Graphic Novel Art

This has been in the works for a while, or rather was started a while back but progress has come to a stand still because of other projects and work. Above is the first page of a very long Graphic Novel I wrote, set in Medieval Northern Europe.  I originally planned on doing the GN in my Butterbroda style because it fit the subject matter, and a simple style would speed up the drawing process...although that style is deceptive and takes more work than even I seem to realize sometimes.

I completed the first four pages, but the general consensus said it wouldn't work over an entire book. I was really determined to make the style work, but admittedly wasn't really sure myself, that it would hold up over 300 pages...so after allot of mental ping pong I went in the direction of the image above...a mix of Butterbroda with some Russian and Japanese influences added.

The desire to use the Butterbroda style was fulfilled when I started the print series...and any lingering heistation about using the more rendered style for the GN dissipated. Now I just need to get on with it...

Final Gripping Beast

This is the final colored gripping beast picture. The full size is 18"x18" at 600DPI, it was a good thing I bought this new machine, my old Mac wouldn't have been cable of handle this large of a file. I'm debating if I need to add some more highlights to the skeletons in the beast's body but I want to see some test prints before I do any more.

Gripping Beast color WIP

I've finally gotten around to the coloring process on the older drawings I did. This is a part of the Gripping Best image. I'm still experimenting some with the color but the overall I've been happy with the painting effect that I've been able to make in PS. The beast itself has the most work left on it. I changed some small parts of the background for better flow to the picture.

The Gingerbread Man Can

Title: "Our Indulgences are Not Without Defense"

For a change, I did the subject matter in a vignette, additionally having the gingerbread man breaking through the vignette frame for added interest. I originally planned to put an eyeball on the end of the candy stick, but I decided to let the picture suggest the violence rather than showing it directly...I may do a variation later on with the eyeball or drop of blood.

New Fox-Updated

This is the final Fox ill. titled, "Kings Who Rule Less Challenged, In Springs are Bright, but Winters May They Fade?" I also started another pict last night, which I was able to get pretty far along with...will post soon.

Here's a new WIP for Butterbroda, the foreground will have chickens and a rooster.

This could be considered the "before" of the fox illustration I did earlier in the year withe the fox and hunter...although the older one has snow in it and this one won't.

Updated Still waters

Here's the finished ill. Now I just need to come up with a title.

Here's a new ill in progress. I tried a background but it was too much visual info, so this will have a pretty simple background, to allow the focus on the complicated foreground.

Bat attack

With all the Halloween imagery floating around I decided to fiddle with an old bat illustration I did, years ago, that was done in a vintage holiday decoration style. But I decided to apply the bat theme to a new Butterbroda image and the picture above is a result of what I did today. I wasn't planning on having a background, allowing the boys shape to only be defined by the outline of the bat, but I changed my mind. I'm still fiddling with this though, should have it done by the end of the week.

Donating Comics

For anyone who has a stack of comics gathering dust, you might consider donating them to Operation Comix Relief , which is an organization that sends comics to soldiers overseas. Over the last two years I've packed up three or four boxes and sent them off, and I'm currently packing another. They have a drop off in Framingham, MA, but if you aren't near there, you'll need to mail your comics to them...I think the cheapest way is still USPS.

Finished Gripping Beast Drawing

I finally found some time this weekend and was able to finish the gripping beast picture. More background texture will be added during the coloring.

Website redesign

I've finally finished the redesign on my portfolio website, take a look here» . So far, all the scripts I used seem to be holding together nicely in current browsers and platforms.

More CD art

Below is more artwork for the Jennie Arnau CD, "Chasing Giants," packaging. The CD will be sold in a digipak, which is a wraparound case, made with heavy paper stock. The advantage of the digipak is that it allowed me to create a single wraparound image, like the front and back covers of a book.

The packaging also required a  liner note book, containing three inner spreads with front and back covers.  Since the lyrics were relatively long, I created free-floating art that I could place around the text and tie together with flourishing lines and rope designs. The rope designs were one of my favorite additions to this style, fitting perfectly into the western theme and adding another level of embellishment, which helped provide both flow and cohesion.

