Lounging Spike

Ok There you have it. The Finished Lounging Spike.
I combined several drawings I did of him to get the look just right. You can see my process in the sketches in an earlier post.
I basically digitally painted it Photo shop using airbrushing and using the textured brushes technique. I also used many layers and channels all the while keeping in mind where and how the lighting should look on Spike est. Even though I wanted a realistic look, I still wanted to keep the cartoony look too. And there you have it.
As usual for now you will not be able to view it on my web site until the first half of my web site is done with the renovations.

 The full Lounging Spike.

 A close up so you can see the details of the hair est.

Featuring creatures

Just featuring a few creatures I’ve been drawing/doodling for the past few months and weeks scanned straight from my personal sketch book. As you know making up creatures and characters are my favorite things to draw.  These were shared earlier at a art web site where people of professional to novas come to share thoughts and their art in forum form. There are other handy artist related things there too. 

Now to the pics. These are mostly inspired by a number of random objects and some are from pure imagination.

 A chompy reptile creature inspired by a staple remover.

 A made up little wombat like creature.

 Another reptile dino like creature with a fingered lip. Inspired by some dumb children's hand puppet show.

 A cute little creature with a deadly defensive secret weapon that you do not want to mess with.

 Another reptile creature inspired by the mayfly.

 Cute little alien girl.

 Some creatures inspired by a humble maple key. I may try and experiment more with this theme in the future. The long necked one is a type of sap sucker. Bother it and it can zing you. The other short and plump one likes to eat small insects.

The last one is a tripod creature who uses its tail like a third leg. And another little alien reptile sits.......in the corner.

3 Green Figs

New clip art. 3 Green figs. 
It wont' be in my personal web site/portfolio until after renovations are completed in my creative half of the site. Can't really access the other half here any ways. ;)

Oh and my first Spike the Tiger illustration for my creative part of my site is coming along fine. Its almost completed too. It will go on the index page.

Also fall or better known as autumn is this Saturday. Boooooo!  Where are my wings so I can fly south for the winter. :p

Drawn to attention.....Spike the tiger

A little history on Spike the Tiger, how he came to be.
When I was little, growing up  I was teased and bullied a lot. I didn’t have any one really to be on my side. No sisters, no brothers, no grandparents, no relatives. My mother was often sick and my dad was working. Friends/ neighbors only help so much and can’t be with you 24 hours a day. I only had one or two friends if I was lucky enough. I had the occasional guidance counselor at school est but in the end they move on to greener grasses and you never hear from them again. Being separated in to special classes which in my normal class time only creates a feeling of segregation to make matters worse. So often as I did, I  daydreamed in class or any where boring or being in a scary situation. I would imagine something powerful and only friendly to me to be on my side.  Then I would doodle the ideas of imaginary friends in on some paper or in some school book. I would draw the powerful black stallion from the movie The Black Stallion. I would draw him running and have smoke billowing out of his nostrils. I would draw big eagles, tigers, lions and powerful lizards and est. I would doodle my favorite characters from my favorite cartoons of the day and I began to make new characters and stories based on those cartoons and have my own persona character in those stories.  Eventually there was a cartoon called Voltron that I really enjoyed watching as a kid. I just loved how these characters were in charge of these huge and powerful robo lions and fought the forces of evil. I then as always created a story with characters of my own only with giant robo tigers. But over time favorite cartoons fade to black as so many times before, things change and so did my little imagined cartoon and characters. Many robo tigers and their operators dwindled to one beloved imaginary powerful tiger friend who was no longer robotic but something more with a heart and personality something that was just as good as those other things imagined to be on my side but can do so many more things and adventures.  

 In time I added a few more things like a world where he came from, a few more friends and enemies to fight est.  

Also over time I kept him as a mascot, as a learning tool and a wonderful story/cartoon idea.The rest is history and spoilers to be revealed someday when the time is right.

These set of drawings is for the front page of my web site. I'm just going to have to decide which pose is the best. Spike doesen't normally act this way. He normally does the typical poncing, fighting and protecting but he as made an exception to pose for my drawings so I can fix up and refurbish my web site. 
I would like to have Spike's tail to over lap some of the title. You can help me choose if you like. I have left the rough drawings as is so you can see how my ideas were coming along. As you can see, I had a few drawings that I did not continue since i did not like the direction they were going in.  Others were experiments. Also because I have a bad habit of making the drawing run off the page I had to draw extra arm/paw drawings to be added later.

