for my buddy josh’s birthday this year, i surprised him with a portrait laden with a couple inside jokes.
for my buddy josh’s birthday this year, i surprised him with a portrait laden with a couple inside jokes.
hey followers of boom, illustrated!
first of all, thanks for the follows, likes and reblogs. it’s very gratifying to know that folks like my artwork especially since i don’t go out of my way of publicizing any of my pieces.
now, if you dig my turtle designs, you’d be interested to know that some of them (and soon, a lot of them) are now available as tshirts courtesy of spreadshirt.com. so, check out kaboomie, the intersection of cute and nerdy. or geeky. or both!
get a shirt. get some boom.
(reblogs welcome!)
hey followers of boom, illustrated!
first of all, thanks for the follows, likes and reblogs. it’s very gratifying to know that folks like my artwork especially since i don’t go out of my way of publicizing any of my pieces.
now, if you dig my turtle designs, you’d be interested to know that some of them (and soon, a lot of them) are now available as tshirts courtesy of spreadshirt.com. so, check out kaboomie, the intersection of cute and nerdy. or geeky. or both!
get a shirt. get some boom.
(reblogs welcome!)
![heh, anthony wanted an icon based off of li’l ceebee. gotta say.. this came out pretty cute. =]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lo1j324qtQ1qdj9jjo1_250.png)
heh, anthony wanted an icon based off of li’l ceebee. gotta say.. this came out pretty cute. =]
heh, anthony wanted an icon based off of li’l ceebee. gotta say.. this came out pretty cute. =]
day 26, colored
i decided to go back and color day 26, the de-aged version of my team. and just for shits and giggles, i decided to color them as if it were done with crayons. i even went so far as to limit the color palette to only 10 colors.
day 26, colored
i decided to go back and color day 26, the de-aged version of my team. and just for shits and giggles, i decided to color them as if it were done with crayons. i even went so far as to limit the color palette to only 10 colors.
30 day drawing challenge: superheroes
DAY THIRTY - COMIC BOOK COVER
…and there you have it.
inspired by the pride flag imagery kinda sorta evoked from the team shot in coordinated uniforms challenge, i decided to go with that idea for the cover of their comic. this wound up being a huge undertaking as, much like with day 28 and drawing out 14 characters to truly make the battle royale a battle royale, i went and drew each of my guys on a full page and then assembled them into photoshop. it was a bit difficult, once again, trying to get them all in the same sort of scale against one another, given that they were drawn on separate pages. it was just as difficult, really, trying to come up with poses for them that weren’t all the same (not that you can see them in the final cropped versions, anyway). but hey, at least i managed to put headphones on CIRCUIT BOY finally. given that i was going to do a tint over each of the characters in their respective panels, i had to pretty much color them completely and then figure out how best to apply the tint via different layer blend modes (and then some).
admittedly, i halfassed the title. i couldn’t think of a good font or logo treatment to the name of the book and was well past caring. besides, typography is neither my strong point nor my interest (odd for a designer, yes). i just wanted to be done.
in the slideshow above, you’ll see the individual pieces, how they look assembled with a background and then the final version with the different tints on each panel.
it’s been fun!
(also posted at the 30 day drawing challenge: superheroes tumblog)
30 day drawing challenge: superheroes
DAY TWENTY-NINE - ARTIST’S CHOICE
and here we have FRUIT FLY, TEASE and CUB SCOUT as their justice league counterparts, green lantern (of no particular sector), superman and batman. they still manage to maintain their signature appearance despite the iconic looks they are adorned with. it’s like in-character halloween.
(also posted at the 30 day drawing challenge: superheroes tumblog)
30 day drawing challenge: superheroes
DAY TWENTY-NINE - ARTIST’S CHOICE
and here we have FRUIT FLY, TEASE and CUB SCOUT as their justice league counterparts, green lantern (of no particular sector), superman and batman. they still manage to maintain their signature appearance despite the iconic looks they are adorned with. it’s like in-character halloween.
