Nekko Sketch

Shoptopus

2011-01-03T11:59:00.003-05:00

I was inspired to do this piece after visiting a place Tigre in Buenos Aires. There, people live and vacation on a peaceful island that has no connections to the land around it. Often times, people do their shopping of Market boats that cruise up and down certain parts of the river.

Getting Back on Track

2010-11-18T23:54:00.007-05:00

Im supposed to be working on a web comic right now but for the past 3 weeks I havent drawn a single thing until today. Not being employed fulltime has been freeing in a lot of ways but it's taken me a minute to get other, more pressing affairs in order first. In the end I havent really been in the mood to draw.

Ever since I started watching Walking Dead and some other zombie movies, I've had this scene bouncing around inside my head so I had to get it out. Still not sure about the composition but it was a lot of fun to create and ink. Hammermill White #32 ledger was a bad choice of paper. The inks bled so much I felt like I was doing watercolor instead of inking for a minute.

I enjoyed making the DIY yo yo cutters and trying to give them a sense of motion. Im still thinking of changing her background and placing her in an arena packed with howling (uninfected) fans. It might tell a more interesting story.

My webcomic Malice in Ovenland will be coming out in installments soon. Please be patient with me.

post Comic Con doodle.

2010-10-11T21:06:00.003-04:00

Being at Comic Con (as a participant) was a great experience. At first, viewing the throngs of fellow artists milling about and setting up as I entered Javitts on Friday morning was really intimidating and I felt out of place. But being there and seeing how passionate people were about their craft was so inspiring and encouraging that I quickly shook off my initial mood.

It was both exhausting and rejuvenating being there. Big thanks to all the people who showed up (or commented) on Fb) to support the cause. To you I dedicate my first post Con doodle..hihii

Getting ready from the Con

2010-10-05T23:17:00.002-04:00

Here is a page from my teaser comic for Malice in Ovenland - coming oct 31st!
The whole thing will be very photocopier-y...but it's better than nothing.

Still doodling

2010-09-28T20:50:00.003-04:00

Found this folded up in my raincoat today so I figured Id post it. Forgot to draw the udders on this cow...but she doesnt appear too troubled by it.

Now in Color!

2010-09-19T12:44:00.004-04:00

Finally finished coloring the cover art. Still trying to figure out how I can get a nice cover out of this for the teaser comic. Dont want things to look TOO DIY. Thinking of using this for my promotional post card pic too. Now on to scanning, cleaning up and assembling the rest of the pages.

Dammit..i wanna go out and play : P

Almost there...

2010-09-15T21:29:00.002-04:00

Just finished inking the cover of my teaser comic for NYCC. Now to add color and a nice logo....so much more to do! AUUGHH!

Blast from the past

2010-07-02T19:28:00.003-04:00

Moving a few things around in the living room (finally getting my couch tomorrow, yay!) and I found this drawing from 1985. Kinda makes me wonder where Id be if I pushed the cartoon thing harder, earlier on. I think I might frame it!

Theyre Here!

2010-06-30T11:40:00.003-04:00

Did a test batch for some business cards I had made up to network the Illustrator side of Mich. These were done for a nice price through Moo.com after a friend recommended using them. Thanks Tricia!

My First Furry

2010-06-21T22:06:00.005-04:00

Well...actually its not my FIRST furry...but trying to dust off my pin up chops so I can hope to have art to submit to Girls Drawin Girls. I usually dont do things that are this froo froo, but I figured Id strike out in a new direction. This character will eventually be placed in a setting that tells a little more of her story and color will be added. I used store bought Japanese style Halloween costumes as inspiration. As a first Im pleased with it..but I think maybe her head is too small and should be at a 3/4 angle. Still not sure about the braids. Inked with Microns.

The View from My Apartment

2010-06-06T21:57:00.002-04:00

This started out as an another Inky Exercise in perspective. I sketched a street view from the window near my dining area...but I quickly got bored of drawing reality so I reskinned it with more of a fantasy flair. I wanted to take a pic and have a side by side shot people could compare with but it got too dark so I'll do that tomorrow I guess. In the end I think my perspective still needs a LOT of work but its slowly improving. I really enjoyed coloring it and like the whimsical nature of this piece.

InkyExperiment_2

2010-05-31T10:16:00.003-04:00

Here's another outdoor shot I did sans people. Officially, it's the first time Ive ever tried rendering dappled sunlight. I used crosshatching because Ive been rly into doing that lately. Still using crowquills and an inkpot. At times ink dispersal can be difficult to control, but Im getting better at it.

inkyExperiments

2010-05-30T18:05:00.004-04:00

Lately I've been interested in trying new things artistically speaking so here is hopefully one of many. Ive never felt comfortable placing characters in environments cause I always felt like my perspective sucked, so Im making myself practice now since I feel like its now or never.

This is a sketch I made yesterday of a shot from one end of the Island near the rocks. I added in the character later. She's supposed to be skootching down the wall but she kinda looks like she's just chilling there. I inked this using a Hunts nib#102 and an ink brush for some of the thicker lines and the water (which looks like oil to me)

Overall I think it's a nice start.

