Derrick Likes To Draw...

2011-11-21T00:39:00.002-05:00

A piece for Chatterbox Theater's Halloween program. It was based on the show's second act, which explored the dynamic between a man and his werewolf wife.

For Ten Paces and Draw's Fan Art theme. This was the finish I came up with, based on Sarah Stroub's sketch of a Jack Skellington/Mickey Mouse hybrid. Here's Mika Nakano's drawing of my sketch.

Some Yardbird fan art. I was trying out a process that's not too dissimilar from one that I saw on Cam Floyd's illustration blog.

Some black and white gouache demos for my buddy John's Illustration 1 class. The top drawing was an example of working from a mid tone and painting in lighter & darker values, and the bottom one an example of building up darker tones while using the white of the page for light values.

Finally, I've been playing around with making actual art objects, you know, things that have an x,y, AND z dimension. I took some small graphite drawings, mounted them on some small blocks and painted them to all hell with acrylic. There was a lot of matte medium involved.

I'll be finding more ways to apply this technique, and perhaps a process post is in order? We'll see soon enough.

Updates for October

2011-10-25T20:56:00.000-04:00

I've been pretty busy the past month; working on commissions, teaching, getting ready for a solo show, and getting a few boss illustration assignments, so unfortunately that means a lonely, unattended blog. I figured an image dump and and some corresponding ramblings would make up for lost time. So let's get started with a few commissions and odds & ends pieces:

The last two images were scans of a practice drawing that I did in preparation for a Halloween illustration that I'm working on. I've reintroduced graphite into my image-making arsenal, and wanted to combine that with some of the painterly work I've been doing lately. I started out with a graphite underdrawing, fixed it, then built up my value range further with ink and added glazes of subtle gouache color for emphasis in some key areas. The next piece is gonna be a badass and a half to draw.

This is an illustration I did about a month ago for This Land Press, once again under the art direction of Jeremy Luther. It was for an article about the band Tesla. Given that hair bands were the central subject matter, it was an excuse to come up with some ideas including these:

And this was my color reference:

This a quick drawing I made for the Ten Paces and Draw blog. It's a fun sketch swap blog where illustrators take each other's roughs and bring them to finish. I had the joy of working from Pawel Mildner's hilarious sketch (it's probably not so funny if you're a dog lover...).

Finally, last week I spent some time with Occupy Memphis during their first few days in the Civic Plaza downtown. I went with the intention of asking what it was all about and doing some sketches. Fast forward to three nights of camping and occupation later, and I collected a nice little set of images from my time with the demonstrators. I tried to capture as much conversation as I could without the luxury of an audio recorder, but I'm happiest with how things developed visually.

Publish Post

I plan to return to the occupation soon to see how things have developed.

Experiment Comic and Some Late Night Gouaches.

2011-09-28T04:20:00.000-04:00

I had a weird dream about being in space, which led me to a quick scan of a Wikipedia article about exposure in the vacuum of space, which in turn led to the above comic. The images below are some good fun with ink and gouache.

I checked out an exhibition at the Dixon gallery yesterday that featured the work of Jean-Louis Forain. Not so crazy about his oils, but his ink, watercolor, and gouache work left me excited about trying out a different techniques with wet media. I should also mention that his studies and observational sketches are excellent.

Catching Up!

2011-09-17T00:35:00.023-04:00

Hey guys! Sorry about the posting hiatus- Between a trip to New York and a CRAZY (for so many reasons) month, I haven't really been tending to the blog like I should. Consequently, the Daily Gouache project got pushed to the backburner (Shame! Shame!). To rectify this terrible wrong, I'm gonna post the last few gouache pieces I made before my trip up north, some quick sketches and doodles I did there, some illustrations for This Land Press and Baker & Hill for National Geographic's website, and a few more awesome projects that I've been keeping busy with! Does that sounds like a lot? It sure is, but that tends to happen when the regular flow of posting gets held up.

First up, some gouache/inks from early August:

Here's a illustration I made a few months for an awesome publication called This Land Press. It was based on a short fiction story by Lori Ostlund.

These are some thumbs that I sent for this project:

These are a few ideas that I narrowed down for the piece, but the one that the art director and I leaned towards was the one that emphasized the escape from one place to a destination that was less than ideal. On the drawing side of things, it was a lot of fun playing with the perspective and crazy color contrast. A big thank you to John Lee and Jeremy Luther for this assignment.

