what a kurios blog

Hello there

2012-12-12T11:45:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've graduated with Kendall and am working on a few projects right now.

I'm sorry I've been neglecting this blog, but I do hope you have been checking out my Welcome page, Bio, and Portfolio.

I hope in the next month to be rebranding my illustration business, as Kurios is a name I have been using both personally and professionally and want to split those two up.

Thank you for visiting my blog. For better updates, please check out my Twitter. If you'd like to see my artwork without making your way through sketches and what-not, my portfolio is right here. To show your support, please Like my work on Facebook. I hope we can work together, so please view my experience on LinkedIn.

I am currently looking for work, so please email me at whatakuriosgirl@gmail.com
I have experience with book covers, comic coloring, interior illustrations, poster design, and more. I will work with your budget.

Fanart February- the Tenth Doctor

2012-02-12T11:47:00.000-05:00

Fanart February- Blind Mag

2012-02-11T11:36:00.003-05:00

Blind Mag from REPO! the Genetic Opera

ref: Tanit-isis

Fanart February- Zatanna

2012-02-10T15:09:00.001-05:00

Refs: Ravyk-stock and Valentine-fov-stock

Fanart February- Batman

2012-02-09T11:16:00.004-05:00

Ref from: Sunshine114

Fanart February- Death

2012-02-08T20:49:00.001-05:00

Death of the Endless, from Sandman by Neil Gaiman. She's wearing the ankh, really, I just chose a pose with the complete wrong angle to actually see it.

Fanart February- Hit-Girl

2012-02-08T00:04:00.002-05:00

I'm behind on my drawings, so this is a quick sketch. Starting tomorrow, my days will be back to normal so I can spend some more time on them.

Fanart February- Gem

2012-02-06T23:59:00.000-05:00

So I've been out of town for a couple of days, so it being late, I didn't have as long as I'd hoped to spend on this. I did the portrait first, trying to do a pixelated style I've seen other digital artists use successfully. I didn't really like it, so I did a quick full body drawing.

Fanart February- Baroness

2012-02-05T23:13:00.000-05:00

I will probably replace this with a colored version later.

Fanart February- Barriss Offee

2012-02-04T17:19:00.001-05:00

Barriss Offee from Star Wars. I saw her in a Lego set and liked her freckles (they're actually tattoos) and decided I wanted to find out more about her. She showed up an episode of the Genndy Tartakovsky Clone Wars, where she had a cool fight.

Ref: KAWproductions

Fanart February- Harley Quinn

2012-02-03T11:41:00.002-05:00

Harley Quinn plant-sitting for Ivy. I came up with this idea at 3 a.m. this morning because I couldn't sleep.

Fanart February- Ramona Flowers

2012-02-02T15:55:00.000-05:00

I originally wasn't going to color this, but it's sort of essential when it comes to Ramona and her multi-colored hair.

Ramona (c) Bryan Lee O'Malley

Ref from : ~yellow-stock

Fanart February- Catwoman

2012-02-01T20:08:00.000-05:00

Fanart February

2012-02-01T20:06:00.003-05:00

I've decided, as a way to make sure I do some drawing every day, I'll spend the month of February doing a piece of fanart. They'll be of various levels of completion, just as long as I do one a day and post it.

I narrowed down a list of my favorite characters to 29, then used a random generator to mix them up.

Here is the list:

    1.    Catwoman
    2.    Ramona Flowers
    3.    Harley Quinn
    4.    Bariss Offee
    5.    Baroness
    6.    Gem
    7.    Hit-Girl
    8.    Death
    9.    Batman
    10.    Zatanna
    11.    Blind Mag
    12.    The Tenth Doctor
    13.    Wonder Woman
    14.    Helena
    15.    Silent Hill nurse
    16.    Delirium
    17.    Shaak-ti
    18.    Velma
    19.    Dream
    20.    Poison Ivy
    21.    Nina (Black Swan)
    22.    Rose Tyler
    23.    Spike
    24.    Coraline
    25.    Asaaj Ventress
    26.    Quorra
    27.    Alice
    28.    Irene Adler
    29.    Sherlock

There is the possibility some might be replaced.

Gates of Perdition cover

2011-12-11T09:39:00.001-05:00

I had gone through several ideas, including a collage similar to the previous cover, because they are part of the same storyline. I came up with this one because the book had references to mirrors, and it's about a corrupt psychologist, so I used a Rorschach design.

Mirrors of Anguish Cover

2011-12-02T17:40:00.001-05:00

Cover art for R.P. Kraul's crime novel Mirrors of Anguish.

References included various friends, and: ~persephonestock

Happy Birthday Neil Gaiman

2011-11-10T13:14:00.000-05:00

I was considering drawing Death, but Delirium seemed a more festive choice.

Collage Type?

2011-11-04T17:43:00.002-04:00

Demon of the Fall WIP

2011-10-13T17:51:00.001-04:00

Demon of the Fall Cover

2011-10-13T00:38:00.000-04:00

Lucio "Toxic Lou" Pardine double crosses the Delamino family's most notorious killer and flees to Purity, a small town with a dark legacy. The killer tracks Lou to Purity, where they will have a final, bloody confrontation. Or maybe the ancient evil brooding in Purity's abandoned church will use them both as puppets.

R. P. Kraul's site
Click here to like on FB

Font choices

2011-10-12T00:18:00.000-04:00

Legion comps

2011-08-14T10:37:00.000-04:00

They're supposed to be flying out of Hell, so the vertical one seems logical, but which is more dynamic?

Demon Game Cast 2.1 (Wallpaper)

2011-07-09T13:46:00.000-04:00

Antoni, Erin, Brooke, Celeste, Bill, Alice, Dominic

Alright, this is from the Demon rpg that my friends I used to play. It's been defunct for over a year, but my friend Maggie and just like the characters so darn much we still draw them.

I'd done a group pic to show the different heights but it came out less than pretty. Then Maggie did her own version, which I liked so much more. I felt it had more nuance, expression, and body language. I decided to copy her composition and poses and redraw them my way.

Originally I had no intention of doing them all in rainbow colors, but once I noticed the color scheme was headed that way, and that there were indeed seven characters, I decided to go with it. This was much brighter, but since it's a dark game, I played with the lighting.

Wallpaper from: ~DyingBeautyStock
Floor from: ~piximi

Brooke in Jingle Top

2011-07-02T20:27:00.001-04:00

Cassie/Brooke from the now defunct Demon Game. However, I still just like drawing the character for an excuse to do pretty fashions. She was my pseudo-bohemian, filthy rich, art-student character.

Gunslinger Trio Poses/Comps

2011-06-17T13:36:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to decide on a pose/composition. It's going to be a picture of a female gunslinger and her two henchmen/back-ups walking into town. I think I prefer it when one has a pistol and the other has a rifle or another pistol. Two rifle seems weird, but some of those comps are good. Thoughts?

Barbarians

2011-06-09T23:45:00.001-04:00

I want to work for companies like Paizo, Wizards of the Coast, and Fantasy Flight Games, so I realized I needed more traditional fantasy art. This is for the front of the role-playing book where it shows character classes. I intend to do some more. Luckily, with renaissance faires going on this summer, hopefully I'll find more models.

