Wide Brim Hat

A lot of work done today and more to be done. I started this early in the waiting room of the eye doctor. I came back to it and finished it about 15 minutes ago. About a 45 minute piece to draw and another 10-15 minutes scanning and playing with some color in Photoshop. Color pencil in my sketchbook. I could see her sitting on the back of a parked Vespa outside a little cafe in France. I might just have to add the Vespa when I finish it. :) Gonna go out and get some dinner and then it's back to work for me. Have a good evening everyone! 

Dread Baby

I have no idea where this fun girl came from. I started to sketch out a pose in my sketchbook and when I got it where I liked it, I turned to the next page to tighten it up and add clothes, hair, etc. Quick aside, I work backwards through my sketchbooks. The paper isn't very thick and I can see through it enough to redraw something I like without having to the rough it out again or transfer to another piece of paper. So I stared adding details and this is what came out. The dreads were the first thing to make itself known, after that everything else fell into place. I think I just might paint this one in acrylic. Color pencil in my sketchbook. About 45 minutes. Somedays they come real easy. :)

Power Girl

Just a quick Power Girl sketch today. Pretty generic. Can't hit them all out of the park I suppose. Just gotta keep swinging. :) Pencil in my sketchbook.

Nite-Nite

It's been a long weekend. Normally that's good but I worked most of the weekend. And every so often I would look up at the time and think about what was going on at the Pittsburgh ComiCon. I miss doing that show. Always a good time and the people that attend that show are always great. I plan on going next year. I've been told my spot will be there for me. :)

This little sketch says it all. Time for some rest and to watch the episode of Battlestar Galactica that I missed Friday night. This was done in pencil in my sketchbook with some Photoshop colors to top it off. Good night everyone.

A Text Book Example

Today was still a work day. Well, part work day. Here is an example of the art I am doing for a book about the biology of the mind. I don't pretend to understand it but then I don't have to. :) This piece was drawn using a regular 2b graphite pencil and colored in Photoshop.

Lean back, relax

Today's sketch is brought to you by the fine folks at Wishful Thinking™. Falling back into a big pile of pillows sounds great, doesn't it? Finished my first pass of illustrations for the science book, didn't get to the Bahamas art. Probably start on that shortly. But it was nice to get another project on it's way. Another nice thing is I believe my newest pack of pin-ups will be released any day now from CILM. I will post as soon as it happens. Happy weekend everyone!

Thuvia, Maid of Mars

Another ERB Mars character for today. This was a real quick one while sitting in the waiting room at the dentist today. Make every moment productive. :) Beat the deadline of the first pass of the big project. Finished yesterday evening. And managed to create another, separate piece of art today for the project presentation. Some day I hope to share this work. It's pretty cool. Today was more Cognitive Neuroscience art and tomorrow I finish up the last of the first pass art. I already have some corrections to earlier chapters that I need to take care of as well. Also on deck for tomorrow are two more pieces of art for the Bahama real estate development. Both roughs need to be done tomorrow. Today I looked at the clock around 12:30 and realized I would have been on a plane half way to Pittsburgh. Sigh.

Happy Administrative Professional's Day!

Today's post is inspired by my wife, Deena. On her way out the door for work she reminded me that she is being taken out to lunch for Administrative Professional's Day and thus my warm up sketch for the day was born. My wife inspires me everyday, this time it was just a little more direct. Color pencil in my sketchbook, done in about 20 minutes. Now back to the dreaded deadline. Have a good day everyone!

No Wake Zone

Another bathing cutie today. I did this in the early AM, scanned it and almost forgot to post. Ultimately if I do miss a day it will be me forgetting. It's the age thing. This beach girl came out of nowhere. I think I did this in about 15 minutes. The sketching was so rough, but I liked the attitude and didn't want to lose it by redrawing it tighter so I grab a pen brush and defined her a bit more. I sketched the sign without any idea of what to put on it. But as I finished the pelican and his catch, it came to me, this young lady is bound to leave broken hearts in her wake. :)

Tars Tarkas

I was going to sketch a long, lean four armed Tars Tarkas today but ended up doing a headshot. Less than two hours of sleep since Sunday morning, 6am and two very full days and nights of working on a project that I can't talk about or show has worn me out. So, it's a moody headshot. :) If you don't know who Tars is, well, you need to read the Mars series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tars is a Martian and is a loyal friend of John Carter of Earth. The art I am working day and night on is a large one: 3 feet by 5 feet, done in Adobe Illustrator. I have never worked that large in Illustrator and it has been a learning experience.

This ain't no Disney Princess...

...this royal can do some damage. Dejah Thoris, Princess of Mars. Just a sketch for today done in my sketchbook with Process Red Prismacolor pencil. This week is going to be a rough one, gotta get some much needed sleep! Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Lost City of Lygosis

Just finished pencils on another page of PERILS ON PLANET X. I did this page in reverse, doing the last panel first and working my way to the first panel posted above. Here is were I channel Al Williamson and Roy Krenkel and still do a pale imitation. If I were doing pencils for another inker I would put more time into the page but since I know what I am trying to do, most times, I leave a lot for when I am inking.

