Illarys Ink Illustrations

 In preparation for the DVPit event where I pitched both Curse of the Eel and Illarys, I wanted to populate my pitch with illustrations so it wasn't just a wall of text in the story summary.

These were very inspired by Gary Gianni's illustrations for "The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," which is a series of short novels about a knight and his squire. I loved the book and the illustrations were amazing, so I wanted to try out this style of inking for Illarys, and here are the results!

Tools used were Deleter G-pen, Tachikawa Nihonji pen, Pilot drafting ink, on Stillman & Birn Epsilon paper.

This was the cover to the pitch, I still really love this image

Separation

Recovering

The Knight

The Cave

Panther

Variant Cover for Sidekick for Hire issue 5

This is a project I finished at the end of last year, but I got the opportunity to draw a variant cover for the 5th issue of Sidekick for Hire, a really interesting take on superheroes by Kristian Herrera & Rick Alves! After reading the existing issues and the script for the 5th, I really wanted to focus on Sasha (she ended up as my favorite character in the series) and so I came up with this cover concept. 

I tend to color my covers a lot lately, which is interesting. This cover did come out well in terms of what I envisioned and what I was able to do, and it was a very color-centric approach, with the lighting and the effects. I hope you dig it, and please support the 5th issue which will be on Kickstarter soon! The Pre-launch link is here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sidekick3/sidekick-for-hire-1-5?ref=ksrtwitter-prelaunch

Now to take a look at my process for it. I used a Zebra brush pen and the Pentel Color Brush on Stillman & Birn Zeta paper, and it's colored in Photoshop.

Curse of the Eel volume 2 cover!

Hello everyone! A lack of updates to this site means I've mainly been working on freelance works that I can't really share, but it's good to be busy! I've also been doing my best to keep up with all my original comics, and Curse of the Eel volume 2 is almost ready to go! Here is my process for this cover and some of my thoughts on it.

Curse of the Eel is my take on a modern day world where eldritch creatures and magic wind up in the hands of some odd peoples. Connie is a goth girl who is bullied at high school, and the only person she's able to trust/talk with, is the weird Cthulhu-ish Eel monster that she accidentally summoned. Unfortunately for Connie, Eel isn't the only weird eldritch abomination wandering the halls of her school and the woods of the surrounding area.

This comic was my thesis for my MFA and has been running for 5 years at this point, and I'm working on the 12th chapter as we speak! It's actually doing well on sites like Tapastic and Smackjeeves.

For this cover, I wanted to mirror the first volume cover but also showing that the earth and the Eel's realm are being smashed together, and the thin veneer keeping the worlds separate are cracking, hence the fun glass cracks!

As always, inked with my Raphael 8404 #3 brush with Yasutomo sumi ink on Stillman & Birn Beta Paper.

 

Paper Champion pencils and inks

Hello! Another long lapse in posts, but here is a freelance comic I illustrated earlier in the year for Jeff Morris titled "Paper Champion." This is a highly personal story for Jeff and I was happy that he approached me to draw the comic for him! You can read the comic, fully colored and lettered on his website: https://ibuiltamountainofthunder.com/i-built-a-mountain-of-thunder/paper-champion/

Script: Jeff Morris
Pencils & Inks: Me
Colors: Emily Elmer Walker
Letters: Micah Myers

These pages were drawn on Stillman & Birn paper and inked with Deleter Nibs with Sumi Ink.

Spencer and Locke Volume 2 Going Strong!

Hello, welcome to the end of May! I thought I had posted something about S&L volume 2 but that apparently didn't happen, so here's a quick little art gallery of some of my favorite pages that are being shared of the book! These are just my inks, so you can see some of what I was sending to David Pepose, Jasen Smith, and Colin Bell which is our team on the book. I hope you enjoy the quick gallery!

Materials: Deleter G-pen, Sakura Sumi Ink, Pentel Color Brush
Paper: Stillman and Birn Alpha and Zeta paper

 

 

Artist Network Article

On Februrary 6th, my first article went live on the Artists Network! The article is about how I find inspiration from the materials that I use to make art, and how I think some artists might overlook what their supplies can do for them. I'll also post some of the art I created for the article to prove my points.

https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-mediums/5-essential-artist-supplies/

Supplies: Daniel Smith & Sennelier Watercolors, Holbein gouache, Mitsubishi and Faber Castell Pencils, Stillman and Birn Alpha, Epsilon, Gray and Beige Nova paper.

SketchKon 2018 Fun and Sketchbook update!

On November 2-4 in Pasadena California, the first ever Sketch Kon was held and I had the pleasure/privilege to represent Stillman & Birn at the event. Stillman & Birn, for those who don't know, make my favorite line of papers and are, quite literally, the only paper that I am willing to draw on anymore. I spent that weekend manning the Stillman & Birn booth, talking with attendees about making art and art supplies, and showing them some of my work and talking about my process. It was probably, one of the best weekends of my life. I was surrounded by so many creative people, I was representing a product I believe in, and I got the chance to draw some cool things!

Below are some of the highlights of the sketches I did at the event. These were done in 2 of S&B's newest lines of paper, the Nova series which come in Beige, Gray, and Black toned papers. These were mainly done in my beige and gray books, I'm building up my skills to be able to tackle the black paper, and I used gouache, watercolors, poster paint markers, pencils, inks, and acrylic inks on these. That's a loooot of tools to use, but this paper is amazing!

Character Design painted before my flight to Pasadena

Drawn on the flight to Pasadena

Sketches of restaurant goers on Friday night

Some demonstration sketches and a Moscow Mule from Saturday night

The Westin Bar on Saturday Night

Church across from the Westin, drawn on location and painted at the airport before my return flight

Character drawn during the event and painted after I returned to GA