Daily Quick Sketch: Lil' Whale

This is a character I pulled from my sketch pad.

Occasionally, I think of an animal and try to create a new version, different from how I usually draw the animal. This forces me to think outside the box and it sometimes helps to discover a whole new style or technique.

Here I made a more angular body, longer mouth and placed the two eyes together and higher up than what I usually do. I also added more texture with the horizontal lines on the body/tail and the under belly's ribbing.

Lil' Whale under the water? or leaping into the sky?

The background I did very quickly in Photoshop, using several splash and cloud brushes. 

The original scan of the Lil' Whale doodle from my lil' sketch book

Daily Quick Sketch: Little Toucan

Just another quick sketch using markers and ink. This time using a black pen brush. I like the pen brush, but the trouble with using them is that eventually the brush tip wears out and doesn't hold a fine line anymore. You can see around the sides of the toucan's feet, the brush point split, causing the tiny gaps. 

Daily Quick Sketch: Korky

Yet another testing daily sketch using my new marker sets.

This time, I wanted to create a sidekick for one of my oldest characters, Chef Gordon Baloo. Keeping to the theory that dogs and their owners tend to look alike, I created the character of "Korky" based upon key features of Chef Gordon Baloo.

Daily sketch of the hyper puppy, Korky, made using Copic markers and a Faber-Castell "B" brush pen

The key features I took from Chef were his stout frame, wide pointy-chinned grin, baggy + googly eyes, bulbous nose and circular ears. Hopefully doing these similar (but different) features makes an automatic visual relationship between the two characters.

Chef Gordon Baloo: One of my oldest characters and the key influence to designing his sidekick, Korky

UPDATE:
Added the original pencil sketch seen below.

Pencil Line + Marker Comp Technique

This post is used to show an example of a technique I use when creating new characters. It combines a pencil sketch with a separate marker color comp to create a final image. 

First Step: The pencil sketch
Starting with a pencil sketch, I scan it into the computer at usually 200 dpi or higher. It's important that your images are at least 200 dpi in case you ever want to go print. Once the image is scanned into Photoshop, I use "Level" settings (CTRL+L on a PC) and adjust the image to clean up any smudges or erased lines that may appear. This also can darken the sketch lines, which is important for the final look.

Original sketch using a pencil, which I find to be the most adjustable and comfortable way for me to create

Second Step: The Color Marker Comp
Once the scan of the sketch is cleaned up, I print out a page to use as a guide for the marker comp. The reason I do this is to not ruin the original sketch, because the markers for the color comp will probably soak through the sheet and ruin the image below.

For this color comp, I will be using Bienfang 100% Rag Translucent Marker Paper because it is a great smooth surface that allows alcohol markers to spread evenly. It's also thin and light -- but still strong and durable, so the paper won't rip if you erase too hard or go over an area multiple times with a marker. Another reason for this brand of paper is that it is also transparent, like tracing paper, which is very important. 

A color comp of the the sketch, filling in all the color without any black holding lines

I take the print of my sketch and place it under a sheet of the marker paper. This will now allow me to color-trace the sketch. I color the entire image without drawing any holding line or outlines. Once the inner areas are colored, I select a darker color marker (in this case green) and outline the entire image. For final touches, I add shading textures to the skin, wings and belly area.

When the comp is finished, I scan it EXACTLY with the same settings as the sketch. This way they are the same size and should easily combine together.

Step Three: Combining the two together

I now have the two drawings scanned into Photoshop. I copy and paste the sketch image over the color comp image. [Note: The sketch image layer MUST be over the background color comp image.] Select the upper sketch layer, then change it to "Multiply" in the Layers settings. Doing this allows all the white areas to become transparent leaving only the sketch lines.

The 2 images combined: a nice effect with some color bleeding that creates a slight aura around the character

You should now see the two layers combined together, but you will probably need to rotate the top sketch layer for it to align with the color below. To rotate the sketch layer, select the "Move" tool (shortcut "V" key in Photoshop) and click on the sketch layer. If "Shown Transfom Controls" is select in the top menu bar, you should see the movement handles appear around the sketch. From there, go to any corner and click when you see your mouse icon change to a rotate icon - then simply adjust the sketch to fit the color below.

So there you have it, two hand drawn images of the same character, scanned and combined in Photoshop. It creates a nice effect AND allows many alterations and adjustments in Photoshop. It's now very easy to add a background under the character; or change the colors to something completely different.

Illustration Friday: Spirit (Updated)

Illustration Friday: Every Friday a word is given on the website, IllustrationFriday.com. Artists and illustrators then submit an image that represents that word all during the week.

