Digital Thursday

So, I have finally finished the fourth image in a series of four revolving around the Culturally Inappropriate Superfriends. Just who are and why do the Culturally Inappropriate Superfriends exist? Well... way back in 1973 when the studio execs looked at how amazingly white the heroes in The Superfriends were, they decided to add 4 ethnic minorities in the US to the cast of heroes. They created Apache Chief (Native American Indian), Samurai (Japanese), Black Vulcan (African American), and El Dorado (Hispanic) to round out the heroci cast of Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Flash, etc...

Anyhoo... here are all four in their final glory!

Apache Chief

Black Vulcan

El Dorado

Samurai

To recap:
I have many irons in the fire
It turns out that the fire just makes irons hot enough to burn
I need to leave really soon for lunch
Mmmmmm lunch
Listening to You're Not Going Anywhere by Brad Sucks
Have a great weekend everyone

Digital Thursday

Today’s Digital Thursday is to show you how I need the digital medium to make my traditional work look better.

First up is the actual hand-drawn piece that I did for the most recent Ten Ton Studios Sketch Challenge of Iron Fist.

It is not bad, but it is a departure from my “normal” “style.” I decided to go very minimalist on it to see if I could get the shapes right.

Second up is the digital assist on my linework.

I did 3 things on this digital assist.

Thing 1: I added the blue stripes for visual interest
Thing 2: I corrected the body proportions on Iron Fist. He was a bit torso short in the original
Thing 3: I did some minor color correction

To recap:
I feel that I am okay in the traditional art realm
I feel I am better when I can assist myself digitally
I have things I need to get done this weekend
But I also have things that will keep me from getting all those things done
I threw in half a Power Man for free
I just spent $78 at Blick Art Materials
It is a good thing I had a $50 gift card
Listening to Great DJ by the Ting Tings
Have a great weekend everyone

Digital Thursday

Here we are on Digital Thursday again, and this time I actually have some stuff to show. It is like graphic design show and tell Intertubes style, baby!

First up is the beginning of an identity package for a company that someone I know is starting up. The co. is a pet care company that wants to promote the idea of high end /upper level care for animals in their own home. Not a boarding house or kennel. The person requesting the package wanted an “upscale” feel with a dog and a cat toasting with champagne. I decided to go with an 1880’s Victorian glitz and glamour feel. Anyway… the first version I did was with a plum and eggplant accent color. It turns out that the client is not a big fan of the purples, so I created about 8 different color schemes and she chose the mint and green accent colors.


I still need to develop the business cards, letterhead, notepad, etc… but I think I am well on my way. That is a project for this weekend.

Second up is a shirt design that a co-worker asked me to develop. He plays a game called Flames of War with a local hobby shop gaming group. I guess there is enough of a regional population of gaming groups that they have loosely organized themselves into “companies.” So this Company wants shirts to kick it up a notch. I hope they go with a bowling shirt instead of a regular old t-shirt.
Bowling shirts would be awesome. Super. Awesome.

To recap:
Big old birthday party going on tonight for Mim
I was right, Wifey was a mess last night
She is doing better now though
The dog and cat logo has gotten surprisingly good reviews from people so far
Reactions I was not exactly expecting
Some of which were oddly intense
Oh well
Wow, I just looked around and my desk is a mess
Bankers look at my Credit Union and are dumbfounded by their hours
I swear they are open from 10 to 10:15am, but not at all on end of month processing days or holidays or days that begin with “T” or “S”
I need to figure out an additional way of making some money
But who doesn’t?
Listening to Seven Days by Sting

Digital Thursday

This is the final installment of the shiny happy Dr Doom. I referenced a whole bunch of palace internal pictures, and it turns out that European palace interiors are kind of boring. I made the trim a stained oak and the walls and ceiling are plaster.



Here is the final progression from the initial pencils/inks from Jason Baroody, to the colors by me.


Overall I am happy with how this one turned out. I am a bit unhappy with how bland the background is for the pic, but not too much of it is visible, so it is not too bad.

