thumb-nail that I did...

This was the second thumb-nail that I did. I enlarged my original thumb-nail about 150% and drew over it and then enlarged it again and did the pencils which you see below...

These are my "ligne-claire inks". As you can see, things aren't QUITE working in a black and white sense yet. This is where I usually jump into Photoshop and start coloring.

The finished piece. Probably my most successful attempt at addressing light with just black and white yet.

Waiting Man...

2011-11-17T22:03:00.005-06:00

Mood Music?

Alright, something more sinister is probably in order considering the artwork but JEE-ZUS! Can Bill Bruford rock a goofy time signature or what!?

Inactivity on the blog...

2011-11-16T13:54:00.001-06:00

Hey folks!

Just popping in to apologize for the lack of new material. I'm currently enrolled in Frank Santoro's Correspondence Course and I can't show any of the work that I'm doing in there (not YET at least).

I've got one or two things un-related to the course that I hope to get up this month but it might not happen.

I'll be back to daily-ish updates in December or January though so stay tuned!!!

If you Give a kid a Pencil...

2011-11-01T22:17:00.006-05:00

Alright, be real now folks... how many of you DIDN'T read "If you give a Moose a Muffin" or "If you give a Mouse a Cookie" when you were a kid?!

Moving right along, I've decided to post up some drawing done by the kids who I've been teaching for the last few weeks.

The above mentioned class is one in which I a group of 4th- 7th graders very basic cartooning fundamentals so they can hopefully grow up to take the world by storm!

The class has been a lot of fun so far, I've got seven girls and three boys who are all bursting with creativity.

It's really a joy to watch children work because they lack a filter. As people get older, they become more self-aware and fall into traps like trying too hard or trying to make their art look like someone else's (the latter of which I still struggle with from time to time).

With kids though, they just DRAW. They do what comes NATURALLY and what they come up with can be a lot of fun.

As yesterday was Halloween, I thought it would be appropriate to spend half of the class playing the game "Exquisite Corpse". For those who don't know, the game involves folding a piece of paper into three and passing it around so that everyone draws on part of the paper without seeing what came before. You unfold it at the end and usually have a drawing that's pretty awesome.

I've posted all of the kid's drawings below... Have at!!!

Combat!!! (Finished)

2011-10-30T23:48:00.003-05:00

I think I've more in-progress posts about this piece than I've had about any other on this blog.

As this is so, I'm going to borrow one from my grandfather and simply say, "The job is done, long live the job!"

Exciting News/Combat (Remix)

2011-10-29T16:30:00.005-05:00

Peter sent along his inks over my pencils from earlier in the week and they're pretty great.

Peter made some nice changes in the background that I wish I would have had the foresight to include in my original pencils.

Also, his lines are a lot thicker than mine which is interesting to see as I tend to use thinner, more whispy lines when inking.

ADDITIONALLY!!!

I found out this morning that I'm one of ten people picked to participate in Frank Santoro's wonderful Correspondence Course. I might be slacking a little bit on this blog as I can't be showing any of the work I'm doing for the course whilst it's going on, but hopefully I'll still be able to keep up these collaborations.

I've got a LONGGGGGGGGG night ahead of me here at work, but I should have my inks over Peter's pencils up in addition to my finished colors over his inks sometimes tomorrow.

Be sure to check back!!!

Combat!!! (In-progress)

2011-10-28T16:30:00.005-05:00

I had a bit of a slow morning today but I did manage to lay in some color under my inks from yesterday.

I'm going to be doing some extensive work on this tomorrow and also post up both Peter's inks and my inks over his pencils from earlier in the week...

Be sure to check back!!!

Combat!!!

2011-10-27T23:36:00.003-05:00

Mood Music.

Peter will be turning in inks over my pencils later in the week and I feel a little guilty inking my own pencils before his. However, some part of me REALLY wanted to just tear into this earlier this evening, so I did.

After my witch drawing from the other day, I've been trying to dial back my dry brush use a bit and spot solid blacks better.

I read an interview with Gary Panter earlier this evening and he spoke on blackspotting to some degree citing manga as a good example to look to.

I thought that a bit strange at first but I recalled a trade of Dragon Ball Z that I was looking at the other day and the more I thought about the pages I looked through, the more I realized what he was talking about.

This is of course going to be colored so that must also be taken into account, but I think it stands fairly well on it's own as a piece of black and white art.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for color and hopefully some in-progress inks over Peter's pencils!!!

A Witch in Fall

2011-10-27T15:30:00.004-05:00

I threw some color on my witch illustration from the other day. I wasn't too keen on the finished product at first, but it's grown on me and I'm just as happy with the original now as I am with the colored version.

Check back later for an in-progress look at my inks over Peter's pencils from earlier in the week!

Looking back on age 23...

2011-10-25T18:55:00.005-05:00

Today is my 24th birthday and my original intention was to work ALL DAY NON-STOP and post some three odd times showcasing new work.

I didn't do that.

What I DID do was look back upon the work I did over the course of the last year and pick out some of my favorite pieces to showcase in this post...

October 2010

December 2010

January 2011

February 2011 (The second drawing features two observational copies of Andrew Loomis' work)

March 2011

April 2011

May 2011

June 2011

July 2011 (The first Hellboy cover is re-creation of a drawing by Mike Mignola)

August 2011

August wasn't the best month for me hahaha

September 2011 (Most of the drawings done during September and October were collaborative in nature... click here for details)

October 2011

More stuff will be up tomorrow... Thanks for looking!!!

Think in Ink!!! (Re-visited)

2011-10-24T23:51:00.002-05:00

I chose to re-vist my piece from yesterday and I came up with something that's a little more timely. Considering All Hallow's Eve is around the corner.

Check back tomorrow for color (if this thing can handle color)!!!

First Contact

2011-10-24T23:34:00.003-05:00

It's a new week so another round of collaborations are in the works!!!

This week, I'm lucky enough to be working with Peter Wartman. For his theme, Peter has selected "First Contact".

As you'll see below, Peter can D-R-A-W.

Wait a minute, run it back...

D-R-A-W.

I had my intro to graphic design class at MCAD with him and I distinctly remember my professor remarking during one of our critiques that he was a wonderful draftsman.

He still is and you can see below that he takes a lot of care in crafting his compositions.

When crafting my pencils for Peter, I tried to go for something with some extra oomph, also opting to work in the fantasy end of the spectrum as opposed to sci-fi.

Tomorrow is my birthday so I'm going to try to be EXTRA productive.

Triple post!?!/!

I'm not ruling it out...

Think in INK!!!