This week's word: SPIRIT

Marker and Ink image of Santa for Illustration Friday's word of the week - Spirit

Thought Process:
First thought was the "Christmas Spirit" since it is the middle of December. This made me think of Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" which as everyone knows -- is loaded with spirits. But I didn't want to draw a ghostly figure . . . instead I was looking to show the emotional spirit of Christmas. So who better to do that than ol' Saint Nick. 

Pencil sketch of the Christmas spirited Santa. The original idea was to have him in his red long-johns.

But I didn't want to draw just another Santa image. I wanted the image to show Santa's Christmas spirit on a more personal and emotional level.

By taking away his coat and hat made it seem like Santa was casually relaxing at home; This is not the business-like gift delivering Santa . . . it's the happy and jolly "Thank God that's over and I have 355 days off from work" Santa. 

UPDATE

The background was pretty bland for a cheery spirited Christmas image. And just for good measure, I figured adding a snow storm in the background would help instantly convey that this dancing fool was indeed Santa. (Though, skipping around in a snowstorm like that without proper clothing - it'd be a miracle if he didn't catch pneumonia!)

UPDATE UPDATE
Okay, this is weird.
Somehow either someone or some program turned my non-snowflake falling PNG image into an animated GIF. I found it animated like this several days after I uploaded my original non-animated image to Google+.

Perhaps Google does this to some images automatically? I doubt it, since that could be a few legal problems I'm sure Google lawyers would warn against.

So I think this snow effect is something that Google+ does automatically to snowy images. I've seen several images on there that have this same animation - so i'm guessing that is the answer.
Real nice touch . . . Thank You, mystery animated GIF making app or person! 

My Santa drawing that was mysteriously turned into an animated snowing GIF image

For those interested, I found a webpage that explains how to make this snow effect.
Link: http://www.vlogg.com/13203/convert-photo-snow-falling-animated-gif-using-google/

Illustration Friday: Pattern

Illustration Friday: Every Friday a word is given on the website, IllustrationFriday.com. Artists and illustrators then submit an image that represents that word all during the week.

This week's word: Pattern

Thought Process:
I do many patterns as a designer for toys, pet, costumes and novelty items. The patterns I make are usually graphically simple, because busier patterns don't sell as well as something clean and simple.

I thought about the many patterns I created over the past decade. I wanted to come up with an idea to alter my artwork slightly and make it funny. Then it hit me, several years ago in Shanghai, I was asked by the product developer and buyer of PetSmart to create patterns for pet blankets. They were looking for something different, not the typical paw print pattern you see everywhere. So I created about 8 patterns to show them.

As usual, I didn't have much time to develop the designs, but as I was sketching and doodling, I came up with this playful puppies jumping fences pattern. I know it doesn't make much sense , but it was still cheery, silly and playful. (PetSmart never bought this design, it's was too comical for their brand of products. But I still remember liking the colorful playful pattern and rhythm it created.)

So I thought, lets break that rhythm, ruin the perfect pattern and have a solo dog doing what usually comes natural.

Illustration Friday: Refrain

Illustration Friday: Every Friday a word is given on the website, IllustrationFriday.com. Artists and illustrators then submit an image that represents that word all during the week.
This week's word: REFRAIN

Sesame Street's Cookie Monster refraining from eating a big delicious cookie

Thought Process:

This week's word was tough. The first definition to come to mind is "to hold back" which makes me think of curbing one's appetite. I tried to think of characters that couldn't control themselves, especially with food. Wimpy from Popeye was my first thought, but he's pretty old school. Pac Man was another, but I don't think people generally think of him as a compulsive eater (and again old school.)

That's when I thought of Sesame Street's Cookie Monster.
Here's a character that usually has no control over his appetite for cookies. He's still brings back childhood memories of enjoyment when he chows down on a pile of cookies. Though in past few decades, Cookie Monster has been learning to eat healthier and cookies are not his main go to food anymore.

I understand the urge to have children learn to eat healthier -- but I find it sad to see Sesame Street alter a favored character simply for a simple moral spin. Kids understand he is over the top, that's what makes him so lovable and enjoyable. Seeing cookie crumbs fly all over when he eats is parts of the fun.  Having vegetable leaves fly all over when he eats? Not as funny.  

Original pencil sketch of the Cookie Monster concept for Illustration Friday's Refrain word of the week

Drawing Process:
The focus is on the huge forefront cookie that stands out on a bright foreground with Cookie Monster centered directly behind it. I decided to have Cookie Monster posed grimacing, head in hand, gazing over the cookie which is less than an arm's length away. The motion lines around the character help express his urges to pounce on the cookie. In the background, a radial burst of energy is center to the head of Cookie Monster to help pull the focus to the center of the image.

