D&D

So me and my friends decided we'll try play D&D which is something I've been wanting to do for a long time now, and to build up a bit more excitement I did a bit of character art to make the adventure more personal.

So here is my character, Karrathus The Morning Sword a Dragonborn Paladin with his hamster called Porkins. 

My friend's Tim character Thorian, and Elven Ranger. Although he is not in the drawing he does have a nameless pet crow.

And here is Diana's character Luinwe, and Eladrin Warlock with her pet snow fox called Tilly (yes we all seem to have pets in the party) who is by far the most elaborate looking character of the group. 

There are two other people in our group, but they have yet to make their own characters but I'll post those up once they get round to it.

I have never played this game before and nor has anyone else in our group so it'll be a fun experience I'm sure. 

Artist Hour

Hey folks, whilst I'm still working on issue 1 I thought I post this little sketch I did during artist hour.. For those of you who don't know, artist hour is an event held on twitter every Wednesday from 9pm - 10pm, with a random theme as a challenge. Last night there was no theme, so I decided to do an Indiana Jones sketch. 

Return of the Silver Phantom!

Well I have been gone awhile, but here is a juicy glimpse of what I have been preoccupied with.

I am currently working away on issue one of my comic 'A Shadow of Steel!' featuring the Silver Phantom. The comic is due to be released on May 4th free comic book day and DevCon in Plymouth. I know that I said I would be more proactive on the blog this year, and I do intend be but right now between this and other projects and life its all time consuming. Rest assured though I will keep you updated with this comics progress. Until next time.

Lots of posters

So once again it's been a good while since I've been posting anything, but that's because I have been very productive which is good news. Recently I have been asked by the Department of Work and Pensions to do some poster work for them to advertise to employers and employees and the unemployed of a creative employment programme. I think its a very positive step in trying to help struggling individuals get into the creative industry and this programme aims to do that with paid internships.

If you want to learn more about the programme you can read more about it here.

When it came to designing the posters I wanted to invoke a positive spirit and found much inspiration from old WWII recruitment posters. I know that there wasn't anything positive about WWII, but the posters often put a positive spin to joining in the fight. And I wanted to show that there is something positive in this opportunity for creative people.

So here are the posters:

This poster was to visually emulate a cover design by Michael Cho from his variant of The Minutemen comic series by DC Comics. Here is the link to the original image that I based the poster design on http://chodrawings.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-minutemen.html

The two above were heavily influenced by WWII recruitment posters, especially the font.

The illustrations were all hand drawn including the lettering, and were digitally tweaked and coloured.

And finally I have done yet another poster to help promote The Poly's Summer Exhibition. I also had to design a logo for their exhibition too. And here is the finished result.

The logo was very much influenced by the Aztec Sun Stones. I wanted a very distinct primal visual of the Sun to represent summer and incorporate The Poly logo too. The illustration of The Poly was done on a A4 sheet of Bristol board paper with gouache and ink.

Pencil Sketch

So for the first comic that I will be doing featuring this character of mine, I have been trying to figure out a way to create a moody atmosphere with the images with the intent that the comic would be printed in B/W, since printing in colour is too expensive. Originally I was just going to do it all in my usual single tone colour which would come out grey from the printing. But I wanted to do something that takes advantage of that print process and not let it hinder me. So I figured pencil is an obvious choice to make a dark, gritty, moody atmosphere that evokes Noir. 

And that brings us to this sketch, done in HB pencil and black watercolour pencil (a cheap one) and ink for the solid blacks. Upon reflection I feel its still a medium I am not used to in terms of rendering my images in this fashion and it will require me to keep on practicing until I think its good enough for the printed comic. 

So next time I will use different paper and a better black pencil too.

As for the story its still being refined. The first issue is being overhauled as there were too many comic book cliches. Also creating a voice for the character to come through the dialogue is harder than I thought. So basically it feels as though I am starting from scratch again.

I hope to get the comic finished by the end of August so it gives me time to get it ready and printed just in time for DevCon1. I should have some progress shots of the comic coming up soon, so keep watching this site.

A little portrait

I've been in a painting mood last week so here is another image just for you. Here is a portrait of me and my talented better half, Diana Mazuru, that I did with watercolours on smooth hot pressed paper. I feel the suit makes me look older than I am. Incidentally, you can check out Diana's own blog at dianamazuru.blogspot.co.uk/

Blue Hamster

I haven't been very good with keeping this site up to date and whilst I am busy doing my own projects and work I decided to do a quick sketch just to keep things fresh. Lately I got into gouache paint for the first time and decided to give it a trial with this Space Hamster sketch. I was pleased with the results as the paint is similar to inks but gave a painterly quality to the my image. The paint wasn't 'washy' like ink either so when it came to tweaking on Photoshop it was easier for me to select and adjust the colour. 

