I Thor-t it was you

Well, 'Thunor', apparently is the Norse God of storms and thunder. Aka 'Thor', methinks. Anyway, same project as last time, this! Again, a pretty quick illo (say about 15 to 20 mins all told?), and a nice layout that I'm really happy with!

Doing these illos really took me back to drawing and sketching in a comic book style, which is pretty much all I did illustration-wise whilst I was in high school - 'How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way' was my bible back then! Though to give credit where it's due, this style of drawing, as well as being a dynamic 'Marvel-esque' pose, really owes a lot to a book called 'Action! Cartooning' by Ben Caldwell. It's improved my anatomy (my drawn anatomy, that is) and styling no end. Well worth adding to your shelf. Check it out!

Ye Gods!

A recent project had me 'illustrating the days of the week', most of which are derived from the names of various Norse Gods. Anyway, above is 'Woden', and, though it's quite a simple drawing, I really like the composition of it. It came pretty quickly, as a lot of satisfying illos often do!

Done in Flash 8 with a Wacom tablet.

(No prizes for guessing the day named after this guy.)

Painter Styles

There wasn't a lot of time to do 10 illustrations for this particular project, so before going in I had a rougher finish in mind using coloured paper (so I could add colour to what needed it and leave the rest without it looking unfinished).

I chose a tan colour as most of the action was going to take place in the desert. I also had to convey quite a lot of text with one image (not quite a thousand words, but close enough!) and found myself choosing quite cinematic angles. (A handy reference was 'Wally Wood's 22 panels That Always Work!!', which can be found here:

http://joeljohnson.com/archives/2006/08/wally_woods_22.html

These illos were done using the 2B pencil and Digital Watercolor brushes. Thinking about it I wish I'd given the paper some funky rough texture. Next time!

Card games

Another greeting card gag - the style on this one is a little looser than before, and I think I prefer it. I have a font of my own which I haven't used on any of these yet (at the moment it's just my freehand writing) which I also prefer, so I'll get that baby installed soon and use it on future cards!

It's also worth noting that I took a different approach to the colour this time too - it seems to suit this slightly looser approach. More experiments and gags to follow!

Horror Comic Cover

I love old EC horror comics - some fantastic stories and artwork, check them out if you haven't already! Anyway, I came across some Painter/Photoshop tutorials to illustrate and give an aged look to a comic cover, so I fancied giving it a whirl.

It's at the rough stage at the moment, and the aging effect isn't finished all the way round, but I like the way it's looking already, I hafta say! Some of the aged effects are painted on, some are scanned in from covers found on the net. Some nifty fonts really add some punch to the cover too, so I can't wait to see this finished.

I wasn't sure about the title 'Putrid Potboilers' at first, but it's grown on me now. It also needs other details like issue number, price, etc - anyway, more updates as it comes along! If it's successful there could be a whole series of them soon

Father's Day

As promised more greeting cards! Another occassion this time, though most of my other ideas are simply gags with no particular date or event in mind.

This one reflects the frustration I feel looking for greeting cards that aren't too generic, and yet a heck of a lot seem to have the same themes - which don't fit at all with the person I've had in mind! Time to draw my own from now on...

Valentine's Day

I have about 30 or so ideas for Greeting Cards along this kinda vein, so with Valentine's Day fast approaching I thought it would be a good time to put this one up! I'm liking the simple layout and strong colours, which seems to work fine on all the other ones I've cleaned up so far.

Will post more as soon as they're done!