Christmas Card

I don't normally do Christmas cards and to most this is late, but I thought I'd post it anyway. I have another one that I did of the mountains painting too.

Many Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas by the old calendar and so do I. The old calendar, known also as the Gregorian calendar, was used by the US even during the time of President Lincoln, however, the Julian calendar took over, as most of the world used it. I figure why not be as close to the true Christmas as I can, plus presents are much cheaper after the Julian calendar's Christmas.

Zealot

I didn't have quite the time I wanted to spend on this sketch, but it has some nice action to it. The girls in the foreground are too small or Zealot is too big, but I still like this one. I used more blacks than I normally do, which is something I like to do with my sketches that is I like to do something different than I normally do.

I'm still plugging away with Hiro Unlimited next pinup and I've finished inking it. I'll start the flats today and finish the coloring tomorrow or this weekend and if I get the green light to post it I will.

I'm also working on page five of the Space and Time project, which I'm thinking will be finished, pencils only, by the 7th of January. After I'm finished with the pencils I'll go back and fix any problems and possibly add some more details. I only want to add what will be pertinent to the story, but I also want the art to have a very detailed look to it. Something I generally don't do, because I ink and color my own work it takes a lot of time to finish. The reason basically for this change is simply the style of the book is meant to be very 1960's sci-fi. So, the art will reflect in this light.

If we get the green light from Image I'll have to higher two artists to help with this project, if we're going to get it done by next Christmas. I'd like to get a background artist to help out on some of the pages and a flatter to help with the color. We'll see how it goes!

Lone Wolf and Cub

I'm in the process of finishing my second pinup for Hiro Unlimited and I love doing it. It's something completely different from what I might normally draw and it's looking pretty cool so far. I with Hiro Unlimited had more work for me, but looks like I'm only getting three pinups in this book.

I've finished four pages for my pitch to image and I've added two more pages to the mix, for a total of seven, so three more to go. We had to add one page for continuity and the seventh page is to build suspense. So, the pacing will change slightly, but the overall pages are telling the same thing we set out to do.

I feel like I'm getting less done then I normally do, but my work is looking better, because I have to focus more on the details rather than the quantity of art I produce. Slowly but surely getting close to my dream of working full time as a comic book artist, but still I have a lot to learn I don't want to rush it. I know in the back of my mind I want to rush things, but I'm older now and I know there is a time for everything and right now I have to focus on the now.

New version of pinup

Here is a revised version that my brother helped me edit. We adjusted the saturation and lightness of the background, which came out much better on his screen. My screen it looks very yellow, but that's because his screen is calibrated to be the most true color it can be and looks the same when printed.

I made a print of the art with archival paper and true pigment. Normal prints like that cost something around $150.00 to $200.00. The print will retain its color for over a 100 years, so I guess that's why it costs so much.

If anyone is interested in having their digital art printed on archival paper shoot me an email and I'll let you know the cost and I can arrange a sample to be sent to you if you'd like to see what it looks like.

Hiro Unlimited pinup

I did this for Hiro Unlimited, for a book called Force Galaxia.

Possible cover

I'm pretty busy, hence the reason I'm not posting much, but here is a sketch I did for warm-up, but that turned into a possible cover for my new book.

Painting with the DS

So, I finally got my DS, R4, micro SD, firmware update, and Colors. I painted my first painting in my bedroom. I'm pretty happy with it, since it took me awhile to get used to how to use it, but that didn't really take that long. Hopefully you'll be seeing many more painting from my DS to
come. Now, back to work I go.

http://colors.brombra.net/details.php?i=1730 Scroll to the bottom to play the video of my painting and you can see how I jacked it up a few times, but finally figured it out.

How to make it work
1. by the DS light $129
2. get an R4 card $30 to $40 it comes with a usb/micro sd thumb drive to download and upload software to your computer from your DS or to your DS.
3. get a micro SD card $20 for 2 gigs or some R4 deals come with an SD card.
4. go to the R4 main page http://www.r4ds.com/r4.htm and download the firmware to your computer, unzip it (it's a rar), and then just save the data to the root of the micro sd. There will be a folder called system, just take everything from there and move it to root and you're done.
5. download COLORS from http://www.collectingsmiles.com/colors/ and unzip and place the whole folder in the root (you don't have to move files to root, just put the folder in root).

That's it!

The DS is pressure sensitive, so it’s just like a Wacom, but cheaper and you can take it just about anywhere. The best thing ever, for artists.

