What about a little color?

Hey there sports fans, Al here with the latest:
What about a little color to the work?
Interesting question.  How as an artist do I add this to the work that I already do that is in black and white.
How do I go about it.
And more over, should I do it?

 A few examples from over the years adding color to the comic book work firstly and then adding some color to the commission poster pieces and my illustrative character designs with scratchboard.

Firstly was my attempt with color on the Ghost Assassin/ Johnny Vega crossover, Circa 2010. Full color Digital Illustration.  This short cross over with Adam Watson of Darkslinger Comics was the last time I would apply full digital color to my works. It was just to damn time consuming for the little amount of time I had to give these comics the work they deserved. Though the finished product was awesome in it's mini comic book form.
The next example is from Page 4 of Johnny Vega, Man of the Future. It was this issue that was bringing me back to the reason why I had wanted to make comics in the first place. The use of pen and ink illustration with color! This wouldn't be the last foray into the pen and ink with color as there would be there be one more printed up book of Corrax the Seeker one shot that would be produced but there were serious challenges that kept coming up on how to keep making money to support the work?

There wasn't.

So I began to focus on the scratchboard work and strictly the black and white illustration. But at the same time I had also started playing around with the use of white markers on black bristol paper to make quick and dirty b&w comics and adding a digital color underlay to the covers to entice reader to pick up the books.
This really come in when designing the Corpse Cop books for the next couple of years.

 Now I have in the past played with color with my artwork specifically my comic illustration but never really adapting it to my scratchboard work. It just seemed to be such a hard ideal to think of.
With black and white (and all the variations of grey) woiuld color really help out or would it really detract from what I was trying to show? Color! Whoa, hold on now! That's a whole different kind of weirdness for this kid.
But now after a failed commission for a scratchboard piece I decide to see it I could apply my art store know how and my artsitic skills as a air brush guy to the test by making a scratchboard with color that could etched out with my xacto without having to add digital color to the work and present a finished color piece of work that would be striking.

 "Green Depth" is what I was able to come up with. Of course Richard Parker is involved in this little exploit but this also appeals to the Lovecraftian sorts out there because of the color and tentacles!
Now onto other projects that require my attention.

BUT TO THE QUESTION IS SHOULD I ADD COLOR TO THE WORK?

I think that I really do need to add this to my medium. Not all at once but sporadically over time. Scratchboard has done very well for me over the years and I have known that quick changes to one's artwork always seems to throw people when looking at it so I will add a little more color to the work as I go. Adding that extra to the work, I hope, will bring more viewers to look at what the medium has to offer.
And as always there are places for you to check out as well.
Etsy

Big Cartel 

Storenvy

And of course I still have my comics that I have worked on here at Indyplanet.

And mind you there is website
and the facebook page 

The Website also has some new stuff added for the comic books featuring Corpse Cop.

 And with that this kid is outta of here I got work to do. 

 

 And that's it for the kid for now and I am outta of here.

posted from Bloggeroid

When it rains, it pours- a lot

Hey there sports fans, Al here with the latest;
Well the DIVE IN! Art Show has been officially underway for the last week and has boosted the ego of said creator (moi) greatly because you never know what the turn out is going to be like. Well as I have already mentioned in last week's blog it was awesome!
So many people showed up it was great. I feel kinda of bad because I couldn't spend as much quality time with every one like I would like to but that what happens when you have your own opening.

But now it also comes with a all different kind of price tag - commissions!

It was so funny that two weeks ago I had (with some help) hung the DIVE IN! show and had taken off for a small vacation/business trip for an art opening up in Port Townsend WA

Port Townsend Washington.

for Beth Kerschen.
That was a great trip and she sold her one piece as well as getting a juror's choice for it.
But along the way I received an email about doing a Lovecraft themed image.
I am still re-reading that story and getting inspiration for the drawings that are to come.
Now just as my show was going on I'm being hit up friends of mine for two separate paying gigs for illustration and I still have two other commissions to work on as well.
Damn! The boy be busy!

