illustration + design
First post of the New Year, I spent the end of the year getting my art book together 121 pages. Of course I created an end of the year holiday card for friends and family. Last but not least for this months character design challenge I created a character for Axolotl Adventurer.
This is going to be last blog post for 2019. It’s been quite a year learned a lot about different style processes and a few new programs. As always I am excited to see where it all goes for the New Year. I finished a couple more weekend model reference studies and tried my hands at some animation using the new toolset in Procreate version 5.
For the rest of the year I plan on doing some back-ups, clean-ups and layout for my annual sketchbook. It’s still one of my favorite parts of the design process…Vol. 5 coming soon.
On the weekends I have been doing model studies with Procreate. I also did a couple of pencil sketches in my office sketchbook. The next couple of weeks I need to finish my annual holiday card and finalize my layouts for the 2019-2020 sketchbook.
These are my reference studies from the last couple of weeks completed in Procreate on iPad. Besides that the gargoyle skater is for last month’s Character Design challenge topic.
Taking a bit of a drawing break mostly reading up on some storyboard and animation guides lately. I did do a couple illustrations the last couple of weeks all in Procreate. I am still a fan of Clip Studio but trying to get familiar with Procreate it’s a great program I have neglected for way too long.
Finishing up a side project so I haven’t been doing many smaller drawings. I did find the time to do an Elf warrior for last months Character Design Challenge. A video game was recently released called Sayonara Wild Hearts the music and the world design really inspired me. I did a couple of late night illustrations based on a couple characters in the game.
Experimented with a couple more designs using Procreate and comic tones. I really like how it looks when it’s at 100% view and it really looks faded with stains. During the summer I did a number of small illustrations and created a fun summer artbook will all of my drawings in them. I still plan on creating a 2019-2020 artbook this was more spur of the moment looking at books on sale online after missing out on Lightbox Expo. I also did an illustration in honor of Batman Day.
After replacing my Apple Pencil 2 and getting a paper-like screen on my iPad I really feel comfortable with Procreate. Last week I purchased a brush pack from True Grit Texture Supply that emulates the offset print effect of comic book pages. It’s been so much fun trying to get that effect just right. I don’t want to draw characters in that golden age comic style just trying to find a style that works for me.
Besides that over Labor Day weekend I finished my most recent animation study in Clip Studio. Afterwards I used it in my first animation compilation it’s 22 seconds long but we all have to start somewhere.
Spending sometime getting better with Procreate. It took some experimenting with a couple of brushes to get just the right blue pencil effect to do rough sketches with. During the month of July I did a number of after lunch sketches in my at work sketchbook. A couple of weeks ago I cleaned up the scans and laid them all out on one page.
Glad to get my physical art book this week from Lulu.com. It’s 56 pages full color with a hardbound design. Besides that I have been going back to Procreate lately the pencil tool feels much better since the last round of updates. I still prefer Clip Studio but it’s fun to record my drawing session.
Recently a couple of people have asked me to do drawings of them just quick portrait stuff. I like the challenge of looking at a face and breaking down what makes that persons face stand out. Also the usual late night illustrations.
Finally, I created a ONE PAGE PORTFOLIO. My main website is mostly for illustration but I thought it was important to have a site that showed my html/technical design level.
Super excited my sketchbook with all my work from 2016 arrived from Lulu books. Second year in a row the colors and paper stock were top tier all the way.
Slowly adjusting back to a normal sleep schedule after vacation is always rough. A few nights I started a couple of sketches and the next day I couldn’t figure out what I was doing. That said it really helps to just draw faces to get some ideas down.
