Sketching out Zelda

Now, I'm not an avid gamer, to say the least.  It's likely that I own at least 15 videogames which I've never even played before, I tend to keep busy and they are just too much commitment.

That said, man alive I love Legend of Zelda.  Don't know what it is about it, whether it's the charming music or the welcoming familiarity of the landscapes and creatures.  There's a lot of nostalgia there.

It took me over two years to finally work my way through Twilight Princess, but the final showdown between "GOOD!" and "EVIL!" was pretty great.  I was so buzzed up after the extensive, satisfying conclusion the other night as to race to my drafting table and replay the fight in my head and on paper.

This might end up being a surprise print which I wasn't planning on.  It's pretty organic, I did no thumbnails, just launched right into it.  Here are a few close ups of the sketch. 

Ganon is really John Romita Jr. -ish, and I don't think it's me, I just think it's somehow inherent in the character design.

This piece is 11x17" and I expect to spend some more time with it as my commission schedule allows.

- J.

April O Neill Training

Here is a finished version of the print which I keep "teasing."  This is the version as it appeared when I began showing it at ECCC a month ago.

There will be some adjustments in color layout and shading, but it's pretty much what I envisioned when I started the process.  The concept was to portray the April character as a student herself, while pushing the brothers back into an observer stance.

I really like the fact that the brothers essentially should all look alike to an outside observer, and that they are really only discernibly different when garbed in opposing color schemes.  That said, I know which one is which in this print.  Hopefully anyone who really wants to figure it out can based on body language and skin tone colors.

UPDATE:  I have reworked this piece!  Check out the NEW version here, I really spent some time going over this piece to get it closer to my original idea.

- J.

Figure Drawing on the Sly

A little something from the bar.

I almost never go out to drink anymore... in reality I almost never drink anymore at all.  

However, when I do, I spy on people.  Unapologetic, in your face, and with great joy.

Call it people watching.  Come on, you know you do it too if you draw at all.

Amusingly, one of the guys out this night a few weeks ago was a dude I used to work with.  He was always a pretty cool guy, glad I ran into him.  This is the first time I've done sketches on lined paper in a very long time.  That's what I get for not bringing my sketchbook, a mistake I'm not likely to make again any time soon at all.  These are all 5 minutes sketches or so.

 

ECCC 2012 No. 4 Final

There are dozens and dozens of pictures of cosplayers I took but these are the last of my favorites.

The gentleman with the wingspan I followed up the escalator on the final afternoon... I swear he's the same gentleman I photographed sans costume two years ago at this event.  The wingspan is enormous, and the wings physically flex and spread... he moves his arms just slightly and UP they go, and with the real feathers and enormity of it all... it's fascinating to see in person.

There were a lot of stilts.  Everybody was on stilts this year.

- J.

Emerald City No. 3 Boom!

While in Seattle I was able to spend a decent amount of time talking to most of the editors and artists of Boom!  Studios.  Filip Sablik was seriously inviting and approachable, and spent some time talking to me about what it is like working with deadlines and artists who are rising starts.

Mike Kunkel, creator of Herobear and the Kid, took a long time to tell me about general artistry.  I told him that Terry Moore had sent me over to talk to him, and had called him "one of the finest cartoonists working today," and he laughed and said that he couldn't hold a candle to Moore's work. 

Still, that's high praise.

This time showing my portfolio was different than it used to be, similar to the reception I received at Rose City.  It is equally encouraging and humbling to be giving the amount of serious time and focus which I am starting to get from creators, and a fulfilling payoff to the years of self publishing.

Onward and upward, right?

- J.

Emerald City No. 02 HAMA

Larry Hama was at the show so I made it a point of stopping by his booth and meeting him.  I stood back and watched for a little while and it was literally a string of guys running over to meet him which was pretty amusing to watch.  He was cranking out sketches as fast as he could.  While I don't know exactly how many he drew over the weekend, I do know I saw one of them numbered "53" so he must have been hitting them under 20 minutes or so, or he wouldn't have had time to shake as many hands or stand for so many pictures as he did.  That's really fast, and seemed all from memory.

While there I too submitted a commission from him, a Stalker to go along with my sketch which Robert Atkins did for me a year or so back.  He actually did a comp piece as a dual commission with Hama, which you can see on his site here.   That's a brilliant idea, whoever came up with it.

My buddy Justin Zimmerman has been supportive of my work a lot in the past, and pretty much made me go back and submit the commission.  He's running a kickstarter campaign for his thick, fascinating trade paperback Other Worlds which you should definitely check out. 

- J.

30 Characters 2012 Part Two Homelanders

Here are some 30 Characters which comprised the later figures.  These are all some of the fictional characters I have in the story I continue to develop.

This will take you to all 63 or so of these characters now.

- J.

 

30 Characters 2012 Part One Roadies

The 30 Characters Challenge is one which I tackled and conquered head on and daily in 2011.  The concept is that you have 30 days in November, and you are expected to create and post a single new character every day, in addition to whatever financial, employment, spousal, or pet requirements you also have going on at the time.  And also holiday travel and Thanksgiving too...

So, the first year I shoehorned in enough time each day to finish basically every day.  I posted about it with a few of my favorites.  (Here).

During the second year I was working 90 hours a week during November, as an employee, a conceptual / branding designer (here) and an independent contractor (here) and (here).  Early in November I declared on this blog (here) that I was going to participate again in 30 Characters, and I got them all done within about 9 days.  Again as the year before, I set a specific standard to adhere to as per the visual similarities of each entry... this time it was mugshots as a standard.

The first half this year were all based on some of my favorite people who were around in my daily life at the time.  Here are a few of them.

 

During this time of high performance work I also made a large wall mural I have not yet shown online.  I will post a few of the SECOND half of this year's 30 Characters in another article and describe the reasoning behind it all.   If you want to read ahead you can view them all because...

This HERE is the link to ALL of the 30 Character entries I made for 2011 and 2012.

Enjoy!

- J.

Emerald City No. 01 SAGA

ECCC 2012

A lot of great events occurred at Emerald City.  For now I leave you with Alana and Izabel from Saga.

They were my favorites which I ran into.

- J.