Curse of the Eel Ch12 Art and CONVENTION UPDATES

Hey ya'll, making a quick update to my schedule so far! I'll be attending two conventions for sure this year:

SC Comic Con in March in Greenville, South Carolina
MomoCon in May in Atlanta, Georgia

Check my social media for my table numbers! And now, here's some art because I'm trying to get as much done between freelance work and my new teaching gig. I'm also teaching now, that's a new development!

This is a pretty important moment for Frank, who has been questioning his sexuality since chapter 3. Holy crap, that was 8 chapters ago... Love is the most powerful feeling ever, and it conquers all. Take care and I hope you'll enjoy the next update when it comes up!

Curse of the Eel ch 6 cover process

I'm nearly finished with Curse of the Eel chapter 6, I have on panel that I want to redo and then I can send it to the printers. Here are 2 process images for the cover of issue 6, which I think is one of the more interesting of the covers so far. The story this time focuses most on Frank, so he's in the middle, with a new monster debuting in this chapter. Or maybe 2 new monsters! I should have it ready for Heroes Con and SPX of this year!

Curse of the Eel is a story about Connie, an introverted goth who gets bullied a lot in her high school. One day she summons a kindly Eldritch style Eel whom is determined to both help Connie and help himself to some tasty Earth food! You can find the book online on Tumblr, Tapastic, or Smackjeeves, whichever you prefer!

Tools: Raphael 8404 #3 brush with FW Acrylic ink
Paper: Stillman and Birn Beta paper.
Colors: Photoshop CS5

Still Alive! Curse of the Eel 5 inks

After several months of no computer, I'm back and ready to share some art. 2015 ended kind of rough but I'm ready to make 2016 a much more productive year. On that note, here are some pages from Curse of the Eel chapter 5!

You can read Curse of the Eel online now on Tapastic, Tumblr, and Smackjeeves!

Curse of the Eel Ch4 Cover process

Here's another post for Curse of the Eel, this time for chapter 4's cover art. I'll go into a little detail about making this that I don't usually do on my other social media. Here we gooo! (I'll be at SPX on Sept. 19-20th at table J-13 so come by for books and laughs!)

These covers have been really easy to do. Relying on a simple layout set up has been the best thing, the books all feel related but have enough differences that they stand apart. I did struggle with this one though as the creature on the cover here is a mystery. It hasn't properly revealed itself in the comic itself, so even this is a clue to what it's going to be. I also wondered which character to put here, since the chapter doesn't focus on a new character, I decided to go with Connie but to raise her higher in the frame than in chapter 1, to show that she's getting better, even though things are getting worse. The hand lettering has also been really fun, although I hope I can keep it from being less confusing. This time it kinda was. You'll see in the inks.

I LOVE improvising. The greatest tool I've used since graduation has been that, and I do it a lot on these covers. My pencils used to be a lot tighter, it was me trying to really show people I knew how to draw, but what it also lead to was boring art. I was also taught to enlarge and trace over my thumbnails, but once again, it led to not fun results. I get why people do it, but to me, this isn't drawing, it's tracing. Same thing with inking over incredibly tight pencils, it's not drawing, it's tracing. I also wanna put forward that this isn't art theft tracing, what I mean is, when a step tells me exactly what to do in the next step with no room to play with the new method or tool, it just feels like work. I much prefer a loosely penciled page that I can have fun drawing with a brush and ink on. The results are a LOT better, and I'm finally understanding how to really shape forms with my brush. I've improved greatly in inking in a short time by being more loose, so I think there's merit to it. Draw how you want, that's what is most important. If it's not fun, don't do it.

There's not much to say on this stage, I'm not the best on coloring so having these preset and striking colors has been a godsend! I probably won't add more colors to them in the future, so I hope they're at least somewhat interesting to look at!

Thanks for reading!

Curse of the Eel Inks Ch4 page 8-13

More pages from Curse of the Eel chapter 4. I've inked thru 16, only 4 more to go and I can begin lettering the book! I'm really excited for SPX, I'll be at table J-13 if you can make it!

As usual, pages are inked with a Raphael 8404 #3 brush with FW Acrylic ink on Stillman and Birn beta paper

Curse of the Eel c4 p1-7 inks

Hello internet! Here are some pages of inks from the next chapter of Curse of the Eel. I've been working on this one again finally, and I'm really happy with how these are turning out. I switched to a new brush and I'm getting really great lines from it. I used a Raphael 8404 #3 brush, which is the same size as the last brush I was using, it's just not as battle worn. That brush lasted me about a year, that's pretty good I think. Anyhow, here are the inks. The paper is Stillman and Birn beta paper. It's the only paper I really trust to do pencils, inks, and watercolors on.

My plan is to have this chapter printed by SPX on Sept. 19-20, so wish me luck!

Requiem Sonata ch 2 pages 6-10 inks

Hello again, this time with an update on Requiem Sonata. I've actually finished this chapter and have sent it to press to hopefully have books printed for SPX in September. I hope you all enjoy this sample and if you can, come by the table at the show! I'm also planning to start posting this as a webcomic soon, I'll post up more info when I have it.

Requiem Sonata is about the death of a famous classical pianist, Zhi, and how her friend, Detective Simone Durant, tries to solve the mystery of her death.

C is for Connie - A to Z Challenge

C is for Connie, and continuing on with the A to Z character challenge thingy is the goth girl who was the focus of my Thesis.

Connie is an introverted high school student with more books than friends. I think she has... 1 friend. And that friend is an Eldritch like creature she summoned in an abandoned cult house by accident. Curse of the Eel is a high school comedy drama with a splish splash of Lovecraft inspired horror, where the ever changing Eel is not the scariest monster to be lurking the halls of her high school. Here is a link to the first chapter and the first book is still available in my store although I'm running short on copies.

Tools: Pentel Pocket Brush and Color brush
Paper: Stillman and Birn gamma sketchbook

Curse of the Eel Ch3 Process

Here are the 3 art stages for the cover of Curse of the Eel chapter 3! The first book is chapter 1 and 2 together, so there hasn’t been a chapter 2 cover yet. When I reprint it, I’m going to make them only a chapter per book, it’s cheaper to print that way oddly enough.

Connie is a frustrated goth girl who is being bullied. One day she is chased into an abandoned shack and accidentally summons an eldritch-like eel creature into our world. Connie is horrified however to find that the Eel is a soft spoken meddler who loves to eat and watch Oprah. With the Eel as her only friend, Connie tries to navigate high school life with as few troubles as possible. Good luck with that.

Tools: Raphael 8404 #3 Brush and FW Ink
Paper: Stillman and Birn Beta paper.

Curse of the Eel Chapter 1

In the spirit of sharing more of my comics, here is my thesis work: Curse of the Eel chapter 1. I hope you enjoy it! And if you'd like to buy the first 2 chapters, it is available at my store: http://jorgesantiagojr.bigcartel.com/