Woad

2011-06-06T15:30:00.001-04:00

I need help deciding on how much woad (blue ink) and tattoos to give my barbarian. Woad was used by Celts/Picts to look scary to enemies. How blue should I make my barbarian? Should he be blue w/ no tats? Please let me know what you think.

Very blue

No woad/tats

couple of tats & woad

some blue & tats

Raphael

2011-05-29T15:11:00.001-04:00

Done for ConceptArt.org's Character of the Week competition. This week was Archangels, showing both their warrior and healing aspects.
I chose Raphael, who is the protector of travelers, shepherds, the mentally ill, the blind, and healer of the sick.
WiPs here.
Ref pose from SenshiStock

Archangel Wips

2011-05-29T14:50:00.000-04:00

Rock or No rock?

2011-05-29T10:39:00.000-04:00

Wing Colors

2011-05-27T18:58:00.000-04:00

Angel Wings

2011-05-27T17:32:00.000-04:00

Angel Lighting

2011-05-27T15:59:00.000-04:00

What lighting/shading works best? The large eyes on the wings are the light source

Rob Granito Returns

2011-04-07T10:05:00.000-04:00

Rob Granito Returns, calling himself the Charlie Sheen of Comics, offering paid interviews (via Bleeding Cool)

Sucker Punch Review

2011-03-27T00:45:00.001-04:00

I realize this is an art blog, but I feel this movie review fits with that. I went to see this movie based on awesome concept art. The visuals did not disappoint. As for the plot... well, keep reading.

Some plot discussion, but probably not too many spoilers 'til the end.

The beginning set-up was great. The music (Tainted Dreams) perfectly suited it and was a great introduction to the movie. Our introduction to Baby Doll showed her to be capable and very protective. I should have realized it also set her up to not always make the best decisions.

This movie has awesome visuals. I loved the kick-ass action and the pin-up girl outfits. Those worked great. The music was very cool, but unlike what I've heard other reviews say, the music doesn't sync with the action (like in Scott Pilgrim) at all. The action sequences take place during dance seqences, yet the action isn't reminiscent of dance moves at all.

I'm about to go into the structure of the movie and how it sets up the action sequences. Understand, I saw this movie because I saw Alex Pardee's concept art, then the live action posters based on it, and decided this movie needed to be seen. I also decided I didn't want to know anything about it plot-wise. I wanted to go into a movie without knowing anything besides that it looked kick-ass. When I accidentally found out it was set in an old-time asylum, I started to wonder how they were going to connect these awesome genre-blending images into an asylum. I imagined things like Alice in Wonderland, or more apt, American McGee's Alice.

The movie has three layers- real world, burlesque/brothel, and imagine spot. The problem is we only see the real world twice- at the beginning, and at the end. We don't cut back to see how the other two things are happening in the real world, so when we hear dialogue or action that we know corresponds to some real-world event, we wonder how it's actually playing out. It wouldn't be so bad except we cut into the other two layers too soon. The other girls are not introduced in a group therapy session or at a lunch table, etc so we can find out why they were committed or what they are like. We don't know why they have burlesque-layer nicknames like Baby Doll, Rocket, or Sweet Pea. Amber is at least a real name and Blondie for a brunette could just be ironic.

In the concept art by Alex Pardee, "Madame Gorski" is introduced with a whip, so I figured she was some sort of authoritative figure, maybe even a cruel one, in charge of the asylum and a sexier Nurse Ratched. Instead, she's benevolent, which is okay, but in the brothel level, she isn't authoritative, instead being another victim of a horrible orderly (who in this level is a club manager and pimp.) However, in the real world level, she's a doctor, he's an orderly. Yet, when Baby Doll hears her evil step-father and the orderly discuss forging Dr. Gorski's signature to get Baby Doll lobotomized so the cops can't get any info out of her, she doesn't do to the doctor, she just keeps it a secret. That might not have worked in burlesque-world, but here she's in charge of the institution. Why not go to her? Surely she's had therapy during the week prior to the lobotomy appointment. She's even shown interacting with her in the burlesque level, so she's definitely had spoken with her in some way.

Speaking of therapy, that would have created a better story and structure for the action sequences: have each girl in therapy, she can either straight-out tell us her back-story, or the action sequence can reflect it. I was positive each girl was going to be the star of her own sequence, which didn't really happen. They might have gotten a little more spot-light, but the sequences didn't add anything to character development.

Spoilers now as I discuss the ending and some earlier things.

As for the dance sequences being the segue into the action sequences: this isn't some magical dance that enables them to enter another world. In one sequence the girls are alone with the cook in the kitchen, and they need to steal a knife from him. They bolt the doors with broomsticks, throw things off the table, and Baby Doll climbs up and starts dancing. Suddenly, this man who should be terrified these mental patients are going to harm him sits down and gives into watching the sexy dance. Also, when the radio cuts out and we're taken from the action to the brothel level, then it works again and suddenly we are teleported back... what's with that? It's not like music is some sort of mental cue for Baby Doll to go back to the 3rd level. It isn't a switch flipping between worlds literally. It only happens so we can see an awesome portrayal of a sacrificial death rather than a mundane and sad death.

As for the ending:
Why does Baby Doll give up? All she has to do (besides the obvious tell the therapist idea) is wait for the cops to show up. Why does she give herself up for Sweet Pea? This is a character no one likes. She never redeemed her snotty behavior. Deciding to help out wasn't much. To really redeem herself, she should have distracted the guards so Baby Doll (who can now go find cops and get her inheritance) can escape. The entire goal of the movie was to escape. Why did the lobotomist say she looked like she wanted him to do it? Why give up? Yes, her sister is dead and she was almost raped, but that isn't any reason to stop fighting now. How is becoming brain-dead an escape? Her life wasn't hellish just yet.

It occurs to me this vaguely resembles One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (which I watched once over a decade ago, so forgive me if my details are off) in that she wasn't crazy yet ends up lobotomized while another patient escapes. The downer ending works in OFotCN, but not here. I can't remember the why of Jack Nicholson's character being lobotomized, but it was supposed to be tragic. The point of Sucker Punch was her escaping and things turning out well. Why did the movie suddenly say Sweet Pea was the main character all along? We knew nothing about her except protective-of-sis. I understand her and Baby Doll are similar for that, but why should she get away (alone)?

Overall, an awesome action movie with an incredibly lousy story structure and plot. Go see it in theaters for two reasons: so Hollywood will give us awesome genre movies, and because the action is awesome and deserves to be seen on a huge screen.

Creolization Album Design

2011-03-25T00:34:00.000-04:00

In Typography, we had to work with a client and create album art for their first CD release. I was inspired by their song "Zydeco Brought Me Back from the Dead" and a pre-existing zydeco album with Baron Samedi, and wanted to do a flatter style similar to the restaurant song in Princess and the Frog.

There will be a fundraiser on Sunday the 27th, 3pm-7pm. 2290 Raybrook Street SE. Grand Rapids, MI 49546. BYOB, food provided, CD Sales, silent auction, 50/50 raffle.