The Jersey Devil by Jason McKittrick

Now there are other illustrations to do and one of them really caught my attention. When doing research for a new series of work occasionally you will come across something that is not what you expected to find at all. Case in point I was looking up illustrations on the Jersey Devil for apart of a series of Cryptids. And found this -

,

  This is just an awesome piece of strange weirdness - like I like. It set up a whole of different ideas for a series of multi headed bird humaniods for different types of fiction suits.
If you haven't heard me mention it before there is probably a good reason for it. Being a fan of most of Grant Morrison's work with the Doom Patrol and the Invisibles and Seven Soldiers. I equally read his work on Flex Mentallo which his idea of a "suit" could be mentally/spiritually constructed to represent different ideal versions of yourself OR project versions of yourself.  This is all part of Morrison's use of Chaos Magic. Really, it's how and what you want to project yourself to other people around you. 
This image that I came across of the Jersey Devil just rung the ol' bell and said you should do something with that. It took me some time to track this image down again but I think I finally found it!
So the pencil is setting to paper and soon to transfers and the like for later in the year work.

IN THE MEETING ....
(Of a friend who was going to be leaving town here in the next month for the east coast and getting married) I was introduced to a woman who was asking the question "So are you an artist?"  
And of course I imedately jumped in and said "Yes, I am. I'm a comicbook illustrator."
Off to my right was another friend artist named Tara who gave me a slight rumpled brow. Wondering what she meant I gave her a questioning look and said "What?"
She responded "You should just say "Illustrator."
I turned back to the woman asking the question "Pardon me, Illustrator." and then we laughed.
But I thought about it a lot after that night it's the perception of the artist of themselves which is as important as much as the presentation of the artwork being shown.
Again it's like your interviewing for a job. You want and need to make the best impression possible. Nothing wrong with being a comic illustrator but again you are dealing with peoples personal impression of you, the artist.
Tara was just telling me something that my girlfriend had already been doing on my behalf and I hadn't realized it until that night. To be taken seriously showing art in a gallery forum it's perception of the artist representing themselves clearly defined for anyone to see.
So next time it's just straight illustrator.

And for anything else that pertains to the box check out these sites as well.
Etsy

Big Cartel 

Storenvy

And of course I still have my comics that I have worked on here at Indyplanet.

And mind you there is website
and the facebook page 

The Website also has some new stuff added for the comic books featuring Corpse Cop.

 And with that this kid is outta of here I got work to do. 

 

 And that's it for the kid for now and I am outta of here.

posted from Bloggeroid

This is it! The DIVE IN! Art Show

Hey there sports fans, Al here with the latest:
Well of this posting the DIVE IN! Art Show is OFFICIALLY under way. It has like the art work that it is showcasing has under gone several changes. It is very exciting time for yours truly and occasionally nerve racking because you don't know how things are going to go sales or reaction to the subject matter.
Now mostly I know people like what they have seen but nothing else yet. So I am still waiting on that.

 Richard Parker marches on specially on the bottom of the sea. The show was a FANTASTIC! The turn out for the show was great. I had invited 94 people and 33 of them turned out! I felt this was a good support not only from the people whom I had long standing relationships with from the comic book shows and other associated art related events as well as work.
The very first thing was that I had no idea was that a piece had already sold by the time that I got to the show. I wasn't even aware as I was setting up the associated works likes like the t-shirts postcards, and original 8"x8" pieces from both the 88 STRONG show and the BIG 500.
I was really happy to see that some of my older pieces took off from the show that made me happy.

And I could be happier that some of my favorite pieces took off like Corpse Cop "Fill in the Blanks" .
This one totally surprised me as was never really exspecting Corpsie was never gonna leave the nest after two years but maybe I was thinking outside of the box thinking that the whole zombie thing was more of less over with in popular media but "The Walking Dead" and the spin off "Fear the Walking Dead" have proved me wrong. 

So Corpse Cop is now out of hands.

And of course the other prints that I had there got picked up by one big fan of my work. That is really cool.

One of the major pieces that wasn't Richard Parker themed that I knew was a strong piece was "The Last Monster on EARTH!" is gone! It found a good home with a man who it really spoke and connected with. I was had nice conversation with him and the origin of the character and he had wished that Robot Monster had been sporting big laser guns in the movie.

 I had explained that the  guns were based upon an older Outer Limits episode "Soldier". Of course this made the buyer smile because he had just been rewatching the DVD sets of the series.  He loved it!

