Watch Out!! Here Comes the Spiderman!

click picture for higher-res

I'm going to try and make posts for each individual drawing instead of lumping them all together in large posts of craziness...which means...I'll just have to post more. And honestly, thats what I should be (and will be doing) anyway.
Like I said before, most of the time I draw pictures not only because I think that something would look cool or I have an idea in my head, its more of a problem solving type thing like "how would I go about making that look right on paper (or screen)" or "I have no idea how to color that and make it look okay...", or sometimes its just that I learn something new in Photoshop and I need something to test it out on.
So basically, thats where this pic came from. I STILL need to work on backgrounds...that has to be my weakest point, but other than that, I'm kind of happy how this turned out. I got to practice drawing and coloring explosions, some color holds with the spider web (that was beyond tedious though, and some lighting and reflection which I always love to do. The picture is basically Spiderman going up against his usual selection of foes.
Top-right clockwise: Venom, Mysterio, Electro, Vulture, Green Goblin, Sandman and Doctor Octopus.

Thanks for looking!

Without Wax,

The 2011 Weblog Awards Have Come And Gone...

...and I didn't win.

But please believe that I'm not sad or salty about it at all...actually far from it. I wasn't even aware that people actually checked out my blog, let alone felt that it was Black Weblog Award worthy. So that's a huge point of excitement for me! And to be named in the same category as O Hell Nawl, man, its just been an honor. I've been loving every second of it. I'm not seeing this as a major accomplishment...but more as motivation...to be even better...and hopefully take that crown next year. In the coming year though, I have so much stuff planned, and I'm just trying to take myself, my brand (no matter how small it is) and my original ideas to new levels. Hopefully, I'll have my book published by the end of the year...and other things too.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Lets get to this art though!!

First up, is Fall Into The Gap. This one probably should have made my last post, but eh, it is what it is. Another summery type pic, of someone shopping at their favorite store on a sunny summer day.


The next, is Ebony Black, an ethnicity flip of the Disney character Snow White.


And by far my favorite, Ares, Female Goddess of War. This one definitely took me out of my comfort zone, and I learned a lot from doing this picture. I normally don't draw blood and gore...but I'm glad that it all came out well. I definitely plan on doing more Greek mythology drawings...as soon as I clear my plate of some stuff first.


So, this year...was only a stepping stone.

Always gotta keep that pencil busy. Always.


Without Wax,

Summer Madness

I can't believe that I haven't updated this blog in a little over a month. I really need to get back into this and update this blog on a regular basis. My tumblr is for the quick updates where there's little to no thought behind it...but this is my real main illustration/art blog...and I probably should treat it that way. But since I've been 'gone', the pencil and optical mouse has definitely been busy.

These next few drawings are mainly summer themed, and done on my larger 11"x17" pad. It definitely gives me much more room to work with and more opportunities to flesh out backgrounds and draw full figures as compared to my 8"x11" pad. And the first one is:


In The Park. The background is loosely based off of Central Park in New York. I guess this drawing is more 'spring' than 'summer', especially considering the blooming blossoms that are in the picture.


Sitting Up In My Room. This picture is mainly about those lazy summer nights, where its in between dusk and night, and the light just peeks through the blinds. And all you're really doing is just lounging on the bed, probably updating playlists or adding music to your favorite mp3 player, and zoning out.

The next few are actually the same picture, just at different times of the day. This is the Beach Bar. I guess its just a woman enjoying her tropical vacation, ordering drinks at the bar at the beach. The Night version is the one that I did first, and then I did the Sunset one afterwards. I changed some stuff slightly in the Sunset version, like shading, some of the base colors, and added other things like the wave splash in the background.




The main motivation for all of these pictures though was to practice some techniques and do some things that I'm not really comfortable doing. In the first picture, it was definitely backgrounds and having them separate from the main part of the picture, but still have it 'part of the picture', if that makes sense. I struggle with backgrounds in every single picture that I do, and I really need to get better with them. The second picture, it was all about light sources. I usually have the light source coming in either from the top left or right, but this time, I had it coming up from the bottom, and that definitely changes the way that things are illuminated. And I wanted to try and see if I could have light glowing behind the blinds and how it would look peeking through...I need to revisit that in another picture later on. And the last two, it was definitely about scenery, lighting, fire, and water...oh, and color holds. I wanted to have the foreground figure separated from the midground woman, and all of that separated from the background beach. And I have problems coloring glass as well as liquid, so all of that was a challenge.

Thats basically the motivation for a lot of my drawings recently; just trying to incorporate things that I'm not comfortable with or struggle with into drawings that I do...and hopefully to become better at them.

And as always...gotta keep that pencil/mouse busy.

Without Wax,