Illustration Friday: Shadow!

Illustration Friday:
Every Friday a word is given on the website, IllustrationFriday.com. Artists and illustrators then submit an image that represents that word all during the week.

This week's word: Shadow

A promotional image for the short online cartoon: Slojo, Ex-Clown

Thought Process: Shadow This made me think immediately of a little cartoon I tried to animate in 2000 called, "Slojo: Ex-Clown". It was to be a small online cartoon about a sad sack individual who used to be a circus clown. The twist (or gimmick) was that Slojo was always unlucky and suffered the consequences usually in a chain of events. In this case, all he is doing is standing around . . . and he's about to suffer for doing so.

I was just beginning to learn animation and thought doing a solo project like this would allow me to practice and hone my skills. The animation was very crude and rough, almost is a stop motion style. Fortunately that year, I was hired to animate and design websites. Unfortunately, I no longer had the time to finish this project.

Background story: This image is strange to me when I see it.
While I did make an animated intro for the cartoon, plotted and story boarded an entire 3 minute episode -- I do not remember ever doing this image. Yes, It is my work, my style and character . . . I just don't remember planning, sketching or working on this particular image.

This was not the first time that has happened to me. When I was younger, I would sometimes wake up with completed sketches of characters that I didn't recall creating. There were also times when I would dream up complete stories. I would try to write those dream stories down as soon as possible, for it seemed like the stories started to fade away as I woke up.

The subconscious mind is a strange, confusing and wonderful thing.

I will try to post the original Slojo animated intro soon on the blog . . .

Daily Quick Sketch: Halloween Jacko

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

Having a hard time making new costumes for Target's toddlers for 2014. It especially difficult when redesigning something so traditional like a pumpkin costume. I believe I have designed over 20-30 pumpkin costumes for babies, toddlers, adults and pets over the past 8 years. Coming up with something fresh, new and cost efficient is a big challenge. 

Jacko, sketches in pencil, colored in marker and inked with a black brush pen

When trying to clear my mind, I usually create new characters in hopes that doing so it may inspire a new look for Halloween costumes. I feel it's important to step away from the work when faltering and look elsewhere. Sometimes the slightest things can help inspire new concepts and great designs.

Because of this sketch, i'm thinking of making a Jack O' Lantern design for toddlers . . . hopefully it'll look interesting when I'm finished.

Daily Quick Sketch: Scare D. Kattz

I've been working on Halloween designs and also just purchased a set of 24 color markers from Spectrum. Like Copic markers - these are alcohol based. Unlike Copic markers, these were 24 color markers for about $40. So, since Halloween is approaching, I did a black cat character to test out these new markers.

Scare D. Kattz

There is a quality difference with the Spectrum markers. The blend/bleed of their markers isn't as fluid as the Copic markers. The ink does blend, but they seem to go on dryer. Also, a big difference is that the Spectrum markers simply have a fine point end and a chiseled flat end; no brush point, which sacrifices a lot of control.

Comparing the high quality + costly Copic markers with the low-cost Spectrum markers
Note Copic's brush tip; this provides much more control for the ink and line 

I found if I color in small areas and also use a circular motion with the pen, I can fill an area evenly.  Not as easy as using a Copic marker - but doable. Then going over the area again, once it is dry, allows making layers of shading.  I still need time to really get the control of these pens, and while they aren't the best in the market, they are affordable and well worth using for color comps and sketching.

Comparing the Gelly Roll vs. Soufflě white pens for highlights and touch-ups

UPDATE
After seeing many great artists using this white pen, I had to try Mitsubishi's White pen. By far a better quality white pen than the Gelly Roll 08. Major reason is the ink flow. Gelly Rolls eventually start to dry out at the tip and the flow of ink starts to clot. The Mitsubishi pen flows with ease. So, while Gelly Roll is a good white pen -- I recommend the Mitsubishi White pen (UM-153, available at jetpens.com).

Some example scribbling and signatures using the Mitsubishi White pen on a black surface

Also, I may have mentioned this before. For final highlighting and touch-ups, I use the Gelly Roll White #08 pen. This is a very impressive pen and the coverage of the white gel ink is fantastic. But be aware, the company also makes a similar looking white pen with another line of their pens called Soufflě. These pens go on very wet and are not opaque at all. (I have a color set of these pens and have no idea what to use them for -- pretty worthless. Be warned!)

Illustration Friday: Creature II

Illustration Friday: Every Friday a word is given on the website, IllustrationFriday.com. Artists and illustrators then submit an image that represents that word all during the week.