I used a blue erasable pencil that animators and drafters use for the loose sketching part and then used a regular writing pencil on top of that for the details. 

Here below are the rest of the sleeping Spike drawings and a scratching Spike to be used for my new Scratching post banner.

 

Below I will use these potential drawings for my Creative blog banner here. Just have to make up my mind to which is best. BTW he's just gotten in to the paint and is painting paw prints all over your screen. Again not typical for Spike.

Another position for the paw printing Spike. With both of these positions I used some picture reference of small house cats so I can get the look right since I wasn't sure. Spike was a bit stubborn. ;)

I tried a different pose and theme in this one with Spike fighting with an airbrush gone crazy. 
The treasure box drawing is for potential over hauled idea for my treasure part of my site. 

The last drawing is another version of that treasure themed idea.

And that's all folks. ;)
Time for bed.

3 Red figs

Artsy things that I’ve been up to.  Just finished this latest clip art based on this pic I took a number of years back when we lived at that certain old neighborhood with the big beautiful yard. Gggg I miss the place.  It won’t be on my web site till I finish with the renovations.

That of course is another thing I’m catching up on. Renovating my web site, which is nearly completed other then the fact it needs a few completed drawings and possible a few link updates.

Which leads me to the drawings I just completed as well which I will be showing soon.  Some very cool drawings based on my main character.

Doesn't that look like summer to you?

Small changes big ideas.

Made a few small changes to a bunch of things regarding my web site and banners that I use here which were really begging for it. More noticeable things in the future. As of right now, you don't see much. ;)

SnowFriends Forever

More on the snowy theme a trio of best snow friends. No I’m not crazy about winter. Totally the opposite.
This illustration should also be featured on my site shortly. That would be in one or two days.

Well this is cool.

Well this is cool.
My latest “make” which is was featured in the last post  is now featured at Instructables.com Which was due to an invitation offer to enter a water based contest. Very cool. Its still entered to have a chance to win more stuff as well. Besides being featured they even gave me a 3 month pro subscription too. Double the cool. Now to decide if I want to pursue it.  Just have to find out a few things first.
Thanks a bunch. :D

A Tool for Artists

Introducing Anti Warp Water Colour Painting Frame
A great tool for watercolour artists to minimize the paper warping after it dries.
There’s nothing more annoying then working with paper that has warped, especially when you have to go back to a spot you painted earlier in order to do some fine details and the paper is all wavy.
This thing is great for wet on wet painting techniques too since the frames are for the most part water proof providing that you follow instructions. 

Sure, I could have used craft paper and glued it on the back of the watercolour paper but I really don’t like it for that kind of paper I use, so that’s why I came up with this thing. 

 

You can download instructions provided by me from my web site or go to Instructables.com and while there see what others have made to share.
None the less, hope some of you can find this useful.

A bit early for Christmas in July

Its a bit early for this but not too early for people in the media industry. 

Just some simple clip art in a Christmas ball theme. 

Only two more of these similar sets to go. 

In the drawing stage some Easter themed clip art. ;)

Peek a boo!

In case you haven’t noticed I’m back and have been back for a week or two now. For awhile at least. Until I get another freelance project that is. And that may come soon enough since I have been offered another book to work on this coming season of fall or maybe sooner. Who knows? But that’s cool none the less.
The latest Sunshine The Lion Cat adventure should get published soon and I’ll link in here when it gets completed.
In the mean time I’ll be catching up on spring cleaning, clip art, some other art work , animation if I had some of the equipment, my web site( could use a new look) and possibly some special tee shirts for ads. And maybe some other things If I possibly get to them.
Last season I barely had any time to do any thing me wise since I had gotten a new kitty in my life and other things which made things get a bit crazy. Oh well, such is life.  ;)

Dove fish and bread

Got a bit side tracked. This was actually finished a month or so ago. 

Its a new faith based vector graphics. 

Older works can be seen via the web site.  :)

New Year Oops Baby

Currently catching up on things…. gradually so here’s the latest vector graphics for your viewing pleasure. 

It’s a bit belated as usual as of late. Inspired by the New Year with a touch of precocious. There will be more versions like this in the future. 