These are "stills" from an animated quiz that I made for Baker & Hill at about the same point in time for National Geographic's website:

This project was a triple-prong endeavor, with different quizzes being handled by the before-linked John Lee and fellow 901-er Bee Johnson.

Finally moving on to more recent things, these are some quick studies from my trip to New York last month. I plan on making a series of drawings based on that week when I'm able to make time for it.

These are a few gouache pieces that I made based on Kurt Vonnegut's "Sirens of Titan":

The novel was full of great imagery to work from; the two moments that I picked pertained to "goofballs", pills which allows one to breathe in low-to-zero oxygen environments, and Kazak, the faithful canine companion to a chief character in the book. The third image was an idea sketch for the image above it.

This was a piece that I drew live at the Cooper-Young Festival. Live From Memphis invited me and two other REALLY talented illustrators to set up at their booth to sell our wares and do some on the spot drawing. I had an hour to make a piece from scratch, so I pounded gouache and ink onto a piece of Arches until I ended up with this guy.

And finally, this...

and this...

...are from "Tanuki!", a comic that I started a few years ago. I have the first chapter drawn out and I'm working on finishing the second one. There's going to be changes to the look from when I last posted about it. I'll definitely have something up in the near-future time frame.

So with all of that covered, I'll be keeping my posts short, sweet, and regularly spaced from now on. More Daily Gouaches to come next week!

Thanks for looking!

NY Sketchbook

2011-08-31T02:37:00.080-04:00

These are my sketches and notes from August 19th-27th, scanned in their entirety. Thanks for looking.

Sincerely,

Derrick

Daily Gouache 7/30-8/4

2011-08-05T09:47:00.002-04:00

Daily Gouache 7/20-7/29

2011-07-31T02:35:00.007-04:00

I started to geek out on dinosaur skulls for a bit. My humble career as an artist started in the second grade, where many thunder lizard drawings were made in the margins of my workbooks.

The bottom image is another music-inspired piece, the strange love child of a Florence and the Machine song and a few other songs that were on my iPod shuffle playlist. These drawings are a lot of fun and usually involve a lot of of experimentation with media and process.

Daily Gouache 7/10-7/19

2011-07-21T00:22:00.005-04:00

Another slew of paintings and sketches. I had a particularly fun time with these. Some were experiments in technique, others were just me playing with a few concepts, some of which were influenced by what I happened to be reading or watching at the time.

On a personal note, I've been looking at Barron Storey's journals for some inspiration. He came down to Memphis College of Art some time years ago and shared his sketchbooks with a captivated audience, an experience that left a lasting impression on me. In an interview, he mentioned how those journals were vital for him during periods of isolation and introspection. That said, Barron was going through some serious stuff; my occasional rounds of short term solitude and the resulting lonely lil' hearts are certainly light by comparison. The point of my tangent, however, is that Storey's journals remind me of what a sketchbook could be, and that the process of drawing can be a vehicle for both ideation and emotional respite.

Daily Gouache 6/20-7/9

2011-07-10T11:34:00.007-04:00

I've been away from the blog for way too long, embarrassingly so. The Daily Gouache project became the background noise to moving, a lot of teaching, and a sudden influx of freelance work (which is always good). That said, this project is certainly not dead, and here's the backlog from the past two weeks.

NOTE: I've excluded the work from 6/25-6/29 and 7/5, as it's being used for assignments that are pending publication. I'll definitely post them later.

The Daily Gouache Giveaway Winner: Kayla Cline!

2011-06-30T23:00:00.002-04:00

The winner of the Daily Gouache Giveaway is the ink-slinging corgi enthusiast Kayla Cline!
Speaking of Daily Gouache, I've been working on a super cool project this week that involves A LOT of gouache paintings. Non-disclosures are keeping me from posting them now, but in the next week I'll have a big process/catchup post :)

The Daily Gouache 63 Day Anniversary/ Gouache Sale/ Gouache Giveaway

2011-06-20T20:01:00.009-04:00

Hey guys! I just did the count today and found out that the Daily Gouache Project is 63 days strong! That means there's a little gouache painting for 63 days of the calender year! To celebrate the roughly two month anniversary, I'm offering you guys the chance to receive a free 6"x6" gouache painting of anything you want! ANYTHING! Just send me an email at me@derrickdent.com by June 26th with your suggestion for what you think I should paint for a one of my project pieces. The winner will be announced the following Monday with the finished piece posted that Wednesday.