New Painting

Here is a new painting I'm working on. This is just a fraction of what it really is, but I thought it would be nice to post something.

Nexus

Things are picking up for me. I'm doing some pinups for a new book from Force Galexia, whom I've done work for before. I really like working with Andra, because he gives me a short description of what he wants and I can go from there. On my first sketch he like it, so not a lot of working things out, just doing what I like.

My first two pages for Space and Time are penciled and I'm working on three, but the pinups are going to slow me down. No big deal, I'll be back to them in no time.

Space and Time

Here is one of the cyborgs in my new story called Space and Time. Mike and I hope to finish the pitch to Image in a few weeks and then we'll know if we have a lot of work to do or if we'll be getting back to drawing board, so to speak. Mike has a lot of great ideas for something else, so we're not done by a long shot if this one doesn't work out.

Milk and Cheese

This week has been busy for me. I've been fixing up my new house and replacing things and spending a lot of money at home depot. I still have a few more things to do, but I'm getting through the list of 'to-dos'.

I'm about finished with page two of my pitch to Image. I hope to get done with the next three by next week, as I've taken enough time on them as it is. I'll go back and correct things and ink them and then finally color them. Coloring should be too hard and I might have found someone to flatten my images for me.

Mystery

Here is a piece I did for a guy's website that is selling large prints. I'll be making many of these type of paintings and I hope people like them.

DC Zombies

So far I've finished penciling the first page of the submission to Image. I'm going to work it out so we can submit to Zuda comics too in their format. I figure if Image doesn't like it we can go Zuda.

The big reason I'd like to go with Image is because we retain all the rights to the characters and story, where as with Zuda we give up some of those rights.

This piece is for the no prize challenge at Ten Ton. It's supposed to be DC characters only, so I hope it looks clear enough.

Mervyn Pumpkinhead

I'm just about finished penciling the first page of my new book, except it's not the first page, but rather the 10th page on issue two or three, but not sure. I've finished roughing five pages and all I have to do now is finish them. I'm hoping to pencil all the pages by the middle of next week, but I'm trying to take it slow so I don't make any simple mistakes that might jeopardize our chances at Image.

This week's sketch challenge was fun and I'm showing more of the style I'm doing the new book in.

Fantastic Four

Another sketch challenge for you all to view.

This week I'm working on the test pages I plan to send to Image and I'm hoping there will be good news to report. My writer Mike is working hard and I really like the pages we've done so far. I haven't colored anything yet, but I'm planning to do that last, as I have to come up with a process that I'm happy with before I start and once I do start I have to bury myself in just coloring. Once the process is complete then it doesn't take me long to do a page, but this time I'm thinking of hiring a Flatter to help with the coloring.

As you can see my style is more detailed and this is how I'll be drawing the pages. What you can expect in this new story is Sci-fi, cyborgs that look more like Zombies, and action from start to finish. We're pacing this story like an action film, so it should be entertaining.

We’ve already come up with the story and all the background details from main characters, so all is left are the five page submission package. We’ll write a one page synopsis and I still have to make the cover and logo.

24 Hour Comic

I just finished the 24 hour comic book Challenge this morning at 8:30am and I even had 3 and a half hours to spare. I was so tired I wasn't going back to make corrections. I started drawing at 12pm on Saturday and ended at 8:30am Sunday. This was my second year doing it with Sqidworks.

Here is the link if you want to read it: 24 Hour Comic

Idol contest pages

These pages were for the Idol contest and even though I didn't make the top ten I wanted to play along so here they are.

Enjoy!

DC commission

I'm keeping busy doing the Idol pages for the Play at Home thread, which is just for fun. I'm told there are some editors that look there, so I'm doing it for them too. I just bought a house today and I'll move in Monday, so with these pages and moving I'll be keeping busy. I'll be starting the pages for the new project I'm doing and submitting it to Image. My writer is really good, so this project is promising. I'm hoping Image will except it and I'll be able to get the first series published in 2008.

Green Lantern

This is the first page of Green Lantern practice page I'm doing. I'll be doing three more in this style.

Superman vs Doomsday

I did this for a contest that Blueline is doing for their sketch magazine. It took me a while to finish it and I'm thinking about coloring it too.

What's up!