A little somethin somethin

2010-02-18T20:55:00.001-05:00

...I just started. First post in dan near forever. Will post a more updated version after I add more color.

Merry New Year Sam!

2009-12-30T16:06:00.002-05:00

Mabes we'll see each other in another french class or near Battery Park city. In the meantime please accept this token hors deuvres of my esteem. A bacon wrapped asparagus (that didnt fall on the floor or anything)...to enjoy with the champagne you so generously provided.

Its great to know you.

-Mich

Dumpling Shark P2

2009-11-17T16:53:00.004-05:00

Here's the 2nd part to this strange and colorful exercise.
Heres a Link to Part 1...just in case!

Old King Cat was a Merry Old Soul...

2009-11-17T16:35:00.002-05:00

Desperately trying to get into the impending 28 Days Later Xmas frenzy. Here's King Cat waving to all his loyal subjects in the Great Hall (aka - under a tree stump in a vacant lot) before the Holiday feast.

Line work - 10 min with an ink brush pen.
Color- 1 episode of Tough Love.

Tea Tasting Tuesdays

2009-11-11T11:37:00.003-05:00

Yesterday afternoon at my job, an optional seminar was given to provide people with an introduction to different kinds of tea. We tried a few different kinds and the woman who spoke even brought dark chocolate for us to enjoy with some of the teas we tried. My new favorite is Pu-erh tea. It was lovely. I had my ink brush and sketch pad with me soooo....I drew a simple sketch to go with the notes I took., then colored it at home.

Dumpling Shark P1

2009-11-10T13:27:00.004-05:00

Im not entirely sure where the inspiration for this came from but...here it is. I think I had a craving for dumplings. Still trying to get a hang of these water pens. I did this as an exercise that involved no pencils. Just pen and ink, watercolor and a wacky idea written up on the fly. Stay tuned for part2!

update - Click here if you wanna see P2

Alien sketch

2009-11-06T13:59:00.003-05:00

Tried an Alien™ sketch with the ink brush yesterday. He's either crouching or stumbling drunk, Im still not sure.

draw time - approx. 8 min. coloring time - approx. 15 min.

Gimme some Dimsum!

2009-11-05T12:23:00.003-05:00

A friend recently showed me a pen he bought that had a brush tip to it. It works off of replaceable ink cartridges and I was curious so I got myself one. It feels great but kind of strange in that Im used to having more control of my line when I draw. I think I'll enjoy getting used to it. I was craving some dimsum last night so I drew this pic with the pen and colored using an Aquash waterbrush set. The paper was from a packet of blank postcards with the address lines, etc printed on the back.

Total time: 2 hours + one plate of left overs.

More Doodlage

2009-07-14T07:30:00.004-04:00

Trying to get back into at least, semi daily postinks. Here is a werewolf type character.

Daily Doodle - NOW IN 3D!!!!

2009-07-13T10:20:00.002-04:00

A coworker and good friend ( and awesome 3D artist) approached me months ago asking if I would mind if they used one of my past Daily Doodles as a 3D exercise in Maya. I thought it would be cool to see the end result of that and here it is! I LOVE it! I think the 3D version pose looks more like he's running than the original, and it reminds of the Wacky Wall Walker toys that kids would bring into grade school and toss at windows. I hope we can have more of these collaborative efforts in the future.

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

2009-07-12T08:19:00.003-04:00

Yep, thats right. Today is my birthday and I figured Id open it up by posting this piece I was working on last night to commemorate the occaision. So, here's to XX more years of working hard, playing hard, finding happiness and getting back on track with my fitness goals which have been lying by the side of the road somewhere for ages.

ball point pen, scanned and colored in Photoshop.
total prod time - two glasses of Chilean white wine.

Not so Daily Doodle

2009-06-24T19:48:00.002-04:00

So I got a diagnosis on my neck pain and it turns out its a pinched nerve. While I suppose it's not such a big deal in the larger scheme of things, it still made me feel kind of...old.
Anyway, I posted a doodle that reflects my crappy state of mind lately. I'll shake it off and will soon be back to making regular posts.

How I did it.

2009-06-15T22:26:00.004-04:00

For the strip below I started with this rough. I had an idea and began to sketch it out panel for panel on graph paper. This was so I could work out angles and placement of the characters. I did this with a ball point pen and just worked with a very sketchy technique. I also tried to work out the placement of word balloons and text.

After I was happy with what I had, I redrew the same thing on larger paper with a technical pencil and after that, inked it with Microns of varying point sizes, paying the most attention to thicker, strong lines. After that i scanned it into Photoshop and colored it. Had a lot of fun trying to select a bright and crisp color palette.

Comic Strip Exercise

2009-06-15T21:51:00.004-04:00

These past few days I've been reading the book, Making Comics by Scott McCloud. Ive really been enjoying it and it's great to see all the best techniques, approaches and concepts that go toward making comics and graphic novels in one place. I tried to create an exercise for myself that involved taking some of the concepts discussed in the initial chapters. These included, camera angle, posing, pacing a story and establishing mood.