(also posted at the 30 day drawing challenge: superheroes tumblog)
30 day drawing challenge: superheroes
DAY TWENTY-EIGHT - BATTLE ROYALE WITH RANDOM FOES
not so random foes here but here’s the left-to-right detail:
PANSY, D-VICE, POOF, DIKE, CIRCUIT BOY (floating), THORNDIKE, FRUIT FLY (floaty), CUB SCOUT (defying gravity somewhat), MODESTY, TEASE, W.A.S.P. (floatypants), THE SWISH, TEA REX (floaty mcfloatsalot) and FROWNIE.
so, yes, this (along with real life and a lack of sleep finally catching up to me) is what’s been keeping me from making my (until now) timely posts. that said, it’s not even done. it’s missing colors, tone value and a background but, hell, it’s enough to post for now, anyway. i swear to god, when i start involving photoshop into my pieces, it eats up so much of my time.
now, granted, this piece was a bit more ambitious than the time/energy/opportunity i had available to me. that much is obvious. i mean, look. 14 characters. 7of them are absolutely new concepts and aren’t simply throwaway ideas or, if i was smart and wanted to save time and effort, repeatable minions. if anything, they are the team’s evil opposites, in a manner of speaking:
D-VICE
i was going back and forth on ideas for CB’s opposite. given that he’s a dj, i figured his opposite would be a librarian with silencey powers or something. but given that i would have had to draw a somewhat bookish, formal looking person, i didn’t want that to interfere with MODESTY’s concept. instead, he’s a rival dj outfitted with gadgetry. this explains his freaking out over getting splashed.
DIKE
when i was first putting together my team, i was on the fence as to whether or not i was going to make it an all boys club or a spectrum of queerness. i opted for the easier option (forgive me) as i am not all that good with sketching out the ladies. really, though, i should have if only in the interest of getting better at my craft but whatever. DIKE is one of the lesbian characters i had come up with. given that POOF’s power has something to do with gaseous states of matter, i figure his opposite number would have something to do with liquids. her name, of course, is in reference to the fact that she has water based powers. hence the swim suit. why, what were you thinking?
THORNDIKE
sister to or lover of DIKE is THORNDIKE. she, like PANSY, has plant affinity (and will very likely be depicted in green skin) but instead of summoning and manipulating them the way he does, she has plant-based thorns erupt from her body. they provide her with some measure of body armor as well as a deadly, possibly toxic, attack. her name is in reference to the fact that she can be covered in these barbs and that she is, in fact, a lesbian.
MODESTY
TEASE’s opposite is your standard super strong and invulnerable type. this guy, however, is all about propriety, etiquette and honor. he is always formally dressed and expresses his discontent with others’ inability to conform to social niceties with super strong and invulnerable violence. his manners and politeness are a stark contrast to the moral good he has no interest in.
W.A.S.P.
battle-armor unit W.A.S.P. is the most whitebread, innocent and naive of the bunch. that said, armed with his stinger, he’s a dangerous foe to be up against because he will follow orders unerringly.. even if he doesn’t quite understand them. he is ordered by a mysterious agency (possibly the ones who’ve designed his suit) to take down FRUIT FLY in order to gain access to his unique nanite swarm technology. on a personal note, given his somewhat sheltered upbringing, he probably thinks FF’s just freaky as all hell.
TEA REX
when rumor of THE SWISH’s caffeine-science-experiment origins reached coffee beverage company “ROYAL TEAS”, they were quick to try to manufacture their own supersoldier to push their brand and drive promotions. unable to come up with the chemistry to simulate SWISH’s serendipitous success, they then abandoned science and instead turned to magic. (because that’s what people always do.) in league with a caffeine demon (there’s talk that this infernal beast may have ties to CORPORATE COFFIEND and their mysterious dealings), TEA REX can manipulate kinetic and potential energy spikes in people and in things in motion. also, he’s kind of a douchey hipster with the seasonally inappropriate scarf, somewhat tight pants and blocky glasses. what a jerk. (thanks to josh for suggesting i tie his origin to tea or caffeine)
FROWNIE
despite appearances, FROWNIE, the evil brownie girl scout, is not actually a little girl. is she a robot? is she an immortal? is she an alien? is she some banished god? no one really knows what she is beyond the fact that she is super violent, self-serving, conniving, super-agile, super-resistant to injury (possibly regenerative) and yet somehow convinced that she is, in fact, a little girl with, mostly, little girl interests. and, yes, she is holding a grenade there.
so, yes, fourteen drawings went into this one effort. they were spread out between probably 10 or 11 scans. trying to maintain a sense of scale for all the characters across those many pages was a complete bitch. so, when i was assembling all the individual pieces into photoshop, you can bet there was some rescaling done. that and rejiggering the layout about a thousand times. i’m trying to convince myself that the current placement i have for everyone will look way better when i throw in an actual background. obviously, this is yet another piece (i need to start making a list at this point) that i will be coming back to.
