Mid-Week Update

I finished that Invisible Woman commission today.

My markers went wonky, so I'm not 100% satisfied with it, but it still came out pretty good.

I also redesigned the gauntlets for GG's costume.

Sue Storm

I was able to kill two birds with one stone today.

I got a commission to do a pinup of Sue Storm (The Invisible Woman) just a few hours after receiving an email from Dynamic Forces asking me to draw The Invisible Woman in her new costume.

Focus on the face, change the costume and PRESTO!

We've got next week's Daily Special!

Thumbelina - Update #2

Here's today's progress on the Thumbelina shirt:

It's coming together oh so slowly, but I just need to keep chipping away at it until it's ready to go.

I've also converted my Shark-a-billy doodle into a shirt design and have been using it to test out the Threadless critique/submission system. I've been shocked by how genuinely positive and HELPFUL the people on their forums have been! I'm looking forward to posting Thumbelina and seeing if I can get her accepted.

Thumbelina - Update

Here's today's progress on the Thumbelina shirt:

It has been every bit as frustrating as it looks.

Daily Special #5 - Domino

The Domino image I posted about previously has just made it's way onto the Dynamic Forces front page. She's the first in a series of covers I'll be doing soon depicting "The Women of X-Force"

Daily Specials only remain on the Dynamic Forces website for 24 hours, so go check it out now! And if you're reading this blog in the future, follow the link below to recreate what it was like for us primitive homo sapiens from the past, man.

(click here to read the article after it has expired)

Thumbelina Shirt Project

To those of you who are not familiar with Threadless, it is a digital mecca for amazing t-shirt designs. Designers submit their ideas and the whole online community critiques and votes on it. If there are enough favorable reviews, Threadless will produce the shirt, sell it on their website, and cut the designer a nice big check for their work.

I am currently in the progress of incorporating my Homeless Thumbelina image into a shirt design, but this deceivingly simple task is proving to be much more time consuming than I'd bargained for...

Threadless only accepts designs that use 8 colors or less, so I've been simplifying like mad. After a fruitless attempt to reduce my palette using nothing but Photoshop, I've come to the unfortunate conclusion that I really need to recreate this image using vectors if I want to keep it from getting too grainy.

The original piece is not graphic at all, so taking it from colored pencil into vectors has been a tricky undertaking.

Here's what the original looks like:

And here's how far I've gotten with the vectors:

*sigh* So many details...
Anyway, here's how the shirt will look in the end:

The fireflies might be printed in glow-in-the-dark ink, since I know that's something they can do... I just need to decide how ambitious I can afford to be before I risk pricing myself out of the race...

I really do feel that Thumbelina is one of my strongest illustrations,

I just hope it doesn't lose too much of it's appeal in the translation.

I'll probably post a step-by-step animation of my progress when it's finished. And I'll DEFINITELY post links to the Threadless submission when it's up for review! I'll need your help to make it past the submission stage, so get ready to vote early and often!

Owls Telling The Story of My Life

I don't usually blog about other websites, but this one is just too perfect.

So, for those of you who are not aware, there's a meme on the internet called Advice Animals in which different creatures are shown describing how to react in certain situations. Animals such as, insanity wolf or socially awkward penguin.

Well, last night I discovered F*ck Yeah Art Student Owl. And as someone who only recently disembarked from the crazy roller coaster ride that is art college, Art Student Owl is only too familiar. The late night projects, the highbrow B.S., and the deadly poisons we have to paint with are all part of the culture I've been surrounded by for the last four years of my life. Reading FYASO makes me experience something halfway between homesickness and Stockholm syndrome. Those four years were amazing, but god were they hard.

FYASO is a painfully accurate and absolutely hilarious insider's guide to what it's like to be an art major. Seriously, go check it out right now.

Domino

Just finished working on an image of Domino from X-Force. This'll probably be the next sketch cover I do for Dynamic Forces, but I'd like to work out some of the kinks first.

I can't decide if I like it better when her bodysuit is matte or glossy. Usually I enjoy making the costumes shine, but I kind of like the silhouette effect that occurs when I take out all the highlights.

Secret Project - pt. 2

Updated designs for the main character of Project G.G.

The headset is finally complete, but the rest of her bodysuit is still a work in progress.

I hate her gauntlets right now and although her boots look pretty cool, I think they would benefit from a little tweaking as well.

Once I finalize the designs for G.G., the rest of the cast should fall right into place. Here's hoping it's that easy.