Blast from the past

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Merry New Year Sam!

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

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...

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

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

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

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.