2011-10-23T15:13:00.003-05:00

I finished this up an hour or so ago and I think things turned out pretty well.

I'm always hesitant on some level to use A LOT of black as it's so... final... so noticeable.

I've kinda been copping out lately and just doing ligne claire-ish inks over most of my stuff and solving my rendering problems with color on the computer. For this piece however, I decided to use a lot of black for my values and buck the trend.

When working like this, I have a tendency to use what I believe might be too much dry-brushing. While there's probably more of that in here than needs to be, I think I've got enough hard black to offset things.

I'm going to try my best to do another post tonight so check back then or tomorrow when I'll have pencils up for this week's collaborations!!!

In-Progress...

2011-10-22T17:41:00.002-05:00

I used to draw from fashion photos and I ran across my reference pile in the back of my sketch book the other day.

I saw the photo below and thought there was some potential to turn it into an interesting illustration.

With any luck, I'll have this thing bagged and tagged by the end of the day tomorrow. If I'm REALLY on the ball, hopefully I'll have something else to show too.

Be sure to check back!!!

IT'S A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE... Let's Get Naked and Drink Whiskey?

2011-10-19T19:05:00.006-05:00

Caitlin sent along her inks to me this morning and I was absolutely estatic when I saw them.

Caitlin's wizardry with ink is enviable and I think she took my pencils to a really wonderful place.

I was thinking about taking a crack at inking this myself last week and now that I've seen what Caitlin has done, I don't know if there's anything I'd do differently, honestly. She's made my attempt at "grotesque and hilarious" (the theme she declared) about as grotesque and hilarious as I could have and she should be commended for her efforts!

I tried to some new coloring techniques on this one, opting to "airbrush" the figures and feather some of my color spots.

I've got one or two more things that I'll be posting up before the end of the week so be sure to check back...

Also, next week the blog is going to see a LOT of activity as we'll be having not one but TWO guest artists!!!

The RETURN (the return, the RETURN) of the "She"

2011-10-18T20:54:00.005-05:00

Mood music?

Some of you may remember Sean Hartman's She-Hulk contributions from a couple of weeks ago.

Apparently, Sean still has her on the brain because he's come up with yet ANOTHER riff on everyone's favorite green chick... except this time she's not really... green?

Sean sent me an e-mail with these two drawings earlier this evening and it made me really happy. She-Hulk is so angry, so 80s, so weird, and so awesome that... well, just take a look.

Sean painted She-Hulk with inverse colors in real life and then inverted the colors of the photo he took in photoshop therefore bringing out She-Hulk's "true"colors.

As I said before, AWESOME!!!

This week may be a little slow on the art front as it's my birthday next Tuesday (twenty thr- I mean... *winces* Twenty fourrrrrrrrr) and I have resolved to be drawing comics by then or else!!! Essentially, this means that I need to go back to all the half-written outlines I have on my computer and PULL the trigger on one of them!!!

I have one or two things that will be put up here one way or another later this week though so check back at your leisure!!!

A Taste...

2011-10-16T23:09:00.002-05:00

I know this is a little... LACKING when it comes to my regular posts but I don't want to talk too much about this as I'm not sure if there's something to talk about yet...

Hopefully I'll be able to speak on this more tomorrow and potentially make an exciting announcement...

STAY TUNED!!!

More Cartoons, Cartoons!!!

2011-10-14T23:46:00.002-05:00

Today was less productive than I would have liked it to be but I still managed to do some drawings that I was pretty proud of.

I'm trying to find a balance between my two extreme stylistic tendencies at this point in time and I think I'm making some good progress. For awhile I was trying to essentially draw like an animator in a comic context and it worked to a certain extent... at this point I'm trying to inject more "comic" into the equation and things are moving along nicely.

The drawings to the right of my Sack-man drawings from earlier in the week tend a little more towards cartoony in certain places but I think there are a few that split the difference nicely.

I'm going to do my absolute best to have the bike commission from last week finished by Sunday so expect an in-progress look tomorrow and hopefully the finished thing Sunday!!!

"...They Can't Afford to Tell you No..."

2011-10-13T13:02:00.006-05:00

In my first comics class with Caitlin, our professor at the time, Zak Sally, was telling a Steve Martin story that he'd heard.

I don't remember the story exactly, but I believe someone had asked Steve Martin what people needed to do to get a job doing what you love. Steve Martin's answer was simple and has stuck with me ever since.

He said, "You have to be so good that they can't afford to tell you no."

As Steve Martin is mentioned in this particular illustration, I thought it would be appropriate to share that story.

The finished illustration here is probably the most successful one that I've had a hand in whilst these collaborations have been going on. I still wish the inks stood better one their own, but I think the addition of color (and a color hold with respect to the lettering) greatly helped things.

Caitlin should be commended first and foremost for such an oddball contribution... this piece is unique in all the best ways and I was honored to add my inks and colors, helping it become fully realized...

Be sure to check back tomorrow for more work!!!

Ligne Claire, Ligne Claire... GUTS for hair!?

2011-10-12T23:52:00.003-05:00

Above are my finished inks over Caitlin's pencils (as seen below) from yesterday...

When I first saw this drawing, I said to myself, "This should be interesting".

Inking was interesting indeed... both a joy and a struggle.

Caitlin finishes her pencil lines with a pen most of the time (I believe) and being a brush person, I was curious to see how my decision making process would effect the outcome of the work.

I had a LOT of fun doing the intestines and the two figures. The seagulls and the text were both tricky though and I don't think I was able to make them work in stark B&W as well as I could have.

As this is the case, animals and lettering are moving to the top of my list of things to work on!!!

I began coloring the drawing and things began to coalesce a lot better.

I toyed with the idea of doing ONLY flat color and I may still go that route. For the time being though, I'm not doing that and I've got this to show...

Be sure to check back tomorrow for the finished piece!!!

"Grotesque & Funny"

2011-10-11T22:51:00.008-05:00

The title of this post refers to this week's theme selected by the one and only Caitlin Skaalrud.

I met Caitlin in my second comic class at MCAD and I was immediately blow away by her skills as a draftsman. I would soon find out that she could tell a compelling story just as well as she could draw and I looked forward to seeing her work in most every critique afterwards.

Caitlin's theme is appropriate as Minneapolis had it's zombie pub crawl this past week and Halloween is just around the corner.

Her pencils for the week are below and they're followed by mine...

I'll have Caitlin's pencils inked at the very least by the end of the day tomorrow (probably colored too) so be sure to check back!!!