ALSO:
I am having a sale of some of my pieces from the collection thus far. I'm going to be moving soon and this kind of project tends to create a healthy backlog of artwork. As much as I would like to hold on to all of these pieces, I'd rather they were appreciated by someone who likes them. Plus, moving is expensive (you'd REALLY be helping me out)!
A lot of them fall under the dimensions of 8"x10", which run at $80, and 6"x6" which will go at $60. There are some odd pieces that will be priced differently, but we're talking MAJOR DISCOUNTS for original art here. Here's a list of what's up for sale:

Wrong Side of the Street, 6"x 6" ($70)
Wakka Wakka, 6"x 6" ($20)
Boys Room, 6"x 6" ($20)
Leftover Paint Lady, 6"x 6" ($60)
Super Dawn of Man Fighter 2001, 6"x 12" ($70)
Where are My Teef?, 6"x 6" ($40)
Do the Dog, 6"x 6" (SOLD)
Funky Chickens, 6"x 6" ($60)
Penguins, 6"x 6" ($60)
Lucha Lady, 6"x 6" ($60)
Lucha Lady 2, 6"x 6" ($60)
Lucha Lady 3, 5.5"x8" (SOLD)
Lucha Lady 4, 5.5"x 8" (SOLD)
Red in the Face, 5.5"x 8" ($70)
Coat, 6"x 6" ($40)
Scarf, 4.5"x 8" (SOLD)
Doom, 6"x 6" ($60)
Doomette, 6"x 6" ($60)
Lucha Lady Pin-up, 9"x 15" ($110)
Football Pic, 8"x 10" ($80)
BOOOM!, 8"x 10" ($80)
Pig-Out, 8"x 10" (SOLD)
Bathroom, 8"x 10" ($40)
Elephant, 9"x 12" (SOLD)
Samus, 8"x 10" (SOLD)
Pearce, 7"x 9" ($40)
Hanna Poster, 8"x 10" ($40)
Step Right Up, 3.75"x 5.75" ($20)

The cost for each includes $2 shipping and handling ($5 international). Email me for more ordering information.

Thanks a ton, guys!

Daily Gouache 6/12- 6/19

2011-06-20T08:37:00.007-04:00

I've been teaching drawing and comics classes for the past week, and there are still three more weeks of that ahead of me, so the blogging may be taking a bit of a back seat. That said, here's a big catch-up post to show that gouache paintings are still coming along.

The image above was a Father's Day present. Here it is sitting in its rightful place amongst my dad's snapshots and counter ephemera.

Daily Gouache 6/5-6/11

2011-06-12T12:19:00.005-04:00

DISCLAIMER: Some of the images at the end of this post may offend or disturb you, causing deep emotional distress. Please view at your own discretion.

Daily Gouache 5/31-6/4

2011-06-05T09:57:00.002-04:00

The last one was for May 30th, which, for some reason or another, completely escaped me.

Daily Gouache 5/24-5/29

2011-05-30T02:38:00.005-04:00

A few studies and a bit of fun with luchador masks.

Daily Gouache 5/20-5/23

2011-05-24T11:44:00.004-04:00

Some experiments with layering and masking fluid in preparation for a new piece.

TN Legislature Hootenanny

2011-05-21T21:48:00.004-04:00

So between passing bills designed to circumvent anti-discrimination ordinances, reminding women that the law has more authority over their bodies than they do, introducing the "sky daddy theory" into science classes, and teaching young students that the best way to deal with people that are different is to pretend that they don't exist, it's easy to wonder if there's moonshine circulating about Tennessee's legislative body.

Daily Gouache 5/19- Pig Out

2011-05-20T09:52:00.004-04:00

After working with any medium for a while, it only becomes a matter of time before breakthroughs start to occur. I'm still working on it, but it's becoming more exciting to produce work these days :)

Daily Gouache 5/13-5/18

2011-05-19T10:42:00.003-04:00

"Bad" Word

2011-05-17T23:52:00.005-04:00

I made this as a design for a poster show organized by Memphis Loves Gays. It's in response to the news about Senate Bill 49, or the "Don't Say Gay" bill. If passed, it would prohibit teachers in the state of TN from discussing any other sexual orientation other than heterosexuality to elementary and middle school students. Besides being an obvious attack on the LGBT community, it's yet another attempt by political conservatives in TN to keep the public school curriculum unbalanced in their favor.

Gouache Tondo

2011-05-17T23:36:00.006-04:00

I finished this commissioned piece today after two REALLY long work sessions. It was a challenge to work with gouache on such a large (relatively large- 16" diameter) surface, but the entire process was enjoyable. I may have to scale up my work after this one...

