Graphic Design and Illustration.

Archive for ‘July, 2019’

Pen and Ink Sketches


After reviewing my site, I was surprised I never posted any of this. As I have blogged about in the past, I sometimes take part in the monthly art challenge of Inktober. I usually avoid the various prompts people post and do my own thing. One year I decided I just wanted to draw people (my favourite subject matter) in different poses in natural settings with an emphasis on trying to get as much variety as possible. The ones I have posted here are the ones I think turned out.
I also added a splash of colour to each one for effect. Since Inktober takes place in the month of October, I felt an orange colour was best. Enjoy!

Angry Face


Here’s your staple, run-of-mill angry elf fighter. Everybody has drawn at least one. This one turned out pretty good. I was originally going to finish off this one in colour, but I decided to just leave it as is, right from my sketchbook.

As a quick aside, I was never allowed to play DnD as a kid. My only experience with it was (without my parent’s knowledge) sitting in the basement at a friend’s house waiting for the DM to show up. And waiting. And waiting. He never showed. Didn’t seem like a very engaging experience, so I never understood the draw. Though I did read gamebooks like the old GrailQuest series and Steve Jackson’s Games whenever I could find them as a preteen. Those were pretty cool.

Strange Boy


When the native human population of Epsilon Eridani C arrived, they quickly adapted themselves to better survive in their new environment. Today, there are very few of them left and mostly keep to themselves. Which suited the newer settlers and tourists just fine as they looked odd to untouched humans and they sometimes seemed “otherworldly” and “peculiar” in behaviour.
But Jackie was the only friend I had made when my folks migrated here from Earth last year. So I put up with his odd behaviour, and his looks never bothered me.
Until now. It was nighttime, the twin moons getting high in the evening sky. And Jackie just stopped, standing there silently with a far away look in his eyes. Like he was seeing something that wasn’t quite really there. Like a cat does.
What was going on?

I was never into horror comics (or horror of any kind) as a kid, but while trying to come up with something for my sketchbook, this image came to me. A strange boy who may or may not be trouble. Or maybe just in trouble?
Lots of fun playing around with ink textures in making this one. A nice blend of traditional and digital inking and colouring. Enjoy!

Metal World


I couldn’t believe we finally made to Bernard’s Star. The first extra-solar world humanity colonized. It was before terraforming, so we just started building enclosed metal city, after city. Without having to worry about ecology, or habitat, the whole planet was eventually turned into one, giant city.
It also meant it was totally dependant on trade to survive.
That’s were I come in.

A quick test to see how well I could come up with a quick looking sic-fi world. Came out pretty good even if it does rely on a lot of Photoshop trickery to work. The nebulae in the background was fun to do.
Enjoy!

Nerdy Girl


Everyone loves a nerdy girl, right?
A quick sketch from my trusty sketchbook, inked with a brush pen, scanned into the computer, and then quick colours dropped in using Photoshop.
I tend to use more simplified backgrounds for my cartooning. It helps to keep the foreground/midground elements and the background elements separate. Plus, it’s easier to draw! Got that tip years ago from watching an interview with Matt Groening of the Simpsons fame.
Enjoy!

You’ve Got Mail


Another quick pencil sketch that really came to life digitally! This was the end result of creating a workflow that could be incredibly fast and would respond quickly to changes.
Tried to keep the colour loose and used nothing but available brushes that come with the current Creative Cloud of Photoshop.
Enjoy!

Sir Justin and the Questing Beast


A fun pen and ink sketch that got a bit out of hand. Some edits done digitally along with the text and fake screen tone. Sources of inspiration include concept art from the How to Train Your Dragon series of movies. Was created for a self promo piece.
Enjoy!

Mail Kobold


This little guy was a fun one to paint. Started off as a fairly tight pencil rough and then all the rest done as a digital painting in Photoshop. I wanted something firmly visceral and loose without being too sloppy. Special thanks to the artist Matt Dixon for the inspiration for this piece. And apologies for not being nearly as good as him.

Enjoy!

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