Comps That Didn't Suck

Whenever I get ready to paint or ink, I'll usually do a small quick thing in my sketchbook first to get my arm and brushes moving around before anything serious can go wrong. Often they turn out terrible and devolve into me making a bunch of lines and shapes, sometimes I get a small image out of them too. Or in the case of the egg, not so small.

Random Offerings

Some random things I had laying around the last sketchbook that were worth posting, plus an old pencil sketch of Nephenee that I scanned ages ago and forgot to post.

Freaky Sketchbook Comic

So in my last sketchbook I decided for a bit that I was going to try drawing a comic actually in the book. To make that section of the sketchbook a comic itself. As you can see, I did this for one splash page and half a page.

I then got excited about it, and bought a special sketchbook just to do a project like this in. Then everything I drew in it was crap. None of it was inked, so maybe there is still hope. In the meantime please enjoy the experiment.

ALSO. I am discovering the joy of hand lettering. This is because how much I hate computer lettering Benthic. Dicking with the text in InDesign and the bubble in Illustrator at the same time is my least favorite thing to do, possibly on the planet. The people who do this professionally need to be diagnosed. Hand lettering is a pain, but at least I feel like I'm eliminating a step on the back end.

Amanda Grey

So I've been very lazy about posting the past few months. I have not been lazy, however, with drawing. So I'm going to be posting a lot over the next few weeks, and am starting this off with a bit of a double header.

This is a tattoo I drew for a very good friend of mine.. The color study was the real challenge, since its hard to project what ink is really going to look like when it is going through darker skin; though I am excited to see how close I got once the tattoo is finished for real.

The Issue Merger

The new cover of Benthic -Book 1, in ink. I haven't decided how I'm coloring this yet...

When Characters Get Real

Benthic #3 is taking god damned forever. BUT. Still doodling other stuff.

I've been revisiting a lot of the characters from Red Crane in my sketchbook again. Here is Xun on an alcohol fueled rant. He was so drunk that he made me not leave enough room for his feet again.

More Reliving My Childhood

This all happened.

Spiderman, Spiderman

More messing around with ink and Photoshop. I think this color palette is retarded, but I kept it anyway! Bahahaha! Enjoy.

Alice; Testing

I'm putting together a new illustration portfolio. The last year all I've done is work for Benthic and none of my portfolio shows what I can actually do. Also, my color work is rusty, and I love color. I've just been cranking out stuff today, and heres some stuff I did as an exercise for an upcoming piece.

Ill Advised Side Project? Yup.

Worked a bit on a side project last week, mostly for fun. I figured I would share the opening two page spread (hooray insomnia!), and a quick drawing of the other main character.

Bamboo Inking Tests, Part 1

I've been really bad about updating over the past month or so, cause scanning is never at the top of my list of fun things to do. BUT. There's plenty of work to show, so I'm getting back on the horse.

I've been broadening my inking techniques lately, trying to find a sweet spot between sketchy and clean that I like. The first couple tests I did were of Karda and Issa, and I figured I'd go ahead and share. Lots of bamboo pen and bamboo brush with drybrushing, in addition to the usual suspects.

Lunchtime Inking Sessions, Part 2

More drawings from lunch, where now I bring you the seedier side of life with fighters and skanks.

Welcome to The Crater

My friend Chris had said he wanted to see that city panel from Page 7, so here you are. See panels like this is why this project can, at times, drag on. I am looking forward to see this panel after tone though...

Lunchtime Inking Sessions

I've been having a tougher time than usual sitting down to scan and edit material for the blog lately. I draw on my lunch breaks quite a lot, here are a couple of the ones I decided to ink. Freakishly similar poses. There's a story in there somewhere...

Adlize Promo - Ink and Color

Did I really have 11 posts in December and only 1 in January? Ugh, last month was crazy. I'll run the score back up this month. Working on stuff I have no business working on for fun, but I do hope you enjoy.

Fade

Just a few minutes in my sketchbook; brush pen and ball point pen.

Benthic - Promo Poster

You want a montage! Montage! Even Rocky had a montage! Montage!

I don't know about you, but I'm excited.

The Chojun and The Methuselah - Ship Designs

Merry Christmas! This year I got you the designs for the Chojun (top) and Methuselah (bottom, with the Chojun to scale). All these things are brush inked now, but I feel lame re-posting all the characters in brush form. Maybe after the New Year.

Evil Santa? Plus...Christmas Card Reminder!

I was messing around tonight with comps for those Christmas cards and ended up drawing some stuff in straight ink with a bamboo pen and my ancient Raphael 8404, and ended up with the evil looking Santa. So I figured I would share.

Also, I have address info for many of you for the upcoming Christmas cards, but needless to say I'm still missing out on some of you. Drop me an e-mail with your info and prepare for the holiday cheer! Technically, the 12 Days of Christmas don't end until Jan. 6th. I'm just floating that out there.

The Rest of the Cast

The remaining major players are tonight's installment - Tsaigen, Dr. Fos Blusan, and Vuid Juande. Of which, only Tsaigen is really a main character, but whatever.