Good vs. Evilution

Sorry for the chimped-out title but I couldn't help myself...I figure since I'm growing bored and irritated showing images from a project that was "not", this will be the last installment of the "dead project". I promise more new stuff from here on out...at least for a little while.

These were close to what my final designs of the characters would have been. Strong geometric shapes versus strong colors. Warm versus cool. I've often felt that design in nature is a force in itself. And each force has an equal and opposite quality. So do our natural tendencies towards things. Of course I'm making wild assumptions here, based clearly on my own life.

Living in a constant state of contradictory as I do, I see that pattern crop up time and again. One day I feel emotinally strong, and yet I'll feel physically complacent. Or I'll have a great day of drawing, and my superpowers are in check, but for some reason I'm forgetful that day.

Naturally we're all seeking balance, seeking a pattern to fit in and mold around ourselves if not to become a part of. The same goes for design. Good versus Evil should be opposing forces, from the basics of the character's ideologies to the clothes they wear. That's rivalry. That's conflict. And conflict is story...which reminds me...I've got a screenplay to get back to.
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Mas Esoterica

Guys & Dolls

Original Hellboy

When I was a kid I didn't realize how scary my peers could be until I saw The Omen.
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Back to Basics

Figured I'd take a break from "fantasyland" and throw some life drawing into the mix. Slowly I'm making more consistent efforts every weekend to attend. It's crucial to the survival of my skills to draw and paint from life. If I don't, I'll become weak like a school girl and the bigger kids will pick on me.

Seriously though, I can tell if I don't go that I slip into patterns of weakness and shortcuts. Eventually the work takes on this exaggerated stylized approach lending itself to stiffer forms. Often times I'll find in the drawing sessions those moments of "AHA" the wrist doesn't work that way or the foot in perspective is more of a solid shape than a hunk of flesh with little digits.

It's to keep me in check and make sure I'm not cheating myself out of creating good art. Keeps me honest. And honesty is the best policy in my book. You can never live down cheating or lying, especially to yourself.
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Esoterica

I was feeling quite generous this morning knowing that I was donating my organ to a church. Not just any organ a Hammond B3, the kind "Doctor" John is famous for playing down at Jazz Alley. So in the spirit of helping out Jesus...or Mohammed or whomever you believe in, I thought I'd throw in a few more pics from that "dead" project that I'm so smitten with. Don't worry, it won't got to waste. I have other plans for this material, if nothing more than a spin-off to make something better. But then again, I've always got something cooking!
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Old Time

Another Batch

Industrial Designing

I enjoy architecture and industrial design. It's a whole other discipline but one that should never be foreign to the concept artist.

How can you not love it? It speaks to us in volumes and forms, and compositional mass. I don't know a lot about it, I don't have the background or education, but I can certainly deduce a lot just by looking. That's half the battle really. I walk around a lot of the times asking myself questions: "Why would they have done it that way?" "Was it because of the materials available at the time? The designer's personal style? Was it the era in which the thing was built, a direct reflection of the times? Or was it an engineering choice based upon necessary function?

And while I'm talking to myself in public, I also answer in third person.

I once read a couple of books from Dover Press The Diderot Pictorial Encyclopedia of Trades and Industry. For someone who wants to understand the basis for many of our more complex processes in manufacturing and industry, I'd check them out. The simplicistic nature of the birth of machination and industrial design during the Age of Enlightment helped me to understand how many things work. Even if I don't get the details right, it's enough to push me to create convincing machines and environs.

Because really half the job of designing is to make something look believably functional. Otherwise you get nothing but cool fluff...and really who needs more of that?
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Evil Has A Brother

Our Man In The Bush

Dead and Buried

Some characters from a long dead project. How I wished this would have done better than it did. It would have been a distinctly different experience among the gluttony of sameness.
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My Comic Life

For the benefit of those who have yet to see my comic work, here are a few pages from my first book, North Country from NBM.
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Winter Session

I did some winter paintings a while back. Man was it cold. I think the coldest it got was when I was painting our neighbor's barn by flashlight, under a full moon. With the windchill it was -17 degrees farenheit. I'd take a break every 30 minutes to thaw out my toes and warm up my paints which were becoming the consistency of very tacky glue.
The painting surprisingly turned out well, but I fell out of love with it's simplicity and painted over it.
I even had my sister sit for a couple hours on a warmer day. The painting was okay, but in the failing light and increasing cold she was starting to turn a blue that I was afraid to mix.
This here is the only other painting I decided to keep from that outing back home.
I really enjoyed painting in those elements because the finish seems unattainable and odd. You might question how that painting was produced and realize there was some bit of discomfort and elation giving rise to it's final rendering. I'm not sure I can do it now though. My hands freeze just running them under tap water. I've yet to find mittens warm enough to do the job, but the search goes on.
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More Character

It Builds Character!

Character design can be a lot of fun.
In stories a character is in most cases a reflection of the world they live in. Unless of course it's an alien and they're trying to make their way in unfamiliar territory. Still though, the audience has to find a way to connect with it, while it's finding ways to connect with it's environment. Even it's human, everyone at some point or another is finding their way.

