Wednesday, September 30, 2009

And now, another rough sketch...


Hi everyone. Hope you all are having a good day.

I managed to get a few minutes of sketch time in today, and the piece was inspired by another show that the girlfriend was watching a little while ago. *sigh* The Vampire Diaries.
I know, more insipid, lackluster, emo vampires. Pining for their forbidden love in the human world and some CW styled drama to fill the voids.

However, there was a portion that I thought could be cool. Two brothers, both of whom are vampires. Engaging in a sibling fight, made more potent over hundreds of years of stewing and grudging about. It even reminded me of a very cool scene in another vampire show that we got addicted to, Moonlight. I actually thought that this show was far better than the fate it deserved. It was a more traditional vampire story and had some very likable characters. But the thought of a vampire in hand to hand combat with another vampire is very interesting to me. Think of how violent that fight would be.
Faster than we would be able to see with our mortal eyes.
Bloodier than any street fight.
And able to last a very long time. Yes, even longer than the fist fight in They Live.

Anyway, that made me want to do a sketch of, you guessed it, two vampires fighting. This is just a very rough sketch. Mostly it's a composition rough, but it'll have to do for right now. I might be able to flesh it out later this evening. We'll have to see.

Anyway, time to head home. So I'll see you all back here tomorrow. Have a good evening.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

I'll get you He-Man, and your little dog too...


Hi everyone. Wow, it looks like fall is officially here. And meaning business. It's pouring rain out right now.

For some reason I felt like doing a sketch without a concept in mind. Next thing I knew I was finishing up a re-interpretation of Skeletor.

Completely random, I know. And far from one of my favorites. But I did love the fact that something completely different than what I usually draw. It actually got me thinking about the Masters of the Universe movie. I remember my brother and I's excitement as we drove into Eagle River to see the movie. Finally, we would see our hero in the flesh. And I will always keep the movie close as it was the first time I remember avidly looking forward to. The next time I would feel this level of excitement about an upcoming theatrical release would be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, three years later.

Now that I think about it, if I had of known that I was going to end up with a Skeletor sketch, I would have tried to emulate the Skeletor portrayed in the movie.

I hope you all like the sketch. Have a warm and dry evening and I'll see you all back here tomorrow for the Wednesday edition of ninjaboy's sketch-a-day.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Peace Walker


Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Monday installment of ninjaboy's sketch-a-day. Hope you all had a great weekend. We had a good time enjoying, what will probably be the last bit of 'summer weather' here in the pacific northwest.

Today's sketch is another Metal Gear Solid inspired piece. This time inspired by the upcoming release Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. From what I can tell it will be on the PSP and looks like a legitimate solo-sneaking mission on the handheld. Once again I'm filled with conflicting emotions. And sadly, the first one that I felt wasn't joy.
It was apprehension.
First off, I'm scared that it will once again be problematic for my red/green colorblind eyes. As I've stated multiple times in the past, I was unable to play MGS 3: Snake Eater due to my colorblindness. And since then I haven't really been able to invest myself into another MGS release. I don't have a PS3, so no MGS 4 for me. And I wasn't very thrilled with MGS: Portable Ops due to the fact that I don't want to manage a team.
Which is the second reason for my apprehension.
I never played the MGS games because I thought, hey someday I would love to manage a team. I wanted to play Snake, and work my way through a really rich story and world, encounter multiple interesting characters and ultimately fight a tremendously dangerous robotic vehicle.
And looking at the trailer, there are multiple Snakes (or Big Bosses to be more correct). I don't want to have to manage another team. I just want to kick ass and get through the story.
But other than those concerns... I think I'd like to play the game.

At any rate, it got me wanting to do a sketch of Snake/Big Boss seeking cover from another larger robotic vehicle. The sketch was done in CS3 on the MacBook using the trusty Bamboo tablet.

Hope you all dig it and I'll see you back here for another sketch.

Friday, September 25, 2009

At least I got Friday's post up...


Hi everyone. A very late hello to you all.

Looks like I missed some postings there. Damn. I really was hoping that I'd be able to get them all up on time this week.

Well, today's sketch is from Sin City. It's of Dwight, getting ready to help the girls of Old Town out, once again. Let's hope things turn out better for him than they did in The Big Fat Kill. I don't know if Miho will be there to bail him out of another sticky situation.

Anyway, I know it by no means makes up for 2 missed postings (or was it 3?) but I hope you all like it just the same.

See you back here next time.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Making up for another late post...


Hi everyone. I know that I missed my update from yesterday. I had a sketch completed and everything. But I just didn't get the chance to update the blog with it yet.

