Monday, March 27, 2017

Daily Quick Sketch: Three Lilttle Kittens

During the weekends, I've been playing around with developing characters for a story idea I've had for the past few years. In this tale, I use characters from the classic Nursery Rhyme the Three Little Kittens. I want to develop a unique style.

I wanted the kittens to look like triplets, with slight variations. This was simple to do via scanning the colored image (seen far below) into Photoshop. In Photoshop, the character was duplicated twice onto separate layers, then each layer was altered with size, shape, and color.
The final compilation of all three kittens crying ('cause they lost their mittens!)

First I wanted very simple features, to make a minimalized version of a cat.
This version lacked character,

The is a marker/ink sketch, which was scanned into Photoshop.
Then duplicated/altered to create two more variations
Original pencil sketches of kittens

UPDATE: Cowabunga Donatello!

Originally posted on 6-12-2012

Still testing out the digital inks and color styles that I will use for my kid's book, Bobby's Biggest Bubble. So I thought I'd do a cartoon with my version of one of the Ninja Turtles, Donatello.
(He was always my favorite, mostly because of his nerdy persona and I like that bo stick.)
The digital ink + colored version of Donatello created in ArtRage Pro

As far as digital painting programs go -- I'm leaning more towards ArtRage Pro again.
Painter is powerful, but its interface is just too #$%* clunky.
Photoshop doesn't provide the line and palette control I want.
Sketchbook is nice, but it just doesn't have the extra bells and whistles I need.

UPDATE
Found the original pencil sketches which I thought I lost. This reminds me, I should do the two remaining turtles I haven't drawn yet, then compile them into one scene together. You can see my version of Raph here.

The recovered pencil sketch of TMNT's Donatello

Friday, March 24, 2017

Ramblin' On: Digital Artwork vs Physical Artwork (Image: Pirate Dreams)

Ah, the conflicts between digitally and physically drawing.

Personally, I never liked to paint. Painting is punishing when you are unsure of your finished image. This is the reason I think most paintings are portraits, landscapes or still life; they are usually based on reality and what the artist physically sees.

Pirate Dreams: Originally created with color pencils + watercolors, then I digitally recolored the night sky

Growing up, I was always more driven toward things that weren't real. The mysteries and unknown. Imagining what could be out there but never found. When I started drawing, a pencil and eraser were the only way I could explore my imagination; So much more forgiving to changes than using crayons, ink or paints. Because of this, I became an Illustrator/Cartoonist and not a Painter.

Then came the digital world. Programs like Photoshop/Painter allowed one to paint with an eraser. Layers allowed one to experiment. As time went on, these programs became more and more expressive at mimicking mediums with Wacom tablets and other technological advances.

Pirate Dreams: The original pencil sketch

Today, I find myself mostly creating pencil sketches and then finishing digitally. (If I need physical coloring, I always go to alcohol based markers because they provided great color blends and control.) I strive to change my heavy cartoony line style to something more painterly and loose, to better fit the picture book market. When painting digitally today, I still struggle to "see" what that final image will be. (Oh, it's easier to paint now, but my traditional methods still get in the way.)

One thing I'm sure of: a physical piece is more challenging, a better representation of an artist's process and therefore more rewarding since there is an actual finished piece of artwork. The same can not be said of digital art.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Touching up my Batman cartoon for a shirt.

This is an image I did in black & white for Inktober awhile ago. I started to color it and adjusted the image so that it can be printed on several different colored t-shirts.
Colored version of one of my favorite Inktober cartoons - soon to be a shirt on RedBubble.com
I already had this available on RedBubble as a t-shirt, but after ordering a dark t-shirt version, I found several areas that needed to be corrected (or backed by a white background.) Hopefully, I can make the shirt available in about a week or two.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Daily Quick Sketch: Old LB pencil sketch found, redrawn and colored

Did a quick color comp of one of my oldest characters, LB, based on an old sketch that fell out of a sketchbook. I don't remember why I drew LB in this pose, but I enjoyed doing a quick image of the character again. It's been awhile since I drew LB. Still one of my favorites.

