[JANA] Working Pants Monday

Working at work. Working at life. Working at art. Working...

Some random thoughts (current) and inspiration from my first days (not so current) in Deviant Art...

Reaching In The Dark...

shutterbug13

...so I have wings...

-coey-

In order to feel safe...

~MR-PIOPIO

...instead of angry.

~leighyoung

Ok, enough with the silly poems and allusions. These were some of my first inspirations from Deviant Art. Here are some more...

cheeks-74

I recently finished The Amazing Joy Buzzards: Here Come The Spiders. I enjoyed it immensely! Get it! Read it! Revel in your (secret/once secret/current secret) love of cute boy bands who fight evil (and have that one guy who is the silent type who may be related to yetis).

Also, check out Mr. Galloway's shtuff! Not THAT stuff, his ART, dummy! I am more of a fan of his earlier stuff but perhaps you might be interested in his newer stuff. Whatever. LOVE THE ART!!!

cheeks-74

Also, I'm famous. :P

[VINCENT] Random Art and Kindness

Hey People,


Yeah, that's my ugly mug there in front of two bookshelves full of my comics and the few toys I have, getting ready to do some drawing. Before I start, I wanted to shout out Jeremy Holt, an up-and-coming comics writer I met through the ever bright and cheerful Kurtis Wiebe (must be the Canadian blood). He's got a cool little Tumblr of creators of all stripes contributing pics of themselves in various stages of the creative process. Artists and writers taking pictures of themselves making comics? What? Yeah! It's happening! Right now! Go check it out and contribute if you like.


Oh, and thanks again to Gil over at Multiversity for adding another drawing of mine to his "Art of the Week" for this week. Still a little weird seeing my name on some other site other than my own, but maybe I should try getting used to it. Don't worry, I won't become a douchebag. ;) Check that out here!


OK. Here's a couple things I've been working on this week:

The above is a sketch I did last night for Joe Field, the owner of the legendary Flying Colors Comic Book Store here in the Bay Area. The idea was that the hero's secret identity is in B&W and the true hero comes out in all full flying colors. See what I did there? 

Here's one of my two drawing go-tos: Hellboy (or at least part of him)! The other one is Batman. This is a work in progress as I used the original sketch to do more practice with digital coloring. I think I'm getting the hang of it. What do you think?

Til next week!

P.S. -- I got the 100th post on our blog! WOOHOO! Yay us!

[JONATHAN] I've been Planted!

This is a tiny bit of a surreal post for me.  For many years, whenever I've gone to Comic-Con or a major comic book convention, I'd always stop by and check out the Bud Plant booth cause of his wide selection of art books and sketchbooks.  I've happily been a customer many times throughout the years.

Fast forward many years later to this year's Emerald City Comic Con.  Bud Plant came by my table and liked my sketchbook!  He asked if I'd be interested in working out a deal with him to sell my sketchbook through his website and I was happy to agree to.

So - here it is!  My sketchbook, CREATIVE ENGINE, is now listed on the Bud Plant website.  It's just kind of a cool moment for me to see it listed next to the sketchbooks of so many other artists that I admire, as well as at a company that I've frequented for so long.

If you're interested in purchasing it, I also have it for sale on my webpage's shop page along with prints and original art!

[JANA] No Pants at the Gym on Monday

I'm tired.

I don't have much to say.

Here are teasers for some commissions I am working. I'll post my burlesque sketches next week when I'm behind on the trend...

See what I did there? I gave you a teaser of what Vincent and Jonathan will (maybe) post this week.

I'm so snarky.

ZZZZzzzzzzzzzZZZzzzzzzZZzzzz...

[VINCENT] Right stroke, Left stroke...

Death stroke, tongue all down her throat.


Wait. different thing altogether.


Hey guys!


I drew Deathstroke. Actually, this is my second time drawing this commission. The first time was after last year's Wonder-Con. My commissioner asked for a Deathstroke which was an easy choice for me since Slade is a great character design. So I did it. 11x17 and colored. Then, I waited. And contacted. And waited. After about a year of back and forth and missed connections with the guy I was a little bit frustrated with the whole thing, to say the least. Then, at Image Expo this year, I had the piece in my portfolio on my table in Artists' Alley. Lo and behold, someone came up and really liked it. So much so that he was willing to pay on the spot for it. 50 bucks later and I was one piece lighter on the ride home.


THEN, Wonder-Con 2012 came. And my original commissioner came by our table. Uh oh.  Long story short, he apologized for not connecting up to get and pay for the original, and I apologized (ever so slightly) for giving it up at the last show. He then commissioned another one, plus a Wonder Woman, and paid for it there at the show. Great! Awesome! Now I get to draw another Deathstroke and possibly better now. 