Chauncy the Sack-Man

2011-10-07T23:25:00.007-05:00

I saw a quote from Johnny Ryan the other day in which he essentially said that every cartoonist needs to do a daily strip at some point so that they let go of any preciousness they attribute to their work.

I started riffing on an idea for a daily strip this afternoon and came up with four short gag strips that will be hopefully be the launching pad for something bigger.

I sat down tonight to do some character designs and the first character I tackled was Chauncy the Sack-man, a comedic Martian pimp/pusher at war with rival drug-dealer Sawdust Woody in 22nd century Los Angeles.

Be sure to check back to see more character designs or some progress with regards to the BMX commission/ figure studies from last week!

A Couple O' In-Progress Pieces...

2011-10-06T23:27:00.003-05:00

I've been making trips to my old college's figure drawing co-op these past couple of weeks and the drawings you see above were done partially at said co-op.

I was originally doing the figures nude, (as they were when I drew them) but my roommate suggested trying to clothe and cartoon the figures so I did.

The model we had was an older man and he gave us quite a few good poses. The floating head towards the bottom of the page is more or less what he looked like and the other two figures are abstractions of sorts.

This piece is the layout I'll be using for a commision which will be finished in ink and color for best friend since age 6, Patrick.

Patrick is a BMX enthusiast in every sense of the word and also a Chicagoan. He described this idea to me over the phone and these are my pencil layouts that will get blown up and then inked and colored at about 2x.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for more work!!!

One Legged Tony, Pizza Pig She-Hulk

2011-10-05T19:13:00.010-05:00

I met up with Sean tonight and he dropped off a couple of things, the first of which is the pencils that you see above. These were done on a canvas and they'll be painted by Schuyler later in the week.

As you can see, Sean's riffing HARD on She-Hulk in the swimsuit and I'm sure Schuyler will do the piece justice.

The second thing he turned in were his inks and colors over my pencils which you see below...

He went about finishing things in a COMPLETELY different way than I would have and the results are both awesome and hilarious.

As I mentioned earlier, Sean's mark making is some of the most unique and un-pretentious that I came across while at MCAD. There's an honesty about his work that's enviable as he picks a line, sticks with it, and works completely intuitively.

If anyone at Marvel is reading this, please announce Strange Tales III soon and put Sean and I down for a short story riffing on this drawing!? Maybe include my inks and colors over his pencils as a bonus pin-up!?

I'll be posting up some in-progress work from a commission piece that I'm working on or some work based off some observational figure drawings I did this weekend...

Be sure to check back!!!

RE-CAP!!!

2011-10-04T15:34:00.005-05:00

As we're now in week SIX of this little collaborative project, I thought it would be nice to put all the work that's been created thus far into ONE BIG post so there's easy access for people who might be stumbling across the blog for the first time.

For the last six weeks, between two and four artists have been working on themed collaborations. A "guest" artist (who also declares the week's theme) has been thrown into the equation for the past five weeks and we've all been learning a lot.

Working collaboratively like this has presented everyone involved (myself in particular) with a LOT of challenges and I think people have done a pretty admirable job of rising to their respective tasks.

I'm only going to post the finished pieces in here (with exception to the She-Hulk piece because it's still She-Hulk week) so if you want to see the process you'll have to dig a bit... I'd encourage you to do so however as watching things come together is half the fun.

Anyways, here we go!!!

Week 1: Boba Fett

Pencils: TJ Nasti

Inks and Color: Me

Pencils: Schuyler Huber

Inks: Tj Nasti

Pencils and Color: Me

Inks: Schuyler Huber

Week Two: Street Fighter

Pencils: Schuyler Huber

Inks and Color: Josh Engen

Pencils: Phong Nguyen

Inks and Color: Me

Pencils: Me

Acrylics: Phong Nguyen

Pencils and Color: Me

Inks: TJ Nasti

Week Three: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Pencils: Josh Engen

Inks and Color: Me

Pencils: TJ Nasti

Inks: Me

Pencils, Inks, and Color: Me

Pencils: Me

Inks and Color: Josh Engen

Week Four: Rancor

Pencils: Dan Levar

Inks and Color: Me

Pencils: Me

Inks: Dan Levar

Week Five: Harry Potter

Pencils: Charles Stewart III

Inks and Colors: Me

Week Six: She-Hulk

Pencils: Sean Hartman

Inks and Color: Me

Be sure to check back later in the week for further developments featuring She-Hulk!!!

She... Hulk?

2011-10-03T16:34:00.003-05:00

It's the beginning of a new week and you know what that means...

New collaborator, new theme!!!

This week, we're lucky enough to have Mr. Sean Hartman working with us.

Sean's work is some of the most honest that I came across while at MCAD... dude draws what's on his mind, draws it well, and usually gets a couple of laughs out of you too.

He also plays a lot of music and he keeps a couple of blogs/websites that are WELL worth your time. You can find them here and here.

I was talking to Shawn about what he wanted to do for his theme and he pretty quickly decided on She-Hulk.

Sean's pencils are below (and at the top) and they're brilliant.

I talked to Sean about how he thought this might be finished and he was talking about ink and matte colors. I agreed and I'm going to tackle this with a Sharpie and maybe do some color holds for a green and purple finish.

When I was doing my pencils, I immediately found myself leaning towards comedy so I decided to draw She-Hulk pigging out on some pizza in bunny slippers whilst Iron Man looked on.

I'm going to start in on Sean's pencils tonight and should probably have them inked and colored by tomorrow. Be sure to check back throughout the week!!!

Cartoons, Cartoons!!!

2011-09-30T10:25:00.004-05:00

As I've been working on these drawing collaborations lately, I've been tending more and more towards severe cartooning and simplification when it comes to my pencils.

Well... "severe" might be a little strong, but still, I'm finding that drawing like I was going to be drawing for animation (whilst acknowledging comics at the same time) has become very enjoyable, partially because I think I'm beginning to understand simplification better.

What you see above is just me putting down whatever comes to mind and going for it.

I know I was bemoaning tight pencils on here the other day and I suppose that's hypocritical as these pencils are fairly tight... for me at least.

It was a little nerve wracking in certain places here as I felt compelled to get my pencil line EXACTLY, but for the most part I think things turned out well.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for more!!!

Electric Forest (Blanka Remix)

2011-09-28T11:02:00.005-05:00

I said yesterday that I'm running out of nice things to say about Josh's work.

It's a new day, and I still find myself in the same predicament.

I was fortunate enough to see Josh working on this yesterday in the afternoon/evening and it was a real treat watching this piece evolve. Everytime I looked over to his side of the drafting table, something new and cool had been added to the piece.

