Of Mice and...Owls?

It's that time of year again, kids. My 6th holiday Advent calendar rolled off the presses, onto trucks and into your shrubs during the wee hours this morning. I think this one might just be my favorite...and no...no, I don't say that every year. Contrary to popular belief I'm not THAT full of myself. I give to you in all its belabored splendor, that thing I was talking about like 10 seconds ago, the 2010 Advent Calendar.
Beginning tomorrow ( Wednesday ) a little calendar panel with the date in the top left corner will print at the top of the M section every day. Cut those dudes out and paste them onto the calendar in their respective spots and a little story unfolds in which a tiny, gift-bearing mouse traverses a forest path on a cold, moonlit night. Much to his surprise/dismay/something else probably, he encounters a big ol' owl! This is important because owls eat mice. It is very seldom the other way around. Probably almost never. What's going to happen? I can't tell you or I'd have to kill you...unless you're one of my students and you saw me working on it during class one day. I generally like MOST of you guys and I don't think it would be in either of our best interests if either of us killed the other so we'll just move forward from this point.

Sir Richard Rider

A.K.A. Nova, that guy who's a planet or a sun or something...or he gets his powers from the sun or some planet like a sun. I don't know. Ask Alex. Anyway, this is my Nova as he might have appeared had that dying alien chap popped up in any random point in Celtic Ireland or Wales (maybe in the 1000's A.D.) and bumped into Sir Richard Rider, the reluctant fellow who becomes a space cop/knight-guy.

I know. I know. He's late. But in my defense I've got this pesky, full-time Illustrator thing going over at the newspaper and sometimes I spend my free time trying to teach illustration to semi-interested college students. :)

Stormy Weather

Well, she's done. She's late, but she's done. I really had a lot of fun with Storm and there are a few other drawings of her that I'd be interested in inking and coloring as well. Maybe I'll revist them someday when there's more than 24 hours in a day.

The reflected light sources are ok, but I would have liked to have spent more time on them. If I do that, though, I'll just keep skipping the gym and before you know it I'll weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 pounds. "Boy, that fat guy sure draws well!" No thanks.

I got sidelined with some headache/neck ache isssues on this one and had to just stop for a while and then pace myself. I'll spare you the medical diagnosis, but I will say that it is not, in fact, a tumor and I'm going to live.

I have to admit I didn't know much about storm outside of the rare bits I'd picked up from the year I collected X-Men comics during Joe Madureira's run and whatever else I scraped together for the movies. It was fun to do a little research and learn of her African Priestess origins and the time she spent in Cairo. I tried to throw little bits of that into her costume. Good times.

And now it's time to rest for a while. :)

Storm on the horizon

I'm feverishly working to finish my Storm today, but I thought I'd post a little preview sketch. I'll not say which pose or look I chose so there's at least a little surprise...assuming, of course, that you care. :)

Cartoon Scholarship!!!

Hey kids, check out this info on the Jay Kennedy Scholarship for Cartooning. Good times and $5000 smackaroos. More about it over at the MCA Illustration blog.

Skeletor!

I really wanted to revisit Ghostrider's costume and motorcycle, but next up on the docket was Skeletor. So...I decided to give him a motorcycle and make him a road warrior kinda sorcerer. That train of thought quickly derailed and I thought about people who travel a lot and how they're "Road Scholars". See, it's funny because when you say Road Scholar it sounds just like Rhodes Scholar. I wonder if I'm the first to think of that or if someone else already has?

Back on track. I gave Skeletor a sweet bike to ride aroud and do his Skeletoring on. I happen to be a big fan of motorcycles so I know how they're put together and what their working components are well enough to just sorta roughly sketch one out...which is what I did. I had a really clear mental image of how I wanted Skeletor to look so I didn't have to spend too much time sketching him. I was also REALLY pressed for time. So I scanned my small sketch, created a basic vector frame and elipses for the wheels on top of it in Illustrator, printed it at a much larger size, traced it, inked it and then colored it. That'sa my process...sometimes!

He should be up at Superhero Cocoa pretty soon so you should head over and check out all the other awesome designs! I haven't seen any of them yet, but I'm excited about them! Woo!

Captain America

He's a bit late for Project Rooftop, but I tried. I'm going to send him anyway and see what happens. I would have liked to have spent more time developing a sweet action pose, but alas, time did not permit me to...spend more...um...time. I didn't have any great ideas or concepts so I just toned down the red, white and blue theme and gave him a more portable laser forcefieldy shield.

Final final colors.

I just can't let good advice sit around and get old and moldy so I took Elliot's advice to heart and put some love on the coloring. Now, if only I could convince Kayla to substitute the current Daredevils with this one...

Daring FEETS...ehem...