I think maybe the frame treatment is a little distracting but I had a lot of fun making them and I think it also helps illustrate the somewhat claustraphobic feeling you might get from living in a bunker on alien infested Earth. Ive also come to the realization that Im no letterer..but that was fun to do also! :}

Next time though, I must remember to draw Professor Bing's dreadknot on top of his head.

Daily Doodle

2009-06-11T20:50:00.003-04:00

Do ducks get tired of the rain? I LOVE grey, cloudy days but this is a bit much, even for me.

Daily Doodle

2009-06-10T20:49:00.004-04:00

So I was in this meeting today and before we really got down to biz, people were talking about what they do to keep bugs out of their apt...you know, mosquitos, roaches, etc. One person mentioned that they try to refrain from killing bugs as often as possible and will instead attempt to evict them..aka. ball em up in a napkin and throw em out the window...lol!

Another person mentioned how a possum had invaded their LA apt...so I was compelled to doodle one with glowy night vision eyes. Then I got to thinking...you ever notice in documentaries about nocturnal animals, how they always show some lemur or small animal munching away on a hapless bug? And the way theyre scarfing it down always makes it look just nummers!

I dunno..maybe it's just me.

~ ballpoint pen on lined paper - scanned and colored in Photoshop

Semi-Daily Doodle

2009-06-08T21:18:00.008-04:00

Now, while Im seriously hoping my diagnosis will NOT be matching what you see in the X-Ray above, I finally had to go to the Dr. to find out what in blue blistering barnacles is causing so much pain in my neck...no not THAT Tony...geez..Anyway, due to the fact that it hurts more to be sitting up than anything else, there might be some serious gaps in posting...until the painkillers kick in. Sorry folks.

~drawn and colored in Photoshop.

So I didnt win this one either...but at least I got in

2009-06-07T07:53:00.003-04:00

This is another Contest I signed up last year I think. It was to design a creature (or UMA) that would then be modeled and brought into the game Little King's Story for the Wii which should be coming out sometime this week. It's kind of like a cross between The Sims and Harvest Moon and has so far garnered some pretty decent preview/review articles.

Sadly, I didnt place in the contest...but I DID make into the In-Game Monster Museum. No free copy of the game coming in the mail for me though...ppthhhh! Click here to visit the Little King's Story website's UMA page where you can see the other entrants as well as my own...mine is allllllllll the way at the bottom....I was ROBBED I tells ya!!!

Daily Doodle - Warrior Boy

2009-06-04T20:51:00.003-04:00

After a crazy day I am surprisingly still inspired and am reading a book on Developing your own graphic novel. I'm really glad to have something that encapsulates the process and there are lots of handy bits of info. I have already gleaned some really great ideas for how to tell my next story. Im also working on this book by Will Eisner and find the visual format to be an outstanding way of communicating the concepts therein.

That said, I bring you Warrior Boy, a sketch I made that playfully illustrates a simple and quick fighting character possibly for a fantasy game.

~Ballpoint pen on lined notebook paper - scanned and colored in Pshop.

I didnt win...

2009-06-03T19:36:00.004-04:00

So my job had an inter-office contest to see who could develop the best new property. The prize would have been two thousand dollars and the winning property would also be featured in an interstitial ad on TV. The bad news is I didnt win..the good news is I get to keep the property I created so I guess thats a good thing.

Daily Doodle

2009-06-01T21:21:00.003-04:00

So lately Ive been reading a lot of manga by Osamu Tezuka, and a recurrent theme I often see is the character of the old, surly grump with the heart of gold...so I thought Id make one (since I kind of fancy myself one at heart). Here is Proffessor Bing, mad scientist and inventor. Im not too crazy about the color scheme and Im a lil annoyed by the fact that he kind 0f reminds me of Dr. Eggman from the Sonic the Hedgehog series...but other wise Im really quite happy with it for a 1st time sketch. Part of my inspiration comes from my oil painting teacher from High School Mr Bing. An outstanding teacher and some of my first exposure to the brutally honest world of crtitique.

~~ Drawn with ballpoint pen, scanned and colored in Photoshop.

Daily Doodle

2009-05-31T21:05:00.002-04:00

Circus doodle...tired...gonna watch Family Guy.

Daily Doodle

2009-05-30T15:02:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I found out a colleague of mine was let go from where I work and it made me so sad, so I thought this doodle would be most appropriate. Goodbye Dave. You were one of the hardest working, helpful, creative and awesome people I've ever met, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for everything you were trying to do. I'll miss you terribly.

Daily Doodle - Zombies had invaded the land and all I had were flip-flops...

2009-05-29T00:15:00.008-04:00

...so my best friend Fred gave me a pair of combat boots. That was all I can remember of the dream I had last night. Most of this interior is made up but I like to think of it as a cozy bunker that we chill out in throughout the zombie onslaught, drinking Guinness, eating ramen cooked on our modified wood burning stove, watching Godzilla dvds and stomping zombie butt with my steel toed beauties. I also think my dream was telling me something too...always make sure you take time to appreciate your true friends.