This is by far one of the most successful collaborations that this little collective has produced. Josh and Schuyler should both be very proud of themselves.

The Return of In-Progress JOSHMO!!!

2011-09-27T10:13:00.005-05:00

When Josh collaborated with us a couple of weeks ago on the Turtles pieces, this blog saw it's most consistent traffic since I was doing comic work April-May.

Coincidence?

Methinks not as Josh creates SUPERIOR work!!!

Josh came through a couple of nights ago and saw Schuyler's half-finished pencils from Street Fighter week laying out. He expressed interest in finishing Schuyler's work in ink and he came by last night to do just that.

Honestly, I'm running out of nice things to say about Josh's work. He's nailed the Blanka figure (props to Schuyler too for the pose and laying down the construction) and I can't wait to see what he does with the background.

Be sure to check back later in the week to see what he puts down!!!

Avada Kedavra!!!

2011-09-27T10:00:00.006-05:00

Some part of me can't believe I'm such a geek and that I titled this post what I did.

Such is life.

As I mentioned yesterday, I can be a bit apprehensive at times when it comes to inking REALLY tight pencils. Charles tends to do REALLY tight pencils and I was worried that I'd be reduced to simply tracing his lines with my brush instead of actually embellishing them.

While Charles' pencils WERE tight, (see below) I was still able to add my own little flourishes in the inking stage. Inking this piece was also a great learning experience as I was forced to feather my ink lines, (something I don't usually do with my own work) and I found that doing so can actually be a lot of fun.

When it came time to color, I took a couple of different approaches before settling on what you saw at the top of this post (and again below). I initially tried a water-colorish approach for EVERYTHING but that wasn't really agreeing with what had been laid down in ink, so I opted to go a different route.

I'm really pleased with my color choices and how I handled the background. One of my roommates commented on this while I was still working, saying that he linked how I had the curse kind of enveloping Voldemort's hand as he prepared to cast it towards the light. I'm not sure if I feel the same way and I'll have to sit on it today and then maybe go back and change it.

My pencils for Charles will be up tomorrow along with one or two other things if all goes well...

Be sure to check back!!!

The OTHER Dark Lord o' Light

2011-09-26T09:51:00.006-05:00

It's a new week and that means there's a new theme and a new guest collaborator on the blog!!!

This week, we are lucky enough to be collaborating with Mr. Charles Stewart III. Charles has turned in some brilliant pencils and declared, "Harry Potter" the theme for this week.

I was a little worried about getting these pencils at first because Charles likes to pencil REALLY tight.

It's hilarious too because he's one of the best inkers to come out of MCAD in recent years and I keep telling him to let go a little bit.

While the pencils you see above are indeed tight, they're looser than what he's shown me in the past. It's been very enjoyable for me to ink his work as a result.

On an un-related note, I made a trip to the figure drawing co-op yesterday and worked from a live model for the first time in a minute. I finished four of the models poses in pencil and I'll be doing simple ink and color illustrations this week (like the one below) to supplement the collaborative work.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for my inks and colors over Charles' pencils!!!

Light o' the Sith Lord's Lightsaber

2011-09-22T10:20:00.008-05:00

^^^I can't get down like that.

When Dan gave this to me yesterday I about flipped out. I've long struggled with hard light and big black areas and Dan showed his absolute mastery of both in this piece.

Looking at this piece is a lot of fun. I was name dropping Charles Burns, Seth Fisher, and those folks in my last post where I spoke on Dan's work but this is more like an engraving or something... Lynd Ward by way of Frank Miller circa 1993... I don't even know.

I left Dan to do pretty much whatever he pleased with regards to the background. I think he did a great job of isolating Darth Maul and also having the rancor blend in seamlessly with the background in certain places.

Tomorrow I'll be posting my pencils for Mr. TJ Nasti to ink...

Be sure to check back!!!

(Dark) Lord of Light

2011-09-21T15:35:00.009-05:00

There's something about these Star Wars pieces...

I was initially taking a very traditional approach when coloring this. About a quarter of the way through, I had a change of heart.

I haven't done a lot of coloring where I've only used one real color and done subsequent rendering with various shades of said color.

I decided that particular method of coloring would be appropriate for this piece decided to give it a shot.

I cheated a bit here as I through some pink in for Darth Vader's lightsaber. I couldn't QUITE get the amount of color emanating from said light-saber correct though but it's a minor nit-pick.

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. Also, credit must be given to Dan as his original pencils suggested such great lighting.

Speaking of Dan, he dropped off his finished inks this afternoon and they're pretty wild. His use of light is both incredible and enviable... he did a really nice job of making my pencils his own and I'll have his finished work up tomorrow.

Be sure to check back!!!

Ligne Claire, Ligne Claire... Barely There?

2011-09-20T10:54:00.004-05:00

Should I attempt to have all my post titles this week rhyme?

*Listens to silence and crickets chirping*

Moving right along.

I had originally planned to get my Joe Kubert/Jordi Bernet on with this piece but it just wasn't happening.

Dan and I had a brief conversation while exchanging these and I told him (just like I tell everyone who I've been collaborating with) that should he desire to make some changes to my work, he should feel free to do so.

He gave me similar permission and I decided to take this one up and away.

I'm going to begin coloring this shortly and I'm going to do my best to replicate that which you see in European BD.

Better believe I'll be busting out my Moebius short stories and Geoff Darrow comics!!!

Sith Lords and Rancors (<--- RZA-style rhymin')

2011-09-19T18:03:00.008-05:00

It's funny because as I was finishing this, I texted Dan (this week's guest artist, our third) and told him that he'd be inking Darth Maul in a stand-off with a Rancor. He responded almost immediately and told me that he'd drawn Darth VADER in a stand-off with a Rancor.

Great minds think alike, huh?

I'm REALLY excited to see what Dan does as he brought over a personal project of his (a very LARGE drawing featuring CONAN and a Rancor). He's getting some UNBELIEVABLY nice lines with a Sharpie and the things looks like the love-child of of Geoff Darrow, Frank Frazetta, Charles Burns, and Jim Woodring.

I know that's about the strangest cocktail of influences you could ever hope to see together but that's what it is.

Check back tomorrow for some of my inks over Dan's pencils!

FINISHED TOYTLES!!!

2011-09-18T10:35:00.010-05:00

I thought a double post-would be a bit obnoxious so I'm laying both Josh and my versions in here.

This one is 100% me, from pencils, to inks, to color.

This is the first time that I've inked and colored my own pencils in QUITE awhile and I'm very pleased with how things turned out.

