#154 The Admiral

A quick break in the posting about my Sketchbook. The progress has been slow lately, but I'm trying to do some quick comic-y sketches on a regular basis to keep me sharp. This one is a bit of fan art of everybody's favorite Admiral Ackbar, who has been rendered here with a Pentel brush pen in my Moleskine, and colored with Photoshop. Hope you like.

"IT'S A TRAP!"

#144 Desert Chase: Thumbnail/Brainstorm Stage

It probably goes without saying that when you start an illustration project, you do thumbnails. Lots of them. But believe it or not, I have to be reminded of that constantly.
I won't say that thumbnailing is my least favorite part of the process, but it certainly is one that I seem to shy away from. Trying to come up with ten solutions to an illustration problem of concept, design and composition is about like pulling mastodon teeth for me.
Many professional artists/designers will create upwards to 100 or so thumbnails before they begin to narrow it down to a design that will work. For me, ten is pretty good.
While sitting at my somewhat tedious "day job" I cobbled these thumbnails & sketches together on notebook paper & smuggled them into my pocket before the company secret agents came and handcuffed me, escorting me to a very dark room with a chair and a blinding light.
My thumbnails are usually very rough explorations of form and placement of elements. I don't worry too much about the actual look of the objects because I already have an idea of what they'll look like anyway. It does help to look up reference ahead of time because it gives you more confidence in the placement & size of certain parts of the image.

As you can see (or hopefully you can see) early on, I'm trying to establish perspective. So far I've been going with one-point perspective with a vanishing point on the horizon, located using the Rule of Thirds. You might also notice that I have some significant rock formations in the background. This is where reference comes in handy. At this stage I just did a simple Google search for "Utah rock formations" and took a good look. Don't copy reference, just make mental notes of outstanding characteristics of the reference material. Later you'll have a better idea of what you want to draw.
I also searched for vintage motorbike reference which will be an important part of this piece. Above you can see that I've made a lot of notes on what I want to include in the painting, as well as just general brainstorming about technique/mood/lighting - just all kinds of stuff.

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That's all for now. Next time I'll try to share some finished sketches!
-Will

#136 CARGO Comic Cover Art

http://cargocomic.tumblr.com/

The home for my new wordless comic "CARGO" is finished - the previous Tumblr theme I installed was distracting, so I toned it down a bit - but this is the new cover illustration I completed today. Bear with me - I learned a lot through doing this cover, and that is exactly what I intend this project to be - a learning experience. The cover itself leaves a lot to be desired in my own opinion, but I think things are moving forward nicely. I hope you all will pitch in with any feedback you might have as the project moves forward!

I'll post a preview link here on Drawing the Sword when new Pages go up soon!

-Will

#134 Space Comics!

Hey everyone!
I'm excited to announce a new project of mine - my very own webcomic!
CARGO is a sci-fi short comic about space exploration and, well, CHOMPERS (see diagrams above). I've pretty much stuck my neck out by posting all this because now I actually have people expecting me to finish it! So I will.
Go ahead and bookmark the official site: http://spacecomics.tumblr.com/ where the comic will be published (I'll post updates here and on Twitter as well). I look forward to sharing the pages with you as I get them done!

#131 Inspiration Levels: LOW

As I'm sure any artist can tell you, sometimes inspiration is hard to come by. Really I suppose I mean motivation in my case, and today is a prime example. Lately I have been tinkering with a Lego Star Wars set, coming up with a bunch of spaceship ideas. Yes, I admit it I am, and always will be a Lego fanatic, and I can't help but fool around with them occasionally. So I'm trying to use the photos I took of the designs I made as a springboard into a Photoshop concept painting. But it's not going the smoothest. I think I'll probably scrap it, and move on to something else. And then rewatch my Ryan Church DVDs. Bleh.

#123 INKtober Day 28: Speed Demon

Nothin' like cruising the back roads in a hovercraft on a crisp, fall day..

#114 INKtober Day 22: Smuggler

I imagine this is one of Han Solo's colleagues.

#111 INKtober Day 19: B-Wing Attack

Today's INKtober honors the unsung virtues of the B-Wing Fighter.
Admittedly, the B-Wing is an unusual-looking craft, but its speed and firepower make it a valuable asset to the Rebel alliance.
And in case you haven't noticed - I have really been enjoying using black in my INKtober sketches. It adds a lot of depth and contrast to the sketches. The application is a bit rough in places, but I like that markery look. It's cool.
Until tomorrow troopers!

#095 Boba Fett (in Blazing Technicolor)

Spent a couple of hours today coloring my INKtober sketch from Saturday. I used a more comic book approach for this one. I think it turned out pretty good!

#090 Starship Attack

A really fun experiment in seeing how much of the glow FX layers I can cram into one piece in Photoshop. You might remember I posted the drawing of this earlier in the year. Well, I have a lot of downtime with a semester break from school, so I'm really trying to bolster my skills with the time I have. So there you have it. I'm really proud of those planets. Don't they look realistic? Did it over the course of the last couple of days. Mr. Jake Parker over at Agent44 said it was cool, so I don't want to hear any arguments! (Thanks Jake!) Now, on to more awesome stuff!