So here's the inked version (currently in the middle of coloring it):

I keel you!

One more thing before I go. I want to thank Gilbert Short of Multiversity Comics for including me in this week's "Art of the Week" along with amazing professionals like Emi Lenox, Ming Doyle, Massimo Carnevale, Jorge Munoz and others. I was quite literally shocked speechless when I saw the post and read the more-than-kind words from the man. Thanks so much!

Til next week!

[JONATHAN] Back to my story

Normally, I post whatever drawing I've recently finished or currently working on. But over this past week, I've refocused my efforts into getting back to writing my own comic story. So, I thought I'd post a picture of my desk with what I've been working on -- my printed rough draft annotated with revisions in orange. A lot of revisions, I know. :-)

A little background -- I've always wanted to put together a one-shot that I can print up and sell at conventions and give people a glimpse into what I can do as a storyteller. As much as I like doing my prints and commission sketches, I really feel like the coolest thing to do as a comic artist is to take a reader through a story that you created. Take the reader through a tale. Make them pick a side. Make them hate a character. Make them love another. Surprise them with a plot twist. Make them feel something. Take them through an experience. I think it's why I love movies and comics so much -- I feel like I get to experience an intent, unique creative vision.

Since before last year, I've been working on my own comic story. As I said earlier, I want my first work to be a one-shot. I want it to be a self-contained story that is a small, easy impulse buy for people to try out. No long standing commitment that I have to coerce anyone into. I've actually had the intro to it locked for a while now and have even drawn the first five pages. But from there, I've always been a little uncertain how I wanted the story to unfold. It's gone through a few revisions and I've even changed the ending three times. That's why I want to focus on getting the story written -- so I can get it to where I'm happy with how the story goes and can lock it down. Once it's locked, I can get back to drawing it. After all, if you don't know the destination, you don't know what roads to take. I'm still trying to figure out that destination. But I know I'm getting close!

The writing process itself has been an interesting one. The only writing I've ever done before this was for English class in school. But I was just compelled to try and create something and thought I'd try my hand at writing something. And I know I'm not a writer, so I did some reading on how to write. I definitely learned some things and am trying to apply some of what I learned to my story. But more than anything, I know the way I learn is through doing. So... I'm learning a lot right now... And it helps that I'm already okay with knowing that this won't be the greatest thing ever written. Hopefully, not the greatest thing I'll ever write either! I just don't want to put some much pressure on myself that I'll scare myself away and nothing will get done. I've afforded myself that leniency and it's helpful.

Funny enough, I was inspired to get back to my story after watching the movie CABIN IN THE WOODS. I saw it last weekend and really enjoyed it (and recommend it!). I'm not gonna spoil anything for anyone who hasn't seen it yet since it's still a new release. So I won't talk about it at all. But for whatever reason, the movie sparked something in me to get back to working on my own story. I'm happy that I saw the movie (I'm not a big horror movie fan and rarely watch them) and that it inspired me to get back to working on my vision.

As for the details of my story -- I'm keeping them a secret for now until I get further along. :-)

[JANA] No more No Pants Mondays

... until the next holiday or until it warms up.

I did some sketching this weekend. I started my commissions made an attempt at a life drawing.

Her eyes are still too big and legs too long but... eh.

Reference for the upcoming commissions!

[VINCENT] Commissions & stuff

Hi!


Another week has gone by and I have another post to post. I've been winding down since the whirlwind that was Image Expo/WonderCon/Emerald City. That triple con threat had me exhausted, but also full of creative energy and is pushing me to do things I've been wanting to do for a long time and never really had the courage to do so. Also, since then, I've kind of, sort of, maybe, had the urge to keep doing more shows and more artists' alleys. Part of me is thinking, "When's the next show?", and another part (mainly my body) is telling me to stay the hell down and recuperate while I can. So on that note, I've been lucky enough to have some take-home commissions that I've finally started on.


One down:

I'm so dark and mysterious.

This Raven (from the Teen Titans) was for a guy in Seattle. He had past by the table earlier in the weekend and complimented me on a Raven piece I had in my portfolio. He said he'd come back later. In between, another guy came up and bought the Raven from me. Too bad, so sad, but when the first guy came back and heard the news he just commissioned me to do another one which was fine because I wasn't too happy with the first one anyway. I had wanted to do something that demonstrated her powers more, so I came up with this. I like it enough that I don't want to let go of it. Oh well.


And, for something a bit different.


