Con update forthcoming.

I had a great time at NDK. I have lots of stuff to share, commissions, people I met and old friends I've connected with again. I'll try to have this up today.

All set for NDK

Here is the final colors to my sketch cards I'm bring for NDK.

Sketch Cards Inked

One more day until NDK. I'll be coloring these tonight before NDK.

Sketch Cards at Denver's NDK

Hi all,

Here are some sketch cards I'm doing for NDK. I'll be selling these at my table in artist alley. Please stop by and say hi. I'll have some of my comic books.

Thanks,

Josh

Marvel Comic's Storm: redesigned

Here is a redesign I did of Storm. It is really funny, but when I started drawing this my daughter, whose 3, became infatuated with her and now she's always imagines that she's Storm. I did this for a contest that was due on the 13th. I had already drawn it a few weeks ago and just needed to finish coloring it, so that is what I did last night. I think the colors took me about three hours.

Josh

Boosterville

So, I have begun making the web comic, Boosterville. I have started drawing the characters and I have drawn two strips so far. I'll be adding posts periodically with updates. I have been given the go ahead to draw, ink, pencil, color and letter the first ten pages. Hopefully it works out, as this really has a lot of potential.

This is Becky. More to come.

Josh

I'm working on creating a webcomic with a guy that lives in the same city as I do, Colorado Springs. We met over the internet and we have been discussing the making of a webcomic that I'm really starting to like the possibilities it has. He is paying me, but I feel like it is both our creation, since I'm drawing the style of the art, creating the look of the characters, and building the overall visual aspects of the story. It is his creation first and foremost, though. This is J.J. Ink on card stock blue 8.5 x 11 inches.

Happy Labor Day

This was my attempt at inking with a brush. I don't do it often anymore, because it's more convenient to ink with a pen/marker. I am possibly going to be working on a web comic soon and I think the work is more of a style that needs a brush stroke rather than the pen style. I may have to keep playing around with it before I'm ready to start inking the strip.

Josh

There is a redesign contest going on for Marvel's Storm. I was thinking about her as a character and she is definitely African, so I found some cool African female models to reference from. I came up with this idea on a whim and I'm thinking of doing something more African on the final image. It is due I think in mid-September.

I'm finished with school and life is finally getting back to normal. I'm getting ready to go to comic book conventions again, so it is about time I get some comic art done. The above is a digital painting I did the other day. This took me about two hours all together. I remember it taking less time when I was doing this stuff regularly.

Now that I'm finished with school I thought of posting on a regular basis. First thing I want to do is just draw stuff I'm interested in—nothing for work. I have a book cover I need to do that has been bought and paid for, so I really should get to that, but I just want to take a little break from the work stuff and draw for fun.

I thought of reflecting on the last 2.5 years and what it means to me, but I really need to reflect on the last 16 years to really understand what the last 2.5 years has meant. First off, I went back to school because I went to school for an art degree back in 97, but got distracted by a number of things going on in my life. I started off taking various music classes and art classes, but I ended up getting married and moving to Colorado Springs to pursue a career in law enforcement in 99. I did this because I thought having a stable career was better than being a full time artist. After I finished the academy and got POST certified I realized being a police officer is not my forte. I ended up taking a job as a machinist and worked in that field for about 3 years, before I was laid off (didn't turn out to be very stable after all). Then I decided to work in IT. I worked for Gateway for six months before getting laid off again. This time I took a job with T-Mobile and stuck with it for over 2 years before I had to leave due to a tragic life event—divorce. In itself it is not a big deal, but my daughters were 2 and 4 at the time and it was just us for about five years before I got married again. After the divorce life was kind of a blur. For five years I just wondered with little direction, worked for Verizon Wireless, Microsoft helpdesk and finally got a great job working for Progressive. I did end up finishing an associate’s degree during this period of time, though.

After I met my current wife life started over for me. I'm the father of four daughters, one of which is starting high school next year. Life is moving right along. So, 2.5 years ago I thought life was at a good point to go back to school to finish what I started way back in 97. I thought "I have a stable job, my wife and I are doing fine, and my daughters should have a father who at least has a Bachelor's degree". Now I'm finished with a BA in Visual Art from UCCS and it is time for me to get back to doing what I love, making comic book art.

I am a different artist now. I’m a cross between a contemporary artist and comic artist, which makes it difficult to explain what I do exactly. I draw comic books, but my art goes in galleries and I say things like, “I’m exploring the way sequential panels juxtaposed with each other can create movement and meaning for a narrative.” I imagine it is difficult to understand what that means to someone who reads comic books for the entertainment factor, but for the academic side of art it means my work has a little more meaning than entertainment, but in contrast it is not just about how the content works with form or theme.

Ultimately, my audience is both the fine art world (mostly academic audiences) and the comic book reader. I consider myself one of the general comic book readers myself. I don’t teach and I have no interest at this time in getting into that field of work. What I want my audience to get from my work is twofold. If you’re a teacher, I want you to learn about comic books. How they can function and how in different ways they can communicate ideas. If you’re a comic book reader I want you to be entertained and learn something about the contemporary art world. I want you to see how comic books can be pop culture and how they can teach us about ourselves. Whether I succeed in my goal or not, I hope everyone enjoys my work.