LB color comped using a black pen brush, markers, and Signo white pen for highlights 

Note: this is a new color scheme I'm using for the character. The major difference is that the bumps on his nose are no longer blue. I'm thinking the bumps look better all the same color, even though doing this ruins one of the story ideas I had roughed out years ago.

Original pencil sketch found in sketchbook - estimated circa 2011 


Saturday, February 18, 2017

Daily Quick Sketch: Mouse with Cheese

Here's a quick 5-minute sketch using pen and markers. Again, no rhyme or reason for why I did this, just feeling around for a character. Once I fleshed him out as a mouse, I added the cheese in hand - 'cuz - mice like cheese?
Very fast sketch of a mouse holding cheese, made with brush pen and markers

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Sketching process: Football Player (and a lil' turtle)

Had this sketch on my tablet for some time, never finished it until now. Why I drew this image is beyond me. Sketching is often just exploring new ideas. Looking for new ways to draw things. Perhaps this picture was inspired by the last Superbowl game . . . Though there's really no direct connection.
A digital pencil sketch from my Surface Pro tablet
Sketching is a form of meditation for me: It usually starts with random lines and scribbles until something clicks, where the lines start to look like something to me . . . I then start to refine the shapes/image. From there it's trial and error, adding or deleting until I end with someone that satisfies me. Once the image is clearly defined, details are added: shading, lines on his outfit, his arm hairs and skin blemishes.

Since this is a sketch, I see things that should be corrected. His back leg is too short and its foot too large, and it's not positioned correctly. His head should tilt forward to show motion, and it should be placed more to the right. To constantly change and correct an image like this is just wasting time. This sketch has accomplished what I wanted from it, practice for creating a new idea and image.

And who knows, this image could inspire a new story or another idea one day . . .

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Concept Design: Furry Pet Costumes 2016

So here are a few pet costumes I designed for PetSmart Halloween 2016. PetSmart was looking for furry creature costumes. That made me think of doing something similar to the way that Muppet-like monsters are made.
Original concept designs submitted for creating a trio of furry pet costumes for PetSmart Halloween 2016
This is an excellent example of how a product is actually created from design. Above you see my original concept art. It gives enough detail and specifics to create the items our client, PetSmart, is looking for. But as you will see below, the details are altered to reach the price point that the customer wants. So small details are eliminated, colors are modified, and the final product is usually a simplified version of the concept art.
Many designers I have worked with in the past, would take such changes personally because they'd get too personal with their work. That not the right frame of mind in this business. Your job as a designer is to bring forth ideas to help improve business and sales. If your design is too expensive to produce, at least you can provide the manufacturer enough details to work with - so that a final product can be created for the right price. It's far better to over design with more details to allow the manufacturing department to figure out how the item can be produced, shipped and sold.

I noticed these costumes weren't selling in many local PetSmart stores. These items looked great with these dog images, but PetSmart decided not to put these photos on the costumes' hangtags. Overall, these costumes looked like furry balls on hangers, which were hard to figure out how they'd look on dogs. It's a shame that they had these photos made for posters in front of the store, but decided to save a minuscule amount of money by not printing the hangtags with these same pictures. It would have been far more efficient and cost effective to do the hangtags with photos and simply drop the cost of the promotional posters in the storefront windows. 

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Daily Sketch Challenge: Mr Freeze

Those familiar with this blog know I often do daily sketches for sites like Illustration Friday or events like Inktober and Goblin Week. On DeviantArt.com, there is a group of artists that draw 30-minute images based on the topics of the day. The purpose is just to exercise the creative muscles and share images for amusement.
I'm not going to do an image every day, but I will try to get involved to help hone my drawing skills. Jumping into something new and different every once in awhile can help break the normal repetitive cycle of artwork I do for a living.