That aside...I have taken the liberty of hiding not 1, not 2 but 10 zombie nekos in this piece!!!
Can you find them all?

So uh.....Daily Doodle much?

2009-05-27T20:00:00.003-04:00

You ever have those moments where you're convinced someone has a voodoo doll of you and is sticking pins in it, lighting it on fire, letting their dog play with it, hitting it with rocks, etc? Well thats what happened to me recently...but Im all better now..so that said I proudly reveal...Wonder Squirrel. Originally his spots were supposed to be red and blue like a package of Wonder Bread (hence the name) Anyway..lazy...so here he is!!!

The Daily Doodle

2009-05-14T22:34:00.003-04:00

Wouldve posted yesterday but was detained by drunken shenanigans. Here we have a smoky alien snail surrounded by a giant rat head and a vomiting stick figure. I imagine the sickly stick (wo) man should have been me last night. But I was saved by some slightly watered down Tequila I think.

The Daily Doodle

2009-05-12T22:55:00.001-04:00

My Firefox is sick...uploading this was annoying.

The Daily Doodle

2009-05-11T20:35:00.007-04:00

Lately Ive been hearing the siren song of the Newport cigarette and so far I have fought the urges successfully. This doodle was done during a past, failed quit attempt I made when in the full throws of what I can only assume was a smoke induced case of lung rot. I present to you the Smoke-a-saurus Rex.

Video Game Character or Comic Book Character

2009-05-10T17:51:00.006-04:00

Seeing masks for sale in China Town plus weird feet shoes a friend from work had on plus the encore presentayshe by the winner of the 2009 Miss Pole Dancing Competition inspired me to create this character. A combo pack of grace and lethal sensuality. I could almost see this character being used as a kind of sexy Ninja in a fighting game. Im kinda mad though since the more I look at it the more it resembles the Evil Fox rendition of Priestess Rao from Okami. DAMMIT! Oh well...This is the pencil version which I may ink later tonight. I might lose the braids as I guess it would make it too easy for someone to grab her by one as she's trying to make an escape.

*Note - Im still having trouble getting links to open in a new window so if you go to the pole dancing link please try to remember to come back!

Daily Doodle

2009-05-10T09:49:00.003-04:00

Wellp, here's another one. I kinda have to 'lol' when I look at this drawing considering it took 3 times as long to color it as it did to draw it in the first place. I think when I did this one, I was trying to make the person next to me laugh. Can't remember if I had any luck with that though.

One more Daily Doodle

2009-05-09T11:51:00.003-04:00

So after reading this article online about a Wolphin, I became temporarily obsessed with rare and exotic hybrid animals. The image above is my depiction of the fierce and curious Lirrel, a hybrid of the lion and a squirrel. Watch with horror as this one attacks a helpless babe.

Daily Doodle Make-up

2009-05-09T11:46:00.002-04:00

Been feeling tired and somewhat uninspired of late so there has been no posting of doodles. I'll try to be more consistent in the days ahead. This is a doodle I did just the other day of a character called Sabre Tooth Gopher Girl. I dont know what she does or why...shes just a super hero gopher woman. The hammerhead shark lurking about above her has no real connection...he's just kinda there.

The Daily Doodle

2009-05-05T08:48:00.003-04:00

Got up too late this morning to color this one. That damn Riolu totally threw me off track last night..BAH! Meh...it was worth it though. I think I might have been hungry in this one...nothing new there I guess. In upcoming doodles you will see many horses, as they have always been my favorite animal to draw.

Wow! Im really on a Riolu here...waaa waaaaaa

2009-05-04T22:30:00.005-04:00

So I did Lucario yesterday so all day I was thinking about doing his pre-evolved form, Riolu! Isnt he cute and spunky looking? This time I did a brighter, more vivid background. I might have to file this under eco-friendly art, since everything I've been drawing lately has been on pieces of cardboard boxes.

The Daily Doodle-Got Swine?

2009-05-04T11:03:00.005-04:00

Here is a sketch I did roughly a year ago. Harbinger of swineflu to come? Or simply a moment of self-loathing?

ok i know I was supposed to be studying but...

2009-05-03T16:21:00.005-04:00

As I was putting up the previous picture I did, I ended up knocking over my Lucario figurine.
Lucario is my favorite Pokemon in the whole Pokemon universe so I HAD to do a picture of him doing his best, "What's that boy? Jimmy fell down the well?' look. Here's another set of pics that detail my process. Took me another 2 hours maybe. I tried using chalk for the background color but it didnt really turn out how I wanted...still I think it ads a nice texture to everything. Cute no?

Fire breathing pastel experiment

2009-05-03T12:28:00.006-04:00

Ok so I was at Blick the other day and while walking around, these oil pastels in this one aisle started makin sexay talk at me. So I bought a box, along with 5 of these giant luminescent
colored pastel bars...the colors were so luxurious and shimmery I couldnt resist. As a digital artist, I get so accustomed to doing everything with a mouse or stylus, I start to miss what its like to really get my hands dirty. I attached a pic that shows my process which took about 2.5 hours total work time. Im hoping the Mod Podge I put over it will seal the colors and not let them get smudged. Now if you'll excusez moi, my tired fingers and I are going to study some french!