(also posted at the 30 day drawing challenge: superheroes tumblog)
30 day drawing challenge: superheroes
DAY TWENTY-EIGHT - BATTLE ROYALE WITH RANDOM FOES
not so random foes here but here’s the left-to-right detail:
PANSY, D-VICE, POOF, DIKE, CIRCUIT BOY (floating), THORNDIKE, FRUIT FLY (floaty), CUB SCOUT (defying gravity somewhat), MODESTY, TEASE, W.A.S.P. (floatypants), THE SWISH, TEA REX (floaty mcfloatsalot) and FROWNIE.
so, yes, this (along with real life and a lack of sleep finally catching up to me) is what’s been keeping me from making my (until now) timely posts. that said, it’s not even done. it’s missing colors, tone value and a background but, hell, it’s enough to post for now, anyway. i swear to god, when i start involving photoshop into my pieces, it eats up so much of my time.
now, granted, this piece was a bit more ambitious than the time/energy/opportunity i had available to me. that much is obvious. i mean, look. 14 characters. 7of them are absolutely new concepts and aren’t simply throwaway ideas or, if i was smart and wanted to save time and effort, repeatable minions. if anything, they are the team’s evil opposites, in a manner of speaking:
D-VICE
i was going back and forth on ideas for CB’s opposite. given that he’s a dj, i figured his opposite would be a librarian with silencey powers or something. but given that i would have had to draw a somewhat bookish, formal looking person, i didn’t want that to interfere with MODESTY’s concept. instead, he’s a rival dj outfitted with gadgetry. this explains his freaking out over getting splashed.
DIKE
when i was first putting together my team, i was on the fence as to whether or not i was going to make it an all boys club or a spectrum of queerness. i opted for the easier option (forgive me) as i am not all that good with sketching out the ladies. really, though, i should have if only in the interest of getting better at my craft but whatever. DIKE is one of the lesbian characters i had come up with. given that POOF’s power has something to do with gaseous states of matter, i figure his opposite number would have something to do with liquids. her name, of course, is in reference to the fact that she has water based powers. hence the swim suit. why, what were you thinking?
THORNDIKE
sister to or lover of DIKE is THORNDIKE. she, like PANSY, has plant affinity (and will very likely be depicted in green skin) but instead of summoning and manipulating them the way he does, she has plant-based thorns erupt from her body. they provide her with some measure of body armor as well as a deadly, possibly toxic, attack. her name is in reference to the fact that she can be covered in these barbs and that she is, in fact, a lesbian.
MODESTY
TEASE’s opposite is your standard super strong and invulnerable type. this guy, however, is all about propriety, etiquette and honor. he is always formally dressed and expresses his discontent with others’ inability to conform to social niceties with super strong and invulnerable violence. his manners and politeness are a stark contrast to the moral good he has no interest in.
W.A.S.P.
battle-armor unit W.A.S.P. is the most whitebread, innocent and naive of the bunch. that said, armed with his stinger, he’s a dangerous foe to be up against because he will follow orders unerringly.. even if he doesn’t quite understand them. he is ordered by a mysterious agency (possibly the ones who’ve designed his suit) to take down FRUIT FLY in order to gain access to his unique nanite swarm technology. on a personal note, given his somewhat sheltered upbringing, he probably thinks FF’s just freaky as all hell.
TEA REX
when rumor of THE SWISH’s caffeine-science-experiment origins reached coffee beverage company “ROYAL TEAS”, they were quick to try to manufacture their own supersoldier to push their brand and drive promotions. unable to come up with the chemistry to simulate SWISH’s serendipitous success, they then abandoned science and instead turned to magic. (because that’s what people always do.) in league with a caffeine demon (there’s talk that this infernal beast may have ties to CORPORATE COFFIEND and their mysterious dealings), TEA REX can manipulate kinetic and potential energy spikes in people and in things in motion. also, he’s kind of a douchey hipster with the seasonally inappropriate scarf, somewhat tight pants and blocky glasses. what a jerk. (thanks to josh for suggesting i tie his origin to tea or caffeine)
FROWNIE
despite appearances, FROWNIE, the evil brownie girl scout, is not actually a little girl. is she a robot? is she an immortal? is she an alien? is she some banished god? no one really knows what she is beyond the fact that she is super violent, self-serving, conniving, super-agile, super-resistant to injury (possibly regenerative) and yet somehow convinced that she is, in fact, a little girl with, mostly, little girl interests. and, yes, she is holding a grenade there.
so, yes, fourteen drawings went into this one effort. they were spread out between probably 10 or 11 scans. trying to maintain a sense of scale for all the characters across those many pages was a complete bitch. so, when i was assembling all the individual pieces into photoshop, you can bet there was some rescaling done. that and rejiggering the layout about a thousand times. i’m trying to convince myself that the current placement i have for everyone will look way better when i throw in an actual background. obviously, this is yet another piece (i need to start making a list at this point) that i will be coming back to.
