Monday, August 31, 2009

Monday, Monday


Hi everyone. Hope you had a great weekend. And welcome back to the sketch-a-day.

I thought that I'd have time to get a sketch up on Friday, but the day really flew by me. The next thing I knew it was midnight and I was really tired and I had missed another post. Please don't be too cross with me.

I have another sketch of Psylocke today. I really wanted to get a more finished sketch up of her, but this will have to do for the time being. I have some other sketches in mind for this week as well. But I figured doing one of her was a little appropriate as the news today is that Disney has purchased Marvel Comics! Wow.

I don't know how exactly I feel about this, namely because certain 'higher ups' at Marvel have managed to piss all over the universe that I had known and loved in the past. But I'm afraid that having new 'overlords' with the history that Disney has, may affect their overall product. Will it be cleaned up a bit? Made to be more kid friendly? We'll have to wait and see.

Good thing almost all of my comic reading is either manga or more independent publishers.

Anyway, hope this sketch doesn't hurt your eyes too badly. And I'll see you back here tomorrow.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. It was done in CS3 on my MacBook using the trusty Bamboo tablet.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Super fast Psylocke


Hey everyone. As promised, here is a sketch of Psylocke (yes I realized that I had misspelled her name yesterday). Nothing too fancy, just a quick loose sketch. Fast lines and basic colors.
I will try to do a more polished, sketch tomorrow.

If you were to ask any guy in my generation, who was actively reading comics back in the 90s and ask them who their favorite (female) superhero is, it will be a safe bet that they will say Psylocke. She was everyone's favorite 'bad girl' in mainstream comics at that time. She was unfathomably beautiful, a skilled fighter trained by the ninja organization The Hand. Plus she had a plethora of telekinetic powers that could easily have been more powerful than Marvel was willing to reveal at the time.
And interestingly enough she actually has a very interesting history and is one of the earliest example of a publisher completely re-vamping a character from the ground up that I personally read. Back in the late 80s she was a telepath in body armor and a huge cape with a cloak. Little sister to Captain Britain, and all in honestly a character that not many people really gave a darn about.
But then with Jim Lee at the helm art wise, the powers that be decided that she needed to become a more interesting character. Enter Mojo, a ton of 'plastic surgery', some memory and mind alteration thanks to the Hand, and you now have a bad ass, asian telepath assassin. She still ends up retaining/recovering some of her memories from her 'previous life', but is now completely different. And in all honesty... for the better.

I remember being infatuated with the character in middle school, wanting to read everything that she was in. But after a while they began to water her stories down, making some serious leaps regarding her past, love life and ultimately what kind of character she really was which ultimately led me to stop caring about her. It seemed like the magic from the previous years had left the X-Books. Gone was the relationship drama between Rogue and Gambit. Gone was the mysterious and brooding Psylocke. So many more changes happened that it's not even worth my time to try and put them to digital paper. Then after Jim Lee left Marvel and he created his book Wild C.A.T.S I found that the spirit of Psylocke was reborn in Zealot. While she lacked the powers that Psylocke had, she was still fun to read.

So with that, I bring to you a sketch that in all honesty, doesn't do her justice. I will do a better drawing of her someday. I owe her that much.

Anyway, it was created in CS3 on my MacBook using the trusty Bamboo tablet.

See you all back here tomorrow for the last sketch for the week. Can't wait.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Shall I call you Logan, Weapon X?


Hi everyone, and welcome back for another installment of ninjaboy's sketch a day.

I don't know exactly why I decided to draw Wolverine. I really wanted to do a sketch of Psylock, and as I was getting ready to place her in the composition I thought, meh, I should include Wolvie as well. I mean, they were the power duo back when I was a kid.

The first X-Men story arc that my brother and I picked up when we were young'ens was the story about how Psylock was brainwashed to become Lady Mandarine. And how Wolverine and (sigh) Jubilee got her back, as well as dished out some butt kicking on the Hand.

It was awesome. Wolverine was running around as Patch, and honestly, I think that was when he was at his best. It seemed like when he donned the black tank top outfit, with leather gloves, he became a more feral opponent. Even when he was walking around in his street clothes, everyone who knew him as Patch were instantly afraid of him. It was such a dynamic change from how he was received as a nobody from the other X-Men stories. When he was Logan and would walk into a bar, no one thought too much about it. That is until he caved in someone's face in the fight that was sure to ensue.

I didn't draw him as Patch. Nor in his dark costume. And Psylock seemed to disappear from my sketch all together. Oh well, maybe tomorrow will be of her.

Anyway, it was once again done in CS3 on my MacBook using my Bamboo tablet.

