LOOK!

Lats night while I was sitting down and trying to do my paper for an online class, I got "creative". I reached for my nearest sketchbook and did this little doodle for a 45 minutes. All micron. I was thinking about another style I've come very familiar with but have never really given it a try.

So, I would have to say that inspiration comes when you least expect it. I couldn't finish my paper after this. *SIGH

(based loosely on an actual event)

Tribute to Sergio Toppi

RIP Sergio Toppi (October 11, 1932 - August 21, 2012)

Today, one of my favorite artists passed away. So as soon as I heard that, I went to the studio and started sketching while I was looking at his awesome illustrations and sequential pages in my tiny smartphone. As I promised, this blog will 'record' my process rather than only display my final art so for this one, you might see it as it is, no Photoshop magic, no touch up, no nothing.

Here you see I was already halfway inking the head --I almost forgot to take picture!-- on top of my blue/pencil lines. Usually, I don't like using the blue pencil because when you ink on top of blue lines, they sort of get in the way or make the ink not absorbed/distributed well on the paper and it drives me nuts. 

The tools I was using were Rotring rapidograph 0.25 --one of my favorite. I like it better than soft tip tech pens because it makes a single line weight no matter how much pressure you put. I think for technical stuff, Rotring and marupen are always my first choice(s). Well, a head is not actually a technical stuff but Rotring gives me the nice steady line weight I need for this illustration. As you can see, the pencil lines are pretty rough but I put more details for the eyes and face. 

 I went on with my Rotring rapidograph 0.5 to make thicker lines on the weird collar thingy and marupen to for the more thicker likes near the shoulder and sleeves. As the black area, I used my 'ol faithful Raphael 8404 #2. As the black area turned into white, I used marupen to create different line weights. I like marupen since it can created line weight as easy as it will give you a steady, nicely distributed line weight if you have a steady-light hand --which I happen to have.

After I was done doing the gradation, I didn't really like it --too bad I forgot to take picture of the first version I did -- so I just went in again with my brush and black almost all of the coat/shirt. Luckily,that also help me to pop out the fingers/hand better. The mark makings I did on the fingers were kinda tricky but I tried t do my best with it. I used various tools here back and forth; from Rotring 0.25 to Raphael 8404 #2.

When I roughed out the background, I did the overall outline of the fortress then I drew several random horizontal and vertical lines using my mechanical pencil (Rotring --I'm a sucker for this brand). After that, I went in with Rotring 0.25 for the outline of the bricks then for the fine lines inside the brick (the textures of the bricks), I used marupen. When I was done with all the texture, I went back in with Rotring 0.5 and or marupen to thicken some part of the bricks.

Here's the final one after I cleaned it and did some level adjustments in Photoshop.

Appetizer

Om nom eggroll!

IT'S HERO TIME

Okay, so I'll try to bring myself up to date with the hero week. These here are the hero and his monkey sidekick. This is me trying to do fantasy storytelling and also is my way of paying tribute to all my favorite adventure cartoon heroes.

Meet Prince Oscar, Oz for shorts. He is the younger son of King Valtar, the wise and noble ruler of the mystical world of Lorna. Oz is a reckless and spoiled prince always doing what he wants and disobeying his father's commands. One day after entering the treasure chamber of the castle he discovered a pair of magical bracelets that transformed him into the vicious being known as Kaskar Lord of the Blades. Kaskar was a terrible menace to Lorna a long time ago but was defeated by King Valtar and his spirit confined to the Skull Bracelets. After barely defeating him again and returning Oz to his original form Valtar was forced to concealed his son new identity to the rest of the world. Also the bracelets apparently are attached to Oz wrists and nothing can take them off. Now whenever danger threatens Lorna, and against all of his fathers advises, Oz unleashes Kaskar and uses his power to defeat his fathers enemies while trying not to let loose the mass murderer once again.

Of course the only sidekick I could come up with was Bazu, a sort of weird spider monkey natural of Lorna. He is a funny and playful pet that sometimes gets into trouble due to his natural instinct to take what doesn't belong to him.

I will try to upload the Villain of this story later today. Hope you guys like it!