The Daily Doodle

2009-05-03T09:56:00.005-04:00

A stressed out Octopus rushing to make his next flight. Ball point pen. Scanned and colored in Photoshop.

The Daily Doodle

2009-05-02T12:58:00.004-04:00

So after doing a Spring Cleaning on my desk at work I decided, rather than throw them out, to harvest some of my favorite doodles and post one every day here on this blog. I dont know if Im going to add color to all of them like this one, but I'll see what happens. I dont know why this one has the word 'reincarnation' at the top...I think maybe I was referring to someone I wanted to have reincarnated as a hapless Cheeto...maybe I was just hungry.

...and another thing

2009-04-21T13:31:00.004-04:00

Here is something else I did a day or so ago. This past Sunday I made the mistake of walking into an art supply store and well...that was that. So one of the things I bought was a book of blank, pre-cut postcards. (Yes I know I could cut them myself) but these were so cool! I also got a new set of Microns and drew this with no pencil first. I think at the time I was wishing for a cure to Hay Fever hence the mad scientist's outburst. I colored it with a set of brush pens I bought at Kinokuniya and hadn't used much until recently. I really like coloring without the computer sometimes. Hopefully the next attempt will come out a bit less muddy.

The Last Biz Cards

2009-04-21T13:02:00.003-04:00

So these are the last of the cards I did before the networking event I went to. I started pulling motifs from classic film...for some reason. My favorite was the Alien™ one...HATED to give it away. Overall I only gave around 5 cards out of 20, but I was pleased that they were received well and my friend Tricia chatted me up and told anyone I gave one to the whole story of how and why I made them. The person I gave one to, stared at it for a minute and then said.."You know, there's something to be said for craft". I agree and plan on doing more of these when I have time so I won't get caught rushing at the last minute again.

DIY cards Rd2

2009-04-16T11:55:00.001-04:00

Heres some more.

DIY biz cards

2009-04-15T20:24:00.007-04:00

So on Saturday I'll be attending my Grad school reunion, and I figured I'd use it as a chance to do some networking. Since I have no printer and my old cards are outdated, I thought Id create a set of cards (each with its own sketch) for the sole purpose of driving people to this blog. Here is a sample of what I have so far. As you can see, Nekko is the star of all of them while past characters posted here are also showcased!

Swimmer Grrl Part Deux

2009-04-09T08:25:00.004-04:00

This is part 2 in my strip titled - The Loneliness of the Single Lap Swimmer...maybe Single Lane would be more appropriate. Anyway, I may rescan this panel sometime soon as I did it this morning on no coffee and as a result forgot to erase the pencil lines! CRAP!!!!!

Anyway here it is...TADAA.

Alien Child

2009-04-08T21:14:00.005-04:00

A spoiled, petulant looking alien child who is clearly given anything she wants. I was inspired to create this piece after purchasing the fruit on the left at a Whole Foods I ended up in one day.

I think its called a Citron. The second I saw it I knew I was going to draw something based on it. In fact, the cashier asked that when I finish, I come back and show her what I did.

Ive been back once, but for the life of me, I can't remember what she looks like.
Full circle FAIL I guess.....

Drawn in ball point pen and colored in Pshop.

Swimmer Grrl Part 1

2009-04-07T22:53:00.004-04:00

Another weird product of random thoughts spawned during a morning swim. This will be a 4 or 5 part strip about the embarrassing misfortunes of a lovelourne swimmer chick.

OHAI I CAN HAS TWEET?

2009-04-07T22:18:00.008-04:00

Ola! Back from a short break to work on some things that I cant yet post.
I have also gotten on Twitter, so Im kind of hoping it will help get
more of my work seen by folks. Above is the character Im using for my
theme on that page. I figure I'll have some fun with it and change up
the image of SketchGrrl on a seasonal or holiday basis. neow!

quickSketch

2009-03-14T21:18:00.005-04:00

I did this during a meeting...YES I was paying attention to what was going on...anyway...I seem to be stuck in a pattern of cute bat winged things. AAUUGGHH...Total sketch time-15 min.

Bailey Prince of Darkness

2009-03-09T21:43:00.002-04:00

Ok when I lived in Queens and had my dog Bailey with me, there was this guy Alex who I became friends with. Our dogs would play together all the time. One day (cant remember why) he started calling him Bailey-Prince of Darkness. I guess it took since I never forgot it. Here is my chibi version of Bailey Prince of Darkness.

Nappy Natty test

2009-03-08T22:10:00.005-04:00

This is a test I did for a one off strip called Nappy Natty the Self Hatin' Hedgehog. After gushing to the 100th friend about this new leave in conditioner I started using, I came up with the idea for this exercise. At one point I joked about how I would freak out if they stopped making it and that I should horde the product as much as possible...what does it mean when one develops such a dependence on hair control? Cant be anything good.
Anyway...i HATE the way this came out. My friend Jason was right...I should have used Illustrator instead of Comics Life...BAH!
Oh well...just an experiment. Next time the layout (and the writing..cant blame software for that) will be better.

