Fwoosh!

It's been awhile since I posted anything so I thought I would post the next section of this comic that I was working on.  Nothing too fancy, but some good line quality here and there.  Maybe someday I'll finish the last section and then add some color.  What do you think?

Goblin in the Snow: Inked

To continue showing my process, here is the sketch from my previous post, now inked.  This inked drawing is a little different though from what I normally do.  Traditionally, I use brush and ink to ink my drawings.  I love using brush and ink, but it can be very time consuming, not to mention it uses up ink and wears on your brushes overtime.  I've never been a fan of inking digitally, especially when comics artists I use to admire go digital and then their lines look mechanical and lose a lot of character.  I think I did alright for my first try.  I used the program, Manga Studio Debut 4, which supposedly was known for its sensitivity in inking.  For anyone interested in inking digitally, I highly recommend this program.  I got it only for a trial period, but will for sure buy it now.

Sketchy Goblin in the Snow

It's obvious that my comic posts will be more like twice a year.  At any rate, I'm anxious to post something new so here is the next section of the comic story, in pencil, and with no speech bubbles.  I do like to make up my own sound effect text sometimes.  This comic isn't so much of me being a nerd and writing a story of fantasy, but rather a medium in which I can practice drawing and inking while hopefully telling a fun story.  More to come, sooner than later.

Christmas Card for the Marcums

 

This holiday season was a busy one for me with lots of traveling, visits and excursions.  I didn't have nor make the time to do my own Christmas card this year but I was lucky enough to help in creating a Christmas card for someone else.  My long time friend from college, Julia Marcum, and her husband Chris Marcum wanted to do something fun and less traditional for a Christmas card.  They wanted a caricature of themselves and their darling daughter Greta to grace the front of their Christmas card.  At first, time wasn't on my side and I tried to tell Julia that I wouldn't have time for this, but she informed me they would just find another illustrator.  I didn't want them to get a crappy Christmas card so I decided to do it myself after all and I'm very glad I did.  Julia says the card was a hit with her family and friends and I must say I'm very pleased with the results myself.

Read Julia's take on the Christmas card on her own popular blog, www.chrislovesjulia.com.  Great blog if you like art, family or interior decorating.

Christmas Cards 2011

The top image is from a Christmas card I made for my parents last year and meant to share but never got around to it.  I made cards for each of my siblings' families, altering them slightly to include each sibling with his/her spouse.  The second image shows all the other siblings and spouses.  Can you pick out which ones are which?

Third Grade Detectives Cover #4

Here is the fourth cover I did for the series, Third Grade Detectives.  The second and third book covers aren't as interesting in my opinion because I was still getting the style down.  Plus the lighting is more interesting for this fourth book cover.  Funny thing though, I feel I got a little better with each book cover I finished.  That being said, I can still see mistakes now that I would like to fix.  Oh well.  The first five books or so have replaced the old ones in places like Amazon.com.  You should check them out, though you can't see a larger version of the cover since it is still linked to the old art work.  I'll post more of these new book covers as they are released.

More Mountain Goblins

At long last, the second half to page three from my untitled comic.  I took the saturation down a bit for the colors and added in a texture for slightly more interest.  Because of the natural orientation of monitors these days, I'm thinking page 4 will be more horizontal to fit the ratio better.  Most popular web comics that have lengthy text are horizontal anyways.  I wish this comic was something people could enjoy more regularly, but so far it's just a fun thing I do on occasion.