Favorite Artist Friday: Kelsey Wailes

There are artists who only do illustrations. There are artists who only make toys. And there are artists who only make comics.

It’s like Kelsey Wailes just went, “I want to make ALL OF THE THINGS!” And she set out to do just that.

kelsey wailes sherlock print in colored pencil

This woman does comics, illustrations, toys, sculptures… It’s like she rocks any artistic outlet she sets her sights on. Pretty much anything she creates seems like something fresh, from colored pencil portraits to Doctor Whooooo toys.

doctor who owl toy in vinyl and sculpey by kelsey wailes

While a lot of the work she makes falls within the realms of fanart, it’s still great to see such well-executed work in such a wide variety of media.

I had the pleasure of seeing her work first hand at Intervention Con, and I even got to sit in on a panel she ran. The panel was all about how to make vinyl toys like the Doctor Whooo above. She’s a great educator and quite the inspirational speaker.

To be frank, all of that creative energy and all of the outlets she has to express that creativity…make me a little jealous. But in a good way.

It makes me want to experiment and try new creative things, learn new techniques, try new media…

sherlock fan comic from doctor kawaii by kelsey wailes

 

Plus, her comics make me laugh super hard.

You can read her comic Doctor Kawaii online, and you can also find her work on Etsy and Tumblr. Mostly I follow her on Twitter because I’m a weirdo.

So who are some of your favorite artists? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

Favorite Artist Friday: K.S. Brenowitz

It’s the return of an old feature on this blog, Favorite Artist Friday! Here’s where I highlight an awesome artist I like and admire and talk about their work.

Today’s feature is K.S. Brenowitz, illustrator and artist of the webcomic “Delivery.”

I first met her at Intervention Con this past weekend (I talked about the con itself in a previous post). I had not met her before that weekend, or ever seen any of her work previously.

At first glance, what stood out to me the most in all of her pieces was her incredible attention to detail.

delivery webcomic page 23 by k.s. brenowitz
Click to view the larger image. CLICK IT!

 

It’s this detail that really adds texture to the art she makes. The tiles on the roofs, the grooves in a bike helmet, the metal grating on the side of a warehouse, all of these things are given depth and surface texture with her marvelous pen work.

(To tell the truth, it drives me to practice more so I can get better at inking. Brenowitz makes me feel like I need to step up my game because she makes me jealous…in a good way).

She also has very imaginative character designs and very fun comic page layouts. As I was going through her portfolio website and her tumblr, I stopped right in my tracks at this piece:

character art by k.s. brenowitz
Click to view larger image.

 

The vibrant colors! The textured armor plates! THAT SWORD! There’s so much about this design that keeps me glued to the screen to admire it, and try to understand the effort that went into making this.

So not only is her art fabulous, but her writing is just as great!

In reading her webcomic “Delivery,” I was surprised how quickly I was sucked into the story, and not just because of the intriguing page designs, or the overall amazing ink work, or the watercolor washes.

In “Delivery,” she has a great grasp on who the characters are and what they do, and what they will do in the story. I love the back-and-forth banter between the main lead, Clare, and the phone operator, Hassim. Not only that, but she knows how to pace out everything just enough to keep me hooked and turning the pages quickly. The mystery already has me fascinated and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

If you haven’t already, you can read “Delivery” here. It only updates once a week right now but it’s worth the wait.

She also did a smaller project with writer John Skylar. It’s a Convention Health Handout, all about how to stay healthy for your next convention. You can read that here. (Spoiler warning: It’s hilarious and the art is lovely.)

And don’t forget to check out Brenowitz’s portfolio. Check it out, and let me know what you think.

Have any artists that you like? Tell me about them in the comments!

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Monday.

Favorite Artist Friday: Akira Toriyama

In a startling turn of events, I’m trying a new segment for the blog: featuring my favorite artists on Fridays. Friends of mine will make the list occasionally, but I want to include some big (and maybe not-so-big) names.

This week I want to talk about my first favorite artist, Akira Toriyama.

Here in the United States, anybody who hears the name can name one project of his immediately: Dragonball Z.

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I already wrote all about my experiences with the series in an older post. So I won’t talk too much about it except to say that Dragonball Z was an influence on me early on in life, and it and its prequel, Dragonball, are still my favorite comics to read.

However, let’s talk about Akira Toriyama’s first hit manga, called Dr. Slump.

220px-DrSlump1Dr. Slump was the first manga of Toriyama-sensei’s I ever read, to tell you the truth. I saw Dragonball Z on TV but never read the original manga until I came across an abandoned Shonen Jump magazine in high school. But back to Slump.

I loved Dr. Slump immediately. I loved the outrageous jokes, the characters, the whimsical and playful art, and the pacing (which was brilliant).

Once I finished the first volume, I went ahead and got Dragonball the manga and devoured it, and then moved on to Dragonball Z.

Where do I start with my love for Toriyama-sensei’s work?

I want to start with an under-appreciated aspect of comics-making: pacing.

Toriyama paces his work very well starting in Dr. Slump. Once he gets into Dragonball Z is when his pacing and his sense of timing are really shining through. I think part of why he’s good at this is because he’s primarily a joke-teller. Telling jokes is all about timing, and Toriyama does it well. He carries this skill over into the actual story, and he KNOWS how to keep the reader hooked and waiting for the next chapter in suspense. Toriyama is brilliant that way.

His rendering skills are excellent. I’ve seen quite a few posters he’s done and his ability to draw anything floors me. From dinosaurs to one-wheeled motorcycles, he can draw pretty much whatever he wants and can get away with it.

Another thing I like about his comics: he has a diverse cast of characters in all of his works, and just about all of them are believable people. The primary example I can think of is his cast in Dragonball and Dragonball Z. Let’s take quick stock:

There’s a shape-shifting pig, a desert thief, a teenage girl scientist prodigy, a little person, a three-eyed man, a green alien, a friggin’ prince, and that’s just the main characters! There is a huge cast of unusual people and creatures, especially in Dragonball, where sometimes half of all the characters are some kind of talking animal.

That’s what inspires me the most about Toriyama-sensei: his imagination.

The way he gets these crazy ideas and just writes and draws them to his heart’s content makes me happy. Anytime I feel down and Marc the Boyfriend is not around, I grab a book by Akira Toriyama and it cheers me up right away. Sometimes I just leaf through his books to read his silly onomatopeias (in Dragonball, they ride in a boat and it makes the sound “BOOOOOOAT”) or to check out his crazy facial expressions.

Most of all, I appreciate what Toriyama does with his art – tell jokes and share interesting, ridiculous stories about over-the-top characters.

That’s why Akira Toriyama is one of my favorite artists ever.