Backgrounds & Environments

Some artists hate them, but I like doing backgrounds. Sometimes they are the most fun you can have on a page. And sometimes they are the most boring and tedious thing on the page. But I still like doing them. I worked on the MISTER X series from Caliber in the late 90s. Following artists like the Hernandez Bros., Seth, and Paul Rivoche was a bit daunting. But it was on that series that I really got into backgrounds and environments. My approach to the art on that series was a mix of the Hernandez Bros (the characters) meets Paul Rivoche (the city). Today I worked on another panel of PERILS ON PLANET X. Below is the penciled image. A lost city in a jungle for our heroes to wander in. When I started getting this ready to post I thought I would share a few more examples of background work. There are a few different styles to this as well.

The panel below is also from POPX. A hanger/service bay for ships on the floating city. Lots of platforms and hanging equipment. The area has seen better days and some things just don't even work anymore.
Below is from BEGOTHS COMICS #2. A series of two books based on a line of collectable goth dolls. A gathering at a coffee shop. You can almost feel the sticky vinyl booths. I did this series with gray tones and added extra touches like the wallpaper.
The next three panels are from McCANDLESS & COMPANY, by JC Vaughn and art by me. (Look for it from Moonstone in the next Previews) Our cast is checking into a five star hotel in the Bahamas in the early hours after midnight. Note the emptiness of the expansive lobby.
The next day they rent a car and follow the money...
Catherine returns to her penthouse in DIARY OF NIGHT #1 , by Will Allred and me. Catherine is over 400 years old and while she may have collected a lot in her lifetime, I went with a less is more look to her place. Big open room with big windows to let in plenty of sunshine. Oops. No, that really was part of the design. The kitchen is to her left and looks out into a sitting area, a living room area with fireplace and a view to kill for. Her bedroom is upstairs and her library is on the other side of the kitchen. The doors in her home come from an old convent in France.
A few different approaches and styles to make the page a bit more interesting and to help tell the story.

Roughing it on Planet X

Here is a panel from page 22 of PERILS ON PLANET X #2. Hawke and the lovely Princess Odyri have stumbled upon something in a lost city. Dum, dum, dum, duuuuuuum! Just thought I would share to show all the construction lines and planning that goes into panel. I wish it just sprang forth, that would make my life a lot easier. Pencil on Strathmore 400 series Bristol board.

Dune Baby

Can't seem to get the beach girls off the brain. I love living here, that's all I have to say about that! This sun worshipping beauty is making sure she doesn't get tan lines on her back. This little sketch was done with color pencils in my sketchbook. A little warm up piece this morning. I think I might start painting these using traditional methods like watercolor or acrylic. I haven't done much of it lately and this could be a lot of fun.

Rescue Me!

I'm quoting Aretha here, not the TV show. Another beach cutie in the rough. This needs more work in the composition but I think it has promise. Worked through my block today and finished the first draft of the artwork and sent it in for feedback. Even did more work in the Cognitive Neuroscience book too. All in all a good productive day. This cutie was drawn in my sketchbook with color pencil.

Danger at Boogie Board Bluff

Wow, what a day. I was busy, busy, busy and didn't get a darn thing done. Every so often everyone hits a wall, today it was my nose flattened against it. One project in particular has me perplexed. Trying to wrap my brain around doing something in the opposite way that I normally would has got me stumped. I'll get through it. Sometimes I just need to walk away from it for a bit to make it work in my mind and then I am on my way. So that's what brings us to this little sketch. The finished piece will have the girls tan lines showing. A variation on the Coppertone ads using a crab instead of a dog. This was sketched in my sketchbook with a color pencil.

Beachy-Keen!

This one was just a sketch a few days back and now she is a fully realized pin-up. WooHoo! The background turned out to be a fun process. I really wanted to keep it flat. The items on her towel got a little dimension to them but not much. And they are not on the same plane as the girl or the towel so it still has a flat feel to it. And then there is the girl. I kept her colors flat too. All in all a fun piece. And it is on it's way to CILM. This one was inked on 11" x 17" bristol board and colored in Photoshop.

Another day in paradise

This is the second of three paintings I am doing for a real estate developer doing some work in the Bahamas. This is a view from the top of the property. This doesn't exist yet in the real world and I haven't been there so I have to guess what it will look like when finished. There will be close to 70 lots for sale so it is a fairly large area. And because of the slope of the hillside, every home will have a view of the water which is about a 1/2 mile away. So this must be how the other half lives.  

It's Friday!