I've been wanting to try out this kind of coloring for awhile now and this piece served as a guinea pig of sorts for me.

I colored all the characters like they were cartoon characters in old-school cell animation. I then did my best to "paint" the background and the I think the juxtaposition works well.

Above we have Josh's inks and colors over my pencils. I already said quite a bit about this piece earlier in the week so I'm gonna skip all that here and just say this...

WELL DONE JOSH!!!

It absolutely thrills me that he was able to inject so much of his own flavor into this, really making it his own.

Again, well done.

Be sure to check back Monday for work by our THIRD guest artist, Mr. Dan Levar!

There's Black... and Then There's White... (Apologies to Steve Ditko)

2011-09-17T10:02:00.006-05:00

I kind of want to have a Mr. A week now...

For those who DON'T know who Mr. A is, I'd direct you here.

TJ pencils for this were something that I inked with great enthusiasm as I wanted to see just HOW WELL his spatial relationships would work out when things were reduced to just black and white.

I think he's done this week's most unique drawing without a doubt.

It's also a personal favorite of mine as you can turn it every which way and get a composition that still pretty much works and in some cases tells a different story...

Schuyler was not too thrilled with the fact that this is FLAT and it is.

I tried coloring it and after awhile I came to realize that it just needed to be left as is...

In Black and White.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for Josh's finished inks and colors over my pencils in addition to my inks and colors over my pencils!!!

Casey Jones (Watch Your Speed)

2011-09-15T09:42:00.004-05:00

Elias Koteas.

The name ring a bell to anyone?

In case you haven't already IMDB'd the dude (is IMDB'd proper English?) Elias Koteas played Casey Jones in the first and third Ninja Turtles films.

Dude's a character actor (he last popped up in the remake of Let the Right one in) but to me he'll always be Casey Jones.

Of all the Turtles affiliates or what have you, Casey Jones was always my favorite. What's not to love about a dude who runs around in a goalie masks administering beat-downs to baddies with hockey sticks, cricket bats, and golf clubs!?

I can recall drawing Casey Jones once before. It was a swipe straight out of the comics and he was jumping up in the air screaming "Gongolla, gongolla, gongolla," or something equally ludicrous.

I kept the jump for this drawing but the war-cry and pose have been changed.

This is probably the busiest composition I've ever drawn. It took me a LONG time to figure out the logistics of things but it was well worth it.

Young Soap aka Scrubblin Dubblin with be inking this and I'll be adding color. I'll also be inking and coloring my own version of this.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for my finished inks over TJ's pencils in addition to my inks and colors over my pencils from earlier in the week. TJ's come up with something REALLY unique this for you guys, it reminds me of the Japanese Ukiyo-e infused pop art of the 60s.

In-Progress Joshmo TOYTLES

2011-09-14T10:49:00.003-05:00

TOYTLES?

Yeah... anyone remember Rocksteady and Bebop?

Moving right along...

These are Josh's in-progress inks and colors over my pencils.

As I said yesterday, seeing this piece, even in progress, made me feel like I was four all over again. Josh has done a really wonderful job so far giving the drawing life and a sense of playfulness that's enviable.

I can't wait to see him finish this and I look forward to working with him again in the future.

Check back tomorrow for pencils by me or TJ with potential inks by me over TJ's pencils!

Up From the New York Sewers!!!

2011-09-13T09:32:00.007-05:00

I don't know where to really start with this so I'll probably ramble a bit.

Actually, I ramble all the time, so there you go.

This was a breakthrough piece for me with regards to my inking.

Last week when I finished Phong's Akuma piece, I was forced to ink in a way that I hadn't in a while. When I saw Josh's pencils for this, I knew I'd have to do the same thing.

It was A LOT of fun working on this. I was immediately pleased with my inks upon finishing them but I knew coloring was going to be a whole other ball game as the composition is pretty busy and the turtles all had to be different colors!

I had a lot of good continuous feedback from both my roommate, Schuyler Huber, and Josh himself as all three of us were working on our pieces last night. We had a great energy going between the three of us and hopefully we all get in the same room to do it again soon.

Speaking of those two, Josh is a bout half-way done with his piece and it's BRILLIANT.

Seeing him working on it last night, I was four years old all over again, ready to go outside in my "Sweater" (I couldn't quite say "Shredder" back then as I had a bit of a speech impediment) costume and practice all my best slashes, kicks, and punches.

With any luck, Josh's piece will be up in a day or two. Check back tomorrow for the pencils I'll be giving Schuyler or an in-progress look at Josh's piece!

T-U-R-T-L-E Power!!!

2011-09-12T09:03:00.006-05:00

Above you'll see the pencils submitted by this weeks guest artist, Josh Engen.

In case it's not obvious, this week's theme is Ninja Turtles!!!

I don't think I've ever met someone who doesn't connect with these characters on some level. They're four of the greatest comic book characters ever and their world/rogues gallery are equally awesome.

Josh certainly brought some of that love to this drawing and I can't wait to start inking/coloring it. I've never seen Josh's pencil lines and I was amazed at how clean they are. Coloring his work is going to be a little bit daunting as Josh colors A LOT better than me and also a really unique way of adding value to his drawings. The little polygonish blocks he uses will be his calling card one day and the prospect of seeing him adding some of those to my pencils (as seen below) is really exciting.

This is one of the busiest compositions I've ever done. I would have had a ball inking and coloring this and I'm very excited to see what Josh does to it.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for more work! With any luck I'll have Josh's piece completed...

いぶき (Come Around Sundown)

2011-09-10T10:06:00.003-05:00

TJ finished up inking my pencils yesterday and I was presented with the daunting task of coloring them.

Now, when I say DAUNTING, I mean D-A-U-N-T-I-N-G as I've had great difficulty coloring underneath pen lines in the past.

This kind of coloring is NOT how I choose to color normally but I'm starting to enjoy it. I started making attempts at applying color this way last week when I was working on coloring the Boba Fett piece that I pencilled and Schuyler inked. I was pleasantly surprised when I finished things up then and I was even more delighted this time around.

TJ should be congratulated here as he exhibited a great deal of restraint inking this thing. He could have GONE TO TOWN on that telephone pole giving you the raunchiest wood textures this side of milky way but instead he just threw in a little detail and trusted that I'd see things through in color.

Tomorrow we'll have my inks and (and possibly colors) over TJ's pencils and hopefully my inks over Schuyler's pencils too...

Stay tuned!!!

Some NASTI In-Progress Work...

2011-09-09T09:44:00.002-05:00

These are TJ's partial inks over my pencils from the other day.

