Lindsay Cibos' Art Blog

Speedpaint 29 - Angry Gorilla

2009-12-10T12:56:00.003-05:00

Today's speedpaint is a stern looking gorilla from Disney's Animal Kingdom. I find the human similarities in apes and monkeys fascinating. Their facial expressions especially. Perhaps because of how expressive they can be, I couldn't help but feel bad for this guy. He was looking out at the people passing by with such a fierce and unhappy expression, like he couldn't put his guard down with everyone around. Or maybe gorillas are like this in the wild too? In any case, it makes me think about the implications of keeping animals in captivity. Not that I'm anti-zoo or anything. They allow people to view and appreciate animals that they wouldn't otherwise have an opportunity to see and I enjoy sketching zoo animals.

My clock crashed when I was working on this one, so I don't have an exact time but I think it took me about an hour and 20 minutes. Photoshop CS3.

Here's a bonus speedpaint. A sheet draped on the floor, 16 minutes.

Speedpaint 28 - Thanksgiving Charly

2009-12-08T14:04:00.004-05:00

Another Christmas present. This one's for Charly's owner. :D

Photoshop CS3, about 1 hour 10 minutes.

Charly the Shih Tzu was also the subject of my very first speed painting attempt earlier in the year.

Speedpaint 27 - Thanksgiving Tiki

2009-12-04T12:52:00.003-05:00

This is a painting of my parent's cat, Tiki. Like the last picture I posted, this is also going to be a Christmas gift. I got caught up in the details and ended up spending about two and half hours on it (I broke my own speedpaint rule of "Work at 50% and never zoom in", so it's super detailed even at 200% zoom).

In case any one is wondering, I should clarify that these paintings are done primarily for practice. I haven't lost my mind or given up comics or completely overhauled my art style or anything like that. Just trying to challenge myself and pick up some new techniques to use in the future on actual work.

For the past couple months, I've been focusing very intensely on a new graphic novel pitch. I've put a great deal of work into it so far: research, detailed chapter-by-chapter synopsis, in-depth character descriptions and histories, mountains of sketches, and character designs. Thing is, that's all behind-the-scenes stuff that I can't share. I have one more chapter to go on the synopsis, and the ending has been set since almost the beginning, so it's just a matter of fleshing out the final part. Then I can move onto scripting and storyboarding the first chapter. This new story is something I've been thinking of since last year, so it's really exciting to see it all coming together. I should have a lot more to show in the upcoming months. :)

Speedpaint 26 - Aunt Carol

2009-11-30T13:31:00.012-05:00

This started out with the intention of being a speed paint, but became a "slow paint" when I realized that I'd need to be more meticulous to get an accurate likeness. I've been picking away at it slowly for about the last week. I believe I put about five or six hours into it total. It's a Christmas present for my Aunt Carol, of her and her new boyfriend (reffed from a photo). She wanted it 8.5"x11" size, which also made it more time-consuming (previous speed paints were done 4"x6").

The most difficult part of the picture was probably the hand. I don't usually have too much trouble drawing hands, but attempting to depict one with color and volume without the help of an underdrawing or lineart...very frustrating. It went through a couple revisions.

It's probably obvious that realistic painted portraits are not my area of expertise (this is my first attempt since...high school, I think?) but hopefully Aunt Carol likes it.

Speedpaint 25 - Tiger 2

2009-11-23T13:21:00.003-05:00

I downloaded some new texture brushes the other day. Thought I'd do a close-up of a tiger to figure out some fur painting techniques. Haven't figured out a technique that works yet, but it's a start. I'll keep working at it.

This time I painted the figure before the background. I wanted to put all my time and effort into the tiger since he was the primary focus of the composition. I used less saturated colors on the background to try to get the tiger to "pop" more.

Photoshop CS3, 59 minutes.

Speedpaint 24 - Tiger

2009-11-22T13:07:00.008-05:00

For this speedpaint, I tried a different approach. As always, I work from back to front, blocking in the background before moving onto the figure. The difference is that this time, I started with the lightest colors and built up to the darkest shades (sort of like using watercolors), whereas in previous pieces, I started with my darkest colors first, and worked up to my lightest colors. As a result, the finished piece has a slightly more pastel color palette.

