BLERD-ISH - mock cover

I did a cover commission for a friend's podcast.

I like how it came out. It got me noticed to do another podcast illustration that I'll be done with by X-mas.

Y'all want to see some process?

Here ya go:

digital sketch 01

digital sketch 02 (this is the one we went with)

pencil art - 11x17 on paper

pencil with trade dress mock up (also looks like a little corrections to the art, as well. I don't remember doing that.. heh!)

ink art with background. I did the building digitally and transferred it to paper. I like how it came out, but still talk myself out of doing backgrounds digitally for some reason.

Final colors without trade dress. 

I will show the new image when it is approved and okay to show. Thanks for indulging me.

-L

American Wicked cover art

Cover art for the graphic novel American Wicked. I was sort of stupid and drew the cover without regard for trim and bleed. I guess I was kind of feeling myself.

full sized artwork - India ink on 14x17 paper

So when the cover got trimmed to the book size, I lost some of the badge and a little bit of the Porsche. Learned my lesson!

trimmed art with trade dress

-L

Sketchbook Bug-Man - In Color!

I drew Bug-Man in my sketchbook and enjoyed the drawing so much I scanned him in and gave him some color. I actually colored him twice. Each on a different version of Photoshop.

This one is the first one.

Bug-Man - india ink, computer color - Photoshop CS3

Folks on Instagram quite liked it. I got CC and colored him a second time:

Bug-Man - india ink, computer color - Photoshop CC 2017

I like it better.

Mostly because I was able to use more of the brushes I like for texture and all the other things I use on art that make me feel less insecure.

I hope you enjoyed my ramblings on this piece.

La'ers

-L

DOOM!

HAPPY 100th JACK!

A friend and I decided to do drawings of Jack Kirby characters for his 100th birthday. He chose Mister Miracle and Big Barda, I chose Kamandi-the Last Boy on Earth:

Happy Birthday, Jack!

-L

#DRAWGUST and first week of drawings!

I've been wanting to complete a drawing challenge.

So I decided to do one called DRAWGUST. It's not as big as, say, Inktober, but I see there are some artists participating. When I thought of it, I planned on making it more than just "Inktober in August" so I made rules for myself.

--- At least a drawing a day for 31 days.

--- All drawings have to, at least be inked. (I'm trying to watercolor a majority of them)

--- Post daily but at the end of each week I would put a weekly scan of that week's art here (my daily posts would show up on my Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr pages.)

--- Along with the weekly drawings, I would have to complete a sketchbook in that month's time.

Simple enough.

Here's the first week:

week 01

-Leigh

At play with T-Shirts

Did you know that I have a store on TeePublic?

It's nothing huge, I haven't even created a profile avatar or a cover image yet. I've had one on Red Bubble for what seems like a thousand years, too, though I do have a profile image on there... I might use the same one for TeePublic or make a new one for both... I don't know yet.

Here's some of what's on there at the moment...

... plus more!

-Leigh

Punisher commission - process

bitmap - 1200 dpi version

I was commissioned to do a more muscular, black Punisher drawing. The reference image was a computer generated cover (at least that's what it looked like) with the Punisher resting a shotgun on his shoulder and his free hand resting on a holstered gun.

The first drawings were less than stellar, with the pose of the Punisher looking very staid; kind of like Sears Portrait Studio photo shoot for vigilantes.

I sketched the composition on a piece of newsprint
paper then I traced that onto tracing paper to refine
some of the ideas I had on the newsprint. Ultimately,
an unnecessary waste of time.

pencils - draft 1

I got as far as the pencils, at first... A FEW TIMES! I really had to step back, re-sketch and rethink. This was getting a little out of hand.

I returned to the sketchbook and worked out a picture that felt more like something I would draw.

From them, I made a new preliminary sketch, this time I did the sketch on half of an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper with the intention of blowing it up on a copier and transferring it onto Bristol board with a lightbox.

This way, I can see the whole composition; I'm not drawing so close to the page, my lines are less detailed and I can focus more on the gesture.

From the sketch, I started penciling, adding little details as I went until I got to a point I felt I could start inking.

My inking process is usually to block in the figure and add the rendering after establishing the form but, this time I went a little crazy.

I played with folds and shadows. I started  outlining
 accessories and belt packs.

The guns came next. More accessories, more folds,
though, I did start establishing the overall figure.

Everything is pretty much blocked in. I would start the
rendering of his arms soon, as well as effects like scratching
out details with a razorblade, splatter and any application of
white ink..

I wanted to change the shadow of the shotgun cast onto the brick wall background, so I had to ink everything first and change it when it came to inking the shadow itself.

grayscale - 600 dpi version

Voila! The final inked piece. I scan at 1200 dpi in bitmap and 600 dpi in grayscale for my records and maybe for color in the future. I'll wrap and ship this piece once the payment goes through and the client will have a new piece of artwork to hang on their wall.

I hope you enjoyed this trip through my process, Thanks for sticking around.

-L 

(Insert "Let It Go!" pun here!)

MORTAL KOMBAT!!! (dun dun dun dun dun-dun dun-dun da d-da d-da!)

Today - 2-10-12

I was going to post photos of my life drawings but decided they suck so here's a picture of what's on my living room table, instead:

I was reprimanded by my friends on Wednesday about not updating my blog so being as influenced as I am by those around me, decided to update my blog.

I'm still trying to feel around for what I want to show everyone. Since, I put finished pieces on DeviantArt and sometimes Facebook, I was thinking of putting sketches and in progress materials on here, you know, for the progress wonks out there.

Though, that standard is likely to change...

Anyway... too much words; not enough drawings... here's some random sh--tuff I've found in a recently recovered sketchbook: