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 . . .

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Inktober 2016: Rock (#08 of 31)

For the 8th day of Inktober, the word of the day is Rock. That reminded me of my rock people characters . . . And my favorite is King Mudsok.

Blue pencil and inked character design of King Mudsok, the beloved leader of the Molten People.

Mudsok is one of the many characters I have been developing for a humorous story that takes place underground. His name is King Mudsok. Not sure where I got the name, but it popped into my head as soon as I finished drawing him. He is the king of the Molten People, a tribe that is at war with the Mucklugs, (a tribe of underground plant people.)

I see his character as being one who intimidates those who meet him. His voice is deep and rough, and his size is pretty impressive. He speaks with a loud, aggressive tone that vibrates the surrounding area. But underneath all that tough persona lies a very passionate, loving and caring soul. He really is a softie -- made of stone.

King Mudsok is a part of one of my many children's book stories for my "Timmons and the Lumpy Bumpy Monster" series. I'll try to find the Mucklug leader, Zoobi-Dang and post it when I can.

Illustration Friday: ICE (UPDATE)

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: ICE
Wrap design made for inflatable swimming pool

Originally posted 

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

This is a very busy week for me, so I had to pull from the archives.

This was a design I made recently for an inflatable swimming pool wrap (the image repeats several times around the pool.) I made this thinking how fun it would be seeing playful polar bears and penguins swimming around icebergs during a hot summer's day.

I kept the image very blue and cool, limiting warm colors to just a few highlighted small areas. The composite for this was very important to balance out the polar bears and penguins so that they seemed to mingle all together and not just hang within their own species. Hopefully, when looking at this image, kids get a friendly, fun and cool feeling.

The artwork is vector based so that the image could be enlarged, reduced or re-arranged to be used for other items like beach balls, beach umbrellas, swimmies and life preservers.


RE: Illustration Friday
If you would like to join in on the fun, head over to Illustration Friday. It's totally free, no need to login or sign up for anything. You can view all the submissions from this week (and past archives of previous words.) Have a sketch to show? Send your own artwork up for others to see.

UPDATE:

Below is an image of the finished product. The repeat turned out great. I like how the clouds cast shadows on the inner lining of the pool. This image was taken outside of the factory near Shanghai, China.

The one thing that bothers me is that the tube around the polar bear's waist should be red. I feel the yellow tube competes with the sun in the sky, but at least it's a warm color against all the cool coloring below. Don't know why that change was made.



Image of the finished product using a repeat pattern of the design above.

Friday, October 7, 2016

Inktober 2016: Lost (#07 of 31)

Today's word of the day for Inktober 2016: Lost.
This word brings me back to one of my very first cartoons.

During my college years, I was the college newspaper cartoonist doing weekly drawings. One year, I won the national Columbia University Golden Circle Award for Best Cartoon from a Collegiate Newspaper. This inspired me to try going professional. I drew up about 3 dozen cartoons to submit to the New Yorker, Playboy, Reader's Digest and several other popular magazines. All were rejected. With good reason . . .
Rehashing an old cartoon I did while in college.
After all the rejections, I changed my focus and started doing a comic strip called Home of the Brave, which ran monthly in a fanzine for 2.5 years and then was reprinted/rehashed for a Spa/Health magazine for about a year. This old lady became one of the regulars in that strip (years later, she was also used in my first children's book Bobby's Biggest Bubble.)

Original pencil sketch
I'm going to search for the original old cartoon and post it (even though doing so will bother me tremendously -- looking at how I used to draw! Bleh! ) If I find the image, I'll update this post.