Downtown INK-OFF!

2011-05-13T19:52:00.003-04:00

This past Tuesday saw me downtown in a heated inking duel with John. It was part of Live from Memphis' downtown series of lunchtime events in Court Square during the months of May and June. The rules of the "ink-off" were simple. Both John and I had an hour to draw on our respective halves of a huge panel. The audience then decided the winner by round of applause. Check out LFM's awesome post on the event.

Zoo Doodles/ Daily Gouache Catch-up

2011-05-12T06:47:00.000-04:00

I was busier than usual this week, so it I had to put the Daily Gouache project on pause for a second- My apologies to anyone that may have been following it. That said, I went to the zoo a few days ago with fellow inkslinger John Lee and made a ton of drawings to catch up for lost time.

Daily Gouache 5/1-5/3

2011-05-05T01:28:00.005-04:00

The bottom image was the result of accidentally inverting the colors while editing in Photoshop.

Daily Gouache 4/29/11-4/30/11

2011-05-01T18:48:00.003-04:00

Daily Gouache 4/27&4/28

2011-04-29T03:42:00.003-04:00

A couple of ink and gouache experiments.

Figure Sketch

2011-04-27T12:20:00.003-04:00

Sketch from last night.

Daily Gouache Goes to the Movies

2011-04-26T15:02:00.005-04:00

Sometimes you just have to do fan art.

Daily Gouache 4/23-4/24

2011-04-25T02:45:00.003-04:00

Daily Gouache 4-21&4-22

2011-04-23T18:42:00.001-04:00

Daily Gouache: Mockingbird

2011-04-21T17:37:00.004-04:00

"...you can put a bird on something and call it art!"
-quote from the IFC series "Portlandia"

Photoshop Experiment

2011-04-20T15:31:00.004-04:00

Today's gouache sketch is actually a part of a Frankenstein's monster-style experiment involving a few hand drawn layers and some tinkering with screen layers in Photoshop. This is definitely a test run of this process, so feel free to leave comments/feedback and let me know what you think.

EDIT: Here's a revised version:

Gouache Sketches

2011-04-19T17:05:00.002-04:00

A few more daily gouaches :)

Sketchbook 4-16/4-17

2011-04-17T21:38:00.004-04:00

Some sketches from yesterday and the day before. I've been putting off working in color for WAY too long, so the old gouache set has come out of retirement. I'm holding myself to using them at least once a day in addition to my inks- I'm excited about how my work will develop with enough practice!

Sketchbook

2011-04-15T00:05:00.004-04:00

Science in Disguise

2011-04-13T18:45:00.005-04:00

If you're not familiar with the news, Tennessee conservatives are pushing to pass HB 368, a bill that if made into effective law, will require public schools to include intelligent design as part of the science curriculum.
Intelligent design is based around the idea that there are complexities in nature that could never occur by chance, only by intention- through the conscious effort of an omnipotent designer.
Proponents of the bill argue that intelligent design is a valid scientific theory, one that should be taught alongside Darwin's well-established (and accepted) theory of evolution. Opponents, particularly those in the scientific community, see the "alternate teaching" as science in disguise, merely a thin veil for creationism. HB 368 is still pending approval from the Senate.

Derby Designs!

2011-04-08T02:06:00.004-04:00

These are my submissions to a t-shirt contest being held by the Memphis Roller Derby. These ladies kick major ass. For real.

Sketchbook!

2011-03-26T18:44:00.001-04:00

Digital Roughs

2011-03-15T23:02:00.006-05:00

I started a comic project today and this is a page layout I made in Photoshop. It's been forever since I've tried digital sketching. It's such a time saver, especially for quick value studies. Compositional tweaks and pencils come tomorrow...

Derby Doodles

2011-03-13T01:21:00.003-05:00

Some drawings from the roller derby bout tonight. It was a real challenge trying to capture so many fast moving figures in motion. Lots of gestures and scribbles figures.

Right of Center, Pt.3

2011-03-10T14:02:00.003-05:00

I meant to get this one out last night. It was a little unnerving- I was finishing this when I read this article regarding the public workers' protest in Wisconsin.

Right of Center pt.2

2011-03-09T16:04:00.006-05:00

An addition to the series. I'll try to have another one posted tonight.

