First Characters

Well D&D month is coming to a close and I'm only getting around to my second post. Maybe this blogging thing isn't for me. Well if there is anyone still reading, hello internet peoples.

I dug up an old sketch book to show the first few characters I made. These drawing would have  been from 1994 or 95. As any artist will tell you it's a bit rough looking back at old art, but all these pieces lead me to the artist I am now.

First up is Kauch, elven thief. As I mentioned in the previous post the first setting I played in was Dark Sun. Elf in the Dark Sun world were very tall and tended to have dreadlocks. They were desert people. The beginning of the game had all the player characters being transported on a slave ship. They then attempted to take over the ship until they were captured again. The most notable part was that my character attempted to hold on to a weapon by clenching it between his but cheeks. It was a cross bow bolt and of no use. Even when the team eventually found a crossbow, no one wanted the bolt.

Next was Tal Jepel, human cleric of lightening. I spent a lot more time working on the back story for this character. The DM and even developed the version of religion he followed. It was primarily based on speed and Tal had an exceptionally high dexterity. His main focus was to have thought and action be one. Sadly after all that work I only got to play him once. 
Back when I drew this picture and the one above I did all of my inking with a tech pen with a tiny point. Tech pens are in my opinion the worst thing to ink with. They give you a dead line with no weight or feeling. You also spend much of your time unclogging them. Thank goodness I eventually discovered brushes.

Finally we Taruk Jepel, human ranger. I thought it was a fun idea to have my characters be related. Taruk was the character that I got to play the longest. By then end his group had slayed a dragon and the decision was made to turn in into a paladin an specifically a dragon slayer. We only played one more game with him in that roll, before the group fell apart. We did play several other one shots, but nothing was as grand or epic as the adventures as Taruk, Reefe and Posius.

To end this post here is a recent drawing of Taruk, Reefe, and Posius. Hopefully you can see that I've improved over the years.

A bit of the process

So I love sketch blogs that show a bit of people's process. I think it's rather... well brave isn't the right work, but maybe honest when artists let you behind the curtain. So with that in mind I decided to post some of the preliminary sketches for the work I have created here. I hope you enjoy them.

freakie sketches along with some paint smudges

my original Mister Miracle didn't feel quite right

some thumbs for my second attempt at MM

Zuckuss tumbs

uh... what do you know

So I did my drawing of Slave 1 and after I scanned it in I accidentally inverted the image. And I liked it. So here it is inverted.

Finally caught up.

Okay so I was able to find some time today to finally finish the Battle of the Planets challenge. I tried something a little different this time. I was inspired by various fake retro posters I've been seeing pop up on the art blogs I like to follow.

Also after making a joke in my initial post about Keyop, I decided to illustrate him. I gotta admit that his dune buggy tank was pretty cool.

That was just a week right?

Okay, so lots has been happening in my life that has kept me away from this blog. I started things here after I was laid off from my job as a way to keep myself creating. Well I have since found a job. One that is awesome and fun but takes me away from my home for the time being. All of this is good but leaves little time for me to create stuff for myself and your viewing pleasure. I wish to keep this blog going especially since Kir and I seem to be having fun and we've gotten a good response from it.

So basically I need to get better at managing my time now and to begin with I need to play a little catch up.  So here is my completed Evil Lynn. I could have kept working and changes certain things but there is a point all artists reach where we have to walk away.

Cheers.

Me Grimlock Hate Challenge

Okay let me be clear on this, I really really do not like Grimlock. I grew up in a house with a former English teacher as a mother. Improper grammar was frowned upon and being forced to listen to cartoon characters talk like Tarzan was daggers in my ears.  I also didn't have a dinosaur phase like most kids. I always viewed them as dragons' lamer little brother.

The other problem is this sort of challenge puts a spotlight on all my weaknesses as an artist. I'm not good with inorganic things and especially metal. These are all the things that went through my mind when I saw Kir's challenge. Why would he do this to me? I thought we were friends.

Of course the point of this blog is to keep drawing and improve and you only improve if you work on the areas where you are weak. So I got out my french curves and rulers and got to work. I have to say that it didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would. I actually kind of like the new animated look, but I'm a G1 guy at heart and couldn't betray the little kid in me.

Taking a Dip

So I fell a little behind schedule this week, what with having to shovel out of 23 inches of snow which fell in my area. I had my drawing done at the beginning of the week, but didn't get around to inking and coloring it until today.

I have attempted to capture the cavalier attitude to which Mister Miracle approaches danger. This is also the first time I can remember attempting an underwater scene. Water can be a tricky thing to capture in ink. Enjoy.

It Was A Cold Dark Evening

The stranger at the bar had been there for what looked like far to long.

Okay so I went in a very different direction for this piece. When I saw Kir's challenge my first thought was "Iron Man? I got this!" and then I read the rest of the post. Those last photos made it look as though Mego Iron Man had just woken up in a Tijuana prison after a long bender. This took my brain on a weird journey and what started out silly became darker and darker. So when it came to inking I got out an old dried out brush so I could get that chunky look. I original did some coloring with watercolor but that didn't turn out, so I recolored on the computer.

I gotta say that I love Kir's figure looks like he's wearing some worn out turtleneck vest. I tried to capture that. Again a weird piece for a weird challenge.

Zuckuss Sketch

Well here is my finished piece. Not as good as I was hoping but I did a few things that I'm rather proud of. First the camera angle is one  that I've always struggled with and I thing I pulled it off. Second I wanted a high contrast image and again I think that worked. I've already seen Mr. Bostic's piece and it's grand.