Domo: The Manga - out in stores tomorrow!

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.

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

Etsy!

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

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

For the Illustration Friday prompt "wrapped".

Ballerina - Complete

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

Ballerina - WIP

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

Invasion WIP 1

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

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!

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

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

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