Ever since the relaunch of Image Comics' Extreme Comics lineup, I've just been eating it all up. Brandon Graham and Simon Roy on Prophet is everything I could ever want in a monthly sci-fi comic, Tim Seeley's revision of Bloodstrike is a killer superhero action book that I love to pieces, Erik Larsen & Cory Hamscher taking on Alan Moore's final Supreme script is just insane, and newest Image creator, Joe Keatinge, with the amazing artwork and designs of Ross Campbell, taking on Glory. It's a little too much goodness to take. I did my little Prophet fanart already, so I decided to take on Campbell's massive Glory redesign this time:

ooh. I think you might've stepped in something.

After I pencilled out a quick thing in my sketchbook, I made the monumentally bad decision to try and return to my roots and use a ballpoint pen to ink. Oh boy, that just brought back all kinds of perfectionist, OCD habits I had tried so hard to get rid of. Three days of painstaking textures and shadows later, I have a final piece that I'm pretty happy with. I'm going to experiment a little with digital coloring this to see how the colors turn out with this much rendering happening beforehand. So, consider this still a work-in-progress.


See y'all next week!

[JONATHAN] Catching up

It's been a super busy past couple weeks and I'm happy things are finally starting to slow down. Still recovering from WonderCon and Emerald City ComicCon and getting caught up with life stuff. Made a list of things to take care of and slowly chiseling away at the list.

Oh before I forget to mention, this week's art post is a sketch I did for my friend Susie's Zatanna theme sketchbook! Lotsa bunnies! :-D

Random thoughts:

-Saw The Raid: Redemption (click here for the trailer). Honestly, when my coworkers talked about seeing it, I got it confused with another movie. But then saw the trailer and thought I'd give it a shot! It is an insane action movie! There were multiple times I yelled outloud in the theatre from some sort of crazy-action-fighting-stunt-death-scene. Totally nuts. If you love action, I recommend it. If you were looking for a movie with plot and acting, I don't recommend it so much. :-P

-Saw Tucker and Dale vs Evil (click here for the trailer) and thoroughly enjoyed it. Was fun to watch with a group of friends and laugh at the ridiculousness. Alan Tudyk is awesome! Definitely recommend!

-Fantasy basketball season has come to an end now that my team lost in the semifinals. This part of the year always feels weird from me as I usually go from fantasy football right into fantasy basketball. So when it ends now, it feels so sudden to stop -- like I'm forgetting to do something or something's missing... yea, I know it sounds sports-nerdish, but I love my fantasy sports dammit! The end of fantasy season leads to my next comment...

-The Golden State Warriors season is almost done. And oof what an ending. Ever since the Monta Ellis for Andrew Bogut trade, the Ws basically decided to end their preseason promised quest for the playoffs. They shut down Steph Curry (which is a good move for the long term), they are starting Klay Thompson to get him experience (another good long-term move), and letting Charles Jenkins run point guard over Nate Robinson (again, I think a good long-term move). Even though these are all good things to prepare for the future, it is SO FRUSTRATING to watch them lose 13 of 18 games since the trade. Ugh. There's always next season, right Warriors fans? At the very least, I hope they have a bad enough record to keep their first round lottery pick. It'd be even worse to lose all these games AND lose the lottery pick.

-Lately I've had a random sudden renewed interest in the Upper Deck All Star Vinyl figures that have been defunct for like 2 years or so. I got a big kick out of google image searching "all star vinyl" and seeing my drawings of Monta Ellis, Kevin Durant, and Omar from the Wire pop-up. I'm certain the figures didn't sell as well as Upper Deck had hoped or they would continue making them. But if Upper Deck ever decides they want to bring them back, someone tell them to give me a call! :-P

-Need to catchup on a few of my TV shows that I normally watch, but just got behind on for whatever reason. Definitely need to catchup on Person of Interest - been hearing good things. Dunno about Alcatraz. Felt like it got a little repetitive. I dunno. We'll see. All caught up though on Fringe, Community, and Celebrity Apprentice (yes, that's right, Celebrity Apprentice). And looking forward to tonight's Ringer! Two more episodes til the season's done! Curious how it will all finish out!

Okay, off to update my deviantArt and personal websites so I can scratch them off my to-do list!

[JANA] Monday... pants. Wha?

Finally got my camera back for the few pictures I took while at ECCC. Personally, it was rough but I was amazed at all the support that came in from familiar as well as some unexpected places - however all the support was welcome.

I did a few sketches for people (see below) and few free ones (not all of those got captured). I also got 5 commissions from a returning customer. I must say his creativity in what he wanted drawn has me looking forward to the finished products. Those will be posted later.