(also posted at the 30 day drawing challenge: superheroes tumblog)
30 day drawing challenge: superheroes
DAY TWENTY-SEVEN - TEAM SURROUNDED BY ZOMBIES
originally inspired by this bit of blackest night commissioned art piece, for some random reason i wanted my guys to be besieged by not just zombies but by zombie fratboys. please note the douchey accoutrements: multiple popped collars, fauxhawk, ridiculously sagging jeans, upside-down visor worn off to the side, emo haircut, stupid wallet chain thing, and so on and so forth. if anything, i wanted to capture that HOSHIT moment of turning on the light only to find out that not only are you in the thick of things (very dangerous things) but you just attracted everyone’s attention.
i like the way FRUIT FLY’s zippermouth is somehow frowning despite, you know, not being a proper mouth. between the arc of the zippermouth, the eyebrows, the shape of his goggles and posturing, i’m convinced that i can pull off a wide range of expressions for him. with the exception of CUB SCOUT, everyone is taken by surprise (CUB SCOUT is, of course, prepared and ready to fight). PANSY and THE SWISH seem to be the only one to realize that the zombie horde isn’t limited to just the one side.
this was kind of fun to do, if not time consuming. the guys i did on one sheet and the zombies i did on another. photoshopping them together, i didn’t have to worry about screwing up the composition with too many things obscuring other things but, in retrospect, i should not have inked for tone value before bringing it into photoshop. given i did that before figuring out where i wanted FRUIT FLY’s light bulb construct, i had an inconsistent light source. bleh.
in any case, i like the way this came out.
(also posted at the 30 day drawing challenge: superheroes tumblog)
30 day drawing challenge: superheroes
DAY TWENTY-SEVEN - TEAM SURROUNDED BY ZOMBIES
originally inspired by this bit of blackest night commissioned art piece, for some random reason i wanted my guys to be besieged by not just zombies but by zombie fratboys. please note the douchey accoutrements: multiple popped collars, fauxhawk, ridiculously sagging jeans, upside-down visor worn off to the side, emo haircut, stupid wallet chain thing, and so on and so forth. if anything, i wanted to capture that HOSHIT moment of turning on the light only to find out that not only are you in the thick of things (very dangerous things) but you just attracted everyone’s attention.
i like the way FRUIT FLY’s zippermouth is somehow frowning despite, you know, not being a proper mouth. between the arc of the zippermouth, the eyebrows, the shape of his goggles and posturing, i’m convinced that i can pull off a wide range of expressions for him. with the exception of CUB SCOUT, everyone is taken by surprise (CUB SCOUT is, of course, prepared and ready to fight). PANSY and THE SWISH seem to be the only one to realize that the zombie horde isn’t limited to just the one side.
this was kind of fun to do, if not time consuming. the guys i did on one sheet and the zombies i did on another. photoshopping them together, i didn’t have to worry about screwing up the composition with too many things obscuring other things but, in retrospect, i should not have inked for tone value before bringing it into photoshop. given i did that before figuring out where i wanted FRUIT FLY’s light bulb construct, i had an inconsistent light source. bleh.
in any case, i like the way this came out.
(also posted at the 30 day drawing challenge: superheroes tumblog)
30 day drawing challenge: superheroes
DAY TWENTY-SIX - TEAM DE-AGED
thanks to the mystical tamperings of the villainous GALCHEMY, our boys have been reduced to the age of 8 (along with the convenient and proportional shrinking down of their belongings) and momentarily wiped of their memories. as such, we now have LI’L PANTS, PUFF, SWISHIE, LI’L DROSOPHILA, LI’L TEE, CUBBIE SCOUT and CEEBEE at the playground.
now while i may not be the best comic artist ever, i know that i can rock the cute. and these boys are adorable! that said, this was a lot of fun to do and went pretty quickly, as well. this one will definitely get revisited so that i can put some color in there.
(also posted at the 30 day drawing challenge: superheroes tumblog)
30 day drawing challenge: superheroes
DAY TWENTY-SIX - TEAM DE-AGED
thanks to the mystical tamperings of the villainous GALCHEMY, our boys have been reduced to the age of 8 (along with the convenient and proportional shrinking down of their belongings) and momentarily wiped of their memories. as such, we now have LI’L PANTS, PUFF, SWISHIE, LI’L DROSOPHILA, LI’L TEE, CUBBIE SCOUT and CEEBEE at the playground.
now while i may not be the best comic artist ever, i know that i can rock the cute. and these boys are adorable! that said, this was a lot of fun to do and went pretty quickly, as well. this one will definitely get revisited so that i can put some color in there.
(also posted at the 30 day drawing challenge: superheroes tumblog)
