Sunday, November 16, 2008

Desolation Jones


Desolation Jones.
He is the titular character of his own comic book series.
He was created by Warren Ellis (writer) and J.H. Williams III (artist).
Great read. Brilliant art.
I did this piece super-quick for a "Warren Ellis" jam over on deviantART. (same as the B.P.R.D. and Invincible jams).
This was the last thing I was tied down to do that could interrupt my narrative work.
I wish he could be doing something a bit more dynamic, but the layout Jesse drew up was pretty much a shot of him standing there, and I didn't really want to deviate from that.
Oh, YES.
I made a biohazard symbol in photoshop out of a coffee mug stain!
That's the grayish discoloration around the border.
I thought that was a nice little thing to do.
oooh! How CLEVER!!!
*swoons*

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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Retribution.

All five covers are now done!!!
I'm moving on to narrative. The wild, wild world of narrative! I'm so excited!
That's it! Back to work!!!
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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Life's Curveballs


Last Wednesday I noticed something amiss on my body. I scheduled an appointment for Thursday, and by Thursday night I was in and out of surgery.
I had a follow-up appointment today where my doctor gave me a clean bill of health (which will be verified after a few more test results such as bloodwork, chest x-rays, and a CT scan).
This image is of an incision roughly 2" long. The staples were taken out today, so I snapped this pic with my cellphone right before the doctor came in.

I'm feeling much better as the days progress, and am happy that the doctors and I caught everything before it could develop into something much worse.

More artwork coming soon!

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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Resigned

Just finished cover #4.

It went pretty quick (relatively) because I was asked to do an homage cover. I didn't have to think of a comp, I just had to insert the applicable costume changes and people swaps.

I spiced it up with some of my own additions. The background especially was something I added in to link the cover to what will be happening inside the issue.

When the book comes out all this will make a whole lot more sense, I swear.

On to cover #5. I'm really excited about this one.

In other news, I'm tired because I only got 1.5 hours of sleep last night because I was finishing this cover! I'm sipping coffee and I'm absolutely delirious at work today.

Maybe this is a good time to draw Desolation Jones for Jesse Munoz's Warren Ellis Jam. Jones was kept awake for an entire year during the Desolation Tests, so it would be fitting that I draw him with little to know sleep.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Biggest Pain...


So this is what happened:
A giant clusterf%$k of a conceptual/ rough idea/ thumbnail layout stage led to a lot of drawing small images, scanning and blowing them up as blue-lined images which I then printed out, drew over the blue lines in pencil-as-finished-inks, mucking up different parts of the image or drawing something wrong from the start but not noticing it until later, RE-drawing that on a separate sheet of paper, scanning and blue-lining and printing out the new art, redrawing it as pencils-as-finished-inks, scanning, scanning, scanning, photoshop cutting and pasting from three different files and making them one file, leveling and color-burning, then a BUTT-LOAD of touch up to get rid of all the pencil-y, smeary B.S. so I can make my pencils look like finished inks. VOILA!

I'm so happy it's done. But I can't show the whole thing yet.

How was your week?

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

OBEY CATCHUM


Wound up with more free time than I'm comfortable with at work today. As I perused ffffound I stumbled across another one of the parody images of Shepard Fairey's Obama "HOPE" & "PROGRESS" propaganda posters. this time it was of Luke Skywalker and it read "A NEW HOPE."

So with nothing to do and with the art from my Taxi Driver piece still on my work mac, i decided I would do yet another homage to an artist I respect and enjoy, and mocked up this Diggup Catchum poster.

That's really about it. I've been designing an automobile for my comic over the past week. i don't usually draw cars let alone design them, so it's been a little slow-going and frustrating. But I've almost nailed it down and then i can finish Issue #3's cover.

-Karl

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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Clean, Like My Conscience

Because I am primarily working on my daunting comic book miniseries while trying desperately to phase out my full time graphics job, I have little to no time left to continue what I was working on before I got the comics gig.

I bought the Collector's Edition DVD of Taxi Driver earlier this week, and loved the design of the dvd case so much that I decided to pay an homage to it with this piece from my "comic book maxi-series on hiatus" Diggup Catchum.

I really like Taxi Driver. It has a place in my heart. It was the film I identified the most with back in 1999. I was the lonely guy living in Altadena, CA while attending Art Center. Fresh out of high school, it was my first time away from home. I bought the film on VHS soon after the move. I identified with Travis Bickle's plight more than I thought I would. I was depressed and homesick, and found myself in socially awkward situations during my time in CA; similar themes that Travis experienced during his downward spiral of self-destruciton.

Fight Club was released shortly after that, and I quickly forgot about Taxi Driver as I became extremely intrigued about the concept of hitting bottom in a way Travis Bickle never did. Now, nearly 10 years later, I'm back out in SoCal, and I own the Collector's DVD and we've connected again. Pretty sweet.

Anyway, I drew the portrait and computer-colored it in about an hour and a half at work. I then finished it at home in illustrator and then voila! Promo completed.

I had a lot of fun hashing this thing out. Eddie's likeness is the closest I've ever drawn of him in comparison to how I see him in my mind's eye. I nailed the level of poofiness of his hair, which has always been a big struggle.

Now back to designing the vehicle that will be featured on the cover to Issue #3...

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Monday, September 22, 2008

Tie Symbolism and Ink Abuse


I just finished inking the cover for issue #2 of my as yet untitled comic project. I had a great time with this cover, and I only hit a speed bump when I was inking it. I just started making a lot of bad spur-of-the-moment freehand inking decisions. I won't take the time to go into detail (only because it's late and the details ARE boring), but suffice it to say, I pulled through with A LOT of white-out tape and now it's done and I'm very happy with the end result.

It'll be up here in full when it gets solicited!

On to cover #3!

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Wednesday, September 10, 2008

It's Time To Evolve Ideas

Ok, I haven't touched this blog in forever. I originally intended to post pre-established characters I've drawn on this blog. I haven't drawn any since Hellboy, and I'm so wrapped up in a new project right now that I don't know if I'll ever get to the next character on the slip of paper I picked out of the "character glass."

So it's time to evolve the idea of this blog. I will now use this blog to post new stuff I'm working on. Snippets of projects and finished pieces will be posted for your delight and benefit. Things that tickle my fancy will also be posted and commented upon.

It's a brand new, no-holds-barred ART BLAWG!

So let's get down to brass tacks. The two dudes in the image above are from the cover of the first issue of a currently untitled 5-issue limited series I am working on for a company I will not disclose right now. I won't be posting too much of this stuff before it actually sees print to keep the shroud of mystery intact.

But I think I'll post little scraps and morsels here and there.
And I will be posting more pre-established characters.
I need to draw a lot.
I need to be drawing right now.
So that's it.

-K

OH! And go buy the post-mortem Mitch Hedberg album, "Do You Believe In Gosh?" it's great and it came out yesterday. Great way to spend $10.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Anung Un Rama


So just like Robot below, Hellboy here was drawn for an art jam. Jesse Munoz at jessemunoz.com organized the whole thing over on deviantart. Follow my link to my deviantart page over on the right to get there quick!
I've always been a pretty big Hellboy fan. I love the tales Mike Mignola puts Hellboy through as he spins plots out of mythology and folklore, with a healthy dose of '30's pulp and Kirby Krackles!
Recently they published the Hellboy Companion, and it is a MUST READ for fans of Hellboy.

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Monday, April 21, 2008

Robot


I drew Robot for an Invincible Art Jam with some of my old classmates.
Jesse was the Mastermind.

Robot's an established character so I decided to post him here.

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