It's those kind of moments that make a great impression that make selling a good piece better.

Who knows there maybe some more down the road.

There was another sale but Richard Parker is going to be diving into someone's home. He is really gonna find a place to call his own.

Now on totally different note.

 The DIVE IN! Art Show playlist 2015

 

ON TOP OF THAT.. I have also made a play list for the show. Not a long one only two hours but that should be long enough to get the point across that this is a sea and water event.

All in all it was and IS a great show!

COMMISSIONS.
As of last week when my girlfriend and I headed up to the far end of Washington State at Port Townsend I received an email for a H.P. Lovecraft themed images based upon "the Shadow of Innsmouth". 

An example of the Shadow over Innsmouth

I'm curious to see how I will handle this considering the way it is to be illustrated. INSTEAD of the customary black and white of scratchboard I'll be switching to clayboard with a air-brushed dark green blanket to etch into.  This is something new for me as I have yet to really do something like this. And of course there is the price which has yet to be settled on but I am confident that I will be able to make this happen.

And that is it for this kid and I am outta here.

posted from Bloggeroid

And now the show begins

Hey there sports fans, Al here with the latest;

Well so it begins this weekend for the DIVE IN! art show @ NWIPA.
Just hanging the show but everything should be in place for the show. I think the only thing I'm debating about is the putting up prints. But I'm thinking that they should go up as well just to get things moving forward with sales and the like.
But everything has been recorded on SQUARE so anything else is just collecting the money.
I would love to see many things fly out of the show. That would be fantastic in my opinion.
At times I wish I had more to bring to the show (all Richard Parker themed. And trust me there is a great bunch of stuff that I have planned out to show later on) but right now just got to focus on the show itself.

RESENT DEVELOPMENT....

As I was getting my rack for prints ready for this weekend and pulling the large framed pieces out to be transported to NWIPA I found a piece that is directly related to Richard Parker and really kinda the reason why Parker exists in the first place.
The Mermaid.
Now this was strictly something that I threw together because I wanted to prove a woman that I could make a mermaid quickly for a potential commission but she never came back around for a look to look. HER major loss in my opinion but because of her was initial inspiration for the ALL of the deep sea diver material.

Of course the image I have here doesn't really show off the actual piece that I am looking to put up for the DIVE IN! art show. This is because I don't have a giant industrial scanner that can scan in 16"X20" scratchboards.

Maybe one day I will soon I hope and that will make things so much better for me. But image of the mermaid made Richard Parker possible. They are two side of a coin. Right now as things begin to line up for the set up at NWIPA, I've been working on the way to tell how Parker is brought back from the dead (yes spoiler alert but he does die guys but he comes back).
I think I have figured out how to do it to. And because of the sea legends of old especially the legend of the Flying Dutchman. The Spectre of the Sea.
 I am excited about this prospect and have been working an angle dealing with Greek myth to help bring Parker from the edge of death to avenging angel of the Seven Seas. Who wouldn't want to pick up a comic based upon that scenario?
I think that my friend Lynn Perterson said it best on Facebook:

Wood engraving by Lynd Ward 1930

 "Ghost ships and monstrous sea creatures, sailing off the edge of the world! RP needs to appear in graphic novel form with your art. I want to talk to you about artist Lynn Ward who wrote stories, book format using only his wood cuts 1930s-40s...Your work is on the way to doing that now..."

Wood engraving by Lynd Ward 1930

I have been looking at Mr. Ward's work over the last year and his woodcuts are amazing to me but him making a graphic novel using strictly images blew me away. I have been working towards that goal with the "Dreams of Elysium" for a while. I know that now it can be done because it has happened before and I keep telling people that scratchboard (if they are not familiar with it) is just a poor man's woodcut.

I will be looking into this with great furbur. 

And that gives me hope that I can do it and also have great artistic WORLD WIDE APPEAL!

And for anything else that pertains to the box check out these sites as well.
Etsy

Big Cartel 

Storenvy

And of course I still have my comics that I have worked on here at Indyplanet.

And mind you there is website
and the facebook page 

The Website also has some new stuff added for the comic books featuring Corpse Cop.

 And with that this kid is outta of here I got work to do. 

 

 And that's it for the kid for now and I am outta of here.

posted from Bloggeroid