Tenebroso

IZ:8 October Issue - A Piece of Fruit

2010-10-08T16:03:00.000-07:00

Spot illo for the October issue of the magazine. This was finished and sent a couple of weeks ago, but I hesitated in uploading it as a friend of mine was bothered by the undies shown in one of the tumbling images.

To me, however, it was an essential detail mentioned at the end of the poem that couldn't be left out. It's innocent childhood fun for God sakes!

Too many people are afraid of not being politically correct these days. I for one will not give into it. So here is my spot, hope you all enjoy it and remember back to a time when all you cared about was rolling down a grassy hill, looking like a fool and nothing else.

'Til next time.

Edit: Apologies on the color distortion, seems I didn't use web safe ones. The actual piece is much higher on the saturation scale.

Instigatorzine: Marbles, Midnight Friend, Talking to the Dreamless Man, Self Abuse

2010-09-15T14:31:00.000-07:00

My spots for this month's issue of the Instigatorzine. They were all supposed to be pretty bizarre, but time constraints and a due date that I went over by three weeks kept the top two illustrations (which I was looking forward to doing the most) from being so.

Anyway, hope you like.

http://www.instigatorzine.com/

Instigatorzine August Issue 50/50 Variant Cover Art

2010-08-06T18:07:00.000-07:00

My cover art for next months issue, shared with Madelynne Dela Rama:

http://madelynne.blogspot.com/

who did her own version of the cover. You should all check it out, it's quite awesome.

Why the 50/50 variant? 2 reasons (3 really...I should have just said so from the start).

1. This was initially meant to be my cover for the May issue which we skipped in order to reassess how to manage the 'zine more appropriately.

2. August was going to be Mad's month to do a cover, and although she did, she offered me the chance to share it with her. Isn't she just the nicest person?

3. Finally, the third and most important reason (though I initially only said 2 reasons), August marks the 6th month the "instigatorzine" has been out! Wow, whodda' thunk it, huh? Half a year, that's pretty damn awesome.

Anyway, if you haven't checked us out yet, you most definitely should: http://instigatorzine.com/

Til next time ladies and gents.

The Start Menu

2010-07-15T15:14:00.000-07:00

Another set of spot illustrations for the Instigatorzine: literary & arts magazine.

This is for the opening story in the July issue titled "The Start Menu."

A Day Spent with Words

2010-06-25T03:01:00.000-07:00

For another poem in the Instigatorzine Magazine.

I tore up some paper and threw it onto my scanner, but I didn't quite get the effect I was hoping for. That was mostly because it came out way too light.

So when I brought the image of the several sheets of torn paper (really it was just one sheet from a tiny notebook), I used the lasso tool to select certain pieces, and turn them into brushes.

After adjusting the settings several times, and seeing what I could come up with, I wound up with a pretty neat background. Afterwords, I added the hand and coffee stain (though it kind of looks like gum to me now).

In the poem, the poet is writing so ferociously, and pumping out so many thoughts onto paper (or so he says), that they even call upon a priest to help them control it all. It's all very amusing.

Anyway, I decided the best way to capture this was perhaps to have him writing so hard the paper is tearing all over the place, and his arm red as if it's possessed. Also, the red is easier to render than something with several colors.

As before, I remained pretty close to my reference for this except I did it all in red.

Wow, that was long. Hope you enjoy it :]

In Praise of Honey

2010-06-24T17:51:00.001-07:00

Like the post before this one, this is also for the Instigator(zine) magazine. This one is for a poem of the same name.

The mouth is based heavily off of reference, so I don't know that I can entirely claim originality for this, but whatever..the aesthetic is different I guess. Anyway, hope you guys like it!

There's A Where

2010-06-22T23:54:00.001-07:00

The finish, followed by 3 screen caps of the piece at different stages.

On a funny side note, I just realized I left the reflection for my glasses on my cheek. Oh well, I kind of like it there hah.

EDIT:
I guess I really shouldn't call it a finish. After looking it over again, I feel like I could probably tighten up the rendering around the face. Also, the background isn't even done! It needs so much work.

Chazz. Squares. (Yet another WIP)

2010-04-23T21:57:00.000-07:00

Another portrait of of a friend of mine. Originally this was to be a cartoony version of him, but I've decided to go a different route. Essentially, I'll be keeping the realistic look to him, but making his surroundings more playful.

Still in WIP status

2010-04-20T14:23:00.001-07:00

A few months ago I gave you all a sneak peek at this sucker, and now I figured, since I've kept you waiting so long, I may as well show you what I have.

Now keep in mind I haven't worked on this at all in quite a while, otherwise it would have been way past done. Far too many distractions this school semester have kept me from finishing, but rest assured it will be complete within the next two weeks.