To recap:
Q is rather unhappy and not feeling well concerning the innoculations she got yesterday
It was a rough day for the little girl
She is doing better today, but still a bit fevery
Little Man escaped his 5 year shots until after we see his allergist
Then there will be many a shot given
Scissors are under-used tools
So are kneaded rubber erasers
If it weren't for the software issues I am currently experiencing I would not have enough time to post today
I have much yardwork that needs done this weekend
Much
Listening to Cold War Kids (thanks Karen) The Soloist in the Living Room
Have a great weekend everyone

Digital Thursday

A bit of a different theme for Digital Thursday this week. A friend of the family recently offered to do a photo shoot for Q. It was his gift to the family to celebrate her birth and he also said "he needed more photoshoot practice with babies." I am not too sure how much he really needed more photo practice, but that is a different story indeed.

Anyway, we got the pics yesterday and they are digital, therefore.... DIGITAL THURSDAY!

We were looking through these amazing images he had captured for us and wanted to know how much it would have set us back had we been paying customers. We went to his web-site and were appalled by the lack of expense (you kind of have to dig to get to the pricing). So, if you are in the Columbus area and want some really high quality portraits taken, Wifey and I heartily suggest using our friend.


Little Man doing the 5 year old toothy smile squint.

Wifey and Q in a chair. (I am quite effective at titles)


MamaQ!


Q on green


To recap
My shiny version of Dr Doom will be ready for next week's Digital Thursday
Little Man's 5th birthday is tomorrow
Where has the time gone
I am very happy that the Muppets are making their web presence felt
There are a couple of puns in that last sentence
They may have been intentional
They may have been happenstance
Intentional = Comedic Genius
Happenstance = Lucky
You decide if they were intentional or not
Listening to Firestarter by Prodigy
Have a great weekend everyone

Digital Thursday

Here we go again with the update to last week's Dr Doom pic. So far I have done most of Doom himself, except his armor. I did make some changes in the color scheme because the original artist, Jason Baroody, pointed me towards some ref pics of the Latverian (the small country where Doom rules) flag. That flag is decidedly non-European in its construction. Anyway... I went with a velvet cloak and a linen tunic with satin stripes for the textures associated with this pic so far.

I am trying to figure out the finish that I want the armor to have on it. I do not want it to be chromed up and super reflective. That changes too much for lighting and reflections, but I also want the armor to look neat and tidy. Maybe brushed steel as a texture? Who knows. Anyway, here is the work in progress that is Dr Doom.




So far I have invested about 7 hours into this guy. I imagine that I will have about 4 to 5 more to go. Some of the time is due to expirementing with techniques, but most of it is because of brute force painting at an insane level of detail. Feel free to click on Doom for embiggination.

To recap:
If you are interested in Jason Baroody's other work, or Dr Doom, please follow the myriad of links embedded in last week's Digital Thursday post
Pretty soon today I will be getting back into the SketchUp tutorials
I might need to get a version of this program for home
It is a pretty intuitive 3-d program
It would be good for rendering backgrounds like the one you see above in the Doom pic
Tomorrow we are heading to Entertrainment Junction for the enjoyment of Little Man
Exercise needs to be part of my life again
For I am getting tubby
Listening to Rainy Day by Guster off of Lost and Gone Forever
Have a great weekend everyone

Digital Thursday

I have always loved me some Doctor Doom. This is a Doom drawn and inked by Jason Baroody from Ten Ton Studios. So far all I have done is filled in the “flats” for this Doom. That is, these are the base colors for the image without any shading or textures thrown on. I figured since Doom is the monarch of a fictitious European city-state, his country’s flag is most likely red, white, and blue in some combination. He just happens to be fond of the color green. Kind of the like the Dutch flag is blue, white, and red, but the Dutch garb themselves in orange. There is method to my madness. It is poorly thought-out and in-expertly applied effort, but effort nonetheless.

Anyhoo… here is Baroody’s Doom all flatted out nice-like.

Eventually I will do 2 versions of this piece. The first will be a mint condition Doom where his armor is shiny and his palace is well lit. The second will involve rust and the word “dank.” The next few weeks’ Digital Thursdays will probably revolve around DOOOOOOM!!!

To recap:
“Nonetheless” is not used nearly enough
Wifey misplaced her phone
I hopefully G-Ma D and G-Pa R have found it
I will pick it up on the way home
I also need to buy gas for my nearly empty car as well
umm.. DOOOOM!!!
I have a huge knot in my right shoulder
It is bothersome
Listening to Cake’s version of I Will Survive off of Fashion Nugget
Have a great weekend everyone

Digital Thursday

Digital Thursday is upon us again. I finished up the Flash Gordon that I showed on last Thursday. I shall immortalize this drawing with a “poem” by Brian May.


