my art Archives - Page 44 of 45

November 21, 2014January 20, 2015

Breaking Artsy Comfort Zones, Plus Trans Remembrance

This has been an odd, odd week.

I took some steps out of my comfort zone again, by drawing this gentleman with long hair and sideburns, as requested by my friend Sean.

warm up sketch sean's character — Click to enlarge.

I’ve drawn guys with long hair before, but never shoulder-length hair.

An even larger step out of my comfort zone was with animals.

warm up sketch black swan and tiger cub — Click to enlarge

I drew these two because they are characters in my genderbent Swan Lake story (I talk more about it here). The swan is what the prince becomes cursed to turn into, and the tiger cub is allied with the Princess, who can talk to animals.

The third thing I drew out of my comfort zone was not a subject matter, but an emotion. It’s one I don’t tackle very often.

Grief.

validation transgender day of remembrance — Click to enlarge

I drew this in honor of Transgender Day of Remembrance yesterday.

Sharing this image online helped guide me towards some helpful resources for trans folks, like hotlines and this master post of charities and fundraisers, which includes a fundraiser by my old college classmate Cherno Biko.

Speaking of trans awareness, though, I’m still running the KickStarter with my little sister to get our new webcomic (co starring a trans man as romantic lead Adam) off the ground. Info is here and here.

Trans people deserve positive visibility. Trans folks deserve to be heroes while they are alive, not when they are dead.

…Sorry for the morbid end line there.

On a more positive note, I’m here for you if you need me. My contact information is under the Contact tab above, if you ever need to reach out to somebody. I’m not a health care provider, but I’m willing to listen.

Thank you for reading! I’ll see you on Tuesday.

warm up sketch jessie tattoos — I almost forgot to add this sketch I also did this week. Click to enlarge.

November 14, 2014January 20, 2015

Outside of My Comfort Zone…In Sketches

Earlier this week, I updated my blog with the following warm-up sketch:

I then looked at it and went, “Man, I need to practice more variety in body shapes and types!”

That prompted me to sketch THIS:

Her name is Galileya. She’s an agent of a super secret organization that destroys planets and does other intergalactic missions. I want to write a story about her and her coworker, Agent Sinclair:

The problem is I have no story for them that has anything resembling a plot. So they’re still a work in progress.

Back to this week.

After I drew Galileya, I was like, “But man, I need to practice drawing things that aren’t people! What can I draw?”

Well, one morning my cat was on my bed, grooming herself. So I got out my sketch pad and my ink brush, and got to work:

That was tricky to do, since she kept moving on me.

I should probably just wait until she holds still, like this:

BUT EVEN THAT IS FLEETING BECAUSE CATS DO WHATEVER THEY WANT.

So I went, “Dude, I gotta practice drawing things that hold still! But I’ve drawn most of the objects around me twenty times. What’s new on Pinterest that I can use as a reference?”

I found this image:

If you took this picture, please let me know so I can give you credit!

And I went, “PERFECT! I need to practice landscapes so I don’t have crap that looks like this”:

So I took the reference image above and drew this (with some artistic license in rendering certain things):

I still want to practice landscapes and environments, though. Because

a) It would make my current comics projects even better, and

b) the projects I have in mind for the future are sci-fi/fantasy works that require a LOT of visual development and technical know-how, which I don’t have a lot of yet.

So what do you draw for practice? Let me know in the comments below! And if we keep the conversation going, I think we can find new things for us to practice drawing so we don’t get too comfortable.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

P.S. I actually drew MORE than this stuff this week, but those other sketches are exclusive to Patreon subscribers only. If you’re interested in supporting what I do, go to Patreon! There are tipping plans for as little as $1 a month.

Also, I am aware that the Patreon page is under Christian Beranek’s name. It’s our joint effort under the umbrella of Validation. Any money raised there is split evenly between the both of us so we can both keep producing the comic.

If you want to go the more direct route or support my other work, there’s also a tip jar over at Johnson & Sir‘s page.