I'm sorry about that. I'm planning on getting another sketch done this evening as well to stay on track. :D

The sketch from yesterday is another iai-do/iai-jutsu sketch. This time it is of a kenshin (swordsman) coming out of seiza to begin a response attack. A large number of iai-do and iai-jutsu kata start from the seiza position.

It was done in CS3 on the MacBook using my Bamboo tablet. Hope you like it. And be sure to check back later tonight (maybe much later) for today's sketch as well.

See you then.

Monday, September 21, 2009

With a bloodstained fist his retribution shall be felt


Hi everyone.

Danzig has been assaulting my eardrums at every chance I could find today.
Visions of Frazetta paintings are spiraling behind my eyes like a phantom making it's self aware to you, but not fully ready to reveal it's grotesque presence.
The urge to release long held back aggression in the form of moshing and headbanging is reaching a near boiling point.

All because I have played my first Xbox 360 game. And a demo at that. Now I must clarify. The intense awesomeness that is filling my body is not in any part due to the system it's self. As a matter of fact, it crashed not once. Not twice. But a whopping three times while loading and playing the demo.
But rather, the game was so awesome that I found myself laughing out loud. And wanting to listen to as much metal as I could. Good metal. From the days when metal was pure, and unperverted by whiny kids who just broke up with a girl.

The game I'm talking about is Brutal Legend. Yes, Jack Black's new video game. I know, I know. I had the same reservations as well. I have been let down by his recent visual and audio releases as well. I absolutely relish the first Tenacious D album. As well as his roles in High Fidelity, the HBO Tenacious D specials, and even School of Rock (until I had seen it around the 50th time). I think he is incredibly talented and funny. But a video game? And in it he's a roady that gets killed and sent to a hell dimension as a hero? How could this possibly be good.

Well, believe me readers out there in the interwebland. It IS awesome. It is incredibly well presented and everything you want. Think God of War, meets Judas Priest. I think there's even a character inspired by Halford in it. Seriously, I'm going to try to borrow someone's 360 to play this game when it comes out.

And as you have no doubt realized by now, today's sketch is a homage to that game. I can't wait to play the final product.

For those about to rock, I salute you!!!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Ready to fight



Hi everyone, and happy Friday.

I ended up having a different kind of busy day at work so I didn't get a sketch done earlier. But I do have the condo to myself this evening so I decided to open Potoshop on the MacBook while I'm watching some UFC on Spike.
I've probably watched more UFC this week than I have in a the last year. This last weekend was a marathon of The Ultimate Fighter, Season 2. Then there's been a few re-airings of the UFC's top 100 (I didn't watch them all, don't worry) and some really awesome Fight Nights. Seriously. I think I've watched some UFC every night since Saturday. Yeah, that's a lot.

Anyway, I can't help that it inspired me. The first sketch was totally a warmup, and I for some reason I wanted to draw an old fashioned boxer. There are elements of it I like. The trunks and the waistline. But I lost interest in it pretty quickly. I then started over again. I was watching an Anderson "the Spider" Silva retrospective and as such it had a significant influence in the second sketch. I'm fairly happy with this one. There's more that I'd like to do/fix with the piece, but I decided that I need to get the update posted instead.

Hope you all dig, and I'll see you all back here on Monday.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Thursday, just barely


Hi everyone. I hope you've all been having a good week so far.

I took yesterday and the day before off to do some work around the condo getting ready for the construction project that's underway right now, and has been making my life a little crazy. We got a lot of work done, and I'm pleased to say that we're now have all of our belongings crammed into our home. I can't wait for this project to be over with.

Oh well. My daughter and her mommy are staying at the grandparent's house this evening, getting a present ready for Gramma, so I have the house to myself. I decided that I'd get my sketch done on the Mac Mini this evening, so I could sit at a desk to use the Bamboo tablet a little more comfortably. I must say, it was nice. I miss working on my artwork at a desk with my computer. One of my favorite home studio set ups was in my apartment in Gig Harbor right after graduating the Art Institute. I had one of those long folding tables set up as my work desk. I had one of my drafting boards propped up to sketch on, and my computer was at the right side of the desk. I had my large scanner next to that ready for anything I could come up with. Sometimes I'd sketch right into Photoshop. But most of the time I would sketch on paper first, then color on the computer. Ah, those were the days. Sleep most of the day (unless I had a job interview), then stay up all night working on artwork and surfing the internets.

But tonight's sketch was done in my current work space. And I don't know why, but I got inspired to do a sketch of the Little Mermaid. Seriously. Kinda out of the blue huh? Maybe I'll finish it up and give it to my daughter for a present. Actually, that's not a bad idea. Just don't tell her. It'll be our little secret.
All in all, I think it turned out pretty good. I had to force myself to finish it and stop working on it. It's getting late and I want to get Thursday's posting up before it was Friday. Hope you all like it.