Daily Sketch Challange: Mr. Freeze (42 min.)
Above is my first DSChallenge sketch for Tuesday, Jan 3rd, 2017. The Topic was Batman's foe, Mr. Freeze. One thing interesting about this character is that he appeared in the Batman comics as Mr. Zero in 1959. He was later named Mr. Freeze on the campy Batman TV show in 1966. It wasn't until over 30 years later that Freeze became immortalized as a true member of Batman's Rogues Gallery with Paul Dini's tale "Heart of Ice" from Batman: The Animated Series.

The original pencil sketch for Mr. Freeze

Friday, December 30, 2016

Daily Quick Sketch: Happy Baby New Year 2017

Whoa, it's been some time since I posted here. I still have the last week of Inktober 2016 images to post here. (Now where did I put those images? . . . )

Anyway, one of my popular images for this time of year are the Baby New Year images. So this year, I thought I revise the image to fit the times . . .
Yep, gonna be one of those years . . .


The Original Pencil Sketch

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Inktober 2016: Tired (#25 of 31)

I have to confess; this is based on an image I initially drew over 3 years ago. My workload is super heavy today, and I don't have the time to create a fully thought out cartoon. I originally did this design digitally for IllustrationFriday for the word "WORN"; now it's for the Inktober Day #25 word-of-the-day "TIRED". Everything works out because I always wanted to recreate this image in ink.
Revamped version of my Darth Vader image using a brush pen and markers [for Inktober Day25 Tired]
You can see the original image and a video at this link: here

Monday, October 24, 2016

Inktober 2016: Dozen (#24 of 31)

WOW! Only one more week to go with Inktober 2016!!! So fast . . .
Today's Inktober word is DOZEN. I didn't want to do a sketch with 12 things draw over and over again. So I thought of the old riddle, "When is a dozen not a dozen?" -- aka Baker's Dozen.
Day24's Inktober image for the word Dozen - using a pen brush and Copic gray marker

I'll admit, this cartoon is vague and probably will annoy some people --- but the idea of a cross-eyed baker with a roundabout way of creating 13 to a dozen just made me smile.

This is also why my annoying fly character was thrown in for an added little hint at the joke. The fly character is my version of the famous old-timey sports/editorial cartoonists' small doodles that used to deliver a sidenote or added humor to the cartoon.  In my case, the character is the fly-on-the-wall who usually has a snarky comment on what's happening in the picture.
The original pencil sketch

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Inktober 2016: Slow (#23 of 31)

For some reason, I immediately thought of my previous Inktober image for Day11's TRANSPORT when I saw the word for Day23 was SLOW. My thought was to have Elmer the Elf suffer again. This time Elmer has to transport back from the location, he was going to on Day11. (Apparently, there is a return policy on fairy dust.)

A callback cartoon that has Elmer the Elf having another bad day (drawn with brush pen and markers.)
For those wanting to see Elmer's prior cartoon, click here: TRANSPORT
The original pencil sketch for the word SLOW.

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Inktober 2016: Little (#22 of 31)

For Inktober's Day22 the word was LITTLE.

Most of the other sketch submissions I have seen on the Internet had a small character next to a larger character. Instead, I wanted to make a cartoon in which the character's size was apparent and (hopefully) humorously ironic.

I always liked the idea that if there was life on another planet, the size proportions of that alien world would be totally different than ours. This also brought back memories of my childhood imagination that there were little creatures battling in my bowl of cereal. (Yeah, I was a weird kid.) 
Brush pen and marker sketch for Inktober day22: LITTLE
(Unfortunately, a marker ran out of ink and I had to fix the image's background digitally.)

Friday, October 21, 2016

Inktober 2016: Big (#21 of 31)

For Day21 of Inktober, the word is Big.

