Sketch Card: Lewis in the City

Here's a sketch card I did using the Pentel Brush Pen and a Copic Sketch Marker. I might do a mini-comic about this character sometime in the future.

The Happy Couple

 I just finished this illustration from a pencil sketch and thumbnail sketch, done on my iPhone, that I drew last week at an Illustration Club I'm involved with.

The sketches.

Garbage From Art School: Self Portrait on Skate Deck

Here's another embarrassing piece from art school. I was obviously still way into the horror thing that comprised most of my early freelance gigs. In art school, students are asked to create self portrait after self portrait. (Hey... worked for Rembrandt!). So as I go through my student work, please excuse the amount of pictures you will be seeing of me. I'm not a narcissist, I swear!

This is acrylic & collage on a very water damaged 1980s Sword & Skull Skateboard Deck by Powell Peralta. Painted in 2002. This piece is now in the private collection of my Mother.

Old Salt - Final Version!

First of all, I want to thank everyone who lent a critical eye to the first two versions of this illustration! I got a lot of great suggestions and you can see some of them employed in this version.

This is going to be my final pass at "Old Salt". I'm much happier with it than the previous versions which can be seen here and here. The water was originally a problem for me. I had to remind myself that the new style I'm working on is in a "Cartoon Modern" style. So, I took a design approach to the water. I think it fits the style I'm going for much better and gives the water much more life than it had previously.

At first I wasn't sold on the idea of putting anything additional into the background, but I thought I'd explore it anyway by putting land and a lighthouse in the distance (per the suggestion of a couple comments). I could always take it out if I didn't like it. As it turns out, this was a great suggestion and I think it really helped the piece come together.

I originally colored this illustration with a monochromatic, almost black & white, color scheme is because I wanted to it to feel older than a current illustration. After I had redone the water and added the background, I was fairly happy with the piece. But... it didn't feel "vintage" enough. So, I added a grungy paper texture to it. That sold this piece for me and now I feel confident calling it done.

Thanks again to everyone who helped out with critiques and suggestions! I totally appreciate it!!!