That's why for me it's easier to come up with a character when I know what their mindset is. It usually gives me a frame of reference and starts me thinking down the path:"How did they get to this point? What was the biggest influence on their life?" When you start with the questions and can find the answers in the characters history, and the environment around them, then their personality starts to grow as they react to situations.

Maybe it's most helpful to writers this way, but as an artist it's integral to know what and why you're designing what you're designing. "Cool-looking" should be the by-product of everything else. If it doesn't look like your character can move in 2 tons of armor within reason, then it's not cool...it's just dumb. If a female character is basically a stripper with clothing obstacles in a dangerous hand-to-hand combat environment, then it's not "cool" so much as it's male-driven design. Which frankly as of late looks unimaginitive and pointless.

Shape and silhouette is another great tool to help design characters. It's based in part to the environment, personality and context of the story at hand. If you're designing more than one character it's important to keep their uniqueness in shape and silhouette to distinguish them at a glance. Much as it's important to not name characters with the same sounding name or same first consonant. Again something to think about.
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One War At A Time

After 8 years of painting and 6 attempts I've finally managed a self-portrait that I can live with.
More than being satisfied, I think I've succeeded in not sucking.

I did this alla prima which tends to put a lot of pressure on oneself to get it right. I certainly could have gone back into it again, but would the inspiration be the same or would I be overly concerned about destroying it? The bottom line, knock it out do another, and mark this as a good fence post in my growth as a painter.

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Out of the Lab: VIII

Thought I'd take a wild crack at painting from a photograph. But it's not just a photograph, it's a bad print from a digital photograph.

The bad thing about painting from a color photo is the limited palette that cameras record. They, for all their ability do not see as many colors as the eye, not by a longshot. So you're left with a flattened interpretation of the color that might have existed. That's why it's always best to paint from life first. If you can at the very least knock out a color study, then shoot a black and white photo (or change it in a photo editing program to black and white) and use that as a value study.

If you want truer color look in the mirror and study the colors of your face under similar light.
In the end there are benefits to painting from a photo. One, your model doesn't move. Two, you can always adapt it and make it better.

But the camera lies some time. It tends to stretch and distort real anatomy. That's why having a strong foundation in life drawing is essential before considering photographic reference.

Still need to experiment more...but I need to paint more from life, lest I develop poor lazy habits.
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Conan: Pt.II

Not being entirely satisfied with my first efforts and being just a little enthused by Scott's proposition of a Conan story, I belted this sketches out. There's something about doing Conan up a little more cartoony, like Batman animation style that intrigues me.

Bruce Timm did a wicked set of Conan sketches when he heard they were starting up the comic again. Somehow he got passed over, so what chance do I have?

Anyway...it's fun and we'll see what happens.
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Out of the Lab: VII

Here again are more strokes and tests in ink. I started with just a pencil outline and no detail. And still it looks too tight compared to my earlier experiments.

Same with the last one. Though...this second piece is even less drawn. I believe I just did one amorphous shape and filled in the details as such.

Weird how little information I really need to get the results I want. Leads me to believe that I'll thumbnail the whole book and from there go to finished ink by just looking at the thumbnail.

Next I'll try a sequential page to see if I'm full of it or not.
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Conan

Inspired by my friend Scott's Conan sketch, I make an "attempt" to capture the Cimmerian's spirit. I say attempt because in my mind there are only two people who've been able to successfully capture the feel of Conan, Frank Frazetta and John Buscema.

Everyone else just doesn't quite get it. It's my belief that such power and humanity imbued upon the barbarian by these two artists has set the bar all too high for the rest of us. Therefore a very narrow line exists in getting him just right. It's easier in fact to say someone has failed in their attempts because most if not all do!

You may disagree. I mean for all my sweat and man-hours I've failed just as much as the next guy. All I can work towards are levels of acceptibility. In my opinion three things need to be executed to even come close to acceptibility:

A) Conan is ugly. He's not a pretty man nor should ever be. But...he has to have loads of charisma. Enough to be a leader...a king.

B) Conan is a brute. He lives on the edge of animal instinct. He fights, kills and has sex within a narrow field of emotion.

C) Ultimately he's a man's man. He takes care of business outside of the norm and somehow pulls through. We'd love to be the marauder that he is, and should be able to identify with his prowess. We all wish we could be as strong and powerful as Conan...face it it's a fact.

These last two are old sketches from a few years back. The painted one feels closest to me. Closer to Buscema and Joe Jusko than anything. Joe's another good artist whose Conan is pretty good...with the emphasis on "pretty".

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Transporter

I'm not a big fan of driving but I really enjoy the sexiness of car design. I use to thumb through all the Muscle Car magazines and go to the Auto-rama in my hometown at the hockey arena. I just loved old cars.

The detailing and craftsmanship falls in line with that instinctual thinking for many, that curves are pretty to look at. They rile an animal instinct from within.

