posted: March 1, 2010

I cropped the piece I submitted for the Afrodisiac contest and colored it for Jim Rugg's group on Flickr. It's an Afrodisiac art appreciation group called Objet d'Afro. Check out my piece and others!

art appreciation, comics

posted: February 11, 2010

Ria Jones, an old friend of mine, contacted me about doing a piece for the Southern Sudan Project to be used on fliers, bulletins, etc. Find out more about it here. When Ria and I were discussing the project on the phone and through email, I kept going back to the idea of Sudan being "broken" or "separated." What came to mind were innocent civilians who had their limbs cut off in senseless acts of violence. Since one of The Southern Sudan Project's main focuses is bringing education, I thought of the most innocent of all victims: children. A lot are them are just born into this, but there is still hope, since they are literally the future of Southern Sudan.

I came up with this quick value sketch. If you look carefully, the child's arms are cut off at the forearm, symbolizing the broken or torn nation, yet the ghostly image of where his forearms used to be is the hope, holding his head up.

Ria really liked the idea/sketch and suggested I add colors of the Southern Sudanese flag. I just cleaned it up a little and added in some of the colors in the back. I took the intensity down so it wouldn't clash too much with the main idea. Red is the blood shed for freedom. Green represents the land. Yellow represents the Star of Bethlehem. Here is the final.

Most of the time I don't fall in love with non-personal projects. This simple floating design has become a meaningful and personal piece for me. It has actually become one of my favorite and proudest things I have ever got a chance to work on. Special thanks again to the Southern Sudan Project for this opportunity.

conceptual, design

posted: February 6, 2010

If you don't know who Afrodisiac is, click on this jimmy jank.

If you don't know what Velocity Comics is, click on this jimmy jank.

Now, story time. Grab some popcorn or something.

Velocity was going to have comic artist/writer Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca, Jim's writing partner, for an in-store signing for Afrodisiac on Feb. 5. I already had a copy, but i was really excited when I found out. Not only that, but Jim was going to be a judge for the monthly Velocity art competition. The theme for this one: Afrodisiac vs. [fill in the blank]. Oh yes.

Afrodisiac's greatest power is the power of seduction, so my first thought was to have him pitted against a strong female heroine: Wonder Woman. I realized, knowing Afrodisiac's power of effortless seduction, it wouldn't necessarily be that much of a struggle. Still debating my final idea a night or two before the deadline, I get a text from my fellow illustrator Josh Graydon. It said:

Afrodisiac vs. Confederacy Man

I immediately burst into laughter until he told me he was an actual character. His name is Captain Confederacy. Then it hit me. I live in Richmond. There are Confederacy statues everywhere. Why not put Afrodisiac against the entire army of the Confederacy?

I started with the following drawings on three separate sheets of tracing paper, taking scale into account.

I scanned them, moved them around in Photoshop and played with the levels until I was happy with the composition. I erased sections of each drawing that were showing through until I got this.

There are three very important things you should take note of: 1. His kung-fu hand makes the realistic sound effect of "CHOP!" 2. To Afrodisiac's left is his Confederate fling. 3. The historically accurate quotes of "HATE! HATE!" coming from the mouths of the Confederate soldiers. Unfortunately, I didn't get to color it in time. I'm definitely going to revisit it and finish it up.

I got to Velocity, turned in my piece, ran into Chris Johnson, another fellow illustrator, and got Jim Rugg to sign my copy of Afrodisiac.

I also got a free print just for entering the competition. Yeaaaaaa! I have no idea how/when the judging will be for the competition, but I'll definitely include it in the post with the final final, along with another Afrodisiac-related tidbit.

To make a long story short: It was the best Feb. 5 ever. Oh yeah, check out Jim's blog.

comics, conceptual, Richmond, VA

posted: February 6, 2010

After living in what seemed like artistic purgatory for a few arctic winter weeks, I finally stopped staring at my piece of illustration board and re-did Guys' Eyes. The first attempt (below) was fine, but I felt it lacked the energy and "happy accidents" that I really love to see in my own work along with art in general. Also, her face was off and too confrontational for the concept of the piece.

Below is the second attempt which is much better and was a lot more fun to work on. The woman is laid back and is not actively engaging the viewer, making her look more zoned-out. Instead of drawing the couch she was laying on, I decided to print out and transfer a pattern behind her to suggest the couch. I put masking fluid on all the parts of the drawing I didn't want the pattern to be. Unfortunately, the transfer hardly worked on the type of paper I was using. Lame. I decided to just print out the pattern and collage it onto the piece instead which I think will work out better in the end. I got my space heater, amazing music from a band called Gossip and an evening of illustratin' waiting for me.

conceptual, illustration , women

Recent Articles

Topics

Archive

Illustrations (8)

Sketchbook (31)

Sketchbook 2.0 (24)