Hope you all dig it, and I'll see you back here next time.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

No update today...


Hi everyone. I didn't get a chance to do a sketch today. I was planning on doing one as soon as my daughter fell asleep, but I ended up having to do some emails and research this evening which ate up my sketching time. I'm about to go to bed, but I wanted to at least explain why I'm missing today's sketch.

In the meantime, here is a quick Photoshop sketch of my personal logo that I designed when I graduated from the Art Institute back in 2000. I plan on re-creating it as vector art and using it to sign my digital art in the near future. So keep an eye out for that.

I'll get one done tomorrow at lunch. Cross my heart.

Have a good night everyone.

Monday, August 24, 2009


Well everyone, I'm back. But I regret that I'm only able to post a quick sketch today. It's of one of my favorite characters from Adam Warren's "sexy superhero comedy" Empowered, Ninjette.

She's an awesome character. An beer chugging, martial arts master with some serious attitude. Her stories are some of my favorites in the book. But that's not saying that the rest of the characters aren't awesome as well. This is one seriously well written book. It started out as a very silly comic, with lots of 'adult situations'. But along the way he created some very complex characters with interesting histories and flaws.

The latest book's final chapter is actually quite gripping. I was aware that it ends on a seriously intense note from the reviews I had read online before purchasing the book. But I wasn't prepared for the real thing. Just wow.

Plus, there is a very good Ninjette chapter as well.

Anyway, I might finish this up, or even do a better sketch of her, later this week.

Hope you all have a good day and I'll see you next time.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

He may be whiney, but he does become a cool character


Hi everyone, welcome back for another installment of Sketch A Day (roughly).

You may have noticed another missed posting yesterday, well that's in no small part to some life stuff that has cropped up involving my domicile. And it may prevent me from doing some future updates as well. So in the event that I miss any more sketches in the days to come, please, don't revolt in the streets. I will get some sketches in when I can.

Which brings us to today's sketch. I was able to watch not only Star Wars: A New Hope, but also The Empire Strikes Back a couple of days ago. And as such, my love of the series was refreshed. So much so that I even started reading the Star Wars manga again. Starting with A New Hope (the true, first episode in the series).

So today's sketch is heavily inspired by those books. It's very rough right now so I'll probably go back and finish it up in the near future.

Hope you all dig.

See you back here for the next update.

Monday, August 17, 2009

A Quick One While They're Away


Hi everyone.

Big surprise I missed another post on Friday. Crazy huh. Anyway, I had a minute while the girlfriend and daughter were out visiting the grandparents, so I bring to you another fast sketch of Thor.

Anyway, hope you all dig it. I'll try and do better in the future. Both in posting updates and in sketching quality.

See you all later.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Return!


Hi everyone. You may have noticed that I hadn't done an update in a while. A long while. Some stuff came up that demanded my attention and continues to do so. I will make an effort to stay on top of my postings, but there may be a few more missed sketches in the near future. Sadly. But I thought I'd just get that out there now. And if it doesn't happen, then hey bonus.

I didn't know if I'd have time for a new sketch today so I decided to finish up the last sketch I posted of Michelangelo. I finished up some line work, as well as fixed the 'chucks in his right hand. The lower handle was bigger than any of the other ones, so I made an attempt to scale it accordingly.

Then I added some basic colors. Nothing fancy. Just some splashes to get color in there. I personally think this one came out looking pretty good. Kind of a mix between the comic series and the original cartoon from the 80s. And yes, he has a red mask on. In the original comics all of the turtles had red masks. That's one of the reasons why the writing of the original books was so good. Even though the turtles all basically looked the same, through dialog and the art you were always able to tell who was who. Even if they weren't holding their weapon.

Again, done in CS3 on my MacBook using the Bamboo tablet.

My next posting will be a new sketch. Promise.

See you all next time. Same sketch time. Same sketch channel.

Friday, August 7, 2009

An unfinished Michelangelo


Welcome back faithful viewers. I didn't manage to get the sketch finished to the extent I was hoping for, but all in all I'm pretty happy with it. Yeah, I've got TMNT on the brain. I loved the cartoon as a kid. The first movie is a personal favorite of mine. Two was awesome, but really Ernie Reyes Jr is what made that movie awesome. Dude is awesome.

Anyway, this sketch is of good ol, Michelangelo. Everyone's favorite nunchaku wielding funny guy. I was going to do a sketch of him using a manrikigusari but I decided to just to a sketch of him with the trusty chucks. I saw a sketch of the turtles by Joe Mad and he had Mikey using a manrikigusari and I thought to myself, yes! Of course he'd be able to use them. And what a great support weapon for him to carry in the event that he lost the chucks. Brilliant.

