30 Characters Challenge Creative Notes: For this character design, I opted not to ink it. I’ve been trying some slightly different techniques in my drawing process. Starting with blue lines and then moving to black lead. I’m looking for a way to help my approach to drawing. However, I’ve felt that maybe the blue lines are actually causing my drawings to look a little stiff. I decided to see if it wasn’t my inking. This is why this is an uninked drawing. I had a lot of fun with this character design. I am planning on inking it in the future. I’m also planning on coloring this and the other 30-character designs.
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
Noran Grimm grew up in a world ruled by logic, strategy, and calculation. The planet Dethathoun was one of the first planets to be conquered by the Cyber Lords after their own “Great War”. For generations, the Dethathouns were shaped by the Cyber Lords to become their field generals. Their inherent skills in problem-solving and tactical thinking made them the perfect soldiers and leaders
Noran’s family was among the most decorated of these Generals. Leading armies of Foot Soldiers in campaigns to conquer worlds across the galaxies. Norans father Jurvan Grimm lead the campaign that conquered the entire Acarien System. Making him the first and only Grand General of the Cyber Lord Army. Noran rose through the ranks of the military very quickly, becoming the youngest Dethathoun to become a Field General. His strategies in warfare were unmatched by his piers. Noran armies conquered or devastated hundreds of planets in the name of the Cyber Lords.
The Cyber Lords’ greed for power once again pitted them against each other and began an interstellar war. They fight for solar system territories. Like the War that destroyed their home world, they were now destroying the cosmos. As a result of the interstellar war, their resources were being depleted too quickly. Noran Grimm was sent to a remote planet named Earth with a battalion of Foot Soldiers to secure the planet’s rich resources. The last communique received from Grimm was a warning that the planet had defenders. With the war devastating the Cyber Lords armies no attempt has been made to find General Grimm.
30 Characters Challenge Creative Notes: For this drawing, I was trying to make the character of General Grimm look stern. Like the commanding officer, he is. A man of tactician thinking. I think I was successful in the rendering. I’ve been starting off this series of drawing with blue lines and then tightening the pencils with a normal black lead. I’m enjoying the process, but feel like my drawing is coming out a little too stiff. I do feel like my inking is improving with every new drawing.
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
30 Characters Challenge 2010 – #2 Zarruk Xeon Last Survivor of Tanigor
Zarruk Xeon is the last survivor of the planet Tanigor. A world much like the earth in size and population. Tamigor was protected by a group of superheroes. Zarruk was among the most recognized and respected among them.
The planet was devastated by a Cyber Lord and his army of Foot Soldiers. Looking to expand his growing interstellar empire, this Cyber Lord invaded Tamigor. But this world was heavily populated with super beings who fought back. The battle rocked the entire planet. With heavy casualties on both sides. The planet’s heroes couldn’t withstand the Foot Soldier’s larger numbers, up to billions. The world was eventually completely destroyed, with all life extinguished.
All life except Zarruk Xeon. It wasn’t his super strength, durability, or flight that saved him. It was his ability to absorb energies. The energy staff of the Foot Soldiers actually made him stronger. But not strong enough to save his world, his wife, or his children. Zarruk Xeon is now stranded on a dead planet. Searching through the rubble for a way off it. His only driving force is to avenge all he has lost at the hands of the Cyber Lords.
30 Characters Challenge Creative Notes: Like my 1st 30 Character drawing of Foot Soldier of the Cyber Lords, I tried to use a new technique of starting my drawing with blue pencils. I then refined the drawing with normal pencils. This is the second time I tried this, I feel like the image came out a little too stiff. This is probably a result of me making most of the initial blue lines very tight instead of loose as I did in the last attempt. I am happy with my inking of this character design. I’ve been using a 102-nib pen when inking. It’s been a fun learning process.