Right of Center

2011-03-08T13:03:00.003-05:00

These are from a series of drawings that I'm currently working on. They're informed by editorial articles released by a number of news publications (their online counterparts) and submitted reader comments. The stories relate to U.S. politics and current affairs such as the recession, union rights, big government vs. state's rights, and other topics. One thing that I found interesting was the rhetoric among the political right. There are a number of sentiments that are recurrent, verbiage that seems to come out as naturally as exhaled hot air, both by conservative politicians and their constituents. I'll be posting more soon.

Komeda!

2011-02-23T21:05:00.004-05:00

This piece of was a continuation of a project that I gave myself a few years ago, in which I made illustrations inspired by my iPod playlists. This is from my recent obsession with Swede-pop band Komeda. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the process throughout.

Thanks for looking!

Life Drawing and WIP Update

2011-02-23T00:51:00.004-05:00

Some drawings from last night's session, and a quick snap of the piece from my last post before I take it to Photoshop. More later:)

Work In Progress

2011-02-20T00:20:00.002-05:00

A new piece in progress. I've got some value issues to resolve and a few more touches to add. More to come soon.

Sketchbook & Le Pens

2011-02-16T18:21:00.003-05:00

Some recent sketchbook pages. It's been a lot of fun playing with Le Pen markers again.

Life Drawing

2011-02-08T12:14:00.003-05:00

These are from last night's figure drawing session at MCA. This week was a lot of fun, and I'm improving with every session. There's still some issues (proportion, forshortening) to be resolved, but most of the enjoyment comes from practicing. It also helps to be next to people that are good at this stuff :P. More from next week's session if I don't post anything between now and then.

Drizzle Drawing

2011-01-26T21:28:00.005-05:00

Yesterday saw fellow (hardcore) winter doodler John Lee and myself at the Memphis Zoo, braving drizzle and rain to draw anything that was crazy enough to be out in the cold with us. I'll spare you the REALLY bad drawings that came from numb hands and soaked pages and show a couple of the nicer ones from the trip.

Otomo's Bike

2011-01-22T01:20:00.004-05:00

This was a piece I did as an homage to one of my favorite animated films of all time. More than two decades after its theatrical release, it's still a jaw dropper.

Amok Time BFF

2011-01-06T23:04:00.005-05:00

This is a recently finished piece inspired equally by a very special moment in television history and a YouTube masterpiece.

The initial sketch

Preparing to transfer the drawing to cold press illustration board via lots of friggin' graphite on the back of the sketch.

Some of the tedious first steps. the cruddy white areas in the first picture are masked off areas made with artists tape and an X-acto knife. The dark area in the second picture is my shadow looming over the shot...

Workspace clutter! Includes work in progress, recently fixed netbook, drawing supplies, rough sketches, value studies, and etc. And I do mean ETC.

Finished ink drawing ready to be scanned and touched up in Photoshop.

Birds and Shoppers

2011-01-04T22:06:00.005-05:00

Some sketches from the Memphis Zoo and from my part-time job. My buddy John has a nice post with sketches from the same zoo visit.

Selected Sketchbook Entries from December

2010-12-23T21:04:00.006-05:00

Proposed Skateboard Deck

2010-11-16T19:21:00.004-05:00

I recently made this for a friendly local skate company. Putting it together was an epic ten-scan endeavor that, after some clean up and some quick color editing, amounts to what you see below:

The horribly pixelated red line is an estimate of the board's shape and orientation, just to give the drawing some context.

Statue Heads

2010-11-14T23:21:00.007-05:00

Today's Ink

2010-11-12T19:59:00.003-05:00

Ink, Blackbirds, and Dine Fan Art

2010-11-04T01:53:00.007-05:00

A few more experiments with calligraphy pens, brushes and broad-tipped markers.

Hand Lettering

2010-11-02T01:12:00.006-05:00

I was playing with an ITOYA calligraphy marker and these are a few of my favorites from today.

Chatterbox Audio Theater

2010-10-26T18:35:00.002-04:00

I was asked to provide an illustration for this years's Halloween program on WKNO's Chatterbox Audio Theater, a task that a very talented friend handled last year. I had lot of fun working with the eerie subject matter and there will hopefully be more to come from this. You should definitely check out the program Halloween night on WKNO-FM. If you miss the original broadcast, it will be available on the Chatterbox Audio Theater site.

Commission Row

2010-10-17T22:36:00.003-04:00

Here's the first round of commissions for the travel fundraiser. I'm still taking requests, so send an email to me@derrickent.com if you want to get that drawing you never got around to asking for, but always wanted ;)

Thanks!