Figure drawing + fresh, hot Congee = smiley face

2009-03-08T17:30:00.005-04:00

Went figure drawing this morning with a friend at this studio on Spring St. It was fun! It was good to draw from a model again and made me realize that my foreshortening and consistency of line need work. I mostly worked with the water brush set I bought a year ago but almost never used.
Afterward off to Congee Village for Congee and some delicious fried sweet bread...YUMMY!

More Snooker stuff

2009-03-02T23:39:00.006-05:00

So here is a sketch I made of the logo. This is like my 2nd or 3rd shot at it and Im still not sure if I should use a font or make my own letters for it. So far Im really happy with the Zombiness of it...but am still a bit under about the biohazard sign. I like to think of it as a little 28 Days Later shout. I might put some sickly veiny things in the Zombie part once I add color. The other is another sketch of Snookers. I need to stop playing around and get a little more focus. This weekend will be Hell work-wise, but I think Id liek to have secondary characters out by the weekend if possible.

a dream

2009-03-02T23:30:00.006-05:00

One morning I woke up at the end part of a dream I was having and wrote it down..then later sketched it. The part in question went like this "...As I walked through wild growing vegetation, I came to a clearing and in the center was a small stone fountain. On the fountain were a small group of birds that were a pale blue and had large saucer like eyes that were yellow. sharp teeth protruded for their beaks. From the fountain they were gorging on these red insects with legs that were long, segmented and barbed. When they saw me, they flew at me and then away. When I went over to the fountain and picked one of the bugs up it was growling at me and staring straight out with its one eye. A voice from behind me said it was an evil cellphone..."
And then I woke up. What am I smoking you ask? Not a damn thing!

swimmin like an alli-gator

2009-02-23T19:35:00.005-05:00

So I was swimming laps yesterday afternoon and I was using long flippers whilst keeping my arms at my sides. They (flippers) gave me such a kick that I was able to cruise through the water with speed and keep my head above it the whole time. I was the only one in the pool and it was dead quiet except for watery sounds...there was a mist that came off the skylight and if you looked, all you saw was gray sky and the naked limbs of trees.
So of course (like anyone else) I imagined what it would be like to be an otter or a gator, cruising effortlessly through some swampy channel with only the calls of birds, frogs and the twisted reflections of mangrove roots as company. It was niiiice :}

Ce chapeau, c'est pour Judith

2009-02-19T22:40:00.005-05:00

So I'm in french class this evening and as I glance at my watch I have 50 minutes to go. Things actually got fun after that. We were giving imaginary hats to each other.
So this here is the first doodle/sketch of a character I recently created that I like. It's based on the adventures of Snookers the Zombie Turtle and Im thinking of creating a short story that I would then submit here to see if they might like it and want to serialize it.
Since the type of publication is Manga, Im not sure this design really fits, but I also see they are interested in different styles and such so.... I think I might study briefly the anatomy and skeletal structure of turtles so what I draw makes some sense...Im not sure if they have ribs like humans..but WHO CARES right? It's just for fun! Stay tuned for logo designs and maybe more character art. For now I may have to put OvenLand on the back burner but thats ok. Whatever I learn from this exercise, I can apply to that.

Streck Beast

2009-02-17T17:51:00.005-05:00

I originally created this concept for a contest I saw mentioned on ign.com for XSEED games. They were looking to have someone design a monster for their upcoming title Little Kings Story.
I found out so late I only had about half a day what with work and all. This was last Fall btw.
Anyway I was contacted by the fulfillment company
and told my art would be featured in the game but I still do not know in what capacity : P
I tried to make something that looked like it could have split personalities with one side being fierce and growly and the other side being sweet and purry...though I think the 'nice' head looks more like part of the costume still. I enjoyed doing the horns and chest/gut plate. I might go back to it at a later point and give it a more finished look.

um....GRAAAA?

2009-02-17T11:49:00.010-05:00

Werewolves have always been my favorite movie monster...sorry Alien™. Anyway, here is a particularly nasty one. Pen and ink and design marker.

Strip Post # 4

2009-02-16T11:42:00.007-05:00

Ugh...ok this is the last post for now and Im getting really annoyed at the fact that I cant get this shit to align the way I want it. The first image is a top down view of the Oven Land map. The grease that used to splatter off of the stove and oven is the lifeblood of the whole place and was used for everything from food and homes to skin care and luxury items. Grease, fat and heat are 3 things that are of paramount importance.
On the right is a classic multi level dwelling. Comprised of fossilized grease, the smaller pods near the top follow the basic design of stove top burners and have heat coming out of the top all the time.

Strip Post #3

2009-02-16T11:30:00.004-05:00

From left to the right: Queen Krumm. She is the loud and domineering Queen of Ovenland. I might actually change this design to of all things...a hairless rat that perpetually have pink little babies hanging off of her front, nursing all the time. Presently, both the Queen and the Guard are Oven Frits...small lizard like beings that thrive off the hot splattery environment.
Next is a Palace Guard. I wanted to make the armor reminiscent of a pot belly stove but Im concerned they may look a bit Shirow - esque.
The last is Snookers the zombie tortoise. Initially, I wanted this and other characters (maybe a hamster) to be the end result of past pets that Lili has owned who for one reason or another escaped and perhaps, died behind the radiator or something. Brought to Oven Land by scouts or guards and re-animated into zombies, these characters perhaps serve as guards themselves or other type of servants. Still up in the air about this one though.

