Featured Illustration: That 60's Girl

I was giving a demo in my Cartooning class to one of my students today. She was having trouble with portraits. I ended up taking out my iPad and guiding her through my process. It was pretty fun. I liked the sketch I did so much that finished it.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Apps I Use Daily: Animation Desk

I was very curious about this app when I read about it on Pulse News Reader. Lately I've been trying to expand my repertoire of art apps. This one was just to good to pass up. My major was cartooning but dabbling in other fields only makes you a more well rounded. Plus I have some very good friends that are animators too. I've been using it since Sunday and I'm very impressed. The interface makes animating your frames simple for the most part.

I do have some gripes though. First off there are no layers to speak of. This is going to make coloring each frame harder. Second I'm very surprised that you can't expand your fingers to zoom in on the frames. Last but not least there should definitely be more colors for the palette. it seems like this was aimed at casual creative types but I hope I'm wrong. I would love to have some Sketchbook Pro like features thrown in. Aside from that I look forward to working with this app. Seeing my characters move is pretty amazing.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Featured Illustration: Taz

This one is another illustration for the kids and my third Brushes piece. It's Taz from Looney Tunes. Illustrating him was harder than I anticipated. I think for me drawing cartoony characters is really hard because of the exaggerated anatomy. I ran into the same problem with Princess Sally. I was taught to do things anatomically. I guess these drawings are good practice for me. I want to be able to tackle all sorts of projects. I mean why pigeon hole myself. I want to be able to do whatever inspires me or is asked of me. As always the making of video can be seen here.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Back to Cartooning

After months of illustration I've finally returned to my first love, Cartooning. Currently the prologue of my comic book (Savior: Fangs of The Reaper) is being colored. It's been a long time in the making. This is older work but it's never been published online. As I color in Sketchbook I will be making changes to the inking and making the story more dynamic. The first five pages of the prologue will be available on Flickr and my blog. The rest will be on Drunk Duck to read for free. The picture featured in this post is the unlettered cover to the Prologue.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Featured Illustration: Aladdin and Jasmine

I'm still adding kid friendly work to my portfolio when I get the chance. This Sketchbook Pro illustration of Aladdin and Jasmine has been sitting in my gallery. I figured it was time to add some color to it. Being faithful to the movie was paramount. I managed to find great reference from the first movie and I just knocked it out in about an hour. The real pain was getting the hues and stars right.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Artwork for the kiddies

This year I wanted to get more involved with the extra curricular activities at my school. Work has been enjoyable but I wanted to do some art with and for the kids I work with. My Cartooning class is underway now. I. Teach after school on Monday and Tuesday. Also I have been raffling copies of my kid friendlier work too. I gave a student Spongebob already. The next one is Goku versus Superman. There's a raffle every month and I will have another piece for the lucky student. This way I'll keep getting work and possibly get some exposure too. But really it's about rewarding the Troup kids for their hard work.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Location:Platt St,New Haven,United States

Afterschool Cartooning

Today is the day my after school cartooning class begins. I work at Troup School in New Haven, CT. The kids always ask me to draw for them. I figured I'd do them one better. Why not teach them what I know. It's nice being able to pass something down that you've learned. As of right now I'm not yet a working professional. This might work better for the kids though. I think they'll be able to relate to my class more.

The structure will be very flexible. They'll be plenty of time to free draw but they'll get structure too. I really want them to be able to put together mini comics with a beginning, middle and end. I could spark something in them. Who knows?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Location:Beers St,New Haven,United States

Creative Expression and Trademarks

As an artist sometimes I have to tread carefully. I'm free to draw whatever I want. Does that mean I would draw something offensive and then post to this blog? Of course not. There are limits for creative expression. My aim is to attract people to my art for various reasons. Sometimes that involves creating works that use trademarked characters, symbols or logos.

My intention is not to sell this work. Copyright infringement is a serious issue. If I were to go around selling work based on other people's designs what kind of artist would I be? My point is that it's my right as an artist to post my work. That said if the owners of any copyrights requests me to remove the art I'll do that. Who really wants a lawsuit anyway?

Other than that pieces like Bayonetta, and the Skippy painting will be featured on my blog from time to time.I am aware of what I can and cannot do as a cartoonist. It's an important part of the work that I do.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Location:Sherman Pkwy,New Haven,United States

IArtists and the communities for iPad creation

Recently I've been trying to strengthen my web presence. Having a 3G iPad makes it easier to create new work and then post it instantly to the web. Thankfully there are many artists out there using various art apps. (Sketchbook Pro, Brushes, and Artstudio) It's very exciting to not only be an artist on a new device but to be part of a new community.

I was on flickr two days ago and I found a link to another site that caught my eye. It was iPaintings.net. It's a whole site devoted to artists that use iDevices(iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches) to create pieces of art. It's always cool to find like minded artists doing work that's in the same vein. Even if it's completely different I can still appreciate hard work. I've been trying to find constant inspiration to keep up my creativity. I look forward to delving deeper into this site and making it known just exactly what I do on this thing.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Location:Campbell Ave,West Haven,United States

Featured Illustration: iBot

This is one of my favorite Sketchbook Pro illustrations. The piece is called iBot. I'm using the colored pinwheel that tells you your Mac isn't responding. I love how whimsical the robot is.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Location:Blake St,New Haven,United States

Chibi Characters

I've been a fan of Japanese anime and manga for a for years now. I always thought it was interesting when creators would take their properties and make plush dolls and illustrations. They would be super deformed. They're called chibi characters. Pharrell had a chibi illustration of himself on his first album a while back. I was really inspired when I saw it. So inspired I took my fantasy characters and turned them into chibi characters. I haven't made any new ones for a few months but they hold a special place in my sketchbook.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Location:Blake St,New Haven,United States

Featured Illustration: Bayonetta

Just put the finishing touches on my Bayonetta illustration. I tried some different blending styles for this one and I'm very pleased. I'm making strides in replicating my traditional cartooning style on iPad. Here it is. It'll also be on Facebook and Flickr later today.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Location:Blake St,New Haven,United States

Featured Illustration: The Reaper

This was an early Sketchbook Pro illustration I did of The Reaper. Basically he's a defamed knight in a medieval world. The Reaper is the protagonist in my fantasy story called Savior. Just thought I'd share. This character will be popping up all over my blog very soon.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Location:Blake St,New Haven,United States

Trying out BlogPress for iPad

Wow, this is a late post. I'm trying out the BlogPress app for my iPad. I didn't get the chance to post any art today but I made progress earlier. Thankfully I managed to put in work on my Bayonetta illustration earlier. I'm just about done with it. The plan is to not only speed up my drawing but my coloring too. New work will be coming starting tomorrow. I've got more inspiration than I can handle at this point.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Location:Blake St,New Haven,United States

Cartooning on iPad

One of the Apple iPad's most alluring features were it's capabilities for the artist. I learned about Sketchbook Pro and I researched it. I was amazed how much detail was possible with this program. As a cartoonist I knew I had to have it. Sketchbook was definitely a steal for eight bucks. I had to have it. I had to warm up to drawing on this tablet instead of paper but I've taken to it.The Pogo Sketch Stylus is used to draw. I've been using it for a month and I'm getting results that rival my traditional work. It's so convenient to carry around a light, portable electronic portfolio.

Check out some of my Sketchbook Pro work on Facebook.