With "BIG", I wanted to do something more obscure than a typical popular giant. Having done a Keebler Elf cartoon recently, I recalled the Jolly Green Giant commercials of my youth. At first I thought of doing a cartoon of Santa suing the Jolly Green Giant for the phrase "Ho ho ho!" (actually part of the commercial jingle.)
Ink and Marker image for Inktober 2016's Day21 Big

But after looking up reference images for the giant, I noticed that his leaf tunic was extremely short -- shorter than most skirts you'd see on a fashion runway! This made me laugh at the idea of this towering figure standing over the town folk (and Little Sprout) -- what a disturbing view that must have been.
Original pencil sketch

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Inktober 2016: Squeeze (#20 of 31)

This one's showing my age. Day20 for Inktober and the word is SQUEEZE.

My generation grew up on Looney Tunes cartoons, by far the funniest and best quality cartoons on television at that time. Today, I have no idea if children watch any of these classic cartoons anymore, especially when most of them have been edited, censored or banned.
Inktober Day20 "Squeeze", using a Tombow brush pen and Copic markers
"Squeeze" reminded me of one of my favorite cartoon characters as a kid, Hugo the Abominable Snowman. Hugo was only in a few cartoons, but he was such a great goofy character; (basically a tribute to the novel "Of Mice and Men.) Anyone who remembers Hugo, remembers his phrases . . . that's what inspired this cartoon.
Original pencil sketch of "Squeeze"

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Inktober 2016: Flight (#19 of 31)

Ever notice how Hollywood usually portrays an angel as a neatly dressed, well-mannered, good looking and nearly perfect person with wings? Hollywood, cartoons and historical painters have really helped to distort what real angels are from the bible.

Angels in the bible are not good humans who get their wings when they arrive at heaven's gate. Angels are powerful spiritual beings who do the bidding of God. When angels show up, it's usually not a good time at all.

So I was thinking . . . for the people who believe they get wings when they go to heaven - what would they really look like? Basically, they would still look and be themselves, right? And if that said person loved smoking and drinking beer . . . well he/she would get to do that while in heaven too, right? (Otherwise, it just wouldn't be heaven.)
Realistic angel inked and shaded using a black brush pen and Copic gray markers

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Inktober 2016: Escape (#18 of 31)

I decided to do a simple fan art image for today's Inktober Day18: Escape.

The word "Escape" makes me think of action scenes, like the TV Batman escaping a trap or Houdini freeing himself from a straight jacket. But I wanted to do something different. I thought of characters that others try to stay away from and LSP (aka Lumpy Space Princess) from Adventure Time seemed like the ideal choice.
Fan art image of one of my favorite cartoon shows, Adventure Time, for Inktober's word of the day, Escape.
Throw in a Sadie Hawkins Day and the cartoon is complete. For those not familiar with LSP or Sadie Hawkins Day . . . google it!

A scan of the original pencil sketch for this image
 (Does anyone even celebrate Sadie Hawkins Day anymore? Colleges maybe???)

Monday, October 17, 2016

Inktober 2016: Battle (#17 of 31)

For Day 17 of Inktober, the word was BATTLE. Immediately I thought of doing a Trump vs. Clinton cartoon, but decided against getting too political. I then thought of doing something either video game related or medieval. As I was sketching, I started drawing a running raptor. I gave him a helmet and started to gear him up for combat. Eventually, I drew laser tag equipment and thought of giving the raptor the best/worst day of his life kinda joke.
Rupert the raptor, kicking butt -- moments before his demise . . . 
Just the Inking with no shading/tone
NOTE: I gave the image a horizontal stretch to create more speed and action.
Original pencil sketch for Inktober Day 17's  BATTLE

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Inktober 2016: Wet (#16 of 31)

For Inktober Day16. the word is Wet.

I thought about characters that hated water -- the Wicked Witch of the West!
I remember the first time I saw the witch melting, it was an unforgettable horrific image that haunted me as a child. Sure, It was cool and I was happy the witch was defeated . . . but what a way to go!
Inked and toned Wizard of Oz related cartoon for Inktober 2016 Day 16: "Wet"

It seemed that the Wicked Witch of the West already knew liquid was dangerous to her health. What tipped her off? How did she learn this information? That inspired this cartoon.