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
30 Characters Challenge 2010 – #1 Foot Soldier of the Cyber Lords
The Cyber Lords are a technologically advanced species that destroyed their home planet in “The Great War”. During the war, they would take inhabitants from other planets to be their Foot Soldiers. Using wormhole technology allowed them to travel through time and space to gather their armies.
They would modify their new soldiers by wiping their minds and reprogramming them. These new mindless beings would be outfitted with specialized cybernetic enhancements. Giving them great speed, strength, and agility. Their main weapon on the battlefields was an energy staff capable of leveling buildings. At the height of the war, each Cyber Lord had billions of Foot Soldiers. The surviving Cyber Lords seeing their world destroyed by the war made a truce. They agreed to leave the planet and use their wormhole technology to travel the universe and start their own individual societies. Using their vast armies of Foot Soldiers the Cyber Lords traveled the cosmos and began conquering worlds.
30 Characters Challenge Creative Notes: For this drawing, I decided to try a new method of drawing. I’ve noticed a lot of professional comic artists start their drawings with blue pencils. I just recently watched Modern Masters: In The Studio With George Perez DVD and George Perez used this method. So I wanted to try it too.
I started my drawing with blue lines. I used a 0.7 mechanical pencil. Very gesture and bulky, this helped me get the idea of where I wanted the drawing to go. I then refined the drawing using a .05 HB Mechanical Pencil, adding shadows and hatching. I’ve recently been sharpening my inking skills. What I do is ink other artists’ comic pages. It’s fun and has been helping me learn new techniques. So I was excited to bring this into my own work. I can see it in the inking of this character design. I like using a 102 nib and a size 4 stable brush.
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
Last year in November I participated in an awesome challenge called 30 Characters which was found at 30characters.wordpress.com. The idea was to create 30 original characters in 30 days. The challenge was thought up by comic artist Tyler James. It wasn’t easy and there were days I would hit a creative block. But I’m proud to announce I completed the challenge of creating the 30 characters. I even received a cool digital award plaque. I meet a lot of other cool creative people interested in creating comic book artists like myself. There were even characters created in this challenge that I incorporated into my personal comic project.
Well a year has come and it’s time for the 30 Characters challenge again. This time it looks like there will be over 40 participants. As an alumnus of last year’s challenge, I’m ready to jump in and let my creative juice flow. I’m even more excited this year than I was last. I have a better idea of how to approach the challenge. The last time around I only submitted pencil-drawn character designs. I’m planning on inking them this time, and if I have time color them too. My style and ability have changed and improved since last year. So I’m excited to show everyone what I can do.
The 30 Characters Challenge
Tyler James has set up an awesome new blog site (www.30characters.com) to showcase this year’s 30 characters in 30 days. He’s even supplying a cool PSD template to put the characters into for posting on the site. All are invited to “Join the Challenge“, the registration deadline is this Friday, October 29. And the characters will start going up on November 1st. Make sure to check it out!
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
I started creating this piece for a silent auction being held at a Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention. Here are the finished inks. I decided not to enter it but continued to finish it. The original drawing was on a 24″x19″ 2 ply Bristol board paper. The next step was inking it. I’ve seen a lot of great comic artists use a grey wash in their inkings, so I wanted to try that. I also added some movement lines in the background of the main panel. I used a 102-nib pen and a brush to ink it. In the past I’ve focused on digital inking, but lately, I’ve been enjoying inking by hand. Once I finished inking this piece titled: Renegade. I framed it and hung it on my wall. I’m proud that this piece and I had a lot of fun working on it.
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
Here are some pencils I did for fun. I was planning on creating it for a Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention. The convention was looking for art to be added to their silent auction. I created one that was inspired by sequential storytelling, a giant comic book page! The drawing is on a 24″x19″ 2-ply Bristol board paper. I used a 9.0 HB mechanical pencil and kept to mostly quick and gesture line work. In the middle of working on the piece, I realized the con was looking for work around the size of 16 inches. Mine was a little too big. I decided not to enter it but still wanted to finish it. I was having too much fun working on a piece so big. The pencils were the first step in the piece I titled: Renegade. Next, I’ll ink it.