NOVA

2010-09-21T01:52:00.010-04:00

Here's my Nova redesign put through an Ancient Egyptian filter. Lots of fun experimenting with hand drawn layers of texture.
Side note: I need to quit making pieces that require large format scanning when I don't have a large format scanner.

Life Over AIDS Exhibition at Caritas Village

2010-09-15T13:16:00.010-04:00

I recently submitted a piece for the "Life Over AIDS" show, hosted by Caritas Village. The exhibition is intended is to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. I drew the image above after reading this list of statistics from The Centers for Disease Control website, which states:

"At some point in their life, approximately one in 16 black men will be diagnosed with HIV..."

That's a pretty scary (and small) number, especially when dealing with HIV and AIDS. I'm part of the aforementioned demographic, so that stat also strikes a personal chord.

For info about Caritas Village and the show, follow this link.

"Daily" Doodles

2010-09-12T23:39:00.004-04:00

I slipped a bit with the posting, but these are a few fun headshots I drew after finishing some less entertaining work.

Daily Doodles and Project Sketchbook Preview

2010-09-08T21:59:00.005-04:00

I don't want to make any promises, but I think I'm starting to pick up a bit of a sketchbook bug, enough so to motivate more posting. The top two spreads are from today and the bottom three are from my contribution to Project Sketchbook.

More Sketchbook!

2010-09-07T01:04:00.003-04:00

A couple more recent spreads.

Storm

2010-09-06T01:05:00.005-04:00

This is my contribution to this week's Superhero Cocoa blog theme. Comments and feedback are always welcome :)

Sketchbook Scraps

2010-09-04T00:07:00.005-04:00

Midnight Classic!

2010-08-26T15:10:00.003-04:00

One of the biggest organized rides in Memphis is happening this weekend! If you've got a bike, and you're in Memphis, and you like, I don't know... FUN, you should totally participate in this year's event. Go to midnightclassicbiketour.org for more details!

Memphis Daily News/Project Sketchbook

2010-08-05T13:30:00.005-04:00

(photo by Lance Murphy)

From this past Tuesday's edition of Memphis Daily News, which featured a story about Project Sketchbook. I normally try to keep my face out of the blog a much as possible, but I was pretty excited about the article. My credentials were apparently more impressive than I remembered- I had no idea that I held a MASTER' DEGREE! If only I could find some printed copies of the paper...

Red Dead Daredevil

2010-07-31T20:59:00.003-04:00

This is my late 19th century Daredevil for the Superhero Cocoa blog.

Catwoman Reimagined

2010-07-11T01:14:00.005-04:00

So, there's been a bit of a comic-character-redesign bug stirring about, and it's finally gotten to me. I chose to redesign Catwoman, but instead of a variant of her existing costume, I made a bit of a departure from the well known design.

Oh Yeah...

2010-06-20T00:04:00.005-04:00

...an update on the Illustration Academy piece.

Using...NIBS??!

2010-06-19T23:40:00.005-04:00

I was recently informed about a nib that would possibly convert me from brushes, or at least use something else besides them for my ink work. I was skeptical about it, since I've had some iffy experiences with nibs in my undergrad work. But sure enough, after giving the Mitchell Gillott #303 test run, I've come to this conclusion:

This thing owns harder than any tool that I used for ink thus far.

I'll be looking do some fresh stuff with ink in the near future, but in the meantime, here's some doodles I did at work with the nib and my dirty, inky fingers.

Illustration Academy Hopeful

2010-06-18T00:40:00.004-04:00

This piece (still in progress) is slated to be my entry in a contest to win a scholarship to next year's Illustration Academy. It's a bit of a departure from my usual working methods. I've still got some noodling to do, so I'll be posting the finished piece, along with some more "Monster City" comics a bit later.

Even More Monsters

2010-06-09T00:11:00.003-04:00

These were a bit overdue, but I finally got around to them.

PLOP Teaser

2010-06-07T10:19:00.005-04:00

This is from the first issue of "PLOP", slated for release sometime this summer. It's a self-published comic zine that'll feature work from Gino Barzizza, John Lee, Alex "Warble" Harrison, and myself.

More Monsters

2010-06-05T00:53:00.001-04:00

Monster City Residents

2010-06-03T03:37:00.005-04:00

These were a lot of fun to draw, and I couldn't have done it without the help of a handful of awesome volunteers. I hope that more people offer their likenesses. I want a village of these guys.

Coming Soon...