DONE!

It's like a little sketchy cast

I don't know...how's this?

Two right feet

So I'll admit to having noticed the left leg looked more like a right leg after I inked it and I was willing to let it slide, but I've been called on it. I tried getting rid of the little line as per Marie's suggestion, but part of the problem is the folds in the pants and even the shape of the boot and turn of the foot itself. The diagnosis is wrong foot syndrome and the cure is me drawing that part over again. In the meantime I offer you this daredevil sans little knee line.

Almost done!

I have details to add to the coloring and I may or may not add more detail to the line art colors, but the flats are done and I like where they're heading. Any suggestions? I'm open! Oh...and don't worry, Joel, I'm working on something blue as we speak. :)

Daredevil in the old west

I thought about doing Caveman Daredvil, but Kayla said she had hoped someone would do a gunslinger Daredevil and well, that just sounded more fun than Caveman Daredevil. Plus, I loved Johnny Depp in the last 10 minutes of Once Upon a Time in Mexico as the blind gunslinger that used his ears. That was the best part of an otherwise disappointing movie and I hope he revisits that character sometime.

Some Dragon Realm things

Only I won't be calling it Dragon Realm anymore because some dude already wrote a book called The Dragon Realm. I'm back at square one as far as names go. I got really excited about "Dragon Gate" and then I realized it's like Watergate or Stargate and it all had to do with the word gate. So Gate had to go and I pretty much only have Dragon at the moment. Maybe I'll scrap dragon all together and just call it "big flying monsters that can fuck your shit up with fire what shoots out of their mouths". Anyway, this is just the result of me screwing around in my sketchbook.

Final Pirate Catwoman. Arghh.

Um...yeah. Here she is.

Inked with excruciating slowness...

During and distracted by Pirates of the Caribbean; At World's End. I should also note that this was the first thing I inked with my brand new Series 7 #4 and it performed beautifully. I think this is the first time I've bought one and it behaved right off the bat. No getting used to weird characteristics or wild hairs or anything. NICE! This is also the first time I used Sumi ink. While I don't get the dark black blacks that I do so love, I must say the viscosity is perfect and it just glides super smoothly across the paper. So I should have her all colored and emailed by sometime Friday. Good times.

I should probably just stop...

But Pirate Catwoman is so much fun to draw! I'm totally going to do the contemporary, high-tech burglar one with the backpack kitty, but I'm also going to do this one. Until I nail down a pose I don't think I'm going to be happy. On the one hand I like the crouching, action pose because it's very cat-like. On the other I like one where she's standing because you can see more details in the clothing. Decisions. Decisions. Le sigh.

meoargh?

One last Pirate Catwoman sketch before I decide. I guess maybe I'll do both if there's time.

House of Mews

On to the Catwoman redesign! I'm torn, really. The top right sketch on the bottom sheet was my first attempt. It's pretty much just my version of the current catwoman with the addition of some climbing gear and pouches to hold things...and a backpack that carries her cat what can sneak into tight places and make off with diamonds and rubies and whatnot. I was getting somewhere with it, but I envied Kayla's Rolla Derby Catwoman and Derrick's Victorian Catwoman and I felt genuinely unoriginal. Then the credits rolled on the Pirates of the Caribbean DVD I'd been watching and it clicked. What about a Pirate Catwoman? She loots on the high seas! I googled it to see if it'd been done yet and upon my cursory google I couldn't find anyone else that had done it so I just decided to go for it. That leads me to being torn. Should I continue with my original version or should I do Pirate Catwoman?

In the interest of "keep on keepin on"

I'm posting something new. Here are a few Viewpoint section covers I illustrated recently and of which I'm particularly proud. I love incorporating the illustration into the design of the page and I have go give big ups to the page designers that help shape those ideas and make me look better than I could on my own. Thanks to Lindsey Turner for Cold Cases, The Wealth Gap and Privacy Under Pressure; Donna Bauer for In the kitchen with DAD and last, but not least Holly Weber for Right from the fringe. Slow clap, guys. Slow clap.

Ok...maybe just one more...

D.O.N.E.

It's all Greek to me...

Now, I'm done...with this one, anyway.

But i'm quickly losing interst in Wonder Woman. I need more steam!

I'm not done...

...so don't get too excited pointing out all the things that are wrong with it. I also have texture to add. There will also be a more Greek version of this one coming before I color the other two. I think.

Wondy inks

My brush decided to get a couple of wild hairs...literally and it felt like I was inking with a mop. (That gives me an idea for a project on a much larger scale. Note to self: remember) Anyway, I'm not super happy with the inks, but they'll do. I had intended to color them this weekend, but I spent most of my time eating and watching television. Good times.