Flash - a-ah - savior of the universe
Flash - a-ah - he'll save everyone of us
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Flash - a-ah - he's a miracle
Flash - a-ah - king of the impossible

He's for everyone of us
Stand for everyone of us
He'll save with a mighty hand
Every man every woman
Every child - with a mighty flash

Flash - a-ah
Flash - a-ah - he'll save everyone of us

Just a manWith a man's courage
He knows nothing but a man
But he can never fail
No one but the pure in heart
May find the golden grail
Oh oh - oh oh
Flash


This one is done almost entirely in Photoshop CS3. I sketched out the first bit using pencil and paper. I scanned that bad-boy in and started working with it digitally.

To recap:
Q’s 1 month check-up is this morning
I cannot believe it has already been a month
I also cannot believe it is not butter
So take my lack of belief with a grain of salt
She is now weighing in at 7 lbs 4 oz (3.29 kg) (.518 stone)
And a whopping 21 inches (53.3 cm)
And gorgeous
Still need to bring in the iPod dock
To the US based readership, have a safe and happy 4th of July
I want everyone reading next week with the same number of fingers and toes
Individually, not as a whole
Have a great weekend everyone

Digital Thursday

I don’t have much to share today as far as Digital Thursday is concerned. I do have a work in progress that I am, uh… working on. It is of a stylized Flash, a-ah, he saved every one of us, Gordon. I am pretty close to having the major color areas blocked out. Next is adding a few levels of shadow and highlight, then I am going to try out some texture stuff to take it in a completely different direction than I am used to.

So without further ado, Flash, he's for everyone of us, stand for everyone of us, he'll save with a mighty hand, every man every woman, every child - with a mighty flash, Gordon

To recap:
Maybe next week I will remember my iPod docking station
Prolly not
The basement is very close to being a swimming pool
It poured last night
Little Man was a bit freaked out by the storms
Q slept through them in her mama’s arms
Origins is going on this weekend
I am not going
I seem to have better things to do
Those things involve either sleep or baby
But not both
Have a great weekend everyone

Digital Thursday

In Little Man’s summer pre-school this week, they were talking about space and astronauts and such. It turns out that there are a few facts about space and Little Man that I did not know.

Fact 1: His favorite planet is Jupiter because of the colors and the red-storm
Fact 2: He does not like Pluto. He mumbled something about planet-like bodies bringing their weak ass game into his house, but I really didn’t catch all that much of it
Fact 3: Ummm…. There really were only 2. I am tired, leave me alone people.

Anyhoo… one of the tasks from this week in pre-school was to “create” his own planet. I give to you, Little Man’s planet known as Stripes.

I also give to you Little Man as Galactus, Devourer of Worlds with the soup du jour, Stripes.

He brought Stripes into existence, he can surely take it out.

To recap:
I turn 34 on Saturday
All I want for my birthday is a nap
Q is doing well
Little Man is a bit under the weather
I am a bit hungry
Maybe I need a snack
Not listening to anything at the moment
Have a great weekend everyone

Digital Thursday

There are 4 Superfriends that were added to the mix to round out the team ethnically. They were added to the team in most culturally inappropriate way that they could imagine. The four were Apache Chief, Black Vulcan, El Dorado, and Samurai. They were all wonderfully stereotypical caricatures of their ethnicity. So far I have unleashed upon you my Apache Chief and my Black Vulcan. Today I give you my Samurai, Master of the Winds. Personally I think if he were in Samurai armor instead of samurai underwear he would be a more fearsome foe.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Click to embiggen

This is done totally in Photoshop. I might go back in one day and make it more of a sumi-e looking work, but there is a bunch of other stuff on the to do list ahead of that.

Cheers

To recap:
My allergies are completely kicking my ass right now
Of course the cotton wood does make it look like it snowed an inch overnight

To Do List:
Kitchen:
Stain window sills
Put up knife holder
Bathroom:
Hang toilet and hand towel holders
Duchess’s room:
Add word art to walls
Assemble crib
Get a rug?
General:
Re-set up email accounts on new PC

Almost a manageable To Do list
Almost
Listening to Feel Good Inc. by the Gorillaz off of Demon Days
Have a great weekend everyone

Digital Thursday

I had 20 minutes today and, from last week's Digital Thursday post, an affinity for X-characters. To go with that Colussus, I now have a Cyclops.