2010-06-02T02:08:00.004-04:00

This was done as a special request :)

Monster City Blues

2010-05-31T12:23:00.002-04:00

This is a short comic I finished up today.

Whew!

2010-05-30T01:41:00.004-04:00

It's been a good minute since I've posted anything, mainly because I've been working on some projects that are either beyond my liberties to post just yet or still in progress. Rest assured, I'm still making stuff. In due time...

Ptera

2010-04-22T00:04:00.005-04:00

I've been busy working overtime hours, as well as on a cool project with Live From Memphis, but in the meantime, this is a follow-up to my previous dinosaur-related post.

Ted

2010-04-12T01:29:00.003-04:00

This was a sketch I made during down time at work. It's based from a photo from the uber-talented Brigitte Lacombe.

Photoshop Process Post

2010-04-07T23:35:00.016-04:00

This is the overdue follow-up to my previous process post. This is a very simple walkthrough of how I typically color images in Photoshop. Specifically, I'll be going over this guy:

I started out with three separate drawings, a line art drawing, a "shadow/texture" drawing, and a skeletal drawing.

The line drawing came first, followed by the other two that were made with the help of a lightbox. It's important to get everything lined up pretty well at this step. This is like a real world version of the layering process that one would deal with in Photoshop.

I scan all three drawings as 8-bit grayscales at 300 dpi. By scanning at grayscale, I'm saving myself from the headache of dealing with HUGE files and tedious color management issues. I would opt for 600dpi, but my limited hard drive is forcing me to skimp a little. The line art and texture drawings seen above are after I adjusted the levels.

I only made minor adjustments to the skeleton drawing, as I wanted to retain the texture of the paper. That's why you see some fuzz at the top of it. A lot of people (understandably) go for stark black and white contrast, as it makes coloring MUCH easier, but I've become a fan of the residual grit from scanning.

The above image is what those layers look like composited in Photoshop. I left the line drawing as a locked "background" layer, and dragged the other two drawings over it as multiply layers, which I employ a good deal in my digital work. Right now both multiply layers are at reduced opacities to illustrate how the layers line up.

After I'm satisfied with this part of picture, I change the mode of the picture to RGB, since it's still in grayscale. I also hide the texture and skeleton layers for now.

I used the lasso tool and paint bucket to fill in the line art layer with a base color on a separate layer. This is a multiply layer as well. As you can probably tell, I've also applied a radial gradient (USE GRADIENTS SPARINGLY!) with the base color which will help with the visibility of certain details down the road.

I then lowered the opacity of the base color layer, and began adding secondary colors on a separate multiply layer to create more contrast and to fill in areas that I missed with first round of coloring. After this step, I hid the secondary color layer and increased the opacity of the base color layer. I also bring back the skeleton drawing.

As mentioned before, I retained the texture of this drawing because it's gonna work in my favor with this next step. With the skeleton layer selected, I adjusted the color balance to make it more analogous with the base color.

I brought back the other layers, adjusting the opacity for each as necessary. The eye of the T-Rex was being obscured by the skeleton and texture layers, so I took the soft edge eraser tool at a low opacity to both layers around that area. The texture layer was also converted from a multiply layer to a soft light layer. This way, the same implied surface could be retained without overpowering the image.

Finally, for good measure, I colored the lines by adding a screen layer over the line art layer. I used a sampled color from the drawing and used the brush tool to go over the areas that I wanted to adjust.

THE END! (for now...)

Zombie Luv

2010-04-05T03:18:00.005-04:00

This was inspired by the call girl ads in the Memphis Flyer that are embarrassingly close to one my favorite sections of that paper.

MILIEU Opening

2010-04-04T23:33:00.006-04:00

Following up on this post, these are pictures from the opening of "Milieu" this past Friday. The ten artists-strong show brought in an huge crowd which was, considering there were so many other events, a huge testament to the supportive community of artists in Memphis. I'll avoid getting too mushy...

Momentum Exhibition

2010-04-04T21:47:00.007-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to submit work into a show that was being coordinated by CODA, an arts organization from Rhodes College. It was unexpected and definitely an eleventh hour call. The invitation came two days prior to the opening, and I was at a lack of stuff that was ready for exhibition. It was suggested that I perform a live drawing during the show, which was fine but that meant coming up with a idea and making it fit in an undefined space.

Yeah...

I quickly made some sketches out, confirmed how much wall space I had, and prepared for two intense hours of speed drawing. Here are the photos.

