Wandering Koala 2: Dreams black & white preview

He breaks the laws of nature for your enjoyment! At least, that’s the tagline of Julien's channel. Any sci fi or fantasy concept that seems impossible is fair game for him to tackle.

And judging by the number of subscribers, he’ll go down in the history books next to Di Vinci, Edison, and Ford.

But fame is a coin with flip side: an admirer turned stalker wants to get inside Julien’s head in the most invasive way possible and learn everything about him whether he likes it or not.

 

Wandering Koala 2: Dreams is an all ages, weird horror pulp adventure comic book. Fans of Samurai Jack, The Twilight Zone, Will Eisner’s The Spirit, The Real Ghostbusters, Paul Pope, Golgo13, Osamu Tezuka's Black Jack, Dylan Dog, classic Felix the Cat, Aeon Flux, Hellboy, or classic comics should love it!

 

Read the Comic Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BF2HDLC9

Wandering Koala Cornered

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

Wandering Koala rides The Wild Turkey (black & white)

This month in honor of Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays, I plan to create a series of illustrations related to that theme. This first one is a black and white rendering inspired by the brilliant newspaper comic strip work of Roy Crane on Buz Sawyer.

 This illustration was inked with a Zebra Disposable Brush Pen and toned in Adobe Photoshop CC. Let me know what you think!

The Beauty of Black & White

No one can deny the power of color. No other element can draw the eye quicker or more powerfully. 

But color isn't perfect. It speaks to the visual part of our brain which is more ambiguous than the auditory part. Like words, black and white images communicate ideas much more clearly and more precisely. I've heard several theories on why this is, but I'm not sure anyone actually knows.

Above and below are two images from the Wandering Koala Adult Coloring Book. The book collects the Wandering Koala 80-page Giant #1, but strips out the color so the reader can add them himself. Or he can choose to enjoy the story in it's more raw form. Read it both ways and see which one draws you in quicker and tighter.

Adult Coloring Books

A few years ago I was reminiscing about how much I loved coloring books as a youngster. I couldn't get enough of them. I wondered why they weren't made for adults and thought about all the cool things you could do with that format. But I never did more than that, because I figured it wouldn't catch on.

I should have known better and trusted my instincts. They're almost always right.

Just a couple of years after I had that thought, the Adult Coloring Book market exploded! I see them for sale all over the place. But most of those are just coloring books with a series of images to color. They didn't go beyond that.

But I did.

I created an entire graphic novel that one can color with a gallery at back with several pin up images. That way not only do you get a log of great art to color, but you get an entire story to read as well. It's like a two for one!

This is just the first in a series. I've already started writing the story for the second one.

See the Wandering Koala Adult Coloring Book >>

Film Noir on paper

Film Noir is a French term meaning "dark film" and describes a common technic used in the 1940s and 50s for many detective, crime, and mystery films. Visually it involves extreme lights and darks with heavy use of shadows. The type of characters, however, all tend to be grey in the moral relm with none being too righteous, especially the protagonists.

The look wasn't new as the visual style was very similar to German Expressionistic films of the 1920s. Fritz Lang was a prominent director of both German Expressionist films in Germany in the 1920s and Film Noir in the 40s and 50s.

But even that had an antecedent with chiaroscuro painting (italian for "light-dark") from centuries early. And likely this extreme contrast technic existed millennia before, but works don't currently exist so we don't know about it.

In the modern era this style is mostly used in comic books with Frank Miller's Sin City being the most well known example. The contrast provides visual interest to make up for the lack of color. And in more practical terms, the brain tends to process black and white art like it does works making it more effective for storytelling than colored art.

The image above is a Character Design for the René character in my Wandering Koala series. I've made several attempts at the character. I'm not sure this is the final version, but I'm getting close.

Let me know what you think!

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?

New Sketches for a New Year

Happy 2016! 

I thought I'd start off the New Year with some new sketches. These were all done in pursuit of a permanent style for my upcoming Wandering Koala web comic. I've made a couple attempts at it with a couple of different blogs, but neither of them excited me like I wanted them to, so here's hoping third time is the charm.

The sketch above was actually done on New Year's Day. I drew it with a Japanese Brush Pen and then colored it in both Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter. I've tried a lot of different programs, but nothing gives you a truly painterly feel like Corel Painter. Adobe keeps trying, but it still looks and feels so digital, which isn't a bad thing, it's just not what I'm going for.

