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.

(Some) Women of DC

I've been seriously lagging behind my other social sites when it comes to posting sketches and drawings, so I'm going to do like multiple posts in a day to fix that.  I've been doing a lot of sketches recently of different women of DC comics that I can compose together for a larger image to post of them together.  So far, I'm thinking of Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Supergirl, Black Canary, maybe the Huntress, Zatanna and possibly Vixen....but we'll see how it goes.  And while drawing Wonder Woman, I had a thought of drawing them individually, and then compiling them together later with a separate backdrop...but we'll see how cohesive that all looks in the end.  I may end up just doing them as a series instead and calling it a day.

And if you're not following me on either Instagram, Tumblr, or even Facebook or Google+, you're missing out...so follow me!

Without Wax,
-Charles

Black Canary

Finally finished!  I just noticed now that I didn't post the updated sketch which shows the change in perspective.  Its a good thing that I sketched a new background too, because the last one was lazy and completely wrong on all levels.  I used to sketch something out, and ink and color it right away, but I found that sleeping on it and coming to it later with fresh eyes helps me greatly reduce errors and fix things that I didn't see wrong before. 

Also, I'm still working on the details of my online store.  In the past, I would just use a print on demand service for prints, but that means that I never really got an opportunity to see the quality of the prints, and I would get paid in pennies.  So, I'm going to be doing all of the printing and shipping myself, which should help out things a lot.  Of course, my blog will be polluted with ads about it when its done, so everyone will definitely know.  

As always, gotta keep that pencil busy!!

Without Wax,

-Charles

Black Canary sketch

It seems that I have an unhealthy fascination with the women of DC comics.  Thats weird though, because I've NEVER read one issue of any DC comic ever...I've always read Marvel.  But I think DC's cartoons blow away Marvel's by a long shot...and that definitely helps.  Anyways...
I haven't sketched anything in like +2 weeks due to personal things and such, so I was a bit rusty with this.  Hopefully when I ink it, I can clean this up...A LOT.  And as per usual, expect in progress updates and postings.  Hopefully, Photoshop can keep up with me this time.

Without wax,
-Charles