I could have benefitted by getting a better handling on vehicle illustration and design. Fortunately and unfortunately I had more of a passion to draw everything, rather than just one thing. Like fashion illustration, architectural rendering and comic books I figured I could work towards those specialties later.
Luckily drawing comics forces you to draw a little bit of everything.
This was something most Art Teachers did not see and overall thought it was a waste of my time. On some level they're right. I've spent more money on comics, and going to comic conventions than actually making money doing comics.
When do you fold and realize the pursuits are futile? When do you buckle down and decide to work harder believing that it's just a matter of time? I wish I knew the answer. But the bottom line is I have to keep doing what I enjoy the most. Whatever I'm drawing I try to give it everything I've got, even if I don't know what the heck I'm doing.
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Islands in the Sky

Another environment concept.
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Big City Living

Rawhide!!!

I like westerns a whole bunch, and I wouldn't mind drawing one someday. I have a story I've been working on in the back of my mind that would be fun.

I think what makes a good western is if there's some historical relevance and context that the story is unfolded in. It supports and anchors the scenes and perhaps gives us a glimpse at a time that was a turning point for some places in the wild west. Without that historical context I feel like the plots would run a bit thinner and become character driven. And we've had enough of those types of westerns already.

The above illustration was done for a book that is not a western. In fact I don't really no what kind of book you would call it. It's bizarre to say the least.

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Kill That Mockingbird

It's funny, if you don't show it they don't know if you can do it.

I'm talking about Art Directors and those who take a portfolio for face value. There have been times when an AD will look at my work and not believe that I "can" or "will enjoy" doing something different. I try to be clear that I'm always open to new ideas and experiences that push me as an artist. For some reason though they don't believe this.

Somewhere along the way people stopped believing that other people wanted to work hard and diversify. It's become a necessary evil. I read on a sign in my neighborhood that said, "Job security is being worth more than you're paid. " It sent a chill down my back to think of the truth in that statement.

So when I go after a job, whether it's for Concept Design, or Storyboards, I try to have on hand examples that are close if not exactly what the client is looking for. This is a lot of work. As I'm constantly reexamining my portfolio and asking myself, "What don't I have?" and "What could be done better?" "What kind of work do I want to do and have I proven I can do it?"

Those are the questions that keep pushing me, hoping that for some reason or another I'm not passed up for somebody else. Don't give an AD an excuse to look any further. With that in mind I'm constantly doing what I can to not get too comfortable with what I do. And yet...I feel my biggest enemy at times is "personal style."

It's funny when I was a younger artist I was told, "Oh don't worry about style, that'll come with more experience...you're putting the cart before the horse." Well it's funny, I have a habit of listening to people who know more than I do and that's what I did. I didn't worry about style. I was more concerned about craft, and foundation skills. Years later, it seems "style" is a preoccupation of many when it comes to hiring artists for "everything". With video games style counts oftentimes over substance, and in many cases...you end up with fluff and no heart.

Without "style" you have to focus on the "content" and by golly that means someone has to work a little bit harder, and stop "creating by committee". It's a lot harder to create entertainment with heart, to be truly creative, but the bottom line is money drives this, and no one wants to get so invested that they end up heartbroken at the end. SO where am I going with this?

Put some flashy bits over some really creative shapes, and add more special effects than Episode I, II & III and maybe you can blind people enough to give you their money for what little you've given them. By the time their senses clear it'll be too late for them to do anything about it. They'll think they saw something really wonderful. But they won't have time to scrutinize it because there will be something "new" and shiny to run after soon enough. Repeat cycle.

If this sounds bitter, please don't misunderstand. It's more sad than anything to me. I worry about the creative consciousness of our culture. I'm concerned that my ideals will not "fit in" with this line of thinking. Ultimately that could mean no work, or, that I have to compromise, or possibly look elsewhere for the kind of work that I want to do.

Unfortunately I don't speak french or japanese...just yet.

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Jungle Love

I thought I loved the jungle until I actually went to one. It takes some getting use to. For me it was the heat and humidity that I found hard to adapt to. Then again I wasn't there for very long.

Otherwise jungles are pretty spectacular places. It's amazing how many varieties of plants and animals are packed into such a small area. Makes one really think about the impact you make when "wandering" off trail seems like a "fun" idea.

I did this piece over the course of several months. I was working on a another project and when I'd be done with the page and had left over ink I'd work on this. It was an experiment mostly and overall I enjoyed the results. I think next time though I'll plan it a little better and give it the attention it deserves.
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Get Out of My Dreams

I just found these vehicle drawings. Man I enjoyed this game a whole bunch. I had two weeks to knock out the foundational concepts for it and there wasn't even a story yet, let alone an art director.

I've worked in more game studios than I can count where I had to be my own art director because:
A) We didn't have one.
B) The one we had didn't want to get involved.
C) They just were the right person for the wrong position. Luckily it forced me to pick up the slack. My motivation for running with the ball is something I relish if not for a lack of skill at doing it.

In the end if you can find a great Art Director to work with, and believe me I know maybe one or two, they're golden. Don't lose touch with them. They'll be a valuable friend and will keep you growing as long as you keep asking for their input. Because let's face it, if Mom was our Art Director we'd all still be showing artwork on refrigerator doors.
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