Tales of Caution: Portraits

What did I tell you? One hour.

This illustration is of... oh I'm sure you know by now if you've been following this blog for a while and for some reason come back for my return.

I was thinking of doing a series of these portraits, highlighting several characters from the Tales of Caution project. It's one of many things I have planned, but I think I want to focus on making the actual comic, too.

One step at a time, right?

.n

Upstairs

"Snip-Snip" final

 So, I guess I should finally show you how this thing came around. Of course, it's not hard to guess. Sketches, reference, drawings, final. Yes, in that order.

The references get kinda kooky. I usually don't have anyone to pose for me, so I end up using myself. My references tend to be pretty funny from my experience. Enjoy.

No, I wasn't trying to do a backflip.

Here's where we get closer to the finish.

There you have it. Pretty simple. 

At least, that's what it looks like.

Snip-Snip

This one will be in the PROGRESSION exhibition at Art House Productions in Jersey City, NJ, opening tonight! This is also what I'm entering to the upcoming illustration contests from CMYK, 3x3, and AI-AP.

More of how this came about in the following days.

Excited to be back.

Quick-hit: Joust

U for Umbra process

My brain exploded for a couple weeks. Instigatorzine is kind of my life, so it's always a battle for my time and IZ time. 

Either way, seems like there's not much of a process thing here. 

Sketch to Paint to Revision. Woo-woo-woo!

I get excited when I work and I forget about documentation. You know how it goes.

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www.electrickeychain.com

U for Umbra

As seen on Electric Keychain!

As you can see, while I haven't been updating much about the character, Caution is still very much in my mind. That's the only place where it's safe, after all. I promise I'll update everyone with the status of the Caution project and where it's headed. For now, enjoy illustrated drop caps!

Post with process this week!

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Electric Keychain - www.electrickeychain.com
                              twitter.com/electric_key

Learn to Lick the Goitre Laughing 2 Fin

Intimate.

Preview

A request from Instigatorzine's time at New York Comic Con. Decided I wanted a background for this one, so  let's see how it comes out.

Instigatorzine @7B Drink & Draw

I could work on it some more. We'll see where it goes.

Deserters

So, usually, I have sketches up with these, but I can't seem to find them. I draw on anything really, so it could be scribbled on a copy of The New York Times for all I know. Anyway, here we go:

 Still wasn't sure which type layout and color looked better. I tried a couple of different colors, but there was still a conflict. Would have liked more time to experiment, but these are all done on deadline. -_-

Rocks

I don't think I ever uploaded this here.

Rocks.

Keith on Dunkin' Donuts

Sorry. I was caught up in making sure I graduate.

Wow. I really dated myself with that title. That's fine. Gonna be twenty-four in around two weeks. Not bad for the pace I made through school.

G'nna be posting "remixed" bits and pieces of my BFA exhibition, "Tales of Caution," for a few weeks while I rebuild myself (and my room. It's a disaster in here.)

BFA Cover

I can't imagine that I won't draw a new cover for whenever this series will be released.

I have good experiences whenever I do draw another cover or pin-up of Caution. It motivates me, I suppose.

I've come to like this version more, because it's less super-hero and more intriguing as an image. There's some kind of mystery to this cover than the other ones I did. Maybe because those other ones were spoofing other classic comic covers. Covering covers.

"Tales of Caution" - Monday, May 2, 2011 @4.30p-7.30p in NJCU GSUB Gallery. (Second day of A221's Sketch-a-Day-in-May, I know. Honestly, I'm just as excited for SADIM as I am for my show.)

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Area221 - http://area221.blogspot.com/

Reference & Caution

Needed a warm-up.

So, I figured out how to get over head lighting in my room. At least I don't have to go parading in the street with this get-up.

Spent another hour taking reference shots. It's progress.

Maybe next will be some sneak peaks at my show since it's almost a month away!

Parts of a Burger - Onion

The digital medium always seemed kind of elusive. I'm still getting the hang of a lot of digital art and design media. Here's an example of what I'm trying to do with Adobe Illustrator.

But, I'm not really sure what I want to talk about right now. Either that I'm learning a lot of digital media or that I lost my 500GB hard drive with all of the work I needed to print today for the critique in my Digital Illustration 2 course.

Let's see. The assignment is to create a pack of ten cards (2.5in x 3in), revolving around any one theme. I chose "Parts of a Burger." If this onion took me two hours to complete, and I have to be awake by 6am, it looks like I won't be able to finish all 12-13 images by 4p.

Thanks for ruining my life, life.

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Adobe - http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/?sdid=IBEQZ&skwcid=TC|22178|adobe||S|e|5892405400

Onion - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion

Burger - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger

Caution: Colors, Shades, Charades.

I posted this sketch a couple of weeks ago on my blog.

As I moved forward with my project, I remembered the aesthetic of the Sin City movie that came out years ago. The color highlights were always something I liked about the comic adaptation.

I decided that I wanted that to be part of my BFA project. I just don't know if I want to add grays. It'll take an additional amount of time to try and figure out the grays areas of each panel and that'll probably require more reference. While I like using reference, time isn't on my side to actually shoot all the environments that I'm going to have in the comic.

Well, all the areas in the comic are right around my house. (The extended version of the comic will feature other parts of the Jersey City heights, but I don't know if I'll be able to get to that part of the narrative before my show).

Color is something I haven't decided how to apply yet. Traditional and digital methods will have their own distinct qualities. I'll be playing around with it some more. Maybe some results next week.

Process: Great White Shark

So, from Batman Week on Area 221 (two weeks ago), The Great White Shark was probably my favorite to illustrate. That might have been because I never heard about this new Batman rogue until that week and because I had the most fun drawing him.

I decided not to have him aiming the gun at you. I know he's criminally insane after going into Arkham normal (and exiting nuts). There's something that's more intimidating about not having to stare down a barrel, though. (Maybe I'm thinking more Two-Face than Great White Shark.)

The process was quite fun, since I like dressing up and holding toy guns from my younger years.

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The Great White Shark - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_White_Shark_(comics)

Area 221 - http://area221.blogspot.com/

(It was) Batman Week on Area 221

Yeah, so some time ago, I said I would be scarce here, but that didn't mean I'd be rare everywhere else. I kind of started a daily challenge on Area 221, an artist collective we started at my school. I'm trying to get people back to the blog, but so far my efforts have been mostly fruitless. I understand if other students are busy, but the graduates should have some free time. Maybe I'm just trying too hard, I don't know.

This past week was devoted to a daily drawing of Batman rogues. Here they are in order:

Calendar Man

Poison Ivy

Killer Croc

Great White Shark

Mr. Freeze

I really use the whole daily challenge thing to experiment with different styles and methods. You'll notice some of these illustrations rely heavily on reference, while others don't. I'm going to continue with the daily challenge as best I can, even if no one else is participating. I'll probably end up posting up the process drawings I had sometime in the future.

Next week...Nintendo characters.

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Area221 - area221.blogspot.com

Illustration Friday - Layer

I think I might make this my new banner. Just a little more work.