Anyway, it was done in CS3 on the MacBook using my Bamboo tablet. Hope you all think it's neat. I'll finish it up on Monday. Unless I have the urge to work on something else.

Have a great weekend and I'll see you back here on Monday.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Natsuki Crisis


Welcome back everyone. I decided to do another quick sketch piece today. But this time, no colors. Just lines.

I bring to you a sketch based on a relatively little known manga series called Natsuki Crisis. I began reading this manga while I was at art school and it quickly became a favorite of mine. I picked up quite a few of the books from the local Kinokuniya on a suggestion from a friend of mine who was also a martial artist. He said I'd probably enjoy them as the author/artist paid lots of attention to the details of the various martial arts depicted. Plus it had lots of cute girls fighting in both traditional martial arts garb, as well as school uniforms, and other costumes depending on the situation. For one story the main girls all got jobs at a drive in burger joint, so they were in tube tops, skirts and roller skates.

The action is fantastic. The characters are colorful. Sprinkle in some relationship drama, some enemies for life, and a shadow society and you have yourself one great read. Even if it is in nihongo (japanese language). I wish I kept up with it. *sigh*

Anyway, I recently discovered a 2 episode OVA based on the manga and watching it made me want to do a sketch. So here is a girl, loosely based on Natsuki Kisumi. Ready to do battle with another formidable opponent. Will she prevail?

Sketched in CS3 on my MacBook using the trusty Bamboo tablet. Hope you all enjoy.

See you all back here tomorrow for another sketch. Oose!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Hero in a Half Shell


Hi everyone, I managed to get today's sketch done today with a quickness. I wanted to do a fast sketch today to get loose again as I spent so much time coloring the previous sketch and not as much time actually sketching. So I gave myself a 15 minute time limit for this one and I feel like it went pretty well.

I decided to do a drawing of Raphael because I got a sweet new TMNT wallpaper at work. And he has always been my favorite Ninja Turtle. Not just because he's bad@$$, but he's also proficient with my favorite kobudo weapon. The sai. Ever since I picked up my first pair I was in love. It's such a dynamic weapon. You can strike, puncture, trap and pummel people, all with the same device. It really is quite an elegant weapon. No wonder the police in ancient Japan used a modified version of it as their 'side arm'.

I have often wondered though, which of the turtles would be the best at using the tonfa? Perhaps that will be a sketch for another day.

Anyway, I hope you all dig it. Raph was sketched and colored in CS3 on my MacBook using the trusty Bamboo tablet.

See you all back here tomorrow for another new sketch.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Completed! Ryu and Chun Li


Well here it is. Finally completed. I ended up recoloring Chun Li's legs because the lighting on them was driving me crazy. I decided to go with a more simplified approach. I think they turned out ok. Not the best color job I've ever done. but all in all not that bad.
I think my next Street Fighter sketch (or even my next colored sketch in general) will be in the cell shaded style.
I also revisited how Ryu's hair was colored. Every time I looked at the previous version of it I would just get upset at my inability to 'paint' hair. So I tried to simplify it as well.
It didn't turn out as well as Chun Li's hair, but oh well, it's better than it was before.

I also cropped the image a bit, and added a little blur to the image to soften it a bit, and create a better focus point in the image. I don't think I succeeded in the latter but the former worked out. :P
And I changed the background color to one that would make both characters pop out a little more. Hopefully it's not too much of an affront on color theory. I'm colorblind, so there. :P

All done in CS3 on my MacBook using my trusty Bamboo tablet.

See you all back here for another sketch.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Ryu and Chun Li, part 3


Welcome back everyone. Hope you all had a great weekend. I didn't manage to spend any time on the sketch over the weekend, but I did end up doing some real life painting. Condo painting that is. Not very creative, but just as messy.

Anyway, today sees me doing more work on Chun Li. I finished up her clean(er) lines, and started in with the colors. I'm almost done with them and all in all, they're coming together pretty well. I also had to change the background color to help my colorblind eyes pick up on any spots during the cleanup phase.
I will have to finish this up tomorrow though as I need to work on a new sketch. This is a sketch a day blog. Not a constant process on one pice for the end of time, after all.

Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying seeing how things come together on it. And yes, it was once again done in CS3 on my MacBook using the Bamboo tablet.

In finding some reference material for Chun Li's color scheme, I watched a video of her in her alternate costume in Street Fighter VI. Wow. It's pretty hot. I wish they went with something more in this style during the Alpha series, instead of the jump suit. Oh well. I may have to do a sketch of that in the future.

Anyway, have a great evening and I'll see you all back here tomorrow.