I'm Back Baby

Well it has been awhile since my last post, mostly due to lack of internet over the summer. However, it shall no longer be. I am in New York with a constant stream of internet and also meaning a constant stream of new art. I have some sketches that I did over the summer that will get scanned in this week, as soon as I do I will upload them. I can't wait to get some new work going to share with all so keep a look out. That would be all for now but more to come very very soon.

Haibane Renmei Collaboration

line work by
JULIA "SUJIN" CHOI
coloring by
JAMES STEVENS
character created by
YOSHITOSHI ABE

Finished my first collaboration with Julia "Sujin". She did the line work and I did the coloring. The drawing is of the character Reki from the anime Haibane Renmei. We did this as a practice piece to see how well we can collab. Thus being the reason we just went with a simple fan art.

The combination of her stylized line work and my painterly coloring style turned out really well. Since this piece ended up looking good we've started to plan our next collab. Sujin is going to start working on a comic book page for me to color. If the finished turns out well we plan on starting on fully finished comic books. We plan on switching off on the stories as well as even writing some together.

Our collabs are still in the early stages but hopefully we'll work well together and soon will be able to start making our own comics.

Waiting in the Mist

Well I finally finished this personal piece. I was procrastinating on it for far too long, but it's finally done. I finished it last night while watching Empire Strikes Back. The best Star Wars movie.

It's a digital piece done after I drew a sketch of my best friend Suijn, the original sketch is in my first post. I set up a flat burnt sienna under-painting in Photoshop then did the rest in Painter.

I used to have trouble in Painter trying to figure out how to get it to properly replicate oil paints, since I normally work in oils. Then one day Octavio Perez showed me one of the most amazing things ever. The best way to replicate oils is to actually use one of the pastel brushes, round x-soft pastel 30 to be exact.

To make the pastel brush work as oils the settings have to be changed. The resat is set to 9%, bleed at 73%, jitter at 0, opacity at about 12%, and most important is the grain must be at 100. By changing the grain it makes the pastel brush nice and smooth while the resat, bleed, and opacity allows it to blend like oils, although depending on which part I am working on I adjust the opacity. It's not the only brush I use but it is the one I use most often, while working. I'll mention some of my other brushes when I have better examples to show of how I use them.

On a final note I'd like to thank Sujin for posing and for all the really helpful crits.

New Sketch

Here's a new sketch that I did this past Sunday. I really had a lot of fun working on this. I slightly modified reference I found online of a singer/model. I used my .9 mm mechanical pencil with, obviously, my blue lead. I've really been enjoying using my blue lead lately. It, for some reason, just really creates a look and texture that I really like. The only problem with it is that this type of lead for some reason is really hard to erase. I was tempted to use my regular 2B lead as a prelim sketch and then go over it with my blue lead, however I always think that a color lead should be used as the preliminary sketch otherwise it looks odd. So I just end up trying to be careful when I first start to lay out with the blue lead, since I like solely using the blue lead.

The drawing was started at about maybe 2 AM so I guess it was technically done on Monday not Sunday, but eh semantics. I ended up finishing the drawing around 6 AM. Started watching the second season of Venture Bros on DVD got finished just when the last episode was over. I was hoping to get to bed earlier, but I got onto such a roll that I figured the sleep deprivation was worth it.

Well that would be all for now. Soon I hope to start working on my collaborations with my best friend Sujin. Once I get some of those done I'll get them posted.

Outlandish and Fantastic

illustration was created by
JIM CHEUNG

This post is a bit late in relation to its subject matter but unfortunately I've been busy this past week or so. I had just seen Iron Man for the second time and I must say it is still the best damn super hero movie I've seen. It was perfect. The story's build up and continuity was superb. The special effects and designs were amazing. The cast exemplified the characters faultlessly. It was so good that at this point I hold it in a higher regard than the first Spider-man. Although, that may be due to the bad attitude of Toby Maguire and the atrocity that was Spider-man 3. It also helps that I am a big fan of the direction that Marvel is taking with its movies. They are casting actors who care more about the role and less about their ego and also having them sign contracts for multiple movies ahead of time.

Edward Norton is casted as Bruce Banner for the Hulk movie coming out next month, and when he was signed on for it he actually helped them rewrite the script. This way they were able to sever all ties to the Hulk movie by Ang Lee, which was a very good idea. And hell Iron Man is scheduled to make a cameo in the Hulk movie. I just love how Marvel is now treating its movies like its comics by having crossovers with consistent cast members.

I know this post seems like a tangent from my personal art related posts, but hey I figure I'm in the entertainment business and will start working on comics of my own soon. Thus the adaptations of comics today seems quite relevant to me and my work.

Onward to the North

To update what my plans are for this upcoming year, I am off to New York, Syracuse to be exact. It's been years since I lived in the north, not since my early years in Jersey. I can not wait to see some snow again. Well thats all the update for now it is late and I am tired.

First Post Hooray

Well finally I started my own blog, I know it's about time I entered the online world and started to converse with others, but better late than never.

I plan on using this blog to update any sketchbook drawings or concept ideas I have. I figure this may help me get over my procrastination issues. So the first thing I'm posting is a sketch that I did a while ago that Is almost done being painted. Painting to be posted later.

Well that be it for now I'll make sure to post consistently.