Animation on Display 2k10

I went to this year's AoD today, and, just as the last time around, it was good fun. A little harder to move around in the new hotel space - placing the registration line directly in front of the main route to the Dealers' Hall created some harrowing experiences - but enjoyable nonetheless. Shout-outs to Rico (DVC yeaaaaah! *fistbump*) and the folks at Three Panel Soul!

Fun fact: zaru noodles, when dipped in that sauce they're served with, taste like cold ham.

New year, new stuff

Despite what my lack of blog updates would suggest, I have been doing some work since November. As proof - and to make up for the inactivity - here's an image dump for y'alls. First up, a sampling of Christmas gift drawings I made for family and friends!





Next up, a digital piece I've been banging my face against for my fantasy-themed portfolio. The little pest simply does not want to move from grayscale to color, so I'm just going to let it lie as-is.


...Aaaaaand to round things off, here's a page of doodles from a recent family vacation, just because I promised my buddies on Facebook that I'd do at least one during my stay. The big guy's supposed to be Jambi from Pee-Wee's Playhouse, with heavy emphasis on "supposed" as I didn't have any reference at the time.


Hopefully this marks the first of a long, long period of consistent Saturday blog updates (yes, it's almost 1 a.m. on Sunday as I type this, but I haven't fallen asleep yet, so it still feels like Saturday. Take that!). Let's see how my lazy self fares, shall we?

Ride of the Headless Horseman

Well, wouldja' look at that? I turn my back for a second, and a two-week break from art sneaks up on me! At least I got one thing done, and it didn't turn out half bad, either!



I got to try out my new Raphael brushes on this illo, and they make my old generic brushes feel clumsy and unwieldy in comparison. Wheee! I felt pretty guilty for slacking off so hard on this (coulda' been done in two days! Two days!!), so I also made a pseudo-tutorial that demonstrates the process I used. Happy Friday the 13th, everybody!

Happy Halloween!

Some of you may be heading off to parties, handing out candy to masquerading miscreants, or even prowling around in costume to earn said sweets. As for myself, I'm going to finish off what remains of my evening by watching some Vampire Hunter D and by getting some frags in Team Fortress 2's holiday event, all while listening to monster metal courtesy of Lordi. In any case, here's to an awesome and safe Halloween, no matter what your plans. Take care of yourselves, friends!

Art-related work has been slow, because I allowed myself to be lazy (for shame!). I should have some new stuff to post up - random sketches and new work alike - sometime next week, hopefully before Wednesday.

Blum is BACK!

With the site recoded and revamped, I am proud to declare "Blum - the Incompetent Knight" officially relaunched! Read it by clicking here!

Snails, Sketches, and (Owl)bears, Oh My!

Does a month-long gap between updates count as being lazy? At any rate, here's some new stuff!



The sketch page above was made before the illustration for purposes of research. The illustration itself was made with India ink, watercolor, and gouache on cold press watercolor paper. I hadn't planned on using gouache, but a number of failed ink hatching forced me to experiment with ways to save the image from itself. Thankfully, it worked, or so I'd like to think.



This was my entry for the most recent ArtOrder challenge, which asked for a redesign of the Dungeons and Dragons Owlbear creature. When glancing over the brief, I only noticed the phrases "Owlbear," "not flipbooked," and the size specs of 5"x7", which was good to start with. Sadly, right as I was ready to send the entry e-mail off, I reread the description and discovered that what was specifically asked for was one adult male Owlbear, one adult female, and one infant. D'oh! The color technique I tried didn't quite work as intended, either. It's not eye-gougingly bad (I hope!), but it is a rather odd hybrid of two working methods - vectory and painterly - that doesn't quite mesh.

Aside from these pieces, I've also been working on a graphic design job and putting pages together for my webcomic, which can be seen both at the comic's website (URL to be posted once the site has been thoroughly recoded) and in my DeviantArt gallery. Keeping busy feels good, indeed!

I Tried! Honest!

Finished up my summer Italian course last week (allora posso parlare un po' del Italiano!), and now I can begin client hunting and working full-time on my comics. Fun! The above image, however, was not so fun, sadly. Y'see, I figured it would be a good idea to integrate linework into my digital painting process, and I wanted to experiment with a greyscale underpainting like so many other digital painters do. ...Seven hours of pain ensued. On the bright side, I finally found some use for a few custom brushes that were laying dormant, as can be seen in the background tiles and smoke, and in a few places on the hat and skin.

In other news, I've decided to take a stab at things and make myself available for private commissions. My pricing structure is currently posted at my DeviantArt page, and will be added to the contact portion of my portfolio site later this week.