It's always cool to see someone finish my work with a pen because I really make an effort to use ONLY a brush if possible. Also, I don't know how to color pen drawings AT ALL so figuring out how to make this work is going to be an interesting little battle.

The finished version of this should be up tomorrow with any luck... if not, I'll have Schuyler's pencils for the week or me finishing TJ's pencils of Dhalsim from earlier in the week (more on that when I post).

Be sure to check back!

Acrylic Akuma

2011-09-08T09:07:00.004-05:00

When I originally handed this off to Phong, he was planning on finishing it in colored inks. While I would have been fine with him finishing this that way, I was holding out all along for the acrylic treatment. I'm glad that he changed his mind.

I can't use acrylics to save my life and Phong has been using them (and using them brilliantly) for the better part of five years.

I pencilled this in a way that would leave a lot up to Phong and I think he delivered in every sense of the word. The background has been WORKED over and he turned my figure into something really wild, exaggerating what I gave him very successfully.

Check back tomorrow for TJs inks over my pencils (hopefully with color by me too) or Schuyler's pencils (which will eventually be inked by TJ and colored by me).

Sittin Sidewayz (High School Ninja Assassin Remix)

2011-09-07T10:23:00.007-05:00

Mood Music

Alright, so that song doesn't have anything to do with this post but it popped into my head for a second and WHA-BAM!!!

This is my second pencilled piece for the week. I'm passing it off to Mr. TJ Nasti to finish in ink and I'll be adding color (get ready to see a PAINFULLY beautiful sunset in the background).

Ibuki is a characters who from what I understand, doesn't get a lot of love from the Street Fighter fan base. I've always found her to be cool though. Her animations in SF: 3rd Strike are GORGEOUS and the idea behind her character is pretty cool too... I mean, what's NOT to like about a high school ninja assassin?

Check back tomorrow for Phong's inks over my pencils!

Dhalsim and Mr. Nasti

2011-09-06T20:53:00.003-05:00

I saw TJ working on this today almost threw a tantrum.

Why?

BECAUSE SCHUYLER GETS TO INK THIS INSTEAD OF ME!!!

TJ's pencils are pretty ideal. They're tight enough that you're not gonna get lost in the sauce (crunchy style) but they're also kind of open leaving a lot of room for the next person to add their own embellishments. He also has a real knack for exaggeration and it's made especially apparent here.

Check back tomorrow for either a SECOND pencilled piece by me (which will be inked by TJ and then colored by me) or Phong's inks and colors over my pencils.

豪鬼 (天)

2011-09-05T09:39:00.005-05:00

Whoa... Lotso Japanese in that title, yeah?!

Anyways, today marks our collective's first collaboration with someone outside of our apartment.

The guest of honor this week is Mr. Phong Nguyen, who supplied with me a drawing Akuma of Street Fighter fame!

I've always enjoyed Phong's work because it it truly PHONG's work.

His work features consistently engaging compositions, brilliant use of color, and a vision that is his and his alone.

When Phong gave me the pencils for this, I was both terrified and excited... terrified because we have almost no stylistic over-lap, and excited because working on this piece was going to push me somewhere I probably hadn't been before.

He left a LOT up to interpretation in his pencils and I really wasn't sure where to take them. At first, I was inclined to do my regular whispy brush work and throw in a bunch of extra detail.

Ultimately, I decided to go for simplification and "graphic excellence" (<--- bit o' sarcasm folks, note the quotation marks) simplifying and distilling what I had to work with.

The end result is one that I'm incredibly happy with. Later in the week, Phong will be taking my pencils (seen below) and finishing them as he sees fit... I've been promised a MIND-BLOWING fireball in the background and I know he'll deliver.

Check back tomorrow for more work!!!

Even One More For Mandalore

2011-09-04T22:02:00.006-05:00

Schuyler inked up his piece today and it's SOMETHING else.

When I saw this, I thought of it as some mash-up between Richard Corben/Vaughn Bode (something about the thug), Roger Dean, and Jim Steranko (Steranko LOVES the floor grid and Scrubs acknowledged said love in the lower left hand corner).

I already talked about Schuyler's unique handling of drapery and the environment so I don't think more needs to be said about THAT particular subject. He did a great job embellishing my original pencils in ink (as seen below).

When I sat down to color this, I knew I was going to have to do something different than usual. Feeling the Vaughn Bode/Corben influence... I did my best to imitate the kind of coloring you might see in Metal Hurlant back in the 70s. I'm pretty pleased with how things turned out, the clouds in particular...

Our first guest artist's pencils as finished by me debut tomorrow morning...

STAY TUNED

"He's more machine now..."

2011-09-03T10:36:00.003-05:00

The above line doesn't have anything to do with Boba Fett but it seems appropriate as TJ's inks have turned Schuyler's drawing of Boba Fett into something that's not QUITE human.

When we were all working on these a couple of nights ago, Schuyler's immediate response upon seeing TJ's inking was, "MECH BOBA!!!"

It's a pretty apt description. Looking at the pencils (below) and then TJ's finished inks (below the pencils) you can see that TJ REALLY put his own stamp on this.

TJ has come into this inking style fairly recently and it's been a lot of fun for me to see how he's developed. His senior project at MCAD was a pretty wild affair. It was big, DEMANDED you get up close to look at his lines, and it left a lot up to the viewer in terms of interpreting the narrative.

I've uploaded his finished inks at 100dpi instead of 72dpi so you all you detail freaks can see just how much love TJ is putting into this.

Tomorrow I'll post up Schuyler's finished inks with colors by yours truly (the latter is only a maybe though).

One More for Mandalore

2011-09-02T10:00:00.006-05:00

Today we've got an in-progress piece that sees Schuyler inking my pencils.

Watching Schuyler's piece develop over the past couple of days has really been great. He and TJ both work very deliberately and it's interesting to watch things come together.

I hadn't seen Schuyler ink anything in almost three years as he's been spending a lot of time honing his skills as a fine artist and working collaboratively on murals. His rendering and handling of... EVERYTHING has been informed by that.

Schuyler has taken this to a place that I most surely WOULD NOT have taken it and that delights me. The drawing above and to the left is what I gave him and his inks are on the right.

His handling of drapery and form is especially inspired... look at how he's knocking those folds in on Boba's clothes!!! I haven't really come across anyone else who's really doing this with ink and I'm excited at the prospect of working with him more as the weeks progress.

TJ's inks over Schuyler's pencils will debut tomorrow... hopefully Schuyler's finished inks will make their way on here too.

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend, stay tuned!

Ligne Claire... in the BELLY OF THE SARLACC!!!

