Swine Flu - ATTACK

This is a picture I worked on a while back as a companion piece for Viral. I never posted it on the blog and it seemed perfectly appropriate for this week's IllustrationFriday topic, "germs".

See the little green piggies? They’re coming for you.

...that reminds me. I'll need to look into getting vaccinated. I don't want to get sick/get other people sick, at all the art and anime conventions next year.

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Sketched on 9”x12” Strathmore Bristol, finalized and painted in Photoshop CS 3. The image came together over a couple of days.




I used this picture and Viral on my most recent self promotion postcard. The explosive word bubble on the front is where the addressee sticker goes, but you can just imagine he's coughing his lungs up.

Unfinished Business

An associate of mine recently informed me that I never posted the finished images for Strength, or the Uncle Sam - What's for Dinner.

Strength

Uncle Sam - What's for Dinner

Aren't they handsome together.

-- More art soon!

Strength - WIP

AKA Strong.

Another entry for IllustrationFriday.com. The drawing is finished and composed, but I'm just starting on the painting. More soon.

Impatience: Full Walk-Thru

When I back up an image on DVD, I clean up any unnecessary intermediate files saved along with the big milestones. Before I delete the intermediate steps, I use them to build a developmental walk-thru that details the process that went into creating the image. These step-by-step guides are often helpful to look back on if I'm confused about how I did a painting technique or a special effect.

Here is the walk-thru for Impatience, along with step-by-step into annotations.

Concept sketch to digital rough.

Rough pencils to finished sketch.

Progression of the colors.

Ted Kennedy Funeral - Quick Sketch

It was on TV in HD. Used the freeze frame function and did some quick, spur-of-the-moment portraits.

Caution

My take on "Caution" for IllustrationFriday.com -- Just got it in under the wire.

I had two ideas for this piece. (Actually, three ideas if you include the quickly dismissed “semi-naked chick in caution tape” concept.) The first idea had to do with a runner bursting through a repeating black & yellow caution-tape finish line. The line marked the edge of a cliff and the runner continued past the edge, lunging into the sky. Was he flying or falling? Who knows? Maybe I’ll do this picture sometime. It seems like a strong concept.

The second idea was some sort of smiling swindler trying to take advantage of a person. The key to this piece would be the use of the black and orange-yellow color “caution sign” palette. It hit me that the swindler’s tie would make for a perfect pathway for the repeating black & yellow caution pattern. Several days later, the picture was complete.
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Sketched on 9”x12” Strathmore Sketch paper. Finalized and painted in Photoshop CS 3.

Mushroom Princess - Leisure

Rough sketch with colors

Inspiration for colors

More art soon.