And yes, as I said earlier, I did this sketch on the Mac Mini using CS3 and the trusty Bamboo tablet. Now off to bed. Hope you all have a great night and I'll see you back here for the Friday posting. I'll try to make it a good one.

Monday, September 14, 2009

It's a Cat Man! And another loss.



Hi everyone. Sorry for the late posting, but it's still Monday. Ha ha! Still on time.

And I even have a bonus piece today. Though it comes to us through another loss in Hollywood. More on that later.

The first sketch was inspired by one of my favorite PSP games, Jeanne d'Arc. I believe I've talked about this game before, but I got the chance to spend some time with it again today and I had almost forgotten how much I enjoyed playing it. It really was a well done tactics rpg. Fantastic art and environments, and very user friendly gameplay. Not to say that it's not a deep game. The skill blending system and equipment for each character is very much like materia from Final Fantasy VII. If you haven't played it yet, you really should. Anyway, one of the characters that will eventually join your party is a lion character. I thought might be fun to draw something like that, so I tried my hand at drawing one myself. I didn't wasn't that thrilled with this sketch, but before I was able to start a new one that might make me a little happier, I read some sad news...

Now for the second picture. I'm sure you're all aware by know that Patrick Swayze lost his fight with cancer today. Whenever I think of Patrick Swayze I think of my favorite, and possibly the funniest SNL skit with Chris Farley (yeah, you know the one) and one of the coolest martial arts movies I've never seen unedited. Roadhouse. And how could you not love Point Break? I mean, it was such a fun movie. And Patrick was such a badass in that movie. Probably one of my all time favorite 'bad guys' you end up routing for.
After I read a news report about his passing I ended up doing what so many other people on the interwebs probably did as well. Google image searched him. I was originally looking for a picture from that epic SNL skit, but instead I stumbled upon a picture of him from Roadhouse. And much to my surprise, he's practicing Wing Tsun. I suddenly knew that I had to sketch that picture in tribute to him.

Another star has moved up to skies to shine even brighter. Have fun with your friends and family up there.

And to you all out there, be healthy, happy and safe. Good night everyone. See you back here tomorrow for another sketch of the day.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

A missed post, sort of...

Hi everyone. Yes, I know that I didn't get a new sketch up yesterday. But my free time was taken up by another art project. I might be able to post some pictures of what I was working on yesterday in the near future. But in the meantime, I'm going to try and get another digital sketch done this weekend to help pick up the slack.

We'll just have to see what happens.

I know you're feeling neglected. But please take into consideration that I missed the sketch because I was actually sketching. LOL Kinda meta huh?

Anywho, I'll hopefully see you all back here for a special update this weekend.

Hope you all have a great one. And if it's sunny where you are as well, get out and enjoy it!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

A-Ko, revisited


Hi everyone. I haven't forgotten you. I happened to have quite a bit of spare time today to devote to a sketch. Lame day at work, lots of hurry up and wait. Good times.
Anyway, since I had some time, I wanted to revisit a sketch from earlier this week. Namely, my A-Ko picture. All in all, I didn't really think that my previous posting captured what I loved about the movie. So I decided to remedy that. She's now a lot more dynamic, having just pounded her way through lots of robots created by B-Ko. Or maybe she has been fighting an invading race of aliens trying to capture C-Ko. Eh, either way, you decide.
She's obviously had a rough time at it, but is about ready to deliver a very impressive counterattack.

This sketch came together much more inline with what I had in my head. It was nice to get a decent sketch in. Hope you all like it as well.

As usual, it was created in CS3 on my MacBook using my Bamboo tablet. Which I think will be needing a new pen sometime soon. Something to add to my Xmas list. LOL

See you all back here next time.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can


Spins a web. Any size. Catches thieves. Just like flies.
Oh yeah.
Here comes the Spider-Man!

Oh, uh I mean, hi everybody. Hope you're having a good day. Today's sketch is another Spiderman sketch. Yeah I know. Another one? Why didn't you finish one of the two rough sketches you did earlier?
Well, I'm lazy. And I'm trying to get back into the swing of sketching digitally again. Apparently the inconsistent posting recently has let my digital sketching abilities atrophy a bit. I'm trying very hard to get them back up to snuff. Hopefully soon.

I was originally going to do a sketch of another character, but I was having some huge problems with it that ultimately led to me ditching the sketch for today, and started another. And that other one is a very loose line version of Spidey. All in all, I kinda like it. I have noticed that I have a tendency to make him look angry whenever I draw his eyes. I'll have to work on that as well.