Strip Post # 2

2009-02-16T11:15:00.004-05:00

This is the main character. I might change her name but I call her Lili for now. She is in her tween years and stuck at home doing housework during the Summer time. In the process of her cleaning the oven, she discovers a hidden passage that she falls down and ends up taking her to another world that is inhabited by mysterious creatures the likes of which she has never seen.

Ovenland is/was comprised of homes (and a Queendom) occupied by creatures who until recently, thrived off of the grease and crumbs created by the fatty , fried foods Lili's mom used to cook.

Now that mom is trying to live a healthier lifestyle, the creatures in Ovenland dont know what to do. Lili must find a solution so she can get home before becoming their next meal!

Strip post # 1

2009-02-15T21:01:00.004-05:00

So last year I got on to this other blog where we would all do comic strips and post updates every week or so. I made a start with the best intentions but soon got distracted by life and other assorted crap. Recently I decided to try again..this time in earnest. Ultimately my hope would be to create a book or other such compilation in the end. In the meantime, I figure I would use this blog as a place to post about my endeavors, triumphs and frustrations associated with this process. Its embarrassing to think after all these years I havent focused my efforts enough to have some finished body of work by now, but better late than never I guess. Over the past year Ive read various books and other blogs that talked about best practices as far as creating internet cartoons, but in the end I decided i would get the most out of this process if I simply went at it the way I felt was best, (even if it turned out to not be the most efficient approach. ) and kind of made it my own journey. This is the story of a young girl lost...otherwise known as Malice in Oven Land.

cyber chicken?

2009-02-14T23:54:00.005-05:00

ok I dont know how or why but I've had this image in my head for the last couple of days. Had to get it out.

Pet Fusion

2009-02-12T13:48:00.010-05:00

Yeah I know it's been like 4 years, blah, blah, blah...

Anyhoo, after seeing this clever Photoshop composite of a Hamster and a Pomeranian, I was
inspired to do my own fusion pocket pet. I proudly present...the Pit Ham!!1 Now you too can have portable fierceness for a marginal fee.

A jaunt in the woods

2005-01-19T22:20:00.000-05:00

Ok..here is my latest post.

It's not finished yet as I am stuck in the trees so to speak and having a hard time deciding how to complete rendering them. I finally got tired of always just having a subject matter floating in space (or water for that matter) and decided to shoot for straight terra firma.

The young rider is Kenth and he is aboard his trusted Lorse. Kenth is a messenger and though young for his years has become a messenger in the hopes of one day finding his family in the stratified clumps of family tribes living amongst the war torn tracts of the Jungle Forest. The nasty customer in hot pursuit is a Trell Beast and typically roams the rolling plains of the grasslands that border the Jungle Forest on almost all sides. I'm not sure why he would hunting in this unfamiliar territory...perhaps hunting on the plains was too sparse to sustain him. In any case, by the look of things this may end up being his last attempt at any meal.

I was inspired to mimic the hide of the Lorse from the skin of the dangerously toxic poison frogs of the South American Rain Forest. In the case of the Lorse, in the wild these creatures are also toxic. Raised in capitivity however, they are rendered un-poisonous due to the type of diet they are fed. Perhaps the look of one alone would be enough to deter most predators from taking one on. In captivity, they are also trained in a special martial art that makes them potentially lethal when confronted by foes.

I am most concerned by the value range of this piece, and whether or not the subject matter is adequately set off against the background. The trees have been the strongest sticking point as I am at a loss as to render the details without making them more noticeable than the main subject matter.

...I will continue to work on this piece and hopefully come to a solution as to how to finish off the Jungle Forest background....sigh.

rough rider

OK i know it's been awhile but....

2004-12-27T13:14:00.000-05:00

What can I say? Work really picked up and the holiday season was a living nightmare...okay so it wasn't THAT bad...but i WAS busy. The image posted below is one that I decided to pick up after a long while. I had it scanned in as line art for awhile but never colored it. So here is the final result of my experiment.

This young lady belongs to the Anti-Gravity Skating League : Team Belle. The skates she is holding work with magnetized spheres. I don't know why she is walking into the ocean...maybe she lost her last race? I'm starting to notice a pattern of having water in my drawings and think maybe I need to break out of it and just do a background on solid ground already. I AM pleased with the way the water looks tho.

I decided to color this in one kind of anime coloring style; bright flat colors and very little blending or soft edges...it took less time than doing all that smudging and the results were more clean and sharp.

The logo was an afterthought and I'll probably re-do it later. As it stands the face in the logo is actually composed of Katakana that spells "be-ru" or Belle in english. I decided to give it a distressed, beat up look.

So there....see? I have been doing stuff!

skateGrrrl!

