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

Flying Reindeer Paper Craft coming through!

So here he is in all his paper winged reindeer glory...the reindeer you've all been waiting for...Comet. He is NOT up at the CA site yet, but he will be soon-ish and as soon as he is I'll post a little linky here.

Goblincycle

Let's get digital...digital. I wanna get digital...digital. Let me hear your digital painting talk...your digital painting talk. Let me hear...um...that's a real stretch so I'ma just stop. This is my first stab at digital painting in a long time...and I'm rustier than I thought I would be. Done a couple of weeks ago for a friend who works in the collectible card game industry. Goblins aren't really my strong suit, but it was an educational piece I suppose.

More Illustrations with fun page design!

Not much to say about these other than...from time to time I like to think outside of the box...which means drawing outside of the box...and all over the page. Plus, it gives me the opportunity to collaborate and that presents more challenges...and as we all know from after school specials...challenges can be rewarding. You get a gold star!

A little collaboration?

Why not! Let's face it...I don't post that often and you were all seven of you probably tired of looking at zombie Shane. So why not look at this? This was a fun piece for two reasons. One was that I got to break out of the drawing norm and play around with something a little more...playful. I bought some hotwheels and that leads me to the second reason it was fun. I was able to collaborate with my good friend/co-worker the lovely and very talented Lindsey Turner. She takes awesome photographs whether or not she admits to it and she shot all the hotwheels for me. I like typing "hotwheels." I took all her pictures in to photoshop, cut them out and then placed them on a little drawing of a road and an inspection station. The story is about shelby county merging their inspections with the city of Memphis. The car at the very top left is a Plymouth barracuda. I want the big people version of this car and I want it now. Look at how nicely the photography and illustrations are playing with one another...cough cough...NPDA participants...cough cough. sigh. Maybe next year, NPDA. Maybe next year.