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. 

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.

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.

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.

Go back to the shadow...

I found a couple more sketches from Romania, this one here depicting the epic confrontation with the Fellowship and Durin's Bane. This composition is based off a sketch from artist Skottie Young but my own take of it, so it's not an original sketch in that sense. By trying to draw a little like him I found a way of drawing subjects in the fantastical context which is easier or more natural.

Free comic book day

Today was a good day. I got asked by my local comic shop to showcase my work for the free comic book day, which I did and meet some really nice people that made the day all worthwhile. Also I initially had no plan of doing any commissions for people and just thought I would be drawing all day and just displaying my portfolio. So I sketched out Garrus from Mass Effect and suddenly people got interested and so I sold him for £2.50. Very modest pricing on my part, though I was very surprised someone wanted to buy a sketch off me. Afterwards I charged a fiver for a sketch and made quite a bit of money. So today was a really cool day to promote my work and have people look at it especially people I consider to be my audience who appreciated my work too, so it is a promising start.
Thank you Garrus! Always there when I can count on you!

On the street.

New sketch of Thunder, though it was done on the trip to Exeter comic con. Again experimenting with markers again and the dried out fade you get from a dying pen makes for some good tonal effects, so perhaps something to consider in future images. 

Exeter Comic Expo 2012

Hey people, realised it has been awhile since I last posted something up, but I have been busy with a few projects on the go.

Anyways last Sunday, I went up to Exeter with a couple of friends to go visit the Exeter Comic Expo. Now I have never been to an event like comic con before, so I was not sure what I would expect and what there was to do and so forth. However I found the experience to be enjoyable and was nice to see something that I hope one day I will be a part of, though the highlight for me was to meet the artist Jock aka Mark Simpson, who I had a wonderful chat with about the comic world and the rigours of getting a place in the industry.

He was also kind enough to critique my 'Jack and Jill' comic too, and then finished it all off with a nice Joker sketch.

Made my day.

Kitty

A little break from the classic pin up series, and instead decided to do a sketch of my own kitty in her full stunning glory, hope she enjoys.

The Big Sleep: Arthur Gywnn Geiger

The first dead body in the path of Philip Marlowe. Arthur Geiger was on the payroll of Eddie Mars and doped Carmen Sternwood, and took pornographic images of his victim to be used as further blackmail to the Sternwood family, though his advantageous days were soon numbered.

The Big Sleep: Lash Canino

Eddie Mars' hitman, Lash Canino who does all the work that Eddie doesn't want to dirty his own hands with. Though I found it odd that Chandler gave a big tough guy a purring voice, I dunno I never imagined a hitman to have a purring voice...

The Big Sleep: General Sternwood

General Sternwood, the father of the two daughters, and the one being harassed with blackmail. The General is nearing death, with seemingly extreme old age, and having so little blood he confines himself with a conservatory full of plants.

50's pin up girl

This is something I just did today and didn't take me long to do, and this image is for the blog challenge at the equine cranium blog, which was my turn for the challenge and I went with the idea of doing 50's style pin up. So here is the eye candy that I have produced.

The Big Sleep: Bernie Ohls

DA's investigator, and friend of detective Philip Marlowe, who aids him in his investigation on the Sternwood case.

The Big Sleep: Eddie Mars

Eddie Mars, local gangster and runs the local casino in L.A, is revealed to be the man responsible for blackmailing the Sternwood family, as he knows a dark secret of their family that they rather not have the attention of the police and press.

The Big Sleep: Carmen Sternwood

Carmen Sternwood, the trouble maker more so of the two Sternwood daughter. The most promiscuous and also by far the most dangerous of the two daughters. She has a very annoying habit of looking coy and playing with her hair and sucking her thumb, with her playful nature leads her to being used via drugs that spins off the blackmail case.

The Big Sleep: Philip Marlowe

And now as promised here is the first image of a series of 8 images, that compile a series of character portraits from Raymond Chandler's classic hard boiled detective, crime novel 'The Big Sleep'.
First character up is of course the main protagonist, the wise-cracking, cynical, tough guy but ultimately decent guy, detective Philip Marlowe. His characteristics would provide the template for later urban crime fiction.
And I find that he himself is a tarnished knight in some way in that the work he does is dirty yet still maintains his own moral code, which was characteristic in Chandler's writing that I think makes his character a success in literature.

Their dalek bumps....

And here is the last Dr Who image for my current series, with the Master. I was wondering what humorous take I would have on him and then I remembered that comic relief sketch years ago which was absolutely funny. So I decided to use that for this final image.

Dalek likes daisies...

This is my doodle of a Dalek, who is infatuated with a daisy, twas a most random scenario that i could think of and digitally coloured it, also I quite like the style that came out of this. It's not my normal way of drawing since this is pretty loose for me but I think I may try more of these types of images in the future.

A man that needs no introduction....

Need I have to say anything here...?