Ok, that’s it for now! For real this time!

November 7, 2014January 22, 2015

Art of the Week

Thanks to Youmacon, I have been artistically inspired!

There are a few pieces that are still works in progress, but here is one for Mystery Skulls.

And I got to paint some of this:

I’ve also been getting back into making warm-up sketches, where I sketch something before my day starts to warm up my creative juices.

And I just finished this:

More sketches will happen soon!

Thanks for stopping in, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

October 28, 2014January 22, 2015

Youmacon Fast Approacheth

So in my hurry to get ready for Youmacon and also keep afloat on commissions I’ve been asked to do, I…lost track a little with Johnson & Sir. I missed an update last week. But rest assured! It’s back to a normal update schedule now! You can read the new page here.

Here’s a preview to further entice you:

I’ve also been working really hard on my new webcomic Charlie & Clow…

And it launches tomorrow! Read it at its own website. It even comes with a surprise!

charlie and clow header image bar — This is not the surprise I’m talking about. This is just to show off a taste of what’s to come.

And in other product-launching news, Validation is now on Patreon!

In case you haven’t heard, Patreon is a voluntary subscription service where you can donate as little as $1 a month to your favorite creators. In exchange you get gratitude and really cool perks! Christian and I would really appreciate any support you can give over at Patreon (and if you’re broke, spread the word on social media! That helps, too).

In even more product-launching news, I added a new listing at my store: Avengers Assemble! In bookmark form, of course:

avengers assemble in bookmark form, available for sale — Click for fuller view.

If you’re interested in ordering a set, click here.

The rest of this week, I will be MIA, as I’ll be with my family and then immediately going off to Youmacon. I won’t be a special guest there, but I’ll be attending (probably in costume). I hope you can find me!

As such, I won’t be updating on Friday like I usually do, because I’ll be either on the road or at the con. So you’ll see another update on this blog next Tuesday!

In the meantime, I’ve got comics for you to read: Validation on Mondays and Thursdays, Johnson & Sir Tuesdays, and now Charlie & Clow Wednesdays! So there you go.

October 24, 2014January 22, 2015

Sketches With New Prismacolor Pens

Here’s hoping this gets posted properly, because for some strange reason my internet connection has become spotty in the last 24 hours.

Anyway, I wanted to share some sketches I did this week!

This is one I did to a) practice drawing chubby girls, and b) practice pencil sketching nature and showing depth.

These are sketches I made to practice drawing masks and African/Native American-inspired nature spirits (they were also for visual development of aspects of The Legend of Jamie Roberts, a comic project I’m making). I also used my brand new Prismacolor pens on them and oh my god they are as smooth as butter to use!

These ones I drew to use my Prismacolor pens again. But also I drew them to develop a style I want to use in The Swan Prince (working title, formerly “Rosetta and the White Swan.” I talk about the story and Jamie Roberts in this previous post).

I drew a lot of influence from the Ottoman Empire and Russian textiles. I love the patterns, the costumes, the characters…

I think I know what I’m going to write for National Novel Writing Month next month.

The young lady is Rosetta and the young man is Ahmad.

And this one is a peek into a page of my new webcomic, Charlie & Clow, in progress! Have I mentioned I love my Prismacolor Pens? This sketch uses the brush pen and it is the most beautiful tool I have ever used!

Just look at that line quality! It’s the kind of quality I have dreamed of having for the past two years!

Seriously, I have fallen in love with the Prismacolor pen set. I splurged and got a 7 pen set, and these things are going to permanently replace my crappy Pigma Sakura pens.

In other news, Charlie & Clow will be coming online October 29th! Next Wednesday! At www.charlieandclow.com! I’m polishing up the site now but soon you shall see the new webcomic I’ve been working on for one and a half years!

And also! There will be a KickStarter coming in November! I’ll be writing about that one soon.

So what do you think? Excited for Charlie & Clow? Or The Swan Prince? Or maybe giving the Prismacolor pens a try? Let me know in the comments!

Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.