Oh yeah, please excuse the diaper slippage. LOL

Mimosa Silk tree blossoms

I made this vector more out of necessities and not just a nice portfolio piece est. Took me just about forever making it. Well actually naming all the little pieces in the layers that is. You can also find it at my web site as usual.
Enjoy!

Update

Just would like to wish every one a Merry Christmas. And yes technically its still Christmas right up until some time in to January.

Anyways Sunshine The Lion Cat can now be downloaded as an E-book.
Enjoy!


http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/sunshine-the-lion-cat/14314622

Planet name generators.

The other day I thought I look for some name generators specifically planet name generators for an idea for one of my cartoons I’ve been working on since I was in grade school. It has an element of fantasy and a bit of scifi and maybe a touch of Tron the movie depending on how you look at the story idea. You can also see small elements of it all over my websites and blogs if you look closely.

Anyways I could never really think of the right name for the planet the characters are residing on, so I thought it was about time I really made an effort on coming up with one. So I searched for a bunch of the generators on the net and thought there really are a whole bunch of them that are nice and handy but none of them seemed to fit my bill. I won’t post any links to those since I’m sure some of you already know of your favorite ones.

Just could not find the right ones that would basically take a fraise and turn it in to a compatible name for a planet that made sense to me. But then it hit me, why don’t I just take the first letter of every word in my fraise and turn that in to a great planet name and if it still doesn’t sound right take those letters and then put them in a order to actually come up with an acceptable name.

For example; Say the planet you came up with is best known for being the green jewel of the universe then you can start with the fraise “The green jewel of the universe” Now extract every first letter of every word in that fraise. “T,G,J,O,T,U” Now you have your letters for a name. Here you can decide to rearrange your letters, remove some/add or just keep it as is. First lets try keeping all letters. “Tgjotu” Not the desired word/name? lets try to rearrange the letters. “Jottug” “Gottuj” To me those samples look pretty good and scifi/fantasyish. Let see how one of them fits. “The planet Jottug, The green jewel of the universe”
Pretty neat-o if I do say so my self and the rest is up to you.
Now that’s a decent planet name generator.
Go and try it your self and have fun.

Oh and don't forget to tell me if you like my idea. ;)

JollySanta Christmas set 2

Uploaded is yet another Christmas set in the same category. Enjoy.

JollySanta Christmas p1

Here’s a little early Christmas cheer. A new Christmas themed clip art set. This time the graphics are related to Jolly old St Nick. More to come when I actually have time to post it. Also that little finger puppet I have been working on. Probably coming soon too. Oh and a update, I have started to work on the second installment of Sunshine the Lion cat. So stay tuned. Thanks for visiting.

While I wait.....

Well-p while I wait to start my latest gig, which has to be, any day now I decided to make some finger puppets for fun. I'm making this little black horse out of recycled materials mostly. Doing my part to save the world from more garbage while utilizing idle time. Probably going to make a matching mama horse too.

Sunny the lion cat.

Well here it is. First ever published book I illustrated. Not too shabby If do say so my self.
Its about this orange gregarious kitty who is very much like one of my former fur babies, who at first is lost but was found and not only was found but found a home and loving forever home.

I was quite surprised though to see it for purchase on an online store. Quite unexpected since I already had it pictured being sold in the usual manner by getting processed and then being sold at a local book store or a place like Amazon. I guess its another sign of the modern times. Especially now since more and more people are opting in for electronic book tablets like the ones used on Star trek. I guess it’s the wave of the future. This book though is still available in colorful traditional book form. Personally I really still prefer something that you can flip though the pages your self. Just simply more easer on the eyes and a feast for the mind n heart. I may try out this company in the future my self since I have lots of stuff that I usually use for my cartoon ideas that would make awesome adventure stories too.

I really hope that the children of Marella who is the author of this book btw really enjoys this surprise.
Btw this book is dedicated to Mirella’s daughter in the memory of the sweet and fun Sunny who obviously brought sunshine in the families lives.

The illustrations are done with traditional water colours, gouaches and some coffee ink.

Please note, what you’ll see is a bit of a sampler or a proto book of what can be purchased in the whole book. The whole book will be a polished version and not have blue lines est.

http://www.blurb.com/books/1607146

Hope you guys like it and maybe some will purchase it for your kids.

Happy Exploring. :)