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
A few months ago I took a much-needed vacation. The first I’ve actually taken since moving to Santa Fe in 2008. My girlfriend’s brother invited us to his home in Seattle WA. For the week he took us to many cool places. We got to see the waterfront, the city’s booming downtown, and art galleries. On our second to last day there, he offered to take us to a comic shop his friend used to work at. Knowing that I’m a comic fan & aspiring comic artist. To my surprise, the comic shop was The Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery.
Fantagraphics is the world’s most notable independent comic publishing company, best know for titles like Ghost World, Love & Rockets, and the works of R. Crumb. I’m more of a fan of superhero/sci-fi comics, but I have read these comics too. I completely believe that comics are a legitimate form of art and literature. This has been Fantagraphic’s belief too since it started publishing in the late 1970s.
Is was very cool to browse the bookstore and see all the cool underground-type comics. The bookstore isn’t your typical comic shop. They were no back issues, mostly selves of paperbacks. All Fantagraphics titles too. I saw a lot of titles I’d never really heard of, but all were very interesting. It’s great to see the underground/independent comic scene doing so well in Seattle. In this new world of the internet and instant downloads finding a comic shop full of art, people and music is always an awesome site to see.
I’m very thankful that I got to opportunity to visit this really cool comic shop/gallery. Even though I didn’t buy any comics there. I do have a huge respect and appreciation for Fantagraphics and the comics they produce. (Check out the cool Super Heroes painting) I did find a great deal on sketch paper; a small booklet for 3 dollars and an 11×17 pad for 7 bucks. After leaving I was very inspired to start working on my own personal comic project.
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
Atomic Blast – Character Design for The REPLICANTS Project
The idea of Atomic Blast came from a challenge to create a superhero team based on an existing superhero team. The REPLICANTS Project was created by Dean Rivet. Atomic Blast was inspired by Sunfire of the X-Men.
Susan Rosen’s grandfather Jason Rosen worked on Trinity, the first atomic bomb nuclear weapons test in New Mexico. While working on the test site, Jason was exposed to high radiation levels. Due to a genetic anomaly, he was able to absorb the deadly energies. He found he could control this energy in the form of a green flame. He became a crime fighter known as the Green Flame.
As a child, Susan began to manifest the same power as her grandfather. She keeps it a secret not knowing she inherited the power from him. Susan’s parents died in a car accident when she was 17, leaving Jason as her only living relative. With no one else to take care of Susan, she moved in with him. She discovered he had the same powers as she did. Jason trained Susan in the control of her powers. She decided to follow in his footsteps and become a crime fighter. With his help, she has taken the name Atomic Blast and uses her powers to fight evil.
Here are the different steps I took when creating this character design. First I did my pencil drawing, I use a .5 HB Mechanical pencil. I then scanned and turned the pencils into blue lines. I went ahead and printed the blue lines and inked them. I used a nib pen 102. I then colored it in photoshop. I had fun with this illustration. I tried a few different techniques in the inking and coloring. I am very pleased with the results!
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
I’ve been a huge fan of zombie movies, have been since I was a kid. It’s cool to see so many new zombie fans in the past few years. When I first saw George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead back in the day, I was blown away. He created the modern-day incarnation of what a zombie is. More importantly, he uses these zombie outbreaks to explore the human condition. Something lacking from a lot of modern-day zombie movies.
I was very excited to hear he was working on a new zombie flick (6th), “SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD”. Unfortunately, it didn’t get a mass theater release. I was content with the knowledge I would see it, but probably not until it hit video (DVD). But on a random trip while hitting up the local comic shop I came across a flyer for a 2-night special show of the movie. Yes, I would get the opportunity to see it on the big screen!
There were only three showing! I made it to the final showing on Saturday. The movie was a classic B-style horror film. A few great moments that made me jump. I even got the last free poster they were giving away! – Yay!
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