 These next two sketches were drawn in what I call my "combo brush". Basically I ink the figure with a Zebra disposable brush pen and then go over it with my Japanese Brush Pen to give it texture and grit. The background was also inked with the brush pen. I used a pattern effect in Photoshop to tone the image. I know it's retro, but there is something I just love about those thin mechanically-produced hatching lines. The color version was colored in Adobe Photoshop. I'm thinking of running it thru Corel Painter like the illustration above to make it look more painterly. While I approached both illustrations with the same basic technique, there is something so much more "painterly" about the above illustration.

As always, let me know what you think!

2015 Christmas Card - Preview

Each year I create a Christmas Card with an original illustration and poem. Usually the theme is suggested by the title of a Christmas Carol. Here is the black & white version of the illustration.

Come back in a few days to see the finished card!

Black & White Illustration - Monsters in the Pool

The latest illustration from this year's Halloween series.

B&W Illustration - In the Clutches of Witch Hazel

It probably feels like I've disappeared forever, but I haven't. I've just been very busy with design work and haven't had much chance to do much drawing aside from a few sketches.

But it's Halloween, and that means a new series of Wandering Koala illustrations! I love Halloween, and can't let this great holiday pass me by without celebrating it, at least a little.

Here is the first one in a Black & White style I really like. Check back in a couple of days for a colored version.

The Beauty of Black & White Linework

I've always loved black & white linework. There is something just so beautiful and clear about it. I guess that's one reason I've always loved coloring books and independent comic books. When you strip away the color, you're forced to focus more on the design.

The drawing above is a Cuscus, one of the genetic projects created to take down the Wandering Koala. I drew it with a brush pen. I meant to color it, but it looks so nice with just the lines.

Art Philosophy: Power of Line

 

Line is one of the most basic, and yet most powerful, elements of art. With just a few strokes, an artist can communicate a person, an object, an emotion, a place, or just about anything else. And with many, many lines, and artist can create an image that looks like a photograph. 

Sir Kenneth Clark remarked, "The difference between what we see and a sheet of white paper with a few thin lines on it is very great. Yet this abstraction is one which we seem to have adopted almost instinctively at an early stage in our development, not only in Neolithic graffiti but in early Egyptian drawings. And in spite of its abstract character, the outline is responsive to the least tremor of sensibility."

And Lance Espland remarked, "Line is a rich metaphor for the artist. It denotes not only boundary, edge or contour, but is an agent for location, energy, and growth. It is literally movement and change - life itself."

It's amazing how something as simple as a line, a mark, can convey the weight, the feeling, the emotion, and the identity of a subject. It can make the viewer think and feel if executed well. And it can be created with almost any object imaginable.

Line work has the power to stand on it's own, and yet it also plays nicely with others. You can fill it in or paint over it and create a completely different and yet equally successful work such as in book illustrations, scientific illustrations, comic books, graphic novels, and fine art.

The drawing above is the line work of a Halloween illustration. I do plan on coloring it, but the line work worked so well it can stand on its own. So I'm letting it. I drew it with a Copic pencil, a Bamboo brush with Sumi ink, and added a few finished in Adobe Photoshop.

Let me know what you think!

Jungle Cafe

"I love Jungle Cafes. They're part jungle and part cafe!"

Where is that quote from?

Character Design: An Odd Couple

 

For my ongoing eSerial I needed a rich couple that stood out intentionally. So I drew from my love of things Roaring 20s and came up with these two characters. The woman has a Jay Leno chin, but it adds character. They were inked with a Japanese brush pen and Sharpies.

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Art Philosophy - The Power of Black and White Shapes

Shape is one of the basic Elements of Art. Line is little more than an elongated shape. It's amazing how one can place a few shapes together and create a powerful and emotionally stirring image, especially when one is limited to only two colors -- black and white.

The illustration above is from an upcoming page in the ongoing Wandering Koala eSerial. When I finished drawing this with a Japanese brush pen and a Sharpie marker, I was amazed at how well the emotion was conveyed without color. Color is a very powerful element and by far the most effective to convey emotion. I wasn't sure the black & white shapes would be sufficient, but they were. The zoomed in composition helped to turn the hair and facial features into shapes so the design dominated which also helped greatly.

