Saturday, January 30, 2010

Demigod of the Dead


Hi everyone. I ended up crashing early last night so I didn't get to update the blog with my Friday sketch.

I was finishing up the audiobook for the last Percy Jackson book last night and ended up doing a sketch of Nico DiAngelo, the son of Hades. The character changes very quickly between the 4th book and the end of the 5th, but he ends up being pretty damn cool.

I did the sketch in CS3 on my MacBook using my Bamboo tablet. Hope ya'll dig.

Now, I have to get back to work. Yup, working on Saturday. Good times. Have a great day everyone.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Double Oh Seven


Good evening everybody out there in internet land. I hope you all have had a good Thursday.

Works wasn't as heavy as I thought it'd be so I got to spend some time with my daughter this evening while the GF was out shopping with her cousin. We spent a nice evening playing jumping on her mini trampoline and cuddling on the couch.

I got home a few hours later and have had Casino Royal on for the past little bit. And, surprise surprise, I decided to do a sketch of everyone's favorite playboy spy.

Casino Royal was my favorite Bond movie I've seen in a long time. I haven't had that much fun watching a Bond flick since the old Sean Connery episodes. While Connery was, and shall always be the greatest Bond ever on film, Daniel Craig has easily become my second favorite. If not, even giving Sean a run for his money.

Anyway, I'm tired and am about to turn the lights off now. See you all back here for my Friday sketch. Oh yes, it was of course done in CS3 on my MacBook using my Bamboo tablet.

Just a bit late...


Hi everyone. Well, I didn't get my sketch in on on Wednesday, but it is close.

Sort of.

Anyway, I got a bit distracted today during my quick lunch break. Then got pretty busy at work. Yeah, I'm a Mac user. Yeah, I *capital L*love my iPhone. But I'm not sure how this new gadget would fit into my life right now. Even if I had the extra coin to pick one up, which I don't, I just don't know if it'd really be of much use to me.

I'm intrigued by the idea of a mobile book reader, as I don't get the time to read very often any more (audio books in the car have been a lifesaver). But I could just get the kindle app for my iPhone. But I must admit, the ability to have all of my digital D&D books on a device that is super portable and easy to read was very, very tempting.

Speaking of D&D, I decided to try my hand at sketching one of the more interesting characters in our current game. She's a Halfling Druid. This is the first time that I've seen someone roll this combination. For some reason, it just makes me giggle. Kinda like the idea of a Gnome Barbarian.

Anywho, I did the sketch in CS3 on my MacBook using my Bamboo. Hope you like it.

And now, time for bed. See you back here tomorrow.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Half Human Shifter


Good evening everyone. I'm getting today's sketch in just in time. It's still Tuesday for a few more minutes.

Tonight's sketch is of one of my D&D party members. I don't have much in the way of character descriptions of the other characters in the campaign, so I'm making this up as I go.

He is a half human Shifter Barbarian. He's pretty badass, and is the hardest hitting of all of us. What with his flame, lightning and sonic infused greatsword, and his shifted and enlarged size means that he rolls a lot of d6 for damage. It is something special to behold, and every time it happens the entire table get giddy and begin laughing more and more as the numbers are added up. Good stuff.

It was done in CS3 on my MacBook using my Bamboo. See you all back here tomorrow.

Monday, January 25, 2010

The Party


Hi everyone. I started the sketch earlier today during my lunch break, but I finished roughing it out this evening.

I decided to sit down and do a sketch of my full D&D party. I have done many sketches of Aaru on this blog, mostly because I really like this character. Despite his shortcomings (none the least of which is the fact that he was knocked out 3 times in our second gaming session) I think he's pretty darn cool. I could probably role play the Drow part of him better, but I try to keep it in mind while we game.

This is one of the most entertaining groups of characters that I've rolled dice with. The party consists of two Shifters, two Drow, a Hafling and a giant Tiger. We're a complete ragtag group of unlikely heroes, which makes the game so much fun I think.

Hope you like the rough layout sketch that I did in CS3 on my MacBook, using my Bamboo tablet. See you back here tomorrow.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Friday's post, a few days late


Hi everyone. I just wanted to take a minute and get my late sketch for Friday up on the interwebs.

Friday ended up being a crazy busy day for me, and a late night at work as a result. I did manage to clear off my plate for Monday which is a great thing. But still, it didn't leave me much in the way of wanting to get a sketch done. Instead, sleep was the priority.

Then I was busy Saturday taking some stuff to my storage unit with the help of my friend who is also the DM for my bi-weekly-ish D&D game. Then the girlfriend and I were able to have a night out. We went to dinner and got to go see a movie. The movie was good (we saw The Book of Eli) but dinner ended up being a big problem for the rest of the night as the girlfriend ended up getting some food poisoning. On the plus side, it didn't hit her until the end of the movie so we didn't miss anything. The down side was that immediately after the movie she was not feeling well at all. Kinda puts a downer on a night out. But we had fun before the gastrointestinal issues.