Just wanted to post something, because this weeks not happening for me. I'm in the middle of buying a house and moving. I'm working on a piece that won't be seen for awhile and oddly enough it took me several days to finish it. I'm still working on it. It's much more render happy than some of the stuff you see here, but it still got me in it. I wanted to do something different and I'm liking it so far.

I'm posting some old stuff, but thought it would be cool to post anyway.

Superman Test

I draw the top two heads from Jim Lee's version of Superman and the bottom version is all me. I wanted to get a better feel for superman so I started with some references to get his face similar to the comic book. I'll be doing a Doomsday vs. Superman pinup for another challenge.

Namor

I'm starting to get the hang of this very liney (new word) type style. I'm hoping to profect it before I start pages on my new book.

Thor

Sketch challenge of the week.

New character

This is for the new project I'm working on. I'm trying to create a more mainstream style that will help to pitch my idea to Image. I'm thinking the work looks fine, but I always worry about that kind of stuff too much. I should just draw what I feel good about, which I do so far.

Wish me luck!

Female sketches

I did these for practice. My female faces have seemed a little stiff and I figured a little practice from life would help.

Grifter

Here are a few sketches I did, that I didn't think turned out too well, but sometimes you have to post the bad to remind yourself that you've got a long way to go to be where you'd like to be.

Practice on Kirby's work

I did this for fun!

Gamma-Walverine

Yeah, it isn't the best, but it took me literally five minutes to color. I had a dinner party to go to and my wife was sitting next to me while I finished coloring it. She was pretty happy that I got it done quickly, but she actually like it too. Not the best piece I’ve done, but still it isn't terrible to look at.

Evil MJ

This is another sketch chellenge. I'm still working on that new idea, but I like to keep in shape and do the sketches when ever I can.

Future Cite

This is Arazona in the future. This is a new idea I came up with for a comic, which again I'll pitch to Image. I've got all the characters designed and the story plotted out, so now I just have to write up a five page pitch to Image.

Wish me luck!

Some Cap drawings and words for the future

I'm starting to get in a flow right now and some sports enthusiast might call it the 'zone.' I'm starting to like what I'm producing and the direction my art is going. I don't know how to explain it other than that I feel good about my art.

I'm working on a new project that just popped up the other day and I'm going to look for a writer for it and then pitch it to Image. We'll see how it goes. In the mean time I'm posting some sketches of Captain America I did.

I'm working on another painting, but this time of a design all my own. I'm hoping to get it done today and start working on some pages for this new project this weekend.

Mountains

The feeling of cool and harm at the same time.

Under water

I did this to study atmosphere, among other reasons. I’m hoping to get better at painting to broaden my abilities.

City and ship after SPARTH

I painted this after a painted sparth did. I love that guys work and if you want to check it out I have a link to his blog on my links section.

Feel free to comment!

Apocalypse

This was another sketch challenge entry for the 'no prize challenge' over at Ten Ton. I think this one came out a little dark, but it isn't off topic for the character, so I guess I'm okay with it.

Full Metal Panic

Back in the swing of things and doing sketches. I got married, got rejected by Image...it has been a long month. I'm hoping to update my blog again with more happy sketches and some sequential pages I'm working on for another challenge.

Teddy Scare

Some test pages I did for Ape Ent., but I didn't get the job. No biggie, though. I'm working on my book still and about to send it to Image to see if they will publish it. If not them I'm hoping someone will.

Hulk

Did this for my parents while we were waiting for breakfast. I submitted it for a sketch challenge too.

Baroness and Stormshadow

Just a quick sketch I did, because I forgot to bring the page I'm supposed to be working on. I won't have another for a few weeks, but I'll post everything I drew on my honeymoon...or most everything.

New Avengers

Another sketch challenge entry. Along with my sequential pages I do every week I love to do quick sketches, but this wasn't so quick. I think I spent 3 hours on it, but I can't be sure. I'm doing pages for my own book, plus Ape wanted me to try out for a book they're doing. I think things are starting to pick up for me, but I'm getting married on the 26th, so I'm going to have to take a little break for all this. I'll be back in no time, though.

Jonah Hex

Another sketch challenge entry, this time of Jonah Hex. I think I'm getting more consistent and comfortable with drawing quick sketches. I don't spend a lot of time on thinking about these and the drawing is just as fast. I think this one might have taken me 20 minutes tops, but not sure as I had to keep talking to people with computer problems every five seconds.

Jane

Did this for sketch challenge. It's Jane Fonda as barbarella.