Photoshop CS3, 45 minutes.

Speedpaint 23 - Komodo Dragon

2009-11-14T12:28:00.004-05:00

Finding a method for quickly painting reptilian scales proved difficult, so this is yesterday and today's speed paint. I did the background and basic body structure on the Komodo dragon yesterday, and then some retouching and scale texture today. I believe in total it took about an hour and a half. I'm not quite satisfied with the results, but that's not the point of these exercises. It's to expose myself to new challenges.

I think I'm in a rut with the greens and browns. I'll try to work some different colors into the next one.

Speedpaint 22 - Crow on Turquoise

2009-11-12T13:30:00.005-05:00

New speedpainting. Going to try to get back into the habit of doing one a day again. :)

It was my birthday on the 9th. I turned 28. I went to Animal Kingdom to celebrate, where I encountered this crow. It looks like he's standing on water, but it's actually a solid object that's been painted to look like water.

Photoshop CS3, 1 hour, 9 minutes
Soundtrack: Joe Hisaishi - Studio Ghibli Concert 2008; Ghibli to Issho

Draw Furries: New Book!

2009-11-01T13:37:00.009-05:00

I'm proud to announce the upcoming release of Draw Furries - How to Create Anthropomorphic and Fantasy Animals written and illustrated by me and Jared Hodges, published by Impact Books!

In a nutshell, Draw Furries goes over drawing anthropomorphic and animal characters. It's 128 full-color pages, covering step-by-step anatomy, poses, and species-specific details (wings, tails, eyes...) for feline, canine, equine, rodent and avian characters, plus coloring and backgrounds! The book also includes a bonus guest gallery featuring art by the very talented Bara-chan, Kelly Hamilton, CookingPeach aka Miu, and Makime!

Here's some sample spreads from the book:

The book comes out the beginning of December. I'm currently taking pre-orders for signed copies of the book through my website (also includes bonus freebies like our promo postcards for this season ^^).

To celebrate, I'm holding another contest! I'm giving away one copy of Draw Furries: How to Create Anthropomorphic and Fantasy Animals! Here's how to enter. It's very simple. All you have to do is link to this blog entry (on your blog, website, twitter, facebook, etc.) to help spread the word about Draw Furries. Then, e-mail me with the link to your post, and you're entered in the drawing! The contest ends November 30th. Thanks and good luck!

(Note to international readers: I don't mind shipping internationally, but due to the increased costs of shipping overseas, if you live outside the US or Canada, you'll have to cover the cost of shipping if you win. Sorry!)

Illustration Friday "Flying"

2009-10-14T09:28:00.002-04:00

Speedpaint 21 - Ducklets

2009-09-22T11:58:00.003-04:00

I encountered this Muscovy duck and her newly hatched ducklings yesterday and thought they'd make for great subject matter for a new, long overdue, speed painting. :)

Photoshop CS3, 1 hour
Soundtrack: Grandia OST

Ballerina - Complete

2009-08-18T18:07:00.003-04:00

This was a fun picture to make. Ballerinas are delightful to watch, and equally enjoyable to draw.

Domo: The Manga - out in stores tomorrow!

2009-08-31T12:01:00.006-04:00

The Domo: The Manga book I worked on is coming out tomorrow. It should be available in bookstores nationwide in the manga/graphic novel section! It's a full-color graphic novel published by Tokyopop involving that lovable brown monster guy with the big mouth! All the stories are lighthearted and fun, perfect for kids and great for fans of Domo and/or funny animal stories. Here's the Amazon link to more info.

Two chapters in the book were done by me and Jared Hodges (pencils = me, Jared = colors).

You can see more sample pages here.

Etsy!

2009-08-27T23:49:00.003-04:00

I opened up an Etsy shop here! Come browse around! :)

More prints and sketches to come. Want to see something added there? Comic pages? Original drawings? Particular print? Let me know!

Caution Creatures - Complete

2009-08-26T18:27:00.003-04:00

A smorgasbord of poisonous/venomous creatures for the Illustration Friday prompt "caution". Represented are the black widow spider, poison dart frog, coral snake, blue ring octopus, puffer fish, wasp, and box jellyfish (Not to scale with each other). :)

The picture was fun to do, but took longer than expected to finish it... probably because my working size was 8"x6" at 600 dpi, so I ended up making it far more detailed than necessary. Whoops.

