Arisia - MegaCon Commission

Arisia © DC Comics

This Arisia painting was commissioned by Wes for MegaCon. Yes, I am that far behind. Thanks for your patience Wes, I hope you like her!

This is ink and acrylic on 11" x 17" Arches Watercolor Board

This is Post #1622

Arisia - Commission Work in Progress

The beginnings of a commission featuring the Green Lantern, Arisia. I have tried starting this piece three times but was terribly distracted by deadlines. Should be better this time. :)

This is Post #1621

Sketchbook Monday

Artwork © 2012 Gene Gonzales

Just a pencil and Photoshop doodle of an old friend I will be visiting again real soon. More about that later. :)

This is Post #1620

Sketchbook Sunday

This post has got to be a serious letdown. :)

I am so covered up with getting some work done and exhausted at the same time. The good thing is all will be on time and then there will be some serious sleep involved.

This is Post #1619

Sketchbook Saturday

Looooong but really good day. Getting things done for Monday deadline. Only had time to doodle this today.

Time for a nice single malt scotch that is old enough to buy it's own single malt scotch. Nite.

This is Post #1618

Sea Witch - Finished

Artwork © 2012 Gene Gonzales

This sea witch is a commission done for Christian. It is done in ink and watercolor on 9" x 12" Bristol Board. Thanks Christian!

I am working my way through my commission list as quickly as I can without rushing anything. Because no one wants a rushed piece of art. Including me. So everything is being done in small chunks of time each day. This piece is a good example of that process. When I can share the work in progress of a commission when I am busy, I don't have to do something specific for the blog. Two birds, one stone kind of thing.

Luckily Monday is another deadline. So for a week I will be freed up to work only on commissions. At least that is the plan. For those that are on the list and patiently waiting, thank you. I don't think anyone is past the eight week window yet but I still hate making anyone wait. There are some commissions that can't be shared because they are gifts, etc. But if your commission can be shared as work in progress posts here, please let me know.

Have a good weekend everyone!

This is Post #1617

Sea Witch - Work in Progress

Artwork © 2012  Gene Gonzales

Sea Witch in progress.

Ink and watercolor on 9" x 12" Bristol Board.

This is Post #1616

Sketchbook Wednesday

Art © 2012 Gene Gonzales

Today is going to be a full day of work and finishing today's 2-Point Perspective blog art. So it's a sketchbook Wednesday with some warm up doodles I did to get ahead of the day. ;)

Hope everyone has a good day!

This is Post #1615

Sea Witch - Ink

Art © 2012 Gene Gonzales

I had some time today at lunch to transfer the digital sketch to a piece of 9" x 12" Bristol board and ink it. I will try to get the colors done tomorrow.

This is Post #1614

Sea Witch and Interview

I was recently interviewed by KhuanTru.com about my art, my work, and my inspirations. I had a really good time doing it and was honored to be asked. Just look at the talent that appears on the site and you will see what I mean. It was the kind of interview that I had to really dig a little deeper for the answers. Hopefully it's inspiring and I don't come off like a jerk. :)

You can find the interview here: http://www.khuantru.com/2012/02/interview-with-gene-gonzales/

And for some quotes from various artist, including me, take a look here: http://www.khuantru.com/art-inspirations/

If you enjoy the interview and the site, I hope that you will tell others about it through whatever social media you use.

A big thanks to Khuan Tru! Cheers mate! :)

Today's piece is a digital rough for a commission. I did this during lunch.

This is Post #1613

Digital Sketchbook Sunday

Working on some commissions this afternoon so I can't show anything yet. So here is a doodle I did earlier today in Photoshop. :)

This is Post #1612

Sketchbook Saturday

Zatanna © DC Comics

Another day, another doodle. Back to work.

This is Post #1611

Sketchbook Friday

Just some doodles today folks. I have been completely covered up with work.

This is Post #1610

Scarlet Witch & The Enchantress - Canson Cuties

Characters © Marvel Entertainment

I won't be making it to MegaCon after all. I tried as hard as I could to get things in line for it but a new project started last Friday and will keep me busy for the next few weeks. It started off as a sprint but by next week the pace will slow quite a bit. That's doesn't work well for a convention right in the middle of that sprint. It didn't work well for the 2-Point Perspective Blog this week either. But you do what you gotta do.

The above piece was commissioned by Tim for MegaCon. Fun to do a Canson Cutie(s) again. Thanks Tim!

This is ink and color pencil on Canson Mi-Teintes paper.

This is Post #1609

Sketchbook Wednesday

Art © 2012 Gene Gonzales

This has been a really rough week. Working on commercial jobs this week and next. And tomorrow I will finish the last of the MegaCon pieces. It's not looking good for me to even get to the show. At this point the best I can hope for is Sunday. Oy.

This is Post #1608

MegaCon 2012 - Work in Progress

Another work in progress for MegaCon this weekend.

This is Post #1607

MegaCon 2012 - Work in Progress

Just a little something I am working on right now.

This is Post #1606

Phoenix - Digital Sketchbook

X-Men © Marvel Entertainment

Just a doodle for an idea I am cooking up. I haven't worked out all the details, as you can see. :)

This is Post #1605

Tiki Bar - Finish

This is a big jump from yesterday's post. Sorry. Sometimes I put my head down for work and don't keep images for the steps taken. Sorta kills the whole process deal, doesn't it? Oops.

