charlie and clow Archives - Page 6 of 7

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.

October 14, 2014January 22, 2015

The Comics Train Keeps Chugging

So I forgot to update this blog sooner. I’m very sorry! Things have been pretty manic in my studio.

I’ve been finishing up work on a new series of comic strips K. Ferrin asked me to make. Here’s a peek at one of them.

Of course, Johnson & Sir and Validation are still updating regularly. I love the conversations my readers are having and the comments they’re leaving! Seriously, I read the comments. All of them. And I love you (but not in a creeper way).

Charlie & Clow will be up online soon! The goal is to have it online October 29! Here’s a peek at the cover:

charlie and clow cover for webcomic — Click to enlarge.

It’ll be available to read at www.charlieandclow.com (don’t try to go there yet. I’ll be building the site over the next week).

I’ve also been working on a short story penned by the fabulous Kristen Kellner. Here’s a peek at one of the panels in progress:

short story sneak peek for comics anthology — Click to enlarge.

I’m on my last few pages of this short story, and hopefully you can read it all online soon!

Also! There’s another new comic in the works. I’ve been keeping it relatively hush-hush because the writer is still writing it, but they want me to provide the art for it. We’ll be doing a KickStarter for the project in November. (Like, three-weeks-from-now November. Holy banana pants!) Here’s a color and style test I did for it…

color and style test for new comic — Click to enlarge.

And here’s a look at one of the possible designs of the logo (it’s still a work in progress)…

Click to enlarge.

Like I said, the writer and I will be doing a KickStarter to fund this upcoming webcomic in November. I’ll hopefully post more art for it as I make it!

So…yeah. I’ve been making comics like a madwoman. Gotta’ remember to take a day off.

Be on the lookout for Charlie & Clow launching on October 29th! I talk more about the details of the story in this post.

Thank you so much for reading and putting up with my tardiness. I’ll see you on Friday when I talk about the Superhero Ladies series.

September 3, 2014September 1, 2014

My Recent Works-In-Progress

Man, between all the blog posts, Validation comics, Johnson & Sir comics, freelance work, and the day job (yep, I got a day job) keeping me busy, do I have time for personal projects?

Yes. Yes I do!

Project 1 is very different from what I usually do. Project 1 is a large acrylic painting.

acrylic painting work in progress by kelci d — Step 1.

By “large,” I mean it’s larger than my usual scale. I’m used to working on, at most, 9 inch by 12 inch pieces of paper. This is 16 inches by 20 inches on canvas.

This is a painting that my mind demanded I make, because there are lighting techniques I want to try with this.

Project 2 is connected to Validation. It’s a portrait of one of my favorite characters ever…

Roxie.

This is a piece I’m doing in colored pencil, which I haven’t used in years. It’s a good refresher to brush up on my old skills. I’m also doing my best to use colors in ways I haven’t before. I’ll post more pictures as I work on it.

Project 3 is a comic I’m hoping to get out by October. I’ve mentioned it a few times previously here on the blog.

It’s Charlie & Clow.

The cover is done and I’m so happy with how it turned out! I need to make the next few pages and take care of a few other things. With any luck it should be online by Halloween.

The story is about a young punk lady named Charlie. When she’s walking home from classes one day, she discovers a monstrous golem, and it decides Charlie will be its next meal! Charlie runs for help only to find a tall goth man who calls himself Clow. Who is Clow? And will he help her fight off the golem menace?

Of course, there are other projects I have in the works, but they’re all either very personal or top secret surprises. So I won’t say any more.

Which project are you most excited to see? Do you have any personal projects in the works? Let me know in the comments!

Also, I’m skipping the Favorite Artist Friday feature this week because I’m still scouring the internet for new artists to add as my favorites. If you have any suggestions for artists I should look at, let me know in the comments!

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

June 19, 2014

I Found a New Favorite Toy – I Mean Tool

WarmUpSketch_6-19-14 — Click for larger image.

Something tells me that I’m going to be making an entire comic (or two) with this most marvelous of tools: the brush pen.

A Sakura Pigma archival ink brush pen, to be more precise.

Now if only they work with Prismacolor markers…

OH WAIT…

THEY DO.

I think I’ll be using this type of pen to draw Charlie & Clow AND The Legend of Jamie Roberts.

I love the free flow of the brush pen, and it’s much more controlled than a paint brush, plus it keeps a better ink flow.

That’s my least favorite thing about working with paint brush and India ink: the ink sputters and turns grey JUST as you start to get into a groove.

I don’t want to interrupt my groove! I want to draw!

Thankfully the brush pen doesn’t do that because 1. it has its own ink well built in, and 2. it’s way more confident than the wimpy paint brush. The brush pen could totally beat up the paint brush and steal its cookies.

With all of that said, I’ll definitely be redrawing what few Charlie & Clow pages I have inked.

But uh…

Charlie & Clow, page 1, still in progress. Click to enlarge.

…Oh boy that’ll be a pain to redo.

I love you, city-scapes, but you are a right pain to draw, much less re-draw.

Right now you might be thinking, “No! You don’t have to do it over again! Save yourself the effort!”

I’m going to anyway. I HATE how the cross-hatching turned out on this page. It’s messy, it ruins the skin complexions I’m trying to illustrate, and it’s way too time-consuming. (And in comics, you need every minute you can scrounge up).

I’m going to redraw it with brush pen, and grey markers for tones. That, and Charlie needs a slight costume change.