Last Commission

This is my last commission. At least for a few months. I have a comic gig going, plus two proposals for series. The first proposal is nearly done. I'll post some of those soon. I'm probably going to letter them before I post so it might take a while(because of the amount of words and the fact I've never done it before[except for the crappy example down below, which isn't how I'd really do it]). I have another proposal that is only layed out in pencils, but Chris lettered it very nicely. Hell, that's the only thing done at this point on that proposal. He did more work on it than I have. I'll have to catch up.

This mermaid is Lori Lemaris. Superman's girlfriend from the old days(I mean like fifty years ago). Second mermaid I've drawn. I'm probably going to fix a thing or two before I send it out. I usually end up changing it between the scan and sending it out. Just a little, but enough to make it better.

Adrian

Figure Drawing Marathon

Here's a 20 minute pose from the marathon at Lake Merritt College. It's a 2B pencil on plain sketch paper. Lots of people showed up for this, and it seemed like most knew each other. All the models were great, but drawing from 10am-4pm was a challenge especially because it's been a few years since I've worked from live models.

-Chris

I just like drawing Batman

Hey, I geek out all the time and I geek out most when I draw Batman. He is just too cool. I've drawn him like a thousand times and I still don't think I do it right.


-A

Try It Again

I didn't like that X-men sketch I did a few weeks ago, so I'm going to attempt to draw those characters again. Still need to do something more dynamic, but this is still an improvement, I think.

-Chris

Sketchbook Stuff; The Big Two

Busy working on many pages. Not enough time to pencil/ink/clean up/scan/cut/paste. So here is some sketchbooks stuff. The dates are on the pics. First one is painted with acrylic inks.

Working on finishing 10 pages of The War Machine for some proposals. After that I have an 8 page story Chris was helping me on for Tooth And Nail. I'm really happy with my War Machine pages so hopefully Tooth And Nail turns out well also. Apparently my script is way weaker than what was going on in my head(that means it turned out better after it was drawn that before).

I'll also be starting a very perverted Alien screenplay tomorrow. I'm really excited because I think I found a new thing to disturb me.

I also came home to watch The Wire tonight. Blew me away. Best show on tv.

-A

Hiragana Prelim 3

Here's the one for u/う. The word is uma/うま. More Photoshop coloring over inked work in my sketchbook.
In the background? You're right! That's a glue factory. Things don't look too good for this stallion.







Here's the sketch. The hiragana didn't make it into the colored piece this time. It just didn't look right digital. I should've just brushed it in. Next time...

-Chris

I Hate Blogs Blog

Too lazy to scan and paste pieces of scans together for my new pages. Here is this instead. Just look at how bad I drew that there hand.

-Adrian

Hiragana い

I've got to start doing a few of these at a time if I'm going to finish the set by the end of the year.

-Chris

Another Commission

Vampirella. This one was tough because I messed up the legs and had to paint over them in Acrylic and try to make it match the water color.

-Adrian

Hiragana Illustrations

Doing alphabets is an easy way to get some illustrations done, and you can draw so many different things. I'm going to try doing illustrations for each hiragana character. Here's the prelim for a/あ.
-Chris

Finished Commissions

Here, as promised, is the finished version of two of my commissions. as you can see some of my line weight has changed dramtically as well as my approach to the pieces. People have let a weeping cry when told as to the fate of the pieces. I proceeded to immolate them upon completion for no other reason than that I found myself in a peculiar form of melancholy that particular day. Of course, the preceeding was something of a ruse, as the truth is I did no such thing and, in fact, will be sending the pieces to their respective owners forthwith.

Sir Adrian

Brains......brains.....

Zombie comics are all the rage.
-Chris

Commission Roughs

So this is what I've been working on lately(besides real jobs). A bunch of commissions. These roughs kind of suck because they are much lighter than what you see here. I had to darken everything and pice things together so this is what you get. I think it will be fun to see the difference between where I stop pencilling and where my inks actually end up. Some of these are going to be color and others will be inked.

All of these creations are copyright their various owners or creators.

Adrian

Argh...didn't make it in time.

I was hoping to get this one page story posted before midnight, but I wasn't fast enough. I'm going to add some color to this and darken it.
Most of us have felt self-conscious about some stupid flaw. Poor girl...
-Chris





1:24am: Here it is with some quick watercolors. This might end up in my anthology which remains untitled at this point. Of course, it would be redone in b&w on bristol board.

Test Drawing

I did this for a guy who wanted a certain look for his character. This creation is of course copyright him. I drew this first and then ripped the pose off for a Bloodrayne pose as a test for someone else. This one is better than the Bloodrayne sketch. I'll be putting up some other commission pictures this week.

Xmen sketch

I finally got a new sketchbook, and this is the first page. I'll finish inking it today. Discovered a couple of my old Winsor & Newton brushes can't hold points anymore. I should've taken better care of them, but at least they can be used for dry brush.
I was going to wait until tomorrow to post, but thought it would be good to start this month on the first.
-Chris

Here's the finished sketch. Have to start leaving out excessive rendering from my inks. Sketchbooks generally have too much tooth on the paper, so my feathering and cross-hatching never come out that clean. Have to practice more washes and dry brush. Happiest with Storm's boots...
-10:16pm
-Chris

Hellblazer Painting Part 2

Here is the finished version. I posted the 98% done one but then I edited the post so now here we are.