#086 New Painting WIP

Here's the beginning value stage for a new painting I've started. I think it's gonna be pretty cool. I've got two other projects going at the same time before my summer semester starts: "Jewel Heist: Mars", and my final personal revisions for my Silver Chair cover. Honestly, I'm ready to move on from the book cover project. There's a lot of things I want to fix, but I'm not sure yet if it's worth it. I'm just tired of looking at it so much! Anyway, I've got until the 15th of June to make revisions before I can reveal what I'm going to do with it... he he he.
They say new artists need to get their first couple of hundred paintings out of their system before they really start getting good. I believe it, so the more the merrier my friends!
Happy Photoshop Painting!

#084 Jewel Heist: Mars (Color Comp)

Here is a brand-new project I just started. The color comp is kind of washed out looking in the browser (still trying to work on that), but I want to go with a strong red/blue color scheme. The concept is: a dude is frantically dashing from his spaceship to grab some glowing jewel, while ominous starships above the canyon rim search for it with their ray beam thingies.
This will mostly be an experiment in color, sci-fi concept realization, and perspective. And really, just to see if I can knock out an image in less than a week when I'm not in school. I think I can do it!
Hope you guys like!
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P.S.: I will be posting my final Silver Chair book cover, and a sort-of-exciting announcement about it soon! I still have some post production work in Photoshop to do on it. Hang tight!

#081 Character Sketches (Completed)

Here we go ladies and gentlemen. Character sketches!
I painted these 100% in Painter 11. Sketched 'em up on 100% paper with 100% pencils. I won't go into everything that's wrong with them, because A) you'd be bored, and B) you would begin to think less of my work, which is really the opposite of what I want you to think of my work.
Believe it or not, the entire experience of creating characters from simple descriptions was, to me, completely fascinating, mentally stimulating, and just a great deal of fun.
Now if I can get around to creating my own characters for that graphic novel I've got planned... I will be able to conquer the world!!!

#080 Character Sketch WIP

Okay, rarely do I post twice in the same day (or night), but I couldn't resist showing you guys the underpainting for this baby. So far Corel Painter 11 is blowing me away. To put it another way: IT ROCKS.

#079 Captain Flax, 103rd ESC Battalion

This is Captain Flax of the 103rd ESC Battalion.
If you're wondering what ESC stands for, it's European Space Coalition.
And this guy means business. After leading blazing attacks on dastardly minions of evil on every planet known to humankind, he looks a bit worn and weary. He wears standard issue officer's dress, with newer modified body armor plating. He carries a light automatic ion assault rifle and an armor-penetration cannon, which rests on a folding tripod.
This was my favorite of the character sketches and the most fun. I enjoyed finding references for the clothes, which were inspired by WWI and II battle uniforms.

#077 Dragon Battle Final

"Dragon Battle", 2400 x 1800 px, Photoshop painting.

Well, here's the final painting from last week. I'm not 100% satisfied with it (will I ever be?), but it turned out much better than I expected in the short amount of time I had to make more revisions. I am planning to go back and revise some imperfect areas and resubmit them to my Professor, and before I enter this baby into the Academy of Art Spring Show. Yay! It'll be my first submission ever for it, and I'm kind of excited. It's pretty much one of the first times I'll be able to get my work out there for professionals to see. I don't expect much to come of it just yet, but it will be cool all the same.
So, hope you guys like it. See you next time with some new character designs...

#075 Dragon Battle Concept: Color Comp

Here we have the beginnings of some color in our scene. It seems sort of washed out now, because number one, my color layer is set to "Color" mode in Ps, and also because my Photoshop images almost always look worse in a web browser. I'm still learning how to correct this.

One of the almost unanimous comments in class was that the dragon's color and value needs more separation from the desert color and value. And to this, I heartily agree.
So: Right now it is Spring Break and some down time, and possibly a couple of other little side projects, and then, next week: The FINAL.

Prepare yourselves.

#074 Dragon Battle Concept: Value Comp

Another late-night transmission from the old drawing desk tonight.
Here's the aforementioned concept art piece we're working on in class. Right now I'm just working through getting the values right. The above image is a progress shot. I'm still thinking through the value relationships here, trying to place emphasis in the right place using lights/darks, and making sure everything "works". Next I will start laying in the basic color, and then refining that later. At this stage, it's all about getting it right, because you don't want to have to go back and fix anything. There is no turning back here people!!
So, there you have it. Stay tuned for glorious Technicolor!

#073 Dragon Battle Concept (Preliminary Sketches)

Here are some glimpses into my sketchbook from this past week. I'm in the process of creating a piece of concept art for a film of my own conception as another school project. All I can tell you right now is that it involves: space, dragons, nomads, princes, fighting, swords, deserts, volcanoes, lava, and some weird space vehicles.

Sounds interesting, but I think I have bitten off more than I can chew.

#071 Royal Guard

Royal Guard vs. Mech Ink on bristol board, colored in Photoshop 5 x 7.
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The Royal Guard are the stalwart protectors of the Court of Aidelon. They must swear solemnly to defend the Dynasty with their lives, and are dedicated to a life of continual service. Their definitive red capes and gleaming gold armor are unmistakable, and can always be seen solemnly overlooking the Grand Palace. They are completely silent to passersby, and their mechanized armor keeps them perfectly still until the moment of action, like the image above, when it springs to life and becomes a dangerous man/machine combination.
The origins of the Royal Guard is mysterious, but they are said to have descended from monks who landed on the planet, established a monastery and began taming the wild beasts there. An angel was said to have visited the Chief Monk, and given him the task of defending the planet from a coming evil. It is said that the angel forged him a suit of armor, and till the day the monk died, its golden shine never wore off.