Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Voluptuous



I not really well practiced at drawing voluptuous women. In fact, my strategy to make a character not look male was to make her as lithe as possible, add eye lashes and a couple extra lumps, etc.

So, I'm kind of hacking at this figure tonight. I think I'm heading in the right direction, but there's definitely something to be had. This sketch has several more detailed layers, but I exempted them as they aren't quite developed yet.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Robots, spacechaps, #doodles



I haven't rendered out an image for a while now. There are a couple back burner pieces and pages that I'm itching to get onto paper. I get really amped thinking about possibilities of a finished piece: compositions, palettes, contrast hierarchies. But sometimes you just gotta doodle: loosen up, make room for new ideas, and just have fun. 

Still sorting out some settings in Sketchbook 2011. Good news is, my full retail copy of the software arrived today -- time to put it to work and get my money's worth!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Process: picture books and collaboration (#illustration)


Really: few tasks are as fun and challenging as combining mediums. While the marriage between illustration and written word may seem glaringly perpetual, sustaining a complimentary dialogue between the two is nevertheless difficult.

I've managed to cobble together spur-of-the-moment methods to juxtaposing textual and illustrated narratives when having drafted comics in the past. However, I don't think I've found a method that I could confidently use again. However, I think that in this picture book collaboration with writer Shane Hosea we're managing to devise a useful drafting routine. So far, it's worked best for Shane to shoot me a written draft which I would interpret into thumbnails.

The idea is that Shane will then write his second draft while using the new visual elements to eliminate any superfluous text from the first draft - and when the second draft comes my way, I will similarly tighten up my compositions. What I find useful in this method is that the collaborative process is a dialogue rather than a dictation. Neither narrative elements are being bent around the other disproportionately. While smacking of fairness, this isn't solely a tool by which we're evening the work's authorship; rather, it optimizes the communication of the holistic narrative's ideas so that neither narrative element is being wasted.

With that said, we are only two steps through the dance. Plenty of time to step on a toe or two - or worse, prove myself wrong.

And I do hate proving myself wrong.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Long time no post!

Been lost in the cubicle wilderness for some time, with nothing but ballpoint BiCs and Post-Its to scribble on.Things'll be changing soon, but until then..

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Planning planning planning

This is the color and lighting key for my next illustration. Final printed size will be 33" x 17", segmented into 3 panels. Oh, and none of the principle subjects in this image -- it's a lot crazier than some landscape. Mostly posting this as a personal point of reference, especially for style development.

Let me know what you think!