I totally regret that this scan doesn't at all show how three dimensional it looks in reality. Because I painted the smoke on top of paint(as opposed to everywhere else where you can see the paper through the paint) the smoke and skulls look raised off the page. But on the scan that isn't happening at all. I guess I'll learn how to make that come across as I become a better artist. Maybe if I drew wearing turtlenecks I'd already be able to pull this stuff off.

At the Con-Final?

Here's the next version, inked on vellum, and then digitally colored in Photoshop.
Adrian, if you have something to post today, go for it. I just wanted to put this up before I chickened out.
-Chris
*click for larger image

At the Con

Adrian and I did this panel about our comics, and people actually came to listen. Being on that side of the table was definitely a scary and exciting experience that can only be summed up in comic panels/spot illustrations. The Riv can probably articulate his thoughts on the whole day better than I can, so keep on eye on this blog for that.
We'd like to thank all those who came and showed their support for comics they probably had never read or seen. We'll do our best to keep the books on time. With a combined 47 issues completed, we promise there are more to come.
Will lower that first word balloon...and work on the likenesses...
Chris

8:26am: You're right, Amiable... I should've posted the thumbnail. Here it is. Prelim wins again. Damn it.

More War Machine

And of course it's no longer called The War Machine. I knew that would happen so it's no big deal. But it's still codenamed that until I come up with the real name or something better. This is a rough idea for a webcomic cover. You'd have to scroll down to see it all. I drank tonight. Advise against that. Waste of time. So this has rough sketches of some main characters. And it's just a taste. We'll see.

Adrian

Nightwing Roughs

This drawing is about 2 x 3 inches. My brother's a big Nightwing fan, so that and seeing Adrian's commission work is what got me going on this. I'll draw it full size on 14" x 17" smooth bristol board next and then ink it. The quick digital coloring is probably unnecessary, but I might want to paint this after doing a b&w version.
-Chris

Hellblazer Painting Part 1

So this is the rough sketches for a possible Hellblazer painting I was commissioned to do. The first pic shows the first three really rough sketches. The second pic shows the loose final pencil drawing(darkened a lot). I painted over that after I got approval to start. The roughs were the ideas, but it wasn't working. Plus I had a gut instinct that the client was looking for a more closeup and personal image. All my roughs were either far away or ugly(as roughs can be a lot of the times). My favorite is the worm's eye view where he looks down on us. I think the artist Jock did a similar cover to his comic the Losers(which I'm sure is much cooler). But even though I liked it I felt it was too impersonal. That is why I ended up with the close up. By the way that last rough was extremely underdrawn so the next day as I waited for my landlord to come over and fix the sprinklers I had been up almost 24 hours and was hating life. I decided to draw but was too braindead to come up with anything, so I just drew over an already pitiful drawing. Uninspired over uninspired does not equel inspired.

Adrian

Four Pen Sketches

Done in a Moleskin sketchbook. This was after a night of drawing with the guys where I sat and didn't do much other than eat and drink. When I got home, I decided just to put pen to paper without worrying too much and just wanted to see what I could come up with. Some of it was inspired by what people were wearing at the cafe, and the rest of it is just what came about at 2am... What's up with the guy with glasses? I don't know either. As usual, click on the image to enlarge.
Chris

Tooth And Nail 666

This is my favorite sketch I did for my own comic Tooth And

Nail. It involoves Samurai. The rest is secret.

Anyway I felt this sketch was the one that really caught the mood that I'm looking for.

Sometime you need that one picture to set you straight. Well this is it for me.

I drew this sketch on 6/6/06. Yeah.

Adrian

P.S.:"Why is he so difficult?", I thought Chris was talking about me. I needed to think on it for a bit there.

Why is he so difficult?

I've always had problems drawing the Hulk. This was done in my sketchbook with acrylics and then final touches were added in Photoshop CS. I'm glad I scanned it in because the original was slightly damaged soon after it left the scanner thanks to closing the sketchbook before a new layer had completely dried. I'm going to post something else later tonight because I don't plan on just putting head sketches on this blog.
-Chris



Hulk © Marvel Comics

Update: 9:38pm: Here's a comic book cover full of anger. That giant will obliterate that city, and no one can stop him. The lettering will of course be re-worked in the final and have more "punch." There's also the challenge of drawing animals in the bonus feature titled "wolverine vs black panther."

-CM

War Machine

These are some development sketches for a story I'm writing right now. It involves superheroes and war. It's all copywritten so I'll get you if you're looking to steal(I'm looking at you Paul*).

These are the first ones I did so they are a little rough. The anatomy and all that is crazy and the costumes will most likely change. The guy on the left is the second to main character. The other sketches are of him now and him in the 70's. He's about 60 give or take a few years. I have more but their looks are not defined. The guy on the right is a side character who is obviously based on a popular psychopath.

Adrian Rivero

*That's irony, folks.

Head Sketches

Adrian put up some nice sequential work, but I'm going to post these Photoshop CS sketches to make the deadline. I remembered Dave Johnson putting white around figures, so that's where the old man's glow is coming from.
-Chris

Batman Submission Pages

Hey, these are some Batman pages I did as a submission about two or three months ago. I've since done a bunch of pages of my own comic but I'll hold off on those for now. These are pencils followed by inks.

Adrian