We Love Cult Poster

2011-03-12T23:51:00.000-05:00

Created as a gift for WeLoveCult.com

Face to Face Show

2011-03-12T07:31:00.000-05:00

Last night I went to the Face to Face show at Byrneboehm Gallery on Lake Drive. Rebecca Green, a former classmate of mine was showing with another artist named Aneka Ingold. Both had excellent work, and the rest of the work in the gallery was also wonderful.

I will have to make sure to keep up on who they show there, as it seems several classmates and professors I know have shown there. I had no idea where it was until yesterday. I will also have to look into showing myself, though I'm hesitant since my work doesn't have a cohesive theme, as all of my paintings are from illustration class assignments.

I met some great people there, and had fun.

To see their other artwork:
Byrneboehm Gallery
Rebecca Green's Online Gallery
Aneka Ingold's Online Gallery

Creolization Sketches

2011-03-11T21:21:00.000-05:00

In Typography class, a client was brought in and we are to design an album and logo for them. The band is Creolization, a word that captures the music, which is a mixture of many cultures and musical styles.

So I was thinking of a staggered composition with the band members

There are five band members, so maybe have this spread across the two pages?

One of their songs is called "Zydeco Brought Me Back from the Dead"
so I thought of using colored skeleton[s] (band members.)

Then I started playing with instruments.


Obviously just filler type for now, and the color/spacing wouldn't be the final choices.

Not sure about the stripes. They are a little too zebra-like.

Typography- Type Face (Crowley)

2011-03-03T11:00:00.002-05:00

First of all, I realize it's both Neil Gaiman and Sir Terry Pratchett who wrote Good Omens. I had copy and pasted the quote from GoodReads.com and worked on formatting the quote last-minute. By the time I realized such a glaring mistake, it had already been printed and mounted to a display board. Maybe I'll edit it so it gives credit to both authors. Now I feel terrible. Both are two of my favorite authors and I wouldn't want to not credit both.

Anyway, Crowley is the fallen angel from Good Omens, a great book about the Apocalypse. All text is quotes from the book. Most of the class did caricatures with minimum characters, but I did it with shading. Photo used for reference from a: Face a Face Legends ad. I really wanted to show Crowley's yellow eyes but redrawing the image was taking too long.

More Cell Phone Goddess Comps

2011-02-23T22:22:00.000-05:00

Still trying the Hindu goddess idea. I was trying out some different styles of hair but I think it's too complex. The middle figure's hair/headdress is supposed to be reminiscent of reception bars.

Then I decided to try some triple-goddess concepts. I'm not sure how I feel about the three faces. I was considering making the crone use an old style cell phone, the mother a bluetooth, and the maiden texting.

I got rid of the extra faces. The middle arms are backwards but I like the symmetry.

I tried to replace the middle arms with correctly-facing ones, but I didn't like the depth and asymmetry.

Goddess of Cell Phones

2011-02-21T12:48:00.000-05:00

ConceptArt.org's Character of the Week is a God(dess) of Media/Technology.

I'm thinking of doing a Hindu-style goddess with each arm/head using a different cell one- the center one texting, the next two with cells to their ear, the back two on bluetooths/headsets.

Then I tried narrowing it down to a Triple Goddess, one texting, one calling, and one with a head-set. Still trying to keep it relatively symmetrical.

My boyfriend suggested I try combining it all in one body with multiple arms.

Anyone suggestions as to which seems best would be appreciated. Thanks.

Steampunk Aphrodite

2011-02-20T14:56:00.001-05:00

Done for ConceptArt.org's Character of the Week competition. The theme was "Steampunk Aphrodite."

WIPS

Steampunk Aphrodite WIPS

2011-02-20T14:34:00.007-05:00

Click for Final

Talking about Classes

2011-02-17T20:52:00.000-05:00

Alright, so I haven't really talked much about my classes this semester. It's my last one, and I'm taking World Religions, Typography I, and Printmaking II.

So far I really enjoy Religion class, and I've learned a lot. I really need to look into what mediums Hindu and Buddhist art is done in.

Typography was scary at first, because I don't know much about Illustrator, but once I found the typography menu setting and got some advice from Samskee on the pathfinder tab and general advice from my professor, I'm starting to enjoy myself. Our first assignment was just transforming letters into logos. At first I really wanted to incorporate a second letter in the designs, but luckily that so happened to be the second project.
I'm still a little intimidated by what my classmates can do, but I suppose it's only fair. After all, if they were handed paint and a canvas they'd feel inadequate compared to fine art and illustration majors. I didn't really play much with trying to make images with the text, and my wanted poster might have been slightly missing the point, but I realize that now and can improve on future projects.
Our next assignment is a text portrait. I am considering Neil Gaiman, Death from Sandman, Batman, Catwoman, Crowley from Good Omens, or Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Neil has wonderful quotes, so that would be a great one to do. Death is awesome and of course the quotes come from Gaiman. I would feel bad using Jim Lee or Adam Hughes' art as a reference for my picture (why yes, I realize there are photos from the Batman movies, but admit it, none are as iconic as Lee or Hughes' work.) I'm really considering Crowley since I found a wonderful quote to use: "An Angel who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards." When I was looking up reference pics, I came across Spike, and I've been wanting to draw him for a few weeks, so there's that. I'm really focused on either doing Death or Crowley though.

Printmaking II: oh how this is nothing like my first print class. I'll be honest, this isn't going well so far. I have really been holding off complaining, but I have to, at least a little. I traded my portfolio class for this because I thought I'd be able to do whatever subject matter I liked as I did in Print I. I wouldn't be so upset having specific assignments except I feel I'm not getting to develop my portfolio before I graduate. This scares me.
I've managed to work around it a little though so far. It isn't terrible, I'm just worried about not having a consistent subject matter. Our first assignment was a collagraph of a song, I chose Magdalena by A Perfect Circle. I made a decent version of it on my computer (for printing out and transferring to the plate) but the final version was less than satisfactory. Everything that could go wrong did. Wrong color matboard, trouble tracing and cutting out shapes from the contact paper, glue not sticking, etc. We had to choose three different ways of using the same plate, but once my lace decided to fall off and my etched in lineart decided not to show up, I was left with a much-too-simplistic picture that could only be wiped as an intaglio. Also, trying to see if black ink is still on black mat-board is quite difficult. Needless to say, my final prints weren't quite as spectacular as I'd hoped. I do think I could use the techniques to make future projects that worked.
The second project was screenprinting... valentine cards, for a print exchange. We chose conversation hearts blindly, I picked "get real." Rather than go with a rejection picture, I thought of robot girls, mermaids, virtual women, etc. all trying to become human. My ideas started getting abstract after a while. After a full week of sketches (some of which will be used for other things) I talked with the professor about my struggle and he asked what I would have liked to do before there was an assignment. I said Carmilla, or maybe Medusa. That's how I ended up with Frozen Love. I was really happy with it until I realized how difficult screenprinting was. First my arms were too short to pull the squeegee at the right angle/force, then my ink kept drying out. It was mostly the ink drying out. This is not a process that allows much time for problem solving. The first layer went on okay, the second took around 6 hours of failure. The third was going well until my hands refused to drag it at the right angle and things started drying out. So now that I've worked out the problems, I definitely want to do more.
The next two projects are a shaped woodcut and a colored intaglio. My class is petitioning to show at Site:Lab on April 15th. We are doing a giant flip-book. We have teams: Salami, ~~Edward~~ Zeus, ~~Spiders~~ A-Team, and Plague Unicorns (Plauge for short.) Some of us are seriously discussing logos and t-shirts. This is totally random but totally awesome. The other assignment hasn't been demoed yet, but it's based on memories. I'd like to have an open assignment besides the final project but that's not going to happen.