No time to really expound much on this except it is a digital sketch done rather rapidly with some crap color thrown on for good measure. So without further ado, a late 80's/early 90's Cyclops.
Ooooh he's dour.


To recap:
The office and bathroom are both happily painted
We are swiftly moving stuff into the office to reclaim our dining room for dining purposes
Mim is getting surgery today to aleviate some nerve stuff in one of her shoulders
I need to find the hardware for the crib
Things seem to be coming together
1 more week baby-less and maybe we can have our shit together (physically)
So please all positive thoughts about baby's pending arrival should include a not before May 30th clause.
Listening to Cream and Bastards Rise by Harvey Danger from Little by Little
Have a great weekend everyone

Digital Thursday

Today’s Digital Thursday piece is a modification of my entry for this week’s Sketch Challenge over at Ten Tons Studios.

I will not win (yet again), but that is immaterial (at least that is what my weeping heart says between wracking sobs). What is important is that I am drawing again. This one is a combination of traditional hand drawing (Sharpies and highlighters) and some digital work on top of that. I give you my version of Colossus.



He looks sad.

To recap:
Little Man is sick today
His belly is roiling
Not really any other symptoms that we can tell
No fever
No chills
No aches or pains
No food in his belly
Let’s hope the pregnant lady doesn’t get ill
According to the labor and delivery nurses who helped bring Little Man in the world, vomiting is the most efficient form of pushing
Baby is low, engaged and primed for exiting
We aren’t ready for baby yet
So, no yarfing for you, Wifey
I am not listening to anything, for I forgot my iPod at home today
Have a great weekend

Digital Thursday

Well, tomorrow the fam boards a jet plane and will be heading to sunny Atlanta! Then we will get on another plane and go to Phoenix, Arizona. Wifey is part of the planning committee associated with a big-ole-conference out there and Little Man and I will be coat-tailing it out there with her. My parents are going to head out there as well and make it more of a family vacation. We are packing tonight and will only be taking a few foodstuffs for the boy. The rest of his food will have to be purchased whilst in Arizona.

Anyway… I did not have anything “ready” for today’s Digital Thursday, so I whipped this up whilst at work.



I am not committing to posting anything whilst in Arizona, but if I get a moment, I will try.

To recap:
See you suckas later!
We will be staying here
In case anyone wants to come and chat
It is incredibly over-priced
We wouldn’t go there if it were not business
Have a great weekend everyone
And possibly have a great next week as well
Listening to Virtual Insanity by Jamiroquai from Traveling without Moving

Digital Thursday

So, Little Man is ill at home and now Wifey and I are timesharing. I will only be in at work for about another hour or so before I return to the den of snottiness. Anyway… I was not going to post from work today since I am only here for such a short period of time, but I am waiting on some people to make groundbreaking… nay earth-shattering decisions regarding a proposal color scheme, so what the hey.

It seems that Capt McArmypants has decided that Digital Thursdays should be a bit more timely. I guess where he works doesn’t have morning meetings or crap work that has to get done. He, being a wonderfully helpful soul and compassionate human being, decided to create a post for me. The real post will follow… I think you will be able to determine where I take over.



HI I AM SRH AND THIS IS MY BLOG!!!

SEE!!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.




Last week’s No-Prize Sketch Challenge over at Ten Ton Studios was to take someone else’s pencils and “finish them.” For those of you no up to speed with the comic lingo there are primarily four different tasks that have to happen before a page is ready (aside from writing and editing). They are penciling, inking, coloring, and lettering. Clearly some of these tasks can be done by the same artist, but usually there are more than one artist working on a book at any time. Lately, lettering has started to be a dying art due to computers with their fancy fonts and their beep beeps and their boop boops.

Anyway… I got some high resolution pencil scans from a fellow artist work posts his stuff over at Ten Ton Studios forums and started the inking and coloring process. The pencils are from David Newbold, and are pretty tight to say the least.


