Painting for Illustration Mid Term - BAM PAM!

Pam Grier Water Color #1 - D.L. Maffett

Here is my midterm for Painting for Illustration. I chose Pam Grier! WHY? If you have to ask... then you need to have the taste slapped outta ya mouf! This was a fun piece too. Hell they all are fun pieces. I am happy because I am learning to paint. Imagine that? ME a painter. AND WATERCOLOR? I used to hate watercolor, thinking of the old art kits that were dollar store christmas presents. 

I Most people know me for my stylized illustrations. My professor (David Moyers) is AWESOME. I respect him as an art instructor because he hold no punches and tells the student when improvement is needed. I went into this piece thinking it was all that.... Prof. Moyers brought me back down to earth, and I love him for it! He showed me the areas where i need to improve and areas where I have grown. I EARNED a B on this. I am thankful, but not satisfied. I say that because I want to get better. My final will be posted in a few days, I still have to finish up.

line art

color studies

original photo

Digital Illustration Final Exam

Here is my digital illustration final. This was a fun project, because I love Stormtroopers and always wanted to be able to draw the helmet. As a kid, I sketched and drew them from photos and from my action figures but could never get it right. I also was a BIG FAN of wireframe graphics. I tried to draw wireframe graphics by hand using grid paper but it never came out right. But with the magic of Adobe Illustrator,  I was not only able to draw a kool looking wireframe but also making a darn good stormtrooper helmet. I chose the color scheme because it looked dated for 1970s / 1980s star wars graphics. I used Marvel's IronMan's HUD as a reference also. I got inspiration from Jason R. Murray's art piece

(http://www.jasonrmurray.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Storm-Trooper-Blaster_Aged.jpg).

What was most irritating about this project is that it was the final, and I didn't realize that it was due. I spent most of my time working on a kick @$$ Soul of a Hero poster. (see the SOAH blog for it). When the course instructor advised me that I was missing a project I was like "oh SNAP!" So I tried to figure out something that would be fun, quick but able to show my skillset. The info graphic is HIGHLY vector graphic intensive, while very simplistic looking. 

I may make these into mini prints to give away at cons with a stormstrooper illustration.

You can never have too much wonder woman!

women come in all colors, shapes and sizes but they are all have one thing in common...

They all are secretly WONDER WOMAN deep down inside.

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Solar storm is a GO!

 R&RJ Solar Storm page 21 - top: final color composition, bottom: left breakdown, left: inks

R&RJ Solar Storm page 10 - top: final color composition, bottom: left breakdown, left: inks

I just finished another issue for a client for his ongoing project. I had to take over because unfortunately the colorist had to drop out right at the beginning of this issue. The blessing is that I learned how to do digital colors quickly and accurately in a short period of time. I found out that penciling, inking, coloring and lettering as well as editing content are all involved and hard jobs on their own and overwhelming when placed on one person!

Here are two unlettered pages for the next issue of Reagen and RJ in Space: Solar Storm. In this issue I put the visual development items from the first 3 issues into play. The characters are a little more refined and are starting to develop visual personality. Such as, Reagan is gone from stoic with small smiles and hints of grins to being more of a pre teen and who is happy and animated. RJ has more of the "guess what i just did" vibe to him instead of the basic heroic super-kid poses. What I really liked is how the backgrounds and colors brought this thing to life!

Also what is even more cool, is that the 3D models i created for this series are going to be used in the animated version, slotted to appear on TBN later this year! 2015 is going to be a GREAT YEAR!