I think that this new medium might become a replacement to the ink washes I am accustomed with when doing tonal images.

Final Poster

Well here it is, the agreed final design for this year's 150th rail exhibition poster in Falmouth. 

Railway exhibition poster evolution

Currently doing a poster project for the history society in Falmouth. There has been a few backwards and forwards with this poster, and the last thumbnail is where the poster stands for now. It has been good little work experience but I am looking forward to giving more time for personal projects once this is over.

More comics

After concluding the previous comic, I was immediately tasked to do another short comic. The deadline was quite tight as it was planned to be ready for the Bristol Comic Expo. Alas we never made the deadline but I had fun doing this project.
Here is a little snippet to whet your appetites.

Visit my tumblr to view the whole comic. Again I only have the artwork so there will be no words to go along with the panels. 

Sioux Warrior 3

OK a lot has happened in May, and I am still busy with multiple projects on the go. But now I have a little break to update you guys on whats been happening in my little world.
First off I was given the opportunity to contribute to the third issue of the amazing series 'Sioux Warrior' created by cape fear comics. They are a small comic press that are creating new ways for readers to engage with printed comics in a similar fashion with digital comics.
If you are curious about them I suggest you go check them out and buy their comics. They are one of the few people out there that are doing something new with the medium so I highly recommend it.

So with the advertising out of the way lets get to the good part; the art. Here are a few pages from issue 3.

Page 3

Page 4

Page 7

To view all the pages go to my tumblr blog to have a look.

A little tease

Couple of photo's of original page work that I have done for this project. Just to give you people an idea of what I have been doing and what to expect.

Lost World

It's the return of me and Space Hamster. A little rusty and need to get back into the swing of things with my illustrations. Sorry I have been gone awhile but I am hoping to be posting on here more often. Though some good news to share is I am now working on two comic projects and could be doing an internship at a local art studio. So things are looking a little better then they were a few months ago. 

Creative CV

It has been a crazy few weeks that I had to put illustration on hold to go apply for jobs. Anyways I am trying to get work experience with a University with their creative departments. However it occurred to me that I don't really have a creative CV, and so here are the results of me making one. It did involve a little bit of graphic design but I am sure the illustration aspects will shine through strongest.

Overall I am quite pleased with the results, and am delighted to see that I subconsciously created a little narrative too. 

I have been quite bad with keeping myself up to date on the blog so after I sort myself out I'll be right back on it, and hopefully 'The Shadow of Steel' project will pick up again too and maybe I'll have it finished soon.

Happy Valentines Day!

What can I say, this image speaks for itself so Happy Valentines Day y'all!

A story about freedom.

Below here are some pages from my sketchbook that have inspired a tale of sorts about surviving against the odds, freedom and finding a friend featuring the space hamster. More to come soon so stay tuned.

Panel 2.

It's that time again where I must update my blog with my latest creation. Me and my friend Benj decided it was high time we started a small group based project as a way to inspire and motivate our merry group in the coming of the New Year. We decided to make a 8 panel comic where one starts the first panel and gets passed around to each of us that does a panel each till it is complete. I did the second panel which as you can see makes the story a bit of a downer...for now depending on what the others plan to do.

If you are interested in seeing the progress then please check out the collective here to see this project reach its final stage.

Have you seen the muffin man?

Thought I shake up the daily sketch routine this time, with a sequential piece. I got pretty cheesed off (yes I am allowed to say that) with some people yesterday so I decided to vent said frustration in a creative manner. Again I have called upon the great 'Space Hamster' to aide this cause and the age old nursery rhyme of 'The Muffin Man'. Now I have to apologize for misspelling Drury in this strip but I hope it is still clear enough that it ties in with the 'Muffin Man'.

I had a lot of fun putting this little piece together and has made me think that I ought to do more sequential imagery than just 'pin-up' illustrations so that I may continue to get better at telling narratives sequential which is essentially what I want to do rather than just do one off drawings.

Feeling blue.

Today I went with something that I find I waste a lot of time on, Mass Effect. I know EA screwed us fans over with the finale but it is still one of the most interesting and compelling sci-fi adventures in the gaming world. So I did a sketch of one of the most overlooked aliens in Citadel space (at least that is what they think) the Volus. I love the mystery underneath their enviro-suits, their ball like shape that makes you feel he would start rolling down a hill if you nudged him and they are greedy little pigs too.

Of course, I ended up turning to standard pose. Just draw a guy standing in empty space with little narrative. If this were a toy I would be a little disappointed that it didn't come with anything extra. I fail at adding extra little details to sketches, so something to think about for next time then.

Tribal Cat Warrior

I was having a hard time coming up with an idea for today's sketch so went with something random and did a cat warrior. Not the most original of ideas but it was amusing to draw.