Untamable

Since I've been getting very loose with sketches recently, I decided to keep my sketches a little tighter this time, and this is what came out.  I say that you shouldn't let other people dictate what you do with your hair or how you wear it.  Do what's best for you, and only you really know exactly what's best for yourself.  So below is the sketch after I went over it again and tightened the pencils up a little bit.

And below is the final illustration.  I decided to make her shirt a Minnie Mouse shirt and gave her a tattoo to her side as well.  It was hard trying to decide how to put glasses on Minnie Mouse and make it look aesthetically correct, mainly because her eyes are too close together and her ears are too high upon her head, so I made some compromises that seemed to work out well.  

Per usual, this illustration is up for sale in 11" x 17" size on gloss cover paper on my online Storenvy storefront.  Feel free to browse and even buy a print or two!

Without Wax,

-Charles

Selina Kyle

It's been a long while since I've drawn Catwoman...like a really long while.  If I were to guess, I would say somewhere around 4 years or so.  That means this was long overdue.  The drawing that I did 4 years ago was very similar, but it appears that I may have deleted it, so I can't really use it for comparison purposes.

But I know for certain that this one is better, just take my word for it.

I've noticed that recently my sketches has been looser and less refined than I used to do them.  I guess that means that I just fudge areas in sketching and will define them more when I'm inking and coloring them.  Good thing that I'm the only one completing my work from sketches to finishes, cause an inker and colorer would probably hate me.

I guess the sketch does serve its purpose though, I get the main figure down pretty much (even though some adjustments have to be made) and it gets the general idea across.  And below is the final image:

I think it came out pretty well.  I may go back in later and make the light source coming from outside the window more pronounced, but who knows.

If you would like to purchase this illustration as a high quality 11" x 17" print, you can do so (as well as view my other prints) on my Storenvy site.

Have an awesome weekend!

Without Wax,

-Charles

The Electric Lady

Lets just put this out there, I love Janelle Monae's Electric Lady album.  There, I said it.  Its like a different sound of R&B and just music in general that's just refreshing.  So, if I like something, chances are that fan art is definitely on its way.

Yep.

I decided to draw Janelle as a semi robotic cyborg after her other persona Cindi Mayweather.  I had this idea during the sketch that she would be sitting in this chair plugged into a stereo system, which probably didn't come off all that well, but the speakers are definitely visible in the final image.  I tried my best to put this image online and tag Janelle all over the place on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and if she reposts it or shouts it out...I would seriously lose it.  Anyways, below is the initial sketch concept.

And here's the final image below.

And if you haven't done so already, check out her album Electric Lady.  You would not be disappointed.

If you would like to purchase this image as an 11" x 17" high quality gloss print, you can do so here on my Storenvy page.

Without Wax,

-Charles

Hold The Wall

Finally...some 2014 art!  2013 was pretty great, so we have to start 2014 off on the right foot.

 I experimented a lot with process on this particular drawing, and I really like the results that came from it.  I usually just sketch out a base gesture that I want for the drawing, then go back over it and add clothing, facial features and rough out a background...then go back over it again and make the pencils tighter before I finally ink it.  This time, I just did pretty loose pencils and went straight to inking.  Some parts of that came out well (like the hair) and some parts I could tell where I fudged the sketch a lot and definitely had to make up for it inking.

I drew the background on a different layer entirely from the main girl so that I could control it better than if all of the inks were on the same layer.  That's something that I found out a while ago and just makes my life a whole lot easier.

And as always, if you would like to purchase this illustration as a high quality 11" x 17" print on gloss cover paper, you can do so at my Storenvy site where I have a whole bunch of other prints available as well.

Without Wax,

-Charles

2013 Remnants

I can't believe I haven't made a post here for the new year yet, which is a shame.  I somehow got this blog out of sync with my Tumblr one and my Facebook page (Google+ is all out of sync, I probably have to do a massive art post dump there as well to catch up).  This year I'm dedicating myself to keep this blog with at least parity to my other online spaces as well as adding some exclusive stuff to here that I don't post elsewhere.  Actually, for all of my online portals, I'm posting stuff to each one that I won't post elsewhere to keep me motivated to updating all of them with different content.  I guess that is a new year resolution, even though I'm not really big on resolutions.

Let's not bog this post down with a lot of talking though as there is quite a bit of new art I need to share.

A while ago I posted a sketch of Black Canary that I was hoping to compile into one mega image that really never materialized (maybe in 2014?), but I decided to finish it anyways.  So here's that:

Black Canary 2013

And even further back in the year, I posted a sketch of Alice in Wonderland that I just never really got back around to.  I guess in December I felt that I had a whole bunch of unresolved sketches that needed to be seen through, even though I didn't finish all of them.  And here is that one:

Wonderland

And of course with it being December, I had to do the requisite holidays inspired drawing, so here's that as well:

I also did several sketches and redraws of what eventually turned out to be a Dark Phoenix and Scott Summers illustration.  I made a preliminary sketch a long while ago and just sat on the idea until I decided to revisit it with a sketch that went in a slightly different direction:

I just took the best elements of both sketches and combined them into one.  And then after I did that, I couldn't decide on a single background....so I did two.  How's that for not being lazy when it comes to backgrounds?

And then I had an opportunity to do a Jem and the Holograms commission...and why would I not jump on that idea.  I used to watch the show (and maybe still caught a few episodes on Netflix), so this was right up my alley.  Plus it was a chance to exhaust all of the shades of pink and purple that I know...a stark change from the usual color palette that I tend to go with.  It turned out to be...wait for it....truly outrageous.

Jem and the Holograms: click for higher resolution

That turned out to be my last illustration of 2013...which looking back went pretty well art wise.  Looking back at how I started 2013 and how my art has progressed throughout the year, I'm more than excited as to what 2014 has to offer.  I'm definitely looking to new avenues to share my art and get myself out there, and 2014 will definitely be the year for that.  

All of the above illustrations are available for purchase on high quality semi gloss paper at my Storenvy store: Illumistrations.Storenvy.com.

And I guess as always, follow me everywhere: tumblr, twitter, instagram and yadda yadda....the user name is Illumistrations.

Without Wax,

-Charles.