Quick digital parrot painting

My wife and I volunteer at Safari Joe's Reptile World in Adair, OK on the weekends. Along with the various reptiles they house there, there are also several exotic birds. We had a little downtime so I made this quick digital painting of one of the birds. I completely skipped the drawing stage and went right into the color artwork. I feel like I'm starting to understand how to work with color, but I know that I have a long, loooooooong way to go. Still, it's not half bad, considering that I made it with my finger and my iPhone.

Leonard Digital Sketch

Here's a quick digital sketch that I did using SketchBook Pro. It actually came out pretty well (for a first digital try of Leonard, anyway). I gotta admit...I'm really warming up to using colors. Looking forward to doing more of these!

iPad Sketch #2

Here's another iPad sketch. This was done with an app called Procreate. I've always wanted to try my hand at coloring the Super Cute guys, so I decided to start with Bronson.

First iPad sketch

Here's a quick sketch that did on my new iPad 2. When all else fails, draw a Ninja Turtle! (This was done with an app called Inspire Pro.)

Raphael

I love the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles almost more than life itself. They were one of my first obsessions and I long for the day that I will be paid to draw their exploits. Until then, I'll settle for posting drawings of them on here.

This is a drawing that I did back in 2004. Normally I don't care much for my own artwork, but I've always liked this drawing of Raphael. Looking back on it, there's a couple things I'd fix, but for the most part I'm still happy with how it turned out. I feel like it has some motion and energy to it, which is something I struggle with from time to time. I should really figure out a way to color this. Any takers?

Ms. Marvel sketch

Here's a quick warm-up sketch of Ms. Marvel I did about a week ago. It's not great by any means, but it did give me an idea for a larger piece featuring her.

(Oh, and yes, that's one of Leonardo's swords from a previous sketch poking up from the bottom right corner!)

First Digital Sketch

I downloaded a free sketch program called Sketch Book X Mobile to my iPhone the other day and was playing around with it. Once I figured out how to use it, I sketched up a quick eye. Not bad for a first try using my finger as a stylus. I'll play around with it some more to see if I want to buy the full version to get other brushes and whatnot.

Warm-up Sketch - 10/19/11

Here's a quick 5-minute sketch I did last night before I began working on more Super Cute strips. Its kind of manga-esque, which is odd since I'm not that into Japanese comics. Like the previous day's Ninja Turtle sketch, I put pencil to paper, shut my mind off, and this is what came out.

Ninja Turtle sketch

I was at the drawing board last night working on some Super Cute strips and I kept getting distracted. This usually happens when I'm not happy with how my drawings are turning out. I didn't have a chance you loosen up beforehand, so that could be why things weren't clicking. Anyway, I still wanted to draw, and since the strip wasn't working, I set it aside and grabbed a blank piece of paper and let my hand do it's thing. This is what came out:

Wonder Woman

A friend of mine and my wife's asked me to draw a picture of Wonder Woman for her a month or so ago. She's a pretty good artist herself, so I was kind of flattered that she asked me to do it. She told me that she's not much of a superhero comic book reader, but the iconic nature of Wonder Woman helped her get through a difficult time when she was younger. She offered to pay me, but I told her that she'd get the "friend discount", which means "free". (A quick aside: If you want me to draw something for you, it helps to befriend me as I'd probably do it free of charge--within reason, of course!)

As far as the the art itself, she requested that Wonder Woman be in silhouette, which presented some fun challenges, like how to convey that the woman in the drawing is a very specific Amazonian Princess. I decided to keep certain aspects of her costume white to make it identifiable and visually interesting. I knew that I pulled it off when I asked my wife, who has no interest or knowledge of Wonder Woman, who the figure was and she identified her immediately. Success!

So to the person that this is intended for: I hope you like it at least half as much as I enjoyed making it!

Yoda: Not so great at grammar...

Full disclosure: I'm not into Star Wars. I know, I should have my Nerd Card revoked. It's nothing personal. I see why people like it, but it's just not my thing. That said, I really like the designs of some of the characters (Boba Fett, Chewbacca, anyone with "Darth" in their name, and Yoda). They're just so classic. Anyway, one day while working on a Super Cute strip, I came up with an idea for a 3-panel gag with Yoda in a classroom setting. The following strip is what I came up with. I gotta say, the hardest part of the strip wasn't the drawing or coloring, but the lettering. Big ups to my pal David Hopkins who does all of the lettering for Super Cute. He makes it look so effortless!

(By the way, I realize it's a cartoony depiction of Yoda, but it took me forever to figure out how to draw him. I kept making him look like Pikachu. It's the first time I've ever tried to draw him, but I think it came out fairly decent in the end.)

Rex Thunder: Dinosaur Accountant

Here's a drawing I did a couple years ago on the back of some important work documents during a meeting (I'm a horrible employee). Sometimes I don't know know what to draw and just let my hand do what it wants. Evidently, it really wanted to draw a dinosaur accountant.

(Oh, and this was done with ballpoint pen, by the way.)

New Spidey!

This is my first drawing at the sweeeeet new Spider-Man costume worn by Miles Morales. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out (for a first try, anyway). The webbing is a pain to draw, but after filling in the black behind them, it's super fulfilling to look at.

(Fun Fact: This image was done while listening to the Hideous Energy interview with Sam Humpries. I always listen to something while drawing. Usually podcasts, but sometimes music. This fact was more boring than fun. Sorry about that.)

Dragon (old art)

Just found this old drawing of a dragon that I did on 2/2/2000 that actually looks pretty decent, despite it being written on notebook paper. It's a little difficult to tell the foreground from the background, but otherwise it's pretty clean.

Man, I forgot I how much I love drawing dragons. Maybe it's time to draw a new one...

Old art

As promised, here's some crappy old art. This was something I was super proud of when I was younger, mainly because it was the first time I drew an entire background. This drawing was done back in 1997, and my favorite superheroes at the time were Spider-Man, X-Man, and Deadpool. (Spidey is still a favorite. The other two? Not so much.) I can't remember exactly how long it took me to draw this, but I remember drawing it over a few days. One thing I do remember, however, is that I drew the characters first and then decided to do the background. I tried to get away with drawing only part of the buildings, by my family talked me into finishing it, and I'm kind of glad they did. Even though it looks smudgey and weird to me now, back then I was totally proud of this.

This is an art blog by me. Durr.

I've decided to start an art blog. I've been working on a webcomic called "Super Cute" (www.SuperCuteComic.com) with Austin Wilson and David Hopkins of the Hideous Energy podcast, and it's ignited an artistic fire under my ass like never before. I've been fortunate enough to meet other artists through the comic and have been inspired by them to start an art blog to show my work. Also, it's an opportunity to show some of my old art and make fun of it.

Anyway...

This is a self portrait I made of myself. I did it in this new cartoony style I've adapted for the comic strip. I've recently begun using my computer to add additional artistic elements like grayscale and textures, but this is one of my first attempts at using color. It's kind of a goofy picture, but I'm kind of proud of it.

And just to show how much was added digitally, I've included the original hand-drawn and inked artwork.