2011-09-01T09:51:00.005-05:00

I talked at length yesterday about this one so I'll just say that this is THE BEST coloring I've ever done and probably some of my best inking too.

Big ups to Mr. TJ Nasti for coming with with such a brilliant idea and then giving me the ball whilst shouting, "RUN!!!"

In all seriousness, I couldn't ask for a better start to these weekly collaborations... Look for more Mandalorian madness tomorrow!!!

Belgium, Eat Your Heart Out!!!

2011-08-31T09:48:00.004-05:00

The above drawing is the first of three collaborative pieces that will be posted up this week. This particular piece is a collaboration between myself and my roommate and fellow comic artist TJ Nasti.

TJ gave me what you see on the left and I proceeded to finish it in ink.

TJ has a really unique inking style and like myself, he really only uses one tool when embellishing his pencil lines. Where I choose to use a brush, TJ chooses to use a .005 pen and he gets some CRAZY lines/detail/and texture into his work.

When TJ handed me his pencils, I couldn't WAIT to put my unique spin on things and I think the results are pretty successful.

For those not in the know, this is Boba Fett in the belly of the Sarlacc that he falls into at the end of Return of the Jedi. In books that followed the movie, Boba Fett escapes the Sarlacc and lives to fight another day.

Some may bemoan the lack of hard black and there's a reason for that. I'm going to begin finishing this in color today and I'll have the final thing posted up tomorrow with any luck.

If not, I'll either have my drawing (as inked by Young Soap aka the Scrubbler aka Schuyler Huber) or Schuyler's drawing as inked by TJ posted up.

Stay tuned!!!

Collaboration (The name of the game)

2011-08-30T09:30:00.005-05:00

So!

After a few mis-fires this past week, I'm BACK (for real) on the drawing tip again and I've got a few things lined up.

Until further notice, this blog is going to exclusively feature collaborative works.

I live with two dudes who do comics and illustration right now and we've agreed that once a week, we'll all do a drawing and pass it on the next guy to finish in ink. In addition, I'll be coloring the drawing that I ink and then also inking and color my own drawing (if time permits).

This week the theme is Boba Fett. I recently watched the old Star Wars trilogy for the first time in many years and it brought back a lot of fond memories. Funny thing is, I don't ever remember drawing Boba Fett as a kid.

My other two collaborators are hopefully getting their pieces finished today. If I don't have one of their drawings to ink, I'll get to work on ink and color on this one and post up what I've got tomorrow.

I hope everyone's week is off to a nice start!

Studying a CRAFT monster

2011-08-19T09:50:00.005-05:00

Hey folks!

So... it's getting to be ABOUT THAT TIME.

That is... it's about time to start drawing my new comic!!!

It seems that if history has taught me anything, it's that shortly before tackling any sort of substantial work, I have a tendency to study an artist or two at great length and attempt to absorb some of their stylistic tendencies and also a greater understanding of the art of drawing.

This time around, the artist who I'm REALLY going to be taking a look at is Mr. Bill Sienkiewicz.

Bill Sienkiewicz is one of those guys who...

Well, he can just draw better than you.

He can draw better than your friend too, and better than your friend's friend, and all three of your favorite artists.

Jokes aside, this is a dude who along with Charles Burns, Kevin Nowlan, Jaime Hernandez, and maybe Chester Brown can be placed in the "Craft Monster" category... he's got the game standing still and progress is made when he says progress is going to be made.

What attracts me to his work is two things. The first is that he uses a tool that I really have no great love for (that would be the pen) to create some PAINFULLY beautiful art. He also has a tremendous sense of urgency about his work... you can feel the energy jumping off the pages even in the quieter moments and while that's not always the best from a storytelling stand-point, it sure as hell makes for some great comic art.

On top of that, dude can draw girls.

As that's the case, I've decided to zero in on that in particular as drawing woman with a pen is REALLY DIFFICULT.

These are all observational copies from his first issue on New Mutants, (type in his name and then Demon Bear on Google and... YEAH) I'll have these inked in time for my next post as well as a new batch that will hopefully be inked too!

Stay tuned!

Sip That TUSSSSSSSSSSSS

2011-08-17T21:09:00.003-05:00

My friend, Christopher Santoso, is curating a gallery show in Minneapolis this Friday called MEOW, MEOW, LOL and this is the piece I've created for it.

I've become fascinated with the late Big Moe recently and... well, something about a cat with this particular expression in front of the ingredients to make sizzurp amused me.

If you're in Minneapolis, be sure to make it down to the show. It runs from 6pm-midnight and will have a bar, a dj, and lotso, lotso, wonderful work.

Cya there!

Website Up!!!

2011-08-13T12:44:00.002-05:00

Well, it took long enough but my website is FINALLY up!!!

Click on through folks, I hope you enjoy it!!!

Just Moved!!!

2011-08-10T09:23:00.003-05:00

Hey all,

I apologize to those who check this with any regularity, I got back from vacation late last week and then had to get ready to move. I've settled into my new place but I don't have internet and I'm not sure if I'm going to get it.

I feel as though I've been getting distracted and slacking lately and having the internet at my fingertips is probably not going to help me get back on top of things.

For the time being, I've decided that I'll be popping into the local coffee shop (Caffetto!) Monday,Wednesday, and Friday morning and that's when this blog will be updated.

I've got a LOT of ideas running around the ol' dome here and you'll see them realized in ink very soon!

I hope everyone is enjoying their week, cya Friday.

George

On Vacation Till Friday...

2011-07-31T22:44:00.001-05:00

Hey folks,

I'm headed up to that state that looks like a mitten tomorrow in the AM and I'll be out of action until Friday.

I hope everyone enjoys their week!

George

One Day Segue (Still got rhymes, still got dimes)

2011-07-30T14:18:00.009-05:00

I was planning on starting work on my Kirby page from a couple days ago yesterday morning when I had a thought come to me.

Something a friend had said to me was on my mind and for whatever reason, thinking about that particular thing lead me to this image...

Kinda.

My original thumbnail was... fine, but I'm much happier with where I ended up taking this instead.

I've attached all of my process below, including a failed attempt at inking a blue-line of my original pencils...

I think this ranks amongst my best work, I hope you all enjoy it!

---

Here is the thumbnail I started with...

Here are my pencils...

Here is a failed inking attempt. I tried addressing folds in a different way than I usually do and I just got lost in the sauce... crunchy style.

Much better! These are my final inks...

The finished product!!!

Studying the King (Day 4)

2011-07-28T23:44:00.007-05:00

I didn't QUITE finish the page today but I will throw up some quick process...