Whew...tryptophan finally wore off!

2004-12-05T20:58:00.000-05:00

Well...no art to post today.

been getting over too much turkey and a nasty cold to boot. Still going through the sage teachings of the book I mentioned below. I also FINALLY came up with a simple template for the site that will hold my finished and best works of illustration. Nothing fancy...but I figure it wouldn't do good to send a potential employer to a place like this with nothing but experiments.

Also need to get back to Conceptart.org and start reading the threads and taking part in daily assignments and critiques. That was a really good piece of advice given to me by a good friend and former co-worker Sean Murray. BE sure to check out his site...his work is awesome.

It's here!!!

2004-11-23T21:18:00.000-05:00

No art for today. But a good thing...I got my copy of Digital Character Art Design and Painting by Don Seegmiller. I found this book online and it seemed the best suited for my nefarious purposes...hihihi. I don't expect to become a world class illustrator from reading this book, but I do appreciate the fact that it's loaded with great info about lighting, color theory, how to best treat scanned sketches, sample textures and brushes (on the CD) and a bevy of other useful information. It's nice to have all that info in one place in a simple, easy to digest format. Nice quality too! I think this book will be a great tool in helping me learn new techniques to enhance the quality of my work.

cover image

What the hell izzat?

2004-11-22T21:46:00.001-05:00

To be honest I don't really know either. Some kind of insect. This is a detail from the warrior pic that more closely shows one of the creatures that was perched on a rock in the background. I guess it's some kind of lobster bug. These cuddly critters come up out of their watery homes once every 800 years at dusk to lay their bright orange, roe-like eggs.

Actually, they're not harmful to humans, just kind of gross to look at....or beautiful if you prefer. In the final version of this piece there will more of these creatures under the water but they will be barely noticeable except for their glowing eyes.

Warrior_2_detail

Returning to the scene of the crime...

2004-11-22T21:46:00.000-05:00

I went back recently and starting adding more to this piece. Initially, the trees were more of a reddish brown but for some reason I felt like the main focus of the piece was not reading well at all... It wasn't until I went outside that I saw the solution. Trees in this painting had as much red hue as the character and the two were "fighting" for attention. By making the trees a more bluish-grey I think I have been more successful at getting the woman and her horse to pop out.

The swamp she is riding through will pose a challenge to me as I still don't feel like I know what Im doing when it comes to rendering water. I am currently thinking of how I might approach this challenge to lend the appearance of stillness and depth to the swamp water.

The sky is a lavender to orange gradient.

Warrior_2

The Land of the Lost

2004-11-21T10:58:00.000-05:00

Posted on this page is the result of my first attempt at painting a landscape. I guess it might seem weird to have only one cloud in the sky, but I am rather proud of it as it is only the third one Ive ever painted digitally and not half bad. (albeit a trifle cream - puffy) I feel that working in a digital medium is best for this kind of experimentation because it's so easy to keep track of your steps...or delete them if you aren't pleased with your results. For me. it's more tempting to experiment with color schemes and approaches that I would be more hesistant to try on a nice piece of water color paper. I got a basic tutorial on how to do clouds here:

http://www.optidigit.com/stevens/cloudtut.html

It gives some good simple techniques to do fluffy clouds primarily...a nice way to get started.

The ground in the pic is also the product of something new. In the end it reminds of some flat, barren expanse of dry stoney land. I originally wanted the stones to look more man made and polished..like round, flat cobble stones with simple patterns etched into them. While I was painting though, it seemed to evolve of it's own accord, so I just went with it.

I created the sky as a gradient. Then I did the cloud using many of the ideas form the tutorial above. Then I did the ground..first creating a light peach retangular fill and then drawing the lines over that in light purple with the paintbrush tool. The rest was a combo of paintbrush, airbrush and smudge and burn tools.

Soon I will post my first "water" experiment.

Duststorm

Warrior Girl

2004-11-20T19:13:00.000-05:00

Some people may look at the name of this blog and wonder, "Why is it called First Steps if she's obviously been drawing for some time?" True, I've been drawing for a long time. But lately I've been wondering if I've been short changing myself by not putting more effort into developing my passion..in this case...fantasy art with subject matters that often include characters of African American origin and other ethnicities. So there you have it...on with the show!

warrior girl

Better late than never

2004-11-20T18:08:00.000-05:00

Ok,

This is my second attempt at blogging ever. I started this blog in order to keep record of my attempts at becomming a more accomplished fantasy and sci fi digital illustrator. I'm not sure where this will lead to (maybe going pro!....maybe) In any case, illustrating my own fantasy art is somethign I've thought about doing for a long time but never entertained seriously. Now that I am trying I'm finding that I lack a lot of skill in terms of other components I would like to have present in my work. Compelling environments, convincing trees or water, buildings that dont look as though they were fashioned from Playdough...that kind of thing.

So this blog will also encompass my attempts at growing and expanding as a visual artist as well. For my first ever post I am also posting a detail from a piece that I recently started coloring using a Wacom Pad and Photoshop. I drew the original piece in pencil, then inked it and scanned it in.