Alien sketch

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!

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

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

Daily Doodle - NOW IN 3D!!!!

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!!!

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

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.

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

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

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

Daily Doodle

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

Daily Doodle

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...

...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?

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

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.