So that's about it. I will post pics of the Valentine prints the next time I go to school to get them.

Typography- Wanted Poster

2011-02-17T11:01:00.000-05:00

Tabs 4.0

2011-02-12T16:51:00.000-05:00

Resources

My Journey to Becoming an Illustrator (via ArtBistro)

Social Media

Building a Personal Brand with Social Media (via CareerRealism)

Art/Writing

Freelance Freedom Comic about being a freelancer (via Freelance Switch)
Don't Let Her Whisper your Name (via deviantART)

Typography- Two-Character Design

2011-02-08T21:37:00.000-05:00

Our second assignment was to take two characters from any of five fonts (Baskerville, Garamond, Bodoni, Helvetica, and Rockwell) and create a design. I did mostly logos.

Typography- Letter Abstraction

2011-02-08T21:32:00.000-05:00

For our first typography assignment, we had to choose a letter in Futura and turn it into something new. We could either cut it apart and glue it together, trace it, or do those two things in Illustrator. I chose the hands-on approach and then traced them in Illustrator when I was finished.

Tabs 3.0

2011-02-08T20:48:00.000-05:00

LinkedIn Tips

Why my profile almost doesn't show up in LinkedIn searches? (via LinkedIn Answers)
LinkedIn Quick Tip: How to Rank Higher in Search Results (via CIO)
LinkedIn Ettiquette: The Right Way to Request Connections (via CIO)
LinkedIn Quick Tip: Find and Follow Your LinkedIn Connections on Twitter (via CIO)
LinkedWorking: Generating Success on LinkedIn the Worlds Largest Professional Networking Website (via Amazon)
How to Crank Your Visibility on LinkedIn with a Little Dab o’ SEO (via SolidSmack)
Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn (via How to Change the World)
Seven Steps to Power Up Your LinkedIn Profile (via Glassdoor)

Artists

Swoon Street artist
Shankystein (via Samskee)
Scott McCloud Cheat Sheet

What are Tabs? Click here to find out.

Medusa- Frozen Love

2011-02-07T00:11:00.003-05:00

For Printmaking II, we are starting screen printing. We had to get our theme from a randomly chosen conversation heart, and I chose Get Real. I decided to explore the subject with what is and isn't real and things that can alter their state of (non)being.

I finally got to use an idea I've had for almost six years:

Medusa draped around a statue of a man with a sad look in her eye; the man was a lover and she inadvertently turned him to stone. She will live in even more sorrow for the rest of her life.

I'm considering adding text to the final piece due to the amount of negative space left on the 10"x10" format we are using.

I am titling this differently than the screen printed piece since that one will end up having "get real" placed in the title to show it as part of the assignment.

Edit: (12:15am) I really enjoyed this piece, especially exploring styles for shading, coloring, and creating her snaky hair. I figured out a technique in Photoshop and think I will try more Mucha-inspired art in the future.

All the previous color ideas: link

Get Real- Medusa color variants

2011-02-06T23:41:00.000-05:00

For Printmaking II, we are starting screen printing, and we had to choose a conversation heart and make a picture based on it. I will be posting the WIPs in the completely wrong order. It's almost midnight, so for now I'll post what I worked on today and show sketches in a later, separate post.

My image ended up being Medusa with a lover she'd accidentally turned to stone. Here are the different coloring and shading styles I considered. Each set the mood differently. I'll post a second post with the final coloring/shading I will be using for the screen print.

Trying to add a bit of cool vs. warm contrast

Using halftones & just primaries + black to get her traditional green snake hair

Making her hair color match him + skin tones

More cool colors

I liked the teal because it was a nice mix of snake green and his shade of blue.

A colder purple

Minimal colors and shading inspired by KtShy and Vera Brosgol's comics (+ yellow.)

Warming it up again

Matching outfit and hair

Tabs 2.1

2011-02-03T15:01:00.000-05:00

I found most of these on one of my Book Cover Designers' group.

Resources

You Can Relax About Your Book Cover Design (via 1106 Design)
Why Crowdsourcing Book Cover Design is a Bad Idea (via 1106 Design)
A "Simple" Cover (via Before & After Magazine)
Behance Network Portfolio site for creatives
The Main Principle of a Flat Rate (via FreelanceFolder)
Branding Yourself on the New Twitter (via CreativePro)

Artists

New Cover Matt Roeser reads books, then redesigns the cover.

What is Tabs? Click here to find out.

Tabs 2.0

2011-02-03T09:22:00.000-05:00

Artists

Resources

GuideGuide A plug-in for Photoshop to make better guides. (via Cameron McEfee)
Linotype
Visual Literacy Program

Networking

Why your Facebook Fan Page isn't Attracting Customers (via The Blog of Matthew Loop)

Business

Does Your Small Business Innovate or Immitate? (Via BAM! Small Biz Consulting)

Misc

How to Awaken, Build & Guard Your Dreams (via Prolific Living)
W.I.P. Podcast: Shut Up & Draw
IlluXCon

What is Tabs? Click here to find out.

Fireflies Now for Sale

2011-01-26T21:56:00.002-05:00

Last January I did a book cover for Fireflies by Lacey Reah.

Plot summary:

Linda is a calculating, career-driven woman whose perfect world is shattered when she is seduced and transformed by a vampire-like creature called a nymphomite. Linda becomes a beast, feeding off the energy of orgasmically-charged blood. Convinced that her humanity has faded away, Linda adapts to her new instincts of hunger and sex. She hunts women primarily, for their longer and more frequent orgasms, and becomes a master of prolonging and intensifying their pleasure. But she never expected to find a woman like Jesse, and Linda's decision to spare her life instead of feed off her leads to a shocking turn of events that will make Linda question her beast-like identity and the humanity she thought she had lost.

The book is now available through iUniverse. (Note, I did not do the typography, just the image.)
Lacey Reah's blog can be found here.

Magdalena WiP

2011-01-23T12:15:00.001-05:00

For my Printmaking II class, we are starting off with collagraphs, which is a cross between collage and printmaking. Various textures are glued to a board and used to make prints.

We had to use a song so I went with Magdalena by A Perfect Circle. This is roughly what the textures are going to look like. It's going to be really tricky making dollars out of contact paper. I am so not looking forward to that.

I've been living in the print lab all weekend and I've only done one print. The rest has been discovering how not to do this assignment. I had to trace the little pole dancers five or six times before figuring out how it should have been done. I just hope they are still recognized as humanoid in the final print.

