Tag Archives: illustration

Crushing Hope

Leave a reply

      So… I’ve acknowledged the fact that there’s one person who can totally knock me off my game. It’s a little sad, but it kept me from being as content as I try to be. So I drew this spontaneously while watching a Star Trek commercial…

       I was actually surprised at how well it turned out. The values were added first, followed by coloring. A lot of the time my mind wasn’t fully on it and I really had to concentrate to stay on task.

     The good news is that I got through it. The better newsis that I got through it. I hate being at the mercy of something like this. But if you’re trying to control life, it will hurt you. So I ride my lows, stay calm in highs and try to find comfort in the middle. Contentment.

Wubadubbawubwub

2 Replies

In case you don’t understand the current reaction…

End of rant. On to art.

    So after a particularly vivid nightmare, started working on this script this week. It took five hours; this surprised me.

      You see, when I was a kid(hell, even now lol) I loved comics. Especially Marvel. Being artistic and all, I figured it was a cinch that I’d work there one day. I looked forward to it and one day I took a bold step. 

    I sent in a bunch of panels. 

     After what felt like I a century I got a letter. A rejection letter. I was crushed and decided maybe I wasn’t meant to be an artist after all. That I’d have to settle for my back up career as test pilot or astronaut. My drawing was covered in red ink corrections, a sure sign of authority. Damn.

     Years later I met the guy who sent me that letter, Jim Shooter. I told him about it and he asked how old I was when I did it. Six, I replied.

      The man was inconsolable. He actually teared up and told me he was sorry about it. He asked if I’d put my age on it. Hadn’t considered that. “No.” If I still drew. At that time, the answer was no. 

    I’m fine. My life has been a comic of sorts, full of adventure travel and tragedy, hahaha. No I didn’t become an astronaut, but I worked for NASA and met several. I even have a piece of Hubble’s old thermal shield, brought back after the lens repair mission.

   And I draw again. I don’t have any dreams attached to my art anymore. It’s for me mostly, with an occasional commission thrown in, mostly for ego sake. 

      Because I love art😉.

Tangent of Expectations 

2 Replies

     Another weekend gone. This one especially sucks because I get to hear what appears to be a firefight outside. Great for celebration, not so much for PTSD based nightmares.

     Anyway, after a fender bender I was involved in last week, I decided to draw #jezebelle. It’s been awhile since I drew any vehicle.

    Since I didn’t want her to be all oblong, I actually used tools instead of freehand work. It was… interesting . Some of it came back right away. Other parts took a little erasing, lol. All part of the process, right?

       My life kind of falls away when I’m  really into a drawing. It’s a little hard to explain. I guess you could say that the only thing that exists for me is the next pen or brush stroke. Sometimes I wish I could stay there forever.

       Once it was completed, I stared for a moment, both happy and sad that it was done. My mind is already shaping other projects. The more I create the faster they seem to come to me. I’ll never be able to finish them all! 

Isn’t that great?

1st World Problems

Leave a reply

image

         Life isn’t being particularly fair to me right now. Oh well. I’m starting to see the nervous breakdown like appeal of being homeless.

image

      I drew this picture out of spite. I’ve never done that before. Had a young lady accuse me of creating sexist art. I had no reply, so I posted this on her page. It seemed fair.

image

Extraneous Persons

Leave a reply

image

     I’m not sure how anyone will feel about my next picture. So I won’t ask, lol. Today someone ran into my car, so that’s how I get to start the week. So if I seem a little bummed, please be kind.

image

     I always knew that line work or pencil drawing was important, but this picture helped me understand HOW important. It’s everything! I found myself having to clean it up several times.

image

     Although a lot of the time coloring and bringing out detail is where my heart lies, making a good foundation can simplify the whole process .

image

      Since this was colored with markers and I’m self taught, it took awhile, experimenting to find the best technique for getting a more realistic look. I finally fell back on my watercoloring experience to recreate the look I wanted. Although I don’t have a huge pallet, it seems to work well.

image

     Of course there are places where I need textures and the art markers aren’t always the best for that. Luckily, I remembered that I could still use watercolor on some papers the results have been pretty helpful.

