Origami Ninja Stars, Free Sketches for the kiddies, Comic Convention, MORE!!!

I haven't been posting very frequently, I've been busy with school, work, and trying to get enough art ready for the Comic Convention. I'll be selling a sketchbook of work there. Its May 30th, at Spokane Falls Community College. For more information on the Spokane ComiCon, head here: http://www.spokanecomicon.com/

This Saturday, I will be at Merlyn's (19 W Main, Spokane, WA, 99201, 509-624-0957 ) from 11 - 3pm or so, drawing sketches for the children for Free Comic Book Day. For more info about Merlyn's, head here: http://www.merlyns.biz/ For more info on Free Comic Book Day, head here: http://www.freecomicbookday.com/

Last bit of news, In my Communications course at the college, I have to instruct the class on how to do something. I choose origami shurikens, about the only origami I still remember from Elementary school. I used to make these all day long in class, then during recess I would chuck them at kids.

I made a quick visual aid poster to help students while I instruct. Here's the poster:

Little Red, sleeping away

Here is where I was a few days ago with that tree problem:


and here it is today:


I just printed it(non photo blue) onto bristol board, and I'll be inking within the next couple days. Any thoughts before I hit it with the inks?

Robin Comic Page

Its been a while since I've updated. Last week of school was hectic, work has been keeping me too busy, hanging out with new and old friends, and I've been constantly working on art.

Finally, after a month, I was able to finish this with my friend

He wanted to ink something of mine, so I did a quick mockup page of a Robin story I made up. This is the first collab project I have ever done, it was a lot of fun. It was liberating to give my pencils over to a friend whom I trust. It was also refreshing to see what he did with my pencils!


In other art related news, I'm not sure if I will be able to get my Little Red Riding Hood comic done by the comic convention, but I will definitely have pages to show in my portfolio from it, as well as some pages in my sketchbook that I will be selling. Busy busy busy. I'll probably be working on some paintings very soon. I've been wanting to paint more, but its been a push pull between comics and painting.

Well, I have some more work to get done. If I'm lucky, I'll post within a day, with a page from Little Red Riding Hood.

Evolution of Robin

So over the last few days, I've done a sketch of Robin (actually a couple), then inked it, and today I colored it... Here we go:







Also, a random sketch at work of Robin:


I used the same method of inking that I did for my Caperucita Roja Inking tutorial I did a while back. First I had my sketch in my sketchbook, I scanned it in, changed it to non photo blue, printed it on bristol board, and inked with a brush and Higgins Black Magic ink.
I did the coloring this morning, during my break between classes.

I think its time to draw another Teen Titan, I have tons of Robin illustrations already ;)

Daily Sketch Return?! and Convention News

Life's been very busy. I've been handed three class assignments, two of which I did the work over the weekend. I'll be presenting rough drafts for one today for my film class's storyboard project today. I'll also be doing a presentation in my Sociology class.
Beside the school and work rinse and repeat daily grind, I'm also putting myself to a schedule to get things completed and ready for the upcoming Spokane Comic Convention. I guess they were booking like mad this week, glad I decided to lay down my money for a table finally. But that also means no more lolly gagging...
I'm planning on doing a handful of speed paintings, maybe five, for the convention. I'm planning on doing one a week, spending one of my days off each week working on them. I'm also going to try to return to the (semi, kind of, not really) Daily Sketches. I want to do this, so I have more work to pick and choose from when I put together a small inexpensive sketchbook to peddle at the convention. I will have paintings, Solar Flares 24 Hour comic, a sketchbook, and Little Red Riding Hood comic for sale and ready for the convention.

To kick off the Daily Sketch, I did this last night:


I'm thinking that I will do a portrait of each of the Teen Titans from the tv series for paintings at the convention. I saw a few people dressed as Raven and Robin, so I think there is a decent fan base here.

Daily Sketches - 2/14/09

Wow, I haven't posted any daily sketches in a LONG time... I've been drawing, painting, and doing all sorts of other shenanigans, yet I haven't really had time to share.. so this is a good opportunity to get back to that business again :)

First, a recent acrylic painting:

11" x 14" - Acrylic on Masonite. This was a Valentine's gift for a great friend of mine, I think she loved it, at least I hope so :) Its her favorite character, Harley Quinn, from Batman. This was a lot of fun to do, because I put down the brush and paint for a couple month hiatus because of school and my current work on my Little Red Riding comic. This reinvigorated me to do some painting again, I'm planning on at least some small paintings like this, and maybe a large one or two that will be ready for the Spokane ComiCon on May 30th... BTW, I need to buy a booth for Artist's Alley soon.

The daily sketches from today:

Today at work was slow, real slow... and a real blessing. I spent all my breaks and other free time doodling these. I might do a portrait of Joker similar to the sketch above, as a small 11x14 painting like the Harley one. Also, I want to do a 16x20 painting of Batgirl there. I love the action of her fist fighting, it looks exciting and vivid. I think fans would appreciate them at the con and buy the paintings.

Lastly, I went to a curiosity shop and picked up a bunch of old 50s - 70s comics. They really inspired me for my upcoming Little Red Riding Hood comics and Solar Flares volume 1. The old comics have ridiculously stupid ads inside, and I've decided to mimic them and make my own. Here's one that I put together last night:

It mimics another Growth exercise program that was in the comics, I took a lot of the wording straight from the comic; it was too good to change! Lastly, if you reread it as those "special" enlargement ads we see today, this advertisement is even more hilarious..

So, that's a mighty blog entry, I hope it satisfies my few readers. Its time to get back to drawing.

I LOVE Magnus Robot Fighter

So today I came across an obscure comic while browsing. Its called Magnus Robot Fighter 4000ad, printed by Gold Key Comics. First thing that drew me was the painted covers, very pulp magazine like on the cover. Second, its a Flash Gordon type guy beating up robots! I love it! I have an affinity for '50s era robots too, so this is my thing. Now I have a an urge to find as many of these as possible, Magnus is amazing! I'll definitely be looking out for other issues or collections at comic cons, etc.

If I had the opportunity to get the rights, I so totally would. I just get so giddy with golden age heroes, pulp heroes, and the like. There's a sort of awesome charm to them that is hard to find in today's comics. Is it the art style? The stories? The smell of the old comics? A time I long for yet never experienced? I don't know what draws me to this stuff so much, but it definitely gets me excited to draw something. It also gave me some ideas for a future Solar Flares comic. Perhaps Francisco needs to battle robots at some point!