So here is the finished art minus the lettering. It's pretty clean and open. I tried to get a 1950s feel to where the letters are placed to spell out the resort. Each letter would be placed in those yellow shapes at the top. There is also copy in the black box and under it in the final art. The palm trees substituting for the foliage that was at the bottom in the rough. It just started getting too busy at the bottom with the chairs and the tiki masks.

This was done in Illustrator.

This is Post #1604

Tiki Bar - Process

This is something I just finished for a long time client. This is for a resort that wanted a fun image of their tiki bar on t-shirts, napkins, glasses, etc. I did a couple of rough digital sketches and the image below was selected as the jumping off point.

Artwork © 2012 Gene Gonzales

First thing I wanted to do was design the tiki masks. Below are the two that made the cut in their rough form. These were drawn in my sketchbook and are only 3 inches tall. After scanning them, I enlarged them and printed them out on bristol board.

Artwork © 2012 Gene Gonzales

Now I have the blue line printout of the rough to ink. The final art will be done in Illustrator, but I didn't want to create the art in Illustrator. It would look a little too slick for my purposes. So I inked the pieces on bristol board. Since the tiki masks are symmetrical, I only had to ink one side. After I scanned the art, I duplicated the left side of each one, flipped it and used it to make the right sides. The line art is a bit uneven and that's what I wanted. When I take it into Illustrator and use Live Trace to convert it into vector art, the uneven look will become more apparent. More tomorrow.

Artwork © 2012 Gene Gonzales

This is Post #1603

Harley Quinn - Inks

Harley Quinn © DC Comics

Final inks for the Harley piece I have subjecting you to for three different posts. :)

Ink on 9" x 12" Strathmore Bristol Board

Update: I have put Harley on Ebay. If you are interested, you can find her here: Harley Quinn

This is Post #1602

Harley Quinn - Pencils

Harley Quinn © DC Comics

I took a bit of time this afternoon to transfer the digital sketch of Harley to the final Bristol Board. I should have a bit of time tomorrow to finish her up. Baby steps gets it done. :)

This is pencil on 9" x 12" Strathmore Bristol Board.

This is Post #1601 

A Superman Family Christmas - The Big Commission

Superman Family © DC Comics

This is the final art for what has been referred to as the BIG commission. This was commissioned by Royce, who is as big a fan as I am of the Superman Family of characters. One of the ideas behind this was creating something like those bonus pin-up pages in the 80 page giants and some regular issues. You know, the page that would have a "snap shot" of the character(s) and maybe a "Best wishes from your pal, Superman" signed in the corner. I love those pages. When Royce approached me with this idea for a Christmas get together, I knew we had to make it happen.

Even after I presented the pencil version to Royce for approval, the piece took on a life of it's own. Demanding that extra things and people needed to be added, even if it wasn't in the original scope of the project. It was the right thing to do, as it adds to the depth of the history and the characters. At the risk of mixing my holidays, those little "easter eggs" that were added just made the piece more fun for me and I hope for Royce. And I hope for anyone who sees it.

Thanks again Royce for coming to me with this. It was a dream project.

This is ink on 14" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board.

This is Post #1600

Harley Quinn - Digital Rough

Harley © DC Comics

Just a digital rough for an inked piece I will be doing this week in between other stuff. After I am done inking I will decide if I will add color or not.

This is Post #1599

Work In Progress The BIG Commission

Supergirl © DC Comics

Another quick update of the BIG commission. I am down to just the little details now. Putting it away for a day so I can look at it with fresh eyes. I think the reveal will be on Tuesday. That would be post #1600. Pretty cool to be on a milestone like that. :)

This is Post #1598

Work in Progress - The BIG Commission

Superman & Lois © DC Comics

Just a quick update of the BIG commission. All the background is inked, most of the characters are too. I thought I would feature a certain happy couple for today's post.

This is Post #1597

Doodle - Creature Feature

Art © 2012 Gene Gonzales

Nature or nurture, sometimes seahorses are just bad. Have a good weekend folks. I will be attempting to get to the finish line of the BIG commission this weekend. So you know I will have a good weekend. :)

This is ink and marker on toned paper. Photoshop colors added.

This is Post #1596

BATGIRL - Bonus Post

Batgirl © DC Comics

Finished this piece from yesterday, analog style, also known as paper & ink. Then with the encouragment from all of you on Twitter, I colored her with watercolor.

I also just put her on eBay. :)

This is ink and watercolor on 9" x 12" Strathmore Bristol Board.

This is Post #1595

Lady Blackhawk - Digital sketch

Lady Blackhawk © DC Comics

I started this idea about a month ago, sketching it out in Photoshop. I just put in some work on it this morning. I don't know if I will ever finish it though. This kind of complicated piece requires a lot of time, and a patron. :)

Personally I would like to see this kind high flying adventure comic. One of my favorite comics in the 1970s was Super-Team Family when it featured the Challengers of the Unknown. That was my first introduction to them. The art by Jim Sherman blew me away. (I own several original pages from that run.) The point is the stories were pretty cool. They are adventurers, they have a cool base, cool gadgets and they were the best in their particular fields. Fun stuff. We need more of that in my opinion: Fun stuff.

This is Post #1595

Batgirl (Stephanie Brown) - Digital Sketch

Batgirl © DC Comics

So I've got Batgirl on the mind. The Stephanie Brown version of Batgirl is another one I've never read. But I did hear a lot about her on Twitter today when I asked about her. So I did this little digital sketch in Photoshop. I might just finish this one.

This is Post #1594