And she is having a good time. This little happy fairy first showed up here as a rough a few weeks back. Here she is in full color and on her way to CILM. The original was inked on 11" x 17" bristol board and colored in Photoshop. I ditched the original background that I inked and created this in Photoshop. I think it works nicely.

101st Post!

This is another piece headed for CILM. This island girl has been posted a few times, first as a rough, then as a color comp, then a finished inked piece and finally here in full color. I think she came out pretty nice. It's fun working in bright colors. Usually I work a bit more subtle. Yesterday was the 100th day of 2008 and my 100th post for 2008! I think this little island girl is a nice start for the next hundred. 

5 Second Rule

Today was the end of our vacation. We had guests down here for the last week and it was a blast! Did the usual, too much food, too much sun, too many mojitos, etc. They had to head back to Michigan today and we already miss them. But they will hopefully be back in July! Had a very busy and productive day too. Finished inking the last four pages of SEVEN and now the colorist has them. So that is a project off my list. Still have many more to get through but decided to spend the last hour doing fun stuff. The above sketch is the result. It's Spring Break down here. Clearwater Beach is just about 5 miles away and while it always has nice scenery, Spring Break adds to it. :) And Spring Break lasts a month here as different schools have different schedules. So the sketch is a little tribute to the girls of spring break at Clearwater Beach. She was penciled on 11" x 17" copy paper and colored in Photoshop.

DIARY OF NIGHT - Mindscapes

In DIARY OF NIGHT, writer Will Allred introduces the concept of a mindscape area in which vampires battle or converse. It is usually shaped by the stronger of the two. To illustrate this in a way to show the difference between the real world and what was in their mind, I illustrated the mindscape without inking it. Though the first two images doesn't show it, the bottom panel in both were penciled in red Colorase pencil. (Okay, sorry, I converted the pages to grayscale and posted before I remembered this post would be in color). The last panel on the far right page shows the color pencil over the Photoshop colors. Drawing the mindscape panels in color pencil actually made me draw a bit different too which helped. I think the effect works to make the real world, the world in the vampires minds and the flashback panels each have a distinctive look. This page is from DIARY OF NIGHT #2, © 2007 Will Allred and Gene Gonzales.

Business illustration

Finished the last of four illustrations for one job. Been a bit hectic lately, though that is not going to stop anytime soon. Working hard to get caught up and hoping that by the end of the month I will have everything behind me. That whole process is threatening my trip to the Pittsburgh ComiCon. Hopefully I won't have to cancel. As for this piece, it was done in pencil and then colored and typeset in Photoshop.

DIARY OF NIGHT - Once more...

Under a really tough deadline tonight so I present page 1 of DIARY OF NIGHT #3. How did our heroes end up like this??? Pick up DIARY OF NIGHT issues #1 & 2 by Will Allred and Gene Gonzales at your favorite local comic book store today! :)

DIARY OF NIGHT

The first two issues of DIARY OF NIGHT have hit the book store. DIARY OF NIGHT (DON) was created and written by Will Allred. I provided the full art and lettering was done by Rus Wooton. Published by Bloodfire Studios, DON is a four issue full color mini-series. Look here for a preview, and check out SCOOP for a review of the first two issues. This was my first shot at coloring an entire series and while doing the pencils, inks and then colors was a big task, it was a fun one too. The art today was done for promotional purposes. And this is a promotional post. Check it out. Ask for it by name. Tell them I sent you. End of shameless plug :)

Sketchbook Saturday

Just a quick sketch of some figures in motion along with some roughs for the next big piece I am doing for a business illustration. Taking ourselves out to the ball game right now. Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. :)

Text Book Cartoon

Just a quick post today. Off to Sea World. Been up since 4:45am trying to get some work done. Completed a few pieces for the neuroscience book I am working on, including the cartoon above. Completely done in Photoshop. :)

Fun in the sun!

Just a little beach girl today. Fun in the sun is always good. :) I do like the pose too, I just might have to finish her someday. Little side note: A couple of days/posts ago I passed the first quarter for the year. That's over 91 consecutive posts, one a day for 2008 so far. :)

Just a girl, no April fools here.

As of noon today I am officially on vacation until April 9th. We have friends coming down from Michigan for a visit. They will be here in just a few hours. Their three girls and Dakota have a great time together. And all us adults like to just relax. So there will be lots of food, drinks, swimming in our pool, beach fun, shelling, food, drinks, Seaworld, Clearwater Threshers baseball, food & drink, you know, fun stuff!

BUT as I have stated before, I am way overloaded with work right now so I will be up every morning at 6am as usual, getting in some work time before everyone is up and ready to go. Then there will be some night work as well. Not how I originally planned this next week but that's the way it works out. The plus side is that I will probably only work 6-8 hours a day instead of 10-14! Glass half full, folks, glass half full. :)

Todays sketch was done this morning with black and white Prismacolor pencils on 9.5" x 12" gray charcoal paper