Illustration Friday-Rescue

Just a quick fun illustration for this week's Illustration Friday topic. I really like the creepy, smiling elephant. Papa Buns does not seem happy about his assistance.

WIP - Ozma & Tip

Roughing in colors...

WIP - Ozma & Tip

Next up in my series of book character illustrations - one of my favorite characters from the Oz books: Ozma (and her male form, Tip). Not familiar with her story? Read the whole book here: The Marvelous Land of Oz

Lyra Illustration - Final

I wanted to start my illustration series with Lyra from the Golden Compass because it was such an important book for me growing up. I remember my bought me the book on a whim one day, and after I actually got around to reading it I couldn't stop. I blew through the first and the second in a weekend and then had to wait two painful years for the final book in the trilogy to be published (and during that waiting period I read the first two over and over again). This is one of those books that I encourage everyone I meet to read (much to their annoyance I'm sure). It's a story with an epic scope told from a fairly small perspective that lives within the realm of sci fi/ fantasy without being overtly so. All of the characters are enjoyable (and terrifying - I had a teacher named Mrs. Coulter who shared a remarkable number of traits with the villain of the same name from the book) and flawed, and it's great to read about a main girl character who's more nasty and mischievous than sweet and curious. This book is best read within the comfort of a warm room while a huge snowstorm goes on outside. I don't talk about the movie.

Lyra - WIP

Roughing in the colors. Probably going to go a few more layers before I call it quits!

Lyra Belacqua - WIP

Today I started a set of illustrations that I'm incredibly excited about. I'm going to be creating a series of illustrations featuring characters from books that I read (or had read to me) as a kid/teen that were in some way incredibly important to me. These will all be characters that hold a very special place in my heart - characters that are so good that they make me excited to go back and read their books even though I know exactly what's going to happen in the story. I'll go into more detail once I post the finished version of this piece, but I wanted to start with Lyra because of the profound impact that The Golden Compass (and the two sequels) had on both my childhood imagination and my creative process. She is just such a great heroic character and I've wanted to try and depict her for a long time. 


Read more below the jump!

Robots Page 7 is up!

Page 7 of Robots! in 3D is now online! I'm excited that we've been able to keep our update schedule going at a steady page. This page was incredibly complex because I had to draw all of the overlapping cornstalks in their entirety. That's the one interesting thing about making a 3D comic - you can't fudge something in the scene by covering it up with something else. To complete the full 3D effect every object that is going to have some depth to it must be drawn completely. But really - it was worth it this time. If you have a pair of 3D glasses around (or you made your own) this is a page you should really check out. I'm looking forward to later points in the story where we'll be able to create some really extravagant 3D landscapes!

Sneak peek!

Sorry I haven't posted new content in a little while! I was suddenly swamped with two large freelance jobs that have been taking most of my time and energy (but the projects are super cool and I'm excited to share the work I did for both once they are released). On top of that, I've been working away trying to keep up the Robots! buffer. I've also got some plans in the works for a new watercolor series that I am INCREDIBLY excited to start (more on that soon). But until then enjoy a sneak peak at the page I'm currently working on now for Robots! You can get a feel for my process (I sketch everything out digitally in blue first and then go back and ink once I get everything just right) and get a special peek at a new character!

Illustration Friday-Perspective

This week's Illustration Friday topic was a particularly appropriate one for me given the work I've been doing over the past few months. In mid February Adam and I launched our once weekly webcomic Robots! in 3D. 

The special thing about this comic however, is that is is presented to our readers in anaglyph 3D. After I draw each page in Photoshop Adam takes it through a special process (read more about his process here and here) that outputs the final anaglyph image. The whole process is unique to both of our working methods (you can't hide any poorly drawn object behind another object because it will be seen once it is in 3D) and it has really changed the way I approach creating the comic pages. 3D comics in general are kind a weird niche thing (we went and bought up pretty much all the ones we could find at our local comic shop which amounted a whopping total of three books!) but there's something very elegant about them that I really enjoy. In many of the ways that comics in general differ in their storytelling methods in relation to movies or tv, 3D comics really enhance that immersive experience. The reader controls the pace and flow of the story while reading a comic, but when the images you are seeing exist on different overlapping planes and move about your field of vision depending on how you move your head that completely alters the experience. The effect is even more impressive when you're turning the pages in a 3D printed book and the perspective changes as the page warps and folds!
The image that I chose to represent the topic is the first page (technically 2 pages as it's a double page spread) of book #1 of Robots! in 3D. It was a particularly challenging image to draw since landscapes are always something I have trouble creating convincingly. And if you don't have 3D glasses, do not fret! You can learn how to  make you own here or check out the image in 2D here.
Anyone else have any favorite 3D comics? Adam says he remembers reading a Donald Duck or Uncle Scrooge one when he was a kid. As a diehard Ducks fan I would kill to find that issue!