Sketchbook Sharing: Ice Ice Baby

Well Michigan is still experiencing the harsh effects of winter, complete with high winds and frozen rain. Though for all the talk about the "polar vortex", this winter hasn't really given the Great Lakes State much in the way of weather conditions that are out of the ordinary.

But since everyone else can now understand the kind of stuff we deal with every year, heres a good a time as any to share some cool sketches from this past week.

The first thing anyone living were snowstorms are a regular occurrence is learning to rely on your neighbors, so here are some doodles of the Canadian Women's Olympic Curling team. 

Then here are some sketches of Elsa, the Snow Queen from Disney's "Frozen", because I don't think I've given her enough love in my own sketches, editorials, or twitter posts. 

And it wouldn't be complete with an appearance by the Ice Man himself, stocking shelves at a grocery store. Really, isn't that just the way we always thought Vanilla Ice would end up? 

Stay cool guys! 

Sketchbook Sharing: Let's do the Time Warp Again!

Not as much in the post here as last week on account I've been very busy making sure the sidewalks are safe to tread on. I tell you nothing makes you feel more civilized than beating the ground with a stick... to chip apart the ice of course.

Something I have been tinkering with recently is a new self portrait. I'm considering some kind of full body shot, maybe with some props, definitely in color, just so I can have something to liven up the front page of my website.



To try and determine how best to draw myself, I looked at some photos that I took as references for some earlier projects. I think I can safely say that I have my boxy mug, but am still a little uncertain how to proceed from here.


In the meantime, here are some warm up sketches of some of pop culture's most famous time travelers, Marty McFly and Doctor Who's Fourth Doctor.

 

Now let's wrap up with Wonder Woman. 

Stocking Stuffer Sketches

Merry Christmas Friends! I had hoped to unveil my latest protect, but its taking a little longer than expected. In the meantime here are some "stocking stuffers" for you to enjoy. Sketches of people from December get togethers and gatherings as well as rough ideas from this year's Christmas cards.

Summer Bummer Colors

This is a piece I did this past August called "Summer Bummer". You can read about the process behind it here.

Lately, I've been looking to reorganize my portfolio and figured that the changing leaves shouldn't be the only color we get around here!

The Hassle with Harley

It's funny because I'm "Mr. J" too.

Avid comics reader on the Internet have likely heard about DC Comic’s controversial Talent Search contest involving the Joker's ever perky but long suffering henchwoman Harley Quinn committing multiple suicide attempts. 

While I had initial reservations about taking part in this at first but I didn't think I could afford to pass up the opportunity of getting my work in front of an editor of a big company and how it could potentially lead to steady, paying work.

While there was questionable content in this story, I think the experience was a good one for me as I learned a bit about my own skills and limitations as an artist in the process.

The script itself lent itself well to my illustrative style since the four panels were all separate actions. 

PANEL 1

Harley is on top of a building, holding a large DETACHED cellphone tower in her hands as lightning is striking just about everywhere except her tower. 

I went with a vertical panel to best showcase the lightning. The composition itself was meant as a homage the final shot of the opening to "Batman: The Animated Series", reflecting on the character's origins in that show.  

Harley is wearing a raincoat in this scene. I thought it might be fun for her to change outfits as she moved from situation to situation. Also because the entry rules for the competition said they didn't want any cosmetic changes made to Harley's existing costume, but didn't provide a picture of her current look. Given that she's had about three different costume changes since the reboot of 2011 plus her variant look from the "Arkham" video games, you'd that her appearance is something they'd want to set straight. So my plan was to conceal her duds as much as possible. 

PANEL 2
Harley is sitting in an alligator pond, on a little island with a suit of raw chicken on, rolling her eyes like once again, she cannot believe where she has found herself. We see the alligators ignoring her.

I took a good deal of creative license with this panel as Harley is standing, screaming and ringing a dinner bell to try and get the alligator's attention. Also she has sausage links around her neck rather than chicken tied to her because I thought that suspended meat would not only be funnier, but also read better.

PANEL 3
Harley is sitting in an open whale mouth, tickling the inside of the whale’s mouth with a feather. She is ecstatic and happy, like this is the most fun ever.