This actually is a piece that was meant to be part of a short story I'm illustrating that a friend of mine wrote. However, for reasons I can't explain (though some may label it as stupidity), the book isn't going to be anywhere near these dimensions.

DO NOT FRET THOUGH!

Being that is IS a digital piece, I think some cropping, and cutting out unneeded areas, shall not take me a long time. This will become a 2 page spread, with the page on the left mostly displaying the poem (by the same author), that inspired the rest of the tale.

So keep an EYE out!

Mon. 4:10 AM and I just studied the wrong chapter

2010-04-19T01:10:00.001-07:00

So I said to hell with it and went to paint. I don't know what sort of study one would call this, but I just felt like painting someone I knew. I was already on my good friend, Kelly's page on Facebook, so I grabbed her main pic, and decided to have at it.

It's not traced, but it is heavily referenced. I didn't even change the pose or anything. And outside of her wildly colored hair (I took liberties with the colors all over), and some proportional issues on my end, this here is just a copy of the picture I was looking at. I really wanted to step right into the painting instead of starting with a typical outline and all that, so that's what I did.

Hope you don't mind Kell.

U

2010-04-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

The "U" in "Thank You!" for a special thank you letter project

Lines or no lines?

2010-04-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

I can't decide.

Stretchy Self-Portrait WIP

2010-03-01T17:34:00.001-08:00

Sneak Peek

2010-02-26T16:26:00.001-08:00

I've only shown one or two people what I'm working on, but even then, I've totally changed the way I was going about painting this. Hope you find this to be a big improvement, I sure do. I am immensely satisfied with how this is turning out. Good reference makes all the difference. I'll make sure never to forget that, and neither should you.

Pirate on a budget (WIP)

2009-11-02T23:04:00.001-08:00

Happy Halloween...a week or so early

2009-10-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

I'd been wanting to make this for a while. I'm happy to say I have no real complaints about this one...though if you look closely you can spot where I failed at hiding the book's gutter.

Done in pencil, and ink.

Letterman Pig

2009-10-23T18:18:00.000-07:00

There are a number of technical issues with this piece, but overall I like how it came out.

This actually wasn't even meant to be the finish, but more of a color sketch. My final was going to be done in oil instead of watered down gouache, but that's ok.

The extreme yellow is supposed to be for drama, however, silly me forgot to add it to the desk as well. Everything should be corrected when I upload the final in a few weeks. In the meantime, enjoy.

Pew Pew

2009-08-15T09:23:00.001-07:00

Maybe I should add a fence or something he's jumping over.

side note: I draw myself way too often.

Sneak Peek

2009-08-04T19:32:00.001-07:00

So, this is from the second panel of first page of "Elios: The Hairiest Man in All of Greece." It's still not finished, but really just missing a few basic elements.

I would post the whole page, but my tiny scanner is giving me some trouble so it'll have to wait until I scan it elsewhere.

In any case this works out better as we're trying to keep the comic's first issue fairly on the down low until it's all finished.

Anyway, hope you enjoy it. That's the beggining's of an umbilical chord by the way.

Tweaked x3 or is it 4?...maybe 5

2009-07-17T20:31:00.000-07:00

Better? I dunno. I'm glad I adjusted it the way I did, but I just can't seem to get the lighting right. Once this is done, it'll replace my banner on top.

Edit: Fixed the face up a bit more. Got rid of the background. No idea what I should add in it's place though.

Edit #2: Fixed the hair. Both on the head, the face and arm.

Edit #3: Getting real tired of this one. Anyway, I got rid of the wall of forehead I had on here. Adjusted the hair some more, and darkened the facial hair. Also adjust the right (his left) eye; it seemed like it was going to float off of his face before.

This will probably be the last edit on this for a while. Time to get some other stuff on here.

Decameron

2009-07-07T14:59:00.001-07:00

An illustration from a story in the Decameron, where a knight feeds his cheating wife her lover's heart.

Extremely cropped due to a small scanner, though you aren't missing much. Not to mention this baby is unfinished (as if you couldn't tell), I think I'll go back and revisit it soon.

Finished?

2009-07-07T13:09:00.001-07:00

You tell me.

so i finally started coloring that dino...and hyena

2009-07-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

The both need a lot of more work.

Pen tool lines on the hyena are off, but they'll be put in their place once i go back in with color appropriately.

Dino i just started coloring earlier today.

2009-05-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

Fixed the suit up some (the darker one is new), I thought the last one looked too plastic-like. Still missing highlights though.

Been a while. Here are a few random things.

2009-05-28T23:22:00.001-07:00

First and last ones are being taken further. I just started the bottom one tonight.
Enjoy.

More sketches for May

2009-05-18T20:39:00.000-07:00

The first 2 and even the last are inspired by the art of Nic-Klein. Expect colored ones of those soon.