Pencil + coloring in Photoshop CS3

Wrapped

2009-08-20T20:30:00.001-04:00

For the Illustration Friday prompt "wrapped".

Ballerina - WIP

2009-08-17T21:23:00.005-04:00

Yes, I'm back to the ballet theme again! :) Here are some studies I did while watching ballet performances.

So what are the sketches for? Figure drawing practice and warm-ups for my next picture, a sequence of dance moves starring this character. I should be finished with it tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Crab Invasion - Complete

2009-08-14T20:44:00.001-04:00

Invasion WIP 1

2009-08-14T09:58:00.005-04:00

Here's a sneak peak cropping of the picture I plan on finishing up today.

These are the thumbnail sketches for the picture.

I decided to go with number 3 since it has the most action (boy leaping in the air), though I'm also fond of 1 and 2.

1 has a nice diagonal cut of water creeping into the image, and so many crabs that he is no place to put his other foot. Downsides - seems too posed, and the right leg pulled back almost looks like he's getting ready to kick crabs, which isn't my intention.

2 has a funny action of the boy pulling up his foot after a crab has snipped at it, causing the crab to also be launched into the air. I strongly considered it, but 3 won out for the stronger action and the sense that the crabs somehow snuck up on him.

From the Sketchbook - studies of polar bears and beetles

2009-08-11T23:27:00.007-04:00

The polar bear studies are based upon photos I took at the New York Central Park zoo, with the exception of Knut, the famous polar bear from Germany -- too irresistibly cute not to draw. :)

The beetle studies were done for one of the Domo manga chapters in which Domo catches himself a kabuto mushi, aka a Rhinoceros beetle. They're popular in Japan and sometimes used in fighting tournaments. Before I could "toonify" the beetle's design, I made sure to do a number of drawings of the actual insect so that I better understood what I was drawing.

The final design ended up being just a tad different than the sketches here. See if you can tell the difference when the book comes out!

Can't Wait to Grow Up!

2009-08-10T20:21:00.004-04:00

For the Illustration Friday prompt "impatience". This girl wants to hurry up and grow into an adult so that she can be just like her mother.

A number of ideas came to mind for illustrating the word "impatience": a boy cutting in the lunch line, a group of kids being served cupcakes, while one of the kids complains about the wait, or a kid yelling at another one to let him have his turn on a ride... but then this final idea popped into my head, I liked it because it presented a different take on the word with a positive spin.

Speedpaint 20 - Momoko

2009-08-04T11:57:00.007-04:00

Tribute to Momoko. She loved to play in packing peanuts.

Photoshop CS3, 56 minutes.
Soundtrack: Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Speedpaint 18 and 19 - Sea Lion and Snowy Egret

2009-07-31T12:16:00.004-04:00

Snowy Egret found wandering around at Sea World.

Photoshop CS3, 35 minutes.
Soundtrack: FINAL FANTASY SONG BOOK mahoroba

California Sea Lion at NY Central Park Zoo.

Photoshop CS3, 35 minutes.
Soundtrack: Seiken Densetsu 2 OST (sorry about the constant clicking noise - livestream kept refreshing a banner for some reason)

Speedpaint 16 and 17 - Monkey and 4th of July

2009-07-28T13:03:00.007-04:00

This is a Snow monkey aka Japanese Macaque from the Central Park Zoo in NYC.

Photoshop CS3, 46 minutes.
Soundtrack: Donkey Kong Country 1 OST

This speed paint is incomplete. The scene I was working on was filled with wall-to-wall people (it was taken at Crane's Roost this year on the Fourth of July). My meticulous approach to the human figures, and all the color variation in clothing slowed me down immensely. After an hour, I still had a great deal of the scene left to do, and I had lots of work to do that day, so I called it quits.

Photoshop CS3, 53 minutes.
Soundtrack: Chrono Cross OST

Treasure - Complete

2009-07-15T19:21:00.003-04:00

Pencil + b/w shading in Photoshop CS3.

Recognize a couple background objects from my recent Still Life speedpaint? :)