If you were interested in seeing this process in motion, my friend Elisha recorded this nifty video of the drawing as it progressed throughout the evening.

More gallery updates to come :)

A Modest Promotion of My Goods

2010-03-29T02:11:00.005-04:00

I've got a Etsy store set up, so you should take a little time to consider this:

For ten dollars, you can own a little piece of awesome, and I in return will eat well, thus ensuring my survival and ability to make more pieces of awesome! Just saying...

MILIEU Exhibition

2010-03-24T11:51:00.004-04:00

This is the design for the event poster for "Milieu", a collaborative installation exhibition at Marshall Arts hosted by the Rozelle Artists Guild. I did the illustration and the title text, and digital maestro Lauren Rae Holtermann made it all super-slick.

The opening reception will be on April 2nd from 6-9pm at 639 Marshall Avenue. If you're in the area and you're looking for something to help you recover from the April Fools shenanigans, you should come down. There will be live murals, furniture masquerading as people, xeroxes galore, a tribute to that old t-shirt that you wore all the time in middle school, and more!

It Came from the Reviews section!

2010-03-22T11:24:00.003-04:00

The Memphis Flyer is kind of a mainstay at the front table at the Art Center, and when faced with a lot of free time and the impulse to draw, I tend to take my inspiration where I can get it.

After Some Suggestions...

2010-03-10T15:12:00.003-05:00

I think I'm going to leave this one alone for a bit...

A Drawing Revisited

2010-03-04T00:31:00.003-05:00

I decided to give this guy the (limited) color treatment. Thoughts?

AutoZone and ArtsMemphis...

2010-02-25T12:29:00.005-05:00

...are two entities that have interesting capitalization. They are also center stage in this fun little drawing I made this morning. I feel like I have to emphasize MORNING because I woke up at 6:30, which is something I haven't done since I worked for a moving company. By the time I got to the AutoZone HQ downtown, the chill of February had worked its magic better than any expresso shot could have. When I checked in, I was listed as a "performer" working with ArtsMemphis which, after good half-hour, felt like a bit of a misnomer. Granted, I was technically performing, furiously doodling away at my easel- however, context makes a big difference. In the sleek downtown entrance lobby, I exuded the kind of electricity that one enjoys from watching a badminton match on ESPN5. That said, it was still fun to draw and I thank ArtsMemphis for the gig and AutoZone for letting me slap ink around in their front door.

Surprise!

2010-02-25T11:50:00.005-05:00

This was a birthday gift to my sweeter-than-all-get-out girlfriend. I surprised her with it a few days ago and she loved it (Thank goodness!). It was quite the task to get it printed, most of it involving multiple bike trips to find a place that makes decent color prints. Surprisingly, the local Kinkos gave me pretty good results, considering they gave me free reign to adjust the print settings on their computer.

When Hypertrichosis Becomes a Theme...

2010-02-07T21:36:00.003-05:00

These were long overdue for posting. I finished the first one when I had some free time at work, and it was suggested that I make some more. The next thing you know there's an odd looking family of four.

Monster of Ceremonies

2010-01-24T21:48:00.004-05:00

These are two pieces that will be included in the "Sivads of March" group show at Adam Shaw's studio on Broad Street. It's a tribute to Watson Davis aka Sivad, the host of "Fantastic Features", a weekly program of horror movies that aired during the 60s and 70s on WHBQ-TV. These were a lot of fun to do and I'm excited to see what other people have done for the exhibition. The opening will be Friday, March 26, so you'll have time to make the appropriate arrangements.

Public Beware!

2010-01-21T15:36:00.001-05:00

I'm coming for ya.

A Bit More From "Tanuki"

2010-01-08T00:45:00.005-05:00

I just finished another set of pages and figured it would be cool to share a few more before finishing the first chapter.

Snowglobe Music Video

2010-01-06T11:02:00.007-05:00

Earlier last year I collaborated with Christopher Reyes of Live from Memphis and the band Snowglobe to make the music video for their song "Love". It debuted at the Music Video Showcase from last year's Indie Memphis Film Festival, and it looks like the good folks at LFM have it up on YouTube now.

Check it out:

"Tanuki" Teaser

2010-01-05T21:57:00.006-05:00

For the past few months, I've been steadily working on what will be the webcomic "Tanuki" whenever the free time surfaces. I'm having fun with this project and it's one of the few comics that have made it past my "at least five pages or else it's dead" mark. I'm still finishing the first chapter, but here are a handful of pages for now:

More to come soon.