Jim Romer’s blog: character designs, writing picture books, and random thoughts!
Friday, October 16, 2020
#Inktober2020 Day04 RADIO
With the prompt word "Radio", I instantly thought of the old Captain Marvel/Shazam villain, Mr. Mind. He definitely was one of the weirdest characters I remember reading as a child.
Friday, October 9, 2020
#Inktober2020 Day 03 BULKY
Good ol' King Mudsok.
Reposting an old favorite character from my story idea about the underground people,
A fair and kind-hearted leader, though one who would definitely dislike being labeled as BULKY.
Reposting an old favorite character from my story idea about the underground people,
A fair and kind-hearted leader, though one who would definitely dislike being labeled as BULKY.
Saturday, October 3, 2020
#Scrawloween2020 Day03: WEREWOLF
#Scrawloween Day 3: WEREWOLF
This year for Inktober, I'm also following The Cartoon Art Museum prompt list jumping around the two lists, pulling and revising some old stuff, and of course, creating new illustrations.
This year for Inktober, I'm also following The Cartoon Art Museum prompt list jumping around the two lists, pulling and revising some old stuff, and of course, creating new illustrations.
Friday, October 2, 2020
Thursday, October 1, 2020
#Inktober2020 Day01: Cat
Well, October is here already. That means I'm about to attempt to do the month-long challenge known as Inktober for the 6th year.
This year, a slightly different approach; I'll be doing new character designs and using the prompt list of words from The Cartoon Art Museum's Scrawl-O-Ween for inspiration. (See the prompt list way down below.)
This year, a slightly different approach; I'll be doing new character designs and using the prompt list of words from The Cartoon Art Museum's Scrawl-O-Ween for inspiration. (See the prompt list way down below.)
The Inked version of the Day 01 image for the prompt word: Cat |
The original pencil sketch of the character |
Saturday, April 25, 2020
B-bot: Developing another support character
This robot is a supporting character for my story, D-Bot. In the story, the main character often wishes it was another robot, B-Bot being one of them. B-Bot is a Builder Bot, hence the powerful arms.
A better color comp of one of the builder bots in D-Bot |
The original color comp, which I found was too bright and McDonalds-ish |
The original concept pencil sketch of B-Bot |
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Friday, April 10, 2020
UPDATE: Daily Quick Sketch: Lil' Squire
In the past year, I rewrote my picture book story The Squire. At first, it was going to be a story about a little girl playing strong roles often portrayed by male characters. Then I rewrote the story to also include a stronger message about equality. That's where the twins' idea came into play. After all, twins should be pretty equal, right?
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Below was originally posted on 1-28-13
Been a while since I posted a daily sketch. This one is a little girl dressed in a knight's suit of armor. I was just testing out the stylus controls again, making adjustments to the pen line. I thought of making a strong little girl with a playful imagination of adventure and action. I came up with this quick little sketch which I immediately named "Lil' Squire."
Adding more humor to the main characters of THE SQUIRE |
The story became more of a dialogue between the twins. More humor was put into the characters reacting off each other. Their arguments intensified; hopefully in a seemingly funny way. I also found an ending that I feel fits perfectly with humor and hitting the key message of the story.
The original pencil sketch of Erica and Oliver, including their lovable sheepdog, Max |
Below was originally posted on 1-28-13
Been a while since I posted a daily sketch. This one is a little girl dressed in a knight's suit of armor. I was just testing out the stylus controls again, making adjustments to the pen line. I thought of making a strong little girl with a playful imagination of adventure and action. I came up with this quick little sketch which I immediately named "Lil' Squire."
Thursday, April 9, 2020
#Mermay2020 fast approaching - aka Mer-Kat
Last year I dabbled with a character for #MerMay2019, the annual month-long mermaid illustration event on the Internet. If you use Instagram or Twitter, I'm sure you will notice a large number of mermaid illustrations being posted during May.
Quick color comp of Mer-Kat "In an Octopus's Garden" |
Other Links for Mer-Kat:
https://arrrggghhhink.blogspot.com/2019/05/arrrggghhh-its-another-quick-sketch.html
https://arrrggghhhink.blogspot.com/2019/05/more-mermay-with-mer-kat.html
Oh, and the original pencils and ink images of this image are two posts below.
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
D-Bot: Developing a Main Character for a Picture Book II
Hard to believe it's been about two years since I created this story and character while doing jury duty. The long hours waiting was the perfect environment for me to daydream this picture book story.
I'm hoping the main reason for the rejections is that I haven't had the time to sketch a dummy for this picture book. So I go back every once in a while. Sketching the characters. Fine-tuning. Experimenting. Learning.
Maybe one day, D-Bot. Maybe . . .
Character study of D-bot: focusing facial expressions |
I have submitted the story many times and have received many rejections. Many just say that they don't see a market for it. Others have said they didn't like or "get" that each robot is named with a letter. I still think it is a fun story about self-worth.
Original pencil sketches of D-Bot heads |
Maybe one day, D-Bot. Maybe . . .
Thursday, March 12, 2020
Months Later: More #MerMay with #Mer-Kat
Back in May, I wanted to do the #mermaychallenge, an online event where artists draw and share their mermaid illustrations during the entire month of May. But I knew I had limited time, with everything happening that month (buying a new home/moving/fixing up the old home to sell), and a full-time job.
I created Mer-Kat, a hybrid kitten/mermaid. I felt this was such a fun new character to explore. Life underwater with a feline-based personality.
Above is the sketch I did some time at the beginning of May. Got busy. Put the image aside, which then got grouped into other piles of papers and sketches, transferred to the new home, and pretty much was temporarily lost. So here are the original "found" pencils, and the inked version I was able to do over the weekend.
I plan to color this image sometime in the future.
The inked version of "Octo-Pussy", using a Kuretake brush pen on Canson marker paper |
I created Mer-Kat, a hybrid kitten/mermaid. I felt this was such a fun new character to explore. Life underwater with a feline-based personality.
The original pencil sketch, the background was later adjusted during inking, to create a better composition |
I plan to color this image sometime in the future.
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Baby Yoda Christmas Card
That time of year when I try to create a Christmas card. After several requests for me to draw a "Baby Yoda" -- I figured this would be a the topic of this year's Christmas Card.
I'm still in the process of creating the card.
Once it's completed, I'll update this page to show the entire work.
Digital pencils and coloring using Phtoshop |
I'm still in the process of creating the card.
Once it's completed, I'll update this page to show the entire work.
Practice Inked version with some background |
Original pencil sketch |
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