Now onto the fun of cutting and gluing all the textures! Yay?

Dr. Sketchy's- JonBenet Butterbuns

2011-01-16T13:43:00.000-05:00

Gestures

Middle piece was for "nutz" contest.

Sunday School teacher contest. I thought there'd be a third pose. I was going to add naughty school-marm clothing so it would go with the chaste pic.

"Feeding chickens" contest. I accidentally put the girl too close to the edge before I decided what to do to it. Weird kinky chicken-men are weird.

Last night I went to the Sazerac Lounge for Dr. Sketchy's with my friend Maggie. Afterward the Devil Dolls performed burlesque. It was impersonation night and awesome. I met some cool fellow artists. Josh Diedrich, a figurative sculptor from Kalamazoo, and his friend Neil Bryer of Wombat Comics. I wish I'd written down the name of the guy behind me, we had a great conversation. I bet it was a really obvious name I told myself there was no way of forgetting.

Tabs 1.0

2011-01-15T15:26:00.002-05:00

Artists

Mixed Media Artists (via Illustration Mundo)

Tutorials

Photostrip (via Web Designer Wall) Learn how to make a filmstrip in Photoshop and add your art for an interesting way to show off your art.
Black Rock Shooter step-by-step (via IDrawGirls)
Photoshop tips for using Overlay (via IDrawGirls)
Batman Comic Art Sketch Time Lapse (via Sketching Supplies Store) More links below video to How to Draw tutorials.
Lynda.com Tutorials of all sorts on how to use various programs.

Networking

27 Ways to Drive Eyeballs to your Blog (via Famous Bloggers)
If It Won't Fit on a Post-It, it won't fit in your Day (via the 99 percent) How to make a realistic to-do list.
10 Ways to Get More Sales from Existing Customers (via Inc.)
12 Step Programs for Artists Who Thrive (via Artists Who Thrive)
Social Media Strategy from A-Z (via Techipedia)

Misc

TheISpot A portfolio site.

What is Tabs? Click here to find out.

Tabs 0.0

2011-01-15T14:58:00.002-05:00

I have a brilliant idea.

Everytime I open my internet, I get half a dozen windows with over a dozen tabs each of artists I want to check out, cool tutorials, or marketing advice.

In order to ease up on how long it takes to open my browser and to pass on helpful/interesting things I find, I will post them here along with a brief description so you can check them out (and so I can find them more easily then going through my Bookmarks.)

So from now on, look for the label Tabs to find useful or fun web links.

Illustration Dust

2011-01-14T17:02:00.000-05:00

I've joined Illustration Dust, a blog showcasing illustrators.

Go check it out. I've just uploaded my TATA GALA 2010 entry as my first piece there.

Asajj Ventress: Admiring Her Weapon

2011-01-14T16:46:00.000-05:00

Asajj Ventress is from Star Wars, mostly from Clone Wars (along with comics/novels of course) and though I've only seen bits and pieces of it (mostly to look up her awesome fight scenes last night) she's my favorite character. She got her dual lightsabers from her lover Count Dooku (they belonged to his former student before killer her.) I wanted to show her looking over her prize for showing off her fighting abilities against him.

I'll probably draw more of her later since she has such a cool outfit and I want to show it off more.

This is what I had before I threw on the lighting effects. I wish I knew why my computer lightens everything.

Info on Asajj Ventress from Wookiepedia.
Go to Youtube and look up her fighting everyone.

Admiring Her Weapon wip 1

2011-01-13T22:15:00.000-05:00

Asajj Ventress is my favorite Star Wars character, despite the fact I've only seen 30 seconds (of the original) Clone Wars, and she wasn't on screen during that time. She looks bad-ass and going by concept art I've found of her, I wish she'd been the villainess in the prequels. It's probably a good thing though, since George Lucas wouldn't found a way to destroy her.

Anyway, sorry for the rant.

I'm Taking Typography

2011-01-10T21:43:00.001-05:00

I didn't learn much about using font from my poster design class, and I really need to learn some graphic design so my resume and marketing tools look presentable. The professor seems really nice and no one in the class seemed unfriendly, so I think it'll be a good semester.

After the class got out, I talked with the professor about the assignment, which is to bring in some type we really like or dislike, and I mentioned Papyrus. She said that since I already know it's a bad choice I'll do fine in this class.

I'm a little scared, since I'm an illustrator and everyone else already is Graphic Design; I had to bypass the pre-reqs to take this. Luckily the girl next to me gave an answer when I whispered "What's letting?" and explained the difference between that and kerning. The girl next to her seems the fun sort of hyper. I look forward to getting to know the people in my class. The professor also said she likes mentoring, so I don't think I'll be behind on all the GD lingo for long.

Redo of Spider Prostitute

2011-01-07T16:02:00.000-05:00

I darkened it and added some texturing to her skin.

Barbarian Girl Wip

2011-01-05T15:40:00.000-05:00

Year of the Rabbit 2011

2011-01-02T17:10:00.002-05:00

Frame Logo Designs

2011-01-01T17:39:00.000-05:00

REPO! The Genetic Opera- Grave Robber

2010-12-30T14:50:00.002-05:00

Scene from Zydrate Anatomy

Free Sketch: Spike

2010-12-18T20:09:00.000-05:00

Spike from Cowboy Bebop for Fernando.

Free Sketch: Link

2010-12-16T23:34:00.000-05:00

I offered free sketches on Twitter and Facebook. The first goes to Meghan Chiampa, who requested Link from Legend of Zelda.

Next is Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop for Fernando.

Baroness Anastasia DeCobray

2010-12-12T19:38:00.000-05:00

Anastasia DeCobray was born into an aristocratic family, when she was a teenager she decided to run away from home and join a group of revolutionaries. She eventually fell in with Cobra and is now lieutenant to Cobra Commander and lover of Destro. Eventually I will draw her with Ravage from Transformers.

My monitors are being wonky, so I'm not sure which is right. She's not supposed to be totally pale. The top was the original, the bottom is darker in an attempt to fix it. Which looks better?

Spray paint brush from Texturemate.

Baroness Lineart

2010-12-11T23:36:00.000-05:00

Baroness from G.I. Joe. I've started the color version and will post when it's finished.

Tata Gala 2010 Online Gallery

2010-12-08T21:56:00.000-05:00

Click to see my piece and the others from the Sarasota Show

Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys

2010-12-07T14:28:00.000-05:00

Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys are a band from Boston. I heard them while I was in Manhatten when they played at Cynthia von Buhler's birthday party. They play dadaistic steamcrunk and were nominated for this year's Boston Music Awards.

This was made with house paint (and sandpaper), oil paint, woodcut for the tentacles, acrylic, and finally some Photoshop to make the text.

I left blank space along the top for a venue name and dates could be put in the bottom left.

