Strike 3 Character Designs

Here are some character designs I've been working on for a story called "Strike 3." Still a work in progress, there are going to be a number of characters in a prison lineup for the final image. Below, I've included a work process line for the character on the right to show a little more on how I go about creating images. The first one was an initial sketch, followed by a new (and more complete) rough that matched more clearly what my client was thinking. Since the sketch was digital, I then printed it out so that I could properly ink it, which became the following image. I then scanned it back in and colored it digitally, which gives you the finished version.

Colored Starblaster Studios Header

Finally got around to coloring my header. I had forgotten how much of this image was going to be in the coloring. I sort of just kept seeing the line art as a finished version, without realizing that my mind was automatically filling in the rest of the impact. Pretty happy with how it came out.

It occurred to me while looking through Buck Rogers comics and old space men images, that in the 1930s, when people were trying to visualize the concept of an astronaut, they basically just latched onto the look of aviation pilots at the time. I guess it was only logical that if pilots dressed like that while flying planes, then they would dress similarly while flying space ships. Fairly ingenious actually, I'm now led to wonder what our image of astronauts would be if Nasa had garbed our men and women in brown, old aviation colored space suits.

Owl Sketching Time

I was obsessed with Snowy Owls over the weekend for some reason. Came up with a bunch of different designs and I'm fairly happy with the more finished one on top. Really love it when an animal's eye color stands out over everything else.

The Wild Bitchen

"The Wild Bitchen" is a majestic beast, often found fluttering one foot off of the ground in a slightly listing-manner. It does this as a desperate attempt to escape the reach of its many predators. Its name comes from the distinctive cry it makes at all hours of the day, "Biieeeoooootch Beotch, Bitch-Bitch."

In The Papers!

Extra, extra! Best friend of mine gets drawn unwittingly!
Shameful secrets discovered by all who knew him.

Gypsy Lady

Done from a charming old photo of a gypsy lady I found.
Turned out sort of Hobbit-ish. Had a lot of fun with her expression.

Father and Daughter

Finally did something for myself recently. I found this very charming image of a father holding his daughter in a documentary I was watching, so I was compelled to re-create it. Thought I might share.

Erika's Blip-Blop Adventures, Part 1

Kitty Warm Ups!

Nice to wake up to some sleeping kitties, perfectly posing for you.

There's something very serene about a sleeping cat, makes you wonder sometimes about why you're bothering to wake up at all, they look so content.

I've had Fatty (to the right) for about 18 years of my life, and she's getting very old now. I have no idea how much longer she'll be around for.



Well, at least she's here for now, still posing for some silly drawings.

Dejo is also lazy.... I find it interesting how different cats can be in behavior. I never see Dejo sleeping the way Fatty does, he's more like a mountain lion or something. A majestic beast.

Winter Cabin Trip Sketches

Went on a Winter mountain trip up to a friend's cabin. My favorite sketches from the trip.

 

 

Ode to a Silverfish

Anyone else have this problem?

Glaring Feline

Dejo is not amused...

Red Purse

I wonder what she has in there...

Checkers

Never knew a man or creature could ever turn down a solid game of checkers.

Starblaster Studios Header

New blog header! The old one just didn't work anymore. Might color it with that old faded comic-color look, but it looks kinda nice in simple black and white.

It's cool how much more interesting and effective simplicity can be. Sometimes when I look at older pieces, it strikes me as odd how much harder I was trying to make things look complex and overworked as opposed to now. It's great to see how much of my style has changed in such a short amount of time.

Buddhist Hog

This one might require an explanation. In Buddhism, the pig represents greed, anger, ignorance, selfishness, and just overall the qualities that make up a bad person. It occurred to me though that redemption or forgiveness (for anything, it doesn't have to be spiritual) should be an option to anyone willing to accept it. A pig should be permitted to follow a path of forgiveness if they so choose to, even by the practices of people that have denigrated its stature in the world.

Brian Portrait Ink Drawing

Found this neat old drawing in my sketchbook. I was staying the night at my friend Brian's place in Berkley. Thought I might share. I'm gonna start uploading ink drawings more often, they're a lot of fun.

Plant Shears

Just finished this one, yay! I am going to be at Long Beach Comic-con with a group of artists called Pixeldrip, so I'm trying to prepare some prints to sell. This will indeed be one of them, though I am somewhat unsure of the quantities I should prepare.

There's something fun to me about this image, it feels like I could read the story behind it lots of different ways and I'm curious as to what other people might interpret. Below is the pen drawing. What tends to upset me when coloring line art is that you lose some intangible quality that the line art alone had. Some minimalistic feeling of simplicity that simply drifts away as you render it. Oh well, I like each version as they both are here and present to this world...

One Theriocephaly Morning

"One Therianthropy Morning" would also have been an acceptable title....

Watercolor Life Drawing

I finally got around to scanning some older watercolor/ink drawings.

Would really like to do some more of these, they were a lot of fun.

 

 

Ballpoint pen and sharpie. Wanted to see how many quick poses I could fit on the same page.
Somewhere around 30 I think..... I dunno, you count them!