In her satin tights, fighting for her rights...

...and the old red, white and blue!

Mr. Jim Lee redesigned Wonder Woman's costume and while most agree it's high time for an update, not everyone loves the new look. I don't necessarily hate it, but I feel pretty iffy about it. You can read normal, smart person commentary on the new costume here and a crazy, conservative spin by Jo Piazza at Fox News here. Read and cringe as Piazza tries multiple times to uncover some sort of anti-American flag, Communist comics agenda. "New Wonder Woman Loses Patriotic Costume in Favor of 'Globalized' Duds." (cough...bullshit...cough)

Jemma Salume, however, loves the new design so much so that she did this lovely illustration. Kayla Cline also loves the new look and pays homage here and goes further to create her own redesign. I also dig this very nautical Wonder Woman by Marie Provence.

So with all that talent throwing their respective hats into the mix or throwing their names into the hat or whatever it is people say...I decided to jump into a hat as well...or something.

My thoughts:

Left Wondy has a red leather/armory cuirass with a gold chest emblem and dark blue pteryges held on by the gold belt. She has slightly lighter blue leather/armory pants and Brown (maybe red) lether boots.

Middle Wondy is all casual with her ringer-T. The gold emblem rests on either a white shirt with red sleeves or a red shirt with blue sleeves. Simple jeans and boots. The first jacket option is red with a white collar and white sleeves. The shoulder pads are blue, each with a white star and the cuffs are red. The emblem is gold and a white stripe runs down the center. The second jacket option is my favorite. It's the same design, but the sleeves, sholder area and collar are blue.

Right Wondy sports a red war cuirass with gold emblem, gold belt with blue pteryges, solid boots of a color I've yet to decide and a leather/armor body suit beneath. The body suit will be either, white, black, red, blue or a light gray. I should note that when I inked this one I got rid of the shoulder pads, the accented collar and I changed the lines of the pteryges to allow for less restricted leg movement.

I've inked them, but haven't scanned or colored them yet. Check back for an inky, colorful update and as always, I look forward to your input!

Playing card box template information...stuff

Wanna make some boxes? Try this template. I've yet to find a PDF, but you can trace these in Adobe Illustrator and all will be right with the world. Don't like this one? Google something like "playing card boxes" or "playing card box template" and see what happens.

Card carrying card makers

Hey all you Illustration 4 kids! Want to know more about making playing cards? Check out the links below for some neat-0 information on rounded corners and actual playing card cardboard.

How to make your own playing cards

corner rounder or kardkutter

Blank air-cushion playing card cardboard

The fruits of Spring Break...thus far

Nautical, steampunkish fruits anyway. A good friend of mine is an art director for a company that produces collectible card games. I created these characters for a game that will come out sometime in the near-ish future. He said I could come up with absoultely whatever I wanted. When left to my own devices this was all I had. A mermaid with a jet pack and a water tank so she can breath in the air is the hero. The villain is a Davey Jones-inspired, squid-headed, robot-bodied pirate. I inked the mermaid and then digitally painted her beneath the line art layer because I was scared I would do a craptastic job of painting her on top of the sketch. I struggled with the right mix of visible line art and painty aesthetic. So...I scrapped that technique and just painted Squid Vicious on top of the sketch and I like it TEN times better. I have, however, spent far FAR too much time on these already and my sleep schedule is so off that I'm going to bed at 8 in the morning and getting up at 2 in the afternoon. It is now Thursday and I have 4 days to get back into a normal routine. Wish me luck.

In an effort to redeem myself

I offer this snazzy illustration of two tigers...um fighting and stuff. Or at least they're about to fight. This was a sports illustration (and we all know how sports illiterate I am) about two different schools competing in the Southern Heritage Classic. Both School mascots are tigers and both use blue and white. So...I had to fudge the blues a bit to make them different enough. Don't ask the names of the teams because I can't remember. Someone remind me to find the PDF of the broadsheet and I'll post that. Are you listening? That's all 3 of you. Good deal.

Big Ass Cat

This is the crappy example of a postcard I gave my students. Poor class. It's a pretty big cat as you can see, but not nearly as large as this guy.

Yes, that is a MATA bus.

Many moons ago (and by many I mean a few and by moons I mean months) I did a pinup for Under Pressure, the first volume of the fantastic web comic Let's Be Friends Again. It's pretty BOSS if I do say so myself. I'm talking about my pinup, but the comic is pretty freaking boss as well. It features quite a few fancy pinups by some really talented folks including Maestro Joel Priddy. Because I like those guys (Chris and Curt) so much and because I think their comic is so great I decided to get a little crafty. Stay tuned for more news on said craftiness. ;)

photos of crafty fellows by Lindsey Ninja Turner