Merry and Bright - A 2023 Christmas Card

 

Merry Christmas, one and all! Here's hoping the rest of the year is Merry and Bright!

This was drawn with an FP5P Brush Pen and colored in Adobe Photoshop.

Wandering Koala Abduction

I haven't posted anything in a while, because I've been working on the new Wandering Koala series. I have the first two issues written and over a dozen issues plotted. I have about half the characters designed. Above you can see a concept drawing of the current style I'm thinking of inking the characters. I'm still undecided about what to do with the backgrounds.

The illustration above was drawn with a Offizeus Graphite 2.0 mechanical pencil, inked with a Sumi Brush Pen, and colored in Adobe Photoshop.

Enjoy!

 

Wandering Koala at the mercy of Grunt

Another sketch with my Copic brush pen colored in Adobe Photoshop. Enjoy!

Wandering Koala wrestles a WereWolf in the Desert

 Here's a quick illustration I made today to test out a Copic brush pen. I colored it in Photoshop and think it turned out nicely. But let me know what you think.

Wandering Koala struggles with The Stranger

This illustration was dawn with a Copic brush pen and colored in Adobe Photoshop CC.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Wandering Koala wrestles The Bat Dude

 

 

 

Another illustration testing out the Prismacolor Brush Pen.

 

Enjoy!

Wandering Koala Cornered

These were drawn with Tombow Hard and Soft Brush Pens and then toned and colored in Adobe Photoshop CC.

Wandering Koala Leaping Thru the City

Our favorite Silent Wanderer(TM) is parkouring thru the city. This illustration was inked with a Prismacolor Brush Pen and colored in Adobe Photoshop CC.

Wandering Koala Perched upon a Lamp Post

Another sketch in preparation for the Wandering Koala graphic tale inked with a Prismacolor® brush pen and colored in Adobe Photoshop.

Jack Frost nips the Wandering Koala

This is another illustration I did exploring style for the next Wandering Koala tale. I inked it with a Prismacolor pen brush and colored it in Adobe Photoshop. Below is the black & white line work. Enjoy!

Wandering Koala kicking

This was another sketch to test out possible styles for the upcoming Wandering Koala Graphic Novel. This was inked with a Sumi Brush Pen and then colored in Adobe Photoshop with the limited cmyk palette of classic newspaper comics.

Wandering Koala Crane Stand

Another sketch in preparation for the upcoming Wandering Koala Tale. Again drawn with a Prismacolor Brush Pen and colored in Adobe Photoshop CC.

No Valentine's Day This Year

I don't have anything against Valentine's Day personally, but I thought this was a funny image. Drawn with a crow quill pen & ink and colored in Adobe Photoshop.

Wandering Koala praying

I think he might be praying I put him in another adventure. Well, that prayer is about to be answered, because the script for the next Wandering Koala Graphic Tale is finished! I'm beginning the thumbnails and drawings this week. The image above is a sample for me to work out the style. The line work was created with a Prismacolor Brush Pen, then colored in Adobe Photoshop.

Wandering Koala descending into The Unknown

Wandering Koala parkouring thru the city

Small Blessings - 2016 Christmas Card

This year's Christmas card. Enjoy!

Art Philosophy: Inspiration is a funny animal

It's funny. I had all these grand plans to do all these cool Halloween-inspired illustrations during October. But every time I sat down to draw, nothing came out. I love Halloween, I love Autumn, so why did I feel so blah and uninspired? 

Inspiration is a funny animal. It's not very obedient. Sometimes it comes when I call, and sometimes it doesn't. And I'm not sure why.

I tried (and sort of completed) several illustrations in October, but this is the first one I'm proud enough of to show. The idea actually came from a discussion at church about an incident at a local corn maze. It was a fairly amusing story, and somehow inspired me to do this illustration that actually has almost nothing to do with it. Inspiration is a funny animal. I'll never understand how she works.

This was drawn with a Japanese Brush Pen and colored in Adobe Photoshop. Enjoy!

If at first you don't succeed...

So I had originally created a different cover for my latest graphic novel, and while it was good, it just didn't speak to me or feel like the story. But I didn't know what else to do, so I published it.

Then while working on the Adult Coloring Book version of the story (yes, there will be a Wandering Koala Adult Coloring Book for you to color all by your lonesome very soon), I decided to do something else for the cover so it looked like its own animal. I ended up liking this cover so much, that I decided to change the color eBook version as well. I'm much happier with how it turned out.

What do you think?

This was inked with a Prismacolor brush-tipped pen and colored in Adobe Photoshop.

The latest adventure of the Wandering Koala is now available as an Amazon exclusive.

Fake it 'till you make it

I've written before about how the media you use should look like the media it is. That makes digital a little bit of a sticky wicket. It certainly has its own look, but at the same time it's really good at mimicking other media.

So is it wrong to try and make digital look traditional? I think so, because on is missing a real opportunity. There are things digital can do that nothing else can, and one would be silly to not take advantage of it. Of course, what does that mean? Certainly the time saving and money saving benefits. But what about the look of the final product?

I think even if one wants a work to look traditional, they should let a little of the digital's nature shine through to give the work that extra umph.

The two illustrations above were drawn with a Japanese brush pen and then colored in Adobe Photoshop to look like watercolors. But if you look very closely, you'll notice they are digitally colored, and I think it adds.

But what do you think?