Pencil Tool Fun Time!

Hey folks,

So last night I was playing Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game on Xbox 360, which is pretty fun and worth the $10 asking price. My favorite aspect of the game is its beautifully-illustrated character sprites, showcased in a fun style indicative of the comic but its very own thing at the same time. The artwork inspired me to go into Photoshop and build my own pixel character. The result was only okay (straight-up pixel art is not one of my strong suits) but I can't show it to you because it's one of the "date" characters from Yoki Safari, and I'm not prepared to reveal any of those guys just yet. ;D

But the effort was not totally pointless. I sat back down after playing some more of the game with a friend and half-heartedly fiddled around with the pencil tool even more, and found that it makes inking infinitely more easy and quick, and looks fantastic! Because of the anti-aliased nature of the lines, coloring is also a million times simpler.

The first result was a fun doodle of a tattooed girl:



Second, I did a fun picture of Charlie Dubai's head in a talk bubble:



Then I did this freaky picture of some evil chick. I don't much care for it, it's kind of awful, but here you go anyway:



That's a lie. I like the shines in her hair, I guess.

More things to come, soon. I'm going to continue experimenting with the pencil tool and see what kind of benefits I can get from it.

Take care,

~Drew

Charlie Dubai Vs. Magnus Mayhem

Hey folks!

Started on this one last night (sketched in Photoshop, inked in Illustrator) and colored it (Photoshop) today. It's a promotional piece for my comic, "Charlie Dubai," and once I get my Etsy shop up and running again, this will be featured as a print (signed, of course).



Last night as I became extremely tired after working on this, I watched some "Samurai Jack" on DVD to wind down. I actually hadn't really appreciated the show when it was on the air. My mind was in a different place, and my tastes were less-refined. I didn't "get" it. But now I do. Let's toss aside the fact that the storytelling in each show is super-tight and very compelling, and examine that every single shot in that cartoon is an absolute work of art. Never have I seen a style so honed and delicious, full of nuances but simple enough to digest without any problems. Characters are flat and bold in color and line, not a single one poorly-designed or not compelling, and backgrounds are beautifully textured and wonderfully stylized. Mr. Tartakovsky didn't create a cartoon, he created a visual masterpiece.

I only mention it because I think it directly informed the way I colored this. I've been working hard to make some more traditional-looking brushes in Photoshop, to decent results. I would not compare my art to anything seen on that show, but I can say that it has inspired me to work harder at a certain look.

Anyway, enjoy the art! I'll let you know when it and other pieces go on sale!

~Drew

The Duncan Family Portrait

Hey folks!

I hope you had a good 4th of July weekend (hopefully your hangovers are gone by the time this is posted). Mine was spent making art! On Saturday, after finishing this image of Charlie Dubai...



...I sketched this family portrait of the gaming Duncan family (a project which finally has a working title: The Duncan Button)...



And all day Sunday was devoted to finishing the image (well, I finished it Monday morning)...



And then the rest of Monday was all about relaxing and letting my brain heal, basically.

Also, sketched this for a friend on Wednesday...



A little part of relaxing on Monday was me playing "Bayonetta" on the Xbox 360. It was kind of awesome, and now I really want to do a stylish, cartoon picture of Bayonetta. It's just too irresistible. So if I get the time, expect that! ;D

Also, I need to finish thumbnailing Charlie Dubai. I'll be more likely to start the final book once that's done.

Anyway, take care,

~Drew

Meanderings

Hey folks!

Just updating to get stuff out of my brain, I guess.

I'd really like to do a series of original acrylic paintings with a unified theme, perhaps with the intention of selling the originals and prints of the image (tough to say how attached I would become, hehe).

I'm also pretty certain I'd like to try my hand at designing a t-shirt for Threadless. If my design were to be picked, the money would be really helpful right now and hey, Folks could be wearing a Drew Green on their shirts! How rad would that be? ;D

I haven't started sketching pages for "Charlie Dubai" just yet (which may or may not be fully-titled "The Adventurous Charlie Dubai" - I can't seem to get the logo to look right with the extra text but we'll see what happens). I'm still having some trouble designing Merbert, an important character in the issue. Think nerdy merman...so many directions I could go in for that!

But it's certainly on my mind. I think I might have had a sick day yesterday - tired all day, I'm not sure why! So I'll have to make good use of today. No TV for me, I guess!

Anyway, enough rambling. I just like to document where my mind is at certain periods in life, that's what a blog is good for. After all, that's what people used to use diaries and journals for! They wrote on this stuff called paper, but I wouldn't know anything about that.

Hopefully more art soon. Take care!

~Drew

MerDrew for Charlie Dubai

Hey folks!

I had been designing some merpeople for the first issue of "Charlie Dubai," and decided to draw myself as a merman to promote the official Charlie Dubai blog!

Visit the blog here!

Take care!

~Drew

Charlie Dubai Issue 1 Concepts

Hey folks!

Just some character concepts for Charlie Dubai (issue 1). Yeah, strange that I'm starting what could potentially be a series with a nautical theme...

click the thumbnail and go to the flicker entry to see larger versions of the image. Funtimes.

Seriously, when I was coming up with my simple "first comic" idea, I told myself I wanted to draw some freakin' mermaids. And here we are, with a freakin' mermaid!

From left to right:

Charlie Dubai, the title character, wearing a diving suit she willed with her powers. I have a serious diving suit fetish, and I'm talking crazy bubble head diving suits, not spandex and snorkels.

Merlain, as I like to call her. A mermaid that Charlie meets in the issue.

The ferryman, who doesn't really have a name yet. He's the first person you see Charlie talking to in the comic. He loves yogurt, hence the spoon-for-a-hand.

Enjoy!

~Drew

Charlie Dubai stuff

The title page and initial character designs for my newest baby, "Carlie Dubai." The story is simple and explained in that comic page.

Magnus Mayhem is his name, by the way, as it says in the comic page. The "Madness" was dropped.

~Drew