Saturday, September 10, 2011

Fan Art: Tygra


Tygra is my favorite Thundercat. I think it's because he is the most like how I envisioned him. I always saw him in his prime, about 30-35. Mature, strong, smart. Just like the cartoon.

My first sketch on the back of a receipt.
Second Sketch

Final Sketch
Next I place him in illustrator.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Kevin and the Griffin


Eight year old Kevin lives with his mother, the super of an eight story brownstone in New York. The building was erected in the late 1800s, and as his mother was overseeing some renovations in the basement, a bricked up office was discovered. Decades of flooding ruined everything inside the hidden room, but Kevin found a rusted locket that he chose to keep.

One night while he as playing on the roof, he dropped the locket and out spilled a bright light. A whoosh of air circled him and on the ledge appeared a griffin. Needless to say he was a tad freaked out.


This is sort of a concept sketch for a story that seems to be appearing in my head. I wanted to get it out on paper before I forgot any details. 

The griffin isn't a pet, though at first Kevin thinks of him that way. Early communication is stunted at best and the beast gets irritated with the boy, but he does not seem to want to leave him alone. That and the griffin has a thing for almonds, something Kevin seems to always carry around with him.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Origin of Love progress


This is a project I have been working on since grad school. It was never a grad school project, but I wanted to do an animation to Rufus Wainwright's version of Origin of Love. I have great visuals for it. I'm working on a sequence with Thor now, and have been gutting it to get in some more feeling. I'm liking how it's going, but with all 2D, especially if you are doing it alone, it's slow going.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Fan Art: Lion-o

I love the cartoon Thundercats. Have for a long time. I have a Thundercats belt buckle on my keychain as I type this. I'm pretty much a dork about it. 

I remember watching the cartoon as a kid. Loved it, but even then, I questioned the look of the characters. Lion-o in particular. For those who don't know, when the Thundercats' planet, Thundera was being destroyed, Lion-o was a boy. The cats were put into stasis and found their way to Third Earth, where Lion-o awoke a man. In the cosmic knowledge of cartoon Sci-fi, sure. But what got to me is how this guy woke with all these muscles like he had developed into his body.


I always thought of that growth in the capsule to be stunting. He would be smaller, leaner, almost a runt. What an awesome character dynamic for the lord of the Thundercats, right? I know, I guess I'm reading too much into it, but it was never out of the back of my mind. So I decided to finally put my thoughts into an image.

I know hardcore fans are most likely gonna pick it to death, but what can you do, right?

My version of Lion-o.


Below are some progress images.


The above is probably my favorite passage in the illustration.



To get the sword as close to the cartoon as I could, I took a still shot from the web and did some work in photoshop to get it's angle as close as I could. I then brought it into AI and did the build up to perspective by hand using shapes. Was not easy.


Lion-o has three different faces. Geeze.
While I was doing this I wanted to make sure I paid as close attention as I could to the detail of the character design of the cartoon. I guess I'm a purist that way, but the underwear jumpsuit had to go. Plus ribbed clothing is a great way to add dimension and form to a drawing. I use it a lot :)



Monday, June 20, 2011

Freak Show: The Bearded Woman

 I've decided to start a new series of portrait illustrations. Slightly gothic, high chroma but dark in value. It will be an adventure with the color palette for me.


I'm starting it off with a Japanese bearded woman. I thought that was a twist. 
I've finished the sketch and worked on the color comps. I'm going with the dark magenta one and will do the drawing in illustrator.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Noir Detective sketch session

The Drawing Club had a great model this go round. When I was drawing my main focus was weight. I like how these have come out. The rest are on my site.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Sphinx final sketch

All dropped into Illustrator and ready to go. Hmmm...Perhaps I should do a color comp first seeing as i have no idea what colors I'm going to use. Yeah, good idea...

Monday, April 18, 2011

The Sphinx progress

I worked on the sketch. My main concern was the far left arm (her left) and that I curved the forearm enough so that side of her would no seem so straight. Also I did a good blocking in of the limbs (as seen on the tiny sketches). I'm not too sure that's where the tail is going to be, but I do want it with a bit of perspective. Oh man, that back foot needs work. It'll be an easy fix.

I'm thinking about entering the 11secondclub contest next month I believe. Should be fun I just don't want my ass handed to me.

New illustration: The Sphinx

I decided to draw a sphinx. I envision them almost like a big great cat in posture, but with a more womanly shape. I think of them as a step above animal mentally, but nearly human in intellect, but will switch into instinct rather quickly. 

I don't care for the ones with wings, too much like a griffin to me. This is just the VERY first sketch. I'm thinking of adding jewelry if not armor of sorts.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Marionette completed.

I've finished the illustration and posted it to my website.
The next thing I want to do is make an animatic staring this character.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Monday, March 14, 2011

Final marionette sketch.

I've finally made the final sketch for my marionette concept. Now I'm going to drop it into AI and build a final illustration from him.

Friday, March 11, 2011

More marionette.

A few more thought sketches of my marionette character. I'm thinking on color, but I'm also getting quite pleased with his form, especially his face.

He's an unfinished marionette that has been put away half painted in a cupboard and he wonders why and if he will ever be completed. So he dreams of that time when he will be finished and able to preform, but what he does not know is that the shop where he is stored has been shut down for years.