Never Say Bae

Leave a reply

image

    This picture was almost a travesty. It all could have gone so wrong. I don’t no how I miscalculated so badly, but I managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat! For you see….

   I ran out of deco pink.

image

     “Oh my god stop the presses!” you may be thinking. But you see, that’s the base color layer for this image. I was forced to use another color further up, light peach. It shifted my entire pallet.

image

    It was the best skin tone yet.

     In fact, I think it’ll become a favorite. Accidents and incidents can work in your favor. You just gotta roll with it, baby😉.

image

Model for Sale

Leave a reply

image

     Hey guys! Hope you had an amazing weekend. Mine was a little hectic; had some chores to do and it took the entire weekend almost! Oh well, at least I accomplished a lot.

image

      I got to “attend” an artist seminar via webinar, which got me amped up to do a few more images. The topic was “don’t put off your dream projects”.

image

        I’ll admit to doing just that recently. There have been a lot of customer oriented stuff coming out of me lately and I can feel my needle dipping below”E”. Not that I haven’t enjoyed my projects; a lot of them have been really fun! But to be honest, I haven’t pushed myself in any of them and that needs to change.

image

         So I sat down last night and made a checklist of all the things I’ve wanted to draw in the past 6 months. I figure that it’s a good starting point.

image

      I have to be honest. A few of them make me a little nauseous thinking about them! It’ll be okay though. Time to grow!

image

So get ready for some upgrades. Because since these will be mine, I won’t have to clear posting the work. In the meantime, enjoy your week.

image

Precious Hate

Leave a reply

image

    I’ve learned a valuable lesson. Deftones and Hennessey might not be the best combination for me to use as inspiration. I was actually getting angry as I drew this picture! Isn’t that funny?

image

      There was a time when negative emotions ruled me. Then one day I realized something; it was much MUCH harder to not be that way. Everybody let’s the world win. I decided to fight it. It takes considerable effort, but I tend to stay content longer.

     So I put wings on an image made from anger.

     It helped.

Can

Leave a reply

image

   This has been a slow week, but a pleasant one. I want to complain, but that’s just a reflection of my mood.

     The thumbnails are a big hit! People are really happy to receive them and so far have been willing to pay up to $10 so far! Pretty cool…

image

     My bigger images are starting to get a bit of love, which makes me feel as though they’re worthwhile. My style is definitely coming through and people seem to want to buy whatever I make.

image

    The stages it takes to draw can start feeling stale to a certain degree, so I try to switch it up for my own sanity, lol.

image

  With this image I decided to forego the usual realistic approach and just try to convey a more cartoon style image. Not too cartoony ; just enough to get the point across.

image

     That’s it for now. I have an immense amount of yard work to do! Hope you guys enjoy the images.

Girls Own My World

Leave a reply

image

      What an opening declaration, huh? Well it’s true. Maybe it’s my southern upbringing but I tend to be more tolerant and patient with them. Guys catch hell with me but the ladies? Not so much.

image

     This is NOT an unlimited ticket however.

     I’m amazed at how often I receive derogatory comments about the women I choose to create or draw on my daily commute. “Why don’t you draw REAL women?” They’ll demand of me, as if my ability only receives validation through their option.

image

     The truth is I pretty much create what I want. Like most men I have a type; confident, smart, funny and loving. But I also feel I’m those things with a nice helping of stubborn on the top.

image

     I tried to portray that in this picture of Wonder Woman I made. She’s all those attributes in one made up person to me.

image

      I feel that’s what a cosplayer who is in her character is trying to display about herself. Just like Harley Quinn exists in the land of broken dolls, Diana is a more mature, fully realized woman, more confident in her sexuality and identity.

image

      So yeah, when I draw women I tend not to just draw sexpots. I try to give them the depth they deserve, sometimes succeeding, sometimes not.  But at the end of the day MY prize is when a woman tells me she likes the way I render her gender. What can I say?  They own my world 😉