Flash

Used to use Flash a lot for illustration work. Haven't opened it up in a long time. Used it this past Saturday to whip up some simple graphic-y designs for 2 friends. It's still a quick and easy solution for this kind of thing. Placeholder font in there until a suitable one presents itself.

Some older stuff

Came across these pages while cleaning up the drive. Done in mostly in Corel Painter. This was the project that spurred me to get a screen tablet. Started the first of 130 something pages with good old pencil and paper--realized quickly I was never going to hit the deadlines at that speed-especially with needing to do do revisions. It was a blur at the time, but seeing these for the first time since working on them, there was some ok work in there.

Tug Hat!

My talented friend Paul Chun added the Tug Boat to his cork-man hat series.
I am honored and amazed!

Done... and now to bed!

Combo of NPR and the Dead Kennedys saw me through the final hours.

Bring on the next deadline!

morning and another tugboat

under-drawing and color version in progress. Can't tell how close I am to finishing this one. Which is usually a good time to stop. Have to tie up the foreground and fix some wonky marks.

The question is now, will the tug make it to it's destination before this week's assignment deadline?

Another image in progress from the tugboat story. the statue of liberty waves goodbye as the tug heads down the coast. This one does a little better job in keeping looser and watercolory-ish.

toot toot

added 10/24

after sketching out the remaining pages, going back to try an tighten the first page up. Attempting to bring in some vibrancy without getting heavy handed and losing the
sketchy vibe. Not quite there yet....


some current work in progress. lots of pages due in short time, so it's been good for trying to find a faster, looser way to go. Here, it's going directly from a sketchy version to color, skipping the "tightening" phase a little--though it's still reworked from initial sketch.

here's the original sketch, tighter sketch w/tones, coloring in progress

Barbarian Lord: Outlaw page 1

color progress

not done, but coming along.

trying to get the values right

a study. Usually, it's the tried and untrue just start throwing color around till it works more or less. Maybe a litte work up front will save some of the usual gnashing of teeth and rolling of eyes. Probably not.

digital crosshatching

thought I left the days of eye-seizure causing crosshatching behind me...

children's mag piece in progress

sunday morning warm up

caricature of a message board friend.

Nadja Shirt

One more Nadja related thing before I retire quietly back to the world of children's art. And barbarians. And trolls.

Picked the hare from the cd art as the crow has become the new skull in heavy music visual vocabulary. Enough crows out there.

1.rough sketch


2.black linework


3.inversed design = metal


4. back design--to be small and between the shoulder blades.

The Garbage Troll

reworked this early sketch.

one of those "escape from actual assignments" drawings.

roughing it

friday night random doodling

exciting lifestyle = at home, sketching and listening to music

the frost giant keeps talking

another sketchy take.

still avoiding the inevitable.
10 pm now. how late can i put working off...

the frost giant tells a story

aka sketching to avoid "real" work that has nothing to do with frost giants.

Nadja - interior panel illustrations (process)

sketch (bottom, yellowish) and final (top, blue) of one of the interior illustrations that hold a loose narrative for the Nadja cd booklet.

Pretty light on color washes--was trying for a more naturalistic watercolor vibe using Painter for the linework and photoshop for the blue washes.

Sketch shows early idea of having all the creatures build from illustration to illustration -- ultimately deemed that too children's booky for this project.

This one is for their cover of Elliot Smith's Needle in the Hay. Great version.

Nadja - when i see the sun always shines on tv

was glad to get the go-ahead of master-designer Seldon Hunt to give a nod to his Nadja "Thaumogenesis/radiance" mirrored-image designs for the cover interior. He also gave me a solid idea for the next Jus-Tin strip--and for that, I'm working him into it.

Here we have a section of the linework from the cover illustration, mirrored. turned the black lines to an ochre-y color and set it on top of a nice scan of some old paper. This sheet of paper was also the foundation layer of the cover and the interior illos.

coming soonish

CD of cover songs by Canadian dronegazers, Nadja.

A fine collection of songs by a fine band. A-ha, Codiene, MBV, Slayer, Swans, Elliot Smith and The Cure.

Now to just finish up the layout and not miss another deadline...

shallow grave

used a photo i took of a squirrel in boston common as reference. he was a brazen
little rodent.

troll

more warm up drawing sessions...

Barbarian Lord inking

Corel Painter

find the "scratchboard tool" is the closest to working with an actual brush or crowquill nib.
except--with the ability to "un-do" mistakes, which makes the process less painful.

Will get back to it with some gray wash or color. Also--will flesh out BL's nemesis--Skullmaster Skullmasterson.

The Avalanchers

Well...a couple of non-Avalanchers who just wanted to be green.
And one or two alternate versions in there.
Aaaand there's one or two more to be done...

[secret Avalancher talk] never a more DAR group of men and women could I hope to meet! Haaaar! [/secret Avalancher talk]

not new...

but some process-y stuff.

Herge/Justin Broadrick/Lovecraft comic.

Sketches-pencil
line work-Flash for first page (page 1 of 4), Painter for second (page 3 of 4).
used to do alot of stuff in Flash--liked the drawing tools--the way you could smooth out wonky lines,
but came around to Painter--doesn't have that smoothing ability, but more natural feel when working.
color-Painter and/or Photoshop
text-photoshop

more barbarian indulgence

bear with me.

warm up nonsense monday morning

Adding goofy sketches as they come...

regardless of their quality.

moar messing about

saturday night is aiiight for sketching

sketchy sketches for sketchings sake.