For the couple with the frikin' adorable dog (see below)

She was about the same size as last year but dressed as the joker and with looooong legs!

For a lady's daughter who loved llamas. I enjoyed this one!

A lady had a cool idea of having people sketching in a Greek Mythology book of hers. I admit being stumped for a moment on what to draw. Just goes to show where my brain was.

Zatana for a guy who was jealous of Susie's sketch. Susie! Send me a scan of that sketch, yo!

[KEVIN] speaking in tongues..

Available Now and shipping from Merz Tapes:

"FERMENTÆ features the solo project of audiovisual-surrealist KEVIN GAN YUEN, also one-third of San Francisco's celebrated blackened noise trio SUTEKH HEXEN.  

"Glossolalia," in some respects, illuminates the underside of nature-inspired dark ambient with passages manipulating foreboding, discordant overtones.  Culturally, the glossolalic denotes an act synonymous with the phenomenon of purportedly speaking in tongues, which, in turn, constructs a new mode of articulating thoughts by uttering words rooted in an unknown language. Disclosing sonic, yet speech-like syllables exercised in a ritualistic context, FERMENTÆ "Glossolalia" inculcates an idea of language that reintroduces the threat and allure of the magical.

MT02: FERMENTÆ "Glossolalia" CS
Side A: First Contact (Eve) / Side B: Warmest Rapture / Six Farewells
Release Date: April 6, 2012
Edition limited to 100 black shell high-bias, ink-imprinted chrome cassettes."

[VINCENT] Seattle Sketchin'!

Hey guys,

We're back! Emerald City Comic Con was just as expected; a crazy ride of fun art, wacky artists being artists, and comics galore amidst an ever-growing sea of cosplay and geekery. This year's attendance seemed to double in size and nearly every one of our friends and acquaintances in artists' alley did some of their best business ever. Things are only looking great for next year. I just hope we get just a little better weather outside of the convention center then. Please? Just a little bit?

I tried to take pictures of more of my sketches at the show this time, but I know I missed some. Here's what made it into my camera:

Katniss from The Hunger Games was for myself.

Jason

Jason X

The first Alien headsketch I did.

The monster. An experiment in layering  color.

Gojira!

a random sketch for a long scroll of sketches from the con.

Catwoman

Alien vs. Predator (the second Alien head I did at ECCC)

Black Cat for a themed sketchbook

Mary Marvel

unfinished Fantomex (I eventually finished him)

I'm pretty sure I'm missing some. I was drawing a lot during the show. So much so that I didn't really get to do much after except eat and go to the room to sleep. Not that I'm complaining. Did I mention this is the best "job" I could ever have? I did grab a couple of sketchbooks and a couple of prints, including a cool Deadpool from Billy Fowler. Check him out. He's awesome! 

Now, I'm back in the real world and missing my time in Emerald City. Oh well, time is ticking til the next con...

Bye for now!

[JONATHAN] Seattle euphoric

Back from a great time in Seattle at the Emerald City Comic Con and very happy with how things went. The show's attendance went from the low 30,000s last year (which was already great) to over 50,000 this year! It was crazy! I kept getting thrown off at the show on Friday because it was so busy, I kept thinking it was Saturday! The crowd was happy and enthusiastic, even though the weather was cold and rainy all weekend.

Our group was situated in the middle of Artist Alley and we were next to the extremely popular Flash creators, Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul. They had crowds of people around them all weekend. Clearly, their book has fans.

By mid-Saturday, I sold more prints and sketchbooks than at any other show we've done so far. I didn't do as much drawing as I did in San Diego, but still drew a bunch of sketches. Especially on Sunday. As usual, I didn't take pictures of all of them, but here are the ones I did capture on camera:

Robot Racer at the bottom of the page

All-Star Superman's Super-Lois

Wonder Woman

Sushi & a robot (was up to me how they were integrated)

Iron Man


Cortana (from Halo Legends) & 343 Guilty Spark

Batman


Ghost Rider & Symbiote Spider-Man

Robot Wolverine

And again, I'm so thankful I have a smart phone so I can look up reference for these characters. :-P

The only downside of the show being so busy was that I didn't get to walk around the convention floor at all. I was planning to do that on Sunday, but it ended up being the busiest day with the most sketches to get done. So didn't get to see who else was there. But I was very happy I got to meet Ramon Perez. He was sitting right behind me, so I got to pop over to his table for a minute. I brought my copy of Tale of Sand for him to sign. That book is extremely gorgeous -- one of the most beautiful, original looking books I've seen in a while. If you don't know about this book, do yourself a favor and check it out!