Vital Ground

Illustration I did for Vital Ground, published in the July/August 2012 issue of Bare Essentials magazine (see pg 104).

The Vital Ground Foundation helps preserve the threatened grizzly bear, other animals, plants, and natural communities through the conservation of habitat and wildlife linkage areas.

The Last of the Polar Bears - promo poster

This is the promotional poster for The Last of the Polar Bears.

The Last of the Polar Bears is what will hopefully become my next graphic novel. I've spent the last year thinking about it and the last couple months writing and developing the groundwork for it. I just finished plotting out the story in detail from beginning to end, so now I'm ready to move forward with the creation of the comic itself!

This promo illustration, portraying an iconic scene from the first chapter of the story, had a pack a lot of punch with a minimalist execution. With so little detail, it wasn't difficult to draw, but every aspect of it needed to be just right.

I find it very helpful to create a number of tiny thumbnail sketches, to quickly try out different takes on an idea. Working with a general idea of a polar bear cub poking his head out of the den for the first time, finding himself surrounded by an unending sea of white snow, I created a couple of concept sketches:
In these examples, note how composition, placement, and size of the cub play a big role in mood and feel.

#1 is a strong close up on the cub's face, grinning as he takes a peek at the outside world - cute, but completely at odds with the title of the book.

#3 is closer in feel - the landscape is vast, the cub is small--there's a real sense of loneliness going on, but it's so far pulled out from the character that scene no longer feels intimate.

#2 is almost right on target. The cub is cute and awestruck without looking too giddy. But the centered figure is boring and predictable.

#4 takes the aspects of #2 that I liked, but moves the cub into the lower corner. The title is placed in the upper right corner to balance the piece.

Once I had the composition figured out, I set about drawing the character.

He went through several drafts (including some slight variations with him smiling, not shown here) before I finally hit upon a version that worked for the poster.
And here you have it, the finished line art of the cub seen in the poster (flipped in the illustration):

Stay tuned for lots more. I look forward to introducing you to this little guy and the rest of his family. :)

Speedpaint 29 - Angry Gorilla

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 24 - Tiger

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

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 21 - Ducklets

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

Speedpaint 7 and 8 - Heron and Swan

Speedpaint 7 - Great Blue Heron
Photoshop CS3, 36 minutes.
Soundtrack: Seiken Densetsu 2 - Secret Of Mana +






Speedpaint 8 - Black Swan
Photoshop CS3, 40 minutes.
Soundtrack: CREID Xenogears Arranged

More Nature Speedpaints

Speedpaint 4
Photoshop CS3, 1 hour.
Soundtrack: None





Speedpaint 5
Photoshop CS3, 35 minutes.
Soundtrack: Assorted Michael Jackson