Check back tomorrow afternoon for the finished product!

Kirby's original pencils...

The blue-line...

Hand-lettering on the board...

My inks...

Studying the King (Day 3)

2011-07-26T22:35:00.011-05:00

So, for today's drawing, I decided to try something that would throw me outside of my comfort zone.

Part of the reason I love Kirby's pencils is that they leave a lot of room for embellishments if the inker decides that they want to add their own little flourishes.

For this particular piece though, I tried to stay AS FAITHFUL TO THE PENCILS AS POSSIBLE.

What this means is that I tried to make this look like Jack Kirby and not George Folz. I used NO drybrush, no cross hatching, and pens, ellipticals, and rulers where they were needed.

That last bit I struggled with a lot as I REALLY don't like pens.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that they actually worked really nicely here and I'm going to start using them again regularly again in tandem with the brush.

My process is below, starting with Kirby's original pencils...

I haven't shown my blue-lines in previous posts but I've decided to do so here. It was important in this case because I usually can't ink DIRECTLY onto the blue-line, I need some pencils down first. For this piece though, I skipped my little pencil bits...

Next I did my inks. Again, I tried to remain faithful to what I think Kirby intended when he was pencilling...

Lastly, I added color. Instead of opting for my muted color palette, I tried to do things old school. I was going to have the color completely flat but I felt compelled to add some shadows so I did...

Not sure if I'll get anything up tomorrow... be sure to check back Thursday though!

Studying the King (Day 2)

2011-07-24T23:46:00.004-05:00

So, this is day two of Kirby study...

As with the Hulk piece, I started out with a scan of Mr. Kirby's pencils...

From there, I made a non-photo repro blue-line and did my inks...

Following that, I lettered the thing, I also found out the hard-way that the balloons that Kirby drew on that page are probably NOT the ones that were used for the actual lettering... KNOWLEDGE FOR NEXT TIME!!!

Coloring this page was REALLY tricky and most certainly a learning experience. I haven't colored an entire comic page in over a year and it took a lot longer than I thought it would have, that being said, I'm quite happy with the finished product...

Check back later for a Thor Pin-up!

Studying the King (Day 1)

2011-07-23T14:30:00.008-05:00

I'm going to be doing some pretty extensive studying of Jack Kirby for the next month or so here as my next big project is going to be a (gasps) *winces* ALMOST KINDA SORTA RIFF ON SUPERHEROES!!!

This is the first of ten or twelve instances in which I'll be taking some of Kirby's pencils, putting my own spin on them, inking, them, and then coloring them.

First up is a pin-up of The Hulk, Kirby's original pencils are below...

I made a blue-line reproduction of the above drawing and then worked over it in pencil making some changes...

After that, I did my first round of inking...

I put in some black for the Hulk's hair, made some ajustments to my inks and then colored the thing!

I'm hoping to do three or four of these a week with any luck... next up is going to a few pages from either Captain America or New Gods...

ROWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWZAY

2011-07-20T16:22:00.004-05:00

This one should have been up a couple of days ago but since it's been so damn hot I haven't really been able to draw.

I got an air-conditioner installed yesterday though so now I have no excuses!

This turned out pretty well. The colors are a little odd considering what Ross raps about but at the same time, the dude also hails from Florida which is home to some of the greatest sunsets I've ever seen.

I tried to split the difference here, you'll notice the Maybach, two bricks and a sack in the lower left hand corner... kind of funny considering the dude used to be a correctional officer... doesn't really matter though, I still dig his music.

New website under construction... changes being made around here...

2011-07-18T22:51:00.005-05:00

Hey folks!

So today I was planning on doing some drawing... Unfortunately, the weather decided it wanted to be 115 degrees (that's including the heat index) and sitting under two lamps at my drafting table wasn't high on my list of things to do.

However, I did get crackin on my new website and it's about 75% done...

New Site

Also, as I have a functioning website once again, this blog is going to change.

I'm not going to be posting a lot of finished work on here anymore... instead, this blog is going to feature a lot more sketches, doodles, in-progress pages and things like that. If you WANT to see finished work, that's what the website is going to be for!!!

I'm hoping tomorrow is going to be less brutal as I do have an illustration that I'm working on right now that I'd like to post some in-progress shots of...

Be sure to check back!

Flexing that DESIGN muscle!!!

2011-07-14T13:26:00.002-05:00

In the wee hours of the morning, I finished my cover submission for Dark Horse's Re-Create Hellboy cover contest.

Upon waking up though, I decided I wanted to go back into things and push the image and graphic design angle a little bit more.

While I'm still VERY pleased with the original, this one looks more professional and has a better flow to it.

I'm going to do another cover re-creation this afternoon and then spend tomorrow working on some script... Look for a page from my new comic Saturday or Sunday!!!

Re-Creating Hellboy (Part 2)

2011-07-13T23:52:00.004-05:00

Man... I made the midnight PST submission deadline with 6 six minutes to spare!!!

I got called in to work this evening and that's not something I had really budgeted for... That being said, it was a lot of fun to work furiously under a deadline and force myself to come up with something.

This cover is RADICALLY different from the original (seen below).

I wanted to do something completely original and on that level, I think I was pretty successful.

I have the whole day off tomorrow so I'll be throwing something up, be sure to check back!!!

Re-Creating Hellboy (Part 1)

2011-07-12T13:32:00.007-05:00

Dark Horse comics (publisher of Hellboy, Sin City, 300 and The Mask) have a contest going on right now in which artists are being urged to re-create their favorite Hellboy cover. The winning submission gets printed and the winner gets some great swag and exposure.

I've been a great admirer of Mike Mignola's work for a long time (his Mister Freeze design for Batman: The Animated Series is just awesome) and when I found out about this, I couldn't turn down the opportunity to take a crack at his signature creation. I've included the original cover below as well as mine once more so you can see the side-by-side...

My plan is to do two more of these before the deadline of midnight tomorrow... Be sure to check back to see AT LEAST one more and hopefully TWO more!!!

Going on hiatus for a little while...

2011-07-08T16:03:00.002-05:00

Hey all,

It's been kind of difficult for me to figure out a good drawing schedule with the new job and I've also been feeling a bit burnt out as of late.

I'm going to take a break here, see you all in a week's time or less.

George

The Great American Guitar Hero (Now in FULL color!!!)

2011-07-06T14:14:00.001-05:00

I already spoke at length about this drawing and Mr. Hazel in my previous post so I'll simply say that I'm really happy with how the color kicked things up a notch in here.

Rock on, Eddie, I'm sure you're frying grey matter in the great beyond!