Positioning the puppy was a bit of a challenge. The dog had to be positioned and posed to look like it was going to the bathroom . . . but in a tasteful way (if that's possible.)
The original rough pencil sketches used to make this inked cartoon
I also liked the idea that there were MANY more witches in OZ all based on compass locations. Oz fans know Glinda is from the south, Locasta is of the north and of course, Dorothy's house landed on the Wicked Witch of the East. But what if there were more witches, like from the NW, SE, and NNW? I decided to pick SSW since it was a nod to the popular music festival in Austin (aka SXSW.) 

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Inktober 2016: Relax (#15 of 31)

For this Inktober image, the word "Relax" made me think of one of my favorite memes on the Internet. Just to note: I am not taking create for the original concept, I'm simply doing a sketch inspired by that image.
This image was rough sketch directly using a Kuretake black brush pen (no toning or pencil sketch this time.)

Here is the original meme image from the Internet that inspired the cartoon above:

Friday, October 14, 2016

Inktober 2016: Tree (#14 of 31)

 . . . catching up on posting for Inktober. This one's for the word TREE on Day 14.

Thinking of trees, I came with several jokes, but couldn't see a good way to execute a cartoon.
For example, I wanted to do a cartoon where a tree is falling in the woods, a setup for the saying, "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" In the cartoon, the tree would be screaming for help while all other trees are pointing and laughing. Pretty hard to properly set that joke up . . . So instead . . .
Inktober image #14 for the word TREE
I thought of the old Keebler tree. Growing up there seem to be a new Keebler cartoon commercial every few weeks and the commercials were everywhere. As a child, I always thought the tree was way too small to actually house a factory of baking elves.

What better joke to make than a lame reason why did the elves picked that specific tree?
It was easy to think of a very low brow and immature answer.
Original pencil sketch of Inktober Day 14 TREE

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Inktober 2016: Scared (#13 of 31)

This one is for the word Scared, Inktober Day 13 word of the day. I always enjoyed having large creatures get frightened by little innocent animals. (One example is here.)
Day 13's "Scared" Inktober image; penciled, inked and shaded using Copic markers
You might notice that the inked line is shakier. The lines also greatly fluctuant from thin to thick. This is because the brush pen I'm using is very soft and  it bristles bend at the slightest pressure. This creates a completely different look when compared to a using a stiffer brush pen.
Showing the inked line without shading

Inking is also much quicker for me when using a soft brush pen because there's less restriction. I'm not trying to make the lines perfect, especially for the rough texture of the alligator.

The original pencil sketch

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Inktober 2016: Worried (#12 of 31)

Day12 for Inktober and the word of the day is Worried.

The first character that can to mind was the orange M&M character, who is always worried and scared. I began to think of reasons why was this character would be so paranoid.
Murder seemed the most ridiculous . . .
The murderous orange M&M drawn with pencil, inked with a brush pen and toned with Copic markers
It was easy to think why he caused a murder. Since there currently is no purple M&M character, it made sense that Purple was bumped off. I made sure to look up the year that crunchy M&Ms were introduced to the markets just to give it some trivial value.

The original pencil sketch for Inktober Day 12 - Worried

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Inktober 2016: Transport (#11 of 31)

Have to catch up on posting the Inktober sketches to the blog, but it's very time-consuming posting to all the social media sites. This cartoon uses one of my favorite characters I have created for a children book concept called, Fwog. It's a funny spin on the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale, The Ugly Duckling, which in my version may be a little too dark for a children's book. Bwahaha!
Day 11 for Inktober - Word of the Day is Transport
You may also want to see the follow-up cartoon to this image that was made several days later for the Inktober keyword: SLOW
Original pencil sketch of Elmer the Elf

Monday, October 10, 2016

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Inktober 2016: Broken (#09 of 31)

Today's Inktober word of the day is BROKEN.
Cartoon image for Inktober 2016
NOTE: Watching the second debate tonight and wondering what has happened to this country. So thinking of the word BROKEN, made me think of how our government is broken. But I don't want to get political on this blog and decided to post this cartoon instead . . .