Saturday, March 30, 2013

Daily Quick Sketch Video: Lumpy Bumpy Monsta

I've always enjoyed see others showing their creative techniques . . . so I'm going to start posting videos of my process of digital sketching/painting.
If people seem to enjoy this, I'll be sure to post more.






Update: Few people had been asking what I used and how I did this:



Friday, March 29, 2013

Daily Quick Sketch: LB Monsta

I thought I'd test out my new upgrade of ArtRage Studio Pro (now version 4.0.2). Using one of my oldest characters, I tried the new interface using the soft pastel settings in the program on rough canvas background. I still need to work out the kinks of using the upgraded version with it's changes.

My Alien/Dinosaur character: Lumpy Bumpy Monsta


To anyone who is looking for a powerful art program for a great price, check out ArtRage Pro. They have a trial program on their site with giving it a try. (The program is even available via Steam if needed.) The user interface is nice and compact compared to Painter. Painter & Photoshop have much more control, but ArtRage allows you to simply get into your work.

AND, when comparing ArtRage to Painter or Photoshop, you can't beat the price . . .
The upgrade was only about $25. For those new to the program, you'll need a good stylus and a copy of the 4.0.2 Artrage Studio Pro program will only cost about $50.

Illustration Friday: Egg!

This week's topic at Illustration Friday is EGG.

Below is the image I submitted to http://illustrationfriday.com.
It's a fun site and I find it to be a great way to exercise creative thinking and honing up my drawing skills. I highly suggest all to join (or at least take a look at the other great submissions made by all the fantastic artists there.)




Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Images from da Ol' Creaky Hard Drive: Bobby

Digital watercolor base with color pencil lines (Painter 12)
I have an old, external hard drive that sounds like it is on its last leg. I can hear the ball bearings starting to rattle inside the casing . . . so, I've been backing everything that's worth saving onto another drive.

What's strange is finding images on the drive that I don't remember making . . . ( I do find this happening more often as I get older.)  I'm pretty sure I did these images . . .
yea . . . 
pretty sure . . .

This image is one of those test sketches I was doing last year when I was making my children's book. I do remember making quite a few test sketches, trying different styles and looks -- but time was the key back then. To do the entire book in a more painterly style would have easily added another month to the workload.


I really wanted a sketchier style to the book, but I was concerned on how to control the pencil line details.  Transferring pencil lines to print is tricky and risky; it's very easy to lose many pencil strokes when scanning into a computer.  Since this was to be my first major self published book . . . I wanted no risks taken. The final decision was to go with heavy ink lines and spot coloring, making it a very cartoony-looking style.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Daily Quick Sketch: Beached Whale (Updated)

Quick little sketch made for the website Illustration Friday, a site where people upload their artwork based on the topic of the week. This week's topic was: SWIM.

Beached Whale colored in ArtRage

UPDATE: Added the original pencil sketch seen below.

Original pencil sketch. Note the nose clip looked too much like a mustache

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Publisher's Weekly Review! (Updated)

Just found out today that my first children's book, Bobby's Biggest Bubble, was selected and reviewed by Publisher's Weekly and printed in their bi-monthly magazine for independent publishers called PW Select. Too exciting!

Cover to the PW Select Feb 2013 Magazine
Above: clipping of the book review from PW Select magazine
Update:
Adding direct link to the review on PW's website:

Friday, March 1, 2013

Daily Quick Sketch: Balding Eagle (Updated)

Daily sketches are quickly drawn sketches that come to mind on paper with no rhyme or reason. They generally are just flashes of images imagined.  It is through this process that hopefully something good comes to light.

But sometimes . . . something appears on the paper which just seems so weird, bizarre and unexplainable . . . yet it makes me laugh (and I may be the only one laughing.)
This is one example:

Original B&W ink quick sketch



UPDATE: added color version