Army of Toys Color Alts

2010-12-01T23:46:00.000-05:00

Without text

blue paper

white paper


yellow paper

messy text

messy w/ yellow paper

Uhura & Tribble

2010-11-30T21:42:00.001-05:00

I did a sketch last night and just added some quick color. Michael was watching the Star Trek Animated episode the other night with the tribbles and I felt like doing a picture of Uhura when she first gets a tribble in the live action episode.

Barbarian Poses

2010-11-25T19:46:00.000-05:00

Please leave a comment with the pose you think has the best composition.


#1

Zombie- Digital Reduction Woodcut

2010-11-18T15:00:00.000-05:00

I finished my Hookhound, but all I did was really add a background and tweak a few things, so I decided to move onto another experimental piece while I wait for my barbarian models to have the same day free from work and class.

This time I tried doing a digital reduction woodcut using a reference photo I'd never gotten the chance to use before. I filled a layer in Photoshop with a color then using a layer mask "carved" away pieces to reveal the color below. It probably could've been done faster some other way, but I wanted to try it out.

Army of Toys WiP 1

2010-11-18T14:55:00.000-05:00

For my Poster Design class, we are doing gig posters, so I decided to do Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys, who I heard back in October when I went to New York.

I was going to go with a straight-forward idea of a group of broken toys and use Tinkertoys and blocks as letters. Then I found pictures from the Island of the Dolls and thought maybe I'd do something with creepy dolls. Based on my professor's suggestion of just using a single doll head and maybe putting the text in the hair, I made this, combining that idea and the band's motif of squids in their publicity photos.

I'm not sure if I'm going to make the text separate using a preexisting font, or try to make the test more of the piece.

I am going to use printmaking to make the final piece.

Summon Beast & Hookhound WiPs

2010-11-11T19:24:00.001-05:00

While I wait for a couple of models to become available on the same day to pose as Barbarians, I decided to try my hand at monster drawings. I've recently discovered Pathfinder, which has awesome art, and some really cool character classes I don't think D&D has. One is the summoner, so I thought doing a small girl with big other-dimensional creature would make a good character class picture. However, it quickly expanded to her in a fight, though I wasn't sure yet about who. I added the goblins at first, but then wanted to add more, so I threw in a witch and ranger. I kept wavering between the witch attacking the summoned beast or the goblins, since a fight between PCs can be a fine way to integrate them into the party afterward.

Then I thought maybe the beast was too cute, though I was okay with that at first since in my little narrative, the summoner wanted a companion for protection and friendship. But nevertheless, I decided to try for something more complicated than "panther with horns and whip tails." So I made it more like the other-dimensional beast it was supposed to be and a little like some imprisoned genie/demi-god.

I tried making the above scene out of super sculpey since the beast's anatomy was kind of off and I figured this would give me a nice reference to get perspective right. It turns out using Sculpey is a lot harder than one might think. It's very malleable and I couldn't hold it without it changing. (I now realize that is why everyone uses tools, but there wasn't any in the college store.) I ended up with really long pieces that I decided to turn into legs and I started creating a different creature.

This is a rough sketch based on the poorly constructed sculpey model.

I took some photos and put them together in Photoshop and ended up with this:

I really like the accidental old-man-mask on it. It wasn't originally there but after I added it I really liked it. It reminded me of this werewolf or the sphinxes from Mirrormask. Animals with human faces can be really creepy, so a creature that hides its face behind a mask seemed interesting. I also decided to add a man with a saddle, making this from a monster you would fight, or see in your nightmares, to just a weird creature tamed into being used. The hooks are bouncy and used to run like the awesome prosthetic legs that make runners into superheroes. They can also be used for climbing up rock walls or thick strong trees. It can run on two legs for short periods of time though it tends to return to four legs to build up momentum again.

I decided to try subtraction and was going to do it with transparencies, but after messing with brush settings, I ended up with this. I'm really happy. It reminds me a lot of woodcuts, so I will definitely be playing around with this more to use in future pictures. This isn't complete. I need to add some more darks and detail.

Trick 'R Treat Movie Poster

2010-11-11T01:24:00.002-05:00

Our assignment for the movie poster was given at the start of October, so of course I had to choose a Halloween movie. I originally was just going to do a picture of Sam(haim) with the broken lollipop in front of his face, but I ended up using a composition based on a penny dreadful cover. The original image of Sam was them put up in the frame.

If you haven't seen Trick 'R Treat, it is an anthology of four interweaving stories that are all witnessed (or caused by) Sam, a cute little trick-or-treater that will make you terrified of Sackboy from Little Big Planet. I had to sleep with the lights on the first time I saw it.

I had a lot of fun watercoloring it to look old and destroyed. This is done in watercolor, ink, and colored pencil.

My Tata Gala Piece was Accepted!

2010-11-06T13:57:00.001-04:00

My entry for Tata Gala, the show about and benefiting breasts, was accepted and I have spent the last week getting it printed, matted, framed, and ready to ship. It was kinda insane and it was definitely a crash course in how getting work done for gallery shows works. Hopefully any future project will give me more than a week to get everything ready and delivered.

It will be in the Sarasota Show on November 12th. Details can be found here.

There will also be a limited run of 14"x12" prints matted and signed by me, along with 9"x12" ones.

Daeva: Kiss of the Succubus (Mature)

2010-11-04T12:21:00.003-04:00

Daeva, from Vampire: the Requiem, is the clan of vampires who embody all the sexual attributes vampires are given in fiction. For them, sexual lust and bloodlust are the same. Beautiful and decadent, they use these qualities to lure in victims, supplying them with the most amazing sensual experience ever in return for blood.

I ended up recycling a pose from the drawing I'd done of Brooke and Erin last summer, but cleaned it up for this. I still haven't gotten to do my idea of bodies under the bed, but maybe that is something I'll have to add to a future picture sans this specific pose.

I really need to mix things up with a hetero vamp & victim one of these days.

Slayer (Lineart)

2010-10-30T18:40:00.002-04:00

The Vamp-Bait Bites Back

So I was listening to "Aim for the Head" (and "Goodnight Demon Slayer") by Creature Feature and decided I wanted to do a deviantID with me as a slayer and try to start something other people could do. As I'm only uploading this the day before Halloween, I'm probably much too late for that. (I also did a sketch for "Goodnight Demon Slayer" but never got to fully realize it.)

Deciding zombie-hunter wasn't really something I'd be excellent at (I've only been to Zomb twice and only browsed Max Brook's survival guide, which I'll buy when I hear him talk next week) and I get bit in games, I chose general monster-hunter with a slight focus on vampire-killer (at least in my made-up backstory below.) I have a chain-mail top for light armor, a katana for beheading and slashing, shotgun for zombie headshots, silver throwing knives, holy water vials, and extra shotgun shells with silver and cold iron to take down werewolves and witches. I tried to use things I could easily get and learn how to use. I wanted a whip ala Castlevania but Michael said it wouldn't be much good in real life. Hence the shotgun.

Backstory: I haven't quite written it out nicely, but I originally conceived my fake bio including being stalked by vampires and finally deciding to do something about it. If my fiancee ever gets around to making one, he can do the whole damphyr vampire hunter trope.

I'll color it later, but for now I just wanted to get it up before the end of Halloweentober.

