Ghost Rider Black & White

Here's a sketch of the Marvel comics character Ghost Rider.

It's done in black ball point pen with some spatters from a tooth brush... and a little bit of black sharpie for the solid black area. You might notice a few "breaks" in the artwork. That's because I made some adjustments to the artwork after I scanned it in. I am currently working on this piece in Photoshop and digitally painting it. Should be fun!

When it's all done, I'll tell you what it's for... but not until then.

Bird in a Bathing Suit

So, I haven't updated this thing in a while, but not because I haven't been working. Quite the contrary, I've been working on illustrations for a children's book titled "Bird in a Bathing Suit". The author, Dawn Mitchell, was kind enough to allow me to share some of the work with everyone. It's just a sneak peak, I'm about half way through the illustrations for the book. I'll let everyone know where and when they can pick up a copy of this awesome project when it's completed.
For those of you that wanna know the process, here's the run down:
After reading the prose for the story, I did an initial illustration to see if Dawn liked the same style I had in mind. She did! So the next thing I did was a series of thumb nail sketches to plan out the book. I sent them to Dawn and she liked that too (she's by far the best client ever!).
Then I started at page 1. I did the rough sketch in blue pencil and then tightened it up with standard HB lead in my Staedtler Mechanical pencil. Sent that to Dawn, after revisions to the sketch, I added color in Photoshop. For most elements I kept things on separate layers (Sky, Ground, Trees, etc.). Once I had all the base colors blocked in, I added tone and texture. For the kids and birds I made a "lights" layer and a "darks" layer. So, if I am adding tone to a bird for instance, I select the bird (and the color), and on the "lights" layer (which is set to a screen layer effect) I'd brush in the light tones of the bird. Then I'd move to the "darks" layer (which is set to a multiply layer effect) I'd add in the dark tones of the bird. Using varying brushes and opacities, thats how I rendered each character.
Stay tuned for the completed book and more projects!

Ace Frehley Birthday!

Here's an illustration of Ace Frehley (KISS) I did for my friend Neil's birthday.
You might think it's a cop out to give a drawing as a gift, but I also gave him booze!
So, it was for Neil's 35th b-day, hence the 35 in the illustration. And he's a big KISS fan, hence Ace Frehley in the illustration.

It was sketched in non-repro blue pencil (as usual).
I used a Winsor-Newton round 1 series 707 brush to ink Ace, and some tech pens for the guitar and the 35.

If you'd like a birthday illustration (for you or your friend) send me a message.
An 11x17, Original, Inked illustration could be yours for a low price!!!

Shadows of a Job

So, above are 3 illustrations I did for these guys that are pitching a movie. Sounds cool right? Except they ignored emails when my friend and I had questions (the friend got me the gig). Then we find out (we assume really) that they went somewhere else for the illustrations. Since I already finished these I thought I would share them (especially since I didn't sign a Non-Disclosure). The general story is about a serial killer... or something.

The first version was drawn in pencil, then scanned and then colored in Photoshop.
The second version was inked with a brush (except the house that was a tech pen), then scanned, into Photoshop where I cleaned it up a little and added some color.
The third version I drew the shadow outline and some of the elements inside the silhouette with pencil, scanned in the pieces, assembled them in Photoshop with a couple of royalty-free images I found here, and then using a rough brush with the opacity dropped to about 20% I painted over the pieces. Lots of pushing and pulling with this one!
Please to enjoy!