This panel was one of the most fun to draw what with all the craggy bits on the whale and its excess spit. I actually inked the whale on its own because I enjoyed it so much. 

PANEL 4
Harley sitting naked in a bathtub with toasters, blow dryers, blenders, appliances all dangling above the bathtub and she has a cord that will release them all. We are watching the moment before the inevitable death. Her expression is one of “oh well, guess that’s it for me” and she has resigned herself to the moment that is going to happen.

I didn't want to show much of Harley's body because I didn't want a piece about death to come off as "fanservicey". That and the more submerged she was, the less I had to draw!

I wasn't confident in the rendering of her "This is the end" face, so I added the bit of her popping to soap bubble to try and drive to point home better. Then I had Harley pull the rope to drop the appliances into the tub with her foot because I thought it would show her being playful to the end. 

It took about two-three weeks to complete this page (although I was juggling a number of other projects at the same time) so I may not have the speed necessary to complete a monthly book. Also I was frequently hung up on details, particular the anatomy which appears rather rigid. This is likely a result of my dependence on model pictures and piecing together multiple reference photos to create the desired poses. Most of my time during pre-production focusing on the composition of the panels than on practicing the poses. So don't be surprised if I start posting more gesture drawings in the coming month to try and improve. 

While I did enjoy planning how each panel would flow into the next, the level of attention I assigned to the space rather than on Harley herself suggests I may be better suited to more illustration based projects in the future.

Summer Bummer

This past Sunday I was mingling around the local Target when I saw a giant inflatable pencil hanging from the ceiling, a harbinger of "Back to School" sales for school children the same way that a hanging sword was a reminder of close doom for Damocles. 

Juxtaposed between that odd encounter and this week's theme of "Back to School" inspired this new illustration. Though I felt like I was the one under the threat of a hanging deadline. Turning something around from concept to completion was a real challenge but I'm grateful for the experience as it gave me quite the shot in the arm during a creative dry spell.

Originally I was going to spoof the famous ending of "Planet of the Apes" with two children walking done the beach only to come across an enormous pencil, but didn't think that would get the idea of "impending" doom across. Other ideas I thought of included a giant pencil erasing the word "Summer" while two children ran in terror, or another involving a big pencil sneaking up on unsuspecting swimmers ala "Jaws". Eventually I opted to just "drop the bombshell" on these two kids that summer vacation was over as that notion presented a good opportunity to see their shocked faces. I made sure to include an inscription on the sign of the pencil to indicate what it meant like you might see in an editorial cartoon and also serve as a subtle homage to the "Hi There!" bomb from "Dr. Strangelove", though sadly lacking Slim Pickens. (Have I talked about how much I love movies yet?)

Like I said the short deadline was  a great learning experience for me. Far too often I can get caught up in the little details and miss sight of the big picture. Tightening my leash meant producing things not only more quickly but also more broadly so that the image is more legible.

It reminds me of the something Nicholas Meyer said about directing William Shatner on "Star Trek II"; The takes you did with his lines, the more he lost his bravado and it let the character of Kirk shine through. That's kind of what I'm looking to do here. With a weekly turnaround I can increase my output, polish out my rough spots through the constant steam of new projects as well as develop greater spontaneity.

Other returning students from the League:

* Goodwill Geek lists his Dream Faculty

* Green Plastic Squirt Gun showcases quite the collection of lunch boxes

* UnderScoopFire recruits a team of Teenagers with Attitude!

Go Gokaiger!

In order to keep my figure drawing skills sharp, I usually warm up with daily gesture drawings. Since the start of the year I've switched from sketching models in photos to watching episodes of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (which will hopefully be coming stateside as "Power Rangers: Pirates" soon)

The series features a multitude of various characters in skin tight colorful costumes leaping, running, kicking, punching etc. Its very much like watching a live action comic book, and briefly pausing the action allows me to reference cool action poses. Its been a great exercise in speed, proportions, rhythm and even lighting.

I've been wanting to post sketches for some time now, but I always kept putting it off, so what you'll be getting is some of the better samplings. Looking over them recently just shows the kind of improvements that I've made, albeit subtly, in a relatively brief amount of time. Let me know what you think and perhaps I'll post some of my other daily scribbles in the near future.