Its good to be impatient

I have stated for several years about being able to create a cg comic based off my action character FX- Mulrooney- and I have become impatient and crazy enough to move in that direction- so instead of doing a random facial sculpt- it was time to see if I could come up with a likeness to the end goal- so here is FX Mulrooney 1.0 draft sculpt.  I liked it so much I put the brand stamp on it ( from logo created by Graphic designer and concept artist Patrick Hatfield.... Hopefully I keep this up and work toward my dreams of getting this idea out of the basement and out the front door- Ciao

oh PS Please comment and critique this since the harder I am on myself up front- the less issues I will have down the line- thanks all

sculpting on cold day

Have a couple of assignment I need to prepare for by tuesday this week and I am trying to warm up to my ultimate task- completing CG (3d) images for comic book production- I am currently trying to complete 100 images at each  stage of the cg production since in long run doing a whole comic is almost  just short of doing an actual animation- so proficiency and professionalism seems to be a good way to get to that point- I will eventually see ready made products like Poser and DAZ Studio as an option- but since my comic is more stylized- I may have to do it the hard way- my first step is Sculpting, then, retopping,then texturing, rigging,posing and rendering, and post... here is my 10th sculpt attempt- I think I am getting better...

It was made in Blender 2.69 using the clay brush tools, flatten,polish, and brush- with dynamic topology and symmetry along X enabled. The next step in my journey after 100 sculpts will be retopology... fingers crossed

looking at the current masters

I have been participating in daily sketching and posting images on Facebook under  a Sketch a doodle a day link and have been looking at the incredible illustrations of Kim Jung Gi. Mr Gi's artwork is flawless on draftsmanship and visualizing 3 point perspective and construction on the fly.  He also has an extraordinary sense and patience for detail and materials.  So during a sketching session today I used his drawings as reference for a sort of tribute- it came out pretty cool.  This goes to show to progress always refer to works better than yours or just straight from nature.... I will be using this idea in my future with art...

sitting in during winter blast

It is just too cold outside- almost froze trying to free my car after this winter blast- so I will be sitting inside this winter trying to get my mojo back and doing more promoting for me and my art- here is a taste of new images popping out- I found out I also have loads of images sketched out in books to reuse for the masses

face up

I am still trying to find the right digital tools to make pictures- so I decided to try photoshop again after using sketchbook pro for a bit- I noted the coloring and shading are way more harsh than sketchbook pro- so you need to be aware of the brush setting- and more flexibility with blending modes... but I can use similar process on different layers and I tend to use color more readily in photoshop and better use of masks.. well like always,  I like faces- so here is a small face render in photoshop

fan favorite after Convention

I went to Youmacon, an Anime/manga convention featured in Downtown Detroit, Michigan (Oct 31-Nov 3. )  I was asked to come in and talk about storytelling for comics during an Imaginos Studios Panel.  Even though I was raised off of cartoons, and western comics, I watched my fair share of Starblazers, Battle of the Planets, and cartoons from Rankin and Bass- (i.e.) Anime as well.  So even though I may not fit snugly into the costume crowd of Cosplay, I can really feel for the new generation that were raise from anime and knew about it. Cartoons in the day were repackaged so we did not know they were anime... anyhoo... Here is a tribute image to an anime that I am a fan of-Cowboy Bebop.   Consequently, Shinichirō Watanabe the director of Cowboy Bebop is a fan of western culture and music. That may be why I can relate more to his ova series, Cowboy Bebop and Samarai Champloo.  So here is my shaky attempt to simulate the style made popular by character designer  Toshihiro Kawamoto:

moving sketch

I am in the process of moving out from my house and renting it . I never knew it would be this difficult to move from a house. I have helped others move to and from locations.  But I will be honest; I literally hate this.  I was moving as slow as Christmas until I found a potential renter and had to step up the pace. Well this is my last week before the renter's lease starts and hopefully today is my last big move of items...- I found this book I picked up at a Detroit Fan Fare convention from a Rod Thorton- A really cool artist with a stellar pencil and ink sketchbook. So I was looking at his cover image of a book called "The Art of Rod Thorton" and decided to see if I could sketch out the image in Sketchbook Pro.  It definitely does not have his finesse but its cool for what it is worth- so here is my tribute to Rod Thorton's Character from ANGEL-

you can see his actual work at:

http://razielssecret.deviantart.com/gallery/