The 3rd one are just sketches of my classmates and what not during a critique we were doing lats Monday (no more of those for a while! hurray!!).

Sketch a Day in May

2009-05-02T05:57:00.000-07:00

Sketch a day in May is a "challenge" set forth by my fellow peers in school. They've been doing this for a few years now, and this time I'll be throwing my own stuff in. None of us win anything, it's just something to get us motivated and drawing. I think I'll take this particular one further.

This will also be my last update fora few days as I'm moving today. Booooo. See you all again on Monday.

Cellblock Project

2009-05-02T05:54:00.000-07:00

This is the finished version of a crossed out sketch you might have seen further down. It's part of a collective project a classmate of mine started, and wants to hang up before classes end and she graduates this year. Anyway, this is my submission.

Can you avenge evil, and not become it?

2009-04-29T20:49:00.000-07:00

Not really and update at all, unless you count me saying that a lot of more stuff if going to be posted soon. Anyway, I ran into this sucker a moment ago and I remembered how much I liked this TV spot. Yea it's almost been a year, hush.

T-rex start

2009-04-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

Yep. So I used a lot of ref, and I still got the snout wrong. Screw it, I'll fix it later...maybe.
The dots in the back are actually from a brush tutorial for photoshop done at school, and taught to us by a former student; they're supposed to be scales. The arrangement reminded me of the shape of a T-rex, so I threw some tracing paper over it and gave it a whirl. Enjoy.

Random Moleskin again

2009-04-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

Random Moleskin 4, 5 and 6

2009-04-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

#4: These were 3 quick thumbnails I did of a model in my portrait painting class. I moved around the room trying to figure out what angle I liked most. I went with the one that actually has a box around it, which represents the shape of the gessoed board I was going to paint on, and gave me an idea of how big I should redraw the face to make it all fit.

#5: Exactly what happens when I'm bored. I think I'm going turn the top drawing into some sort of faux anti-junk food ad. The second is just damn funny to me. I think I'll make it bigger, remove the text and go into more detail with it. Maybe make it like a next-gen femme-bot :P

#6: Lincoln Terminator. That's all that really needs to be said. Some time ago, I had come up with an idea to turn this into a live action sketch comedy spoof. When that all fell through, I placed the idea in the back of my head waiting for the day when i could pull it out again. I've since (I'm talking last week here) decided to turn the idea into a mini comic (like I don't have enough to do). However I decided to start off with an action scene first, see how that all goes, and the proceed with the actual comic.
This here is a thumbnail for a chase scene involving Lincoln (John Connor), though it's not the definite one I'm going with. It will be based on the truck chase early on in the movie with the T-800 helping John escape from the T-1000. Specifically, this will be at the point where the T-800 pulls John onto his own bike, as the T-1000 continues the chase on the truck.
This time, however, both the T-800 and Lincoln will be on horses while the T-1-000 (John Wilkes Booth) follows in a carriage. I can't wait to keep working on this. I've left the next page blank and visible because I'll probably update this post when i draw some more versions next to that.

A satire piece that doesn't satire what I would like it to satire

2009-04-19T21:47:00.001-07:00

So I was trying to do a piece on the level of impatience people have today in all aspects of life, particularly within American culture. We need to do everything now, and learn everything all at once, and there seems to just never be enough time for any of it at all.

So I tried doing it this way. Honestly, I had better ideas on how to handle the subject, but I randomly started drawing this and went with it.

I think most people will take it as a business tycoon-archetype draining the world and everything else around it instead. boo.

I'll have to do this one over. I think I'll go with my original idea next time, instead of a random drawing. I do like the way this looks, however. Though it could use a little more "space."

Random Moleskin 1, 2 and 3

2009-04-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

In the top image, I was just trying to carve a figure out of the dark using my eraser, however, no once can tell what it is. It is, in fact, a monster and it has human characteristics outside of it's head, but oh well.

The second one was my attempt at drawing the Prince of Persia from the Sands of Time from memory(that was a weird sentence). I was bored, what can I say? That's why I love this little notebook/art pad. Anyway, a friend of mine said he looks black, so I called him stupid. Maybe you agree though, which makes me stupid. Oh well (once again).

The last upload...on the left started out just like the top upload, and in fact was done first. However, I think I ruined it after trying to go over it with paint for no reason at all. Next to it is a random idea I had for a project due this coming Saturday. I'll upload that one soon.

Anyway, just thought I'd upload something to keep anyone who checks this place out occupied while I finish up the main stuff. See you all soon.

Digital Illustration 2 card set

2009-04-07T16:58:00.000-07:00

Not my usual kind of work, but I figured what better way to get this party (blog) started than with a couple of clowns. Plus this is the second time I've tackled this clown subject, and it's really starting to grow on me. I'll definitely be doing other projects with the same theme, and will probably add at least 2 more cards to this set.