This week's word: CREATURE

I usually never submit two images to the IF website, but I couldn't help also send this "monsta" from over a year ago. This creature was made by playing around with the fur brush in SketchBook Pro -- so it's really just a doodle.

This creature was made on June 9th, 2012, which was before I created my eBook character, Bladimir Blarfarg around Dec. 2012. Though I can't prove it, I think subconsciously this little guy was the inspiration to creating Bladimir.

Close-up cropped image of the the original doodle sketch "Fuzzy Monsta"

There's are definite signs of Bladimir here; the horns, blue fur, wide mouth, stocky body with small arms and legs. But you have to admit, he's got too much of a creepy factor to be used for a children's story. Kids probably would still like this creature -- but to properly market a book for success - you need to appeal to the parents, since they are the paying buyers. You also need a universal appeal and lil' Fuzzy here just wouldn't work on that level. So ol' Fuzzy Monsta here was never considered for the eBook. (Sorry dude)

You can see the complete original full body doodle of Fuzzy Monsta here:

http://arrrggghhhink.blogspot.com/2012/06/fuzzy-monsta-its-great-when-you-get.html

Illustration Friday: Creature

Illustration Friday: Every Friday a word is given on the website, IllustrationFriday.com. Artists and illustrators then submit an image that represents that word all during the week.

This week's word: CREATURE

As previously mentioned, I've been swamped with work lately, so I haven't been submitting illustrations to the website Illustration Friday for weeks now.
Fortunately, this week's word is easy for me to submit past works.

Bladimir, the Blogdunsta from the upcoming eBook "Bladimir Blarfarg and the Worm Wire Glasses".

Thought Process:
Not much thought process to this submission, my first thought to the word CREATURE is obviously going to be the creature I've been working on for the past year. I simply submitted one of my illustrations from my eBook, Bladimir Blarfarg and the Worm Wire Glasses".

(Sidenote: Noticed that the font I picked has a "y" that looks like a "g" - I'm constantly seeing "Tiny Legs" in the lower right corner read as "Ting Legs". Even though that does bother me, I like this font's style since it goes so well with the mood and character of the story.)

QwikFlix: Scooter Bounce

I've been meaning to add a few of my old animations to the blog. It's just tedious to code and setup since it was created in Flash long ago. Since then, ActionScript has gone from 1.0 to 3.0 and it is quite a difference. Not only does the coding need updating, but in order to view the Flash file on Blogger . . . more coding must be added. But I'm slowly getting the hang of it. Even added a play again button so that the clip won't loop on and on forever.

This was a test animation from when I worked at a company called CSI, which was several years prior to the popular TV show making it's debut. (Yes, it was a hoot to tell people I worked at CSI . . . sigh.) I was developing the main cast, trying to give each a personality to play on for our project, SchoolKidsOnline. (That's Scooter in the top right of the image below.)

Scooter was going to be the nerd who enjoyed sports. While he didn't have the physical stamina like his other team players, he was a genius with probability, trajectory angles and other physics-related stuff. He was also smart enough to create robots like his basketball-bot and strike-less bat.

Note-
Android viewers will need to have their OS running Jellybean in order to play the Flash movie.

The 11th Annual Collingswood Book Festival

So New Jersey's biggest book festival is right around the corner, On Saturday, Oct. 5th, 2013. The location is at Downtown Collingswood on Haddon Ave. If there is rain, the festival will be held inside the Collingswood High School (is 424 Collings Avenue, Collingswood, NJ 08108)

I'm really looking forward to going to this event. Not only will I have a table to show + sell my book and doing signings, but I will also do a reading of the book at 1:50PM. 

For more information on the event, check the link below:

http://www.collingswoodbookfestival.com/authors/authors.php

Illustration Friday: Together

Illustration Friday: Every Friday a word is given on the website, IllustrationFriday.com. Artists and illustrators then submit an image that represents that word all during the week.

This week's word: Together

Thinking Process: I had no idea what to do with this week's word. I was very stumped. But then I thought of the word and one of my favorite childhood songs came to mind, the Beatles' song "All Together Now". 

That made me think of the album the song appeared on, Yellow Submarine, and how influential the cartoon was when I was a child. The cartoon not only had fantastic music, but was the first true mind-blowing creative visuals I ever seen in a cartoon.
And let's face it, it had everything a child could ask for: The Beatles, really creepy bad guys, a Sea of Monsters and a hole in Ringo's pocket.

So thinking of the cartoon and the song, I thought of the two opposing characters being together: Blue Meanie and Jeremy Hillary Boob (aka Nowhere Man).

Addendum: Just added a video of making this image on YouTube, watch below or you can go to the YouTube page and a larger better quality version of the video. Click here: TOGETHER VIDEO