A Study in Scarlet

Clever name huh?

Sorry to disappoint but this post has nothing to do with Sherlock. Sorry.

But I had some downtime at work today, and I haven't really done much character designing or pin ups lately...

(I have been working on comics and stuff for work, neither of which I can really post publicly, that's why I have been in hiatus so long. Sorry about being AWOL y'all)

I also thought it might be cool to show the process of this image, especially cause I drew this on my cintiq. Having to learn how to work heavily on the computer has been a blessing as well as a hardship. 

A little background, I love G.I. JOE. Anyone who is friends with me knows that this news is no surprise, I have always loved it, and my love for comics has only led me to want to read G.I.Joe comics. The only problem, is I don't think the franchise has ever gotten the artistic talent for the books that it really deserves, and I have always wanted to work on a GI Joe comic.

 So I have been doodling those characters for a long time, and one of my favorites is Scarlet. She is just a really cool character, and I love that when I draw her I can get away from the typical comic girl stereotype where the girls have obscenely large chests and hips and tiny waists that make no physiological sense whatsoever. I get to draw a woman who is a fighter, who is in shape, and could either beat you to a pulp, or sweep you off your feet. That's an awesome character to me. 

So here is the picture!

This is the 'final product' of this couple hour drawing and quick coloring.

So here is the process for you to see how I made this!

 so first I toned the canvas, and drew out my sketch. 

 Once the sketch was done, I lowered the opacity on the sketch and went into the final lines.

 Here is the final lines, with the sketch layer turned off. 'Erased' if you will.

 Here is where I added my local colors, with a pressure opacity brush. (Harder I press, darker color gets for all you non-photoshop people out there.)

 I added a lithe bit of highlighting behind her, just to let there be a little more focused area in the drawing itself.

Thought it needed a bit more in the background, but something more graphic. I actually made a solid rectangle behind her, and didn't like it, so I started erasing and the haphazard streaks behind her looked so cool, I kept it. Added her signature color and her name and the drawing was finished!

Well thanks for reading through that crazy long post. Well long for me. And I promise, I will try to be more blogworty in the future, I do draw a lot, and all the time, so I will be sure to try to update a little more often. 

Thanks for reading, have a wonderful day.

-Colin

More Digital Practice

The title says it all. Been trying to practice more digitally. My traditional supplies are running scarce, so I figured now is as good a time than any to practice my digital art. I'm still not as comfortable digitally as I am traditionally, but that at least gives me more motivation to work at it.

Didn't feel like coloring too elaborately.

Well that's it. I am really trying to post a little more regularly, and so far so good (ish.)

Take care blog!

Colin

Just A Few Sketches

Hello y'all,

So again, I get all caught up in life and totally forget that I have a blog and why I created it. To post ART! So That's what I'm gonna do. I have some stuff that I am currently working on, but nothing is finalized yet, so I'm not sure if I can publicly post it, so I'll post some of the sketches I did for said project.

I'm sort of messing around with a different inking style. 

We'll see how it goes.

There is obviously a theme between these drawings, but I'm just going to let you figure that one out!
Anyway, more to come when I can get to it! Happy trails!

- Colin

A Fun New Project!

Wow, It's been forever since I have posted last. Sorry about that.

Anyway, now that all the apologies are over, I have a few fun projects I am currently working on!

Specifically an anthology for one of my fellow SCADies, and it is for her senior project. I wrote a small little script for it and she decided that I could be featured among 19 other super great comic artists!

As a small aside about me, I love the military. I love drawing military things. So I really REALLY wanted to do a story that had to do with the military. So I did. I have just finished up the thumbnails and will move on to the final pages soon enough, but I thought as a courtesy I would post the thumbs for everyone to see!

You're welcome.

Anyway, here are the thumbs for my short story, titled "Behind the Wheel"

The cover and pages 1-3, as you can tell,

 I really like doing tight thumbnails.

Pages 4-7.

I really like tight thumbnails, when I do thumbs and move to a larger tight rough I tend to lose a little bit of energy from my figures, so I just tighten my thumbs up to the point where they can almost be considered miniature finished penciled pages, then blow them up and finish them off with ink or a clean pencil finish.

Well that's all for now, stay tuned for more stuff to be posted soon! Take it easy everyone.

-Colin