Open Life Drawing- 10/25/10 (nudity)

2010-10-24T15:15:00.009-04:00


3 minute (or less) studies

The Vulture King, 45 min

1.5 hours

Mixed Media Experimentation

2010-10-23T16:43:00.000-04:00

I just started reading the book Werewolves by Alice Carr, the found journal of a girl documenting the weeks following the attack on her and her brother by wolves. It's actually by a Paul Jessup and illustrated by Allyson Haller, (whose other work I'll go check out now.) The writing's not bad, but it's not great. It just comes across a bit forced when trying to get plot details across while still trying to be a journal. The art is what caught my eye. It's mixed media with mostly charcoal and inkwash with some ballpoint pen and other mediums fixed in. The style is also mixed, with doodles juxtaposed with realistic drawings of people.

Well, this got me wanted to do some traditional work, particular bunnies and werewolves, both of which show up in the book. I've been mostly doing digital, so I figured an afternoon of smearing charcoal might be fun. I found my charcoal pencils (sans the extra-soft) and all my inking supplies, but I think Oni still has my ink bottle and she's in Texas, so I found a Crayola watercolor set.

This is a bit different than what I'd originally envisioned. I'm going to just consider this a sketch and do the version I wanted once I get a new bottle of black ink. I really think I want to do some inkwash paintings, maybe even for class. I'm fond of the Burton-esque tree though, I might have to incorporate it in a future piece.

Then, I was going to do a Dia de Los Muertos picture, but when I went looking for stock photos of a face, I came across a pose I liked by PoorSouls-stock. It wasn't the pose so much as the subtle expression and messy hair, but I wanted to try a stylized version of it. Here is a WiP. This isn't finished. I really need to figure out a way to clean up scanned in pencils to make nice lineart. My sketchbook has yellowish paper so trying to get rid of blue lines results in a dirty mess.

This isn't finished, though I think I'll keep it mostly flat.

Then I tried playing with some filters and got this effect, which I think could be interesting.

None of these are done, just showing what I've been up to this afternoon (besides a few chores.)

Semi-Completed Sketch Dump

2010-10-23T16:00:00.000-04:00

So I recently found some drawings from 2+ years ago, at my best guess. Also, just from reorganizing my folders on my computer to clean things up, I've came across some Photoshop art I worked on and either never finished or just didn't post. Quality ranges.

Self-portrait

Another Self Portrait

A life drawing w/ leash added as a commentary on possessive relationships

Now that I've found this I need to complete it

Present for Trekkie

This was going to be a badge at JAFAX but wasn't ever made

ART Cabaret Poster

2010-10-18T10:16:00.001-04:00

I am taking a poster design class this semester and our first assignment was a musical/play/stage show. Amanda Palmer had been mentioning on Twitter about her being cast as the Emcee in the American Repertory Theatr's production of Cabaret. It seemed an obvious choice after three days of trying to narrow it down from Dracula, REPO!, and whatever my other idea was.
I couldn't find photos from the show, so I used stock from kirilee and wineglass-stock on deviantART for the side girls.

This was done in oil paint, watercolor, and mostly colored pencil.

Cynthia's Circus Card

2010-10-17T22:56:00.001-04:00

The first weekend of October, AlyshaKahuna joined me when I went to New York to attend the birthday party of Cynthia von Buhler. The theme of the party was Freaks, and the menu included popcorn, hotdogs, and cotton candy, so we decided to present her with a circus themed card/gift. (The actual post on the party is yet to come, I am still backed up on schoolwork at the moment.)

The party was also to celebrate the publishing of the Evelyn Evelyn graphic novel, so I included them in the card. I wanted to reimagine Evelyn Evelyn's circus life as somewhat happier, though Alysha made sure everything remained a little sinister under the happy colors. I added Sandy Fishnets as the trapeze artist just so the girls would be reunited with their childhood friend.

This is the second collaboration between Alysha and I. For JAFAX this summer, she did some quick drawings of some yokai based on my suggestions and we sold badges and stickers of them at our table. So began us working together. For this one, I came up with the concept, sketched it out, directed her as she worked, printed/cut out/arranged the final images and helped with things here and there. We discussed how nice it was working together and I've decided my new longterm goal is to become an art director.

Alysha did a wonderful job inking and hand-painting everything especially since we had less than a week to do it and ended up doing 3/4 of it in a hotel in Jersey.

Below are her drawings for this. As she did all the final work on the characters, I've watermarked them with her name.

Ringmaster

Strongman

Bimba & Kimba, the world's only conjoined elephant

Sandy Fishnets as a trapeze artist

Eva and Lynn, or Lynn and Eva

Tata Gala 2010 Entry

2010-10-16T14:56:00.002-04:00

This is my first year entering a submission to Tata Gala. I intend to try to enter each year since it's for a really good cause. Part of the proceeds from the entry fees and sales of the artwork go toward Breast Cancer Research.

This is my first time playing with textures like this, and I'm really pleased with the result. I will have to try it more often.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been busy and should be able to post a couple of blog entries about what I've been up to this last month.

Edit: I just found out my piece was accepted to the gallery show!

Strix- Night Horrors: Wicked Dead

2010-09-10T15:05:00.000-04:00

A strix is a two-foot creature resembling an owl or crow made up of gnats and black smoke with glowing eyes. They can possess the living, dead, or vampires.

For my portfolio class, my professor wanted me to choose existing passages from books to illustrate. I chose the strix from Night Horrors: Wicked Dead from White Wolf, my favorite role-playing book by them. It was the first I ever bought and I love the art and monsters in it. There are a few pictures of strixes in it but none with it actually in the middle of possessing someone.

The next will probably be a Daeva or Mekhet.

Strix WiP 1

2010-09-05T20:17:00.000-04:00

For my portfolio class, I'm going to do some work aimed at White Wolf and then some for Wizards of the Coast because I don't do enough fantasy.

I decided to go with preexisting monsters since my professor is the sort to want accompanying text. I chose a strix from Night Horrors: The Wicked Dead from WW. It's a smoky owl that can possess bodies.

I will probably reshoot the reference for the victim since this doesn't have the best cropping and I'd really like the hand clenching the blanket. I'm really happy with the strix so far though. I'll add glowing eyes and more smoke later. Not sure about the background either. The white boosts the smoke so well.

It's been awhile

2010-08-24T21:58:00.000-04:00

So I have spent most of this summer busy with doing the darks for Cynthia von Buhler's illustrations for the Evelyn Evelyn graphic novel. The release date has been pushed to December rather than October.

I've been working off and on on sample pages for a noir comic for a writer I met at JAFAX. I have the first page mostly done and just need to start on the second to send him.

I worked on an entry for a possible colorist job and finally got a response a couple weeks ago. I didn't make it but I really enjoyed doing it, so maybe I will try to apply for some more colorist work.

My senior+ year starts on Monday. I did all the cool elective classes, now I have to make up the requires courses. This year I'm taking poster design and portfolio 1, along with a couple academic classes.

In October I am going to go to New York with Alysha so I will be spending the next month shaping my portfolio work to be usable when I go check out some businesses in NY. I also need to see what places to drop by at.