I treated the CD label similar to the liner notes spreads, with floating art and scrolling designs to create motion and fill the space while keeping a sense of overall airiness.

Including the front and back cover, liner notes and CD label, I also provided artwork for the CD tray and inside flap which holds the liner notes.

The tracks from "Chasing Giants" are available on itunes and amazon.com, the actual CD may not be in stores for a few more months. Thanks again to Jennie and Tamara for giving me the creative freedom to go where my imagination took me.

Gripping Beast WIP

This is a new drawing, as yet unfinished, of a warrior in battle with a gripping beast. The "gripping beast" is part of the "Oseberg style" of art, originating in Scandinavia circa 800 AD.

The toughest part has been working the gripping beast's pre/post digested victims into the design of its body..it's taken me several attempts and experiments to sort out.

Once I finish up  the details on the foreground,  I'll  be adding a landscape in the upper third of the background, drawn in a loose manner and styled in a way to help strengthen the downward movement of beast and warrior.

Site Interface

I've been in the slow process of redoing my old portfolio site, I plan on removing the iframes and keeping everything contained on one page using css sliders and lightbox (or one of the other light___ apps). The image posted above is a piece of the art for the new-main interface that will run along the top of the page. Work has been busy lately so I haven't been able to draw as much as I'd like, but I've started a new drawing that I'll post a WIP of in a few days.

Farscape

This is another from the group of new drawings I'm working on.  I had originally planned on creating a straight forward picture of the cast from Farscape, but then scrapped that idea when a more dynamic one came to mind.  The thought was to portray a representational battle between John Crichton and "Harvey", an implant put in Crichton's brain by his nemesis (sometimes ally) Scorpius. Since the scene wasn't intended as a literal interpretation, it gave me the freedom to push the composition and subject matter, outside the scope of the show...although the show's scope went pretty wide, so had there been a 5th season, anything could have happened...

RTX updated

This is the final drawing to the WIP, with the creature totems finished in the background. The coloring stage will help to separate the foreground from the background and some further editing to the drawing may occur as I color.

This is my newest drawing (still in progress) of Jennifer Herrema, the singer of Royal Trux ( aka RTX ). I've been a big fan of the band for years and since I want to fill out my portfolio...it's time for a tribute illustration.

Shin Hanga

I recently bought "Shin Hanga - The New Print Movement in Japan" which visually details a movement  in Japan, during the first half of the 20th century, to recapture traditional Japanese art and printmaking.  It's really a great little book with a selection of over 100 color prints from artist such as Kawase Hasui and Yoshida Hiroshi. The text is minimal, but I mainly buy art books for the pictures and the book's relatively small size will make it an easy fit on most well stuffed bookshelves.

"Loan Your Ride"

Over the last several years most of my artwork has been focused on sequential storytelling, and I was doing very little stand-alone images. Last year I started creating the red and black colored image series, as an offshoot of a style I had started to use for a graphic novel.

This lead up to a few months back, when I became determined to start producing more stand-alone images in the vein of my old commercial geared Illustration. The first one of these, "Loan Your Ride", is posted above and was created in Adobe Photoshop. Drawing in PS was a bit of a departure for me as all my comic book work was drawn in Illustrator. I decided to switch over to PS so I could use more expressive line work as well as giving the images a more natural feel. Once I have six or seven images drawn, I'll start coloring.

Finishing CD art & design

I was contacted by the musician, Jennie Arnau, to create artwork for her album, "Chasing Giants," due out this Summer. I was really excited to get this opportunity as it provides a great showcase for my work and Jennie's a fantastic musical artist. I ended up covering the entire packaging with illustrations as well as decorative design flourishes. I'll post more picts once the CD is released.

New Blog

I've just set up this blog after years of avoiding the blogosphere, so bare with me while I get up-to-speed. I'll be posting updates about projects that  I'm currently working on as well as some of my interests.