I don't know who you are (I don't want to know)

New out-of-class piece for Illusionism. I'm really interested in the differences between basic vital statistics written about a person--in this case, of course, an imagined character--and the outward presentation of that person. For this piece, I chose two characters (one from Dungeons and Dragons 3.5, played by myself, and the other from the Pathfinder RPG and played by my fiancee) who look nearly identical on paper. Their stats, weapons, race, and purpose within a party are the same. However, as this presentation of them shows, they are also opposites. I may continue to work with them for my next piece, I already have a composition idea in mind....

Jessamine

Finally, some out-of-class work for Illusionism that I'm happy with. This is my character from an RPG in development by my friend Pio (the game is called NoC, and the character is called Jessamine). The drawing was done in pencil without a smidge of smudging--all shading is crosshatched in various hardnesses of lead. Textures and stock come from cgtextures.com, except for the noise, which was added manually in photoshop. I'm not sure what this piece really is, but I am sure that I'm glad I made it. The print will be 10"x18"

Linoleum Block Prints

I really like printmaking as a medium/technique/whatever. I have a lot of fun with the process, and find the end result very rewarding--especially because I do so much digital work, it's nice sometimes to end up with a finished piece you can hold in your hands, where the physical object is the original. Because I love it, and in spite of its time-consuming nature, I'm taking a class this semester called The Illustrative Print. As you can no doubt guess, it's a printmaking class with a narrative focus. So, here's some work from the class so far! On the left is my second piece for this class, which is titled "It Wasn't A Good Thing." My subject for the semester is Neil Gaiman's collection of short stories. This one is from "Closing Time," which is a very interesting sort of ghost story. It's a total of about 30 inches tall, hence the photograph instead of a scan, and I mixed that particular shade of red ink myself. Below is the first piece for the class, which was based on a limerick about a man with a beard and birds nest in it. Less compelling story, but I do like the piece.
And this is just something I thought people might be interested in, since those who don't do linocut often ask about the process. This is my current piece in progress--or rather, the sketch for it. When I work in lino, I like to do a super rough sketch on paper, then scan it in and go over it in photoshop to give me stark blacks and whites for a better idea of how the finished print will look. This one will be a two-layer print; the hand, in black, will be on one block, and the paw, in red, will be on another. Then I'll print both blocks, in their different colors, on a single sheet of paper for this layered effect. There's going to be a lot more texture, due to the cutting, but this is the actual image that I transfer onto the block and cut around. The source for this piece is a short story called "The White Road," which you should read. It's in Smoke and Mirrors, the earlier of Gaiman's two short story collections. I might upload a photo of the blocks while I'm still cutting them if people are interested.

Little Shields

So, this semester, I'm using the same source material for my thesis work, but I'm taking it in a different direction entirely. I really love the pieces I made last semester, but I feel like I've taken them as far they can go; they show technical skill, but continuing in the same vein shows little else. So now that I've done them realistic, I've done nitpicky pencil work, and I've done subtle, understated, naturalistic colors, it's time to show my flexibility. From the same animal descriptions and similar kinds of information, I'm now creating a mass-market and child friendly body of work. These are being completed in illustrator, and will be presented at midterm with 6 to 9 more that I haven't finished yet. Each will be printed on heavy cardstock, around 5 or 6 inches high, and cut out around the shield and banner itself. I think I'm going to mount them with those little foam squares to give them a nice shadow on the wall. Enjoy!

Oh, and in other news, I'm entering Tatanka the mini munny centaur in this spring's Vinylmore show, so wish me luck!

Basil and Rolf

Advanced illusionism is a great class. I highly recommend it for all MICA illustration students, seriously. This week, we had to bring in a childhood snack we haven't eaten in a long time and then do a drawing based on some of the memories that come to us while eating it. I ate an orange flavored Flintstones Push-Up--it was delicious, and it reminded me of Basil, the beagle I grew up with. It was a really pleasant experience to work on. To the left is a detail of the first little square panel, and below is the whole piece. Also in this post, the sketch for my out of class assignment. I'll be printing the sketch, lightboxing it to a charcoal drawing, and then scanning again for color and "old photo" treatment. Should be a lot of fun!

Nicolae (with and without coat)

I'm terrible over breaks, okay? Sorry about the lack of updates. I did draw something, though, so I'll post that. I also drew lots of people on the subway, but I haven't gotten a chance to scan those yet. But I have a good excuse for being away--I got engaged over Christmas. So! That's a good excuse for anything.

Here's one drawing, to make up for the lack; he's a new DnD character, a sorcerer named Nicolae. Two different versions; with and without coat.

Vectoons Three Through Five (one of them is a plate of cupcakes)

Yeah, I mean it's actually a plate of cupcakes, not a vector of a plate of cupcakes. Yesterday I didn't have time to do a vector because I was making those, and then we went to the NYC ASPCA and got ourselves a cat--the subject of the third vector. And the first was inspired by a shop between the apartment and the subway stop, where they sell some seriously bright wigs. I would look odd in one.

Vectoon One (Xanthe)

So, I'm embarking on a little mini-project for myself over winter break. You see, I rarely draw much over breaks, and that is a real shame. But I also won't have a scanner, so I can't practically sketch-and-scan while I'm gone. So I've decided to do a little vector-cartoon (or Vectoon, if you like) every day while I'm on break. They may be incredibly simple. They may come from my sketchbook, or they may not. This one didn't, I just kinda winged it.

I like working in vectors, but it's hard to make flat shapes distinct, so this will also further my goal of developing a worthwhile and useful working style in vectors that will be entirely my own. Commentary on these pieces will be greatly appreciated, as vectors are eternally editable and these will mostly be simple enough to really get into some in-depth tweaking on. Be brutal.

First up is one of my DnD characters, probably the first of several to be done this way. This is Xanthe, who holds a special place in my heart; she's a centaur, duh, level 12 equivalent. Mostly ranger with her last level in barbarian, hence the sudden switch to breastplate armor.

Tatanka (modified munny)

Yes! I even did an art final for Toys! He's been in the works a long time, too, but I'm proud to unveil my newest vinyl toy... Tatanka! He started life as a mini munny. I chopped him in half (his back legs are the original munny legs, I sculpted the front ones), pounded nails into his head, and boiled him in a pot of water in five-minute increments. I may post some in progress pictures later on, but for now I want to get him out there in all his native american biker glory! Materials include Super sculpy, Katsilk saran hair (original brunette color), Model Master acrylic paints, and Testor's enamel paints.

The Crane Wife

I only got three prints done, but I had a lot of planning work behind my book project. So here's what I turned in at the final; three prints, two of them in page mock-ups along with the little page number illustrations that no one understood until I did these pages in full. There are little errors here and there, but I'm happy with the images and I think the book as a whole has a lot of potential.