Also in October, the Tata Gala entries are due. It's a gallery show where the proceeds go to breast cancer research. I'll have to find a model though.

I intend to continue doing art this semester in the style of Erik Jones, because I tried it out during summer classes and really loved it, it worked really well for me and I caught on by the second picture.

Jenny Turnaround

2010-08-02T14:31:00.000-04:00

Reference from ~Ryuuen

Venus Weed WiP

2010-07-14T18:17:00.000-04:00

A Venus Weed is an enemy in Castlevania. I've never encountered one, but found out about them from looking through the Castlevania Wiki. They are based on the alraune, the German word for the mandrake, created from hanged mens' bodily fluids falling on the earth below. Witches who make love to mandrakes produce children with no emotions.

I'm working on some images to expand my portfolio to show at GenCon if I can make it this year.

JAFAX 15 Photos

2010-06-29T09:22:00.001-04:00

Jesse (not Alysha's) and I

Alysha and I

Maggie (dressed as Hana from Fruits Basket) and I

Alysha

Alysha's side of the table

My side of the table

A girl dressed as Kiari with a really sweet keyblade

Spider Jerusalem from Transmetropolitan

During Closing Ceremonies, Alysha and I ended up being nose-to-nose in a round of Anime Let's Make a Deal. She got chosen as the winner and went up on stage... and her choices of doors were one I don't recall and... 8-Bit Door Phil, the one we were asked to draw up in the style of Legend of Zelda 2. We did a really nice job, pulling out a ruler to make everything perfectly square and pixelated, and I colored it really nicely. Then we got there and I remembered all we needed was it in black and visible from 30 feet away. She won a Mario mushroom plush (which she kept,) an airfreshener (she gave to my fiance Michael,) a Nintendo shirt that had a gang sign on it (for her Jesse,) and I got to have a keychain.

We both had a lot of fun and met a lot of really cool people.

JAFAX Day One

2010-06-26T21:30:00.001-04:00

My friend Alysha and I had a table today at JAFAX. I had badge-making materials (thanks Gail!) but no pictures I'd consider using for badges, so Alysha whipped some out this week and they were amazing.

I met Jeff Marriote and got to hear him give advice on entering and working in the comic industry.

One of the writers in the panel met me after to see if I maybe wanted to work on his comic.

A man who runs Pagan Edge magazine suggested featuring my art.

We sold enough today to cover the cost of the table.

Overall, a really cool day.

We are in the building with the yellow statue, I think Mackinaw. Please come visit our table. We have badges, bookmarks, prints, and stickers. We also do commissions.

Leather Pants & Riding Crop

2010-06-24T06:57:00.000-04:00

My second piece for my summer illustration class in the style of Erik Jones. The first piece was really of just a practice, it wasn't until this that I got the hang of it.

The Behr house paint worked really well though I'll need more practice and find a better brush for thin hair strands. On both pictures I started off the colored pencil technique wrong but realized what I was doing so subsequent works in this style should look a lot better.

I'm really happy with this piece and really want to do more mix-media paintings like this.

I have a Venue!

2010-06-20T15:15:00.002-04:00

I signed a contract yesterday with Ottawa Tavern/Bite and will be showing my More Than Meets the Eye piece there for ArtPrize during September-October.

Shiny Black Pants & Riding Crop WiPs

2010-06-17T00:50:00.000-04:00

So this is my second picture for my summer illustration class. I thought I'd uploaded this image to Twitpic earlier but my phone was dying so that explains that. Again, I'm trying to follow Erik Jones' process for working. This time I got the subject closer to his by getting a topless model and doing less of a scene. It's a chick wearing shiny black form-fitting pants holding a riding crop. I managed to find the right type of paint this time. So far I like (Behr) house paint.

A pic of me working taken by my fiancé. I prefer the floor to a desk.

Yes, I know, I need a new dye job; which is why I'm taking commissions right now to pay for it.

That and the wedding.

I accidentally blended the white before adding the other colors. Hopefully this won't doom the picture; I'd had high hopes after learning from the first one. I'll add another layer of color tomorrow.

I realized I'd misplaced my Payne's Gray tube of watercolor in this last months, so I'll buy more tomorrow and get back to work on the pants.

Class ends in a week and a day, so I really need to work on speed.

what a kurios blog

Hello there

Fanart February- the Tenth Doctor

Fanart February- Blind Mag

Fanart February- Zatanna

Fanart February- Batman

Fanart February- Death

Fanart February- Hit-Girl

Fanart February- Gem

Fanart February- Baroness

Fanart February- Barriss Offee

Fanart February- Harley Quinn

Fanart February- Ramona Flowers

Fanart February- Catwoman

Fanart February

Gates of Perdition cover

Mirrors of Anguish Cover

Happy Birthday Neil Gaiman

Collage Type?

Demon of the Fall WIP

Demon of the Fall Cover

Font choices

Legion comps

Demon Game Cast 2.1 (Wallpaper)

Brooke in Jingle Top

Gunslinger Trio Poses/Comps

Barbarians

Woad

I need help deciding on how much woad (blue ink) and tattoos to give my barbarian. Woad was used by Celts/Picts to look scary to enemies. How blue should I make my barbarian? Should he be blue w/ no tats? Please let me know what you think.

Raphael

Archangel Wips

Rock or No rock?

Wing Colors

Angel Wings

Angel Lighting

Rob Granito Returns

Sucker Punch Review

Creolization Album Design

We Love Cult Poster

Face to Face Show

Creolization Sketches

Typography- Type Face (Crowley)

More Cell Phone Goddess Comps

Goddess of Cell Phones

Steampunk Aphrodite

Steampunk Aphrodite WIPS

Talking about Classes

Typography- Wanted Poster

Tabs 4.0

Typography- Two-Character Design

Typography- Letter Abstraction

Tabs 3.0

LinkedIn Quick Tip: How to Rank Higher in Search Results (via CIO)

LinkedIn Ettiquette: The Right Way to Request Connections (via CIO)

LinkedIn Quick Tip: Find and Follow Your LinkedIn Connections on Twitter (via CIO)

LinkedWorking: Generating Success on LinkedIn the Worlds Largest Professional Networking Website (via Amazon)

How to Crank Your Visibility on LinkedIn with a Little Dab o’ SEO (via SolidSmack)

Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn (via How to Change the World)

Seven Steps to Power Up Your LinkedIn Profile (via Glassdoor)

Medusa- Frozen Love

Get Real- Medusa color variants

Tabs 2.1

Tabs 2.0

Fireflies Now for Sale

Magdalena WiP

Dr. Sketchy's- JonBenet Butterbuns

Tabs 1.0

Tabs 0.0

Illustration Dust

Asajj Ventress: Admiring Her Weapon

Admiring Her Weapon wip 1

I'm Taking Typography

Redo of Spider Prostitute

Barbarian Girl Wip

Year of the Rabbit 2011

Frame Logo Designs

REPO! The Genetic Opera- Grave Robber

Free Sketch: Spike

Free Sketch: Link

Baroness Anastasia DeCobray