Then today I spend the day with her and my daughter. We had a good time, recovering from the night before and watching House on DVD.

Then after heading back to the condo I managed to get some laundry done, as well as this sketch.

The sketch is a scene from the last Percy Jackson book, The Last Olympian. This book is close to being my favorite from the series. And the scene was just awesome. I don't want to give too much away, but needless to say, Percy steps up and takes on a very daunting task. With new confidence and the determination to be the hero that he's destined to be.

Anyway, I'm gonna go to bed now, so I hope you all get a kick out of the sketch. As per norm, it was done in CS3 on my MacBook and the Bamboo tablet decided to play nice tonight. See you all back here for another sketch tomorrow.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

A delay due to work

Good morning everyone. I'm going to postpone my 'Friday' sketch to later Saturday morning. I'm rather tired after a very busy day, both at work and outside of it.

So till then, sleep well.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Walk with me


Good morning everyone. I finally got a chance to sit down with CS3 and my Bamboo tablet to get a new sketch in.

It has been a crazy busy week at work for me, which has been making it a little difficult to either get a digital sketch in during the day, or a pencil on paper sketch scanned when I get home late at night. I hope you understand.

Anyway, tonight's sketch is another one inspired by the audiobook of Dragons of the Hourglass Mage.

This one was done in a very sloppy and in a very poor work method. Part of it is due to the fact that I wanted to get something down in pixels quickly, and I'm pretty tired. That's a longwinded way of me saying "sorry it's such a mess".

See you back here tomorrow.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

An unlikely assassin


Hi everybody.

I managed to get a sketch done today. Despite me feeling like crud. I didn't get much sleep last night, due to an adverse reaction to some pizza, so I've had a pretty rough day.

I've been in bed for the past while, listening to the audiobook for Dragons of the Hourglass Mage. Today's sketch is a scene where Raistlin discovers the identity of an unlikely assassin. A Kender woman.

This is pretty cool, as it's the first time that I've heard about a Kender committing murder. They're normally to lighthearted and good natured to do so.

Anyway, I thought it was a cool scene so I decided to do a quick sketch of it. So I launched CS3 on the MacBook and used my Bamboo tablet to sketch it out.

Hope you all dig.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Not much to show for a Monday


Good evening everyone.

Hope you all had a good weekend. I had a pretty busy one myself. I managed to get some sketching done in a sketchbook late Saturday night. Or was it technically Sunday morning? I guess it doesn't really matter.

Today's sketch is actually a little less interesting than those sketchbook doodles. But alas, it's too difficult to scan my sketchbook pages with my current scanner. Oh well. I was just concentrating on keeping my pencil moving tonight.
First with a sketch of Hunter Rose. Then one of Ninjette and Emp. And some other sketches of Orcs.

Time for bed time now. Have a great night with lots of sleep everyone.

See you tomorrow.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Taking the night off

Hey everyone.

I decided against doing a sketch tonight for two reasons. The first is that my bamboo tablet has once again refused to work while at home. That's two nights in a row. I might have to contact their tech support to see if they have any reason why the 'connection' seems to drop or be non existent at times.

The second is that I need sleep. I've had a long week, and haven't been getting to bed at the most reasonable hours, so I'm gonna crash now.

Please forgive me, and I'll get a new piece up tomorrow. Cross my heart.

Oyasumi nasai.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Not the most magical sketching night


Well, what can I say. Last night was just not a very inspired, or cooperative sketching night.

My bamboo tablet just refused to work. And when I sat down to sketch, well, as you can see, my hands just didn't want to work with my imagination very well.

I was listening to the Dragons of the Hourglass Mage audio book, so I was in a 'magical mood' which had me trying to draw Zatanna. Very, very poorly. Which led me to drawing a sketch of the Hourglass Mage himself. Again, poorly. And by that time I was basically done for the night. I put in a late night at work, and my sketching frustration reinforced that it was time for bed.

They can't all be winners. But, then again, that's what this blog is about for me. Keeping me sketching, regardless of quality or outcome. So in that spirit last night was still a success.

Hopefully today will flow a little better for me.

See you all later.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

No Neck


Hi everyone. I've got a few minutes free so I'm going to post Tuesday sketch. I did some more paper sketches last night, but was too tired to scan and post it yesterday, so I figured I'd do that now.

At work we were having fun with the Obama sound board and I decided to do a sketch of a character(?) he mentions in his book.

Steve "no neck" Yamaguchi.

Except, we ended up combining two jokes into one and what you get is this sketch.

Hope you get a chuckle out of it. I know I did drawing it.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Working on the Right Face


Hi everyone. Hope you all had a good Monday.

I spent some time with a pencil and decided to try and work out some more character designs. I think I'm getting close to the design I want. The faces started out too young, and I tried to start getting him to look older and wiser, but not an elderly martial arts master. Not that I have anything against that stereotype but I think it's a little played out.

Anyway, enjoy. See you back here tomorrow.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Friday, Via Saturday


Howdy everyone.