What do you think?

Art Philosophy: To Color or Not to Color a Line Drawing

Color is the most powerful element of art, and all works of art have it -- even so-called "black & white art (black and white are colors despite what many painters and art teachers may tell you).

In all periods of art one can find examples of line work that has been colored in from early printing to illustrated manuscripts to cave paintings. People seem to be hardwired to capture an object in lines and then add color.

Incorporating this element in a line drawing presents several interesting questions:

To Color or Not to Color?

That's a mute point since everything work of visual art has color. The question should actually be should one add colors beyond black and white. Black and white artwork is unique in that the viewer reads it much like one reads words. Black and white art tends to create an intimacy with the viewer and draw him in. That could easily be one reason why Japanese Manga is so popular and independent comics have such a following.

How Much Color?

Should a work be monochromatic (meaning one color with its associated shades, tones, and tints), or should it use every color in the rainbow? Should one limit oneself to two colors and make the most of them? The fewer colors one has, the more one is forced to design with them, and the more harmonious a work can be. The more colors one has, the less harmonious a work tends to be, because the eye and mind has so much more to process. But this extra processing creates a certain buzz and overload of senses people like, so there is a reason to go for it.

Flat or Gradiated?

Many early printed works were printed flat (meaning a block of solid color) because of technology. Just read old comics -- you'll find simple gradients but that's about it. When technology reaches a point that colors no longer have to be flat, a common trend is to go overboard and overrender a work to death. Just pick up a comic book from the 90s. Garrish. Even if one is using a monochromatic scheme, one can use a few greys, flat greys, or the full gambit of 256 greys.

So what's the Right Answer?

The right answer really depends on the question, and the question for coloring art is what is your ultimate goal or purpose. Once you know why you're creating a work, then the question of how to apply color becomes simple and obvious. Of course, answering the question of a work's purpose may not be so simple and obvious, but that's a question for another day.

The illustrations above were inked with a Japanese brush pen and colored in Photoshop. The illustration is part of the ongoing Wandering Koala serial that presents a page of text and an illustration each day. If you haven't checked it out, go there now and enjoy! The story is just getting started.

It's Finally Here!

The ongoing Wandering Koala Serial has officially begun! 

Each weekday visit WanderingKoalaTales.blogspot.com to read the latest page and see the latest illustration!

Below is the first page of the story:

The sun has finished his day’s work and is heading home somewhere over the horizon. The owl will soon begin its hunt. But it won’t be the only one. Soon I will join it chasing a rodent of my own, only one much more clever who has evaded governments, local law enforcement officers, and even small armies.

But he won’t escape me, the great Thylacine.

I’ve tracked him across several borders to one of the largest republics in the southern hemisphere. Only a few years ago this nation made headlines for its explosive growth and potential to become a major player in global events. But like so much promise, the hype was greater than the reality, and the people are left singing about what could have been.

It’s a perfect location. The eyes of the world have turned away from here, and everyone thinks he’s on the other side of the world thanks to regular “candid photos” going viral on various social media sites. This man knows how to hide, at least from normal eyes.

Unfortunately for him, I’m not the usual anything. Hundreds have said good-bye to this world without even knowing who stamped their passport. Even the majority of my clients have no idea to whom their money went. But there are those who know, and they do their job to connect A to me, discreetly.

---

View all Wandering Koala Stories >>

Buy Wandering Koala Merchandise >>

A New, Yet Old, Enemy

Here is another preview image from the upcoming Wandering Koala eSerial that is set to launch next week. The image above is a new enemy for readers, but an old one from Kyle's past with a grudge the size of the Rocky Mountains.

This was drawn with a Japanese brush pen with a little assistance from a Zig Writer.

Let me know what you think!

It's coming!

The next chapter in the Wandering Koala saga is coming soon, and it won't just be a chapter. I'll have more details soon as I'm planning to launch it next week, but until then, enjoy this teaser image from the beginning of the story.

I drew this with a Staedlter pencil in a Strathmore sketchpad and then inked it with a Japanese brush pen and a Zig Writer felt-tipped pen. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and that I didn't need more than a single line of whiteout. Right now I'm planning for the illustrations in the story to be black and white, so I'm really focused on design and light and dark patterns.

Let me know what you think! And stay tuned for the launch of the most ambitious project I've attempted in the Wandering Koala world.