The concept as I saw it was that Firestorm was coming out of a page that was done like DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man illustration. My part of this was all done in Photoshop and ended up being about 10 layers deep. Overall extremely I am happy with how it turned out.
To recap:
Little Man is sick
He seems to be getting better though
I hope that we are able to ship him off to preschool to infect the other kids tomorrow
Capt. Mc Armypants is nothing if not helpful
He is also very proud of his “art”
I especially like the white space left in the "e"
Very Warhollian
He also finds the word “Yeti” very funny
In fact he is most likely saying, "Yeti Yeti Yeti Yeti" right now
He is a simple man
And in his simpleness he is in the US armed forces
AS A LAWYER
I don’t feel so safe right now
Listening to my phone ring
Have a great weekend everyone

*This evening I will relink the pics for easy embiggination

Digital Thursday

Okay, I did not get done inking the image I WANTED to post today, but that will give me something for next week. This week I have something else for the Fellowship of the White Star RPG monster manual. This is a Hebrew golem for the book. It is a pretty hastily mashed together digital drawing and Photoshopped image.

Oh, and I scanned my left hand.

At least it was not anything else anatomical.

To recap:
Holding on the phone with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles
Little Man needs a photo ID for our trip to Phoenix, AZ
April 25 through May 3 we are going to be in Sunny Phoenix
Most likely basking in the sun that shines upon trains
It will be nice to be away from the office for a bit
The BMV is just as efficient on the phone as in person
Maybe even less so
We are fending for ourselves for dinner tonight
I have no idea what I will be having
I will attempt something associated with left over spaghetti sauce
My hip is bothering me again because of my wallet
Wow, am I old
Listening to Right in Two by Tool off of 10,000 Days
Have a great weekend… I will be staining stuff

Digital Thursday

I was going to work up something else, but I never got around to it.
This is now available in The U.C. T-Shirt Shoppe.

The drawback of Cafepress is that you can’t really have any non-standard printing. Meaning, I cannot have design go over the shoulder or placed over one of the hips. Cafepress pretty much limits the printing to a square in the center of the chest, left pocket area of the shirt, and the center of the back. Does anyone out there in cyberland know of an online T-shirt manufacturer that does odd placement screen prints?

Wifey keeps hounding me to come up with a T-shirt shoppe that specializes in non-crappy maternity t-shirts. Maternity shirts either have something stupid on them like “I’m with baby” or “Bun in the oven,” or they cost one’s arm and leg. Where is the middle of the road? Where?!?!

To recap:
I am in a fairly unproductive mood today
There is not much time until the pending arrival of the Duchess
I was going to draw a Dire Penguin…
Oh wait, I just did
Pencil on some crap paper
Scanned and releveled in Photoshop
Hey, Sassyfrass, anyone statting up a Dire Penguin for FotWS?
Listening to I Burn by the Toadies off of their debut Rubberneck
Have a great weekend everyone

Digital Thursday

Here it is Digital Thursday yet again. I am on day 4 of 5 sans Wifey. I am rather tired. For Digital Thursday I have two things ready, but before we get into all of that, some information about my mom’s Cancer of the Naughty Parts.

She will be having the complete hysterectomy with some lymph node ectomies thrown in to boot either Monday or Friday of next week. It is just a matter of what can be scheduled. She is getting that new fangled robotic hysterectomy. I have more information with more graphic detail, but no one wants that. Suffice it to say, that post surgery, the oncologist has said that the “treatment is over” and mom will be done with this. If all goes swimmingly well, she should be back and 100% recovered 2 weeks post op. All in the family are doing better with this information.

Enough of that stuff.

First up is an illustration I did for the Monster Manual being produced for The Fellowship of the White Star RPG. Beyond here there be Giant Spiders.


Good lord I hate spiders. Can’t stand the little buggers. I am very happy that there are not bigger buggers such as these.


Second up is a 10 minute painting of a Yeti face. I will be using this art in a t-shirt design. I am not sure what the t-shirt will say yet, but it will have this yeti on it… in color even (if possible).

To recap:
Wifey gets home tomorrow
YIPPEEEE
Little Man is more than ready for her to be home
Congrats to Dr B-Dawg
She is a very lucky woman
When do I get to meet her?
Either tonight or tomorrow we will be graced with the presence of Capt McArmypants
Did I type “graced?”
I meant “gassed”
Cause, he is smelly due to his alimentary canal, yo!
Listening to You’re so Damn Hot by Ok Go from their self titled Ok Go
Have a great weekend everyone