Well, I did get a sketch done yesterday. But by the time I got home from work it was pretty late and I was ready for bed, so I decided to post it today instead. I'm thinking about doing some more sketches tonight as well. Especially since I'm starting to remember that story I outlined (very briefly) the other night.

This is a very rough sketch of the Samurai (name pending... I had one, but I can't remember it anymore) who befriends the young orphan and recognizes in him the spirit of bujutsu.

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

Enjoy, and if I get some more sketches done tonight I'll post them tomorrow as an extra weekend treat.

Have a good night everyone.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Young Kotaro


Hi everyone. Well, I wanted to be asleep by now, but looks like that didn't exactly happen.

Today's sketch is of a character in a story I would love to put on paper/digital paper sometime. After graduating from the Art Institute, I had started creating a story about a young orphan boy growing up near Iga in ancient Japan. He was a tough youth, who was looking out for himself. Doing odd jobs for some scrap to get rice and trying to find a comfortable place to sleep at night. A chance encounter with a rather unconventional Samurai to the local lord results in an instant friendship. The boy's new friend had an incredibly light hearted demeanor, but underneath this aloofness was a tremendous martial artist. He had skills that seemed extraordinary. As their friendship continued, the Samurai started training the boy in martial arts. But it was unlike the other arts the local martial artists where practicing.
The boy was very sharp, and recognized this, and combined with the fact that the Samurai urged him to keep their training secret, realized that the Samurai was Shinobi and was training him in Ninpo.

I know, I know. What a generic story right? But I want the story to be more about the relationship between the two, and an inevitable tragedy that would forever affect them both, than the normal Ninja story. More like a Ninja version of The Karate Kid (the real one, not the bull$#!T remake that is coming out soon... sorry Jackie, but it does look awful).

Anyway, I wanted to get another quick sketch of the young boy (perhaps named Kotaro) training. It was created in CS3 on my MacBook using my trusty Bamboo tablet. Hope you all dig it. See you tomorrow.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Beauty in the Darkness


Well, I managed to get one sketch done today. And I decided to actually spend some time doing a little digital coloring as well, seeing as how I would only be able to get one in.

While I was on my vacation I stumbled upon the new book written by one of my favorite fantasy artists. Brom. I didn't even realize that he was now painting pictures with words (read: an author) and his new book sounds like it's probably a really good read.

Since then I've had Brom's style of illustration stuck in my head. So I guess it ended up having a little influence on today's sketch. Not overly, but the composition and pose does remind me of his work a bit. One of these days I might actually sit down and see if I can digitally paint in a style like him. His use of colors is really interesting and fantastically unique.

Anyway, the sketch is of a woman Drow warrior. I didn't really finish it, as it got late and I want to be in bed before midnight (I'm cutting it close as is). I hope you all dig it, and I'll see you back here for another sketch later.

Oh yeah, I'm also working on changing my signature to be a little more, adult I guess. I have been using the other one since highschool. And while I still like that signature, I'm starting to feel like it might need an update. I'm also still thinking about switching to my ninja logo (that I posted earlier). Oh well, we'll see what happens.

Sketch delayed due to life

Hi everyone.

I'm sorry to report that I won't be posting a new sketch today due to the fact that after work, and after my visit with the GF and my daughter, I have spent the last few hours doing some housing searching.

I'm really sorry that I'm missing day 2 of my first week of twenty-ten, but I did have some real life stuff to take care of.

I plan on getting a sketch (or two if I'm super, mega lucky) done tomorrow though. And it'll be a digital sketch to boot. So look forward to that.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. See you all back here next time. Oyasumi nasai.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

December's Last Sketch and My First January Sketch



Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope you all had a happy and a safe one. The GF and I had a lot of fun at a friend's house, having many drinks and playing a really funny board game.

I finished my first sketch of twenty-ten and while adjusting it in CS3 I realized that I never posted my last sketch from 2009. Wow. I guess the vacation really went to my head. I did scan it and edit it, but I just plum forgot to post it.

So here you go. A double posting for my first posting of the year.

The previous sketch is a scene from the 4th Percy Jackson book The Battle of the Labyrinth. [Slight Spoiler] Percy does something very brave (and a little bit stupid) and covers the escape of Annabeth. For which she finally does what we all had a feeling was coming soon. She gives him some good luck.

And today's sketch is of my buddy Aaru Saa the Drow Monk. Who, despite the fact that he can't seem to hit the broad side of a barn in combat, has become one of my favorite characters in D&D so far. I'm really going to be sad if (when) he dies in our next game session. I also was thinking about the movie Willow and did a sketch of a woman warrior somewhat inspired by Sorsha (when she climbs out of her crumpled tent as Mad Mordigan and Willow are escaping on a shield/sled).
I also was trying some new things with my signature. Namely, how I want to sign 2010. I was thinking about using roman numerals, but I'm not sure if I'm too crazy about it yet. We'll see if I find something I like.

Anyway, bed time. Have a good night everyone and I'll see you at our next sketch update.