BATMAN : A Time To Mend

batweek - arkhamcity - batman

a time to tear and a time to mend

ecclesiastes 3 : 7

well, here it is me trying to portray the dark knight. i am not really into superhero stuff but i think batman is kinda dark somehow. that, actually, is something you find in every human being. even when you don't realize it or when you don't want to admit. in batman, it is quite obvious; he's not actually modest about that for sure ;)


oh, this is something to finalize everything. i can't include catwoman and robin for some reasons. they just don't fit LOL.

batman | joker | poison ivy

BAT-WEEK BATMAN

"I AM THE NIGHT"

So finally it has come down to the man himself. the cape crusader, the dark knight! Batman is the story of a man obsessed with his past. vowing not to let what happened to him happen to anyone else. Batman can go from being your typical superhero fighting strange out-of-this-world menaces to being the most realistic guy out there fighting crime and corruption in a messed up city. I think that this range and the fact that he can be scary as hell and probably the only human not afraid to go toe to toe with boy scout superman is the reason why Batman is my favorite character ever.

my first sketch is of a more super heroic version of the character but for me Batman has always been about fear and how to use the night and the shadows as a weapon. For me Batman should always be a creature of shadows and shapes. Its probably the influence of Kelley Jones (whose comics were one of my first contacts with the comic book world) So, as a second sketch I posted the way I would probably portrait Batman if I ever draw a story about this amazing character (Drawing Batman is one of the most conflicting things I have come across. I'm always debating whether to draw him completely or just as a moving shadow striking fear into the criminals) For me Batman will always be about the cape and the cowl.

Well I think that's enough... Enjoy!

BAT-WEEK JOKER

My favorite villain of all times! It's no secret that I'm a huge Batman fan and of course my favorite villain has to be the Joker, I love the concept of chaos that this character embodies. Plain evil plain crazy.

BAT-WEEK POISON IVY

Not one of my favorite characters but surely one of the sexiest. Miss Pamela Isley!

BAT-WEEK ROBIN

This is the design for Robin for the Arkham City game. I think this is one of the coolest robin outfits I've seen.

BAT-WEEK CATWOMAN

BATMAN WEEK everyone!! and to start: the lovely miss Selina Kyle! it's gonna be a good week.

LAS TORTUGAS NINJAS ADOLESCENTES MUTANTES

This was definitely my number one favorite show when I was a kid. I had the toys, the coloring books and even dress up as Raphael for one Halloween. So here is my sketch of the heroes in a half shell!!

don't judge me

yep, i grow up with "japanese-style-comic" -which is actually an understatement to "manga" because actually there's no specific way to describe "manga"-, tho i am not a big fan of animes. manga has hundred of styles from realistic to graphic. the only problem is, only a few or just the old-mainstream-japanese comics are available here - as happens in the rest of the world; i can go on and on and on about this. anyway, i've tried to tone it down since a few months ago before i start producing some bad manga stuff. but yeah, japanese-style-comic is my first love. :D

BIGGEST ISSUE

Done for the week! for our last issue we bring you our biggest issue WE ARE CRAZY ABOUT COMICS!! don't believe us? ask our parents, they've been trying to get us "professional" help for a long time.

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

So for issue number 4 I'm going with the multiple personality disorder that everyone seems to notice in me. Anyway at least I will never be alone... right?... that's right Jorge I will never leave you... thanks...

liquid lunch is LEGIT

correct! i stand by the title! they are liquid, they are easy, and they have the same fat, carbs, protein, and whatever stuff you find in a PIZZA but different taste. probably even better. :D

did you see my id card?

i missed issue #3 yesterday. so this one is issues #3. my problem with stuff is i can't get to keep them organized in one particular place which I can remember. that leaves me with misplacing my stuff all around norris hall! awful!

INAPPROPRIATE SINGING

I have a bad tendency to burst into singing at the most awkward moments... and having the same damn song stuck in my head for a looong time. You can ask around.

I GET DISTRACTED BY LONG LEGS WHILE I WALK

Issue Number 2... I have a tendency to look down while I walk... and girls have a tendency to use really tinny pants or skirts while they walk too. Need more? I just wanted to draw nice legs! OK?

MY VOICE CARRIES

I don't know why but apparently it has come to my attention that my voice carries...

So... here it is Issue number one!