Anyway, I hope you all get a kick out of it. As usual it was created in CS3 on my MacBook using the Bamboo tablet.

See you tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

A good friend to have...


Hi everyone. Welcome back after a long weekend. Hope you all had fun.

Today's piece was inspired by looking at some of Adam Hughes' convention sketches online, and wishing I was that good. And while I was feeling very lame as an artist (especially when it comes to drawing females) I had a geeky flash back to one of the first anime I watched as 'anime'.
You may be confused by that. Let me explain.
In the mid 90s, probably around 1993 or 1994 I was surfing through the channels in our newly hooked up cable television on my summer break, when I stumbled upon the SciFi channel (yes, before it was changed to SyFy). I was being shown some of the most fantastic animation I had ever seen. At that time, I had only really watched american cartoons and Disney movies, and this blew them out of the water. I caught the second half of Venus Wars, followed by Dominion: Tank Police, and lastly Project A-Ko. I was captivated. And they kept calling it "anime". I finally had something to refer to whenever I read that term in a Wizard magazine, or was engaged in a geek conversation at school. This was japanese animation.
Shortly after that I realized that I had seen anime in the past. My brother and I used to watch Robotech on TV every Saturday morning. After Battlestar Galactica. But I hadn't really thought anything of it. And then the food gates opened. I re-discovered so many older cartoons with new eyes as I realized they were anime.

Project A-Ko, while heavily edited in the marathon, was a wake up call. I had no idea you could tell a story like that in animation. Nor did I realize that people actually animated action, and yes, fan service, that well.

So I thought I'd try my rusty hand at a sketch of A-Ko. Anyway, it was done in CS3 on my MacBook using the ol' Bamboo tablet. Hope you all dig.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Chiburi


Happy Friday everyone. Hope you all are going to have fun on this 3 day weekend.

I downloaded a cool looking game for my iPhone and I thought I'd do (yet another) a Samurai sketch. I haven't played the game yet, but I'm hoping to be able to spend at least a few minutes on it this weekend.

The position that I have sketched is called chiburi. It is a movement at the end of most iai forms that has the intention of clearing the excess blood off of the katana. The movements of chiburi are quite varied. Sometimes it's a subtle movement to the side. Other styles use a more pronounced flick to clean the blade. Probably the most stylized version of chiburi comes from the Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu style of swordsmanship. This is probably my favorite Japanese sword style. And it happens to be one of the oldest established schools in Japan as well. One day I'll do a sketch in homage to that ryu.

Anyway, it was done in CS3 on the MacBook using the Bamboo tablet.

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

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman



Hi everyone.

Yup I missed another post yesterday due to more work on the condo. But to make up for it, I decided to do two quick sketches today.
I realized that I hadn't done a sketch of my favorite super hero, Spiderman. Hands down my favorite character in the Marvel universe. Or he was.
Growing up I loved the fact that he had to juggle saving the city, and sometimes the world, protecting his secret identity, and keeping his marriage to Mary Jane together. The books had everything. Action, drama, romance, comedy. Reading Spiderman books back in the day were always entertaining.

And I loved how the artists continued to improve on the webcrawler's visuals. Todd McFarlane, love him or hate him, made Spidey's webslinging cool. Eric Larsen made the enemies awesome, the women hot, and started adding a lot of physical comedy to Spidey. Then Mark Bagley continued to refine on the styles set by the previous giants.

Anyway, I started by sketching an interaction between MJ and Peter that I've had in my head for a long time. I'm probably going to finish this up in the near future.

The second is me nodding my head to the recent Disney/Marvel news. I'm hoping that this doesn't actually come to be. But I thought it'd be a silly picture.

Both were done on my MacBook in CS3 using my Bamboo tablet.

See you all tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Ra-n-ma


Hey there everyone. I had a few minutes today so I managed to scratch out a very fast sketch of everyone's favorite gender-bending anime/manga characters. Ranma 1/2 was a series that I didn't get into until I got to the Art Institute. I did rent the second Ranma 1/2 movie while I was in highschool, but I didn't really have a deeper understanding about the situation and characters until a couple of years later.

But it quickly became one of my favorites. While not the series that I ran out to buy, I did really enjoy every episode or movie I watched. Rumiko chan has an amazing ability to draw and write something that captivates adults, while at the same time being super cute and accessible to kids as well (so long as you didn't freak out about the occasional boob being shown).

It was done in CS3 on the ol' MacBook using my trusty Bamboo tablet.

See you all back here tomorrow for another update.