Josh

I was thinking about all the stuff going on in the world and it seems everyone is screaming about something, which got me thinking about good reasons for screaming. Maria Sharapova has some great reasons to be screaming. I love to watch her play.

A bit of sketching before class starts today. I'm really looking forward to this last semester. I'm finally going to be finished.

Here is a little process and sneak peak at what I'm working on.

Pencil and inks. Notice I switched the angle of some of the panels to flow better.

I do all the perspective work before I ink or while I'm inking. I did all this on the computer. Normally I do most of my work free hand and then scan it in, but my scanner broke, so I have to do everything on the computer for now. 

I put down the gray tones and then use a nice tool in Photoshop to overlay color. I did some traditional (digital) painting after I did the main areas of color. 

Took a break from the sequential pages I'm working to do this sketch.

Quick sketch for fun.

Happy New Year

Did this drawing while waiting for midnight to role around, so technically this is the first drawing of Hulk in the entire world in 2013...or maybe not.

Happy new year to everyone!

Sketch I did today. 

End of the fall semester

Finally finished, but then again this semester feels like it went by so fast. I'm told this is normal, since I'm finished in Spring. My mind is on graduating, so I guess I'm just in the zone where I don't feel the time go by. Here are two pieces I did for my final projects in the two classes I took this semester. I made the suit and the drawing is 19 inches by 48 inches.

Some school work I did this semester. Just two classes left before I'm finished. Then I have to figure out if I want to get a masters or do some more work in comics for awhile. I got some time before I have to make a decision, as I have one more semester after this one.

Most of this work is reference from cosplay and one piece is straight up comic book art...well, I guess all of it is comic art, but one wasn't referenced and the others were.

Been thinking about drawing some old school knights and I found this cool game called Kingdoms of Camelot for my iPod. Anyway, I drew this for fun. This is Fiona the Fierce. She's my head Knight.

This is one of the pieces I did for this semester. It is 38 x 48 inches.

Practice!

Here is a sketch I did for a motorcycle company.

Drawings to come...

I've been busy for the entire semester and I just finished my last class. I still have to finish up one last paper, but once I'm finished I'll be posting some zombie portrait commissions. I can't wait to begin.

Josh

First page to my X-Men portfolio

Please let me know if you like it.

Where did the time go?

Spring Break is over already?!?! It went by way too fast. I was able to get the cover/pinup finished for Force Galexia...still doing touch-ups on the colors, though. I haven't posted the progress, because I want to post the whole thing when it is done. I'm also working on a new portfolio. I haven't drawn any mainstream characters in a while, so this will be an experience. I'll post those when I'm finished as well. They will likely just be pencils, so I'm going to need to work on the light box in order to keep them as clean as I can. I just saw the lettering completed for Space and Time, part 3. It was drawn so long ago that looking at it again was almost likely looking at it for the first time. As for the full story, as of now, we have something like 31 pages done. I really don't know how much longer we have to finish the story arc. I think at some point, Mike and I will need to come up with a final ending. That way we know how many pages we have to complete. Josh

Spring Break

Finished my last Midterm last night; I think it went well...enough.

I'm working on another piece for Force Gelexia (I hope I spelled that right). I've already finished an initial sketch--several actually--and it is looking good. Andre likes it, which is the important thing--keeping the customer happy. I always like working with Andre, because he trusts me impeccably. Of course I don't want his trust to go to my head, so I try to take my time when I work on his pieces. It helps me get perspective, and focus on what he is looking for, while still keeping my artistic integrity.

I'll likely post the pencils and subsequent steps following them when they are finished. I'm hoping to work on it while taking a week off from both school and work.

Josh

Something new...

School is starting next week, and I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time I'm sad that it means I'll have less time with the family.

This image is something of a question mark. I'm not sure if I'll do anything with it, but the character and story are already made up. It is just a matter of putting together a platform to produce the story. I'm thinking it will be a webcomic. The question is whether I should use facebook or my block to post the comic. If I do it at all. We'll see once school starts if I'm motivated enough to keep it going.

Josh

Break time

I've been done with school for two weeks, and I almost forgot how to relax, but I soon remembered. I've been playing Starcraft II, and hanging with the family. My daughter is playing basketball now. Despite the cold weather, I'm helping learn to dribble. Work is pretty much the same, but I'm changing shifts, so I get the weekend off, which will be nice for a change.

This is the inked image to my final project in advanced drawing. I didn't do that great in this class, though. Just a plain old B, but the other classes I did well. Still, it sucks that I'm an artist and can't get an A in drawing class.

There are three pages in total for the above sequential drawing, but I may try to get them published, so I don't want to post them just yet.

Josh

Final Project for another class

This class is called Advanced Drawing, but this is the first time I'm actually drawing for a project, aside from sketching. This is a story I came up with for this project. I actually like it, so I may do something with it. We'll see.

For now, I have to finish inking this page, and do two other pages to finish it. This is basically the main character learning how to fly for the first time. I also have to do the lettering before this Tuesday. I should be able to do it.

Josh